Hola, Y'all!

So hello. It's me. 

     This week has been absolutely crazy, as you can imagine. When we arrived in Tennessee, we met President and Sister Andersen. The are really nice. And then, right away, they gave us pamphlets, and we had to place them with people. I gave mine to the woman I sat next to on the plane. Then we gather our stuff and drove to the mission home where we had training and interviews and a lot of meetings. We slept the night there, and we woke up and went to the
church and had more meetings. 

     After we had SO many meetings, we met our trainers. My trainers are really cool. Their  names are Hermana H and Hermana E! I'm in a trio which is something I didn't expect, but it is so cool. So they sent us on our way. 

     I'm serving in Antioch, Tennessee.  My MTC companion, Sister W----- went to Lebanon to be in another trio). Apparently Antioch is the greatest place for Spanish missionaries to be. We have the only Spanish Ward in the whole mission. They call it little Mexico, and it's where the majority of the Hispanics live. It's just a suburb of Nashville, and we live in a nice place. 

     The drama his week was that we almost got evicted from our one bedroom apartment because three of us can't live here. It's okay. The mission office squared it away, and we are moving to a town home very soon. 

     It has really been a good week. I feel like I learn so much everyday. We teach a lot in Spanish, and we can only do tracting in Spanish. Sometimes it's hard, but we don't knock on every door, we just knock on a door and, if they speak English, we ask if any of their neighbors speak Spanish. Then we ask them if they are interested. We take their number for the Elders in our area to call. I was so afraid that tracting in the south would be so hard. I haven't had any problems. Most people are overjoyed to speak with us. The problem is not getting into Spanish homes, the problem is getting out of them. They would love to talk your ear off all day, which is hard considering my Spanish is still a work in progress. We have Spanish-speaking people from everywhere (Honduras, Mexico, El Salvador, and Nicaragua). They all speak a little different. I usually can get most of what the Mexicans say, unless they get excited! Then all hope is lost.... Ugh!

     Sorry for the world's longest email. Just a quick a couple miracles. On Thursday we went to get a driving monitor installed on our car (not our car - we only get to use it once every other week. Other than that, we walk or ride buses). We started talking to the guy who was installing the monitor,but we weren't really being as diligent as we should in sharing the gospel. But as we
were waiting, he just came right up to us and asked us why Mormons are always so happy. So we shared some of our message and had a nice chat about his life history and invited him to
meet with the missionaries. He was so solid. He just kind of a said,"Maybe I'll join your church." So that was amazing. We gave him to the Elders though because he speaks English :( 

     Miracle #2 - Our investigator, who is truly amazing, she is 18 years old. We extended an invitation for baptism for the the end of March, and she said, "You know what? I think that's to far away. I would like to baptized on the 13th of March." She has such amazing faith. It was truly the hand of God. 

     Well this has just been a fantastic week! I really love missionary work and spreading the gospel message. It's just so amazing!

Love y'all!
Hermana Nielson

P.S. These houses are in the fanciest part of Nashville by the mission home. One of them is Taylor Swift's and one of them is Johnny Depp's.

Arrival in Nashville, Tennessee

Abby arrived in Nashville this afternoon.  

Abby had told us that she would call from the airport in Atlanta, but when it got to be about 25 minutes before her next flight, we gave up hope. So I started to leave for work when the phone rang. Who knew there is no such thing as a pay phone anymore? Some good member of the church offered his cell phone. And Abby was a little emotional, partly from being upset that she didn't have a way to call, and partly because it's a daunting thing to be alone (kind of) in an airport and talking to your family. Janice, Mackenzie, and Cori were all a little emotional because she was.

It sounds like Abby has had a bad stomach bug since Friday, but was feeling a lot better today. No appetite, but not feeling barfy. She bore her testimony to us in Spanish. It was touching.

Interesting photos. I assume President and Sister Andersen don't haul their rocking chairs to the airport. This must be at the mission office. It looks like a great group of greenies.

We're so happy for her safe arrival and look forward to hearing about a new trainer/companion, the mission, the language, etc. So many adventures ahead.

