9 Months!!!

Hi everyone!!! 

this week was so hot! We hit 110 almost every single day except this weekend when it rained which was so cool because as a stake we fasted for rain and it instantly came! There was Thunder and lighting and a complete down pour. Just shows how much Heavenly father loves his children!!

This week was super busy. We headed up to Albuquerque for a meeting with the leadership and even though it was only a day and a half I feel like it took up the entire week. It was really good though. I got to see Sister Hazen, Sister Plitt and Hermana Thompson. 

I don't know why, Heavenly Father must have known I was having a rough couple weeks because I got to hold so many cute animals and just snuggle with them all week. Also yesterday as we left the apartment I told sister Olson I wanted chocolate peanut butter ice cream and at dinner they had it! I freaked out. So I had to take a picture because miracles like that do not happen all the time(Abby you understand).<---- Sister Nye's version of a tender mercy. 

Transfer news came and we are staying here. President switched up our districts so my District is all sisters now except our district leader and his companion. hahaha poor elder is over a whole group of sisters!! 

We are teaching some awesome people right now. Sadly 4 out of the 5 people we had on date needed to come to church to make their date and they didn't come so they aren't on date anymore but that's okay. We just need to keep working hard and not get discouraged. I just want to help these people and I know this would make them so happy but I can't make the step for them. That's the hardest part about being a missionary. 

We have had a lot of training on divine identity the past couple of months and I am so thankful for it. It has helped me teach the people here who they are and how they can gain hope and peace. This is super small but this week we were stopping by someone and they weren't interested in our message so I asked before we left if we could say a prayer with them. They agreed but what was cool to me was how normal that felt. I hit 9 months on my mission this week and it is so cool to look back on how much I have grown as a missionary. I remember at the beginning of my mission when my trainer would ask random people to pray I would feel so uncomfortable but now it comes naturally and its because I know how important it is. I love being there when random people pray. I know they are feeling the spirit even if it is a little uncomfortable for them at first. ahhh... I love this gospel.

I love you all so much!!!

Love,

Sister Nye

 ICE CREAM MIRACLE

 Socks the cat....my new best friend

Our MLC picture too! Youll find me in the front right sleeping! Love you all!

Hello Loves!

Hello everyone!

This is going to be a super short email. 

We had a super busy week full of meetings and some really awesome lessons. We had zone conference which was super fun! President Guffey lives so far from us down here in the South so it is always such a spiritual boost when he comes. Sister Olson and I gave a training on using the Plan of Salvation pamphlet as a tool(hopefully we did't mess up to bad). 

On Thursday we had the most powerful lesson with our investigator JJ who is on date for July 8th. She came to the conclusion on her own that she needed to stop smoking which was the perfect segway into the word of wisdom. Right in the lesson she decided to stop drinking coffee and tea and smoking. She then grabbed her last cigarette and smoked one last time. She was crying and laughing but she looked so happy. All the sudden this terrified look came over her face. She looked at us and asked what would happen to her tattoos. We hadn't even taught anything about that yet. We all just looked at each other and that is when my heart was ripped out of my chest. JJ's whole countenance changed. A little background information: JJ started getting tattoos when she was 12 and she would do them on herself. She did not have an easy childhood and her tattoos are what got her through those trials. Tears started flooding down her face. She knew that she wasn't going to be able to get anymore and I felt so heart broken for her. She was so willing to stop though. She kept telling us she knew this is what God wanted and that is was a simple thing he was asking her to do. My faith grew so much that day because of her example. She is so prepared and has so much trust in her Savior. 

Side Miracle: JJ's two boys came downstairs and wanted to learn so we taught them and now they are also on date for the 8th. We had been praying that we would be able to meet with them and God answered our prayers in the best way.

Things like that keep happening. Miracle after Miracle. I know God has a plan for all of us. This work gets a little tricky sometimes but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I am praying for all of you! 

I love you all sooo much! 

Love Sister Nye

Relying on God

Hi everyone! 

This week I was all over the place and it got pretty hard but I really tried to rely on Heavenly father. All the Sisters and Hermanas got sick so Sister Olson and I were on exchanges pretty much all week. We were together close to 24 hours total. You don't realize how much you love your companion until they are gone and you see them again and you just feel a sigh of relief. 

While on exchanges in our area I had to go drop David. It was the seconds hardest drop of my mission. I was just crying and I'm sure he was wondering what the heck was going on. He told us again that he knows this church is true but he doesn't want to act. We had to tell him we couldn't meet anymore because we didn't have a direction to go in but that we hope to see him at church. As we walked away I just felt a peace come over me and I had a feeling that he will be baptized soon.

To be honest this week has been one of the hardest on my mission but I am so thankful I know this gospel. After a lesson I was driving home with a hermana and we were talking about how perfect this church is. There was a couple times in the last few days were I felt useless but I would read my favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon, Alma 26 and I could feel the Holy Ghost testify of the truth of Ammons words. In verse 12 he says

 "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."

