Week 4:Go Dawgs!!!!

Hey y'all! 

I made it to Georgia!!!! I am in Athens Georgia, in the UGA ysa ward!! So it's a very different experience than the regular tracting for families in different areas. But we get to teach lots of people who are pretty solid because they are usually brought by friends. So the institute is our home basically. We spend all day there, studying, teaching lessons, helping with the books on some days. And to go contacting we take the buses to downtown and different parts of campus. We are a bike only area, so we are very grateful for the buses and the institute only being 2 miles away. It is very hilly here. And the perfect weather. It's been 60-70° so absolutely beautiful. And everything is turning green and getting ready to flower. So it's nice outside, but usually cold inside haha. 

So I am in a trio, which is awesome! With sister guillory and sister Bronson both from Utah. This is sis guillory's last transfer, and sis Bronson has been out for 6 months. They are so fun! We laugh a lot which is nice. I haven't been as tired as I expected. I mean I'm still tired, but not exhaustipated. Our branch is cool! We are working with some great people, some recent concerts, and some just struggling the branch president has asked us to help with. 

It's amazing the feeling you have as a missionary. I can feel the spirit around me constantly and like a bubble of protection. It's so amazing! And seeing how much of a blessing the gospel is is so cool! I hope I can help people feel it so that they can want and get it in their lives. 

We are teaching Josh who is solid, and on date for April 20th. Emily who we just had a great turning lesson with. Elena is awesome and pretty excited to learn. Sevval we are teaching English, which I love! She is from Turkey. And then, we'll call her Nicole, who is Persian from Iran. She is really interested and believing. She really wants to go to the temple someday. She is worried about her family and home because if they find out she is Christian they will kill her and her family. But I know the Lord will help her. So it is just amazing here. 

We got to go contacting at a tiny little free wildlife rescue/zoo because it was the bears birthday party. We met a nice family from one of the family wards and talked with some awesome college girls. It was a blast! I've also had angel's with me to help me not crash. My bike at first was too tall for me and we could not get the seat down, so that combined with not having ridden a bike for a few years was really funny. I have not crashed though, and I know it was help from angels. The Lord provides and protects, even my clumsy little heart 😂

There was a quote one of the leaving missionaries said at transfer meeting I liked. She said wake up determined, go to bed satisfied. So I really liked that.

It definitely is a big change, but I'm excited and ready to work hard!

Love y'all 

Sister Nielson :D 

Week 3: I will survive

Ladies and gentleman.

I leave the MTC in two days. I repeat two days. I will have survived the mtc. I also finally got the cold that has been going around. So that's not been fun, but it's only been the last few days. Other than that this week has been great! We had an awesome lesson on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It opened my eyes to how we can use the power of Christ's Atonement to become better. I always knew we could, but I didn't understand how that worked. But we did a group study through different aspects and it was awesome! The gospel is so amazing! God loves us all so much! And he has given us all the tools we need to be happy and return to him. How incredible is that?!

We combined with another district for a demo lesson in class. It ended up being a complete train wreck. We were not enjoying how the other teacher was trying to run the lesson, and he spent too much time on figuring out the need, when the person straight up told us what he needed. And then he never used any input we gave when we paused and he'd turn and talk to the class. We were all pretty grumpy at the end of it, but were able to turn it into a good teaching experience and use it as and example of what not to do. And we were able to come back together and bring the spirit back. So that was really interesting.

I finally got sick this week. I was fine until Thursday and then I woke up with a stuffy nose and it just got worse throughout the day. So it is pretty bad, but is worse off and on throughout the day. But I'm surviving. I'm excited to get out to Georgia, but I'm not tired of the mtc like my roommates. This week has been really good. We had a really good lesson about the atonement, and it clicked in my head how the atonement helps us improve ourselves. I knew it did, just not how. But it comes with our ability to change. And it comes with the fact that change can be painful because growth is painful. So he overcame that too. I'm not sure if I'm making any sense, but it was a cool thought.

We've had some really funny nights when we are getting ready for bed. It's really nice to just laugh a lot. And work on those abs ;p 

We have a running joke among our district now of tums being the cure all for everything. It's pretty funny. And our nightly shower concerts have continued :) 

Stay lovely everyone!

Love, Sister Nielson :)

Week 2: I'm Alive

Hey everyone!

It's week two here, so we are basically pros. Not really, but it feels like we have been her more than two weeks. Each day feels like a week because we have so much going on and long days. But life is good! 

The influenza has been going around so some people are getting quarantined, and they've implemented a no-handshake policy. Half our district got sick with colds, luckily no flu, and I've been lucky enough to stay out of it and not get sick. So I'm very grateful for that. 

