Update

October 28- November 3, 2013

Well this week has been a pretty dang good week! Tuesday and Wednesday I did exchanges with our STL Sister Scholle. I went to Blacksburg with her and it was super fun! One of the best exchanges I have been on yet! Sister Scholle is from Logan UT so we basically know exactly were each other lives and it was so awesome because we related very well and stuff!

When I got back from exchanges I came home to find out that we had 3 new investigators that day (Robbie, Justin, Dorothy) and that one of them excepted to be baptized on December 7th!! it was so crazy and Sister Holden and Reed must have been rock stars!!

 

November 4- November 12, 2013

 Last week was good! :) on Saturday Elder Sitati from the quorum of the 70 came and talked to us in Roanoke and it was simply so awesome! He taught us great principles and I learned so much! his wife talked to us as well and expressed the importance of companionship unity. definatley something that i need to improve on even in the hard times that I have been having lately!

On Thursday we had district meeting and we got together early and did Chicken and Waffles for lunch which was pretty fun! The zone leaders Elder Hughes and Raffensparger came and they are always super fun and nice.. :)

 

November 13-20, 2013

Well this week was very interesting!! Wednesday Sister Holden and I were going to contact this referral and we were walking up onto the curb and I turned around and Sister Holden was on the ground in the middle of a pot hole that she had fallen in! haha oh my goodness, it took me a minute to realize that something was really wrong!! haha So I was like are you okay and the only thing she muttered was "my ankle" oh my gosh I just about died. Then I saw that there was blood everywhere!! It freaked me out so bad and then she started to cry and you know how I am when people cry it makes me super uncomfortable so I started LAUGHING! oh my gosh I am such a retard but then I realized that she was laughing and crying at the same time so I felt a little bit better. I went back up the road to get the car so I could pick her up and get her taken care of and it took a good ten minutes to get her to get in the car. it was so bad. We went to Ron and Mama B's to get some assistance after we realized that we had nothing to take care of this kind if situation! Sister Holden's knee looked like hamburger and she had this huge gouche in her knee that looked pretty sweet and then Ron yelled at me for touching it! haha But Sister Holden's ankle is basically broken. okay not broken I am being dramatic but she has sprained it really good! and this past week she has been resting it basically all day so it has been kinda frustrating just sitting in the apartment cancelling appointments. But This week we were suppose to study the Christlike attribute PATIENCE. ha so the lord has taught me a whole new meaning on patience this week with Sister Holden's ankle! So she is starting to use it a lot more and she is getting allot better!

And now for the even bigger news..... Drum Roll please....

I am getting transferred :) :( :) :(

if you cant figure that out i have very mixed emotions on it. I am the very bottom of the mission in Virgnia and now I am heading all the way to the very top to MORGANTOWN WEST VIRGNIA!! I am super excited because I have heard that it is basically so amazing there and I am just so excited. But on the other hand I am super heartbroken to be leaving Dublin and Pulaski! I have been here for almost 5 months and this place has basically become home to me! The member's and the families I have met here are amazing and their testimonies are such an amazing example to me!! I have grown so much!

So i keep singing to myself "I'll go where you want me to go dear lord." I am going there to try touch other lives as well.

I am going to be "Greenie-Breaking" Sister Maddox which means that she is finishing training right now so I was so relieved that I still have not had to train any missionaries yet!!  :D *knock on wood! :) 

I am so excited for this coming transfer because I am going to be back with one of my best friends Elder Hohneke! He went to Morgantown last transfer so we are gonna be having some fun in M-town!!  

 

November 21- 25, 2013

 Oh my goodness gracious! You are hearing from one excited Sister Missionary from MO-TOWN WEST VIRGINIA!!! :)  I am so happy I cant even explain my feelings right now!! hah this is a baptizing zone and we are seeing miracles here every single day! I have not felt true happiness like this in quite a while and I am just so happy!!! I love you all and I hope that this week you have a fantastic Thanksgiving! I have been thinking alot of people in the Book of Mormon who are so thankful and great examples for thanksgiving and I have though a lot about MOroni! in Alma 48 it talks about how good of a man that he is and he is always quick to be thankful to the lord for the blessing and the happiness that he recieves from the lord. So my challenge to you guys is to be thankful as Moroni is! :)

 

We have two solid investigators right now and we are expecting to see great things coming from Shea and Smitha! I am just so excited to be in Morgantown! There is 6 Companionship's in Morgantown making 12 missionaries and we are seriously just dominating this area! Baptisms are happening everywhere in West Virginia and its so exciting!! :)

 

This work is truly hastening and TIME IS RUNNING OUT!! the prophets seers and revelators have declared it! This missionary efforts are showing it! and now its time for the members to pick up there feet and do something about it!! isn't this amazing that we are members of the church during the last dispensation of a winding up period for the lord to come again?!? :)

 

People this church is true and there is no denying it!

I love you all!! :)

 

Miracle Time!! :)

 

This first week that I have been transferred to Morgantown with Sister Maddox has been full of miracles. Its truly been such an amazing experience here already! The Night I got here we went to see one of our investigators named Shea!

 

We had an amazing lesson on the importance of not only having faith but using that faith to put it to action. And it clicked for her she decided that she would use that faith to finally quit smoking! 

The following night we got a text from her saying that she had decided that the church was not something that she wanted to be involved in and that she would let us know if she decided otherwise.  Me and Sister Maddox were stuck and we didn't know how to respond, that night we text her and told her that we respected her decision, that we loved her, and that we would still like to stop by and say hi to her if that was okay.

