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
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
My Dearest Sis. Nielsen,
Mondays have become my new favorite day of the week, because we get to hear from you! Have you rid yourself of the lice? Remember the "Arthur" episode when the school had a lice infestation, and they used mayonnaise on their head. I guess it smothers them.
Well, I'm sure you are excited to hear about Whitney's baptism. It went well. She told her Dad when he questioned where she was going all dressed up. He wasn't very happy about it, I think he even yelled at her. He told her she wouldn't be able to watch rated R movies anymore. I don't think she cared about that too much. She looked really happy and the pictures we took before the baptism were really cute. Cody wore Dad's temple pants and tie, he looked great-- a lot like a missionary. There was a really great turn-out, a variety of LDS, nonmember HS friends, and members of the 1st ward, which is the ward where she lives. None of her family attended, she was getting texts and calls from family members (aunts and grandmas), but she didn't answer them because she knew they just wanted to talk her out of it. During the time that she and Cody were changing their clothes, the Sisters passed out sheets of paper to everyone and had them write their testimonies down and then they were given to her. I thought that was genius; other baptisms I had attended people would stand up and verbally give their testimonies, and the folks were changing and never heard them. This way, she can read them, keep them, and always have them to remember how she felt and who was there giving her their support. She made Cody write one later, because she wanted one from him too. I think her wrote one that was 3 pages long! She then wrote one for us, and expressed how much she has loved being around us and feeling the spirit in our home. We are going to scan it and email it to you. It is very precious.
She left last Thurs. and made it to Kansas after driving 2 days. Her mom and younger brother drove with her. Dad contacted someone from the ward over there and made them aware that they had a young lady newly baptized, that was going to need the loving arms of a ward family. He will tell you in greater detail about that. We facetimed on Sunday and she seemed happy, but said church wasn't the same without us. I told her each ward has it's own personality and that she would grow to like it more. Dad is constantly asking Cody,"Have you heard from Whitney today", What did she think of this... or that. Cody isn't sure how to quite handle this. A month ago he would hide his texting and Dad would say," Who ya texting Code?" Now he's encouraging it and it's more contact than he's used to. Funny how things can change.
Erin had her physical today and her blood work drawn, each step closer to getting her papers turned in. She wants to put her availability date as Dec. 18.
We had a baby bird in the yard last week. It couldn't quite fly yet, so Summer and Carly brought it in because they thought Chica would eat it. they put it in a box with food and water, it was just quivering. After a day it started jumping out of the box, so we covered it with a sheet of newspaper. Cody would take it out and give it "flying lessons". He took a picture of it sitting on his head. I told he wasn't going to think that was so great if it pooped on him. After about 3 days it was chirping and trying to flutter about by the kitchen sink window. It was open and this outside bird came over and hovered around the window...Mama bird had come! So, we took it outside and let it go and it was still weak flying, but that mama kept encouraging it and it made it up into a tree and we couldn't see it anymore. Then we had a humming bird stuck in the garage and couldn't figure out how to fly out. Summer had learned that they need to find nectar every 10 min. to keep their energy, and we could tell it was getting tired. It finally flopped to the ground, but when we went up to it, it flew up and went right out the door. Two bird stories in one week.
School is starting in one week! Summer just found out her teacher, but hasn't figured out if any of her friends share the same teacher. Carly has Mrs.Krizic, Addie is going to do the Mommy/teacher preschool with me and some other kids her age. Erin's got her GBC classes, Cody is doing 2 adays in football right now. We will be in a new schedule in a short time. It's always good though, we had a really layed back summer. Adelaide will miss her sisters, they have so much fun making messes together.
I hope you are doing great, can't wait to hear how your last week went. Have you got the box yet?
I love you, Mom
No comments:
Post a Comment