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 :)