January 18 2016

Hola amigos y familia!!

Okay so I'm sorry I haven't sent a letter out to everyone in a couple weeks but last week I was super sick with some chilean flu which is 10 times worse than the ones in america lol. I actually don't know what it was but I think it was the flu. I'm all good now though! Anyway I have LOTS to tell you guys but I'll try to keep it short bc I know you guys aren't tryna read a novel rn haha.

First of all.. I had my first heart break on the mission last week. when I say heart break I mean literally my heart shattered into a million pieces. One of my inverstigators was getting ready for baptism and he is the cutest abuelito. One of his legs is longer than the other so he wears this boot to help him walk and he is so adorable. His faith was so strong then suddenly out of nowhere he tells us he is catholic and no longer wants lessons from us. I didn't now how sad it would make me.. I may or may not have shed a lot of tears after but it's okay maybe he will come around! You never know the seeds you plant right.. At least that's what every missionary is telling me here haha.

BUT we found another investigator who is the sweetest lady and honestly feels like a mom to me.  I know that sounds weird .. But she definitely has the light of Christ and is super receptive. Pray for her please everyone!!! :) her name is maria. And please pray for our other investigator Juan whom I love dearly.

So the most embarrassing and funny thing happened and I feel obligated to tell you the story. So I'm at a members house and he has the cutest special needs brother who is around 16 years old.. he brings the happiest spirit and I love him. Anyway so I go to the bathroom (don't worry I didn't sit down to go or anything yet haha) and miguel (his special needs brother) comes in and literally rips his pants off and starts doing his business in front of me!! HAHA I was like "hola miguel" hahah and  the worst part is that I was struggling so badly to open the door.. I so yeah his brother and my comp thought my face was hilarious when I walked out haha I can only imagine what  looked like bc I was freaking out lol.

Oh and I had dinner with coolest members last night who SPEAK ENGLISH!! The guy served a mission in idaho and his wife is an english teacher and lived in the states for 2 years. It was so cool to communicate completely with the members and fully express myself haha. Not gonna lie I literally feel like I have a disability when I try to speak spanish sometimes bc I can't fully express myself. But I'm learning more and more everyday so I know I'll get there eventually.

Anyway sorry this ended up being a novel haha. And I'm sorry if I don't write back right away I'm still learning how to manage my time into an hour haha. I love you all SO much and am praying for you all. Always remember how much God loves you. :)) wow I really am turning into such a missionary haha.I hope you all have an amazing week!!  I promise I'll send lots of pictures next week and really if I haven't written you yet I will asap and am thinking of you!! 

con mucho amor 

hermana nielson

December 28 2015

Hola friends and family whom I love dearly,

I hope you all had a super wonderful CHRISTMAS!:) Mine was SO good!!! The president over Yumbel and his family had us over for noche bueno (christmas eve) they had thee best meal ever lemme tell ya. turkey and mashed potatoes and everything was just BOMB. And Christmas was great bc got to chat with the fam!! I didn't even cry. lol jk I cried a lot. but it was still great.

Okay guys so I'm actually starting to keep up with the convos and understanding a lot more!! I still can't speak very well but it's fine lol. I love the people so much I just wanna be able to communicate exactly what I want with them. It's hard but I know Heavenly Father knows what he's doing.

My fav pick up line this week: we were walking to our bus and a guy says "convert me" lol it was so funny yet slightly creepy... We get lots of pick up lines here in Chile but i don't understand them a lot of the time or hear them until my comp tells me... "that guy just hit on you don't say gracias" hahahaha. I definitely understood that pick up line though lol.

Oh and another thing that happened is I woke up at 1 am and hear a door open (in my dream I later found out) and saw flashing lights... and guys I was convinced my life was about to end. So naturally I jumped straight from my bed--not even touching the floor.. are you impressed bc you should be. Anyway, so I was like "hermana someone is in our house!!!" and may or may not have been on the verge of tears.. long story short there ended up not being anyone in our house lol. the things my poor comp deals with..

I wish I could tell you about all the super amazing people I meet everyday here but I don't have time. If you guys could keep me and the people of Yumbel in your prayers that would mean A LOT to me!! I love you all and love hearing from you! Have the best week ever and HAPPY NEW YEAR 

hermana nielson

December 21 2015

HOLA FAMILIA Y AMIGOS

yes it's true I am now in CHILE!! My first area is Yumbel. It's so beautiful!!! and the people are so great I love them so much. It's frustrating not being able to communicate with them the way I want to.. They think I'm some dumb gringa who doesn't know spanish which is partly true lol. They make fun of me and think I don't understand what they're saying but guys I DOOO. haha when i learn spanish I can't wait to give them so much sass right back to them lol.

So yeah pray for hermana nielson to be able to pick up on the language bc I'm struggling. They talk SO fast here! Everyone's like "don't worry about the language, it comes with time" yeah not possible I am definitely worrying and am confused 90 percent of the time haha. HOWEVER I always feel the spirit and God's love for me and the people we teach. Love is it's own language amirite. hahah but really it's only been a week so I still have hope.

also there are perros EVERYWHERE and apparently it's common to get bitten here so you could say I'm slightly terrififed. and you have to get 5 rabies shots if you get bitten so I freak out everytime a dog comes near me.. my poor comp lol. speaking of!! she is super nice and patient. The Lord definitely loves me bc she is the best trainer ever! Her name is hermana Jolley and is gringa as well :-) 

I love and miss you all SO MUCH!! oh ps FELIZ NAVIDAD wishing you all the best christmas :) the savior is truly the greatest gift any of us have ever recieved. I'm so grateful for all the love and support I get here. MUCHO AMOR

hermana nielson

December 3 2015

hi friends and family whom I love so dearly!!!