My testimony is super simple but I know that God is my loving Heavenly father and that he is with me every step of the way and that he has a perfect plan for me. It brings me so much comfort that I can constantly become better through repentance. I have so much to work on but just like Ammon said, I can do all things through Him. I know this church is true. I know that Jesus Christ is my savior and redeemer and because of Him my family can be together forever. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and by reading it we can come closer to Jesus Christ. We have the true church on Earth and we have every reason to rejoice.

I love you all! I hope you have a great week!

Love

Sister Nye

;)

 Hi everyone!

This week was just full of craziness and up's and down's. Sister Olson and I have been working so hard to help our investigators progress but man it is pretty tricky when everyone you teach goes across the border every weekend to Mexico.... Juarez is a black hole and when they go in they never come back. 

I'm trying so hard to think of what happened but my brain is a little fried from the heat! GUYS IT HAS BEEN 100 DEGREES. I was not prepared for this.

Anyways, I talked about David last week and how he was doing awesome, well that changed real quick (David is still awesome just not the situation). He told us this week that he knows everything is true and God told him to be baptized but he told us he is stubborn and no matter what answers he gets he will continue to say no to baptism. My heart broke. The whole tone of the lesson changed and we were speechless. All week we were praying to know what direction to go in with him but we still aren't that sure. He came to church yesterday though so that made me happy.

On the other hand three of our investigators got on date this week for July 1st. The first two are sisters and I love them so much! Jackie and Mia are 11 and 12 and they live in the complex right next to us. Jackie is so sweet and she always talks about how happy the gospel makes her and when we taught her the plan of Salvation she had the biggest smile on her face. Vanessa is 15 and once again just loves this message. I love the youth.... they are way more willing to change and listen to us than anyone else we teach. 

Okay one last story. We were having a real hard day (right after David) and no one was home but at 8:30 we decided to stop by a former named Micheal. The sweetest 60 year old man. we talked to him on his door step for an hour and he told us about his life. His wife passed away 6 years ago and it was so hard for him to into their home because of all the memories that he sold their house and all their furniture and started from scratch. As he was talking about her he started crying. I asked if he had a picture of her and he told me he did but that it was something he kept very close to his heart. As we walked back to our car sister Olson and I just talked about how we hope our future husbands love us that much. He made our day and turned everything around. 

I hope you all have a great week!

I love you all so much!!!!!!

Love Sister Nye 

Shirls sent us American flag sunglasses so we have been rocking them all weekend.

Exchanges with the Transmountain Hermanas this week!

After a lesson last night with our new investigator Tury. (Sister Olson, Brother Torres-ward mission leader, Jeremiah-Brother Torres son, and me)

Another Crazy Week...

Dear loved ones,

This week was super busy and crazy but we were able to see so many good things. To start off on Monday we had to drive up to Albuquerque for a meeting with the other STL's and zone leaders. the meeting was on Tuesday and President Guffey trained us on a lot of things and I felt super motivated to back to our zone and work hard. The best part is that I got to see Sister Hazen (trainer), Elder Contreras(first zone leader that I had for 4 transfers) and Hermana Thompson(my last STL). I got so close to all of them and it was so nice to see them even if it was only for a couple of hours. 

On Wednesday night we went to young women's to meet all the girls. It has always been a dream of mine to work with the young women because I know the sisters that served in my home ward made a huge impact on my life and I want to be able to do the same thing here. All of the girls are awesome and I asked if we could teach a lesson on one of the upcoming Sundays and that turned into Sister Olson and I teaching the combined young men and young women's lesson this upcoming Sunday. I'm super excited. I feel like working in the YSA for 8 Months really prepared me to work with the youth.

We met with David a couple times this week and oh boy is he a rascal but we love him so much. He knows the church is true but he likes to mess with us a lot and make things difficult. He was supposed to pray about getting baptized on June 17th and when we got to his lesson we asked if he had prayed and he said he would get baptized but then we we asked again just to make sure we heard him right and he said to ask him in June and then we asked him if he would say yes in June and he said "I'll say yes but ask me in 4 days." I don't know why he has to add an extra step when we already know he is getting baptized but whatever floats Davids boat.

I went on exchanges with Hermana Rinderknecht in her area and we had so much fun. Their area is really hard to find but we were able to find 4 new investigators and each one of them has so much potential. My favorite finding situation was after stopping by an investigator who wasn't home and we were sitting in the car trying to decide where to go next when two girls came walking down the street. I rolled down my window and yelled "Hola!" and their faces were terrified. We got out of the car and started talking to them. They could not stop laughing because they could not believe they were talking to strangers but as soon as we told them about the Book of Mormon and that Jesus Christ came to the Americas they got super quiet and the spirit was so strong. They couldn't explain how they were felt except that it was different from anything they had ever felt before. The Hermanas are going back this week to teach them the Restoration.

I had to give a talk yesterday in church and it was the first time in my life that I was the closing speaker and I was soo nervous but everything went okay and I think I only saw a few people sleeping through my talk. I love 4th ward. It's like 90% older couples and they are all so sweet. Our Bishop set of a "5th Sunday" activity for 3rd hour all on member missionary work and he had all the members sit in groups of 4's and role play. He told us he was trying to have a giant district council without the members knowing that is what he was doing. It went really well and the members has awesome one liners to invited their friends to activities.

