Working Hard in Alesund!…Week 25

HELLO BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE!

How is everyone over in... America...Argentina...Peru? Hahahaha So many places! I am doing great over here in NORWAY! It snowed this week but it never sticks! I am living in a coastal city so it melts and turns into ice very quickly… yay! Hahaha :) 

So I got a new companion this week! Her name is Søster Rogers! She is from Washington State and she is a doll! She is so patient with my craziness and I feel like we level each other out. She is very calm and relaxed (total opposite of me...hehe) Her favorite color is brown. Her favorite animals are cows/whales and if she could be any animal in the world she would be.... are you ready.... a dog! Hahaha! She is so funny! 

The first day that Søster Rogers was here, we were contacting and we stopped this woman who was VERY drunk! She loved me... hahahaha and they she tried to kiss me... on the lips... good thing she was way drunk and moved super slow so I could dodge it! She is also short so I don't think she would have been able to reach... hehe ;)

     

We have a new investigator named Cray. She is from Ålesund and loves it here! We met her at the grocery store and walked with her to our church and taught her a lesson. On our way there she just kept speaking English and talking about how much she loves Obama…hahaha...as a missionary, we are not allowed to talk about politics so we just kind of listened. :) Cray is a little special. She is 50 and lives in a mental institution...yup. She has a strong belief in God and loves hugging! When we were walking to the church she stopped and looked at both of us and said in English "Yes! You two are interesting! hahahaha!"...I thought the same about her! Love it!

     

We met with a less active named Harry and he is so sweet! He is a little bit of a unique old man. He grabbed me by the face and looked DEEP into my eyes and told me I have a soul that is full of life. He told me I love those in my life and that I am a light to others... He is so sweet! Awe!

We went to visit another less active named Maku! He is from Russia! He always feeds us a huge meal when we visit him... he is so sweet! One of his friends was there and he was way cool! Before we ate we had a prayer and he thought it was a little strange but the spirit was so strong! We shared a spiritual thought at the end and I felt very prompted to open my mouth and speak...so I did! I still don't know exactly what I said but he came to church yesterday! YAY!!!

We also met with our new convert Eirik! We met in the park where it started hailing, raining and snowing we got soaked! SO MUCH FUN! :)

     

Sorry for the short time and emails! I love you all! 

Gud vær med deg til vi sees igjen!

-Soster Neilson

New companion! Soster Rogers! <3

Diligently working…

…AND diligently playing! :)

"Snow Jackets = Marshmallow People!"

-Soster Neilson

A very dear friend gave her an authentic 

Marius Sweater. She LOVES it! <3

"Let experiences come to you!"

"I LOVE MY COMPANION!"

-Soster Neilson

Happy Heart! <3

BEAUTIFUL Norway…Winter 2015

Celebration of LOVE…Week 24

HELLOOOOO PARTY PEOPLE!

How is everyone doing this beautiful Norway day?! Oh my goodness! Norway is just BOOMING! So much is happening here and my heart is so full of love! I have been thinking a lot about being a missionary and how AMAZING it is! I remember so many returned missionaries told me all these things about a mission; how it would change my life, how it would be the hardest 18 months of my life but the best at the same time, how much I would love people, how happy I would be, how much fun I was going to have, how much sorrow I would feel AND how worth it my mission would be... well kids... its all true! Oh my goodness is it true! I am SO happy and grateful for all that I have here in Norway! I love being a missionary and I have truly never felt so happy in all of my life!

This week the Sister Training Leaders came and I got to spend a whole day with my old companion Søster Hartley! I love her SO much! We found so many prepared people that day! The next day we all flew up to Trondheim to attend a Zone Conference! We got snowed in at the airport and we had to wait 3 hours until we could actually fly... LAME! Once we finally got to Trondheim we had a great Zone Conference about being hunters! Hahahaha...our theme was Lion King so it was a little intense ;) 

My companion Søster Buhler also served in Trondheim at a different time then me so we made some plans to see some members there! While visiting with a member named Majken we asked her what she was doing later and she said she was staying at the church to help the Sisters with a teach and when I asked who the teach was with she said... LINDIS! ONE OF MY OLD INVESTIGATORS WHO I HAVEN'T SEEN IN MONTHS! AHHHHHH!!!!!!! I WAS SO EXCITED! When Lindis finally got to the church I gave her a huge hug! It was SO good to see her! I really love her SO much! 

