Hey y'all! Wow! This has been a roller coaster of a week! I'm really going to miss Sister H-----. We have seen a lot together and truly loved on this area. I always thought it would be weird to have a sister as a companion but it truly felt like we were sisters. It's been a exciting experience for both of us. We are completely different but somehow it works. It's sad to see her go, but I keep telling her she has more exciting adventures ahead at home. I think Satan tried to make this week hard, and there were hard times, but the joy always shines through again. This week was joyful!
Like on Tuesday, we had a crazy afternoon and a lot of opposition and the GPS routed us through the one street in Bowling Green with traffic, and we were late to dinner. Which kinda set us back. So we picked up our member to go with us, and in a effort to save time, decided to take the parkway (which we never take) and because nobody every updates maps in the south, we took the exit too soon and accidentally got on the freeway, and because we live in the styx, the next exit was 20 miles away. So we went for a nice drive..... More than a hour round trip. But it was great because it took us where we need to be to meet an honestly seeking new investigator. The Lord was just too good to us this week.
Some other big new is that it's TRANSFERS! This one is kinda wild, so follow me! My companion is going home, our area is being whitewashed by other sisters, and I am *drumroll* opening a new Spanish area here in Bowling Green!! There is lot of work here and our group needs a lot of support. The town has never had Hermana's before! My companion will be none other than the wonderful Hermana S-----! I love that girl so much. We lived together in Nashville and she is amazing! I have said it before and I will say it again, Bowling Green has big things ahead for it! Every missionary here was changed some how, and I am so excited to finally have other sisters here!
Another highlight of the week was that our recent convert Ko Meh gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting. It literally made me cry. She is an amazing, strong woman! The talk was entitled "Something I Never Felt Before." It was on faith and when she bore her sweet broken English testimony, the room filled with a sweet extraterrestrial feeling. It touched even the hardest of hearts! I also want to bear my testimony on faith, that all things are possible through faith. It is one of the most basic concepts of religion but also one of the most complex. It is simple and I know we can achieve great faith, and that takes action. No matter what it is, it is not good enough to simply believe, we must do! I know this is true and the gospel is true, and that I came here to speak English for a important purpose -- to learn what I did and to use that going forward.
I love y'all and hope you have a great week!
Con amor,
Hermana Nielson
P.S. Happy Birthday stine-stine!
Photos-1- Ko and Pleh
2- We were tracting and a lady gave me a coloring book bible- only in the bible belt
3- My companions funeral
Dear y'all,
Let me tell you... killing someone is hard work! We have been having a very crazy week! She isn't trunky, but has started packing her trunks.
This week was wonderful as always! We have been very busy teaching up a storm. I hardly have time to email anymore and it is crazy. We had to make all preparations today for Sister H----- to leave. I feel just a smudge of what mom must've felt when she sent me off on a mission. We have a million things to do! One of those things just happens to be teaching like mad women. Missionary work is flying off the handle around here. We are just running from place to place (luckily we had the car, for the most part). We have been teaching, tracting, and being missionaries without much time to eat (sometimes) and sleep.
We had a investigator named R--- at church on Sunday. She was the only one, and the ward needed our help in sharing time. The lesson was all about missionaries. They were a soooo cute, and we had a lot of fun.
We are still going strong in our goal to give away a Book of Mormon everyday! It has been going really well. We have been working with some great less active members and some great investigators. Really Bowling Green is just a great place. We had a very amazing lesson this week with a man named M----- who is less active, and we are teaching him and his wife and he expressed that for the first time he really feels like God is answering his prayers! Wow!
We had a dinner appointment this week, with an investigator named Denise. She fed us deer and rabbit. She wanted squirrel but didn't want to dig it out of the ice box. It was good and tasted like chicken. There's a picture below. Not pictured is the frog that jumped on me when I opened the door of her home. We ended up chasing a frog around the house.
Not much time, but my spiritual thought is this: Never let your guard down. Satan will pounce and it only takes a moment to completely derail you!
Transfers are this weekend so I'll let you know what happens!
Have a blessed week!
Con amor,
Hermana NielsonP.S. It's a norm in the south -- bbq rabbit.
