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Hello Sister Nielsen,

Well last week was kind of a let down after the previous 3 weeks with Whitney and the discussions and the baptism.  Mom and Erin went to BYU education week on Tuesday which left Cody and the 3 youngest girls home with me.  So I had to go the the open houses for Carly and Summer's schools to meet their teachers.  Also we had the parent meeting for Choraliers and Cody's football. So I was gone every night of the week.  Cody had 2 a days football practice and Summer had to take care of Carly and Adelaide while we were gone.  Friday we had our 3rd ward back to school BBQ.  It was a very nice evening.  We had hot dogs and hamburgers.  

Saturday I had to work and talk at the student orientation.  So it was a very busy and fast week.  Mom and Erin were going to come home on Friday for the BBQ, but they found out the the BYU girls soccer team was playing and home in Provo, so they decided to stay and go watch the soccer game and came home on Sat.  Mom was substituting a paper route around southside school, so Cody and I got up at 4:30 am every morning to go do that paper route come home and do his route and then be at football at 7 am.  We were very busy.  Cody and I did our home teaching Sunday evening.  I gave the kids their father's blessings last night as well.  Whitney face timed us so she could be apart of the blessings.  She had never seen that before, but really liked it.  Her and the other members on her softball team went over to that nice family's house for dinner after church. So that was good.  Today the kids started back in school.  I have my accounting class tonight, but I'm not ready for it yet.

The fair is this weekend.  We went to Jessica Shumway's home coming yesterday.  It was nice.  It is hard to believe she is home already.  Erin can turn in her mission papers this week if she gets all her interviews done.

Mom also bought Whitney a leather Quad of scriptures with her name on it, so we will send those to her this week.  She only has a book of mormon right now.

Well, it was 1 year ago yesterday that dad died. I sure he is enjoying your mission as much as we are.

I can't think of anything else to report this week.

We love you and pray for you daily.  Have a super week.

Love Dad

I love Mondays!

Sister Nielsen,
 
Aloha, I hope you got rid of the head lice.  I got lice when I was on my mission down in Olivarria.  They grossed me out.  I do not remember using a comb, but I used some stinky shampoo that almost killed me.  Well we had a great week.  Whitney got baptized on Tuesday and that was great.  Mom gave the opening prayer, Erin talked on Baptism, Cody Baptized her, I spoke on the Holy Ghost and I confirmed her a member of the church.  Every thing was good, except her none of her family showed up to the baptism.  In fact, they were all against her.  Her aunts, grandma, dad, everyone were texting her and calling her telling her to wait and not go through with it.  That she needed more time to investigate the church, that the church wasn't true, etc.  So she turned off her phone and ignored them all. An hour before the baptism I asked her if her family was going to come and she said she did not think so and started to get teary eyed.  My entire talk was geared to her family.  But she said as soon as she got to the church, she got a peaceful feeling again and knew that she was making the correct decision.  While Cody and Whitney were getting dressed, they gave everyone else a paper to write down their testimony for her.  We thought that was a great idea as they usually never hear the testimonies.  Afterwards, she had Cody write down his testimony for her and give it to her. 
 
She spent almost every evening with us and after the baptism came over to our house for scriptures and prayer.  I think she did not want to face her dad and enjoyed being with our family.  She did not tell her dad until an hour before she got baptized and then she texted him that info.  He was mad at her and told her she could not be trusted any more, etc.  She said it did not go over well.  Thursday morning she left for Kansas.  We are going to miss her tremendously.  I really enjoyed the spirit that she brought into our home with the lessons that were taught etc.  When you have those very spiritual moments and you spirits communicate together, those experiences and individuals are etched into your hearts and minds forever.  Although she thought we were helping her, we received more blessings than you could imagine in our family.  I will be eternally grateful to her and her sweet spirit.  We love her as one of our own daughters.  I told her that if she wanted to serve a mission, that we would finance it for her.  Mom thinks she would make a great missionary with that smile and spirit of hers.
 
