Tuesday, September 30, 2014

September 29, 2014 - Is President Uchtdorf a ghost?

Hello!
     This week has been pretty sweet. We had Elder Zwick of the Seventy come visit our mission. One of my favorite things he said was to tell yourself, " I will never limit myself by what I think is my capacity. I will allow the Lord to expand my capacity and He will." This is so true. This is definitely the Lord's work because I am so imperfect that nothing would get done if I was doing this by myself. Elder Zwick made a point of also saying "therefore, what?" I have tried writing that down at the end of my studies. It will be a great thing to do during conference this weekend. What am I willing to change because what I have learned?
     This week we also watched the Women's Conference. It was great! Ronika loved it and cried during the temple video. As for Sylvia, she enjoyed it but is also a very distracted 17 year old deaf girl. A sampling of her comments: "What time is the food? Why aren't all their sleeves the same length? What size shoe do you wear? My mom's feet shrank 2 sizes before she died. Is that man (President Uchtdorf)  a ghost?" The best was when she started mimicking the choir conductor. She is a hoot. Hopefully she will pay more attention next week when they set up the interpreter instead of just closed captioning :)
     This week we had exchanges and met some crazy people! There was a super high man that kept trying to sit on an invisible chair in the middle of the street. Then he started clapping and counting. His neighbors came by to make sure he didn't do anything. Then we met a man who told us that we don't believe in God, we believe in the stones. We just couldn't convince him that we don't pray to rocks.
     You know your trainer has been a missionary too long when: she says "in the name of Jesus Christ, amen," instead of "bye" when leaving a voicemail. Good grief :)
     Also, that awkward moment when the phone is in your purse and you accidentally call the Spanish elders and they listen to you proselyte for 17 WHOLE MINUTES. That was quite the laugh too.
     Well, I love y'all and pray for you!
Peace out,
 Sister Nielsen
    
Elder Jackson posing like his grandma, Gladys Knight.

Last dinner with the Smith family before Eric leaves for his mission in Ogden


Sis G is just a baby compared to Hakeem! He is only 15!

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

September 22, 2014 - Ward TempleTrip

Ladies and Gentlemen-
This week has been great. We had some really sweet lessons and met some cool new people. We have also met some crazy people. We were talking to a lady who never takes a breath (she even talks during prayers) and tells us insane stories about how her son Steve was murdered three times. We've met Steve and he hasn't been murdered :) She has cats, so my nose was runny and as I was blowing it, she thought I was crying. "Oh, are you crying for my son?! Bless your heart!" she gave me a hug and I said, "I'm just so sad." Sister Grindstaff was dying of laughter. We also had a lesson with a man named Doriko. He is 2 scoops of crazy with a side of cuckoo cachoo. He kneeled to pray with his head on the ground, facing the west because lightning strikes in the east. Then he asked Sis G to touch his body while he prayed. She insisted on folding her arms. He told us if someone says "hello" you have to say "hallelujah" because the word "hell" invites the devil into the conversation. And then he told us that he is King Solomon. Sis G said he is the second craziest person she's met on her mission. Eric, a ward missionary, was there to experience it all too. We three had a good laugh. So did Doriko's grandma because she knows he's crazy too.
     So, we had good lessons with NOT crazy people. Ray is doing well, he receives so much revelation from the Book of Mormon. He has some awesome fellowshippers too. He is just progressing kind of slowly because he has a lot of faith in the Lord, but not in himself. But, he is gaining more courage, especially after reading Ether 12:27 about how we have weaknesses to be humble. It is starting to all fall into place for him.
    The highlight of the week was the ward temple trip. We went to help out Ronika and Sylvia, our two deaf members, do baptisms for the first time. It was so cool! A guy in our ward interpreted the ordinances for them. They loved it! And Sylvia was baptized for her mom, on her mom's birthday! Seriously, the best day ever. It was cool to see them experience the joy of the temple. And some recent converts from Southaven, Mississippi (another ASL area of our mission, the 3rd area is Hot Springs Arkansas) came too. They were so good at helping Sylvia and Ronika out and helping them understand the temple better. So cool, it was a deaf-tastic day! And, Ronika's husband Jesse, a non-member, came, and he thinks the temple is super cool. Now if he would only give up coffee so he could go inside. But, he had a good time! The temple is awesome!
I love you all, have a great week!
Sister Nielsen
Sylvia, Ronika, Jesse (Ronika's Husband) and Deon, their son, all at the temple!

The Memphis temple is tiny, but really pretty. I love it!




Four ASL missionaries and Sis G's four deaf recent converts, all at the temple!


Look at this car wash. We are definitely in the South.


Me and Sis G and Rochelle's niece.



Hiking Pinnacle Mountain, I am a champ! Seriously though, boulders straight up for an hour. I could have died.
 
Rochelle, one of our favorite members, taking a selfie. She is diva-licious!
 

