Can or Can't

So  a lot of things have happened in the last week. Way too much to even talk about!

It all started with last p-day when we went to the race tracks with an investigator that works there and we had a member come with us. We got to go see the horses and see what he does for work. We had so much fun and it was pretty nice to see horses again. I see as many cows here as I do in Utah, but it's been awhile since I've been able to be around horses. 

Friday was "Gathering in the Grove" for a whole bunch of different YSA groups in the North East area and up into Canada. I was serving at the Smith Farm and was able to take a bunch of them on tour and two different times I finished a tour and went back to have a few people from the Buffalo YSA waiting to say hi to me and one of them even brought me lunch! What a tender mercy to see them! I miss being in the YSA so much and I loved all of those people with my whole heart and it was so sweet that they thought to look and see where I was at to come visit me! 

We had a training from a couple people from the Missionary Department at our site meeting this last week. One of the things they talked about went along perfectly with the training that Sister Locher and I were preparing for our zone meeting. They said "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten." We've been thinking and praying for a while about what we were going to train about at zone meeting and I just kept feeling like we needed to train on having the faith to succeed. There have been multiple times in my mission that I've heard many people say "Oh such and such an area is so slow.. that's just how it is. it can't change" or "This area has never reached this many new investigators in a week, so we can't do it." It's really bothered me. The word can't has been way over used and it's way over used in the world today! So we decided to train on having the faith to succeed! 

Who really gets to decide if we can or can't do something anyway? There is nothing that is impossible if we have the Lord's help. The word can't should be used as a challenge. This is HIS work and if we do it HIS way than we will be an instrument as HE hastens the work. We don't hasten the work, but we have to make ourselves available to be the instrument. That involves having faith in Him, that He can do all things and that we too can do all things with his help. It was a lot of fun. Our Zone meeting was held at the Peter Whitmer Farm (Who else gets to do that?) During our training we started by having 6 different challenges. They ranged anywhere from a three legged race, to hula hooping, to 50 pushups. And as we went through each of the challenges we'd read a scripture (I'll put the list of scriptures at the end). We let everyone get their wiggles out and after we talked about what we can do to have the faith to succeed. HOW we can have the faith in Christ to trust Him enough to do WHATEVER He asks. No matter how hard it may be, now matter how awkward it can get, no matter how much sense it makes to us. We have to let go of what we were and give ourselves more fully to have the faith to succeed. "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten." 

As we were preparing this training I thought of all the things that I've accomplished just in the last 11 1/2 months that wouldn't be possible without the Lord's help. The fact that I gave a training at all is a miracle. Public speaking has never been my forte but I've loved to see how ALL things are possible with the help of the Lord. Not just some things, not just certain things, but ALL things.

And what better way to end the Zone meeting to have a testimony meeting out in front of the Log home where the church was officially organized? I feel like I've been on a spiritual high for the last week! Every time I'm at one of these sacred places I feel like I'm in a dream. How did I get lucky enough to come here to serve the Lord? I'm so blessed!

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

And make time to look up:

• Moroni 10:23
• Moroni 7:33
• Moroni 7:25
• Alma 26:12
• Jacob 4:9
• Philipians 4:13

Love y'all

Sister Nield

 

 

My Joy is Full

Oh what a week! The ups and downs of missionary work make this experience quite an emotional roller coaster! But it's so true that the greater sorrow we feel, the greater our capacity is to feel joy! I've seen both this week!

This Sunday, Sister Locher and I were getting everything prepared for Becky's baptism this weekend. We talked to the ward council to make sure she had home and visiting teachers, we talked about getting her involved with family history work so we can get her to the temple asap. And 20 minutes before church started, she texted to tell us she couldn't make it... She had to go to the ER for a pulled muscle in her back. Sister Locher and I were so broken hearted! We were so happy that she was going to be able to make it and we were teaching the lesson in sunday school and we were planning on introducing her to her visiting teachers. Satan has really been working so hard to keep her from getting baptized! We moved the date back a few weeks to make sure we can get her to come consistently. But it'll all work out! I've really learned to trust God's plan!

Since she wasn't able to go to church, she also wasn't able to go to the Nashville Tribute concert that night! So we found another one of our investigators to go with us and we rode up with a member who's leaving on her mission in a month and then met our investigator there! It was seriously like a dream come true for me!:) The Nashville Tribute Band is our missions favorite band, especially for their tribute to Joseph Smith! We had so much fun and it was a nice way to feel happy after being devastated earlier that day! 

