Sweat, God's Amazing Light, and Blue Angels

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Times; Scary Times, Sad Times, Thankful Times

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A GREAT Week!

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

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

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

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

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

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

This mask is from China. Am I more Asian?

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

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

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

Surprises and Turtle!

This week has been okay! I was able to give a talk on Sunday (Father's Day - love you Daddy! And I love my Heavenly Father, too, so, so much!) It went well, We had a church tour with Lupe, with a family in our ward! It went awesome! He asked a lot of questions which is good. Lupe is so smart! He teaches me every time we see him! It was so nice! He also helped us by putting some car fluid in our car because Sis Coleman and I didn't really know how to do it! (Typical, right? Ha-ha for girly girls who never learned about cars!) I am loving teaching Lupe! He is great! We had an amazing lesson with him about the Plan of Salvation. He took us out for lunch and we were able to show him some visuals! It was awesome!

Here are the Elders in our District, with me as selfie-photographer: L-R Elder Payne, Elder Christensen - great missionaries - and me. What about Max, you ask? Ah, Max. Well, this week he told us that God told him he shouldn't be baptized! Oh no! We were super bummed, but we encouraged him to pray again. We will continue to help him and are praying that his heart will be softened. (Prayers would be awesome for Max, y'all. Thank you!)

Here is a picture of our District Sisters, L-R Sister Lee, Sister Coleman, Me, and Sister Kirton. It was a bizzare kind of week, but it was also a good one! Here is another strange experience: We received a referral from the Elders. His name is Tom. We went over and visited him, he told us we could come back, so we encouraged him to read a few pages out of the Book of Mormon. Well, we came back and he told us he had read a few pages and didn't want to hear anymore and couldn't believe that so many people would believe this book to be true, and would throw it away if we didn't take it back. Well, we left pretty upset. It hit me so hard - why would he say that? Why would he throw it away? I thought about this little experience this week. Overall I can really say that I know the Book of Mormon is true! I love the scriptures! I wonder if he had read the entire book and learned how it testifies of Christ, if his heart would have been softened? I have come to believe that it is okay, because it isn't his time yet. But I know that one day it will be the right time for him to read the Book of Mormon all the way through and come to know for himself that it is true! We have SO many less actives in our ward and we have been seeing some this week. It has been fun to visit and get to know these wonderful people! I am so grateful for the Gospel, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. It is real. It is good. I love this time that I have to share the truth. And there are so many strong families with a love for the Savior and for the Gospel. I love our ward. They are so good to us and are always taking such good care of the missionaries! Take the Marshall's for example...

The Marshall's in our ward invited us to dinner, and look what they fed us! "Turtle" (not real turtle). This photo is extra large so you can see how clever the turtle is on Sister Marshall's plate! ;) they are one of my favorite families! Here is the recipe. From http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/main-course/pork/redneck-turtle-burgers.html. It's called "Redneck Turtles" 1 lb lean ground beef, 12 all-beef wieners, each divided in-half (total of 24 halves), 4 slices sharp cheddar cheese, 1 lb. bacon, aluminum foil, 4 hamburger buns (optional), condiments for burgers (optional), 1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. 2. Make four good-sized hamburger patties, nice and round and thick. Top w/ single slice of sharp cheddar cheese (this is optional, if you don't want cheese). 3. Wrap each beef patty in bacon strips, making a basket weave as you go. Cover entire pattie. 4. Next, take the hot dog halves and make turtles' legs, head and tail. Cut the one for the tail at a diagonal on the end, so the tail looks "pointed". In the legs, put a few tiny 'slits' in the ends, so they will look like feet w/ claws after they bake. Cut a horizontal slit on bottom of the head to look like the mouth. 5. Line a baking sheet (with sides on it!) with foil, and place a baking rack over the foil. Arrange your "turtles" on the baking rack. 6. Cook for 30 - 40 mins., in your pre-heated oven. A little crispy, not too crunchy ... just the way a turtle ought to be, right?

