Email to the padres
Monday, September 14, 2015
I ran out of time, but I just wanted to share what I wrote President Ware. Love you!
Hello, President Ware!
It was so great to see you yesterday at the missionary training meeting. That was such a great experience. I learned a lot about that chart that was handed out and I am so excited to apply it. What a great opportunity we have to work with the members on this work.
This week has been crazy! I've been amazed at the strength I've been given to be a trainer. I feel so strongly about not letting there be a huge difference in my mind between being a regular missionary and being a trainer. I feel like as long as I'm working hard, doing my very best, and then repenting when I fall short, the rest will take care of itself.
It's been such a blessing to work with Sister Hamblin. I honestly feel like I got the best missionary to train! She is so bold, and she is so willing to teach, role-play, and just jump in. She really learned so much at the MTC and she is applying it. I have been so impressed with how prepared she is. It's hard to notice anything she's struggling with because she's so willing to jump in and do the work in spite of whatever it is that she's having a hard time with. I'd say she's still adjusting, naturally, to being away from family. She's had a hard time with not being able to talk to her friends as often as she wants, but I can see how willing she is to do what the Lord wants her to do. I know that because she's someone who's so in tune with the Spirit, she'll be able to recognize what the Lord tells her of how she can improve.
As far as how am I feeling about all of this... like I said, I've been pretty at peace and confident about it. I've taken a lot of confidence in applying the doctrine of Christ. I'm trying to remember to not get comfortable to the point of slacking off, but I'm so grateful for the Spirit in my studies that taught me this morning to just keep trying. This life is a process, and being a perfect trainer is a process. I can take confidence in trying my best and know that I have a companion who will help me make up the difference, as long as we're relying on the Spirit.
The 12-week program is doing well, as far as I can tell. We went over it a little before the trainer/trainee meeting, and I think that helped her a lot. I'm not really sure what exactly needs to be taught. It's not as specific as I want it to be sometimes! Haha. But I've just been trying to do what comes to my mind and pay attention to how it feels. I'm so grateful for the Spirit! I'm grateful for Preach My Gospel and the training and study materials we have. She really likes training as well. It's been an interesting week full of meetings and not being able to finish weekly planning, and it's cute to hear her say, "We need to do training!" Haha. I just remember not being as willing to do training, and I am constantly impressed by Sister Hamblin's desire. She really is training me, President!
So I'm in good Spirits. I can continually feel the Lord strengthen me.
***
I'm so grateful for my new companion! She is so ready to serve the Lord. I think that's been the greatest miracle of all this week. She isn't afraid to talk to people, and she's willing to rely on the Lord to gain more confidence to do his work. The miracle as well is that the Lord has given me strength to lead and to train. I couldn't ask for more than that. I'm grateful for a new week with more time to go find people to teach! I'm grateful that Sister Hamblin is excited for that as well.
~Sister Nielsen
Monday, September 14, 2015
Monday, September 7, 2015
Q&A: Walla Walla edition
Monday, September 7, 2015
Okay, Q&A time. (I'm writing back now because my temporary companion— until I get my new one on Wednesday— still needs to email and I have half an hour left.)
Okay, Q&A time. (I'm writing back now because my temporary companion— until I get my new one on Wednesday— still needs to email and I have half an hour left.)
- How big is Walla Walla? How far is it from Pasco? Walla Walla has about 30,000 people. It's an hour's drive southeast from Pasco.
- Where did the name come from? According to the elders' quorum president in 1st Ward, "Walla" is Native American (dunno which tribe) for "water." "Walla Walla" means "many waters." Apparently there was quite a bit of water around here back in the day, but not so much anymore. There are a few creeks here and there, and there's one called Mill Creek that runs through downtown. But otherwise, not a lot of water. At least not like Tri-Cities. Walla Walla was apparently also the first town in Washington— or something along those lines.
