Rain and Eternal Families

(Written Monday, April 27, 2015)

Well y’all, today is my half birthday and basically my 6 month mark. I travel home next year on April 26th. So from here on out, I only have one year left to make the mission count. I have finished one third of my mission already. It is crazy how fast time goes. What a significant time.

I am so glad to be serving. Although things right now are mainly driving around a lot to try and get to know our members and the people that the elders were teaching before, you still get to see the hand of God. We stopped in on a recent convert family and they are on fire. They were getting ready to go into the temple the next day and we were able to help them feel excited. Their eight year old twins are geniuses and knew so much about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and were quizzing us, it was so fun. Then right before we left, they sang Families Can Be Together Forever about going to the temple and being sealed as a family. This whole family was about to do something so special and beautiful and they were doing it together. I know the family is ordained of God and that he loves us so much. What made it even better was that they sang in Spanish and I understood. I will admit that I cried a little bit, but the gospel of Jesus Christ and the promises we can make are so special and I love seeing it bless the lives of others.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Hermana Alayna Nelson

PS: It rained here and I was so happy, but now it is really cold, (like 65 degrees... but that's super cold for me now)
PPS: Me and Sister Stark this morning, still doing great :)

HOLY HOT HOMELESS HORSES!

(Written Monday, April 20, 2015)

Dear wonderful friends and family,

How different this area is for me! MY GOODNESS! So many changes! I received my trainee (baby) Wednesday evening and her name is Hermana Stark, She is from Auburn Alabama but doesn't have an accent and she loves cats like me, so we bonded fast obviously. She was at BYU for a bit and she is planning on going into computer science so she can be an animator for Pixar. So that's pretty cool!

My baby <3

So to talk about this area more, I was "born" in a fairly wealthy area in Henderson, Nevada. I am now in a place called Sunrise Manor (I believe) and it's more north east and boy is it a change! Probably 80% of the people here are Spanish speakers (which is really good for me!) The first person I talked to in the street was a homeless man named Gino going through a trash can to find aluminum cans to get money for them. He was really friendly though. And there are essentially Mexican Cowboys that ride their horses by the side of the road! It's quite the interesting place! Lots of GIANT CACTI! It's more desert here, and more rural and slightly rundown. I live near a street called Hollywood, but it looks nothing like Hollywood here and of course, the heat is starting to move in which will be so fun (sarcasm)

But the most exciting thing is that the Las Vegas Temple is in my area and only about 5-10 minutes away from our apartment! Last night, we went to try to visit everyone and when we finished all of our plans and still had time, I decided to show Sister Stark the temple site. It is so beautiful at night and the spirit is so strong and peaceful there. I know that the temples are the houses of the Lord on the Earth and the closest place we can be to Him here. I am so grateful for the peace it brings to be so close.

Angel Moroni on our Beautiful Temple

I feel so strongly that we are going to see so many miracles in this area, the ward we are serving in is incredible! They are so ready to help us and so nice! There are so many ready people here! There are lots of crazy changes to get used to, but I know that Heavenly Father is serving here with us just like he promises us in Jacob chapter 5. I love my mission and I am so grateful to be here!

I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Hermana Alayna Nelson

Please check out the blog for more pictures! There are lots this week!

Of course, you can find a little piece of redneck heaven here in Vegas #Murica

NEW LEADERSHIP ASSIGNMENT

Written Thursday, April 16, 2015

I'M HAVING A BABY WHERE THE PEOPLE ARE HAPPY

(Written Monday, April 13, 2015)

Hopefully that got your attention.

I hope you are all doing wonderful! This week we learned what is going to happen, where we are going to go and who our new companion will be. My companion Sister Hutchinson is staying here with another sister. This is Sister Hutchinson's last six weeks and then she is done and goes home from her mission. A joke that all missionaries have is that her new companion is her "murderer" and "kills" her off because she goes home. Just like we have murderers, we also have mothers and fathers in the mission. I have been asked to train a brand new missionary straight from the training center in Mexico where I was for 6 weeks before coming here. This is a big responsibility and I don't feel ready to "have a child". I feel too young in the mission for this, but Heavenly Father is showing me that He trusts me. I will also be moving to a brand new area with my new companion and have to get the hang of everything with her. The area I am moving to is called Los Feliz (which means "The Happy"). It will be near the temple here in Vegas so that will be very exciting, but I am in the dark as to what is going to happen there. This week will be full of surprises for me and my new trainee. But I am looking so much forward to it. I don't know who she is yet, but I will find out on Monday and then I get to hope that I can be a good mom, so if any of you have trained before, advice would be very appreciated!

But that is about the most exciting thing from this week, there are some other pictures that will be on the blog. I know this is Heavenly Father's work and that no matter where we go, the message is the same and so is the Spirit. The gospel will continue to go forth!

I was feeling really nervous this morning about this responsibility and I was worried that I wouldn't know what I was doing and I was reading the scriptures and read this:  

"For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward. Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward."

