Monday, July 20, 2015
Email to Lisa
Whoa! Bradley's the bishop!! That is so crazy! And you're the bishop's wife! That is just super cool. I'm so happy for y'all! Give Bradley my best and my congratulations! ❤
Things have improved since last week, or maybe it's just my perspective. :) Our mission president sent us a letter last week, asking us to start a 40-day fast from distractions and to talk with everyone we see, no matter how awkward or inconvenient. That's given us a little more courage. I'm doing my best to do what the Lord prompts and nudges me to do, no matter the sacrifice and no matter how hard.
Something significant I've learned recently out on my mission is more of a confirmation really that God truly is our loving Heavenly Father. He gives us commandments for our benefit. He gives us hard things because we'll grow from them and become the people we're trying to become in the first place. Sometimes I feel like a little kid with my relationship with Heavenly Father— I.E., "Daddy doesn't love me because he did this to me." Not that I've ever truly doubted his love, but it's really resonated with me that he asks hard things because he loves us. He truly, truly does. Be still. Know that I am God. Everything works out for the best when we trust him.
One other thing is how important it is to keep the Spirit and how sensitive it really is. My companion pointed this out in a lesson, and she mentioned how we as missionaries repent a lot. :) And it's because the Spirit really is so crucial and so vital in the work that we can't afford to go a minute without it. I keep thinking about how important the Spirit is for non-missionaries— for obvious reasons, though. But I'd never really thought about what an important role repentance plays. I've heard that you really ought to be repenting every day, and it's stood out to me now, more than ever, how important that is. The Spirit is what helps us become who the Lord wants us to be, and ultimately who we're striving to become anyway. We are not perfect, but repentance is a real power, and the Spirit that comes from it is crucial for survival in mortality and especially the world we live in today.
I'm so grateful for those things that invite the Spirit. Prayer is powerful. The scriptures are wonderful! Church is so important for helping us to feel the Spirit, renew our promises, and learn how we can be better. The Spirit is so important, and being worthy of it is even more important! I'm continually praying to be worthy of it, here in my work.
Maren is looking SO CUTE as always! Give her a big hug! Tell her to stop growing so quickly!
Love you!
Sister Nielsen
Showing posts with label Pasco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pasco. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Somewhere He Opens A Window... Eventually
Monday, July 13, 2015
Hey, all! Sorry I don't have a lot of time today. We have a lot to do for P-day and not a lot of time. I know y'all hate it when I do this, but I wanted to send you an update. It'll be copy/pasted (and mildly edited) from my letter to my mission president.
President Ware,
Admittedly, I've been pretty discouraged the last couple of days. I know that success isn't measured outwardly, but sometimes it's hard when you feel like you're giving it your all and the key indicators don't show it. I couldn't have a better companion, though. Seriously, my companion is the most awesome companion, President. When we were emailing at the library earlier, she was teaching the girl sitting next to us, just because you told us in the letter to talk to everyone! Who would think to do that, you know? Just strike up a conversation with the girl! She trusts that obedience will bring blessings, and she automatically wants to do anything she's counseled to do by our leaders. She is the most incredible example to me.
The other day we were having a really hard time and everything had fallen through and no one wanted to give us two seconds, and it was so hot. But my companion turns to me and says, "Hey. Let's play a game. It's called 'What I love about being a missionary.' You ready?" And, as you can imagine, the Spirit was strong as we listed off the best parts about the work. To transition from being soooo discouraged to feeling so good about what I was doing almost brought me to tears. She really does so much for me and my faith, and she's always good to point out the positives.
I feel like the last two transfers have been really great. We work hard. I am not perfect, though, and I see that more and more every day, but I know what with the Lord, I can do hard things. I would say, though, that in spite of my discouragement, things are going well. It's hard to see practically every person we're teaching drop us or avoid us, but there are little miracles here and there.
Yesterday my companion and I had dinner at this family's home where their oldest son has been struggling with his testimony, but as we started to share our testimonies at dinner, he gave us this look like maybe he had felt something and maybe he believed what we were saying! It was so wonderful to see, President. I love that we take such priority in making our dinners a spiritual experience. I'm grateful for my companion, who is always so quick to share a scripture or talk to someone.
We had another cool experience with something that my companion also initiated. It was kind of a bummer at first because we had gone to contact a new investigator, and she didn't act very interested. But on our way back to the car, we saw someone going out to their car. For me, I didn't really think to go talk to him— and I want to improve on that. But my companion went right over and started talking to him. After awhile, we got to know that he had a strong, strong faith in Jesus Christ. He also related to us an experience he had where he was taken up, in a vision, and the Savior offered him a cup to drink from and offered some counsel that he couldn't understand. As he drank from the cup, he awoke from his vision. Then he told us, "I've made it my life's mission to find out what Jesus said to me, and I feel like it's something I need to share with the world."
The Spirit was so strong, and I felt a distinct impression to bear witness of the restored gospel. I opened my mouth and words flowed. I bore witness that our message would help him find out what the Savior had said to him, and that he would not be disappointed. The Spirit softened his heart so much, and he gladly accepted a restoration pamphlet and Book of Mormon. Then we referred him over to the Pasco 3rd and 8th sisters because we were doing some YSA work in that area, and he is married. I feel like a lot of our work turns out to be for other missionaries, but... same team, right?
I'm trying really hard to do my best out here, President. I hope I'm not letting the Lord down. Thank you for the wise counsel you always give us to help us be the best missionaries we can be.
--
"The Gospel's True, Folks!"
Sister Melanie Nielsen
Hey, all! Sorry I don't have a lot of time today. We have a lot to do for P-day and not a lot of time. I know y'all hate it when I do this, but I wanted to send you an update. It'll be copy/pasted (and mildly edited) from my letter to my mission president.
President Ware,
Admittedly, I've been pretty discouraged the last couple of days. I know that success isn't measured outwardly, but sometimes it's hard when you feel like you're giving it your all and the key indicators don't show it. I couldn't have a better companion, though. Seriously, my companion is the most awesome companion, President. When we were emailing at the library earlier, she was teaching the girl sitting next to us, just because you told us in the letter to talk to everyone! Who would think to do that, you know? Just strike up a conversation with the girl! She trusts that obedience will bring blessings, and she automatically wants to do anything she's counseled to do by our leaders. She is the most incredible example to me.
The other day we were having a really hard time and everything had fallen through and no one wanted to give us two seconds, and it was so hot. But my companion turns to me and says, "Hey. Let's play a game. It's called 'What I love about being a missionary.' You ready?" And, as you can imagine, the Spirit was strong as we listed off the best parts about the work. To transition from being soooo discouraged to feeling so good about what I was doing almost brought me to tears. She really does so much for me and my faith, and she's always good to point out the positives.
I feel like the last two transfers have been really great. We work hard. I am not perfect, though, and I see that more and more every day, but I know what with the Lord, I can do hard things. I would say, though, that in spite of my discouragement, things are going well. It's hard to see practically every person we're teaching drop us or avoid us, but there are little miracles here and there.
Yesterday my companion and I had dinner at this family's home where their oldest son has been struggling with his testimony, but as we started to share our testimonies at dinner, he gave us this look like maybe he had felt something and maybe he believed what we were saying! It was so wonderful to see, President. I love that we take such priority in making our dinners a spiritual experience. I'm grateful for my companion, who is always so quick to share a scripture or talk to someone.
We had another cool experience with something that my companion also initiated. It was kind of a bummer at first because we had gone to contact a new investigator, and she didn't act very interested. But on our way back to the car, we saw someone going out to their car. For me, I didn't really think to go talk to him— and I want to improve on that. But my companion went right over and started talking to him. After awhile, we got to know that he had a strong, strong faith in Jesus Christ. He also related to us an experience he had where he was taken up, in a vision, and the Savior offered him a cup to drink from and offered some counsel that he couldn't understand. As he drank from the cup, he awoke from his vision. Then he told us, "I've made it my life's mission to find out what Jesus said to me, and I feel like it's something I need to share with the world."
The Spirit was so strong, and I felt a distinct impression to bear witness of the restored gospel. I opened my mouth and words flowed. I bore witness that our message would help him find out what the Savior had said to him, and that he would not be disappointed. The Spirit softened his heart so much, and he gladly accepted a restoration pamphlet and Book of Mormon. Then we referred him over to the Pasco 3rd and 8th sisters because we were doing some YSA work in that area, and he is married. I feel like a lot of our work turns out to be for other missionaries, but... same team, right?
I'm trying really hard to do my best out here, President. I hope I'm not letting the Lord down. Thank you for the wise counsel you always give us to help us be the best missionaries we can be.
--
"The Gospel's True, Folks!"
Sister Melanie Nielsen
Q&A with Sister Nielsen: Pasco edition, part deux
Monday, July 13, 2015
Do you have any senior couple missionaries? What are they like?
We do! We have quite a few! They mostly work in the mission office and are in charge of our vehicles, housing, and all that other paperwork jazz. They are the best!
How often do you go to Kennewick?
Pretty much never. I think I've been maybe two or three times in the past four or so months that I've been here. Kennewick and Richland are on the south side of the Columbia River, while Pasco is on the north. The temple is in Richland. But we have a few temple trips, transfer meetings, etc. that are over there in Richland, but we don't go very often.
Do you run out of miles all the time like our missionaries do?
My companion and I have tried to be really good about how we use our miles. The YSA we are over covers all of Pasco. So we would be driving quite a bit, but we try to find rides from YSA members so we can save on miles. We also try to walk as much as we can when we're in our smaller areas.
How big is Pasco?
The "Welcome to Pasco" sign says somewhere around 60,000. Maybe closer to 70,000.
What do people there do for a living... like, who are the major employers for the area?