 

All the rest of that night we prayed, studied, and thought about Shea so much and we just knew that there was more that we were able to do. The next morning there was a baptism for a little girl in the ward, we quickly text Shea and made sure that she knew she was invited to the baptism regardless of the circumstances. She text us and told us that she would be there! We were so excited!!

 

We met her there and the baptism went great! afterwards we went to say hi and asked her if she had any questions and she did, we answered them and then asked her if she would like to go sit down and talk for a little bit. She agreed and we went to sit in the foyer from there the spirit was strong and she again began to explain why she did not think that she could be involved with the church. Sister Maddox shared Alma 7: 11-13 and read a quote by President Thomas S. Monson about the importance of feeling gods love in our lives. From there Shea began to cry, we were all confused and from there I had realized that she felt VERY overwhelmed.

 

A member then came over and started sitting with us trying to comfort Shea the best that she could. The member then began to bear her testimony on the importance of feeling and recognizing the Holy Ghost and the importance of making sure that we recognize those feelings so that we can have the faith to follow the examples that have been set to be a member of the church. Shea then looked at both of us crying and said "I felt the Holy Ghost."

 

The spirit was so strong right then and there and I knew at that moment in my heart that the lord had just answered mine and Sister Maddox's many prayers from the following evening when she had dropped us. She then explained to us that she would be attending church the next day and that she knew that she needed to continue seeing with us.

 

There is so many miracles in missionary work and I am sure that there are so many that go unaccounted for and forgotten. But I know that the lord led Shea to that baptism so that she would be able to help her identify and recognize the Holy Ghost. Its truly a miracle that she is still meeting with us and I know without a doubt that she will be a member of the church one day!

 

Dallin H. Oaks said; A miracle has been defined as “a beneficial event brought about through divine power that mortals do not understand and of themselves cannot duplicate.”

 

The lord truly provides miracles.

 

November 25, - December 2, 2013

 

Well Thanksgiving week is over and I am pretty sure that I have gained ten thousand pounds from all the places that we went and ate!! haha We had three different dinner appointments one at 1 ,3, and 5!! hah and my goodness when I got too the third appointment I made sure that i knew where the bathroom was because I had every intention to throw up after i got through the third dinner haha! But thanksgiving was so fun and so great!! It was nice to be around members and feel that you belong to a family! And strangely no homesickness was felt but i will hurry and knock on wood before the Christmas season comes around because i am already missing the fact that i was not home to put the Christmas tree up after coming home from blackfriday shopping! hah

 

This week me and Sister Maddox won the YOMO challenge!! haha (You Only Mission Once)  we had to see how many people that we could bare testimony too about Jesus Christ that were not affiliated with the church and we were the winners of the entire Morgantown Zone!! OH heck ya!! :)

haha but last night we were going to the Christmas Spirit sing a long with sister granthem and Gubler and all of a sudden of car started clicking and it was totally sketch so we pulled over at this weigh station and the plastic around the wheel was dragging hard core!! haha so i started to rip it off and then realized that was a VERY bad idea haha so this man stopped and helped us DUCT TAPE the car back together!!!! hahaha oh my goodness i have been in West Virginia for way too long!! haha but hey DUct tape fixes EVERYTHING out here!! :) haha thank goodness for the road maintenance guy TOMMY ASH!! haha we gave him a Book of MOrmon and then reffered him to the missionaries in Clarksburg! haha

haha but oh my goodness I love missionary work and I love being around people who make me feel so good and it truly put perspective into my life about what I want when I get home from my mission. -its kinda weird how missionary work prepares you for marriage.. hah i mean i now understand why returned missionaries come home and get married so quickly, its kinda strange!

I love you all and I hope that as the holidays are now here and the presents are being wrapped i hope you all remember the importance of what Christmas is! it is a time that we can reflect on Jesus Christ and his love for us! And also its an amazing time to forget yourself and serve others!! I love you all to the end of the world and back! I love you! I love you! I love You!!

Love Sister Nielsen!

October Pictures && A Post :)

October 1-9 2013

okay to calm all your fears about the Cops. Hah Yes the cops were called on us from this crazy lady who wasnt even suppose to be in the Apartment underneath us! First she left a note on our door saying that she doesnt appreciate us dropping boulders and piano at 3:30 IN THE MORNING!! and that if we didnt stop she would call the cops. haha is she crazy I cant even stay awake anymore past 11!! (I think its a sign that I am getting old!) So we just ignored it and we tried to be more quiet when we were home. So like two weeks later I was sleeping and Sister Stringham woke me up and was like someone is pounding on the door! hah so I opened it and the cop looked at me like do i have to really be dealing with this right now! But the lady was standing behind him and was like are you guys on a bowling league. and I honestly think she was high because she was just sitting there laughing and I told her we were moving out so she didnt have to worry about us much longer. and then I tried to explain to her that we were missionaries and we were rarely ever home during the day and that we dont stay up late at night and she then explained to me that she was Atheist and that I didnt need to be preaching the gospel to her! haha oh my goodness I didnt even say anything to her about the church except for what I did so the cop was just like hey lady you need to leave your waking people up and I just shut the door and went back to bed! haha then the lady ended up getting kicked off the premises for living in her boyfriends apartment and not being on the lease so she ended up getting herself in trouble! haha sucks for her!

