Mother Dearest

A short excerpt from an email sent to Elder Nolan's Mum.

Mum,

How are you doing? What have you been up to this week? I love you.

Well, I am feeling good. Spiritually I am feeling stronger than ever

and I just feel really blessed. My Mission experience has been such a

joy, so many powerful experiences, lessons and miracles. It really has

been wonderful. Who'd of thought it ey? Think to who I was 31/2 years

ago. I have changed somewhat since that time. Just a little bit.

Christine, Annabelle and Gabriel are getting baptised today :) when I

was at the temple last week I put them on the prayer roll. Last night

they were all glowing, previously Gabriel had hang ups about the Book

of Mormon but just before they went away on holiday we had a great

Lesson and finally got her to commit to praying about it. She had read

so much already but I think she was just scared that it actually was

true. Last night as we were leaving I just looked at her and said 'you

prayed about the book didn't you?' , and her face just lit up even

more and this huge grin appeared, they are so happy! I will send you

photos of the baptism today :)

Mother! The baptism today was wonderful even though I forgot my whites and had to wear a jumpsuit!!

We had zone conference all week this week which was actually really

good. Yesterday was the best meeting. A member of the Watford stake

presidency trained us on member missionary work. He was the man me and

you met at the pageant.  It was an incredible training. It gave me

some great insights and ideas to use before I leave.

I love you mum and I miss you. I'm so excited to see you. I really

don't want to leave the mission field. I wish you could just all come

and live with me.

Elder Nolan

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

Example

                                     Elder Gore, Pare and Elder Nolan

Hello everyone,

How are you?

I am currently sat in a Watford barber shop waiting for Elder Gore's

hair to be cut. It's always strange coming back to an area, being on

exchange with Elder Wright (Sent from my iPad

This week has been great though, we had MLC this week and it was the

first one with President and sister Stevens - we also had 5 new zone

leaders. It's definitely a new era, I absolutely loved the meeting

though, we began with a group study on Doctrine & Covenants 121:

33-46. It's been a topic of study for me and Elder Gore of late, we

also trained on it later in the day and drew examples from the

relationship between Lehi and Nephi. It's incredible how from a young

age Nephi observed the example of his prophet father and when Nephi

was eventually called to be on the Lords errand his response to it was

so much influenced by what he had seen his father do. Nephi said 'I

will go and do' because he had seen his father do it time and time

again - prophesying in Jerusalem, pleading ' with all that his heart,

In behalf of his people' and leading his family into the wilderness,

leaving wealth and status behind. It made me think of the righteous

example's I have been so blessed with within my own family, I have a

close family full of disciples and they all set an individual example

to me which has greatly affected my missionary service. I have thanked

the Lord everyday for them for the past two years and I will continue

to for eternity!

Pare is doing incredibly well! Christine and the girls are preparing

for the 15th and we have Lauren preparing for the 29th! Too many

blessings.

The time is far spent!

I love you all,

Hugs and handshakes,

Elder Nolan

Blessings

                                                                     New haircut!

                                 

                                     The wonderful Honn Family!

                                                      

Brother George Stevens from Maldon, great to see him. 95 years old and still cleans the chapel twice a week!

Hello Everyone,

How are you?

This week has been great for our area, we have some wonderful friends

we are teaching and they are progressing so well. We have our friend

called Pare who we found two weeks ago and she is preparing to be

baptised on the 9th August. We found her after praying where we should

go in all of London after a day of phone calls with the zone leaders.

We felt prompted to travel to a place called Vauxhall - and so we set

off with a spring in our step, confident that the Lord had a work for

us to do there. As we walked we were finding by the way and after a

few dead end conversations we stopped this young, Thai student who had

a lovely cross necklace. It's always a great opener to point to that

and ask about their time as a Christian (it's incredible how many

people just wear it as a fashion item!). We then had the most amazing

step in lesson with Pare, the Spirit was so strong and she said she

felt like she wanted to cry. We talked about Ether 12:27 in the Book

of Mormon and it brought such comfort to her. We extended a baptismal

invitation and set a date on the spot. Since then she has met with us

3 times and we talk nearly everyday about her wonderful experiences

with the Book of Mormon. She is keeping the word of wisdom and when

she was taught the plan of salvation she expressed that now she

understands just how much God loves her 'this gives my life so much

meaning and purpose', we feel so blessed!

