Ministering Angel, Peace and Getting Real

Mom, My heart hurts for the passing of sweet Grandma Johnson on Wednesday afternoon. I wish so badly I could be there with y'all, but I know she would want to me stay here. And I have felt she is happy. Happy to be home with Grandpa. I love her and will miss her so much, but so grateful she could be with our family for just a while. Please send my regards to those at the funeral. I have had a lot of peace these past few days, after a few weeks of hardship I have finally felt peace, and I know a lot of it is Grandma giving me help and love. I am thankful for the Plan of Salvation and know it is real. I have gotten all your letters and am so thankful. So thank you, thank you! I am all better. Thank you for the prayers and love. I really do feel it every day. Even those hard days. I am grateful for you all. I love you tons, I will be praying for y'all, and you especially mom. I love you lots.

My week: Wow, this week has just gone by SO fast, I don't even know where to begin! I first want to say, to be real to everyone who reads my blog, Missions are SO HARD. Do I complain? Yes. Have I cried a lot!? Oh yes. Do I miss my family and friends? Oh you better believe it. But do I love my Savior? Yes. Why am I on a mission? Because I love Him. I chose to do this. I chose to take my time and give it to Him. Why? Because He has given me EVERYTHING. Could I do more? Yes. Am I happy I am on a mission? 99% of the time, yes. Why is it not 100%? Well because 1% of the mission is hard. Satan is real and he has tested me and brought me to my lowest. But God - He has brought me to my highest. I don't think I would be where I am if the mission was easy all day, every day. But hey, I love my mission. I love my time to my Savior. Anyway, onto the week that flew by!

Monday: Monday was once again, SO fun! We went to the Zoo, with the Wights - Sis Wight and little Sophia, oh my heavens, it was great! We fed the giraffes and it was just a great time.

The Zoo here in Gulf Breeze is actually pretty good, they have a lot of animals they probably don't have in Utah, like this Florida 'gator! Proof I was in Florida, guys! So I am super glad we were able to go! I love the Wight family so much. Monday night was also fun! We showed the Myers (Recent Convert) FHE, Family home Evening. If any of y'all don't know what FHE is, it is a time where families spend time together - whoever came up with it is a genius! It was fun, we were able to have a spiritual message and just have a good time together and of course....Treats!

Tuesday: Oh man, well remember how last week the Elders hid our bikes in the church? Well today we put their bikes in the trees! It was great, the best part was when they came outside the church after district mtg they didn't even notice....HA Elders. Anyways!

Here we are as a district, having our district meeting, of course. We give each other encouragement, lessons, and motivation to keep on keeping on in our missionary work! Tuesday was good, we went to see a lady named Charmane. She is super sweet and so loving. She always lets us in, we were able to share a quote and a Mormon Message..."Things That Matter Most" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjl9oNUApKg It is a good one! We then went to see Miss Joyce. Oh Joyce! She is so funny! She calls me her daughter and I just love her a ton. We shared a scripture and visited with her. Sometimes people just need a visit. Yeah? Well, Tuesday night we had dinner with the other Myers in our ward, and I was DYING...okay not really dying but I was SICK. I still wanted to go see people, but my dear thoughtful companion told me we needed to go home so I could get better, so we did! And boom. I am better! Finally! It sucks to be sick as a missionary. #theworst

Wednesday: Oh this day.....well we didn't have a car....so we BIKED. Mmmmhmm. If you really want to know how I feel about bikes, y'all can ask my mom, she knows. Anyways! We biked ALL day, well probably not all day, but for 3 hours in the FLORIDA HEAT AND HUMIDITY. Yep. Oh it was just SO fun, I guess the good outcome was two things. 1, We went to see Sister Scheaffer and had a great lesson with her, and 2, I got more tan! It was kinda crazy because the day we ride our bikes NO ONE IS HOME, I REPEAT: NO ONE. But hey! God likes to be funny sometimes. But it was good exercise and I got to wear my new CUTE helmet. Wednesday night we had dinner with the Adams. They are such a good family - a cute couple and good food! We went with sister Adams to go see Brenda. It was nice she was home, and we got to visit her for a bit. Wednesday night we also had correlation with our mission leader Brother Harris. He is a cool guy. If you need something to study this week, How about Sanctification. He talked to us about that. Yes, a big word, but ah, so good. I can tell y'all I definately need to work on being more Sanctified. It was a good time! Thursday: Thursday morning we went to help with food orders! It is about an hour away, but totally worth it! I love doing service...if there is one thing I have come to love, it would be dang service. Who would have guessed? Yes my family is probably so shocked, but my mother is probably delighted. Haha. Anyways! Service. Love that stuff.

We had lunch with Sister Dagenais and her husband Jacques. He is from Canada and speaks FRENCH! Shout out to Rhett, French! Jacques is not a member, but it was a fun time, they are good people. Thursday afternoon we did some weekly planning, guys, every Thursday!

But we got to go to helping hands today, because we had the car! Can you tell how I feel to have the car? Just had to take time to cry and be thankful for the car here. We have the car every other day, so now we go to helping hands every other Friday or Thursday so it was nice! Thursday evening we had dinner with the Wights...yes we hang out with them a lot, but we love them!!

