Leipzig! What an experience!

FAMILY! 

Oh my gosh! First and foremost I have to tell you all that we have a baptism this upcoming sunday!!!!!!! I am so pumped!! It is a baptism for this wonderful young man. He is 18 years old. The Sisters here found street contacting and he was interested in learning more. When I got here he was really hung up on finishing the book of mormon before he was baptized. Sister Knecht and I have worked really hard with him-having constant contact (yep CRAZY stockers... no worries), getting JOint teaches, and making sure he is praying and reading! And gues what!!! we had this incredible lesson with him and asked him to baptized on November 2nd and he said YES!!!! He was so excited!!!! He is 18 years old and is completly changing his life for the gospel of Jesus Christ. This young man is so incredible!!! ANd when we told the Bishop and the ward they got sooo excited because numer 1-he is german (many immigrants get baptized in germany...) and 2- they all started planning the rest of his life! "oh he is going to go on a mission and get married and lalalala! They are so excited and support him! Which is fabulos!!! I am so excited!!!

So we are having fun here just living the dream. You know. Always having fun. I just love being out here

This week during personal study I was reading in Alma. WOW. Alma was written for us missionaries! It is so inspiring! While I was reading about the story of Alma and Amuleck I felt so much passion for missionary work. And my mind was BLOWN when I read in Alma 10:5- Amuleck is talking to the people and he tells them that he did not know much of the lords ways and then he stops and corrects himself- and he says, "No I did know the Lord I was just not willing to listen." and then he goes on and tells his whole converstion story and testifies of what he knows. That God is real and that Alma is a prophet that was sent to them by god. 

I love the Character of Amuleck. He is so humble and knows that he is nothing without the Lord. He says that he does not know much, but he knows enough. He knows that God is real and that he liveth. He is so strong and it is through his humble words that change the hearts of the people. 

I love this story and I think it really hit me because I have been having a hard time latley- I am not the perfect missionary and dont know all the scripture refferences I would like- but from this scripture I learned that I know enough. And we all do. Every member of the church knows enough. AS we practice our faith and trust in the lord and Testify that he lives- That is enough.

 I love being a missionary. I love being able to read in the scriptures everyday and then go out and share with others what I have learned. I know this church is true and I love seeing it changes others! 

Sister Nilson

Leipzig... Where the Fun never endssssss

HEEEEELLLLLLOOOOO my dearest familie!!! 

I love you all soooo much. I just have to say that! How is everyone doing? GOOD! GREAT!!!! 

Well on tuesday I had to say goodbye to my Beloved Langenhorn and get on a train BY MYSELF for 5 hours! Wow. It was pure bliss... Lets be honest!! All by myself just writing in my journal, talking to people, and reading the scriptures. I love it. It was the craziest feeling. I wanted to cry because I was leaving my home away from home, but at the same time I couldnt because I just felt sooooo much peace. I have never felt so much peace in my whole life. I just talked to God the whole train ride and I know that I am supposed to be in Leipzig. Zes, It may take so getting used to but I know that I am supposed to be here. 

SOOOOOOOI am here in Leipzig and let me tell you! IT IS CRAZY! The city life is very different and as we are walking around talking to people we see other Elders!!! There are four sets of missionaries in Leipzig and 2 wards!! that is crazy!!! WHAT THE WHAT!!!! WE have to fight over people to talk to. The other day we had a race to one man... They were approaching him from the front so they won... BUT we found another person very quickly right after because in the city there ARE PEOPLE EVERYWHERE!!! Seriously. This place is huge. And I like it. It is pretty Wonderful. It is different but still good. 

My Companions name is Sister Knecht. She is basically the coolest thing since sliced bread. WE get along great. Pretty sure she thinks I am the craziest person in the whole wide world!!!! Which I am!! I just have so much happiness and I have to just LET IT OUT! 

