A donde me mandes iré

Where to begin... This week I left my beloved Hermana Adams in Fallon, and I came to Tahoe with Hermana

Servin! We are basically opening the area, because Hermana Servin was technically covering both Reno and Tahoe for the past two transfers, but the snow has been so bad that they only ever went to Tahoe once a week at best. We went up to Tahoe on Wednesday (the snow was too bad on Tuesday, so we stayed the night in Reno!) and we arrived just after a record breaking snow storm. No one that we have talked to so far has ever remembered getting so much snow before, even in Tahoe. Luckily a member shoveled our driveway for us so that we were actually able to park when we got to our "house" (our house literally used to be a 2-car garage that they converted into a living space for the missionaries. Housing is very hard to find in Tahoe... I like our house though, it is actually really nice, just a little cozy...) Our driveway is super narrow right now, though, so it's basically a 7-point turn every time we park or leave... and poor Hermana Servin has to stand behind the car every time I back up.

The good news is that we have a car to drive through all the snow... the bad news is that the roads are surrounded by walls of snow on either side, and driveways usually don't have room for guests right now... so we end up walking a lot anyway because there is no where to park. The snow has some advantages for missionary work though: Wednesday afternoon when we arrived, we went around helping people shovel snow from their driveways for over an hour, and we were able to talk to so many people (i.e. potential investigators!) Also my arms are going to be huge by the end of this winter. 

My new companion is Hermana Servin, and she is so sweet! She is from Puebla, Mexico, but she is basically fluent in English because she has lived in Utah the past couple years. We are almost the exact same height, and we are having tons of fun together!

This week, there was so much snow on the roof of our church building that they said it was unsafe to meet on Sunday... so we went with some members down to a ward in Reno. We didn't go to the Spanish branch, but it was cool because I was able to see Hermana Castiblanco and Hermana Fisk at the English ward! I haven't seen them since I was serving in Reno, so that was a tender mercy. Sunday was just a really awesome, special day for some reason...

Overall, though, Tahoe is an amazing area! There is beautiful scenery everywhere. We are the only missionaries anywhere to be found, so we teach both Spanish and English investigators (which makes things much less complicated). Next Sunday, when we actually meet in our ward, apparently I will be helping to translate Sacrament meeting into Spanish! I have already met so many awesome members, and we are teaching a family that wants to get baptized. This area is about as different from Fallon as it gets, but I'm excited to learn and grow here!

-- Hermana Nielsen

Pictures:

-Making tortillas with my fancy new tortilla press!

-My awesome new companion, Hermana Servin!

-My comp and I made delicious tacos

-So this is what our neighbor's car looked like when we got to Tahoe...

-Mantenga Tahoe azul!

Alma 32:21

First exciting news from the week: Pedro's baptism! It was such a special experience. We had 3 returned Hermanas come for the baptism, which was amazing. Our recent convert, Miguel, was able to baptize him! We had several less actives come to the baptism, and several non-members. One less active member, Carlos, even came to church yesterday!

Next exciting news: transfers. If you had asked me when I arrived in the field to choose between Lake Tahoe and some small farm town with tons of cows that I had never heard of before called Fallon... I'm sure I wouldn't have hesitated to choose Tahoe. Yet here I am being transferred to Tahoe, and I couldn't be more devastated to leave somewhere that I had only been 3 months. I was NOT too excited to come to Fallon, but I wouldn't trade my time here for anything. 

And what about Hermana Adams? Didn't I just start training her? Yes, yes I did. Will she get a new trainer? Nope. She is going to be training a new Hermana! After just 1 transfer! Which means I'm going to be a grandma already. Weird. I know that she is going to be a great trainer, I feel privileged to have been her companion. My new companion will be Hermana Servin. She is from Puebla, Mexico, and I have been on several exchanges with her, so I'm excited!

This has been an interesting couple days for me. I feel like I'm being punished, because I don't get to finish training Hermana Adams, and I don't get to stay in Fallon... but I know that Tahoe is where the Lord wants me to go. I know that I will love my new area, and it is where I need to be. 

In pondering this discrepancy between thoughts and feelings, I realized: that's why we need faith. Sometimes we know things but don't believe them, and sometimes we believe things and don't know them. I have come to realize that faith works both ways. Faith gives us the strength to act according to what we know is right, even when we have a lack of knowledge or belief. So, go forward with faith!

-- Hermana Nielsen

New Mailing Address:

Hermana Kayci Nielsen

P.O. Box #720

Kings Beach, CA 96143

Ether 4:12

Last P-day we got to tour a dairy! It was super cool, I got to milk a cow! (By which I mean that I got to attach a machine that milks the cow haha) I loved learning about the process of milking cows.

Yesterday Dominic came to church again. He is friends with someone in the ward, and he is super interested in learning. He said next Sunday he is going to bring some of his kids, which is super exciting. We had a lesson with him after church, and he tried to hug us, so Hermano Larios had to explain some mission rules to him XD

So this week our credit card information got stolen from the card we use to buy gasoline. One of the senior missionary couples had to drive all the way from Reno to give us our new card. The Bellamy's are super cool though, and they were able to come to a lesson with us (we translated for them) and they even bought us lunch.

After church yesterday we had someone come up to us and say that they are interested in taking the discussions! His name is Eduardo; we are super excited!

Scripture of the week: Ether 4:12. Sometimes we might not understand everything, but we can know that anything that persuades us to do good comes from God!

-- Hermana Nielsen

"Hermanas... me quiero bautizar"

We have seen so many miracles this week! 

Last Monday, we had a noche de hogar (FHE) with Erika and her brother, Carpa. Carpa has had lessons with missionaries before, but I have never taught him since I have been in Fallon. I had only talked to him a couple times, and I was actually under the impression that he was an atheist... but at the end of the noche de hogar, he said the words that every missionary wants to hear... "Hermanas... me quiero bautizar. Ya estoy listo." He wants to get baptized! He also has 2 adorable sons, Johnny and Julian, that want to get baptized as well. His sons actually came to church yesterday too! (Carpa couldn't because of work). 

This week we had zone conference... and Hermana Adams and I got to give a training! (In front of our whole zone, the Carson city zone, and President Chesnut...) Poor Hermana Adams, it was her very first zone conference and she had to give a training! Our topic was "how to teach repentance, and how to know if our investigators understand it." It went pretty well, those 30 minutes flew by! 

I bought maseca from the Latino store, and I made tortillas this week! I have decided that my future family isn't going to eat bread, but I'm going to be that Mexican mom that makes fresh tortillas every morning to eat with everything. Yep.

This week Pedro and Josefina got married! They just had a little legal ceremony, and Hermana Adams and I got to be the witnesses!

I love the scripture Mosiah 15:7! Christ is a perfect example of humility and obedience. We should each strive to have our own will "swallowed up in the will of the Father."

-- Hermana Nielsen