64 th Week, April 21, 2014

Happy Easter!!!

 

Oh the stories I have for you this week... We will start with the major bummer. In our house.. we all have bed bugs. Yup. Bed bugs. you know those nasty little things that bite you in the night?? I thought that was a joke. So here's what happened... We had 6 in our house last transfer right? Then they moved 2 of the sisters to take over a former elders apartment.... Yup. The elders apparently had bed bugs... So the sisters got them... and passed them to us because we switched out their beds from some bunk beds in our apartment... Then some sisters did exchanges and slept in each others beds :O basically the Texas McAllen Mission is having a little bed bug epidemic! and its nasty! then the elders confessed that they have been getting bit as well.. our whole zone has bed bugs! Yikes! We are working on getting rid of them though :) lots of cleaning happening...

So that's my nasty fun story for the week!

In other news! We found 5 new investigators this week and 4 of them have baptismal dates they are preparing for!!! Whoo!!! The work is moving forward here in Edinburg! Our main struggle is getting people to church! it didn't help that yesterday was easter and that's one of the few holidays everyone celebrates around here! I don't remember ever getting good Friday off from school in Utah??

We had this super cool lesson with one of our investigators! We were looking through the restoration pamphlet with her and we got to the picture of the first vision and she just stopped. and started talking about how she has been praying to know which church she should join. She went on for a few minutes and when she stopped I told her that the boy in the picture was going through the very same thing! She was sooo excited to know she wasn't alone. Then at the end of the lesson we asked her if she would pray to know Joseph Smith was a prophet. She started to say something then stopped and told us that she just had this voice in her mind just telling her "yes! yes! yes! yes!" She just knew that it was true! So we had her pray to confirm that answer was from God and afterwards she told us it was!  :D The Lord is so amazing! He answers people in truly the exact ways they need to be given the answer!

Also, I made apple pie this week. That was a fun adventure. It was my district leader's birthday and we wanted to do something for him. so we asked him what he would like and it was apple pie... Well we bought the cute little jiffy's pie crust mix and an apple pie filling and I made pie! that was exciting. I feel much more prepared for next thanksgiving!

Overall this week was just filled with craziness in the best ways possible, mostly! We had a few down moments and there was a day that I decided it was time to go get ice cream. Everything had fallen through and we were just done for the day. so we went to Stars (its kind of like sonic but not as good) and my companion and I sat on the curb with our bikes and had a treat. I've decided there are just some moments in life when you need to sit on the curb and have an ice cream. Its not always a bad thing. Sometimes its a good thing to reward yourself with a little ice cream.

Also!!! I'm so excited about my new baby nephew!!!  I hope that everyone who gets to see him will send me pictures!!! The little man is going to grow up a whole lot before I get home! its crazy! Life just keeps going doesn't it? On and on and on! It never stops! That's the best and worst thing about life! We can't stop the moments from passing by, so we shouldn't just let them pass by either! Seize the day! Take on every adventure that crosses your path! I know that's what we will be doing this week in Edinburg so I invite you to do it as well! If you see any sort of opportunity to share the gospel, do it!! Even if its to someone who is just a little less active or maybe the most active person you know! Share the light of Christ that you have been given so that all might know of His glory and love! I know the Lord lives and loves each and every one of us! Whether we feel we deserve that love or not it is always there!! I love you all dearly and wish you a wonderful week!!!

Hermana Nielson

63rd Week, April 14, 2014

Waaay too much happened this week to be able to detail it all! so i'm just gonna send some pictures instead!

First off, we had a zone blitz in our area! which means, 7 sets of missionaries were working in our area for 4 hours! The results, 5 new investigators, 30 referrals received and 20 contacted :) Pretty boss day if you ask me! haha it was crazy! and because we only work on bikes and by foot, everyone did it too :) we felt pretty awesome! and this week we will get to do it to someone else's area! so we are excited :) mission life is fun!!!

So we ran into the other sisters in our area and got the picture of sister hunt and I on the bikes :) pretty great! we actually rode for a couple feet then she jumped off scared haha but it was fun!

I wore my tie skirt to church! the elders begged me all week to wear it! haha so that was fun! I love those silly elders. these are my zone leaders. somehow the camera was positioned just right to cut my companion out of the pictures.. weird right?

 

 I found a worm on the ground this week.

 So I picked him up and carried him for a little while on my planner. He was a feisty little worm. I have never seen one jump around as much as he did and he curled himself into my planner.

Ok so that sounds random but here was my thought process as I was playing with this worm. He doesn't know he is a creation of God. He just knows life. He goes around. does his worm things... and then goes to bed. People in this life are very much like my little worm friend :) They don't all realize they are sons and daughters of a God that loves them and wants to forgive them of the wrongs they have done. The elders had an investigator in church yesterday and while I was talking to her for a minute she started crying and telling me how her old preacher told her that he wouldn't baptize her and she couldn't be saved. I told her that was a lie. God loves her and every single one of us! We are not "saved" because the preacher says so. We are forgiven and receive eternal life because we are willing to do what the Lord wants! That's all! :) So that was my profound thought for the week! I hope you all have a great one and happy easter on sunday!!!! Remember what it is really all about :) Read it in the bible!

 

Hermana Nielson

62nd Week, April 7, 2014

Conference!!!

 

 

WHoooooo!!! We were all talking about conference yesterday with some ward members and I realized that only missionaries can talk about conference like normal people talk about a sporting event.

"Did you see Jeffery R. shake his finger at the audience?!" "Oh man!! Yeah!" "Did you hear that talk on pornography! Wow!"

It was pretty hilarious and cool! I hope everyone has just as much enthusiasm about this last conference as me! Because man! That was my last one as a missionary! D: Yikes!

 

I loved conference so much!!! This whole last week has just been crazy and full of spiritual moments! We had a great zone meeting on Thursday where we learned about some changed rules. (sadly music rules just got a lot stricter and we will be blasting our MoTab cds again..) Then Thursday night... as we were literally just climbing into bed we got an emergency text form our zone leaders! "Interviews tomorrow! Be at the church at 830am!!!" that was intense... haha so we had interviews on Friday! Super boss! It was really exactly what I needed to really refocus myself a little and get some much needed help from my dear mission president! although it was a little scary..... because there were a few moments where he literally said things EXACTLY like my dad and gave me the same face dad would give... YIKES! But it was cool and made me a little homesick :) haha!

Then conference was super great! I received a lot of insight on my plans for the future and lets just say i'm going to DOUBLE my efforts in Spanish study because I've got some big plans :)

As for the talks! one of my favorites was by Z Craig Zwick! His was super great!  Something super great  I got out of it is that we shouldn't raise our voice but instead ask for understanding in a loving manner first! I think that's something I can apply to missionary work now and as well to my future family! :) Also he mentioned that it doesn't matter who is more right, you must listen to each other.

I think in life a lot we just want to be more right and we don't listen to other people. We don't take a minute to lovingly listen and see what is going on from another persons perspective! How much more smoothly would the world run if we would all just take a second to listen first... then try to help rather than prove how much more right we are? I challenge you this week to stop and listen before answering someone! That's my goal! I know it will definitely help improve my companionship(we are doing well though so that's not a worry but hey! always room for improvement!) and will help you as well to really understand another person and help them! Love you all!!! Be safe! The church is true!

 

Hermana Nielson