We dont even live in those apartments anymore so its no big deal really! :)

But this last week was pretty good! I loved General Confrence and it was so nice to hear from our Prophet and Apostles. I had a couple

questions that I wanted to be answered and some of them were so that was really nice!

Tomorrow is transfers and I will be staying in Pulaski and Dublin for at least one more transfer! But I will be getting a new companion! I have heard that she is Sister Holden and she is also a red head. Also i heard that she might almost be as funny as I am so we will have to just see about that :) I am super excited to see what it will be like to have a new companion and learn different techniques of teaching but I am going to really miss Sister Stringham hah she puts up with a lot of my jokes but i truly have learned to love her and we have gone this missioary work thing down pretty good. But I mean we couldnt be together forever! BUt she has truly been such an awesome trainer!

The Fall is officially here and boy is it getting chilly! Ha this morning we went outside to go walking and we walked around for like 10 minutes and went back inside because it was so cold! But I love the Fall I just wish the winter clothes my mom is sending would get here a little bit faster :) haha The leaves are changing and oh my goodness I thought the mountains were beautiful in Utah but some of the sights I see over these rolling hills are simply breath taking

October 10-15, 2013

Well its only been a couple days and i dont have a ton of time to write alot but it has been a challenging week or 5 days. I miss Sister Stringham alot but Sister Holden is weird but i know the lord put us together for a reason so i am going to try to learn from her and grow closer to my heavenly father while doing so! ! were adjusting together very well and we are learning lots from each other! One miracle that was so awesome is that we were able to place 6 Book of Mormons on saturday and it was so awesome because we were able to get 2 more potential investigators that hopefully go somewhere!!

We had stake confrence sunday and it talked alot on Member Missionary Work. Hmmm :) thats weird, General Confrence Stake COnfrence you would think that the lord is trying to get us to do Member Missionary Work or something :) hahah but the work is definaltey moving forward! :)

October 16-21, 2013

This week was a super good week! I mean things have gotten alot better with Sister Holden and honestly getting to know someone is really hard at first ALWAYS i think.

This week we picked up two new investigators this week Michelle and Jane. Ha Michelle is Catholic but she is very open to what he have taught her so far! she was totally open to come to church with us and tell I opened my large mouth and told her it was 3 hours long. hah opps but then i explained what we do in each class and she agreed to coming this week so hopefully we will see her at church this coming week! :)

Jane is homeless so we are not quite sure what is going to happen there. Her daughter and Mom are Members of the church and she knows alot about our beliefs. She lives along the railroad tracks in some tree's in a tent! and she has lived there for a year and a half now. she is super nice and she is a very strong lady, im not sure how we are going to help her but i want too without her taking advantage of us so were just gonna continue to teach her.

This past week we started volunteering a church that has a program called the Daily Bread. And every single day of the week this organization feeds all the homeless people in Pulaski and the people that cant afford food. It was a super humbling exprience and it felt so nice to be able to smile at someone or give them a hug of reassurance and place food in front of them because half of the people werent sure if this was going to be there next meal until tomorrow. I was glad that I found such an awesome organization such as Daily Bread to help make such a difference for this area in Pulaski.

October 22- 28 2013

Well this week was super awesome! We got two new investigators that we are super stoked about.

Tuesday night we had dinner with Bishop and Amy Turner and Bishop invited Stephanie who he works with to come. We gave her the first missionary discussion and it went so great! She loved the idea of not having a paid ministry and the fact that we were a pretty down to earth church! We are going to stay in contact and continue on teaching her the lessons

Then we picked up a new investigator from the formers pile and her name was Ada. She doesnt have a leg! but we did the restoration lesson with her and we SET HER ON DATE FOR BAPTISM!! it was so awesome and I am so excited she is going to work towards being baptized on December 6th. Man i sure hope that I am still in this area! Then she came to church yesterday with her nine year old grand-daughter Ari and it was just so amazing.

Saturday we had interviews and district meeting with President Pitt and that was super awesome! He announced that our entire mission will be recieving an Ipad and Iphone to start proselyting on the internet through blogs, facebook, and probably twitter. We will be able to ask our friends and family at home who could use the gospel and then if it works out we will be able to skype with the people and teach lessons!! this is so exciting and we are just waiting for it to all work its way in!!

Sunday in the Radford ward we had 2 investigators and 2 less-actives in sacrement meeting and it was seriously the most awesome feeling! it was the best the we have had since I have gotten to Dublin and Pulaski!

- and i think next monday I am going to go squirrel hunting with John Robertson. He is a less-active hahah we get along to well almost. haha

I just cannot explain to you guys how much I love missionary work and how much i love this area! The lord is hastening his work and I am so happy to be apart of it! Your all in my prayers and I hope everyone is praying for missionary expiriences everywhere!
 

I LOVE YOU ALL!! LOVE SISTER NIELSEN :)

 

 

 Silly Missionarys :P

 

They made this barbie doll for a sweet little girl named Kaylee

 

This PRINCESS turned FOUR

 

Mustache Monday with the Morgan Kids

 

Beautiful View

 I do my best to keep this updated for her! Even looking thru these pictures brings me to tears. Notice what is in most of her pictures? KIDS! I truely belive my little May was sent over there for a reason. These kids needed her.