Last night we still needed to find 2 more new investigators to reach our weekly goal and we were praying so hard that we would be able to find them. We felt prompted to stop by a former family. The wife started talking to us at the door step and told us she would love to make a return appointment with us and then her husband came out and told us to come in and sit down. To be honest he did not seem like the nicest guy at first and as we were sitting he told us "you wont convince me." for a second I thought he was about to yell at us but then he opened up and told us how he wanted God in his life and he didn't know what to do. We ended up staying for almost an hour and by the end he just kept telling us to never give up on them and to do whatever it takes to make their family happy! We are going back over tonight to teach them again and I can't wait. I know God has a plan and he will lead us to who is ready.

I love you all so much! I hope you all have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Nye

Elder Contreras and Hermana Thompson

David after his lesson

 MLC

MLC

 

We're not in YSA anymore...

HELLOOO EVERYONE!

I have officially moved 30 miles down the free way but let me tell you, family wards are a whole other party. I had totally forgotten what it was like to be in a big family ward with babies and grandparents. It feel just like the Issaquah 1st ward but the Mexican version. 

My new companion is Sister Olson and she is soooo funny and so hard working. We started laughing as soon as we saw each other and we haven't stopped since. She is from West Haven Utah and has been out a transfer longer than me. Thank goodness she has already been serving in the area for 2 transfers because dang there is so much to know. The first day was a little overwhelming. I haven't ever worked with so many different lists in the mission and memorizing the area is not going as smoothly as I would have hoped but I know I'll figure it out by the time I leave. 

It has been a lot of fun to teach every age group and families... ahhh I love it. We started teaching a family we met this week and the 12 year old daughter is so prepared and ready to follow Jesus Christ and the parents aren't to far behind. Jackie (12 year old) told us she felt so much peace and love. I just wanted to cry the spirit was so strong. This was just a family we went up to talk to on their porch so I know all of you have friends that are ready to hear this message. 

One of our investigators is David. He is in his 60's and I'm pretty sure was in some sort of biker gang. I don't know why but we just became instant friends as soon as we met. He is so sassy which makes it fun because then I can be sassy back. David knows the Book of Mormon is true and that the church has been restored. His only hold up is that he doesn't want to pray about baptism because he says God will tell him when he is ready and he doesn't need to worry about it. I personally think he is just a little scared but that he has already gotten his answer to be baptized. 

Sorry this email has been a weird one. My brain is kinda all over the place. haha. 

I love you all so much!!!!

Love,

Sister Nye

The picture of sister Vasquez is monumental. My STL's took it on our last day together when sister V put her hand on my shoulder (which was the closest she has ever gotten to me.) hahaha. 

Sorry Denise for the pictures. This was a recent converts home and they told us we had to hold the snakes. I was laughing so hard when it was on Sister Olson's head. It was disgusting and afterward the son found snake skin in my hair >_<

Goodbye YSA

Hello Loves,

Where do I even begin? This has been such a crazy week but wow it ended even crazier! So many things.....

First, Nelly got baptized! Holy smokes what a miracle! She was supposed to have her baptism interview on Tuesday but it had to be cancelled and rescheduled for Thursday at 5 but there was an emergency inspection of the barracks on fort bliss so we rescheduled for 7:30 and then we got a call from Nelly saying they found cocaine in the barracks and they were not allowed to leave at all. I was panicking (maybe laying on the floor in the institute building) and our ward mission leader was throwing out ideas like have a face-time interview! Long story short our mission president approved it and Nelly was able to be interview by our District leader while she was still on base. The next day she was baptized and all the stress and worry was worth it! I love her so much and I know she is going to make a huge impact on so many people.

Second, we had a tarantula in our apartment on the wall by Sister V's bed. I have never been so terrified in my life. We got the Elders that live in our apartment complex to come get it before district council. Elder Kirkham picked it up with his hands and brought it to the meeting. It was soooo gross. (Pictures will be included)

Third, on Saturday I got the Transfer call! I am...staying in El Paso. hahaha. I am being moved to a family ward on the East side of the mountain which is funny because as the YSA missionaries we covered that area too so it wont be to big of a change. I was called to be a Sister Training Leader which is awesome because I get to go on exchanges with all the Sisters and Hermanas! My new companion is Sister Olsen and I have been told she is funny and crazy so I am sure we will work well together! haha. 

I cannot put into words how thankful I was to talk to my family yesterday. they are all doing so good and I miss them so much. Afterwards when we were driving to our dinner I could not comprehend that I had just talked to them and seen them face to face. It felt like a dream! I was blessed with the absolute best family! 

It is so weird that I wont be in YSA anymore. My brain can't comprehend it. As I was packing last night is felt surreal. I am so thankful for the months I got to serve here. Even up until this last week I had so many things that I needed to learn from the members in this ward. 

Well next time I email I will be in a library 30 minutes away from the library I am currently at! I can't wait to let you all know what happens this week!

I love you so much!!!

Love,

Sister Nye