haha first of all gotta admit I laughed really hard when I heard Cody is out taking senior pictures. haha! C.Scott photography might actually happen ;) Tell him to be careful with my baby though! 

Well we had another awesome week! It was really hard at first cause we just weren't having ´number success´ we couldn't find anyone new to teach, and we were both kind of getting frustrated and finally sat down and talked about what we could do better, and as we talked we realized there was so much that happened this week that was huge to peoples progression that we couldn't be counting in numbers, and in personal study  read in Alma 26, and I realized we needed to be more grateful for all those little things, and as we talked it over again, we remembered all the situations where we were being placed in the place where we needed to be, quick little story, one of the people we went to visit wasn't home so we were a little bummed and started walking towards another house and we ran into Julia, she is Hna Blanca´s mom, so our neighbor and she is 90 years old and such a trooper! (and suuuper funny, she kind of has a grandma Nielsen personality ha.) but she was visiting her family and they weren't home either so she had started to walk home which was up one of the huge hills, when we past we asked why she was walking and she said ´well i don't got any money´ so we were able to pay for a motor to take her home. And just little things like that which didn't seem big, but heavenly father knows his children and little old julia needed help getting home and we got to be that help. 

 We also went to  the Chacra, a huge garden, for service, it was suppose to be with hna Julia but she wasn't feeling good so we went with her daughter Rosa who is our other neighbor, but we havent really gotten to know her as well, we were kind of bummed cause we wanted to go with Julia, but it ended up being a great opportunity to get to know Rosa more personally and she opened up a lot. she hasn't been to  church in over 3 years since her son died, and we talked with her about the plan of salvation and temples and she was really interested about the baptisms for the dead, so this Sunday she had a interview with president to get her started on her way to the temple!! 

We also had the baptism of Andrea (hna blancas daughter) Jhastin ( hna blancas grandson) and LUIS! and it was one of the best I've seen, a lot of people came, all of our neighbors since they are all one huge family, and it was just so great! Jhastin, since he is a boy we only give him handshakes and he always gets super sad cause we always hug andrea, after his baptism i think he was just so happy and tired of it when i offered him a handshake of felicidades he shook his head and just bear hugged me, haha it was so cute but i had no idea what to do. He is 10 by the way and Andrea is 11. I LOVE THEIR FAMILY SO MUCH! And we have seen a HUGE change in all of them, and little by little more of our house is getting back into coming to church! they still have a long ways to go, but its happening! so this could be my last week in Mala and I'm freaking out, I love this families and all the new people we are teaching so much. But I'm ready to work my heart our this last little bit i got here, but I'm still crossing my fingers i stay one more transfer!I LOOOOVE being a missionary and I love you all MUCHO! 
Hermana Nielsen

Bueno, this was an AWWEEESOME week! and can you believe im already turning 5? yikes... I hate how fast its going! So in all my personal study last week and at the beginning of this week I focused on the spirit, and how to have it with us and how to recognize it, so we could be guided by it. And in reality really all it is is just doing what you are suppose to. We were so guided this week, without even knowing it, he really just lead us to those people. First story is that we picked a name from our future investigator list from the previous missionaries just to try to find some new people to teach, we contacted her and just shared something in the doorway, later that way we contacted a guy in a motor had said he had listened to missionaries before and wanted to again, so he gave us his address, and as we were looking for it, it was the same house! he was the husband of the lady we had chose, so then we knew there was something special with this family. we had a great lesson with the whole family, their daughter was super interested and wants to be baptized but isn't married so were working with that, the parents have been a little harder but we still feel there is a reason we ran into both of them that week. Also we visited with 2 other less actives and one had just lost a brother the day before and said how she felt so alone and how she really needed our visit, the other was really sick and the same thing she just felt alone and also really appreciated our visit, it was just so cool to see that heavenly father loves them and knows what their going through and through us he shows that love, and its such a privilege to know he works through us.