After getting to see all those amazing people, we had a big sleep over in the sisters' apartment! There was 8 of us! Haha...crazy! We left early the next morning and while waiting for the bus to take us to the airport, I saw one of my converts Shanti! I was WAY stoked! Ah! I love all these people so much! On the plane ride home, I sat next to a very interesting man. He saw that I was a missionary and we began to talk about God and the Bible. He told me that he believes that all of the Prophets in the Bible are half alien and that they came here to make half alien babies and that we are all part alien... hmmmmm... okay.... and then he told me how he is a Free Mason (not totally sure what that is) and how it is a big secret and I cannot tell anyone! I just sat there trying not to laugh and let the man talk. Towards the end of the flight he told me that he smokes a lot of pot and he likes to try to get lost in the wilderness... yeah he was really nice!!! :) 

     

Okay guys! MIRACLE MONDAY TIME!!!!!!!!! So do you remember the man that we talked to on the street and how we gave him a card and he called US! Well we had a really awesome lesson with him this week! The spirit was SO strong! Søster Buhler and I just bore testimony like there was no tomorrow! When we first met Stig he told us he didn't believe in God but Saturday he told us that after reading in The Book of Mormon, he believes there is a God! ah!! What?!?! So..... we asked him if he would be baptized and he looked down for a while at the Book of Mormon and looked up and ME and said "Ja." WHAT!?!?! YAY!!!!!!!! STIG IS GETTING BAPTIZED IN MARCH!!!!!!!!!! HEHEHEHE I AM SO HAPPY!!!! He is such a good guy! Miracles are everywhere!

     

Well my beautiful family my time is up and I love you all so much! Please know that you are in my prayers and thoughts. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary! Muah! 

With all my love and Gud vær med deg til vi sees igjen, 

-Søster Neilson

Sending LOVE from Norway!

Snowed in at the airport…

…for THREE hours! 

Zone Conference Object Lesson…Lion King! :)

She was SO EXCITED to see Lindis in Trondheim! :)

Soster Neilson got to see Shanti while 
she was in Trondheim! 

Happy Heart! <3

Valentine Day Party with the Alesund Branch! <3

Being SILLY and FUN keeps you young! :)

Paul doing a GREAT Soster Neilson impression! :)

LOVE this! 

This AMAZING woman loves and adores our daughter!

Ase-Marie brings my heart peace knowing that 
Soster Neilson is well taken care of in Alesund! <3

THIS face makes my heart SMILE! <3

Love and Faith!…Week 23

Hei Sann!!!

Oh my goodness! SO much has happened this week!!!! I am not even sure where the heck to begin! FIRST OFF it has been way stromy and cold in Ålesund! It snowed a ton for about 3 days but then it rained a lot and now there is just a lot of ice… joy!...hahaha but I still love it! 

     

So we met this man on the street a couple weeks ago. He is from the middle east somewhere and is a Muslim. We had a meeting with him and it went pretty well! He brought his friend, who is also Muslim, to translate because he cannot speak English and only speaks a little bit of Norwegian. We made another appointment to meet with them this past Tuesday at the library. Søster Buhler and I walked into the library and walked over to the table where they would be sitting. There were 3 other men there that we did not know plus the two we had been teaching... Im not going to lie, I was a little nervous but I felt way comforted knowing that I am a missionary called by God and I knew that everything would be okay. We sat down and on both sides of the book cases were other Muslim men listening. So we were surrounded by these Muslim men which added up to 12 of them standing and 5 of them sitting. We asked if they could save their questions until the end of the sotry about Joseph Smith. They did for a bit and during that time, the spirit was felt so strongly! Søster Buhler and I testified with everything we had in our souls of the truthfullness of this message! But sadly, in the middle of our lesson, they all interrupted and started asking probing not prompting questions. There was so much contention and we could not even try to asnwer their questions because they would interrupt in the middle and ask another probing question. It was so difficult and I found myself sitting there and them telling me about all that they believe and not letting us have a chance. All I wanted to do was stand up on the table and scream "GOD LOVES YOU OKAY?!?!?!" Haha...it was way hard for me. We went back to our appartment right after and I kicked me shoes off, grabbed my Book of Mormon and sat on the floor balling and reading. My poor companion started to cry with me. We just sat there and cried and read a loud from the Book or Mormon. I was mostly so upset because these men, although they don't like me very much, are my brothers! I feel so much love for them even though they would not let me speak. I was so sad because I knew I had the answers to their questions! I did! But they wouldn't listen. Their hearts were not open and the ears were shut. They kept saying "prove me wrong" THAT IS THE LAST THING I WANT TO DO! I do not want to destroy what is special and sacred to them! But that was what they wanted to do to me! I was so sad and heart broken and I wanted to just hug each one of them so that they could maybe feel the joy and happiness I have felt from this BEAUTIFUL gospel! I am so grateful for the joy I do have and the joy I am sharing with others! I know that even though these men were not the nicest people in the world, God loves them a lot and he loves me too. We are all brothers and sisters on this journey through life so why not love each other and be nice?!

