Odd..but Good

This is our Senior Couple, Elder and Sister Dalley. They left to go home this week. They were so wonderful to work with here at the FSU Institute and FH Center. We wish them well in their future. Senior couples are so great - and so important to missionary work!

Something Good: This week has just been Odd..but Good. If two words could describe our week that would be the words! So on campus we usually OYM (Open Your Mouth) people, which means we go up to people and just start conversations and talk to them. Well, this week we have been approached! Which let me tell ya...NEVER happens. But it has been a huge blessing!! Just yesterday we where walking to go get something to eat and we see this girl and say hi to her and tell her that her dress is super cute, (it really was) ;) and she asks if we can talk for a minute. So we go over to her and she asks us if we could come to her apartment and talk with her. YES! So random...but we go over to her house and get to know her and boom! At the end, we shared her the Book of Mormon, and she wants to start reading it with us. This week we have seen that there are just people ready to hear the message of the Gospel, our job is just to be in the right place and the right time to find them. The Spirit is good! :)

So Sister Beal and I are proud owners and wearers of FSU sweatshirts! I will be wearing this often in the next few years to remind me of the oh-so-awesome time at Florida State University!You might say we are FSU Sisters! We had this amazing lesson with Jose, we had a lesson with him about fasting, and at the end he told us that he strongly believes that his prayer has been answered about what he should do,which is to fast. So he is going to fast this week! The Spirit has been working with us so much this week, and it has been awesome because one of the goals that Sis Beal and I had was to be able to recognize the Spirit as he helped us in our lessons. It really has been amazing. Another cool moment! A few weeks ago we met a guy named Jacob and invited him to do Family History. Well, we had one lesson with him, and we got stuck and couldn't find who his great, great grandfather was, so he told us that maybe we could try again later. Well, this week we met with him and we were still stuck, so we sat there for a minute and didn't know what to do. So I said a quick prayer in my heart asking for anything to help us, and boom! An idea popped into my head to look into Ancestry, so I go onto it and start digging and guess what!? We FOUND out who his great great grandpa is, which led us to so much more information! So, so, so happy! It was just amazing, the Spirit, once again! Killin' it! So even though this week has been different than most, it definately has been a Blessed Week. :) Good moments, with the Spirit. :)

Something Funny: Did y'all know that I am short? I mean really, really short? Or maybe I just look short next to Willey. He is super tall and super awesome. Talking about a random week, well there was a random funny moment on campus! Let me tell you...So we went on campus just to talk to people, I see this girl just standing by the bushes, so I go over to her to see what she is doing, well she just tells me she is just waiting for her friend to come back, so our conversation keeps going. I tell her about the church and missionaries and all that good stuff. Well her friend comes back with a bucket and a lid, I was so confused..and he goes over to the bush we are standing by and I look over and there is an OWL ON THE GROUND, RIGHT NEXT TO ME!! I freaked out for a hot minute and then I started laughing because the WHOLE time I had no idea there was an owl by me just laying on the bushes and the girl who I was talking to was making sure it wouldn't fly away till her friend could catch it and have it rescued. So random..and the owl, it was HUGE. Super thankful it didn't try to attack me. :) Those 20 minutes of my life that day was very interesting you could say. ;)

Here I am in the Institute kitchen cutting Kegan's hair. You can see he does not have a lot on the top of his head, but oh! That beard! We have done FH work with Kegan.

And speaking of beards...as you can see they are really in fashion here in Florida. Okay, so all these guys play basketball by the church, and we see them ALL THE TIME, so we had to take a cool picture with them, cause we love them! :) Something learned: Just go with the Flow. Sometimes in life random stuff happens to us, but hey! Just go with the flow. This week has just been super odd but just good. Sometimes we make plans and they don't work out, but Heavenly Father knows what He is doing. I guess I really just learned that yes, it is good to have plans to help us throughout our day, but sometimes what we plan isn't exactly what we will be doing, but everything does work out. Goals can be accomplished even in ways we don't expect. I am grateful for the Gospel, it is such an amazing thing we have in our lives. Thank y'all for all the support and love you give me!! I sure do love y'all!!!

Have a great week and remember...Make Jesus Decisions, they are the best ones we can make. :) -Sis Nielson

A Week of Wonderful :)

Something Good: Wow so many wonderful amazing things this week! ! Alan is baptized!!! Quin baptized him! It was for sure a "Yes" moment, it was such a wonderful day for him, the water might have been a little bit cold...(Dang it.) But! The way he felt made it all better, he told us after, he felt so at peace and so calm. Yes! The Gospel is true! :) We are so happy and so excited for him.

