Freezing Rain

Hola Elder Nielsen,

We were glad to hear that you were called as Zone Leader.  That is great, just work hard and be exactly obedient and an example to all the other missionaries.  This week was kind of crazy. It was very busy at work as it was the 1st week of classes and we have had many issues with students and things at work.  I am not teaching my accounting class this semester as I only had 10 students in my class and another teacher only had 8 students, so they combined the 2 classes and since I am a part time teacher, they gave the class to the other teacher.

On Tuesday, Elko played Spring Creek and the SC girls played a lot better.  SC was leading almost the entire game and in the final seconds Lexi Baum got a rebound and put it back in and Elko won 52-51.  Elko boys won again by about 15 or 16 points, but there was not any drama.  They had lots of police officers, etc patrolling the game.

On Wednesday, I had to drive to Eureka for the FAFSA night at the Eureka high school. The roads were good and I drove down there and came back that evening and got back about 8:30 pm.  It was a long day and I was tired.  The SC games did not end until around 10 pm.  

On Thursday, we had our PAL practice, but Summer went to YMYW.  We had practice a couple nights before and mom had to run it alone as I did the clock for the games and was in Eureka the other night.

Friday was an interesting day. Mom and I woke up early and went out and did the papers. Every thing was good, then mom went to take the girls to school and we had freezing rain.  The roads were pure ice.  The cars were all sliding in to each other and there were 100s of wrecks all around town. Hwy 80 was closed from Elko to Beowawe because of the ice and many big rigs were jack knifed all over the highway.  The Elko girls bball team made it to Carlin and could not go any further.  But they could not get back to town until around 4 pm when the roads were open again. They sent out a message and said if you were not at work to stay home until 10 am or so when the roads started to melt.  So I stayed home until 11 am.  I could not hardly even walk any where as it was soooo icy.  I have a video I will try to forward to you all of me on the ice.

We did have out bball games, we played truckee on Friday but the games were delayed for about 3 hours. We did not get home until about 10:30 pm. Elko won big by the 40 point rule plus. Truckee has not won a game all year. Saturday we played Sparks and beat them, it was about an 8 point game the whole game and then Sparks wore out.  But they are athletic.

I came home from the games and worked on W-2s and W-3 and year end reports that are due on Monday.

Sunday was a great day.  I love Sundays, to go to church and then mom and I went home teaching to the Harris family and the Christiansens.  We had great visits.  I love home teaching, I feel like I am the one who is always being blessed by out visits.  I am sure that is how you feel as a missionary.  When you teach these people and bless their lives, you are the one who is really being blessed the most.

We love you and are well pleased with you efforts and your service as a missionary.  Have a super week.  Enjoy sharing your knowledge and testimony with everyone you see.  Invite them all to come unto Christ.  You never know who is ready or prepared to receive the gospel in their lives.

Work hard and be exactly obedient and you will be blessed beyond your comprehension.

Love,

Dad

January is almost pau!

Dear Elder Nielsen,

Well here we are and another week has flown by. This past week has been crazy at work as classes started today and we have been trying to get everyone paid.  Monday was a holiday, Martin Luther's day and we stayed at home and worked around the house trying to get every thing back in order from the wedding.  We returned all the item to people that mom had borrowed from the wedding.

On Tuesday, mom and I started our coaching of Summer's PAL team.  I think we will be ok, not great. We are kind of rough around the edges, but hopefully we can smooth them out and get a good team together.  We had practice on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings.  We only have 8 girls on our team and we are yet to have a practice with all 8 there.  Carly has been practicing with us.  It is hard to not have 5 on 5 in practice.  Addie gets out there and dribbles and likes to run and do the drills with the girls so that is fun to see.

On Wednesday night we had practice and then Summer and I went to the church for the Face to Face with Elder Rasband and the YW and YM general presidents.  But the church did not have WIFI.  So Summer went to Sister Whittakers house and I came home and watched in on my ipad.  It was really good.

Friday, Elko played at Dayton and on Sat. they played at South Tahoe.  Elko won big against Dayton, but struggled against So. Tahoe. Eric only had like 8 points on Friday and 13 on Sat. He is averaging 26 a game so way below his average. Cole Smith is in the starting line up now for Angelo Jones.  But they pulled out the win and are 8-0 in league going into the 2nd half.  They play Spring Creek tomorrow at Elko, so that will be interesting again.

