Family!! <3

 

OoooOOooh, a box?? My family loves me! <3 Also the house number is 3829 - I flipped the 9 and the 8 when I told you it last week, but cool story! Dad's letter got to me anyway! Yaaaay! The postal service continues to amaze me. Haha!

  

Oh yeaah, Dad wrote in his letter Bryson was home. Weird. Thinking about it it feels like it's been long enough, but it's just one of those things you file away for "later" and don't really ever expect it to come. Tell him hi for me!

 

This week was awesomeee! I got a letter from Kathy Jones :3 I sent one back this morning. Yay! There's been a lot of miracles this week and the ward has gotten to calling us miracle-workers cos we keep getting put in the right place at the right time. Sister Fonua says it's cos we're being obedient (which I don't doubt, for sure!), but for me I'm just doin' the same thing I've been doing since I've started. Guess they trained me good! And you have too, for sure. I didn't realize I had it in me to work this hard. Woo! So thanks for that :D

 

Also, I finished the Book of Mormon this week! Yay! That's the first time on the mission~ I'll prolly go through it like five more times by the end. Could be worse, right :D But Sister Fonua and I are both really limited on our New Testament knowledge, so we just started this week on the book of Matthew! I'm already five chapters into it and I've learned a lot! For example, according to the Bible Dictionary, Matthew himself was likely a thorough Jew, which meant he knew the Old Testament REALLY well. So his purpose in writing is to the Jews to show them how Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law of Moses. Within the first 5 chapters he says something to effect of, "and this experience fulfills this prophecy by this prophet!" There hasn't been too much about Jesus' teachings yet, but that starts soon. :)

 

I feel much better about Loomis now. I have seen the outpouring of love from this ward to the missionaries in general, and to us. I feel much happier having seen that! Not that I didn't see it before, I just didn't feel it so directly the last few Sundays. But I'm better now! The adjustment period just takes a while, y'know?

 

Hmm. What else. Oh! My and Fonua's goal for lessons this week (with a member present) is 12! Last week we only had 5, so we're going to try really hard to get members to come with us. Pray for us that we'll get people to come with us! I'm sure we will, but the added safety-net of prayer can't hurt :)

 

Lastly, if you all could send me a list of some of your favorite scriptures, I'd really like that! I've been  feeling more creative lately (buying those colored pencils must've done it) and I'd like to make more of the little postcardish things I sent with Matt's letter. So you can stick it in your scriptures or on your door or whatevs :D

 

Anyhoo, must be going. I love you!! I pray for you all the time!

 

LOVELOVELOVE,

Sister Nelson

Sister Nelson, Sister Brown and Sister Pulsipher from the Rocklin Ward.

Family!

 

My new address is... I forgot the house number! *brick'd* but I'm fairly certain it's 3928 N Lakeshore, and it just occured to me I don't know the Loomis zip code :D So... however you find that out could work. Maybe search it on Googlemaps?

 

Thanks for the picture, mum! I now have one of you. Yay! And I'm glad you heard from Sister Pulsipher! I forgot we took a picture together :D She's the Primary Pres in Rocklin and she's related to President Hinckley. Cool, right?? (She's a cousin/niece of some relation. I don't remember.)

 

So yeah, Loomis! It's a lot more country out here! Nothing's close together and Walmart is eons away T_T means I have to shop at the more pricey places. Lame! There's a Target nearby, at least. But still.

 

The Elders in this zone are so silly. We have lots of fun at our meetings together and we eat lunch afterwards. They're big on teasing, and I'm good at laughing so it gets along well! Something I learned from my companion this week from comp inventory (it's basically the best thing EVR; you tell them strengths and help them with things they could improve on) and she says that I have a countenance that helps people trust me right away. Now that she said that I have seen it - yesterday we went to visit a part-member family (wife's a member, husband's not) and only he was home. Sister Fonua says he's usually pretty curt and silent but I started chatting it up with him about his half-finished porch and somehow went from there to drawing and engineering stuff for mines in Utah. I even got a smile out of him! So, that was good to see what she sees.

