LAst week for Pday we went to the center of Lima, I went there last year when I was in the CCM. It was cool to go back, we just shopped and took pictures of all the pretty buildings.

  Tuesday I had an intercombio with Hna Rush. She is from Arizona and we have about the same time in the mission and it was the BEST intercombio ever! We talked about eeeeeeeverything! Goals, how the mission has affected our lives, how much we have changed, how much every girl NEEDs to go on a mission, how scared we are to return home, just everything. It was so much fun! and it was nice to have someone to talk to, I just felt so edified afterwards. WE got along reeeally well. Love her! Great missionary!

This week I finished the Book of Mormon reading aloud in spanish. FINALLY! took me like 8 months. But now my goal is to finish it again in english before I go home! 

OKay so this is just gonna be tons of  random stories..

  We are teaching a less active that just moved here from Iquitos, the jungle, and she has the coolest accent. It sounds like a thick southern accent but in spanish. Its sooo funny! On the phone the other day, as she was hanging up she said *Ya Hermanitas chua bediciones..* I thought that was a strange thing to say so I said it in English with her accent. And both Hna Addington and I were like TRACEY! (old youtube video) So now we always say paz y bediciones. or Peace and blessings, with our best version of a thick accent haha.

WE met a guy who looked exactly like captain hook this week! His name is Eduardo, he has long black curly hair down to his shoulders, this sounds terrible but he even has the hook! He somehow got his hand shopped off except one finger, so its all wrapped and bandages up and his pointer finger sticks out the top and he uses it just like captain hook. An At first glance I was reeeally scared to enter his house, but he ended up being AWESOME! He was like mindblown when we taught him about the trinity. And it just made so much sense to him. He was writing down notes so he could show it to all the other preachers that stop by his house. haha. He also loved the restoration. Got super excited, it was kind of scary! but well just have to  see what happens next with captain hook.. 

We were teaching a less active and she told us she could not go to church because she was addicted to her sewing machine...... She told us how she wakes up in the middle of the night and just has this burning desire and need to sew and she just cant stop or control it. So she wouldnt be able to come to church... uhhh... HAHAHA!

There is an Elder in our district who is teaching a family and thier names are Johnny, John and Juan... we joke and say whats the moms name Juana?

Yesterday a man passed us with his dogs then a few minutes later was running to catch up to us and then asked my companion, what do I have to do to talk to her. referring to me. We didn't understand so we just said oh well we are missionaries and if youd like to learn more about the church we can come visit you. Then he just said no, I just want to talk to her. Ya chua!  So we started walking away and he just keeps yelling *Eres Bonita*  

Sorry this is all kind of jumbled..  But I LOVE you guys sooo much! It amazes me that even 16 months in I still feel like Im learning as much as I did when I first got here. AND I LOVE IT! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!! THanks for being the best family EVER!

LES AMO!!!

LOVE,

Hermanita Nielsen

Hermana Addington and I

CODY IS GOING TO THE PHILLIPINES!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im sooooooooo excited!! Thats sooo crazy!!! And sooo perfect for him!! And my other Native brother is going to whatever that place is called.  Adriatic Mission? Im so excited for BOTH of them! Loved the pictures! Thats soo exciting! Not sure how I feel about giving my homecoming talk on his farwell. Yikes. phew im still filled with just so much adrenaline.. Felicidades Cody and Jacob!