Thursday night we went to our Relief Society activity, which was fun, but guess who got her mission call! VANESSA! FINALLY!!! AHHHH!! And...she is going to the ANAHEIM CALIFORNIA SPANISH SPEAKING MISSION!!! We are SO HAPPY FOR HER! So happy, it brought a lot of memories back to me! #ohhappytimes Friday: Friday! We went to see a less active lady named Vicki, with Sis Bradbury. Oh I love Vicki. She is awesome. She also has the cutest boys ever! We shared with her a Mormon message, I think it is called "A Mother's Hope." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ssHhzi7alI Very good Mormon message! Super good! We went to do service for Angel again, but this time is was easy and fast! All we did was pull weeds and guess what...we walked home! We walked on 98, they call it "Bloody 98" Because it is a very dangerous road to walk or bike, its a good thing we have God on our side protecting us! Sister Schlaffer came and picked us up, and we went to the church and she taught us more about FH (Family History!) familyserach.org, is awesome! Go check it out! :) She took us out to Wendys! I don't even remember the last time I had Wendy's so it was fun! Friday night was fun, we went back to the church and played Volleyball! #killenit. Saturday: Wow, today was AWESOME! We had 3 lessons that we did NOT plan. God is so good to us. We saw a lady named Tracy and we got to meet her daughter and granddaughter. We shared with them about the Book of Mormon, and explained what it was all about - gotta love that book! #ITISTRUE! We then went to see a less active family, the Coopers. They have a son who is 9 named Camden. He is such a sweet spirit. We go inside and Camden asks us if we can teach him, and uh, yeah! Oh and he wants to be baptized so bad! So we were able to teach him a lesson and at the end of the lesson he gave such a sweet prayer. I know there is a reason why Christ says we need to be like a child, humble and meek. Even though he is only 9, he has the biggest spirit. So sweet. We went to see Joyce again and guess what!? We gave her a church tour! It was AMAZING! All she could say was how impressed and how amazing our church building was...but we all know, the Spirit was there! So cool. She told us she will come to church soon! Ah we are praying! Saturday night we had dinner with the Marshalls! Love that family. Saturday later night we played B-Ball with the Elders...mmhmm. I won, j/k... but I think I am getting better?! ;) Ah Saturday was a good day! Thank you Heavenly Father! #Blessedday Sunday: Sundays are one of my favorite days. A day to think about my relationship with Heavenly Father and God. Our ward has been focusing on families. First I would love to say, how thankful and how blessed I am for my family. They mean the world to me, and I am reminded everyday how wonderful they are. I am thankful for the Plan of Salvation, especially now. All I can say and testify is that families are forever. Why would God gives us families, if they weren't forever? So thankful for that precious gift. Family. Thankful for the Nielson Clan of mine. Love y'all so much. Oh it was so awesome! Isaac who was just recently baptized was able to pass the sacrament today!!! Oh we were SO happy, he looked so happy and so thrilled. Love this Gospel. Sunday afternoon we were invited to have lunch with Joyce and her Husband Carl, Vanessa came with us and it was a wonderful time! Once again, I just love EVERYONE here so much. Sunday was just a great lovely day. Overall this week has been great! Time is flying and I hate it, because I know my time is short, so I am trying to make it the best! Finding the moments that really do count. Moments to serve my Savior. I love Him and I love the Gospel with all my heart. This church is true. No one can tell me it is not, and even though missions are hard, the Savior knows how we feel. He was felt all my pain, all my sadness, but he has also felt all my happiness. I love Him and I love this work. I am so, so, so blessed to be here in the Florida Tallahassee Mission. Thank y'all for the love and support and prayers! I love y'all Big! Sister Nielson

I Love Gulf Breeze!!

This week has been FULL of crazy, good, shocking things, but overall my heart is FULL. It is kinda crazy how missionary time goes. Weeks fly by, days are either super fast or super slow, but every moment, minute, hour counts! #Wanttobeamissionaryforever Monday: In the real would people do not like Monday, but Monday on a mission is the best! Monday afternoon we went out with a girl named Vanessa (Crossing our fingers she will get her mission call this week!) We went out to get Frozen Yogurt, at a place called "Sweet Frog." I think sweets are good for the soul a lot of the time:) We went shopping...but hey! I only bought One shirt instead of two! That's good, ya? It was a good time with her! Monday night, we had dinner with the Smith's and we had FHE with them, then they took us to get snowcones...snowcones in September!? Haha, ya pretty RAD! Overall, a goooooood day! Tuesday: WE GOT OUR CAR TAKEN AWAY. Uh yeah, okay back up story....so Tuesday, we had our normal district meeting, which was great! Sister Kinghorn spoke and taught about attitude! We all went out to Whataburger for lunch as a district...than we get a text from the ZL's saying we needed to call them (SCARY) So we call them..."Hey sisters we are taking your car, another set of sister missionaries needs it in Dothan, we will be there in 40 minutes to come get it." OKAY! So in less than 2 hours we were carless! So we are now in a car share with the Navarre Sisters! Which is....good. Haha! Riding bikes here we come! Tuesday was kinda crazy, but Tuesday night was fun! The Stubbs took us out to dinner and Sis Stubbs took us out to see people! Super sweet girl. Love her!!

Wednesday: Oh man....we ate WAY to much food today! Wednesday morning Sis Schlaffer took us out to breakfast to a cute place called "Sail In" she is awesome! Wednesday afternoon we went to a lady's home named Patty, she isn't a member, but she knows Mormons and lived in Utah for a bit! Woot!! We had a nice lunch with her and it was great! We went to see Sis Scheaffer, and we talked about Christlike love with her, something I have been working on for sometime now, it made me think, "Am I loving like Christ would?" Christlike love, it can get to you! Wednesday night some of the sisters in our ward took us out to dinner with Mitzi, who came back to visit, it was super fun with all of them! :) Thursday: Thursday! We went to breakfast with the sisters and had a fun time with them! We did some awesome weekly planning and updated a lot of things, since we will be riding bikes and since we don't have our old GPS anymore! Thursday night I was able to receive a blessing from Brother Smith, something that I really needed. Something I have learned while being out here, that it is okay not to be okay. It was nice to hear what Heavenly Father needed me to hear from Him. I am thankful for blessings.