 

The adjustment to Loomis has been a little more difficult than I was thinking it would be, though. The area is really big, and it's hard to get my mind around it! And the Sister who just left finished out her mission so everyone misses her and I feel like a fly on the wall. But I will persevere!

 

@Craig: Since we're out and about and working so hard, allow me to suggest something that's helped me! You won't want to hear it, but here goes: eat better! *dodges brick* Srsly though, in the morning instead of having cereal, try to have something with more protein in it. Eggs, sausage, bacon. (I get tired of all that though, so I have greek yogurt and fruit. Yummy!) If you cut out the sugars and starches you'll start to be less tired. Huzzah! It's annoying, I know, but I've felt loads better since I started doing that. And don't worry - getting into the swing of things will help too.

 

@hockey: noes! DX it's okay canada! I still love you! 

 

Uuummm.... yah, so, Craig? Having 9 people is kinda skeewhompis and totally not normal. I'm slightly jealous.

 

This week has just been really weird. But I've been reading in Ether, and it's just really interesting to keep track of how many kings throw around each other. It was pointed out to me when I read over Omni last month how the last Jaredite, Coriantumr, is found by the people of Zarahemla. I had no idea! For some reason they were both separate entities in my head, never bothered each other or anything. I thought that was neat!

 

Anyhoo, I love you all! I pray for you often and I hope all is well. I'll start praying for Renee too!

 

LOVELOVELOVE,

Sister Nelson

As for the bassoon, it was a black plastic one. And it didn't have some of the "fancy" keys I'm used to. It was okay, though - honestly, you prolly couldn't have been able to tell a difference in the sound. It had soul :D

 

@Small world: Well, when you have an LDS boy serving in Utah, he's gonna run into somebody that we know. Haha! Y'know how there's the six degrees of separation, that anyone can be connected to anyone else through six people...? Yeah, with the Mormons, it's way smaller. Like at 3. Anyway! About half my district (we call it the Rocklin Thunder district, hooah!) is from thereabouts. It's just funny - out here members all guess the missionaries are from Utah, Idaho, or Arizona. And then I come in and tell them Chicago and they go "Woooow!" and then hear South Jordan from my companion and go "Oh, cool." It's kinda sad. XD

 

I'm really happy you're feeling great!! I will be sure to pass along the word to Pres. Weston. (Also, @Craig, Pres Weston mentioned knowing Pres Winn. Small world! :D) I will keep praying, of course. And maybe put your name on the temple roll. Muhar >D (I did when I was in Provo, too. Muhar!) I was gonna say something else about that but I forgot. Oh de wells.

 

Anyway, the big news here is... I'm transfering!! We got the call last night right when we were sitting down to plan, and I was really sad for about an hour until I got that confirmation from the spirit that it's where I need to be. I'll be in the Loomis 3rd ward with an Australian Sister. Sweet :D I met her once already in July on exchanges (where we trade companions for a day), so it'll be fun. Her name is Sister Fonua! I'm really sad to be leaving my amazing companion and the fantastic Rocklin 1st ward though. I love these people!! We're going to try to see our investigators before I leave (which'll prolly be tomorrow morning) and they're really sad too :( One we're going out to lunch with her and her kids, and they're going to have a date soon!! She needs to coordinate with her husband but that's the only thing keeping them: scheduling! They are totally ready and pretty much have been since I got here three months ago. (Can you believe it's already been that long? Wow!)

 

(plz post) @Fang: So you remember how your letter got lost in the mail? It finally found me. Hooray! The postage dates say it got stamped in Texas 'round the 1st of August, then sat somewhere 'til the 28th and then forwarded again on the 3rd. Nice, right? Haha!