There's a place called Hanford (I think it's over by Richland...? I'm not sure). Apparently it was the site for some plutonium testing back when they were making the bombs for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and they're doing some restoration work to make it, like, not radioactive anymore. Tons of people work there. About five times out of 10, people will say they work in some department of some sort over there. Four times out of 10, someone is a farmer. The others are something else just random, I suppose! Lots of farms and farmers!
Do you have any senior couple missionaries? What are they like?
We do! We have quite a few! They mostly work in the mission office and are in charge of our vehicles, housing, and all that other paperwork jazz. They are the best!
How often do you go to Kennewick?
Pretty much never. I think I've been maybe two or three times in the past four or so months that I've been here. Kennewick and Richland are on the south side of the Columbia River, while Pasco is on the north. The temple is in Richland. But we have a few temple trips, transfer meetings, etc. that are over there in Richland, but we don't go very often.
Do you run out of miles all the time like our missionaries do?
My companion and I have tried to be really good about how we use our miles. The YSA we are over covers all of Pasco. So we would be driving quite a bit, but we try to find rides from YSA members so we can save on miles. We also try to walk as much as we can when we're in our smaller areas.
How big is Pasco?
The "Welcome to Pasco" sign says somewhere around 60,000. Maybe closer to 70,000.
What do people there do for a living... like, who are the major employers for the area?
There's a place called Hanford (I think it's over by Richland...? I'm not sure). Apparently it was the site for some plutonium testing back when they were making the bombs for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and they're doing some restoration work to make it, like, not radioactive anymore. Tons of people work there. About five times out of 10, people will say they work in some department of some sort over there. Four times out of 10, someone is a farmer. The others are something else just random, I suppose! Lots of farms and farmers!
Monday, July 6, 2015
God Shed His Grace on Thee #amurica
Monday, July 6, 2015
It's been a great week! We had exchanges this week. I always get a little anxious when I find out that exchanges are happening, but I don't know why because every time they happen I love them. I'm so grateful for our sister training leaders. They gave us a challenge to study the Book of Mormon while focusing on a Christlike attribute. At first I hesitated, but as soon as I accepted the challenge, I found my Book of Mormon study was so enriching! I've been feeling so energized and full of the Spirit ever since I started. It's been amazing also to see how many things I've been able to find relating to the attribute I picked. I know that comes from the Spirit. I love that no matter what you're reading, the scriptures apply to your life. That's a real power! I've fallen in love with the Book of Mormon all over again. Sometimes I can't even wait for my studies to start again so I can read more.
The work is going pretty well. We found a new investigator from the area book. Yoly was a former investigator. We kept trying by her house with no luck, but we tried her as she was leaving for work one day, and she told us to come back at such-and-such time. So we came back and she welcomed us right in! It was so cool to see how open she was to hearing us. We got to teach her and her son part of the Restoration, and they had a lot of questions about temples and families. We went through the Book of Mormon baptismal invite, and they accepted for July 25! They are so excited, too! We were humbled and amazed by their enthusiasm. We're thrilled, and can't wait to continue meeting with them. Pray that we'll be able to meet with them and prepare them for their baptism. :)
Otherwise, it's been a good week. We had a great 4th of July! (That's when our exchanges were.) We had to be in our apartment planning by 6:00 that night, but you can kinda see the neighborhoods down by the river from our apartment, and we saw a few fireworks. One of the members even gave us some watermelon, like, randomly. That was SUCH a tender mercy! I told her she answered my prayers. Nothing like watermelon on the 4th of July!
Also, I'm driving now! Ahhhh!
Oh, also... funny story. My companion told me I was teaching in my sleep last night. "I love that! We believe that..." LOL! I'm really becoming a missionary now. :) Heart, might, mind, and strength, I suppose! ;)
I'm grateful for all of you! D&C 98:3
"The Gospel's True, Folks!"
Sister Melanie Nielsen
PICTURES
Dinner! They made me and my temporary companion (we were on exchanges - Hermana Wortley) some grilled pizzas!
The Hebdon Family and our pizzas on the grill
Hermana Wortley and me before we exchanged back. (Yes, I was driving!)
My cute companion hard at work. :)
It's been a great week! We had exchanges this week. I always get a little anxious when I find out that exchanges are happening, but I don't know why because every time they happen I love them. I'm so grateful for our sister training leaders. They gave us a challenge to study the Book of Mormon while focusing on a Christlike attribute. At first I hesitated, but as soon as I accepted the challenge, I found my Book of Mormon study was so enriching! I've been feeling so energized and full of the Spirit ever since I started. It's been amazing also to see how many things I've been able to find relating to the attribute I picked. I know that comes from the Spirit. I love that no matter what you're reading, the scriptures apply to your life. That's a real power! I've fallen in love with the Book of Mormon all over again. Sometimes I can't even wait for my studies to start again so I can read more.
The work is going pretty well. We found a new investigator from the area book. Yoly was a former investigator. We kept trying by her house with no luck, but we tried her as she was leaving for work one day, and she told us to come back at such-and-such time. So we came back and she welcomed us right in! It was so cool to see how open she was to hearing us. We got to teach her and her son part of the Restoration, and they had a lot of questions about temples and families. We went through the Book of Mormon baptismal invite, and they accepted for July 25! They are so excited, too! We were humbled and amazed by their enthusiasm. We're thrilled, and can't wait to continue meeting with them. Pray that we'll be able to meet with them and prepare them for their baptism. :)
Otherwise, it's been a good week. We had a great 4th of July! (That's when our exchanges were.) We had to be in our apartment planning by 6:00 that night, but you can kinda see the neighborhoods down by the river from our apartment, and we saw a few fireworks. One of the members even gave us some watermelon, like, randomly. That was SUCH a tender mercy! I told her she answered my prayers. Nothing like watermelon on the 4th of July!
Also, I'm driving now! Ahhhh!
Oh, also... funny story. My companion told me I was teaching in my sleep last night. "I love that! We believe that..." LOL! I'm really becoming a missionary now. :) Heart, might, mind, and strength, I suppose! ;)
I'm grateful for all of you! D&C 98:3
"The Gospel's True, Folks!"
Sister Melanie Nielsen
PICTURES
Dinner! They made me and my temporary companion (we were on exchanges - Hermana Wortley) some grilled pizzas!
The Hebdon Family and our pizzas on the grill
Hermana Wortley and me before we exchanged back. (Yes, I was driving!)
My cute companion hard at work. :)
Where Did June Even Go, Though?
Monday, June 29, 2015
It's been a great week! I'm continually impressed by how much I learn every week. I really love what it says in D&C 50:22, "Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together." I'm always so impressed by the revelation Heavenly Father gives us as we teach by the Spirit. So many of the things I go through or struggle with are answered by the lessons we're able to teach as a companionship.
Recently we've been teaching the 10 Commandments to a few different people, and it really has helped me to see how important they really are to us today, which is something I really never thought a lot about. The Lord really wants us to put him first. Something that's been significant that the Spirit has been teaching me is that we're not given commandments and rules to follow because we're ruled by some dictator who wants everything to be "my way or the highway," if you will, but we're given commandments by our Heavenly Father because he loves us so much in such a significantly selfless way that his entire purpose and existence is to benefit us and give us the way we should go and what we should do so we can return to be with him and have the fullest happiness we can achieve. Because he loves us. That's it. He does it because he loves us. How much more motivation do we have as a result, to follow his commandments? When we know his motives and we know of his love, why wouldn't we strive to do what he asks us to do?
So I guess you could say that things are going really well. Even when the work seems stagnant, the Lord is merciful enough to give revelation and tiny little miracles. They really do add up.
As far as the work, things have been going well! This last week, we were able to get in with a family the missionaries have been teaching for 12 years! Can you imagine? Twelve years! Belen was baptized this last year, and has been inactive. Her husband is less-active and is working in North Dakota! (Sheesh!) Her kids, who are 13, 8, and 3, aren't members, and we've been having a hard time getting in with them this last transfer. This last week, though, we had the impression to knock on their door when we were in the neighborhood, and she answered and let us in! We scheduled an appointment a few days later and were able to sit down with her and her 13-year-old, who normally hasn't been super interested, but when we sat down to teach them, Vibiana (the 13-year-old) was so receptive and was asking and answering questions and contributing to the lesson with GREAT answers! Belen, who is usually pretty reluctant to participate and open up, told us about her desire to go to church and how much of a hard time she has without her husband there. We had a great, Spirit-filled lesson about building our foundation on Christ (Helaman 5:12) and having strength to overcome whatever opposition we go through. We invited her to pray and think about what it is her Heavenly Father would have her do, and she committed to do so. We're excited to follow up with her this week!
We had a really cool experience with some YSA finding time this week. Members are so great to have with you! They just add a whole new spirit to everything. We took a girl named McKenzie out with us to try by some potentials from the YSA area book, and though the potentials we tried weren't home/didn't live there, we tracted into a girl named Aileen who opened up to us about her desire to develop a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ. When we briefly taught her about the Restoration, she was the one asking us for our number and asking when we could meet! It was the coolest thing to see. I know those miracles are out there, and they really do make everything else we go through as missionaries worth it! Even as we've been dealing with the people who dropped us, it's so rewarding to remember those times that were good with them, and the times where you know they felt the Spirit and their testimony was strengthened. And you know, it's so worth it. :)
--
"The Gospel's True, Folks!"
Sister Melanie Nielsen
It's been a great week! I'm continually impressed by how much I learn every week. I really love what it says in D&C 50:22, "Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together." I'm always so impressed by the revelation Heavenly Father gives us as we teach by the Spirit. So many of the things I go through or struggle with are answered by the lessons we're able to teach as a companionship.
