9 February 2012

Hi Family!

How are you all doing? I hope you're doing well. I love getting your notes and letters. It's so fun to hear all that's going on. . . .

So, this week, it's also been really good. Today we got to go to the temple, which was a lovely experience. I really really feel lucky to have a temple so near. We get to go every 6 weeks! It feels like going home, in some ways, to go there, and it's wonderful. I hope we all are taking advantage of the closeby temples we have.

SO, this week is going pretty well. I have no big stories, but I have felt Heavenly Father's support over and over again. To summarize things, I think that I have learned that I have to learn things on Heavnly Father's schedule, not on my own, which is humbling but also more empowering - cuz you can do anything through Him. Also, I've been learning about trusting in the Lord.

You see, I am almost allowed to start learning characters! Yay! Just one more lesson to pass off before I can. But at the same time that I am making progress in the language, I am realizing how little I know about teaching and about the culture. I'm very grateful for a native companion who can help with these things. From what I've noticed, praise is hard to come by in this culture, and while it is very important to be humble and to do your best, your best will never be good enough. I think that from their childhood, a lot of people have here have had to deal with the difficulties of this. And I think that what people need here a lot is just a lot of love. So that's what I can do! Whether or not I can speak clearly, teach clearly, or understand clearly, I can love these people! It's very empowering and exciting.

The last thought of today is a short experience about prayer. I know that prayer is powerful. So we need to remember to be specific and sincere in prayer. One night after trying to call some potential investigators (people who had been contacted onthe street and gave their phone #s), none of which answered, I was saying my nightly prayer. I suddenly realized that I could pray that these people would have a chance to actually talk with us (don't know why that didn't occur to me before). I specifically thought of one girl I had called, and I prayed that I'd have a chance to talk with her. Well, right away our phone rang and it was her. She just wanted to know who had called her phone earlier. Once she figured out who it was, she hung up. But she called. Right after I prayed. I think that was Heavenly Father telling me that prayer is real and specific and powerful. The Lord is more involved in this work than I realize.

And I know that He is that involved in your lives too. I love you all so much!

Love,
Sister Nielsen