"We Built the Lord a Fence"

Hello Everyone:)

 

Thank you all for the birthday wishes:) I have the best family in the world:)

 

So this week had its highs and lows! But good thing we learn best from the lows:) We had the opportunity to rebuild a fence for a couple who is really struggling. And I want to stress the word REALLY. But here in Oklahoma you have to keep your yard up to certain standard or you get fined. So we helped them rebuild their fence and chop the tree down that was growing through it! It was crazy haha because honestly if you can imagine the secret garden in your mind, magnify it about 10 times and that was their backyard! haha it was a great adventure. The hardest part was that the man was not very grateful and he was very rude to the elders so the enviornment was not very wonderful! It was ok because as we were driving away Brother Connor (a member) just said: "Well, we just built the Lord a fence, Elders and Sisters." That just made me feel a lot better! When we serve others, we are serving the Lord :)

 

Want to hear a funny joke? I was wearing one of my favorite skirts the other day and I was about to go to the bathroom (this is appropriate so don't worry). I don't like for my skirt to sit on the floor to I usually raise it. Well, I was stupid and took it by the bottom in the back (it was a pencil skirt so it had a little slit) and I pulled up and basically ripped my skirt in half...good thing that we were in our apartment! haha bless my heart. I took it to a member to be fixed because the seam was just split. Thank goodness for laughter:)

 

Yesterday morning we went to go visit Patty. We helped her with a stuck cabinet door and then she told us that she would not be coming to church. That was hard because she was the only person that was going to be there this week for us and so that really just made us feel not so great. We were walking out and I just felt crappy (the nicest way I can put it), but then bishop called and asked me to step in to speak in sacrament. Thank you bishop. I cried haha But I was grateful for speaking because I learned a lot and now I know that I can prepare a talk in a hour. It might not be pretty but I can do it! haha Also it strengthened my testimony on how we need to be converted. Are we converted to the Lord? In Jacob, it talks about a man named Sherem that denies Christ and he comes to Jacob to "shake him in his faith" but Jacob just states "I could not be shaken." How cool is that? And how many of us could honestly say that we can not be shaken? Cool thought! I am getting there. :)

 

I love you all:) Have a good week!

 

Love Sister Nielsen

"I want my life to be as clean as Earff right after rain"

Hello!!

 

This week was great and crazy! haha lets start off with the fact that it rained like crazy and we didn't have the car so we were walking around in the rain for dayzz. haha When we started off it wasn't raining bad at all and so it was kind of nice not to be sweaty and nasty! So we went and checked on Patty and she is working on something for court so we didn't stay long but we did pick up her recycling just to help her out and lighten her stress load. Well when we were leaving we thought we knew where we could take these bags but then we were wrong and we ended up walking around looking for a place in the pouring rain! haha we looked real good if you ask me! #bagladiesforlife. Well we thought goodwill would know where we could donate the bottles but we were wrong. I went inside to ask while Sister Holbrook waited outside with the bags, she said that she got a lot of weird looks and one lady offered her a ride! haha mission life is the best. We eventually called a member and they offered to take it for us! We were soaked. We later went to a baptism and we were still dripping wet. An 8 year boy was getting baptized and we had Loki (a little boy we are teaching) come and see how a baptism works! It was really great! After the baptism there was a musical number by two little 6 year olds and it was a boy and a girl! Just the cutest thing ever but they were singing "When I am Baptized" and they repeated "I want my life to be as clean as Earff right after rain" about 5 times in a row and their families were trying to help them out with the next line and it was just so funny! aahhh how cute and it applied for how that day went because boy did it rain a lot!

 

We are also teaching another little boy named Skylar. He is nine and we were going over the Doctrine of Christ with him. It was a great lesson and he was being great but his younger brother was going crazy and at one point we were talking about the sacrament and he was wrapped in blanket hiding from us and as soon as we said "Sacrament" he growled the word "Sacrifice" oh boy I was trying so hard not to laugh but it was just too funny! CHILDREN! (that story is for you Erika) He also calls the Book of Mormon, The Book of Norman. haha close bud!

