Miracles upon Miracles upon heaps of Miracles

As you can see by the title, there were a lot of miracles that happened this week:

Miracle #1: On Friday night all of our plans fell through and we were walking and deciding what to do and we happened to walk past the church and there were a lot of members outside playing and watching soccer so we decided to say hi real quick. There were some young women selling hot dogs and coke so we bought some and while we were waiting for them to bring it to us some random guy from the stake that was playing soccer came up to us and said "Hermanas I have something for you" and then he proceeded to pull out two Jiff Whips Peanut Butter thingys from his backpack and then Slim Jims and gave them all to us jajajajaja we were like whaaaaaaaaattttttttttttttttttt. And I was so happy and crying tears of joy and wow. For realz such a miracle! I don't know who that man is but he is my favorite person. 

Miracle #2: On Saturday morning our plans fell through again and we took a weird route through the city idk I think sometimes the spirit just guides us and we don't even realize it because WE RAN INTO RAUL!!!!!!!!!!!! He's the convert that got married and baptized in November!! I hadn't heard from them and the missionaries in Reducto told me that they were having a hard time finding him and I was really worried. Turns out, him and his wife just moved to another city! But they told me that they are still super active and that they still have plans to go to the temple in November and get sealed :) :) :) That was seriously such a miracle!! I was so happy to see them, we literally ran into them at the perfect time! 

Miracle #3: Okay so I am way bad at writing you and telling you about the people we are teaching and stuff but we have been teaching a guy named Bruno with the Elders. Bruno is 21 and when we started teaching him he was atheist. But he's been reading the Book of Mormon like crazy and coming to church every week and progressing a ton! We taught him last week about how he's changed in the last month and he said he's a lot happier now and feels the presence of God in his life, it was seriously just like woah. He's getting baptized this Saturday and we are so excited for him!!! 

Miracle #4: Okay so Edith is incredible. She just keeps progressing more and more and more! We taught her about prophets on Saturday night and showed her the pic of the prophet, apostles, and 70 that come in the General Conference magazine and she loved it! Literally every time we have taught her something she hasn't had any doubts, she just knows that it's all true. On Sunday in Gospel Principles class, she volunteered to say the closing prayer and she prayed for President Monson! It was so cool. She hasn't even heard or read one of his talks yet but she knows that he's God's prophet on the earth right now and it seriously is the coolest thing. She is so converted to the gospel!

This week has been super great! We are just working our buns off and talking to everybody and seeing so many miracles! I love San Lorenzo so much and I am so happy here!! Our house hasn't had water since yesterday so we have to use a bucket full of water to flush the toilet and stuff but igual I am so happy and so grateful to be here! 

Ponderize this week: 3 Nephi 18:24

LOVE, Hermana Nielsen! 

Edith!!!

Okay, wow! What a semana. What a life.

We had a super busy week and it was so fun and flew by and ahhhhh but the good news is that Hna Andreasen and I are staying together for another transfer!!!! Our district leader called us this morning and told us we are staying together!!! It is Hna. Andreasens last transfer before she goes home #blessed

Sooooooo on Thursday we got permission to go to a hospital out of our area to visit a member that has cancer and that was super random and fun and weird jajaja but she was happy that we could visit her and she´s the only member in her family so hopefully it helps her family because they are way hard core Catholics.

On Friday I hit my year mark in the mission and that was a weird feeling, it feels good though because I´m at the point where I feel like I know what´s going on and how to handle situations and work my way around and I love it so much! We celebrated (not really) by going to Yaguarón because some of our Hnas were having some way bad problems so we had to go help them jajaja we got back at like 7 that night and our bff member Rita called us and surprised us with pizza! Tender mercy..

SATURDAY WAS THE BEST DAY EVER.

Edith got baptized :) :) :)

She has a fear of water and doesn´t know how to swim so she was struggling when she got in the font but then she did it and after she shared her testimony with everybody and it was so powerful. She knows that the church is true and she is already counting down the days when she can go to the temple with her family! Sunday she got confirmed and it was all so spirtual! She has been progressing so much and so so fast and we are so happy for her! She has been so prepared, all we just needed to do was find her. 

My birthday was good, I´m sad that I´m not a teenager anymore jajaja but I still act like one so that´s okay!! We had lunch with the Familia Cabrera and they were so nice and sang to me and then another member Wanilda called us and she made me a cake and it was huge so we took it to the baptism and shared with everybody! After all of the baptism madness another member Pablo called me into the secretary room and showed me the video of all of my fam saying happy bday to me ahhhhhh that was the cherry on top of the cake! It was such a good day, mostly because of Edith but i felt a lot of love from a lot of people!

It´s so fun and so cool to see people progress and grow on the mission, including myself. I am so happy for the new challenges and experiences every day, it´s so hard sometimes but so much fun too and I´ve never felt more like I´m where I should be.

Have the best week and enjoy summmmmmer because it´s cold here jajaja!!

