5 Guys

Hey Everyone,

How are you doing?

Watford continues to be the adventure I had been hoping for, we are teaching so many great people and some of the most interesting people I have met on my mission. Elder Hutchins is one of them, its funny, everyone in the mission was shocked when we got put together and even President was tentative about it as we are well known for speaking our mind and taking the lead, which is fine. Me and Elder Hutchins have always said that we would get along fine if we served together but we have been repeatedly told that we would kill each other. Alas, we are getting on more than well, its like serving with a friend I have known for years. We deduced that when a decision is to be made, we don't want it to be done OUR way, we just want it to be done the RIGHT way. I told Elder Hein that the only reason we ever had a problem is because he had a dumb idea ;) haha Just kidding, glory be to the Father. 

So the band is back baby! Its great to be back with my favourite missionaries, its funny how we are all zone leaders now, we have a real sense of camaraderie and we sound better than last year. It's me, Hutchins, David, Hein, Adriano, and a few other newbies who are really great. Hutchins trained Adriano and David, Hein trained me, Hutchins and Hein were trained by the same father, David and Adriano served together as did me and David, me and Adriano are in the same group, and all of us except Adriano were born in London North! Mission buddies are special and I know that these guys will be friends for life. 

This week there was a bittersweet experience as one of the Elders in our zone chose to go home after 5 months. We tried everything to keep him, went for lunch with him, called him, they even got locked out of their flat so we had him and his companion stay with us. 6 men in a two man flat. We asked him some of the most hard hitting questions you could think of but he was just wrapped up in his own world. The trouble is that he has not experienced anything difficult before in his life and the moment he has stepped out of his comfort zone he was looking for the gap to walk straight back in. I was really sad to see him go, because I know the things he is missing out on. Hopefully he will wise up and come back out. On the other hand, we got a great young missionary as his replacement who was trained by Elder Farley so you know he is good. This zone has some of the best missionaries in the world and I feel so blessed to be serving with them. 

We have 20 people on date in the zone and 4 in our area right now. We are teaching people from all over the Globe. Last week we had a special conference with Elder Herbertson of the seventy. I really enjoyed it. After the general meeting all the zone leaders and sister training leaders met with him and in the meeting we had about 11 different countries being represented, so cool. The England London Mission is such a mixing pot and I just love it. 

We are about to move into a new flat, right now we are staying with Elder Duncan and Doucet, we are on the floor in the front room, things are a little hectic and cramped but I am happy. The shower is amazing and we have a balcony which I love. Every Morning, after getting dressed I go out, look at the great view and pray. It is a really sweet and spiritual experience. I feel closer to God when I am marvelling at his creations, and at 7.30 in the morning the sky is often mesmerizing. 

I love you all,

Hugs and Handshakes,

Elder Nolan

 

The Only Way is Essex!

STOP PRESS ELDER NOLAN HAS BEEN TRANSFERRED 

Hey!

I am off to the blessed land of Essex, to the Maldon ward! 

It's gonna be a 'reem' transfer for sure. 

I will write a much more thorough update as this keyboard is so bad it is giving me back ache ha!

Just tried to upload photos and the computer nearly crashed haha! 

Until monday!

Hugs and Handshakes 

Elder Nolan

Ps. I think this means I am sadly out of the band for a term!

News Update 10th March 2014

Ready for a baptism!

All over London! Thanks!

Me, laura, curtis and Farley

All the people confirmed on sunday with the missionaries

Hey

How has your week been?

Our Friend Laura Puiul was baptised and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints this weekend. It has been such a wonderful journey for her and us since we met her just 6 weeks ago. It has been such a blessing to observe and guide Laura as she has progressed towards baptism and the Lord has been involved intimately, making things happen and telling his missionaries what to do at the exact time it needed to be done. We have all grown together.

My personal  testimony of the truthfulness and divine power of the Book of Mormon has developed into a fortified conviction that this sacred record, that binds our Faith together is truly the work of Prophets called of God and that 'If you believe not in these words, then believe in Christ, and if ye Believe in Christ, ye shall believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ'. I love the Book of Mormon and I love sharing it with the people we meet.

Throughout Laura's teaching, the seed of Faith within her has been nourished by the life giving light of the Book of Mormon; Combined with the Spirit and the growing Light of Christ within her, we have seen a witness of truth begin to descend upon her soul which has brought her to the noble valley of repentance, and as she emerged the Lord welcomed her into the waters of baptism.