Recently we've been teaching the 10 Commandments to a few different people, and it really has helped me to see how important they really are to us today, which is something I really never thought a lot about. The Lord really wants us to put him first. Something that's been significant that the Spirit has been teaching me is that we're not given commandments and rules to follow because we're ruled by some dictator who wants everything to be "my way or the highway," if you will, but we're given commandments by our Heavenly Father because he loves us so much in such a significantly selfless way that his entire purpose and existence is to benefit us and give us the way we should go and what we should do so we can return to be with him and have the fullest happiness we can achieve. Because he loves us. That's it. He does it because he loves us. How much more motivation do we have as a result, to follow his commandments? When we know his motives and we know of his love, why wouldn't we strive to do what he asks us to do?
So I guess you could say that things are going really well. Even when the work seems stagnant, the Lord is merciful enough to give revelation and tiny little miracles. They really do add up.
As far as the work, things have been going well! This last week, we were able to get in with a family the missionaries have been teaching for 12 years! Can you imagine? Twelve years! Belen was baptized this last year, and has been inactive. Her husband is less-active and is working in North Dakota! (Sheesh!) Her kids, who are 13, 8, and 3, aren't members, and we've been having a hard time getting in with them this last transfer. This last week, though, we had the impression to knock on their door when we were in the neighborhood, and she answered and let us in! We scheduled an appointment a few days later and were able to sit down with her and her 13-year-old, who normally hasn't been super interested, but when we sat down to teach them, Vibiana (the 13-year-old) was so receptive and was asking and answering questions and contributing to the lesson with GREAT answers! Belen, who is usually pretty reluctant to participate and open up, told us about her desire to go to church and how much of a hard time she has without her husband there. We had a great, Spirit-filled lesson about building our foundation on Christ (Helaman 5:12) and having strength to overcome whatever opposition we go through. We invited her to pray and think about what it is her Heavenly Father would have her do, and she committed to do so. We're excited to follow up with her this week!
We had a really cool experience with some YSA finding time this week. Members are so great to have with you! They just add a whole new spirit to everything. We took a girl named McKenzie out with us to try by some potentials from the YSA area book, and though the potentials we tried weren't home/didn't live there, we tracted into a girl named Aileen who opened up to us about her desire to develop a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ. When we briefly taught her about the Restoration, she was the one asking us for our number and asking when we could meet! It was the coolest thing to see. I know those miracles are out there, and they really do make everything else we go through as missionaries worth it! Even as we've been dealing with the people who dropped us, it's so rewarding to remember those times that were good with them, and the times where you know they felt the Spirit and their testimony was strengthened. And you know, it's so worth it. :)
--
"The Gospel's True, Folks!"
Sister Melanie Nielsen
Monday, June 22, 2015
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!
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
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
Monday, June 8, 2015
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
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
--
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
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
--
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
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Planting seeds
Monday, May 25, 2015
I love missionary work so much, you guys. So much. It's so hard to summarize everything that happens in a week, but my companion and I have been truly blessed by our obedience, faith, and diligent study of the scriptures.
My companion is a rock and I'm learning so much every day! I'm so grateful that this is a work that the Lord promises to guide us through. I could not do this without his help. It's been amazing to see the miracles that faith and obedience can help us accomplish! I'm also so grateful for the way that the Spirit bears witness of truth. How could people possibly know the truth of what we share if the Spirit didn't bear witness of it? It would be so impossible. So impossible.
I'm also really grateful to see his hand in the work every day. I came on my mission and really anticipated being able to meet someone, teach them, and then be able to teach them through to their baptism. I was convinced that would mean I was a successful missionary. Though nothing is impossible with the Lord, and that could very well happen, I've learned to be satisfied with whatever opportunities the Lord has given me. In reference to the seed analogy in Alma 32, many of the missionaries I talk to talk about how the Lord calls some of us to be "planters," others to help nourish the seed, and others of us to be "harvesters." A planter, of course, plants the seed. A lot of missionary work is to plant the seed. Haha. Discouraging as it is sometimes, seed planting is the most valuable thing you can do. Nothing can grow if you don't plant the seed! Others of us are called to nourish the seed, or to help it grow, and that's also crucial. The seed will never grow if it isn't nourished. Again, much of missionary work, in my experience, is to nourish and to plant. But when the seed has grown, it needs to be harvested... but only when it's ready. And sometimes the Lord, in his great mercy, lets missionaries see when a seed is ready to be harvested.
We've been teaching someone named Paulena. She's been a member her whole life, but has recently made the church a priority after a long time of not doing so. When I first got to this area, we went over a few times to teach her the returning member lessons. They were also such great lessons because Paulena has been prepared! She is so ready to be back and doing these things she was raised to do. Unbeknownst to me at first, she's married to a guy named Earnado, or "E", who is not a member and had been taking the lessons from the missionaries. The first couple of lessons Sister Moetala and I had with Paulena, we briefly saw E, and either he was randomly (it was random to me because I didn't know he had taken the lessons) telling us that he'd been reading the Book of Mormon, or he was in the worst mood ever and stayed downstairs or made brief and awkward appearances just to storm out of the room and upset Paulena. PTSD is a real struggle, y'all. A real struggle. Paulena had talked about asking E if he wanted a blessing, but he wasn't really open to it at first. Then, you know, you get busy with other missionary pursuits, and people just kind of fall off the radar.
But then one day at church, just a few weeks ago, I see Paulena there (which wasn't unusual) with this guy. I had no idea who he was. Completely unfamiliar to me. I went to ask Paulena about it, but I didn't figure out it was her husband until I see them holding hands and taking care of their kids together. I didn't even recognize E! He had shaved his beard, wasn't wearing a beanie, and his whole countenance had changed! He was answering questions in Gospel Principles like he'd been a member his whole life! Shortly afterward, we got in with Paulena again and started teaching E. Apparently he finally got that blessing from his home teachers and he turned his whole life around. Teaching him is such a tender mercy for us because he is so ready and so prepared and he is so ready to change his life for the better. His faith has been so inspiring for us!
The Lord truly prepares his children to receive the gospel. I wish you could see Earnado's dedication to getting baptized on June 6, y'all. It is an amazing thing to watch him put everything behind to follow Christ. "I would leave anyone to follow Christ," he says. It's amazing. (Please keep him in your prayers. We just realized that he can't get baptized if he's using nicotine patches.)
This work is so great. It's so good to be a missionary!
Love you all!
Sister Nielsen
Note from Lisa: She included this attachment with the email, but didn't explain why it's significant.
I love missionary work so much, you guys. So much. It's so hard to summarize everything that happens in a week, but my companion and I have been truly blessed by our obedience, faith, and diligent study of the scriptures.
My companion is a rock and I'm learning so much every day! I'm so grateful that this is a work that the Lord promises to guide us through. I could not do this without his help. It's been amazing to see the miracles that faith and obedience can help us accomplish! I'm also so grateful for the way that the Spirit bears witness of truth. How could people possibly know the truth of what we share if the Spirit didn't bear witness of it? It would be so impossible. So impossible.
I'm also really grateful to see his hand in the work every day. I came on my mission and really anticipated being able to meet someone, teach them, and then be able to teach them through to their baptism. I was convinced that would mean I was a successful missionary. Though nothing is impossible with the Lord, and that could very well happen, I've learned to be satisfied with whatever opportunities the Lord has given me. In reference to the seed analogy in Alma 32, many of the missionaries I talk to talk about how the Lord calls some of us to be "planters," others to help nourish the seed, and others of us to be "harvesters." A planter, of course, plants the seed. A lot of missionary work is to plant the seed. Haha. Discouraging as it is sometimes, seed planting is the most valuable thing you can do. Nothing can grow if you don't plant the seed! Others of us are called to nourish the seed, or to help it grow, and that's also crucial. The seed will never grow if it isn't nourished. Again, much of missionary work, in my experience, is to nourish and to plant. But when the seed has grown, it needs to be harvested... but only when it's ready. And sometimes the Lord, in his great mercy, lets missionaries see when a seed is ready to be harvested.
We've been teaching someone named Paulena. She's been a member her whole life, but has recently made the church a priority after a long time of not doing so. When I first got to this area, we went over a few times to teach her the returning member lessons. They were also such great lessons because Paulena has been prepared! She is so ready to be back and doing these things she was raised to do. Unbeknownst to me at first, she's married to a guy named Earnado, or "E", who is not a member and had been taking the lessons from the missionaries. The first couple of lessons Sister Moetala and I had with Paulena, we briefly saw E, and either he was randomly (it was random to me because I didn't know he had taken the lessons) telling us that he'd been reading the Book of Mormon, or he was in the worst mood ever and stayed downstairs or made brief and awkward appearances just to storm out of the room and upset Paulena. PTSD is a real struggle, y'all. A real struggle. Paulena had talked about asking E if he wanted a blessing, but he wasn't really open to it at first. Then, you know, you get busy with other missionary pursuits, and people just kind of fall off the radar.
But then one day at church, just a few weeks ago, I see Paulena there (which wasn't unusual) with this guy. I had no idea who he was. Completely unfamiliar to me. I went to ask Paulena about it, but I didn't figure out it was her husband until I see them holding hands and taking care of their kids together. I didn't even recognize E! He had shaved his beard, wasn't wearing a beanie, and his whole countenance had changed! He was answering questions in Gospel Principles like he'd been a member his whole life! Shortly afterward, we got in with Paulena again and started teaching E. Apparently he finally got that blessing from his home teachers and he turned his whole life around. Teaching him is such a tender mercy for us because he is so ready and so prepared and he is so ready to change his life for the better. His faith has been so inspiring for us!