 Next miracle! I don't know if i have shared this story but Luis one of my investigators since my first week i was here is finally getting baptized, this week! His mom was super against it so we didn't have permission, but he comes to church every week and reads everyday! And this week his mom finally had a change of heart and told him he could! Prayer and fasting works!! We are so happy! He will be baptized with Andrea and jhastin this week, they are the two neighbor kids we live with sorta. The same family we have fam scrip study with every night. Which is another cool story. its all just one big family that all live side by side, and they are all less active. and this Sunday we had ALL of them go to church! It was sooo great! Oh yeah and this Sunday was stake conference so we had to travel an hour to canete for the meeting, and they had all the members of mala meet and then we took vans. we squeezed 41 people in a 25 person van. IT WAS SO PACKED! but it was so fun we sang hymns as we drove the hour drive. there was about 3 kids on every lap, haha. it was great! but the whole family Escobar came! Then after church when we came home we could hear them listening to conference talk, cause our house is connected, they have changed so much, and you can just see they are all so much happy. Its really making me nervous with transfers in 2 weeks, I love this family sooo much! But yeah we had a great week, and Im loving what im doing more and more as the weeks go on. Im happier then ive ever been! This church is so true! and the change it brings to families in amazing and indescribable! I love you guys lots! Have  a great week! share the gospel!

love,

hermana Nielsen

Well since I talked to you guys yesterday I thought id take this time to send all my pictures I havent got around too!

This is mala mala! :)

Como estan ustedes? Feliz Cinco de Mayo! Este semana fue un otra muy bueno! Mucho milagros y exito!

Im actually writing from Lima today, because i have a doctor appointment today.. Ive had diarriah for a whole week now so they think i have a parasite? or however its spelt, so yeah that should be fun.. But i feel great! :)

First of all, Monday we had a mini intercambio because hna cortez had to go to lima for a leadership training meeting so I had 2 latina hermanas come stay in Mala with me. 2 NEWBS right out of the CCM. They had only been out of the CCM for 5 days so I had to train them!! And do their hour of training during the day too. And.... I got us lost! haha. weird huh? It was at like 8:30 at night and i couldnt see out the bus window so we accidentally passed Mala, cause we have to yell at them when to stop. So by the time i figured out we had passed it we had to jump off and wait on the side of the road for another bus to take us back. haha, the poor hermanas only their 5day in the campo and they get lost with a gringo. BUt I got us home safety after that :) But yeah I had to Train them! That was really weird for me, but it makes me have to step out of my comfort zone cause I actually had to teach all the lessons cause they didnt really know them. ha. SO it was good for me.

  So i dont know if I've ever told you guys but one of our investigators HAD A BABY!! She is 17 and the girlfriend of the Stake presidents son... ha yeah kind of awkward, we`ve been working with both of them. BUT she had a BOY! 

   So there is an Hermana in our ward named Kelly! she is 20 and basically the Peruvian Whitney. Ha she is the only member in her family and her parents dont really support her in the church but she is SOOO STRONG! I love her so much! ANd she is a cheff! so for our service this week we went and helped her make cupcakes and cakes and empanadas. THEY WERE SOO GOOD! And it was super fun!

  Oh before i forget this Wednesday Elder C.scott grow is coming to talk to us! SO I'm excited for that!

  So one of the miracles we had this week was with a part family. We didn't have plans to visit them it was just a random visit but the whole family was home. they have 2 daughters that are members and super strong, one is preparing for a mission but the parents have never wanted anything to do with the church. we just kind of chatted with them about their opinions and they seemed pretty open with us and just said it wasn't what they wanted but if their kids did they didn't care. we still invited them to church but they didn't really except. We passed by Sunday morning but they still were just kind of like nahh.. BUT this Sunday THEY CAME! only for the last 10 minutes of the meeting but since it was the testimonies, Andrea one of their daughters went and bore her testimony and said they today was a special day for her because her family was all here in the church, they she basically said how badly she wanted her parents to be baptized so they could have an eternal family and oh man it was a heart ripper if that didn't get then, their own daughter pleading. BUt yeah so were are excited to start working with them!

 IM out of time but im going to call this week to plan a time! so be ready! Love you all! and see yeah next Sunday EEEEEEK!!!

wow wow wow... is about all I have to say. This week by far has been the best week of my mission. I cant even begin to describe how awesome Hna Cortez is, she´s got something cause we have had more success then ever, and families we have been trying to teach my entire time here let us in with open arms, I was like wait is this the right house.. SHe is good luck or something.This week we had 18 lessons with members and 16 with less actives and recent converts. How, I have no clue. AND we traveled one day and didn't work Sunday cause hna Cortez was throwing up. so all that in 5 days. Yeah it still blows me away. I just feel like we are both on the same page, she is like me where she wants to make sure they stay in the church, I knew what I wanted but Hermana Cortez knows how to do it, and its working! She is really teaching me how to teach the people and not just the required lessons. I wish I had more time to talk about it. But yeah she is awesome, and I'm completely changed as a missionary in this last week. AND I'M HAVING FUN! Its so much more fun this way! Ah yeah things are so great! ha