I have to tell you that I have never been happier!! I am just loving being a missionary dispite where I am. I love just having my nametag on and being able to talk to people about what makes me the happiest!!! 

Oh before I forget here is my new address 

Bitte Send Mail!! danke DAnke! haha. 

But really family. Thischurch is true and I LOVE being here. It is truly amazing!!!! I will tell you more about investigators and stuff next week because I dotn have much time now and to be honest I dont really know then all that well. BUT we do have two investigators that hopefully will be getting baptized this transfer! So continue to pray!!! 

Oh the language is not as bad as I thought. I can understand the same. So that is good. Hopefully someday I will be fluent!!! 

Love you allllllllll SOOOO much! 

I love love love love love this gospel. Read your scriptures and PRAY!!!

Love you. 

Sister Nilson

To my Beloved Langenhorn

Hello MY SWEET FAMILY!!!!

How are you all!! I hope everything is going good. I wish you all the best this week. It sounds like you all had a fun break from school!!! I am sad I missout out, but guys.... I HAD THE BEST WEEK EVER! So alles gute. We will have to go to park city when I get home. Deal.

Sabrina! You rock my world. Thank you soooo much for the Letter. You are the best! 

Guess WHAT! I am getting TRANSFERRED! I was very surprised by the transfer call this saturday and was a little heart sick knowing that I would have to leave my dear sweet Langenhorn! But I know I am leaving it in good hands! (Sister Shelley is INCREDIBLE! I think she came pre-trained because I really did not do anything!) 

I dont know my new address yet so hold off on the post for a week or so... (Since I know you all were planning on sending me 100's of letters :) !!) 

To my Langenhorners: I Love you all! Seriously! These people here are amazing! I have never met so many strong incredible members of the church. I love being with them and I feel so blessed that I have gotten to be apart of their lives. They are incredible!!! 

I am very excited to head on down south to Leipzig and get to know the people there. Leipzig is the city of MUSIC and POetry!!! It is where my main man BACH grew up... or studied... lived. Okay it has something to do with Bach. I guess I will have to go and Find out more! haha. I am VERY nervous about the German though... I hear they have a crazy accent... and seeing as I already have a hard time understanding german I am a little nervous, but WHAT CAN YOU DO! haha. Apparently Gods needs a little laugh :) The language has been quit the struggle for me, but recently I have learned that TRULY the language does not matter. It is about the Holy Ghost and the feeling that the people feel when we talk to them.

The investigators here in Langenhorn are AMAZING! Langenhorn has a lot going on right now! Our investigator with a baptisimal date is doing really well. He is continuing to progress and come closer to christ. We have had such a wonderful time meeting with him and getting to know him. It was hard to say goodbye, but I know that everything will be okay. He has such a strong desire to follow the Lord and I know that he will continue progressing! 

On Sunday I had an incredible experience at Stake Conference. GET READY TO BE AMAZED!  About 2 months ago Sister Knoll and I (we were on Tausch) were walking on the street and we stopped this girl named Anita. She was from ghana and was so cute! WE HITIT OFF immediatley! I told her my undying love for AFrica and how I wanted to go there. She laughed at my enthusiasum and really I think I scared her a little cause I was so  excited. SIMMER DOWN JOSIE! haha. She was so sweet and she said she would LOVE to meet with us. I asked her where she lived and it was not in our area! I was sad, but alles gute. So we got her number and  turned her over to other missionaries. I never heard anything about it again.  Well at stake conference on sunday I SAW HER!!  I Ran up to her and said, "I dont know if you remeber me..." she cutt me off and said "YOU ARE MY MISSIONARY THAT FOUND ME!!!" She gave me a HUGE hug and then started BAWLING! She told me that she is getting baptized in 2 weeks and was so happy! WHAT THE WHAT!!!! CAN YOU SAY AMAZING! This is why I am a missionary. This gospel brings so much happiness and joy! I was so thankful to see sweet Anita and see her so happy!! 

