Month 15 Already?!
HOLA TODO!
Wow I hit 15 months this week and it does not feel real at all! So here's to my last 3 months as a missionary :'))
Thursday, January 25, 2018
1.22.18
1.15.18
Nuevos Investigadores
HOLA TODO!
HOLA TODO!
This week was great! We are getting some new investigators and things are really looking a lot brighter for missionary work! I am so happy! Ok coolest story. We were out knocking on saturday, and literally no one was home. But after about an hour of knocking empty doors, we knocked on a door and this lady opened up and she started talking to us and immediately i recognized her accent and i was like "You have such a cool accent! Where are you from?!" and she said she was from MANCHESTER ENGLAND!!! The place where my dad served his mission! So I was like freaking out! Well she explained to us that she loves reading, so we gave her a book of Mormon, and she said she would read it! So we have a return appointment with her this week, I seriously am praying it goes through! She is so awesome!
Also we found a new investigator named Alan. We went with a member to teach the Restoration, and the lesson went so well! When we were leaving the member brought up church, and the sacrament, and he was like "WAIT! MORMONS TAKE THE SACRAMENT?!" and we were like "Yea of course we do!" and he explained that he had been lied to his whole life that mormons don't take the sacrament. So he came to church on sunday and LOVED it!!!! So we are going to go back this week and teach him more, it's seriously amazing how some people are so prepared by the Lord!
We are going to the temple this thursday and I'm so excited to do a session because I haven't done that since MARCH! So almost 10 months later! Haha so stay tuned for those pictures. I really am enjoying the work here in Clovis and it's been so fun working with members to do the work! It is seriously SUCH a BLESSING! Ok well I hope y'all have a great week, I love y'all mucho!
Hermana Neilson
1.8.18
Busy, busy, busy
HOLA TODO!
HOLA TODO!
This week was great! We had zone conference on tuesday, and I loved President Hales instructions! He instructed on "Dealing with missionary stress" and "Apologizing" you would think those are kind of weird, but he really showed us the importance of taking care of yourself and your companion in this work. So i really enjoyed it.
We also had exchanges this week, and I got to go with Sister Allart! She was my companion in eastland for 2 transfers, and now she's my sister training leader. It was so cool to see how much we've both grown in the mission, and it was just so fun being with an old comp for 24 hours. We stayed in Lubbock and then sister goodmansen and montgomery went to Clovis together. But I had a lot of fun in Lubbock, we had like a ton of success!
The rest of the week was good too. When i got back to Clovis we had a lot of lessons fall through which was kind of frustrating, but then sunday afternoon we went to go see a potential investigator with a member here who is trying to prepare for his mission, and we got inside! His name is Christian and we taught him the Restoration! And it went really well. Member missionary work is just the bomb haha.
We also had dinner with a spanish family this past week and I was talking about "Haz lo justo" which means "Choose the right" in english. Well i didn't say "Justo" I said (in spanish) "Choose the gay". My spanish skills are just a little ratchet right now.
Anywho, that's all for this week, i love y'all mucho and pray for y'all daily. Thanks for all the emails and letters :))))))
con mucho amor,
HERMANA NEILSON
1.1.18
FELIZ ANO NUEVO!!!
HOLA TODO!!!!
HOLA TODO!!!!
So this week was really fun! I don't really remember much of it, but we found a new investigator this week! Her name is emily. We also went and made bread with a lady this week, and so #wifeme . But she also taught me how to crochet and so that was fun. but anywho, Sorry this email is short, I just didn't manage my time that well, but I love y'all so much!!!!
Hermana Neilson
ps. ALSO HAPPY NEW YEAR! I can't believe i go home this year!!!
12.26.17
Merry Christmas from CLOVIS
Hola todo!!
Hola todo!!
Merry (late) Christmas!!! It was so fun to be able to skype my family yesterday, finally got all my skype calls through! So it will be fun to see them in person in 4 months. Speaking of which! I hit my 14 month mark today! WOOO.
Monday night was so hard because I had to say goodbye to SO MANY GREAT PEOPLE in Hereford!!! I seriously have loved serving there, and have loved serving with those members. There's just something about small towns that just gets your heart. But I'm excited to hear about more of the miracles in Hereford.
Clovis is so awesome! It is so overwhelming being in a ward (I know that sounds weird) but there's just so many people! I finally have over 8 priesthood holders in the area i'm serving! Also the members here are so awesome! They like WANT to help with missionary work and want to come to lessons with us! ALSO. WE HAVE DINNER APPOINTMENTS!!!! When I served in the branches I normally had like 1 or 2 a week, but here we have them almost every night! So me and my companion keep joking that we're fattening me up before I go home hahah.