- What do people there do for a living (major employers for the area)? Again, according to our elders' quorum president, most people are either in the medical field— a lot of doctors, dentists, etc.— or they're in agriculture. That's pretty typical for our mission. (At least it was in Pasco and now here in Walla Walla.) From there, there's a lot of people who work at the penitentiary (we have a prison in Walla Walla) or in law enforcement in general. But everyone I meet usually just tells me they've got some typical job. Nothing too unusual. There's a lot of mom-and-pop shops in downtown Walla Walla. Nothing too... mainstream, if you will.
- Who is your companion? Where is she from? How long has she been on her mission/in the area? My companion that just left for Tri-Cities to go home tomorrow is Sister Brinker. She's from Murray. And well, she just left today, so she's been out 18 months. Haha! She was in our area for 6 months.
- Tell us about some of the members, like if they have cool conversion stories or how they ended up in Walla Walla. Members! There are so many great members here! It seems like everyone I meet always reminds me of someone back home. Our elders' quorum president, the one who gave me all the info, is Brother Shiffler. He's always really good to help us with little trivia things we need to know, or little mundane favors we ask of him. He's always quick to bring us lunch/dinner. Just yesterday we were having a lesson with a (formerly) former investigator, and apparently Brother Shiffler was just driving by the park where we were and decided to drop in on our lesson and bear some bomb testimony about what we were teaching and totally helped this guy find a friend in the ward. Just, whatever. Haha! He has a daughter on her mission in Argentina and he's got a son who's leaving for Las Vegas in October. I'm not sure about his conversion story, but he's been in Walla Walla for a little under 5 years, or something like that. He's just really cool and helps us out a ton. Brother Humpherys is our ward mission leader in WW 1st Ward. He reminds me of Grandpa so much. Always teasing, always making mean jokes that you know he's kidding about. Sandra and Jose were baptized my first week in Walla Walla. Jose came across this guy who calls himself "The Walla Walla Jesus" (look it up... it's a crazy story!) who gave him a triple combination and said, "Read this, it'll change your life." And then the sisters came by and met him, started teaching him, and Sandra soon afterward started the lessons with them as well. They've been involved in drugs and gangs, but they are super, super converted to the Gospel. It's so awesome. Her kids are always telling her that they see a positive change in the way that she is a mom, and you can just see the difference. Brother Shiffler saw them at the bus stop one time, and said they just stood out because they were glowing. Sandra and Jose are so solid. They love the Gospel and they tell us each week about all the things that happen to them that just solidify their testimony. There are so many people here with really, really cool conversion stories, actually, now that I think about it. It's hard to pick just one!
- What is/are the ward or wards like? Our wards are really great and really supportive! We're losing the 1st Ward to a new set of sisters, but the 3rd Ward is so great. I feel like we do all the work in 1st Ward and we're getting more investigators in 3rd... so it's kind of a weird thing. Random tangent. I'm not sure what that question is aimed at. What do you want to know?
- Have you eaten a Walla Walla onion yet? Are the onions a big deal there or are the locals "whatever" about them? I haven't eaten a Walla Walla sweet onion yet. They are a little bit of a big deal, but it depends on who you talk to. Most everyone loves them. Fortunately, it's not something that they plaster all over town or anything, but they're pretty famous.
I'm TRAAAIININGGGG!
From an email to the family...
Monday, September 7, 2015
I've been talking to the Lord about it this whole transfer. It's so funny how he works!
The other day before I got the news, I was trying to take a nap during our lunch hour, and I was in the state of the sleep cycle where you're almost asleep and you start having a dream. You know what I mean? And all of the sudden, I was having a conversation with President Ware— about what, I'm not sure now. But the conversation turned to a phone call, and suddenly President said, "Sister Nielsen, we want you to train this transfer." Then I bolted awake, and then I knew. Three days later, the call came.
I'm so grateful for the confidence my mission president has in me to train, and I'm grateful for the confidence the Lord has in me. But I'm gonna need a lot of help. :) I am excited, though. I know it's going to be great. Just wanted to share that. I love you all so much.
