Chillin' With My Gnomies in Norway: June 2015

Monday, June 29, 2015

Missions are the BEST!…Week 43

This week Soster Neilson was short on time. This is a bitter sweet week for the mission. The missionaries are saying farewell to President and Sister Evans and welcoming President and Sister Hill! Exciting times!

Here are a few excerpts from a quick email I received...

“I am doing well and please NEVER stop sending family happenings and pictures! It is hard sometimes but MOST times, it makes me so happy to see all of you and hear about your wonderful lives!”

Regarding her cousin’s mission call to Botswana Nimbia Africa...

“I watched Josh’s video last week and I was SO excited! AFRICA! The ladies here from South Africa were just telling me the day before to not EVER feel sorry for the missionaries in Africa because everyone wants to hear about Jesus Christ! Hahaha...so awesome! Cute little Joshie in Africa!” (note: he is 6’10” tall and anything but little!)

Lastly...

“Missions are the best...that’s it!”

Happy <3's!

Monday, June 22, 2015

Kjære Søsken…Week 42

Kjære Søsken, (Dear Brothers and Sisters)

Hvordan går det? Whats up?! How is life?! Life over here in Sarpsborg is a little wet...but hey, it’s still BEAUTIFUL! I love Norway so much! :)

So we had our moves calls (transfers) this week. Me and my companion are staying! Yay! But... our district leader is leaving and his companion and sister missionaries are taking over their area. The sisters are Søster Rogers (who I served With in Ålesund) and Søster Leland! I am SO excited! Wahoo! We have 30 elders coming into the land in the next 3 months...NO sisters...CRAZY! Come on Sisters! Hahaha...its just because a big group of elders are leaving so they are replacing them. Then only one leaves until my group (11 sisters) leaves in like 8 months. CRAZY!

This week... I don’t even know where to begin! We are teaching this AMAZING girl who is honestly so close to my heart! I love her! She was a Foreign Exchange student in America and lived with an LDS Family. Now that she’s home, me and Søster Gates have the privilege of knowing her and her whole family! They all came to Church yesterday and it was so special! I love that family! :)

Well, to be totally honest, I forgot my planner at home…hahaha...and I am having a hard time remembering this week...oops! Life is amazing here in Norway! I love serving here with my wonderful companion Søster Gates!

I love you all so much and I miss you lots! Muah!

Gud vær med deg til vi sees igjen,

-Søster Neilson

Happy Hearts! <3

Summer Solstice this week...

The sunset just after 11PM…CRAZY!

"This is Søster Kultorp! What an amazing woman!

She is almost 89 years old! She has been in this ward

her entire Church life. She is always doing family

history work and has found her family all the way

back to Noah in the Bible! I LOVE this woman so

much! She told me that when she looks at me, she

knows I'm a missionary, not from my name tag but

from my light! She is AMAZING!" -Søster Neilson

"Eldste Shankie is my FAVORITE! He goes home

Wednesday. I'm going to miss this big guy!"

-Søster Neilson

Søster Neilson's Momma…

Actually, her trainer Søster Hartley <3

Eldste Jacobs, her district leader, is also

going home on Wednesday! :)

Oh My! Playing golf with the pros!

They LOVE these darling ladies from South Africa! <3

The Mission fleet of cars in their zone.

Søster Neilson is actually a designated driver! :)

Zone Photo with President and Sister Evans

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Goodbye Teens! HELLO 20's!…Week 41

Hello People!

Whoa! This week was INSANE! I feel like there are SO MANY MIRACLES I WANT TO SHARE but at the same time I cannot because of the confidentiality of my investigators. There are so many things going on in my investigators lives and they are just receiving love and answers one after the other! The Lord really does hear and answer our prayers!

So Friday was my birthday! WAHOO!!!! What a party it was! The family we live with threw a little picnic birthday lunch for me... SO SWEET! AND then...we were off! We visited so many good people and got 2 new investigators that day! Holy cow! We are visiting one of them tonight who is just so honest and open! We met her while she was sitting on the side walk :) We then had dinner at the bishop’s house and it was so fun! We took a road trip out to Halden to visit one of our new investigators Her name is Izzy and I love her so much! Best birthday EVER!

There is not much more to report on today unfortunately. All of the things I would love to share are not mine to share, I am sorry about that! Just know that the Lord IS there and does LISTEN and ANSWER your prayers! I love you all so much!

Gud vær med deg til vi sees igjen!

-Søster Neilson

P.S. Again...thank you all for all the birthday love! :)

This is what choosing JOY looks like!

Søster Neilson, Børg <3, and Søster Gates! :)

Happy Heart! <3

Last day as a 19 year old!

Goodbye teens! HELLO 20's!

Feeling the birthday LOVE!

"A BIG thanks to everyone who sent

birthday greetings! They made my day!"

-Søster Neilson

Birthday picnic with the Olsen Family! <3

Birthday dinner and celebration! :)

"Meeting this girl was the best birthday

gift EVER! I love Izzy!" -Søster Neilson

Service Day!

"I told the lady my dad was a painting contractor and

she was so stoked…she thought I knew

what I was doing! LOL!" -Søster Neilson

The darling Søster Gates! :)

Hahaha…the decals on an RV!

"This is me and Bear! Can you guess which one

is me in the morning?!"-Søster Neilson

Creative way to use your dirty car in a positive way! :)

"Oh BEAUTIFUL Norway! How I love thee!"-Søster Neilson

Friday, June 12, 2015

Half Way…HOLY COW!…Week 40

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!

Monday, June 1, 2015

Hey howdy hey!…Week 39

Sorry no letter today! I will write a good one next week! I love you! I am so busy! AHHH! :) enjoy the pics though! xoxoxo

Gud vær med deg til vi see igjen!

-Søster Neilson :)

A little back story regarding the following few photos…

So I know I am the worst at writing an email with the pictures BUT Cici (in the pink) is a pro golfer who lives in our ward. She is amazing! Lollie (with short blonde hair) and Reev (with long blonde hair) are her coaches, and they are both from Africa. Lollie was #1 in America and Reev is really famous...my lacking knowledge of golf prevented me from knowing this. ;) These women are SUCH missionaries! The lady with red hair is Cici’s neighbor. They invited her and her son to come play golf with them. They search for ANY opportunity to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ! What studs! I love these woman so much! They have so much love to give and goodness to share! :)