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

Dearest Sis. Nielsen,

I can't believe the summer is winding down.  It always goes so fast, but it will be good to get on more of a schedule when school starts.  I think Summer was bored because we hardly went anywhere.  I loved not having to be somewhere all the time, and so I worked in the yard a lot and would rarely put on any make-up or dress up.  It was great!

Erin and I just registered to go to BYU Education Week next week.  We will probably leave early tues. morning, because she is going to work on Mon. night at Spoon Me.  Whitney worked there and when she had to quit it left and opening, so Erin applied and got a job there.  She has only worked one night, but said it was a lot easier than at her job at Costa Vida-- the customers make their own yogurt cup and all the worker has to do is ring it up and refill supplies.  There are fewer employee at Spoon Me too, so that when they split the tip can at the end of the night everyone got more money.  I think she is going to try and work less at Costa and more at Spoon Me.

Erin, Cody and I went to Whitney's house for a lesson on fri.  It was basically preparing her for the baptism interview questions.  We watched the Preach My Gospel DVD segment of a young wife getting baptized and it showed a scene of sister missionaries getting ready for the day and putting their name tags on, and it just struck me, that I have never seen you with your name badge on.  I have seen pictures of you wearing it, but I just pictured you as one of those missionaries getting up and putting yours on and it made me kind of emotional.  Then afterwards the Sisters asked each of us what we liked about the video and I had to mention that part and how it made me think of you and I started to cry.  They probably wanted me to talk more about the girl getting baptized, but I, being the mother of a missionary focused on a more personal part.  The next time I see you, you will be wearing your name badge!

We had another awesome sunday.  Whitney went to church and had dinner with us and then we had the last discussion with the sister missionaries.

They talked about Enduring to the End and what that meant to each one of us, and then we had a little testimony mtg.  Erin had mission prep. class at that same time and Dad told her to stay home with us and participate in the discussion; that it would be much more preparation than any class.  When she bore her testimony she got so emotional she could hardly speak.  She just said it made her excited for her mission when she would have opportunities like this all the time.  She may not cry when losing heartbreaking championship games, but she can show emotion, when touched by the spirit.

We are all excited for tomorrow when the baptism occurs, I will also be kind of relieved when she goes to college and she and Cody have some space.  The line between steady dating and fellowship have kind of blurred these past few weeks.  Do you know they went shopping together for underwear since neither one of them had any white undies for the baptism?  I told him they were getting too comfortable when they could go underwear shopping together.

She did finally tell her mom she wanted to be baptized.  She was really nervous about it, but we assured her it would be fine because we were all praying that it would.  She said her mom was telling her about a dream she had had and so she just said,"I had a dream too" and proceeded to tell her about her dream and how that opened the door to all this mormon stuff.  Her mom was OK with it.  She said she was proud of her for making her own decisions and that all religions are good as long as they bring you closer to God.(partially true, but we'll take it)  I don't think I told you about Whitney's dream.  It was about 3wks ago and she dreamed that she was at a Mormon church getting a tour, and she wasn't sure why she was there, so she was just like "whatever" and going along.  Then she thought 'this is dumb, what am I here for?'  Then the tour guide told her," now you are going to have this amazing feeling, what you are feeling is the spirit".  And she did have this wonderful feeling and then she woke up.  She was relating this story of the dream to Cody on the phone the next day, when the Sis. Missionaries showed up at her door because they had received her name as a referral.  The rest is history. 

Well, hope you are doing great, did you get the box yet?  Take care... I like the new Miss. Pres. and his emphasis on exercising.  Love, Mom