SISTER NEILSON | SCOTLAND/IRELAND MISSION

Week 28- Getting Caught by PMac

This week has been crazy! i flew to Edinburgh on Tuesday morning to pick up my trainee. Her name is Sister Carabott! she is from England and is the cutest girl! We had a trainers meeting and a trainee meeting as well. President Macdonald gave us great instruction. He is so great! he is super chill and cool. and when he gives instructions he is like not expecting one answer but has really taught that whatever comes into your mind is your own personal revelation. no matter what it is. he's taught me how to receive better personal revelation. and his instructions aren't so confusing. macdonald is just simple but so powerful!

After we were paired with our trainees they send us out the rest of the day to go street finding. Edinburgh is a big city so towards the end of the night it was time to go home and we got (well I got) completely lost. we finally made it back to the mission home 30 minutes late at 9:30 and the mission home has these gates outside of the home and apparently they close at 9. so we got back and the gates were closed and my phone had died so I couldn't call anyone haha. sister carabott was like "what are we gonna do?" and i was like "well it looks like we are gonna have to climb and hop over the gate" and she was like "what?”. So i climbed over the gate in my skirt and then sister carabott threw her bag over and was about to climb over when the mission president and his wife walk out of the mission home and they were like what is going on? hahaha it was so funny! so then they opened the gate for sister carabott. We all had a good laugh.The next morning we got up and took two buses to the ferry, then took the ferry, then took two more buses after the ferry to get back to Limerick. So it took 16 hours all together to get back. my poor trainee was wrecked haha.

We have had a great week of finding and teaching, mostly teaching. we have had back to back lessons like almost everyday, which is so nice but i do miss finding. We found some great people though this week.

We met this guy named Ali. He is from Brazil and we were talking to him and he opened up to us and shared a lot of his life with us. we sat down with him and he was really interested in what we were doing. He kept saying that he really liked talking with us and it made him feel happy. but that he doesn't know if he believes in God or not and doesn't think things happen for a reason. we explained to him what the holy ghost was and how the holy ghost can make us feel. and towards the end of talking with him he was already starting to say "maybe I was supposed to meet you guys for a reason." it was so sick! We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he wanted to meet again and learn more and asked us to write him a message in the book of mormon. so we wrote our testimonies and gave it to him. we are meeting with him tonight and i am so excited! AND GET THIS! He travels and he was talking about his dog and he said his dogs name is Salt and we were like why did you name your dog salt? and he said after the city Salt Lake City. then he continued on to say that is the one place he wants to visit! and we were like what, seriously? And he hasn't even heard of mormons or anything! He named his three dogs, Salt, Lake, and City. it was insane dude!

Our friends Emma and Kato came to church yesterday, sad news Kato wants to get baptized but he is moving to Uganda soon so we don't think he will be able to get baptized here:( but he will in Uganda so that is good! Emma is the sweetest girl ever! she is getting baptized on the 11 of August so that is super exciting! she really enjoyed church so we are so excited for her!

peace out guys! love ya!

1. sports

2. some random guy that we met while doing comp study that started singing to us, he was drunk of course

3. me and my trainee on the ferry

Email from Ali's Mission President

Email from Ali's mission president, sent to our Stake President, Pres. Hess.
___________________

19 June 2018

Dear President Hess,

Sister Alexandria Doering Neilson, a missionary from your ward, has recently been called to serve as a Trainer to Sister Carabott, a new missionary in the Scotland/Ireland Mission.

I feel that a trainer is one of the most important of all missionary callings. As she works to teach and minister to her new companion she will have an opportunity to gain leadership skills and growth in her own life.