The Lord truly prepares his children to receive the gospel. I wish you could see Earnado's dedication to getting baptized on June 6, y'all. It is an amazing thing to watch him put everything behind to follow Christ. "I would leave anyone to follow Christ," he says. It's amazing. (Please keep him in your prayers. We just realized that he can't get baptized if he's using nicotine patches.)
This work is so great. It's so good to be a missionary!
Love you all!
Sister Nielsen
Note from Lisa: She included this attachment with the email, but didn't explain why it's significant.
How many weeks now? I've lost track
Monday, May 18, 2015
I know y'all hate it when I do this, but here's the letter I sent to my mission president this week. Sometimes you just have a lot to do on the computer, and an hour and a half doesn't quite cut it. Love you all! Thank you for your continued love and support!
What an incredible week! I can't believe the things we're able to accomplish through hard work, diligence, and sincere and faith-filled prayer.
We had our zone training meeting this week. I love that our mission tries to avoid calling them "meetings," and instead refers to them as "revelatory experiences." It really is for good reason! It was such an inspired training about the importance of faith-filled prayers to bring the Spirit and teaching doctrine in our lessons and tracting to bring the Spirit. Truly the only way to bring the truth of our message is to help others to feel the Spirit. The Spirit is the only one who knows our hearts intimately, and certain things will only resonate through the Spirit. We were trained on how to avoid "the fluff" in our interactions in tracting, and in our role-plays, the Spirit was so strong as we were able to bear pure and simple testimony about the doctrine that people needed to hear.
It's been something we've seen really bless our efforts as a companionship. Yesterday, in fact, we had a street contact lesson with a young man named Jose who seemed a bit standoffish at first, but it was amazing and humbling to see him soften and become more receptive as we taught the doctrine of the Restoration and the First Vision. It was so amazing to see the things we were trained on help see success. (Though we will refer him to the YSA elders, it's amazing all the same!)
Truly some of us are sewers and others reapers. It really doesn't matter where you see the success; we really don't waste our time out here! As long as we're diligently seeking for people to teach, we will find! I can't wait to write more about the success we've seen next week! I ran out of time! Ahhh!
Pictures are from the temple trip and zone conference. Sorry for the lack of captions.
I know y'all hate it when I do this, but here's the letter I sent to my mission president this week. Sometimes you just have a lot to do on the computer, and an hour and a half doesn't quite cut it. Love you all! Thank you for your continued love and support!
What an incredible week! I can't believe the things we're able to accomplish through hard work, diligence, and sincere and faith-filled prayer.
We had our zone training meeting this week. I love that our mission tries to avoid calling them "meetings," and instead refers to them as "revelatory experiences." It really is for good reason! It was such an inspired training about the importance of faith-filled prayers to bring the Spirit and teaching doctrine in our lessons and tracting to bring the Spirit. Truly the only way to bring the truth of our message is to help others to feel the Spirit. The Spirit is the only one who knows our hearts intimately, and certain things will only resonate through the Spirit. We were trained on how to avoid "the fluff" in our interactions in tracting, and in our role-plays, the Spirit was so strong as we were able to bear pure and simple testimony about the doctrine that people needed to hear.
It's been something we've seen really bless our efforts as a companionship. Yesterday, in fact, we had a street contact lesson with a young man named Jose who seemed a bit standoffish at first, but it was amazing and humbling to see him soften and become more receptive as we taught the doctrine of the Restoration and the First Vision. It was so amazing to see the things we were trained on help see success. (Though we will refer him to the YSA elders, it's amazing all the same!)
Truly some of us are sewers and others reapers. It really doesn't matter where you see the success; we really don't waste our time out here! As long as we're diligently seeking for people to teach, we will find! I can't wait to write more about the success we've seen next week! I ran out of time! Ahhh!
Pictures are from the temple trip and zone conference. Sorry for the lack of captions.
Two months already?
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
This week has been really great! It's been amazing to see the miracles that come from hard work and diligent obedience! From the minute my new companion stepped in the car with us to come back to Pasco, the miracles have been flowing. Sister Tuigamala is a hard worker and she is so Christlike. I am continually inspired by her example.
We had the privilege to meet with a part-member family. Cameron, their 9-year-old son, accepted the invitation to be baptized and we're diligently trying to get in with him to teach him before May 30. Please keep him in your prayers. Though we may have to bump the baptism back, and maybe we won't, I know that our faith can help us accomplish the Lord's will for him. He is so excited to be baptized and he just eats up everything we teach him. His mother is so supportive of him, and we pray to be able to teach him all he needs to know before he makes this commitment to the Lord.
I'm so grateful that Sister Tuigamala is so committed to the work. It's an adjustment for me, for sure, to keep up with her and her confidence in talking to EVERYONE (and I mean everyone) we see, but it has also been a blessing. I know there is no growth in the comfort zone and no comfort in the growth zone. I know also that the Savior's grace will guide me to becoming the missionary he needs me to be, and loving the people genuinely with a love that only he perfected.
My studies yesterday, took me to 1 Nephi 3:7. It was so inspiring for me to think that the Lord will provide a way for all of the things he commands us to do, if we are faithful. Faith has the power to do so much, and this is something I talked about in last week's letter, and it's something that continues to impress me. The Lord has prepared a way for me to accomplish His work, and I know that as I have faith in that promise, I can see miracles.
I'm so grateful to be a missionary. I'm so grateful for the work.
--
"The Gospel's True, Folks!"
Sister Melanie Nielsen
This week has been really great! It's been amazing to see the miracles that come from hard work and diligent obedience! From the minute my new companion stepped in the car with us to come back to Pasco, the miracles have been flowing. Sister Tuigamala is a hard worker and she is so Christlike. I am continually inspired by her example.
We had the privilege to meet with a part-member family. Cameron, their 9-year-old son, accepted the invitation to be baptized and we're diligently trying to get in with him to teach him before May 30. Please keep him in your prayers. Though we may have to bump the baptism back, and maybe we won't, I know that our faith can help us accomplish the Lord's will for him. He is so excited to be baptized and he just eats up everything we teach him. His mother is so supportive of him, and we pray to be able to teach him all he needs to know before he makes this commitment to the Lord.
I'm so grateful that Sister Tuigamala is so committed to the work. It's an adjustment for me, for sure, to keep up with her and her confidence in talking to EVERYONE (and I mean everyone) we see, but it has also been a blessing. I know there is no growth in the comfort zone and no comfort in the growth zone. I know also that the Savior's grace will guide me to becoming the missionary he needs me to be, and loving the people genuinely with a love that only he perfected.
My studies yesterday, took me to 1 Nephi 3:7. It was so inspiring for me to think that the Lord will provide a way for all of the things he commands us to do, if we are faithful. Faith has the power to do so much, and this is something I talked about in last week's letter, and it's something that continues to impress me. The Lord has prepared a way for me to accomplish His work, and I know that as I have faith in that promise, I can see miracles.
I'm so grateful to be a missionary. I'm so grateful for the work.
--
"The Gospel's True, Folks!"
Sister Melanie Nielsen
Monday, May 4, 2015
Powerful Faith
Monday, May 4, 2015
I'm sorry, but I don't have a ton of time today. I just quickly wanted to share a cool experience I had this week.
I'm so grateful for our district. In our district councils lately, we've talked a lot about praying more specifically and setting goals with faith. Also, something that I don't quite understand yet, but creating our success and goals spiritually before we create them physically. Sister Moetala has tried to explain that it's something the Lord did when he created the earth— creating all things spiritually before he created them physically— but it's still something I'm working to understand.
That was something my companion and I tried this week: We said, with words of faith, that we'd go out and meet the goals we had set, then we set a plan for people we didn't have set appointments with and determined that we would find at least one investigator. With that goal and that faith, we came across a member whom we were prompted to go visit. (We actually didn't know they were members, but it was a pleasant surprise when we found out they were!) After talking to them for a minute to get to know them, we asked if they had been working with anyone or if they had any neighbors who'd want to hear our message, and they gave us FIVE referrals right there on the spot. We then left to go contact them and scheduled a return appointment with one— Katie, a mother of two and the sweetest lady ever, for tomorrow!
It's amazing to see what faith can do and what it helped us accomplish this week. I know that faith really does bring great miracles to pass. As we believe in him, he makes it all possible. A favorite scripture that I came across this week is Moroni 7:33, which says, "...if ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me." And I know that's true. He gives us power to do impossible things through our faith. The faithful goals we set and the faithful prayers we say as missionaries are so important for our success.
I'm so grateful for all the things our Heavenly Father makes possible through something so simple.
--
"The Gospel's True, Folks!"
Sister Melanie Nielsen
These are the Pasco water towers. You can see them from everywhere in Tri Cities— even from the temple, which is in Richland, clear across the valley.
There's a forklift at the Union Gospel Mission, where we do service every week. We sort clothes and food for charity. It reminds me WAY too much of the DI sometimes!
Yep. One of the members has a drumset. I'm so rusty!
Our district on Tuesday after district council. What a great group of missionaries!
I got an Elsa spoon in my Apple Jacks. This is important.
I'm sorry, but I don't have a ton of time today. I just quickly wanted to share a cool experience I had this week.
I'm so grateful for our district. In our district councils lately, we've talked a lot about praying more specifically and setting goals with faith. Also, something that I don't quite understand yet, but creating our success and goals spiritually before we create them physically. Sister Moetala has tried to explain that it's something the Lord did when he created the earth— creating all things spiritually before he created them physically— but it's still something I'm working to understand.
