Cameron Dunn got Married!

HOLA,
 
Como esta?  Well we had a good week.  First of all, I think you were very inspired to write that about Whitney in your last email.  She is still struggling and I think that caused her to think a bit.  Although she missed church again.  3 weeks in a row she has not attended.  When she read your email last week she texted Cody, "Did you read Erin's email?  Holy Smokes."  She is really struggling with her old friends.
 
Mom wanted me to tell you about Adelaide before I forget.  We went to SLC on Friday thru Sunday morning.  Saturday night about 11:45 pm, we were all asleep and addie went into Charlene's room with her and she was talking up a storm.  She had found a flashlight and asked Charlene if she wanted to tell some ghost stories?  Charlene said she did not know any and Addie asked her if she knew some witch stories.  She did not know any of those, so she said you can tell me some nice stories.  But she was talking and I kept yelling Adelaide, go to bed.  One time I said, Adelaide, and she said, I know, you want a hug and a kiss.  So she came out and gave me a hug and a kiss.   Mom stayed in Utah Sunday morning so she could go to education week and me and the kids came home to attend our ward's meetings.  Last night Addie was missing mom and she ask me, "Do you miss your wife?"  I said I do, and ask her, do you miss your mother? And she said, I do, I want her to come home right now.  And she could not find any one willing to let her play with their bellies.  She was having a rough time last night.
 
Were you able to meet up with the Espinels?  I hope so, they sure wanted to see you.
 
Last week, I had Diana Gomez and another girl come in to see me about financial aid.  Diana said she knew you and had graduated with you.  She has a child now.  I told them you were on a mission in Peru and we started talking about the church, they had some questions.  I asked them would you like to come over to our house to listen to the missionaries and they can teach you more about our church.  They said they had talked to some elders and they invited them to the YSA activities at the church.  But they said, maybe we should learn more about the church before we go the the activities.  They said we need to get closer to God and quit partying.  So they are suppose to get back with me about a day and time, when they can come over and be taught a discussion.
 
Also, when we were at temple square, we were talking to 2 sister missionaries, one from Tonga and one from China, and 3 ladies from Mexico came up to them and started asking them questions in spanish, so I took over and acted as the visitor center missionary.  I answered their questions (all in spanish) and asked them how much they knew about our religion.  I asked them if they would like a copy of the Book of Mormon to read, one said yes, the other 2 said no.  So we went inside the building with the Christus statue and I explained more and took them up to the Christus and had them play it in spanish for them.  I was in heaven doing missionary work.  They gave mom and amber big hugs and some mexican pesos for a gift.  They really liked us, so hopefully they will read and pray.  I bore my testimony to them that if they read it and prayed and ask Heavenly father if it was true, they would receive an answer to their prayers, and I said and when you do, I hope you would want to be part of this religion.  It was very neat.  When they went to shake amber's hand, she went in and gave them a hug.  She said, I'm a hugger not a hand shaker.
 
Cody, did not go over with us, as he had 2 a days in football.  They have their 1st scrimmage game this weekend.
 
Cameron's wedding was nice.  The sealer was named Tateoka and he was cousins to my missionary companion Elder Tateoka.  But it was a great sealing and learned some new and interesting things.
 
Well we love you and hope you have a great week.  Keep working hard.  The time goes by too fast.
 
Love DAD
 

Dearest Hermana Nielsen,

What a week it has been!  Tuesday, I took the kids out to Ruby Valley to Vivian's family's ranch.  They had so much fun.  They told me that they want to live on a ranch.  I told them, "You don't live on a ranch, you work on a ranch."  They played with chickens and then we went to their 4-h barn where they keep the animals that they are preparing to take to the fair.  It was about a quarter mile away down the road (highway that runs through Ruby Valley) from  their house.  We went in this old car and Vivian's brother drove... he is 13 years old.  When we get there they, Vivian's three siblings) all pile out of the car and race to the barn so that they can play on this rope that is strung up on the beams of the barn.  They grab it and swing across the barn and over some haybales and let go and then the next kid would go.  They were good at it.  We just kind of stood and watched.  Then Summer and Carly tried it, but we lacked a bit of know how.  The Neff kids had to brush their steers and walk them around for 15 min. so they would be comfortable with it when they take them to the fair to be judged.  Cody and Vivian showed up then.  They had gone to a missionary zone mtg. at the stk. center. They had invited prospective missionaries to go too.  So, he, Jacob Conklin and Vivian went.  Then Vivian saddled up some horses and we rode around the barn area. It was fun.  All the girls got to ride.  Horses can tell when they have an inexperienced rider on them and so they didn't want to always obey.  It was fun.  Cody thinks he is some kind of cowboy because he was galloping around on his horse.  Then we had dinner and went swimming in the Family Swimming Pool at another family member's house.  It is a built in the ground pool.  It was dark by then so we went home.

I think you were inspired to write all the stuff about Whitney's conversion and the spirit and how it felt in your last letter.  She has been struggling with activity and not having the support that was there  before.  She texted Cody after she read it and said,"Just read Erin's letter..Holy Smokes!"  I hope she will recall how she felt during those lessons.  She came home from college and since she and Cody weren't dating anymore, we didn't really see her that much.  She started going to the singles' branch, but I'm not sure if she really liked it that much.  They gave her a calling to be on the activities committee, but she hasn't been in church for the last 3 weeks.  So, pray for her Hermana.  We don't want her to lose her testimony.

Cameron's wedding was really nice.  They had a wedding dinner the night before instead of the wedding breakfast right after the sealing.  I kind of liked that.  Amber went to the sealing, her first and also the first time in the SL temple, besides baptisms.  It was fun to see Brandon and Ali and their new baby, Hailey.  After the session we walked around temple square and Dad chatted with all the VC Sisters.  We were talking to one companionship when 3 ladies from Mexico come over and wanted to ask them something, but they didn't speak Spanish, so Dad takes over and is conversing with them and acting like he had a name tag on or something.  He invited them to accept a BoM and they did, he told them to read it and bore testimony of it.  The Sisters were just standing there like,"Go Brother".  He took them up to see the Christus and made sure it played in Spanish.  When Amber and I caught up to them he was standing there with this BIG smile on his face.  He was loving it.  They hugged us and thanked us for spending the time with them.  They were just cute, and Dad was in his element.

I am still in UT right now.  The family went home and I am staying because I am going to BYU ed. week this week.  Pam Is going with me and I am staying at Paula's house again.  It will be awesome.  Do your very best and keep working hard, the time is going by fast. 

Love , Mom