November 23, 2015 - Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!
To be honest, this week was really long and really hard, but we pulled through! Everyone canceled on us and it got really cold really fast. Saturday turned out to be pretty good. We were walking and felt inspired to go back to a family we hadn't seen in a while. The son opened the door. We had given him a Book of Mormon and he had read several chapters. He had been asking his mom where the church was and she couldn't remember. We had a really good chat with him, he is loving the Book of Mormon.

Saturday we also were fasting for Mario, he didn't come to church last week and hasn't answered our calls. Henry was a good pal and called him and told him that since he got baptized, he promised to come to church every Sunday. And Sunday Mario came to church! Yay! Fasting is real. Still have some other things to figure out, but God will take care of the things we can't.

Another cool thing was one of the assistants to the president found a deaf person this week and used his tiny bit of ASL and got her info. She turned out to be in the other ASL area, but it was still exciting. Elder Johnston was SO proud of himself.

Yesterday we had a good contact, it was the last door before a member came to get us for dinner. He is a very elderly man, and has a nephew that is a bishop in Canada. He had been looking for a Book of Mormon in the library and couldn't find one, so we gave him a copy and we are going back next week. Definitely inspired and we have a lot to be grateful for this week.

Have a great week and enjoy your Thanksgiving! Love you!
Sister Nielsen

Relief Society luau!

When we were walking this week, an agnostic lady gave us some flowers she was trimming. It was funny.

The impact elders came to the Bartlett area. We Bartlett missionaries always fail at pictures.

Welcome to the South!

Last week for p-day we went to the Civil Rights Museum. It is at the hotel where Martin Luther King  was assassinated. It was really interesting and well done museum, we loved it.

November 16, 2015 - #miraclenovember

Hello, hello!
       A quick story: this week we had dinner with a member and she prayed that we would be invisible to evil people. That's a pretty good thing to ask for I would say.
       Saturday we weren't having much luck, and most of the people we met weren't very nice. We said a prayer that we could find the one person Heavenly Father needed us to see that day. A little bit later, we met a lady who was nice, but not interested. I felt prompted to give her a card for the family history center. She was so excited! She is already on Family Search and has found many of her ancestors. She thinks it is great she can go to the center and get more help, and  says she will be a frequent patron there. Our prayers were definitely answered and I think some angels sent us her way that day!
         This week we had a great lesson with Edwin's whole family. It started off just Edwin, then Brook joined, then we felt prompted to teach plan of salvation instead of our original plan. Then when we pulled out the pictures for the plan of salvation, they went and got the kids, then Brook's sister Erica came home, and we taught them all together! The kids really got the plan of salvation and that we have to do what Jesus asks us to do. Then Caden, who is 7, wanted to say the closing prayer. It was really sweet. And Erica and Brook already heard about the word of wisdom and want to start living it. This family is hungry for the gospel! #miraclenovember
Have a fantastic week in your neck of the woods! Love y'all!
God speed,
Sister Nielsen

Mario had a white shirt and tie for church, he was so proud and made us take a picture.

Deaf event with Henry and Scarlett!

November 9, 2015 - Happy Birthday

Hello! Hello!
      So today the other missionaries were very sneaky and set up a surprise party for me at the church.  They even brought Peach Nehi, my favorite soda, and Oreos and Carmel apples, so it is a pretty great party. I was thoroughly surprised, I am impressed.
       For the month of November we are striving for 100 baptisms in the mission, and we are sacrificing a lot for our goal. We have seen a lot of miracles already this month. One of the miracles is a guy named Edwin. We met him a couple weeks ago, he and his family just moved in and don't have a "church home" yet, so we went back to see them. We knocked on the door, no answer, then were headed back to the car. He was driving up and was going to keep going, but felt he should talk to us. We had a great lesson about the restoration. He loved the gospel library app and downloaded it right there. He has been to a few churches but hasn't felt the spirit. He wants to go some somewhere worth his time and where he feels the spirit. HE asked US to come back twice a week and teach his family. And he wants to feed us dinner, he's practically a member already! He is really ready to change his life, I'm so excited to see his family grow in the gospel.
      There is another lady named Virginia, the other sisters found her number in their phone, texted her, then she came to church. We taught her a great lesson and she wanted to get her family involved too. She talked to her family, then texted us and said that her family is going to continue searching for a church home elsewhere :( We had a lot of people drop us over text this week, and it is hard. Yesterday we watched a Mormon message called "You Never Know" about a mom who is so busy helping everyone that she misses out on what she wanted to do. At the end it shows how much good she did that she didn't even know about. We as missionaries try so hard and still have disappointments, but we have done our part in sharing God's word and helping people on the path to accept the gospel. We might not see the fruit of our labors now, and some people may use their agency to reject the message, but what we do is still worthwhile and the Lord is still pleased with our efforts. He is here to support us every step of the way.
       Love you all very much! Have a blessed day!
Sister Nielsen

November 2, 2015 - Mario's Baptism!

