September 26, 2016--Week 59

Hey everyone,

I hope you all are doing well. I don't have a lot of time... again. We have a few appointments at the most inconvenient times today making our email time super short. But that's life. 

This week's highlight was going to the temple with Rocksan. Such a great experience. We went with our bishop and his wife. Other than that, we are finding all day every day. Pray for us to be led to prepared people who want to listen to us. 

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

-Elder Nickerl

Oh PS—This week I was told I probably wouldn't go back to the Korean program. Super mixed feelings on that. I love those people, but there is no work there. So I am officially an English only missionary for the rest of my mission.

September 19, 2016--Week 58

Hey everyone,

Pretty crazy week. It is weird how God literally has just brought people to us this week. All of our own efforts seem like we are just wasting time, but then randomly, we will get a referral or an idea of where we need to be and suddenly prepared people come to us. It is amazing. God is real and this has to be his work. There is no way some of these people would get to us otherwise. 

This week has had too many cool things so I will just talk about a few and then if I have nothing to say next week, I will just pretend the things from this week happened next week and write about them then :) Just kidding, but really maybe I will do that. 

So we had the Philadelphia Temple dedication this week and that was amazing! We went and had an incredible experience. Rocksan also went (at a different time) with some members from our ward.  It was great that she went with them because it means she is transitioning away from missionaries and to the ward. We are going to go to the temple with her this week to do some work for her ancestors which will be a super great experience for her. She has been doing family history for a few weeks and has gotten very excited about all of it. She also has been teaching us the missionary lessons (First because then she can learn from preparing the lessons and second because then we can see what she does not understand) and it has been going so well. She could already teach Gospel Principles class, which would be nice since we don't have a teacher. She is so solid. 

Also, this week we found some really awesome new investigators. One family, a single man, and then a young teenager. I'll hold off on their details till next week, but they are all so prepared there is no way they all fall through. So we will see. Miracles are real all around—especially in the little details. 

Also today at Walmart, we found some Korean pepper paste (Go Choo Jang) and some Korean barbeque stuff so now we can make Korean food forever cause we stocked up a lot. I hope you are all having a great week and I hope you enjoy this next one. 

Love you all!

-Elder Nickerl

PS--Get stoked for General Conference in 13 days! Don't miss it :D  

Photos:  

1.  My favorite... Weekly planning on couch. Our couch is on top of our bunk bed so it's the best place to think and do weekly planning. 

2.  It's really nice to be able to have Korean food again. And now I'm learning how to make it so I will not have to go without again. I love life.

3.  I don't remember which day it was a couple weeks ago. And so we made french fries right before going to bed. Super bad idea... I hadn't made fried food in like 4 months and we have been eating super super healthy. I was pretty sick the next day. But hey they tasted good. But never again. 

September 12, 2016--Week 57

Hey everyone,

This has been a pretty cool week! It's the first week of transfers and I am now with Elder Gim. It's cool having a Korean companion again because he makes Korean food. So that's really awesome because I forgot how much I missed it. So good.

Other than the food being awesome, we have some pretty cool things going on. Rocksan is getting ready to go to the temple this next week, our members are getting more and more excited about missionary work, and next Sunday is the temple dedication for the Philadelphia temple.

We're working to find a lot of investigators because we have none. But they will come. It's gonna be great. This week it's going to be a flood of new investigators. You will see, just wait till next week. That's really about it for the week!  I hope you are all doing great! 

Have a great week!

-Elder Nickerl

September 5, 2016--Week 56

Hey everyone!

Here's the updates on the week. I hope this works okay, not sure how it works, but I saw the sisters doing it a few weeks ago and it looked like a quick easy way to email home, so I'm trying it out.  Let me know how this works out and if there are any problems or concerns with it. 

