Dear Family,
I am terrribly sorry for not writning last week!! I felt really bad! But I actually kind of like the idea of writing every two weeks because I have way more to talk about! But I guess These past two weeks are unique in that it was the 4th of july and we had some SWEET miracles that I can't wait to tell you about! So I will do my best to re cap everything important over the past two weeks!
The week I didnt write was pretty slow. Elder Farnsworth got really sick on Monday night! He got Heat stroke! We were out Fishing in the sun that morning and playing foot ball later in the afternoon in 100 degree weather...I guess that wasnt the smartest thing to do! I have been playing out in the heat my whole life so it didn't bother me But Elder Farnsworth got hit pretty hard!. He threw up twice that night and then all during the night when he was sleeping he kept having to get up and throw up. He was a wreck the next morning! I felt bad for him. So tuesday he was out of comission and Wednesday we had to be really careful to not be in the heat too long otherwise he would just get hit with it again. At least that is what our mission nurse said. So wednesday we didnt get a lot done either.
Then of course we had the holidays! Your 4th of July sounded super fun! I am glad things are great at the homestead and that the Garden and trees and backyard are doing good! My 4th was different! Here in clearlake the 4th is a holiday but the fireworks and parade arent until the 6th. So everyone was out boating and doing activities and stuff but there was no usual 4th things going on. But our 4th was good! We had lunch with one of our investigators and his member girlfriend and their daughter Beth. I dont know if I have told you about them or not but they are the best!! We see him them usually once a week and he always feeds us super good and we have so much fun. I feel like we have known them for way longer than 9 weeks. They are my favorite family on the mission I think. I hope things work out between Russ and Bobbi so that ZI can come visit and have them all live in the same place. russ lives here and bobbi and Beth live in sacramento but come out here like every week. So we had lunch with them and it was great and then we went over to a members house that night for dinner and she fed us a tritip dinner with ice cream sundays for dessert. they also bought us a bunch of popper fireworks so we went outside and had a crazy popper war...our white shirts had little black spots all over them...no worries though, they came out!!
Then on the 6th it was fun because we got to go walk around at the fair and the parade and we got to talk to some cool people and get a couple of potential investigators to go see and we got to watch a little bit of the fireworks. We were on our way to the apartment when they started the show. It was really cool beacuse they shoot them out over the lake and so tons of people get in their boats and got out on the lake to watch the fireworks! it was sweet!!
Now I have to tell you about the coolest part of possibly my mission!!
I have to explain something first. So When Elder Gaverrett of the seventy came to our mission way back when he asked us why our mission seal had the 101 on it. And president alba told them it was because of the hwy 101 runing through our mission. But elder gavarret siad well that should be how many baptisms you have a month as a mission or something like that. And of course that started a big commotion about Thee 101. The new baptismal goal for our mission. And I am pretty sure, at least from what i have heard that this month, July, is the month elder gavarret said that we would be able to meet our goal by. Either that or President alba set the goal to meet the 101 by July. So that has been the buzz around here this month. to have 101 baptisms this month. And it is looking really good right now. I think we have at least double 101 in baptismal dates.
So now that you know that I can tell you this. For july, three weeks ago we had three dates. But as you know we lost all of them. Felice our most solid investigator, was espcially a hard loss for us. She was so stinikin golden. There is no way she could keep up what she was doing and not feel the spirit and get baptized. She was studying and praying and learning way more than anyone I have ever taught and way more than pretty much any member. She is awesome!! And as you know Elder farnsworth and I went over after she told us she wanted to stick with her own church and tried to rtalk some sense into her. I asked her what she had to go back to after finding out through the spirit that this church was true and that joseph smith was a prophet. I did my best to help her see that she had nowhere else to go now. But she said she had made her decision.
Well, Like I said, with the amount of things she was DOING there is no way she could not KNOW. (john 7:17) So on tuesday we went over to her house and we taught her about the authority of the church about why it was important and necessary and about baptism by the right authority and what makes it different. After we had talked to her about it she said, " you know elder nelson I have been thinking about what you said, about beptism last time you were here. And I have been reading and praying and studying about all of this and I think that I need to get baptized!"" and then the best part, She said" I can feel the holy ghost right now as i say it telling me that it is right and that i need to do it!"
HAHA I about jumped out of the couch and screamed!! it was AWESOME!! It was one of those moments that you usually hear about from other missionaries but dont expeince. Finally, for the first time, I have been able to help someone actually recieve a definite answer fron the spirit that they need to be baptized and join the church!! That probably sounds bad but I guess what i mean is that she actually told me she had that sure answer and witness. Other people had more of the desire to believe and were still working on the sure witness. I hope that makes sense. It does to me but it doesnt sound good written out. But anyways it was awesome!! And you can just see the difference in her now. She has that witness and now everything is making sense to her like it never did before. her concerns are gone and all the questions that she had are not there anymore all becasue she knows by the holy ghost that the book of mormon is true that joseph smith is a prophet and she needs to be baptized! SO COOL!! The other miracle that we found out is that she has a sister that lives in sacramento that is a member of the church(when we found that out it explained a lot) and she is going to come out for the baptism! We also set a date with ken felice's husband for the 27th but he is a little farther behind. So we set two dates for the 27th of july! and one of them is for sure which gave me a lot of peace in my heart becasue I did not want to miss out on being a part of reaching the 101. that would have stunk. So you can imagine my dismay as felice decided to not get baptized, and then you can also imagine the great joy that I felt as the lord answered our prayers and touched her heart with the spirit!! I am so thankful for that!! It was an awesome experience.
That was the miracle of the week and pretty much of my mission. I didnt tell the story too well but you get the idea! it was a great week!
Also some news is that we are all on facebook now! The whole mission! So my account is back up! I dont have my camera cord so i cant upload pics but i really doplan on sending you a ton of pictures soon!!
Oh yeah!!! I caught a 12 pound catfish!!! it was sooo legit!!!! So i will get you some pics ASAP!!!
I hope this letter makes up for last week!
I love you!! Thanks for writing even though i didnt write you :)
Love Elder Nelson
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