Hello everyone!
     This week we had Mario's baptism! It was super awesome. The Seaman girls signed the opening song and one of the young women signed the opening prayer. Elder Maher signed the baptism prayer and the spirit was so strong. It was sweet to see Mario looking up at him signing. He was very impressed. He signed it perfectly and Elder Trendler voiced it perfectly too. And Terry from Southaven got to be a witness. The talks were so good, and Mario shared his testimony. He had been so nervous, but it was beautiful and I was able to voice interpret for him. His eyes were all teary at the end. And Henry got to say the closing prayer. What a miracle, who would have thunk, ASL started here two months ago and we now have two deaf members! It was truly inspired to start the deaf work here.
     I have seen such a change since I first met Mario. He is just glowing! We normally ask if we can come teach him and he says "That's fine," but this week he called and asked us to come, he is so eager to learn. We have been helping him with his English reading skills this week too. He is learning everything so well now. His confirmation blessing talked about how much the spirit will help him learn, it is true! I have seen that so much with deaf people, the spirit helps them learn, communicate, and understand at a whole new level. Sacrament meeting was great yesterday, and Mario bore his testimony again. He came early and even practiced. It was super helpful to practice interpreting for him as well. Everyone in the ward is so supportive of him, I love it. I am grateful to be here seeing these events take place. God is good. 
     Love you all!
     Sister Nielsen

Mario's Baptism!

The deaf people think this picture is hilarious. We do too.

Terry, Jelena, and Bryan came from Southaven to support. Then Henry and Mario :)

Cute Parkinson family!

Saying good bye to Sister Jensen!

My pumpkin is a symbol missionaries use for "baptism".

 

You know you are in the south when your egg carton has a scripture in it.

October 26, 2015 - Friendships are Forever

Greetings! It's fall y'all!
This week:
-Mario passed his baptism interview!  Elder Weaver interpreted, and it went well. We are teaching Elder Maher how to sign the baptism prayer, and he is a natural. We taught Mario about family history and even found him a "My Family" book in Spanish. We are super excited for his baptism this week!
-Our area is slowly building. This week we've actually had lessons in people's houses, and we keep finding more great people.
-Yesterday we weren't having much luck, but we met a lady named Joni. She was nice but kind of skeptical at first. But then she had some questions, and then she went to get us something. She came back and gave us the program from her son's memorial service, she wanted to share it with us. She opened up to us and we talked a little about the plan of salvation, then she invited us in and showed us pictures of her son. I know Heavenly Father sent us to meet her, it was great.
-Saturday at stake conference, the visiting speaker talked about how friendships are forever. As we share the gospel and help people have their ordinances done, and their ancestors ordinances done, we will all be linked together. I am so grateful to be here to help friendships be eternal!
Have a great Halloween everyone!
Sister Nielsen

Halloween decorations courtesy of Mom.

We taught a recent convert on exchanges. She really wanted to take a picture doing sign language, so here we are signing "gospel".

Our blankets from Sister Seaman

Eating at Fat Larry's.

October 19, 2015 - Update on the People of Tennessee

Howdy!
Here is an update on the people of Tennessee!
     Mario: he is doing great, preparing for baptism. This week we taught him tithing and had him practice filling out a tithing slip with fake money and everything. He's going to be a pro. We also reviewed the plan of salvation. We taught him with little cut-outs for each part. When we collected the cut-outs, he asked us if we had all of them. We didn't! He had put the Celestial Kingdom in his pocket, he loves it so much. He is too funny, we will have to get him his own cut-outs for his baptism. I am glad he knows that his goal is the Celestial Kingdom.
     Henry: doing great as well! He bought a white shirt and talked with bishop and will start passing the sacrament. Also the members are be so helpful in his job hunt, he'll be hired in no time!
     Deaf Event: Friday we went to the deaf event at the food court and it was fantastic! We met a great girl named Scarlett. She is hard of hearing and grew up going to an oral school, which is where deaf and hard of hearing children learn to speak and lip-read instead of signing. She has been learning ASL on her own this year. She has picked it up so fast! She was just at the mall looking for some heels, but then saw our group and joined in. We chatted with her and she was super glad to see some younger people there. She wants to practice her sign more and come to our ASL class. She also thinks it is great our church has interpreters. She is super cute and has so much potential and reminds me a lot of Jadyn, so that's fun. I am very excited we met her.
        Also at the mall a foreign lady came up to us. She really wants to be involved in service and have a group to belong to. Really random, but awesome! I think she recognized our tags and knew we would know. We gave her as referral to the missionaries in her area, she is great as well. We were truly blessed with miracles this weekend!
     Much love y'all,
Sister Nielsen



All the sisters in our zone.

All the trainers and trainees in our zone, and President Wakolo.

Sis Hav's really late birthday cake.