Training!!!

Hi Everyone! I am starting a new adventure...Training!! Yikes!!

HAHAHHAHAHAH Ya. My face when I was told I would be training.

Last district picture together! Sister Coleman is getting transferred and Sister Lee (far left) went home! Good luck out in the real world, girl! I love you! It is super hot here in Florida. It is so hot. And humidity - oh man! It is just joyful :) I didn't even realize how much I could love a place. Don't get me wrong. I love Utah...but Florida is where it's at! Can we all come back one day? Oh ya'll would love it. I am so thankful I was sent here! FTM, my home now. I love, love, love it:) Words can't describe something so awesome that I love - Florida! I know that Christ lives! He does. He is our Savior, our Brother, our Friend, our Lord, our Example and our Maker. C = Cleansing, H = Healing, R = Redeeming, I = Identifying, S = Saving,Strength, T = Transforming. He loves us. My week! :) Monday: Monday was my last P-day with Sister Coleman!! It was crazy, but we had fun, we laughed, we cried, we did what girls do the best...emotional thingies ha-ha! Sometimes I wonder why P-days go by so fast, but its probably cause Heavenly Father has work for us to do...and He just wants us to hurry up and go work! So it is okay! :)

Tuesday: Tuesday, Sister Coleman and I cleaned a lot, got ready for our new Greenie (me) ha-ha j/k. ;) Tuesday night we drove to Tallahassee, but our GPS took us the LONG way. It took longer, but hey! We got to go through parts of our mission and it was fun! Funny story. We were driving for a long time in the middle of nowhere and I had to go potty SO bad,and there was no restroom for quite some time. So we went to a random house. YES. A random house in the middle of nowhere. HAHAHA! And asked if we could use their restroom. Linda, who let us in was super kind to let us come in. I don't think she really liked us, but hey! We made it to Tally without ANY kind of accidents, if y'all know what I mean ;) Tuesday night we stayed with the head STL's (Sister Training Leaders). I slept on the floor and Sis Coleman slept on the couch. Did I sleep? Eh no. but hey it is okay! ;) Overall Tuesday was a great last day with Sis Coleman. :) Wednesday: TODAY IS THE DAY!!! FTM adventures are FOR REAL! Wednesday I woke up feeling SICK. Out of all the days to get sick - on transfer day and the day I get a greenie. Awesome, Heavenly Father. Good one on me! He must have a sense of humor.

In Tallahassee I got to say hi to one of my Fav sisters from the Provo MYC! Shout out to Sis Rindlisbacher who is also training! ;) We came out together! Definitely a friend forever! Anyway! We went to a training meeting and pretty much to wrap it up they tell you this: YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE IF YOUR GREENIE LOVES OR HATES THE MISSION. No pressure...no pressure! Scary. Well, I guess y'all are waiting for who my NEW comp is!

Her name is Sister Kinghorn, she is from Sugar City, Idaho! She also has ten kiddos in her family, like me! Pretty Rad! She is super sweet and so ready to work! We have a lot in common and it makes it so fun! :) And yes, we got photo-bombed. Silly Elder! We drove back to Gulf Breeze the SHORT way and made it home safe and sound. ;)

Oh, P.S. We got 2 new other Sisters in the Navarre area and guess what!?!? They are Poly's! Which means...they are so loud and so funny! It has been a party this week! Sister Vailea is from Tonga, and Sister Iosea is from Samoa! And they call me Sister Nelly, cause it's easier to say than Nielson. :) From to back: Sister Kinghorn, me, Sister Kirton, Sister Iosea, and Sister Vailea! Thursday: Thursday morning we went with a member in our ward to help with food orders..which means we drive to Pensacola, and fill the food orders for those who need it in our ward! It is like the Bishop's Store House, but they don't have one in our stake so we do it at the Stake Center! It is a fun service to do! ;) We had our first weekly planning together. Thursdays are good days, kinda long but good! We had an awesome lesson with our investigators...Issac and Wendy,and Sis Kinghorn did awesome! We talked about the Plan of Salvation...it really is a good plan to share! It is my favorite, favorite lesson to teach! Families can be together forever!?! SAY WHAT!? BOOM. Yeah!! They are doing awesome! They are both so open and so willing to learn. I love that. Friday: Y'all know Fridays are my favorite days....Ha! Still are. We went to see a less active, Brother Dolson, he is so funny! We sat down and he reached his hands out and gave us these Virgin Mary bookmarks. Yep, totally keeping that forever! ;) Anyway! Friday it was raining like CRAZY! Gotta love Hurricane season. Maybe a good lesson I have learned on the mission is don't try to do your hair cause the day you do...it will rain, and yeah. So good lesson learned. We where able to go to Helping Hands and do some service there too. We also went to see Sister Scheffer, she is an awesome lady and super funny. Honestly we go and teach people about the Gospel...but really they teach me. I love that about the Gospel. We can all learn and grow from each other. YESSSS!