Sat. I went in to my office and worked for about 7-8 hours.  But I am still behind.  I need to have a big week this week. It will be Denver Broncos against the Carolina Panthers in the Super Bowl in a couple weeks. I am happy that Denver beat the Patriots. We watched BYU play on Thursday night and Sat night on TV, they won Thurs. but lost to Pepperdine on Sat.  They seem to be up and down, not very consistent.

Sunday was a good day. We had good meetings at church and then mom and I went home teaching and visited with Sister Deeda Harris and the Sargeants. We had good visits with both.  Sister Harris is all alone and I think she did not want us to leave. She enjoyed our visit.

So a little missionary story for you.  When I was in Winnemucca, I was meeting with a student and I sneezed and my cracked rib hurt when I did that and she asked me what was wrong.  And I said I had cracked a rib playing bball a couple weeks ago and she asked 'church ball'?  I said no, not church ball, but I have played plenty of church ball. And I asked her what she knew about church ball.  She said that she was LDS and that the GBC lady had told her that I was LDS before she met with me.  I said that is great that you are a member.  I asked as a follow up, "Who is the stake President now in Winnemucca?"  She said, actually, I don't know I am not active in the church.  So I jumped all over that.  I said you need to be active. You need to start going back to church.  You need to start today, what a better time than the present.  I told her "We have a new year, a new month, start today". She said that she cusses like a truck driver.  So I said stop that now.  And she said I am working on it.  I have not cussed today. She also told me her dad has passed away last week and she had been thinking a lot about going back to church. He was really active in the church.  I asked her how she was handling the passing of her father and she said not very well.  So I went on to tell her about the passing of my parents and how those were some of the most spiritual days I have had.  I could feel the comforting peaceful feeling of the Holy Ghost and we were sad, but we never shed any tears.  I told her you need that H.G. in your life to comfort you and give you peace.  I promised her that if she would go back to church and keep the commandments, that she and her family would be blessed beyond comprehension.    She asked me if she had to go to all three meetings and I said no, just start our with the Sacrament meeting and work you way up.  I also told her that I wanted her to return and report.  I want to hear how her life has changed after she starts attending church and keeping the commandments. She told me her husband was not a member and that was hard.  He got hurt at work and is laid off and she is going back to school to provide for her family. Any way we had a really good visit.  That was around the 13th of January.  She called me last week and was asking me about her financial aid, and I told her I was working on it, but I hoped that she would not start cussing at me for not having it done. (nice lead in to follow up with our discussion) So I asked her how she was doing and if she had been to church.  She said no, but she had been to the store and bought church clothes and was planning on attending Sunday. (yesterday)  I had told mom about it and she asked me how long she had been inactive.  So I asked her when she called me how long has it been since you went to church.  She said she had lived in Winnemucca for 26 years and had been to church 1 in that time period.  I am really excited for her. I told her she needs to take her kids.  She said, I know, that is what my dad would always tell me.  She said her 17 year old daughter wanted to go to church with her, but her son asked what do they do there?  So she was going to check it out 1st before her son who is around 12 goes.

I will have to let you know how that turns out.  But I was thinking, coincidence?? That I was there meeting with her and the lady who works at GBC told her I was LDS.  I don't think so. Not for a minute. Heavenly Father knows when people are ready and puts people in their path to help them come back and partake of the good fruit of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I feel extremely blessed that he would use me in those situations.  You all know how I am. I don't hold back for a minute when I see an opportunity to invite someone to come unto Christ.  I love this gospel with all my heart. I love my wonderful family.  Mom and I comment often how blessed we are to have some of the most precious children on the planet.  You kids are all wonderful and we love you so much.

My dad always use to say, he had the best kids in the world.  He would say you might find some equally as good, but none better.  I feel the same way.

Well Elder Nielsen, keep fighting the good fight. Keep working hard and relying on the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Pray to have the enabling power of the atonement make you better than you are and make you a better missionary than you could possibly be without it.  The atonement is great, not only the redeeming part but the enabling part as well.

We love you and pray for you always.  Have a super week.  Also, Ruth Bott received her mission call the Buenos Aires Argentina West mission.  So we are excited about that.  I am sure it takes in part of my mission as that did not exist when I was there.

Love,

DAD

Erin is Married Now!

Hello Elder Nielsen,

This week was a very crazy and busy week but a very good week. Monday was the national championship game for college football and Alabama beat Clemson by a touchdown or so. So Alabama has won 5 championships in the last 9 years.  I was voting for Clemson.