Sister Neilson has been an outstanding missionary. Your support and prayers on behalf of her are greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Mark A. Macdonald

President
Scotland/Ireland Mission

Week 27- Here's the craic

fyi: (craic is a term they use in ireland meaning news, gossip, etc. it’s pronounced “crack”)

yooo lol so interesting moves this week. looks like i will be training again, so i will fly to Edinburgh tomorrow morning to pick up my trainee. It will be interesting.

we were street contacting and we found this guy named mike and he was sitting on this bench. we started talking to him and he invited us to sit down with him so we did. he asked if we were missionaries and then told us he had met with missionaries in 2015. he was planning on getting baptized but then some things happened and he wasn't able to and he lost contact with the missionaries shortly after. we continued to talk and i just invited him to be baptized in the midle of the GQ and he said yes! it was amazing.

our baptism that we were supposed to have didn't happen this week :( very sad.

1. the missionaries in Limerick

2. Dan Man a branch member that fed us dinner. he is the nicest guy

3. me unscrewing a nail with a knife

4. me and my comp

5. with our investigator calvin

week 26

This week we had another all Ireland (where all the missionaries in Ireland have a conference) and we got to meet our new mission President, President Macdonald, in Dublin. He is definitely American and very bald hahah. He for sure has a different way of doing things and is way more chill than the last mission president so it will be interesting to see what will happen. i am excited though. It was very interesting. it was weird not having President Donaldson there but i am looking forward to P Mac. We had a good conference and he and his wife gave very great instructions. The conference was on the 4 of July so me and my comp and some other people decided wear all red white and blue, it was pretty classy. There was lots of pictures taken.

We had a branch bbq this week and it was so much fun. there was a bouncy house thing and they would grill all different types of meat and then just throw it into this big pot. it was just a free for all and you could take whatever you wanted. it was fun.

On pday last week we visited the Cliffs of Moher. it was sooo beautiful. we walked along side of it for like the longest time. the cliffs is where they filmed some of harry potter and some of the princess bride so that was sick.

We were teaching our investigator Lisa and talking about the word of wisdom and she has cigarettes and said that she was going to finish her pack that day and start living the word of wisdom the next day. we were like haha thats funny dude. so we explained that that is not how it works but she wouldn't budge. the missionaries have been teaching her for about 3 months now. we always have the investigator say the closing prayer, but she never has. she always just says no, so on this day i was like no you are going to say the prayer. so for like 15 minutes we sat there and tried to figure out why she didnt want to say the prayer and what we could do to help her say the prayer. Then finally she said the prayer! and then right after the prayer out of nowhere she just stands up with her pack and walks over to a homeless dude and gives them away, and doesnt say anything to us. me and my comp were like whatttt and lisa said "i dont even know why i just did that." it was so amazing!

Our friend John is supposed to get baptized this weekend. please pray for him.

This last week we had a lot of dissapointments and some of our friends not on date, but some new friends on date as well. but with the good and bad i am so grateful for all of it, it is all just a learning experience! i am grateful for everyting that i am learning. something that me and my comp have learned this week is that we get along very well and really want to be friends after the mission and for that to happen we need to be seperated as companions if we want to remain friends. lol. we are so similar in a lot of things, especially when it comes to decision making on important things in the missioanry work. we both have different opinions about things that are good on both sides, but we both don't like to budge. hahah like we are straight up homies hahhaha its confusing (and dont worry i asked her if this was okay to write) we have transfers this weekend.

but yeah i love the work here! its great! love you all! peace!

Cliffs of Moher...

cave from harry potter!

all ireland in our red white and blue...

my district

at the branch bbq

Week 25

it was a pretty standard week this week. our friend stefan who was totally solid and was going to get baptized just completely dropped us out of nowhere so that was pretty sad.

but we have been teaching this other dude for a while now named john and he just wasnt keeping commitments and then told us that he was never gonna get baptized so then we were very sad. and so we taught him another lesson yesterday and we were either going to drop him or get him back on date, we were gonna give it everything and just throw down before we dropped him and he said that he wants to get baptized and we got him back on date an thn he said he had been keeping commitments without us even asking and so it was so exciting! so we should be having a baptism this transfer so please pray for us haha.

us on exchanges in dublin

this super cool place that members took us to for a DA it was beautiful

Week 24

Waddup!

