Missions rule!

Maldon chapel,  Jones, Nolan, Martin, Harris

New family we found in Maldon, turned out they had word of wisdom issues and dropped us...

Thanks rachy!! :)

Hello!

Greetings from Norwich,

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, it has been a crazy time but I've been building myself up this week so here goes.

I received some great news on Saturday, Mani who we were teaching in Maldon made his date and was baptised by Bishop West this Saturday. I'm so happy for him and his family, they have had an amazing journey and I'm confident that his wife and daughter will be baptised soon. Mani is such a good man, he gave us a lift to the train station on moves day so we could say goodbye, which also meant I didn't have to carry my ever growing mess of luggage! It was Elder Martin's first baptism and Mani asked him to confirm him into the Church. Maldon haven't had a baptism for over a year, so hopefully this first one will have the effect we have prayed for and the ward will begin to grow. J

Now over to Norwich, I LOVE IT HERE. It really is a challenging few days when moves come round, but the best medicine is to just get to work and that is what we have been doing. The first day was a sweet experience, me and Elder David met at the Hyde Park chapel and our first task was to plan a zone training. (Actually, the first task was to get lunch, oh how I have missed 'wasabi', I spent way too much on sushi that day, so good though)  Being a zone leader definitely has a different feel to it. We were there for the new missionary meeting and as they were walking in Sister Jordan pointed us out to them and said 'here are our new zone leaders' and at that moment everything hit me. Just 9 months ago I was In their shoes not knowing exactly what I was doing, walking up the abundance of stairs in the chapel, noticing it's peculiar scent hitting my nostrils, being interviewed by President Jordan, sweating, thinking I knew everything I could ever learn about missionary work (after two weeks in a classroom), meeting new missionaries and still finding it weird being called 'Elder' and basking in the comfortable naivety of the adventure I was about to embark on, not for one second considering how hard, how great and how unbelievably, body checkingly, mind mangingly, spirit stretchingly real this 2 year sojourn in the England London Mission would be. I smiled and waved at them. We were asked by President to take some of them out finding on exhibition road, and I called on Elder Paul to say a prayer in the street for someone we were talking to, I thought It best for him to get the first one out of the way. We saw miracles in those few moments though, we managed to get four people into the visitors centre and one of them is now meeting regularly with missionaries. I know the Lord is eager to bless his new missionaries with faith building events.

Me and Elder David have been having a lot of fun, teaching a lot of people and talking to a lot of missionaries. I really loved my time as a district leader and I've been struggling getting out of district leader mode. It's hard moving to a new area into a new leadership position as previously I felt I had a hold on things, I knew the ward, I knew the area and I knew what to do. Now I feel  like I don't know anything again and at the same time I feel the responsibility I have to the zone and I should be tip op and filled in on everything that's going on. I guess it will just take a little bit of time and I'll be fine and I have been assured by Elder David that this is normal.

Having a car is such a blessing, we can do so much more in a day however it means I can no longer go for the second helping at dinner appointments as I won't be walking it off! I forgot how much I have missed driving and listening to music. President told us he expects some quality singing from us and so we have taken time to turn up the volume and sing our hearts out whilst driving to each appointment. It's fun.

We had a great car miracle the other day, we were on our way to an appointment and Elder David suggested we go to the church and facebook for a few minutes. Whilst heading down the university road, we saw Cecilia; Cecilia was previously on date for this Saturday but has been in London, unable to meet. We wave at each other and then realise that this is our chance to make a miracle happen and respond to the Lords tender mercy, so we pelt down the road and find the nearest place the park, Jump out of the car and RUN! We were running for what seemed like an eternity, (she didn't know we were doing this), we finally caught her. She expressed her desire to still be baptised and that she knew she needed to come to church the next day. We set a date for this coming Saturday and taught her a little lesson on the commandments! BOOM! If you want to baptise people in England you have to be willing to run down the street to put them on date! We offered a very big prayer of gratitude after she 

had left. I've never enjoyed running as much as I did that day.