 

One thing that really stuck out to me this week was when we were driving in the car back from the baptism. So we were freezing and all I wanted to do was go home. I thought about what I would do if I were in this situation back home and how I would go home, shower, put sweats on, and watch a movie with some hot chocolate. So I was kind of homesick for a second but then a thought came to me that I was looking for comfort in TV and Facebook and all that kind of stuff and then it hit me. We can't take that stuff to Heaven. Well duh right? But honestly whenever I was upset or sad or just needed a break I would go to that kind of stuff almost to waste my time and make me not have to think for myself. Well that is not going to fly in Heaven! That stuff won't be there. We will have people we love there and that will be the best and enough. So bottom line I am thankful that I am on a mission and I have realized what I need to seek out. Jacob 2:18 "but before ye seek for riches (things of the world), seek ye for the kingdom of God"

 

So that is my challange for you for the week! What can ye seek out that you can take to Heaven? Find it. Those things are the most important :)

 

I love you all! have a great week!

 

P.S. Shout out to Miss Rachel Steele:) Happy birthday yesterday Rach:) 20!!

The City

(Alisha's e-mail is a day later than usual because the library was closed yesterday for Columbus Day)

Hello:)

 

This week was very busy and we got to teach a lot of lessons so really it was a very productive week. The sad news is that most of our investigators are not progressing and we need to drop around 4 of them. That is the pits but it is ok and we are praying for some solid investigators.

 

We had the opportunity to teach Colonel Shaw this last week and he is around 70 years old. He is very very sarcastic and that makes it hard to teach him but we think that we kind of got through to him. We were talking about keeping the sabbath day holy and he went off on how other people dont keep the sabbath day holy and how if keeping the sabbath day holy was so important to us then we would not have members who were doctors or police officers etc. It was a little frustrating and I wasn't saying a lot because I didn't want to contend with him. haha but I just felt like I needed to tell him that we aren't on this earth to supervise how others live. We want to help them in anyway that we can but there is nothing we can do beyond that. "We can't pull anyone to heaven." I told him that if he knows that he has to keep the sabbath day holy then it is his responsiblity to do so. He agreed and then the discussion went elsewhere.

 

Last night we had FHE with a part member family. It was the Runge family they are less active and the father is not a member. They have two daughters and a son with a cleft pallet. The son is 3 years old and he can't talk very well so he communicates by signing. So we learned some new signs! haha pretty cool! Well the lesson was all over the place because the children were crazy! haha they are cute though. The thing that just really hit me was when we were going to say the closing prayer. Connor (3 yr old) didn't know what was going on because he was not used to saying prayers. The mom told him he needed to be quiet and my companion started to say the prayer while connor was being very quiet playing with his cars on the coffee table. Well I heard some noise during the prayer and when it was over we saw that the father had leaned over connor and he was helping him fold his arms for the prayer. I just thought it was really special and it was just the best to see that and i just felt that sweet spirit that was there.

 

We are working really hard in this area and we know that the Lord will provide. It will just be in His time and we need to remember that. I love this Gospel and I know that I have changed already. I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week. :)

 

Sister Alisha Nielsen

Welcome to the BIG CITY!

Hello everyone:)

 

I hope that you all enjoyed conference. One thing that has really made a lot of difference was watching conference at church. I think that you are a lot more focused there and you have less distractions. Really powerful and I encourage you all to at least watch one session of conference at a church next session. :)

 

So my favorite part about conference was how the sessions really fit to the needs of our investigators here. Elder Hollands talk was perfect for one of our investigators named Karen. She suffers from depression and I thought that that talk was just beautiful. It also made me think about how all of us have our own little rough patches in our lives and how we need to overcome them and endure them. And then I related it to my studies, I was reading in the Old Testament about how Joseph is sold into Egypt and then through his trials and faith, and of course with the help of the Lord, he overcomes his trials. Well when he shows himself to his brothers and then he tells them that the Lord planned for him to be sold into Eygpt to save his family from the famine. I thought that this was so cool that sometimes we go through hard things to better ourselves and others. So with Elder Holland's talk I really do believe that whoever endures their trials well, WILL BE EXALTED ON HIGH. Just remember that:) I loved all of conference and the family choir oh gosh! so great:)

 

So in the city we have been so busy and honestly time is flying. It really does make a difference when it comes to the area that you are in! I have loved it so far and I am trying to soak things in! haha I am having a hard time really connecting with the people here because they have such a great relationship with the other two sisters but I hope that things get better because I haven't been the best teacher! haha I am learning! I will do better :)

 

Well I will keep you all updated on life in the big city:) stay classy my friends and I love you all!