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

September 15, 2014 - Choose Your Own Adventure

     A little short on time today, but this week has been hard. We have had many days with practically no lessons. And I fell off my bike again. And we walked a ton because Sis G kept having nightmares of me getting hit by a car while biking.  But we have seen many miracles! One was a recent convert our age, Gasheera, called and said she would drive us around all day because she had nothing to do! Sweet! She is way fun, but she didn't like missionary work because all our appointments fell through. "I just want someone to invite us in and give me a glass of water and we can have a real lesson! When I was an investigator I was always there on time, with cookies for the missionaries!" Yep Gasheera, that is just not how it normally is. She is a hoot and a half. She can't wait to get her endowments in February so she can be "an undercover Mormon," just like me and Sister G.
     We also had a gabillion people bringing us food. And they found out I like Spam, so literally everyone bought Span for me. I am stocked for life! Super funny, but I'll take it :)
     This week I also finally met Conrad, the gay Methodist preacher who lives by us. He is crazy! He has taken the lessons, but just doesn't want to stop being a gay Methodist preacher, so he isn't willing to get baptized. But he loves missionaries and told us to stop by if we need bug spray. This time the bug spray he had was watered-down Listerine. I think it worked pretty well, and it doesn't smell too bad.
     I think missionary work is like those choose-your-own-adventure books. You have a few different plans to choose, and sometimes you follow the spirit and go down the right path. Or you don't listen because another one looks more promising, but it is deceiving. Sometimes you have to go back and choose the right plan because you saw that the other plans were a dead end. You aren't always sure which way gets you to the right end, but God does. And whichever way you choose, God will make things happen. You will meet someone on some street or have an awesome lesson you weren't planning on. God makes all your adventures worth your while if you are striving to serve Him.
    I love you all, have great week!
Peace out,
Sister Nielsen
 
A sweet Mini Cooper shop.


Two stick bugs.

 
We walked for 3 hours and didn't find any people, but we found a opossum for road kill stew, and a random Persian rug store that is super out of place.

 
More I-spy-Friday: a decaying couch, just feet from the opossum.
 
 

Monday, September 8, 2014

September 8, 2014 - 7 Stitches (Warning!! Pictures are not so pretty!)

Hello all!
Guess what happens when you forget to pray before leaving the apartment? You get 7 stitches. Saturday was the first day that I rode my shiny new bike from the McGraths. We were going 3 miles to Ray's house and I made it just fine. But, as I was in the driveway trying to get off my bike, me and my bike fell on the ground. I caught myself and thought I was fine, but, surprise! The gears put a nice gash in my leg. As I was crying, Sister Grindstaff talked to Ray, who was sick and didn't have a bandaid. Fortunately, a less active who is never home had come back to her house to put something in the fridge. She is a nurse and she wrapped up my leg real good. Then we called Brother Walker, a doctor in our ward. His wife came to get us to drive us to their house. He said it wasn't necessarily deep enough for stitches, but did them so it would scar less, and because Sis G wanted a cool story. His wife thought I should leave it so I would have "a cool tattoo." But, Brother Walker put stitches in my leg right in his living room and Sis G helped. She was so excited. Moral of the story: don't forget to pray.
     Saturday was rough for everyone: my stitches, the other sisters had their bikes stolen, and the elders' recent convert had a heart attack during their lesson (don't worry she's okay now).
     This week was really rough (big bug bites, people who have been investigators forever being mad at us for asking them to be baptized, me and Sis G were sick, I have sties in both my eyes, etc), BUT church yesterday was so worth it. Ray finally made it. Ray is our only investigator with a baptismal date. He is a black guy in his 50s that loves to talk and has the softest voice and classy glasses. He has been searching for truth since he had his "come to Jesus" moment in prison. He loves the Book of Mormon. So yesterday at church, he got up the last second to bear his testimony, and it was amazing! He talked about how he has gone to so many churches and there is always something wrong with them. His family asked him why he wanted to study with the missionaries, and he told them that the churches he has gone to with them are wrong. They weren't happy, but he knows that he has to fear God more than man. Then he looked at us and said, "I have been searching for the truth and I have finally found it. So please pray for me because I am going to do all I can to have it in my life." Oh man. This is what missionary work is about! All the bad things that happened this week don't matter because I am here to support Ray, to help those who want this truth so bad. So pray for Ray!
I love you all! Have a good week!
Love,
Sister Nielsen
 


 
Me looking sad and waiting for a ride.

 
after

before
 
7 stitches

Black Mickey
 
 
 

Monday, September 1, 2014

September 1, 2014 - Elvis Stories

Dear everyone,
Email time is so stressful, oh man. 
This week was great, I am loving Arkansas. 
Deaf culture: I love getting texts from deaf people. You have to remember, English is a second language for deaf people. This is a text from Sylvia: I'm soon birthday I'm happy 17th age. She is so cute. 
Also, it is really funny when she accidentally calls us. "Hey, I am getting a call from my deaf friend."
The South: I love Church's Chicken. It is like KFC but cheaper and better and greasier. After eating it, I feel greasy but completely satisfied. 
Elvis: People have great Elvis stories down here. Apparently there is a member in Southhaven Mississippi who read the Book of Mormon because Elvis did and then got baptized. A member here told us that her aunt took her to see Elvis at his gate, but she never got up the nerve to talk to him so her aunt never took her again. 
Our investigators: Ray and Tiarra will hopefully get baptized soon. Please pray for them, they have some big concerns to over come! 
The members: Members are awesome. The Lewises, a convert black couple, came to lessons with us and they help so much. They are so cute and funny and share their testimonies with lots of power! 
I love you all, the church is true!
Sister Nielsen 
Me and Sister Dube, an awesome spanish sister we live with. She is from Zimbabwe but has lived in England, so she has a great accent. I had a few slices of melon, but she ate the rest in one day! 


Ronika,, our awesome deaf member, she is a trooper. It's good she is the first deaf member here, she'll be a pioneer.


Eric, the ward missionary is bffs with all the missionaries. He is coming to Ogden on his mission soon, so if you see him please feed him! 


Sweet murals under the bridge by our house. Lots of cool quotes, I love it. 


Me and Hermana Johnson at the zoo. So fun!


A bunny that hangs out outside our apartment.


We accidentally wore the same outfit. It was embarrassing.

August 31. 2014 - My Testimony