A little over a month ago, I could not wait for her to leave and get out of town so that she and Cody did not spend so much time together.  Now, she is family and she is on our minds constantly.  I feel this real sense of responsibility for her.  I do not want her to get baptized and then later fall away like the Salimeda family.  So on Thursday, I am trying to find which ward she would belong to and get a hold of the bishop to warn him that she is coming.  I looked all over the church web site, and found that she belonged to the Newton Kansas ward and only had the last name of the bishop.  I could not find any phone numbers, nothing.  So I looked on the Chamber of Commerce's web site and found the number to the chapel and called it late Thursday night, praying that someone would be there to give me more info.  Well a guy answered the phone and he is the new Elders Quorum President and he and his family live in Hesston, where  Whitney lives.  He gave me his wife's phone number and I called her the next day.  We talked for 1/2 hour and she told me all about the town, the college, the ward etc.  She said that she is a "People Collector".  That some people collect stamps, cars, etc, but she collects people.  She loves taking new people in the church under her wings and caring for them.  So she said, Whitney could have the new member discussions in her home, she could do her laundry there, come raid the refrigerator, etc.  I believe that she was heaven sent for Whitney.
 
Whitney got there Friday afternoon and her door was all decorated by this Sister Owens, saying Welcome to Kansas Whitney and they gave her some free ice cream certificates, etc.  Whitney loved it, but her mom was not impressed. She said, "ohhh its that stuff".  Whitney was able to go to church with the other 2 members on her softball team, but she said it was very different without us.  She had never been to adult Sunday School and that was different that what she had in Elko.  Our 3rd ward youth sunday school teachers are high energy and very likable.
 
Her mom left on Sunday morning.  Mom and I are thinking that her mom probably thought that Whitney would come to her senses after getting away from us and cody.  But if she gets involved in the ward, she will love it there.  She is already counting the days when she can come home for thanksgiving.
 
Friday night we went up Lamoille canyon as a family to the 4-H activity and BBQ.  It was fun and we had a good time. 
 
Nothing else to report.  Yesterday, we fed the 4 missionaries dinner and then had our seminary back to school meeting.  It was good but I miss those discussions with Whit an the missionaries.
 
The day after Whitney got baptized she posted a cute picture of her and cody before the baptism and said the following:  "I got baptized last night into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by this guy right here.   A lot of people might not agree with it and think I did it for Cody, but I didn't.  I'm truly happy with the decision that I've made and can't wait to start this new chapter in my life the right way.  Thank you everyone that supports me, I'm truly blessed to have you in my life."
 
Then she wrote are family a sweet letter with her testimony in it.  It was wonderful.  We love that girl a ton.  We still don't want her and Cody spending so much time together, but love her as a daughter.
 
Well I believe that sums up the week.  We love you and pray for you daily.  I watched about 5 episodes of the district in my office on Saturday while I was working. They are awesome.  I really like that sweet sister missionary from Argentina, she has the sweetest disposition.  This work is true.  I can't believe how easily things work, when the hand of the Lord is involved in the conversion process.
 Have a super duper week and get rid of the bugs,
 We love you,
 DAD

Whitney is getting dunked this week!

Hello Sister Nielsen,
 
Well we had another good week.  I went down to Pahrump on Monday and got back on Thursday night about 9:00pm.  It was a long drive and I was happy to be home.  I did not have too many missionary experiences.  I talked to one grandma lady who was a little rough around the edges, but was wearing a CTR ring.  She was a member but I believe struggled with the word of wisdom.
 
On Saturday, Cody, Whitney, Erin, and John Uriqidi wanted to go to wild horse to go fishing.  But I did not like them driving on that road alone, so I decided I would go with them and take them up there.  I have a lot of taxes to finish, but I thought I don't know how many more opportunities we would have to go fishing together.  We did not catch a thing and did not have 1 bite.  When we got home, I read the paper and they said the oxygen level at the bottom of the lake is not good and that we should have been fishing 15 feet down from the surface.  Well we were fishing off the bottom, so no wonder we did not have any action.  Whitneys mother was camping up there with her family and we stopped in and she made us some breakfast burritos.  It was nice to meet her.  I believe the kids had fun, Erin took lots of pictures or had me take lots of pictures.  It was also very windy and that did not help.  We got back around 2 - 3:00 pm.
 
