Adelaide lost her front tooth

Dear Elder Nielsen,

Adelaide lost her front tooth on Friday. So now she has a big gap in her mouth. Addie typed all that as she wanted us to tell you. Adelaide is also wearing an Elko basketball shirt, FYI. Carly is about to lose one of her teeth as well. It is dangling out the side of her mouth. Carly's tooth came out while I was typing this letter.

Monday I took the day off work and worked on taxes for the entire day from about 7 am to 8 pm. I extended about 16 returns so that is not too bad. One client owed $45,000 when I finished the 1st time so I had to work some magic and got it down to owing $23,000. 

I worked the rest of the week. Tuesday evening, I had to go up to the church and meet with someone over their budget and finances. Also our hunting tags were due on Monday and I just put summer and I in for deer. I had to due it through the internet and they charge you $2 per tag more on the internet, so I did not buy any bonus points.

Not much happened on Wednesday. Thursday for young mens we went on a hike to get the boys in shape for trek. The BYU men volleyball team won their league and are number 1 in the country. They are the number 1 seed overall in the NCAA tournament. Friday, Elko played Truckee and won 9-2. Benton hit a 2 run home run and now has 6 on the year. I talked to him on Sat. and he said he had not heard from any colleges except to tell him they were not interested after he hurt his knee. Saturday was senior day and I was suppose to announce the game, but it rained all night and all morning, so the games were postponed. Elko has 10 seniors on the team this year. So I worked on a few taxes at home on Saturday. Mom drove the bug and was coming home from some where and it would not shift. So she was stranded at Ash and 4th street. So that goofy thing only lasted 1 week. I think the clutch cable broke. So we will now have to get that fixed again. Mom and I went over there at 5:30 am this morning to tow it home as there is very little traffic on Sunday mornings that early.

I had to talk in church today on "Be thou Humble" from Elder snow this past conference. That is a very good topic for me. I also referred a lot to  a BYU devotional from President Kimball from 1963. It was very good. He said the moment we think we are humble we have lost it. He also said we lose our humility when our callings become routine. I thought that was very interesting. The way we remain and stay humble is to never think that we did things, every thing comes from the Lord and that is where we should give the credit. He also said, missionaries are treading dangerously when they talk about how many converts they had, as they did not convert any one, the spirit is the one that converts people.

I tried to go home teaching tonight, but could not get a hold of any of our families. But we will keep trying this evening. I believe that 9 or 9:30 am on Monday would work great for us to skype on Mothers day, it that works for you. 9 am Monday your time is 6 pm sunday for us. You let us know what works for you and we will be here.

Keep working hard. I can't believe you have almost been out 10 months next week. That is crazy. We love you and pray for you always. It will be good to skype with you in a couple weeks. We were having beautiful weather this past week, but now it is cool again and suppose to snow on Tuesday. That is spring time in Nevada.

Have a super week,

Love,

Dad

The Fridge is Fixed

Hola Elder Nielsen,

This was another crazy fast week. Starting the week off in Alaska made the week go by extremely fast. I had a good time in Alaska, but I did not leave the hotel except to go to church last Sunday. The conference ended Tuesday around noon, and Tawny and I were going to rent a car and follow another group up North to see some of the northern Alaska spots. But Tawny was sick, and I did not want to go by myself, so I just stayed in my hotel all afternoon and evening and worked on taxes. I got a lot done, so it was nice. We had to catch a taxi to the airport at 3:45 am, so I set my alarm to get up at 3:20 am. It was a very short night. We checked out of the hotel and got to the airport around 4:15 am. We flew to Seattle and had a 6 hour layover in Seattle. Then we flew to SLC and had a 2 hour layover there. While we were waiting for our flight to Elko, there were 2 sister missionaries and an Elder coming home from their missions, so I had a good visit with them. The elder served in Toronto Canada, 1 sister in Mexico and another sister in England. It was nice talking to them. I did not get to Elko until 9:45 pm, so I was flying home literally all day. It was good to be home. It was snowing in Salt Lake, and cold here in Elko. Most of the snow had melted where we were in Alaska except down by the river where there were still ice and snow.

I went to work on Thursday and tried to get caught up for being out of the office for a week. I bought those 2 pieces in Twin to fix the fridge, so I went down and had a teacher in the electrical department solder on a new fuse and bypassed the old burned out fuse. I came home for lunch and put the attached the mother board back in the fridge and it worked. That was a miracle. I was afraid we were going to have to buy a new fridge for $1200 or but a new mother board for over $200, but instead, we had the fridge working again, running quietly like it did when we first got it for $7.83.  I love you tube. It has saved me literally thousands of dollars. Friday I went to work as well, I had meetings and had to get a few things done. I worked on taxes until 9:30 pm that night in my office. Wednesday, Addie got sick and she stayed home sick from school Wed through Friday. She had a high fever and slept on the coach all day. She is feeling better today, but she came home from church and fell asleep on the kitchen floor in the sun shine. We had the missionaries over for dinner today and she ate and now she is back sleeping again. So I am not sure if she is 100% or not.