Earlier this week we had a first lesson with this man named Stefan that we found finding. we taught him in front of the river in the city and it was just beautiful there. there wasn't a ton of people there so it was quiet and a wonderful place to be able to feel the spirit. He told us before we even started teaching him that he came with a clean slate and doesn't even know if there is a God but is willing to do what it takes to know if there is one. the lesson went so well and he accepted a baptism date and we are so excited to see him progress towards the waters of baptism soon! at the end of the lesson he just kept saying, what is next for me? what do i need to do know if this is true? we are meeting with him tomorrow and i am so excited!

Relief society was amazing this week. dude not gonna lie, usually relief society can be kind of hard to go to because we just talk about ministering the whole time. honestly that's what the lesson has been on every sunday since i have been on my mission. but this new lady taught on sunday and she just threw down and wrecked the sisters. it was so great. sometimes the sisters need a good rebuking because i think the leaders are too easy on them and they need it every once in a while. but then one of the ladies wasnt happy that was listening and then her and the teacher got in a fight in the middle of class and it was awesome.

So the sun doesn't set here till like really late and on june 21 it was the longest day of the year so the sun didnt set till 10:30. it is so nice. i love the sun! We have dark curtains though so it is dark in our room. But it has been so hot here lately and we are supposed to have a big heat wave this week. they say its gonna be the hottest its ever been in ireland. I've been getting a good tan though so its chillin.

We have this thing called Friday night activities. every friday night our investigators and ward members come out and we all just play sports with each other and it is super fun. we play football every time and i love it. but we all go pretty hard and i go home with a ton of gnarly bruises everytime haha.

We taught our investigator Calvin this week and he has been investigating for almost a year now. he doesnt have a belief in God, but last week us and the elders were finally able to get somewhere with him and it was a huge step forward. then we met with him two days ago and he told us he had watched some anti-God videos and that it really made him question everything and that it took him way far back. it was just so freakin sad. so now we are really trying to pray to find out what we can do to help him.

Also we started riding bikes here and dude it is very hard to ride a bike in a skirt. but it is a good work out haha.

I honestly love being a missionary and i never thought i would becasue i didnt even want to come out in the first place. but seeing the way that the Lord has helped me so much is so amazing and truly inspiring to me. i could never do this work without Him. i honestly cant even put into words the many ways Heavenly Father has blessed me and helped in this work. I don't mean to be all missionary and everything, but it helps me to write down these things because it strengthens my testimony even more when i say it and write it. i just love it so much! My love for the scriptures (the bible is insane btw) and my love for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are more than i can even put into words.

Everything is good here, i love it here and love the work i am doing!

the 21 of june was the longest day of the year and the sun didnt set till 10:30. this was at 10 at night

me and my comp in our backyard

us being lame lol

Week 23

Dude so we have no hot water again and going into the shower is probably the hardest part of my day becasue it is so cold.. I literally am on the verge of tears when the cold water touches me. Also, it is starting to get cold again so that means bringing out the tights again and it was the most depressing day when me and sister mckay realized we were back to tights. so sad.

This week we had All Ireland and Elder Bednar skyped into it and we had a Q and A with him. it was super cool. Then at the end of the conference since our mission president is leaving next week we all got to say goodbye to him. we all got to go up to him one by one and give him and sister Donaldson a hug goodbye and it was very sad. actually a ton of people were crying. it was an amazing conference that we had though. the spirit that was felt there was so strong.

We had a dinner appointment with the sweetest lady named Marlene and she is from Brazil and oh my goodness. she doesn't have a lot but she made us so much food because she is so kind! i love her so much! she invited us back to teach us how to make some of the food she made for us. i am so excited to go back and to get to know her better!