Friday: Friday! I wore my new shirt - pretty Florida looking, eh? In the morning Sister West and Brother West took us out to "Sail In" (Again this week hahah!) We had a nice time with them. We went to see a lady named Dawn. Her husband is a member but he is in the hospital right now, so we went to see how she was doing. She is from London, and oh, I love her accent so much! We then did our weekly service at Helping Hands! Super fun! After that, we went to visit Sister Wight, I love the Wight's so much! Friday night we had dinner with the Smith's with the other sisters, then went to play volleyball! Still no bueno at that sport! Ha! But I love it! Saturday: Saturday Vanessa took us to our farthest area to see some former investigators and try people we haven't tried before! It was super fun with her! We were able to meet a lady named Tracy we are hoping to see again, and we saw Kathy, which is always a nice time! Friday afternoon we biked to the church from our apartment...and it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (cause I thought I was going to die!) But I am still alive, probably because the weather was super nice! :) Saturday night we had dinner with the Marshall's. Oh and I realized that I have a cold...but as a missionary, you just gotta keep going! Sunday: I love Sundays! I love church and I love having a day to remember Christ. It is always so nice. After Church we went to see a girl named Carolyn. She is awesome. We were able to teach her the Restoration. Her mom is a new member and wants Carolyn to experience what the church is like, too! But funny story....! Her dog peed on my FOOT! It was the funnest thing...but hey! Her Aunt hurried and came over and washed my feet - it was so sweet, but so funny! I guess I am now marked as that dog's "territory" Haha so great!

Here we are with Brother Taylor at the Church parking lot. We had dinner with the Taylor's, and they are one of the best families too! Man, just EVERYONE here is the best. My heart is full because of the love I feel here. I am so thankful to be here in Gulf Breeze. Gulf Breeze will always be my favorite area, with my favorite people. Overall a good week, I love my mission. I love our Savior. I hope to be like Him one day, though I am far from it, but everyday I try. Quote of the week. "We would do well to slow down a little, proceed at the optimum speed for our circumstances, focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly see the things that matter most." -President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. (Love that man.) Hope y'all have a good week! I love y'all lots! Sister Nielson

Yippee! A Baptism!!

Monday: Monday we had a GOOOOD P-day! Sister West took us out the whole P-day!

We went to lunch to this Japanese Restaurant...and guess what I ate!?! Octopus. It was very chewy and just weird. Probably something I won't ever eat in my life again. But hey, A for effort!?

Then we got our NAILS done. Everyone, this is a BIG deal. Just kidding. But hey it is nice to have Gel nails again for a bit, also I was able to talk to this older man, who was getting a manicure right next to me about the Gospel, so it was a win-win for both of us! Haha!

We got way good ice cream that was so much needed in the heat! (Is it Fall yet in Utah?) We visited this older lady named Clara in a retirement home, oh my heart was melted! She was the sweetest thing. Something that made me laugh Clara said..."They sure do make missionaries cute nowadays." She was just so cute and so nice. (She reminded me a lot of my sweet Grandma! Shout out to you Grandma! I love you!) Monday was just a fun good day!! :)

Tuesday: Tuesday, we had our last District meeting with our District Leader, Elder Christensen (second row, at the back) who is getting transferred! And so is Sister Kirton (second row in the front in royal blue) who is serving in Navarre. We had a good last District meeting and had a little pizza party to say goodbye and all. I will miss them, but hey! Elder Christensen is now in Thomasville, Georgia and Sister Kirton is now in Dothan, Alabama, and our new District leader is Elder Hatori, he is from California and is half Japanese and Hawaiian! (Asian unity!) His photo is below with the Saturday pictures. He is cool! Tuesday we taught a lesson about church and prayer and scriptures to Joyce, and invited her to come to church. She has had some hard patches in her life, but is so kind and knows Heavenly Father has watched out for her. She is amazing! Tuesday night we had dinner with the Alvarez family. Vanessa Alvarez who is my age should be getting her mission call THIS week! We are SOOOOO EXCITED for her! She is going to be the BEST missionary out there.

So here we are in our clean, clean kitchen, grinning at the end of a super successful day! Do we look happy? Mission work is awesome! What a great day! Wednesday: I always thought Wednesday was spelled like "Wensday" till coming out on the mission...hahah...random funny moment I had. Today was a good day! We did a lot of contacting and met a lady named Susan, who let us in her house and gave us some water and we talked to her for a bit. She isn't a member but we could tell she really needed someone to talk to, so it was sweet. Her mother paints and is an amazing artist! Susan's house is full of art work. She showed us all the art work, and I just loved it SO much! I really believe if you go into someone's home and look at pictures on the wall and ask about who are in them or whatever is on their walls is a GREAT way to learn about who they are. Haha - it is kind of funny because sometimes I will just stand up and look at pictures because I love learning about THEM. It was a nice visit!

Wednesday night we had a GREAT lesson with the Myers, we showed them the video "LIFT" and after watching it, Isaac starting crying. It was so sweet because he told us he has a testimony about service and wanted to share his testimony at his baptism. We are SO excited for him. Then he showed me how to play with lasers. Should I audition for the next Star Wars series? I don't think so, either. But that was a fun activity at the Myers' house.

Thursday: Thursday morning we got up and went right to help with food orders...and as you can see I tried on a helmet. Always wondered what I would look like in a helmet. Pretty silly with a dress, right? Okay, that was random.