 

She helped me so much. She was a second mother to my own two little boys who think she was the coolest person on the plant. She helped raise our Trayton and also spent alot of time with our little Hazlyn. She loves kids, kids love her. I want to be selfish and say MY kids need her but then I look at these pictures and feel a sense of calm. The kids of Virgina need her for right now.

 

I miss my sister ALOT.

 

But I know she is where she is supposed to be.

 

They can have her for a little while more ;) and I cant wait for the day when she is back home by my side.

 

We love you Sister Nielsen and are so proud of you.

 

XoXo,

 

Steph

 

So i decided to do a Monthly letter now instead of a Weekly letter, that way I will not be as annoying now!

August 26, 2013- September 1, 2013 

Last week was so good!

It was transfers and we thought it would just be a normal day for us cause neither of us was getting transferred. But We got to go spend the day with Sister Ostler in Christiansburg because her companion got transferred. It was pretty fun but I still like Dublin and Pulaski, haha hopefully I dont get transferred anytime soon! (knock on wood)

Last Friday we went and Helped Sister Diggs clean out another section of her storage area again! And oh my goodness how do old people get so much junk!!

But this week has been so crazy!! We have our ward very excited about Member Missionary Work Finally and we have Referrals from everyone! It is so crazy, and we are struggling to keep up! Which is a very good struggle actually!!

Courtney Davis is coming out with us every week now because she is preparing for her mission. She is awesome and she is going to be a rocking missionary!

Sunday, me and my companion Sister Stringham taught the lesson in Relief Society and I wasnt scared for the first time ever!! If there is anything that I have learned from this mission it is that everyone is normal and we should be nervous to talk in front of people when we are doing it out of love and for the lord.

September 2, 2013-September 8, 2013

I cannot believe how fast time goes by!

ha funny story! So we were waiting for the transfer bus and we were just saying goodbye to our Zone last week and Elder Kieran came up to me and Sister Stringham and he was like "Okay Sister Nielsen you were a dancer and Sister Stringham you play the guitar" and Sister Stringham got so excited and she was like "ELDER KIERAN I KNOW WHAT YOU LIKED TO DO!" and he was like and what is that Sister Stringham and she was all "YOU LIKED TO DO THE HOOKAH IN HIGH SCHOOL!!"  hahah oh my gosh all the missionaries looked at her like she had just broke the Word of Wisdom or something haha she actually meant to say He did the Hauka in High School. haha she felt so dumb but we were seriously all laughing so hard!!

I guess things are a lot funnier when you have nothing but other people to make you laugh.

Last week was awesome we got Dominic one of our investigators to come to church! It was super exciting, this month we have a goal as a mission to get 50 baptisms by the end of September and we are totally going to do it! And it is going to be awesome! We are hoping to get dominic Baptized this month, it will be exciting! :)

Last week one of the Counselors in the bishopric Richard Fisher gave me a Book of Mormon and he placed a lot of trust in me right then. He then explained that his testimony of the church was written in there and that it was suppose to go to someone very special. I got the honor of giving it to this person last week. And she is currently in the Methodist church right now. I then got to explain to her the importance of the Book of Mormon and why our church reads from it. Now I have done that multiple times since I have gotten out here, but there was something in that Book of Mormon that made my testimony grow right then. Its not just something that helps our church, the Book of Mormon is centered around our church and Jesus Christ. We have a spiritual cure in our hands that we can provide to everyone that is searching for it. I am able to help others find that cure that they need or that they are searching for and that is so awesome! 

September 9- 15th 2013

This past week we got a new bishopric in the Radford church! I want to say that I totally called weeks ago that it was going to be Ben Turner! and Guess who the new bishop is? Yep, Ben Turner! I totally called it!! :)  he is going to be an awsome bishop!!

But this week was a little bit slower than the previous weeks that I have had. This morning we got a call and Paulinne no longer wants to investigate the church which was a total bummer! But we have planted a seed and we are continually praying that she will read the Book of Mormon.

on Saturday me and Sister Stringham got to expirience our very first "Virginia Beef Cook Off" which is like a hillbilly cook-off basically.  The beavers family invited us over and Sister Stringham played the guitar for everyone! We sang I am a Child of God and there were people from West Virginia there. Dwayne and Donna didnt know much about the church and missionaries and we answered alot of questions but the spirit was there so strongly and everyone knew it when we sang.  We have the norm which is ALOT of beef, beans, patata salad (potato salad), deviled eggs, pickels, rolls, and alot more stuff. oh my heck you seriously have to limit your self because if your plate looks to empty they come through and put food on your plate! oh my gosh its so much food!! Im gonna get fat!!

I have been sick two sundays in a row with Migraine headaches but I have stuck it out for church both times because we have a investigator that continues to come to church which is pretty exciting!! but then i go home and sleep the migraine off. hopefully i can get some medicine soon to help with them!

September 16- 22 ,2013

This week was super fun! :) But lots of spritual moments as well!

This week we got to go to a meeting to get the families excited for General Confrence and I am so excited to be able to watch TV let alone the prophet and the apostles! hhaah I am just so excited. (Yes, missionaries get excited for stupid stuff like that)

This week on thursday we made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies and we went and took them out to Investigators and Less Actives in the ward and it was so fun!

-Then we went and did a sneak attack for the Elders in Radford we took them Cookies and Fresca!  ha this stupid lady almost blew our cover like 5 times because "she was the neighborhood watch" ugh but we didnt end up getting caught so it all worked out well!