So this week was transfers! Here is the last photo of our trio with our friend Jenn! These are wonderful Sister Missionaries. I will miss them!

And my last selfie with my Sister Vialea from New Zealand! I am so thankful I could serve with her for part of a transfer! She will be my friend forever! So here is the big, wonderful news!! I am staying on FSU for another transfer! I am SO SO SO thankful, this place has my heart!

Another highlight with that! I have a new companion! Her name is Sister Beal. She is super sweet and super awesome! She is from Utah, and she is just great! I am blessed to be able to learn from her this transfer! :) We have had so many great lessons this week! Jose is doing wonderful. He is progressing, and when we saw him, he told us that he really thinks God is answering his prayer! (Yes!) Every lesson we have with him has been awesome! We have been able to have some great lessons about...Church, Prayer and Reading the Scriptures! I just love this lesson because when we have this foundation in our lives, we are blessed.

Family History! Y'all, I adore FH so much! We are working with a guy named Keegan as you might know and his ancestor's are working with us SO much! We have been able to find SO much of his family, it is just AMAZING. So many good things this week. Missionary work is GOOD. <3 And while we were doing Keegan's Family History, I trimmed his beard with the office scissors. Something Funny: Okay, in Utah, Y'all are blessed because you do NOT have Cockroaches...Oh man those gross things. I still don't know why they where created...and really they are NOT my favorite, but this week...we have had SO many in our apartment...well as you can probably imagine, we are NOT about those bugs. One morning we woke up, (I was with Sis Hall and Sis V) and one was crawling on our floor..and it was SO BIG. We are started freaking out and just about died because nope, not touching it. Well we spent about 15 mins "trying" to kill it, and we finally had to call the STL's to come and do it for us. Ha! Well we have had issues with them for a bit now, but if I have to, I will kill them, or flush them down the toilet. Say your prayers and thank Heavenly Father you don't have to deal with Roaches. :)

Something Learned: Alright! I am in LOVE with this quote this week..."If you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen." Is this true!? Yes!! This week, we have been trying to work super hard, meaning staying busy and striving to be obedient. Good things do happen, when we are working hard, and when we are kind to those around us, I love the commandment, "Love one another." It can be hard, but we can do it. I am definately not perfect at it, but I do try and I really have seen so many blessings by just loving those around us. I love my time as a missionary. It is the best and hardest thing I am doing, but I just love it with all my heart! Thank you all for the love and support! Have a blessed week, y'all.

<3 Sis Nielson (Stay sweet)

Good Days, Learning Days

Something Good: This week I have had a lot of good days, and many learning days, about learning love and forgiveness, which I am super thankful for. But we have had many highlights this week! First highlight, Alan is planning to be baptized this week on the 18th!! We are so excited for him, he is so prepared and just SO ready.

This is at a baptism on Feb 13, and Jose came! We have had 2 amazing lessons with Jose, oh my, Jose is just AMAZING! We where able to share him two Mormon messages, that hit his heart, it is just so cool to help him understand his relationship with his Heavenly Father. Every time we meet with him, we read a chapter or two out of the

Another highlight, we had Zone Training, which are my FAVORITE!! Every time we have Zone Training or Zone Conference, I feel like Moses, after God shows him EVERYTHING, spiritually uplifted and spiritual tired, but I learn so much about what Heavenly Father needs us to learn to help his Kingdom grow in our mission. Our mission motto is seen in this graphic. It says, ""Teach repentance, baptize converts, connecting generations." :) Something that really hit me was what our mission culture is, what am I doing as a missionary to help our mission culture improve and grow. Super amazing learning lessons! Next high light! We had a fun lunch with our LA Jenn, she is awesome! She took us out to lunch and we where able to share a good time and spiritual time together. :) I love love love just helping people come a little bit further to God. Yes! Another high light, not so missionary but GUYS! My stretch marks are fading away!! I really think it is because we walk EVERYWHERE. Ha! But physical blessings are always super nice too (; Over all a good week to be in the FTM! <3

