yahoo!

FAMILY <3

Happy Arizona! Sorry to hear it was cold... it was in the 40s/50s here. I'll tell the sun to be better at sharing. :D Sorry about the snow, too. And about your mom... but she's doing well now, right? Happy day. Hope Uncle Mike is doing well, too.

WOOO Blackhawks!! Beatin' dem records :3 That's interesting they're staying inter-conference for all their games. My friend Don wrote me and told me all about the changes with the negotiations and all that, so now I understand all the stuff about the cap limits and everything along that nature. Is there going to be a Stanely Cup this year, then? Or is it just gonna be division champs and all that jazz?

How did you get roped into having a mac'n'cheese/mariokart tournament at the house? XD That sounds way fun! Beat 'em all, Mateo! *brick'd*

 THANK YOU for the scripture case! It's perfect :D very sturdy. Yay! Keeps more off my back so I can carry around more copies of the Book of Mormon to pass out. Hurrah!

Hungary?! Tell him congrats :D And what?! Hallidays and the Batchelors are moving? Lame. :C Tell them g'bye for me if you can! And yeah, at least you're getting three more! I'm sure they will be awesome! Any idea where they're coming from?

This week was great- as I said in my response in Craig's email, I spoke in church yesterday! We talked about missions, things we've learned, and the faith & testimony it took to make the decision to up and go. It was fun to think about all of that again, but reminded me about how Heavenly Father more or less hit me with a spiritual two-by-four to get me to think about it. :D Totally worth it though. AND, one of our investigators came! YAAAAY! So exciting and happy! 

We had gone over to her house the day before to chat with her and learned that she didn't like getting up in the morning cos it was usually cold. So I tinkered around with her thermostat and figured out how to get it to kick on before she'd get up :D so she came! yay! We also brought a ladder with us cos she'd said that her gutters were clogged, so we did our best in trying to get them to come unstuck. We stuck a hanger up from the top and the bottom - but when we hit the bottom, out popped a black widow! It's body was about the size of a nickel, and it rolled out like a yo-yo, so the red hourglass underneath gleamed in the sunlight. It was so scary! We jumped back at least five feet and, after attempts to hit it with a sprinkler head (which broke lol) it fell onto the ground. Sister Loveland squashed that bad boy, and then we did a little dance cos it was her first one she'd ever seen, and ever squashed :D good story, eh!

It was a really good week, though. We've been working hard to contact a lot of the less-actives in our ward, and we're being placed in the right place and finding more information about these people every day! It's wonderful to see how the Lord wants all of his children to return to him, no matter what. 

Well, that's all for now! Thanks for all your support and love, and thanks again for the scripture case :D <3

I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!

Sister Nelson

p.s. short info on our investigators!

Toni: She's awesome! Before I got here she'd contacted the church saying she needed help, and that she was a member. When they looked for her records, they couldn't find her, and so they called her Grandma who took her as a child. She said she'd never been baptized, so we started teaching her! :D so hurrah! our less-active is getting baptized! XD

Dottie: She came to church this week! Yay! The Sister tracted into her and she LOVES us. So happy :D She's from Georgia! and she's not bothered by pretty much anything, and she's a quick learner. :)

Katie: She's ten! I might've written about her before, but my first week we visited her family and her mom said to us, "By the way, how would I go about getting her baptized? She hasn't been yet." So we started teaching her :D

Larry: He's interested in learning about all religions, but he said he's learning the most and feeling happiest about the "Mormon religion", haha. He's great, and he should be coming to church consistently soon :D!