This is Sister Delaney, one of my favorite members ever, and me at the Relief Society Activity. Saturday: "Saturday is a special day, it's a day we get ready for Sunday." That's the song I think of when I type the word Saturday. Ha-ha. Off point...BUT! We had a stellar Saturday! We went to a Relief Society activity for a few hours, the theme was Unique Showcase, so some of the sisters shared what they like to do and just about themselves. It was was way fun to get to know them all better! :)

Um...I got my hair done! ;) Hope y'all like it....j/k. Don't worry Mom. I am smarter than that! I tried on a wig at the activity. How do I look? After that we contacted a few people. Sis Kinghorn was able to talk to random people for the first time, so it was fun! :) Oh ya...:) A lady in our ward gave me a 1964 Barbie. Yep we role play with her. So funny. Sunday: Sundays!! Woot! Another favorite day of mine...actually I love everyday....just like I love everyone in our ward. Today was great! Isaac and Brother Myers came to church today! Woot woot! Later that day we were able to go see Wendy and Isaac and Bro Myers and share with them about church, prayer and scriptures! Wendy has to work every other Sunday but is planning to come to church this week, so that will be awesome! :)

Overall this week has been WONDERFUL! I really do love training and really she is training me...because I am still new! ;) Ha-ha! I love this work. I love being a missionary. I love my Savior. He is my everything; He is my example; He is amazing. I love all y'all and each y'all! :) #FTMadventures Quote of the week "Go forth with a twinkle in your eye, a smile on your face, but with great and strong purpose in your Heart."- Pres Hinckley. I just love him so much. He is such a cutie. Hope yall have a good week! P.S. - for real: I feel like I need to share this experience. Maybe someone reading this will need it and it will help them in their life. So here it is :) When I first got to FL, on my second full day, I wanted to go home. I called my parents. I called Sister Smith (Pres' wife) and just wanted to go home. Pres Smith called us and asked me if I could stay for 2 weeks...and if I felt like I needed to go home after that, I could go. So I said okay and decided to try the mission for 2 weeks. During those two weeks...it was hard, mission life was rough. I was physically, emotionally, spiritually drained. My head hurt and my heart hurt, too. BUT, in those 2 weeks Heavenly Father showed me ALL my weaknesses - some I didn't even know I had. But because I was experiencing all these crazy trials, God didn't allow me to do it on my OWN. I honestly FELT Christ right besides me the WHOLE 2 weeks. He never left me. He pushed me along, came to my level when I needed it, answered prayers immediately and changed my heart. After those 2 weeks, I KNEW I needed to stay! How could I not!? God was there. I knew I could do ANYTHING because of HIM. I like to say I am a girl version of Peter, from the Bible. Ha-ha. Really though...here we have Peter who sees Christ, and Christ says, Come unto me...Peter knows he is there and reaches out for him...but what happens!? He stumbles because he lost his faith, even though Christ was RIGHT there. I am not perfect, and I still stumble and fall like Peter...but what does Christ do? He grabs Peter and helps him. So moral of the story? RELY ON HIM. So ya'll, when life is hard and you feel like you can't do it...and all you want to do is quit... just give it 2 weeks. And in those 2 weeks ASK Him..what YOU can do for HIM. And I KNOW that he will help you because He helped me. And He loves us all.

