Hello Sister Nielsen,
We were so happy to read your last email and find out that miracles are still happening with the missionary work in Hawaii. Based on your stories and what happened in your last email, I read the following quotes and it applies to all of us and especially to you and what you are doing. The quote goes as follows:
"God will put prepared people in the way of His prepared servants who want to share the gospel. You have had that happen in your own life. How often it happens depends on the preparation of your mind and your heart."
-Henry B Eyring
This past week, I went down to Tonopah and Pahrump to meet with financial aid students. And I had a couple of missionary experiences as well. In Tonopah, I was originally suppose to go down there with another guy, but I decided it was not worth his time, so I went alone. The lady who works for GBC in the Tonopah office was there and so we were just making small talk getting to know each other. She said she moved back from Louisiana to Tonopah so her daughter who is a senior this year could graduate from Tonopah high school. Her husband is still in Louisiana and will stay there to work. I made some comment like well that has to be hard, being separated from your husband, etc. She said well it was kind of a blessing as her father was staying with them and he passed away in late October in Tonopah and now could be buried next to his wife who was buried in Tonopah. So I said, are you a religious person? As there is nothing coincidental with the Heavenly Father, he is in charge of everything. She said that she was raised LDS but had been inactive for many years. Come to find out she was married and sealed to her ex-husband in the San Diego Temple. So I said, if you were an endowed member of the church, it is very important for you to get back active in the church. So said, yes, I know, I have been thinking about it for a while and know I have to get back into the church, but it is hard. She also told me that one of her brothers had been excommunicated and recently rebaptized and he had told her that he wanted them to do the temple work for their parents as they were not members. She also said that for Christmas, her aunt from Sacramento, CA had sent her a gift out of the blue, who is an active member of the church, and she gave her the Book of Mormon which was given to her by her grandmother when she was baptized and had her grandmothers testimony in the book. So I told her, well it appears that your Heavenly Father wants you back active in the church, he has given you many signs and hints to get back active. She said, yes I know. I also said, "I do not think that it is by accident that I am here today by myself to have this 2 hour discussion with you about the church. I know I was sent by HF to come talk to you today. So I said, what are we going to do about it. I'm not leaving here with just a simple yes, I know I need to get back active in the church. We need a plan." And she said, well Tonopah is so small and every one judges you and talks about you. I told her "there is not a member in the church that does not have faults and things that they are trying to overcome. I know it will be difficult, but we need to start making steps in that direction." I said I am involved now, I can't leave you to do this by yourself. I said I feel like that guy in Titanic movie, if you jump, I jump, I can't leave you. I got to get you back to safety. So we decided that she was going to start reading the BOM for 15 minutes a day. She said this weekend she would be in San Diego but next weekend she promised me she would go back to church. And I told her, I was going to follow up with her to see how she was doing until eventually we get you back to the temple. She said she felt really good about our visit and knew I was there for a reason. Pretty cool huh?
Then in Pahrump, I was talking to this black lady who works at GBC down there. We started talking about religion and I asked her what religion she was. She said she did not have any particular religion but believed more with the 7th day Adventist as she believes the Sabbath is on the Sat. as it was in olden days. I asked her what she knew of the mormons and she said polygamy and the gold book or plates. So I told her that we believe that we have a prophet of God on the earth today with 12 apostles, and she said, really, who are they? Any way we had a good conversation for about 1/2 hour sharing scriptures, (she had her bible in her desk), etc. She said, we will have to go to lunch to discuss this more, she was really interested, but we never found time to go to lunch. So I will have to follow up with her next time and take her a book of mormon. I explained that the BOM is a second witness of Christ, she knew the scripture about 2 or 3 witnesses will I establish my word. But is was a neat conversation, I explained the apostasy, etc. She appeared very interested.
Like you say in your letters, at times, all we have to do is open out mouths, and as Pres. Eyring said, the Lord will place prepared people in our paths.
Coming back home to Elko on Thursday was fun. I left at 10:30 am to get back to watch Cody and Erins games. It started snowing and blowing about 200 miles outside of Elko. I could not see anything. So I made it to Eureka, and called mom, she said the games were canceled and it was not snowing in Elko. I called the NV roads and they said chains or snow tires required. So I chained up the tires and could only go 35 mph and it took me 10 hours to get home. I got home at 8:30 pm. I was glad to get home. It was 67 degrees in Pahrump and Elko, we got more snow and it is back to -13 degrees again last night. I don't think we have been above 32 degrees since a week before C-mas. The highs are single digits or low teens. We are in a deep freeze.
Cody and Erin did have games in Fallon on Friday and Fernley on Sat. They both won both of their games. Erin had 8 points on Fri and 7 on Sat. Cody's knee is bothering him again so he did not play in either game. Coach wants him for Winnemucca tomorrow night. Klekas was going to call Gunnel to have him look at it again. He said it feels like he pulled a muscle behind his knee or something.
We nothing else is happening, Grandma Nielsen is still not feeling well. The flu and a virus is going on all over the country. I told grandma Nielsen about my couple experiences in Pahrump and said, so Sister Nielsen does not have any thing on me. I'm keeping up with her. And grandma said, who do you think she learned it from? I thought that was cute.
I hope you have a super week. We love you and pray for your continued success. Last night I had a dream about you and in the dream, you said you did not get along well with your companion. I hope that is not the case.
Love you,
Dad
Dear sis. Nielsen,
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