Monday was another really happy day! We were able to do exchanges with the Geneva sisters and I was able to be with Sister Eyre, who I had done exchanges with in Gowanda when I was serving in Amherst. It was really cool for both of us to see the changes that we've both had over the last couple months! It's always fun getting to talk to the sisters about what they're favorite part of their mission has been and what they've learned! All these sisters are so wonderful and they set such a good example for me! I'm so glad that I get to learn from them! It's helped me to be a better missionary! 

As much as I love exchanges, I really love being sister Locher's companion! We have so much fun together and we're both praying that I don't get transferred! We've become such good friends and we just work so well together and it makes the work so much better when you can do it with your best friend! 

We had interviews with President yesterday. We talked a lot about how things have been going and he always knows exactly what to say! Whether it's to help me be motivated to be better, or to help me be happier, or whatever it is.

This week I've learned that even when things are frustrating and even when it can be extremely discouraging, that there are ALWAYS reasons to find joy. The Lord blesses us with so many tender mercies and with so many opportunities to find joy and happiness, it's just up to us to look for them. We can either be like the purple tulip who gets droopy really quickly, or we can be like the yellow tulip who's perky and happy. It all depends on where we focus our energy. Do we look for the things that frustrate us? Do we find ourselves being unable to focus on the positives? Or do we look for the good in all situations? I was reading in the Book of Mormon the other day and I was reading in one of my favorite chapters (Alma 26). Ammon and his brothers all went out to preach the gospel and along the way they all faced some pretty intense struggles, they were so depressed that they wanted to turn around and go home, but as they relied on the Lord, they were able to experience more joy than they knew was possible.

11 But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.

 12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boastof my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

There may be hard times, but like Ammon says, "MY JOY IS FULL, YEAN, MY HEART IS BRIM WITH JOY, AND I WILL REJOICE IN MY GOD." Love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love Sister Nield

 

Mother's Day and the Middle of May

Holy Moly.... Every day I am just more and more amazed and shocked and sad that time just never seems to slow down! It feels like just yesterday I was skyping for Christmas and now I've already skyped for Mother's Day.

You can definitely tell that summer is on its way out here in Western New York. The humidity makes it feel like you're breathing water, the temperature has been in the 90s the last few days, we're getting huge thunder storms. It's wonderful! I love it here! And I'll take the 90 degree wheather over -35 any day! haha

Also the sites are really starting to pick up! We've been getting quite a few guests and it's only going to get busier and busier as the school year starts to wrap up and people start vacationing! I am so glad that I get to be here for the summer! I love being able to serve in these sacred places and to be able to talk to people about the wonderful things that happened here!

I had a really neat experience yesterday as we were serving at the Joseph Smith farm. It was about time for us to leave for the day and we had a lesson with Becky planned so I was getting pretty excited. And then this younger woman comes in all by herself. I greeted her and she said needed to use the restrooms. So we were about to leave and the senior elder that we were serving with started talking to her when she got out of the bathroom. She was on her way to Colorado. She was stationed at one of the military bases here in New York and was on her way to a different one in Colorado. As he was talking to her I just felt like I needed to go out and talk to her, so I did. We started talking and I found out she'd had a couple elders that had met with her twice before she left and she heard the sites were here and she really felt like she needed to stop in. So I offered to take her on tour. As we entered the log home, we talked about what she remembered from the Joseph Smith story and she'd remembered quite a bit. So we went out and stood on the back porch and I recited the first vision for her and she started to get tears in her eyes. I let the spirit sink in a little before asking how she felt. She talked about this peaceful feeling she was feeling and we told her it was the spirit. I then asked her what it would mean for her if this all was true. And she said "Everything... This would mean everything to me." I sent her out to the grove and she was so excited to pray about Joseph Smith in the place where Joseph knelt and said his prayer. These sites are so sacred and whether or not you're a member, they have the power to change lives and strengthen faith. I'm so blessed to get to serve here! 