So, major miracle this morning. It's p day and so we began our day with a game of football with the district. On the tube home, we found that we had walked in to the shop of a humble european woman. She walked up and down the carriage placing tissue packets on the seats with a note explaining her domestic situation (probably to attract more custom) with an invite to purchase the packet of tissues. I was immediately impressed by the initiative and I really didn't care if the story on the paper was true. I emptied my pockets and exchanged the contents for the packet of tissues. The woman walked by myeand was seemingly pleased by my custom and as she began to leave the impression came that she was Romanian and so I asked her how she was in her native tongue. She smiled and replied and then began to converse with me a little. I got through it and we established that our roots in Romania aren't to far from each other. She then walked on and was greeted by another Romanian (Raluca) in the carriage, who then begins to talk to me and before you know it its a full blown Romanian reunion. Sadly, my level of communication in the Latin language was too basic to carry on so I had to admit that I was actually English and that if any more 'get to know you' chat was to continue it would have to be done in my native tongue. We got to our stop and Raluca was leaving also. We carried on our conversation up and out of the station and I told her that I was a missionary for the Church and asked her about her relationship with God. We ended the conversation with a prayer, the swapping of details and we are seeing her on Saturday! Bravo! This is another testimony of how the Lord works. He played at my love of 'if you dont ask you dont get'. If the Romanian woman had not brought her business to the tube there would have been no purchase of tissues. If I had not bought those tissues there would have been no conversation, no conversation - no reunion, no reunion - no prayer, no prayer - no daughter of God finally receiving the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am reminded of Alma 'By small and simple means doth the Lord confound the wise and bring about the salvation of many souls' (Thanks Grandad).

London North is a blessed Land. 3 people were confirmed on sunday, two were given the Aaronic Priesthood and two Recent converts were advanced to the Melchizedek Priesthood. The Gospel is good.

I love you all,

Hugs and Handshakes,

Elder Nolan

White Men Can't Jump?

Ward Mission Leader took us for a curry! Oh how I've missed it!

                              

Hello everyone!

How are you doing?

The sun is out in London finally! Me and Elder Farley have been in a tag team match with Wind and his friend Rain these past two weeks. They got us on the mat a few times but we ploughed through and sent them both packing. Probably back to Manchester. Ha! The wind down here is definitely more powerful than back home though and finding people to teach in this concrete metropolis has been difficult but we have still be blessed with miracles!

The Lord still sends people who are prepared to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ to his less than inadequate missionaries. It amazes me how it works and seeing how people’s lives change because of the things that we tell them is something I still can’t comprehend. We had a lesson with Laura last week on the Plan of Salvation. We put her faith and ours to the test and we gave her the reading material for the lesson at the previous lesson we had and challenged her to study it and then teach US the next time. We met in a Baskin Robbins ice cream parlour and used the table we’d taken to place on it cartoon cut outs of each step of the Plan and then let her expound. It was so profound. She understood the whole Spirit of the Plan, she emphasized the need for the Fall of Adam and testified of the essentiality of Christ’s Atonement. She ended her presentation with the conclusion that ‘God is such a good guy’! Indeed he is. This episode illustrates just how active the Spirit of God is within our lives. Whilst me and Elder Farley have taught and testified to Laura of the Truthfulness of Christ’s Gospel, whilst we have been praying and planning for her and whilst we have been busy with all the other things Missionaries do, The Spirit has been carrying the Gospel into the depths of Laura’s Heart and has witnessed to her whole soul that the things she has been learning are True. This is the beauty of missionary work and is another reminder that this truly isn’t out work; it is unquestionably the Lord’s.  (Just to add, laura brings with her to each lesson and pen and pad. She uses this to write down everything we tell her and to record and remember all the questions she has after studying herself. You can imagine how long some of our lessons have been. She is great.)

So fun story; Me and Elder Farley went to visit a less active just south of Hampstead heath, he wasn’t in but we talked to his neighbour and left a note on his door saying we called by and to call us when he gets home; to our astonishment he did and we are seeing him this week! Hurrah! Anyway back to the fun story, so when we were walking back from Fernandos (the less active) we found ourselves a heavily populated basketball court. It was filled with teenagers of all backgrounds and we could see that some of them were infact ‘Ballers’ (correct term used for someone who can successfully bounce a ball from left hand to right and not look a fool whilst in the process.) ha So we saw an opportunity. I don’t think Elder Farley saw the same thing as I did, but we found ourselves both walking towards the court. I quickly became the Promoter for my Humble Utahn companion and challenged the slightly confused teens to decide which of them was the best ‘Baller’ within their group. Reason being; I had a ‘skinny white kid from Utah’ who thinks he can ball wanting a one-on-one match with one of you punks. Little did they know that Elder Farley was indeed a ‘Baller’, a very good one. One of them came forth and confidently agreed to the death match. What ensued was like something out of a film. This was the sequel to ‘White Men Can’t Jump’ with the added caption ‘Unless they’re Mormon’ . Elder Farley straight up dunked on this kid and was dropping 3 pointers for fun. The reaction from the teens was priceless. They were freaking out and it brought such huge smiles to their faces! Elder Farley however was sensitive to what was happening and consequently let the 15 year old giant he was facing ultimately win the one on one, he didn’t want his friends to tease him endlessly about being beat by the ‘Skinny white kid from Utah’! ha. After the match Elder Farley preceded to dunk according to the demands of the teens and in the process he gained the respect of them all. So much so that they began to refer to him as ‘Utah!’. Obviously the goal of this was not just to parade the basketball talents of my companion to the world but to make a connection with a group we normally don’t run into on our usual day. We talked a little bit about the Gospel before we left and gave them all pass along cards. They may not be ready for the Gospel now, but in years to come they will remember the experience they had with the missionaries and who knows what could happen.

