Happy Birthday, Sister Nielsen!

Monday, June 22, 2015

Thank you to everyone who sent birthday love my way! It was so good to hear from everyone!

It's been a great week. The Lord sometimes gives us hardships so that we can learn and grow from them. I know that's especially true on your mission. I know, though, that when we let the Lord's will be first priority, and let HIM be first priority, that he sends down help and strength in abundance. I hope you all will find an opportunity to put the Lord first this week! He is everything! :)

This week has truly been a blessing. It's so amazing to see the miracles that happen when you strive to work with the members. Members really are so crucial. We picked up a family as new investigators this week, and it was something that happened beyond our efforts. The transfer before last, my companion and I had dinner with the Jenks family. We talked to them about their missionary efforts, and they expressed their desire to find someone that we, the missionaries, could teach in their home. Such a righteous desire! We had high hopes for them, for sure. But seeing as how that was around two months ago, it's something that sort of fell off my radar up until a few weeks ago. We got a text from Sister Jenks asking for a Spanish Book of Mormon that they could give to their friend that they were bringing to church. We gladly and excitedly obliged! Again, we didn't think much of it afterward, but continued to hope that some set of missionaries would get to see the fruit of the Jenks family's labor.

Last week in church, Brother Jenks came up to us and asked if we could come over for Family Home Evening at his house with this friend they'd given a Book of Mormon and her family, letting us know that it was his intention to invite her to take the lessons from us. We were so excited for him! What an exciting thing to have your prayers answered about! This is exactly the thing that he had been praying for, and he wasn't afraid to act on it! The lesson went really well, and it was SO cool to see a member teach about the Plan of Salvation so simply. He gave us a couple of opportunities to bear our testimony or share our thoughts, but he and his family did all the teaching. Once the lesson was over, he invited her and her family to take the lessons from us, saying, "This is something that brings my family so much joy, and I know you're going through a hard time right now, and we want this to be something that blesses your family as well. ... You'll never know until you give it a shot!" We have another appointment with them tonight at the Jenks' home. :) Miracles, I tell ya. Miracles everywhere.

We're supposed to write the mission president about the work in our stewardship, but sometimes I feel I don't do any of the work that even seems productive. The Lord seriously always just drops it in our laps. What an honor to be his instruments.

I always enjoy the start of a new transfer. Especially since we've made it a priority to talk to our bishops and ward mission leaders to discuss the needs of the ward and his expectations of us. And we are ALWAYS excited to get the list of families he wants us to visit! I've already seen how much success comes from striving to make your bishop and your ward mission leader shine. I've already shared with you the miracle we saw by contacting the Millers (Gary and Ardie). Things are still going really well with Gary. He's been out of town for the U.S. Open, but he's been really great about letting us text him "homework assignments" and about following up with his reading. We left him with 2 Ne 31 after we taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He's really excited about learning about the actual Gospel of Jesus Christ instead of just all the stories about him that he's grown up with. When we followed up with him about his reading in 2 Nephi, he told us that he understood the commitment that baptism is, but said he just wasn't there yet. He's pretty determined to take baby steps right now, which I support. But I know Heavenly Father has other plans. :) Pray we can help him know his Heavenly Father's will in a loving, Spirit-filled way. :)

Otherwise, it's been a good finding week. I'm sure the Lord will let us know who is ready! We still haven't been able to get in with our investigator who is on-date for baptism, but we have dinner with her and her fiance on Thursday. So far she still wants him to baptize her, but we're not 100% sure. Even since her fast a couple weeks ago, we still haven't been able to talk to her about it. Praying that even if it's not July 11, she'll still be able to get baptized!

The work is going well! So grateful for all the support I have from home!

--

"The Gospel's True, Folks!"
Sister Melanie Nielsen

PICTURES!


When the members INSIST on giving you desert because they found out it's your birthday the next day. :)


Birthday breakfast that my companion so graciously made


When you pose in front of a security camera at a member's house with your companion and it looks like she's hitting you in the face. HAHA!




Birthday dinner with Paulena (Earnado's wife). I sure do love her!


Those sunsets, though. :)


Birthday present!

I'm Staying in the Kennewick Mission! Yay!

Monday, June 15, 2015

Apparently I didn't make it very clear about where exactly I am. I'm still in my first area, Pasco 1st/10th and YSA! They're splitting my mission at the beginning of July, though, for the new Yakima Mission. My companion and I are staying in the Kennewick Mission, and I couldn't be more thrilled!