But - good news! Guess who is in our zone now...SISTER STRADINGER!!! In case you forgot who she is, here is here picture from the Half Mission Conference two weeks ago: She got transferred to Fox Run, so now I will see her a little more than before! If there is someone I hope to be like when I grow up, it might be Sister Stradinger. Love that girl. We did our normal weekly planning, but while we were talking to Sister Woolstenhulme on the phone, Sister Kinghorn picked up this shell I found at the sound a few weeks ago and started screaming because there was a DEAD CRAB in it....oh my gosh. It smelled SO BAD! Anyways back up story about this shell....just a few weeks ago we went to the sound with one our of members on Sunday and I found this beautiful shell, pretty far away from the water, and so I asked Sister Hall if I could take it and she told me that there might be a hermit crab in it, so we put it down and waited to see if it would come out...well it never did and we tried to poke a stick in it to see if anything would happen. Well nothing did, so I thought it was safe enough to take home...well I was sure wrong because there was a crab in it and little did we know....till 2 weeks of having the shell in our apartment. So yes. Sister Kinghorn and I are somewhat crab killers but, lesson learned. ;) Do crabs stink when they die!? Answer: YES. Thursday night was fun because we were able to make the programs for Isaac's baptism with Sister West and get a few things ready for Sunday! Friday: Friday!!! Friday we went to see Kathy,and talked about Christlike LOVE. The Language of love. It has been one of my favorite lessons to teach, because love can be taken in SO many ways, but the perfect love is Christlike love. I always say this but every lesson we teach to Kathy is something that I, Sister Nielson always need. I always laugh because really I am just teaching myself what I need. Haha, it is great. "Charity is love in action." -President Thomas S Monson. Sure do love that quote. We went to Helping Hands and did our normal service there and guess what!? They donated us a NEW couch for our apartment...our old couch smelled like Elders with BO. Mmmhmmm so nasty. So we are SO thankful to them, plus it is white and we got super cute pillows for it! Yep, we are so stoked about our new couch! A blessing from Service! Peggy and Tammy were SO giddy about giving it to us, it was so cute. Friday night we had a fun dinner with the Hogans, we went to the church to meet the Myers for Isaac's baptism interview which went super good! Overall a good day! :)

Saturday: Saturday morning we had cooralation with our ward mission leader, and we got to go to his dock with the Elders. How cool is this photo? Elder Thompson and Elder Hitori are in the background. Isn't the Gulf of Mexico something special? (Note: we are NOT on the beach!) Then went and picked up the couch with Trena - YAY! That was fun!

And here is a picture of our District Leader, Elder Hitori! He is in the background. He is part Japanese, so now I am not the only Asian in my District! This is the Meyer's garage. And while were were there...

I got to CUT some hair! Probably one of my FAV things to do as service here on the mission! I was able to cut Brother Myers and Isaac's hair for the baptism on Sunday! (Gotta look good right?) It was super fun! Brother Myers brother, and his wife came out for the baptism so we were able to meet them and visit...so I cut their hair outside...in the humidity and heat...mmhmmm, let me tell you. it was HOT. All I wanted was it to rain...and guess what happened!? Oh Rain. Haha. So funny. Even though I was sweaty and sticky, I loved it all!

Sunday: BEST DAY on the mission! Sunday Isaac was BAPTIZED! It was such a sweet baptism. Brother Myers was able to baptize him, and his uncle was able to confirm him, oh it was just wonderful! Earlier that day we were talking to Brother Myers and he was telling us how he has found his testimony, after Isaac was baptized he told us that he had this anger and hurt, but now it is all gone. Oh wow, I just LOVE that so much!! How awesome. His mom, who isn't a member, sang "How great thou Art" which was so beautiful. I am just so happy for them. It has been amazing to see this family come closer to Christ together. That is what missionary work is all about. I am grateful. I love my Savior, I love who He is and His sacrifice for us, so that one day we will all be able to be with Him again. I am grateful for everyone I meet and everyone that we get to talk about Christ to. It is the best thing in the world. I know that He Lives. He is real. He was the perfect example to all. I love y'all! Sis Nielson!

Staying in Gulf Breeze!

Alright everyone this week has been kinda everywhere! But it has been good! :) I AM STAYING IN GULF BREEZE FOR ANOTHER 6 WEEKS. BOOM BABY. (Thank you to everyone who prayed that I would stay - much love) ;) Wednesday: We met an awesome lady named Patricia. She is a former investigator, and we felt like we needed to go and see her, so we did. Boom. We were able to have a short lesson and she wants to meet with us again! (Inspiration at it's finest!) We were able to see Sister Schaeffer and her husband Bryan who is not a member, but he sits in on all the lessons so that is awesome!! We had a great lesson with the Myer's about the Priesthood and missionary work two big topics that are pretty unique about our Church! Isaac is pretty excited to receive the Aaronic Priesthood soon after he is baptized! How awesome is that! It has been so amazing to see both David and Isaac grow closer together because of the Church and how the Priesthood has become so much more to them in a short period of time! So cool.

Thursday: Thursday was a good day! We did splits with Sister West and Sister Adams! I went with Sister West and Sister Kinghorn went with Sister Adams! Splits are SO fun. If y'all ever have a chance to do them, I would totally do it!

So these are notes we made to "fork" people (as opposed to heart attack them). They are glued to plastic forks and we can stick them in places by their doors, so they find the note even if we don't see them. Fun stuff! Before we did splits, Sister West took us to see a lady in our ward name Vicki Bond. She is less active but is so cool and has the cutest boys ever! Her husband is researching different churches to go to - he hasn't been too interested in church till now! Vicki's parents are very active in the church and are helping her direct her husband to the right resources to learn about our church. So she is hoping he will start coming to church with her and the boys when he comes back from Germany! (Fingers crossed.) So Splits: Sister West and I were able to go visit a few ladies in our ward, one lady (I totally forgot her name :o!) but she is from Norway! She is the sweetest lady ever! It was super fun to visit new people I haven't met since being in the ward, so I am thankful we got to go! It was a busy day but super fun! :) Oh, PS: Y'all remember Angel we did service for about 2 weeks ago!? Well guess what!? She is now wanting to meet with us! We get to see her this coming up week! I am so excited to teach her! Friday: Friday was awesome, we did some service for Kathy. We were able to clean out her toy box and around it. See? I can do that kind of service! ;) I have come to found out that service can soften people's hearts and I love doing it! I like to think that Christ, all he did was serve and he was probably super happy doing it. Service! Mmmhmm. We went to Helping Hands thrift store and did our service work there. One of the workers named Peggy - she is so sweet and I just love her to death, well I found this Book of Mormon in the back room and went up to her and said "Hey! You should read this, this is a good book!" And she took it and said she would! Sometimes all we have to do is just OPEN our mouths. Oh man. How freaking scary is that!? Oh it is. But something we learned last week at Half Mission Conference was...one drop of fear is Satan. Fear comes from him. Christ probably talked to everyone. I am still learning how to do that! But hey, learning is good. ;)