That is all. I love all y'all so much. Thank you y'all so much for the prayers and love, I really do feel it. You are the best family ever. -Your missionary, Sister Nelly

Dirty Fingernails, Teaching the Ready and Eating Out

Family: I saw the new family picture of ya'll got on the 4th of July, and I just started bawling. Wow, ya'll are so cute and I love you all so much. I was crying and my comp was like, "Are you okay"? and all I could say was, "I'm not sad, my family is just so cute!!" (ha-ha EMOTIONAL!) It is kinda interesting not to see me in the family picture....ha-ha but its okay! I am there in spirit right!? Super glad Fred and Jari and kids (far left) made it to Korea safe and sound. I am sure they are going to love it!

Guess what everyone!!! I AM STAYING IN GULF BREEZE (prayer answered) ;) but the catch to it.....I AM TRAINING!!! Sister Coleman is leaving...she is also going to go train in a new area! Crazy - white washing and training! How I feel about training a new missionary: UMMM I'M STILL NEW!?!!? Hahaha...kinda funny. But! I am really scared/nervous/excited and when the Zone Leaders told me I was training I was literally speechless. Overall, it will be crazy! But I will get to drive to Tally so I am pretty stoked about that! Sister Coleman and I both thought we would be together for at least one more transfer but...obviously the Lord works in Mysterious Ways....REALLY THOUGH, I am thankful and hopefully my new companion/new missionary likes me! ;) So to celebrate the new assignment, here is the new me - with Bangs!

This week the time went by so fast. In fact, this transfer went by SO FAST! Monday: We had a fun, fun, fun P-Day! We went to Pensacola to a Zone Activity, and we played nerf wars...nerf guns....let me tell y'all...You would probably be pretty proud of my nerf gun skills;) I showed those Elders what's up! Actually I just ran around and got shot a lot ha-ha, but it was super fun! We had pizza for dinner and let me just say...not a good idea...both Sister Coleman and I felt SO sick afterwards...but overall P-Day was a Success! :) Tuesday: Well...Tuesday was a interesting day! We went and saw Max, Max is just not prepared...it was super hard to say it but he isn't ready. We have prayed a lot for Max and have decided to drop him...it is really sad but I know that one day he will be prepared and ready to accept the Gospel.. I think that is the beauty of it all...one day everyone will know the Truth. We did some yard work...Sis Nielson doing yard work!? Yes my nails did get dirty and I was sweating gallons of sweat. It is kinda funny, y'all know I DO NOT LIKE getting dirty but this whole mission thing has kinda changed me.....SAY WHAT!? Yes. Okay, I just love all the people here and LOVE serving them, so yes! Service is the best medicine to relieve stress. We went to Firehouse Subs for dinner, Vanessa who is in our ward took us out....it's so crazy...we get fed SO much!! I am thankful! Wednesday: We met Brenda and Tim. They are the cutest couple ever! Brenda is not a member but she wants to be taught and her great desire is the temple...how amazing is that!? Brenda is my girl!! She is a cosmetologist...but guess what!? She does more medical procedures with beauty, permanent makeup, helps women who have had breast cancer. She is brilliant! She has a Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctor degree. (Can I be her?) Anyways! Super cool couple! They asked if we could be witness at their wedding in the next few weeks! Cool huh!? I am super excited to start teaching her!!

Sister Coleman and I came home Wednesday night to find that the Sisters had heart-attached our door! How cute of them! Thursday: Thursday was AMAZING!! We got a text from a Lady named Wendy, she asked if we could give her and her sons the discussions ASAP! Apparently while they lived in Las Vegas, her son, Issac was learning from the missionaries and came to know the truth of the Gospel and wants to be baptized!! Not everyday do we get a text from someone saying their son wants to get baptized and that as a family they want to learn the lessons! Such a blessing for us. We went over that night and taught them the Restoration, they were both so open and so willing to read the scriptures! David, the dad is less active, but he is now wanting to come back to church so he can baptize his son! Awesome huh!?! Miracles are popping out like crazy.