We had interviews with our mission President this week and it was such a blessed experience. I really know that President Jordan Loves us all and is so invested in helping us progress as missionaries. He gave us such great insights and answered with clarity the questions we all had. He is someone that I would confidently follow into battle and I guess that’s we are essentially doing in the England London Mission.

I love you all

Hugs and Handshakes

Elder Nolan

PS. I turn 21 this week and I am gradually coming to terms with it. 9 years to 30 is all I will be thinking about come Thursday . 

This is the only photo we have of Elder Nolans 21st birthday - His parcel before it was sent to him!!

News from the field 19th February 2014

Hey everyone!

How are you?

I’m sorry it’s been so long, things have been a little crazy!

I’m staying in London North for another transfer with Elder Farley and to be honest I am really quite happy about it; the thought of packing all my things made me crease at the sides ha! Not the fact that we have a great area with lots of work to do. Also to report, London North district baptized 4 people in 5 weeks and we have two more on date, Andrew and Laura. Laura is from Romania (she is extremely offended that I do not speak Romanian) and is on date for the 9^th of March; she is progressing so well. Too well sometimes; each commandment we have taught her, she has just accepted and committed to living it. She has come from an orthodox background but was seemingly not very orthodox… I always find it funny when people tell us that they’re ‘orthodox’ and then begin to tell us of how unorthodox they have been living, making their previous testimonial of orthodoxy an heretical paradox. Hehe. Anyway, Laura is wonderful and Me and Elder Farley feel really blessed to be teaching her. She is at a point where she really wants to make big changes in her life and she loves how the Spirit makes her feel. Please say a pray for her welfare J

London North ward got two more sister missionaries this transfer and so seeing as the majority of our teaching pool was single women we decided it would be a good idea if we handed them off to the new sisters. We now have a very small teaching pool haha Ellie and Akram will be able to have regular visits now and I’m really excited for them.

So as a flat we have entered into what is called ‘Purification’, where we fast from certain habits that poke at our spirit for 40 days with the intention of becoming missionaries that have the spirit with them all the time. These habits range from Getting to bed on time to prematurely thinking about what’s for dinner to fantasizing about the new highlighter pack Tesco have started to stock (Missionaries get weird man). So we write 10 of these things down during a physical fast and then bring them to the Lord and consecrate our performance to Him. I’ve already felt a difference. At the same time I started this Mental Fast I began to ponder on what it means to be a Son of God and how strongly I even believed I was. In the past I have sang the song ‘I am a child of God’ and have felt of the peace and Spirit that it brings, however I haven’t previously asked myself what that actual fact means to me. From prayer and my studies I have started to understand the character and nature of our Heavenly Father and comprehend his greatness and power. He is the governing force of Creation and Order throughout the entire Universe. He stands at the head of the bow of Progression, leading us all to one day become like Him. In every moment He is perfect, He has perfect Judgment, perfect Knowledge, perfect Love and He is our Father. That is quite a powerful thought and I wonder if we will ever fully understand what that means. With this knowledge we then understand that we have the capacity to do anything as ‘the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children then Heirs, Heirs of God’ when we understand that we are ‘Heirs’ of God, we begin to understand our true potential and will not be able to ‘sin so cheaply’. We feel a greater desire to repent, an increase of love towards one another and we begin to see just how much He loves us. With this new understanding of our heavenly origin, we will delight in sharing the gospel of truth with our fellow brothers and sisters as we will remember that they too are heirs of God, despite where they might be at this moment.

I know that I am a Son of God and I know that He loves me. If I don’t learn anything else on my mission, I will always be happy in the knowledge of these things. I know that if we all knew this then the world would indeed be a very different place; however there is someone who doesn’t want us to know of our true nature. He would have us define ourselves by our mistakes and our past. 

He would make us feel like there is no use in being good when everyone else around us is seemingly being bad. He would have us believe that forgiveness is something that cannot take place and that we must feel the guilt of our actions for the rest of our lives. He does not want us to believe that we are the Sons and Daughters of God; who is infinitely more powerful than he. Do not believe it. Believe that you are a Child of God and that He loves you more than you could ever know.