  Alright now I'm gonna have to try and refocus, so sorry if this doesnt make any sense. We had a great week! LAst monday for pday we went to this mall on the beach! It was soo pretty. That postcard I sent Cody, yeah thats where we were. Or really close. We just kind of walked around and looked at things. It was expensive but it was beautiful! Then Tuesday I went on exchanges with Hna Alvarez back to my old area in San Juan. I had never actaully met her but everyone says she is crazy and has mental problems and laughs uncontrollably and all her companions have struggled with her. so I was kind of scared going into it. But it was THE BEST! I dont know if it was a good day for her or something but we had sooo much fun! She did laugh a lot but I was laughing right along side her so it felt normal. We had a super great time. I enjoyed every second with her and it was a nice break from my area. I could completely be myself with her. IN the morning we woke up at 6 cause they all go and workout in this one place that has a track and what not. Basically the whole zone goes and workouts together. So I ran around the track. I had just completed 2.5 miles when all the elders asked if I wanted to race. I agreed. The race was just 1 lap around the track. So it was me and a bunch of Elders. They all took off sprinting, I ran it like I would a 400m in track They were all just a little in front of me then the last 200m I passed them all and ended up coming in a close 2nd. haha, of course elders never expect this of Hermanas so I earned a lot of respect haha. I just left out telling them the fact that I was a 400 runner. ha but it was suuper fun! I really enjoyed my exchange.

   ALright now for what's going on in the lords vineyard here in CHorillos.. 

Our invest Jesus who had a baptism date fell through.. WE haven't been able to meet with him for 2 weeks and he didn't come to church. His whole family are members so were not giving up but were gonna give him some space until he is more commited to make sacrifices to meet with us and go to church. kinda sad... 

Leonardo is doing great! Its a slow process but now he catches himself saying and answering questions with God as the answer even though he still says he doesn't believe. But he is a lot more comfortable talking to us about it and really wants to believe it. He just wants too many signs and doesn't understand the faith in the process. But we see him everyday because his mom is our pension so we are becoming better friends and he trusts us a little more. Poco a poca con El. WE also met a guy named Micheal this week. He showed up at a less actives house and joined the lesson. HE had tons of questions and lots of opinions. He didn't do much listening when we answered them and was kind of rude, but wanted to keep learning, and showed up again the second lesson in the less actives house. SO I guess he really is serious. We´ll see what happens with him. WE also contacted a reference, she was from another church and basically told us really nicely she would not accept our visits, so we explained the book of mormon she had lots of questions and at the end we asked if we could leave a copy with her, and she would not accept it. We kept fighting it a little. But she would NOT accept it. Just makes me think a little afterwards. She was soo agaisnst it. SHe wouldnt even accept it or touch it. I think its cause people are scared to know if it might be true. Cause they don't want to change. But we just bore testimony of it and left. I Love the book of mormon and it breaks my heart when people wont even try it.. 

 We met Carmen, a new invest. SHe is super awesome! Everything she said was just perfect. She is super religious and prays with her husband already as well as save sundays for thier family day so they can all be home! SHe was super excited to hear our message and learn more. Sunday we passed by again and her husband answered. He wasn't as thrilled when we met him and said they were busy... But Tengo fe! We're gonna teach thier whole family! They seem super great!

Other then that I still dont know our area and it stresses me out alot. This is the first area I've struggled with. I feel like I know no one and haven't contributed as much as I need to be. I kind of got a slice of humble pie this week. Many times. And realized I need to rely more on Heavnely help as well as the enabling power of the atonement. It was a good wake up for me and I hope to see some changes in this next week!

I love being a missionary! IM so excited for CODY!! I'm healthy and I'M happy!! and I love you alll! Have a great week!!!

Love,

Hermanita Nielsen

Fun fact. I eat tomatoes literally EVERYDAY. And I eat them like an apple. hahaha 

Family! 

Give me mountains to climb! First because churrillos is super flat and I miss my mountainous ayacucho! which was pure hill. BUt im finding my own personal mountains to climb. This was a great week full of personal trials but I am so so very grateful for them! But besides the growing experiences we had a great week!