So with the family we are reading the book of Mormon with has turned out to be a huge success. I didn't realize how much i missed family scripture study, we read with them every night now at 8 30 and we live with them so its perfect. One night a friend was over and read with us, and he was really interested we gave him a pamphlet and invited him to read the next day too. The next day he came back and had read the whole thing and wanted to know more, he also kept saying him and his people, we finally asked who was his people, and he said he lived over the huge hill in a tiny community and that they all wanted us to come and teach them too. We are still not sure if this is real or exist cause its not technically our areas, So we are not really sure if we should be excited or scared... haha but he came to church and we are inviting him to be baptized this week!

Everything is just going so perfectly, we were so blessed with a week of miracles, and I LOVE what im doing right now as a missionary! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

- Hermana Nielsen

HAPPY EASTER! Looking and sounds like it was a fun simple family time kind of day. Easter doesn't really exist here. Or how it does in the states. We didn't do anything special or even have church talks about anything so I completely forgot it was even Easter. Kind of sad, but its all good. 

   So this was a crazy week! First on Tuesday we got word that we were having Emergency transfers, which we were kind of expecting because some chico in the ward admitted his feelings for hna galo and so she had to tell president, and the kid had just had his interview with president for his mission so that must have been awkward too. haha. Then Wednesday we traveled to Lima for Migration, Im official in Peru finally! Got my Peruvian Id and everything. ;) And we didn't get robbed this time thank goodness. 

 That night Hna Galo said all her goodbyes to all the members and converts, then we left for Lima again Thursday morning. My new companion is Hermana Cortez de Texas. She´s been out 11 months and speaks super good spanish, her grandparents are Mexican so she had known a little before. She actually roomed with Tori ackerman at BYU too, ha. BUT SHE IS AWESOME! I learned more from her in my first 2 days then I think I did in all my 2 transfers of training. which yeah by the way, IM OFFICAL NOW! All done with my training! YAY! But yeah shes awesome, she teaches so well and the spirit is soo much more powerful in the lessons then we had had in the past with hna Galo. Hermana Galo was great but she´s one only one month older then me in the mission so she was still learning everything too. IM SO excited for this next cambio! I was super nervous to lead the area but I can actually see how much it has helped! Im way more confident in my spanish and in my teaching. I finally feel apart of the work and like I'm contributing to their progression. Its finally starting to become FUN! I struggled for a while trying to find the fun. I made it through preseason in the ccm and now it game time in the field, I was on the team but sitting the bench watching it all happen, id get my few minutes here and there but never scored any points, Iwas a bench warmer. which as we all know is not fun, and something I do not like. And now I feel like im actually playing and scoring points and helping win! Which is FUN! :)

Cool experience real quick, the family we live with is inactive and 2 of the kids are not baptized yet, every missionary that has come through Mala had been working with them, but last night we had a lesson and it was the WHOLE family which has never happened since I was here. My companion started with praying as a family, then when it was my turn to talk I saw that they had one of the papers they passed out at church on the table and it was a family goal to read the book of Mormon 15 minutes a day and finish by the end of the year, I gabbed it and started talking about it and explaining it then shared my experience with our family and how as a child of the family I could see the difference it made in the home and between us siblings and bore my testimony of it. then we closed with a prayer and then as we were leaving I had a thought come to mind that we needed to read with them right then. so I asked if we could start with them right now. then we all read 2 versus each and  they asked us to come read with them the next night again, so we are super excited and they are too! It was so great! probably one of the coolest experiences so far!

Well I love you all so much! have a great week!!!

Hermana Nielsen

Well this was an interesting week, it was a slow start but we came out on top!