~Sister Nielsen
Monday, September 7, 2015
I've been talking to the Lord about it this whole transfer. It's so funny how he works!
The other day before I got the news, I was trying to take a nap during our lunch hour, and I was in the state of the sleep cycle where you're almost asleep and you start having a dream. You know what I mean? And all of the sudden, I was having a conversation with President Ware— about what, I'm not sure now. But the conversation turned to a phone call, and suddenly President said, "Sister Nielsen, we want you to train this transfer." Then I bolted awake, and then I knew. Three days later, the call came.
I'm so grateful for the confidence my mission president has in me to train, and I'm grateful for the confidence the Lord has in me. But I'm gonna need a lot of help. :) I am excited, though. I know it's going to be great. Just wanted to share that. I love you all so much.
~Sister Nielsen
Training Sister Nielsen
Monday, September 7, 2015
Well! This week has been a whirlwind, to say the least. I love, love, love being a missionary. When I checked my email today, I found out that Gary, one of my investigators from Pasco, is getting baptized!
[Here she inserted a bunch of emojis that of course Blogger can't do.]
His wife is a member, and I just remember being so grateful for the Spirit in guiding us to talk with the bishop, who counseled us to go and visit Gary's wife, and the way it guided us in our lessons with him while we were there. The Lord is merciful and truly sets forth his miracles in his own time! Alma 13:24 stands out to me in light of the news of today...
In other news, this week has been a good one. My dear companion goes home this week! It's bittersweet, but I know she'll be great at home and will so love to be with her family.
We met eight people this week who agreed to let us come back and teach them more. It's always so exciting to act on promptings you receive to talk to people and to see those bring success. One of those was a man named Ed. He was working on his car, and that's normally a really awkward situation to just go up and talk to someone, but the Lord strengthened us and we talked to Ed for about an hour about Christianity and the Book of Mormon. He said he had read the Book of Mormon before and we invited him to read it again. He accepted our copy and agreed to meet with us this week. We went by a few days ago and confirmed our appointment. :)
Another of those was a referral from LDS.org. When we got the Ash family's house, apparently they hadn't even requested a Bible and Book of Mormon, but they were gracious enough to let us sit down. They asked a lot of questions about what we believed, we answered a lot of questions about the Book of Mormon as a testament, modern prophets, and invited them to come to know of its truth for themselves. They agreed to read from the Book of Mormon (and told us on the phone today that they'd been reading it!) and, though they cancelled our appointment for tomorrow, they agreed to reschedule with the new sisters. And we got a free watermelon from them! So all these things are good!
Speaking of the new sisters, our mission is getting 29 new missionaries tomorrow! Let's just say that's more than we have leaving, and our newly divided little mission has been creating new areas for all the people who'll be coming in. Walla Walla 1st and 3rd wards, which we're currently covering, will be divided. The 1st Ward will be getting a new set of sisters, and me and my new companion— fresh from the MTC— will be in the Walla Walla 3rd Ward.
Yeah, you read that right. Sister Nielsen is training this transfer. Watch out, Washington. I am humbled and excited for the opportunity! I know the Lord sees so much potential in me, and has definitely prepared me for it this transfer. I know the Lord will help me, and her, to be successful and to learn and grow from each other. It's gonna be good, I know it!
That's about all I have time for this week. The Gospel is SO TRUE! It's such great news. I LOVE IT.
~Sister Nielsen
Pictures!
This is from exchanges last week. Sister Johnson is a super qualified sister training leader. It was so great to be her companion.
Sister Brinker and me out to lunch at my favorite sandwich place, Graze
Sister Brinker and me with Sister Anderson, our favorite 1st Ward adventurer :)
Sister Allred, Sister Brinker, me, and Sister Johnson in Pendelton, Oregon, getting our companions back. :) (Sister Allred and Sister Johnson are our sister training leaders and are actually training different sisters who are not pictured.)
Well! This week has been a whirlwind, to say the least. I love, love, love being a missionary. When I checked my email today, I found out that Gary, one of my investigators from Pasco, is getting baptized!
