Another Week in Irondequoit

Hello everyone! Another week has come and gone! I can't believe how fast time is flying! It blows my mind!

This week wasn't the most eventful, but it was still a great week! So Sister Andrus and Sister Kasparian (one of the Webster sisters) are the sister trainers and so they have to go on exchanges with other sisters, and normally they'd be companions, but since they're both training me and sister Peterson, they do exchanges and sister Peterson and I will be together! So this last Friday, sister Peterson and I went out into Webster (about 10-15 minutes outside Irondequoit) and Sister Andrus had sister Sumsion with her in Irondequoit. They went and saw Mary (one of our progressing investigators). Finally Mary said she wants to get baptized!!!! That's great news right?! haha well... She says she wants to get baptized next spring! Oh my goodness! haha She feels like she has to know EVERYTHING before she's baptized, so we've got to help her realize how important baptism is and why faith is important! But we're making progress with her! That's always good!

The leaves are starting to change colors out here! The trees must be confused cause it is NOT fall yet! But honestly, they aren't even completely changed yet and I can already say, there is NOTHING more beautiful than a Western New York fall! The colors are GORGEOUS!! I'll have to send pictures once the sacred grove is completely changed! It's gorgeous!!

We went to see Esther this week! It had been a couple weeks since we'd been able to see her! She is so sweet! She was telling how much she missed us and how she is always so happy when we come talk to her! Well as we were leaving, she decided that she really didn't like the bags we were using to carry all our stuff so she runs upstairs and comes down with all these expensive purses! She would not let us leave until we took a new bag to put our stuff in! And these are all designer bags! She had Coach and Gucci and a whole bunch of other super expensive bags! They were more expensive than any article of clothing I've ever gotten in my life! But she would not let us leave without one! We kept saying we couldn't take them but she was very adamant that we need better bags to carry our things in. So needless to say, I now have a coach bag!

My spiritual thought for this week is a quote by President Uchtdorf. He said: "There is a beauty and clarity that comes from simplicity that we sometimes do not appreciate in our thirst for intricate solutions." We often times make life a lot more complicated than it needs to be. As we turn to our Heavenly Father, He has a simple plan set up for each of us and He'll be more than willing to lead us down that path if we put our trust in Him! So put your trust in Him. Take the paths that He has set for you. Remember that He can see the whole map when we can only see down the street!
Love you all! Have a great week!

Door Bells and Wedding Bells

Well what a week!

This week we were in the sites a ton, so we didn't get the chance to be in our area too much, but Wednesday we had an area day. We had planned out 13 people to drop in on since we didn't have a lesson planned for Wednesday and then we planned to knock on doors around these people while we were there if things fell through. We thought that should be great considering we only had about 6 hours. Well we start driving around (I'm the driver now, so be prepared for me to come home driving like a New Yorker). By the end of the 6 hours, we had rang the doorbell of EVERY SINGLE person's home that we'd planned for and then quite a few more doorbells. Want to know how many people we got to talk with? Take a guess.... You'll never guess... 1. 1 person in 6 hours and over 20 doors. (I guess 2 people if we count the catholic lady that yelled at me) haha I was so frustrated! I wanted so badly to share the gospel with all of these people and the only person that we really got to talk to was this really sweet lady in an assisted living center. Haha so the area has been pretty slow lately. Not too fun, but we're working our hardest to pick up the work!

Then Friday, we got to go to the wedding of a girl that sister Andrus had met at the beginning of her mission! It was such a beautiful wedding! I love temple weddings! That was a great way to spend our morning! It was super neat because none of the brides family is LDS and the grooms family is from Tonga so he only had a couple people there so sister Andrus and I were 2 of about 8 people in the sealing room. Quite a bit different than our family weddings, right Ma?

One thing that Sister Andrus and I have really been focusing on lately is recognizing spiritual promptings and acting on them and also trying to recognize miracles that happen in our daily work. My biggest miracle for the week was at the Smith Farm. I was giving a tour to this mom, dad, and son. He was about 17-18 so I asked if he was going on a mission. His response was a little hesitant and he said "I've thought about it but i'm not sure yet." I felt prompted to tell him the story of how I wasn't originally planning on going on a mission. I told him that I was planning on playing volleyball in college but as I prayed about it, it didn't feel right and I  just felt like I needed to come on a mission. And I told him that I miss volleyball SOOO much, but I would never do it any differently. His parents were looking at me with dropped jaws. Come to find out, he was debating on whether to play volleyball in college or not. He's from Pennsylvania and plays on a high school and club v-ball team and wanted to play in college. So I got to talk to him about my experience, and my story and He now wants to go on a mission.:) I never knew that my story could affect someone so much! After not getting to see anyone on our area day, it felt nice to know that I was still fulfilling my purpose as a missionary.:)

Always look for miracles in your lives! They happen every day! Don't let a miracle go unnoticed!:) I love you all!