Monday morning hna galo and I ran, and i felt way more tired then usual, and my legs just ached, then we emailed and during lunchI started getting a headache, I knew it was just because i was dehydrated so I endured through the rest of the day. For pday we went to a zoo, which was actually pretty cool, only had like a few monkeys, llamas and lizards but had cool spots for pictures. ha. We also hiked to this white Jesus statue on top of a hill it wasnt very far but my head was throbbing and my legs felt like they would give out any minute, but being stubborn I didnt tell anyone and just kept going. I made it through the entire day, but after we got off the bus and started walking home the pain and throbbing was getting really bad, I told myself it was just a test to see if id still work through the pain, but when we reached our house I layed down for a sec and i had never had my head hurt so bad before. My head also felt like it was on fire so i was trying to cool off with water and the throbbing kept getting more and more stronger. I was literally laying on my bed tossing and turning moaning trying to find a spot where it didnt hurt, but it didn't stop. hna galo called the elders to come give me a blessing, afterwards i was able to relax enough and fell asleep and the pain left.BUT then that night I woke up with diarrhea. So that took up the rest of the night... 

   The next day was interviews with president. My head still was throbbing a little bit but was bearable, but during my interview i was just fine then all of a sudden i had a huge heat flash, and i just broke out in a down pour of sweat out of no where! literally sweating like i would in a basketball game. My neck and face. President obviously stopped and asked what was wrong and then said i had a fever so the rest the interview he played doctor and told me what i needed to do to get better... i was super bummed my interview got ruined... 

OH and I had to chug this nasty electro water stuff... A TON OF IT! It tasted like sugared saliva... 

 So I wasn't allowed to go out and work that night, which  was a blessing cause I had diarrhea again and wouldn't have been able to anyways. ha ha. its passed I can laugh about it now. ha. but heavenly father is so giving and blessed us with an opportunity to still work! The member we live with asked us to come over and share a lesson with her friend she had over, so technically we didn't leave the house ;) And he ended up becoming a new investigator! WOO! I was really happy cause I felt so guilty.

Then Wednesday. Oh man Heavenly Father blessed us so much. We were able to make up for our lost time in those 2 days, and had a VERY successful day! AHH im out of time. but we also had an intercambio with hna rivera again. I LOVE HER SO MUCH! and learn so much from her every time. Well I Love you guys! This is my last week with Hna Galo, cause changes are next monday. Hope all is well!

love

Hermana Nielsen

First of all, I just want to say how happy and proud I am to call you guys my family. Especially mom and dad, you guys have raised me and our family so well and I am so thankful for all the late night family scripture study, even when  I was asleep or wanted to go out with friends and for having family prayer every morning and night. It was a thought that came to mind during conference. A lot about building strong foundations because things are about to start and are getting rough in the world and we have to hold strong to our standards and I'm just so thankful i was raised in a home where i could build my strong foundation. SO THANKYOU GUYS! 

   Speaking of conference. WASNT IT SOOO GOOD!? I was able to watch saturday in English which I thought was the best sessions, but probably because sunday was in spanish with english subtitles that were super fast and i couldnt read quick enough and it was also 2 sentences behind the spanish so that through me off when i did understand parts and i also couldnt take notes and read at the same time. But i agree Bednard´s was one of my favorites! and also Elder Andersen´s. So great! And it was awesome cause this week basically all we did was just teach about prophets and testify that we do have a living prophet today and give out invitations. we had 7 investagators come! ANd im so excited this week to go and hear about what they thought! 

Other then that the only big news, which is pretty big, is that FAmilly Gallegos has a date for MARRIAGE! may 10th! as soon as they are married the parents can be baptized finally with their kids! They are so awesome! I feel like home when I'm in their house. I also always think to myself, Man dad would LOVE this family and can just picture how obsessed he would be with loving them haha. Their dad is a big jokster too so dad and him would be great friends! haha. But yeah we are really excited for that. Its after Hna Galo gets transferred so she is really sad, but hopefully we can both  be there when they get sealed as a family in the temple! 

Well that's all I can think of for this week. I love ya guys sooo much! I saw a few pics from the Choralier trips, Cody looking pretty stud like as always! ha. Hope you have a great week! 

Love,

Hermana Nielsen

So before I forget at the end of this, send me pictures preetty please! Through emails I mean, I miss seeing all your gorgeous faces and I love seeing what your up to through pictures. Chelsea does a great job with sending me pictures and I LOVE it! 

So something I dont think I ever told you guys is that Hermana Galo comes from a missionary family too! Both her parents served missions, her older sister served in Guatemala, but is home now. Her other older sister is now serving in Columbia and her little sister just started her mission in Brazil! 3 missionaries out in there family! crazy crazy blessings they are getting. ha but yeah I LOVE HER and am super sad because she will most likely be getting transferred in 3 weeks. Then i will be expected to lead the area. YIKES! 