Dominic our only investigator right now has came to church three weeks in a row now and we are really excited about him!! He is seriously such a Golden Investogator and he is Reading the Book of Mormon like a mad man!!  we are hoping to see a baptism with him pretty soon! :)

Isaiah is getting baptized this week!!  Isaiah is the son of Donna. Donna is the most recent convert of our ward in Radford. Isaiah is 8 and although he wont count as a baptism for us we were asked to go in and get him ready for baptism and that was super fun! Its a lot less scary to teach a 8 year old then an Adult but we are super excited for him and he is going to be a great member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!

September 23-30, 2013

Well today is Sister Stringham's birthday today so it is just one big party! We are going here in a minute to have lunch with Elders Wilcock, Payne, Hudson, Hughes, Stone, and Robbins. and then we are going to go hiking in Radford which is not my forte but am sure it will still be fun!

This past week me and Sister Stringham experienced such and awesome miracle! ha well Wednesday night we went out with Sister Debbie Roan to the Steerhouse (which btw is like eating steak at your grandmothers) and right when we left we realized that we had locked our keys in our apartment so we decided we would take care of it as soon as we got home. Well when we got back to our apartment we couldn't find our phone and the last time we had used it was in the apartment so our keys and our phone was locked in our apartment so we thought... haha so we walked to the Morgans and we waited for Brother Morgan (the master at breaking in) to get home from young mens! in the meanwhile while waiting for him I had my first allergic reaction to a CAT. Iknow weird! He tried to get in with a credit card which everyone had already tried and could so he climbed up on our second story balcony and tried to get in the sliding glass door and we still couldn't get in haha. So he went back to the door and got in like 20 minutes later.. SO that problem was fixed but we still couldn't find the phone!!! haha come to find out it fell out of the purse at the steerhouse and so our phone was miraculously found the next day haha. But we found the phone and it all worked out hahah I was so stressed but it all worked out we just had to stop and humble ourselves and ask the lord to help us and guide us! 

On Thursday we came home from working all day and someone had broken into our Apartment and left us cookies. Kinda sweet and creppy at the same time but then we realized that the Elders Broke into our apartment and left them for us because what we left them the week before. Elder Payne Burnt the chocolate chip cookies but the thought was still nice! hah

This morning we got to get up super early and go to early morning seminary and teach the lesson! Which was super weird because I had never experienced Seminary at 7 in the morning and these kids give up a heck of a lot more than I did for seminary.

I rarely ever went to seminary or applied myself and now I really do regret it! I could have learned so much more! but now I am learning a lot too so that is really good as well!

Saturday was Isaiahs Baptism and it was so funny! This kid is terrified of water and we all knew it so we knew that this was going to be quite the show. He got into the water and he just started freaking out and screaming haha so Brother Samples started saying the prayer pretty loudly over his screaming and just dunked him and brought him up so fast!! hahah we were all busting a gut pretty bad and Isaiah was out of the water so fast!!!! hahah Donna told us last later that night that he got home and and started dancing on the table and screaming and it made his mom so mad that she told him the Holy Ghost just flew out the window and he started crying and was screaming outside the window for the holy ghost to come back. hah I am sure some of the people outside were like what the heck! hahah but yeah pretty funny!

This past week we asked Dominick to be baptized and he didn't say no but he didn't say yes. He said.. Can I think about it and we told him absolutely! So we are excited to see him progressing more and more each week, he had now came to church 4 weeks in a row now and he attended Isaiahs Baptism on Saturdayhopefully isaiahs reactions didn't totally scare him off from the idea of baptism hahaha

Tomorrow we are moving to our new apartment which we are pretty excited about! No more gross apartments!!

But I really don't have a lot of time to write today because we have to meet for lunch but there was some highlights of my week! Pretty fun

 P.S. We got the cops called on us I will have to write about it next week because I am out of time! :)

loves loves <3

Sister Nielsen :)

My Companions BIRTHDAY :)

08.12.2013

HEY YALL!! :)

 happy mustache monday! :)

Well Dublin and Pulaski Virginia are still here!

I cant believe how fast time goes by ha I swear like 5 minutes ago I was sitting at home waiting for my mission to start, its so crazy!

This week was so awesome! Saturday we did a Service day. (I FINALLY GOT TO WEAR JEANS FOR THE FIRST TIME) We went around to members and investigators homes and we just did service for people. We cut bushes haha and I was me and Sister Stringhams first time ever cutting bushes and lets just say we are like professional bush cutters now haha... NOT! we did okay though.. I hope ha.

There is this cute little lady named doris, I am not sure if she is really interested in the Gospel but she sure does love having us come around. She feeds us Oreos and Dr. Pepper and she just sits and asks us questions about the church and we actually have really good discussions!! Hopefully we can get her to come to church soon!

Cool story once again we are teaching this Less-Active part member family right now . He and His son are learning the lessons and hopefully it goes somewhere. He has a darth vader voice because he got shot in the neck with  a pellet gun! super sad but they are wanting to learn more so hopefully something really cool comes out of this!

I have to give a shout out to Kassie and Donna! They are the coolest new converts ever!! Donna got baptized in February and Kassie did in March! They are the most neat people ever! They truly do love this gospel and their testimonys have grown so strong even since I have been here teaching them still also! Donna's son Isaiah gets baptized this month so we have been talking with him a little bit on the gospel and the importance of baptism!!

