March 30, 2015 - Dinner with Sister Mullen

Hi y'all!

So this week has been pretty good. Really good actually. Monday I finally made it to Graceland. I took our roommie Hermana Ponce since Sister Garcia and Hermana Mitchell already went. It was a blast! The front of the house was very classic, and then the basement and "the jungle room" were super 60s/70s. It was fun! I am so happy I finally got to go! One of the most memorable parts was this man coming up to Hermana Ponce, crying about when Elvis died. Poor guy just got too emotional!

     Thursday we had quite the adventure. We had dinner with Sister Mullen, an 80 year old woman, and Brother Fanayam, a convert from the island of Yap. They are the cutest/randomest BFFs ever. We walked for over an hour in the rain to get to get to dinner, and we were so wet that Sister Mullen made us wear her nightgowns at dinner while she dried our clothes. It was hilarious, we had a great time, and Brother Fanaya made us our favorite food, fried green tomatoes with honey mustard.

     This week our deaf investigator, Sonya, is finally progressing. We watched the Restoration movie with her and she felt the spirit so strongly. She really wants to understand more about baptism and she wants to be with her husband and her five teenage boys forever. She also came to Women's Conference on Saturday and loved it. I am so excited for her family, they are great!

Love y'all, have a good week!

Sister Nielsen

Today we had a picnic at the park, it was a beautiful day!

Walking through the park.

The elders found a bear on the road, then our roommies stole him. He is pretty good company.

Sister Matkin, our Sister training Leader and BFF.

Dinner with Sister Mullen and Brother Fanayam, quite the memorable time!

Our District

Visiting cute Sister March on St. Patrick's Day.

At the ward hoe down with Celestial.

March 23, 2015 - For every tragedy, there is a multitude of miracles

Hello!

This week has been better than the last. "For every tragedy, there is a multitude of miracles." This week we went to contact a less active, but it turns out that the less active didn't live there. But guess who lived there? A man with a deaf wife! And they are letting us come back to see them! And who lives next to the them? The nicest family ever and they have a partially deaf son and the mom knows ASL. We were seriously so blessed to find them. 

That was a really good day, the rest of the week was pretty uneventful. Recently, I have been learning to humble myself and be willing to change. The Lord knows my potential and who I can become. To become that person, I need to accept what ever trials and counsel He gives me with a humble heart. There are a million excuses to not change, but change is for the better and there will be a million reasons to be happy that we did change. I am grateful for all the experiences I am having here and for the person I am becoming. 

I love y'all!

Sister Nielsen 

March 16, 2015 - Grandma Nielsen and the Ward Pirate‏

This week two very special people passed away. One was my Grandma Nielsen. She has had Alzheimer's for a very long time. Some memories of Grandma:

1. When my dog died, she kept asking were he was, and when I told her he died, she was very good at comforting me and telling me I would see him again. It was so cute that she didn't really know who I was, but still knew how to help me out. 

2. Grandma always thought she heard someone crying. One time, she was upstairs with my dad, and I was in the basement with my mom, crying. She said, "Someone is crying." Dad said, "No, no one crying." Me and mom just started laughing, and I stopped crying. 

3. My grandma was always so proud of me for serving a mission. She would forget that I was going, but I would tell her often because it made her happy. 

4. Grandma loved General Conference. She was always the most calm and least confused when we turned it on. She had a testimony of prophets. I know she will be anxious to watch them speak next month.

The second special person was Jim Burrows, a recent convert me and Sister Garcia had been teaching. He was a great man, and was only 63. He was affectionately known as "the ward pirate" because of his eye patch. Some memories of Jim:

1. He always said, "Top of the mornin' to ya," even though it wasn't morning.

2. He always used military time.

3. We couldn't see him at 1530 because that is when Jeopardy was on.

Jim was a great man. He thought he wasn't doing enough to help, but he was a huge example to his family. They had a great experience coming to the church for his memorial service, and they recognized that Jim had changed. My favorite was when his sister in-law said, "I wish I knew the Jim that you all knew. That is how much he changed since he joined your church." That was so powerful. I know Jim is preparing them to receive the Gospel. 

I am so grateful for the words "He is risen." The resurrection has come to mean so much to me this week as these two beautiful spirits have gone to the spirit world. I am grateful that because Christ was risen, my two friends will be risen as well and I will see them again. 

Love you,

Sister Nielsen 

This is Jim. He tucked his beard in his shirt, it is actually much longer. He first met the missionaries at Walmart because Sis Grindstaff wanted a pic with him because he looks like he is from Duck Dynasty. 

We went to the temple today!

This week we also went to Red Robin's with the Sister Training Leaders and President. 

Enjoying some Mexican ice cream.

Decorating the old folk's home for St Patrick's day with Hermana Ponce.

Having a ton of fun at a deaf event.

Bishop Westinskow

The Memphis sign, super cute!

Dinner at Cracker Barrel with the super cute Holliday family! 

 

On the way to the MTC, we stopped for Sharly to say good-bye to Grandma Nielsen.

March 9, 2015 - The Storms Continue

Hey y'all!

So, the storms continue. One day this week it iced and we couldn't leave the apartment all day. It was kind of relaxing for two seconds, but then we got real anxious to go work!

Before the storm, we had dinner with the Holladays. They are the cutest. Brother Holladay has the spirit of a kid. We asked him what he did that day, and he said, "I watched TV today." We asked what he watched, and he lit up and said, "Cowboys and Indians. They're my favorite." So sweet. I loved eating with them.

This week, when the ice kind of melted, we went to a deaf event at a pizza place with mini golf, arcade games, go carts, the whole nine yards. Of course, we just chatted with deaf people and ate a lot of food. We met a cute black family with two deaf kids. They were very open and we gave them a Book of Mormon, so it was a successful night.

We are also still teaching Barbara and Vince, they are great. And some of the deaf people we have been trying to contact forever were finally home, so it was a pretty good week. I hope you all are happy and safe, and warmer than we are here. Love you!

Sister Nielsen

At Abbay's, the best restaurant ever. Catfish, chicken, pork chops, meatloaf, okra, sweet potatoes, potato salad, cornbread, and pretty much anything else that you can think of that is Southern. Super obsessed.

Having fun at the deaf event!

March 2, 2015 - Snow!!!

Hello, hello!

     This week has been great. We had a pretty good bike week, and the one day we walked a lot, it snowed the whole time. It was a perfect snow, and Sister Garcia had never seen snow before. She loved it! We had so much fun! We built a snowman and had a snowball fight. And a ton of people were outside playing, so we got some great new investigators! 

     On Saturday we got to go to a member's Mardi Gras party. The food was so good, my favorites were gumbo, king cake, and beignets. So yummy. 

     I also got to go to the temple to interpret for Bronzie and Jelena. They have an ASL video for most of the endowments, I only had to interpret a wee bit. It was great to go, I haven't been to the temple forever! 

     This week we finally met our investigator Barbara's husband, Vince. Bronzie came with us and shared her testimony. The spirit was so strong, and Vince said they have been going to lot of different churches. He says he knows God has something waiting for them, and that he kind of felt it was there with us. Wow! I am so excited to keep teaching them, the Lord has truly prepared them for the Gospel!

 

Bye, love you!

Sister Nielsen 

 

Snow!!!!!

Sister Garcia and our snowman.

Us with the Peysons, helping Sister Valentine move :( I'm gonna miss her.

Mardi Gras Party