Me and Sister Mckay taught the young womens on Sunday in church and they are so fun! i love getting to know the youth in the ward! and they were just asking a ton of questions. we brought them cookies and it was just so fun! Then one of the girls came up to us after and was asking us questions about serving a mission. it was so exciting to answer her questions and to give her some advice on it.

This morning we taught a man named Gerrard and he is amazing. He had a really hard past but once he turned to God he changed his life around. We taught him the restoration and he has such a desire to know if these things are true. I cant wait to teach him again!

this work that i am doing is so amazing. i cant imagine myself anywhere else and i am so grateful that i have this amazing opportunity to be here and to share this gospel, that has brought me so much happiness, to other people here in Ireland. Even though it freakin sucks sometimes the good parts outweigh those hard times. I LOVE THIS WORK! Heavenly Father is so great and it must have been so scary for him to send us here to earth because he knew that a ton of us wouldn't return to him again. BUT he sent us here because He loves us.

Peace!

Me and sister mckay at all ireland

me and my homegirl sister phillips

me elder wotherspoon and my comp

president and sister donaldson

Week 22- Illegal Immigrants yooooo

Yoo whaddup my homies

Limerick is the best! it is sooo nice to be serving in a city centre! We are getting so many qualified appointments (first lessons) and it so much fun! everyday was like booked this last week with first lessons and this coming week also. We have 5 people on date. We are always on the move and are already seeing so much success!

So in the Republic of Ireland we need to get garda cards to basically live here and the garda card laws have changed recently and so you have 90 days from the time you get in the republic to get a new garda card. but since the laws are changing it has been hard for missionaries to even get a garda card. So we were out finding two days ago and we received a call saying that our zone leaders got deported.. and we were like what the heck? so apparently the law changed to where you dont have 90 days anymore but you have to have a garda card before you even move to the republic, which basically means all the missionaries in the republic with no garda cards are illegal immigrants. lol so lets hope that me and my comp dont get caught. So basically the mission is telling us to lay low right now and wait for further instruction. its insane dude. but please pray that the mission home figures everything out with the garda cards. they are working with lawyers right now and trying to figure everything out. We have all ireland (all ireland is where all the missionaries travel to the dublin and we have a conference with the mission president. it happens once a transfer) tomorrow so we should receive more information tomorrow.

We taught this man named Ken a couple days ago and we went in to teach him the restoration, but then he started talking about how is dad had passed away and how he was close to him, so we felt the impression we needed to teach him the plan of salvation. in the middle of the lesson he just says, "the message you guys share is a very powerful one”. the spirit was just there and he was so prepared to recieve our message. It is amazing to see how the Lord will prepare the people you teach.

We taught a guy named Steve and he just recieved the message we shared with him so well and it was amazing. he has accepted a baptism date so we are way pumped! it is so nice to be able to teach young people lol.

Me and my companion get along very well, she is a rad chick. It has been so much serving here but i am afraid with what is going on with the garda cards that we might be moved out and moved somewhere else. so please pray for us!

Peace out

me and my comp and the cotton candy we got for lunch

me solo with cotton candy

pics of the river in limerick

our janky phone

the incense we lit because our strawberries got moldy and made our house smell like crap

me eating cookies...natural habitat lol

Week 21

This week was sooo stinkin long waiting for move calls lol. But we got our moves and i am left Portadown. I moved to the Republic of Ireland to a city called Limerick! i am pumped! it should be great!

it has been so dang hot here lately and i moved south so it is going to be even hotter. i am getting tan so that is cool.

we had two friends at church this week and it was the best! we had Valentina the chick we have been teaching since i first got to my mission. and then Adalin. they are both from Romania but they met each other at our church and now we want them to get married.

It was very hard saying bye to everyone at church this sunday, a lot harder than i thought it would be, they have become like family. and saying bye to the people we were teaching was hard.

my email is pretty lame this week. sorry. we had to start traveling at 7 this morning and we just got to limerick at around 5 today so i am so tired.