Next week we have the baptism of our friend Gem who is from Burnley of

all places! She is so great and is progressing really well. She

brought her friend to the church a few weeks ago and we taught them

both with President and Sister Stevens and it went really well. Gem

has quite an incredible story, she had some health trouble and

suffered some memory loss, when she woke up after the ordeal the only

thing she could see in her minds eye was the Book of Mormon despite

not remembering what the missionaries had previously taught her! How

crazy is that? And what a blessing in disguise when you think about

it, I think it really solidified her feeling that this was the most

important thing she could choose to do. So we are really excited for

her this week.

We've been on 3 exchanges this week which has been fun! I was in St.

Albans with Elder Williams , then back to Maldon with Elder Helisto

who's only been out 3 months - he thought he was in big trouble when

he found out he was exchanging with us - he is a really promising

young missionary and we have planned to work more with the young ones

as the mission will need young leadership very soon. And then lastly I

was with Elder Patterson in London. Going back to Maldon was awesome,

I saw Irene again, Mani, Kavita and sveta and of course the Wheelers!

Such great people over there, I love it. Bro wheeler asked me what my

favourite meal was before I came, so I jokingly replied 'steak

and ribs', we got there on Thursday night and he had gone and sorted

it out hadn't he! What a lad! We had some good fun. It was just great

to see how well everyone was doing. Irene is just so pure and faithful

- she is preparing for the temple. Mani swung by the chapel just as

we're teaching a lesson and he was able to join us and bear testimony

of his experience with the Church and his testimony of Jesus Christ

and it was so powerful, it really benefitted our Romanian friend who

we were teaching. I really enjoy exchanges, it's such a blessing. In

the missionary handbook leaders are counselled to always remember that

exchanges are a time for learning just as much as they are a time for

training and I can testify that that is true. I think every exchange I

have been in I have returned as a better missionary because of the

example of the missionary I was with. This mission has awesome

missionaries and in a few transfers it will have the best missionaries

in the world.

                               Organising transfers - Before!!

                                       Transfers done! - After!!

So, transfer weekend. It has been quite the task getting it sorted,

but we got there. It is always a spiritual experience when we work on

the transfer board and organise the missionaries to where they need to

be and more importantly who they need to be with. The Spirit works 

with you in a very particular way. Your mind feels quickened in

organising and discerning what will happen in a certain

companionship. At each stage of the moves a feeling of rightness or

the opposite will testify to all of us in the room and we will know who

needs to stay or change. On my mission, one of the challenges that I have

loved most is problem solving and finding the best solution for

multiple parties and so doing the moves, whilst being challenging and

long, has been a lot of fun for me as well. I'm just so grateful for

these experiences. Sister Stevens cooked a wonderful meal for us last

night as well! Three courses, we were her guinea pigs for next weeks

departing dinner! This meal came after I had been taken by Elder Leite

to a Brazilian barbecue for lunch. So much meat! It was amazing. His

family friend from back home dropped by to take him out for dinner on

behalf of his parents for his birthday! It worked out that his

companion Elder Jackson and my companion had a family they baptised

together come and visit them. So I got to go to this epic feast.

Whenever me and Elder Leite are together we just get taken to the

fanciest restaurants - we got taken to the Langham together last time!

It was a lot of fun.

In other eating outings, the Honn Family came to visit on Friday! They

are from Idaho and Sister Honn was raised in Norwich, their son Ethan

enters the MTC in 3 weeks. We went to a chicken restaurant in

Piccadilly Circus and it was so good! It was such a blessing seeing

them again, they are a wonderful family and I have really bonded with

them. Me and Ethan talked about the mission and he asked for some

advice so I gave him Mosiah 24 to read. I love how many great people

we get to meet on a mission, I really hope I can keep in contact with

all of these great people.

In other news, I bought a suit this week for £30 from tesco's so we

will see how long that lasts. Hopefully for 6 weeks, right? Yikes!

Anyway,

Have a great sabbath!

I love you all

Hugs and handshakes

Elder Nolan

Change is good

Not quite sure what this photo is all about - Elder Nolan has yet to tell us!!!

Hello everyone!

How are you doing?

This week has been a definite first time experience for me, the transition from President and Sister Jordan to President and Sister Stevens has brought with it a range of emotions but the whole thing has been quite a powerful witness that the Church has indeed been and continues to be divinely organised.

We also expected to have a new office couple, Elder and Sister Gale and they are lovely, I don't know if I have mentioned Elder and Sister Williams but me and Elder Gore refer to them as Granddad and Grandma.

Anyway, Elder Gale got the worse morning of his mission out of the way on Monday, we went with him to get Presidents car valeted, we couldnt find the company that Elder Gale had set the appointment with, we got about an hour past the allotted time and as we pulled into a side road to turn round, Elder Gale realises that his front left tyre was flat!

