Wrapping up July

Hello everybody!

 

This week has been great! We have gotten a lot of rain! everyone says that this will probably go down as the wettest July that Oklahoma has seen! cool! Glad I got to be here haha but  a lot of places have experienced a lot of flooding! One night that was crazy we had what they call a 'light storm" really I woke up at 3 in the morning to flashing lights! and loud thundering cracks! I couldn't sleep so I decided to look outside and I expected to see something crazy but the lightening was just up in the clouds so it was just flashing! it was still pretty cool!

 

We are working with some less actives, but they are hard to get ahold of. And many of them have been offended or they are tired from serving too much. It is frustrating because they think they are ok if they are living the right way but they just don't want to make it back to church because it is an inconvenience. But we are trying to find ways to serve and hopefully that helps!

 

Our golden investigators are wonderful and we taught sister White (We don't know why but she wants to take the lessons alone) on tues. The lesson went great and the spirit was really strong! We committed her to baptism and she said yes but she wont let us set a date. We don't know the real reason why yet. But they came to church!! WOO!

 

We get to attend a temple conference on Thursday and I am so excited for that! It will be so great to get to do a session!

 

Well everyone that's another week! I love you all! Take care now, ya hear :)

 

Love, Sister Nielsen

Everything's OK in OK

Ok people! things are going pretty good! We have this family investigating the church and boy they are amazing! Their name is the Whites and they have a seven year old daughter. They came to church yesterday and we will teach them tomorrow! This is like my first lesson though! And I have to take the lead. I can do it!

 

We do service at the library on Thursday and we use this plastic wrap stuff to wrap the books! Man I am going to be a pro present wrapper when I get home! But it is a lot of fun because the librarian just talks to us all day long and she has talked about us to people! what a lady, I think she is Baptist! like most of the people here! at least she likes us.

 

A lot of people here are satisfied with how their lives are going so they aren't really looking for anything new in their life. Hello people!! haha agency. Its ok we are just planting those seeds!

 

The members are great and we have about 3 to 4 dinners every week. poor elders don't get any.. haha don't feel too bad though. The members are the best and they are trying to find people for us to teach! they are great!

 

I love you all so very much and I am doing good and you are in my prayers!

 

Peace and blessings y'all!

 

Love, Sister Nielsen

The sister in pink is Sister Johnson, Alisha's companion. I'm not sure who the third sister is, I can't zoom in far enough to read her name tag! :)

They have some pretty nice digs - granite countertop, tile floors, etc. - not too shabby!!

"Prayin for Rain"

Alright folks!

 

I am in Elgin Oklahoma! tiny place! No Wal-Mart so we have to drive 30 minutes to do our shopping!

 

We are the first missionaries to be here so we are "opening up" this area or we call it shot gunning! The people here are so great and I love them so much! The members are so helpful and I think they like us! I mean we have some dinner dates and someone calls about everyday to see how they can help.

 

It is hard to start off in a new area because we don't have anyone to teach. We have been visiting the less active members and getting to know the active ones and then tracting a whole lot! but is doesn't work very well because everyone already belongs to a church and they think we are Jehovah's Witness. Frustrating because they don't give us the time of day.

 

So how tract here is that we ask them to pray with us and usually they say yes but not here! They say that they are catholic or Baptist and then we try to give them a card or something and they refuse. I mean there is a lot more to it than that but honestly we cant get through to anyone. discouraging

 

My companion is sister Johnson from St. George! she is Native American and I love her! she is wonderful and we work hard. we try to be exactly obedient and just get to work! she has been out 10 months!

 

My anxiety is the worst! I honestly would not wish it upon even my greatest enemies. Because it is so slow and we face a lot of rejection I feel awful. And then I think that I am going to feel awful for my whole mission and that is rough. But I am praying a lot and I have been good for the last couple days. Pray is the way!

 

I love you guys a lot and I hope everything is going great!

 

Love you!

 

Sister Nielsen

Sister Nielsen arrives in Oklahoma

On Tuesday morning (July 9th) we got to talk to Alisha; she called while she was at the Salt Lake International Airport waiting to board her flight to Oklahoma City. It was great to hear her voice and get an update on how things are going. She said there were 21 missionaries flying out to OKC, six were sisters. She is excited to get to work in Oklahoma.

Later in the afternoon we got a short e-mail from her including a photo of her with her mission president and his wife. I laugh every time I look at this picture. Not very many people can make Alisha look short (she is almost six feet tall). I've got to find out how tall President Walkenhorst is - I'm guessing at least 6'10." I'll bet he is the tallest mission president in the church! :)

Yay for P-Day!

We got an e-mail from Alisha today. It was so good to hear from her. She makes us laugh, which is one of the reasons we miss her so much. Here's a bit from her letter:

Hola!
I am now a spanish speaking missionary. Just kidding! I am so thankful that I dont have to learn a language. Thank goodness.

My companions (Yes two now) are sister anderson and sister petersen. cuties. sister anderson is from roy odgen area and sister petersen is from gunison or price! this key board is freaking dumb. I dont know how to use it. The keys are all messed up and i am about to pull my hair out. Its fine. They both have elders. one is going to korea and the other is in argentina. we talk about them sometimes but not while we are supposed to be studying. we talk about it at the appropriate time so that we can prepare and feel the spirit in order to teach.

Teaching lessons is great. plus hard at the same time. its so cool though how the spirit will tell you exactly what to say when you need to say it. We have taught about 5 lessons so far and so we are getting the hang of things hopefully.

Dad, I had gym last night and i beat the boys in basketball. twice. thank you. before i won the second time an elder was right behind me and he said that he felt bad for me because he was going to get me out. shut up dude. got him out. then i left while i was ahead and went running. but it was nice to hear the elders cheering sister nielsen. haha take that elders. 

I love you all and I hope that you are doing great. good work mom and the boys for the 5k. you are great. sorry this email is a mess but honestly i think it is in spanish mode or something stupid.

I know that the lord is there for us all the time. even when you get upset at people for stupid reasons like when they tell us that we should wear make up so that we wont look like men in skirts. no one told me that but in one of the dress code talks i was getting a little frustrated with how they said some things. obedience is the key. obey. and you will be blessed. anywho, the lord loves us all despite our short comings. and he knows us all individually. I love him and all that he has done for me. 

love sista nielsen

I can't wait to hear her voice next Tuesday when she calls from the airport! The people in Oklahoma are going to love this girl!!