That was something my companion and I tried this week: We said, with words of faith, that we'd go out and meet the goals we had set, then we set a plan for people we didn't have set appointments with and determined that we would find at least one investigator. With that goal and that faith, we came across a member whom we were prompted to go visit. (We actually didn't know they were members, but it was a pleasant surprise when we found out they were!) After talking to them for a minute to get to know them, we asked if they had been working with anyone or if they had any neighbors who'd want to hear our message, and they gave us FIVE referrals right there on the spot. We then left to go contact them and scheduled a return appointment with one— Katie, a mother of two and the sweetest lady ever, for tomorrow!
It's amazing to see what faith can do and what it helped us accomplish this week. I know that faith really does bring great miracles to pass. As we believe in him, he makes it all possible. A favorite scripture that I came across this week is Moroni 7:33, which says, "...if ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me." And I know that's true. He gives us power to do impossible things through our faith. The faithful goals we set and the faithful prayers we say as missionaries are so important for our success.
I'm so grateful for all the things our Heavenly Father makes possible through something so simple.
--
"The Gospel's True, Folks!"
Sister Melanie Nielsen
These are the Pasco water towers. You can see them from everywhere in Tri Cities— even from the temple, which is in Richland, clear across the valley.
There's a forklift at the Union Gospel Mission, where we do service every week. We sort clothes and food for charity. It reminds me WAY too much of the DI sometimes!
Yep. One of the members has a drumset. I'm so rusty!
Our district on Tuesday after district council. What a great group of missionaries!
I got an Elsa spoon in my Apple Jacks. This is important.
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Missionary work is THE BEST, you guys... the best!
Monday, April 27, 2015
What a great week! The Lord blessed us with five scheduled return appointments with five new investigators as we've contacted our referrals and worked harder in our efforts to open our mouths as we knock and look for people to teach. I went on my first split and exchange this week. Both great and exciting experiences!
For those who don't know, to go on a split means that between the two of us in our companionship, and two members that we invite to come to lessons with us, go to two appointments at the same time, but with each member. (Any questions?) I'll talk a little more about my splits later. To go on an exchange means to temporarily trade companions with the leaders in your zone— or the Sister Training Leaders (STLs), in our case. Our STLs are in Kennewick, and I got to go to Kennewick while the Sister from Kennewick came to be with my companion. Between the four of us, we had a productive and SUPER FUN day! Because of lack of time, I'll send you what I wrote to my mission president today to let you know what's been going on!
LOVE YOU ALL!
Sister Nielsen
President Ware!
This week has been such a blessing. I've been feeling so much better about being on my mission. That's not to say that I never felt good about it, but as a new missionary, I was having a hard time adjusting. I missed home, I was doubting myself as a missionary and my abilities, and as a result, I was really critical toward my companion and questioned a lot of what she taught me. But I have been so humbled and so blessed to have overcome a lot of the obstacles I've been facing by being able to see the error of my ways. Truly, the Savior was called to earth to teach his gospel and give us the way. It's been amazing to me to see his counsel bless my life.
In the New Testament he teaches, "Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you." This has been so helpful in my relationship with my companion. Now, it must be understood: I have never and do not see my companion as my enemy. Have I misunderstood her criticism? Have I murmured against her counsel? Yes. And it was me that was in the wrong. Is my companion perfect? No. And neither am I. But when I wasn't seeing clearly and I felt picked on and alone, I began to pray for her. I trusted that she was probably and more than likely going through hard things, too. Yeah, I'm a new missionary. Yeah, I can get pretty homesick. Yeah, I don't always believe I'm a good teacher or that I have anything to say that's going to bless these people, but my companion is probably going through the EXACT SAME THINGS that I'm going through. Only worse! Imagine being a trainer and taking on so much responsibility. Imagine knowing that, as a missionary's first trainer, that much of what you teach her will carry through her whole mission. Imagine knowing that you're not perfect and praying every night that your weaknesses and imperfections won't carry through that missionary's whole mission.
As I prayed for my companion, I started to see things from her perspective, and I started to have a desire to serve her and lift her up instead of being so critical and expecting so much of her. As I started to exercise the Savior's teachings, I started to see our relationship improve, and that means the world to me. We've started to trust each other and we're starting to have a TON of fun together. Not only that, but we've started to work so much harder and we're starting to reach and exceed our goals. We're starting. You know? And I think that's the key in any relationship: starting to improve together. Working harder and harder each day and repenting and trying. President Monson said, "Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'" And that's the doctrine of Christ. Having faith to know that we can repent each day. Enduring to the end is to "try again tomorrow." And I love that we're starting to see that as a companionship.
The Lord gives us so many miracles each day. It's been so humbling to see the things that don't work out and to see the way the Lord makes other things work out. On many occasions this week, we've seen things fall through just to see something else open up. It's hard to recount every instance, but for example: This Friday we went on our first splits! It was such a great experience to watch the members that we both went with testify of the blessings of baptism, the gospel of Jesus Christ, as well as the blessings we see through family scripture study & prayer. Having a member in lessons is such a blessing! But interestingly enough, we'd had a lesson scheduled that night during the time we spent during our split. If we had gone to the lesson that fell through, who knows what things would have been denied the people we taught, who so needed the message we had to bring?
It's been a miraculous week, for sure. Through our increased efforts, and through the grace of our Savior, we scheduled return appointments with five people. Five new investigators!
The cute cocker spaniel that we got to hang out with at dinner this week :)
This is us and Sister Weibling! She let us wear her aprons for dinner because she didn't want us to get spaghetti on our white shirts! (Later, she MADE US OUR OWN APRONS! We'll have to take a picture and send them soon!)
Our district leaders live above our apartment. We have a little bucket system where they lower down this Halloween bucket when they want to send us candy or food or pamphlets and supplies that we run out of. We have a lot of fun with the elders! :)
Elder Clarkson bringing up the bucket!
These stoplights are ALL OVER Pasco. Not necessarily in our area, but when we have to find people in the YSA in different parts of Pasco! Weirdest stoplights ever.
What a great week! The Lord blessed us with five scheduled return appointments with five new investigators as we've contacted our referrals and worked harder in our efforts to open our mouths as we knock and look for people to teach. I went on my first split and exchange this week. Both great and exciting experiences!
For those who don't know, to go on a split means that between the two of us in our companionship, and two members that we invite to come to lessons with us, go to two appointments at the same time, but with each member. (Any questions?) I'll talk a little more about my splits later. To go on an exchange means to temporarily trade companions with the leaders in your zone— or the Sister Training Leaders (STLs), in our case. Our STLs are in Kennewick, and I got to go to Kennewick while the Sister from Kennewick came to be with my companion. Between the four of us, we had a productive and SUPER FUN day! Because of lack of time, I'll send you what I wrote to my mission president today to let you know what's been going on!
LOVE YOU ALL!
Sister Nielsen
President Ware!
This week has been such a blessing. I've been feeling so much better about being on my mission. That's not to say that I never felt good about it, but as a new missionary, I was having a hard time adjusting. I missed home, I was doubting myself as a missionary and my abilities, and as a result, I was really critical toward my companion and questioned a lot of what she taught me. But I have been so humbled and so blessed to have overcome a lot of the obstacles I've been facing by being able to see the error of my ways. Truly, the Savior was called to earth to teach his gospel and give us the way. It's been amazing to me to see his counsel bless my life.
In the New Testament he teaches, "Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you." This has been so helpful in my relationship with my companion. Now, it must be understood: I have never and do not see my companion as my enemy. Have I misunderstood her criticism? Have I murmured against her counsel? Yes. And it was me that was in the wrong. Is my companion perfect? No. And neither am I. But when I wasn't seeing clearly and I felt picked on and alone, I began to pray for her. I trusted that she was probably and more than likely going through hard things, too. Yeah, I'm a new missionary. Yeah, I can get pretty homesick. Yeah, I don't always believe I'm a good teacher or that I have anything to say that's going to bless these people, but my companion is probably going through the EXACT SAME THINGS that I'm going through. Only worse! Imagine being a trainer and taking on so much responsibility. Imagine knowing that, as a missionary's first trainer, that much of what you teach her will carry through her whole mission. Imagine knowing that you're not perfect and praying every night that your weaknesses and imperfections won't carry through that missionary's whole mission.
As I prayed for my companion, I started to see things from her perspective, and I started to have a desire to serve her and lift her up instead of being so critical and expecting so much of her. As I started to exercise the Savior's teachings, I started to see our relationship improve, and that means the world to me. We've started to trust each other and we're starting to have a TON of fun together. Not only that, but we've started to work so much harder and we're starting to reach and exceed our goals. We're starting. You know? And I think that's the key in any relationship: starting to improve together. Working harder and harder each day and repenting and trying. President Monson said, "Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'" And that's the doctrine of Christ. Having faith to know that we can repent each day. Enduring to the end is to "try again tomorrow." And I love that we're starting to see that as a companionship.
The Lord gives us so many miracles each day. It's been so humbling to see the things that don't work out and to see the way the Lord makes other things work out. On many occasions this week, we've seen things fall through just to see something else open up. It's hard to recount every instance, but for example: This Friday we went on our first splits! It was such a great experience to watch the members that we both went with testify of the blessings of baptism, the gospel of Jesus Christ, as well as the blessings we see through family scripture study & prayer. Having a member in lessons is such a blessing! But interestingly enough, we'd had a lesson scheduled that night during the time we spent during our split. If we had gone to the lesson that fell through, who knows what things would have been denied the people we taught, who so needed the message we had to bring?
It's been a miraculous week, for sure. Through our increased efforts, and through the grace of our Savior, we scheduled return appointments with five people. Five new investigators!
- Milo and Sammy have been taught by the sisters (and elders) in this area before. They invited us to come back and start teaching them again when we found them home one day this week. They've set a marriage date for July 4, and are excited to work toward getting married and being baptized. Sammy is still looking for a lot of answers about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. When we met with them yesterday, we bore testimony of the power that scripture study plays in helping us find our answers and challenged her to read her Book of Mormon and study it out through prayer. Milo is working with his stake president and bishop to get ready to be re-baptized.
