I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY AGAIN!

AHHH!! This week has been so good! I just love being a missionary again!! So, like before, let me give you the run-down of how it went. :)

Early Tuesday morning dad woke me up and said temporary goodbyes (until I see them all before I go to fly back to Colorado at the airport). A couple of hours later, I woke up, got ready, and got the rest of my belongings packed. Mom, Bubba and I got in the car and drove the incredibly long distance to Pasco ;) We live off of road 68 in some nice apartments but our area (Pasco 4^th ward) is all of downtown Pasco. Our ward boundaries are HUGE! So anyway, after being dropped off, me and the other sisters cried for about 15 minutes and I unpacked some of my stuff, then we just got to work! We went in to our little study room and did personal and companions study, it was awesome! I absolutely love these sisters.

Sister Lewis and Sister Hughes with Sister Nelson

 Sister Lewis is from Colorado and has been out for 8 months and Sister Hughes is from Arizona and has been out for 6 weeks! I love them both SO much. After we studied we went to 2^nd Harvest and did service. What better way to forget about my problems than to serve?! God’s timing is just impeccable. It was a good day! I was a little sad but was so happy that these sisters have so much work to do!

Wednesday was great! We had a Zone Conference (where missionaries in the stake get together and train each other) and I learned so much! I love studying the gospel and learning more every single minute! It is definitely something I missed from serving. After the 5 hour conference we drove over the great Blue Bridge to Kennewick because we had to do a mini exchange. I got kind of sad when we were at the Union Bldg, a couple of blocks from my house, but the sisters made sure to distract me! And were more than willing to hold me back when I wanted to just run home to tell my mom I love her ;) We went back to Pasco with Sister Cowley (who serves in my HOME ward!!) and just had a great time! We went out tracting and it was sweet. Sister Cowley speaks Spanish and we’re always running into Hispanic people and they don’t really seem interested.  BUT this time this man was.  Unfortunately, Sister Lewis and I only speak English so we couldn’t help him, but then Sister Cowley just starts spewing forth her incredible Spanish and it was just a miracle!! We were so grateful and he was so surprised! It is so neat to see how well Heavenly Father knows each one of His children and has perfect timing for everything!!

Thursday was good too! The Lord was testing me and what I had learned when I did counseling for stress and perfectionism.  We accidentally slept in to 7:15 and missed workout. BUT Sister Lewis got up and said, “Man, I hate when that happens!” And then moved on. So I just did the same! Haha. I am getting better. And I am so grateful for her example! It was kind of good that we slept in because I really hadn’t felt well. I had kind of had some bad stomach aches a couple of times Tuesday and Wednesday and have had some really not-so-good acid reflux - that is pretty new to me. It feels like I have thrown up in my throat but I really haven’t! So Sister Lewis suggested that I get a blessing and I thought it was a great idea! So we had some Elders give me a blessing and I felt better all day!! I just love that we have the priesthood power, the power of God. I love that it is dependent upon my faith too! It really strengthens my testimony. Oh my gosh the day just got better and better! Tracting is one of the best things EVER! I just LOVE to talk to everyone that we see and ask about their faith in Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon; where it came from and why it’s so important! It just makes me so dang happy!! Even if we get some mean people, I am still happy because I know that Jesus Christ is My Savior and the Book of Mormon is true!! 

We had the funniest experience this day when we were out, oh my heck, you are going to laugh so hard :D So we went up to this guy that was working on his car and we were just talking with him about what he believed in. It was nice. Then his brother-in-law came up to us and we started talking to him too. He had to be on something because he just wasn’t making any sense at all. He would say stuff like, “I just think that you can’t just say you believe something, you have to actually do, ya know?” and then we would say, “Yes! We agree 100%!!” and then he would say, “I am sorry we just can’t agree, that is just how I feel.” And we would say, “Well we are agreeing because we think you have to act about what you believe too!” and then he would say “Ya I am just so sorry.” And this just went on and on and we were seriously so confused. So we talked with the two of them for about 15 minutes then there was a lull in the conversation. Then the brother-in-law looked at Sister Hughes

