Come FOLLOW me as I FOLLOW Him: 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