Tuesday, July 28, 2015

July 27, 2015 - Eva's Baptism

Hello!
Great news! Eva got baptized on Saturday! Satan was working overtime this week, but God has prevailed. It was a great day for all.
      Eva was given a Book of Mormon by her insurance lady, Sister Ludolf from our ward, over 20 years ago! She still has it to this day. We met Eva when we went to ask her son if he read the BOM. Turns out he son wasn't ready(yet), but Eva finally was! It took her a good Southern minute, but here we are. She has grown and is so much happier now. You can see she has changed. She was most excited about receiving the Holy Ghost, and now she has.
      Saturday was a crazy day: giant cockroaches in the font, running to Walmart for a white undershirt, none of the baptism suits being the right size, and countless other catastrophes, but the most important thing is she is she entered into that covenant with the Lord and is a member of His church. And 2 of her sons came, they work for a member from another ward. It was great they came to support their mom, and hopefully a seed was planted in them.
        Saturday night we had a ward activity for Pioneer Day, or Pie-oneer Day. It was so great, a lot of less actives and part member families came. And Allen, one of the deaf recent converts who has been MIA lately, came with his kids, and came to church the next day, yay! We lucky missionaries got to judge all of the pies, it was great! I love this ward, it is so fun to be with them. I am loving my mission.
Have great week y'all!
Love,
Sister Nielsen

Eva's Baptism!
Miss Mattie, the lady that gave her a Book of Mormon 20 years ago!

Twinners! Totally unplanned, I promise. We got comments like "did y'all just get out of jail?" and "what's up, inmates?" And "you must work at Footlocker," mostly from Armando and Ty. Bronzie kept mimicking a referee whenever she saw us.


Judging the pie baking contest. My favorite was the peach one of course!


Also the pie eating contest. Elder Ortiz was the only one who did it the real way, with no utensils. However, Armando won in the end.

We got ice cream from "the dip," as the locals call it, in Hernando. Mine is peach, seriously the best ice cream I've had. Ever. Sooooo good.

Little Calvin. He is OBSESSED with sister Kennach. Every time he sees her he yells, "Kennach!" And cries whenever she leaves. So cute. I guess I'm just not cool enough. Haha!
 

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

July 20, 2015 - Yay Us!

Hey y'all!

     So I'm trying to remember what all happened this week. I do remember that is was walk week and it was the supposedly the hottest week of the year. Yay us!
 
     Now I'm starting to remember: Tuesday we walked a good Southern minute in the heat. Then when we got out of some iPad training, it was started to rain. We walked and sang "Called to Serve" down the highway, and it just poured. It was lots of fun, and some sweet people gave us ponchos. After about 10 minutes, the Hermanas found us and picked us up. Thank goodness because the fun was starting to wear off :)
 
     Tuesday night we were teaching Eva and she couldn't remember what she read in the Book of Mormon that morning. Finally she remembered. She told us she had a dream and she remembered that before we came, she had been praying to find the true religion because she didn't believe all the things at her church (she convinced US that the Trinity is false doctrine). In her dream she heard a voice say she was doing the right thing. She told us she is like Joseph Smith. So awesome, she is so ready for baptism! 
     This week we taught Shyraneka about the temple. She loves it and has been asking questions all week. She wants to go to the temple so bad. It is great, because really the temple, not baptism, is the end goal for this work.
 
     We have taught Nautica and Terenzo with some members this week. They are just sweet, I love them. This week they really have been praying about if the church is true. Terenzo in his prayer said, "God I don't know if this church is true, but I hope it is. Help us know." He has been reading the Book of Mormon too. I asked him how he feels at church and he said, "Neat." He was talking about going to college and we suggested he can go on a mission too. He said, "Yeah, I can be like a spy." We told him we meant a mission for the Lord, but he likes that too. I love those kids. I love teaching young people like them and Shyraneka because they have so much ahead of them: missions, marriage in the temple, raising their children in the gospel. Love it.
 
     Well, things are great here in Mississippi, I hope y'all have a fantastic week in your little corner of the world. I love you!
Sister Nielsen 
 


My stylin' poncho. Sunburned and soaking wet to the point my lips turned blue. #walkweek

P day at the park.

We party hard.

Last week we went teaching with Sister Cooper. And I was really excited to wear my new clothes from Mom.

Made Minion Twinkies.

Pictures from Bronzie of our adventures in Memphis.







Just looking cute at specialized training:)


Hermana Mitchell (Janessa now) came to say hello.
With Sister Aase at specialized training.

Monday, July 13, 2015

July 13, 2015 - Mississippi

Hello!
So things are still going great here in Mississippi. I just love that word, "Mississippi." This week I had my year mark for my mission, and I am so glad I decided to serve. I have learned so much and seen so many miracles, it is wonderful. 

This week we had some great lessons with Shyraneka and some members. She is progressing very well towards baptism. She has great questions, reads the Book of Mormon a ton (and understands it), comes to church, and accepts all the commitments we give her. I am so excited for her and can just envision her being baptized, going to the temple, and going on a mission. She is awesome!

Eva is still doing well, we are just working on setting a baptism date. Nautica and Terenzo are doing good too, we are excited to teach their family tonight. Terry had a temple recommend interview yesterday, and Brother Foote will help him prepare his dad's name for baptism. I love interpreting for recommend interviews, it helps me see the eternal perspective of this work. 

