Random Nielsen Family Stories.

One night Amber came home late from work. She must have been going in for a mid-night ice cream snack, because she looked in the freezer, and in there she found a unopened gatoraide bottle. Cody had put it in there just early that night before going to bed to take on a basketball trip the next day. Obviously forgetting about what he had learned in science didnt think anything of it. During this time Cody was going through one of his phrases he always used on us, `Better luck next year` he`d say after everything. So Amber took it out opened it and drank a little and put it back in with a sweet little note that read `Dear Cody, ice expands, didnt you learn anything in science class.. better luck next year` It was soo perfect and we all laughed about it.

When we were younger I remember whenever we were asked to give a talk in Primary, we would have mom help us write it and put it together then we would take out the old black vaccum, we took the old blue booster seat stepped onto it and it was perfect hieght to reach the handle of the vaccum which we pretended and used as a microphone. Then we would spend hours practising giving our talks. I dont know whose idea it was, probably chelsea`s but we all did it growing up. Sometimes when I was asked to speak in sacretmeeting when I was older Id complain to myself because I was too tall to practice with the vaccum. This will always remain as a sweet child memory in the Nielsen house.

Chelsea asked me to write what i could remember of the car crash.  I was honestly so little I cant remember much and what memories I do have, I dont know if they were dreamed or not because they seem so far off of what chelsea and Amber remember. So who knows but what I do remember is afterwards there was a huge truck, I remember it being a cemi truck, but it was probably the ambulance and just seemed so much bigger to my little body. I remember there being really nice people in the truck and they let me walk around inside and gave me a stuff animal. I have absolutely no memory of rolling or even feeling hurt. I know I cut my head because mom told me later but i dont remember ever hurting. Just that I got a stuffed animal from a nice guy that had a big cemi truck.

I cant remember how old I was. But Im pretty sure it was for the baby blessing of Summer. The whole Nielsen family decided to drive to Elko from Utah for the blessing. So they all got together, pulled out this old Van of grampa and gradma Nielsen`s and they headed over. Well the old van had seen better days and they had car trouble. We eneded up having to go pick them up cause the Van died. They made it for the blessing and we had a great family visit. Then when it was time to pack up and leave, the van was still in the shop being fixed. So we decieded to lend them the truck to take back to Utah and we would just keep the van til we could bring it back. So that`s what we did. And it was the best! After the van was fixed Dad began driving that to work, so of course that meant us also for dropping us off for school. I remember Amber being a little embarrassed to be seen in the big old brown Van to be dropped off but Cody and I on the other hand thought it was the best thing ever. The van soon recieved the nickname of the `Party Machine` I remember always telling mom and dad that that was the car I wanted to drive when I was older. We had soo much fun with it, so many great drives to church, school everything. We always wanted to take it everywhere. It had like a built in table and tons of seats. Cody and I would switched seats as we drove. It literally was a party van. We loved it! Well the time soon came to drive it back and return it to grandma and grandpa. It was a hard departing with something we had grown to love soo much. (And Im pretty sure it just went back into the garage and never to be used again... what a shame!) but we had our good memories with it. Then I remember we all had to cram into the truck to drive it back to Elko. That was probably my favorite car trip ever. We were all super close together and we talked and sang hymns and primary songs the whole way home. I remember it being so much fun and just being the happiest ever with my family!

One weekend we deciede to go take a hike up Lamoille as a family. So we got everything ready and headed up the canyon. We started up. I remember we passed the Shelley family. And the line of hikers just never seemed to end! They are a big family! There were a few parts on the trail that still had snow so we were throwing snow balls at each other. The way up was pretty relaxed and normal. We reached the lake and had our picnic mom prepared. I think cody tried to fish or something. I remember we found a huge mushroom and just played around. The adventure was just begining though. As our picnic ended we started our trek back down the mountain. And then came the rain. Not wanting to get our things soaked we started heading down as fast as we possible could. I remember on the part of snow it was all down hill and really slick so we basically just skiied down the hill. We were sliding and slipping everywhere. The rain made the trail super muddy we tried our best to stay clean but that soon ended as all of us were slipping and slidding and pulling one another down as we tryed to catch ourselves. By this time I remember running down the muddle trail as fast as we could. We finally made it to the bottom. soaked. wet, and completely muddy but with all smiles on our faces. It was a great day spent as a family!