I hope you all had a great week!! I had a pretty good week here at the CCM and can't believe I'm leaving for Chile in T minus TWELVE DAYS people!!! I'm so excited but also terrified lol. The only thing I'm struggling with is the language.. I was having a break down the other day and a teacher basically told me the language I take from the CCM is super small compared to what I'm going to be learning in Chile so not to worry anyway... Yeah I didn't know whether to feel comforted or scared from that bit of information. 

Not much has happened this week tbh!! I taught this super sweet lady at TRC yesterday night and she told me a lot about Chile and how weird their accents are and how the food is not spicy enough lol. I really like TRC because we get to teach real people and we aren't teaching our teachers and feeling evaluated for everything we are saying.. Which is what it will be like out in the field so that makes me so much more excited!!

Another thing I learn everyday out here is that this mission is not about/for me.. This mission is about the people Heavenly Father has prepared for me to bring unto Christ and about serving him!! It's really easy to get caught up in worrying about yourself out here and being concerned about the language and what you have to do instead of focusing on what truly matters which is the people you are going to teach and putting your faith in the Lord that he will help you bc let's be real here I could never do this by myself. Remember God wants you to turn outward to others and the natural man wants you to turn inward towards yourself. aka don't be selfish!!! that is my inspirational message for you this week.

well I love you all and hope you all are doing awesome!!! miss you all tons!

hermana nielson

November 26 2015

AMIGOS Y FAMILIA felíz dia de Acción de Gracias!!!!! ( happy thanksgiving)

how are my fav peeps doing?! I hope you all are having the bestest Thanksgiving ever and eating lots of pie for me. I'm so grateful for all of you. FOR REALZ I'm so blessed to know each and every one of you. 

So this week went by SO fast and I'd say it was a good week. I'm learning so much and I love my district dearly. they are the best!! We got to do TRC this week which is where you work with real people who are mostly converts but they are the sweetest people EVER!! I love the latino people. Even though my spanish isn't the best they try so hard to understand and are so patient. ahh i just feel so blessed to be able to serve them. 

so last night at 11:30 which is an hour past bedtime/curfew a super loud alarm starts going off in my casa and i guess it was the carbon monoxide alarm and i freaked out because i thought i was going to die but it ended up just having low batteries so it was fine... people fixed it for us haha.. but we had to wait outside for like an hour and we were so tired and cold.

Okay so this next story may contain mature content so read with discretion lol. So me and my companera were teaching this elder in our district the other day... He was trying to respond to one of the questions we asked him by saying "i feel warm in my heart" but he used the wrong word in context and ended up saying "i feel horny in my heart" in spanish... me and hermana lange were dying laughing and the teacher literally just walked up to the elder and said "that means horny elder" hahaha it was the funniest moment ever. AND ironically the elders name is elder horne HAHA. Too funny not to share sorry it may not be a very missionary appropriate story.

I wasn't kidding when i said the Latino people are the sweetest people ever bc they literally had a huge Thanksgiving lunch for us with turkey and apple pie and ice cream and ugh it was so great lemme tell you. I LOVE them!!! They even had red white & blue table cloths on the tables it was so cute. Also SHOUTOUT to my super amazing family who sent me a thanksgiving package today AND krispy kremes last week. SO BLESSED. and another shoutout to my dearest pal viva valdez who sent me a letter using missionarypresent.com

 

.. it made my day!! I love you all so much and love hearing from you so pretty please feel free to send letters/email me bc i would love to stay in touch. I'M SO GRATEFUL FOR YOU ALL and hope you have a great rest of your day. MUCHO AMOR

hermana nielson

Suzy's First Letter

HOLA AMIGOS Y FAMILIA,

Wow I miss you all so much and so much has happened this week but I don´t have a lot of time so sorry if this email is all over the place. 

The food is actually pretty good and they have BLUE POWERADE!! I buy one everyday haha. The Spirit is SO strong here and it makes me so happy!!! My companion is from Colorado Springs Colorado and is hilarious and has the most powerful testimony. For realz she is thee best and I love her mucho.. Her name is Hermana Lange and she is going to the same mission as me :) we both know very little spanish so it has been pretty difficult teaching our first investigator.. funny story actually lol... so we are teaching our second lesson and my comp and I were trying to ask him what he thought and felt about the scripture we had him read and I just started saying cabeza y su corazon (head and heart)!!!!! and pointing to my head and heart and so was my comp and it was so funny because our investigator was so confused and we probably looked like crazy white people.. eventually he figured out what I was trying to say though. And let me add we had only been in the ccm for 2 days at that point so our spanish was very limited lol. We play volleyball during gym time and my comp and I both played in high school so not to brag or anything but we pretty much wreck everyone on the court. POWER COMPANIONS. 

My district is amazing and we are all already super close and I love them all so much. They have the most incredible testimonies and i honestly don´t think i´ve cried as much as I have here in the ccm than I have in my entire life lol. Mostly happy crying so esta bien. (it´s all good) haha are you guys proud of my spanish or what!!? 

I am really happy here and LOVE hearing from you all please feel free to write me anytime. Miss you all tons and wish I had more time to write funny/inspirational stories that happen on the daily here. MUCHO AMOR FAM I´m so blessed to have you all in my life and am constantly praying for you all.

Hermana Nielson