In other news, the band traveled up to Ely, Cambridge this weekend. I got to drive the van again. Ely is Elder Farley’s last ward and so it was a really great experience for him to see some of the people he had to leave. We played in the centre of town and next to no-one stopped to listen ha! We then had a gig to play in ‘The Beet Club’ and we played really well. Being the only Englishman, I was assigned to introduce ‘Jerusalem’ and it went down a treat. We sang it twice so that the audience could join in. The Spirit in the room was very strong and it has never felt so good to make other people cry! President hopes to send us down to Canterbury which I’m really looking forward to.

I’m so grateful to be serving here in London and with such great missionaries. I’m humbled by their example and dedication to the work. I love all of you and I am so thankful for the support that I have felt and the prayers that have been answered.

I’m sorry for my lack of contact recently; I’m really not too good at emailing fast!

Hugs and Hand Shakes

Elder Nolan

27th of January Update

 London bridge Book of Mormon musical style

Forgot about this Anchorman Tribute...

Drums with Medhi Wooooop

Sweet view from Muswell Hill

Hey,

How are you all doing?

This week has probably been the hardest of my mission so far. Since we baptized our progressing investigators it has been a time of rebuilding and I have been quickly reminded how hard missionary work actually is. Plus I have finally had the 'I really miss home' moment. I only allowed myself a few minutes to be homesick and now I feel fine. J

This week has come with miracles though, so I really shouldn't complain. Elder Farley shared something with me which I really appreciated at the time. This was on Saturday night after every appointment except one, either cancelled or wasn't home when we stopped by. We were walking to Tesco to find tasty treats to ease the pain and Elder Farley said 'There is a difference between bad and hard days on a mission. This is a hard day; a bad day is when you go all day without feeling the Spirit.'  It really soothed me! I've been thinking about it and I cannot remember having a 'bad' day in the past 4 and a bit months.

So, Mehdi is doing great and yesterday his girlfriend Nicole attended church and has told us she is ready to learn about the Gospel. We have been purposefully holding back a little with her and have focused on her getting to know us rather than ambush her with doctrine. We want to make sure she is doing this for herself. She is really cool though and the way she has supported Mehdi has been exemplary. We went round yesterday and as Mehdi left the room to make us Virgin Mary's (I'll let you work that out) Nicole asked us some great questions and it really opened my eyes. She asked 'What makes you different from mainstream Christianity?' 'Are the suits you wear uniforms given to you?' and 'Do you go two by two because of Noah and the Ark?' She was so genuine and it taught me a lesson. I think I have fallen in to the trap of perceiving that everyone knows what we are about and that they already understand the scriptures and so what we share shouldn't be so different to what they already know.  So me and Elder Farley were both humbled by it and I'm glad it's happened now and not at the end of my mission!

We visited a recent convert called Mikko this week, originally from Finland and brought up in Judaism. His conversion story is so wonderful and President Jordan had to help teach him because of how much he already knew! He invited us round this week for cookies, herbal tea and deep doctrine. We discussed the King Follet sermon given by Joseph Smith at Kings Funeral. Crikey. Pre mission I was all for plunging in to the depths of the scriptural abyss but since I've had a tag, I've been strictly focusing on the basics. I forgot how awesome it is! It was such a great discussion and we stuck to what the scriptures say!

The district sang in sacrament meeting this week, 'Armies of Helaman' and we sounded really good. The Spirit is always really strong when that song is sung and many of the congregation were visibly feeling it.

So now I'm off to band practice again, we have a performance coming up which is in Elder Farley's old area and he wants to come so bad.

I love you all,

Hugs and Hand shakes

Elder Nolan

I found the shorter version of this quote in my room the other night…

Good timber does not grow with ease,

The stronger wind, the stronger trees.

The further sky, the greater length.

The more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, by rain and snow,

In trees and men good timbers grow

Virgin Mary'

20th of January Update

Me, Mehdi and Farley

Random Chinese lady #1, me, Random Chinese lady #2, London Eye

Sweet silhouette sunrise big ben photo

'Samoan' (legendary missionary meal, apparently), Diet coke, Title of Liberty

Our new Flat, Me reading a (not missionary approved) book

Hello! Wow what a week. Mehdi Karimi, my best friend in London was baptised on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I had the honour of performing the ordinance and it was one of the most powerful experiences. I have been blessed with to see someone who I have grown to love and respect take that great step and make his first covenant with God.

