Alma 26:12

Johnson, Buddy, Me

Sister Craske, Johnson, Me, Benjamin, Rhiannon

Hey everyone!

How are you all?

Buddy was baptised this sunday! The Zone exceeded the goal, 7/6 and so did the Mission 56/50 WOOOOOOO! The missionaries are on top of the world right now,I have to share with you what President Jordan said as I can't say it better myself 

Sisters and Elders,

Last night I received reports from the zone leaders detailing the baptisms that took place this past weekend. Nineteen wonderful individuals entered into the waters of baptism. That brought the total during the month of August to 56! In our last mission-wide conference call, we united behind a goal of 50 baptisms for the month. You have met and exceeded your goal, and I am very proud of you all. Even if you did not personally have a baptism in August, you were an important part of this achievement. Your prayers, your fasting, and your spirit of unity were essential to what we accomplished as a Mission. When we fall short, we share the disappointment, and when we succeed, we do it together. As the Apostle Paul taught, comparing the oneness of the body to the unity of the saints, "And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it." (1 Cor. 12:26).

On the occasion of the October 1840 General Conference, the Prophet Joseph praised the saints for the way they were working and sacrificing together to build the Nauvoo temple. He quoted from the 133rd Psalm: "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" and then added, "Unity is power."  In December of that same year, Joseph wrote a letter to the missionaries who were then serving in England: "The work in which we are unitedly engaged is one of no ordinary kind. The enemies we have to contend against are subtle and well skilled in maneuvering; it behooves us to be on the alert to concentrate our energies, and that the best feelings should exist in our midst; and then, by the help of the Almighty, we shall go on from victory to victory, and from conquest to conquest." That counsel to be unified is as applicable to us today as it was 174 years ago.

Tonight we will participate in another all-mission conference call. We will have the opportunity to talk about what we have accomplished and what we plan for the future. We will humbly give thanks to the Lord for all we have received, and we will pray for His continued blessings upon our work. I hope our spirits will be like the spirit of Ammon when he said to Aaron and his brethren:

11  But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.

12  Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

13  Behold, how many thousands of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of hell; and they are brought to sing redeeming love, and this because of the power of his word which is in us, therefore have we not great reason to rejoice? (Alma 26:11-13).

We are witnesses to the Lord's hastening of His work. More than witnesses, we are privileged to be fellow labourers in the Lord's vineyard at a very special season of the work. Joseph Smith said, "Let the Saints remember that great things depend on their individual exertion, and that they are called to be co-workers with us and the Holy Spirit in accomplishing the great work of the last days." We have been blessed to all be part of a great achievement in August. There remains much for us yet to do. United is the only way to do it. As Joseph urged, "A long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together."

We love you.

President and Sister Jordan

Amen to that. It's just wonderful. 

Thankyou for all your prayers,

I love you all,

Hugs and Handshakes

Elder Nolan
                                                                                                                                                                                                 'Buddy'......

                                                      Elder Johnson, Nolan and Buddy

Yeah Buddy!

With the Craskes

Taking the sisters to the station today, Sister Aliberti (black hair) goes home to italy tomorrow!

The waffle house breakfast with Buddy

Our new companion Elder Craske!

Me and sister Russell - amazing woman!

Hey everyone,

How are you?

I never thought 6 weeks could go by so fast, but it has and I am looking back on it and all I'm seeing is a blurry memory of failures and success's, pains and joys, fleeting goals being enveloped by the shadow of doubt only to be chased away by the unstoppable rays of faith and love that have descended upon the Norwich zone in our labour to bring souls unto Christ. It has been a transfer filled with miracles.

I have learnt that when we put our trust in the Lord, when we stop thinking that we have to pull the line on our own and realise that there is no way that we could do it alone (or that we never have been asked to) and we plead with him every day and show him that we are willing to work until we can't work anymore, it is at that point that we finally unlock the door that is holding back the numberless blessings the Lord is eager to shower us with and allow Him to magnify the means to make miracles happen in the lives of those around us.

We are hitting our goals as a mission, as a zone and as individuals.

So our friend loving kindness came to church on Sunday and had a great time, he is about to go walkabout in the south west of England and I'm sure his experience of the 'Mormons' will stay with him forever. Buddy is doing phenomenally well and we are already planning out the road trip across America we are having after mine and Johnson's missions are up! He will be baptised this weekend, we are so very happy for him and we feel extremely blessed to have been a part of his conversion story.

