March 5th 2018, See ya soon!

And for the last time in 18 months…

Hello Everyone!

Writing this feels so unreal and I can't believe I come home in few days. How did the time go by so fast? Wasn’t I just in the MTC with Sister Tinoco making a fool of myself in roleplays and literally praying 24/7 that God would help me because I had no idea what I was doing? Maybe it was yesterday because I’m still constantly making an absolute fool of myself and I rely on my Savior more now than ever before. My mission has been the most enjoyable, difficult, heartbreaking, rewarding 18 months of my life. I have seen people I love stumble and go through huge trials (to be honest some seemed impossible to overcome) but as they learned about the gospel and they actually began to live the teachings of Jesus Christ their lives began to change.  This gospel allows us to become better, find hope and a joy we didn’t know existed. This has been the best time of my life and I can’t comprehend being released and not serving around these people anymore.

Yesterday at church I was able to bear my testimony with our 10 year old investigator Ella. We walked up together and after a bit of arguing at the pulpit over who would go first  she made me. I can’t express the love I felt for her and for the whole congregation though as I stood their with Ella at my side squeezing my hand and testifying of Jesus Christ. Ella bore her simple powerful testimony on knowing the church is true and it made me cry so hard. These are the moments on my mission that make the rejection and heartache worth it.  

Ahh I don’t even know what to say.

I guess I will just end with my simple testimony.

I know our Heavenly Father loves us and knows us each individually. Over the course of my mission I have been in the homes of the saints and non members and God has his hand in all of their lives. He knows what is best for us and what will allow us to grow and become greater. I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church on the earth. I know that through the prophet Joseph Smith that Christs church was restored and miracles and prophecies continue to come forth today. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It teaches and testifies of Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer and as we read it our lives will be filled with the spirit. I know that President Nelson is the prophet on the earth today and he holds the keys to lead and guide us. But most important I know that Jesus Christ IS my Savior. He died for us but he lives again and he is completely aware of everything we are going through.

I love you all to the moon and back.

See ya real real soon!

Love,

Sister Nye

We hit our 2 week mark as a companionship again last Saturday.

 Stress eating Chinese food

 Recent convert, Kai Kamala, and our ward mission leader Brother Bradshaw

Playing jenga last night with our investigator Hailee

 Carlisle

February 26, 2018

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a great week! We had a lot of fun down here in the land of enchantment and we knew to be happy we needed to keep busy and work hard. Luckily God blessed us with a bunch of inspiring meetings and service opportunities.

Earlier in the week Elder Nielson, the seventy over the missionary department of the church came to tour our mission with his wife. They were so positive and kind. We spent majority of the day with them so they shared a lot of powerful messages but the one  that hit me hardest had to do with change. Elder Nielson reminded me how our purpose in life is to face trial and adversity so we will grow and become who God intends for us to be. Just because we are facing trials and hardships doesn’t mean we have sinned or done anything wrong. Regardless of what life we live God will always give us experiences to help us improve. The important part of that though is that we then can choose how to react and to move forward with optimism knowing God is on our side and everything will work out. God will never abandon us and like 3 Nephi 9:14 says, Christs arm of mercy is extended towards us. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want to help us and support us in all our afflictions.

Some other cool opportunities came up like cleaning the temple grounds and participating in a missionary panel at our stakes women's conference. The panel consisted of our stake president, a bishop, a missionaries mom, a returned missionary, myself and Kassidy acting as youth. It was really fun and together we got to share ideas on what women can do to support and prepare their children to serve missions. While sitting in front of everyone I had one of those moments of “wow I’m a missionary!” I am so grateful for this time and I can’t believe it is almost over. Serving a mission has been the best decision I have ever made and I have grown so much through this journey. I know this is the true church of Jesus Christ. The spirit has borne witness to me again and again that this is what brings true happiness. I love my God!

Love,

Sister Nye

after cleaning the temple

 Dions pizza

 getting trunky to hold babies!!!!!!

February 19, 2018

Hello everyone!

