Where Did January Go?

 Hola Hermana Nielsen,

We sure enjoy reading the letters of Hermana Bott and your letters.  They sure give us 2 different perspectives.  The spider and rat story was hilarious.  For some reason, I could vividly imagine both of you two in those situations.  Hermana Bott sounds exactly like you.  We had a good busy week.  Monday was Martin luther king day, so we stayed home and worked around the house.  We have been having very nice weather for this time of year.  It was like 55 degrees.  Mom and I went to a movie on Monday afternoon called unbroken.  She had read the book and it was based on a true story, but for me, the movie seemed to drag on a bit.  How many hours can you watch a people drifting on a raft in the ocean and then in a prisoner of war concentration camp.  

Tuesday was the first day of school for GBC, so we were busy trying to get students paid.  Then I had to go to Battle Mountain high school for FAFSA night and got home around 8:30 pm.  On Wed. night Elko had their FAFSA night, so I got home around 8:30 pm.  Thursday, we had PAL basketball practice.  They have practiced almost every day and I have only been able to make 2 practices.  So we still do not have an offense or good defense for that matter.  Our 1st game was on Sat. and we are still working things out.  We have 2 twins on our team that stand around and do nothing, so it is a little frustrating.  We lost 22 to 12.  They had a couple of natives that played pretty well.  Summer did not have any points, but had a couple of good looks.  We also had mutual on Thursday night, so I have been gone every night this week.  Friday the kids did not have school since it was semester tests this week, and Cody left for Fernley and Fallon Friday morning.  We beat Fernley by 40+ we 40 point mercy rule kicked in 1 minute into the 3rd quarter.  Cody did not score any points.  On Saturday we beat Fallon 59-37.  Cody had only 2 points.  He is playing the entire 1st quarter and not playing at all the 2nd quarter.  Eric Klekas has been scoring about 13 points off the bench, so I think he is getting more playing time than Cody.  So we are 17-2 this season.  Last weekends games started the 2nd half of the season.  Elko girls lost to Fallon by 3 points.  They were up by 1 point with less than a minute to go in the game and had 3 shot attempts and missed and fallon went down and made a basket.  I was going crazy here at home listening to the game, when you have the lead, you don't need to shot again.  Make them foul you.  Anyway, that is a game we should have won.  Now the girls have 2 league losses.

Sat. I worked here at home on year end taxes and a few odd jobs.  The bug will not start again, so I don't know if it is the starter or what.  So with Cody driving the trooper, I am left without a car.  Sunday was a good day, we had a new younger couple in our ward over for dinner.  They have 2 small kids.  Cody and I went out home teaching and Cody had mission prep.  The Gouldings are buying a house in 1st ward and should be moving this week.  Romney Goulding should get her mission call next week and Cody can turn in his mission papers on March 1st.  That is really exciting for me.  We are anxious to find out where he will serve.

Any way, tell Hermana Bott we are very grateful for her letters and giving us 2 views at your misison.  Mom talking with her mom, it sounded like her dad and I have a lot of similarities.  Have a super duper week.  We love you and are very happy you are serving a mission.  I sent a copy of Bednars talk to the Espinels and Rolando Cubillo.  Marlene replied back to me, I will copy her message and send it to you.

Querido Scott, Te agradezco mucho por enviar el mensaje de élder David A. Bednar, lo he leído con detenimiento y puedo decir que es verdad, que Ustedes los misioneros llevan la palabra de Dios de puerta en puerta, puedo decir, que mi familia y yo aprendimos mucho de Ustedes. No hay ni un solo día que no oremos y leemos la Biblia juntos como familia. Los domingos lo dedicamos a Dios y compartimos como familia. Aprendimos de la humildad y el amor hacia el prójimo , la generosidad y de las buenas virtudes . Cada vez que vemos a un Élder , nos identificamos con ellos y recordamos a tu linda Familia y a tí. Sabemos que Dios es grande y que su amor es infinito que quièn prueba de su dulce palabra no se apartará de él...  Por Ustedes es que ahora nosotros podemos conocer a nuestro Señor . Gracias Amigos , ha sido el Mejor obsequio que hayamos recibido. Bendiciones

Nota: Nosotros tenemos en casa dos revistas que la hermana Erin y su compañera nos obsequiaron , lo hemos leído con la familia.

Love Dad.

Dearest Hermanita Nielsen,

Guess who called me this week?  Mary Bott!  We had a good ol' chat.  She wanted me to know that her husband was going to Peru on church business next month and that if I wanted to send a package to you and could get it to them, he would personally take it to Lima.  I think I will do that :)  So, if you have any requests...

On monday, there wasn't school because of Martin Luther King Day.  Cody spent most of the day studying for finals.  He had been invited to go to Denny's at 12am that morning to have breakfast with the Goulding girls and their cousins who were visiting for one last 3 day weekend before Romney goes on her mission.  We told him it was his choice, but I cautioned him that if he went he would end up sleeping a good part of the day and would not get as much study time in.  He chose to sleep and not go, which I was really proud of him for making that decision, and it paid off because he aced his finals and will be getting straight A's this semester.  Good Boy!  Dad and I went to the movies that afternoon.  Can you believe it?  I don't think Dad had been in that movie theater since he went with you guys to see Harry Potter.  ("Who's Harry?"!!!!) remember?  We saw "Unbroken"  It was a true story about a guy who had been an Olympic mile runner in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and then WW2 broke out and he ended up in a Japanese prison camp for the rest of the war.  I liked it a lot.  We had read the book in book club a couple of years ago.  Dad liked it OK,  he got a little bored when they were in a life raft for 46 days after their plane crashed in the ocean.

The bug isn't working right now, again!  We just had the starter replaced and now we think it may be the ignition.  Our mechanic lady is looking into it.

Cody had games in Fernly and Fallon over the weekend.  We are now in the 2nd half of the season, and so are beginning to play teams for the 2nd time.  We beat Fernly easily, mercy rule went into effect.  Fallon, we didn't play as well, our shooting off, Nathan didn't have a very good game, but we still won by 22 pts. Erik Klekas has been going in for Cody midway through the 1st quarter and then plays the whole 2nd quarter.  He makes shots, but Cody is better on defense.

Summer had her first PAL game on Sat.  Our team has some good players, and some lazy ones.  We lost 12-22, we will have to work on that.  Summer played OK, she almost scored for the other team, she got the ball and went tearing down to the wrong basket, luckily she got called for "over and back", before she got there.

Cody will start his mission papers this week and then he can submit them March 1st.  Romney had hers turned in, they are not yet "assigned", according to our Bishop as of yesterday.  The Gouldings bought a house in the 1st ward , 2 houses away from Bilbao's on Griswold.  We will miss them, but they are happy to have their own house now.  They will be moving this week.

I hope you have a fabulous week, I will take those pics of the Family Journal as requested,  Love, Mom