Goodbye CCM

Hola! 

     Como esta? Yes, I've been in the CCM for almost 6 weeks and that's the best I can manage. Estoy bromeindo (jk). I can do better than that, but sometimes I feel that way. Can you believe that I will be in Tennessee in 4 days? Sometimes we talk about when we get on our mission, but the funny thing is we already are.

     Today a missionary leaving the same day as us was telling us about his adventure going out into the city to get his Visa and how he talked to a real person and got a number. Well, it was the talk of the town (or the CCM). Then we realized this time next week, we will all be fully into that. Awww, man, it’s crazy! I have been packing all morning. It’s crazy to think we will be leaving the CCM so soon. Fun fact - On Monday morning, I have to be at Reception at 4 am to get in a car to leave. Things are getting very weird. Ready or not, here I come Tennessee. 

     This last week we have been finishing teaching our fake investigators and doing some testing for our departure. We took departure photos officially on Monday, and they will probably find their way to you.

     The most amazing thing happened this week. Elder Dallin H. Oaks came to the CCM. It was so amazing. He really is a prophet of God. It was my favorite devotional of all. My companion was singing in the special choir, so we had to get there super early, and I went on splits with another hermana in my Zone whose companion was also in the choir. You better believe I was on the very front row to here Elder Oaks speak -- not like off to the side a little, but smack dab right in the center front row, right under his nose, or as Dad might say, “Close enough to see his nose hairs.” We made eye contact. It was really great. He gave this really amazing parable. It was called The Parable of a Pen. It was about being an instrument in the Lord’s hand. The ink is our spirituality and we have to be healthy so we actually work, and we must say the words of the Master, not our own words, etc. It was really cool.  He gave some great tips for success. Afterwards, we got to shake his hand and it was so so, so, so, so cool.  He even gave me an old man wink. His wife was really nice too. Then we all stood outside and sang Para Siempre Dios Este Con Vos  (God be with you till we meet again). It was so amazing. I am going to really miss the CCM. I have learned so much and I am very excited for the mission field. 

     Next time I write, I’ll be in the States again!!!!!

Con amor

Hermana Nielson

This is me and my companion Hermana Waite.

They have weird Doritos here that turn your mouth blue. I didn’t read the bag, I ate one Dorito, and my mouth was so blue!

No Dudëis, No Temäis‏

Hola!

     Man, this week has just flown by. I cant even believe it's time to email again. Our zone leaders and older district leaders left this week for Chile, so now we are the oldest people in charge of all the new missionaries. We got a new district yesterday. It's just so crazy that I'm really only in the MTC for like 10 more days. I feel like I've been here forever but at the same time not long enough. 

     My Spanish is okay. I can usually understand a native conversation if they talk slower, and I can always come up with something to say. I've got a lot of things memorized; it's just really conjugations that I struggle with, especially in full speed Spanish. Pronunciation is also a struggle because you have to get it just right or it means something totally different. Other than those things, which are my goals for this up coming week, I am doing pretty well, way better than I ever thought I would be doing. 

     Really cool experience alert!  This week we started teaching an elder in our district as a investigator. Our first lesson was amazing, and his character's mom had passed away, and we were trying to help him. In perfect sync, my companion whipped out a scripture in Ecclesiastes 3:1, and we read a passage. We were crying and he was crying and the Spirit was so strong. Another time he wanted to stump us with a bunch of hard investigators' questions.  He is pretty fluent in Spanish (his parents are Mexican). He starts throwing out these questions, and pretty soon I am responding to his questions in full Spanish, explaining the subtle difference between the keys and authority of the priesthood and the reason for fasting, all in Spanish. It was really cool.

     Funny story alert! Last Friday,  Hermana W and I changed to go to gym class, which is at 11:45 am and so did the other Hermanas in our zone. We left and did some hardcore exercise. When we come back, there is a huge sign on the door that reads, "You can not enter again until 3 pm because your casa is being fumigated." Our elder's house was fumigated at like 8 am, so they could enter much sooner. We had to go to Reception and get special permission to wear our gym clothes to the commedor (the #1 rule is best dress in the commedor). It was quite the struggle, and to this day people still know us as those girls who wore gym clothes to the commedor. Apparently, we were the first people in the whole existence of the CCM to do this. 