Friday night we had dinner with the Marshall's....mmmhmmm I tried sushi for the second time....and....lets just say even though I look Asian....Sushi is not my thing. But! Grateful for food! Saturday: Well Saturday we were doing studies and got a text from the ZL's about a hurricane...! I guess there are hurricanes in FL!?!? J/K. So they asked us to get our 72 hour kits all together... so we went through them and of course the food we had in the kits were expired! Classic. We were given an hour to go to the store and get water and whatever we needed, so we did. But I guess now we are okay and no one should worry!?! :) But hey! I think the Scout saying is "Be prepared," ya? We went to a fun little party for the Wight's family welcoming their newly adopted kids, Aiden and Sophia. We are so happy they have them! :) Today was Isaac's birthday party so we went over there for a bit and had a fun time talking and hanging out with them! We went to see Max today too, we shared with him Faith. He is so strong. He is going through a lot in his life but always says he knows he will be okay. His mom, Joyce, who isn't a member wants to feed us soon! She is great! Saturday night we had a fun dinner at the Bradbury family home! They are in our ward and have 3 boys! I seriously LOVE everyone in our ward.

Here is a photo of Chris,who I talked about in my July 14, 2015 blog post. He lives in our complex and "has our back." He is the one who watched "The Hope of God's Light" https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-07-006-the-hope-of-gods-light?lang=eng with his wife and really felt the Spirit. He is awesome! Sunday: Wow...you know how they say Sunday is a day for rest!?! UH, NOPE. While you are a missionary it is not! Hahah! It was a busy day but a good one!! ;) Every 5th Sunday our ward does a pot luck! So after church we had a potluck lunch...so much food it was awesome! After the pot luck we went and to see Patricia again! We taught her the Restoration...but the catch was...! We had our lesson outside in the blistering heat with Mexican music blasting in the background...but hey! It still went well, she asked a lot of questions and wants to learn more!

A girl named Jade from the Navarre ward was baptized today as well! We went to the baptism for a little while and had to leave early for our dinner appointment with the Taylor's! Cool story there....we had a little thought planned, but our lesson for the Taylor's went a lot different then I thought! It is way cool how the Spirit works, but it works! We had a killer lesson with them! Sunday night we had a lesson with the Myers and guess what!!? We set a BCD (Baptism Confirmation Date) with Isaac for this coming Labor Day Weekend! David was ordained a Priest today as well so he will be able to baptize Isaac! We are SO excited for both of them.

Overall our week has been a good one! Satan has tried to annoy me a bit, but I have Christ to help me. Anything and everything is possible because of Him. I am grateful for my mission and the chance I have to serve the Savior. I am grateful for everyone I meet and see and talk to, because everyone is a child of God. I didn't really think about that before the mission but now I really do know EVERYONE is a child of God and that is all Heavenly Father wants is for His Children is to come back home to Him, and that is WHY I am here, to help HIS children come home. I hope everyone has a blessed week! Thank y'all for the love and support! - Sister Sabrina Nielson ;)

Amazing and Wonderful!

One word to describe this week!? Actually two...Amazing and Wonderful! Tuesday: On Tuesday we had a district meeting, we had our ZL's (Zone leaders) came and they taught about teaching. It is always a good time when they come.

Guess what! We found out we can NOT go to the BEACH anymore...good thing we went the day before we found out...!!Super bummed about that, but hey! We couldn't even go in so it is okay! .....Goodbye, beautiful Florida beach....I will miss you. But the work goes on! Tuesday afternoon we did some AWESOME service for Angel, the lady we met two weeks ago. She was SO grateful for the service we did, the Elders mowed the lawn and cut bushes and we did the weeding...hmmm...who did the harder job? I'll let y'all decided on that one. ;) Service: I like to think it is the outward love to show our love to God's children. Just like the Mormon message Lift, service does lift, it lifts hearts, and brings smiles. I love service...still not the dirt and sweat. Ha!

Tuesday late afternoon my sweet companion and I dressed in matching shirts (have you noticed that striped shirts and print skirts are in style this year?). We were able to go meet a new family in our ward,they are actually from Utah! Woot woot! I am excited to get to know them! We had a great dinner with the Cronin family, we taught them about prayer, scriptures and church and why and how they are such a good foundation in our lives. I think it is pretty cool that they are linked together...God is smart! :) Wednesday: Today was a good day! We went by and saw the Myers, they are such a good family! I love them lots! We were able to try to contact a few families, which is always a good time in Florida in August...mmmhmm. Love the heat so much...! Wednesday night we didn't have a dinner appointment, but a ward member gave us money to go get Whataburger (best burger place here in Navarre...haha) We are so spoiled here! I am so so thankful. Wednesday night we had correlation meeting where we talked to our ward mission leader about mission work. It was awesome! Thursday: Thursday! Weekly planning always! But I have learned...if we don't get distracted..which we do a lot of the time...;) we can get weekly planning done faster! Crazy huh!? Mind blown. Hahah! But I am thankful for the time that we do have to plan. Planning is good! Something I will always do because of what I have learned about it here on the mission! Thursday evening we had a great lesson with Wendy and Issac about tithing and fast offerings! It hit me pretty hard that tithing is so important! While we were talking about it and how Heavenly Father will give us blessings because we pay tithing and fast offerings, I thought about it, and really Heavenly Father doesn't need our money...He created money...so why would He need it? It is His already...I think it is a way for us to show our faith and devotion to Him. Do we have enough faith to pay 10% of our earnings? Faith is key. A good lesson for me, a good lesson for all! We had such a fun dinner with the Atkinson family and the Hall family. They are are fun and I am grateful for FOOD. Happy belly...happy Sister Missionaries. Ha! Friday: Friday is always a good day in Gulf Breeze! We were able to see Kathy and share with her a message about callings, she is coming back to church now and is hoping for a calling super soon! Callings are awesome! Sister Kinghorn spoke in church about magnifying our callings, so she was able to share some of her talk to Kathy...SHOUT OUT TO MY COMP for speaking in church last Sunday! YOU KILLED IT. ;)

