Ne hao Piao Liang!

Bro Smith from Soda Springs

That's my new chinese phrase of the week haha it means you are beautiful. and the chinese people love me telling them that hahah it's a way into their hearts so they are more open to reading the materials I give them. Who would’ve thought haha. I love the really chinese people that just snuggle right up for a picture haha it cracks me up. There was this one lady and the only english word she knew was HALLELUJAH. pretty funny. Those chinese tourists keep us busy all day, but supposedly it's going to slow down in July. We will see! But some are so tight and ignore you and the next bus load is completely opposite haha. I love that I finally got my first "chinese investigator", aka she travels out of china so much that i might be able to send her little messages about God :)

the Swintons

But this week has been so good. My trio and I ate lunch yesterday with the Swintons and literally focused our spiritual message on trying to convince him to keep us as a trio for the next transfer haha. I don't think it worked, but I will cry of joy if that is possible. one of the sisters is going home a week earlier to go to the temple open house in Japan, so one of us is going to have to get moved to her comp a week earlier ;'(, but whatever happens will be good. I love them so much! 

Sad news, our investigator who is planning to have her baptism July 9th just dropped off the edge of the earth and we don't really know what to think! I hope she can still get baptized that day. She really is so ready. 

Working online

The ward camp was soooo fun. I feel like because it's summer here all year they shouldn't wait a whole year before they do another one haha. it's great! We had the chance to bring some less actives and also some investigators and hopefully they had a good experience. There is a family I love sooo much (the ones we do FHE with) and we don't know how to get the ward to be more welcoming.... all of you reading this-pleeeeeease be so friendly and kind to everyone at church. it could be life changing for them!!! It's so hard to see them go home early just because they feel uncomfortable :(. But I think this next Sunday is going to go well!

The place where Johnny Lingo was filmed

Oh we had a district flood, which means all the missionaries came to our area, and we were able to meet so many of the people that we hadn't met before. I love my area soooo much too.

I have found I am 100000 times happier and patient if I simply go to bed on time, and exercise. They aren't always possible, but the days I do those things, I am so much more capable. And taking the time to help someone out or to testify to them is never a waste of time! I know that God works mysterious ways to help others come to him, but one is simply through a conversation :)

I know that Jesus Christ really did die for us and we can repent and change!! How grateful I am for that and the ability to overcome our dumb choices!

Have a great week,

Aloha, Sister Nielsen

Aloha Ohana!!!!!

This week has been pretty good! It's been pretty tiring... we are finally going to take a nap after emailing! Hallelujah!

We had our last zone conference with President Warner. It was soooo good. I loved the training about using the scriptures more because they are the words of God (which is way more effective than the words of myself!) Singing Aloha Oe is soooo sad. We all just bawled lol. I'm really going to miss them. I haven't felt more loved by anyone here than them. Even when I'm in the wrong, he really has shown so much Christlike love to me and helped me solve any problems. I am forever grateful to them.

Also I've been reminded how much this work really isn't about me. Last week in the Visitors' Center we hardly got any new investigators but this week it's the same amount of people coming in, but we have gotten so many! It's all about their agency and it's great to be able to see it, but as long as I'm doing my best, it's up to them. But I can just feel the spirit so strongly and know that this is the only way that these people from all over the world will be able to overcome all these unique trials we each face. I could never know what the next person coming in (or the next person I meet in the area) is going through or thinking. But God does, and he leads us and prompts us to know what to say, and it's sooooo awesome to see them feel the spirit. 

I love the people in the area. I love that the Aloha spirit is a real thing. People are so kind (usually). 

I've been so tired by the time 6 or 7 rolls around, which is our busiest time of the day, and I keep introducing myself as Sister Lee haha. So Awkward.. But i still love these comps of mine. We are all SO different haha but we pretty much are always matching and laughing. So I appreciate being with them. 

Also, I am so jealous of the missionaries that get to spend all day in their area. I love the VC, but Sundays are the best because we get to spend so much time visiting people. 

Thanks for all the love and support!!! Enjoy camping this week. My ward is having ward camp, so i get to go "camp" too :D

Love Sister Nielsen

The Trio

This week being in a trio has been really great! My companions, Sister Lee and Obrien, are really great and we pretty much laugh 24/7, which is really nice! Trios have their struggles, like getting places on time haha, but we have been blessed so much! We are all new to our area, Hau'ula ward! And it's so different because there are actually tons of nonmembers haha. And there are actual investigators. IT's pretty cool. Of course we spent a ton of time still in the VC but we do get to go out and help the people in our area which i love!!! One of our struggles as a trio is that we get off on tangents talking sooo much haha and it's a waste of time, so we are working on that, but it's pretty good. We had to spend the entire day in the VC yesterday which was soo hard because you feel trapped in some ways and it's so exhausting. But I have a small taste of what temple square sisters go through every day hah. I don't really have much time for much more than this haha sorry!!! But i love you!

Aloha

 Aloha!!!! 

Guess whhhhaat. Another transfer, and a new area and new companionS! I'm going to serve in Hauula (my favorite because its like country and so green and the people are soooooo nice plus i think there are actually nonmembers there haha) and i'll be in a trio! Trios i already know can be hard, but the girls I'm with are seriously the nicest, so i'm sure it will be a great time! Sisters Lee and Obrien! S Lee is from Canada (but Tiawan and speaks like every language haha) and S OBrien is from Holiday Utah and one of the other blondes. I think there are only 3 blondies and her and i are 2 of them haha. It'll be a good experience i think! I'm ready to start new, to try to love and serve more than ever, and try to have more faith than i have so far!

