TREKKIN'

HELLO :)

 

I have finished the Old Testament and I have almost finished the book of Luke. I also finished the Book of Mormon this week and I am working on the Doctrine and Covenants! I am so grateful for the chance that I have had to read and study! I am so grateful for the scriptures that we have know to read and learn from so that we can better understand God's will for us. I know that as we read we can better understand the example of Jesus Christ and how we can better follow Him.

 

I know that I have a Heavenly Father that loves me and wants the best for me. I feel like a better understanding of this has helped me with how I have changed the way that I view myself. I have really struggled (who doesn't) with some negative thoughts about myself but I can tell you that I am stronger now than I ever have been and that is because I know my Heavenly Father a little bit better than I used to. I know that He has given me my life to help me return to live with Him again. We all go through our individual trials and challenges, but He is trying to transform us into something that we couldn't be on our own.

 

We ran out of miles about on Friday. haha don't worry that was all me because I am the driver! haha so we walked to district meeting and it was the greatest thing in the world. The chapel is six miles away so we wore tennis shoes with our skirts and started along our trek! It took us about 2 hours to get there but it went by really fast because me and Sister Robison talked to whole time and that makes the journey a lot more enjoyable! haha but that night it was really funny to watch us trying to walk up the steps of our apartment! how weak could ya get! #sistermissionarylife

 

I love you all and I hope that you know God loves you too :)

 

Love, Sister Nielsen

"Forget not to be happy now."

Hello from Oklahoma :)

 

We have had a wonderful week! We got a referral for a family that lives is the very south most part of our area and so we needed a ride to get down there. Good thing there are wonderful members everywhere, because we were able to visit this family and invite them to church! They ended up coming yesterday and they are probably some of the coolest people I have ever met. Both of them belong to a biker gang, but they have certain standards that go along with that! They go around doing charity events and they are hard core! haha

 

This week I was studying and I wanted to read a talk that has helped me a lot these last few days. I am not good at this myself and I have to remind myself all the time to live in the moment and not in the past or the future. Elder Utchdorf gave a talk about the forget me not flower and this was one of his five points. "Forget not to be happy now." I have had so many great opportunities in life and I have been so blessed! I mean look at my rockin' awesome family :) haha but some times I live on my past mistakes or the weaknesses that I have now or about fears in the future. This line in the talk really stuck out to me and I want to apply it better this upcoming week :) I have all of the reasons in the world to be happy now :)

 

Yesterday we were blessed with another wonderful member to come out with us. We were invited over to a mans house and there were three men there. We were going to talk about the restoration of the church, but we didn't get a word out. One of the men really didn't want to hear what we had to say, so he proceeded to argue about the teachings of the gospel. We didn't give him any information but he was spitting stuff out like crazy. We left without saying much but we did bear our testimonies. The member that came with us really had our backs. She didn't bash, but she let the man know what she believed. I know that she came with us for a reason. The purpose of this man was to probably shake us in our faith or question what we believe, but every single time I run into people that dispute the church I come away feeling more sure about what I believe.

 

I love you guys :)

 

Love, Sister Nielsen

Fall Weather :)

HELLO!

 

This last week has been more learning the area and the families in Harrah. It has been great because I have been able to get to know the people we teach and the members a little bit better. I am grateful that the spirit is the same no matter where you go. You can still feel the spirit when you testify of Jesus Christ out here in Harrah as much as you can feel it in Moore. I am so grateful for the chance to identify the spirit in my life and I want to live in a way where it can always stay with me. Last night we had the chance to talk with the Relief Society President, Sister Schrupp, about the ladies in the ward. Well her husband got home and we chatted for a little bit about our missions and the experiences that we have faced. It was a huge testimony builder as I was able to identify when the spirit was super strong throughout my mission and then situations that had the spirit sucked out of them. (Stories for home :) ) I am so very grateful that I have been able to feel that spirit.

 

I have been blessed to be able to see some of my growth as I have been out on a mission. I have changed the way that I view myself and others and I know that is because of the better understanding that I have of the atonement of Jesus Christ. I don't understand it perfectly.....who does? But I have been able to better understand and apply how my Heavenly Father views me and how He also views those around me. What a wonderful gift we have been given! Sometimes I want to yell "THE CHURCH IS TRUE!" at the top of my lungs. hahaha (kind of like when I would yell I LOVE YOU-mom) haha I used to only get an overwhelming sense of love when I talked about my family, like my heart could explode. This feeling is there because I love them so much and I know that they love me too, they show me that all the time :) But know I have had the chance to feel that same feeling when I talk about our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and how much they love us! It is such a neat experience. I am awful at getting my feelings out over email but I will just tell you that I know that we really do have a Father in Heaven that loves us, and that is why He sent His son to help us get back to Him. I know that! Because I have felt that love in my life and I understand it a little bit better.

 

The weather has been wonderful because we have been able to actually walk around outside and not have sweat dropping down our backs! haha I love this time of the year!

 

I love you all a ton :) have a great week! #homiesforlife haha

 

Love, Sister Nielsen

Hello from Harah-(dise)

Hello my friends and family!

 

Saying goodbye to the people in Moore was super tough. I am so grateful for the relationships that were built in the last 6 months that I served there :)

 

The first day in Choctaw was a little rough. The change always makes my anxiety skyrocket through the roof. haha but that is nothing new, but what is new is that I have learned how to control my thoughts and quickly get the worries out of my head. Wednesday night me and my companion were discussing the area and how both of us don't know a lot of people and the area very well. Sister Robison's last companion was sick a lot of the time so they spent a lot of time in the apartment and so the area was affected by that. As she was explaining all of this I quickly felt that the situation was hopeless (thank you anxiety) but soon after I remembered that I had done this before and that I have seen areas that have struggled, but also how I knew that if we work hard as a companionship and include the Lord in our efforts then we can and will see miracles. The anxiety that I felt didn't stand a chance to the spirit letting me know that me and my companion could do hard things through Jesus Christ. I surprised myself when I felt that way! haha I have changed a little bit and I know that everything and anything is possible when we work hard and rely on Jesus Christ.

 

Already we have seen miracles as we show the members that we want to work hard and help them out as a ward. We went to visit a part member family that lives out in the boonies and their gate was open! (I guess their gate is never open so we couldn't visit) We got to meet them and talk to them about the Book of Mormon. The husband has been reading! Miracle :) We set up an appointment to go see them this Friday!

 

I think that you are wonderful :) keep being strong!

 

Love, Sister Nielsen

Leaving Eden

Oh family and friends-

I have been called to serve in Choctaw, Oklahoma. I am leaving Moore and all of the people that I love here :) I am so grateful for the relationships that I have been able to build here. I am so lucky that the Lord sent me here and kept me here for 6 months. Saying goodbye to some of these families last night let me see that the Lord sent me here for a reason to meet specific people :) I am so blessed. 

I had the chance to bear my testimony last night to a couple families. I read my favorite scripture to them which happens to be Alma 32:27, it was so wonderful for me to see that when I first read that scripture it meant a whole lot to me because I felt like I only "believed" and that was ok, because the Lord could help me turn that belief into a knowledge. I made the connection that I can now say that I "know" that this church is true and all of the teachings that comes with it. I know that we have a Father in Heaven that truly cares about us individually. I know that we can change through the atonement of Jesus Christ and I know that because I have seen it take place in my life. Not only have I seen the change in others around me but I have seen it in myself. I want to be more like Jesus Christ and I know that is possible if I follow Him. 

I love you all. You are all pretty cool :) have a great week :) 

Love, Sister Nielsen

No correlation between the "Leaving Eden" title of the post and the snake that she is holding. ;)

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