You are called to do this work...go out and do it!

Okay my people.

I only have 45 minutes and a lot has happened since I didn't email last week…sorry about that. [Editor's note: I was able to talk to Nat live through email last week which is why she didn't send a formal letter home.]

I think this week I will just give you a bullet point update and then maybe some of my thoughts as of late... 

• Elizabeth was baptized!! It was awesome. It was a HUGE Tongan baptism so of course, I loved every minute of it. :) She is so special to me. I seriously love her and her family so much! Once every month we have a meeting with the stake leadership and all of the missionaries in the stake on how we can better serve the ward. At the end they always have a "special guest" (recent convert) come and bear their testimony. Well this week they asked Elizabeth! It was incredible. Multiple people came up to me afterwards and said how great she is. Love her.

Nat, Elizabeth and Sister Jin

• Sister Niihau had to go to the dentist to get a tooth pulled and I was lucky enough to go on exchanges and go with her...I LOVED it! :D It was seriously so fun for me to look in her mouth and take care of her and explain what the doctor/assistant said. I took some photos, but I didn't send them because I didn't think everyone would love them as much as I do.

• We had interviews with President Smart! I love him and every opportunity I have to talk to him. He told me how he met Elder Bussey!!! [Editor's note: Elder Bussey is an area seventy that was our former Bishop and Stake President and very dear to our family.] I was so excited…he was too. President said it was really fun to talk to Elder Bussey about me and then be able tell me about it. :)

• We also had another "Sister Gathering Meeting" so I was able to see all of my best girls!!!! :):) Gosh I love being a missionary.

"When President and Sister Smart arrived there were 12 sister missionaries and now there are 64!"

• Courtney was baptized yesterday!!! It was so sweet. Her Grandpa flew in from Oregon to baptize her and he was SO excited. The room was full of youth which was great. Youth from the ward gave the talks and performed a musical number. Courtney had a huge smile on her face the whole time. :)

Sister Jin, Courtney and Nat

• We also found out (through searching with Bishop, President and eventually Salt Lake) that Courtney's mother, Lisa, is NOT a member of the church. She thought she was baptized, but the church has no record of it so we are hoping that we will get to experience that soon. :)

• And the most exciting news....WE ARE GOING TO THE TEMPLE TOMORROW!!!!!!!!! I am seriously so, so, so excited. I love the temple so stinking much. It will be perfect.

I am sure there are more things to update you on, but I honestly can't think of them right now. We've been so busy it's insane.

At the very end of the Sister Gathering Meeting, President got up and had a Q/A (which he does after every meeting) so we could ask him anything we wanted about any aspect of the work. 

The first question was something along the lines of "How can we work successfully with the ward? We have been trying so hard, but we just can't seem to motivate them to share the gospel." 

This question is quite common among missionaries, but lately I think I found the key. 

President said "Well sisters, what do you think?" 

A couple sisters got up and talked about obedience, harvesting blessing and different ways to do spiritual thoughts. 

As I was sitting there listening, I believe I received inspiration on how missionaries can best work with ward members. Obviously more "ward members" will be reading this than full-time missionaries, but I think it can help all of us...

I think there are three things missionaries MUST do to successfully unify themselves with the ward:

1. We must LOVE the ward. That can be tricky to do especially when you feel like they don't care, but when we love them and serve them, they have a much stronger desire to help and trust us with their friends and family.

2. We must be CREATIVE.  Each investigator is different and so is each ward. We cannot approach the ward the same way we did with other wards and expect the same result. It won't work. We must go above and beyond to get them excited. For example "missionary week" was shot down while I was in Eastvale, but here we did it and are now seeing baptisms every week. We relied on the Lord and on each other. The majority of our investigators now come from member referrals, which everyone knows is ideal.

3. We must use ALL of the ward. Relief Society, Elders Quorum, High Priest Group, the youth, Primary...everyone. Heavenly Father needs every member to help His children come back to Him. People are not only being prepared for missionaries...they are being prepared for ward members too.