I'm grateful to be at the VC where i really get to feel the spirit all the time and be around such great sisters. I still can't believe I am around 24 sisters all the time.... I have never been around girls so much in my life. haha.

It wasn't the best week for us in terms of numbers, but it is always a blessing to be able to talk to just the right person as they are about the leave, and find out that they really are interested in learning more. And to give out Book of Mormons to people and give them an opportunity to read and feel the spirit at another time. I love being online and getting to help people in whatever parts of the world they may be! As a VC we were able to get 25 baptisms through online work (so baptisms that started at the VC) and our goal was 8 haha. it's great to see how hard work really does help people!

I'm grateful for such a great family i have! And grateful to have the gospel. I am grateful to be in Laie, and grateful to be able to have such great support. 

I love you all!

Love Sister Nielsen

Hiking in Hawaii

So guess what. Last pday i finally went on my first hike here! And today we went on another one haha. it's so beautiful here! It really is a blessing to serve here. I'll send beautiful pics :)

posing for the tourists

Did you see in the mormon newspaper thing that our VC made it front page ;) no biggie. But yeah, i guess you could say there have been miracles here. This week has been filled with so many chinese tour buses. hahah They make me feel so beautiful, always crowding around me and a red haired sister for pictures. i'll send a pic i have hahah. And if there are any little blonde kids on the grounds, they get surrounded as well haha. But we love them. Some are more open than others (it depends what their tour bus driver tells them about us) But being able to give them plan of salvation pamphlets or book of mormons, gives us hope that maybe even though only a few of the sisters can actually teach them, that they might read the materials and find the locations of churches we do have in China. Haha i love those little chinese peeps. I'm trying to learn a few words in each language. That's what we did last week for our training. So hard to learn asian words haha. 

I have enjoyed spending evenings online, because we are the only VC open after like 6 or 7, so there are soooo many chats, referral confirmations, and so on. It's fun! And great because we get to share our testimonies with people and help them to find the truth! 

There hasn't been a lot of work in the area in terms of nonmembers, because only 2 nonmembers in all our 5 wards haha and they both leave in 2 weeks because they graduate... But we get the chance to strengthen members that maybe are struggling with faith and that. But the last 2-3 days elder swinton

has had me come in his office and just talk. He basically tells me stories haha but they really encourage me and help me to feel the spirit. Alll day at church ( we have 5 wards so lots of church) i felt the spirit and was able to feel inspired. And then Yesterday, elder swinton gave me the most powerful blessing, and still today my heart is burning with the spirit and just such a peace. I know it's true! Even if the details confuse me and i don't know for sure that ever detail is true, i believe it! And desire to believe it. I went through and wrote down all the things i believe in the gospel, and it made me realize how much i maybe don't "know" but what i truly believe and that's what makes the difference. I know that the priesthood is real. If through Jesus Christ we can be healed and changed and overcome evil, then i know he is the only one to follow. I feel God's love for me, and I know that this gospel is the only way to feel this peace and lightness within. It's the only true happiness. I believe that God will help us. And that he can do this as we read scriptures and pray sincerely.

the elders

Have a great week. I love getting pictures... and letters.... and more letters ;) thanks to everyone that wrote me. I loved and needed them!

love you, aloha!

Sister Nielsen

The Ocean Waves

This week has been pretty good i guess! Last pday we got to just drive and drive to the end of our zone and enjoy watching the giant ocean waves. it was pretty nice. (also when i got some nice souvs for yall :)). Also that evening I got to go watch the Night Show at the PCC with all the other sisters that have come since i got here! It was so good! People are so nice to missionaries, like always buying us things or giving us their things... Like bowls of ice cream haha. But it was a good night. 

We've been able to get around the area a little which is nice, i thought we would be spending more time online but i'm grateful we didn't this week because it isn't fun to sit that long staring at a computer. But both are good works for us to be doing, so we do both! It's fun to get to be missionaries for the YSA, but also it can be weird. I like visiting the married students because its like a family dynamic. 

sis weygandt and sis nielsen

I got to go on exchanges this week with SISTER WEYGANDT. awwww i love her haha i miss being her companion. She's such an awesome STL. She was really good to listen to me and my problems and was able to just laugh with me and help me to be happy :) I'm glad i get to see that silly girl all over.
It was fun to see Erica and Micah Thayne. haha I was talking to guests and they kept hanging around and then i realized i knew who they were! Theyre so nice. It was fun to see people I "knew" but that didn't make me homesick because i don't really know them haha. 

I got to meet some great people this week, but there was a young 19 yr old mother who came in with her member friend, and just explaining the different things in the gospel, she could really see the difference it could make in her life. And in her sons life. It's easier to see how someone who is going through something so hard can be helped through the gospel, but it's harder for me to see sometimes when people seem happy in their lives without the gospel. But it comes down to blessings in their lives that they aren't able to have. Without the gospel, we can't return to live with God, which is the whole purpose of life. So true happiness can't come without that knowledge. 

i love getting letters!!! send more haha

Have a great week! 

Love Sister Nielsen

Happy Mother's Day

I know that God is loving and that we need to strive to feel him in our lives. I know that we can pray and receive comfort. I know that the Holy Ghost is so real and so thankful for it. I know that it brings me peace and that it also testifies of truth. I know that Jesus Christ is a perfect example for us. I know that reading the Book of Mormon teaches us how to be happier and how we can become closer to God. I know that the prophets and apostles of the church are good men but more than that, they are called of God and hold the priesthood authority. I know that the temple is special and has such a special spirit that we can't get anywhere else. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

I love you all, thanks for the support. 

love sister nielsen

Happy Mother's Day!!