There's a few people for you to know about :) post if y'like, but there's some information for yous n_n

Howdy 

FAMILY~

Is Nick going to the same mission as Craig? That is so neat! Maybe he could train him! :D *brick'd* *unlikely?*

Well, transfers were this week! Sister Loveland & I are staying the same in Paradise tho, so nothing different. (btw, did I give you my address? it's 5248 Royal Canyon Ln, Paradise CA 95969.) This transfer there are 6 sisters coming out, so with everything happening we now have one more companionship of Sisters in the mission, bringing up to a grand total of 14! (That's 26 Sisters, woo!) So we're one of the lucky four companionships not moving - all 10 of the others are moving places, figuring out training, and whatnot. Also, Sisters opened up another area in our Zone, so now there will be two sets of Sisters here in the Chico stake! And coincidentally.... Sister Brown is going there. Together again, jiggety jig! Happy huh ^-^

Thank you SO MUCH for the Valentine's box!! That was so cute and nice, thank you :D Sister Loveland says thanks for the treats, too. It was happy. :) I wanted to follow up tho, how goes the housing hunt for winter semester when I get back? Just curious since I never heard. Also, I'm in need of a plain, heavy-duty scripture case (the one I inherited from another sister is falling apart and looks just really sad). Basically something with a strong handle, as that's what's fraying and falling off on mine. But I'll let you Amazon that up, since I know you're really awesome at that :3

So Matt tells me the Hawks are still without regulation losses XD How happy is that?? *brick'd*

Have so much fun talking about bees :D and good luck on your trip! Tell AZ Granna I said hi and I send my love :3 Maybe these pictures I send you can print and take to her! And Uncle Mike, too! n_n

Yay, seedlings! They're typically in my room a lot, aren't they? Haha. Gotta love the warm room in the house. (I'll appreciate that when I come back from California in December. *headdesk*)

In other news, we had our zone conference on Tuesday! We talked about having a higher sense of commitment, and keeping ourselves to a high standards so the people we teach will be able to follow. The thing about leading people to Christ is: in order to help people get there, we have to already be there ourselves! It was a really great conference :3

Thank you for all of your prayers and support!! I have definitely noticed a difference in everything this week. I will say tho, can you pray that our investigators will be able to start coming to church? That's been a struggle for a lot of them here, but we keep doing our best and trying to help them as best we can. That's all we can do, anyway :)

Y'all are fantastic! I LOVELOVELOVE you!!

Sister Nelson

Feb 2013

Feb 2013

Feb 2013

Family! :D

Cute picture, mom! Did Dad getcha that necklace? 'tis nice! :3

Well, if I'm in danger of becoming a California girl, I'm semi- okay with that. Although, the experience won't be complete since I can't go to the beach. Haha ;D

As for reminding Sister Beeri that she's old, you can tell her "you're welcome"! Haha!

Matt has a couple bffs, doesn't he? Is that Haley? (sp?) Sounds like good times though - is he tired of you yet? Hehe :)

Yay, court of honor! That'll be the 2nd one I missed :D *brick'd*

Hmm, now that I think about it, I didn't get Dad's letter this last week. If it went to the mission office they may have been holding onto it since our mission conferences are this week. Otherwise if you sent it here, it's probably in the stacks of mail on the table since the people we live with are out of town and it's all just in piles. I'll be sure to go through that when I get home! but YAY, PMG! Best manual ever :D

Tell Aliva congrats for me!!! Our ward mission leader served his mission in England, granted it was English speaking. But hooray! Mandarin! :D

This week was really great. One of the ladies in our ward found the bassoon at the high school here (which is really bizarre; who knew all these lil' towns would be able to have access to one??) and we got it on Friday! When we practiced I took a video... but it's too big so I can't send it. Boo. Here's a picture instead! Happy Valentines and all that, we played "Love is Spoken Here" and it was fun. Sister Loveland played the violin! It was great :) We tried to use that as incentive to get our investigators to church (we have the 9am time), but still no one came. Boo. Also, here are some pictures of Paradise! (Well, Magalia. But close enough.)

The last one is the view out our backyard.