Yesterday was another great Sunday.  Whitney came over went to church with us, ate dinner with us, we had another discussion with her with the sister missionaries and then she joined us for family home evening.  Another long day.  She left at around 9:00 pm.
 
The discussion was really good.  The sisters talked about enduring to the end and then they wanted us all to bear our testimonies.  So everyone except for Carly and Adelaide bore their testimonies.  The spirit was really strong and not too many dry eyes if any in the group.  Erin bore a really sweet testimony about missionary work and this is what she is going to be doing in 4 months and told Whitney she is going to be the leader of her class in investigating and joining the church and that many others would look into it now that she is getting baptized.  It was another good day.  The sister missionaries are very sweet and love Whitney a ton.
 
I think Whitney is having second thoughts about going to college now.  She likes it here in her little world.  I guess there are 2 other members of the church on her college softball team, so I hope they take good care of her.
 
Every thing has gone very fast and she will be getting baptized tomorrow night at 7:00 pm.  Cody will baptize her, so that will be good for him to have his first baptism at 16 years old.  Erin is going to talk on baptism and I will give the talk on the Holy Ghost.  Mom is giving a prayer and I will confirm her a member of the church.  This is very exciting.  I told her yesterday, that she will be in our hearts forever, as once you have shared such spiritual experiences our spirits have communicated and there is that instant charity or the pure love of Christ for those individuals that will never be forgotten.  It is how I feel for members of bishoprics, high councilors, the people I taught on my mission, the Cubillos, etc.
 
Chelsea also sent Whitney a sweet little message that she got right before we ate dinner yesterday, saying that she had heard alot about her from us and that she was Cody's older sister, etc.  I think she liked it alot.  I think she feels very welcome by our family.  Her parents got divorced when she was a freshman and I think she feels kind of abandoned.  Her mom remarried and has since had another baby.  So she has her new little family and her dad has a girl friend and it sounds like they don't communicate that much or don't have that great of relationship.  She stays with her dad, but I don't think they see too much of each other. So she has been left abandoned in a way by the family that she knew and loved, but I believe she feels very welcome and loved now in our family. Cody said she said that the divorce was the hardest thing ever to go through and that is why she loves the sealings in the temple and the eternal families part of the gospel.
 
Anyway,  we will be happy when she goes off to college (this thursday) as she and cody are seeing too much of each other under the excuse of missionary work.  I think it will be good for both of them.
 
Everything else is going great.  We love you and pray for you every day.  I was reading Moroni chptr 8 to whitney last night and reading Mormons epistle to his son Moroni, sounded like what I tell you every time.  Mormon writes that he prays for his sons success etc.  You should go read it.
 
Have a super week,
 
Love Dad

We're on Fire!

Sister Nielsen,
 
Well how was your week?  We had a very good eventful week.  As you know, Monday, we were in SLC for getting Erins and Moms wisdom teeth pulled.  Every thing seemed to go pretty well.  Erin got very swollen.  She looked like a chubby chubby bunny.  Mom's month did not swell much and she did really well the 1st 3 days, but then after that hers was starting to hurt more and giving her headaches.  They both still can hardly eat anything and can open their mouths just a little bit.  So I'm hoping they get better this week.
 
I believe mom and Erin went with the sister missionaries to teach Whitney during the week.  Cody and I tried to go elk hunting early Friday morning, but as we were driving down the freeway, the truck's transmission would not shift and go down.  I kept telling Cody, something is wrong, so we turned around at Osino and drove the frontage roads back to Neff's diesel.  My overdrive button could not turn off.  I thought it would be a quick fix and we would be back on the road.  Well we were there until 1:00 pm in the afternoon and they were working on it but could not find the fix.  So they tried to eliminate everything and concluded that it was probably my power control module and that would cost $800 just for the part itself.  But he said if we went slow we would be ok.  So we went to Spring creek and took the dirt roads over to secret pass and then  took secret pass over to Ruby Valley to Jared Sorensens ranch.  We talk to him for a bit and headed up the mountain. He said he had elk on his property and I envisioned 30 to 40 acres with some elk in their quaky patches.  But they own 18,000 acres.  Basically the entire mountainside.  We were on the other side of the mountain where we took you hunting with Hernold that one time on the 71 Ranch and we saw that big buck down in the bottom of the Quakies and you could not see it as your scope was fogged over.  But we hunted all day Friday afternoon, camped out in the back of the truck and most of the day on Sat until about 3 or 4 and did not see any elk.  Lots of deer but no elk.  And there are only 30 or so elk on his property so that is like finding a needle in the haystack.  So we decided to bag it for now and wait until Sept. when they would be bulging and hopefully get the truck fixed so we can go back.  We left the 4-wheeler at Jared's house in case we have to take the Suburban back out, we could hunt off the 4-wheeler.
 