Teaching lessons in homes has gotten very hard the past few days, we ask for the tv to be turned off but when the world cup is on that question just seems rude and utterly preposterous. People look at us like we have asked if we could have their new cat for dinner. I don't blame them though, I'm sure Heavenly Father is watching it; but only the Holland games ;). In a lesson Elder David said we need to pray, I felt otherwise for some reason and so we waited, minutes later the RVP wonder goal happened and the room turned into a Kenyan carnival. I put it down to my English football senses being a little more acute than my companions. We prayed as the half time whistle went and everyone was happy.

So in other news, last Monday I completed the Rubik's cube on my own for the first time in my life and I was flippin' well happy about it. For years I have stared at that colourful little cuboid, only to be baffled by its seemingly illogical dimensions and not really understanding the simple mechanics it operates on. Elder Martin taught me how and Elder Nolan went and did. I've just got to get my time down, I won' be winning any competitions at the moment.

Word on the street is that I have been summoned for Jury service and I hope so much that it is not for one of my old investigators. Crikey, it could be. Do you think a full-time missionary has ever declared 'Not Guilty' in a courtroom? It would be a very odd situation, I wouldn't be able to stop myself from trying to explain the steps of repentance to the rest of the group and testifying of the reality of Christ's atonement and that we should see this pending criminal as what he can become, not defining him by his or her  past mistakes but making sure that they refine him and that through faith In Christ, Repentance of sins and Baptism this poor wretch can ultimately be cleansed from their past and begin to be sanctified by Gift of the Holy Ghost, continuing on until the end of this mortal sojourn,  eventually returning to His glorious presence and enter in to His eternal rest.

The Gospel is good.

I love you all,

Hugs and Handshakes,

Elder Nolan

--

Elder Tobias Cristian Nolan

England London Mission

64-68 Princes Gate

Exhibition Road,

South Kensington

London, England SW7 2PA

  

Sister Karyan's last day in chelmsford, we made a funeral service for her at our last district meeting, Dasvidanya! I think that is how you spell goodbye in russian... (she is armenian)

Me and Sister Hill (Maldon) she is so lovely! 

Me and Jason ( Maldon) good kid, teaching him for a while.

​Dinner with David at our bolivian friends house, check the size of the bowl!

Me and Elder Martin moves day

Here's the evidence..

Me and Mani on moves day

End of May Update

Your boy in action

Ukelele with Maddy

Packages from Home

Hey!

How are you all?

Sorry it's been a while, we have been so busy. I couldnt belive the last update I sent was like 3 weeks ago. I never expected my mission to go quicker than it was 3 months ago.

So, big boy moves are going down in chelmsford town (it is actually a city now, apparently). The Queen came to give the locals a wave, the sisters had already booked tickets to the cathedral however we had more important things to be attending to like Zone meeting, so they weren't too happy when I told them!

The District is doing so well. I can feel the faith of each missionary increasing and I see it in their numbers every week. At the beginning of the transfer the district had 0 investigators on date and as of today we have 16 on date for baptism! The Lord is blessing us for out faith and also because we are following the council of PMG. I have come to learn that all the tricks, secrets and 'new ideas missionaries think they have' are all to be found within the pages of PMG. You would think Prophets and Apostles had wrote it. It is marvelous.

We had interviews with President Jordan last week and received training from him and Sister Jordan, I took for granted how much I saw them whilst I was in London. It was great, President Jordan talks about missionary work in a way that cause's any doubt in my mind to dissolve and I feel like can go out and baptise a nation. I have also come to realise that President Jordan doesn't invite us to achieve certain goals, he prophecies of our success and if we do not achieve it we will be held accountable. I would follow him into the Battlefield and I know all of the missionaries in this mission would too. I asked him questions on how I can improve, what he expects of me and what kind of leadership creates change. After my interview I realised there were so many things that I forgot to ask!

So this week we had 6 investigators at church including a family! We are so happy with them. Mani and his family are from india and moved over here about 7 years agao. They have a hindu background but since coming to england developed a faith in Christ. They are on date for th 14^th of June and so please remember them in your prayers! Mani's wife was cooking whilst we taught mani the other day, she came in at the end and asked if we were staying for dinner, we obviously said yes please and it was the best indian food I have ever eaten! She said she had rushed today, she usually takes 3 hours to prepare dinner! Haha

Me and Elder Martin are having a lot of fun, he is teaching me the rubiks cube, I can now throw a rugby ball properly ( we took it finding with us at the park and found a new family to teach after playing rugby with their son!) and we are scheduled to learn the Haka today! Tika tonu atu kiakwa etama! We sang with the young men in sacrament on sunday, 'bring the world his truth', Irene our investigator was blubbering! It had the desired effect!