Anyways! We were able to do some fun, good service at Helping Hands! I love that place, if y'all ever come to Gulf Breeze FL, Helping Hands is a must to go. Favorite store here. The manager, Steve, is the funniest person ever! Today he told me while I was organizing the costumes, "You don't need a costume" "Why not!?" I asked. Steve: "You're already a Princess." Okay how nice is he. Favorite. The people and the love - so great. And thank you, Sister Kinghorn, for the photo-bomb silly face. So, I really felt like we needed to visit Max, so we did. He is struggling a lot more than he was before, so it was good to share him a uplifting message. We had a fun dinner with the Bank's family in our ward! We do volleyball every Friday night, and a lot showed up this week! It was great! Guys! I can hit the ball! Haha woot! Saturday: Saturday was fun! Today was Issac's birthday! He is now 14! We got him a few things and balloons for his birthday which is was really fun! We did some service for the Cooper's. They are in our ward, but less active! But once again...service can lift the soul! We were able to clean her boys' room...let me tell ya...3 little boys in one room....mmhmm...crazy messy! But! It is now all clean! Sister Cooper, is a small lady..but she is good at getting things done. She is one of my favorite ladies here. Saturday night, Sister Long took us out to dinner to Cactus Flower, a way good Mexican restaurant - I highly recommend it! It comes close to Mi Ranchito back home! We had a fun fun time playing basketball! Saturday night had a Sister mission call, which means all the Sisters in the mission were on a conference call, the head STLs (Sister Training Leaders) came up with an idea to fast on Sunday for Monday, to receive guidance at our Half Mission Conference, it was wonderful! Saturday = Good day! Sunday: Sunday was awesome! I love, love, love church in our ward. It is funny going to ward counsel meetings! Who would have thought...me going to one of those! Ha. Super great! We had a fun time with the Hall's, we went to their house, they took us to the Sound...the water before the beach! I found a stellar seashell! Yep. We had a great dinner with Kathy, and guess what!!? She came to a lesson with us that night to the Myers! Let us think about this! Sister Kathy Thompson, not going to church at all for over a year, but now coming back to church and now feeding us and GOING to lessons with us...How amazing is that!?! Heavenly Father is SO good to his children. That is the beauty of the Gospel,to see other progress in this work. So Wonderful. Sunday night we went to the Woolstenhulme's and it was a good time with them, talking about families...reminded me how AWESOME MY FAMILIA IS. Love you guys!

Monday: MONDAY! Usually we have P day on Monday, but this Monday we had a Half Mission Conference which means, half of our mission met.

I got to reconnect with Sister Stradinger, from the Provo MTC! That was so cool!

Here is me, Sister Kinghorn and Sister Stradinger with our awesome Mission President, Pres. Smith

And here we are with our Mission President's wife, Sister Smith! She is so loving and wonderful! And the Smith's are from American Fork, Utah, so close to where I live. We heard from some great leaders! Elder Brett Nielson and his wife came, and also Elder Vern Stanfill and his wife came. They both are AMAZING! At the end of the meeting, my brain was full of spiritual knowledge. Some of the things that really stuck out to me, Sister Nielson talked about Holiness. What is Holiness and why is it so important for missionary work? The Holiness of everyday life, all we need to do is look more in depth about our lives. Yes missionary work is hard and somedays we want to give up! But are we looking at those kind of days as Holy? Example of that - let's say someone rejected us? What is so Holy about that? Well that person is one step closer than they were before. They now have heard a bit of our message about Christ. That is holiness. I love that so much! Elder Nielson talked about the enabling power of the Atonement... using Elder Bednar's talk. The Atonement can strengthen us, although it might not be able to change our situation, but it can give us the strength and guidance we need. Something Elder Nielson taught...Salvation never comes for a cheap price. It was never easy for Christ to sacrifice for us, so why would it be easy for us? Mind blown again. I thought about this and was like WOW, YEAH. I get it! *Light bulb* Anyways! So many good lessons learned. Elder Stanfill talked about how we are true witnesses of the gospel. "Missionary Work is a work of witnesses." That is what we do! We witness that Christ lives! That the fullness of the gospel is here on the earth again! So cool. Sister Stanfill talked about Unity. "There are no passengers, only crew members on our ship." Unity that we are united as one! Overall Monday was just a great day! I loved every minute of our conference!

I love this work. It is so fun! Once mission work becomes mission fun work, it truly can change our hearts. I am grateful for the hard times, because that is when we learn the most, just as President Spencer W. Kimball would say. "Give me this Mountain. Give me another challenge." Thank you so much for all your support and love towards me! I am so blessed and so thankful for y'all. Quote of the week. "What matters in our life is what we do for the Savior." -Sister Stanfill. Every day matters, all we need to do is "Go forth with a twinkle in our eye, a smile on your face but with great and strong purpose in your heart." -President Hinckley. I LOVE YOU. -Sister Sabrina Nielson

Sweaty, Scary, and Small and Simple Moments

Good news! The Wight's in our ward, won the fight for the kids. So prayer are answered and now they will have two beautiful children. Adoption is awesome. This week in a one word description: Odd. (Different.) This week, I have seen Satan do his work. He is real. He knows how to discourage you, and let me tell you...IT IS SO ANNOYING. But there are always good things to come. God never leaves. He just lets us endure them, makes sure we have learned a few things, rely on Him, and then He jumps in and gives us a good moment, to remember he is there! That was this week.

