SISTER NEILSON | SCOTLAND/IRELAND MISSION

Week 47

but i had a cool spiritual experience, so because i have been with companions who are younger than me basically my whole mission i was heavy stressing because i was like how am i suppossed to improve my missionary skills, because i really just want to be a missionary and i had been really praying about it lately and we were teaching some lessons and they just weren't going well and i was getting really frustrated. and then we taught this first lesson to this man David and it was such a good lesson and felt like i had improved some of my skills and really taught to HIS needs. and i came out of the lesson and was thinking what was so different about it? you know what it was? it was the flippin Spirit.. i was like oh my goodness. then it hit me that i have had basically nobody like other missionaries helping me improve my skills and that the Holy Spirit would be the that guides me and teaches me. literally something that i teach everyday to other people but didn't realize about myself. To be honest it is really hard when it is just the spirit but it is so cool to see how the Spirit has worked with me especially these past two weeks. He is this only thing i got right now and it has taught me to rely completely on the spirit. so that was cool.

Week 46

On Tuesday i was in Edinurgh picking up my new trainee, her name is sister Glassford! she is from Mapleton, Utah and she is way cute! we left Edinburgh that night and traveled back to Elgin it was about a four hour drive.

We had a lots of finding this week:) and we found some really cool people!

We were able to teach our fromer investigator Steve. we had found him when i first got to Elgin but then we dropped him because we didn't feel his intent was there. then last week he called me and said he had read some of the book of mormon and had a few questions about it. he invited us to his home and so we went and talked to him about them and he expressed that he does have a desire to want to know if it's true. so we shared some scriptures with him whiched helped him understand how he could know. he said he would pray that night to find out. we are meeting with him later this week so i will let you know whats up next time!

We taught our two friends Mark and Jacob. They are both 22 and are best friends. They are pretty interested in finding out if the book of mormon is true so we comitted them to reading the book of mormon and pray about it. we are meeting with them this week so i willl let you know:)

Not a lot happened this week, but it was a good week. we went to this place called the resource center. i think its a center that helps people who are struggling and a lady in our branch does arts and crafts with them and invited us along to join. so we did that for an hour on friday and it was so fun! the people there are so funny! we cant wait to go back on Friday again:)

1. P-day in Edinburgh with other missionaries while waiting for the trainees

2. Me and my new child:)

Week 45

We had moves calls this week and I am staying in Elgin but I am training a brand new missionary again! Crazy stuff man. This will be my 4th trainee, don't know why they keep sending me the newbies lol but it's chill! So I am in Edinburgh right now waiting to pick up her up and see who she is. I dropped Sister Linco off at the train station today and I was very sad to see her go:( But she is gonna do great in her new area.

We were able to find some cool people this week and to teach some of our friends who are progressing towards baptism so thats cool. i feel like i am making progress here in the branch. I was able to give a talk in church on Sunday and I really think it opened up some doors for me and the members which i am stoked about.

Honestly i dont really have much to say but i hope all is well back home! all i hear about is the fires going on. whats the deal with that? haha love you all

Week 44

This week was kind of a slow week. We were able to go out and find new people to teach this week :) We met lots of new people. Last week we taught this guy that we found on the street named Mark. he is 22 and lives right outside Elgin. He was pretty open minded about religion and what is really out there, so we were able to teach him the first lesson and committed him to reading the Book of Mormon and pray about it. Then we brought up baptism and he booked it out of there so fast and said he would call us if he was interested in meeting again. So we were like yeah peace out dude, we will never see him again. Well this week we received a text from him saying that he was going to be in Elgin this week and wanted to meet up and wanted to bring his friend with him as well. So we met with mark and his friend Jacob. and the whole time we were with them Jacob was just rapid fire asking us different questions about the church and it was really cool because everytime we would answer them mark would stand up for us and say yeah that's true or yeah that makes sense, so it was a really neat experience. we would try to bear a short testimony when we would answer his questions so that the spirit could be there. at the end of the lesson mark turned to Jacob and said, "i dont know if these things are true that they talk about but i am willing to do what i can to find out for myself." i was like duuuude no way. then jacob said he was interested in learning more. so it was a really neat experience for all of us.

It was remembrance Day on Sunday, which is celebrated for all the people who have fought in the wars. so there was a parade on Sunday at 10 am that we participated in so that means church was moved to 1pm. We sang in church and let's just say i dont think they will be asking me to sing again haha. SIster linco is really good, me not so much but its cool.

We met this really cool guy named Richard when we were knocking doors the other night. we were able to teach him the first lesson and he said that he is interested in what we have to say because the older he gets the more he realizes he knows nothing about life and really just wants to find peace in his life. that was cool.

Our friend Kemal who is from Turkey was able to come to church this sunday. we found him on the streets a little while back, but he is interested again about learning more about the church. he has no background with religion, like he doesn't even know what the bible is, so we are starting at the very basics with him. it is really fun.

For last pday we went to Glenfiddich Distilery. it was way out in the middle of nowhere but it was surrounded by the most beautiful trees and the place smelled sooo good! we each got our own free bottle of whiskey haha.

pics of the beach in our area...

Week 43

Week 42

This week was an interesting week for sure. Me and Sister Linco were able to get our flu jabs. I didn't really want to get them but Sister Linco really wanted hers so we decided that we would. We walked into the pharmacy and i was a little nervous and being weird and sister linco was like dude whats wrong with you haha because i get quite antsy for needles haha. but sister linco got hers first and i was sitting there like sweating and squirming in my chair as i watched hers and then it was my turn and i was like crap. and i was so nervous haha and it showed but nevertheless i got my flu jab without any tears so it was a successful day.

We met this guy this week while GQing and we were talking and he was like my friend would be really interested in what you have to say why don't we meet back here and talk more about it and ill bring my friend. So we were able to teach him and his friend the plan of salvation which was super cool.