Something Funny: If yall know me, I love people. When someone look sad or upset or I guess just zoned out, I will go talk to them...well we where on Campus and this guy was walking towards our way and he looked kinda sad..so I yelled to him..."HEY! HOWS YOUR MOM DOING!" He looked at me, of course very surprised and was all like..."Uh do I know you and you know my mom!?" Hahaha! So I went up to him and said..."I actually don't, but how is your mom doing anyways." Well guys, don't be too freaked out cause we started talking and he is super awesome! Jack is his name and his mothers name is Julie and she is doing great (; Well funny, but I got his number and we are planning to meet up and share the Gospel with him! Kinda a funny story, but hey...lesson of the story!? You talk to EVERYONE. Even if you say something silly. It might just work out. (: Another funny moment of this week, I hide under my bed and Sis V was looking all over for me, and when she came to lay down on her bed, which is on the ground, I scared her...oh the joys of missionary life. Missionary work, can be fun! Something Learned: Has anyone heard of "Yes moments"? Well if not a "Yes moment" is something that happens that you say YES! Well this week, I have seen so many "Yes" moments, which have made me realize that Heavenly Father gives us "Yes" moments to show his love for us, when something great happens, we often say yes! And we are happy, if we didn't have good times, life would suck especially on a mission. In lessons that go super well, that is defiantly a Yes moment, when I finally understand a scripture i have been studying, that is defiantly a yes moment! If every day we find one "Yes moment" in our life just one, how much more would we be thankful? Since I have been learning more about being positive as yall know, Yes moments work! Also great quotes that help you along life..."Your Heavenly Father loves you, that love never changes, it is not influenced by your appearance, it is not changed by your talents and abilities, it is simply there. It is there for you when you are sad or happy, discouraged or hopeful. Gods love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve love. It is simply always there." -President Thomas S Monson. I hope yall know that God does love you, he gives us all "yes moments" to feel his love. This gospel is real, it bring us true "yes moments" I love yall! <3 Happy love day! Your girl. Sis Nielson.

Trio life>>>>>

Something Good: Crazy things happen in a mission, also crazy things happen so FAST!! So last Sunday we found out that Sister Vailea is going to be in a trio with us!! Her companion, Sister Carter got an ET (emergency transfer) to another area, and so now Sis V is with Sis Hall and I, which is awesome!! Oh you can say...I am one happy camper with my Girl!! Having another companion is different, but it has been a good week figuring out the balance and the differences out. Plus we now are covering the people that Sister V and Sister Carter were teaching, so we are BUSY! But it is so great to be busy and working! :) I am so thankful! I really do believe everything happens for a reason and I am loving the time I get to be companions with Sister V! :) A few other highlights! We where contacting and I saw this girl, and really felt like we needed to slow down and wait for her to cross the street, so we do and we start talking to her, her name is Stephanie. She really doesn't have a lot of friends and her life has been super hard. Well come to find out, she is very interested in learning more about the Church! So the next day we meet her at our Church and give her a Church tour and share her the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. It was so awesome! The Spirit really knows what to do and what to say. We met with this other girl named Joy...(crazy girl). But! Guess who was there! Stephanie...Sis Hall and I where like.."What!?! Y'all know each other!?" We had NO idea Stephanie was going to be at Joy's house, she texted us telling us that she really doesn't know what is going on, but something is very powerful when we see her. So we are excited to start teaching her! Alan, our gator! He is planning to be baptized on the 18th of Feb! So we are super excited and pumped for him! Jose, oh I just LOVE Jose so much. He is the best, he has such a strong desire to learn more about Heavenly Father. He is praying and reading the scriptures every day and night. Such a cool guy! Man, this week has been full of tender mercies and the Spirit. The Spirit is the teacher, he really is.

Something else good: I mentioned that I was kind of hungry on campus all day and my sweet family sent this box of snacks to take with us while we are contacting so we don't starve! Yay for families!!! Something Crazy: We were contacting on Campus and I met this guy...totally forgot his name, but he was telling me his whole life story which was crazy, and how he came to learn of God. Well the whole time he was telling me I kinda just wanted to laugh because his story was just CRAZY! He used to do drugs a lot, and told me that one time he was doing this drug that chemically makes you dream when you are awake and that he saw God and had this whole vision. Well at the end of it, he invited me to try it out and to see for myself...UHHH! NO THANK YOU. I will not be doing that. Haha oh man, the campus life, sometimes I just wanna sit in a corner and cry because of the things I hear and see every day, but hey! That's why I am here!? To help people not do drugs anymore!? Hahaha. I love it. Something Learned: Everyday here, I really have no idea what is going to happen, some days are better and other days are the worst days, but for some crazy reason, I really just love it. I am learning not to take offense at being rejected, and we are rejected a lot, but wasn't the Savior? In D&C we learn that only a few chose to follow him. It is amazing for me to think, The Son of God, the perfect Example, the perfect Friend, the perfect Teacher, the perfect Giver of Life was rejected, so I am learning it is okay! I love the work, it is amazing! Campus life is probably the best. So thankful for the time to serve!! I love y'all! Thank you y'all for the support and love! Jesus loves all y'all!! <3 Sis Nielson