We then couldn't find a jack in our car or presidents, and when he called the RAC roadside recovery they said that the car in question wasn't registered on the mission fleet. Me and elder Gore left in Presidents car to get help and get it valeted some place else, we finally found a really good shop that would do it for a better price, we then walked back to where Elder Gale was stranded and grabbed him an apple pastry to cheer him up. When we got back we found him outside

the car which had now been fixed by the RAC but as we gazed upon Elder Gale we saw something wrong, his shoulder had fallen victim to a London bird with a seemingly unhealthy digestive system. Poor brother!

Anyway, that night we grilled chicken on the chapel roof with President and then a bunch of missionaries turned up and we made them 'smores', another American method of cheating your way to a heart attack - delicious obviously. We had photos on the roof and just tried to soak up the moment as much as we could, President said 'you will tell your wives and children about this night', it's true, it was a great evening and send off for the Jordan's.

Tuesday came and we prepared every needful thing for the transition then at around 5.30 the Jordan's arrived with President and Sister Stevens and we got acquainted. The Jordan's then left and between the third floor of the building to them leaving the garage I think I hugged sister Jordan 10 times! It was just so tender and surreal to see them go. But they did indeed go and we got straight to work with President and Sister Stevens planning for the next three days of introduction conferences.

Now the conferences are done, we have gotten to know President and Sister Stevens pretty well and I can say with sincerity that I love them and know that they will do remarkable things for this mission.

Elder Gore put is so well the other day, he described the transition like an old cartoon where a dagger would be pointed into the side of a character and then when I was retrieved there was no hole, but seemingly the flesh of the cartoon character had been restored. When the Jordan's left it stung and I could feel a hole being made but then the Stevens came and the hole was quickly restored. I feel so blessed to have two mission presidents and wives and to have a close relationship with them both will bless me forever.

On Wednesday after the Ipswich conference we had dinner at the stake presidents home and the opportunity arose for an on the spot musical number, so me, elder Johnson, Elder Hesen, the stake presidents son in

law and President Stevens sang brightly beams - the one we used to sing in the mission band and it sounded pretty good! President Stevens used to sing bass in the Mormon tabernacle Choir and so I am confident the mission will continue its musical habits.

In our area we continue to see miracles, people texting us out the blue asking to come to church right after we finish our prayer to begin planning for the few people we have to work with, people are receiving answers to prayers and are having powerful experiences with the Book of Mormon and the Saviour Jesus Christ. The baptisms will be flooding in soon, we just have to be patient.

I love you all

Hugs and handshakes

Elder Nolan

Fwd:

President and Sister Jordan in The Mews 

Hey Everyone,

So, this week has been busy, very busy indeed. The greatest blessings this week have come in the form of trainings and new lessons being learnt. 

I realised this week just how much President and Sister Jordan mean to me, they have become such a significant part of my life. I remember looking at their photo in my call packet just wondering what they were like and how we would get on. Being around them so much on my mission has taught me so many things, working closely with them for the past two months has helped me to grow and learn things that will bless the rest of my life. It has been really tender this week to see them say goodbye to so many missionaries. They have truly lost themselves in the work and in the lives of their missionaries. The mission loves them so much and it will be a very strange feeling not having them around, However, the greatest thing about them both is their understanding and testimony of Priesthood keys. President has stressed many times recently that the keys he holds are the same keys the new mission President holds, he encouraged the missionaries to pray for President and Sister Stevens and for a spiritual confirmation that the mantle of Presiding in the England London Mission will in due time pass from President Jordan and rest upon the shoulders of President Stevens. I have sought this witness and have received it. I already feel love growing for the Stevens' and I know that this is a gift from heaven. 

​We are teaching some wonderful people now and helping the Britannia ward to ​grow! The greatest thing about serving with Elder Gore is that we are both just striving as hard as we can to be consecrated unto the Lord. These are the 'days of the vow of our separation', we feel the weight of that - he has really helped me to regularly sacrifice my own will for the perfect will of my Father in heaven. This life is all about priorities, its all about consecration. You can spend two years as a missionary and come home without changing a whole lot, you can exchange two years of your life for regret - this isn't a bargain we are looking to make. As Nephi didn't build his ship after the manner of men, we are striving to build our souls in the Lords way. Missionary work has been pretty hard since coming to London, I didn't expect this - but my sense of fulfilment and happiness hasn't been higher than it is right now. 'My Joy s full'. My trust is in God and not the Arm of flesh. Me and Elder Gore love each other and we are just both trying to help each other to receive the Holy Ghost more fully. 