LOVE
Sister Nield

 

 

 

 

 

Transfer Week

So do you think I'm getting transferred? We got calls this Sunday night and I'm staying in Irondequoit! YAY!! I love this area! I love the ghettos, the people, it's so green here... Just everything! I'm excited to stay here for at least one more transfer and then we'll see what happens in another 6 weeks!

To start off this email, I want to start by giving a message to Mamma and Dad:

THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH for teaching me how to clean! I'm appalled at some of the homes that I've seen! And living with the 3 other sisters, I've really seen how important it is to know how to clean, and be organized! So thank you so much for making me do all those chores that I always hated! I now know that it wasn't just a form of torture, but it has helped out a ton being here and it'll help out a ton when I have my own home!

So this week was pretty fun. Sisters Andrus and Kasparian (one of the sisters who lives with us) are STL's so they had to go to a meeting this weekend and so sister Peterson (who came out with me from the MTC) had an area day by ourselves! We were both super nervous because a lot of our time has been spent in the sites so we haven't had an area day without our trainers before. So I had to drive the car. It felt so weird getting behind the wheel! But OH MY GOODNESS! We had so much success! The Lord really can work miracles with the weak and simple! As long as we're humble enough to let Him take over, he can work miracles through us! So we only had 2 hours in the area because of our district meeting and our studies but in that 2 hours, we contacted 5 people and got 4 return appointments! For this area, that's really great!

Then this weekend, Sister Andrus and I get to go to a wedding in the temple. This girl that she had met at the beginning of her mission that was a recent convert is getting married on Friday, so last transfer, our temple trip was her endowment session and this transfer it's her wedding!:) I'm super excited!

The Irondequoit Elders had a baptism on Friday and Esther was supposed to come to that, but she called about an hour before and told us that she couldn't make it because of some things that came up with her daughter! That was super sad! She's so prepared though! I'm so excited to see her again!

Yesterday was a really great day! Sister Andrus and I have a TON of fun together! We got done with our shift at the Smith Farm/ Sacred Grove and we were heading home and we saw one of the senior couples taking a walk up the road. So we thought we'd be funny and drive up behind them and honk the horn. So we did. Well, Elder Draper about jumped out of his pants! I about peed my pants from laughing so hard! Sister Andrus was crying from laughing so hard. Sister Draper didn't even jump but Elder Draper about died! haha We were laughing so hard for the full hour that we were driving home! I got super lucky with my companion! We have a lot in common and we work really well together!

Well, I love you all! Hope you have a good week!

Love Sister Nield

Last Week of Transfer #1

Whoa!!! Where has the time gone?! Today starts the last week of my first transfer! This week has been pretty eventful! It's had it's ups and downs, but all in all, I'm SOOOO grateful to be part of this work! I've gotten to see so many instances where the Lord is working in peoples lives and preparing them for our message!

Sister Andrus and I have been praying to find new people to teach because our teaching pool is pretty small considering, we get about an hour or so in our area a day since we live an hour away from the sites. But last Tuesday, we went to visit a recent convert named Bill to teach him about the Aaronic Priesthood. Well, he was home alone so he asked his neighbor to come over. She's not a member and neither was her friend that came to visit. And guess what happened?! We ended up teaching them the restoration and about the Book of Mormon! We gave them a chapter to read and we're going to see them tonight to see how it went! They were totally open to reading it and it made so much sense to them that the Lord would want us to have the Book of Mormon AND the Bible!
Then, we got to go see our progressing investigator, Mary. Her brother passed away so she wasn't able to come to church last week and she hasn't really been keeping up with her commitments so we'd been thinking about dropping her. Well, when we went to see her she had read a couple chapters in the Book of Mormon and made a list of questions that went along with it about things she didn't understand! What a HUGE answer to my prayers! I didn't want to drop her! I want her to feel the happiness that comes from this gospel, so hopefully she starts really keeping her commitments!

Esther, the cute black lady that I sent pictures of last week, she agreed to come to the Elder's investigator's baptism this Friday! I'm so excited for her to be there!! She is such a golden investigator! It was so funny! We dropped in to see her Friday night and she just kept saying that we have this glow about us. She said "I don't know how else to say it, but I feel like I'm looking at the Lord when I'm looking at you! You never stop smiling!" hahaha it was so funny!:)

So yesterday, I was serving at the Smith Farm. I was sitting in the main office cause I wasn't taking a tour yet, so I was on the phone with an investigator and I'm also watching the people who are walking in. Well, out of nowhere I see Sammy Cox (libero in volleyball)!!! I was so shocked that I stopped talking for a second and the lady on the phone was like "are you still there?!" haha It was so great and I got to take her family on tour and she told me she'll be turning in her mission papers soon! She'll be a GOLDEN missionary!! I'm so excited for her!

