The Lord works miracles and he allows me that comfort!

Hey family,

this week was pretty interesting!

after i had talked to you all on Sunday i was feeling pretty home sick so i asked one of the elders to give me a priesthood blessing so that i would be able to concentrate and have some comfort. no big deal, don't be to worried, because the lord works miracles and he allowed me that comfort! the lord is good! i am so glad to be serving with worthy priesthood holders who are always so willing to minister to me when i need comfort!

Tuesday we met a sweet lady ! my comp had a prompting to do some contacting in some neighborhoods but since she doesn't know the area all that well yet, it was left to me to pick one to contact... so i did.. .and we talked to some people, but nothing to promising. once we finished in that neighborhood a thought came to my mind "Go see N***" (she is a potential that we have) This was an odd prompting because i was pretty sure she wasn't home from her vacation yet. she was leaving for 2 weeks to see her mom in Rome Ga. but i decided to do it anyway and if she wasn't home we could contact in her neighborhood. so we drove up the street to her "hood" and i saw her standing outside talking with a friend so i drove past thinking i didn't want to be rude and interrupt her... so about the time i get to the next street i have a thought pop into my head this one a bit mor forceful than the last "turn around and go see N***!" then i thought to myself... am i gonna regret not turning around? the answer was immediate"YES" so i turned around and pulled up in front of her house. Still nervous about interrupting her i forced myself up her drive way and talked to her.

Turns out she ended up not going on vacation because of car troubles and the friend she was talking to was helping her out by giving her rides.. and this was our investigater! she asked us what church we were from and what we believed in and then she said she was 30 years old and had a family and needed to find something that she believed for herself. She asked us to come over next week and teach her more. we introduced the Book of Mormon to her and she seemed pretty intrigued. she said she wanted to discuss why we had to die for adam and eves sin... PERFECT... we have an app for that... and it's called the plan of salvation! wow! im sure glad i followed that prompting!

This week we had to hand off one of our investigators to the elders who are over the Young single adults... bummer but it's better for him because now he can be fellow shipped by people his age...  Stanley G Ellis of the 70 came and spoke at our zone conference! that was way neat... he is form burley!!...  i had my 4th run in with a roach... this time thankfully it wasn't crawling on me... but still just as creepy!... we experienced a baptist bible study complete with speaking in tongues and everything! it was... well it was interesting! weird! but i felt the faith of those four baptist sisters! and they are a great group of women! Gloria is the one whos home it was in and she welcomed us right in and they all started talking to us like we were long time friends it was so great... they taught from the bible, ended with what they call manifestations of the spirit (the speaking in tongues part) and then they gave us an opportunity to teach... they asked us questions and all took a book of Mormon! it was great! we are going again next week too. and hopefully they will come to church with us!... we also went to a Methodist funeral... that was interesting... no tongues were spoken, but the preacher was very theatrical! ha ha and i swear i even heard him stomp his feet a couple o times during his prayer as he felt the spirit... then this morning we and some other missionaries went and toured the hindu temple that is here.... wow that is such a beautiful building! ill be sending a post card from it  when i can get some stamps! it was breath taking. we got ot go inside and see all the different gods they worship and got to take part in one of their ceremonies... it was so neat... I love this work so much it has opened my eyes to so much  i love it
it's been a pretty eventful week

Hope yall are having some fun

i love yall

Sister Dannika Nielsen

P-Day trials...

It was so awesome to talk to you yesterday 45 minutes is just not long enough!

well this coming week looks pretty good, we took on a couple new investigators that are showing some good potential... so hopefully we can get some of them progressing.

So we had quite the little adventure this morning... our washer broke this morning so we had to take all our laundry to a Laundromat... then we took the wet clothes put them in our trunk and went grocery shopping... but on the way there the Tiwi (devise in our cars that track our driving) gave me an aggressive driving violation for no reason! so we pushed the call button and talked to a customer service rep in the parking lot of walmart. he tried resetting our Tiwi like three times and it took him almost an hour and he still didn't get it fixed... ehh so finally we went shopping and by this time it's 1:00 we got our groceries and went back to our apartment threw our clothes in the dryer and cleaned our aprt. we have a member of the 70 coming this week to our zone conference and he is gonna be doing random inspections so pres said that we needed to deep clean our aprts. because of all the drama this morning, we missed out on going with our zone to Stone Mountain :( sad days... but finally we were able to make it to the church to email...it's been a pretty stressful Monday... ehhh one of those days that I can't wait to crawl into bed... anyway ill stop complaining...

I hope that you all are having a good Monday and hope that the rest of the week is good to.

talk to yall later 

Weathering the disapointments....

