Monday, December 9, 2013

December 9th, 2013

3:29 PM
To: Mark and Diane Nelson
Well i havent gotten any mail from you this week. but it has been a great last week here in Eureka. Yes, I am once again being transferred. I'm heading to Vacaville 1st ward I can't say I'm very happy or excited but I'm sure that will change when I get there. I always leave right as things start booming. It's lame. And once again I am leaving before Christmas so that is also a bummer. When I told bishops wife that I was leaving she started crying haha. I love this area and ward and people. It has been so much fun and we have done so much work. And now it's on to the next one. Well anyways I won't waste your time hearing about how dumb getting transferred is sometimes.
      This week was so fun. I got to spend it with elder Cartwright and we drove all over haha. As I said last week we went to crescent city to exchange with the elders up there. Oh I don't know if I mentioned this but on Monday elder Cartwright and I went to a gym in arcata with a couple of free passes. Best pday of my mission. We played racquetball and basketball and lifted weights. It was great. Then we drove up to crescent and stayed the night. Tuesday and Wednesday we were on exchanges. We saw a lot of miracles and taught a ton of lessons. As we set a few dates. Pretty exciting!
      So on Thursday we went to the Medford Oregon temple! A member drove up our companions, picked us up in crescent city and we headed to the temple. It was the most spiritual experience I have had probably on my mission. I have been changed.
       We arrived at the the temple late and missed our session so instead we did initiatory. While doing them I posed a question to one of the temple workers in regards to some of the words in the initiatory. He left after that and came back and told me he has asked the temple president and the temple president gave him an answer and he gave me the answer. It was nothing special haha. But I think because I asked that question the temple pres was curious so he came out and found elder Cartwright and I sitting waiting with our names to go back into the initiatory thing. We had an opportunity to talk with him for a few moments and we posed the question, how do you gain a strong testimony of all that goes on in the temple?  He told us we just needed to keep coming back and learning and that we would come to understand more basically. But he did mention some things that were very powerful in reference to the temple itself and the purpose of temples. He said many people take for granted our
temples and treat them like a church. But they are far greater than a church. They are literally houses of god. People misunderstand the word LITERALLY. He then told us to come into his office after we had finished because he had something he felt like he needed to share with us.
       Now finally I can tell you that this is and was a defining moment in my life. For ten minutes we sat with a temple president and he taught and bore witness to us of the reality of this work and the importance of the temple. Unfortunately I cannot tell you all of what he told us. He made that clear. Before he said anything else he said , "now elders what I'm about to share with you is something I have not told very many people. It is a special and sacred experience and is not meant for the public. Only for special times when you feel prompted like I have today. He told us then a very powerful story. What I can tell you, is that the spirit was so strong. Even as I write this I am almost  brought to tears at the thought of that moment. Pres. Puente I think was his name. He bore us his personal witness of Jesus Christ, and of the ministering of angels, specifically his LITERAL Personal experience of them. It will be a cherished memory of mine forever. And it came at a pefect time in both mine and elder Cartwright life. I love the temple. It is truly the whole point of being here. To be sealed together as a family for eternity. That's it. That's the goal. That's why we are here.
     Interestingly enough,following that experience on Saturday at missionary leadership council we had our area authority and a member of the second quorum of the seventy come and teach all of us about the new family history pilot program that we are doing in our mission. We are testing out to see if it is an effective tool in missionary work! so that wil be a lot of fun. There is a very stong spirit connected with it and as missionaries we are trying to harness that spirit of elijah and use it top help non members come closer to christ. Basically what i have goten this past week is that the temple is everything. We are here on earth to go to the temple to be sealed. Not only to our families forever but to God. The GA Elder Richards specifically said we are sealed to God as well as our families when we go to the temple...I need to study that one to learn more but the spirit was strong when he said it. so i will tell you more about that as we go. They didnt tell us much just the basics and that we are to just go use it in the best way we can. Invite people to learn more. It should be sweet! 
      well, that is about it for me. ill send some pics! Love you all!! 
Elder Nelson

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