 

This morning I finished up reading in Mormon. A lot of it is really depressing! The whole Nephite civilization wiped out. In one battle alone they had 23 commanders and their ten thousand each (that's 230,000 if you're counting) and ALL but 24 people died. Hoo. I can't imagine. But Mormon and his son Moroni still trust in their God, despite their friends, family, and everything getting destroyed and being hunted by the Lamanites. Gives us a bit of perspective whenever we're going through a rough patch though, eh? But I LOVE chapter 9 v.21! 25-27 as well. (Read here) Despite all the destruction around him, Moroni tells the reader to pray and ask the Lord in the name of Christ for help and direction. Of all people, Moroni would have every reason to be angry at God for literally letting everyone die. But he knows that perspective is everything, and he's writing the Book of Mormon for us so that we can be directed. We live in a time where the fullness of the gospel will never be taken again from the Earth - and the Book of Mormon can give us guidance and answers to EVERYTHING we need! What a marvelous promise :)

 

Speaking of, I love Mormon 7:8-9. It very clearly states that the Bible and the Book of Mormon are meant to worktogether to testify of Jesus Christ and his workings and miracles. It's like if someone told you they saw a cat do a backflip - you might think "Oh, they must've seen it wrong. Cats definitely cannot do backflips!" But then if someone else comes and says, "No really, I saw that cat do a backflip!" then you really might start to believe the story. It's the same with the word of God. It makes total sense when you think of it that way, I think.

 

Not much else to report for now. It still blows my mind that it's been three months. Where does the time go? Before you know it it'll be the end of the transfer again. This week was really fun, though. Sister Brown and I made it the most fun we could, and it was awesome! Taught great lessons, had the spirit, taught the gospel and testified wherever we could! And frozen yogurt. Lots of it :) (we're going to be cutting back. haha!)

 

I love you all bunches!! Thank you always for your prayers, I can feel them working in my life. (And praying for our investigators is a good idea too - thank you!!) I adore you all and hope all is well. <3

 

LOVELOVE,

Sister Nelson

It'll prolly be a shortish email cos it's a holiday and the library's closed. Aah! We're using a computer at a nearby apartment complex. The Elders have a key to it so we're borrowing it. Haha! It's a mac though, so the letters are all spaced out and it feels weird. Bah.

@Matt (&band): Woohoo! Excited to hear about the band doing awesome :D and the football peeps too, I guess that's neat too. *brick'd*

@bassoon: well, we kept asking around if people had one, and we ended up mentioning it to the Primary president (the one in charge of all the tiny chilluns when church is happening, for those who aren't familiar with the lingo). She was all, "well I know people on the school boards in three districts, I'll ask all of them!!" so she was awesome and sent thirty emails (not really) (but really though) and she found one from the band teacher at the school she works out. Rockin'! So we went and she signed her life away (not really) (but really!) so I could borrow it for the weekend (it was Thursday by the time we went to pick it up) aaaaand I realized why Heavenly Father waited to let me look at one. I was such a spazz for the first little while even after playing on it for three minutes, XD. But it was good! We threw together a quick arrangement of All Creatures Of Our God And King (there's a pianist in our ward who's like, amaaaaazing and can do that kind of thing like all the music majors everywhere) so it was like whoa. Everybody loved it :D The music coordinator person was gonna try to see if she could get it back by next Sunday so I could play again before transfers, but we'll see. I dunno if the music teacher over there will be that happy to let some missionary borrow it two random weekends, especially while school's going. Meh, it is what it is. 

ALSO, coolest thing ever happened yesterday! It involves me being a lamesausage though... <_< But yeah, it was right after church (so like, 3:45ish) and we went tracting. I wasn't super excited about it, and I was holding off on breaking my fast so I was cranky and stuff. BUT the first door we knocked on, a guy answered and we started talking with him. "Hi, we're missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and we're just in your area answering questions about our faith, beliefs, or the Book of Mormon..." and we kept talking and he was intrigued about what we were, what we believe, and all that. It was really surprising, to be honest. So we set up an appointment and we're going to go back to meet him next week!! Aah! Sooo yeah, usually tracting isn't effective, but we just picked up a new investigator. Le awesome!

Yep. As for way of spiritual thought, there's an activity in Preach My Gospel about looking at how the Savior answers questions of other people. A lot of the time he answers with another question, and he seldom gives a point-blank answer. It's so interesting to see how we as missionaries can follow the example of the Savior and teach as he might teach. So good! Takes a lot of practice, that's for sure.

I love you guys! G'luck on your moving to SLC, Craiger! (Be happy you don't have to ride a plane, lol). I'll try to send a late letter so it gets to you. :)

I love you!! I pray for you every day. <3

LOVE, 

Sister Nelson