     During gym class, I have been playing basketball, but just shoot around because we aren't allowed to play with the elders and no other hermanas like basketball. But you can only do so much shooting around. I also play ping pong. Oh my goodness, if the gift of tongues is real, the gift of ping pong skills is real. I would just like to say I'm not good at ping pong. Trevor knows I have hardly played the real version ever, but I am so good at ping pong here. Some of the natives call me ping pong hermana. I've played like 10 elders and beat them all. I don't even know what happened. I'm just good at ping pong. It's weird, but fun. 

     Oh. If you want to watch a really good talk, watch Elder Bednar give a talk about the 20 Mark Note. It's amazing! It comes from a talk Elder Packer gave at BYU Idaho called the 20 Mark Note. They are both phenomenal. 

     Thing our still wonderful here. They have their ups and downs, per you puedo hace dificil cosas.

Con amor,

Hermana Nielson

P.S. My camera batteries were dead when I went to download pictures. No new pictures this week.

Don't Think in English!

Hola! 

    Oh my goodness! This has been a crazy week. First things first. i am writing later today because we just got back from the temple. It was such a amazing place. it's just right off a crazy road just chilling. its was a wonderful experience. 

     I feel like the language is coming along; not as fast as i would like, but considering how long I've been here, it's kind of a miracle. On P-day, we have from 9 am to 6 pm away from language classes, but then we start again at night. We focus really hard, but we have free study time from 8 pm to 9 pm, and sometimes it is so hard to focus. Yesterday, one of the elders was looking up a word in the dictionary, and he couldn't find it, so he threw his dictionary and it went outside. ha ha

     Apparently humor transfers to every language because every native I talk to laughs at me so hard. It seems I can be funny when they don't even know what I'm saying. Voice, tone, and body language are like 90 percent of communication anyway. Idomia is the Spanish word for language, and I like that better because I can actually consistently spell that.  I can tell I'm getting better at Spanish cause I am getting worse at English.

     I had to laugh when I heard you guys had four feet of snow piled up because today, coming back from the temple, I was sweating so much it wasn't even funny. Man, outside the CCM walls was quite the experience today. It was about an hour to the temple, and i saw just about everything. They have exercise equipment next to the roads so people can exercise. Someone was sitting on a curb, inches from cars, eating like the most casual sandwich in the world. It's interesting out there. 

     My district is good. I will really miss them when its time to go. Elder G is going to Orem, and he just told me he got an email saying he has tickets to the Provo City Center Temple dedication, and he wont stop rubbing it in. I'm so jealous. so you might see him. Hes the missionary that never smiles ever. 

     We had a really awesome Sunday School lesson this week from the MTC President on specific prayers. It was really amazing. The more specific the prayers, the more likely they are to be answered. I wish I had more time to tell stories, but no. See if you can find anything by President Octavio Tenorio. I love Sundays here. 

     Devotional on Tuesday was great too. I sung in the choir -- weird, right? We just found out that the Tueday before we leave Elder Dallin H Oaks is coming and giving the devotional. So I am definitely stoked. 

     Oh my goodness, I was counting my blessing yesterday because the girl I play basketball with cracked her front tooth in half and her companion had a filling that came out. So they had to go to the dentist out in the city. They both had to get dental work with no pain killers. One of them had to get drilled to the root with no novocaine. I almost died when i heard. My worst nightmare right there encapsulated. 

     It has been a really good week. I was sitting at dinner yesterday and all of the sudden a girl from Springville named Jezni Widdison walks up. She just came to the CCM. It's really grown. There are probably about 350 people including the 75 natives this week. It's crazy. Time has just been flying. The district older than us in our zone is leaving on Monday to Chile. It has really been a great week. I am loving it here and working hard! Oh, and I love getting your letters. My district is so jealous that I get so many letters! 

Love you all.

Hermana Nielson