And then yesterday was a super day.  It was fast Sunday and so we were all fasting and Whitney was fasting and we had a great Sacratmeeting. We had 2 individuals get up and bare their testimony who had both been inactive, 1 since 2000 and the other since 2002 or something.  But the lady she had quit her job to go spend the last few months with her brother who had cancer and was only given 8 weeks to live.  Her brother lived in Carlin.  He was sealed to his wife in the temple on the 27 of June and 12 hours later went into the hospital and never left again and died on July 1st.  But she said her brother taught her about the atonement, and she never wants to be inactive again.  The other guy just moved here from Utah, had a long pony tail and did not have any family here, so he came back to the church where he new he could find his new family.  He said his brother was atheist and was angry with God etc, but he was giving God a second chance and looking to get back active in the church.  They were both neat testimonies.  

The sister missionaries from the 1st ward came over about 4:30 after their church and we broke our fast with them and Whitney and had Hawaiian chicken for dinner.  Afterwards we had a discussion here with the sister miss. and Whitney and it was awesome.  The spirit was really strong.  They asked Whitney how she felt during fast and testimony meeting and she said during the guy w/ the pony tail, she was overcome with emotion, and was getting goose bumps, etc.  We told her that was the spirit telling her these things are true.  The sisters asked her what she thought  about everything and what her fears were.  She said her biggest fear was telling her parents.  Especially her mom.  Then one of the sisters told us about her dad.  She said he has been inactive since right after she was baptized.  And she was really scared to tell him that she wanted to go on a mission, but she felt very strong that she needed to go on a mission.  When she told him, she said he went crazy, yelling at her and telling her not to go, how could you believe in a religion like that, etc.  Well he was totally against it even as they were taking her to Provo to the MTC.  I guess from the window of their hotel they could look out and see the SLC temple. and he would pull back the drapes and say, how could you possibly believe in a religion like that?  And was yelling and slamming doors and she said, she did not have a answer for him, but she knew the church was true and knew she needed to serve a mission.  When the dad was going crazy, she said she and her mom left the hotel room and went to the temple.  When they came back, her dad was crying in the hotel room.  Any way, she has only been out for 2 months and since she has been out, her mom and dad have returned to the temple.  Miracles have happened and she said I know they will happen with you and your family.  Any way, it was a Cubillo like discussion and there was not a dry eye in the entire group.  At the end, we sang Abide with me tis evening tide, one I selected as one of my favorites from my mission and they asked me who I wanted to say the closing prayer.  And I asked Whitney if she would like to say the closing prayer and she said, I might get too emotional, I don't know if I can get through it.  And she gave the most sincere sweetest prayer I have ever heard, crying the entire time.  Even Cody and Summer were getting teary eyed.  I asked Cody after the discussion, "see Cody, wouldn't you like to go on a mission and have these kind of experiences every day?"  He said yes, I am ready to go right now.

Any way, she ended up staying here until 10:30 pm at night.  I do not think she wanted to leave. We played our family baseball game in the backyard with her and she really enjoyed that as well.  But it was an amazing Sunday, full of the spirit and a day to remember.  Erin said went she got home from work Sunday night, that she was going to quit her job as it was prohibiting her from being in discussions like that.

Any way, I am heading down to Pahrump for the the week and I better jet and Sister Nielsen would say.  We love you and are grateful you are serving our Lord as a missionary.

Love,

DAD