One great memory I have of mom is one day when she came home from the store and ahd all the groceries out on the counter, like usual Cody began looking through to see if there was anything good to eat that she had bought. When he came across something mom had bought him from Christmas, he did a little hmm what is this? Mom said hey dont look at that give that to me. Cody being the stinker he is, cause ahh I see.. And as mom came around the counter to get it from him he quickly moved too. So they played the counter in the middle one moves one way the other the other way, so mom wasnt able to get it from him. they did this for a moment then somehow cody escaped and started heading down the hall, mom was on the oposite side of the kitchen table now and without even flinching chased after him and hurdled the middle part between the counch and the reclainer chasing him down the hall, cody had made it to the bathroom and locked the door mom was right on his tale. I cant remember exactly what was the end of it, I was laughing too hard cause i couldnt believe mom had actually hurdled the couch.

Dad was born in Pocatello Idaho and grew up most his life in Nebraska. AS a kid he enjoyed hunting, fishing, and playing sports. Which he still continues today. He served his mission in Buenas Aires south Argentina which changed his life, as some may comment, he has never finished serving. Dad has been a great example to me of sharing the gospel and is not afriad to talk to anyone. We joke that we were born this way, we are a missionary family. We pray everyday as a family to find people for the missionaries to teach and have had many oppertunities to share the gospel as a family and teach other families in our home with the missionaries. Words cant describe those feelings as we shared what was the most important to us with someone else without those blessings and watch and share the experience as their lives begin to change and as they take that first step into their new lives entering the waters of baptism. With this example and experiences I was even more confident and excited to sharing the gospel with everyone, I thank a lot of that to my dad. I remember one accasion we were on our way home from Utah and stopped to get gas before heading on the road. we were running late as usual and I had practice to get to, the other sibblings work. So as dad was filling up he noticed a family across from him speaking spanish.. and of course he just could not resist. As we waiting in the car, eargently yelling Dad we gotta go! He 10 minutes later got back in and shared how he had basically shared the first lesson. That is just Dad, any oppertunity to speak spanish he is on it, and any oppertunty to share the gospel has him name alll over it. Dad went to BYU provo and there studyed to become an accounting, When asked why he chose to study accounting he casually states Because the line for engeneering was too long. typical Dad.. Dad also lived very truly to “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” minus the do without, because he refused to get rid of ANYTHING! Just ask mom and her experiences of trying to secretly throw away old ripped stale basketball tshirts. Or those old shoes he bought in the 7th grade or something skipping lunch to save up for.. yep still has them. AND YES still wears them. (Note to DAD: Im gonna add all the stories you would tell us as kids about your childhood here, Like throwing snowballs off the church roof, wrecking the motorcycle, grandma chasing you and you breaking the class, You should take the time to write them down too so we can have your perspective too.)