This morning we went walking with Sister Lancaster! She is wearing the sunglasses! She is not in our ward, but she is in Sister Lee and Sister Kirton's ward. The Navarre ward. She is a cosmetologist and is the sweetest thing! She gave me a haircut and I gave her son one! ;) It was nice to do that again! Notice I got a new Gulf Coast Gymnastics tee shirt? Love this Florida Gulf Coast! and love the people so much! What a great place to serve a mission!

Can you believe I am at the wheel? (Don't panic Mom, I am a good driver now...) Car selfie ;), my weekly tradition. You know it's HOT in summer in Florida when the Sisters are mostly inside a car... I love y'all so much! Have a blessed week y'all! #FTMadventures. Sister Nielson

And my new companion is...

Hi Everyone! Well, this week has been full of fun, tears, and joy! Sis Stewart is now serving in Milton, FL, not far to the East of us, and she is now our STL (Sister Training Leader)! So I will get to see her at Zone Conferences and all! She is awesome. Here are a few last pictures with Sister Stewart:

Here is our recent Gulf Breeze District meeting. Left to right, Sis Seegrist, Sis Kirton, Sis Stewart and me!

This photo is from last Monday, June 8. We went to Pensacola Mall with Sis Burkhard. She is the one who sent a picture of me and a lizard. Left to right, Sis Burkhardt, Ellie her daughter, me and Sis Stewart :)

I also met a Sister missionary named Sister Charles at transfer spots! And guess where she is from! My Country! Kazakhstan! It was so fun! She was adopted when she was 7 (three years older than I was when she came to the good old USA) and she grew up in California! Such a great person and missionary! :) Here is what she said in an email to my mom: "Hey Sister Nielson. This is Sister Charles. I got to met your awesome daughter at transfers! She is sooo awesome! I am the other Sister here in the FTM From Kazakhstan!!!" On Sunday we had Stake Conference! Elder Nash from the Quorum of the Seventy came and spoke all about Ward Counsels and Missionary work! And he told us how members need to bring the missionaries to visit people. I loved it so much! In my head I was like, "YES, YES, YES!!" It has been a way good week! We have found some possible investigators!

We are still working with Max! It has been a little hard trying to find times to meet with him, but when we do, we have the best experience! We are still working with him about the Word of Wisdom, but I know Heavenly Father will help us if Max is prepared to accept our message! (Shout out for prayers for Max!) Finally a picture!! Sis Stewart, Joyce (Max's hilarious momma) me and Max!

But the moment ya'll having been waiting for...My New Companion!! Oh, she is wonderful!! Her name is Sister Coleman! She has been out for almost a year! She is from Ceder City, Utah and she is the only member in her family! She has the strongest testimony, and is very sweet and humble. I am so excited to work with her! We both feel that good things are coming to Gulf Breeze! It's kinda crazy, I am still in training but in a way I am training Sister Coleman to the area and the people! So it's been fun to get to know her and to get to know the area together as well! So a cool story this week: This past month I have had the HARDEST time sleeping at night, and when I wake up I have been feeling super sick to my stomach for some crazy reason! To say the least, I have been having a hard time eating because I have been feeling sick for a while. Anyway, I told Sis Coleman about it and told her I wanted to get a blessing from our District Leader, Elder Christensen to see if that would help me, and if it didn't, I would call Sister Lay the medical lady for advice and help if I needed to see a doctor because of my eating problem and sleeping issue. So on Sunday after Conference I got a blessing and guess what! I woke up Monday and felt Perfectly Fine!!! So after a month of feeling sick all the time, I woke up feeling good, and I actually could eat breakfast! Moral of the Story: BLESSINGS WORK!! I learned that if I just have enough faith and not let my pride take over, Heavenly Father will always help. I am so grateful for the Priesthood and Blessings! I know for myself that God watches over all his Children.

