Packing.

 ----> Well y'all, I am getting transferred. Every time it gets harder and harder because as time goes on, you learn how to love people more than you could before, therefore, it is harder to leave.

BUT! I know I am going where the Lord needs me. I know that I will love my new companion and the people in my next area even more. I know that this isn't the end.

I am sad to go though. There are so many families in the Inverness ward that have become MY family. 

Missions are funny things. You leave your family, go to a strange "new land", where people talk different, and do different things, get put with someone you never met before and are expected to talk to MORE strangers, love them, and share the thing that is most special to you. Crazy, right?

YET. It is the most wonderful thing in the world. You see so many miracles every week (and if you look close enough, you can see them every day). You meet people who God has prepared to meet you- even if it is just for us to say a prayer with them, or testify to them of God's enduring love, or just so they have someone to actually listen to them for a few minutes.

In Doctrine and Covenants, section 4, it encourages us to thrust in our sickle with all of our might. Imagine someone harvesting a field with a sickle. You can't just mamby-pamby cut through the wheat, you have to put your back into it, and use a LOT of force... you have to THRUST in the sickle. Now, there are a lot of injuries that come from this- people would slice their shin open harvesting because they are putting a lot of force, and effort, and strength into it.

Much like this, we HAVE to work hard. One the days you don't want to get out of bed, or the sun is blazing hot, or it is super humid, or nothing goes right. You keep chugging along. You keep loving people even though some aren't going to accept your message, or love you back, or whatever. You get hurt. But, even though it hurts, and even though you want to throw in the towel and stop, the Lord fills in the wounds. He seals the scars and helps us take each step. It is an amazing thing the Atonement is. It covers SO much more than we can even imagine! I think out of everything I've learned so far, I've learned the most about the Atonement, and Loving others.

Y'all. Missions are the best. Hopefully you can see that I love this more than anything in the world. This Gospel is AMAZING and does so much for all who partake.

Also. This is a gospel of HAPPINESS. I hope my thoughts don't seem down or negative, because that is not how I meant to portray this...
2 Nephi 5:25 "Adam fell that men might be. Men are that they might have JOY"... INFORM YOUR FACE!
Keep your chins up, keep smiling, and keep on :)

much love,
sister nelson