- Angie was a referral from the Weiblings in the 1st Ward. Sister Moetala was able to take Sister Allred with her to contact the referral and they had a lesson about the Restoration on her doorstep and scheduled a return appointment for this Thursday.
- We taught Dianela about the Restoration on her doorstep yesterday! We knocked into her husband Javier while tracting, this week, and he asked us to come back Sunday for a return appointment. When we came over yesterday, Dianela answered the door (since Javier was out fishing... apparently he forgot about us! Haha.) She and her family are starting to go back to church, and she was very open and receptive to everything we taught! We gave her the Restoration pamphlet and left her with un Libro de Mormon (a Spanish Book of Mormon) and an invitation to read the Introduction and 3 Nephi 11. We have a return appointment with her on May 4.
- We found Heidi when we contacted a referral from the 1st Ward. Her mom's neighbor was the referral, but we knocked into her mom's house (to discover that Heidi's mom doesn't speak English), and got to talk to Heidi while she was visiting her mom. We started talking about the Restoration and asked if we could come back to teach more. Heidi seemed very receptive! She asked us to come visit her house in the 10th Ward on Friday, and Sister Moetala was able to go on splits with a member from the 10th Ward. They had a GREAT lesson! The member, Sister Yaunt, was so helpful in the lesson. They invited her to be baptized and she wanted to pray about when she should be baptized. We have a return appointment with her this Friday (or next Friday? I'm not quite sure right now).
The cute cocker spaniel that we got to hang out with at dinner this week :)
This is us and Sister Weibling! She let us wear her aprons for dinner because she didn't want us to get spaghetti on our white shirts! (Later, she MADE US OUR OWN APRONS! We'll have to take a picture and send them soon!)
Our district leaders live above our apartment. We have a little bucket system where they lower down this Halloween bucket when they want to send us candy or food or pamphlets and supplies that we run out of. We have a lot of fun with the elders! :)
Elder Clarkson bringing up the bucket!
These stoplights are ALL OVER Pasco. Not necessarily in our area, but when we have to find people in the YSA in different parts of Pasco! Weirdest stoplights ever.
Oh, How Great The Goodness of Our God!
Sorry to be late in posting this. I've been way busy.
~Lisa
Monday, April 20, 2015
Hello, everyone!
It's been a greeaat week! I'm learning to love the mission and the people so, so much! I'm amazed each day by the things I'm able to learn. I overcame a few obstacles this week as well, and I'm continually inspired by the love our Heavenly Father has for us. I love that he sent us here knowing full well that we would make mistakes. How great is his wisdom that he provided for us a way to overcome our imperfections and mistakes! Jesus Christ's Atonement and grace make it possible for us to learn and to grow. If we put our trust in him, he truly blesses us with abilities beyond our own.
One example of this happened at the end of our week. Our district leaders called us to ask for our OYM ("open your mouth") totals. This has been something that I had a hard time with, and the numbers we reported weren't... um... very good. Haha! As a result of this, our district leaders gave us an assignment to read D&C 85:6 and invited us to ponder what we can do to improve our efforts and to set a goal that will make us stretch. I certainly didn't know what to expect, but what we discovered exceeded my expectations. The scripture says, "Yea, thus saith the still small voice, which whispereth through and pierceth all things, and often times it maketh my bones to quake..."
For me, that scripture poignantly described what the Spirit feels like when it prompts you to do something right. It was a huuuge tool in helping me to understand how we could tell what exactly goal we needed to set as a companionship, and we committed to shoot for 10 OYMs daily. The next day, we hit 11 and had great conversations with people— a lot of which I was able to initiate. Me. Someone who was SO afraid to open my mouth! But as I took that leap of faith, I could feel strength beyond my own. As it promises in D&C 88:3, "Open your mouths, and they shall be filled." As I've been preparing myself with the knowledge of the scriptures and the prophets, and especially with what's taught in our pamphlets, I've been able to remember them when I open my mouth. And the conversations I'm able to have, honestly, don't even feel real. Sometimes, in my head, I look around and try to figure out who was teaching all of those things! What a great promise! God's grace really does lift us up past our own abilities, and I know that as we exercise faith in him and the promises he makes us through our obedience, we are truly, truly blessed!
Another example was something else about missionary work that intimidated me entirely too much for my liking. We took one of our part-member-family investigators, Tim, with his family to the church for a church tour. He's been going to church for yeears, but we were hoping that perhaps the Spirit in the building would be able to help him understand the faith he already has and that we could help him understand a little more some of the things he's already been doing in church for so long. I don't know if we did exactly what we set out to do, but we testified and testified about how church helps us find answers. We were able to explain a little more about the significance of the sacrament and invited him to pay closer attention to the sacrament prayers.
We took him afterward to the baptismal font and explained that the purpose of baptism is to follow Jesus Christ's example so we can return to live with our Heavenly Father. We asked him if this was something he wanted and he said it was. We afterwards invited him to be baptized. (Or, well, you know, I might've choked down my fears and managed to let a baptismal invite fall out of my mouth.) The Spirit was so strong and the faith I was filled with was an overwhelming feeling. He accepted the invitation, but wasn't willing to set a date. He said he still doesn't know if Heavenly Father has a plan for him, and he wants to know for himself before he's baptized. We're praying and praying to know how we can help him. I was overwhelmed, again, by how the Spirit was able to help me do something that I didn't think I had the strength or courage to do on my own. How great the goodness of our God! My success, our success, truly comes from him!
I know that he can bring us up to places we cannot go on our own. I'm so grateful to be his missionary. What an honor! What a blessing! I know this gospel is true. Our Heavenly Father is real, and he loves us! His plan for our happiness and salvation truly is the way to return to be with him. What a glorious thought: to be with him! He has made it all possible through the atoning sacrifice of his son. As we follow Jesus Christ's example and keep his commandments, acting in faith and trusting his will, we are truly, wonderfully, and overwhelmingly blessed.
This gospel is true!
Sister Melanie Nielsen
P.S. Please keep Tim in your prayers, and pray that we can know how to help him. Thank you.
This is a family we had dinner with. The McLaughlins were so great to let us share our experiences with them and to testify of the Lord's hand in our lives. What a great family of missionaries— past, present, and future!
~Lisa
Monday, April 20, 2015
Hello, everyone!
It's been a greeaat week! I'm learning to love the mission and the people so, so much! I'm amazed each day by the things I'm able to learn. I overcame a few obstacles this week as well, and I'm continually inspired by the love our Heavenly Father has for us. I love that he sent us here knowing full well that we would make mistakes. How great is his wisdom that he provided for us a way to overcome our imperfections and mistakes! Jesus Christ's Atonement and grace make it possible for us to learn and to grow. If we put our trust in him, he truly blesses us with abilities beyond our own.
One example of this happened at the end of our week. Our district leaders called us to ask for our OYM ("open your mouth") totals. This has been something that I had a hard time with, and the numbers we reported weren't... um... very good. Haha! As a result of this, our district leaders gave us an assignment to read D&C 85:6 and invited us to ponder what we can do to improve our efforts and to set a goal that will make us stretch. I certainly didn't know what to expect, but what we discovered exceeded my expectations. The scripture says, "Yea, thus saith the still small voice, which whispereth through and pierceth all things, and often times it maketh my bones to quake..."
For me, that scripture poignantly described what the Spirit feels like when it prompts you to do something right. It was a huuuge tool in helping me to understand how we could tell what exactly goal we needed to set as a companionship, and we committed to shoot for 10 OYMs daily. The next day, we hit 11 and had great conversations with people— a lot of which I was able to initiate. Me. Someone who was SO afraid to open my mouth! But as I took that leap of faith, I could feel strength beyond my own. As it promises in D&C 88:3, "Open your mouths, and they shall be filled." As I've been preparing myself with the knowledge of the scriptures and the prophets, and especially with what's taught in our pamphlets, I've been able to remember them when I open my mouth. And the conversations I'm able to have, honestly, don't even feel real. Sometimes, in my head, I look around and try to figure out who was teaching all of those things! What a great promise! God's grace really does lift us up past our own abilities, and I know that as we exercise faith in him and the promises he makes us through our obedience, we are truly, truly blessed!
Another example was something else about missionary work that intimidated me entirely too much for my liking. We took one of our part-member-family investigators, Tim, with his family to the church for a church tour. He's been going to church for yeears, but we were hoping that perhaps the Spirit in the building would be able to help him understand the faith he already has and that we could help him understand a little more some of the things he's already been doing in church for so long. I don't know if we did exactly what we set out to do, but we testified and testified about how church helps us find answers. We were able to explain a little more about the significance of the sacrament and invited him to pay closer attention to the sacrament prayers.
We took him afterward to the baptismal font and explained that the purpose of baptism is to follow Jesus Christ's example so we can return to live with our Heavenly Father. We asked him if this was something he wanted and he said it was. We afterwards invited him to be baptized. (Or, well, you know, I might've choked down my fears and managed to let a baptismal invite fall out of my mouth.) The Spirit was so strong and the faith I was filled with was an overwhelming feeling. He accepted the invitation, but wasn't willing to set a date. He said he still doesn't know if Heavenly Father has a plan for him, and he wants to know for himself before he's baptized. We're praying and praying to know how we can help him. I was overwhelmed, again, by how the Spirit was able to help me do something that I didn't think I had the strength or courage to do on my own. How great the goodness of our God! My success, our success, truly comes from him!