Car selfie, of course ;) Every week-lol!! This week has been a Great Adventure in the FTM! I am so excited for my new companionship with Sis Coleman! Have a blessed week Y'all! #GODLOVESYOU I love you!! XOXOX! Y'all's are my Number Ones! Sister Nielson P.S. Mission life is so crazy. Sometimes I forget about home and y'all, but I still love you all so much!! This week has been crazy!!! But it has been a blessing as well. :) Thank you Mom and Dad for all the support and love. I can't thank you enough for raising me in the Gospel. It is SO cool to just talk about Christ to everyone. It is a Joy! :) Well honestly I don't really need anything (except letters), but prayers are always nice! :) P.P.S. I am speaking on Sunday in my ward!! SO SCARED.

Giving Service, Activation, and Good-bye to Sister Stewart

Hi Everyone! This week has definitely been quite hard but there are always ups too!! So here goes!

Here is Sister Stewart and I finding people to teach, and along the way we found this cool mail box! It has a sailor's head above the box. The yellow house behind us has an upstairs porch that wraps around - for the sea breezes and views. It's called a French galerie. So pretty. So Florida! We got word of the transfers and guess what? I am staying here in Gulf Breeze, but guess who is leaving?!! :( Sis Stewart, my companion!! So I will get a new Trainer!! Honestly I do not know how I feel about it yet, but God knows what we both need. Am I dying and super sad? Yes!! It's crazy because we were talking about our companionship, and we both feel like we are good friends now, and now she is leaving me! We both had the hardest time sleeping last night. It's just super hard to see her leave. She loves Gulf Breeze so much and loves the people here. But I know she will bless so many others wherever she goes next. Well, this past week has been okay! A lot of our appointments fell through, so that was a bummer, but we were able to do A Lot of Service!! (Sabrina serving...? Ha-ha, right?) Actually, I am really loving it! We were able to go over to Sis Thompson's house and clean her China and her collection of glass items. She is very less active, but she CAME to church yesterday!!) So that was nice!! !

One of the members in our ward is Trena, whose mom fell and broke her leg so she is staying with Trena and her family. We were able to go over and help Trena with her mom! She is deaf but a way sweet lady! :) I got to use my Cosmo skills and do her hair in a roller set!! (Who would have thought I would be doing that here?) I am so glad I finished Cosmetology School before my mission so I have skills I can use to give service!

This is the sign of the thrift store where we give service! It is Helping Hand Missions Thrift Store.

This little gal in our ward is named Gracie! She reminds me of my niece, Issy (Isabel) so much! I love her! We have such darling children in our Primary! I let Gracie try on my missionary badge because she wants to be a Sister Missionary when she grows up!

A member took us to dinner to a place called The Horizon! The meal was so cool looking - see they hand cut a flower from a Jicama! It was so cute!

Another good thing that happened was working with this girl, Corinne, who is a cosmetologist like me. She is less active but we have so much in common that I asked her if she would come to church with us and she said she would! So hopefully she will! She is great! Well, overall this week has been good! Some ups and downs. I am nervous and excited to meet my new companion this week! Crazy that time is flying, I feel like I just got here but I am starting my second transfer!

Wow. I love this Church! I love this Mission! I love my Savior! I love Missionary work! I love the weather! I love the people! I love the South! and I love all y'all and each y'all! I LOVE Y'ALL SO MUCH!!! Thank you for all the love and support!! And since I am staying here for another 6 weeks, I would love to get a letter from each y'all! 7442 Navarre Parkway #107, Navarre, FL 32566. Have a blessed day and week! Sister Nielson!

Rainstorms, the Florida Jungle and a new Bishop like my Dad

Hi Everybody! Florida has these MASSIVE rain storms! We got out of a store this week, and IMMEDIATELY got soaking wet!! It was like I took a shower literally outside! Ha-ha! Anyway, that was random, and the best part, you never know when it is going to pour rain like that, So yeahhhhh! I thought you would like to know that. Toto, we are not in Utah anymore! ;-)

Here is Sister Stewart and I walking along. And here are some sights as we go a-walking:

This is a random sign - see how everything is a jungle behind the rope?