 :( 

Well, this last week was not one of my favorites. 

let me start from the beginning. So transfers happened i got my new comp her name is sister cefalo and she is great! but i'm afraid that i am not teaching her all she needs to be a good missionary, because this week was so rough. So first off, i rained ALL week long so that made it hard to contact anybody... all the appointments we did have fell through and the backups for them were not home... then they changed our district on us so we are no longer with the elders and sisters that we were originally with... that made me sad, cuz i love them so much...  and then, our baptism didn't happen.... i was so certain that everything was gonna go great... but she decided last minute that she wasn't ready for baptism and she dropped us... wow, talk about heart break... after we got in the car, i just couldn't hold it in anymore, and i just cried.... we worked so hard with her and felt the spirit so strongly with her and i KNOW that she knows that it is true! there is no doubt in my mind that she knows it is... she told us that she did and the spirit told us that she did... and to see her know this and turn away... wow... devastating! What did i do wrong, what could i have done better... did i not have enough faith??? ehh... this work can be so frustrating sometimes... So needless to say, this week hasn't been the greatest... and im not so sure i can do this whole training thing... i just don't think im cut out to be a trainer... it seems like things just keep piling up.... 

So i am so excited to talk to you all next week... that will be t he bright spot in my week! I need some happiness! 

I am doing alright though... not depressed which is good, just frustrated... and i know that i can get through it

well family talk to you on sunday... i so look forward to it!

BYE'

Sister Nielsen  

Hey Family! 

So this week has drastically improved from last week and this email does not even begin to do it justice. So we have been working with this girl. she is 24 and has 4 little girls and she is amazing!

So we taught her the Restoration about 2 weeks ago and tried and tried to get in and teach her the plan of salvation for two weeks and we were starting to get discouraged because we know that she is so prepared... but finally we were able to get in with her and teach her the plan of salvation... and what happens next made the weeks o discouragement worth every second!

So as we laid out our visual for the Plan of Salvation, as we explained that we lived with our heavenly father before we came to the earth, she gasped and looked up at us with tear filled eyes and asked "are you serious?" we explained that we were completely serious and she stopped and just sobbed and then when she had composed herself, she looked at us and appoligized for her crying and then she explained that for her entire life, she has always felt that there was more to this life and that she believed that she lived with god before this life, but when she would try to talk to her family about it they would always tell her that she was crazy, over and over again she would hear this and she was beginning to think that they were right and beginning to loose hope. so when she heard this message, she was filled with peace. 

I can't even begin to tell you about the power that was in this lesson. Family, i have never seen a reaction quite like hers, and i will never forget it as the spirit told her heart that the things we were telling her were true, and her light turned on and for the first time in her life she discovered the truth and knew that there was a purpose to this life. by the end of the lesson she said 

"sisters, im a momron, thats it, i have to be a mormon" so needless to say, but im gonna say it anyway, she has a date for the 5th of may! :) 

We went over there last night and taught her the Gosple of Jesus Christ and it was another powerful lesson, the spirit was so strong and i knew that i was teaching by the spirit because my mind was clear and our mouths were filled with the perfect words that she needed to hear... and i could have talked all night but i needed to let my comp teach her part of the lesson! ;) we now have a baptism to prepare for... my greenie will see a baptism... i unfortunatly have the feeling that i will be getting transferred on the 1st of may so i wont get to see it all the way through. But at least she is getting baptized! We worked hard this week and we were blessed far beyond what we thought we could be... the lord does that, he blesses us far beyond what we ever expect... God is Great! 

well family i love you and i hoe you all are enjoying your week.       

LOVE Sister Dannika Nielsen

TRYING WEEK

Hey Family, well im still alive... and i assume that y"all are staying pretty busy! 

This past week has been very discouraging... i have definatly felt the weight of this little black tag that i wear... i have felt the weight of training, and to be honest i have been kind of down this week... but miracles have never ceased. I was WISPing yesterday... (wollowing in self pitty) ha ha and then after church we went tracting and i had the oprotunity to bare my testimony to a couple of people and it brightened my mood. It is amazing how a simple testimony of truth can turn even the gloomiest of moods into a better one.

we are continuing to work with Jazzmin the moter of four... but this past week she missed our appointments for whatever reason... ehhhh i feel so pressured to show my greenie a baptism... so that she can experience every aspect of the work... and i am pretty sure that i am getting transferred on may 1st... so i only have 2 and a half weeks to help prepare jazzmin for baptism... anxiety level is high this week... oh... and we found out that now with the influx of sisters, that sisters will hold leadership positions ... Sister Training Leaders they will be over exchanges for sisters and corridinating all things sister.... ehhh they will have to train in zone conferences and leadership training confrences... eh... now anxiety level is sky high just knowing that i could possible get a leadership position.... ehhh well family i love you ill talk to you later

have a good week

LOVE
Sister Dannika Nielsen

The Work Is Progressing!!!!!

