Hello my wonderful
family!
Mom I scarfed down
those girl scout cookies so fast you wouldnt believe it! Thank you so much! I
have been craving them for weeks!!
Here is an excerpt
from our letter this week from president alba:
"What an
exciting time we live in. Even more, what an exciting time to be a missionary
for the Lord, Jesus Christ. Never has there been a time like this in the
church…. or on the earth for that matter. And you are right in the middle of
it. Our numbers will continue to grow with the next transfer. We continue to
open up new areas. The face of our mission is changing. In April we will
receive 14 sisters and 11 Elders. In May and in June we will receive a total of
24 sisters, 6 elders. (so far) You get the picture…"
25 new missionaries
and counting this next transfer! And next transfer we will be getting 30!!!!
That is nuts!!! 24 of them SISTERS!!! Here comes the boom! Pretty awesome
stuff!! It is truly a very exciting time
to be a missionary!!
Also, I have a fun
fact for you, yearly the Emerald triangle makes 1 billion dollars from weed
sales...I dont remember the exact cities that make up the emerald triangle but
Ukiah is inside the triangle! Nor Cal baby. Love it!
Things are going good
here in Ukiah! Elder Kunz and I are doing well together and we are really
working on teaching more in unity and teaching clearly and simply! We had a
lesson this past week that humbled both of us. We had not prepared sufficiently
and went in "winging it" so to speak. We had a great member with us
and it is mostly because of him that it was a decent lesson and it actually
ended on a very positive spiritual note! ( An 18 year old girl said her very first
prayer and it was sincere and heartfelt!) But for the majority of the lesson we
were not teaching in unity and we were moving in different directions, or in
other words we were playing tug o war with our investigators.
Because of that experience, the night that happened we came home sat down and immediatly tore into why that lesson wasn't anywhere near as effective and powerful as it could have been. We left that lesson frustrated and upset with ourselves and especially humbled that we had let down the Lord. We then made plans and set goals for our studies and planning to fix that problem and set us on a course that would lead to more unified and powerful teaching! We have already experienced the blessings!
Geoff Walsh, our only baptismal date is going to be baptized this week! He had his interview on Sunday and he is anxiously awaiting his special day! The best part about Geoff is that he will be a Preisthood holder soon and will be able to help establish Zion in Ukiah through his service in Home teaching and in a calling! The members are especially excited because and I quote " He has a home, a Great job, a car, and a large family of six kids!" Sister Morgenson,( An awesome member that just returned from a mission to london. She served in the visitors center at the london temple. She loves missionaries and feeds us like KINGS when we go over becuse she loves missionaries and didnt have any sons, only daughters, and loves to spoil the missionaries! Bro morgenson is awesome too.) So What i am trying to get across to you by sharing that is that there are not a lot of people around here that have homes and jobs and families and that dont have major issues! It was pretty funny when she said that! It is a rough world out there though... Just yesterday we were out biking and we stopped to talk to a lady that was crying and we tried to
help her. it turned out that she needed a ride to get to clearlake to help her son who was in a "bad situation" She had just gotten out of a relationship that was bad and had nowhere to live and no friends in the area and only fifty bucks to her name. We did what we could and tried to call some members but no one was in a position to drop everything and drive some lady that we knew not much about all the way to clearlake...basically what i am trying to say is that there are TONS of people out in this world that are in horrible situations and that we cannot help. We just dont have the resources and the people to help everyone through their problems. Especially since we ALL have them. It is hard enough to take care of our own... Anyways...
Because of that experience, the night that happened we came home sat down and immediatly tore into why that lesson wasn't anywhere near as effective and powerful as it could have been. We left that lesson frustrated and upset with ourselves and especially humbled that we had let down the Lord. We then made plans and set goals for our studies and planning to fix that problem and set us on a course that would lead to more unified and powerful teaching! We have already experienced the blessings!
Geoff Walsh, our only baptismal date is going to be baptized this week! He had his interview on Sunday and he is anxiously awaiting his special day! The best part about Geoff is that he will be a Preisthood holder soon and will be able to help establish Zion in Ukiah through his service in Home teaching and in a calling! The members are especially excited because and I quote " He has a home, a Great job, a car, and a large family of six kids!" Sister Morgenson,( An awesome member that just returned from a mission to london. She served in the visitors center at the london temple. She loves missionaries and feeds us like KINGS when we go over becuse she loves missionaries and didnt have any sons, only daughters, and loves to spoil the missionaries! Bro morgenson is awesome too.) So What i am trying to get across to you by sharing that is that there are not a lot of people around here that have homes and jobs and families and that dont have major issues! It was pretty funny when she said that! It is a rough world out there though... Just yesterday we were out biking and we stopped to talk to a lady that was crying and we tried to
help her. it turned out that she needed a ride to get to clearlake to help her son who was in a "bad situation" She had just gotten out of a relationship that was bad and had nowhere to live and no friends in the area and only fifty bucks to her name. We did what we could and tried to call some members but no one was in a position to drop everything and drive some lady that we knew not much about all the way to clearlake...basically what i am trying to say is that there are TONS of people out in this world that are in horrible situations and that we cannot help. We just dont have the resources and the people to help everyone through their problems. Especially since we ALL have them. It is hard enough to take care of our own... Anyways...
We had dinner with the
bishop twice this week! Him and his wife are AWESOME! We had some good
conversation. We came to the conclusion that all the missionaries in utah
should be pulled out and sent elsewhere and that the wards in utah should just
call a bunch of the people that dont have callings and make them ward
missionaries and have them go out and do the less active work and work with the
referrals! Why do we need missionaries in utah anyways? That was what the
bishop went off on for a bit. haha he had a son get called to serve in
ogden...it is needless to say where those opinions and feelings came from!!!
Sister Irwin asked me
what I wanted to do when I got home from my mission and I told her i didnt
really know but that maybe i would do something in the medical field. She was
like " Oh I knew it! As soon as we started talking about jobs I thought
you looked like a future Pediatrician!" Then Bishop Scoffed and told me I
should be a pharmacist to make the big bucks! He then went off on a tangent
about obama and healthcare and how it is ruining private practices and how
everyone is going to work at the hospitals and that being a doctor isnt the
best route anymore and that i should be a pharmacist! He is so funny!!! I
really enjoyed eating with them
That is one of my
favorite parts about being out here! We go from home to home every night for
dinner and for the most part we feel right at home even though we are away from
home! The members are so awesome and they are so strong in their faith and
testimony!!
Well I think that that
is about it for me! The weather continues to be amazing here!
Oh also we are going
to the temple this week!! i am pumped! the oakland temple is the best!! We also
are going to be getting a visit from Quintin L. Cook this month! He is coming
to speak to the mission! I am excited!! Welp enjoy this looong email! Time is flying!! I love you all!
Love Elder nelson
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