One last point on missionary work...(I just received the 5 minute warning)

Missionary work is not TELLING people about the gospel…it is INVITING them to do something where they will be able to feel the spirit. It's really quite simple. Yes, we want to invite them to church and to read the Book of Mormon, but it can also be as simple as inviting them to your home. We take our spiritually filled homes for granted. I promise you a simple invitation can change lives….just ask Laurel. :)

Laurel was first introduced to the church when Nat invited her to attend Seminary.  
She ended up taking the discussions in our home and was baptized the summer before their 
senior year of High School.  She's AMAZING and we LOVE her! 

I love you all. You are all called to this work, go out and do it!!!

Peace and blessings,

Sister Nelson

"Eli's package was PERFECT…I LOVED everything about it!"

"Doesn't Jinny's hair look cute?"

"Sister Jin is always laying in my bed because she says it's more comfy than hers, but really I just actually make my bed." :)

  

Let's play some ketchup shall we?

This week's blog title is specifically for Kaitlin. I sure miss her, but I know she is doing great things while serving the people of Italy.

Well first thing is first, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACK!!!! I'm sorry that I didn't send you a card last week. You can expect one this week fo sho. Miss you like crazy homie.

Okay...I can't believe that I spent my last email talking about the bad stuff when there is SO much good to talk about! We have people walking on water over here!!!! Okay so maybe not like our good pal Peter, but they are jumping in it, still a miracle nonetheless.

Every month (I think I have said this before) we meet as a zone and our zone leaders announce the "zone focus" and the action plan to get there. Then we go through each companionship and talk about the investigators that will be baptized that month and set a companionship goal for baptisms and a zone goal for baptisms.

Sister Jin and I have talked a lot about what we want to accomplish this transfer and we are calling for MIRACLES let me tell you. We have a goal of baptizing EVERY week this transfer! 

That's practically unheard of, especially in the Corona ward. Remember last transfer? Yeah…we know we are requiring a lot of ourselves. It is only possible for us to meet our goal if we work TWICE as hard as we are already working, but we had a quick companionship inventory and are relying on the Lord for this one.

When it was our turn to set a goal at ZDM (zone development meeting) we said 3 baptisms for November. We knew that we set a higher personal goal, but 3 seemed reasonable and we don't want to let anyone down. So, we knew Justin was getting baptized yesterday and Elizabeth this Sunday, but we had no idea who would be our 3rd, 4th and 5th for the month.

Then like magic it all started to come together... 

One of our ward members called us and said that her cousins daughter, Courtney (13 years old) wants to be baptized and just needs to take the discussions....THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN! Courtney doesn't actually live in our ward boundries so there was a teensy little bit of drama about which missionaries were going to teach her. 

After everything that had happened lately, I didn't care I just wanted her to be taught and there to be no conflict. After a few days of going back and forth, we were eventually able to teach her and keep her! :) The only fellowship/family that she has is in our ward so it makes the most sense. 

Our first lesson with Courtney was a very emotional one for many reasons, but when we told them that not only can we teach her, she can also attend church in this ward, be baptized in this ward and continue to go to church after she is baptized in this ward, she was ELATED! Her and her mom both started crying. I practically cried through the whole thing…tears of happiness, of course. :)

Well very long story short, she is getting baptized on the 17th!! It is the most perfect date for her and for us. :) We are VERY excited!

Still...Sister Jin and I didn't know who else we were going to teach. On Saturday we talked about it and realized that we are going to have to find someone solid this upcoming week or else we wont have a baptism on the 24th because they have to attend church 3 times before they can be baptized. 

We were also a bit bummed because we knew we were only going to have 3 investigators at church and we really wanted to hit the standard of excellence this week. We have gotten so close the past few weeks, but always fall short with investigators who attend Sacrament meeting. :(

That night we met as a zone to start our fast together. Our zone goal for baptisms this month is 21 and we all REALLY want to hit it. So, we all fasted for our investigators and that we would find more. 