So, transfer week is upon us, we got the call late last night; me and Elder Johnson are staying together in Norwich. We are really happy with this news and are so excited for the new transfer!

It starts again, we have set some great goals together and this will be the transfer that I hit my year mark. It is such a terrifying thought yet at the same time it will be a very humbling moment for me. I love being a missionary and for the first time it's beginning to hit me that this will one day come to an end.

I love you all,

Hugs and Handshakes,

Elder Nolan

Kings lynn district - I don't know what i'm doing - My bro Elder Tautfest on the far right with the sweet frames finishes his mission tomorrow, going to miss him! 

It's in right?

Loving Kindness

Another photo with Maricel plus the craske kids. Benjamin is our third wheel, he even has a missionary planner!

We spotted this view going at the national speed limit, had to get a photo, the reason i am looking to my left; oncoming traffic is also going at the national speed limit! We got back in the car and set off just in time :) 

We  made a tasty vindaloo together, ever since eating that scotch bonnet spicy food doesn't scare me

Hello!

How are you all?

What a wonderful week of blessings, lessons and revelations from heaven it has been. 

Buddy is doing unbelievably well and Maricel is settling into her life as a new member and new mother! 

The zone is halfway to achieving  it's goal with two weeks left, so we are really happy with that. Me and Elder Johnson have had a lot of exchanges recently and it has been really wonderful to be with the missionaries in our zone, to get to know them, learn from them and help them progress along their road of discipleship. 

We have a wonderful friend who we are meeting with right now who's translated name is 'Loving Kindness'. He is a Tibetan monk, he has lived all over the world and is one of the most interesting people I have ever met. We really connected when we first met and our conversation has been on of delight filled with a humble respect for eachothers understanding of God and he has helped me to understand a few things I was struggling with. It has really testified to me that truth is everywhere and the Lord is mindful of all his children. LK is currently feeling that there is a Father of us all and therefore a God who we can turn to and have a personal relationship with. It is a really interesting and fulfilling task in helping him to discover just how close his relationship to God is and that the process in which we become at one with Him is by turning to his Son Jesus Christ who makes intercession for us and is the leader of the rescue party to bring us safely home. His understanding of why we are here is clearly inspired and I can feel the genuine love he has for the people around him. We just have to help him as much as we can before he goes back to the jungle in Nepal.

I once again have been humbled by the words of President Jordan in his recent e-mail to the mission. He always offers words which help me to repent, to change and ultimately become a better missionary. He shared this,

If you love the Lord, your call is to feed His sheep. Could you ask for a greater responsibility? President Gordon B. Hinckley, quoting an unknown author, once said, "Survey large fields and cultivate small ones." He then added, "My interpretation of that statement is that we ought to recognize something of the breadth and depth and height—grand and wonderful, large and all-encompassing—of the program of the Lord, and then work with diligence to meet our responsibility for our assigned portion of that program. Each of us has a small field to cultivate. While so doing, we must never lose sight of the greater picture, the large composite of the divine destiny of this work. It was given us by God our Eternal Father, and each of us has a part to play in the weaving of its magnificent tapestry. Our individual contribution may be small, but it is not unimportant." If you will take a word of counsel from your mission president, it is this: cultivate the field the Lord has given into your care. Preach the gospel in your area. Feed the sheep in your flock.

Wise counsel for young missionaries. I echo his words, could I really ask for a greater responsibility? Cultivate the field. Preach the Gospel. Feed the Sheep.

I  love you all,

Hugs and Handshakes

Elder Nolan

5th of August 2014

Elder Johnson found me this morning, wide awake after a night of feasting upon the american treats Sister Teal sent me! 

 

We loaded this truck up this morning! There was so much flippin' stuff! Good workout, felt good to lift things again :)

 

Cromer beach

Previous assistant Elder Dominguez came to Norwich Interviews yesterday

'Are those signs for Manchester?'

Hey everyone!

