FAMILY!! <3

Hello! Happy days! Transfers were yesterday and Sis Tanner and I are staying together for another 6 weeks :) We're so excited! Things are really starting to jive in this ward and we're so grateful to be able to watch it happen n_n

@honey: local is awesome :3 yes, I said the same about IL honey to CA honey. are the backyard neighbors the ones from uhh... pakistan? or was it india? darnit. Now you know how I feel about basically everything- I just want to keep it for myself XD I need a better attitude, I've decided haha. 

@mike: aha that cracks me up. looks a lot different than he did, huh? I knew he was a music teacher floating around Chicago somewhere, but glad to know the specifics now. I didn't even know he was in the elementary range, so that's cute :3 that IS far. But y'know, it is what it is. We've sent a few letters back and forth, but not much. I'm hoping to mostly catch up with these people in the month timeframe I'll have before leaving the state... again. Haha. Obviously I'm not going to live out much of my life in Chicago XD unfortunately. (p.s. are you?)

@Stacy: I mentioned to her that Dad called her "Sister Lundberg" in his letter, and she laughed XD she's catholic, and she's like "I'm not a Sister, I'm not a nun!" It was pretty cute.

@Sis Tanner letter: yes, she wrote it. promise! she has it in her that apparently I'm awesome, so whatever that means. hahaha! I dunno what she even said, tho I guess she wrote you about our epic fail with the cookie dough. I don't get why this time didn't work out, cos it did at the start of the transfer! so funny. we do still have it, tho we tried to add more peanut butter to get it to stick, but it didn't. we will try the egg and if that doesn't work, we may just take a spoon to it and eat it raw haha. we have no fear :D (did you actually have tears when you read about that misadventure? that cracks me up; our family never cries at anything.) thanks for the recipe! 

@senior parade: now that you say that, it sounds familiar to me. just walking in front of the stands, right? and then we scooted back to the band, so it didn't make much of a difference. good times- a LONG time ago, wasn't it? time is just flying, it's crazy.

@facebook I'm not sure I'm going to want to use it, at this point. there's a lot of details to work out still, and I'm not sure I want to get caught up in it. I agree it's a fabulous idea, but I don't know about it and me, haha. so we'll see, I guess. they still haven't rolled it out to the rest of us. 

Fall is rolling in here, too. Tho, not that it makes much of a difference cos everything is basically green all year round. But, y'know. It breezes are more frequent and it doesn't get up to the hundreds, at least it hasn't for the last few days. So that's nice :) 

Ohyeah! I got to go to the temple this week!! AAH! So awesome!! If you haven't been since the update, you should gooooo! And even if you've been since then, you should go agaaain! I loved it, oh my goodness. I just love the temple. Ah. It was funny cos we barely missed the session by prolly 5 minutes (T__T) so we decided to go and do initiatories 'til the next session started. It was nice to do those, since I haven't since I did it for myself. Good reminders, and to see how all that went with the session that followed. So that was great :) I even got to see some people from my last areas there! Remember Sis. Pulsipher from Rocklin? Her son just reported to the MTC last week to go to the Denver South mission! So neat! There were a lot of people going through for the first time, so it was really cool to see all that. So happy :) I can't wait 'til I can go every week!

So.. we had a really awesome crazy experience this week!! All week we were trying to draw on the spirit to know if Stacy was ready to be baptized. We're going along, not really getting any specific direction so we just went over on Friday to talk with her and read from the Book of Mormon. It was a good little conversation, and we read and prayed with her. The next day during studies, we got this huge specific and almost urgent impression that we needed to invite her to be baptized that day. So we got nervous, of course :D but we decided we were going to be obedient and do it. A few hours later when we could actually catch her at home, we go in and start talking with her about the scriptures. She had been studying baptism for the last few days, and is trying to figure out why she needs to be baptized again. Anyway, long story short I look at her and said, "Stacy, the spirit has told me that I need to ask you: Will you be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?" I tell you, I felt like there was an electrical surge going through my entire being. It felt hot, actually, but I knew it was what I had to say. Sis Tanner said later that she didn't think it sounded like me, but that it was definitely the spirit speaking, not me. Powerful. I think it was so intense for all of us that Stacy got scared and said she wasn't ready for baptism yet, and that she needed to know more before she committed to being baptized into the church. We talked about faith, and how if we knew everything there would be no faith, and she just looked at me and said, "You always have an answer for everything!" it was funny. :) but yeah. in hindsight, although we didn't have the outcome we expected after having a specific impression like that, we definitely know that it was what needed to happen. She also admitted to us that she knows Joseph Smith is a prophet! So that was really awesome too :) Honestly, I think she already knows its true, but just needs to feel more secure about it before she makes the transition. Bless! I love her so much :)

Anyway! That was the highlight for this week. Good times, huh? :) It was fantastic to realize that I'm being the mouthpiece that Heavenly Father wants me to be. I'm still imperfect and I'm still making mistakes, but I feel closer than I ever have before. It's AMAZING!

Thank you so much for supporting me always :) your letters and notes mean so much to me, and I'm so thankful for them. The gospel is true! I'm grateful for your shining examples in my life, and for the things that you've always taught me about working hard and following through with the spirit and the impressions we receive. Everything is just amazing. I can't even express it.

I LOVELOVELOVE YOU SOOOOO MUCH!!! 

<3

Sister Nelson

p.s. could Dad send me a copy of his line of authority? that would be really awesome :D