We see a lot of turtles, so here's one swimming along (after a downpour). They are really cool. Not endangered!

And the beautiful Florida panhandle coastline. Wow! It is so gorgeous; I guess I can put up with the heat to have this opportunity to be here and see it in person!

And speaking of heat...it's so hot that when we get home, it's great to sit in the fridge for a minute! Well this week has been interesting. We have had some awesome days and days not-so-awesome ones! So for the good days - we went over to visit the Ard family. I just love them so so much. They are my Southern family here, they tell me every time that I have to come back and visit them and swim in their pool, since as missionaries, we can't swim. So we go over to their home, and their friend, Annie, is there and she asked them if she could find a Book of Mormon anywhere and boom! We were there!! And it was perfect timing because she was leaving that night, so I was able to give her one and give her a short Restoration lesson and now she has a BOM to take back home, and I told her how to find the missionaries where she lives and she was so happy and so excited! Yes!! The Lord works in AMAZING ways. That was such a cool experience for me to have. God is Good.

Oh yes!! guess what!?!? There is a lady in my ward, Sister Jubeck, whose daughter is living in Provo going to BYU and she (the daughter) LOVES SWIG as much as I do, so she sent her mom a package with a bottle of the coconut flavoring to make Dirty Diet Coke and she gave me some last night!!! I AM IN HEAVEN. I WAS DYING!! SO YES I HAVE SWIG IN FL. LIFE IS COMPLETE. LOL! Ha-ha! This weekend we where able to teach a man named Lupe. He asked a lot of questions, which motivated me this week to study a lot about Joseph Smith and his life and what he did for God. I am just so amazed by him and his testimony! Lupe is "iffy" about him, but I know that he is a true prophet on earth and I love him so much!! I'm so thankful for the Restoration of the Gospel. I just wish everyone could understand that! But one day they all will :)

This is Lexi, who was baptized two weeks ago, and me. She is so sweet! We also got a new bishop this week and I love him! His name is Bishop Moss and he reminds me a lot of my Dad, just super kind and gentle. I am excited to work with him! So now for the not-so-awesome day. Friday we had SO much rejection!! It was hard, but a good learning experience. Not everyone will be ready, but all we can do is pray and keep going! Funny story about rejection - So one night we are talking to this girl and her neighbor is mentally crazy. All he does at night is yell and cuss and all that. Well, we leave her porch and start walking to the car and he yells..."Y'ALL SUCK" to us! Sis Stewart and I just start laughing so hard, because it was the funniest thing ever! Man, I just love the South so much!

And speaking of the Prophet Joseph Smith...he said it was okay to "unstring the bow" now and then. And since Sister Stewart and I do not wrestle, we found the perfect way to unwind and laugh. In fact, we may have too much fun with silly string! Hope yall have a blessed week!

Off to other places to search, reach, and teach! I will try to remember to take my camera when we visit with people so ya'll can see more Southerners! Sister Nielson P.S. from Sister Nielson: Thank you for all ya'll do for me! I am so blessed and so thankful for you and dad. I have seen people here who don't have a lot and it has humbled me so much. So thank you really for everything. I hope ya'll watched the Mormon Message called "LIFT" this week. Ya'll should watch "Sharing our Beliefs." It is such a good one, too! I love all ya'll each ya'll! That's so Southern, huh? It's so funny what people say here. Ha-ha! Thank you for all the love and support. God Bless Ya'll.

This cute photo, captioned, "Sister Nielson making a lizard face and Sister Stewart not too sure about holding this lizard. :)" arrived via text from Shelly Burkhardt, who said, "We had your lovely missionary over last night. She is doing very well. I am in the Primary and notice all of the kids really love her."