I know that he can bring us up to places we cannot go on our own. I'm so grateful to be his missionary. What an honor! What a blessing! I know this gospel is true. Our Heavenly Father is real, and he loves us! His plan for our happiness and salvation truly is the way to return to be with him. What a glorious thought: to be with him! He has made it all possible through the atoning sacrifice of his son. As we follow Jesus Christ's example and keep his commandments, acting in faith and trusting his will, we are truly, wonderfully, and overwhelmingly blessed.
This gospel is true!
Sister Melanie Nielsen
P.S. Please keep Tim in your prayers, and pray that we can know how to help him. Thank you.
This is a family we had dinner with. The McLaughlins were so great to let us share our experiences with them and to testify of the Lord's hand in our lives. What a great family of missionaries— past, present, and future!
Monday, April 13, 2015
Little miracles are still miracles
I'm sorry I don't have a lot of time today! Pray for my sweet companion. She tweaked her back on Friday and is having a hard time. Also, send prayers out for each of the people I'll talk about in this email. And the H family, whom we're meeting with tonight, and hopefully they'll let us teach lessons to get them back to church and to help get their little girl, Riley, baptized!
Here's what I sent to my mission president, because we really don't have a lot of time today. So sorry. (Some sister missionaries in our zone got stranded in Kennewick today, and we gave them a ride back to their area.)
"We've had a pretty good week! A couple of miracles along with quite a bit of opposition, but the servants of God are always meant to swim in deep water. So grateful for the sweetness of the gospel of Jesus Christ! Most of the people we meet with, I've come to find, are less active and recent converts. That's not something I quite expected of the mission, actually. It's taken me until recently— and it pinnacled after our zone training this week— to realize that working with RCs and LAs is missionary work, too! Before that realization, I just felt really unsuccessful and like I was doing something wrong.
We've been able to have lessons with a few families and have had a fair amount of success, most who are LA/RC:
Lyn: Sister Moetala has mentioned several times that Lyn was a "golden investigator" and "a miracle." I couldn't agree more. I sometimes can't believe she's only been baptized for about as long as I've been out on my mission. We met with her just this last Friday and had a great lesson about the plan of salvation. Sister Moetala was very helpful during the lesson, as I hadn't ever given a lesson on the Plan of Salvation pamphlet before. Lyn and Greg were just eating it up. It was especially visible on Lyn's expressions. Greg, who apparently had been less active for quite some time before Lyn's baptism, was even able to find answers from General Conference this last Sunday about things he'd been struggling with since he came back to church. We are so excited for this family! They truly are a miracle.
Melody: Melody and her brother Jared were just recently baptized my first weekend in Pasco. Melody is 10(?) and Jared is 8. Their mother, Liliana, is from Guatemala, and at first I didn't know if she was a member, but apparently she is! When we met with her after dinner with them on Wednesday, we taught about the First Vision and showed them The Restoration video clip. As we taught about how God answers our prayers, Melody and Jared gave all the right answers and seemed to have learned precisely what we hoped they would. Liliana was deeply touched by what we taught. And not so much what we taught as much as the things that were spoken reminded her of a way that God had answered her prayers recently. I'm so glad that this family has a testimony of prayer!
Tre: Tre has been doing really well as we've met with him. I went to a lesson with him my first night in Pasco, and every time we go and teach him, he seems to be just soaking it all in. Tre definitely has a testimony that this is true! Apparently he's been baptized for about 6 months or so. I'm not sure why, but he's not been going to church. (I think Sis. Moetala mentioned it was because of his job...) I know that his progress has been kind of floundering, though. Sis. Moetala mentioned that it was because he's been working through the repentance process, and I can imagine he's understandably discouraged. We weren't able to meet with him this week, though. When we got there, he was asleep and his grandma, who answered the door (and is a member), told us they weren't feeling up to it because someone stole their dog. WHO STEALS SOMEONE'S DOG?! She and her husband were heartbroken. But good news and miracles, still— we found out yesterday that they found their dog when he was scratching at the door at 3 in the morning. Miracles, miracles! Hopefully we get in with them this week!
Last but not least is Tim. He's the husband of a part-member family. Apparently he's been investigating the church for a while, and I love Tim so dearly. He's really grown on me as we've met with him the last two weeks. Seeing him love his little girl (18 months) and wife (who is expecting) the way he does really melts my heart. He's doing everything he possibly can to provide for his little family, including doing all these church things when he's not even sure he has a testimony, yet. The last few times we've met with him, we've been trying to encourage him and help him see the faith he already has. Alma 32 was last week's lesson, and this last Thursday, the Spirit was so strong, I barely remember what we taught. He's doing everything he needs to, but he's just not sure he knows yet. We're praying fervently for his answer to come. We hope to commit him to baptism this week! SEND PRAYERS!
Other families we're teaching are, for the most part, part-member families.
The V Family: Rob and (I can't remember her name right now) have been members since about 2004(?). They have two children who are not members, their daughter Taylor (14) and their son Robbie (12). Robbie wrestles and is quite good, so the whole family's life revolves around his wrestling. As a result, they're inactive. We've been able to meet with them twice and had really great lessons both times. Yesterday they were out of town, and we have a return appointment with them next Sunday. Prayers! We're hoping to commit Taylor and Robbie to baptism soon.
The L Family: Belen's been a member for about 6 months. Belen's husband works in North Dakota, and we never see him. (I don't know if he's a member or not.) Belen apparently hates that their ward starts at 2:30 and refuses to go. They have has three kids: Viviana (about 13), Isaac (8), and Jacob (about 3). Viviana was taking the discussions, but recently decided she doesn't want anything to do with it. Belen and her husband want Isaac to be baptized, and she let us come back to start teaching him in preparation. The bishopric in their ward still need to get back to us about permission to do that because I've heard that's the ward's responsibility to teach [a child over age 8].
The work is great! It isn't quite what I expected, but nothing worthwhile is ever easy. I let myself get pretty discouraged, but I can feel the Lord strengthening me every day. This is where he needs me. I'm so grateful to be here. My sister will be updating the blog with some more about life in Pasco, so keep an eye out. LOVE YOU ALL! Remember that your Heavenly Father loves you SO much!
Sister Nielsen
Here's what I sent to my mission president, because we really don't have a lot of time today. So sorry. (Some sister missionaries in our zone got stranded in Kennewick today, and we gave them a ride back to their area.)
"We've had a pretty good week! A couple of miracles along with quite a bit of opposition, but the servants of God are always meant to swim in deep water. So grateful for the sweetness of the gospel of Jesus Christ! Most of the people we meet with, I've come to find, are less active and recent converts. That's not something I quite expected of the mission, actually. It's taken me until recently— and it pinnacled after our zone training this week— to realize that working with RCs and LAs is missionary work, too! Before that realization, I just felt really unsuccessful and like I was doing something wrong.
We've been able to have lessons with a few families and have had a fair amount of success, most who are LA/RC:
Lyn: Sister Moetala has mentioned several times that Lyn was a "golden investigator" and "a miracle." I couldn't agree more. I sometimes can't believe she's only been baptized for about as long as I've been out on my mission. We met with her just this last Friday and had a great lesson about the plan of salvation. Sister Moetala was very helpful during the lesson, as I hadn't ever given a lesson on the Plan of Salvation pamphlet before. Lyn and Greg were just eating it up. It was especially visible on Lyn's expressions. Greg, who apparently had been less active for quite some time before Lyn's baptism, was even able to find answers from General Conference this last Sunday about things he'd been struggling with since he came back to church. We are so excited for this family! They truly are a miracle.
Melody: Melody and her brother Jared were just recently baptized my first weekend in Pasco. Melody is 10(?) and Jared is 8. Their mother, Liliana, is from Guatemala, and at first I didn't know if she was a member, but apparently she is! When we met with her after dinner with them on Wednesday, we taught about the First Vision and showed them The Restoration video clip. As we taught about how God answers our prayers, Melody and Jared gave all the right answers and seemed to have learned precisely what we hoped they would. Liliana was deeply touched by what we taught. And not so much what we taught as much as the things that were spoken reminded her of a way that God had answered her prayers recently. I'm so glad that this family has a testimony of prayer!
Tre: Tre has been doing really well as we've met with him. I went to a lesson with him my first night in Pasco, and every time we go and teach him, he seems to be just soaking it all in. Tre definitely has a testimony that this is true! Apparently he's been baptized for about 6 months or so. I'm not sure why, but he's not been going to church. (I think Sis. Moetala mentioned it was because of his job...) I know that his progress has been kind of floundering, though. Sis. Moetala mentioned that it was because he's been working through the repentance process, and I can imagine he's understandably discouraged. We weren't able to meet with him this week, though. When we got there, he was asleep and his grandma, who answered the door (and is a member), told us they weren't feeling up to it because someone stole their dog. WHO STEALS SOMEONE'S DOG?! She and her husband were heartbroken. But good news and miracles, still— we found out yesterday that they found their dog when he was scratching at the door at 3 in the morning. Miracles, miracles! Hopefully we get in with them this week!
Last but not least is Tim. He's the husband of a part-member family. Apparently he's been investigating the church for a while, and I love Tim so dearly. He's really grown on me as we've met with him the last two weeks. Seeing him love his little girl (18 months) and wife (who is expecting) the way he does really melts my heart. He's doing everything he possibly can to provide for his little family, including doing all these church things when he's not even sure he has a testimony, yet. The last few times we've met with him, we've been trying to encourage him and help him see the faith he already has. Alma 32 was last week's lesson, and this last Thursday, the Spirit was so strong, I barely remember what we taught. He's doing everything he needs to, but he's just not sure he knows yet. We're praying fervently for his answer to come. We hope to commit him to baptism this week! SEND PRAYERS!
Other families we're teaching are, for the most part, part-member families.