On Tuesday, I had to go to Battle Mountain to visit with financial aid students.  They kept me very busy that day.  We were getting more snow every day.  It has been crazy this year with snow.  Quinton our neighbor said he heard we have received more than 47 inches of snow this winter.  It is making up for all the past years when we did not get any snow. 

Wednesday, we were trying to finish up all the arrangements and reception plans and the girls had an early out, so I took off work around 2:30 pm and we headed out about 4 pm to Utah.  It was snowing in Elko before we left, so I wanted to get on the road before it was dark. I don't like driving in the dark especially in the snow. Chelsea and David made the trip from New Mexico and we all stayed at Sharon and Brian Dunn's house.  Amber and Kevin came down from Rexburg and got in around 1 am.  We got in about 8:30 pm Utah time and wanted to go to Costco before they closed, but we missed it.  So we went to walmart and bought a long subway sandwich for dinner and went to Sharon's house.  It is very nice of them letting us all stay at their place.

We had to be at the temple at 8, so we wanted to leave at 7 am Utah time. I wore that charcoal suit from Hong Kong that you ripped out the pants and suit coat to the temple and reception.  I wore that same suit 27 years ago at my wedding reception.  So I think that is pretty good for me to fit in the same suit I wore 27 years ago when I was married.  But mom had to sew up the suit before we left. Mom got up at 4 am utah time, 3 am Elko time to shower and get every thing ready. We ate breakfast at Sharon's, she had some ham and cheese croissant sandwiches, which were good. We left about 7:20 am and had to go pick Erin up at Landon's sisters' apartment. We only had the address and we were driving around and could not find it. It was about 8 am and we were suppose to be at the temple at 8:10 am.  We finally found the right road, and mom found Erin. So we hurried to down town SLC  to the temple and got in there about 10-15 minutes late, but it all worked out ok. It was snowing all morning and pretty cold. The girls in their dresses were freezing.  The sealing ceremony was nice.  It was a little different, he talked a lot about the history of the Salt Lake temple. And told them to forget themselves and concentrate on the other person to make their marriage work.  Not a lot of personal counsel as we have seen at other sealing ceremonies. From our family, we had Charlene, Cassidy, DeeRay, Darhl and Joanne, Bishop Olsen and his wife and Kylee, Hermana Bott, Amber and Kevin, Cameron and Amelia Dunn, Brian and Sharon Dunn. The Welch's invited the Bates, the Nesbits, with Scott, and a bunch of their family members. It was all very nice. Another payday from the parents perspective. 

We took lots of pictures afterwards. Erin wanted a professional photographer and we spent $1,500 for the photographer and the person who was video taping the event.  Afterwards we drove to Holiday Utah to a chapel and had the luncheon.  The food was purchased from Olive Garden. It was lasagna and salad, bread sticks and some Alfredo noddles. It was good.

Afterwards, Summer forgot her bag and we had to drive back to Sharon's place to get the bag and then we went to Costco to buy meatballs and crackers, plates, and a bunch of other things for the food for the reception. We spent another $400 there for food. Then we drove back to Elko. From the Pequops to Elko it was snowing very hard.  From Wells, you could not see the lines in the road and they were all covered in snow. We got about 3-4 inches of snow in that 1.5 hours.We got back to Elko around 8:30 at night. Elko got 6-8 inches of new snow on Thursday night. 

We got up and had to do the papers on Friday morning and I shoveled the driveway and sidewalks.  We have about a 5 foot drift where I have been shoveling snow like we did that one year when you were a kid and you guy would slide down it.

Then we spent all day at the church setting up for the reception and traveling back and forth hauling all the dead limbs or trees that mom has collected and painted over the past 3 months. We were running around like chickens.  It was good to have Amber and Kevin here helping us set up and with Chelsea making all the cheese balls.  Mom came home from the church at 6 to get ready to go and the reception started at 6:30 pm, so we were scrambling around trying to get ready and back over there.  We needed another couple of hours to get it all ready.  But it turned out very nice.  Erin had made a full size cut out of you with your face from a picture cut out.  It turned out very nice. So you were represented.

The line was constant all night long, from 6:30 to 8:30.  Then people were visiting and we had the traditional dances until about 9:30 pm. Then we had the clean up. We were at the church cleaning up until 1 am. We were exhausted. We still had some things to do on Saturday to take down and return, but we were tired. 