​This week coming looks a little crazy, President Stevens arrives on Tuesday and we will have conferences with him for the rest of the week. ​Please pray that miracles happen in our area, even if we are out of it for the most part! 

I love you all

Hugs and handshakes

Elder Nolan

Sent from my iPad            #withanipadsingletothegloryofgod

Battle of the Roses

Hello friends!

How are you?

This week has been a refiners fire. It's feels like a month rather

than a week. Monday to Wednesday consisted of organising and executing

a missionary transfer which is best described as acutely organised

chaos. Elder David and I parted on Tuesday night after a delicious

departing dinner prepared by Sister Jordan. Elder Gore is my new

companion, he is a beast and he is from Yorkshire! Most of you

probably know him or his family. I'm so grateful to be serving with

him, he has really inspired me to more fully consecrate myself to the

work for these next two transfers, and we are working out hard in the

morning! We went all the way to Cambridge on sat to clear out a flat

which he began his mission in, in the process we recovered the bench

press he bought whilst he was there! Our new flat has turned into gym

and this morning we had other missionaries turn up to exercise with

us, we might start charging.

So, Friday was the day that the whole mission had been waiting for -

Elder Holland came to see us. I was really feeling the Spirit in the

build up to the meeting, London South mission joined us and I got to

see all my MTC friends including Elder Belnap who was my companion.

The meeting began with Elder Holland shaking all of our hands. When he

stood up he said, 'I just stared into each of your souls and

interviewed you, for the most part you are doing okay, some are

struggling and some are working on changing a few things - you know

who you are'. Right now , this day I am more certain of Elder Holland

being an ordained Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ than I ever have

been before, especially immediately after the meeting on Friday. His

message on Friday was uncomfortably frank and his delivery of it was

fearless. Parts of it seemed to stick in my conscience and as I look

back at my internal reaction to what he was saying, my thought process

was that of a prideful little boy. 'That's a bit much', 'We didn't

deserve that', 'this surely doesn't apply to me', 'this must be for

the South mission'. Alas, the words of Nephi have provided me with a

powerful learning experience 'For the guilty taketh the truth to be

hard'. I hope tevery missionary left that meeting feeling sufficiently

pricked, all of us feeling the pain of it in different areas of our

souls and if their resolve to repent wasn't as immediate as mine, I

really hope it is now. For the record I left that meeting feeling

confused, offended and less than edified. Since then, I have pondered,

prayed and fasted about the message Elder Holland gave and I have now

realised just how inspired and on point he actually was. He didn't

waste time on tell us the things we did know, he didn't talk about any

program, initiative or teaching method. He spoke about his conversion

and our conversion, what it meant, what it should mean and what the

fruits of it should be. He spoke directly about the effect a mission

should have on a young man or young woman and declared is pain,

confusion and lack of empathy for those who stray after coming home.

What struck me about him was just how brilliant his mind is, he is

scarily fast and quick witted - which also effects his ability to

expound the scriptures and quickly take away the comfortable traps we

can sometimes let ourselves fall into. He was like an immunisation

jab, one of those ones where the needle is massive and the nurse is

brand new and takes no time to warn you about the incoming spike into

your unsuspecting arm and then proceeds to inject a throbbing wave of

calculated sickness which then leaves you with a short course of

discomfort and mild regret. But then what you find, is that when you

are alone on the borders of Babylon, when your downtrodden whilst

wading through the wilderness and when the mighty storms of the

adversary are trying to sink your sail boat, the sickness that could

arise within in you is muted and you realise that distinctly

uncomfortable jab in the arm has saved you from a pitfall you have

have never climbed out of. So simply, I am grateful that Elder Holland

loved us enough to hurt us, just a little bit - because I can testify

that It did and will continue to do me a world of good.

There is so many things that have happened this week and I just don't

have time to list them off to you, I really hope we have a highlight

reel in the spirit world and that our loved ones get to watch it with

us.

I love you all,

Hugs and handshakes

Elder Nolan

                       

                          
                          Departure photos - Elder David is going home.

                         Elder David, Nolan President Jordan and Elder Gore

                   

Elder David's Family waited patiently for his return ... but wait a minute isn't that Elder Nolan??

I took this last night at the Chinese dragon boat festival held at President and Sister Jordan's! It was so cool, they had a powerful testimony meeting and some delicious food

                                         Me and The Piano Guys

What a week!