Well, as you all very well know I love fasting and have a HUGE testimony of it... and just when you think it couldn't get any stronger.... :)

On our way to church Sister Jin and I recieved a phone call. It was from Joseph (a former investigator that we dropped) and he asked if we could find him a ride to church! He said that morning he woke up feeling like he wanted to go to church and that he actually felt like he wants to go to church every week...THAT ALSO DOESN'T HAPPEN! So we were SO excited because we had 4 investigators at church!

But wait, that's not all… 

There was a family, an older couple (mom and dad) and a younger couple (son and daughter-in-law) sitting in the row in front of us during sacrament meeting, but no one had ever seen them before. The parents got up and bore their testimony and in it included their gratitude for their son (who has been less active) and his wife who is investigating the church!!! 

So after the meeting we quickly zoomed around the isle and instroduced ourselves and asked if there was a time this week that we could meet. She said "yes!" and told us that she started taking the discussion in Colorado and was planning a baptism, but moved so it never happened…. 

Okay fine. We will baptize you. :)

Oh yes, there's more...

Last night at Justin's baptism, well first let me say this…Justin is going to be such a strong member. He does the most missionary work in our entire ward. He is incredible. I have a soft spot in my heart for him. But, he invited EVERYONE he knew to his baptism and so it was PACKED and mostly with non-members!! 

Sister Jin, Justin and Nat

One of the very first girls we met was Chance. We had heard from people in the ward that she has asked a lot of questions about the church. So, I asked my sweet friend Amy at the end of the baptism "where is Chance? I want to baptize her?" which she responded "Oh she'd totally let you!" So we have an appointment with her this week! :)

There it is folks. The blessings that come from having an eye single to the glory of God, working with everything you've got and being strictly obedient.

I love this gospel. It is the only way we are really able to get a little taste of heaven here on earth. I mean Lehi even said so! We must partake of the fruit so we can taste of it's deliciousness and then we must share it with others. 

I love you all!! I am so grateful for all of your letters and packages and prayers. I promise you they are working!!

xoxo

Sister Nelson

PS. I have thought a lot about the advice that Luke gave me before my mission "if you are not having fun you are doing something wrong". So this week I have really taken it to heart. Each day we have to read 3 pages out of the WHB (white handbook) and instead of reading them, I sing them... Sister Jin loves it. Oh and I also only talk to her in a British accent. It gets quite funny, but today she covered her ears and said "shut up! you are giving me a headache!" hahaha we are having a blast over here. :)

Natalie's and her cousin Luke when he returned from his mission to Cambodia
(3 days before Nat entered the MTC)

"Sister Jin wanted me to dye her hair blonde…it didn't really work"

"IT RAINED THIS WEEK!! And I mean really rained, well at least for California. I was on cloud nine"

"We got pretty wet!" :)

(email received November 4, 2013)

Happiest hour of my life

Okay so this week was good. We got tons done and there was a lot learned. But, I had an experience this week that completely changed my mission.

This experience had nothing to do with "missionary work" so don't get too exctied...

So I have two major character flaws which have probably gotten worse since I've been on my mission:

1. I do not want people to know how I am really doing so I rarely ask for help and I frequently hide my emotions.

2. I have zero patience.

Communication and patience are very important qualities to have as a missionary and lately I haven' t been able to find them. I've been having a REALLY hard time. That said, you should know that this email alone is kind of unusual, but this experience is too good to keep to myself.

Last transfer Sister Jin and I had a hard time working together. I love her and she is sweet, but the cultures are opposite. I would try and show her love and affection, but apparently that is rude in Korea so it was a lose-lose situation. 

There was also a lot of complaining from both of us and it was getting to me. We rarely ever had the spirit with us and I was very frustrated. One day we were arguing in the car and Sister Jin said "I want to go home" 

and so I responded (not in the nicest tone btw) "Then go home!" 

