Why Having an Investigator is Like Being in a Relationship

Top reasons why having an investigator is like being in a relationship:

1) You love them

2) You think about them every day

3) You dream about them

4) You pray for them

5) Sometimes they don't feel the same way about you...

6) They make you smile

7) They make you cry

8) You know where they live, where they work, what time, and what car they drive

9) You like to "accidentally" run into them in public

10) It makes you nervous when they don't text you back...

11) You get jealous when you see them with other missionaries

12) When they aren't willing to commit, sometimes you have to break up with them

13) But you never really forget about them, so sometimes you get back together

14) You talk about them all the time with your best friend

15) You remember vividly the first time you met

16) When you don't have anyone, you get desperate

17) Sometimes they give you the silent treatment, and you really wish you knew why...

18) You want more than anything to go with them to the temple someday

Sometimes I really wish our investigators knew what we go through for them. But, it has been a great week, full of even more miracles! Being a missionary is an emotional roller coaster for sure!

-- Hermana Nielsen

Pictures:

-P-day hike!

-Yes... those are bear tracks that we found...

2 Nephi 2:11

We have had another great week full of miracles! On Sunday a less active brought her boyfriend, Alex to church. He's not a member, and after church he said "I'm not really used to the Mormon church... but I could get used to it." Soooo we will be teaching him this week! Also, he is from England, so he has a sweet British accent (shout out to my roomies from England, now I'm going to think of you every time I teach him, haha).

So apparently last Sunday one of our recent converts, Cristobal, got into a bad car wreck. He is okay, but he told us "It is because I decided to go to work in stead of church on Sunday! But this (holding up his temple recommend) this is what saved me!" Needless to say, he was at church yesterday!

The weather has been warming up too, (finally) which has been soo nice. We are supposed to get some more snow soon though...

We have definitely had some hard moments this week... two of our investigators got mad at us, and we still can't quite figure out why. It's been a little awkward trying to figure it out, and we are really hoping that they will still want to listen to us. However, I decided that this is a good thing, because "it must needs be that there is an opposition in all things." Satan knows that Hermana Servin and I are unstoppable, and he thinks we are having too much success, so we must be stopped! But we have angles on our side, and it's nothing we can't handle!

-- Hermana Nielsen

Pictures:

-Pictures at the beach!

-I don't know where else you can see a beach and snow right now...

-I think someone might have been hungry when they named this street, haha!

-Mandatory pie for pi day!

2 Nephi 5:27

It has been another week just full of miracles!

We got a referral from a less active. She met a man on the bus named Francisco, and she got his phone number for us! We called him and set up an appointment to visit him the next day. When we saw him, he told us that he was Catholic but he didn't want to be anymore, and he was looking for a new church... well, we can help with that!

Our first week here we talked to a man named Fernando when we offered to shovel snow for him. This week we finally had a lesson with him, and he and his two roommates are all super interested in learning more!

We found another new investigator, Andrew, who is super cool! He always answers the phone saying "Waduuup Sisters?!" We had a powerful lesson with him, and he is so ready to learn more!

We found a former investigator named Ofelia... apparently the only reason she wasn't baptized when her kids got baptized was because she wasn't married... and turns out they got married in November!

More highlights of the week:

-I had exchanges with Hermana Roush, a new missionary, and she is so sweet!

-I also got to go on exchanges with Hermana Adams in Fallon! It was just like last transfer. We even ran to morning program that morning!

-We finally had normal church, and our investigator Lidia came!

-Losing my bag, driving back to Andrew's house, driving back to Fernando's house, running back to Andrew's house and finally finding it there on the road (somehow I must have dropped it while we were walking without noticing...)

-We got one of our investigators to open a beer and pour it down the sink!

This week, you could definitely say that we are living "after the manner of happiness"! I would encourage each of you to study 2 Nephi chapter 5 to figure out how you can, too!

-- Hermana Nielsen

Pictures:

-Perspective is important

-My beautiful daughter!

Milagros por Dias!

This week has been so full of miracles!

-We found 5 new investigators this week

-One of our potential investigators, Fernando, has already been reading the Book of Mormon!

-I have been driving safely in the snow

-We found a potential investigator that Hermana Servin was never able to find in five months!

-We also found out that another potential investigator who moved is now living with one of our recent converts! Instant fellowshipper! 

It has just been an awesome week. We are both exhausted, in a good way. We have been talking to so many awesome people, offering service (shoveling snow... still) and having some powerful lessons. The Lord really does know what he is doing. If it was my choice, I definitely could have waited another transfer before fully opening this area... maybe in a month there will be parking spaces that aren't full of snow... but the Lord knows that the work here can't wait! There are too many people waiting in darkness; there are people here ready to get baptized, and they need us, rain or snow!

More exciting moments of the week:

-Digging our way into church on Sunday...

-Figuring out how to get a car unstuck from the snow... (thank goodness for companions)

-Following a tiny, hand-drawn map to find a referral

-Eating in 10 minutes because we have to leave dinner appointments by 6:30 now (in our mission)

-Walking around doing missionary work with George (a recent convert and ward missionary!)

-Conducting music and saying the opening prayer at church because only about 20 people came...

Since this last Sunday was fast Sunday... cool scripture about fasting is D&C 59:13-14. I particularly love verse 14 because it gives us a nice proof:

     fasting+prayer = rejoicing+prayer

     fasting = rejoicing! 

Just some "food" for thought!

-- Hermana Nielsen

Pictures:

-All the Hermanas from my generation, back together again!

-Hielo chido

-Mi compañera bonita!