Lets just say I am glad this week is over and I can start fresh and move on. We had a couple rough days with a recent convert and his friend that was supposed to get baptized this past weekend but sadly that didn’t happen. I don’t want to give a lot of details but anti mormon material was involved and my heart was crushed. Everything seems to be mellowed out now. Satan has so many evil tricks to try to tear us down. Stupid little spirit. Needless to say this week did not go as I would have hoped. The members that have been involved have told me this is my last refiners fire before I go home. I sure hope I learn the things I am supposed to from this.

Update on Sister Guy: She is home. Her parents came and picked her up Friday since she can’t fly. They still don’t know what her condition is and a MRI she got this week came out clean so we are all a little in the dark with what is going on.

I feel like Sister Harris and I have been together for months now and its only been a week. It’s interesting to be with a companion again because we already know everything about each other and how to teach in unity so its pretty nice. I feel bad that she has had to deal with me this week hahaha. She handles me well though.

I just want to bear my testimony that I know this church is true. I am so grateful for a God who hears and answers my prayers. I know we are his children and he knows us better than we know ourselves, so he knows what we need to grow. I know the Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. Nothing would be possible without him. Christs teachings are here upon the earth and if we apply them in our lives we can have so much peace even in the midst of trials.

I love you all so much!

Love,

Sister Nye

I hope these are looked at with some humor. 

emotional break down 1 at our apartment

 emotional break down 2 at a members house

 exchanges with sister Vasquez

February 12, 2018

Well this week was absolutely random.

To start off the beginning of the week was pretty normal/ average missionary week but then all the sudden things went cray and around Thursday night I ended up in fetal position lying on a tile floor eating a pint of rocky road ice cream at a members house with the whole family staring at me. It was great.......okay backing up to what happened. 

So Thursday morning we had a trainer trainee meeting with our mission president and it was great! Before the meeting started President Guffey asked me how sister Guy was doing and I told him she still had the constant headaches. That was literally the whole conversation. Fast forward to 4 pm. We are weekly planning and sister Guy starts getting low on energy so falls asleep on the floor right when our phone starts ringing and its president Guffey. I answered and he told me sister Guy would be going on an exchange (alright cool) down to El Paso(thats different and far away for an exchange) for 1 1/2 months or longer(WHAT KIND OF EXCHANGE IS THAT?!?!). At this point I go into a bit of shock and sister Guy just starts crying because she was groggy but just started to put together what was happening. President told us she would be leaving the next morning and there wasn't a plan for me yet. Well Friday morning we took her to the mission office and I got in the car with my STL's. I wanted to continue working in my area so I went on splits all day with Kassidy from YSA. The next day I went out with my STL's in their area and then around 4 pm on Saturday we went back to the mission office to pick up.....SISTER HARRIS! We have now been together for 2 days and we are having a party. 

We gave talks in church yesterday and taught seminary this morning and pretty much winging everything we do BUT we have made it through the weekend so we are counting it all as a success. I haven't heard back from sister Guy but I am praying that she is feeling better down south and learning a lot. I miss her so much but I am trusting in God that this is what needed to happen. 

I was able to get a blessing Friday night and it brought so much comfort. Honestly don't know how I would survive without the priesthood in my life. I am grateful for all the tools and gifts on Heavenly Father gives us to make life better and more enjoyable. We have already been able to see miracles with new investigators and less active families that allowed us to come in and share a message. I am trying to put all my trust in God and learn all the things I need to while I have time out here. 

In my talk yesterday I spoke on the Holy Ghost and the role he has played in my life. The Holy Ghost has been my comforter and constant companion. My mission has taught me to listen to the still small voice and seek his guidance... especially weeks like this that don't go exactly as planned. I know this church is true and I know God is always looking out for us and helping us! 

I love you all! 

Love,

Sister Nye

PS HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

impulsively giving sister Guy bangs at 10 pm Wednesday night. 

Killian and Laci surprised me at church yesterday

splits with Kassidy

early morning seminary with sister Harris

February 5th 2018

HOLA

Well I don't have a lot to share this week because my poor sister Guy has been sick with altitude sickness the last 2 weeks. Our fun adventure this week was at the emergency room for hours as she got pain medication through an IV... who knew altitude sickness could literally be the worst?

Well it is. She keeps going though and has helped me so much. I'm honestly not even training her. 