Friday: Friday's are always my favorite days! We went over to a member's house, whose wife had passed away, sorted her clothes and helped with that for a little bit. Brother Jorgenson, who we helped took us out for lunch. He is super awesome! Here is Sister Coleman, Me, Vanessa, Sister West and Brother Jorgenson. Awesome ward members! Then we went to see Kathy. I love Kathy so much. Even though we go and teach her, really she teaches me so much. We saw Brother Dolson and taught him the Word of Wisdom. He is a less active who is coming back to church! Usually he brings tea to church but guess what! Sunday he brought water! (Fist pump!) Friday night a member in our ward took us out to dinner....(I tell you....we have gone out so much this week I might die.) It was good Mexican food! But not as good as Mi Ranchito! ;) Saturday: Saturday was an okay day! We did some planning and updated our map somewhat and saw Sister Scheffer! She has been SO kind to me. She knows I have sleeping problems at night, so she gave me a new pillow, some sleeping tea. She is the best! Saturday was pretty chill...one of those days!

Sunday: Sister West, our Relief Society President (see picture above, she is sitting by Bro Jorgenson) had given us 10 less active ladies on a list last Wednesday to go see before Monday. So after church we hit the list and saw some less actives! It was great! I love seeing less actives because they already know the truth, they have already felt the truth, our job is to help them remember the goodness of the gospel! I Love Sundays a lot! Random fun fact about FL. It will just rain so randomly here! We have these crazy rain storms, and then it will be super warm again...y'all think Utah is bipolar!? Ha-ha. Overall this week was great! Definitely one for the books! It is amazing to see that the Lord is REALLY hastening His work! I am so thankful to be apart of it. I always say that, but I really am! It can be super hard and scary sometimes but I know that I have Christ who always helps and loves me. I am excited to be training a new missionary because I know it will help me grow more. The weather is HOT. In August it will even be hotter!! The humidity is crazy. I walk outside for a hot minute and immediately I am sticky! It is awesome...ha-ha! Well, thank y'all again for all the love and support! Quote of the week " Jesus doesn't make up the difference, He makes all the difference. Grace is not about filling gaps. It is about filling us." -Brad Wilcox. I love this quote because that is what the Savior is. He fills us when we might have gaps in our lives. I am so thankful for Him. He is the best! God is Good. #FTMadventures! Sis Nielson

Sweat, God's Amazing Light, and Blue Angels

Hey Y'all! This week was awesome!!! This whole transfer with Sister Coleman has gone by SO fast, we will know if we get transferred by next week! I really hope I don't get transferred, I love, love, love, love Gulf Breeze. My hope would hopefully be here for at least 6 months - so pray for that, alright? ;) This week Heavenly Father has really showed us some tender mercies, which I am so grateful for. I love him so much! My heart is full. It is amazing to be a missionary. If I could express how much I love this work, y'all would be reading for hours, and we don't want that...;)

On Tuesday we had Zone Training! It was amazing! These are the "Pensacola Zone Sisters!" The Sister Training Leaders (STL's Sister Stewart is one! Awesome, huh?) taught about having Faith in Finding! It was such an answer to my prayer, sometimes it is hard it have faith, I learned that it is more than just having a desire, but to First Trust God. What is the point to have desire to have faith, without trusting God? It opened my spiritual eyes a whole lot! Anyways! After Zone Conference we as a zone all went out to lunch which was super fun! The Pensacola Zone includes all the missionaries in our stake, which means missionaries serving in Gulf Breeze, Navarre, Milton, Jay, Pace, Fox Run, Pensacola and Pine Forest! I love Zone training and Zone conferences! So great. After Zone training before we did exchanges, Sister Coleman and I went to do some finding, it was so awesome because the whole time I was relying on God...."Okay Heavenly Father, you got this! I know you can help us find people who are ready. Yes!" Having faith in finding WORKS! We found 2 new investigators Tuesday night!! God is Good. One of them named Charmane let us in and we taught some of the Plan of Salvation. She was so open and so sweet! The other was named Laz. He was extremely open and took a pamphlet and told us to come back tomorrow! (Say what!? That happens in the South?) Ha-ha. So yes! Faith!! We also did exchanges. Sister Macclellan came to Gulf Breeze with me for a day, and Sister Coleman went to Milton with Sister Stewart! Tuesday was a great day of learning and witnessing what we learned. Boom, baby!