Also great is yesterday we met and taught a deaf girl named Kylisha. She lives pretty far, but she really wants to come to church. She is very smart and has lots of good questions. She really desires to learn about the Savior. Yesterday she asked why the people killed Him. I explained that the people were wicked and didn't believe Him, and that is why they wanted to kill Him. I explained that regardless Christ was willing to suffer and die so we can overcome our sins and be resurrected. She thought that was just beautiful. It was amazing to see her light up as she started to understand the Savior's role. I am so grateful to share my testimony and see people come to a knowledge of the Atonement. I know the Atonement is real. 

Have a great week y'all, love you!
Sister Nielsen 
Getting our BFF from the airport and eating a cake to celebrate.



 

Thursday, July 9, 2015

July 6, 2015 - Sometimes God's plan includes tiny things like a leak in the bathtub.

Hello-
This week I have learned all about God's plan and hand in everything. 
Eva:
On Monday all our appointments canceled, so we went to see Eva. Miracles! She told us that when Sister Kennach had read her a scripture in 2 Nephi 31:13 about the Holy Ghost, she knew that she would be baptized. We thought that scripture hadn't done anything two weeks ago when we read it, but it apparently did! Then Thursday we felt we should review the Word of Wisdom and the temple. The member we were with told an awesome story about living the Word of Wisdom so she could go to the temple. Eva told us her son made her some tea and she could only take one sip, and the same with coffee at her crochet class. Wow, the Book of Mormon is changing her life, it is so powerful.
 
Queenie:
On Friday a member took us out to dinner before we went teaching. She told us about her conversion story. A summary: she was struggling so she prayed and prayed and the answer was a leak in her bathtub. She had to call a plumber to fix it.  The plumber refused the "two best drinks in the South" aka Coke and sweet tea. She thought to herself, "Donnie and Marie don't drink those," so she asked him and sure enough he was Mormon. She asked him a bunch of questions, then got some sweet tea. He asked what she was doing, and she said, "Well, this might be the last glass of sweet tea I ever drink," and then she was baptized four weeks later. Sometimes God's plan includes tiny things like a leak in the bathtub.
So after that we went with her to teach Queenie. It was perfect, she told Queenie how prayer and the Book of Mormon changed her life. Queenie's husband is struggling with work, and is interested in the same job the member has! The member said she would talk to her professor, but that Queenie had to pray too. It was cool to see how perfectly they matched up. Definitely God's plan for them to meet. 
 
Brandon:
On the 4th we saw our investigator Brandon. He said he couldn't believe no one asked which church was right before Joseph Smith. I was able to explain to him about how although people were seeking for truth, God had a plan for the right setting for the gospel to be restored. And to go along with the holiday, that we had to have a country with religious freedom. I am so grateful to be able to worship God the way I believe, and to be free to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know God has His hand in everything and that He has a plan for each of us. It is amazing how His plan for us is linked with others, and that he sends us the right people and the right experiences at the right time. He truly is amazing.
 
Love you!
Yours truly,
Sister Nielsen 
More fun going to LR.

 We saw this sign on two churches this week.

Good times with the  sisters



And a blown out tire on the way to little rock.


4th of July with Perez family


Fun times at Bronzie's.

We taught Sister Peyson how to airdrop so of course we had to take a bunch of pics together.

 

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

June 29, 2015 - What else is awesome?

Hi!
     So this week was very good. On Monday we were able to teach Nautica and Terenzo's brothers, which was a good start. What else is awesome? Nautica and Terenzo went to youth conference this week! Yay! They were pretty worn out but had a ton of fun and the youth love them. 
     This week we also have been teaching Shyroneka, she is doing well and actually READS THE BOOK OF MORMON. Super awesome. I asked her what things she wanted to learn about the Lord, and she said she just wants to know what church is right. Well, that is what we are here to help her figure out :)
      Saturday the Hermanas had a BAPTISM! They have been teaching Neftali (but everyone calls him Nephi) for a good minute. There have been many tears in our apartment in the process of getting this guy baptized, and it finally happened! It was the first baptism for both the Hermanas, and their area's first baptism in almost a year. It was a really spiritual baptism, and after he got confirmed he told the Hermanas that "all the bad thought went away." He is just smiling all the time. It was a great day to see someone accept the gospel. 
      After the baptism we went to teach Eva and guess what? She was doing family history! And read two chapters of the Book of Mormon! That is a huge improvement for her. She had learned about family history at church so she started working on it. We reviewed the Restoration with her and focused on how it blesses families and how that priesthood power can bind families forever and how her family is cheering her on from the other side. She liked that. She was very happy. 
     Yesterday we started teaching the Chinese lady that used to live in Provo. She has very little Christian background, but she knows all about Mormon stuff like Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and temples and prophets. It is interesting, now we have to start by teaching her about prayer and Christ and the Holy Ghost. Very different from these Southern people. But she is super legit and hopefully we can find some Chinese members to come teach her with us. 
I hope you are all doing fabulous! Happy 4th of July! Love you!
Sister Nielsen 
We seriously struggled with this bike rack this week when we picked up the Hermana's bikes. I can just hear Dad saying, "A man must have designed this." 

P-day Picnic!


Faye Purser, the cutest lady ever. This week she made us biscuits and a REALLY YUMMY peach pie. She cut the pie in fourths. It was a lot, but after the first bite I definitely wanted the whole piece!


Hermana Tudon's birthday. We (well Sister Kennach) made her a cake!


Nephi's baptism.

Enjoying the presents from Mom!