We have observed the symptoms of a changing heart at each stage of the teaching process with Medhi. He has a great faith in Jesus Christ and the reality of his atonement; He has a profound awareness the effect of righteous living on his personal happiness and well being. I admire him for his courage and his commitment to the gospel; He has just quit his job as a cocktail artist as he has recognised the difficulty of working in such an environment and being worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost. He is another testament to that fact that the Gospel of Jesus Christ compels men everywhere to change and 'to putteth off the natural man and become a saint' through his grace. Again, I feel completely humbled by the power that the Gospel possesses and the liberating effect it has upon the children of God. I could write about Mehdi all day, so I'll stop there.

In other news, we had an amazing miracle happen last week. Last transfer Elder Hein contacted a girl woman called Eli, another Iranian Christian. We set an appointment to meet but she had to cancel last minute and we hadn't heard from her since then. About 2 weeks ago Elder Farley and I contacted a woman outside a Persian restaurant, also an Iranian Christian called Akram who attends the Iranian church in Finchley. We had a lovely lesson with her outside the restaurant, she told us of her family and their mutual faith in Jesus Christ. We swapped details and have been trying to arrange a date to meet again. So, last Friday we made some calls to try and set some appointments and Eli miraculously answers and agrees to meet at the chapel. We meet at the chapel and have a wonderful lesson with her along with a church tour. We begin to talk about family and she mentions her mother and her influence on her. We ask the name of her mother and she says 'akky', instantly we respond 'is that short for akram?' 'Yes', 'do you live at 11 roman road?' 'Yes' 'woooooooooooow'! We were teaching the daughter of the woman we met outside the Persian restaurant, the daughter who she had spoken so fondly about and the desire she had for her to more fully commit to Christ. We have been praying for a family and Heavenly Father provided in a way which I would have thought near impossible. There are about one million people in our area and the chances of separately finding two members of an Iranian family, who both want to increase their faith in Jesus Christ is a statistic that I don't even want to think about. All I know is that it happened and it was orchestrated by the Lord himself. continue to be amazed by how closely our Heavenly Father watches over his children.

This mission is teaching me to be humble, to be aware of just how finite my mind is and to accept guidance from above without question or doubt. 'Do not be afraid, only believe'. He is there and He is active in our lives, He has our best interests at heart; what He needs from us is for us to trust Him. We have to let Him work with us and be malleable in His masterful Hands. I love you all and I feel the effect of your prayers, thank you. Please continue praying for those receiving the Gospel and share it with those who need it (everyone).

 Hugs and Handshakes, Elder Nolan

13th of January Update

Hey!

How are you doing?

Man, this week has been so tiring. Me and Elder Farley really have to soldier on through daily planning when we get home. Ughh. But I guess this is missionary work? And I guess that those feelings of exhaustion and fatigue are what cause us to sleep with a smile on our face.

So, we have some news to announce.... Angela was baptised and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints this weekend. I performed the baptism and Elder Farley the confirmation in which she received a wonderful blessing. The spirit was so powerful on Saturday to the point that Elder Mitchell and Nielsen's investigator concluded that they wanted to be baptised also. How great is that? The day did not come without its fair share of curve balls though, but it was nothing a Priesthood Blessing couldn't deflect. Angela then struggled to relax in the font as she has a slight fear of immersion, so I told her to 'trust me' and to 'just sit down'. This worked wonderfully J

Her sons were at the meeting and I finally saw them with their guard let down, they felt the Spirit and we are now teaching Naheim, Angela's 12 year old so please say a prayer for him!

It's so humbling to see how the Lord works and when I've observed how well his plan's come together I realise how minimal my part has been. And yet with this thought of being a very small instrument in the Master's hand, I still feel greatly blessed by the things that I have learnt and experienced as Angela has made her first covenant with Him.

Now onto the next one! Medhi is to be baptised on Saturday 12^th, he is preparing himself brilliantly and so please pray for him. And his girlfriend now wants to meet with us and they have already had dinner at the Bishops house! Whoop!

We had an amazing experience last Wednesday when we were walking home and came across a Lady who was walking home from a day's work. She had shopping bags and so we offered to help but she declined, we then asked her about her faith in God and she said it was everything to her. As she was speaking I felt strongly that she needed a blessing. I inquired about how she was feeling and then explained who we were and the Priesthood that we held. When we asked her if she would like a blessing, she answered 'yes' with all the expression of relief you can imagine. We were in quite a private are of the street and so Elder Farley anointed her and I sealed the blessing. When the blessing ended we lifted our hands to find a humble face laced with tears. As she opened her eyes she immediately asked, 'Can I come to your church?' She then began to express how she has been struggling with depression and how her health has been on the decline. She also told us of her struggles at work as we walked her home. We met her husband and taught him a little about the Gospel. We have exchanged details and will be seeing her this week. The Priesthood is not only the power to heal the physical pains of the world, it is the power given to us from heaven to heal broken spirits and to rescue wayward souls. Nancy felt the Power of God manifest in the hands of His young servants. Neither of which have the wisdom or understanding necessary to fully comprehend his glory, yet he loves us and trusts us enough to involve us in 'bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man'.