Wednesday was one of the craziest days so far! I was with Sister Macclellan, we did some service for a lady in our ward, Sister Mullikin, who is one of my favorite people here. Her son hasn't been to church for like 3 years. While we were pulling weeds, he started helping us and talking to us about how he has been feeling about the church and how he just doesn't know if the church is true or not (Crazy right!?) Anyways... lets not forget...IT WAS SO HOT!!! I hope all get a laugh...just imagine Sister Nielson, drenched (Literally) in sweat, pulling weeds, talking about the Gospel...ha-ha awesome, huh!? It was worth it because we were able to encourage him to read the Book of Mormon, and just shared our testimonies. Later that day we went with our Relief Society President to a living center to visit and sing songs with elderly people, oh it was so fun and so cute!!

Another really great thing: This photo is of Brother Dolsen who has been less active, but is now coming to church! Woot-woot!! After that we went with Sister West to our lesson with Laz....To describe how it went....lets just say it was a whole new experience! It was something very unexpected! I learned after that lesson, that sometimes people will just bash on what you believe and try to prove you wrong for 2 hours...but now I see it as Heavenly Father led us to him to test our faith, to be unshaken from what we believe! Maybe he isn't ready to be taught, but I know that no matter what people say about what I believe I can tell them that I KNOW the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is TRUE. No one can take my testimony away. BUT, after the crazy lesson I was thinking, WOW! What just happened!?!? But it is okay! Something good happened that night! Ready for it.....!???!? Alright. Well back up story: There is a man named Chris who lives in our apartment complex, we had given him our card with our number and Book of Mormon. He is a little rough around the edges but I know he would have our backs and if anything happened, he would stop everything and help us. He isn't a member but every time we see him we always say hi and talk. He is just a way cool guy! Anyway, we hear a knock on our door and it is Chris! He tells us that the light in our car was on (totally has our back ha-ha)! So Sister Coleman gets the keys to turn them off. Meanwhile....I have this huge prompting to tell him he should watch the Mormon Message, "The Hope of God's Light" (link in last week's blog post). So I tell him that, and he said "Yeah! Let's watch it now!" Me: "Oh, okay yes!" We watch the video and at the end he is crying and I tell him that I know Heavenly Father loves him and has a plan for him. Well, we say goodbye, go back inside our apartment and plan...then the phone rings...a number we don't know...we answer and guess who it is!? Chris. This is what he said on the phone..."Hey, are you the ones I just watched the video with?" Me: "Yes! Hey, Chris. What's up" Chris: (He is crying on the phone...) " How did you know to share that video with me? I don't know what I am feeling, but while we watched that video I saw myself in it...what am I feeling...I feel my shoulders are light..I just showed my wife the video and we both just started bawling...I have had two experience in my life where someone has shared something with me, and it is like God is talking to me, and this is one of those experience..." Me: (Speechless) Sister Coleman: "Well, sometimes we get promptings to share things with others to help them. What you are feeling is the Spirit." Well! Chris asked us to meet with him and his wife to share more with them. I was so amazed! I am so thankful for spiritual promptings, no matter if they impact in a big or small way, it all matters. That night Chris was able to feels God's love. What is better than that?

The Henderson's took us to Culver's! Members here take such good care of us!

Have yall heard of the "Blue Angels"!?!?

They do an air show every year. The Navy base is right in Pensacola, so on Saturday some of our members took us to the beach to see their incredible performance!

It was so cool!!! Have they ever come to Utah!?

They are a big deal here because they are the best pilots in the Navy. They train for a year to go around the states to do these air shows for the year! So it was awesome!!

Here we are at the Air Show! So awesome!! On Sunday a man named Tim called us. He is moving into our ward and told us that his fiancee (Brenda) is wanting to join the church and that he wants US to teach her! We are meeting with them and our on Wednesday. He told us that she wants him to take her to the temple one day to be married!! Cool huh!?!? We are so excited!!