A memory I will always hold dear about Dad is when he would drop us off for school every morning. Northside Elementry School was right on the way to his work so we all piled in the beat up, old, falling apart `Little Car`. Some days if we were running late Dad would pull off the emergency break and let it roll. We were wait and try to see how far down the street we could get without turing the car on. We were `saving gas` this way Dad would always say. Only once I believe we made it down to the McEntires house. Then for a while we had to pick up Chance and Chelsea Gardner. Chance would always sit in front and just slide in with his packback on so he would be taking up the whole front seat and Dad could never see out the window. From that time on anytime anyone was in his way from seeing in the car he would call us Chance. Since we were in the old Little Car, nothing worked right, including the window wippers. I remember one rainy day Dad made me get out at every stop sign until the school and move the window wippers with my own hand to wipe away the rain so he could see. But my favorite memory of all about Dad dropping us off is that he would ALWAYS without fail say `Studying hard, Learn alot, Choose the right, Return with honor and Have fun` as we were running out of the car. That phrase has been so special for me. When I began driving myself or getting picked up for seminary, Dad would only say it every once in a while if he remembered, but he still used it for the little girls he would drop off for school. Sometimes I never realized how much I missed hearing that everyday. When Amber was on her mission, one email home I remember she quoted Dad`s phrase before we started school, but she added and `share the gospel`` at the end. Dad liked it so he started adding that on. The day I left for my mission, Dad had been the one to drive me over to Utah to catch my flight. So it was just Dad I was saying my final goodbyes to. After I hugged him goodbye and got in line he yelled, `Study hard, learn alot, choose the right, return with honor and Have fun AND share the gospel!`

Dad`s most famous quotes include: `Good Night` Ìm gonna kick you in the middle of next year` `Nucklehead` `I DONT YELL!!!`

FUNNY STORY! My freshman year our high school soccer team made it to the State tournament. Dad decided to drive down to Vegas and watch me. The game started at about 6pm. As the game went on it started getting darker so they turned on the feild lights. This wasnt enough for dad and he being alone and just commenting to those sitting around him kept saying, its so dark out here, they need better lights, and I can barely see anything how are they able to play with such little light. After about 15 mintues of Dad´s complaining and comments about how dark it was outside, some lady a few rows in front of him turned around and yell, TAke off your sunglasses!

CODY: Oh my stink I have the best brother in the whole world! I am soooo grateful I had this kid so close in age that we were practically raised side by side. I have sooo many memories with my brother. I am only 2 years older so we spent alot of our younger ages playing together. We had our fair share of barbies and sports. so it was a great combinations. A memory I have of Cody and I as kids is always competing agaisnt our imaginary apponents ´Johnny and Ceila¨ when we played sports. We would roller blade down in the basement and we always went up against JOhnny and Ceila. We would do comintaries outloud about how close they were behind us. We also sold paper fans together and put together a little buisness one summer so I could save up money to buy me a skippet. We spent our entire summers up in the Desert (empty coldsac up the street) There we played with all the nieghborhood kids. We played Altantis, and cody was always Milo. We aso make forts out of the long weeds, we called it Weed Staff. We also enjoyed playing dress up, since our male dress up clothes were limited Cody was always dressed up in dresses, we called him Karina.

Cody and I loove to quote movies. We basically speak in Movie quotes (mostly disney)

Cody is the perfect brother, seriously I couldnt say enough good about him. I remember my Sophomore year I was asked to prom, something happened and the guy told me he wouldnt be going with me but with someone else. I was a little bit heart broken. The night of prom roled around, my plans were to just go to bed normal. I then recieved a text from cody around 9, It said hey what are you doing tonight? I replied going to bed. He said ´you cant cause were going on a date. You drive. Ill pay. Meet you upstairs at 9:15´. He ended up taking me to mcdonalds, we decided dollar menu drive thru would satisfy. Then we just drove around town talking about all sorts of things. about 10 til 10:30 he asked if I wanted to go to the Senior walk, so we decided to go and sat together as all the seniors escorted there dates across the walkway, when the kid that had orignally asked me past by we both smiled super big and waved, he looked very uncomfrotable seeing us there. It was the best! I love my brother soo much!

Cody and I have a relationship most teenagers would consider weird or creepy. Most of our friends and peers would tell us we were too close. I guess other people werent that close with thier sibblings which is too bad. I loved my brother because he was never embarrassed to be around me. We would hang out together all the time with the same group of friends.