She looked at me and neither of us said anything for a little bit and then I finally said "I'm sorry, but Sister Jin you don't have to be here. I am not here to make friends with other sisters. I am not here to say I served a mission. I am solely here to bring people closer to Jesus Christ." 

We talked for a while after and there was A LOT of apologizing, but I ended up realizing that I have blamed her for everything and CHOSE to be offended by what she said and did. Heavenly Father has us together for a reason and I know that we have all been promised that if we do our very best that the Savior will make up the rest. 

So now that we are together another transfer, I'm happy I've figured her out. I just need to love her (including hugging and kissing her even though she used to hate it, she has learned to love it) and we have been able to focus more on the work. 

However, I have still felt like a bad missionary. There were multiple times that I would just lock myself in the bathroom and cry. I would get on my knees and plead with Heavenly Father to help me and it would get better and then something would happen and we would be told all of the things we were doing wrong.  (Side note: since Sister Jin is learning english and is quite shy, everytime someone needs to talk to "us" it's really just to me.)

So, I was trying hard to be Christlike and help Sister Jin, while also trying to get the work rolling, but it wasn't enough and so I ended up having a couple of breakdowns which have then lead to fasting (I have fasted every week this month) but still it was getting worse. 

Last Friday night I had just gotten off the phone with our District Leader who "interrogated" me about our day and I looked at Sister Jin and said "I cannot do this anymore. Something needs to change, and I think it's me." 

I decided I was going to fast the next day and it was going to be the best, most heartfelt and prayerful fast I've ever had. I went to the bathroom and sobbed like a baby and tried to figure out what I was going to do when the thought occured to me "be grateful".  That's it. I knew that no matter what happend I was going to be grateful. Even if people were mean to me I was going to be grateful.

I went back to the room, looked at the clock (it was 10:45 PM) and got on my knees to say a prayer of pure gratitude. I wasn't going to stop until I had prayed for literally everything and everyone. It went from all aspects of the gospel to things as little as my toothpaste. It didn't feel like I was praying very long, but I decided that my prayer was sufficient and I felt like Heavenly Father was there intently listening the entire time.  When I got up and looked at the clock it was 11:45 PM exactly. 

I don't know the signifigance of the exactness, but that was probably one of the happiest hours of my life. It seriously changed my whole attitude. 

Saturday morning I woke up and still wanted to fast, but kept it to myself and tried to have the most positive attitude I could, which was really hard considering I was hungry and exhausted not only from crying but going to bed pretty late.  But, I knew that it was just Satan and that I would be blessed for my hard work.

Before we went to dinner at a members house, I broke my fast and was in a really good mood. Sister Jin and I were laughing and singing and having a jolly ol' time. But, I knew that night that we were going to get a call from our District Leader and that he was going to test my patience and I nervous for it. 

When he called, he simply asked how our day went and who we talked to and if there was anything he could do for us. I had a few questions that he helped clarify about Jesse's baptism and then I said "Well I think that's it. Do you have any questions for me?" He said "Nope! I trust that you are doing what you need to. You are a good missionary Sister Nelson. You have really done great work in the Corona ward."

I. Was. ECSTATIC! It was seriosly a direct result from my fast. Now things are AWESOME!! There haven't been any problems and everyone has been getting along. I know it's because of my fast and the change in my attitude. I seriously have been so much happier these past couple of days and everything has been working out!

I love this gospel. I love being a missionary. I love all of you.

xoxo

Sister Nelson

PS. Jesse's baptism was beautiful!!! It was so special…especially, because it was Sister Jin's first one. She finally realized why she is on a mission. She was quite emotional. :)

PPS. So we are not supposed to hold babies, but the Spanish ward doesn't really follow that rule which is fine by me! :)

(email received October 28, 2013)

September ended…why didn't anyone wake me up?

I really hope that Alexis Hatch reads my blog because the title of this post is just for her. :)

Okay first things first…this weekend was transfer weekend and Sister Jin and I are staying in Corona!! I think it will be good. Actually, I know it will be. We figured out a lot this week. 