So this week was a little rough, no one was home or was either too busy and  by the end of every day we realized we had only taught 2 lessons, with that meant tons of walking so we were exhausted too. Our baptism with Alexandra didn't fall through, no matter how much we tried to talk her back into it or all the scriptures we tried, then on Sunday we only had uno investigator in the capilla... BOO.. BUT, we did still receive one miracle Sunday night! We ran into a family outside their house and started talking to them and they were super interested, and had tons of questions we were able to answer.Its so cool being able to use the Book of Mormon and the bible to explain how and how our church has all the correct doctrines and principles that Christ´s church had, you can just see it in their faces when they are like ´oh that makes so much sense´ I LOVE IT! 

So remember that awesome guy we found in the church one night. well he is progressing rapidly aw he is so awesome! Ricardo is his name, but we found out he is not in our area so we had to give him to the Elders... triste. But hopefully with These news ones we can have just as much sucess!

I Love you guys ton! and I Love Peru! Its so beautiful here, and the people are so awesome.I love being a missionary and learning so much every day. Personal study is serious one of the best things about being a missionary, an hour is not nearly enough time, I love learning more and being able to explain to people about this gospel, even in my broken spanish. which is coming along, they understand me and I can express most of my thoughts but i know its not totally correct yet. But everyone always tells me how much better im getting so that is great. And me and Hermana Galo yack all day long just fine now. But I understand her better then anyone else so that doesn't count. But yeah. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY AND I LOVE PERU!

Hope you have a great week!

LOVE,

Hermana Nielsen

Gonna try and get in everything i can in the little time i have.. 

First off a few little things I dont think I ever got to mention that I've been meaning to tell yeah. I met Hermana Cook, Our cousins wife´s sister. ha, and when I first met her she said she was told to say she had already heard about my reputation, I didn't understand at first then she said cause your a Nielsen, ha. 

 2nd is that its a rule here that we aren't allowed to play soccer.. I dont think i ever mentioned that... so yeah BOO! ;( its really hard. especially from going from the CCM to none at all. So my soccer skills will have to wait.. BUT there might not be a need for it anyways considering I've gained 21LBS! yep that's right I now weight 176... Hermana galo has gain 25 too, so I dont feel as bad, but yeah so this week we are skipping lunches and only eating fruit. So hopefully that improves our problem. YIKES! 

  3rd is that I have Grandpa Nielsen to thank for preparing me for my mission, because we dont serve ourselves here THEY SERVE YOU, and its grandpa servings, a little bit is NOT a little bit. And you are expected to eat it all! Also eating everything even when its expired or a little moldy... haha so yeah grandpa Nielsen prepared me very well for my mission ha.

AS far as my spanish, I Have a Liahona they gave us with all the general conference talks so I read that in all my spare time. I'm to the point where I can understand anything that I read, but I still dont have all the words memorized or the sentence patterns, so my speaking is still a little rough... but its coming.

As far as this weeks go we have 2 new investigators that CAME TO US! we were in the church and they just wondered in and asked about our church and asked to learn more! both in 2 different nights! so that was a HUGE miracle! cause we have been praying to find people who are Ready. Well I'm out of time but i LOVE YOU GUYS LOTS!!!

Hermana Nielsen

HOLA FAMILIA! 

Welp nothing too crazy happened this week but yes we did feel the earthquake pretty strong. well.. my companion did. It was in the middle of the night, I was in the middle of a lesson in my dream haha (no I haven't had any Spanish dreams yet. they are kind of just language less, because i cant remember them being in English either) but then i just hear ¨Hermana Nielsen!!¨ Then I woke up and kind of basically got shook out of bed and we went to the doorway but it soon settled down. We went back to sleep, and I guess a couple minutes later the Elder had ran from their house to our room to check on us, but I slept through the whole thing ha.