This scripture brought me a lot of comfort, Heavenly Father isn't going to do it for me because he wants me to grow too and it will be so much better for me in the end. So if I am doing good things and doing my best to train this girl well, "much righteousness" will be brought to pass.
I love you all and will tell you all about "my daughter" next Monday.
I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you so much!

Have a great week!
Hermana Alayna Nelson

Driving with Sister Hutchinson  

I know this is blurry but his jacket says soldiers for Jesus and I just thought it was sweet.  How funny!   

The Sweet Lopez family that I was so sad to say bye to!

5 Days, 8 Pounds, 1 Sickness, 4 Conference Sessions

(Written Monday, April 6, 2015)

Howdy Friends and Family,

It has been an interesting week and I wish I had something incredible to share with you, but sadly, since Tuesday afternoon, I have been incredibly sick and have had to stay home for five days. Because of this illness, I have lost 8 pounds, but I am working on regaining them, don't worry.  I've done a lot of sleeping, journal writing (to get caught up, which is the never ending goal of every missionary) and a lot of thinking about church things and reading when I wasn't too exhausted. I think I am on the upward climb out of this horrendous illness, but because of it, I have no exciting experiences to share.

But, I did manage to sit in on General Conference where we get to listen to the Prophet and apostles of the Lord share their testimonies and counsel with us about withstanding the trials and challenges of this world. It was so great and so inspiring, probably my favorite talk was Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's (Ash, if you could post the talk on my Facebook and blog that would be so awesome) it talked about the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ in the most beautiful manner I've ever heard. Simply, I will only add my testimony to his because he says it better than I could but I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and the amazing work that he has done for me. He loves us, we need only to turn to Him!

One thing that I loved from conference is that our way to show our love is to simply be obedient to what he asks of us. So although Easter is over, remember Him and love Him by being obedient, not just this week, but for always and I know you will see beautiful changes in your life!

I love you all!
Here is to hoping that this week is much more healthy and full of miracles!

Love, Hermana Alayna Nelson

PS: These pictures are
1) to show you how scared I was that they might have to do blood work at urgent care, thankfully they didn't and
2) to show you that I'm actually doing much better now, so don't worry! Love you :)

Surprise picture from your daughter

From: Christina Rich
Date: Mon, Mar 23, 2015 

Just cut these darling sister missionaries hair.

Heavenly Father Has a Plan for You and Me

(Written Monday, March 30, 2015)

Wow everyone, this has been a week full of miracles out the wazoo!

I hope you all had a great week and you are excited as Easter is getting closer! I am looking so forward to being able to celebrate the resurrection of my Savior Jesus Christ, but not only that, General Conference on Easter Morning, which means that the whole world gets to listen to the prophet of God give us comfort and counsel in a world that is so hard to live in! I am so grateful for that!

This week, I was very humbled to learn that Heavenly Father really does have a plan for me. Last week, I was having a hard time understanding why after all my hard work, diligence and obedience, I saw now fruits to my labors. My companion, who has a lot more faith than I do in this aspect said, in regards to no one being at church, "It's okay sister, everything will work out eventually and Heavenly Father has a plan, maybe this Sunday wasn't the best for them to come." I had a hard time accepting this because it seemed like we couldn't have had a better Sunday. However, this Sunday, I got to see all six of these beloved sons and daughters at church (perfect attendance for what I had wanted the week before ) and it was so much better for them than last Sunday would have been. They made so many friends and got integrated into the activities and they all loved it! I am so happy to say that my sweet friend Gaby and her family were able to make it to church this week and I was beaming all during the Sacrament Meeting because I knew that Heavenly Father was listening to me and showing me that He's there and I KNOW that I appreciated having them there so much more this week than I would have the week before. Heavenly Father has not only been teaching me patience this transfer, but also to trust in Him, His judgement, His timing etc. and it's blessed everything we have done.

I also learned a lot from the worldwide Women's broadcast this past Saturday night, it was all about the family and it kinda made me miss my family for just a few seconds because of how grateful I am that they have helped me be the person that I am. But it was incredibly inspiring and empowering to us as woman in a scary world. I learned a lot from President Eyring's talk about being compassionate and I invite you all to watch it on lds.org. I love how inspired the church leaders are and I love this gospel.

That's basically it spiritual wise this week, other random things to note, I cleaned out a cat lady's house for service this week and it made me really never want to have like more than 2 cats ever. There was so much cat hair, but it was really fun, we did it as a district.

I got my bangs back and I feel so much more like myself which is nice.

We had exchanges again with our sweet Sister Training Leaders and I got to be in an English area for the day and I learned so much from Sister Robinson. Oh and I tried cactus, which tastes kinda like a green bean mixed with cucumber, it was kinda weird, but I kinda liked it! The things you do as a missionary!

I love you all! My commitment to you all is to watch conference this week and send me an email with your favorite talk or quote from conference and why you liked it! I know these men and women are inspired from our Heavenly Father to tell us the newest information that will protect us in this world! If you would like to know how to watch conference, visit This Link to learn more!

I love you all, Have a phenomenal week and a phenomenal Easter!
HE IS RISEN and BECAUSE HE LIVES, I get to share the good news of life after death with all of Las Vegas.

Love,
Hermana Alayna Nelson