Oh...the Elders are leaving! So, it will only be me and Sister Jin in the ward which will be really nice because now we have SO much work it's insane. But, I am sad to see them go. They're good missionaries and I learned a lot from them. 

Well this week was "missionary week" and it was....good? Haha. We pretty much looked at it like this…

We need to get the ward excited about missionary work so we are just throwing ideas at a wall and seeing which one will stick. Well, I think this week was like one of those gooey guys you get out of the quarter machines. You know...you throw them against a window and they stick for a while, but eventually fall off? Missionary week was exciting for a second and then people got "busy".

Sister Jin and I spent the ENTIRE week visiting all the active families in the ward.  Probably two families were actually participating (which were the two families already doing missionary work) but the most common response we received was "well, we were already doing missionary work and we never pass up opportunities so this week wasn't any different"…yeah, so they pretty much missed the whole point.

But that's okay…it was our first attempt!

I think people really started to get it once President Smart spoke at the fireside. I love him and Sister Smart so much. They are awesome. They said everything the ward needed to hear. 

My favorite part was when President said  "It is the Lord's job to prepare them, our job to find them and the missionaries job to teach them." 

There it is…sweet and simple. All we have to do is INVITE. It doesn't need to be an official invitation and it doesn't even need to be an invitation to have the missionary discussions, just anything that will help them come closer to Jesus Christ.

Joseph Smith said:

"After all has been said, our greatest and most important duty is to preach the gospel."

and

"I made this my rule: when the Lord commands, do it."

I challenge us all to make the same rule Joseph did. We have no greater purpose as members of the church and leaders of the world than to preach the gospel. DO WORK my people!

President also challenged our ward and I am going to give you the same challenge…when you are asked to speak in church, invite 5 friends to come see you. That could be 15 non-members at church every week! And how easy is it to say "Hey, I'm speaking in my church on Sunday and I'd love for you to be there." 

Even though it's not that big of a deal to us, most other churches only have their pastor speak so it will sound like a big deal to them. Will you do it? I'm telling you it doesn't have to be scary. Just do it.

Sister Jin and I taught Jesse EVERY single day this week!! And guess what!? He is getting baptized on Sunday! :) We also have a baptism on the 9th and the end of November. :):):) I guess that's what happens when you teach 34 lessons in one week. :)

I am really excited for Jesse. He is so prepared. There are a few things that we need to go over a little more and one is the priesthood. Kind of a big deal. 

Yesterday one of the Elders asked him if he knew who was going to baptize him and he said "Oh I get to choose? I didn't know that…well in that case most definetly Sister Nelson!" The elders quickly responded "Yeah that can't happen because she doesn't have the priesthood." So, we will be working on that this week. :)

The other big thing that happened this week is I taught Sister Jin how to ride a bike! It was a rough start with lots of falling, lots of bruises, a few tears and the typical knee scrape, but she got it in 3 days! I don't even have to run along side her or help her on the bike anymore. This week we will be working on getting on and off the sidewalks though. :) Im excited…it's one of my favorite parts of the day. 

I love you all! You mean the world to me and I pray for you constantly. I TRULY appreciate all of the letters I got this week! I am so honored...I had no idea so many people read my blog, so thank you! :) I am going to try my hardest to write you all back.

xoxo

Sister Nelson

Ps. I don't know if this is allowed, but when it comes to eternity I think it's okay. There is the gosh dang cutest girl in my ward and last night she came up to me and said "So I hear you have a brother my age, tell me about him!" Okay, so maybe I talk up my brothers A LOT! :) Anyway, I happened to have a photo of Jack and I may have told her that he plays varsity basketball and football and maybe that he got a 32 on the ACT without a calculator… :) She's a fan. Her name is Amy Saunders. Jack, you're welcome. ;)

Amy, Nat and Sister Jin

(email received October 21, 2013)