Homecoming

This is how Sister Nelson spent most of Saturday and Sunday this past weekend.  She's avoided talking to many of you about the pains that have come back in her stomach for some time now and has just pressed on with the work.  She LOVES being a missionary.  She loves sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with others.  She so appreciates our Savior's atoning sacrifice for all of us and the knowledge that our Father in Heaven loves each one of us and knows each of us personally.  She wanted to shout this understanding of hers from the roof tops for all to hear - she wanted to knock every door and let those who open them be aware that the Peace that is found in Christ is where joy truly is.  She loved, served, smiled and touched hearts in Colorado in the time she spent there.  

But this weekend, her body was tired of being ignored.  She had immense pain in the left side of her body.  After blood work, x-rays, a CAT Scan, ultra sound and numerous pokes etc, their findings only uncovered an slightly enlarged kidney.  Still no answers.  She is being sent home this evening to continue her care here at home.  She is heartbroken, but knows that she is loved.  Please pray for her endurance and some answers.  Thank you all for your loving support.

 

Temple Day!

Well I will jump right into it!

On Monday we had a pretty normal-ish p-day. We studied and then emailed and then we went to this place where the Elders always get their haircuts and they look great and do it for free so my companion decided she wanted a haircut. So we scheduled one and went there at 1pm. I decided I might as well get a trim and so..... 3 hours later and a bad haircut on me we finally finish! Like I said I just wanted a trim.... but ended up with some horribly funky layers. I think cutting long hair is a challenge and some people don't really care a whole lot because they think it's long and doesn't matter how much they cut off but actually it does matter! :P So now my hair is like 3 inches shorter and makes putting it in buns pretty dang difficult! But I am sure she tried her best! So we called this lady in the ward (who we should've gone to in the first place) and she said she could fix my hair! But in good news I got a package from Julie with some really cute nail polish in it!! And I am so excited, I had just painted my nails for the first time on my mission earlier that morning!! We were totally on the same page :)

Nail polish from Julie!  Thank you!

My nail job!

On Tuesday we had a wonderful lesson with Lauren and we taught her some more commandments! It was awesome because as we taught her the Word of Wisdom we used Hungry Hillary and she thought it was hilarious! It was great!! Then we did service at Sister Holley's and we helped her in her new nursery and it is so cute!! It is blue and pink with a nautical theme!! 

On Wednesday we got up at 3am and got ready to go to the TEMPLE!!! 

Denver Temple

We were so excited we could hardly sleep! We had a 6am session and had to meet up early with some sisters to carpool there and then make sure we were actually on time! But we were the first ones to arrive! haha It was great :) 

Sister Riddle and I at the temple

We had a lesson with the Clifton's that evening that was awesome and then with Alex!! I don't think I have said a whole lot about Alex but he is AWESOME!! 3 Sundays ago he just showed up in church at like 7:30 and we were there early for a meeting and he asked if there was a service that day so we said yes! But in like an hour and a half. haha. Anyways, he started meeting with us and is really interested! He is a very sweet kid and doesn't really know anything about God or Christ or anything religious so it has been so fun to teach him!

On Thursday we had service at Goodwill and then District Meeting, then we went to Sister Nilsen and she totally fixed my hair!! Now I have really nice layers :) Which still make buns hard but it looks 1 million times better when it's down! haha. 

On Friday I had some awesome studies about Sanctification and Justification. We are justified because of Jesus Christ, no matter what we can have immediate relief from sin of burden, it's just a matter of asking Him for strength and for forgiveness. But sanctification is different, it's not just an event but it's a process that takes continual time and effort! We have to continually be sanctified through the Atonement of Christ, but we are always justified because of His great sacrifice for us each. I know that was short, but it was really mind blowing!! I encourage you to study it too and see what you can learn! We had another lesson with Alex and guess what?! He's on baptismal date for September 17 and we are so excited!! And we were introduced to a new game called Tenzi and it is so fun!!! 

On Saturday we went to our stake president's home for breakfast and it was so fun! I love all of the Elders and Sisters in our stake. And the Stake President!! Then we went to this thing called Pinery Picnic and we did some service there for the lunch line. It was fun and really good weather! Then we did some service at our investigator Sue's and it was good. I love her! We laid down some new wood chips and planted some fake flowers because everyone here has fake flowers because the deer eat them all :P

On Sunday we had a lot of meetings and our investigators came to church!! And we had a meeting with our Bishop and member we live with and now we are moving because.. well our living situation is not the best! haha. But we are relieved to hear that!! It was a good Sunday, we had dinner at the Smith's and they are totally my favorite!!!!! I love you all, have a fabulous weeeeeeeek! :)

Love no matter what,

Sister Nelson

Another dog story?

Hey everyone! I hope you've had a spectacular week! Let me tell you all about mine :)

So Monday we had a good, relaxed p-day. We emailed and cleaned and shopped and rested. Then we had a ward activity where we met at this beautiful park and celebrated pioneer day! It was great.