The V Family: Rob and (I can't remember her name right now) have been members since about 2004(?). They have two children who are not members, their daughter Taylor (14) and their son Robbie (12). Robbie wrestles and is quite good, so the whole family's life revolves around his wrestling. As a result, they're inactive. We've been able to meet with them twice and had really great lessons both times. Yesterday they were out of town, and we have a return appointment with them next Sunday. Prayers! We're hoping to commit Taylor and Robbie to baptism soon.
The L Family: Belen's been a member for about 6 months. Belen's husband works in North Dakota, and we never see him. (I don't know if he's a member or not.) Belen apparently hates that their ward starts at 2:30 and refuses to go. They have has three kids: Viviana (about 13), Isaac (8), and Jacob (about 3). Viviana was taking the discussions, but recently decided she doesn't want anything to do with it. Belen and her husband want Isaac to be baptized, and she let us come back to start teaching him in preparation. The bishopric in their ward still need to get back to us about permission to do that because I've heard that's the ward's responsibility to teach [a child over age 8].
The work is great! It isn't quite what I expected, but nothing worthwhile is ever easy. I let myself get pretty discouraged, but I can feel the Lord strengthening me every day. This is where he needs me. I'm so grateful to be here. My sister will be updating the blog with some more about life in Pasco, so keep an eye out. LOVE YOU ALL! Remember that your Heavenly Father loves you SO much!
Sister Nielsen
Q&A with Sister Nielsen: Pasco edition
1. Who is your companion? Where is she from? How long has she been on her mission/in the area? I saw that she's doing the driving. They must've heard about your dipping days in Glenwood. "We're banished, genius!" Haha. Just kidding. I know it's because you're green.
Her name is Sister Moetala! She's American Samoan and talks often about how the island was so small and how she doesn't want to go back. Haha. This last Wednesday, she passed her year mark. As far as dipping stories, there really aren't a lot of dips to even explain what dipping is. She'd probably think it was something else that is completely not missionary appropriate. ;)2. Tell us about some of the members and people you're teaching, like if they have cool conversion stories or how they ended up in Pasco.
I'll send you what I sent to my mission president about the people I'm teaching in the mass email. All the members are so great! We cover the Pasco 1st, 10th, and YSA (girls), and one cool conversion story from our ward mission leader in the first ward: Brother Clements has been a member for about 30 years. (He's actually two days younger than Dad, to the year.) Before he joined the church, he was a member of the RLDS Church (now the Community of Christ). I can't remember now why he joined, although he did tell us. He also just recently bought a Harley... so there's that.3. What's your daily routine like? What do you do on preparation day besides email?
Well, we get up at 6:30, get ready and exercise until 8:00. Personal study until 9:00. At 10:00, we start "My First 12 Weeks" training, depending on if we have a meeting or somewhere we need to go, until about 11:00. From 11:00 we usually update the area book and make phone calls. The rest of the day we try to spend finding. That could mean knocking [doors] on streets, and then sometimes we check the addresses we found of people we found in the area book. Just whatever Sister Moetala decides we need to do, honestly. Then we usually have dinner with members at 5:00. All the members are so great. Not any food yet that's really crazy. All just kind of normal. One night we had a Guatemalan enchilada, which looks nothing like the enchilada you and I are familiar with. I don't know how to explain it. She just piled all the toppings onto a crisp tortilla. I wish I had time for details.4. How big is your ward? How many young women are there? (That last one is mostly for me.)
Each of the wards are fairly decent in size. About like home. Except the YSA branch is not very big. We don't spend a lot of time with the YW, unfortunately, so IDK what to tell you. :/5. What do you eat? Are there any weird Washington foods?
I haven't had any weird Washington foods yet. [See question 3.]6. Do people have accents there? Do they think you have an accent?
Some people have kind of a "Warshington" accent. Like, yeah. Some people actually say that. No one has said anything about my accent yet.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Tender mercies from General Conference
Monday, April 6, 2015
Hello, everyone!
Things are well in Washington! I'm starting to really love it here. The members are so kind and everyone in the wards that we teach are really starting to grow on me.
I hope you all enjoyed General Conference! It was such an inspiring session for me. Being on a mission is great and so rewarding, but it also is really challenging. The Adversary has especially been weighing down on me as far as my confidence in teaching is concerned. But General Conference was able to help me recognize that I'm okay with what I already know. Elder Dale G. Renlund was especially helpful as he taught us to "Keep on trying!" as well as a few other speakers who comforted us by counselling to "hold onto what you already know." In Alma 32 it teaches, "Even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words."
No matter where you are in life, no matter what you're going through, the Atonement of Jesus Christ is there for you to make up the difference. And even if all you can do is desire to believe or desire to be better, that's enough. You don't have to be there yet. You can keep working, you can keep trying! Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has taught us to "trust God and believe in good things to come."
I know I'm not a perfect teacher or missionary yet, and you might not think you're perfect or good enough or worthy of the blessings you desire, but Jesus Christ suffered an Atonement for us that we might be made more perfect through His grace. I'm grateful to everyone for their love and support. I hope to hear from some of you soon! Hope your Easter was happy and blessed!
How'd you like General Conference? I'd love to hear your thoughts and the things you learned!
Sister Nielsen
Note from Lisa: No captions for the pictures. We'll have to have a talk with her about that. Some are self-explanatory... others not so much. Ha! ;)
Hello, everyone!
Things are well in Washington! I'm starting to really love it here. The members are so kind and everyone in the wards that we teach are really starting to grow on me.
I hope you all enjoyed General Conference! It was such an inspiring session for me. Being on a mission is great and so rewarding, but it also is really challenging. The Adversary has especially been weighing down on me as far as my confidence in teaching is concerned. But General Conference was able to help me recognize that I'm okay with what I already know. Elder Dale G. Renlund was especially helpful as he taught us to "Keep on trying!" as well as a few other speakers who comforted us by counselling to "hold onto what you already know." In Alma 32 it teaches, "Even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words."
No matter where you are in life, no matter what you're going through, the Atonement of Jesus Christ is there for you to make up the difference. And even if all you can do is desire to believe or desire to be better, that's enough. You don't have to be there yet. You can keep working, you can keep trying! Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has taught us to "trust God and believe in good things to come."
I know I'm not a perfect teacher or missionary yet, and you might not think you're perfect or good enough or worthy of the blessings you desire, but Jesus Christ suffered an Atonement for us that we might be made more perfect through His grace. I'm grateful to everyone for their love and support. I hope to hear from some of you soon! Hope your Easter was happy and blessed!
How'd you like General Conference? I'd love to hear your thoughts and the things you learned!
Sister Nielsen
Note from Lisa: No captions for the pictures. We'll have to have a talk with her about that. Some are self-explanatory... others not so much. Ha! ;)
Monday, March 30, 2015
'Washington is just great'
From Sister Nielsen to her mom and dad
Monday, March 30, 2015
I don't have a lot of time, but I loved being able to talk to you before I left! The work is slow, but great! President and Sister Ware are wonderful and sweet as can be! He loves us all so genuinely! I can't decide if he's the one that gave me the bear, but I really don't care either way! :)
I sent you the mass email! Washington is just great. Things in Pasco are great, but slow. My companion is Samoan and very patient with me. I love her.
The members in Pasco are golden! I'm already growing to love it here so much. However, there are zero mountains. Hills. And like two bigger hills that they call mountains. It's the weirdest. I never know which way is which. If it weren't for the sun, I would never know!!
Send me letters, too! It'd be great to get mail from everyone during the week, too!
Love,
Sister Nielsen
On that note, we received a letter today from the mission home regarding mail. All letters and packages are to be sent by way of the US Postal Service. If sent any other way, they may come with an additional cost to forward them to her. They are also to be sent to the mission home. That address is (and should read):
Sister Melanie Nielsen
Washington Kennewick Mission
8202 W. Quinault Ave. #D
Kennewick, WA 99336-1017
Please see to it that the packages are practical... like treats that she can share or consume. That way she won't have to pack them from one apartment to another when she is assigned to a new area.
The images pictured are a map of the tri-city area (so when you hear Sister Nielsen mention Pasco, like she did in this message, you'll know what she is talking about), and a view of the tri-city area so you can understand how flat it is.
Thank you for all you do to support our missionary!
Love to all,
Russell and Cindy
Monday, March 30, 2015
I don't have a lot of time, but I loved being able to talk to you before I left! The work is slow, but great! President and Sister Ware are wonderful and sweet as can be! He loves us all so genuinely! I can't decide if he's the one that gave me the bear, but I really don't care either way! :)
I sent you the mass email! Washington is just great. Things in Pasco are great, but slow. My companion is Samoan and very patient with me. I love her.
The members in Pasco are golden! I'm already growing to love it here so much. However, there are zero mountains. Hills. And like two bigger hills that they call mountains. It's the weirdest. I never know which way is which. If it weren't for the sun, I would never know!!
Send me letters, too! It'd be great to get mail from everyone during the week, too!
Love,
Sister Nielsen
On that note, we received a letter today from the mission home regarding mail. All letters and packages are to be sent by way of the US Postal Service. If sent any other way, they may come with an additional cost to forward them to her. They are also to be sent to the mission home. That address is (and should read):
Sister Melanie Nielsen
Washington Kennewick Mission
8202 W. Quinault Ave. #D
Kennewick, WA 99336-1017
Please see to it that the packages are practical... like treats that she can share or consume. That way she won't have to pack them from one apartment to another when she is assigned to a new area.
The images pictured are a map of the tri-city area (so when you hear Sister Nielsen mention Pasco, like she did in this message, you'll know what she is talking about), and a view of the tri-city area so you can understand how flat it is.
Thank you for all you do to support our missionary!
Love to all,
Russell and Cindy
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