[Here she inserted a bunch of emojis that of course Blogger can't do.]
His wife is a member, and I just remember being so grateful for the Spirit in guiding us to talk with the bishop, who counseled us to go and visit Gary's wife, and the way it guided us in our lessons with him while we were there. The Lord is merciful and truly sets forth his miracles in his own time! Alma 13:24 stands out to me in light of the news of today...
For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory.Truly the Lord is preparing the hearts of his children for this marvelous message. My heart is full! :)
In other news, this week has been a good one. My dear companion goes home this week! It's bittersweet, but I know she'll be great at home and will so love to be with her family.
We met eight people this week who agreed to let us come back and teach them more. It's always so exciting to act on promptings you receive to talk to people and to see those bring success. One of those was a man named Ed. He was working on his car, and that's normally a really awkward situation to just go up and talk to someone, but the Lord strengthened us and we talked to Ed for about an hour about Christianity and the Book of Mormon. He said he had read the Book of Mormon before and we invited him to read it again. He accepted our copy and agreed to meet with us this week. We went by a few days ago and confirmed our appointment. :)
Another of those was a referral from LDS.org. When we got the Ash family's house, apparently they hadn't even requested a Bible and Book of Mormon, but they were gracious enough to let us sit down. They asked a lot of questions about what we believed, we answered a lot of questions about the Book of Mormon as a testament, modern prophets, and invited them to come to know of its truth for themselves. They agreed to read from the Book of Mormon (and told us on the phone today that they'd been reading it!) and, though they cancelled our appointment for tomorrow, they agreed to reschedule with the new sisters. And we got a free watermelon from them! So all these things are good!
Speaking of the new sisters, our mission is getting 29 new missionaries tomorrow! Let's just say that's more than we have leaving, and our newly divided little mission has been creating new areas for all the people who'll be coming in. Walla Walla 1st and 3rd wards, which we're currently covering, will be divided. The 1st Ward will be getting a new set of sisters, and me and my new companion— fresh from the MTC— will be in the Walla Walla 3rd Ward.
Yeah, you read that right. Sister Nielsen is training this transfer. Watch out, Washington. I am humbled and excited for the opportunity! I know the Lord sees so much potential in me, and has definitely prepared me for it this transfer. I know the Lord will help me, and her, to be successful and to learn and grow from each other. It's gonna be good, I know it!
That's about all I have time for this week. The Gospel is SO TRUE! It's such great news. I LOVE IT.
~Sister Nielsen
Pictures!
This is from exchanges last week. Sister Johnson is a super qualified sister training leader. It was so great to be her companion.
Sister Brinker and me out to lunch at my favorite sandwich place, Graze
Sister Brinker and me with Sister Anderson, our favorite 1st Ward adventurer :)
Sister Allred, Sister Brinker, me, and Sister Johnson in Pendelton, Oregon, getting our companions back. :) (Sister Allred and Sister Johnson are our sister training leaders and are actually training different sisters who are not pictured.)
Monday, August 31, 2015
September's Coming!! Yay!
Monday, August 31, 2015
Here's my message to my mission president!
We had exchanges. I have to say that all of my sister training leaders have been really, really great examples to me of hard work and dedicated, Christlike service. But I was SO impressed with Sister Johnson as we had the opportunity to serve together in my area. Because she worked so hard with me, because she gave me such loving advice, because she is so on-purpose in everything she does, it's been so easy for me to make the necessary changes in my own missionary service. It has given me the courage to counsel with my companion about the things we can work on. I am so grateful for my leaders and that we can be open in counseling with them as well. We have been trying so hard as a companionship to stay focused on our missions and on our purpose, to find joy in the journey, even if that means to find joy in going home. Or to find joy in putting yourself in a super awkward situation to talk to everyone you see. I'm grateful that the doctrine of Christ helps us improve and be better missionaries.
