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 :)