Mom and I had to get up early and do the paper route and it snowed again during the night, so I shoveled the walks. Saturday we were able to spend more time enjoying David and Chelsea as before that we were running around like crazy.  Kevin and Amber drove over with Chelsea and David and left Amber's car in Utah.  They all headed back  to Utah around 3 pm Sat. and it was snowing again here on Sat.  It snows every day.  Erin and Landon came over and opened all their presents Sat. afternoon.  They got about $2,300 in cash and gift cards plus other gifts.  So they did pretty good.  I was tired all day Sat. and every muscle in my body hurt.  My broken rib was bothering me as well. 

Sunday was a good day, but mom and I were soooo tired we were falling asleep in every meeting.  We need about 3 days to recover from all this. I am glad it is over.  Chelsea and David made it back to Farmington ok, so we were happy about that. We had the missionaries and Erin and Landon over for dinner today.  They are sorting out their gifts to see what they need to return and what they are taking back to school with them.

We love you and are happy you are serving the Lord. Take a minute and think about the sacred privilege you have to be a special representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. Enjoy it and remember it always.  Be exactly obedient in all things.  We are happy you are doing so well. Keep working hard.

Have a super week.

Love Dad

Erin gets Married this week

Elder Nielsen,

How was your week? This was another fast week. On Tuesday, Elko played SC in SC.  The SC girls team is the worst team I have ever seen them have. They really do not have any one that can play bball. Elko girls won and the Elko Boys won.  But the boys game was a lot closer than it should have been.  I think SC led at halftime by 2 points.  SC had a guy guarding Eric every where he went, they never left him, but he still had 29 points.  But it was kind of an ugly game.  A spring creek player elbowed an Elko player and his tooth went threw his lip.  Kyron had 2 dunks and the took him out on another one, and the kids were pushing and shoving each other.  Then near the end of the game, Baum and the Oliphant sp?? boy went up for a rebound and Baum was behind the kid and his arm was being pulled down over the other kids shoulder, so Baum just flipped the kid over backwards on to his head.  Baum got a foul a technical and ejected from the game.  That other kid is about 6'3" and about 230 lbs.  But the SC kid landed on his head and had to leave the game.  I guess he has a concussion and bleeding on the brain or something and will miss their next 3 games for sure.  The Patten kid was going after people as well in one scuffle as their was a lot of crap talking etc going on. Any way we won by 13 points but the game was ugly.  After the game, there was about 3 inches of fresh snow, so I was glad I took the van, the trooper probably would not make it over the hill.  It spins out in 1 inch of snow.

After the game, I saw Marshall, Tim, Daniel, Robert and Hailey Simpson, and they asked about you.  They said, Cody would have loved this game with all the physical play and pushing and shoving etc.  They were reminiscing about the time you closed line the short stocky kid up in Washington.  They all looked heavier to me, like they have gained weight. Probably a lot of drinking. 

On Tuesday at bball in the morning, Dennis deArrietta was driving full speed to the hoop and I stepped in front with my arms up high and he hit me with his elbow right in the ribs.  I think I have another cracked rib.  I am having a hard time staying heathly with this bball stuff. So now when I sneeze of cough it really hurts badly.

On Wednesday, I had to go to Winnemucca to meet with students and to Lowry high school for the FAFSA night.  The roads were wet going over, but there were patches of thick fog between Battle Mountain and Winn.  While I was meeting with the students I had a lady come in and was visiting with her about her financial aid.  I sneezed and she could see me in pain and I told her I had hurt my ribs in bball the day before.  She said "church ball"?  I said, no, it wasn't church ball, but I had played a lot of church ball.  I asked her how she knew about church ball and she said the lady in the winnemucca GBC campus had told her that I was LDS.  And she said she was LDS.  So I said that is great and asked her who the Stake President was now in Winn.  She said to be honest, that she was not active in the church and did not know who the stake president was.  I told her she could change that and get active.  She said lately she had been thinking a lot about going back to church.  Her husband was not a member and she had not been to church for 10-15 years.  But her dad had died last week and he was really active and she had been thinking a lot about going back to church.  I said, well there is never a better time.  Start now.  A new month, a new year, now is the time. She said she cusses like a truck driver.  I said to stop then. She said she had not cussed that day yet.  I said that is a good start.  She said do I have to go to all 3 hours.  I said, start with sacrament meeting. Let's work into this gradually. And I promised her that her life would be so much better and she would see the hand of the Lord blessing her and her family.  Her family was struggling financially.  I told her she has to return and report.  I want to know how her life has changed in a few years after she started living the gospel again.  She said she would let me know.  I find it interesting that I meet people like this all the time with my job.