We recently took both of our on-date (for baptism) investigators off-date. We talked to you yesterday about Lilian (we haven't been able to get ahold of her). We planned out some things to text her during weekly planning, so we've been texting her scriptures and reading assignments. Hopefully she's getting them. We haven't met with Stephanie, Vonna, and Lee since they came to church last week. We met with Stephanie once, but apparently she's out of town. Last we heard about Vonna and Lee, they'd gotten into an argument about something— hopefully not church!— so we're hoping to see them soon.
One cool story from this week: We had the impression to go to Pioneer Park a couple of nights ago. As we parked, we saw a couple sitting on the table next to our car. We had a really great conversation with Jose, but Gina didn't seem too interested. We were able to teach him some basic Restoration principles and he accepted a Book of Mormon! He wasn't too interested to set up a return appointment, unfortunately. But he was open enough to pray with us, so that was good. :)
Afterward (and I'm so glad that we stopped and talked to Jose and Gina, or else we would've never had this experience), we came across a kid with a couple of large backpacks and a suitcase. He looked pretty raggedy, but we didn't really notice at first. I made a comment about his suitcases, and we found out that he'd been homeless and was on his way, with all that he owned, to live with his friend on the other side of town. Alex told us more about all the hard things he'd been going through, and how at 16, he's been sober from a meth addiction for a year and a half. We testified that we knew we were there at the park to meet him and help him, and we taught a good portion of the Restoration. He was so open to listen and really loved what we had to say. By the end of our conversation, he accepted a Book of Mormon and was quite excited to get started reading it. After we'd finished giving him our information, we found out he was going to be walking a really long way, and it was already getting quite dark. We called our ward mission leader and were able to get him a ride. It was such a cool experience. I know he was prepared for us to meet him!
This truly is the Lord's work. Love you all!
~Sister Nielsen
Here's my message to my mission president!
We had exchanges. I have to say that all of my sister training leaders have been really, really great examples to me of hard work and dedicated, Christlike service. But I was SO impressed with Sister Johnson as we had the opportunity to serve together in my area. Because she worked so hard with me, because she gave me such loving advice, because she is so on-purpose in everything she does, it's been so easy for me to make the necessary changes in my own missionary service. It has given me the courage to counsel with my companion about the things we can work on. I am so grateful for my leaders and that we can be open in counseling with them as well. We have been trying so hard as a companionship to stay focused on our missions and on our purpose, to find joy in the journey, even if that means to find joy in going home. Or to find joy in putting yourself in a super awkward situation to talk to everyone you see. I'm grateful that the doctrine of Christ helps us improve and be better missionaries.
We recently took both of our on-date (for baptism) investigators off-date. We talked to you yesterday about Lilian (we haven't been able to get ahold of her). We planned out some things to text her during weekly planning, so we've been texting her scriptures and reading assignments. Hopefully she's getting them. We haven't met with Stephanie, Vonna, and Lee since they came to church last week. We met with Stephanie once, but apparently she's out of town. Last we heard about Vonna and Lee, they'd gotten into an argument about something— hopefully not church!— so we're hoping to see them soon.
One cool story from this week: We had the impression to go to Pioneer Park a couple of nights ago. As we parked, we saw a couple sitting on the table next to our car. We had a really great conversation with Jose, but Gina didn't seem too interested. We were able to teach him some basic Restoration principles and he accepted a Book of Mormon! He wasn't too interested to set up a return appointment, unfortunately. But he was open enough to pray with us, so that was good. :)
Afterward (and I'm so glad that we stopped and talked to Jose and Gina, or else we would've never had this experience), we came across a kid with a couple of large backpacks and a suitcase. He looked pretty raggedy, but we didn't really notice at first. I made a comment about his suitcases, and we found out that he'd been homeless and was on his way, with all that he owned, to live with his friend on the other side of town. Alex told us more about all the hard things he'd been going through, and how at 16, he's been sober from a meth addiction for a year and a half. We testified that we knew we were there at the park to meet him and help him, and we taught a good portion of the Restoration. He was so open to listen and really loved what we had to say. By the end of our conversation, he accepted a Book of Mormon and was quite excited to get started reading it. After we'd finished giving him our information, we found out he was going to be walking a really long way, and it was already getting quite dark. We called our ward mission leader and were able to get him a ride. It was such a cool experience. I know he was prepared for us to meet him!
