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