After, we went to the Hill Cumorah and we had a lesson with Becky. We went through the baptismal interview questions with her. She's right on track for May 23!:) It was so great! One of the questions asks if she understands and is willing to make and keep the covenants made at baptism. A while ago, when talking about covenants I told her that we always get the better end of the deal with covenants, so when we asked her this questions she said "Well that's an easy question. Of course, plus like you said, we always get the better end of the deal" We really do. Our Heavenly Father loves us so much and is so excited to bless us! 

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!

Love Sister Nield

Prayers Are Answered

Every time I come to the library to email, I ask myself "How is it already P-day again?" I feel like I just emailed home and like there really haven't been any major changes since last week!

But good things are happening here in NY! Sister Locher and I are working so hard to keep Shortsville on fire even while we're at the sites! It's so fun to be able to share the gospel with one of your best friends! It makes the work so much more enjoyable! I'm pretty sure everyone thinks we're weird though because we just laugh... ALL THE TIME. We have so much fun!

We've been able to see Becky a couple times! I love her so much! She's such a great example of faith to me! She's been going through some super challenging times, but she's been staying so strong and she really relies on God with everything she has! I love listening to her pray because she just pours out her whole heart! Sometimes I feel like I've taken the power of prayer for granted because it's something that I've had my whole life.

We got to talk to Becky a little bit this week about the power of prayer and we talked a lot about how our Heavenly Father answers prayers. It was so fun to be able to look back on my life and to see all the different ways my prayers have been answered. Some took years to be answered. Some weren't answered the way I wanted them to be. And some were miraculous answers, but they've all been EXACTLY what I NEEDED at exactly the right time!

Sister Locher and I had a really funny story with prayer this week! Haha Yesterday we had a shift at the Book of Mormon Publication Site, so we finished our studies and walked out to the car. We start driving and we pull out onto main st Canandaigua and I see something move on the dashboard. It's safe to say my fear of spiders hasn't left me! This spider is the size of a quarter and its black, hairy, and has neon green fangs. I'm not kidding, it was seriously the ugliest thing I've seen in my life! So I'm trying not to have a heart attack, and sister Locher pulls out her water bottle to try to scare the spider so it won't come to my side of the car. We made it about ten minutes before the spider gets close enough to the windshield that the water bottle can't touch it and it scurries over to my side! At this point I'm hyperventilating. But it gets worse. It doesn't just stay on the dashboard, it crawls up by my window right above my head so I screamed and pulled over and jumped out of the car. I've never gotten out of a car so fast in my life. Sister Locher and I are both dying. She tries to kill it but it doesn't die. It falls onto the steering wheel and crawls inside! INSIDE THE STEERING WHEEL! As we're freaking out, this man pulls up in a golf cart and asks if we're ok! When we tell him it's a spider he chuckled and rolled his eyes a little and he definitely recognized us as missionaries because he said "Just pray about it!" haha Good answer...

I made sister Locher pray because I felt like it would be a little inappropriate for me to pray for something to die, so she prayed that it would stay in there until we got to the Grandin Building. So we get in the car and go to our shift. As we come out I'm trying to give myself the courage to get back in the car. There was no spider in site so we get in. I told sister Locher as I turned the car on, not to tell me if she sees the spider until we're parked so I don't cause an accident and as my hand goes to put the car in drive she yells WAIT! The Spider was on the handle! I about peed my pants and got a card and flicked it off and it was down by sister L's feet! haha You'd think her first instinct would be to step on it, but now she takes the Book of Mormon in her hands and smashes the spider! Haha We got some weird looks from the people in the parking lot, but I learned that the Book of Mormon can help in ALL aspects of our lives and that God hears and answers our prayers, no matter how little and insignificant they may be. :)

I love you all! And hope you have a wonderful week! Don't forget to pray!

Love Sister Nield

 

Schneeflockli‏

My subject line isn't jiberish I promise! It's swiss German for Snowflake.. Because here we are. The last week of April and it snowed the other day!:( I'm so done with it! It didn't stick but it was enough to make me pull out my coat again for a couple days! WELCOME TO WESTERN NEW YORK where the weather is more bipolar than Utah.

Sister Locher and I have had so much fun together!:) We're already best friends and she's been teaching me a little bit of German!:) We saw so many miracles in our area this week! We found quite a few new people and we also were able to get in contact with some people that we haven't seen in a while! 