This week has been busy, busy, busy. We had interviews on Monday which is always a great experience. We received a training on the Holy Ghost being THE teacher and not A teacher. It makes all the difference. I remember in the MTC when president Edwards asked me what I wanted to learn and I replied by saying ' I want to learn how to create an environment where the Spirit can teach and testify to everyone in the room'. For the most part I have learnt how to do that, but somewhere along the line and somewhere in between knowing nothing about the scriptures to feeling pretty comfortable defending the faith strapped with a leather bound quad standard works,  I have stumbled and made the mistake of thinking that I am THE teacher and have forgotten my humble desire at the start of my mission. Pride manifests in so many ways. Thankfully repentance is available to all. 

This week I got up in fast and testimony meeting. A sister had said that she love the fact that our sins are forgiven when we bear testimony of the Gospel. I said that I used to believe that missionaries were these sinless, 'one step from being exalted beings who never made mistakes, hence the shimmering glow that so readily had about them. But now I realise that it is because we bear testimony ALOT and so the gift of repentance is granted unto us continually allowing the Holy Ghost to give us that humbly recognizable spiritual sheen.

We had some wonderful miracles last week, one of them has been the answer to so man prayers me and Elder Johnson have uttered. We had forgotten to print something at the chapel, I was really annoyed I'd forgotten to do it as (despite pre mission habits) I don't tend to forget things now. So we arrived at the chapel and a member approached us and told us that a YSA had turned up to institute who hadn't been to church in over 9 years, 'could you go and speak to him'. We met him and I commended him on just walking back through the chapel doors as I knew full well how hard that can be. He was such a lovely guy. We felt inspired to show a mormon message with him. We found that a new one had been posted, we had not seen it and neither had he. We agreed to watch it for the first time together and the first line of the whole video was 'For 25 years I wandered' the man i was sat next to had also been wandering for 25 years! The video then continued to mirror some of the experiences that he had had and it brought about a great spiritual experience in him. After he assured us that his story wasnt quite as rock 'n' roll as the video, we prayed together and as we did it was clear that buddy was being re acquainted with his heavenly friend. We set up to teach him this week. We have since found out that he has never been baptized and so the miracle investigator we have been praying literally walked into our life. All this time I've been worrying about how we are going to replenish our teaching pool with solid new investigators and the Lord just patiently waits for me to realise that he has got it covered. I love being a missionary.

Me and Elder Johnson are getting along great. He is one of the most genuinely good people I have ever met, I don't think he has ever had a bad thought. He isn't naive though and I am teaching him how to drive so it's all fun and games. 

I hope you all have a great week! 

Hugs and Handshakes,

Elder Nolan

28th July 2014 Update

MTC Group reunion at zone conference

Me maricel and elder Johnson!

New suit from matalan, 32 quid! hence the smile

Fufu at the simbis! 

Maricel and the Carters, we taught her in their home all the time. 

They fed us so much Filipino food!

Yes, maricel is pregnant. Heavily.

Elder Nolan, Elder Craske and Elder David

We got a flat tyre!

New district leader Elder Mortensen got hold of my camera during the baptism, irreverent!

Hey!

How are you?

We have had a great week; Maricel was baptised and confirmed! The service was lovely and the talks given invited such a wonderful feeling of the Spirit in the room. Everyone was crying! We had 10 investigators there! J it was just as well as Filipinos really do know how party, there was so much food after!

We also had the baptism of Joel, the son of a member who we have been teaching. His grandfather flew over rom America to baptise him and ordain his brother to the Aaronic priesthood. It was great.

We sang at both baptisms and then sang an accapella musical item at the north Norfolk branch on Sunday afternoon. I love going to this branch, they hold it in their living room and about 8 people come who can't travel all the way to the chapel. We get to take the sacrament twice which is always fun! It was probably one of my favourite Sundays on my mission, it was such a joyous day and at times it felt like I was going to burst or pass out like Alma. These are 'the good old days'.

Me and Elder Johnson have had some experiences this week where for the first time I have actually felt like a zone leader, where I have felt that what we were doing was really having a positive effect on the missionaries around us. We love the missionaries in our zone and we just want them to reach their potential as a missionary and even more so as a child of God. So many great things are happening. I can feel the Lord guiding and pressing us to push this zone so that he can then bless it the way he wants to.

I am really loving my time in Norwich.

I love you all,

Hugs and Handshakes,

Elder Nolan