    Combios were last week, and we got a new Gringa in our zone! WOOHOO! I was really excited. Her name is Hermana Bott from Utah. She had entered the CCM right after I left so she knew all my friends I had left behind so it was cool to catch up on how they finished their time in the CCM. She also is like me and knows nada Spanish! So it was nice being able to give some advice and feel like I knew what I was talking about. ha. But she has a gringo companion so she can actually communicate with her companion and know whats going on after everything, but I feel like its a disadvantage in learning Spanish faster. But its harder and I can see how some people wouldn't make it through it. I had some questionable days, and im ´emotionless Hermana Nielsen´ so I cant imagine for a normal person´s emotions how it must be. ha

Yesterday I met Hermana Ali! The Hermana with the blog dad and I read. Oh I think I forgot to mention this but she served 6 months here in Mala too! during the time we were reading her emails! But she finished her mission and was stopping in all her old areas with her mom for her last visits. She is a great missionary and is famous in Mala. All the members talks about her so it was so fun to finally meet her!;)

Another quick random thing I haven't ever had time to tell you guys about is that I get so many compliments on my eyes here. its nice ;) haha. Always, the first thing people say to me when we meet for the first time ¨oh tiene ojos bonitas¨ ha

I love you guys soo much! It defiantly was blessing to be apart of such a missionary oriented and strong family. Im SOOO glad I get to be with you guys FOR ETERNITY!!! :)

 Love,

Hermana Nielsen

 

guessssss what!!!! I GOT MY FIRST .EVER. CELLPHONE THIS WEEK! haha we were a little excited!

First off ahh! Congrats on the win to Cody against Desert Pine, I can just imagine dad and talking about it all night, that's so awesome. But sorry for the lost in the final. Trust me been there done that. ..plenty of times.. There is always another year, but even then just remember cCody there are better things in life. Beating SC as an underdog for me was a lot more memorial then winning state at track. State isnt everything. :) be happy you beat dessert pine that's HUGE! 

So last week I forgot to mention that while in Lima Hna Galo got her bag stolen while we were eating. It was right next to her in between us actually and then bam just gone like that. And it had EVERYTHING! It had her camera and all her photos, Her PASSPORT, all her identification, Our huge ´cellphone´ its wireless and works like a cellphone but is in the shape of a normal huge home phone with the cord. but we had to bring it to be able to call in Lima. haha so yeah that got stolen. and her scriptures and all the numbers and contacts of all our investigators. Yeah it was pretty sad...

SO this week,  Friday we had our lesson with John, he is 18, his baptism was for Saturday and he wasn't sure if he was ready, at the and at the end we asked him to say the prayer, and it was like the perfect investigator prayer, he asked to know if these things were true and to know if Joseph was a true prophet and you could tell he was actually truly being sincere, we were so surprised! He had his interview anyways and that was his answer he said, so we planned it was Saturday night. Saturday night came around and he didn't show up, we called and called, then at like 9 that night he said that he had to stay late for work and that when he got home his aunt freaked out on him about his baptism and just tons of problems, but he said he still wanted to, so we planned it for Sunday at 7 in the morning.

    And for the first time ever.. (with Peruvians ha) He CAME! he was a little uncomfortable because he didn't know what exactly was happening with the whole thing or how it worked. But everything went well, then afterwards they asked him to bare his testimony and he just shared how before everything was going against it, with his job and aunt and he was really unsure about this whole baptism thing but afterwards he knew it was right and he felt good about it.And he said he still has a a lot to learn so he still needs to come to church and do all those little things, Hna Galo and I look at each other and were like is this for real? He had never been like this in the lessons! Then we had church like 15 minutes afterwards ha, and he received his confirmation, and it was by a kid in the ward who just received his mission call to Uruguay, but it was super good! He did a great job! Then John asked if he could come with us THAT NIGHT to teach and visit people. All in the same day! it was awesome, and i think he was surprised at how much he actually knew and was able to explain to our other investigators that night. 

Oh we had combios which is the reason this is late. Im staying here in Mala with hna Galo :) Other then that, its been a pretty normal week, Ive been sick the past 2 weeks with a cold and a bad stuffy nose, and have a ton of nasty blisters on the balls of my feet by my toes, but thats just normal things. Love you guys lots!! Oh and  happy birthday to papanwa this week!!!! LOVE YOU LOTS! 

hope you have a great week!! 

Hermana Nielsen

Alexus's baptism. With Hno Edgar

Laundry mix up wth the Elders... HAHA!