Mamma! Thank all the family for the letters and the pillow case! Tell them all I love them! I'm sad I didn't get to go to the reunion this year but I'm where I need to be! Irondequoit is EXACTLY where I need to be right now, and I can't imagine being anywhere else!

I love you all! I hope you never take for granted the fact that you have the gospel in your lives, because some people aren't as fortunate! I'm grateful for you all in my life!

Love always
Sister Nield

FBI -- Embarrassing Moments--Typical Week‏

Another week down?! Where is the time going?? It feels like just yesterday I was emailing! I can't believe how fast time is going!!

So, I'm starting to get all the cool mission stories that everyone loves to hear! Last Tuesday, right after emailing, sister Andrus and I went to go grocery shopping. So we went to WalMart.. Typical right? I guess not in Irondequoit! once we were done with grocery shopping we went out to the parking lot and saw about 5 black SUVs with their lights flashing and then 8 or so huge guys with FBI vests and HUGE machine guns! We just froze! They were blocking off our section of the parking lot. after a few minutes, we finally started walking to our car, we just walk around the back way. 10 yards from our car, we watched as the FBI put a guy in handcuffs and put him in the car! I about died! I could not believe what was going on! So there's my cool mission story for the week!
Now for the embarrassing moment! I was giving a tour at the Smith Home/Sacred grove. I was standing outside the log home and I was stalling cause one of the senior couples was still inside with a tour (Their tours take FOREVER but they're so great). Well it was kind of a breezy day and all of a sudden my skirt flies up over my head! I kid you not, the whole thing flew up!! Oh my gosh! I about had a heart attack! And to make it even better, there were a couple of teenage boys in the group i was taking and they were laughing so hard! I seriously wanted to just crawl into a hole and die! hahaha now I can laugh about it.

We've been teaching this blind lady named Bernice Bird. She's so great! This last week after we taught her the restoration, we helped her label her microwave, washer and drier, and other things in brail! It's so cool to see! So I've been learning a little bit of brail! (How about that for a foreign language?) Then our investigator Mary was going to come to Sacrament meeting this Sunday, but her brother died! She's been holding up pretty well though! Then this week, we went to visit one of the former investigators in our area book. Her name is Esther! She is the funniest woman I have ever met! We got to her house and knocked on the door! She saw us and started laughing and said she had to put on her hair. She had brain surgery a couple years back because of 5 aneurisms and so she has to wear a wig. She thinks it's the funniest thing in the world to have people watch her put on her wig. Then before we left, she was like: "Girls, you're bags look like they're going to fall apart! I have about 50 purses upstairs, come back next week and you're taking some home!" She's HILARIOUS! I'll send pictures of her!

Overall this week has been TERRIFIC! I love you all! Hope you have a GREAT week!!

Love Sister Nield

 

 

 

Pageant Week!

Crazy CRAZY week!!
It's nice to finally get a p-day again! I feel like it's been ages since I've been able to update everyone! After last p-day we had a meeting with our ward mission leader for dinner! We have been so blessed with such a great ward mission leader! A good mission leader makes a HUGE difference in the work! They help out a TON! We met him for dinner and we had Thai food! Oh my goodness! It's so good! I love all the different kinds of food out here! It's as diverse as the people!

We also went to visit a potential family before moving to Newark for a week and a half. We walked up their walkway and saw them in the family room through their window so I got super excited to knock and talk to them! Well we knocked and watched as the mom walked her kids up the stairs and hid... I was so frustrated! That was my first experience of rejection since I'd been out here! Where we live an hour away from the sites, it's hard to get a lot of area time because of our 4 hours of studies and then 5 hours in the sites. I was really upset because we have something so amazing to share and these people don't even realize how great it is! This gospel is so amazing and I just wish that we had multitudes flocking to us like Alma did at the waters of mormon! Why don't we have thousands of people who are DYING to be baptized?! But I've learned that everyone has to decide for themselves. I'm here to share the message but people decide for themselves if they want to accept it or not. And I'm learning to be ok with that!

So we moved to Newark for a week and a half! (I'm secretly praying to serve there someday!) It's BEAUTIFUL!!! Funny thing is, I lived there longer than I'd been in Irondequoit! So that kind of feels like my home!