On Thursday, we had a lesson set up with a potential (Adam & April), and we brought a member with us. Well we got there and ALL their nieces and nephews were over and I thought it was going to be so hectic, but all the kids listened and the lesson went so well!!! We were like "If the Book of Mormon is true, then what does that mean for y'all?" and the 12 year old was like "Then this is Jesus Christ's church?" This 12 year old understood better than the whole state of Texas (LOL). But it was such a powerful lesson and the spirit was so strong!!!!
On sunday we all got together as a district, and went to Portales and went caroling! It was so fun! We handed people #LightTheWorld cards with candy canes attached to them! Funnest finding activity I've ever done!
Life is good here, and I'm really happy with my area and companion. Sister Goodmansen is so funny! So we are loving it down here. Thanks for all the emails and letters and Christmas packages!
LOVE Y'ALL
Hermana Neilson
12.18.17
"What, a WARD?!" = Clovis, NEW MEXICO
HOLA TODO!
HOLA TODO!
Well transfer calls came this week, and you heard it, Hermana Neilson is going to a ward for the first time in her mission! I am going to CLOVIS NEW MEXICO!!!!!! I'm not even going to be in texas! And it is an english ward *tears* but I guess if the Lord needs this tall white spanish-speaking hermana there, I will go. I was kind of bummed about it when I first got the call because Hereford has been BOOMING. And no offense to wards, but I just really like serving in branches! And there's so many spanish people here! So hopefully there's some in Clovis. They opened a spanish sisters area for the first time in 16 months this transfer, so I'm excited for the sisters going there :)) But yea, I'm going to a ward. It is going to be SO weird. And there's like other missionaries in Clovis. Like I've never served around other missionaries! So it's going to definitely be different than what I'm used to, but this will most likely be my last area in the mission. I just can't believe how fast it is going.
In other news, Rudy got baptized this week!!!! It was so amazing! We barely had any people there cause it's a branch, but the spirit was so strong, and Rudy just looked so happy! So it was awesome. He was then confirmed on Sunday, and now they are working with him on getting the priesthood. So wooooooo! I'm glad I can leave on a good note :))
We also got to take Laura to the temple on Friday night! It was so fun! She is just so awesome and ahhhhh I just love her! It was so cool to be able to go with her to the temple for her first time, it really is such an amazing experience to be apart of :)) So that was a fun little road trip!
Well I hope y'all have a very merry christmas! I am so excited to talk to my family in 7 days!!!! AHHHH I seriously am so excited! I will be in Clovis tomorrow night with Sister Goodmansen. She just got out of training so it should be interesting! We have a mission wide devotional thing tomorrow, so ALL the mission is getting together. They only do this like once a year, so it's like super rare. And it will be fun because I have companions that I haven't seen in 9 months! AH too long. Ok well I love you all so much!!!
con mucho amor,
Hermana Neilson
ps. my new address
12.11.17
"You love coffee more than you love Jesus"
HOLA TODO!
HOLA TODO!
This week flew by!!! So many things happened but it was a really fun week. Well we are going with Laura to the temple on Friday night!! WOOOO. So excited for her! also they found her husband's records and turns out he is an elder! So we are working with him and her and getting them both to the temple to be sealed in a year. Cant' wait to come back and see that :'))
We are having another baptism this week!!! Our investigator Rudy is getting baptized! So we are super excited!! He is like 54 years old, and how we found him was, me and sister linford were on our bikes one day and he came up to us and was like "Hey are you the mormon missionaries?" and we explained to him that we were, and he told us that missionaries had taught him back in the 90's!! So S/O to those missionaries whoever you are for planting a seed haha. So we've been teaching him for the past 9 weeks and he is finally getting baptized! AH so excited! I love baptisms!
Speaking of Rudy though, we brought another member with us to go teach him, and Rudy hadn't let go of his coffee every morning, so the member looks at him and says "Right now, you're telling God that you love coffee more than you love Jesus" LOL (love sister diaz) and then she was like "Compare coffee to Jesus" and rudy said "Well you can't really compare them, I drink one and i worship the other" and then sister diaz said "Well right now you're idoling your coffee above Jesus" hahaha so the next day we went to go see if he had given it away, and he did!!!! SO WOOOOO go sister diaz! haha love member missionary work.