It's like these crazy Florida storms. A few nights ago I was up all night, just thinking and praying to know what to do. It is REALLY hard to humble yourself when you are discouraged and upset and just sad. This week has been rough, but it is okay! The storms in Florida end, and then we have sunshine and beautful days. I have come to a conclusion that Heavenly Father lets everything fall apart, so better things will come. It is annoying and makes me wonder, but in reality I am thankful! Monday: Sister Kinghorn and I had a good P-day! We went to get some good frozen yogurt, which is always so nice in weather like Florida. Mondays are a good day, who would have ever thought? Usually people don't like Mondays but I love them. Haha. We had dinner with a family named the Stubbs. Shout out to them. They are super sweet and I adore them so much!

Tuesday: Tuesday was HOT. Trying to talk to people OUTSIDE in FL in the middle of the day is just plain torture...but we tried! (A for effort?) No one really wanted to talk to us. Others didn't care for us and that is okay, but we did talk to one! His name is Paul Towel. He is one funny guy, definitely very southern, he even has a beer belly. (Something about the south...a lot of men think it is okay to hang outside with no shirt...haha ya...) But he let us in an gave us ice cream, probably because he felt bad or he saw the gallons of sweat we both had, either way super nice. We had a fun dinner with the Smith's and that always cheers up the day! Wednesday: Today was also very hot, but we saw Sis Scheaffer. We were able to do some service for her and it is always a good time with her. We are working with her about the Christlike attributes, it is kinda funny every time we talk about one, it is always one that I need a reminder about. We met a lady named Angel, she is a single mom, also a military lady, but super cool. We aren't teaching her, but we are going to be doing service for her this week! She told us, "I am a Christian with a lot of questions." Boom baby. Wednesday night was a little more scary. For the past 3 weeks we have come home and our lights have been on....it has happened to us 3 times so far. Well back up...Wednesday morning before we left, we made SURE all the lights were off... and our back door was locked...and guess what...we come home and our lights are ON...and our door was opened!! We called the other Sisters who live in our complex, too, to see if they had turned them on...and they told us they hadn't. Both Sister Kinghorn and I had really bad vibes about it all... so not feeling safe, we called the Sisters, they came over and also felt like we needed to leave. So we spent the night at the Sisters' apartment! (Good part of the story, I slept really good? For the first time my whole mission?) Anyways! Scary experience...but we are safe! So thank y'all for the prayers! Prayer WORKS! Thursday: All our appointments fell through...but we got new locks to our apartment! We are saved! Haha. We did some awesome weekly planning...and went to the church to a Relief Society dinner and activity...but for the Navarre ward, not our ward. Funny story. Sister Kinghorn and the other sisters who are in the Navarre ward went to another room and I was left to do this activity with ladies I didn't even know...haha! It was funny. But hey! I got to know some cute ladies from the Navarre ward and represent Gulf Breeze! Haha. Thursday was just an odd day, well this whole week was just odd.

So do I look odd? Sort of like a Geisha girl in a FSU tee-shirt and glasses? Well, in Florida the sun is pretty tough on your skin, so we try to take care of it (and we got all this free skin care last week...so awesome and appreciated!) This is Sister Kinghorn and I being ourselves after a long day. Friday: Friday, was good! We were walking to the Sisters' place to get some of our stuff we left, and we saw this car back out. I ran over to the car to see who it was...(Talk with everyone!!?) I started talking to this lady in her car, her name is Louise. She is from North Carolina, her son is in the Air Force. I asked her if I could back her up...(Mission rule: We have to back who ever is driving at all times.) So why not back her up? She thought it was funny. We talked to her for a little while, and all she could say was how sweet we were and how proud she was of us for going on missions. Little moments like that remind me that missionary work is simple and sweet. It hit me, we have had not the best success this week, but meeting her and brightening her day was a success. I am thankful for that little sweet and simple moment.

At the thrift shop where we give service, there is a woman named Peggy who has decided to give me little clowns. So here are some "new" clowns. Haha! Yes!!

Here are all the Sister Missionaries in Navarre and Gulf Breeze on the sugar sands of the wonderful Florida pan handle beach. Saturday: We went to see a family, the Cooper's, who are very less active, but I LOVE THEM so much. We are going to start to see them more and hopefully get them back to church as a whole family! Sister Cooper is the funniest, sweetest lady, she always tells us, no matter what, if you are hungry you come to OUR house and we will feed you. Little does she know how Christlike she is towards us. We went to see Isaac and Wendy and brother Myers. They are such a fun family. We are hoping to set a BCD (Baptism Commitment Date) with Issac and maybe even Wendy this coming week! I am thankful for them and their desire to know the Gospel. :)

SHOUT OUT TO THE WOOLSTENHULME FAMILY. WHO I LOVE AND ADORE SO MUCH. ;) Sunday: Sunday is always a good day to think about Christ. I was sitting during the sacrament thinking about all the crazy things that had happened and kinda started to laugh, because how funny it is when everything goes wrong, then you look back and you remember the little things that helped you during the week! I guess the lesson I learned was to look for the small and simple moments in missionary work. Isn't that what Christ did? He talked to people; he loved everyone; he probably laughed a lot, but also shared his love of the Gospel. I am thankful for moments like that. Sunday night we taught about the Holy Ghost, and how the Holy Ghost can be our constant companion All the time. (Pretty cool huh?) Even though this week had a lot of downs, and the ups were small, but they meant the world to me. I am thankful for a Savior who showed the BEST example of the small and simple moments to all. I love this work, even in the hot, hot, hot x 10,000,000 sun. I am blessed to be in FL. I love FL. I love Gulf Breeze. Thank y'all for your love and support! #FTMADVENTURES. Love all y'all and each ya'll. -Sis Nie Nie

#Good #Sad #Crazy #Thankful

Hi Ya'll, I will start with Tuesday, cause ya'll know what I did last Monday...