This week has been hard on me, but even in spite of the hard things, the Lord seems to send little miracles. Gary, our recent new investigator, is still showing interest, to our great relief. He'll be out of town to watch the U.S. Open, but he's agreed to read the assignment we left him and follow up with him through text. We've even planned out lessons for him in our planners to send through text. We're quite excited for it, and so is his wife! Sometimes I don't think about how much this message means to people, especially when they're your spouse— the love of your life. In fact, it seems the three people I'm most invested in are someone's spouse. Part-member families really are a great way to find! We had a glimmer of hope this week with Earnado. He's still in Oklahoma, but we had the idea to text him scriptures. When he was in Washington, he'd never check his phone, but it dawned on us that he HAS to check his phone if he's in Alabama. Paulena isn't there to answer it for him! ;)

It was a very successful attempt— rocky at first, but by the end of our conversation, he was expressing his deep gratitude for our prayers and our investment in him. He even shared a scripture with us! In visiting his wife this week, we learned that he'd taken his Book of Mormon with him and has been praying with his son, Jonah, who is 2. All I have to say about Jonah is no wonder the Lord praises children in the scriptures. Jonah has been such a good example for Earnado. Just about every night, Jonah will get up from bed, get on his knees, then turn to his dad and say, "Pray?" to which Earnado replies, "All right. We'll pray." This happens at least four more times before Jonah will commit to falling asleep. Haha! Children are great! Such a blessing. It sounds like the Lord is hearing our prayers that Earnado's testimony is being strengthened out there, and we are continually praying for that. (And also that he'll come back to Washington soon!)

My heart took a big hit when Tim dropped us this week. We had a hard but productive lesson with him on Thursday. Our district council training really came in handy as we sat in silence (for a looong time, might I add) trying to perceive Tim's needs and ask inspired questions. We came to understand that although his motives are righteous, he is only motivated to investigate the church because of his little family and wife. As I said, that is a great reason, but when you've been investigating as long as Tim has, you need to reach a point where you're doing it for yourself or you're never going to receive an answer. We asked him if that was important to him, and he let us know that he didn't understand the need for faith and didn't really care about finding answers for himself. It sounded like he had us over, though, so that we could help him believe and gain that desire. He asked me to close the lesson, and all I could do is cry. You put your whole heart into it, you know? And when it's not helping... it just breaks your heart. We went to church a few days later hoping he'd be there, but it was only his wife. She came up to us and told us that Tim wanted to take a break from missionaries for a couple of weeks. I hope that doesn't translate to forever.

Though it's been hard, we've been trying to work hard to find new people to teach. All in the Lord's time, I suppose. It's easy to think that maybe I'm not putting enough faith into it or that maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I'm trying to let that be constructive criticism instead of destructive. My companion helps a lot. I so appreciate her optimism and faith and her good, righteous example. I'm grateful we take time every day to study and feel the Spirit. That always helps me know where I stand with the Lord and what I can do to improve. I pray every day for the courage to overcome my fears, and I know I can be a better missionary one day at a time with his help.

It's been a great week in spite of it all. I know the Lord sends tender mercies to help us know he's there for us. We can't have our faith strengthened if it's not tested here and there. I'm so grateful for that!

I love the Lord. I love you all.

Happy Birthday to me!

--

"The Gospel's True, Folks!"
Sister Melanie Nielsen

PICTURES!


I don't know what's more cool— eating free food from gracious members every day or eating it on the table to negate everything your mother ever taught you. #bestdinneraward


That moment when seeing a bunny makes your whole day.


When you love your investigator so much that you threaten to kill people. #whoa #takeiteasy #areabookfunnies

No Way It Was 109 Yesterday. Sheesh!

Monday, June 8, 2015

Things have been going fairly well. Even if they weren't, you'd never be able to tell with how faith-filled and optimistic my companion is. She is such a good example to me.

Ever since Earnado relapsed, it seems we have a lot more time to fill. We had been meeting with him about three times a week to get him ready for his baptism (which would've been this last Saturday). But since we're only able to get in with his wife, who is a returning member, we've only been going over once a week. Apparently he randomly took off to Oklahoma. I guess he's got friends— his "church family"— down there and they asked him to come visit. It's a bit confusing, but it's also quite a few steps better than staying in the dark basement for days on end. We keep praying that it will be a testimony-building experience for him. Still holding out hope!

We're still working toward Sammy's baptism, which is exciting. It's so great to see when people sincerely want this and are building their testimony. Her fiance, Milo, is working toward getting rebaptized and Sammy told us yesterday that she wants to wait to get baptized until Milo can do it. Fortunately, the Lord is super aware of everything and inspired us to teach about tithes & fast offerings before she brought it up. We're going to fast with her and Milo on Tuesday so she can know if she should wait for Milo. We're excited to see what happens!