In other news the Band is alive and kicking again, we had our first practice today. It has been modified to a manageable number of missionaries who can all fit in the mission van which will hopefully be driven by me! I got to see Elder Hein today which was fun and we are singing a song together called 'Be thou my vision'.

 Also last week we had Zone conference and it was great. I really love zone conference, man. Earlier in the week I had written in my Journal 'buy a ukulele' and then a couple of days later sister Jordan calls with an assignment to 'buy a ukulele', can someone explain? Haha. Anyway it transpired that the music shop was not in my area and so it was reassigned to another Elder. However, I still had to learn how to play the song 'How can I be?' This proved difficult without a ukulele at hand, but like Nephi I tried to come to the Father with solutions before I asked him for help and realised that the dimensions of my phone and the fret board of the ukulele were very similar and so practice commenced, and after listening the this song for the 100^th (exaggeration) I felt confident that I could transfer my skills from the phone to the real thing. Thankfully it worked and I, Elder David, Larsen and Adriano performed the song in zone conference! The video should be up on Sister Jordan's blog soon!

So it may seem that I'm enjoying myself a bit too much but being a missionary really is the best thing. The mission on a whole is very young and so it will be interesting to see us all grow and progress into the mission the Lord knows we can be.

I love you all and I am so thankful for all the letters and packages I've received, it really means so a lot.  

Hugs and Handshakes,

Elder Nolan

6th of January 2013 Update

One page of potential investigators!

Christmas Present from the Jordan

Hello!

This will be a short one!

How is everyone? 

So we have had a great week. Angela is preparing for saturday and Medhi is on date for the saturday after wards! Medhi is Johnny the cocktail artist and he's fast becoming my best friend. He is such an amazing man. He was born a muslim in Iran. He had an experience where he knew that Jesus Christ was his saviour and because was persecuted in in his country to the point he had to flee at the age of 17. He came to england not speaking a word of the native tongue and began studying classical music at a university. He can play classical piano like no other, its so natural to him, when you watch him play its like its something that comes from inside him. He is one of those people who can do anything that he puts his mind to and now living the Gospel of Jesus Christ is next on his list. We are currently putting a plan together to find him a new job. He is so ready to be baptised and commit to Christ. He says that he has felt the light of his faith dim as he has been working in London and he has recognised the difference in his life, in his happiness when he has put Christ first. I love him. Please pray for him. He needs strength and Job oppurtunites and I've come to know that there is a direct correlation between the prayers we offer and the results we achieve, and when we pray together the results are amplified. 

Me and Elder Farley are doing great together. We study hard and work hard. And we eat ALOT! He eats more than me! He is a basketballer, a very good one, but if only he had played football from a young age. He's got the legs of a Bull and he's a lefty. Americans marvel at the 'wonders' my feet can do with a ball. haha. They aren't too impressed at what my hands can do though. Basketball just feels completely wrong to me. I tried to dunk the other day and in the act, pulled an abdominal muscle. I didn't dunk it either. Stupid game. haha Its a lot of fun to watch some of these Americans play it though, they're very good. 

So until next week my friends. 

I love you all,

Hugs and Handshakes

Picture Time

Watching "Despicable Me" Christmas 2013 

Hein & Nolan December 2013 before transfers

Christmas Gants 2013

11.11.13 Went to Gelato waiting for transfer news

Jonny the Cocktail Artist Dec2013

Nov 2013 Zone Conference 2

Pass along card mania Christmas 2013

The London North Zone Dec  2013

Tube home from Christmas Show Dec 2013

Happy New Year - New year update

One of the seven packages!

We had a sleep over on Christmas!

 My new quilt!

We put this togethr for krissy one of our less actives :) 

they had no green trees left at tesco!

Happy New Year!

Christmas was so good! We watched a tonne of films and skyping home was amazing. Thank you all so much for the gifts and letters I received. It really made my first Christmas as a missionary special and I wouldn't change it for the world.

So New years in London is amazing! We were on the banks of the Thames witnessing the Eye shoot thousands of fancy fireworks into London town's already heavily polluted atmosphere. We saw all the festive delights come to a majestical close as the shift from 2013 – 2014 commenced. Just kidding, we are missionaries of the Lord Jesus Christ and we were tucked up in bed resting after a hard day of labour! Hehe

We had to be in our flats for 7 as the celebrations can get pretty crazy so we've heard. Apparently a mouse was found on a bus last year wearing a crown with its fur shaved reading 'God save the queen through 2013' (copywright Elder Nolan)

So we came home early and wound down whilst watching a film called 'The Testaments' it was pretty good.