Today, early we went to the Beach to see the Sunrise! This week was amazing!! I really have seen the Lord's hand in our work. Faith is real. God is real. The Church is so true. I am so thankful to be a part of his plan, to help his children feel his love. I know that it is through HIM it happens and I am just his little helper. It is amazing to see miracles starting to happen in Gulf Breeze. Thank y'all for your love and support! I am so blessed to have each y'all in my life.

I love my mission. Here I am jumping for joy at the beach this morning! :) I am kinda living in paradise a little bit....;)

Look! I spy with my little eye...a dolphin!! What a place!

Time does fly when you soak yourself in the work. I know without a doubt that the Savior loves us all. He has shown that so much, sometimes He shows us our weakness to show us our strengths. I am grateful for that. He lives, He is my friend, my maker and my example, I hope to be like He is one day, I hope and pray for y'all everyday. Thank you for all you do. XOXOXOX! Good luck, Fred and Jari! (Just arrived with their three darling little children at Osan AFB,Korea where he is an Air Force Medical Doctor!). God bless yall! #FTMadventures -Sis Nielson

Happy Times; Scary Times, Sad Times, Thankful Times

Hey Yall! This past week has gone by WAY too fast!!! Well, this whole transfer has been rollin! Time is flying and I don't know how I feel about that!

On Monday we had a such a fun P-Day! Wanna know why? Oh that is right! We got Pedicures! How idle is that!?!? I WAS IN HEAVEN. (Classic) A member in our ward took us - Sister Alvarez and her daughter, Vanessa, who is waiting for her mission call right now! It was nice to have a relaxing day for sure! Photo: Pedis with me, Sister Coleman and Sister Alvarez!

Tuesday was one crazy day!! We did A lot of finding! On Wednesdays we always print off new quotes for the week to give to people we talk with. It is a great way to start good conversation about the Church. We were able to give out a lot, but while we were tracking this MASSIVE wind storm came rolling in...Can y'all imagine that for a minute? It was the funniest thing! We were talking to this lady outside during this crazy wind storm, pretty much yelling at her about the gospel! Ha-ha, it was great! We met a new less active man named Jarom! He is a RM and is such a cool guy! His wife isn't a member, but he is super open and definitely wants us to come meet her and his kids!

The Navarre sisters gave us stuffed animals! Cute, huh?That must have been inspired, because we had a scary experience and needed something to hug, because... Tuesday night....Sister Coleman and I decided to go see some potential investigators in the...Ghetto. Yes y'all, Gulf Breeze has a Ghetto. Honestly, we don't know what we were thinking, but let's just say...we made it home that night! Here are a few things that happened that night: We tried to talk to a lady named Nancy but she started yelling at us, so we left. We went across the street and met another lady named Melissa. She was super nice and asked if we needed a ride because she did not want us walking around in the area (apparently it is a very sketchy area with drug dealers and scary men.) Anyways! We go back to the car, say a quick prayer to be safe, drive a little bit down the road (it is now pretty dark). We go and knock on a door, we thought it was the right now....ha-ha... NOPE! The man seemed super annoyed, but he took a pamphlet and we left! So we decided to try the potential we were going to try. While we are walking, a car is driving super slow by us and a man would not stop staring at us...in my mind I am freaking out! But he drove away. We get to this house and rush of Bad Vibes hit me so hard. It was the craziest feeling! So I told Sister Coleman how I was feeling and how we probably should leave and come back during the day. She felt the same so we are literally running back to our car and start just freaking out. (Now we laugh about it because it was kinda funny!) Well, we get back into the car, I am stopped by a stop sign finding how to get out of the neighborhood...and Sister Coleman see's this person leaning over a trashcan taking pictures of us! It was the weirdest thing ever! We both are like, Nope! We are Not dying tonight! Haha...so we start driving pretty fast and than this random dog starts to chase our car! It was just a sketchy night! I am thankful that we made it home safely! Lesson learned: DO NOT GO TO THE GHETTO AT NIGHT. :) Wednesday! We went a saw a less active lady named Sister Scheffer! She is one of my favorite people here, too! The quote we shared with our members this week was: "I believe that in our own individual ways, God takes us to the grove, or the mountain or the temple and there shows us the wonder of what his plan is for us." -Jeffrey R. Holland. I just love this quote so much! A great Mormon Message with that quote is called, "The Hope of God's Light" https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-07-006-the-hope-of-gods-light?lang=eng It is definitely a good one to watch :)

