Matthew Nielsen

Initially I didn't know whether I wanted to serve a mission for my church. I needed to feel strongly about it. So I went through a process of careful pondering and searching. It was during the summer leading up to my senior year in high school that I came to know that I should go. I was with my cousin in Palmyra, New York. And we happened to be in the "Sacred Grove", a remote clearing of farmland that is very special to Latter-Day Saints. I remember praying earnestly to God and asking him to tell me whether I should go on a mission. The response was unmistakeable. I KNEW that I had to go. I later received a mission call to serve the people in Brazil for two years. I leave on this great adventure on October 8, 2014.