4.3.17

#PrinceofPeace

Hola mis amigos y mi familia!!!

  This week was so awesome!!! Conference was honestly such a highlight, and it was so fun being able to gather at the branch building with some other members and hear of the apostles and the prophet speak to us!!! This church is so amazing! But some other cool things that happened this week were we had zone conference!!! It was honestly so good seeing other missionaries (since we're out in the boonies) and being able to hear our mission president speak and everything. When we had interviews after he was talking to me and basically told me I was called to this mission for the less-actives and to be an example to the young woman. WHAT! Haha I was shocked to say the least. So I've really been praying for guidance this past week, but I'm excited to use his counsel! We have been working hard this week because we have transfer calls this Saturday! So we are praying we both stay in Eastland! Sister Lundberg is the bomb!

  Another cool thing that happened this week was I got to play an organ in a methodist church!! We volunteer at the food pantry there, and the lady wanted me to come play it, so I got to play some hymns and it was so cool! The organ is over 100 years old! Nothing else really exciting happened this week, but we have working a lot on finding right now, and it's going really great! I have loved being a missionary and I'm so excited about the work we are doing right now! LOVE Y'ALL SO MUCH!!!

con mucho amor,
Hermana Neilson

ps: y'all should go on and share the Prince of Peace initiative on y'alls facebooks and instagrams :)))

3.27.17

That one time we got to go to DALLAS?!

HOLA FAMILIA Y MIS AMIGOS!!!!

  Ok so this weekend was awesome because of so many great things!!! First off, we got to go to DALLAS TEXAS this weekend to go to the temple there and take our recent convert! OK Dallas is SO pretty!! It was so weird being in a big city and seeing 5 lanes on the freeway. Also, we passed an IN-N-OUT on the way there AND THEY DIDN'T STOP. I know matame. But the temple is HUGE! So it was really cool to be able to take Max for the first time and being apart of his conversion experience! (He also received the priesthood this past wednesday WOOT) But Dallas was honestly so fun, and we got to eat at Delliman's Grill, it's wear the Dallas Cowboys eat after EVERY home game. YEA. So honestly it was such a fun Saturday. Except on the way back we had a minor incident and the member's mini van suffered a little....
 
  When we got back from Dallas it was WOMENS CONFERENCE!!! WOOT WOOT!!! and so we got with all the women in the branch and had an enrichment night where we made cupcakes and then had dinner and then we all got to watch the broadcast together! Also S/O to my friends in the Women's chorus! Haha it was so weird seeing Utah and like home, me and my comp kept recognizing people in the choir and we were DYING! But the next day (Sunday) me and my comp both had to give talks in church and honestly they went so well! It's awesome what the spirit can do while you're speaking! And we both spoke on the Book of Mormon and didn't plan it like that or anything! CRAZY!!!

  Ok funny story: So when we were tracting on Tuesday, we were both like DEAD exhausted, but it was only one in the afternoon. So we go up to this old guy's house (who had just woken up) and start talking to him and he starts UNBUTTONING his shirt and me and my comp are both like "whhhaaaaattt???" so we just keep talking and then he sits down (mind you all 3 of us are on the brink of sleep) and I started sharing our purpose with him and I said " that's why we're on, going on, around, going to, on missions" bahahaha I couldn't even talk I was so tired. Pretty sure that man thinks we're crazy. But esta bien.

  This week was so good and we have been working our hardest! I love the encouraging letters and emails every week, y'all are the best :))) But I finished the Book of Mormon this past week for the first time in my mission, and it's so amazing! I wish I would have studied it harder before I left on my mission! But I have loved being a missionary and I can't believe i hit my FIVE MONTHS yesterday!!!! Crazy!!! haha but love y'all MUCHO!!!

con MUCHISMO amor,
Hermana Neilson

3.20.17

HOLA Y'ALL!!!!!!!!!!