Last tuesday we had to pick up an Hna who just finished her mission and was headed home to Nasca, we live right across the street from he mission office so we are we have to do all the favors for the asistants. So she stayed the night with us then the next day we had to take her to catch her bus home. Well it took us a while to get out the house and find a ride with all her suitcases so we got there a little late and turns out her bus was leaving right as we got there... Oops.. so we called the office and they said to try and catch another bus that wasnt as nice so we hurried and took a taxi over to the other station and as we went to buy her tickets Hna Addington realized she had forgotten the money that the office gave us to buy all her tickets, so we began scrambling for money looking in all our pockets. and came up with barely enough to pay for her ticket to get there, we bought the tickets and got her on her bus finally home. She was super cute. Then afterwards we realized we needed to head back home but we didnt have squat.. like literally we had 2 soles all together. WE were way far away from our house and had no idea how the bus routes were.. So I went over to a security guard to ask about buses and just prayed thered be a way with just 2 soles... As I talked to him out of no where appeared OBISPO JUAN! He isn't our bishop, I dont even think he is from our mission but he is super good friends with Presidente and always does favors and cooks for leadership counsel meeting so we knew him. And he just asked where ya headed Hermanas. And offered us a ride. WHAAT?! Holy smokes miracle/Tender mercy! God loves us. So he gave us a ride back to our house free, it was such a huge miracle we couldnt stop thanking him! haha.

WE worked really hard this week! This area is awesome! There are some really prepared people here and the ward is super supportive! Which just makes me feel the pressure that we gotta do soo much to use it and find those people. This is a part of presidents letter to me that I really liked...

Sister Nielsen, Bolognesi is a very special part of the Lord´s vineyard. The bishop is a man of great vision and capacity. Be a supercharged missioanary to help build Bolognesi. Be at the top of your teaching, your motivating and finding to explode the faith in Bolognesi. There is huge potential there for one with great faith! Harness all you have to make a difference there. I know you can! We love you!

I'M so grateful for this new area and we gonna see tons of miracles! THis week we taught Jesus who has a date for the 11th of april! his mom and kids are members, this was the 2nd lesson with him. he is pretty much solid. HE understands and believes everything.he is still waiting for his answer but its not slowing down his progression, he knows this is what he wants

We just have to finish all his lessons and he will be ready to go! Next we are teaching Leonardo, his mom just got baptized and she is suuuuper awesome. HE doesnt beleive in God so its been a different way of teaching him but he is willing to learn  and says he wants to believe! SO we are working hard with him. Those are the only 2 really progressing right now. 

Well I love being a missionary! I feel I've lost that greenie fire or its not as strong  but its something I've been trying to find again so finish with. BUt i loove loove looove working and serving and hope i can give everything heavenly father wants from me here in this area like president said. I'M so excited for conference next week too!!! I've never been so excited in all my life!! Hope  YOu all have a great week!!!

Love,

Herman NIelsen

ps, Ive made my decision and Its offical, my date is the 16 of june... its just easier that way. 

AHH Im so excited for Cody! This is gonna be the longest 2 weeks of my life!