AMBER: I been completing my ´MY FAMILY´ book and added pages for each of my sibblings and wrote a little about them I then realized I should transfer all those memories and how I see them here for all to see.
Amber is one of my best friends! When I was younger and couldnt say Amber I would call her Bober, she then soon got the nickname BOB (but Im prettty sure Chelsea and Cousin Rachel are the only ones that still call her that) Even though she was 4 years older we were still able to be close. I entered High school right after she graduated but she didnt go to school that year until January, so she stayed home and I really feel thats when we became so close.She has been such a great example to me also, she always had the best advice for EVERYTHING I always went and still go to her with all my problems and she helps me through everything and helps me have an eternal perspective on everything. She really does have a gift in that sence. Something that she always did that was an example to me was writing in her jounral, she always wrote in her journal, and the best part about being a younger sibblings is getting to follow these things and learn from their example. I ended up becoming a good journal writter myself and I thank all of that to Amber. We enjoyed doing many things together such as photo shoots, making up crazy music videos, watching and quoting kids history. She then left on a mission to Honolulu Hawaii! I was excited but it was gonna be hard not having her to text every second with advice. But she changed so much and became such a strong young women because of her service. Amber loves to run, sing and have a good time. She has....(sorry I havent finished writing your section yet)

Good memories with Amber:

Our good JOKES..
One night we were hanging out as a family over at the house of the cabilluos... ( still working on this one too sorry, )

CHELSEA: I been completing my ´MY FAMILY´ book and added pages for each of my sibblings and wrote a little about them I then realized I should transfer all those memories and how I see them here for all to see. so I will start with Chelsea. Chelsea is my oldest sister.Chelsea is one of my greatest examples to me in my life especially at such a young age. Chelsea is like the Nephi of the family. Always super obedient to our parents and faithful to the Lord. I remember growing up always seeing her read her scriptures and praying before she went to bed. We shared a room growing up so this impacting me a ton at such a young age because her being my older sister I wanted to be like her and do what she did. Therefore thanks to her example I began reading my scriptures too, just to be following what she was doing. She worked really hard in school and always had perfect grades! She couldve been considered the perfect child, minus a few trips to the hospital. Chelsea was the reason for or the person in the hosptal. always. She gave amber and cody stitches. Broke her arm, had surgury on a bad hip and had a bad bursted appendix. She worked in the library in high school, which was the best and most fitted job for her. Once when she was a little younger told me her goal was to read the whole library. If new books didnt keep coming in everything I think she wouldnt achieved that goal. Chelsea is someone super orangized but a collects alllot of things. She is know for her huge chapstick collection, which she has perfectly organized and has each flavor written out on a piece of paper and she rotates everyday so that everyone is used. Its insane! And she has every stinkin flavor! In high school she participated in Band and choir, and did a little bit of strings (volin) She was a 4 year all state choir student, which is really hard to get! And did marching band playing the mellophone, and her senior year was the drum major. She looves the read and try new things. She made a list of 100 things to do before she dies and is determined to complete all of them. I just remember one of them was eating a worm.. and yep she did it and made me her witness and sign her bucket list. She went to BYU provo and there soon met her husband Brain. They were married in the Quirrih Mountain Temple and have been living in New Mexico. She has been working as a school teacher. Her and Brain liked to read together, cook together and visit different temples. She has gotten really into blogging and keeps everyone updated with a great detailed blog including pictures!  ( sorry this is all I got so far, im planning on adding alot more stories! if you have any ideas let me know! )