I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! 

I am so excited to go to Leipzig! I am excited to start a new grand adventure and see what the Lord has in store for me! 

Everyone pray that I can understand them!!! hehe. 

Love you all sooooo much! 

Sister JOSIE "SO HAPPPPPPPPPPYYYY TO BE A MISSIONARY" Nilson

The magic Slippers!

Hello Familie!! 

How is everyone doing this week??? Wasn't General Conference Amazing!! Wow. This church is sooo true. I tell you. The power that you feel each time someone talks from that pulpit is incredible. This is Gods church on the earth.
This week was wonderful for Sister Shelley and I. Amazing things are happening here in Langenhorn!!! This week we were able to make contact again with a potential investigator that we had lost contact with. We invited her to general conference and she said that she would bring her husband and her daughter! We were so excited and even more excited when they came to the Sarurday Night session! We were thrilled to see them. She really enjoyed it and had a great time. She told us that she was ready to meet with us and have the lessons. We are so thankful for the spirit she was able to feel at gerneral conference. It softened her heart and now she is a new investigator! 

OH MY GOODNESS!!! BEST WEEK EVER! So each wednesday we go to this service project. It is called Tafel. It is where people come and get food that grocery stores in the area donate. It is really wonderful and a great way to contact people! Well for the last couple months I have helped the same woman. She is so sweet and I LOVE HER. Well, one day I was wearing those nasty... well kinda nasty... sister missionary black shoes I have.... and she was looking at them. She kept asking me what size of foot I had. She said, I love those shoes. Can i look at those shoes. Can I have those shoes... Well what do you do when a sweet old woman asks for your shoes?!?

No sillies... I didi not give them to her... then what would I have worn home! haha. No I just told her where I bought them, in America. Ofcourse when I said in America she liked them even more. Then she said, well what if i brought you some shoes. Would you like that. I told her that was very sweet but not neccessary, but she insisted! So this week my sweetheart best friend old german lady brought me some shoes and guess what!! THey were homemade crocet slippers!!!!!
And then she gave me some rotting fish to try as welll... I pasted on the fish but am in love with my slippers. And this is another reason to go on a mission!

Yes, to get homemade slippers, but more importantly to meet people. To talk to people. To make friends with people you would never even dream about meeting. I love this woman and I dont even know her name. She has tried to tell me, but I can not understand it for the life of me... haha. But she is so amazing. I thank the lord everydaz that I am here meeting the people I am. Associating with these incredible people. I love it here.

I love being a missionary. It is so wonderful!!! 

I love you family. Remember that god is always there waiting to put people into our lives that will change it for the better !! I love you!!! 

Jos

What a Week!

HAAAALLLLLLOOOO FAMILY!!!! 

This week has again been such a great week for the Langenhorn Sisters!!!!! CAN I GET A WOOT WOOT!!! Seriously what a great week I have had. I think it was heaven sent. Well actually I know it was... haha.  

GUESS WHO IS COMING TO OUR HOUSE THIS WEEK!!! MIRJA AND DANNY!!! Get ready for a party because they are the best!! Just have so much fun with them and see the great people that I get to be with everyday! I love GERMANS!!! THey are the best!!

This week we continued making progress with Eric, our investigator with a taufdatum. He is so inspired and really wants to make sure he is doing things for the right reason. We had a beautiful lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ this week. He is so intune with the Holy Ghost and with the truth. He had a lot of questions about baptism that we were able to talk with him  about. It is amazing being in lessons with him. He sounds like he is already a member when he speaks. He is inspiring. I feel like I should be taking notes whenever he says anything!! WE are so excited for him to enter into the waters of baptism and become a member of Jesus Christ's Church. 