  Another week in Eastland has gone by! This week was spring break, and so most of our investigators/members/everyone was gone. BUT on Tuesday we got to help a member clean his house! They live in a church that they renovated into their home, and they needed help cleaning up the BAPTISMAL FONT. (Which is now their tornado shelter lol) But it was so awesome! So pics included for that, but they are such an awesome family, and so it was sweet being able to do that!
  Then on Saturday we drove up to Breckinridge to go visit some people (45 minute drive north), and when we got there we realized we had forgotten EVERYTHING. Like our map, ward directory, GPS, referral sheet, literally everything. So we thought "Ok we can just go to the library and we can print everything there" well we drive over to the library and it was CLOSED. So we looked everywhere in our car for something to do, and we saw a GPS button on the front of the dashboard, so we clicked it, and a lady came over the car and directed us to a couple of our places! Haha which was a life saver, but it was pretty "eventful" day lol.
  Ok this is ironically funny: So we went to go visit an investigator, and he had been struggling with a drug problem, and so we were like ok get rid of the drugs, and so he said "Ok you want to watch me?" So we went to his toilet and had him flush them. wellllll they didn't flush the first time, so we re-flushed, and it didn't go down a second time... SO FINALLY the third time they went down bahahah it was so anticlimactic, but we're so happy for him!
  That's all the news for this week! A saying I've been trying to use more this week is "Virtue is humility" I've been trying to apply it to my missionary work and just to my life. I am so so so grateful for the city of Eastland and my companion! We have been working so hard together and we're literally EXHAUSTED every night we come home. But I think the harder we work the happier I am :))) Hope y'all have a great week, thanks for all the emails and letters, y'all are just the best :)))

con MUCHO amor,
Hermana Neilson

3.13.17

"No Habla Ingles"

HOLA MIS AMIGOS Y MI FAMILIA!

  Ok to start off, I love Eastland! We had a baptism on Wednesday and it went so well!!! It is amazing to watch someone go through the conversion of the gospel, I love it! Also, since I'm the 1 of 2 missionaries covering Spanish for the whole zone, I've been teaching in Spanish a ton! I finally got to say the first vision in Spanish and wow TEARS the spirit was so strong and we have a SPANISH INVESTIGATOR NOW. WOOT WOOT. His name is Jose, and he is just awesome. ALSO, another cool Spanish thing, we went out contacting 2 nights ago, and we got to this door, and the lady opened it and I started talking and she said "No habla ingles" (I don't speak Spanish) and so I went FULL OUT Mexican on her. So little to say, we have a return appointment with her :))) haha she was pretty shocked to say the least.
  We also got to go to the temple this past weekend in Lubbock, and the Sealer pulled me and my companion aside, and gave us this LONG talk about eternal marriage and what to look for in a husband and stuff like that, and wow. Good thing I have 13 more months before I got to worry about that kind of stuff! ;)) But the temple was awesome, we went with a ton of Branch members, and we're planning on taking our recent converts to the Dallas temple on March 25th!! So we are way excited about that one!
  I am honestly loving the people out here in Eastland a TON. And our branch is amazing! This gospel is so good, and something I've been working on this week is the power of prayer and praying with exactness! We are striving our hardest to be exactly obedient and diligent in everything we do, and I feel like we are making so much progress here! I love being a missionary!

Con MUCHO amor,
Hermana Neilson

Ps. Enjoy some pics from goats, to biking, to the temple :))

3.6.17

"Deep in the HEART of Texas"

HOLA FAMILIA Y MIS AMIGOS!

  Ok to start of this email, I love Eastland!!! My new companion is SO awesome and we are working so hard together! She has taught me so many things and it's only been a week! The area here is so prepared and the work is for sure hastening out here. We mainly work with all the YSA (which is so weird lol) but we have about 10-15 investigators and we have extended 3 baptismal dates since I've been here! It is so crazy!!!

  As for Spanish goes, Me and one other elder are the only people here in the entire ZONE/STAKE who know Spanish, so we have to travel all over the zone to teach people since all the other missionaries are English (even my companion), so it has been an adventure. We actually went to a Spanish funeral this past weekend and I got to translate the whole thing to the other missionaries there. So it has been an experience for sure.

  Funny story. So we went over to a recent convert's house for a lesson, and she came to the chapel the next day for our "Teaching in the Savior's way" class, and she looked at us and was like "So I just checked the couch y'all were sitting on last night, and it was INFESTED with little "lice" like bugs. So sorry about that" WHAT. We RAN to the bathroom and just screamed!!! AHHH so gross!! So if I come back from my mission bald, don't be surprised.

  I honestly LOVE my new area, and it has been so fun talking to EVERYONE we see. Literally everyone. And it's been amazing to see the change in people going through with their baptismal dates! We have a baptism this Wednesday and I am so excited for that! Some areas you plant seeds, and others you harvest them, and right now we're harvesting! Haha I love y'all so much and this gospel! MISS Y'ALL!!!!

con mucho amor,
Hermana Neilson

ps. here's a pic of me and my new comp, and then the rest are saying bye to people in brownfield. love them.