Anyway, Maldon to Victory!

Thankyou for all the letters, emails and packages!

I love you all,

Hugs and Handshakes,

Elder Nolan

Photo Update

​The Wheelers! They just got sealed! wooo

​I really like taxidermy.....

Update 22nd April 2014

 Hey! Short one this week. We had a great week though, we found some wonderful new investigators and we had 3 at church! Whoop! Elder Martin is teaching me several things at the moment, namely the Haka, the rubiks cube and how to throw a rugby ball correctly! Its coming along, Kia Kaha (be strong)! In turn I'm helping him with doctrine and his finding, he is a great missionary already. Jokes aside, I am learning so much from him, I have seen and felt the Spirit working through him several times already during lessons and as we have studied together in the morning. I am really enjoying being a district leader, i didn't think it would require that much of me but it does. Plus I want to be the best district leader I can be and so I have found myself on my knees regularly this week. The Lord knows these missionaries, he knows what they need and I have felt his guidance and inspiration as i've prepared trainings and conducted call ins. I love how leadership compels real growth in individuals and again I've found it to be yet another humbling experience on my mission and it's only been a week! We have the Faith to see miracles, we will work diligently to find them and obey exactly to be granted them! We are all stepping up at notch! Maldon to Victory!


Hugs and Handshakes, Elder Nolan

#Becauseofhim

Hey, everyone! Happy Easter!

Its been a wonderful weekend and we have not gone short of easter eggs thanks to our lovely ward!

Poor Elder De Beer


Waddup original bom


jones, nolan, phelps, de beer (with chicken pox ha)

This is what we have been sharing with people recently and I absolutley love it.. Easter Mormon.org

So, we had moves calls yesterday and Elder Phelps is off to London! He is going to the stratford ward. President called and asked if i was ready for a new assignment and so I've been called as district leader for Chelmsford. So I'm staying in maldon and my new companion is Elder Martin who has been out for 11 weeks. He's from New Zealand and I already know him as he was born in my zone back in London North. I'm excited. The only sad news about yesterday is that i injured my back pretty badly. We were at a ward activity in the morning and i was running and something just 'went'. I walked it off at first and then sat down for about an hour. Big mistake. I couldn't walk! I've neve felt like this in my life! I'm getting old man! I had to walk to the car like quazimodo! The cashier at tesco's was visibly concerned due to the amount of ibuprofen I was purchasing. We got back to the flat and I had to just lie down with an ice pack on it. Today i'm wearing a heat belt and it seems to be improving slightly. Sister Jordan directed me to do most of the above. When President called he told me I have no time to be sick haha so true! But crikey, I know how grandad and grandma feel everyday now!

So over easter we were invited to a pentecostal passover feast by our friend from maldon whom we call 'pentecostal rob'. His church is in maldon and he told us that we would be their guests. It was such a great night! Each table had a plate with bitter herbs and horseradish etc and P-Rob taught us about the history of the passover and instructed us on how to partake of the Jewish Tradition. We sat on a table with all types of people and ofcourse we were the centre of conversation. I was sat next to a lovely man who was continually making doctrinal inquiries (to me) and beautifully explained the wonders of creation and his relationship with Christ. The evening concluded with a feast, headed by a bucket load of roast lamb. It was delicious, me and phelps tucked right in! We are so blessed to have so many different cultures in such a concentrated area. We plan to return and follow up on the pass along cards we gave out!

We have a great new investigator named bill. He is a less active Jehovahs witness and on a last visit he committed to read and pray about the book of mormon which is a huge step for him. He used to meet with missionaries about 15 years and one of them still keeps in touch with him, how amazing is that? I'm sure that Elder felt a need to do this and now hopefully that need is being fulfilled. We did some service for Bill, hedge trimming. I was confident in my skills due to my booming business venture pre mission and asked bill for his electric trimmer so i could give his conifers the shape up they deserved. Alas, after neatly trimming 95% of the hedge, disaster struck and the rookie inside me made a devastating error. I trimmed through the flippin' wire! The amount of times i've done that now! So embarrassing and I felt so guilty! I told Bill what had happened and he assured me that he had done it many times before. Now this experience sparked a moment of brilliance from myself and in my spare time i have been designing a solution to this everyday problem that, i'm sure 1 in 100 (may not be accurate)  males experience in their life time. I have sought advice from qualified engineers and upon my return home prototype production will commence!