We were also able to go back to the sites this week and it felt like going home! It was so good to be back and I got to see some super cool people! I got to see one of the families of the Amherst ward which was so special! That family was one of my favorites! I also got to see a family from Georgetown ID and the dad either went to school with Dad or Uncle Jason! The church is such a small world! 

There was an area broadcast for the North East and we got to hear from Elder Anderson and Elder Hales and a couple other people! It felt like conference all over again!:) So uplifting! They talked a lot about the growth of the church in the  area over the last 80 years since Elder Hales grew up in this area and he talked about the importance of letting our light shine! Elder Anderson mentioned that "interest and inquiry will have eternal consequences". That really hit me so hard, especially with the fact that we're back at the sites! Joseph's question changed the world and it affected the eternities for the entire world! When we ask our own questions, God can give us answers that will change our lives! Those questions that help us find and build on our testimony can change OUR eternities!

Yesterday, we were able to have a specialized training, which is kind of like a zone conference, but it was held at the Peter Whitmer Farm in Fayette!:) That is one of my favorite sites! It has such a special spirit! We were split into four different groups and sister Locher and I were put with a group of all elders! I felt like I was in Buffalo again! haha but it was so fun! We got to take them on tour of the Log home and the Visitor's center! We also got a few trainings on some practical things like exercise, health, and cooking. We had a cook off and we were given a recipe from our mission cookbook that our mission nurse put together and we had to make a meal and a dessert in 45 minutes! My group won first place with our doritto casserole and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies! 

It's been such a great week full of miracles and tender mercies! Every time I stop and think about what I'm doing, what my purpose is, it almost feels like a dream. How lucky am I to be a representative of Jesus Christ in such a sacred place! Never in a million years would I have imagined that I would be here doing such a great work! I love this gospel with all my heart!

I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Love, Sister Nield

 

 

The Greatest "Wilderness" Experience

Another week down and what a great one it was!

So Becky, the wonderful woman we committed to baptism met with us again last Thursday. Right after the opening prayer she looked at us and said "You know, after that priesthood blessing I've just felt so happy and even though all my stress and struggles are still in my life, I feel so stress free and I know it's because of that blessing." Oh my goodness! She is so prepared! As we were talking to her we brought up baptism and she said "Yeah! The 16th! I'm so excited!" I have been so excited for her! This is such a huge step and it will change her life forever! She was so excited to come to church this Sunday! So we get to church, we save her a seat, and we wait... and we wait... and we WAIT! Everytime the chapel doors opened my head would jerk in that direction. I've never prayed so hard in my life! But she didn't show up. We called and texted with no answer. We were also supposed to have a lesson at the Smith Farm the next day.. She still didn't show up. My heart was seriously broken. But yesterday after transfer meeting (I'll tell you about my new companion in just a minute) we get this text from Becky saying "Are you girls mad at me?" I was so happy to hear from her and we set up a time to meet. We went to the Hill and she explained that she'd tried texting us and apparently it just never came through. She's still excited for baptism and she's well on her way to being ready for it! She knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet she loves talking about the plan of salvation. 

She kept mentioning that she feels like she's known me and that we've been friends for so long and it was really neat because just a few days ago, I mentioned to Sister Hall during studies that I'd been looking over my setting apart blessing and it talks about how I'll recognize people from the pre-mortal life and I have no doubt she's one of those people:) If not for anything else I'm here for her!

Now onto my new companion!!!:) SISTER LOCHER!!!:) Oh she's so adorable! She came out with me! She's from Switzerland and she's so tiny and she's got the cutest accent and I just adore her! :) And she and Becky really clicked yesterday!:) She's such a good missionary and I'm so excited to be serving with her and we get to go back to the sites!:) So many great things are going to happen this transfer! Sister Locher and I get along really well and we are going to have so much fun together! And, Sister Hall is staying in the ward, she's just taking over one of the elders' areas so we get to be roommates and her companion is Sister Christensen who i've been able to do exchanges with!:) We have the party apartment!:) 

I've decided that my mission is the greatest "wilderness" experience that I've ever had in my life. So many times in the scriptures the Lord leads His people into the wilderness. Into a place that's foreign and different and not always easy! Just in my last week I think I experienced my highest high on my mission but also my lowest low! It's hard and it's not easy and it's a lot of work. But always in the scriptures, if the Lord's people rely on Him, if they do everything He asks of them, He delivers them from their afflictions and they are taken care of. My whole mission has had so many ups and so many downs! But the lessons I've learned from both are irreplaceable! They're priceless and they're going to affect the rest of my life! I'm so grateful that the Lord has blessed me with this wilderness because just like in Ether chapters 2-6 The Lord has to take us through a wilderness and struggles and storms before we can get to the "promised land". I'm eternally grateful for the decision I made to serve the Lord and to serve these people!:)

I hope you all have a great week! I love you!