Zuccuni bread story:  A funny story I remember about grandma was a visit we had had at her house around 4 years ago. I had visited grandma´s house a month earlier, I cant remember for what reason, but it was only me and dad or something. In that visit a month early we arrived late that night and Charlene was there, she told us we could eat anything we wanted from the fridge, she got our a few things and set them on the counter for us to choose from for dinner, she had out a zuccuni bread someone had made, I really like zuccuni bread so I went for that. I cut myself a slice and took a big bite. Then froze. It was sooo bad! And not just your average stale and old tasting grandma fridge food. It was bad bad. Nothin from it tasted good or safe to eat. I quickly spit it out without anyone looking and decided to just stick with the preztle jar because my appetite just quite wasnt the same anymore or my confidence to try anything else. I had forgotten about this experience til we had visited Grandma again a month later, now as a family and Cody was hungry so of course grandma showed him to the fridge and had it opened as she started handing him things to eat. Cody was standing on the other side of grandma where she had it opened I was standing near the door to the family room just observing. I then heard her say ´Here have some zuccini bread´ I watched as Cody with a little ´MMm¨ take it from her. I then, standing behind grandma so she couldnt see gave him the warning sign waving my hands across my throat, shaking my head, I think my look of concern scared him but he understood and quickly said ´actually I think ill just have... ´ changing it to whatever else was in there. When grandma had left I then let him know that I had tried that SAME zuccini bread A MONTH AGO and it was bad then, he thanked me for the warning and we together tossed the old bad discusting zuccini bread in the garbage never to be tempted by anyone else. :)

Reduing the roof:  The summer of 2009 (maybe) Dad decided we needed to redo the roof, the sheilding has begun to peel and he wanted a nice new roof for winter. And Dad being his cheap self didnt want to pay someone to do it. sooo.. he decided we as a family would do it together and get it done within the first couple weeks of summer. Dad went and bought all the roofing supplies and we began. The beginning was fun! We enjoyed tearing the roof apart, pulling up all the old shielding and pushing it off the roof into the truck. (I remember the first time getting on the roof I basically crawled to the top because I felt so uncomfortable standing and unblanced, but by the end of the summer I was running up and down doing cartwheels on the roof.) We continued working on it day after day, after the shielding was all off we had to lay down a now tarp that went under the shielding. Dad wanted everything perfect so if we rolled it out crooked while he was stampled we´d get yelled at. haha. Some members from the Stake who knew how to roof came over to help out, they knew what they were doing and began working very fast. Dad didnt like this at all because he didnt feel they were doing it neatly enough and didnt like thier quality. He was getting pretty ansy and didnt like the help, he ended up redoing alot of the parts they had done. From that Cody Dad and I joked around about them. Thier names were Bruce and Richard. So anytime Id so something wrong, Dad would say Your just as bad as Bruce! or Alright Bruce. (To this day Cody still throws in the name and calls me Bruce if I do anything clumpsy) The days then began to turn into weeks. Every morning after papers Dad make us all get up there and work, (there went our entire summer) We were starting to get tired of it and trying anything to get out of it. I remember once purposely cutting myself on a nail so id have to go inside and get a banaid.. I never returned. Most the time It was just Cody Dad and I up on the roof, and usually Cody and I just joked around and make fun of Dad. It ended up taking us the ENTIRE SUMMER, and even though it wasnt the most fun thing in the world I look back now and it was definatly one of my favorite memories. We had many bonding hours up on that roof. ANd we finally finished it! That year for the 4th of July we all climbed up on the roof as a family with a bowl of popcorn and watched the fireworks. It was my favorite and most memorable 4th of July. It was a long hot summer up on that roof, but now im really greatful for the memory.

Haha Hna Bott and I love just talking about how great our families are gonna get along someday, Im glad you think we are a lot alike Dad! haha! We really do just get along so well, a little too well sometimes we think, and are best friends! And we both laughed when we read today that Mom and Marry Bott talked on the phone! haha! WE just love it! 

 This week went by suuper fast! President sent us a great letter. In it he mentioned that as a mission we have been telling ourselves quailty over quantity because we have lowered our baptizing numbers but all of those have been getting to the temple and staying active because of our push in family history. Well he told us that how great shall be our joy if we have MANY, and then went on to say he wants QUALITY AND QUANTITY! I felt a little guilty because I havent had a baptism since august.. It was kind of in my mind all week. We were then listening to talks and one by Erying during preisthood session came on, it didnt have anything to do with family history but he mentioned a part about men giving service in the temple and that the joy they recieved from doing it was only a part of the joy they will recieve after this life. And the thought just came to my mind, I haven't met any of my converts yet. And won't meet them til after this life. Yeah I may not have taught them, but I know each one of their names and have had the oppertunity to learn a little about them as I talk to these converts about them. I can't wait to meet every single one of them someday! That will be one special day. It made me feel alot better about what I'm doing. AND this week we are going to the temple! WE are heading over friday night! ANd we have over 20 names we are bringing. and 15 people we are praying! So this week will be crazy trying to get everyone recomends and finding buses. BUt we are super excited!