I came home from Winn. on Thursday.  A storm was suppose to be moving in and I wanted to get home before the storm hit.  We had combined activity for YMYW.  We played apples to apples and had ice cream.  

On Friday, Elko played Fallon.  The Elko girls got slammed by Fallon by about 20 points.  The Fallon girls team is 15-0 and have beaten Reed, McQueen, Douglas, etc.  They have 2 freshman Tongan girls on their team who are cousins and they are big girls that can play very well.  I was wondering if they were LDS?  The Elko boys beat Fallon by about 3 or 4.  It was a close game that we were trailing about the entire game. Eric only had 16 points.  The big tall skinny 6'7" kid for Fallon had about 30 something points. He was making everything. We saw the Groffs and they asked how you were and told us to tell you hi and they are thinking about you.

On Sat. mom and I went to a draft for Summer's PAL team.  I guess we are going to coach again. We came home and worked around the house trying to get everything ready for the wedding. Then Elko played Fernley.  Both Elko girls and boys won.  The games were quite boring.  I watched a football playoff game on Sat. night.

Today we had good meetings at church.  We had a couple of college girls over for dinner.  One girl had been coming in to visit me a lot and I had been helping her with financial aid. And she brought her new roommate in from Ely  named Britany, and Britney got baptized in the YSA branch yesterday and confirmed today. When they told me she was getting baptized, I invited them over for dinner.  Mom made swedish meatballs and they ate all of them, no leftovers.  I think they enjoyed that.  Britany said she would love to have an ideal family like ours someday.

Keep working hard.  Stay cool. And be exactly obedient in every thing and the Lord will make you into the missionary he wants you to be. Let him form you into the man you should be and ought to be.  We love you and pray for you always.

Have a super week and invite everyone to come into Christ and receive the blessings of this wonderful gospel. I know it is true.

Love 

Dad

A New Year

Elder Nielsen,

We were glad to hear you had a 'herd' of investigators show up to your party. That sounds like the Spanish Branch here.  We would always gets 50+ for our parties and the next day only about 20-30 in church.

Not much has happened since we last wrote you.  We had a mild New Years.  I had to finish some CPE on New Year's Eve and got it done around 7:30 pm. We just had a little meal, watched some New Years come in for other time zones and went to bed.  It was still extremely cold -17 doing the paper routes in the mornings.  I felt bad for mom doing it by her self so I helped her Friday and Saturday.  I was feeling better to go to New Mexico for David's blessing, but I was a little worried about the suburban and the inside of both front tires were wearing down very badly.  I noticed it before we went to Utah to see David a few weeks ago. I called Les Schwab and they were closed for New years day.  So I thought I could take it in 1st thing Sat. morning and have them look at it. They said when they took the tires off the tire rob fell apart in their hands which he said was very dangerous.  The guy said they should never come loose like that and if it would have come apart when we were on the highway it would have been very dangerous.  So we had them replace the tire rods so we would not have to worry about that.  They did not get it done until about 4 pm.  But at least hopefully it will fix that issue and we don't have to worry about it.

So we just stay home all weekend and tried to do some house cleaning and wedding preparation.  Elko played Lowry on Sat in Winnemucca and both boys and girls varsity won their games.  I think that is the 1st time the girls have beaten Lowry in 2 or 3 years. The Elko boys won by 13 points  67-54 and Eric Klekas had 37 points.  So that was a good win. Lowry and Fallon were suppose to be the tough teams this year and Fallon already has 3 losses.  I think Fernley is tougher this year. We play Spring Creek at S.C. on Tuesday.  We will see how that game goes.

Clemson beat Oklahoma and Alabama beat Michigan State, so it will be Clemson vs Alabama for the National Finals.  I was voting for the 2 teams that lost.

We now meet for church at 11 am so we should start writing out letters in the mornings on Sunday.  We hope you have a great week. We just talked to Chelsea and every thing went well with David's blessing.  He appears to be putting on the weight a little better now.  

2016 will be a great year for you as you will have the entire year to dedicate to the Lord.  What a marvelous privileged to be a special representative of the Lord.  Enjoy every second of it.  Work as hard as you can and put your entire trust in the Lord and he will bless you.  It sounds like you are already being blessed.

We love you and pray for you daily.

Love,

Dad