Moroni 6:4

This week we had a mission Christmas party with all of the "West side" missionaries. It was great fun, and I enjoyed being able to see all the missionaries from Reno again! Our mission president and his wife gave all of us towels with a "Nevada Reno Mission" logo on it!

We have seen so many miracles this week. We had one lesson, where just about everything possible went wrong. We just wanted to watch the restoration video, but it took forever to set up their DVD player, and then apparently our disk had a bunch of weird Asian languages, but NOT Spanish... Luckily Josefina (a member) was with us, and she pulled up the Spanish video on youtube on her phone to listen to... and then she got a call right in the middle of the First Vision. It was quite the lesson, BUT the miracle is that the spirit was still there, and our investigator was able to feel that our message was true, and he said he wants to be baptized!

Another day this week, one of our lessons canceled, so we decided to try someone else, and we invited the member who was going to come to the lesson with us. When we got there, we found out that our investigator just had a miscarriage. The member we brought was able to share his own experience of losing a son, and we were able to share a couple scriptures and our testimonies of the plan of salvation. It was a miracle that our plans changed so that we were able to see her at that time, and we were able to see her bitterness and anger turn into a desire and willingness to be healed by the savior.

This week we want to focus on less-active members, and do everything we can to at least get them to church for Christmas! It's sad that we have so much less-active work to do, and it made me think Hmm, we really need some missionaries who's only job is to get and keep people active. And then I realized... it's called HOME AND VISITING TEACHNG! Seriously, if everyone did their home and visiting teaching, missionary work would be so much easier. So my scripture of the week is Moroni 6:4, and if any of you have been slacking on your duties as a member of the church, I would like to call you to repentance and invite you to start the new year by committing to care for those sheep who have strayed from the fold. 

-- Hermana Nielsen

1 Nephi 21:15-16

It's been another awesome week in Fallon! Hermana Escobar and I have seen so many miracles!

One cool thing that happened this week: we started teaching Mary. That isn't her real name, but it is the English name she chose, because she is from China! She married someone in the ward where we are serving. He doesn't speak any Mandarin, and she doesn't speak any English, but they've been married for about a year now! She has come to church with him every week, but she hasn't been able to learn anything because no one speaks Mandarin. This week we got approval to teach her, in English, with some sister missionaries from Temple Square translating via Skype! She is very different than most of our investigators, because she doesn't have any kind of Christian background. We've only had one lesson with her so far, but it's been such a cool experience! She is so ready to learn and she is accepting everything we are teaching. We are so lucky to have this opportunity to teach her!

This past Sunday I translated for one of the English sisters who came to relief society with the Spanish sisters... it was my first time translating at the same time as people are talking, and it was so difficult! It's one thing to be able to listen and understand, but to then say it in English while still trying to listen to what they are saying in Spanish... I have gained a deeper appreciation for people who translate for General Conference. 

My scripture of the week is 1 Nephi 21:15-16. I love love LOVE this scripture. It illustrates how deeply Christ loves each and every one of us! He will always remember us, which is why we must always remember Him

-- Hermana Nielsen

Pictures:

-We had a cool demonstration about how the Book of Mormon keeps everything in "balance"

-Beautiful Fallon Sky

-Breakfast at members home

Life in Fallon!

Last Tuesday I arrived in Fallon, my new home! This tiny town is definitely a big change from life in Reno! Just about all the members here are related, and they are all named Brother/ Sister Sorensen. Everyone here either owns or works on a dairy (So it smells like cows everywhere. Hermana Gatten said that someday I am going to love the smell... someday haha) There used to be a Spanish branch here, but too many members became less active so now we are just over a Spanish group in an English ward. It is amazing to see how the English and Spanish members work together though. There is a translator every week for sacrament meeting, and the Spanish members have their own classes. Some of the English members come to the Spanish classes, and they try really hard to use the Spanish that they know to communicate with the Spanish members. I love how much of an effort all the members make to include one another! 

My favorite thing about Fallon so far: The stars!!! There is hardly any light pollution so I can actually see the stars at night. I never really thought about it, but I don't think I ever saw stars in Reno.

Other favorite thing about Fallon: We have a tradition of eating breakfast with one of the families here every Monday morning. Today it was biscuits and gravy. I could have been back in the South!

My new companion is Hermana Escobar!!! She is amazing. She came to the mission a transfer after I did (so I am senior companion and I have to drive even though I still feel like I just got here). Hermana Escobar is from Guatemala, and she is working on learning English. She is so diligent in speaking English at every opportunity (I don't speak Spanish nearly as much as I should...) but it's awesome because we are able to help each other a ton during language study. Hermana Escobar is so sweet, she is always serving me! She makes my bed in the morning before I even have a chance to do it, and last Friday she wouldn't let me make breakfast for myself haha. 