Yesterday, we had the credit union annual meeting and Carly and Addie got $25 each and the rest of us got skunked. But we got free donuts and orange juice. Summer, mom and I went to watch Elko play Fallon. Fallon is down this year. They had 10 seniors graduate last year and the Williams boy who played 1st base, graduated earlier this year, so he could go on his mission. He got called to Ohio, but had to have shoulder surgery. So he will end up going the end of May. Elko won Friday 14-8, we were 1 point away from 10 running them, but could never get that extra run. Sat. morning, Fallon beat us 3-0 and we won the afternoon game 8-7. So they were all close games. Fallon's ace, Mendez was hurt and only pitched 2 innings, so that did not help them too much. So Elko is in 1st place in league, Spring Creek is 2nd. Elko beat Spring Creek on Tuesday by about 8 runs when I was in Alaska. 

The NBA playoffs started this weekend. The Warriors won 73 games and beat the old record of the Micheal Jordan Bulls of 72 wins in a season. So we are voting for the Warriors and Stephen Curry. He is amazing.

We got the bug back yesterday and it runs great. That guy fixed a lot of things on it and it runs great. That was in exchange for 5 years of tax returns. I think that was a great exchange. He bought a new battery and replaced some old hoses etc.  So we got the bug and refrigerator fixed this week. Those are major accomplishments in my book. Amber and Kevin made it to Michigan ok and the truck ran fine and he started his internship this past week.

The due date for taxes is tomorrow, so I will have to have a huge day tomorrow and try to finish up all the ones I have to do or extend. I have about 7 or so that I am working on now. I will be glad when it is over and we can concentrate on other things. The hunting tags are due tomorrow, so I will have to apply on line. I think I will just put in for deer for Summer and I and get bonus points for the other animals until you get home to pack them out for me.

We hope you have a great week. Keep working hard and send your companion home with a complete 100% effort these next few weeks. We love you and are so happy you are on your mission. I talked to mama Conklin at the baseball game yesterday and told her how much you enjoyed those shoes she bought you and she told me to tell you that they sure love you and are thinking of you. I guess Jacob got his first start as a college pitcher yesterday. I am not sure how he did.

Remember who you are and who you represent. This is a very special time in your life, give me all you have, might mind and strength.

Love,

DAD

Wonderful Wedding Weekend! Amber is a married Lady!

Querido Elder Nielsen,

This past week was a fun, busy, action packed week. I worked late each night trying to get as many taxes done before heading to Amber wedding. I still have a lot to do to finish every thing.

I also think I figured out the part that needs to be replace on our fridge. It is a fuse on the mother board. You can't just replace the fuse as it is soldered to the board, and the entire board cost $200 to replace. But I found a You Tube video which showed how 1 guy bypassed the fuse with a couple of parts that I bought in Twin Falls for $8. Now all I need to do is have Quinton our neighbor solder these new parts to the mother board and see it our fridge will work. I am thinking it will as it looked like the exact same thing on the you tube video. So I will check that out when I get home.

We had the parent teacher conference for the 3 younger girls. Summer received straight As and Carly got mostly As and Addie is doing well as well. They are all getting good grades.

Right now I am in Alaska for a WASFAA conference. I took Thursday and Friday off from work and worked on taxes and got ready to go to Rexburg. We drove the truck up there and let Kevin and Amber take the truck to Detroit. We drove the Camry home. We did not leave Elko until about 3 pm and we stopped in Twin Falls to pick up the Amber's wedding cake and to eat dinner. We did not get in to Rexburg until 10:30 pm their time. We checked into the hotel, and I went and watched the 3 younger girls go swimming and mom went with Kevin's mom to take the cake to the church. By time we got to bed, it was very late and we had to get up and eat a continental breakfast at the hotel and be at the temple by 8 am. So we only got about 4 hours sleep. We checked out of the hotel and got to the temple about 8:20. Amber got married at 9am. From our family we had Brian and Sharon, DeeRay, Darhl and JoAnn, Chelsea and Brian, Erin and Landon and Joe at the wedding. Teddy Wright was there and a few other of Amber's roommates. But it was a great ceremony and the Sealer told me and Kevin's father that this was a very spiritually mature group in the sealing room, that he could feel that.

We took pictures after for a few hours and then went to the church for a wedding breakfast. It was very good, the food was small portions, but they had the Berquist grandkids put on a little show, singing for Kevin and Amber. It was cute. Then we headed back home to Elko, got in about 9:40 pm and unloaded the car. I had to be at the airport at 5 am to fly to Alaska. We got here about 3 or 4 pm and I was tired and laid on my bed and slept for a while.

This morning I got up and mapquest the route to the closest church, it was about 3 miles away from my hotel. On the way there I did not take the right route and had to walk extra to try and find it. I was trying to find a path that I thought was a road, but it was an actual trail along the river bottom. I eventually found it, and took the correct route home along the river bottom.

I will be here until Wednesday morning and then travel back to Elko and get there at 9:30 pm.

