Ft. Lauderdale West 9-28-2015

The great Iguana Hunters

To start off here's a quick funny story. So, on Saturday a member took us to red robin for lunch and on the tv right in front of us was the BYU vs. Michigan game in the 1st quarter! Let's just say it wasn't too hard to tell how the game was going to end just based on the 1st quarter! ;) haha but it was still exciting to hear that you all had fun time at the game!! Also, I wanted to give a quick shout out to Grandma Nielsen! Grandma you are such a trooper! I hope you get feeling better with the knee replacement surgery! I can't imagine going through that, but just work hard through the therapy and you'll be back up in running in no time! Our mission President actually had double knee replacement right before he came here to Florida! And you can't even tell if he didn't tell you, so you can do it!!

I also want to start off with an apology because I already know this email is going to be very sub par. . . Unfortunately we spent a little bit too much doing things earlier today and now we only have a few minutes before we have to head out to start working! But this past week went by way too fast. This past weekend as a mission for the last weekend of September we had a goal of 175 Investigators at Sacrament and we were calling it "End of September the Week to Remember". And it was awesome because we actually exceeded our goal and had 182! It was the highest total since almost a year! It was so legit! And it was great because here in our area we were able to contribute 7! We had a lot of "catastrophes" happen in our area, but we were able to overcome still and help 7 people to come!

The reason why I say some "catastrophes" is because as a companionship we also decided to nickname this past week as the #weekofmanystrokes. Let me explain. So, like I explained last week we had an amazing family with the mom named Sharronda at church. We taught Sharronda this whole week and she is golden! Her family soaked up everything that we taught them and loved it all. But then on Sunday morning we go over before church just to make sure everything was good for them to come to church, and Sharronda couldn't move any of the left side of her body. . . Apparently that night she had suffered another "mini stroke" and we showed up as they were leaving to take her to the hospital! Ahhhhh! Luckily she is still ok, we called her today and she is back home and we are going to see her tonight, but please pray for her! That was stroke #1. Stroke #2, came with our other investigator a woman named Quonza. And yes I already know what you all are thinking. . . "What are these crazy names!?!" haha don't worry people in Ft. laud sometimes just come up with the craziest names! haha I love it! But anyway Quonza was amazing because her and husband had recently moved here to Ft. Laud and they were praying and looking for a new church here in Ft. laud. Her husband is a truck driver for UPS, and left for a trip on Monday, but he told her that while he was on his trip she needed to find a "home church" for their family. Then 2 days later we come knocking on their door, and Quonza knew right away that we had been sent by God! We taught her the restoration and she loved it so much! She was more excited to come to church on Sunday than anyone I've ever seen before! But then on Saturday Satan comes in swinging. . . On Saturday Q's mother up in Orlando suffered a stroke and she had to make an emergency trip up there to be with her!! Ahhhh!! Luckily her mother is ok, and she will be coming back to Ft. laud this weekend, but please keep her in your prayers as well. AND THEN, to add on top of all of that I read an email this morning from Stu saying that he had a seizure/stroke this past week and they still don't know what's going on with him! What the junk!? It truly was a #weekofmanystrokes, but I'm just so grateful that everyone is still ok and alive and moving forward! Sorry for all the 'not so positive' stories but I figured I needed to illustrate just how insanely hard Satan goes to try and stop people from receiving the gospel! And to top it all off on a good note, like I said we still had 7 Investigators at sacrament meeting this past week so God truly did compensate and we have some good things coming! Because unfortunately it's looking like I only have a few weeks left here in Ft. laud. President told me this week that he wants to send me down to be a zone leader for my last transfer to help a zone that is really struggling. So that would mean I only have 2 weeks left here.

I love you all! Have an amazing week, and above everything else, please remember that you can do all things through Christ. Just like in Mosiah 24 God promises to lighten our burdens. He doesn't promise to always make them disappear but he tells us that he will strengthen us so we can endure them! Have an amazing week!

Love,

Elder Nielsen

Companions Elder Heyward and Elder Tanner