Me and Elder Farley are doing great! He is a good missionary, very orderly and obedient which I exactly what this flat needed! He said he needs to learn how to be bold, so it looks like he's in the right place. He came from Ely and was Elder Gore's companion for the last transfer. We have already had some great studies and teaching experiences and so I'm really excited for this transfer. We also have a baptism on the horizon! Wooooohooooooooo! Angela is getting baptised! She is doing great as she prepares so please pray for her. She wants to set the example for her boys. Her aunt is a member in Jamaica and so she has known about the church for a long time. She has received the spiritual witness that the next step in her life is to be baptised and commit to Christ. It's just wonderful. I'll send a copy of the program when it's finished.

I'm beginning to understand my role as a missionary. This has progressed as I have started to really understand prayer. I always felt it awkward to ask Heavenly Father for help with an investigator when the whole point of us teaching that person was so that they could return to God anyway. I thought that Heavenly father would just fill in all the gaps regardless of my faith in asking him to. But as I have come to understand prayer and how it works, I'm starting to understand the whole concept of being a missionary. The Lord could quite easily 'pour out his Spirit' upon the whole world and people would be flocking to the font. He could have people knocking on our door trying to set appointments with us. He could make sure that we have a 100% success rate with every person we talk to and we could sit back and be spectators of this marvellous work. However, although at first it would seem logical and easy, there would be no growth, there would be no faith and there would be no experience for both the missionary and the individuals we are teaching. This is wholly and completely the Lord's work and in his mercy and love for us he has given us the opportunity to play a part in. He has given us the tools and methods to bring souls unto Christ whilst in the meantime we are saving our own. This sacred process of 'forgetting yourself and going to work' was taught by Jesus Christ himself 'He who shall lose his life shall save it'. When we put our faith in God and put our hearts to work we see a change, not only in others around us but mostly within ourselves. As I have tried to thank Him for every blessing we have seen in the field I am filled with joy and the spirit as it eradicates any notion that I am responsible for any success we are having. And if we don't have success even though we have tried our best and have exercised faith, it  simply means that the agency of other is in action and with this, feelings of despair and guilt are muted.

I have so much yet to learn in these short 21 months left and I feel so blessed to be in the London North ward at this time. I'm blessed to have Elder Farley as my companion and we are going to have a great transfer together.

I love you all,

Hugs and Handshakes

Elder Nolan

Ps. If Elder Hein's family read this, please tell him I love him and that his beautiful face has a place in my wallet. He also left his memory foam pillow on my window sill as a surprise for when I got home after I gave him grief for not giving it to me in person. What a man. I'm also sorry about the Glitter incident, he told me of the pain it caused (him and you), I had no idea he had an actual phobia! Haha Happy New year Hein family!

Christmas Update

Christmas Greetings!

Christmas as a missionary is wonderful! We've all had such an amazing time and have made some great memories! 

How has your Christmas been? 

So, we came to the chapel this morning to receive the moves calls as a district and whilst we waited for the call we watched the second half of 'The Muppets' movie and we also watched The sound of music! how good is that film?! 

Anyway, we got the call and....I'm staying! Woohoo, my new companion is Elder Farley, another Utahn! Elder Hein is going to the St. Albans ward as district Leader, Elder David is going to hyde park as district leader and Elder Mitchell is staying!! It feels so strange to have people moving, we've all gotten so comfortable with each other and we've become like a family! 

I'm excited for this new transfer, it's going to be a good learning experience both spiritually and geographically as I can no longer rely on the navigational skills of my Father. 

So yeah. Everything is good. I'll send a longer update on monday but we have quite a few things to do today! 

I love you all!

Thank you so much for all the letters and packages, they mean a heck of a lot to me, I WILL reply in due time.

Hugs and Handshakes,

Elder Nolan

Ps. I love the quilt! all of those who donated time and effort, thankyou! My mission presidents wife is going to love it ha ha 

16th December Update

 Me and Elder David (White) and Mitchell (Brown) 

Missing Picture

Me and SIster Rainsley, she brings me prawn mayo sandwiches to the church on tuesdays as she knows they're my fave. I love her!

Me eating our favourite kebab. 3.50 for chicken chips and a drink! bargain in London!

This is us with Allar, he's from estonia. He had an accident a few years back and shouldnt be here he told us last time. He's off to estonia for christmas and is planning on telling his family about the gospel. He's slowly working towards baptism. Prayers are welcomed :)

Greetings!

How are you all doing?

Apologies for my lack of communication lately!

Christmas in London is already a sweet experience, all my Christmas shopping was purchased on a market stall in Camden town, boom. If you don’t already know I really dislike shopping so this was a blessing!  The decorations around the city are looking great and there is a real Christmas atmosphere in the air.

