I'm staying.

I found out I’m staying put for another 6 weeks! I am very excited about it. I’ve been on cloud 9 since transfer calls. AND I'm also staying with my trainer.  I'm really pumped about that as well. My trainer and I have gotten to be really close friends.  We have been on fire this week and we were hoping to stay together. I'm officially no longer a "greeny"  and it will be fun to be more involved because of that. We just added 2 new families and 3 other investigators to our teaching pool. We look forward to being able to continue to work with all of them.

I’m going to follow Sam’s example and start leaving a spiritual thought at the end of my emails.

Spiritual Thoughts about Moroni:

In my recent Book of Mormon reading I picked up something that I haven't noticed before.  First of all, Moroni is definitely one of my biggest heroes. He is such a man, and he just takes care of business. There’s this one story I particularly like in Alma chapter 62. This time through the Book of Mormon I've been taking my time and it has greatly increased my understanding. 

So, at this point in the Book of Mormon, Alma has the Lamanites on their heels and he is heading to Nephihah to take the city back. In verse 19, his plan was to take them out of the city and fight them in the Valley of Nephihah to protect the lives of the people in the city. But, the Lamanites wouldn't, because they knew the strength of Moroni's army. That night, they all went to bed and planned to fight the next day. But while everyone else went to sleep, Moroni, the Chief Captain of the Nephite army, climbed up the wall and went to the extra effort to personally find out where the weak points were. Obviously, that was the job of the scouts and not a job expected of the Chief Captain. But as the story goes, the Nephites were informed where the weak points of the Lamanite forces were and went in by night, and took over the city. Without even one soldier losing his life.

Sure, Moroni knew he could have easily fought the next day and "leveled the Lamanites to the earth" and lost some soldiers.  But he chose a better way by going the extra mile and saved thousands of lives.

We've been taught that everything in the Book of Mormon is there for a reason.  I really found why this story was put in for me.  Not to learn how to win wars on the battlefield, but in my life.

Like the example of Moroni’s leadership, I/we need to "climb the walls in our lives” This relates to me now as a missionary.  I can be obedient, keep the rules, and have some success.  But until I am ready to climb the wall, go the extra mile, serve when I wouldn't be expected to serve... That is when I will have true success.

This principle can be applied to any responsibility in our lives. Whether it's being a husband, a father, an athlete, a brother, a son, in my profession, in my calling as a missionary or anything else, it is key.

We can't settle being mediocre.

That's all I have for the week.

Love you all!

Elder Nelson