 

Love, Alisha

"And in the mornin I'm leavin"

I am being transferred to the good ol city of Oklahoma! Ya the big city..haha Sister Johnson doesn't know anything about the ward I am going to be in or who my new companion is...so I am in the air right now with what is going to happen!

 

So people I was unable to get on my email last week because of issues with my email! good thing they sent the problem to the big guys in salt lake and here I am! thankful for people who know how to work with technology and let me email the people I love! word to your mother.

 

I am leaving and that means that I have to say goodbye to Ardecia and that just breaks my heart oh I love that woman! We taught her about the word of wisdom and the law of chastity the other day and she was just cracking jokes! oh goodness but she believes in all that stuff...except she does not want to give up her tea.. and she doesn't even want to pray about it because tea wont make her go to hell. I love her but I will be praying for her a lot because I wont be able to teach her anymore and see how she progresses and it is hard to leave when she is struggling with something but I know that sister Johnson and her new companion will take good care of her.

 

Alright I want to tell you all something and if you think I am crazy, then go ahead! haha but as some of you know, I LOVE PENNIES. like I love them a lot and you better believe that if I see one on the ground I am going to pick it up no matter the condition that it is in (I carry hand sanitizer with me everywhere so don't worry) but the main reason why I love pennies so much is that they brighten my day and honestly when I see one I feel like a little kid and pick it up. Whenever my day is hard or I need some rebuking...(haha sometimes I have a bad attitude! no judging! sometimes it is hard! haha) but I have always found a penny when I needed it the most! Needless to say, I find a lot of pennies:) haha But the thing that I have learned most about this is that Heavenly Father knows me and He knows how to send me a message! haha I love it and it really helps me catch myself when I need to change my attitude or I need to be comforted! I am really thankful for that and the knowledge that I have about being a daughter of God and knowing that He cares about me and my strange liking for pennies :)

 

I love you all a lot and may your days be blessed with the finding of many pennies :) haha have a good week!!!

 

Love, Alisha

No update today :(

I got a message this morning saying that Alisha was having trouble with her e-mail account and couldn't log in. She called the mission office but they weren't able to fix it, so we didn't get an e-mail update from her today.

In her letter last week she sounded great - she is loving missionary work and the people of Elgin, Oklahoma. She said that their dinner calendar is full after the Branch President asked the members to feed the missionaries. They also got a nice new car, because someone backed into their other one and it was taken in for repairs.

We are so grateful for the blessings of missionary work and the growth that we see in Alisha and Ethan as they serve!

OK is the place to be!

Hello everybody!

 

We had a wonderful week :) really yesterday was probably just the best day ever. Ardecia came to church and all of the meetings were just perfect. Our new senior missionaries spoke in church and they did such a great job and they talked about prayer! Amazing people. They have already jumped in and they are trying to bring the branch together because we have two different cultures here! I love them. In Sunday School we talked about repentance and it was just a great discussion with everyone in there. Then the best part was Relief Society! It was about the "no empty chairs" talk and how when we get to heaven we don't want any empty chairs and it was just so powerful!!

 

In Relief Society we had to draw a picture of our family and Ardecia was sitting right next to me and so goes to pick out a crayon and says, "well my family is brown, and so I will get brown." I then picked up a white crayon and looked at my white paper and said, "I don't think this is going to work out" and she busted! Oh goodness she thought it was so funny and she was just trying to keep it in! Thank you for laughing at my jokes lady! haha

 

This week was great! I hope that all of you are doing good! Share the gospel with everyone....NO EMPTY CHAIRS!

 

Give em heaven:)

 

Alisha