I would share the picture of her in the hospital with the world but I don't know how much she would appreciate that.. lol.

This week was a party and a lot of rough things happened but in the end we enjoyed our time together! It was obvious that Heavenly Father was watching out for us because a lot of little miracles kept happening and we were able to make it through with no casualties. I wish sister Guy was writing this right now because she received some really awesome revelation about this trial she is going through. I don't want to butcher it but what she learned is that we sometimes in life try to look for healing in places where the pain is taken away temporarily instead of looking to the source of all truth and light or Great Physician, our Savior Jesus Christ. As we turn to these other sources we are filled with fear or anxiety but as we turn to the Lord to help us conquer our pains we can find peace in the small steps we have been taught to take. (sister Guy whispered this into my ear so I could write it haha) I think it is so cool that she learned this lesson this week. I was the other source where the pain is only taken away temporarily and the ER was "the Great Physician" lol. I know this is true though. Our Savior loves us so much and wants us to be healed! He knows us personally. He knows what we need. I love him so much!

I love you all so much!!!

Love,

Sister Nye

pictures are of sister Guy and her first green chile breakfast burrito and some weekly planning.

Bill Nye the Science Guy

Hello Everyone,

Sister Peterson headed down to El Paso last week and I picked up Sister Guy. You would not believe the amount of jokes we have gotten this week about our names. Honestly they are so close it trips me out sometimes and I feel like I am saying my name wrong. 

Sister Guy is super sweet and fun! I love how willing she is to work. The first lesson I took her to was for our investigator Brandon on the word of wisdom and law of chastity. She handled it like a total champ. I don't know how she does it but she has soaked everything up like a sponge and kills it in lessons. 

My brain is all over the place so I will just share one of my favorite experiences from this week. 

We were meeting with our investigator Felicia who we put on date last week for March 3rd but she seemed really hesitant about it. Well we were teaching her about tithing and fasting this week and the whole lesson I just kept having the impression that we need to invite her to be baptized on February 24th which made no sense because A. it was a week earlier and she was already on the fence about baptism and B. it was a week earlier so what difference would that make... haha. Well I couldn't handle it anymore and I asked her and you could see something change about her. It was like her eyes lit up. She agreed and told us she would fast about the date. She was so much more willing to be baptized with this new date. I still don't fully understand why but I know that our Heavenly Father knows her and knows what she needs. I am grateful for the spirit and the major role he plays in this work. 

Oh also we got to go to the temple with Johnny this week to do baptisms for the dead! It was so cool. Johnny asked me to be baptized for his grandma and he is the one that got to baptize me! The spirit was so strong. I loved to be able to do that for him and for his grandma. He was so grateful and then on top of that he was able to bless the sacrament yesterday! Woohoo! He is progressing! 

Which reminds me! Killian and Buddy are both preparing to go through the temple and I just got word that Killian received his patriarchal blessing yesterday which is awesome. Everyone seems to be doing really good. 

I think I have already written about this before but it is so cool to be at this point in my mission and see my converts doing awesome! The church is so true and I have seen it bless so many lives!!! I am grateful to know that God watches out for us and he wants to bless us. That is literally what gets me through every week and especially when nothing seems to be going right. I know God has a plan and we don't need to worry. I love this gospel. I love what is does for each of us and the joy it brings. I love my Savior so much! I have done a lot of pondering the last couple weeks and I know without a doubt I would not be where I am without my Heavenly Father and Savior.

I hope you all have a great week! 

I love you all so much!!

Love
sister Nye

January 22, 2018

Hello everyone!!! 

How is everyone doing?? I had such a good week and it went so fast & it was just crazy. Time is flippin flying. AHHH. I pick up the new sister this Wednesday and we are staying in Woodmont and YSA. I am so excited to get her and serve with her! I hope she likes me... everyone pray for that. I am so excited! My dear sister Peterson is headed down toooo.... EL PASO YSA! Not gonna lie I was a little jealous. I felt homesick for El Paso when she got her transfer call. So weird. I used to think that place was so weird and now I love it with all my heart. I am so grateful too because she can go check on all my recent converts there. It all seems pretty perfect!