   Wednesday we were walking back from an appointment and we ran into a white girl! (not many of those around here) Her name is Hannah, she is from california and 28 and spoke english so we naturally jumped on the oppertunity to talk to her she was walking down the same long dirt road so we got a 20 min chat in with her. She is a jehovahs witness and has been in ayacucho for 2 years and plans to live here the rest of her life as a ´missionary´ too. She isn't married and lives with other people from around the world serving here too. we talked about alot of things. The book of mormon of course was her biggest concern. She strongly believed the bible was all we need and that there was nothin that says in the bible that there is another book. It was honestly the BEESSST!! I loved just talking and bearing my testimony in English! It felt so good! Is that what english speaking missions feel like all the time? haha but we just testified of the book of mormon and that she needed to pray. She was actually super nice! At the end we exchanged emails and thanked each other for the great chat. She told us that she loved that we taught with so much conviction and that she really admired that. (in my head, well yeah cause I've never been so sure of anything in my life than this!!!) It was a great experience. We gave her a few things to read and scriptures to look up. I really hope one day she comes into the gospel she really was just such a sweet lady! We could use a dedicated member like her. but well see, were just planting seeds!

   Yesterday Hermana King went home. She was one of the newer missionaries, still in training that we have been helpíng. I can't give an exact reason of why only that she wasn't happy here and struggled alot. It was sad and hard for both of us because we didn't want her to quit. But we did all we could as leaders for her. Transfers are in 2 weeks and president has mention a lot of things are changing over here in ayacucho. I may be opening an area but still here in ayaucho. Like a ward switch or something.. so well see what happens..

Lastly Hna botts mom told you about the package but I also have one I want to send home with her Dad, so I dont know if there is any time you guys have plans to drive to utah to pick it up or I guess she could sent it to ya too. Let me know what would work best. BUt im sending one with him si o si! 

 I love every minute here in ayacucho with Hna Bott! Life seriously is just soo good as a missionary! Dont have much more info on the whole family gallegos sealing but ill let ya know. LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!

Love,

Hermana Nielsen

PSS also Im sending some of the stories ive typed up since my time in family history on familysearch, just so you guys can read them. Let me know if I missed any details and give me more ideas! Hope you enjoy! 

And cody amber summer carly and adelaide still havent done thier homework!!!

 Esta semana ha sido MUY BIEN! Primeramente tuvimos 13 lecciones en historia familiar! woohoo! La semana pasada solo tuvimos 2... entonces fue muuucho mejor! La lunes pasada tuvimos una noche de hogar con la familia Machaca, (hay fotos) y dibujamos nuestros familias y hablamos en como podemos mejorar y fortecler nuestras familias y lo escribimos en la papel y los pegamos en la pared. Fue muuy divertida. Yo amo a esta familia! Esta progresando muy lentos todavia pero somos pacientes. Martes tuve una intercombio con Hna Tuquerres! Fue lo maximo! Ella es super! Solo hay 3 miembros en su familia y todos son menos activos. Ella es muuy fuerte! Aprendi mucho de ella! Miercoles fuimos a HUANTA! es una lugar como una hora de ayacucho, hay elderes serviendo alli, fuimos para hacer lecciones en historia familiar! la camino es muuuy bonito! Jueves tuvimos oltra leccion con la familia machaca, hablamos de la resturacion oltra vez, poco a poco con ellos.. 