Ponderize: D&C 50:16

Con amor, Hermana Nielsen 

Whooooo

Hhhhheeeeeyyyyyyyyyy

Here´s a lil update on Paraguay:

It´s still cold. Somebody told us that yesterday and Saturday were like 2 degrees. (celcius of course) And it was just so dang cold! But luckily we are allowed to study at night now because once the sun goes down it is freezing and NOBODY is outside. Unless they are drunk men watching a partido. 

There´s always some type of fruit growing here and right now we are in the season of oranges, mandarine oranges, pomegranite, grapefruit and bananas whooo! We can just pick all of these fruits off the trees while we´re walking everyday and everybody loves to make us fruit juice and  it´s the best ever! It makes me not want to ever leave here. 

So Edith is getting baptized this Saturady! whoooooo!!!! We are so excited for her. Yesterday she came to church with her two little girls and while we were in the Gospel Principles class she bore her testimony and told us that she knows that this is the true church of Jesus Christ and that what we teach her is true because she always feels the spirit and feels so good! We were learning about gifts of the spirit and one of the gifts is to believe in others testimonies. She talked about how she has that gift right now and the spirit is helping her believe in what we teach her and ahhhhhh it was so cool! It has been so incredible to see so much light come into her life! She´s already got some metas to go to the temple and be sealed to her family in a year!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so so so grateful to be here right now doing what I am doing!

Our mission president started a new goal this week of talking to at least 20 new people a day about the gospel and it has been so fun! Hna Andreasen and I have already had some goals to talk to everybody but now we are really pushing ourselves and it´s so crazy how many people we talk to and what happens in every conversation. I love talking about the gospel in Spanish so much! 

Keep doing what you´re doing (unless it´s bad jajajja) and finding ways to share the gospel with those around you! 

Ponderize: Heleman 8:15

Con amor, Hermana Nielsen 

My Best Friend Rita

Rita tried to take a pic of me and this was when I realized it was in front of a Catholic church jajajaja

Hello

Woahhhh this week flew by. Also it´s June and I never thought this month would come. Also I am SO TIRED. And cold. Who would have thought it´d be cold in Paraguay? But I am SO HAPPY too!

Anyways, this week was a little cray cray. We just did the normal traveling to different areas to do divisions and studies with Hermanas and it´s always way fun but it makes the weeks go by faster and I h8 that. 

So on Thursday we went to Yaguarón to do divisions with some hermanas and as we were walking up the street to their house two of them were walking out and two others came out running (four of them live together). They were all just talking and freaking out and saying that they had to pay the light bill because somebody was coming to fix the lights and a bunch of random stuff and so I just went in the house and ate some breakfast because I was confused jajajaja when they came back it was 9 so we had to start all of our studies an hour late and do 3 hours of weekly planning together and eat lunch and so by the time Hermana Andreasen was going to leave with one of the Hermanas it was going to be like 3 and it takes an hour to get back to our area so they weren´t going to have a lot of time to work together and do what they needed to do, so we decided to stay....mistake #1. We just did divisions with them both in their area and we were just going to leave at 7 and come back next week, right? Wrong.

Hna Andreasen and I went and got all of our stuff and waited an hour for a bus to take us home and noooooothinggggg. We called the Hnas and asked if another one would come because they usually pass like every 10 mintues and ALL 4 OF THEM FORGOT TO TELL US THAT THEY STOP COMING AT 6. HOW DO 4 MISSIONARIES FORGET THAT. So we had to sleep there. And I will just tell you it was like camping and it was cold and uncomfortable and so much funn too!! We had 6 hermanas having a sleepover so it was actually way fun and I think we all needed it!

This week has been so good. We have been making so many goals and trying so hard to reach them and this week we saw a lot of success and we gave out SO MANY Books of Mormon! I love love love doing that! And just being able to walk up to anybody on the street and talk to them, it´s so much fun! And I love my area so much. It´s one of those areas in the mission that has a bad reputation for success and stuff but I seriously love it so much. The members here are great and the people and I have still grown and learned so so much!

Ponderize¨Heleman 3:34-35

Con amor, Hermana Nielsen

We can wear jeans!!! Jajaja jk. It was our district activity.

Edith´s daughters that are the cutest ever!

San Lorenzo!!

Sleepover fun :)))

The ward threw a 15 for a member who´s family literally has nothing. Somebody gave her the dress to wear and the women helped her do her hair and makeup and it was so much fun!! Yay for Latinos that have the best birthday parties!!

No se jajaja

I'm so sorry but time is short today so my emails will be lame sauce :(

Wow, I feel really overwhelmed with love today! Everybody that emailed me today has really helped me and said exactly what I needed to hear. Thanks you guys! This week has been crazy and a little rough. Two of the recent converts that have been doing so good both  had problems with drugs and alcohol this week....I've just been a little stressed and worried about them. God is teaching me a lot of patience right now hahaha. But luckily it's Monday and we are starting a new week with a district activity :)

So there's a member here named Wanilda and she's from Brazil, she went this week to see her family and brought us back a food that I had been dreading! In Brazil they take a cow's hoof and take everything out of it like the veins and stuff and they cook it and make something sweet with it. She brought it back and I was like no. There's no way I'm gonna try that. But I tried it and it was so good hahahahahaha we're always eating random weird things here. I'll try and take a pic of it this week!