This past week we did a lot of less active work because there is so many less active people in this ward!! And so we are using a lot of the members of the church to get the others fellowshipped and get them coming back to church soon! and this is where I will lose most of you. I want all of you to know the importance of Member Missionary Work. The missionaries need your help! At the broadcast in June President Thomas S. Monson talked alot on how much the members of the church need to be helping the missionaries and we/I need help! Refer any person to the missionaries, it can stay completley annonimous or they can mention your name! It doesnt have to be anything huge or life changing but the lord has asked that you help!

These are some of the comments from the Leaders of the church during this broadcast.

President Thomas S. Monson

Wishing will not make it so. The Lord expects our thinking. He expects our action. He expects our labors. He expects our testimonies. He expects our devotion.
President Henry B. Eyring
Whatever our age, capacity, Church calling, or location, we are as one called to the work to help Him in His harvest of souls.
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

There is a way for everyone … to participate in this great work. We can each find a way to use our own particular talents and interests in support of the great work of filling the world with light and truth.
 If any of you have not  yet went on and watched the broadcast on LDS.org i would definatley reccomend it! It is so awesome and such a big deal! Missionary work is only getting bigger and bigger and with your guys' help it would make the biggest difference!
Also Go and read the article by Thomas S. Monson
Finding Joy in the Journey
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/finding-joy-in-the-journey?lang=eng
We need to keep in mind that we are going to run out of tomorrows someday so it is so important to live life to its fullest!! And always remember that
 "Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved."
I love you all and hope to hear from you soon!! <3
Love Sister Nielsen!

08.05.2013

Can you belive that I have been out 1 MONTH already?!?

That is so crazy too me!

But this week was a very differnet week but it was also a very good one as well.

 

Monday night after our awesome P-Day we went to this huge family home evening party thing at the Hales.

We had awesome food!! Like I am gonna gain 500 pounds out here! hah but we had this lesson on Testimonys and these people are so awesome out here. People in Pulaski and Dublin are fighters out here, they have to really fight for what they believe in and they are so humble and their testimony just glows with the spirit! We started singing I am a child of God and I was so comforted for the first time being on my mission. I felt like it was HOME for once and I truly knew for sure that i was in Pulaski and Dublin Virginia for a reason.

 

Every Wednesday we go to the Clothing Bank for service! And it is seriously so much fun working will all of the fun little old ladies. There is so many different religions in one area and we all talk about our churches and it isnt rude or mean or anything we are all respectful but its just so funny to see all there looks on religion and there church.

 

We are teaching this really sweet lady, her name is Karen! :) She is just frustrating sometimes ha, she is so knowledgeable about the gospel and she loves it all she just wont commit!! And so we go and read the scriptures with her and we answer her questions the best that we can. Hopefully we see more improvement.

 

This week I went on Exchanges!! exchanges are where you and your companion and another companionship switch places with us and so the STL's (Sister Training Leaders) Sister Thompson stayed in Dublin with Sister Stringham and I went with Sister Morgan to Bluefield Virginia/West VIrginia. (the mission is in both states) Me and Sister Morgan got along very well and we had a lot of similarities!! She was super sweet and she loves listening to music very loudly like me so we jammed to MOTAB alot hah. But Bluefield made me really appreciate being in Dublin and Pulaski, ha there is a lot of Sketchy places there and we couldnt go around certain neighborhoods after 6 PM. We did alot of contacting and tracting but nobody just wanted to hear our message. Bummer!!! 

              Oh and I almost forgot the most important part!!! We got pulled over on the way to bluefield hah No i wasent driving but Sister Morgan was speeding and our registration was expired haha opps. But the cop didnt give us a ticket, thank goodness. I cant drive for another three weeks because I am still training but ha I am so excited to drive :) I miss driving my little blue mazda so much!! :)

 

Saturday we drove back to Dublin to exchange back the Sisters decided to stay because there was a baptism that afternoon. So we went to lunch with them and then we had a competition to see who could place the most books of mormon in 30 minutes. hah me and Sister Thompson won 1-0 :) hah Then we went to the baptism. The Elders in Radford (there in the same ward as us) Seriously had one of the coolest baptism stories!! Blake Smith called them on the 4th of July and left them a message that said," I have read the Book of Mormon, I think its true, what is the next step I need to take to be a member of the Church" how crazy is it that they would just get that so easily. Well one month later he was baptized on August 3rd. He is the coolest kid he is like 23 and he drives this awesome motorcycle! Talk about the coolest baptism ever!! And Elder Payne that little lucky duck he got his first Baptism one month into his mission with Elder Morgan!!

 

That night we got locked out of our apartment hah our landlord come to find out had moved from the apartments and he was not answering his dang phone!! ha Luckily the creepy man next door was able to open our door with a credit card. hah how comforting is that? :) We are still looking for a new apartment haha :)

 

I am loving my mission and I cant believe how fast it is going!  Remember to keep the faith and to always pray!!

Love always, Sister Nielsen :)

Well hello there people! I am still alive ha!

I cant believe that this week went by seriously so quick!

 

And things are also getting to be a little bit easier :) This week was fun though as well, one thing that I noticed was that they dont have mailman cars like Utah does and it is so weird to me, also I find it so weird that that people dont have Garbage cans, they just put like ones we use in the kitchen out on the street ha it is so weird to me!!

