Week 50

Skyping on Christmas!

Week 49

Hey so this week was kind of just chill. We had our normal week in Elgin just trying to do a lot of member visits and inviting less active members to the special carol service this month! Hopefully some people will be able to attend. With all of this I still had no idea when president was going to tell me my new area and companions. He finally called and said that i will be in a trio with the sisters in Edinburgh! So that was interesting. but it will be good! the sisters are way nice so were chillin. So now I am here in Edinburgh and just back to normal missionary work life, which is so nice honestly. To be honest there’s not much to say today. sorry! but i hope you all have a good week and have some cool plans for the holidays:)

 Love you all

1. missionaries in edinburgh

2,3,4. pics from conference

Week 48

This week we had our CHRISTMAS conference! it was the best. We had some instructions in the morning and then we had a big lunch, which was so weird because they didn't give us a time limit on the lunch like we always do or like i have had for the past 11 months. but it was nice just sitting there and talking with everyone. then we were able to do a white elephant exchange with all the missionaries it was insane. I got this like african dark wooden mask. it was actually pretty sick.Then after we got to watch a movie! We watched Incredibles 2, i loved it haha i really think since being on my mission i find a lot more things entertaining and funny because i was dying that whole movie.

  Afterwards we had interviews with president and crazy stuff man! So my trainee seriously hurt her back a year ago and was a solider but at the start of the transfer it was causing lots of problems so with talking to president and the mission home for a few weeks they have decided it's best for her to go home and get surgery. So i am getting taken out of Elgin and put in a new area in a trio. but president has no idea where yet so we are still waiting to find that out. so while we are here we are just going to continue to teach our friends and then tell them we are leaving and then pass them to the next missionaries. SOooo i don't know where i will be for christmas but it will be an adventure!

  

   There is this family here called the Dawsons and they were planning on having us over for christmas eve, christmas and boxing day (the day after christmas) and when we told her we weren't gonna be here she was way sad and then invited us for dinner last night. And we showed up and she had made a really nice dinner and had taken out all her christmas dishes and her christmas tablecloth that she only ever takes out for christmas day and we used all that for dinner it was so cute! then we shared with them our christmas message that we were saving for christmas and it he spirit was very strong, it was a fun night:) We also set up their Christmas tree.

   We had the chance to teach some of our friends this week and at one of their homes they gave us apple juice from there own apple tree that they made themselves. it was way good! We taught this couple in their 60s that we met while at the resource center that we volunteer at. it was so fun! we were able to teach them the first lesson. 

    

   LOVE YOU ALL!!!

the dawsons for dinner 

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