Funny story me and sister linco were approached in church this sunday by a member and were asked (well told) to sing a duet in two weeks at church.. lol. after they see me sing they wont ask us again haha. i have no idea why she asked us to sing but it will be interesting haha.

So as you probably know Glen was supposed to be baptized this last Saturday, well everything was set, we had met with him everyday before his baptism and he kept saying how excited he was and just wanted it to happen already. then Friday night came along and he texted us and said that he doesn't feel ready and needs more time. So the baptism did not happen unfortunately which was quit sad for us. It is so sad to see things like this happen. Me and Sister Linco were pretty upset that Saturday but we are glad that if he didn't feel ready that he told us and didn't just go through with the baptism anyway. So we are going to meet with him today and hopefully talk to him and see where he is at with everything. Prayers would be much appreciated :)

This lady in our branch asked us if we could come to her home and wallpaper her kitchen for her. Well wallpapering is pretty interesting. but we did it and during the wallpapering i didn't realize how much of a perfectionist i am. She kept saying it was fine but i was dude no do you see it isn't matched up? haha but it was fun.

It is starting to get very cold here and my toes are freezing! it's way colder here than in any of my other areas because we are so far north. We were chapping last night and we started to talk to this guy at his door and this lady in our branch gave us gloves this week that are really fuzzy and i took off my glove as i was talking to him and these fuzzy things flew everywhere and into my mouth. i started dying and i couldn't get them out of my mouth! it was a mess but God is good because we set up an appointment with him! Super cool

Sis Neilson

my pumpkin i carved

awkward picture on the high street

Week 41

Week 39

This week has been insane! this past Tuesday we were street contacting and I was able to meet some really cool people. I met this girl Sarah, who is 17, and she expressed that she had just moved to Elgin and that she was looking for a new church to join! we were able to set up an appointment with her the next day. We taught her the restoration and she is so cool. she completely understood what we were teaching and then she told us that she was baptized just this last June. we were like, oh no how are we gonna bring up baptism? we talked about baptism and then invited her to be baptized and she accepted! she just said that the things that we were saying to her made sense. we asked her what she felt as we were teaching her and she said she could definitely feel the Holy Ghost with her in our discussion and that he was comforting her because she was really nervous to meet with us. haha It was so amazing to see how the Holy Spirit can touch someone's life and to testify of the goodness of the message that we share with people!

I also met this guy named Glen while we were street contacting earlier this week. he said that he doesn't have a belief in God and that he just really wants to know what his purpose in life is and why he is here. He really wants to know if God is really there. I explained to him that the Book of Mormon can answer each of those questions that he has and i set up an appointment with him for two days later. The morning of his lesson he texted us and said, "I remember you said that the book you were holding answered some of my questions. where can I find one?" i was like dude this guy is sick! We got to the lesson and taught him about the Plan of Salvation and and what his purpose in this life was and shared a ton of scriptures with him from the Book of Mormon to answer each of his questions. We asked him some of the feelings and thoughts that he had while we shared with him these things and he said, "Well, whenever you gave me a scripture to read I would feel something. It wasn't a big powerful thing, but something was there that i could definetly feel." we testified to him that that was the Holy Ghost testifying to him of the truthfulness of The Book of Mormon. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted! he doesn't have a belief in God or anything but we know he was able to accept baptism because of the Holy Spirit. It was really able to strenghten my testimony of the power of the Book of Mormon. It showed me that this book was able to literally bring the feelings of the holy spirit and to testify to him. we missionaries cannot do what we do without the spirit. He said he just needs to go home and read the book and to pray and ask god so he can know for himself. it was such a spiritually powerful lesson with him. We set up an appointment to meet with him the next day and he showed up to the lesson and he had brought his girlfriend with him! We sat down and taught them both the restoration. at the end his girlfriend said everything we said makes sense and this is something that she has always wndered about and she thinks its time she starts to learn more about these things. we invited her to be baptized and she accepted as well! They were able to come to the Saturday morning session of General Conference,which is Sunday night here. at the end of the session I asked Glen what he thought of conference and he said, "it felt like i belonged somehow. I dont know but it was just this feeling." we talked more about the Holy Spirit and i asked him if that was what he thought it was and he said he hopes so! We were able to teach him the first three lessons this weekend and we will be continuing to teach them this week! :)

I loved conference this past week. it was so great! I loved Elder Rasband's talk. it was my favorite! talking about Helaman 5:12 and how we have to build a firm foundation! so good! I also loved President Nelson's talk about the name of the church :)

It's amazing to see that wherever you serve, big cities or small towns, that the Lord has people who are prepared to hear His message and accept it into their own lives. People are prepared! We just need to do our own part, so get that message out! The power of The Book of Mormon is real. i know this to be true. i have seen it work in peoples lives and change them for the good. We need to read from it and study it and apply it into our lives. God is good, man.

LOVE TO YOU ALL :)

garry

our car

Week 38

Loch Ness was sick! it was so beautiful. we had a zone pday so we all brought our own meat and had a bbq on the beach. then of course we had to drink from loch ness, so we went down to the water and one of the elders took his yeezy off (kanye west tennis shoe) and we all drank from it. it was sick.

Transfers are this week and i am pretty sure me and linco are staying for another one together. i would be shocked if they moved us.

We were driving home from an appointment that was pretty far out this week and we were on the phone with president (sis linco had the phone, I was driving) because we had to talk to him about one of our friends. out of nowhere this chicken runs into the middle of the road and i'm like oh no! i didnt know what to do, so i start screaming and hoping that the chicken would move. but it didnt and we hit it! president was on the other line and was like what is going on? it was pretty funny.

these are my kids Sister Khoo and Sister linco minus sister carabott