Fast Sunday was a really cool experience. I'm glad I got to experience one here in the mtc. It was definitely the busiest day. We just went from one devo or council thing to another. It was probably 10+ hours of these. They were really good though, just long. Choir practice is amazing. It's fun to sing with all the missionaries and the director has some amazing stories he shares we got to hear from elder cook of the seventy and all his grandkids came up and they were adorable. Also, there was a couple who spoke and the man was really tall but his wife was short. And she joked about needing a stool since they were talking together. And they actually had one to bring up. It was hilarious. The other funny thing was when the sisters were split from the elders and they were talking to us, and mentioned not sharing our emails with the elders in our districts because we can't email opposite genders in our missions. And one sister said to respond, "sorry elders, I can't share my email with you, but I can share a scripture." That might be my new line for food ;p 

The rest of the week we've had more classes of training and practicing teaching. We have TRC's where we meet with "investigators" and plan and share lessons with them. It's been so cool and such a help. And it's amazing to see how much we improve in just a few days. Definitely have divine help here and it shows. Tuesday we had choir practice and missed dinner which was really rough, but the devo was really cool. Brother Wilcox spoke on the 12 tribes of Israel, it was really good and fun. 

They also had a new thing come out of safety videos for the missionaries to watch. They do it as a newscast show with video analysis and they are actually pretty good and can be funny. Exercising is one of the best parts of the day because we actually get to move around instead of sitting. Plus it's nice to work out, release stress, play games, and just feel good. P-day is so needed! Mainly for laundry and not having to be in class for a million years. And getting to go to the temple. But life is good and I'm happy. 

On Thursday all my roommates were showering and I started singing Disney songs. Everyone joined in and it was a jam session. It was awesome! On of my roommates loved it and had me start it again on Friday. So that's been fun as we've settled in and become more relaxed to just have fun with the other sisters in the little things. 

Enjoy the little things and be grateful for every moment of life! 

Love you all!

-Sister Nielson   emiline.nielson@missionary.org

Week 1: Feast Upon the Words of Christ

Hey everyone!

I've made it to the MTC! After waiting four and a half months it actually came. I'm so excited to be here. It is so amazing and you can tell how important our purpose is. And it is beautiful. I would've loved to be here when it was warm, green, and sunny out. I'll be here for just over 3 weeks. It looks like we leave on March 18th, so longer than we had previously thought. 

Day one we met our district and I have the best district. We have two other sisters and 3 sets of elders. 3 of the elders are going to the Utica New York mission, and the rest are going to the best mission ever (aka Georgia, Atlanta North). We have cool teachers, Brother Ditto and Sister Wilkinson. My companion is Sister Spencer. She is so sweet.  And she is from Pocatello Idaho. She's pretty quiet. She does talk, but when she does it is barely above a whisper. But she's got the spirit with her, great ideas, and we love to joke and laugh. So that's all been good. 

Holy cow! The food is so good here! And there is plenty of it!!! I'm being really good though and eating fruit and vegetables each meal, mom :) but even with the great meals, my two states have become tired and hungry, so I guess not that much has changed ha ha. 

There is so much that goes on, and everything is all scheduled out.  It seems like there isn't enough time for the things they ask us to study or do outside of our schedule, but thank heavens this is the Lord's work because we somehow have been getting it done. Even though we've only been here a few days, it's amazing how tired I am already. 16 hour days, constantly going and the spirit just really take it out of you. Which makes classes at night funnier than they probably ought to be. One sister was talking about having a journal to take notes and having a utensil ready. She got caught up and the word utensil saying it sounded funny so I chimed in saying we had our utensils out to feast upon the words of Christ. So I've still got my wit :)

I've seen a few friends and sisters serving from my different wards here. It's so cool to see everyone. And the light all the missionaries have. It's so amazing here.  But it is a lot. Yesterday I could tell my body was just full. I was tired and there were all these changes but I was good mentally which was great. I just needed a good cry or something to just let the emotions calm down. But we finally got to start working out and that was amazing. They have records up and I think they replace them each year, because there are some I might try to beat. So stay posted for future victory emails :)

Oh yeah, I also was called to be the senior companion because I have so much experience :P luckily there's not many duties for that role here in the MTC which is nice since we are both so new. But it's cool. 

And then today we got to go to the temple this morning which was just absolutely amazing. It was exactly what I needed. And absolutely beautiful. I was thinking and realized how we as missionaries are true messengers sent from the Father to teach further light and knowledge to his Children. It was amazing and powerful. And how it's not just the role of missionaries to help this. It's everyone's job. We may not all have been officially called by God, but personally he can give us specific callings to help his children. It's a good reminder to think about what the Lord has personally asked of us.

Thanks for all the support! Love y'all and come back now ya hear!

-Sister Nielson :)