 

But this week was good, things with the companion are getting better we are getting to know each other a little better and we work together really well! :)

 

 Well ha we lost alot of our investigators lately so we are looking high and low for people to teach! ha but we will find them i know we will! and hmm now i cant remember what we did this week ha but last monday after we talked we went and did our cleaning and grocery shopping and i got super super homesick ha but i am not as homesick as much! the pictures really help though :) we have Family home evening every monday with the hales and they are super humble people out here steph. like these people have close to next to nothing and they still offer to feed us every week its amazing!! oh and we almost got a baptism in september but it feel through.. which was a total bummer!

 

oh we went to this ladys house who just got back from Las Vegas and her dog got in the house and infested her house with fleas haha she was like do you want to come in? hah she was joking but i just about crawled out of my skin :) 

 

This guy his name is Micheal got stabbed on this Drug deal thing and he was in the hospital for a week come to find out he is a less active and the missionaries in Roanoke gave him a blessing and he says he wants the missionaries to start coming around him more so he can start going back to church so we get to go visit him on wednesday haha hopefully i dont get stabbed ;)

 

The accents out here are so cool and I totally want to come home with one. ha some words i am catching onto and its funny! There is this Lady named Betty Montgomery and she is seriously the carbon copy of a Southern Belle and she just knows her stuff alright! She travels all over the world and has the coolest stories. She comes to church sometimes but she ah oh my gosh ha I just love her.

 

Cool story here about Jaime and Bubba. On my very first day we are walking out to go tracting, (which I absolutley hate doing) but there was a Mom and a son moving into apartments next to us and they had two huge Cedar Chests in her tiny truck, and we asked if we could help and she looked so relieved when she saw us ha. So we took all of her stuff up three flights of stairs oh my gosh I was dying ha but then we had to get her Cedar Chests up there so me and her son Bubba took the first one and he almost dropped it! I just about died!!! But we got them up there and we left her a card if she ever needed anything else to call us and then we left. Well ever since I have just constantly had her in my mind and how nice she was so we went back on Fridayand she was so happy so see us. She said that her and her Son had been talking about us and how much of a blessing it was that we came when we did because she got called into work and she was going to have to leave the Cedar Chests in her truck and that night it rained all night and they would have been ruined! And she talked about how nice and accepting we were to her and she said that her son Bubba loves going to church and she doesnt really know this area. She gave us her number and she said that she wants to hear our lessons and so we are super excited about that and we are going to go teach her this week. I am hoping this really goes somewhere because we dont really have many people to teach right now!

 

Noberto, Charlene and Gavin. We went and saw them on saturday and we watched the Restoration video with them! Charlene like bore her testimony on how she knew that it was true and it was so cool! Then we sat there talking and Noberto and Gavin, Noberto's little boy agreed to come to church! It was so crazy because hardly ever could any missionaries get him to come to church. Charlene said she wasnt quite ready but she told us to keep working on her! :)

 

Ron and Mama B Blevins. Okay a little bit about Ron and Mama B! They got married and have 3 kids together, and they were married for 25 years. THey got divorced and have been divorced for 15 years. Ha the weird thing is they never moved out!! They have lived together for the past 15 years and they are divorced how weird is that? They live and sleep on opposite sides of the house and the living room is where it joins. But they are the most famous two people in the town of Pulaski for missionaries. They say its like a honor to be in their area or something and I am finding that is true also.  The missionaries have been teaching them for 8 years straight and they are still not baptized, the thing is they  love the church they believe in all of its teachings, but they just dont want to be mormons. And they are seriously the most funniest amazing people I have ever met. Ron is like little suzy homemaker and loves sewing and soap operas. and Mama B is the exact opposite, but they do everything together like literally and I think they are secretly are still in love and cant live without each other, its kinda cute! haha

 

But no i really do love it here even though the people are so different!! And its funny to see day by day how much the lord blesses these people and the us for being on a mission! My testimony has grown so much on the gospel and the importance of trying to live it correctly and sharing it with others as well. I love it here and as hard as it is being away from family i wouldnt want to be anywhere else but here right now! :)

 

Thought for the day is Alma 37:6

Behold I say unto you that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small things in many instances doth confound the wise.

 -I love this! remember that small and simple little things can make such a difference good or evil. and from there it can slowly change the way we live our lives. Even though we think that we are smart enough to  stay away from evil things the small things are what confound the wise sometimes!

 

Keep the Faith

Stay Strong

And always remember that it is possible to do hard things!

 

Love, Sister Nielsen

July 22nd Dublin Virginia

Dublin Virginia...

 

110 Linkous Avenue

Building G Apartment #203

Dublin Virginia, 24084

 

That address can be changing possibly because we are searching for a new apartment so i will try to keep you updated. Our apartment now is sick and groody so stay tuned for a new address :)

ha well I am officially that missionary. Yes the missionary that is in culture shock by all the REDNECKS around me! ha and I though Tremonton was bad. No offense to Tremonton because I love it there and miss it everyday but oh my goodness this place is very VERY different. I am in Dublin Virginia but we also go into Pulaski on a daily basis as well. They are very small towns.

 

I have learned how important it is to love people without teeth as well. These people are so different and I have to say this has been a very big struggle for me. It has also helped my testimony grow on how important it is to accept people for who they are and not what they look like.

 

Lately I have either been really sick to my stomach or having a headache. My headaches suck really bad and i have pinpointed that it is from the Cigarette smoke that i walk in to everyones house smelling, it makes me so sick and nauseated for a couple hours after that. I havent pin pointed what is making me sick to my stomach but hopefully it starts to settle down.