Another cool thing that happened this week came as a result of a prompting we had a few days ago during our training. One of our bishops gave us a list of families he wanted us to visit, and we decided— since a bunch of our appointments fell through— that we would spend the day contacting those families. One of them was a part-member family, and the wife is SUPER active. She's recovering from foot surgery, so she hasn't been for a few weeks. But when we visited her the first time, she said we could come back on Sunday (yesterday) to catch her husband at home. So after our dinner yesterday, we followed a prompting to go over and talk to them. Much to our surprise, we started teaching the Restoration and invited him to continue meeting with us. I guess this was a pretty big deal, because Sister Miller (the wife) came out the door with us when we left to give us a big hug and thank us. We said, "It's all the Lord! Keep paying your tithing! It's working!" I'm so grateful for the Spirit that guides this work. We would be nothing without it.

Please keep Earnado and Tim in your prayers. We had a lesson with Tim this week and he didn't keep his commitment. We have another appointment with him this week, and we're hoping we don't have to stop meeting with him. Especially after the tearful testimony his wife gave yesterday about how great the Spirit was and that we hadn't given up on Tim yet. Sigh. Pray for us.

Love you all! Thank you for your support!

--

"The Gospel's True, Folks!"
Sister Melanie Nielsen

PICTURES!


P-day last week. Here I thought I was taking a sneaky selfie, and my companion one-up'ed me. #duped #foiledagain


It's been getting super hot around here. We're not sure if this was accurate, but that's what the car said yesterday (and we believed it).


Our district sisters at P-day two weeks ago. (Sorry it's so dark. The flash didn't go off.)


This one's from last transfer, but I keep forgetting to include it. #homeawayfromhome #Glenwoodpride

Happy First Day of June! #bestmonthever

Monday, June 1, 2015
This week has been such an emotional roller-coaster! I would say it's been a successful week, though. It's hard to admit a lot of the time that you can have a successful week even when it seems like everything has fallen through or what have you.

We had a great lesson on Tuesday with one of our on-dates, Earnado. He bore powerful testimony of the power of the Atonement, and it's always so inspiring to watch his faith grow. When we committed him to going without the nicotine patches at the end of our lesson with him, he RIPPED OFF HIS PATCH right there in front of us, threw it on the couch, and committed to rely on the Savior. We were so inspired by his faith, and we continue to be inspired by his faith. The next day, we got a call from his home teacher that he had relapsed and had four cigarettes. It was hard news to hear. After some fervent prayers, we rushed over to their house. We were only able to talk to Paulena, his wife, because Earnado stayed downstairs and wouldn't come up. But we had a great conversation with her and have been able to help build her testimony and lift her spirits through our attempts in visiting Earnado.

On Saturday, we dropped by again and were able to watch "Finding Faith in Christ" with her. She so much enjoyed it, and we had a great discussion on the things she was taught by the Spirit. Upon being impressed by the Spirit, we asked Paulena if she would come downstairs with us to say goodbye to Earnado. In our companionship study that morning, the Spirit taught us about how the Savior would have done everything he could to minister to Earnado in his time of need, and we felt very strongly about making the attempt. Though our attempt was seemingly unsuccessful given that he didn't hardly talk to us or look at us, we brought the Spirit strongly as we testified of E's divine heritage and the love of his Heavenly Father and of the love his Savior has for him. We are hopeful that the things we left with him will have a lasting effect.

Something a sister said in one of our wards yesterday really stuck with me: "Everything works out in the end. If it hasn't worked out, it isn't the end." And she taught that those miracles are made possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I'm so grateful for that knowledge.

All in all, things are going well, and the Lord is pouring down miracles. Sammy is progressing very well toward baptism. We had a church tour with her and our ward mission leader, Brother Clements. She has been so prepared, and she bore her testimony about each of the things we taught her. We are so excited to continue meeting with her and preparing her to be baptized!

The Spirit is so crucial in this work, and I'm continually amazed by the things we accomplish when we follow it. He is continually leading us to people who need to hear the word. Through our continued efforts to be obedient and faithful, those people can be blessed by our message. I'm so grateful for that!

I love this work and am inspired by the Lord's hand in it. I know there would be no success without it. Alma 26:12 is one of my favorites in that it really is through the Lord's strength that we accomplish great things.

Hope all is well with each of you!

--

"The Gospel's True, Folks!"
Sister Melanie Nielsen

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Nothing too exciting for pictures. Mostly because my camera's been on the fritz. (A sweet member let me have one of their old ones, so more pictures next week! Promise.) I just love how different everything is here, as far as weather and the climate are concerned. The weather around here has been awesome! I love it when it rains, especially since they always talk about how it isn't supposed to rain very much here. So... pictures of the clouds and rainbows and stuff.


Cloudy day in Washington: The clouds here are SO different!


The sunsets here are ALWAYS good.


First Washington rainbow