This truly is the Lord's work. Love you all!
~Sister Nielsen
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Doom and Gloom: Blame the Smoke
From an email to Lisa. She didn't necessarily want this on the blog, but I think it's important to remember the hard weeks, too. Helps to look back and see how you overcame when Satan was trying to get you down.
Monday, August 24, 2015
Here's what I wrote the mission president.
Hi, President!
Things are doing all right over here. Hard. Mostly hard. Wednesday was a bad day. For some reason I just felt like the weight of the world/work was crushing me. My companion was kind enough to recognize that I just needed to not go out and work that day. We tried to make up for it the rest of the week, but things kept coming up, and we had to give a pretty pathetic report last night, and all the guilt set in. I'm trying so hard to work hard. I'm trying so hard to make my family and my Heavenly Father proud and to make it all worth it. I feel like I'm still adjusting and still struggling to adapt and be unified with my companion, but we had a really good companionship inventory last night, and I'm trying. She's trying. The promise in Ether 12:27 is real! The harder and harder you try to come unto the Lord, the more he helps you recognize that you can't even start to do it alone. I never realized how much pride I actually have until I came out and tried to do HIS work.
Sorry so "doom and gloom" up here. Maybe it's all the smoke. ;)
Like I said, I feel like a lot of good things have been happening that don't show up on the key indicators. Even though one of our (mostly) solid investigators, Lilian, is possibly— but hopefully not— avoiding us, we had the family we found at the park— Stephanie, Lee, and Vonna— come on a church tour, and they really loved it! They're excited to come to church and get a feel for our church. They love reading the Book of Mormon and have told us so many times how much peace they've felt since we've started meeting. The only thing now is getting Lee and Vonna (Stephanie's parents) comfortable enough to accept visits from the elders that actually cover where they live. They've been really good to come and support Stephanie at our meetings, since she's so shy, and sometimes it feels like they're the ones most interested to meet and learn more. They definitely all are loving it, though. It's so awesome to see. It just brings me a lot of comfort to think about something that Jeffrey R. Holland teaches. I can't quote it, but he basically says that more happens in our investigators' hearts than we think, and to take courage. The Lord is preparing each of these people in unique ways. The trick is remembering that and not letting yourself get discouraged by the people who don't want to listen, or by the weaknesses you have.
The Atonement is a real power, and I know it can help me change and improve. I've seen it work miracles countless times. I know he has all power and all wisdom. I know he can help me be more unified with my companion. I know he can help me love her in spite of my pride. I know he can help me overcome all opposition. I'll be better this week, President. Thank you for everything you do for us.
~Sister Nielsen
*****
Email convo between Lisa and Melanie...
Monday, August 24, 2015
Here's what I wrote the mission president.
Hi, President!
Things are doing all right over here. Hard. Mostly hard. Wednesday was a bad day. For some reason I just felt like the weight of the world/work was crushing me. My companion was kind enough to recognize that I just needed to not go out and work that day. We tried to make up for it the rest of the week, but things kept coming up, and we had to give a pretty pathetic report last night, and all the guilt set in. I'm trying so hard to work hard. I'm trying so hard to make my family and my Heavenly Father proud and to make it all worth it. I feel like I'm still adjusting and still struggling to adapt and be unified with my companion, but we had a really good companionship inventory last night, and I'm trying. She's trying. The promise in Ether 12:27 is real! The harder and harder you try to come unto the Lord, the more he helps you recognize that you can't even start to do it alone. I never realized how much pride I actually have until I came out and tried to do HIS work.