I got my haircut last week at the turkish barbers! What an experience that was, never before have I had my ear lobs tapped with a flaming metal stick and paid for it. For the first time in my life I have 'pointy' side burns, not sure if its mission appropriate but as my mother always said 'It'll grow back'! ha The barber also got our his cutthroat and shaved my neck bare before splashing abit of scented alcohol onto the open pores he had just carved out. Owwwww! I loved it though, i think it was the manliest hair cutting experience ive ever had. £10, not too shabby.

So please continue to pray for irene, bill and hayley! They are all such wonderful people and we feel so blessed to be teaching them. We have had a great transfer together me and Phelps and have had a tonne of fun! Something which I feel is necessary in missionary work is to have fun! Its what keeps you up there and can be such a great motivator. The other day we went tracting and it began to pour down. So we would stay under the archway of each door about 5 minutes before we knocked and the thought of us just standing there without the people inside know really humored me. I don't know why. But it kept me from wanting to go home! We must find 'Joy in the Journey' always.

I love you all! I love and appreciate all the letters and emails I recieve.

Maldon to Victory!

Hugs and Handshakes

Elder Nolan

Reminder of our day out

Day of service with a member, we dropped by the dodgiest roadside yard sale ( used to be run by gypsies) to find some paving slabs and we came across some wonderful things

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Paul Hector 

Date: Mon, Apr 7, 2014 at 2:45 PM

Subject: Reminder of our day out

To: tobias.nolan@myldsmail.net

Greetings from Essex

This is a tribute window in the same church. In the bottom you can see the founding fathers of america, columbus and the statue of liberty! Thanks for the heads up mum!jos

Elder Phelps

Me

Pancake night! This is Elder Phelps

Del boy wasnt in sadly!

Hey!

Greetings from Essex!How are you doing?I’m settling into Maldon pretty well. The weather has been glorious and so has the work!So my new companion is Elder Phelps, we entered the MTC together and he has been in Maldon for 3 transfers before I arrived. We actually live in Chelmsford and Maldon village is a 45 minute bus ride away! The area is huge and so we are doing our best to cover as much as we can, we have a balance of street contacting and tracting. I’m really not a fan of tracting and neither is Elder Phelps, I hardly did it in London North and so we have done a lot of street contacting and we have been seeing miracles! We have been teaching a record amount of lessons for the area and we have gotten 3 new investigators every week since the start of the transfer! We go out every day knowing that we will find people to teach, we just have to be prepared to work for it. In a recent talk that President Jordan shared with us, an assistant said to his President ‘If you want to baptise a few people then you talk to a few people, if you want to baptise a lot of people you talk to a lot of people and if you want to baptise everyone then you talk to everyone!’ just a PMG says, talking with everyone is a missionary commandment and we know that ‘20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated— 21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated’. It sounds simple doesn’t it?So, how good was general conference? It’s sad I only have 2 more as a missionary; my notepad has never had so much attention during conference. I felt a definite confirmation this weekend that we truly do have prophets and apostles among us whom the Lord ‘revealeth his secrets’ too which they then share with us. This is such an important principle of the Gospel that the Lord works through his Prophets and apostles; it is a way of dividing the faithful from the passive, the Latter day Saints from the Mormons. Think about it, it would be very easy for the Lord to open the heavens and tell us all what he expects of us, to tell us where we are going wrong and encourage us to repent. He cannot do this however, firstly because of the Fall and secondly because we would cease to be our true selves. A member in the ward likened it to when we are at school, when the teacher is in the class room the majority of the pupils are well behaved however when the teacher is called out on an errand, suddenly pandemonium ensues and the once reverent class of young sunbeams becomes a jungle of wild acrobats with a distinct disregard for any form of education. (This may just be in my experience)  But the principle is true, when we are left in a state where we ‘can act and be acted upon’ the true nature of our souls comes into light. Thankfully in the Lords mercy he has blessed us with an abundance of Examples with Jesus Christ being the master. He has also placed in our lives, apostle and prophets; seers and revelators who continue to instruct us of what we need to do whilst the ‘teacher’ is out of the classroom so that we can learn how to progress and to ‘act and not be acted upon’.When Jeffrey R. Holland opened conference with his tenacious decree of courageous discipleship he noted that ‘God created man in his own image’ and I thought he was going to add that ‘Man (sometimes tries to) create God in his image’. We rationalise God’s ideals to a level in which we are comfortable with and even try to support it with the Scriptures. As missionaries we come across this a lot and it saddens me more than it frustrates me. Instead of rising up to the true standards of the Gospel, many can sometimes manipulate the scriptures to bring down their majesty in an attempt to make the message more popular. This is done in a society where popular culture demands passiveness and a submissiveness to the vices of the natural man. The general authorities of the Church delivered a message this weekend that edified and inspired me to be better, to do better and to aim for a better standard than I was previously working for.I also loved Elder Ballard’s invitation to study PMG and to let the missionaries know what you have been studying. I can testify that PMG is the secret to success in missionary work and I invite you to follow Elder Ballard’s council and tell me what you are studying!The Gospel is good. Its way good. I love you all, Hugs and Handshakes, Elder Nolan