Shop!! And!! I bought a selfie stick to better to take pictures with. So here I am in our apartment bathroom showing off my new camera accessory and my best duck lips!!

And I also bought a Florida Seminole's T-Shirt (sorry Dad, Joey and Asa Alex...) It is so I will always remember my mission - not that I have served on the campus, but it is in Tallahassee where the Mission Home is, and I have been there! This is a bit of our Sister Missionary bedroom. And look! Sister Kinghorn and I are both blind without contacts or our glasses! One more thing in common! Tuesday we had a District meeting, which is always good. We talked somewhat about relying on the Spirit...how hard that can be sometimes! Sometimes all I want to do is rely on myself...because I probably have a pride disease. But I am learning to rely on the Spirit more and more. He is the key to missionary work.

We also rode our bikes today.....YES. BIKES. Y'all know I do NOT like riding bikes...but I did it for the third time and did not die. We rode probably 2 miles...and Bam! Hot and sweaty so bad, so fast, honestly I think it is disgusting and Sister missionaries should not be allowed to do so...but we were able to talk to a few people, so it was good! 2 miles was ENOUGH. Oh the joys of wearing a helmet too...so rad. And look at this awesome tan from my new replacement watch!! We had the chance to eat dinner with the Myers in our ward and talked about missionary work! Woot woot! Missionary work is AWESOME!

Wednesday: Wednesday was a good day! A lady in our ward named Mitzi was moving this week (here she is with me) so we have gone over to do some service for her and it was fun! She is moving with her son to Montana, she is the sweetest lady. I am glad she is going with family :) We went to see Sister Scheffer, and she gave us A LOT of facial/spa product that she used to sell but doesn't anymore, so she gave us probably about $200.00 worth! Crazy, but so sweet and I LOVE that stuff. #Blessed. We where able to talk about Knowledge, and how important it is, because aren't we only going to take what we learned on earth when we die? Knowledge is important :) We were able to teach our investigators the Myers about the Holy Ghost, and how the Holy Ghost can be a light to all of us. They are doing awesome! It has been a miracle to see that family grow and learn the Gospel together. Pretty sure that is what the Gospel is all about! :) Wednesday night we had dinner with the Wights! They are my favorite people ever! We made these awesome picture frames, mine has the Salt lake Temple on it, with FTM 2015-2016 below the temple. Super good day!

Thursday: Wow, let me just tell ya...Thursday! We went to Pensacola and helped with food orders, it was crazy! There were so many people but it worked out! Many hands make light work! (Right, Mother?) ;) Here are Brother Costlow and Sister Delaney and us helping at food orders! Thursday afternoon we did some planning. We have had some crazy things happen in our area, but the work GOES on! Nothing can stop the Lord's work, something I have really seen this day. Thursday night was a little more rough for me, because I had gotten word that day that my home Singles' Ward Bishop, Kim Oliver, had passed away of a heart attack. He lived right across the street from us, so I have been close to their family since I was three. He was so good to me and I sure loved him. We have taught the Plan of Salvation a lot lately, and Thursday night it really hit me, how REAL it is. How amazing that families can be together FOREVER! Wow. My heart is very thankful for that this week. Friday: Friday was great! We went to see Kathy and Brother Dolson, they both are doing so good! Both of them are now active in our ward! Woohoo!

Friday night we did exchanges and guess who came back to Gulf Breeze! Sister Stewart! My first companion! So we got to be a companions for a day! So fun and so great! We where able to go teach our other investigators about the Plan of Salvation, which again I am thankful for! Fridays are always a good day, especially being on an exchange with Sister Stewart! Saturday: Saturday it Rained A LOT, so Sister Stewart and I helped our Relief Society president at Mitzi's since one of our appointments fell through - but it was okay, we were able to do service! Sister Kinghorn went to Milton for a day and I stayed in Gulf Breeze. Saturday night was great! Our sweet investigator Brenda took us out to dinner and we were able to get to know her better, she is having a rough time in her life right now, but we were able to share about faith and hope. Two awesome words we were able to share with her. Faith and Hope are good reminders in life, especially when life is hard. Missionary Life and Regular Life are not easy. Why would we be on earth if life was easy? It would be too easy, so I am thankful we are given trials; because with them, we become closer to our Savior and our Father in Heaven. Sunday: Brenda came to church today! Woot woot! The Hall's in our ward came back from their trip so we were able to go see them and also had dinner with them! They are moving in a few weeks...sad. But it is okay! We had a lesson with the Myers' about the Word of Wisdom....such a scary topic to teach about...but it went well! #Healthylifeforever! Sunday night we went to the Woolstenhulme's and talked about Humility! And wow, did I need that!?! I think it is good to eat some humble pie sometimes, and humble ourselves towards the Savior, obviously this week has been Everything Heavenly Father needed to me to learn. I am so grateful for my Savior. I definitely am not a perfect missionary, but Christ is. Oh, I also got FLOSS from Brother Woolstenhulme. Yep. I love that stuff. Sunday, a good day!

Here is Sister Kinghorn and I on our "Search and Rescue" Mission. (Good shoes, huh?) Well, this week was good. Not every week is perfect and not every week is going to go how you want, but it is okay! I have learned that Heavenly Father knows ALL. He knows what will happen in like 4 minutes and He knows what will happen in 4 years. All we need to do is trust Him and love Him. Every day I thank Him for both the ups and downs, because I always learn more about my Savior through both of them. So grateful for missionary work. Missionary work will always be a big part of who I am and who I hope to be. This Church is true. It is real and I love it. Have a good, blessed week, y'all :) #FTMADVENTURES -Your fav missionary , Sister Nie Nie :)