We met with our miracle from last week...Stig! When we asked him why he texted us he said "Because I felt something with you guys and I wanted to know why?" WHAT?! So cool! Stig is a stud and he is so ready for this gospel! I am way pumped! 

I don't have a lot of time but I love you guys so much and miss you all everyday! Sorry for my rants...hehe ;) 

Gud vær med deg til vi sees igjen,

-Søster Neilson

Always JOYFUL! <3

"Trying to give a Book of Mormon to the grumoy model! ;)"

Their investigators made a cake for them! :)

YUM!

Gangsta P-day! :)

"We visited some members who had spoons from all their travels. 

They had one from CALIFORNIA!" :)

Happy Heart! <3

Translation…"If not you, who? If not now, when?"

"Small in Number but BIG in Heart!"…Week 22

Hei sann! (Hey guys!)

How are my favorite Norway missionary fans doing?!?!?! Hahahaha! 

So guess what?! TOMORROW IS MY 5 MONTH MARK! SO WEIRD! I DO NOT LIKE HOW FAST TIME GOES ON A MISSION! AH!!!!!! It seriously feels like I just left home yesterday to fly to Salt Lake! CRAZY! Anyway, life in Norway is beautiful and FULL of miracles!!!!! 

This week I am officially legal in Norway! I almost got deported because I waited to long but I still had three days to my 4 month dead line! Come on people calm down! Hahaha ;) BUT IT IS ALL FIGURED OUT NOW! 

We have a lot of less actives here in Ålesund so we have been visiting them like crazy! Trying to reactivate people is harder then trying to baptize someone! Goodness my!...but it is a very beautiful work that is happening in Ålesund! We have 4 active members as you know but I have said it once and will say it a million times more...”We are small in number but BIG in heart!” The active members we have here are champions! They are of SO much help! Søster Buhler and I came to into church yesterday and two of the members made us these DELICIOUS cakes! What sweet hearts! They always help in any way they possibly can and I am so grateful for them! They are my family!

MIRACLE MONDAY! Sister Buhler and I have been planning to visit our branch president, Fred, for some time now. We were going to leave early in the morning, travel 2 hours to get to his house, have breakfast and share a spiritual thought with him and his sweet wife and then travel 2 hours back to make sure we had a good rest of the day left to have other appointments and contacting time. We got up early and made our way to the bus but IT NEVER SHOWED UP!!!!! So sad! If we took the one that left 2 hours later we would miss one of our appointments that afternoon.  We talked with Fred and decided to reschedule for next week... :(. Later that day while we were walking back from an appointment we would have missed, we started talking to this man! We taught him about the Book of Mormon and I shared with him my favorite scripture in Moroni 10 verse 8, it talks about the talents we receive from God and how they are gifts! I bore my testimony about eternal families and how my family is a gift from my Heavenly Father. We tried to give him the Book of Mormon but he was not very interested so we gave him a card that had our phone number on it and the address to the church... a couple hours later Søster Buhler and i are taking our Dinner break and we get a text from an un known number that asked what time church started.... WHAT?!?! This has never happened to me before! What a miracle! he said he would try to make it and was not able to but said he wants to come to church next week! AHHH!!!!!!!! MIRACLE! I am so grateful that our bus never showed up that morning because if it had, we would have never met this man! (His name is Stig!) Yay!!!!!!!!!!! 

So cool right?!?!?! I know that the Lord is aware of you and the efforts you have! When hard or sad things happen, keep your chin high and I PROMISE you, something better is on its way! 

Gud vær med deg til vi sees igjen! 

-Søster Neilson

Happy Heart! <3

Finding JOY in the journey and being wise…

Hear no evil! See no evil! Speak no evil! ;)

Soster Neilson was able to go back to Trondheim for a Zone Conference this week! :)

She got to visit with Hem and Shanti and enjoy a YUMMY dinner! :)

Happy heart and a happy tummy! :)

Baby Bump! <3

Mali! <3

The Alesund Elders and Sisters! :)

Sunrise over the Fjord! 

We LOVE this girl! So proud of her! :)