 Well this past week was super crazy. I haven't slept in like 5 days.. I feel like a zombie. We worked normal in our area monday and tuesday  we were able to have a few lessons that went super well. One of our investigators Nancy, that got baptized a while ago in a different church is doing really well! SHe always has the best questions and I just feel like she understands what we teach not just listening. We explained the plan of salvation to her and when I asked her if she felt ready to meet God she quickly said noo... Then we explained that's why we must prepare and it made me think how everyone feels so unprepared and scared to meet our heavenly Father or Jesus Christ. When it should be something we can't wait for! To finally meet and thank our savior! We should be excited to meet him, not scared. But it depends on if we are prepared. We talked a little bit about that with her and she really like it. Wednesday we had our district meeting and pday then that night we left as a zone for Lima. We all went in the same bus and it was a party haha. The seats went all the way down and made a bed. It was really nice but still didn't help, I didn't sleep much, plus everyone was puking all night long so that kept us all awake. haha it was a fun bonding experience with the zone. We got to Lima and had our meeting with Elder Waddell and his wife! We got to meet him and it was super cool. He talked about a lot of different things, I got lots of notes. I was able to learn a lot. It was nice to see all the other hermanas of Lima too! I saw Hna Galo! My mom! she dies this transfer :(  The rest of the night we just hung out in the mission office as a zone with the assitants. Then headed back that night on the bus, but one that was the complete opposite of the first one. So once again no sleep. No sleep Night #2. The rest of the week went well, we had a lesson with Pilar and we mentioned I could be transfered so when she said the closing prayer she prayed that I would be able to stay in Ayacucho Forever! haha uhhh... It was supe cute though! Then after the lesson she told us she had something to ask us, then continued to explain that in her school their PE uniform is inmodest because the shorts are too short. We explained that if it wasnt something she could control it'd be okay but that we were happy she was concerned and trying to do what is right. She is so great! haha I love her! We talked the familia Machaca this week too! All their family has returned from summer break so we were able to teach the whole family again! They are slowly getting there, I know they will join someday but it might be a patient wait. I love them so much though! Then saturday we had a lesson with a family of investagatores but this time they didn't want us to teach them they wanted us to teach their brother Oskar, he is like 27 and recently ´got sick´ were not sure what really happened but he sits in a chair all day and doesn't talk. I think he might have had some kind of brain surgery... but isn't the same now.. They didn't go into much detail just said to try to get him to talk to us. We taught him. it was kind of hard cause he couldnt talk, but he was listening. It was kind of a really akward lesson and we didn't know what to do. He said a few words to us like SI and his family got super excited. Then after we finished we said all our goodbyes Hna Peña went to shake his hand and he grabbed her hand with both of his and said ´thank you for your visit.´ His family kind of freaked out that he had spoke. It was a miracle for them and now they want us to come back and keep teaching him. It was kind of an akward situation cause we came to visit them but they don't want to hear anything now. And were not sure how we can really help Oskar in his condition like this. But what would the savior do? Were gonna keep stopping by and hopefully we can help him and his family get more interested again. It was a super cool experience but super strange too. 

Then  laaaaate saturday night we got the transfer call! (no sleep night #3) I got trasnfered!! Im now in Churillos in Lima with Hna Addington from Texas. I was really surprised I'm with a gringa again but its gonna be great!

Then sunday! It was mostly just packing, i didn't realize how much stuff I have! And I said all my goodbyes! It was sad, I'll definatly miss Frine and her family and Pilar and the familia machaca. But asi es la mission. Pilar was really upset! ¨hermanita no se vaya!¨ over and over again. Im kind of akward with goodbyes so... I just kind of hugged her and said sorry. Everyone else is pretty use to changes so they just hugged and thanked me. Then I left that night for Lima (no sleep night #4) I met my new companion and we headed to our area to get to work. we had Hna tuqurres with us because she had to wait for her companion to come, Her and I were walking around like zombies yesterday. She came with me to Lima. Then last night we picked up a few more Hnas from the office until like 10pm. so we got to bed suuuper late. Then early this morning got up at 5 to get the Hnas on the road to there new areas. (no sleep night #5 ) so yeah im still DEAD tired! But its okay. I'M super excited to be here in Churillos! Its right by the beach, we can see if from our house! Our house is suuuuper nice. they just changed and I love it! we are on the 4th floor so we have a great view. Hna Addington is super great! She works really hard! I'M so grateful to have a companion who is ready to work. This cambia that's all I want to do Work. work .work. work. Oh and I'm not in Family history! My transfer then is Zealous & Fearless! Being super dillegent and getting everything done I need to here in Churillos and just not fearing to act upon anything or talk to anyone who crossed our way. Its gonna be a great last 2 transfers here! I'M super excited! I love you all lots! And hope you have a fabulous week!