Love, Sister Nield

 

 

 

 

 

 

NYRM Life

The motto for the NYRM is: The New York Rochester Mission is a baptizing, converting mission where miracles happen on a daily basis. I feel like that's quite fitting for this last week.

Sister Hall and I have been working so hard and this week it was very apparent that the Lord was blessing our efforts! We saw so many miracles! There Lord's hand was really in our work!

To start off, a few weeks ago, we met this really nice man named Don. We showed him the He Lives video and he loved it and invited us to go out to lunch with him and his secretary. So we went to lunch this saturday and were able to talk to him a lot about the gospel! He's been a marriage and family therapist for almost 45 years and was heart broken that his church decided to be accepting of same sex marriage. He really likes the family values of our church. It was so cool to see his view on it all.

Then Sunday, Sister Hall and I were trying to find a less active and no one was home, but the neighbors were outside trying to fix a flat tire, so we went over and started talking to them. We were asking them about their neighbors and then brought in the gospel and neither of them had heard of the church before. They both accepted a spanish copy of the Book of Mormon and said we could come back this upcoming Friday. YAY!!:)

Sunday was our fast Sunday and as a stake we fasted for the member missionary work! Adding on to that in my fast, I also added that Sister Hall and I would be able to reach the goal we set of having someone we taught get baptized on May 16. We've been working so hard to accomplish it!

Well Monday one of prayers was answered! I'd fasted for member missionary work to take of in this ward and we were able to teach a couple in a members home last minute! These members were mission president and wife in Provo a couple years back and were so excited to meet this couple that we've been teaching. I've never had a lesson go so well in my whole mission. And sister Hall and I barely spoke! Brother Pitts was able to ask questions that helped us to understand what their concerns were and what we needed to emphasize in the future. One of Lynn's biggest problems was she didn't know who to pray to. Since their church teaches that God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are one, she fumbles over who to pray to. So we got to talk about how they're three seperate beings and how we pray to the Father! She said it was a huge Ah-Ha moment for her and that it all made sense! Huge Miracle!

Yesterday was probably the best day I've had on my whole mission! I don't think I've ever been so happy! But I have to preface the story, because it shows that it's SUCH a miracle! A week before I got to Canandaigua, this lady named Becky went to the Hill Cumorah and asked for the local missionaries contact info. She was in our area so they gave her our number and got her number to give to us. When I got here, we gave her a call and she said she'd be getting surgery the next day so it wasn't a good time. In the weeks following we tried over and over to get ahold of her again with no luck, and no return phone calls.:( Skip forward a few weeks to Monday evening. Sister Hall and I are planning our day for the next day which happened to be a park your car day. Our phone starts ringing and we see Becky's name! We answered and she basically asked if we could meet her at the Visitor's Center the next day. My eyes were the size of grape fruits and my jaw was dragging on the ground! So yesterday we got a ride to the Hill and we met Becky for the first time. She talked to us about how she's going through a really hard time and asked when does God step in? She was crying. I shared a personal experience and I was crying. The member that was with us shared an experience and she was crying. Basically we were in a room full of extremely emotional women. Then Becky asked why there were so many churches! So we taught her the restoration and talked a lot about the priesthood. Then she was asking other questions so we also taught the plan of Salvation. The Spirit was just radiating from this room. We invited her to be baptized and without any hesitation she said yes. We committed her to May 16 and again without hesitation she agreed! What an amazing day! I was on cloud 9 for the rest of the day! I could not believe the miracles God had given to me! 

I've really come to know that He's aware of all of our wants and desires and if our wants and desires are aligned with His will, then everything will work out in His time. All we can do is get on our knees and pray, then get on our feet and work! The Lord helps those who help themselves!

Next week is transfers so I'll most likely be going back to the sites next week!:) So life is good! God Is great!

Love Sister Nield