Alright sorry im running out of time and this is just a little bit faster! Presidente came for interviews this week! We had to think and prepare a question. I prayed and couldnt think of anything doctrine or investagators wise that i could ask. So i decided to ask him what kind of missionary he saw me as, if he were to describe me to someone else what would  he say about me, my weaknesses and my strengths. He didnt quite give me the answer i was looking for but he told me he said me as one of the sons of mosiah that wanted to help others and a few other more personal things, but then he told me He was the wrong person to be asking. ANd that that was something i needed to prayerfully ask my heavenly father, so I would be shown my weaknesses to be able to improve them. It was super good. I just love president soo much! He also mentioned alot of After all we can do.. And that if i was doing all that I could do then everything would work out, in respect to family history and getting all those converts to the temple (he also mentioned he wanted all the converts in the last 24 months from all of ayacucho to get to the temple!) so thats what Ive been asking myself lately if Im really doing all that I can do. All that is requiered of me here in my area and in family history. 

I dont have time to tell you about all our funny stories, i wanted to send alot of pictures today! but Hna Bott will write about them then ill have her send them to you! I love you guys soo much! And hope you have a great week!

Les Amo bastante!!! Cuídese! 

Love,

Hermana Nielsen

ps, talk about my question I sent you as a familiy about the family gallegos sealing and let me know! Ill talk to pres tonight.

Alright well lots of random topics to cover so im just gonna go for it!

First I forgot to tell you we were headed to Lima this week! We had our leader meeting so we got that good old 10 hour bus ride 2 nights in a row, but we got to go to the temple tuesday night, soo great! My first time with Hermana Bott! WE got back at like 8am wednesday morning and had to run over to our zone meeting, ( making that like 3 days without showering, Oh hey fun fact.. we got to Lima a little late and had to sprint over to our meeting so Hna Bott and I had bed head and no make up, well Hna bott did her hair the night before, but I didnt. I looked sooo good, so then coming back and going straight to zone meeting I looked exactly the same. THEN just for the heck of it I decided to go the rest the week without makeup, but I did get to shower finally thank goodness.)

  so for zone meeting we had to teach part of what we learned in leadership meeting. No time to prepare but it still went alright, everyone talked and participated so that helped out alot!

   President also announced our new mission president. G.boyd and Ninon McGinn from Maryland.. but I wont ever know them I go home with president.

   Hey my letter came with my card! Yay I finally have money to buy you guys cool stuff! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!  And the letters were great! I enjoyed each one! And Hna Bott loved the picture Carly drew of us. She even included her BOOTS! ALL the peruvians make fun of her when she wears them so we have a big joke about them, So the fact that in the picture she is wearing boots make us really happy. THAnks CArly!

So the family Machaca is really progressing! Our special family we found in the rain. They come to church every week ALL BY THEMSELVES, they walked the 20 min walk and its so great. The Dad, victor, has only come once, but the Mom and her 2 kids (the others are on vacation to other parts of peru) come every week. They go straight to thier classes its GREAT! The mom, Naraza loves going to gospel princibles in Quechua so it works out great! I love them sooo much. The only problem is that they arent married.. BUT THEY WANT TO GET MARRIED, they just want godfather and mothers and its hard to help them understand they dont need that. We are working hard with them. Its hard because we have a 3 way language barrier because the mom speaks and undertands only a little spanish. But we are getting there! WE want to see them baptised so bad while we are still together! But everything is the lords timing.

So this week we have been listening to a ton of talks by prophets and apostales while we get ready or eat. And I have LOVED it! We had like a President Monson marithon, it was just one talk after the other. HE is SOO funny! I just love him even though I have never seen him in the flesh, I just feel like I know him and I know he is a prophet. There was another good one by Holland. In it he told a story about a missionary asking him if he would give his life for the gospel, he responded I am giving my life for the gospel. He then went on to explain that he knew what the kid meant and yes he would die for the church and the gospel, but that living for it meant so much more. Its easy to die for the church. We have testimonies and itd be a one action type of thing, But that living for the church and the gospel was so much different. Giving your life dedicated to the church is the bigger sacrifice because it requieres all your time and lots of years of it. YOUR WHOLE LIFE. He then said we dont need people who would die for the church we need them to LIVE for it. WE need those who are gonna be here and get the job done. I  found that super interesting and I can relate as Ive been GIVING my life for the church. I would die for it too. But in this moment its the giving that I am doing and its so wonderful! I love what the 4th missionary talk says, The only way to really win is to loose. Loose ourselves in the service of the lord. Living everyday for the church and being those examples. Then in the end we win. Win eternal life and blessings we couldnt even imagine. I love being a missionary and loosing myself to win and living every day dedicated to his work! Its the best calling every! 

