Hot, Hot Awesome Florida

 Guess what?! I was able to speak in church about the faith of the Pioneers and it made me have a greater appreciation for them. Pioneers are awesome!

Dip confiscated from Chris!

A funny from last week.... So last week we went over to Chris's house to have a lesson with him, and when we pulled up he was leaving..so we asked him where he was going and he said he was going to go get some "dip" so us, being missionaries..just thought like chip or bean dip..so we where all like.."okay! Bye Chris! We will see you in a few...have fun getting some dip..!" Hahaha little did we know..he was NOT getting chip or bean dip..but the other kind of dip..ah! Chewing Tobacco dip...ah, we where dying. But hey! He got to make fun of us for 10 minutes and we got to give him a little Word of Wisdom lesson! Bottom line: We took the "dip" away from our gator...haha Don't worry! We threw it away! 

Something Good: Man, this week was full of good things! First item of good news! Garvin is out of the Hospital!! Thank the Heavens!! He is so happy to be out, and we are so happy too! He is progressing super well, we will probably set a BCD with him this next week or so, he is so ready! :) 

We had interviews with our new mission pres! Pres and Sis Smith, they where just wonderful! It was so fun to get to know them a little bit better! :) 

We went on exchanges to Callaway for the day, I was able to go with Sis Mantlo..she is so awesome! We were able to see a lot of people in their area, but it is good to be back on the beach! 

Oh yes..we saw a less active lady named Patti..and oh man..she has 9 cats and 1 dog..everywhere we looked there was a cat..it was quite the show...I am not the biggest cat lady, but sure glad she is. ;) but it was awesome to meet with her, first time we have actually been able to get in, so blessing! Even with all those dang cats. 

Miss Vida, the little girl we are teaching is planning to be baptized on August 6th! So that is wonderful! This week we where able to finish up the rest of her lessons. She is the cutest little lady ever! A man we visit every week, named David, can't drive. So this week when we went over he asked us if we could go buy him milk..it was so random, but he pulls out a big stack of cash and gives us some money to go buy him milk. Well I asked him why he had so much cash, and he said, " Well if I fall, I'll have enough money to go to the hospital." It was funny. We laughed for a bit and got him his milk. ;) Overall a good week on the prettiest beach ever. 

Something Funny: If you have never experienced Florida heat and humidity, let me tell you...It's pretty hard on hair, no matter how you try to curl it, it just falls out. Blah. But the up-side? We have a car!!! And cars have A/C!!!!

A Tender Mercy: So on Tuesday night our appointment canceled so we where trying to figure out what to do..and than our phone rang and it was Teresa! She is a potential that one of our member's gave us to try to see Well, she asked us if we had time that we could come and see her. (Uhhh, yes ma'am!) So it was awesome because we where able to share her the restoration and give her a Book of Mormon. So yeah, sometimes our plans canceled, but Heavenly Father really knows who we need to see. :) 

So y'all know how much we love the David and Stacie Fast! They took us out to lunch this week at Texas Roadhouse! What a place! YUM! They are so good to us! Shout out a big thanks to them!

And y'all know that Bro. Fast is a big tough Highway Patrolman (and also a spiritual giant). So he is very protective of us Sisters. Their own two daughters are away for the summer, so we are their adopted daughters right now. And y'all know about how dads have this big obsession about keep their daughters safe? So here is a gift he gave us just in case we need to defend ourselves! Yeah. Pretty sure we won't be using these on our missions... but one day we may have sons who are Boy Scouts! (I have six brothers who are Eagle Scouts, and they loved their whittling knives and their fishing knives and their handyman knives...) So thanks to Bro. Fast! There is a future for these gifts! They will definitely go home in our checked baggage! How tough do we look?

Something Learned: Blessed. Something I have really been thinking about is the people we serve and the people we are able to teach, they always teach me something each time we see them, and this week, they have taught me that we are so blessed. Even when their lives are a bit crazy and they have challenges, they always are able to find something that is a blessing in their lives. Sometimes it can be hard to find the good things in life, but if we look a little deeper and look a little harder, we can always find something to smile about! The heat is a killer here (See photo - do we look hot or what?) But we are SO blessed to have the Gospel. The Happiness it can bring it amazing! Y'all, now go write a few things you are blessed with, and so will I! :)  

Love y'all big! 

Sis Nielson

Blessings, on Blessings. ❤

Something Good: This week has been a blessed one! First! Exciting news! Michael got the Priesthood yesterday!! So wonderful! We are super pumped for him! What a awesome day for him! 