We had a great time at amber's wedding, it was very nice and a parent's pay day. Chelsea and Brian drove up from New Mexico and David is really cute. He has filled out and I had him laughing at me which made my day.

Elko beat Sparks all 3 games by the 10 run rule. Benton and Whitted both had a home run which now makes them both have 4 for the year.

We love you and are happy you are serving the Lord on a mission. Serve him with all you heart might, mind and strength. Give him every thing you have.

Have a super week.

Love,

Dad

Spring Break

Querido Elder Nielsen,

We had a wonderful conference weekend.  We tried to listen to all 5 sessions, but our internet kept dropping the signal and it was hard to listen to the 1st 2 sessions on Saturday. But my favorite talks that I can remember were Elder Nielsons in the Priesthood session. He talked more about the 2 little girls who he spoke about last conference that died after his open heart surgery.  He said it has haunted him for over 60 years, and the parents of those 2 girls held it against him and the church. He had tried to get in touch with the family several times over the years but to no avail. Then last May, the 2 girls came to him and spoke to him during the night. They said, "Brother Nielson, we have not been sealed to our parents or to any one else. Can you help us?" So after that, he started trying to reach the parents, the mom had already died and the father 88 years old was living with their youngest son. He went to visit them and he said he literally knelt down in front of the father and begged him to do what they needed to do to get worthy of the temple and he would seal their family together. Both the father and son had not taken out their endowments before but both agreed to work on it. They worked with their priesthood leaders and a few months later they were in the temple and a couple of months ago he was able to seal their family together. He could not save them physically, but he saved them spiritually.  Great talk and story.

I also liked Elder Hollands, he never disappoints, he concluded the conference today. I enjoyed Elder Hales on the Holy Ghost, really they were all great.  It was a wonderful weekend full of the spirit.

The kids had spring break this week, but it was snowing constantly from Monday through Wednesday. Carly said, this is spring break, this is winter break. We only got 6.5 inches, but spring creek got 19-21 inches of snow. And the mountains got dumped on, so that will be good for the lakes and rivers. Friday it warmed up to 56 and yesterday it was mid 60's so the snow is gone and we have had some wonderful spring days.

I worked all week, but took 1/2 day off  on Friday and we went and watched elko play Lowry. We won 10-0. Yocum is 3-0 and has an ERA of 0. We hit the ball well too. Wall, Whitted are both batting over 600, Benton and RJ are over 500 and Baum is over 400. So we are hitting to ball, and our pitching has been good. I think the paper said in our league games we have 55 runs to our oppenents' 5 runs. We swept Lowry, on Sat. we won 7-6 and 13-0.  Spring Creek beat Fallon 2 out of 3 in Fallon, so it looks like Elko and Spring Creek are going to be the teams to beat in our league. Whitted and Benton both have 3 home runs on the year.

The final 4 games were yesterday, but not on our TV, so I did not see any of them. But it is Villanova vs North Carolina in the final tomorrow.  Villanova beat Oklahoma by 55 points. 99-44 or something like that.

We washed the truck and got it ready for Amber and Kevin. They are going to take it back to Michigan and haul a u-haul behind with their belongings. I tried to fix the refrigerator, but I think we need a new part. It has been over 3 weeks that we have not had a fridge.

Amber gets married this week, and I head to Alaska on Saturday morning. I am working on taxes and trying to get them all done as well.

Keep working hard. Be humble and rely on the the Lord and his spirit to direct you actions. Be exactly obedient in all things and you will be blessed. We love you and pray for you always.

Have a super week.

Love,

Dad

I am not sure if I gave you all an update on that lady from Winnemucca who had not been to church in 26 years. I talked to her about a month ago and she said she had been to church 5 or 6 times. The relief society sisters had come over and the bishopric had tried to give her a calling. She said she is not ready for a calling yet, but she is doing well. The missionaries have tried to meet with her, but she said she was too busy. So when I talked to her a month ago, I told her to 'seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all other things will be added unto her." Basically if she would do what God would have her do, she would be blessed in all other aspects of her life. So she should meet with the missionaries and she and her family would be blessed. She told me she knows she met me for a reason and that when ever she talks with me she feels a lot of peace.

So that is the follow up. It always pays to open your mouth and make invitations. Like Amber says, the success is in the invitation.  I will kept following up with her every few months. She also said, she is working on her cussing and that even her family has noticed a difference. She also said she has only attended sacrament meeting, but we will work on the other two blocks. 

Also, I wanted to let you know that Brandon Jenkins was also made a Zone Leader a few weeks ago and they had to white wash an area. I don't think he was a district leader before that either. So that sounds very similar to what you did. I think he said, he is the zone leader and his companion is the district leader. He is now serving in a very affluent ward, with millionaires in it. He went from serving in the oldest Navajo ward in the world to one that is very affluent. He said in his old ward he was on splits with one of the high priests, and that guy told him his patriarchal blessing said that he is a direct descendant from the 2000 stripling warriors. That is pretty cool, no?

Just in case I did not give you an update before.

Love

DAD