Midnight Snack

Hello Everyone!

Saturday night I woke up around 1:37 not feeling too good but I laid in bed for a little bit! I was on fire and I felt like something was eating me alive. I ended up getting out of bed and filling out the rest of the area book and catching up on writing in my journal. I stayed up till 4 because I was scared that there was a monster in my bed...haha but I got too tired to care. I woke up in the morning with bite marks all over my neck and arms. I went to ward council and I talked to the Relief Society President about if she knew what kind of bug bites they were, she thought spider. I thought "yes, I am so glad that I am sharing a bed with a spider." haha we went home and I pulled back the covers to beat that spider for affecting my sleep. But I didn't see a spider, instead I saw little baby red fire ants. I was a midnight snack to some fire ants, but they are no longer taking residence in my bed :) Sorry little baby red fire ants! 

This week I had the chance to have an interview with my seven foot tall mission president. Good thing the interview takes place sitting down because I think that my neck would be sore if I had to stand.... haha I took a lot away from the interview and I feel like my whole mission has been changed. President talked to me about how my view has changed since I have been here and how we need to constantly strive to change the way we view everything. Do we see the way that Christ sees? I have never though of that before so when I heard this insight from President Walkenhorst it really made me want to see more like Christ sees.  

I mean think about it, if we learned to look at things the way that Christ looks at things then we would have a greater appreciation for things, a greater love for those around us, and a better knowledge of who we are and who we can become. 

I want to change and grow in a way that I can understand who I am and what my potential is, because with that you can accomplish anything. I know that I am a daughter of God and that I can live with Him and my family again. But I also have the potential to be like Him. I hope to grow so that I have a stronger and firmer knowledge of this that can be with me always, not just when I am writing in my journal or reading my scriptures or bearing my testimony, because that is easy to know then. I want to be able to go through hard things and then have a reassurance of what I can become and that everything that I go through was given to me to help me get there. 

I love you all dearly and I hope that you don't have any encounters with red fire ants this week :) 

Love, Sister Nielsen 

Rotten smells and shirtless men

About around the middle of the week I started to get a whiff of sweaty boy and I kept thinking that I needed to apply more deodorant or spray more body spray or something but the smell would come and go. I bathe daily as directed in the white handbook and I wash my clothes frequently because I don't like to smell like a sweaty boy! Well I kept smelling the stink periodically and then I figured out what it was. My ear is infected. hahaha it smells rotten. So I am not wearing earrings for a little bit so that it can heal and start smelling normal. I feel bad for all of the people that I have hugged and they have gotten a whiff of my infected ear. haha I even made my companions smell my ears. I will include the picture! haha they put up with a lot :)

We have seen a lot of miracles this last week. It started off with dropped appointments but the Lord needed us elsewhere and so we would go to our back up plans and they were who we needed to see that day! Planning has a purpose :) One of the miracles we saw was yesterday when one of appointments fell through with a recent convert, we decided to go check on a referral and we found their address and as we were coming down the road I could see a man with his shirt off standing there with his wife, both smoking cigarettes, secretly I was hoping that we weren't being referred to their home so that we could avoid that awkwardness but they were the people we were supposed to see. We got out of the car and I asked "are you Tom and Frita?" they replied and said yes and I told them "We were told to come give you all a visit" they laughed and told us that they had just taken a break from packing up their home and how we had just caught them in the act of smoking. They welcomed us into their home and we talked about our beliefs and their beliefs. The spirit was there so strong as they told us about how they lost their daughter in February but how they believe that she is in a better place. They agreed to have us come back and teach them about the plan of happiness :) cool moments like this that seem so awkward that turn out to be so wonderful are the things that keep me going :) tender mercy!

I love the opportunities that I have been given to serve in Oklahoma :) The Lord knows what I need and so He is there to help me along the way :) I love you all and I hope that you have a good week :) 

Love, Sister Nielsen 

8-11-14

Hello everyone!

This week was great! My added stress with the extra area has gone down a bit because I realized that Sister Nielsen is not the best at relying on the Lord. So I tried to do better this week. I stopped worrying about the little things and tried harder to listen to the spirit. I rely on the arm of the flesh a ton, and I think that I needed this added stress of an additional area to let me see that weakness because I can't do it on my own. The Lord gives us stumbling blocks but in all honesty if I can better rely on the Lord this will help me throughout my whole life! I was very grateful to notice that and see this as a chance for me to improve rather than be stressed out all of the time! We are given opportunities to grow so that we can one day be strong enough to live with God again :) 

Yesterday in Sunday school we were discussing the question of if there is a God and how we knew that. I thought about it for a little bit and we were asked to write it down on a piece of paper. I wrote it in my journal so I wouldn't forget. I know that there is a God because I am different from every other person on this planet. But He knows me and He knows what is best for me and most of the time I can only see that when I am looking back at the trials that I have faced. I am so grateful that I have a Father in Heaven that wants me to reach my fullest potential.

We are  teaching and preaching every day! We have a lot of appointments but it is a huge blessing :) One lady that we are teaching is Lisa C. We shared a Mormon message with her, "The Hope of Gods Light." If you haven't seen that one, it is very great and Lisa loved it too. She told us that her life has been really rough for 10 years and that she is tired. Every time she does something right a million other things go wrong. This message was super great for her and we listen to the spirit to adapt to her needs. God doesn't always answer our prayers when we want them to be answered but the answer does come. Peace does come! We just have to keep hoping for it and noticing it along the way :) 

Keep up the good work :) I love you all! 

I would love to make a shout out to my wonderful pops. He is turning the big 51 tomorrow! I love you Dad! 

-Love, Sister Nielsen 

August!

I am probably the most uninformative email writer there has ever been on the planet. I am sorry, but just to let you all know. I type probably 20 words a minute. (how and I going to survive in this technological world?) So I will just tell you that I am a lazy email writer. Forgive me :) 

Running the two areas has worn me thin. I mean I could be thinner :) haha I have had the chance to teach a whole lot of lessons and I have never been so spiritually tired in my life. I am grateful for that, though, because I love to testify and the spirit that comes when we speak of truth. Inviting someone to be baptized is probably my all time favorite thing and we have had the chance to do it twice so far this transfer. I don't think I fully understand what it means to be a representative of Jesus Christ, but when you ask people to change and come unto Christ the spirit that is in the room or even in your heart has to be one of my favorite feelings. I am so grateful that I have the chance to experience that every single day. I don't want that to ever leave. 

We are teaching about 9 people right now and they are all progressing. Talk about miracles. I have seen the Lord's hand so much in these last couple of weeks because we were asked to work a little bit harder. The Lord provides; I just need to trust in Him a whole lot more. If we are doing all that we can, the Lord will bless us. We will not be cut short of the blessings that we will receive. I know that Heavenly Father wants to bless us as much as He can. 

A quote that I read this week just really got me. Sometimes I expect to go throughout life and have it easy and then expect to be exalted on top of that. "How can you and I expect to glide through life as if to say "Lord, give me experience, but not grief, but not sorrow, not pain, not opposition, not betrayal, and certainly not to be forsaken. Keep from me, Lord, all those experiences which made Thee what Thou art! Then let me come and dwell with Thee and fully share thy joy."" -Neil A. Maxwell. We are given experiences that will "condition" us for the Celestial Kingdom. My mission has been a lot of spiritual conditioning and I am so grateful for that because I want to live comfortably with my Father in Heaven again. 

I hope that you will all be able to see the Lord's hand in your life this week :) 

Love, Sister Nielsen