Sorry so "doom and gloom" up here. Maybe it's all the smoke. ;)
Like I said, I feel like a lot of good things have been happening that don't show up on the key indicators. Even though one of our (mostly) solid investigators, Lilian, is possibly— but hopefully not— avoiding us, we had the family we found at the park— Stephanie, Lee, and Vonna— come on a church tour, and they really loved it! They're excited to come to church and get a feel for our church. They love reading the Book of Mormon and have told us so many times how much peace they've felt since we've started meeting. The only thing now is getting Lee and Vonna (Stephanie's parents) comfortable enough to accept visits from the elders that actually cover where they live. They've been really good to come and support Stephanie at our meetings, since she's so shy, and sometimes it feels like they're the ones most interested to meet and learn more. They definitely all are loving it, though. It's so awesome to see. It just brings me a lot of comfort to think about something that Jeffrey R. Holland teaches. I can't quote it, but he basically says that more happens in our investigators' hearts than we think, and to take courage. The Lord is preparing each of these people in unique ways. The trick is remembering that and not letting yourself get discouraged by the people who don't want to listen, or by the weaknesses you have.
The Atonement is a real power, and I know it can help me change and improve. I've seen it work miracles countless times. I know he has all power and all wisdom. I know he can help me be more unified with my companion. I know he can help me love her in spite of my pride. I know he can help me overcome all opposition. I'll be better this week, President. Thank you for everything you do for us.
~Sister Nielsen
*****
Email convo between Lisa and Melanie...
Lisa: I understand that you've had a problem with smoke lately. Let me clarify for you which fire is causing smoke where, and which parts of the state are on fire and which are not. You're welcome. :)
Credit: Eric Strate via Facebook
Melanie: LOL. So... all of it. Just as I suspected. ;)
(And then later) That picture is hilarious. My companion and I laugh about it every time we see it. #itsfunnybecauseitstrue #refinersfireredefined #punsfordays
Repentance is Truly Bliss :)
Monday, August 17, 2015
I'm grateful for the way repentance works. I remember being with my last companion and noticing the way she was always apologizing to the Lord for what seemed like everything. I thought it was quite unusual. I think I've had an understanding of repentance before, but I guess I never really thought about doing it every day for so many little things. But it is so amazing. Repentance really is so important for qualifying for the impressions of the Spirit, which are so vital to the work. The struggle with that right now is being patient with myself because I am always falling short, and always making mistakes. It's easy for me to be really hard on myself about it, but I'm learning.
I can't say this enough: I am so grateful for the Spirit in this work. This week my companion and I have been working so hard at our goals (one of them being "If you're going to set a goal, get it; if not, repent and sleep well"). One goal in particular is to be better with our timeliness and sticking to the schedule we've set. We've already seen the miracles from keeping that goal. We'd made a plan to do some finding at one of the many parks we have in our area. When we arrived there at the time we had scheduled, there weren't but maybe two cars parked there, where we had expected there to be a few more people. Our first thought was, "Eh, maybe we ought to go somewhere else." But then we noticed a guy sitting in his car in the corner of the parking lot. As soon as we saw him, the Spirit automatically told us to go talk to him. After fighting past my doubts, we prayed, and made our way over to talk to him. The Spirit guided us through our conversation and helped us bear witness of the importance of the Restoration and the power of the Book of Mormon. I think we came right when he needed us because when we asked him if we could teach him more, he gladly accepted, and we're meeting with him on Thursday. So many times I talk myself out of situations like that, and it was so amazing to see the reward from our faith.
Another great experience we had from the Spirit came to us yesterday, as we were TRYING to follow our schedule. As we were on our way, the Spirit prompted us to go visit Lilian, and since she lives out of our area, it's not always easy to just drive over on a whim. After we talked about it, we prayed and the Spirit came so strongly and told us to go. After we texted our district leader and got his response, we went to Lilian's house. We got there and knocked... nothing. Knocked again... nothing still. In my head, I said, "Nuh-uh. We did not get a prompting like that for no reason. We are here for something." So I had the thought to ring the doorbell, which we don't usually do, and after a little while, she came. We had a great conversation! She was really able to open up to us about her experiences, and the Spirit bore powerful testimony through us of the Savior's ability to make those impossible things possible and heal every hurt. We invited her to say the prayer, and she thanked Heavenly Father that we came and helped her. What a tender mercy. Heavenly Father is truly aware of each of his children.