Thursday! I was able to do some service for a member! Trena Smith! The Smith's are the best family! They feed us every Monday night, I adore them more than words can say! This photo of us is with their son, Hemi, who reminds me a lot of my 11 year old (this week!) nephew, Paxton (Happy Birthday, Boy Scout!). I adore Hemi so much! Thursday night we had dinner with the Burkharts! Sister Burkhart was able to fix my not so great hair cut from last week! (Very thankful for that.) :) Friday was a great day! We were able to see Kathy! She came to church on Sunday and stayed for ALL 3 meetings! She hasn't done that for a few years! It was awesome! We always go and give service at Helping Hands, the thrift shop, so that is always a blast! They were super busy so we were able to talk to a few people about who we were and share some gospel! Friday night we had a great lesson with Lupe about Faith. He shared that he knows what faith is and that he wants to take a leap of faith in his life and continue to learn more about the Gospel. We had Sister Marshall with us; she is a convert to the Church, so she was able to share some awesome input about her conversion. It was great! Lupe is still not making it to Church, but I know that he will one of these Sundays, he tells us all the time, he wants to act upon the things we commit him too, he just needs to do it when he is ready. He has changed quite some, so I know that the Spirit is working with us to help him. We also had Sister Marshall come with us to knock on a few doors. She is the best!

Saturday! The Fourth of July! I hope y'all enjoyed yourselves! ;) We went to a breakfast with Navarre ward, with the Navarre Sister Missionaries, which was super fun! Photo - Fourth of July selfie! L-R, Sister Kirton, Sister Lee, Sis Coleman and me at the ward breakfast! Then we went to try to see a few people, but no one was home because a lot of people were at the beach!

That evening, we celebrated America's birthday by eating dinner with the Smith's with the other Sisters, and later that night we watched fireworks at the dock for a while! (This photo!!) It is way pretty to watch them by the beach, for sure! :) Sunday! I love Sundays so much! Sunday I woke up feeling super weird and just not myself, I was sad, upset and missed home, just the mish-ish that comes sometimes. It was Fast and Testimony meeting, and earlier that morning in my prayers I asked Heavenly Father to help me feel better and asked for some comfort! He totally answered my prayer during that meeting! There is a boy named Jacob Marshall, (Sister Marshall's son) He was the first one to go up to share his testimony, and all he said was, "I know that the Holy Ghost comforts you when you are sad." It was so simple but SO powerful. I literally felt all my concerns and sadness go away! I know that a simple testimony can help in the strongest ways. I am thankful that God gives us feelings of hardship because when he does, we learn to rely on Him more. Sunday night we went see a lady named Sister Mullikin. She is AMAZING. I am so sad she is moving soon! :( Her daughter-in-law was there, and she is from Poland! Craazzzy! She isn't a member but we spent about 2 hours telling her all about our Church! It was so cool! The Spirit was definitely there! It was amazing. Overall this week was great! Time is going by way too fast! I hope I never leave Gulf Breeze....(: I really do love it here with all my heart! I love the Gospel, I love waking up and putting my missionary tag on, because I know who I am representing, and that is the best feeling. Thank y'all for your support and love towards me! Hope all y'all have a blessed week! #FTMadventures!:) Sister Nielson

A GREAT Week!

Hey Y'all! I want to share with y'all something I learned and have been applying to my life this week. On Saturday morning we had a meeting and breakfast with our Ward Mission Leader, and he told us,"A big reason you go on a mission is to become a Spiritual Antenna, to pick up the signals from the Spirit, instead of the noise in the world." I love this so much! I have thought about this statement and it is so true. Recognizing the Spirit is so cool!

This week has been awesome! We have had some good things happen! On Tuesday we were able to go to a potluck at Navarre beach for our ward. It was super fun. We were able to talk to people on the beach and spread some good messages about the Gospel! (A little funny just to walk up to random people in their swimming suits, but still super fun!)

