3 musketeers!

Me and Wentzel courtesy of Sister Stevens

Hello!

How are you doing?

Another week has gone by and has been full of miracles, blessings and

many lessons learnt. Today is the day of Pare's baptism, she is so

excited and SO ready for it. We only met her 5 weeks ago and her faith

has rapidly grown in that time, she is so obedient - she has read the

Book of Mormon everyday since we first invited her to do so and that

is what makes all the difference. Pare has two masters degrees and is

beginning her PhD in September yet she has shown such humility and

meekness in learning the Gospel, her example has taught me a lot - no

matter how accomplished we are in our secular endeavours, we must

approach the Lord with humble hearts, meek minds and an unwavering

trust in His reception of our prayers. The only problem today is that

my baptismal trousers are falling off me!

I have been blessed to have been on some great exchanges recently, the

mission is full of great missionaries, young missionaries but

nevertheless great. This Friday I was with Elder Ramsay, a new zone

leader - the most enthusiastic missionary I have ever met. We had a

great day involving many aspects of the work, I took him to see Guarav

which was a sweet experience. As we talked with one another and set

goals for improvement it was so interesting to me that he is

encountering the same problems I had when I was younger in the

mission. It's become clear that we all go through the same process if

we choose to let it happen. Elder Ramsay is much humbler than I was in

recognising a need to improve - but the changes that need to be made

are exactly the same as the changes that I went through and still

going through now! He is a good man.

Now there has been a change in the team formation, we have gone from a

duo to a trio! Elder Wentzel has joined us. We were planning on it for

a while, it didn't work out at transfers but this week we had a

missionary end up not coming to the mission so we were at an odd

number and the time for Elder Wentzel to come to London had arrived.

President prayed for a long time over it. He is such a good man. Me

and him have had a great missionary relationship as well as being

great friends. When he became a district leader I was his zone leader,

and when I became an assistant I he was a zone leader and through that

I think I have had over 40 call in reports with him, so we know how

each other works. He is just so humble whilst being one of the

greatest missionaries I have ever met, this is probably the reason I

love him so much. He is from South Africa so we have plenty of

'banter' about that. He began his mission in London north and served

as a zone leader in Norwich, so we have taught many of the same

people. Fun fact, Elder Farley trained Elder Gore in Ely, straight

after that he came to me in London North and when I left he trained a

brand new missionary called Elder Wentzel. So we are all practically

family. All for one and one for all!

Now, yesterday me and a few other missionaries were allowed to visit

the temple. 

We had a great day, we took a member with us and did some

of his families work. Each time I go to the temple I feel like my

Spirit is going to school, this time I really had to apply myself to

learn and at the end of the session I received some wonderful

insights. Sitting in the celestial room yesterday was the first time

in a long time that my mind and soul felt truly still. I was able

focus my mind and meditate. I read from 2 Peter 1: 2-11 and whilst

reading these special verses I realised how grateful I was for the

temple and the relationship I have with God. Our understanding of

Heavenly Father is really quite unique, we know that He is a personal

God and understanding that changes everything. From these verses we

also learn that through 'exceeding great promises we can become

partakers of the divine nature', and by adding virtue, knowledge,

temperance and eventually charity to our faith we make our calling and

election sure - that 'an entrance maybe administered abundantly unto

you in the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ',

incredible right?

Anyway,

I love you all

Hugs and Handshakes

Elder Nolan