Love,

Hermana Nielsen

This week was mucho mejor! In my letter to president I basically told him I was so mad about our week that we were gonna take it out on our area working. So last Monday after Pday we went to visit a few investagators. They live in this secret passageway type thing, there is like a metal door so it looks like just one house, but you walk in and there is like a little hallway with a bunch of other doors. They live at the first door and they said they were busy so we asked if there were any families we could visit that they knew, they said yeah this whole passageway is full of families and started naming off all the families that lived there. WE recieved 5 different families! So we went to the next door and they let us right in! There whole family was there and the grandparents, and they told us that that never happened so we caught them at a perfect time. MIRACLE! So that night alone we taught them all and it went great! They seem like a really great family! And we had 5 new investagators to start our week out (last week we had 0) We were so happy and so pumped and basically skipped home.

    Tuesday we had our interviews with president! It was one of the most different interviews I have ever had with president. He started out by asking how my faith was and from there just asked me a bunch of questions making me answer all of them, he hardly said anything. But it was soo cool how we were guided and how much I learned being the one talking the whole time. President has been stressing the need to interact when we teach and this was a perfect example for me that it works really well. He also started talking a little about after the mission which I didn't like, but he made some really good points and told me I had great faith :) He also gave me the question, How do we help the people we teach feel the need to repent. It was really interesting for me and that has been my focus of my studies this week. And I have learned so much! President is so inspired. Afterwards he talked to us as a zone about goals and faith and not becoming discouraged everything he said was SO PERFECT! I love that man! I just felt soo good and edified after leaving the church.

       Later that day we were walking to the church for a meeting and when I got there  I realized my plaque had fallen off. we had to wait til after the meeting and it was dark out so we tried looking but we didn't see anything. I was praying soooo hard! I know its just a plaque but it had all my stickers that each mean something or a memory of a companion and Its just something really important to me! I prayed all night and in the morning we went and ran where we walked to look for it and nothin... I was super sad. but..... Heavenly Father is so good and hears EVERY WORD! 2 days later after walking that route about 5 times looking for it everytime, my district leader called and said he had found it! 2 days later! And where he said he had found it was an area we walked past soo many times! But who cares I was just soo happy! Prayer is so real! And he DOES answer them!! Im so happy to be reunited with my plaque :)

   So back to that secret passage, we went back later this week to visit the others and turns out this secret passage is super huge! it had a corner so we couldnt really see how far it actually went! We were able to contact all 5 families and had a lesson with one of them! which went really well. We met Pavel (27) and Vanessa (20), they are sibblings and are super awesome! there house is soooo nice! It was really suprising to walk into, we haven't been able to meet there parents but they are married!! So we are teaching 3 out of the 6 families that live there! And have return appiontments with the other 3! WE call it our ´Passaje escogido´ WE are really excited to teach these families!!! so it total we had 7 new investagators! We were very happy!

     This week we are headed to Lima because Elder Waddell is coming from the 70 to talk to us. Im super excited for that! Then saturday is cambios!! I'm really not sure if I'll be going or not.. but the next time youll hear from me will be next tuesday! 

    Also I loooooove my pedometer! Its the best! Its so fun to see how much we walk and run. We walked/ran 38.6 miles this week. And 9 of those I ran. I run about 2.5 miles everyday six times per week. This week we got jipped a few excersizing days for interviews and intercambios. But yeah we walk alllot! My calves are starting to look like moms! (haha but not my pathos as adelaide would say ;) )

   WEll I love being a missionary! Its seriously the best! I love learning everyday and becoming closer to my savior and understanding what he did for me. I felt this week every time I bore my testimony I was just kept saying it over and over to them pleading them to just try it out for themselves. I LOVE THIS GOSPEL!! so so so much! its hard not to just suffocate people with my testimony of it! They gotta plant the seed themselves... but I absolutely love what I do! Hope Papanwa has a FABULOUS day!! Eat lots of ice cream for me! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH DAD! Thanks for teaching me how to be a missionary! Hope you all have the best week ever!! We´ll see where I'm at the next time I talk to you! LOVE YOU GUYS!!

Love,

Hermana Nielsen