I love you guys tons! Have a great week! Be better members and people then you were last week!

 

Love

Hermana Nielsen

HAPPY 2015!! wow thats soo crazy. I was a missionary for the entire year of 2014... CRAZY! So I have a ton of goals but Im only gonna shar a few that Hna Bott and I made

1.40 day sugar fast!

2. No eating after 9 (so we have to pack a snack for dinner while we are out working)

3. Write in our journals every day, we bought cute matching journals that have a spot for everyday so we are hoping that´ll motivate us, so far we´ve done good! And since we cant eat at night that makes plenty of extra time!

4. We can only speak English in the house, anything else is pure spanish.

5. And of course our motto. Stop Drop and Pray. So our goal is to pray for everything and really use the power of prayer in our work.

And so far we are doing reeeally well with our goals. WE did have to sacrifice our weekly Pday chocolate covered rasins we bought everyweek but we´ll make it through. Im super excited for this new year!

So we have a new saying, ´we are planting seeds´ because I feel like thats all ive been doing for the past 6 months. Lots of seed planting. And we joked this week that EVERYONE is planting seeds because this week all our investos that were starting to progress se fue a la charla... went to their fields. to go plant their seeds. Marisol, the one who bawled our first lesson left. And Liz who was from my first week here with her mom who passed away being named Julio who we mixed up the house.. Yeah but we planted those seeds and hopeing somewhere down the road someone will see the fruits. Gods plan is perfect.

So I need to tell you about Angel! He is a new investo we have. His wife is a member, and they have  4 kids and only one is baptized. AND THEY ARE MARRIED, that never happens. We have been teaching Angel and he is super golden! The sweetest peruvian Ive ever met! So nice.,I just love him so much. Well he had a brain tumor and has had 3 different surgeries trying to fix it, so right now he doesnt have a part of his bone on the top of his head and he is in soo much pain! He can barely walk because everything just hurts. So we havent been able to get him to church. So we asked if he wanted a blessing. he really liked that idea so we talked to the bishop and set up a time. Well when we got there with the bishop and all his counselors, they werent home... so we did our quick stop drop and pray and just prayed we find him or he´d come home or something. I just kept telling myself everything will work out, have faith. Then seconds later the nieghbor pulled up and it ended up being the wifes sister she told us they were down the road visiting his parents. so we walked down, and we finally found them, then we all went back up to their house. MIRACLE!! WE shared a quick thought about christ and the miraclkes he performed and that this was the SAME power and that accordnig to his faith he could be healed. Then they gave him a beautiful blessing and said that he would have many years in his future to serve in the lords work (future bishop!!!) and lots of other great things. He was so grateful and hugged everyone it was soo sweet! We also fasted for him to be healed! I just see sooo much potential with this family. WE had a lesson early this week and talked about temples and the wife said she knew someday he would join the church and they would be sealed in the temple. Angel said he would really like to do that too. So I dont see that someday too far away! AS soon as he heals, they can go to church as a family and it will be perfect. Ah! I just love them! Im sooo happy!

 

WEll im out of time, I love you all so much! I know this is the lords work and IM so happy to be apart of these miracles! 

Love,

Hermana Nielsen

Fun fact- If I had a dollar for everytime I saw someone go to the bathroom in the middle of the street (That includes male AND female) Id be a very rich missionary... I think that explains itself.