Just to add,

I FINISHED THE BOOK OF MORMON COVER TO COVER FOR THE FIRST TIME! I feel so great about it, I finished just before conference aswell so I went in super prepared! :) 

I'm in Maldon Baby!

Me and phelps

My first fried snickers! scrumptious!

Burning of our ties. me, Sister Falcao and Elder Mitchell,

all 6 monthers

It was harder than i thought it would be!

I burnt a nice one aswell so it felt like a sacrifice haha

Leaving Highgate

Medhi, me, Wilson, Andrew and elder Mitchell. 

All three will be blessing the sacrament soon

Service Day

Hey!

How are you?

This week has flown by as me and Elder Phelps have seen so much success in the blessed land of Maldon. The Ward is amazing, In every sense of the word. Elder Nielsen in London North told me all about this place as he has served here for 6 months. When he arrived at our flat in London north he was so homesick for this ward and I can understand why. It reminds me of home, they have long standing members who all have super strong testimonies of the Gospel and personal relationships with their saviour. I could feel their faith in sacrament meeting on Sunday and I know that they are about to burst with missionary work. There is so much potential for growth here.

It’s just as well as leaving London north was really hard. It was like leaving home again. Packing my things up and seeing people for the last time was much harder than I thought it would be, I guess you get comfortable. London North will always have a reserved spot in my heart. I learnt how to be a missionary there, I learnt how to listen to the Spirits promptings and most importantly I learnt how to trust in the Lord. I LOVE YOU LONDON NORTH!

SO We already have a wonderful investigator called Irene. She has been attending church for the past 3 weeks and the ward has welcomed her so lovingly. The best thing is that she has a strong faith in Christ, her desire to follow him is increasing and she has expressed her desire to be baptised. We are currently working out logistics as the next few weeks seem pretty hectic for her but I know we will get there. Please pray for her to continue to feel and be taught by the Spirit.

Our new district leader asked me to give training in district meeting on Saturday on why we need the Spirit in our work. In preparing, I pondered on the experiences of my mission that have not only taught the people I’ve been teaching but have helped me grow and they have all been products of the Spirit. As we help people come closer to Christ by preparing them to make covenants with God and live the requirements to receive a remission of sin, the Spirit prepares us to keep those covenants and truly become converted to the Gospel. Without it we would simply be immersing an individual, but with it the individual experiences new birth, free from their past and is filled with a ‘perfect brightness hope’ towards the future. I once again feel humbled by the power the Spirit truly has in our lives and the cleansing effect it has on our hearts.  

Me and Elder Phelps are having a blast, I am so happy to be having fun all the time! We are so excited for this transfer and we can see the wave gathering on the horizon and its up to us to catch it.

I love you all,

Hugs and handshakes

Elder Nolan