  So then the next day we go knocking on doors in the morning reminding about church, and we knock on Briza's and her dad says oh she is asleep so we said we would come back in 30 min, when we did he said she had left, which wasn't true but anyways so we invited him to church and said he was welcomed to come. so then we go to church and Elder Cohen asks where Briza was we explain the story and he says well go get her she has to be here. so as we are walking out her dad walks in and were like yay they came! but it was just him!! were like WHAT? where is your daughter? cause her dad inst a member.. so yeah, I haven't quite figured out Peruvians... but she finally came and got confirmed. thank goodness. But i was a little annoyed because if we have to drag her to her own confirmation, she is never gonna be able to walk on her own.. but I cant really do much or control much yet.. 

 as for this week. nothing too exciting happened, we went to Lima for migration and I met up with a bunch of friends from the CCM which was great to catch up with! but yeah it was a slow week.. but went by really fast too. Spanish is still coming along slowly.. but I love you guys and hope you have a great week!!! 

Hermana Nielsen!

This was one loong week! but first I wanted to tell you more about my area and my day to day life.Mala is pretty small but right on the beach, but all the houses are up in the hills which are just pure sand basically. but since we are up in the hills we have the BEST view of all the houses below us then the farms and where all the fruit is grown so its all pretty and green, then the beach! Its so pretty and the sunset every night is gorgeous too! A Lot of hills but I'm glad we are up high so we can see everything ;) But our area is kind of dirty and gross, which is basically all Peru. Garbage everywhere! dogs everywhere and dog poop everywhere. The houses these people live in aren't houses... they are more like shacks. The walls are like bamboo twigs or something tied together with tarps and ceilings, some if they are lucky have bricks with a sloppy job of being cemented together. No one really has floors its all sand and dirt so everything is just dirty. They all for the most part have electricity and the closer to the bottom of the hill they have running water. But its the way they all live so its normal. And in the windows of every house is little snacks and goodies where they try to sell whatever they can. yep its a totally different world! I've only seen like 3 cars in my area. Everyone either just walks or they have these things called mototaxies that are basically the front of a motorcycle with a bench attached to the back and covered. they only fit like 2 but they are everywhere. Tiny things though.

  ALL they drink here is Inca Kola. its like bubble gum flavored soda or something but it has caffeine so I just tell them pop makes me sick, so i just dont drink any type of soda here. which is probably better because all we eat is rice potatoes and chicken.. every meal. ha. and they serve YOU so its HUGE portions! ughh.. soo.. yes I'm going to get fat. :(

As for our house we have floors and walls and "running" water ha, and toilets that flush so I am very grateful!

Kay now for my week! Tuesday I experience my first real earthquake! It was small but lasted about a minute, I was confused what was going on for about half of it though. So we were planning for 3 baptisms this Saturday but everyone was starting to get kind of iffy and we were having trouble with the parents, so we started a fast Wednesday night for all 3 of them. Then we had mutli zona with the president I didn't understand much.. But then next night one of the girls, Piera that was suppose to be baptized called us and told us to come to her house so we did and they were all happy and said that they all agreed they wanted her to be baptized so we were super happy, then the other kid Valentin we got the signature of his dad which was really scary cause he is like a drunk and doesn't like us. so yeah it was all great and dandy! 

Then the other girl Briza, we go to her house and she says shes not ready and doesn't want to so we change her date, then we run back to the church and our zone leader was there and he says call her and tell her to come her I want to talk to her, so we do, and she comes and he talks to her for like an hour then comes out and announces she is getting baptized the next day, but the only time she could was in morning so we had her baptism at 7 IN THE MORNING! Then that night was the baptism of Piera and Valentin, Piera came with her parents and they were all cute and happy, but Valentin wasn't there so we call him and his mom says oh he is sick he cant come but in the background we hear him saying no I'm fine Hermanas! then she hangs up on us. 

AHHHH I'm out of time!!! to be continued next week promise! sorry!

but as for your question about Kylee's call, I think that is perfect for her, and actually when I was reading Joseph Smith history last week the thought came to my mind I bet Kylee goes there, cause she always talked about her experience visiting there. so yeah I think its perfect! 

LOVE YOU GUYS!!! 