There's not a lot going on this week. We're just searching all of San Lorenzo for new investigators and surviving the cold and loving every moment of being a missionary! Hna Andreasen and I are having lots of fun together and doing lots of divisions with Hermanas and laughing at all of the dumb stuff that happens. I say it every week but I really really love being a missionary and I appreciate so much the love and support I receive from home! Keep praying for the people here and the missionaries around the world, it's much appreciated :)

Have a great week!

Ponderize: Alma 48:17

Con AMOR, Hermana Nielsen

Our Zone and me accidentally punching my companion

Intercambios

Miracles

This week I don´t have a whole lot of interesting things to tell you..........We had a Zone Conference this week and Hna Andreasen and I taught, it was way fun! It´s always a good time trying to speak Spanish to other missionaries under pressure jajaja

One of the biggest miracles of all miracles happened this week!!!!!! We started teaching an investigator named Edith like 3 weeks ago. Her husband is a member but hasn´t gone to church in a long time but his side of the family are members and way active. So Edith and her husband Neco moved in the apartment beneath us so we have been able to teach them a lot! They have two little daughters Belen and Martina and they are so cute! It´s really fun teaching them! Edith and her husband speak English too so we just have a spanglish party every time we go jajaja but Edith loves the church and has been progressing a ton! Their family finally came to church together yesterday and sat with us and it was so incredible! She wants to get baptized and she actually reads the Book of Mormon and keeps her committments, it´s incredible! It´s really fun teaching them and watching their family progress and grow together! 

Luis (that got baptized 3 weeks ago) is doing pretty good, but he hasn´t come to church the last 2 Sunday´s and we´re pretty sure it´s because he´s scared to get the priesthood. He´s really great and he´s trying really hard so if yáll could pray for him that would be really great because we need to #KickSatanInTheButt

The weather has been cold, it´s really weird. I never thought I´d be cold in Paraguay but here I am wearing layers every day. 

And idk if we can wear pants yet because that would be crazy jajaja I hope so! The Elders have to wear long sleeves right now and the Hermanas if we have them because Dengue has been a huge problem here and a lot of missionaries are in there houses sick for like 2 weeks if they get it. Hermana Ovejero got it when we were together and Hna Andreasen had it a couple of months ago. But I have been #blessed 

But other than that, we´re doin good down here in Paraguay! Have a great week friends!

Ponderize: Alma 37:37

Con amor, Hermana Nielsen 

The Mission Life is the Life for Me

Well the song "Forever Young" is playing in our Cyber right now and it's describing how I feel right now hahaha I want to be forever young aka 19 years old so I can be a missionary foreverrrrrrrrrrrrr because I am so happy!!! 

This week was a little crazy, we didn't have a lot of time to work because strep throat, interviews with President, traveling, and just crazy. But when we did get to work it was so great! I used to be stressed about having high numbers every week when our district leader called us but I stopped worrying about that and I worry a lot more about people and it's literally changed my whole mission, I enjoy it so. much. more.

We had to drop a few of our investigators this week and that is always way sad :( We dropped a girl named Viviana this week...actually her Catholic Gma dropped us jajaja she doesn't like the Mormons so that was sad. Then we dropped another investigator Marcelo that was seriously so close to being baptized, he came to church a couple times and was really progressing but he got offended by our mission rules and that we can't visit men alone without another woman and now he wants nothing to do with the church....both way sad but I am not discouraged! My perspective this week has been really changed! We have to drop people sometimes but there are always more waiting for us, and so so many miracles :) :) 

I had a really cool experience this week, we did divisions with some of our Hermanas and one of them was a local missionary from my second area. I was with her for the day and at night she really opened up to me and talked to me about how she was deciding whether she should go on a mission or not. I told her to really talk to the Lord about it but I also obviously told her how incredible the mission is and that if she can she should! We talked a lot and then I didn't really think a lot about it after. But I saw her this week at an activity here for the youth and she told me that she is starting her papers now!!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy for her! Idk, she just feels like a sister to me and her family really took care of me and it's just small things like that that bring the biggest joys here!

I've just been so happy this week! I feel so good having the spirit and being able to have such a clear vision about who I am and my purpose in life. In my interview with my President this week he talked to me about using the mission to receive as much personal revelation as I could. He told me the mission is like the temple and it's the best place to receive revelation about things right now and my life after the mission. It seems so far away but I know that it's coming and I used this week to think a lot about what I want to do and who I want to be. Not in a trunky "I want to come home" way but to really receive guidance and it has been such an incredible week for me!

I love being a missionary and I love having the spirit with me so much all the time! I always feel good! So do what you can every day to have the Spirit with you!

Ponderize: Alma 30:44

LOVE, Hermana Nielsen