We were blessed this week to see a few less actives that we I haven't been able to meet since I have been here and it was so awesome! We will even be able to go back and see them again! :) So this week I was able to give some fresh hair cuts to Patsy and Aaleigh! It was pretty crazy, we took off about 10 inches off Patsy and about 3 on Aaleigh! It made me happy to be able to cut hair again! We went with Patsy to see Garvin in the hospital again this week, and good news he should be getting out this week! He is for sure ready to go back home! 

Another good thing! We went to see Jeanette - who is not a member, but her boyfriend is a member who is less active who we go visit. I was able to also give Jeanette a hair cut this week too, which was great! They are both planning to come to church this week!! Happy! We have been just blessed with so many good lessons this week! The work is good! :)

A Tender Mercy: A sweet and simple tender mercy! We had this appointment with a guy named Cory, we had the Brother and Sister Fast come with us to meet him. He wasn't home...so we sat in the car, and Sis Fast suggested that we say a prayer before we tried to see another guy named Chris we are teaching, so we do and go over to Chris' place. He had just gotten home and was about to leave when we showed up, so we were able to see him with the Fast's for a bit! He also promised us he would be coming to church next Sunday too! Yessss! Prayer works. Even the most simple prayers can be very powerful. :)

Something Learned: So on Sunday our Relief Society lesson was on the Sacrament, and I learned something pretty awesome. Sister Bingham, who taught the lesson asked us a question,"What does the sacrament really mean?" She broke it down...Sacr means Sacred, and Ament means Mind, Sacrament= Sacred mind. Sacrifice also has a meaning, Sacr means Sacred, and Ifice means Action. Sacrifice= Sacred action. This just blew my mind because that is what the Sacrament is. The Sacrament is an action to remember Christ. I am so thankful for the time we have at church to really ponder what the Sacrament means. 

We are so lucky and blessed to have the truth of the Gospel in our lives daily! I love the Gospel, it makes me happy. I love the FTM, and I love missionary work! :) Y'all have a wonderful day now! 

-Sis Nielson

Hot days in Florida :)

Something Good: Well y'all, this week has been stellar!! First good thing..I mowed my very first lawn! Yep. Very first. If y'all know me, you know why it would be my first.  (Plus I have a Dad and brothers who always took care of the lawns at home.) Ha! But now I can mow! Notice that there is sand beneath the plants. We really are on the beach!

(Note: This photo was sent by the home owner, who said,  "My name is Deborah Pillivant. My husband passed away in December, so the Sisters and Elders have been a big help. This was so funny! She was so excited to cut it because she had not done it before.")

This week we have been able to do a lot of service for people in our ward, I love service! It is super awesome, even in the Florida heat..!  See how happy we look? Service brings happiness!

Left to right: Doing service with the Elders!  Elder Galloway, Sister Nielson, Sister Anderson and  silly-faced Elder Lambson!

This week, Garvin our gator was in the hospital, we were able to go and visit him with his parents. Spiritually he is doing awesome! He is just loving the Gospel and he loves reading talks and learning more about the church. He is such an example to me. :) 

Another good thing this week! We were able to meet this girl named Megan. We have had a hard time meeting with her, but we where able to finally meet her...we knocked on her door and she was so happy it was the missionaries! We had a great little lesson with her, it was a blessing to be able to meet her this week!  This darling child is her daughter, Zoey, who loves us so much! She is adorable!!


Chris! Okay, so our other Chris, we ended up dropping him because he wasn't willing to change. But our new Chris that we are teaching is doing great! We were able to see him this week. He is so sincere and willing to learn about the Gospel. I am so thankful for the people here on the beach that are willing to learn the Gospel! :) 

A Tender Mercy: We hit every green light. Back up! We had a lesson at 5 and dinner at 6, at the opposite sides of each other. We really thought we where going to be late to our dinner appointment, but we hit EVERY green light...y'all that never happens here..!! We got to our dinner right at 6. It was so awesome..time just froze and let us be! :) It is something so small and a little funny, but it is a another little tender mercy that the Lord showed us. <3

So tracting. Missionaries tract. And sometimes we find someone to teach, and lots of time we don't. But at this house I found something that warmed my heart - Lucy, this sweet little puppy! This also gives a glimpse of what Florida houses look like on the beach. It's hard to grow anything because of the sand and the heat. But a front porch is something people can enjoy. Shade is welcome.

Something Learned: Sometimes we need to just "move the chair." President Smith taught us a while ago about moving the chair. I have been thinking about this little analogy this week, seeing a few people having a hard time pressing forward. Sometimes when we are trying to go forward in the Gospel things happen and can block our progression, it can be hard to move forward, but if we are willing to "move the chair" or move our problems to the side and rely on God to help us, we can keep going forward. This life is such a great time to learn and to grow to become what our Heavenly Father wants us to become. I am grateful for progression, not perfection. God doesn't ask us to be perfect, but he does ask us to keep going and keep becoming better. Maybe eventually we will be perfect. But for now we know our "tries" really do count!