Anyway, this week I started reading Jesus the Christ! It's been super great to read things with a little more perspective on the cultural takes and history of it all - it makes things much more real for me, along with a couple blunt takes on doctrine and the traditions of men, haha. Otherwise I've started the book of Jacob this week, and there's too many things happening in this room I can't concentrate on what I'm saying x__x sorry for the sudden ending! I did want to ask you, Mom, how your conversion story is going? 

Hope all is well there! I love you and I'm thankful for your support and everything ^-^

LOVELOVELOVE,

Sister Nelson

Feb 2013

Feb 2013

Feb 2013

FAMILY! <3

Things are great here! It's nice and warm (well, 60 is really great I tell you what) so I'm glad we're not clear down in the single digits. I liked that story about the snow! It makes me think about how the people on the other side of the veil are helping us, even if we can't see them. They do a LOT of stuff, and sometimes things happen that just let us know that they're there. That's as good as I got :)

Oh noes! Craig got rear-ended! D: Well, it's a good learning experience. At least they won't go over on miles this month :D Not that this month is a good time to do it, since it's already shorter. But meh! My only thought is when the Elders have to be on bikes, they really have to rely on the spirit more than car-missionaries do. They can't just zip from place to place, and it helps them to slow down and have the spirit guide them a little bit more. Not to say that car-missionaries don't, but once they have a plan it's hard to change them on the fly. That's my thoughts on that! (And no, I get the same if not less than you. At least it's not a week behind, like my letters to him haha :)

Did you get two boxes, or just the one? Cos I sent two... Hmm. I hope it didn't get lost. And yes, thanks for the stamps! They are happy ^_^

hawkshawks *squee* it's so funny - in this area so far there's been a few people who've been keeping track of it for me XD one even told me their ears are always going to perk up now when they hear about hockey or the blackhawks. win. :D *brick'd*

The Flinder's parents live in Granite Bay! Same as President Weston, actually! Sister Flinders mentioned that in her note last month, and I saw the Elders who cover that ward while we were emailing at the library, and I got to talk to them about that. Small world! Do the Beeri's remember anyone from Paradise? Maybe I can make some fun connections there ;D I love those, those're fun.

This weekend we had a regional conference! Except they covered it up as a stake conference XD The other cool thing was... it was broadcasted from Salt Lake! Super cool, huh? Elder Perry spoke to us, and it was almost exactly a lesson out of Preach My Gospel. I'd recommend getting one of those for Matt to look at now, it's a really basic guide to how to share missionary work. He shared each of the basic 3 lessons in 5 minutes, and I about got chills the whole time :D So great! He really emphasized how there's lots of missionaries coming out now, and we've got to keep them busy! It's not only the missionary's job to find, but it works a whole lot better and more effectively when the ward is SO INVOLVED! Finding, teaching, and especially retention. The secret is friendship!! Just be friends with them and DON'T be afraid to talk about the gospel. Then it's a natural process for the missionaries to be able to teach and get better at teaching, and then the new converts will have friends in the ward and won't fall away. 

This church is true. We have a unique message to share, and we should be so excited to share it with everyone! The gospel of Jesus Christ changes hearts, lives, and perspectives. This church is not a new church, it's a restored church! It is the Savior's church, and he directs it's doings. We boldly declare that He did come to atone for His people, and we in kind declare that He called the prophet Joseph Smith to restore it's truths!!

The direction to bring forth Zion has not been revoked! We live in the dispensation of the fullness of times, and there is no one more involved in this work than our Heavenly Father. We should be doing all we can to pray to Heavenly Father to know how best to assist the missionaries in our own area. Missionary work can be done RIGHT HERE! Yes, we should pray for the missionaries all over the world to be blessed with the spirit, but how can we each gain the direction on how to further the efforts right where we are? Pray for it and He'll let you know. That would be my invitation to you :)

I love you! I feel your prayers and I'm thankful for your wonderful examples and newsy letters :) Thanks for being great! The Lord is on our side! Who can be against us if we have Him on our side? (Ps. 27:1)

LOVELOVELOVE

Sister Nelson