-Hermana Nielsen

This week we now officially have 11 people with BAPTISM DATES! HOLY SMOKES! So we are suuper busy! and 8 investigators came to church!!! WOOHOO! Best day every! This week I also went on exchanges with Hna Rivera from Honduras and Hna Munos from Chile, I was in the area Chincha. OH yeah and my area is Mala peru, not Rala haha oops! But Chincha was super gross and ugly, I didn't realize how much good I have it in Mala til I left. I saw 5 dead dogs! just in the sidewalk, and they were just black and already decayed and people just walk around them, one didn't have a head! no idea where it was... but yeah. But it was good, Hna Rivera only has a month left so she taught me a lot and I could understand her Spanish really well! better then Hna Galo! It was a 24 hour exchange but with a 4 hour drive... so a lot of driving in buses. We spent a lot of time at the Gallegos family this week because the mom is sick.. they are awesome! they have 6 kids which is a ton here! the kids are all baptized that are old enough but the parents aren't yet because they aren't married because it cost a lot and is hard to get married here so we´ve been helping them with there papers. We are also teaching a bunch of kids! There is this huge hill, and at the top tons of mixed friends and families living together, so it started out as a few but now we have a bunch of them interested. from ages 12-18 they all came to church! and they all come to the activities we have! They are all also committed for the 22 of march for baptism. So we are excited about that. 

As far as spanish comes, its about the same.. I kind of had a break down this week cause now its not that I cant talk to anyone its that I want so badly to be apart of the lessions and teach these kids and families but when i try to say something more personal outside the lesson words I cant say much and so its just ends in a mess... So now my motivation is to be able to teach these people, cause now i do love them and want to help them. 

Hope all is well at home. Cant believe amber is with you guys! I hope I have just as a hard time ending my mission as her, she really is the greatest example! Love you guys so much! Its not easy down here, but salvation is not cheap either. I only have 18 months to serve, but an eternity to think about how I did!

- Hermana Nielsen

The computers here are so slow!!  ugh. BUT! this week was A LOT better! We had a baptism on Saturday for alexis. He is Italian and 14, but super acceptive and always comes to all the church activities. He was really happy. :) ALSO in all my complaining last week I forgot to mention that on my second day here we were on a 30 min bus ride to our zone meeting and I got separated from my companera, i sat next to a random guy. I started by asking if he was from Peru (all in spanish) then explained where I was from and who I was and about my mission. then I explained the book of mormon and gave it to him! and all I could basically say was i promise this will change your life. haha. but as the best two years would say ¨ I just placed my first book of mormon!¨ thats for cody! but yeah its getting better, now i can understand my companion so she has to translate everyone elses spanish into my type of understanding spanish so i rely on her a lot! but yeah hopefully I have more time next week! i have letters i wrote that i will send hopefully soon! love you! and I'm so jealous you get to see Sister Nielsen this Friday!!!!! ahh!

Well I made it! And i have never been more excited for p-day since i havent had it in 2 weeks! SO much to say but i have NO TIME like always so Ill try to get in as much as possible. Tuesday morning I said my goodbyes to my district and friends. It was really hard. One of the districts sang God be with you til we meet again for us and it was SOOO GOOD! Oh my! Anyways I left the CCm and met with Presidente Douglas. I got my companion Hermana Galo, from honduras. Who speaks NO ENGLISH! Super cute and super nice and a GREAT missionary but its so hard to figure out what we are both trying to say. The first 2 days I was feeling really overwhelmed, and i was super homesick for the CCM. mostly i think just because i missed being able to talk and laugh with people in english, and i was missing my district a TON, it was really hard. But i just kept praying and focusing on why i was here. Finally i met a girl named karen, who is a member but we still visit and teach her, she is my age and was just super patient and tried to talk with me and would just smile and just loved me and it helped alot and i realized i Love it here I love the poeple I love the gospel, the language is the only barrior I have that is making me feel this way. So ive been praying for patience and working to understand and speak it as much as possible. And now with a week in, im doing so much better. And i know im gonna love it here. Im in Rala, its a tiny farm/ dessert area.very poor. the houses are literally one room made of bricks or straw but dirt floor and one bed. we are lucky we have a bathroom in  our room. Its all hills of SAND! so im getting my work out. But yeah it was a hard adjustment but its getting better, we have a TON of investagators like 28 or something and 8 with baptism dates within the next 2 weeks. so we are always busy. My mind is kind of scrambled and I have no time left. BUt i love you guys! Hopefully i can get more in next time!  My address is the mission home thats in my call packet. and ill get you a scrip and picture next time! Miss you guys! But im glad im here. if i could just learn spanish a little faster everything would be perfect! con mucho amor!