Pageant went great! Sister Andrus and I served at the Book of Mormon Publication Site for the first week and the Smith Farm for the second week. We had AT LEAST 2000 people come in a day! It was so crazy! I met so many great people! But pageant mode kind of stinks... We were stationed in one section for an hour and then we'd rotate, whereas, normally we give people a tour through the whole thing and you get to know people and it's amazing to have the spirit tell you their concerns and you can bear testimony or share a scripture that seems so insignificant but I've had quite a few instances where people will start crying or tell me that that was exactly what they needed to hear! I get the opportunity to strengthen members and help non members see how important this is! The restoration is SOOO powerful! So pageant went great but I like NOT pageant mode better!

I loved seeing the Righetti's!!! It was so nice to see family! But it made me realize I'm still not homesick! I'm definitely supposed to be here! I love you all and miss you but this is where I need to be right now! Sister Andrus's dad came that same day with her grandma and he brought us a volleyball so for our workouts we've been straying from our daily runs and have been playing volleyball! It's so great but it looks like I haven't played in ages!

The senior couples are one of my favorite things about this mission! They are so sweet and always there to help!:) They're amazing!

Time is seriously going by so fast! We're already over halfway through this transfer! I can't believe it! I'm adjusting to the mission life really well! So there's nothing that ya'll need to worry about!

My spiritual thought for the day is "There is one thing we can do to make life sweeter, more joyful, even glorious. We can be grateful!!"--President Uchtdorf!

There are so many tender mercies from the Lord DAILY! Sister Andrus have seen MANY of those in our work!
I love you all and hope you are all doing well! Keep emailing me! I love hearing from everyone!!!

Love Sista Nield!

 

 

 

 

First Full Week in the Field!

So SURPRISE!! I get to email today because we don't have to move down to Newark (New York not Jersey) for Pageant! My p-days will be on tuesdays for the next couple transfers and then we'll see as the next transfers come. (it depends on the area)

First off I want to say congrats to Kyle on becoming DISTRICT LEADER!!! You're going to do GREAT!!! I'm so proud! You'll be the best DL France has ever seen! And kick some booty in Lille for me!:)

So my trainer is sister Andrus! She's from Mapelton UT and she played volleyball for Springville High! She also went up to Utah State for a year! She's super cool! We get along really well!! She's taught me so much!!

So so far I've been able to work in the Book of Mormon Publication Site (BOMPS) and the smith Farm! I'm glad that you guys got the pics that those families sent! That was so nice of them to text you pictures!! Everything has been super busy!! We live an hour away from the sites so most of our study time is done in the car depending on whether we have a morning shift or an evening shift! I've had some super powerful experiences in the sites! 

So our area right now is called Irondequoit! I absolutely LOVE it! Half of it is the ghettos and the people are seriously so open to talking to us! It was so funny though! The other night we met up at a park with one of the members for dinner and we were just sitting in the grass eating mcdonalds while her son was playing on the playground and I went to throw something away and this lady from across the park yells some nonsense that can't be understood and then all these cops pull up! Ivy (the member that we were with) told us that it was a drug bust on the corner by where we were sitting and the lady was yelling jibberish to warn everyone that the cops were coming! HAHAHA I about died! It's so funny! I'm in the ghettos but I feel just as safe here as I did in Cache Valley! The Lord definitely protects us! And Don't worry mom and dad! It's not all ghettos!! I'm safe! A lot of our area is really ritzy, nice homes! So don't freak out! The Elders in our area get most of the ghettos anyway (which I'm a little upset about) haha

Since we live about an hour away from the sites, we don't get to spend as much time in our area as we'd like so we've only been able to spend about 2 hours in our area over the last week! But it's been amazing and I've met so many wonderful people! I'm so glad I came here!!

So one of the A.P.s who's in my district is from Star Valley! His name is Elder Semadeni! Mama! He went to school with Dalton so you'll have to ask melanie about him!

I had my first experience with KIND OF feeling homesick this week! We went to Bishops house for dinner after church and his daughter had just come home from BYU for the summer and after dinner she was joking around with her mom and dad and it kind of pulled at my heart strings for a minute! It reminded me that I have parents that I did that with! That seems like it was eternities ago though! haha but hey! We've made it a month!! WAHOO!!!

Happy B-day to Koebe and Jax!! You guys are too grown up now! You've gotta stop!

RIGHETTI FAMILY!!! I hear you'll be at the pageant on the 19!! I'll be there that night so keep your eye out for me!!! And p.s. I'll be at the SMITH FARM that week so come see me!! It'll be so nice to see family!

Anyway! I'm safe and HAPPY!!! I love it here! I love you all!

Love SISTER NIELD