On Wednesday we did a lot of finding! We met new potential people to teach, ran into a lady who is less active by knocking on her door. It was funny because we felt like we should knock on her door and she answered and just let us in, we were both so surprised because that doesn't happen a lot here. We were able to share her a brief message. It was a good time! There is a family in our ward, named the Wights. They are one of my FAVORITE families! They don't have any kids but guess what! We were at dinner at their house and they told us some awesome news!! They were approved to adopt two children!!! Ah!! I am so happy for them!! Adoption is wonderful - look what it did for me!!! How lucky am I? These children will be so blessed to get a great Mom and Dad. Overall that day was just great!

On Friday we were able to go see my favorite lady, Kathy Thompson. Here is a picture of us together: Me, Sister Kathy Thompson, Sister Coleman. (Mom! I can't WAIT for you to meet this lady one day! She is the best!) Ah, I just love her so much. Fridays are my favorite days because we go and see her. She is less active but is deciding to come back to Church! I told her that when I come back to Florida I will take her to the temple because she wants to go back so badly! It was so cute - she started crying and all we could do was hug her and love her. This is what missions are ALL about. Loving the people you serve.

We were able to have a great lesson with Lupe! He doesn't like pictures but I made him take one with us - Me, Lupe! and Sister Coleman. If y'all could meet him, you would love him! He is so fun. It was awesome - he told us he is seeking for something new...(YESSS!!!) He is so open and asks a lot of questions, which is my favorite part! I love learning and growing from him. Lupe has a hard time coming to Church but I know he will be able to make it hopefully this coming week or so! Max is still struggling. We were able to share about the Spirit to him. We committed him to ask God if what we are teaching him is true. All we can do is pray and rely on God to help us. Something I have also learned. If we do our part, the Lord will do his.

I made fried Oreo's for the Sisters! We all had lunch together. Behind me is Sis Lee. :)

This mask is from China. Am I more Asian?

Every Wednesday night Sister Coleman and I put olive oil and coconut oil treatments on our hair to keep it from drying out in the hot Florida sun!

I got my hair cut....so short huh!?! It wasn't supposed to be that short...but hey, it'll grow!! Overall this week here in Gulf Breeze was amazing! I love good weeks like this past one! It makes all the hard parts of the mission so worth it. It has rained quite a lot this week, and the weather is just HOT. Since it is so humid it feels even hotter, and if you sit in the shade it still feels the same. It's great. I love this place. I love the people I am serving. The more I have served the more I love. Gulf Breeze is feeling more like home every day. I don't know what I am going to do when I have to leave...probably DIE! Ha-ha. In all seriousness, doing the Lord's work is my favorite thing. I love the Gospel, I know with ALL my heart it is True. Nothing could ever take that from me. I know God lives; He is alive in my life everyday. I love being his tool and his little helper. God is good. I am so thankful to a loving Heavenly Father for trusting ME to do his work here in Gulf Breeze. I am thankful for a Savior who lifts me everyday when I feel heavy laden. I love this mission. I am thankful to be a part of this marvelous work. Quote of the week: "Being Cheerful is part of being Faithful." Hope ya'll have a good week! Remember Jesus loves you! #FTMadventures

LOVE YALL SO MUCH. All my love from FL TO UT! Note to family: The good thing about emailing is that you learn how to type fast! So that is good. It's funny cause sometimes I know just what to say, and other days I have to sit and think about what to say for like 15 mins. Lol. I love the blog so much, it is so fun to see it, you're amazing at doing it so thank you so much! I love it! :) I hope y'all are doing good. A few nights ago I was thinking about y'all and how proud I am to have such an amazing family. I am so thankful and so blessed, I thank Heavenly Father for y'all everyday and pray for y'all to be blessed because of your love and service towards me. So thank you for all the support and love. Missions are the best! I just love my mission so much!! It is actually really fun to talk about Jesus everyday! A mission is the BEST decision I have ever made in my life, and will be on the top of my list of "Best Decisions" forever. :) I love all y'all each y'all so much! XOXO! Sister Nielson in Florida