My testimony continues to get stronger on my mission!  I have seen the Lord's hand in people's lives, and am so thankful to have this opportunity to serve Him here in PCB.

Y'all, I know that Christ and Heavenly Father Live! They love us, they watch over us, and they are always cheering us on.

Y'all have a good peachy day!

Sister Nielson

Days and Nights and Zone Conference

Greetings from PCB, FL! 

Here is a photo of two happy missionaries! I love this girl! We have such a good time together! We are happy to be serving as companions!

A glimpse of Florida...the Sun! the heat!  Sun and Florida Lane. What could be more descriptive?

And this is Florida...swamps! Right here in Panama Beach City!

                                   And this if Florida! Magical nights! Unsurpassed beauty!

Something Good: This week was another happy week here on the beach! We got to meet our new Mission President and his sweet wife, President and Sister Smith! They are amazing!! I am so grateful for them! They sold their house and left all they had to come to our mission and serve the Lord. They are amazing examples to me, and the energy they have to serve is amazing! So blessed to be able to serve with them! Well! This week was awesome! We were given a referral and his name is Chris!  (I don't know why everyone we teach is named Chris...haha!) We met him and had such a good little lesson with him. He opened up so much and had so many questions for us. He is so ready to hear about the Gospel and we are so excited to start teaching him!

          Brother Fast - Powerful HP and Powerful PH - Priesthood Holder who blesses with Great Faith. And Great Stature!

Another good thing! We got to see the Turnage's this week. Garvin, the dad, has a few health problems, and he has to go to the hospital this week, so we asked him if he would like a blessing and he accepted. Brother Fast was able to come over and give both him and his wife blessings. It was so spiritual and so tender. I have been able to see the power of the Priesthood the past two weeks for people we are teaching, and wow! It is amazing! God's power is real. We are so blessed to have the gift of the Priesthood in our lives.

A Tender Mercy: So this week we had the chance to visit some people in our ward who are coming back to the church, and they live in a condo that is 5 flights of stairs! After the lesson they walked us to the elevator and all 6 of us got in the elevator to go down...well the elevator skitted to the ground and did not open..and then their son started to freak out saying that his friend had gotten stuck in the elevator just a few days before, and were in it for 3 hours! So we all kinda start freaking out...because first, it was 9 p.m. and second, there was no way I wanted to be stuck in a small elevator with 6 people. So both sis A and I said a quick prayer and after a few minutes of trying to go up instead of down, the elevator opened and we didn't get stuck! Okay y'all, you never realize what relief is, until you get out of a elevator situation! Haha...but I am thankful that we were able to get out and that we made it home on time! A sweet relieving tender mercy for sure! :)

Something Funny: funny story: So we did service and I wore these sandals and colorful socks. (Y'all know the fashion is unmatched socks, right?)  But I forgot to bring other shoes to change into! So I got to wear these pretties for the rest of the day - in a skirt. LOL!






Something Learned: We had a zone conference to meet our new Mission President and wife, President and Sister Smith!

It was a great meeting! Something that Sister Smith said has been on my mind is "Heavenly Father knows the sound of each of us." I love that so much, because it is true. No matter who we are, what we are going through, He knows us, He hears us and loves us. Just like a mother knows the sound of her child. I have really thought about this and it made me think, "Do I know the sound of Heavenly Father? Do I listen to the Holy Ghost when God is trying to teach me or tell me something I need?" I am grateful for moments to help us learn the sound of Heavenly Father and the times that we have to learn more about Him daily in the scriptures and in prayer. I love the Gospel. It makes me so happy and I am so grateful for the time I have been given to serve Him and to bring others to his fold! God is good, y'all, He is good! D&C 122: 8. Jesus is the Christ, he is the Greatest Gift to us all!

Blessed to live in a free country! Blessed to be able to serve my Heavenly Father!

 Love y'all, peaches! -Sis Nelson

 P.S. Here are some pictures sent by ward member Stacie Fast:

This is Brother and Sister Fast's home and we are emailing on P-Day.

This is how we write real letters - the kind you put stamps on the envelopes!! We are real missionaries!!

Another thing we do on P-Days is buy things we need - like shampoo. A girl must have shampoo!

Hi from the store!

And another very important P-Day activity - Laundry!

Hahaha! Well, missionaires have to stay clean! Have a great week!