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!! :)