Sweet Muffin/Cookies because there's no muffin tin

Sister Nelson serves in the church she was baptized in!

and said, “Girl, you pregnant?” and without hesitation Sister Hughes says, “Nope, just fat!” and Sister Lewis and I looked at each other and we just couldn’t believe that this guy would say something like that and then that Sister Hughes responded so fast and so we didn’t say anything! So THEN the guy was like, “Are you sure?” and proceeds to reach his hand out and touch her stomach!! Then she was like, “uhh yeah, please don’t touch me” And in what seemed like slow-motion he touched her stomach and then backed away!! Hahahahahaha Oh my gosh! What in the world?!?! 

Just so you know we just talked about how we’re 19/20 years old and aren’t married or have kids yet, how we are spending a year and a half serving the Lord. And he STILL asked her!! And TOUCHED her!!!! Oh my heavens! Hahahahaha. We have been laughing about it ever since! Sister Lewis and I decided that if it was us he asked we would have cried, thank goodness it was Sister Hughes; she is so funny and laid back! Oh my gosh I am laughing out loud just typing this!! Hahahaha. It was just a great day!

On Friday we got up on time and worked out. We got ready and Sister Lewis let me borrow a skirt. I just LOVE being a missionary because I have instant sisters that I love and we can all share clothes!! Haha 

We did a lot of tracting and found some really sweet people. A lot of families that say, “Yes, we’ve been wanting to go back to church for a while now, we just didn’t know where to go!” I love it. It is the best!! We had a lesson with our investigator named Carissa who was supposed to actually be getting married that day and baptized the next, though things fell through and it didn’t work out. Hopefully, in a couple of weeks they’ll be back on track! Unfortunately, as a missionary you just kind of have to prepare yourself for things to fall through. We were all kind of sad about it, but as the days have gone on, it has been incredible to see greater things come out of it that weren’t expected. Heavenly Father has really got a plan for each of us. I know that first hand.

Saturday was so sweet! We got up and went to the little gym they have at the complex and I ran!! I love running! (And I miss you Alexis, you better still be running!!)((Also, happy birthday this Friday!!! #20!!!!)  Running is the best! So I was just hyped up all day.  We had exchanges again so we got a new sister the night before and that is always fun! You learn a lot about yourselves and others when you live together.  Studies were great!! Oh my heck, all of you should get the book called “Believing Christ”.  It is seriously changing my whole world!! It just talks about the difference in believing IN Christ and literally believing Christ! I LOVE it. It is only 125 pages long, do it!! 

We had some lessons that day and did a lot of tracting, there are so many people outside and it is nice and warm!! For dinner that night we had a member have a pizza delivered because they had forgotten and were busy.  I am so glad we were at home because pizza absolutely rips up my stomach (acid!) So I had one slice and we were in for a couple of hours before we went and got Sister Hughes back. No more pizza!! Though we got some good studying in.  One thing I have learned it that it is OK to sit down for a minute. That I can’t give my ALL to the Lord if I am not well. So I have been working on accepting that.

Sundays are the best!! It was Fast Sunday so we just got up and ready and went to our meetings J Church was great! We had an incredible lesson on the Atonement that touched more on Heavenly Father and the sacrifices he went through to give us his Beloved Son and let Him die for us. I have grown a new appreciation for my Heavenly Father. He loves us all SO much that He let Christ suffer incredible sufferings and die. I am so grateful it is hard to express it in words!! I love being a full-time missionary again! I love all that I learn and how happy I am.  I miss all of you and I am sending love alllll the way from Pasco ;) Thank you for your love and prayers! I appreciate each and every one of you!!

Love no matter what,

SISTER Nelson

The Sisters

PS Sorry I didn’t get to email, my personal email is down so my sweet companion let me use hers so I could send my post! Hopefully next week!!

x