Sister Riddle and I

On Tuesday we went over to Aurora to a chiropractor for Sister Riddle. Then we had lunch and a lesson at the Staheli's home with Lauren. I love her! She has been asking her parents about attending church and we are getting closer and closer :) Then we went to the church and had a lesson with our investigator Alex and the Clark kids came! Mitch just returned home from his mission a month or so ago and so he is great at our lessons and Ashlyn just graduated and is thinking about going on one. She is just as great!

On Wednesday we went out to Promise Ranch to do service but... no one was there! haha. So we came back and asked Sister Malm what we could do for her and she had us shampoo her carpets! It took quite awhile but now they are clean clean clean! :) We also did service for a lady in the Pinery ward. She is mega 

( mom, remember that word you love??;D ) pregnant and needed our help so we cleaned up and organized some of her home! It was fun, I love Sister Holley. Then we had a lesson with the Clifton's and taught the Plan of Salvation with my cute little cutouts!! It was awesome, they are doing SO well! Then we went over to THE Smith's and FINALLY they returned home from their vacation!!!! I had missed them so much, it had been 2 and a half weeks!!!! That's way too long! I love them. So we went over the work in the past couple of weeks and then went to a lesson at the Johanson's with Matt! It went so good. He finished the Book of Mormon!! Such a good day. 

On Thursday we went to Goodwill for service and then had district meeting. It was good and all went by so fast! Then we had lunch and it was time to go out. Because it's the end of the month we have to be careful that we don't go over on our miles and we were pretty close so we decided to walk! It was pretty hot at 90 but at least it's not 100 like I hear it is in Tri-Cities! :P So we walked to our investigator Sue's house and had a lesson with her about the Book of Mormon and the personal revelation we receive when we read and pray about it. It was great!

On Friday we had a lesson with Debbie right after our personal studies, so we went out to Franktown and taught about the restoration. It went pretty well, there's a lot of concerns she has but we are working on helping her resolve those. Then we came home and weekly planned and had lunch. We walked to dinner and to our lesson with Alex and it was great! Then we got a ride and came home for exchanges with the Sisters! Sister Kastner stayed in my area and Sister Riddle left to the Parker ward with Sister Tracy.

Saturday was fun! We had studies and then went out tracting because we had no established lessons, not one! haha. 

We came back for lunch and then after lunch mowed the yard of our next door neighbor who recently had back surgery! It was... crazy!! His front yard it like this huge hill and it is hard to push the lawn mower up it!! I miss the flat yards we have in Tri-Cities! But it was fun, and it was Sister Kastner's first time mowing a lawn and that was just hilarious!! Thank goodness my dad taught me, there were a lot of missed patches we had to go back over because she mowed like a crazy person! :P 

Pretty Hilly!

We tracted more the rest of the day and had a lesson with our investigator Katrina. We taught about prophets, the 10 commandments and following the Word of Wisdom. It was good. 

So after that we continued to tract and guys, the craziest thing happens:  so we knock on this door as we are tracting this street and this little teacup dog is following us from the neighbor's house down a ways. We've talked to the guy who lived in this home before and were just coming back to see if we could set up a time to teach him more. So we knock on his door and his scary wolf dogs greet us at the window. He answers and we talk for like 30 seconds, then the teacup dog climbs up the steps and looks at the dogs, then snarls at them in their face.  ALL of the sudden the wolf dog has the teacup dog in it's mouth and the owner it trying to get him to let go, he lets go and then the 2nd wolf/dog put it in it's mouth and the teacup dog is like screetching so we are like standing there terrified and dumbstruck.  The owner is totally flipping out and throwing his dogs in the house and then chasing his wolf/dog to try and stop him. All in all the wolf dog doesn't eat the little dog and the owner gets him to safety, but we were 100% sure it was a goner. So basically, I just want to say-why do people have dogs? silly silly silly. We thought he was going to be really mad when he came back, but the spirit totally softened his heart because he let us set up a time to come back!! Hopefully we don't have to ever go into his home where the wolf/dogs are and would probably try and eat me. haha. CRAZY. Sooo later we then we exchanged back that evening! 

Sunday was a busy busy day. Church is always busy and it seems like the missionaries need to be in 5 places at once! So needless to say, we are always on our toes. It flew by and so did our meetings afterwards. We had lunch and then went back for a lesson with Alex. We finished getting through the Restoration and it was great! He is a bit of a slow learner, but he's never had religion in his life so it makes sense! It's all new and unheard of concepts for him. But it was good! I hope you all had a great great week too!!! I love you!

Love no matter what,

Sister Nelson

Sister Nelson is still trying new things to help her stomach.  

Honest, she ate Almond Milk!!  Big step for this non-brave eater of foods!