So This week was great! we had our investigator with us at conference. She LOVED it. she had written some questions down, and she said that they were all answered! HOW GREAT IS THE LORD!

anyway, i know she will be getting baptized soon... we are seeing her tihis week and are going to give her a date for the 21 of april! She already agreed to be baptized, and after she said she would, she asked if there were any classes she needed to take in order to be baptized.... ha ha yep... we will teach you all you need to know!  

Family, this young woman is so spiritually mature, she amazes me. She is the motherto 4 beautiful little girls and she is only my age... she has been through so much and has a wealth of wisdom from her experiences... she is such a good mom! I know that in the gosple she can find peace and she is so prepared to recieve it. I have never met a person who is more prepared for the gosple than she is at this time in her life! We love her so much. she is already telling us that she want's invitations to our weddings... these people that we meet out here are our friends forever. Our missions are not just eighteen months, but we will be serving these people for the rest of our lives... when you help someone find something as precious as the gosple, you become a permanent part of their lives.... i love this calling! i love these people! and my heart will be torn when i am released. I really can't wait for yall to meet these people who will forever have a piece of my heart.

well family i love you so much and i hope your week is going well
--
Sister Dannika Nielsen

Slow Week...but the work goes on

So it sounds like all is well in the Nielsen home! life is carrying on as usual. :)
well this past week had been a bit of a downer as far as finding investigators goes... Sister Reese and i are out tracting all the time but having little success... but we keep positive, because nothing good comes when we are discouraged.... discouragement weakens faith... and we defiantly dont want that.
We are trying to work with this awesome mother of 4 who seem super elect, but every time we set up an appointment something always happens to prevent her from meeting with us.... Satan is hard at work... but we keep trying because we know that god is greater and it will all come together when and how it is supposed to.
I had the opportunity to go back to Suwanee on Saturday to  support one of my investigators at his baptism! what a great day that was! There is nothing better than walking into a stake center and hearing running water as the baptismal font is being filled, and the one that we have come to love gets dressed in white and you can see the light of Christ shining in their eyes! What a miracle! i love it the only thing i can think of that would match it would be to hold your children in your arms for the first time! I am so blessed to get to witness these great things and to be aiding in the moving forward of the Lords work. I also got to see Sister Henderson.... awww how i miss them! it was good to see members from the Suwanee ward too and my old comp and the Suwanee elders! ehhh i didn't want to leave!  
So yesterday we (sister Reese the Assistants and i) all had dinner @ president and sister wolferts home... it was so nice to be there with them.. The Assistants volunteered us to give the spiritual thought after dinner and to be completely honest i was SO nervous! but it turned out beautifully i just bore powerful testimony of the atonement and my experiences with its enabling power and the spirit was right there testifying to the hearts of all who were in the room that my words were true.... i love the spirit! because no matter how in-eloquent your words are, if the spirit is there, it doesn't matter! but after that thought, sister wolfert just told everyone at the table that she knew that i had indeed applied the atonement in my life here on the mission because of my rough start she said that i could have easily have chosen to give up and go home, but i didn't and they wer so proud of me for it! i was so honored that she would say those things about me... and then she called me her poster child... oh boy, i don't know if i would go that far, because i am far from perfect, ha ha but i just thought that was funny. I so love President and Sister Wolfert, i didn't ever think i could become close to them, but i know now that they will forever be in my heart. i am so glad for the relationships that i have been making here on my mission, they are some that will remain with me forever!
I am learning so much out her and i am loving almost every minute of it... there are still some rough days, but i know that with the lord as my guide, i CAN get through them... the most wonderful thing about having a testimony, is being able to help others.... because i know that Christ died for us to free us from sin and ease our burdens, i can tell people with surety that he lives and that all things through him can be made right and can be eased.... i know this with all my heart to be true!  I can't even imagine what it would be like to not have this knowledge... life would be so much harder! I love my lord and savior Jesus Christ! he is MY enabler he has helped me get through some challenges that i thought i would NEVER be able to get through! and i know he can be that for every person on this earth... IF they will but let him... the key word being if.... (as my grandpa wells says and i will never forget) "it's such a small word, but it has such a powerful meaning, because it requires us to act" But, when we do act... Heavenly Father can not withhold the blessings he has promised. His hand is continuously outstretched, he is ALWAYS waiting for us to come unto him! and when we do, he will with loving arms welcome us!
Family i love Yall so much and i hope that during this easter season and through out the year, you are remembering your savior and what he has done for you.... i do truly stand all amazed at the love he offers me! I will never be able to adequately express my feelings toward my savior, that is why i am glad that the Lord looks on the heart, because my heart sings his praise when my words can not!
I love you and hope your week is awesome!
Love with all my heart 
Sister Dannika Nielsen