So, something we do in the Mission is a little exercise called ‘Mind the Gap’ in which we teach a certain point of doctrine with a scripture and an inspired question and this all has to be done in 2 minutes. The points come from PMG and everything we need to teach is broken down into 12 weeks so we can practice them 4 times a day and by the end of 12 weeks have it remembered. SO, this week we had a visit from Elder Dyches of the seventy. The chapel was filled with half of the mission, senior couples, President and Sister Jordan and Elder Dyches and his wife. Elder Riki one of the AP’s was conducting the meeting and as he began the announcements I receive a premonition of what is about to happen. Elder Nolan will be giving a ‘gap’ training on the ‘book of Mormon; another testament of Jesus Christ’.  Lo and behold, this becomes a reality. I have not reached this in my 12 week course and so the panic set in. Time seemed to stop. I looked to Elder Hein for some kind of fatherly support and all he could say to me was ‘Moroni 10’, this was not the scripture to be used in the training. ‘Elder Nolan’ I hear coming from the stand. It’s do or die time, so I walk up to the stand, I see Elder Dyches’ huge smile and for some reason it doesn’t help. I get to the stand and start trying to find the scripture I’m using and it seems as the Book of Mormon I’ve been reading wasn’t the one in my hands. Anyway, I begin and get through my 2 minute testimony of the BoM. I feel President Jordan’s hand on my shoulder and he asks the congregation ‘what did you like about Elder Nolan’s gap?’ They were very kind and liked that I described it (BoM) as a fruit of Joseph Smith. President Jordan then went over the points and it was clear that I had missed more than a few haha He asked the congregation what I should do to improve to which I replied ‘Study the points!’  Elder Dyches Shook my hand and said I did great. Now, the plus side to this story now is that I know that point of doctrine from top to bottom with the scripture etched on my soul!

After the meeting, Elder Tobia came to me and informed me that he was the one who constructed the agenda for the meeting and frighteningly said to me ‘that is what you get for beating me at stick pole!’ haha

Elder Dyches’ gave us some great insights into working with members and told us the parable of the Oranges.

So, this week was the ward Christmas party. All the missionaries in the ward were at the chapel on Saturday morning for the English class we hold. Me and Elder Hein were teaching Margarita and had a wonderful experience with her. We chose to watch the talk ‘We will never walk alone’ by president Monson and it was perfect for her at the time. We had no idea what it was about or that it was in the Relief Society session we just felt it was the right one! SO, Dasoulla turns up at the chapel with all the food for the Ward Party. Stacks of it. Then just as she begins to prepare it she gets the call that her daughter is going into labour! Ha! So she has to shoot and in panic asks the Missionaries to supervise the situation. The other sister who was supposed to be coming also had a family crisis and so the London North missionaries have to come to the rescue. I wasn’t impressed at all. No one was picking up their phone and we had missionary work to do! Thankfully our appointments cancelled and we could get on with the job. We did such a great Job. The sister missionaries ran the kitchen and the Elders sorted the music and decorations. I somehow ended up in the middle and cut up peppers, rolled ham, rolled cheese, made salad, cut bread, covered all the food with foil ( which Americans can’t seem to understand why) and made a reservoir of fruit punch! We had to transport this bowl of punch from the kitchen to the hall and it was the most stressful part of my mission haha! The sister’s were the ones that made everything happen though. Hats off to them.  Now, this situation was annoying at first, but then we saw it as an opportunity. We tried to see the situation as Ammon would see it. We were ready to smite the arms off this Christmas Party so to speak. And we did. In turn I really feel the ward trusts us a lot more and on Sunday we had members asking to come teaching with us and inviting us round for dinner to teach their friends! What a great blessing! We really showed that we are here to serve in ANY way we can. I wasn’t too happy we had to clean up as well though haha Elder Hein will account of his escapades as the friendly Neighborhood Spider-man. I'm way proud of him for this.

So we had Margarita and Angela at church and they both loved it. Please pray for them over this period as they are so close to being baptized they just need that extra strength to commit to the Lord. J

Sunday night we performed at Hyde Park for the last time as the Choir. I thought it was our best performance as well. I’ve really enjoyed performing and it’s been a really unique experience to have as a missionary. I’m really thankful for the talents Heavenly Father gives each of us and how even if we aren’t very good at something we can still enjoy doing it. I hope you’ve enjoyed the songs we recorded. WE recorded in the chapel and when we were warming up last night in the basement we realized we recorded in the wrong room haha

So I’m still happy and enjoying myself even though this week has been hard at times, appointments falling through and the heavens have felt more distant than usual. I guess we need to work harder, ey?

Helaman 5:12

I love you all,

Hugs and Handshakes,

Elder Nolan

Note from the "Editor" seems like everyone, we didn't get the pictures 
Elder Nolan thinks he sent :)
Update 18/12/13 all but one picture found and added