Another wonderful experience we had this week was when we were out finding. We saw some people moving into their new apartment(AFRICANS FROM THE CONGO!!! WHAT!) and we asked if we could help. They said YES and we were able to help them take things up three flights of stairs to there new apartment! We got to serve and a little extra morgansport!! OH YEA! Talk about success. We were able to talk to them a little bit about our gospel and they said that they would come to church this next week. We are praying for them and are hoping that we can continue working with them to progress in the gospel. 

GUYS!!!!!! All i can say this week is LOVE. Just LOVE EVERYONE. I love being a missionary because all we get to do is LOVE people!!! It is soooo wonderful. SO guys, just love. LIVE teh dream and have a good week!!! Until next week!!! 

Sister Nilson 

Little Miracles!

HELLO MY SWEET FAMILY!!!!!! How are you!!! Okay.Jacob is coming to GERMANY!!! I am still freaking out about that!!! I am soo pleased you will be joinging me here. COME READY TO WORK! Every day is a journey here. A mission is HArd Work, but is ALWAYS WORTH IT. WEll as many of you probably know... last week was a bust of a week for me. It was pretty terrible... haha. Not going to lie. I tried to smile, but it was just sooo hard!!! A lot of different things happened and NOTHING seemed to be going right. We were being 100% obedient and everything went wrong. It is in these moments you just stop and pray. As a missionary sometimes these moments happen. Sometimes you are told how silly you are. Sometimes you get yelled at. Spit upon. Laughed at. Some days you simply just ask the question,"WHAT IN THE WORLD AM I DOING HERE!!!" Yep, I asked that question a lot last week.I really began to ponder why I am here? What am I even doing? Am I really fulfilling my purpose as a missionary? Inviting others to come unto christ? 

WEll let me tell you all something really wonderful. God Works. in the mitts of all these thoughts I turned to my best friend Nephi. He is the best. I read about him and his family. about everything that they went through.(As a mission we are starting the BOM over again and finishing it Christmas day. WE are reading it with a focus centered around the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And let me tell you it has helped me so much. My mission president is truly inspired). If Nephi could build a ship, make a bow, put up with crazies (aka LAMAN AND LEMUEL!), and still praise god all the day long, SO CAN I!!!!!! Yes, we do have to do hard things. Yes, we even question ourselves and realize that we are SO FAR FROM PERFECT (2 nephi 4), But at the end of the day as we get down on our knees we know that God is there. We know that even if the whole world turned againsst us that day, that we have someone who did not. Someone that stood by us when we were crying, feeling alone, sad, happy. EVERYTHING!! GOD is there. He is there. And if we give him our full heart and work side by side with him then he will make us into the person we are meant to be. Guys. I am telling you. God Works. He is the best. And he sends us little miracles each day to see that he is watching us, our every move. Recently a Miracle in my life has been a ward member. Her name is Mirja and she has become one of my best friends. She is HILARIOUS and LOVES the Polynesian culture! Can you say match made in heaven. I told her my love for them and we planned a trip to go there after my mission, (you all are invited!) But she has really helped me to laugh again. To remember that I am here in Germany for a reason and that some Germans actually do love us! haha. It has been great having her. See little miracles. Little Miracles. Sister Shelley and I are so  great. She is AMAZING! I am pretty sure she is training me. She is so wonderful. We get along great and she is so cute!! We have some wonderful adventures together!!
This week has been such an amazing week for Sister Shelley and I. We have been able to work a lot with ward members this week. Have constant contact with them and it really helped us have a lot to do this week. We were able to contact three referrals this week. And 2 of them, W.A., came to church on SUNDAY! It was wonderful. On Thursday an appointment that we had fell out. We were very sad and called up a member of the Bishopric and asked him for any WA members we could visit. He gave us two names and we were off. The first lady that we went to has not been to church in years. No one from the ward has had any contact with her. So we went by and to our surprise she was HOME! We went in and talked to her. She was thrilled to see us. She said that she had tried calling the missionaries for the last couple of months but no one ever called her back. We looked and saw that she had a false number for us! We know that God helped us contact her. She came to church on Sunday and the ward was SO WELCOMING! She had someone to sit next to and she had an incredible experience. It was such a miracle!
Then we had a lesson this week with an investigator. We had been planning to teach about the plan of salvation, and he comes in and was a little sad. We asked him what was wrong and he told us that his life was very busy right now. He proceeded to tell us that even though he had a hard day it was okay, because he had god. And through god he finds true JOY! WE were astounded. JOY!!! THat was exactly what we wanted to talk to him about. We told him about gods plan for us and how we know exactly what our purpose is, where we came from, and where we are going. WE were able to talk about Jesus Christ and bear our testimony of JEsus Chirst. Our Lord and savior. As we did that the spirit filled the room. He told us that he knew what we said was true. Then we asked him to be baptized and he said yes! We have a specific date and everything! So we are praying that it is gods will he meets the baptismal date. We know that with the support of the ward, bishop, and the missionaries he will be able to get baptized and confirmed and remain active in the church!!!
Hey yall. THe gospel is true. It is really what brings true happiness. It is like Eric said, Even when we have a bad day we know in our hearts that god is there. He is directing our lives and we have him forever!!! I love you my sweet family. I love being a missionary and LOVE LOVE LOVE LIFE!!! 
Sister Nilson 

