Hello!
Oh my GOODNESS! I just want to give a BIG shout out to the people who made my birthday so special! I got around 50 letters in the mail and it absolutely made my week! Thank you SO much! I love you all with all my heart!
In many of the letters I received, many of you said how much you love reading my blog which I have not been keeping up... AH! SORRY! I need to work on doing that! I love you all so much and I want to share my mission experience with all of you!
So much has happened over the past few weeks! Last week I hit my half way mark... WAIT... WHAT?! I just got here! I still am a greenie... RIGHT?! Nope! So strange. I wrote a letter to myself in the MTC to read when I hit my half way mark. I was honestly dreading it! I did not want to read it because I was afraid I would get home sick or start getting burny! (burny means like when you are ready to go home so you slack off). BUT...I knew I needed to read it! And oh boy do I know how to pump myself up! Hahaha! I felt so ready to get out onto the street and teach these Norwegians after reading that letter! Oh my goodness! I am so excited to be at this stage in my mission! I have never had such a stronger desire to be exactly obedient and work my hardest! The Lord is so good and he can change the desires of our hearts and turn us into amazing people! We just have to put our trust in Him and follow what he asks us to do and I know that when we do that we will find more joy in this life and peace! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! IT IS THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD! EVERYONE SHOULD DO IT!!!!!!!!!!
I feel like this week was so crazy hectic! (Hectic in a good way! Like the kind of hectic you like and makes you sleep well at night!) Last Monday for a part of p-day, we went golfing! I am awful at Golf! I didn’t ever think you had to have much skill to play Golf but oh my goodness...it is work and practice! There is this INCREDIBLE woman in our ward who is a professional golfer and once a week she takes the kids from the neighborhood golfing on the golf course right next to her house...and of course the missionaries too! ;) It was so fun! Her two best friends (who happen to be her coaches) were here visiting from Africa! They are straight up white with super blonde hair! I remember when they introduced themselves they said, "We know we are white, but we are African!" Hahaha ;) After that we ate some dinner and had an amazing spiritual lesson! Søster Gates and I always plan to uplift and help them spiritually but they uplift and make us feel amazing! Such good women!
So here in Sarpsborg, Søster Gates and I get to use a mission car! In most of the other areas in Norway you have to use public transportation! On Tuesday we decided we were going to walk everywhere we went in order to save money and miles...now this WAS a really good idea, but just as we left the house its started POURING! There is something about Norwegian rain that soaks you right to the core! I swear the rain here is wetter then the rain in California! haha ;) BUT we did not let that stop us! We walked ALL DAY IN THE POURING RAIN! It was SO much fun! I was soaked through and through! Søster Gates had a good rain jacket but I did not! It was a day full of miracles, laughs, and OF COURSE singing!
The Sister training leaders came this week! It was so exciting! Sister training leaders are two missionaries who are experienced to come out and help give the other sisters advice and training. Their names are Søster Hartley and Søster Nielsen! It was kind of fun because Søster Hartley trained me and Søster Nielsen trained Søster Gates in the beginning of our missions! It was really exciting to get feed back from them at the end of the day and see first hand how much we have changed through our missions. I love them so much! Søster Hartley leaves in August and it breaks my heart to see her go because I love her so much, but I know the Lord has some amazing things planned or her! :)
Yesterday there was a broadcast from Ireland! Elder Jeffery R. Holland spoke... oh my goodness! He is such an amazing man! The spirit was so strong! He started off his talk by saying how much he loves sister missionaries. He talked about what amazing mothers we sister missionaries will be. My heart was so touched! I was sitting next to my investigator and he leans over and says, "That’s you!" I started crying and said, "I know!!!". Elder Holland bore a beautiful testimony about the Book of Mormon and it was so powerful! At the end our investigator told us that Elder Holland answered all of his questions and doubts! Oh my goodness! It was so special!
Well my wonderful family and dear friends, I love you all so much! I hope all is well with you wherever you are in this beautiful world that God gave us! I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week! The Book of Mormon is true! READ it!
Gud vær med deg til vi sees igjen!
-Søster Neilson
Note from Mom: Today is Haylee's 20th Birthday! It's been a bit of a rough day missing her! BUT we have seen tender mercies all day long and are SO grateful that she in is Norway for this birthday and loving the service she is doing! Happy Birthday sweet girl! We LOVE you!
Happy 20th Birthday Søster Neilson!
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