I know he blesses us as we strive to be obedient— exactly, even when it doesn't make sense. I'm so grateful that he knows best.
~Sister Nielsen
PICTURES!
We met this family at one of the parks in our area. (This is Stephanie and her parents, for those who are following along.) They wanted to take a picture with us, so we decided to get our cameras out, too. Also, there's Lee being all creepy and stuff. :D
Strike a pose, lil squirrel. Strike a pose.
Walla Walla is really pretty. So is my companion. A selfie resulted.
Going through the reasons people are former investigators: "Not interested." "Moved." "Not interested; try back soon." "Not ready." "In Prison." ...oh. :)
I'm grateful for the way repentance works. I remember being with my last companion and noticing the way she was always apologizing to the Lord for what seemed like everything. I thought it was quite unusual. I think I've had an understanding of repentance before, but I guess I never really thought about doing it every day for so many little things. But it is so amazing. Repentance really is so important for qualifying for the impressions of the Spirit, which are so vital to the work. The struggle with that right now is being patient with myself because I am always falling short, and always making mistakes. It's easy for me to be really hard on myself about it, but I'm learning.
I can't say this enough: I am so grateful for the Spirit in this work. This week my companion and I have been working so hard at our goals (one of them being "If you're going to set a goal, get it; if not, repent and sleep well"). One goal in particular is to be better with our timeliness and sticking to the schedule we've set. We've already seen the miracles from keeping that goal. We'd made a plan to do some finding at one of the many parks we have in our area. When we arrived there at the time we had scheduled, there weren't but maybe two cars parked there, where we had expected there to be a few more people. Our first thought was, "Eh, maybe we ought to go somewhere else." But then we noticed a guy sitting in his car in the corner of the parking lot. As soon as we saw him, the Spirit automatically told us to go talk to him. After fighting past my doubts, we prayed, and made our way over to talk to him. The Spirit guided us through our conversation and helped us bear witness of the importance of the Restoration and the power of the Book of Mormon. I think we came right when he needed us because when we asked him if we could teach him more, he gladly accepted, and we're meeting with him on Thursday. So many times I talk myself out of situations like that, and it was so amazing to see the reward from our faith.
Another great experience we had from the Spirit came to us yesterday, as we were TRYING to follow our schedule. As we were on our way, the Spirit prompted us to go visit Lilian, and since she lives out of our area, it's not always easy to just drive over on a whim. After we talked about it, we prayed and the Spirit came so strongly and told us to go. After we texted our district leader and got his response, we went to Lilian's house. We got there and knocked... nothing. Knocked again... nothing still. In my head, I said, "Nuh-uh. We did not get a prompting like that for no reason. We are here for something." So I had the thought to ring the doorbell, which we don't usually do, and after a little while, she came. We had a great conversation! She was really able to open up to us about her experiences, and the Spirit bore powerful testimony through us of the Savior's ability to make those impossible things possible and heal every hurt. We invited her to say the prayer, and she thanked Heavenly Father that we came and helped her. What a tender mercy. Heavenly Father is truly aware of each of his children.
I know he blesses us as we strive to be obedient— exactly, even when it doesn't make sense. I'm so grateful that he knows best.
~Sister Nielsen
PICTURES!
We met this family at one of the parks in our area. (This is Stephanie and her parents, for those who are following along.) They wanted to take a picture with us, so we decided to get our cameras out, too. Also, there's Lee being all creepy and stuff. :D
Strike a pose, lil squirrel. Strike a pose.
Walla Walla is really pretty. So is my companion. A selfie resulted.
Going through the reasons people are former investigators: "Not interested." "Moved." "Not interested; try back soon." "Not ready." "In Prison." ...oh. :)
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