This weekend we had stake conference and the Saturday night session was so good. There were 3 speakers who had previously been inactive for one reason or another and they talked about their experience and what brought them back and then they were "interviewed" by one of the stake presidency and asked questions about their testimonies and some insight on what we can do as members to help all of our brothers and sisters, less active or not. The main theme was that we need to stay away from any judgement and just love each other. I don't think there was one dry eye in the room. I felt so inspired and motivated to serve. We never know what others are going through, even the ones that seems to be living perfect lives. That is something I have really learned out her... no one has a perfect life and everyone goes through really hard things. BUT thankfully we live in the fullness of the gospel and although life can be the worst sometimes their is always hope for a better day or time to start over and be whoever you want to be. Man, Christ is the best. I love him with all my heart and I cannot comprehend how much he loves us and how much our Heavenly Father loves us. 

We also did some other fun things this week like painted a big mustacheless Mario for our investigators Natasha's sons 4th birthday party.  It was a fun service project and it looked pretty good. We got to go to the party and the kids had a blast pinning the mustache on Mario. 

Our new YSA ward is doing awesome! You can tell the new bishopric is overwhelmed haha but they are doing well. We still have no callings but everyone is willing to take any assignment until real callings are made. There are way more people now so a lot more possibility for people to teach which is cool because YSA is the best and we got two of our investigators on date for the upcoming month! Its also funny because we share the ward with another set of elders.  Elder Andersons companion got called as AP so he has been alone with us in the YSA. We have to check all his texts and I made a joke that we were a trio and he did not think it was as funny as me... he might have said my comment made him feel disobedient. oops. haha. 

Well I love you all so much! I hope you have the best week ever!!!

Love

Sister Nye

January 15, 2018

Hello Everyone!!

This week was a good/weird one. That probably gets so old to read but I swear every week on my mission has been good and weird. 

Any who....

I got sick last Sunday with a cold and the then got a migraine on Wednesday which was the WORST! The headache got really bad when we were at the home of a Hispanic sister who only speaks Spanish. I was trying to understand bits and pieces of what she was saying but my brain felt fried. I probably looked so out of it. Sister Peterson had to drive home for me and when I hit the pillow I crashed for two hours. I woke up feeling a ton better but still not ready for full blown missionary work so we went to the church to help set up for the young women's new beginnings. The whole week was a bunch of service which was really nice. One night we just stopped by a single mom in our ward and cleaned her house for two hours. I love doing that kind of stuff.... maybe that's why I received personal revelation on Saturday during studies to call our ward mission leaders wife and make home made cookies withe her for less active members.  We made 120+ chocolate chip cookies and spent the day giving them out. It was the best!

Our YSA branch turned into a ward yesterday and it was awesome! We had like triple the attendance and the new bishopric looks sweet!

We got some bad news from one of our members Brother B this week who is like the fake adopted grandma of our two 9 year old investigators. The girls dad did not approve them getting baptized. All of us were really sad. They still have permission to come to church and meet with us though so they will get baptized one day. We have not lost hope!!

Some other random news: I talked to my mission president this morning and I got called to train for my last transfer! I was not expecting that at all. I'm really excited to train again though. I think this will keep me super focused and busy! I pray that she will learn the things she needs to from me.... hahah....oh boy. I will really miss sister Peterson though. She has been such a breath of fresh air and we had a lot of fun together. There is still a chance she could be in a trio with me(fingers crossed)

I love you all so much!

Sister Nye

PS 

please send any uplifting and helpful tips for the end of a mission. 

I have been praying a lot to learn everything that Heavenly Father wants me to learn while I am out here. Satan is really good at making all of us feel inadequate (a theme of my mission) and down. I have learned that my biggest defense against Satan is knowing my identity. Sometimes I wake up and just don't want to go out but as soon as I pray and ask for desire or help I am filled will Gods love and remember why I am here and what I am doing this for. I am grateful for the gospel and its ability to change lives. I know this was Heavenly Fathers plan and although Satan wants us to believe that we are failures, our Heavenly Father knows that we are all champions and we will succeed. All of us have the ability to change and become the person Gods knows we can be thanks to our Savior.