Here is a picture at Zone conference... haha. I took it from the computer screen so hopefully you can see  it. :) 

I OVERCAME MY BIGGEST FEAR!!!

FAMILY!!!! This week I OVERCAME MY BIGGEST FEAR!!!

I GAVE A TALK IN SACRAMENT MEETING!!! IN GERMAN!!! WHAT THE WHAT! CAN I GET A HEY HO!! Yes, some people came up to me after and said, "I am sure it was hard to give a talk in another language,"... which is translates to... You did not do so good.... BAHAHA, BUT! I did it! And I thought that was an accomplishment of a lifetime. Wow... Missions really push you to become who the Lord wants you to be!

I want to give a shout out to the one and only BEAC OF THE WEST!!!!!!!!!!! You get your call on WEDNESDAY! I am freaking!! PLEASE COME HERE!! PLEASE! I dont think I can go 3 years without seeing your face/crazy hair... which is now gone! That is tragic. Grow it out again will ya? :) I am pumped!! BERLIN GERMANY PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!! 

As I say every week, Sister Shelley and I have had such an amazing week!! We have been blessed with finding prepared people that are so open to this gospel and coming unto the Lord. 

One investigator that we have been meeting with is named Eric. He is from Ghana and has lived in Germany for 11 years. He speaks pretty good german, has a very stable job and three cute kids. He has always been searching for god and says that he is not "filled" yet. We told him that as he continues to meet with us he will become "filled" with all the love of God. We asked him if when he knew this was true if he would get baptized and he said YES! Sister Shelley and I were thrilled. Hopefully this week we can talk to him about a taufdatum and get a commitment from him. He is such an incredible person who god has prepared to recieve his gospel. He is open to everything and really wants to progress in following the Lord. 

Our next success story is with a Lady named Alexandra. She is from Mexico, but is engaged to a German man. They are both Catholic, but she does not like the catholic church. We met her at our weekly service project and after were able to give her a church tour. She seemed very overwhelmed when we gave her the church tour and we did not feel it was teh right time to introduce the Book of Mormon, but we gave her an invatation to a PV Activity for her little girl. She was very excited and said she would come! The Activity was on Saturday and she came with her fiance and little girl! We were so happy to see her there. We introduced her to a lot of ward members and the Phal President talked to her for a really long time. She was so impressed and so excited. She said that she absolutley loves the spirit that she feels when she is in our church and when she is around the people. We have both her and her husband Books of Mormon and she was thrilled. 

We had so many moments this week that showed how much the Lord is here directing his work. I love being a missionary and am so thrilled about everything that is happening in Langenhorn!!

JOs!