P.P.S Did I mention that Bowling Green is the home of the Corvette factory?
Hey y'all!
First things first! Today is my lovely companion's birthday! She turned 21 today, so we have been off celebrating! She is so sweet, and is fixing to leave pretty soon, but she is not done yet! Our goals have been going really great this week! We have given a Book of Mormon out every day and are still going strong! We have had a couple close calls, but the Lord always provides! Being a missionary is a amazingexpierience!
We had some really awesome lessons this week! We were able to see a lot of people we haven't seen for a while. We were able to see R------ who is an investigator who we've met a couple times. He has already read the entire Book of Mormon and researched the word of wisdom and is striving to live it. The only problem is that he is a truck driver and can't make it to church on Sundays because he is on the road. But he is really feeling blessings from living the gospel. He is going to attempt to read the Book of Mormon again this week.
We also were able to meet with R--- and C----, the quadruplets. We also met with Bae. Yes, that is his real name. He is Asian. It's a challenge teaching with him. He speaks very little English.
We had three investigators at church! It was a great Sunday.
Let me talk about a little anomaly that happens in the life of a missionary. Picture this -- we are out knocking doors, and we knock a certain door, no answer - then a car pulls in the drive way and it leads into a conversation about us being on their porch. Random little coincidence, but then it happens everyday over the span of your whole mission. This once again happened this week, but it turned out well. We were standing on this porch dripping wet, and knocked no answer- just as we prepared to go back out in the rain, a car pulled up and a lady invited us in and offered us towels. We taught her and she is great. The Lord blesses us like that.
We also had exchanges this week! We had a couple of appointments set up in Spanish, and I was nervous to have to do a lot of translating, but then, to my surprise, my STL spoke almost perfect Spanish. She did immersion as a child and we had an amazing day team teaching so many wonderful Hispanics, it was one of those nights you find a huge neighborhood of Hispanics, and they all give you food and want to talk. Basically the ideal day for Spanish missionaries.
We had a great week, but it always has its ups and downs. The real indicator is our attitude! Men are that they might have joy. It's about the joy we find. In my study of the D&C this week, I read this scripture I love. D&C 123:17 - Let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for His arm to be revealed. I love it because it is true. God is always touching our lives; we just have to recognize it!
Sorry I just had a lot to say! Have a great week!
Con amor,
Hermana Nielson
P.S I went into Tennessee to switch for exchanges
P.P.S. That is tres leche birthday cakes
P.P.P.S. Dinner with Ko and Pleh, our recent converts
P.P.P.P.S. Door knocking in soybean field
Hey y'all!
We have had a awesome week! We were very busy! We saw a lot of people this week, and also had a lot of appointments cancel. We are working super hard to make these last few weeks of the transfer the best ever.
This week we wrote up Sister H-----'s "bucket list". There are many things we want to do. One of our big goals though is to give away a Book of Mormon everyday. It has been going awesome, we haven't missed a day! There was one night we got held up talking to some Jehovah Witnesses and had to go home and thought we wouldn't make our goal. But a lady knocked our side mirror pretty hard, and we had to stop and talk with her and were able to give her a Book of Mormon.
This week we had zone meeting, we discussed a new way president would like us to report numbers. He took the numbers we report from 11 categories down to only 6. This is all in an effort to have a more focused effort. We are excited about that! We also must now give 10 hrs of service every week, which will be a change because I have hardly given any.
The pace is starting to pick up here! We have several new investigators, one of them is named R---, and she is from Guatemala. She came to church on Sunday and has some cute grandkids. Spanish is her second anguage. She speaks a dialect, but we understand each other pretty well! Many of our regular investigators have been MIA, so we have some recon planned this week.
This email is going out late because we went to Mammoth Caves today with the stls! Fun fact: Mammoth Caves is the biggest, longest cave in the world, and is one of the seven wonders of the world. It is located only 30 minutes north of Bowling Green. It was very fun! We spent two hours almost 200 ft below ground. It was wonderful!
Don't have a lot of time, hope y'all have a great Labor Day!
Love,
Hermana NielsonP.S. Tracting on home turf.
P.P.S An investigator's Izzy puppy!
P.P.P.S. Zone meeting in a sea of elders. :(