Just a quick thought on something I have been thinking a lot about. Last night we got our transfer calls and found out what was happening. I was a little worried because I feel like we are running out of new ideas and things to try in this area before we go to knocking doors all day every day when all of the sudden it just came to me--just as it did right before we found Rocksan a few weeks ago-- in a quiet reassuring feeling and it was as if I felt a voice saying, “Don't worry, you don't need to know what to do or where to go, because I do" and at that moment, I knew all would be okay because if I strive my best, God WILL lead the way and he will help us find those people who are prepared. I know it is true. I am really excited to see how things will continue to change here. I know that this is all true. God lives and he loves us. He will show us where we need to be and how to be the happiest in our lives, but we have to seek and look. Just like any parent, he won't give us everything we want, but he will teach us the way to be successful. 

I love you all and hope you have a great week! —Elder Nickerl

August 29, 2016--Week 55

Hey everyone!

So this week was pretty good. All my weeks are good though, are so that shouldn't be a surprise. Also I don't have P-Day today so my emails are sporadic. My companion had to go to his dying (when you leave the mission) trip to the Statue of Liberty today and so we are driving a lot and I don’t have a time to sit down and write. So this and all my emails will be scattered.
 
But yeah, Rocksan got baptized this week! It went really well and the ward was there to support the whole thing. Next week she is getting confirmed and that should go really well. Also our high priest’s group leader has officially returned back to church after a year of inactivity. So that is even better. Two great things and the ward is growing a lot. Other than that, we have been doing a lot of finding.

Elder Dube from the quorum of the seventy came and talked to our mission. He is SUPER funny and he is really personable. I had the chance to talk with him for a few minutes cause he went around talking to everyone in person. It was sweet.

So that's pretty much it. I hope you all have a great week!
-Elder Nickerl

August 8, 2016--Week 52

Hello everyone,

This week has been excellent except I remember very few details of what happened. I took no pictures and I have been super bad at keeping a journal, but what I do know is that we are seeing so many great things happen. We're super excited about the work. 

Sunday, church was cool. For the first time ever on my mission, someone just walked in from the streets and wanted to come to our church. It was a miracle. She loved it and says she is coming back.  She wouldn't give us any contact information because she hasn't made any commitments and she doesn't want us knocking on her door yet. But that is okay. If she is back next week, it will be an even better miracle. The ward is changing and is starting to trust the missionaries a lot more which is super great. 

Nothing else to report, but a cool thing I am learning is how the Lord helps us to build our talents. This lesson goes in great with our mission motto which is "Become". We are to become God's instruments. After looking back over my mission so far a lot this week and doing a lot of pondering and goal setting, I've realized how much I am changing through the experiences God is giving me. I am so thankful for each opportunity I have to make a choice and then receive consequences good or bad for doing so. I am noticing a lot of the same trials or experiences repeating in my life to help teach me a specific thing God wants me to learn. I feel like a lot of times, we can figure out what God wants us to learn from the trials we receive, then knowing what we should learn helps us to learn it quicker. I’m thankful for a Savior who makes it possible to make these decisions, and then overcome the negative consequences through sincere repentance. This life is great. "For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors." (Alma 34:32)

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

-Elder Nickerl

August 1, 2016--Week 51

Hello everyone,

First off thank you for all of the prayers and fasting this week, I really appreciated it throughout the week. This was an excellent week. First up, missionaries now have Facebook here, so that is pretty cool. I don’t really how that is gonna work out, but it is going to be sweet. I'm super excited!

We are seeing things happening in our area and I am convinced we will have two baptisms this transfer. I don't accept anything less. I've realized this week, a lot later than I should have, that this is God's work, and it is time I let him take control. If he wants us to find people, we will. I have been so caught up in my doubting that I haven't allowed for miracles to happen. So that time is done. We are going to see miracles here. Toms River is going to see things happen and I am excited about it.

Also this week I started something called a 40 days fast. I am fasting from anything that pokes at the Spirit or makes me feel it less and will fast from these things for 40 days. So far it's been a struggle, but the promise from the challenge (I got it from Elder Maxwell's talk), is that if I do so, my nature will be changed and I will no longer have a desire to do these things. So it will happen.

Nothing else really to report, awesome week though. Thank you all once again for your support!

Love,
Elder Nickerl