 

The people here sure do LOVE their religion here. i am so used to my little Tremonton where people in the Church tend to outnumber the others. Well here I have not drove down at least one street without seeing the church of god, presbyterian church, luthern church, and many others as well. It is so crazy we try to talk to some people and they are polite about it but they love their church and no one is changing there mind ha.

 

My companion is Sister Stringham..........

she is just awesome ! :) we definatley have our VERY big differences and we get along really well most of the time! :) she came out only 12 weeks before I did so we are still trying to figure out this missionary thing together. The main thing that drives me a little nuts is I AM SO HOT HERE!!! so I constantly am turning on the AC and she is constantly turning it off. So i tuen right back around and turn it back on! :) We will see who wins this battle! :) :) that sounds rude i take that back, we will figure out a good medium.. hopfully :)

 

On the positive note, we are slowly getting to teach a lot of people. These past missionaries have had investigators but they were not progresssing so i feel like they made friends with people that they didnt want to drop. SO we are dropping all these people and we are trying the find people to fill the space. We have met a couple people willing to hear our message but we dont know yet if they are going to be going anywhere. So as people reading this blog of mine PRAY for us! ha. We have alot of people here that only live off of the government and disability which can be a very big problem for the church because some people figure out that the church is willing to help so they usually moooch off of the church by joining and when they figure they have collected enough they take off. So we as the only sister missionaries in these two towns have to be very careful and look for these signs so we dont get these people. (they are Called Joiners for future refrence)

 

Right now we are dealing with two people who are very interested in coming back into the church but their case is difficult. The women is a ex-comminicated member and so we are trying to deal with this the correct way! and the other we are worried is a joiner because he asked us if the church has lawyers to help him get his kids back.  so we are trying to use our discernment and good judgement.

 

These people truly are good people out here and I have only been here five days so I am sure there will be more stories to come but as of now I am thinking of dying my beautiful red gorgeous hair. (Sorry Jeannie) but these men are gross out here. I have countless times been hit on by men double my age because of my red hair and blue eyes. ha will someone send me colored contacts? One man his name is Country, yesterday asked me to leave my companion and come spend the evening with him at his house. hah Yes his house is up in a holler. which is like the very top of a hill. and he sleeps in a Bread Truck, like a legit WONDER BREAD TRUCK!!! eww grosss.. I appreciate the gentleman in Utah hah

 

Why do missionaries have to have such a large bladder?

-- Because they only have one Pee-Day.

hahahahah

 

 I love you all and I love hearing from  you!!

Remember the church is true!!

July 10th

Well hello there everyone! :) Yes this is the infamous Sister Nielsen.

Week one of the MTC and I am still alive. I know I didn't think that i would get here either. But i have absolutely loved it!! The MTC is so crazy and I have hardly any time to breath haha. But My Companion is Sister Call, she is super sweet, and she knows her stuff for sure, it is so crazy she is a twin!! We work together very well, and she laughs at my jokes even though i know she thinks that they are dumb. We taught our first investigator Yesterday and her name is Hely, she was seriously one of the sweetest ladies that i have ever met and I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. she asked us to come back and we placed our first book of Mormon & got her to commit to reading the book of Mormon, and to pray to know if the church was true! It was such a spiritual moment and I loved the experience, it gave me an assurance that I can do this and it is possible to be a missionary, i doubted myself a little. But I room with other girls and they are so much fun one of them Sister Mahlstede was on Davis Drill team the same years as me! Ha we do all the BDT dances together and we laugh a lot.

I leave for West Virginia in less than a week and I am so excited to get out there. ha our District even has a goal to baptize so many people that we are able to get a Temple in West Virginia, so right here I am sharing revelation, "October Conference 2013 the announcement of the building of a temple in Charleston West Virginia! :)

The food here at the MTC is so gross! haha it seriously makes me feel so gross and sick after I eat, ha but I am not about to complain about the unlimited Chocolate milk and Colossal Berry Crunch cereal.

I absolutely love my District we have Sister Stone and Simmons and then we have Elders Lane, Carter, Payne, Staveley, Labrum, Rameriez, McFarland and then me and Sister Call. We have the funnest times but we also have some of the most spiritual as well. In our zone we had 5 sets of twins haha it was so crazy, that is like 10 kids in births hahaha. But my companion Sister Call is a twin and Elder Carter in my district is as well. I don't know maybe this MTC craziness that they talk about it just barely getting to me but think the weirdest things are funny haha. But, I am doing really good :) I feel like when you hear from returned missionaries you never hear how much work the MTC is I was definitely not ready for all this ha. our schedule is set to where you cannot have anything go wrong or else your whole day is practical thrown off for good!

The amount of support that I have received from all of my family members have me in tears right now making this the first time that I have actually cried here at the MTC. For people who don't know me that's huge!! Tell everyone and anyone to write me letters they make my day so much happier and better. My branch president last night Gave me this quote. "You will bless your family more on your mission that if you were there helping them" - Jeffrey R Holland. I have to keep that in mind because I sure do miss my little nephews and my red headed hazy baby.

I don't have much time i feel so remember how much I love you all and I appreciate your support you have given me and continue to give me! :)

I love you!

Love: Sister Nielsen

P.S. The church is true!! :)

Bountiful temple!!

 I haven't had time to post pictures in my description of how the temple went.  but it was amazing!! Here is some pictures for now I'll post more on the temple later thanks!! 😘