It's been a great first week in Fallon, full of of miracles! Last Wednesday we were walking down a street, and we saw a woman and her two young kids struggling to get a refrigerator out of the house. We were able to help her get it out the front door and down the steps, and of course we had a great conversation with her about the gospel! She speaks English though, so we won't be teaching her. 

I found a really cool scripture in personal study this morning: 1 Kings 6:7. This scripture helps us understand how sacred the temples are. It made me think about how construction workers who work on the modern temples aren't allowed to swear or smoke on temple grounds, which is so cool.

I'm definitely excited to be serving here in Fallon! Have a great week everyone!

-- Hermana Nielsen

John 8:12

The Hermana's in our zone!

This was quite an exciting week! Thanksgiving was awesome! We got to have breakfast as a zone with the Wanlass family! After that our zone played 2-hand-touch football, which was so fun. We had a potluck lunch with a smaller group of missionaries from the zone. We ended up having 2 dinners Thursday evening! Our first dinner was with the Dominguez family, and our second dinner was with the Coto's! So no worries... I definitely ate well on Thanksgiving!

So, transfers... I had always heard about them, but somehow I never thought it would actually happen to me. Turns out that for at least the next transfer I will be serving in Fallon! Apparently Fallon was hermana Gatten's favorite area, and everyone keeps telling me how amazing it is. I will only be about an hour away, so the drive won't be too bad. I am excited for this opportunity to go serve in another part of the Lord's vineyard and to meet new investigators and members. At the same time though, I am heartbroken to be leaving the Sierra Branch... I wasn't really expecting to leave this transfer, so it's been hard saying goodbye to all the members and investigators that I love SO MUCH.

If any of you haven't seen the new Christmas video yet, you need to see it!!! It is such an inspiring video! You can find it on mormon.org(mormon.org/spa to find it in Spanish). Share it with all of your friends, share it on social media, and LIGHT THE WORLD!  I would like to encourage all of you to take the initiative and "Light the world in 25 ways, in 25 days," starting in December. This is a great, non-threatening way for everyone to share the gospel with their friends. 

I am so excited for this holiday season, and the opportunity that we all have to think a little more about our savior. Sé que Maria dio a luz a Jesucristo, para que nosotros podamos dar luz al mundo! (Haha it's a pun, but it only works in Spanish...)

-- Hermana Nielsen

My new address:

Hermana Kayci Nielsen

675 East Virginia Street

Fallon, NV 89406

Pictures:

-Turkey breakfast!

-Yes, those are nursery chairs

-I'm going to miss my companion!!!

 -"Squad Goals" (You can always tell the missionary cars because they all have the exact same bike rack)

-zone football

Tu Me Has Dado Muchas Bendiciones Dios!

This week Hermana Gatten and I got to host a "mini missionary" for a day! Her name was Aria, and it was so fun having her! She didn't have a lot of experience with Spanish, but she translated her testimony during studies and practiced reading the scriptures so that she could participate in the lessons! I wish that I would have done something like that before my mission, because I had no idea what mission life was really like until I got here!

We have seen so many miracles lately! We got a referral to go with the elders to give a blessing, and now Paola seems like a solid new investigator! We also had a member bring their friend Blanca to a branch activity Saturday night, and now we are going to go teach her family this week!! Members are the best. Before I came on my mission everyone told me how important members are, and I now have a personal testimony of member missionary work. There are some things that full-time missionaries just can't do. We can't give people rides to church, and we can't be effective fellowshippers. So: invite your friends to activities!!!

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am thankful for:

-Jesus Christ

-My family that takes care of me from thousands of miles away and sends me warm clothes

-The opportunity I have to be a missionary!

-Random acts of service (giving them and receiving them!)

-Friends who write me letters

-My wonderful companion

-My wonderful companion's laugh

-Our new branch mission leader

-Members who feed us the most delicious food in the whole world

-All my investigators

-(almost) knowing Spanish

-Cold weather

-My feet don't hurt too bad even though we walk a ton and I haven't worn Chacos in 5 months

I could go on, because I have so many things to be thankful for, but I will just leave my testimony of gratitude: the more thankful we are, the more Christ-like we will be!

Scripture of the week: 3 Nephi 19:24. We can learn so much from this example of prayer. In particular, I am trying to work on having my prayers be guided by the spirit. I know that as we have the spirit with us, we can have more sincere prayers and we can be "filled with desire"! 

-- Hermana Nielsen

Pictures:

-On exchanges, eating salad in the car between appointments!

-I love refraction!

-Aria, our "mini missionary"