We are also teaching this girl named Norma, and we had taught her a ton before, but she didn't remember ANY of it! So we retaught the Restoration, and then looked at her and we were like "Ok Norma, so what is the power that prophets have to baptize, bless, heal, etc.." and she says "Loyalty?" and well it's good to have loyalty, but we were like "Close... it is a kind of authority?" and she said "Hmmm you caught me off guard." haha so we explained it's the priesthood authority, NINE TIMES. We asked her literally 9 times in the lesson "What is the power called?" and finally on the 9th time she got it. Well then every other question we asked her after that, her answer was "The priesthood authority?" haha so we are working with her. She is a funny woman, i just think she can't remember things too well.
ALSO!!! WE FOUND A LITTLE MEXICO!!! We were out knocking doors on saturday, and we went down a street we had never tried before, and it was this entire mexican community!!! I was in heaven!!! So much spanish!!! and they even had this HUGE catholic church and everything! I felt like i was in another country! Haha so we have some potentials there now. I seriously love being an hermana here in the mission field. I love seeing people's reactions when they see this tall white girl start speaking spanish to them. It makes my day.
We have transfer calls this weekend! So we will see if the Lord has me stay in Hereford for my 4th transfer, or if I'm getting moved. I really want to stay for Christmas, so we will see! But we have a lot of good things planned for week 6. So I'm super excited!!! And only 14 days till CHRISTMAS!!! and don't forget to #LightTheWorld . You have probs heard that from every single missionary, and facebook post, and everything, but it helps with missionary work SO MUCH! I love when i knock on people's doors and they mention they have an lds friend or some friend in the past invited them to church or something, it just makes us look so much less intimidating. So share the gospel! Even if you feel so awkward doing it, you'll never regret it! And if you know anyone in Hereford that could use a message about Jesus Christ and how much God loves them, let us know!
Ok BYEEEEEEEEEEEE LOVE Y'ALL! FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!!!
Hermana Neilson
ps. in the one picture (the super dark one) there is a ton of red lights, and all of those are the windmills everywhere. we were driving back from a lesson in a town 30 miles away
12.4.17
We had a "White Christmas"
HOLA TODO!!!!!
HOLA TODO!!!!!
LAURA GOT BAPTIZED AND IS OFFICIALLY A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOO. Best news ever haha. In the mission we call baptisms around Christmas time, a "White Christmas". The baptismal service went really well! Except we were having so many problems right before it started. The guy that was going to baptized her got stuck in traffic on the way home from vacation, and we don't really have a whole lot of priesthood holders, so we had to have one of the elders from an hour a way come baptize her. But everything turned out ok and the spirit was just straight fire. It's moments like these where you are so so so grateful to be a missionary. We get to be apart of changing people's lives. And I LOVE IT. On Wednesday, we had to go in and clean out the font because it hadn't been used in 18 months, and there was like dead cockroaches and stuff, but I have never been so happy to clean out a baptismal font in my life!
Also we had zone conference this week, and i didn't take pictures, but it was super good. I really feel like something our mission president is emphasizing right now is obedience and effectiveness. Not always the funnest topic, but it really does help a ton.
We also had exchanges this past week and that was so fun!!! I went with sister Burbidge and Hewitt. Sister Burbidge has been my sister training leader for SIX transfers, and so this was my last one with her. It was so sad and tender. Haha but I love that girl!
Something else we've done this week is share #LightTheWorld with literally everyone. We have even started texting our branch members daily and that's been going great! I mean there's only like 30 of them so it's not too hard haha. But really though, do the #LightTheWorld initiative and send in referrals. It makes missionary work so much easier :))
That's all for this week. I love y'all so much and love the support and emails. CTR.
con mucho amor,
Hermana Neilson
ps. my comp cut my hair
11.27.17
estamos MUY enfermas
HOLA TODO!
HOLA TODO!
So this week we basically were struck dead with whatever plague we had, but we literally spent 4 days in our beds. It was miserable. But luckily we're both feeling a little better. But when we came to church yesterday, everyone was like "What happen to y'all?!" hahahha apparently we looked pretty bad???? but luckily i have an awesome companion, so it wasn't too bad. but for thanksgiving we went to a member's house and wow so much delicious food. It was a no-knocking day so we couldn't proselyte or go to lessons or anything. so we just ended up hanging with members the whole day.
In other news, this upcoming week will be great! We have zone conference, exchanges with the sister training leaders, and Laura's baptism!!! So stay tuned for next monday's email. But other than that, that is it for the week! I love y'all mucho and don't forget to #LightTheWorld
Hermana Neilson
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