Three Weeks in One: June 18- july 9, 2017

Dearest Family,

 l, as you can see my goal to keep writing my weekly emails has not happened... until now!  so, I'm going to combine the last three weeks into one.

Week June 18-24

The first Monday that Cody was home Dad told us to go to the college and participate in a soldering class.  It was intended for the high school students from the surrounding schools, but there hadn't been a whole lot of kids show up.   Therefore there was extra space, so Cody, Summer, Carly and I went to GBC and  learned the techniques of soldering.  We were given a kit, that we soldered little electrodes onto a little pin and then when you put in the button battery it lit up.  That was our introductory project, we all did fine on that.  Then we got a more complicated one that had a electrical circuit.  We had to read the instructions and drop a solder on it to hold the bulbs and wires.  I didn't have my more powerful glasses on and it was kind of hard for me to focus well, so I actually soldered something on the wrong spot.  I was able to get the fuse out of the wrong hole, but then it was gunky and wouldn't fit in the correct hole.  Cody helped me clean it off cut then I couldn't tell which was the + fuse or - fuse since I had trimmed them off (the longer fuses are positive)  It didn't work.  Summer messed up on hers, so her little blinky light didn't work either.  Cody  did his right,  and Carly only had one light blink.   It was educational.  Later that night, they had a pizza/movie night.  We got to watch the movie McFarland.  It was really good and inspirational about a high school in Central California that started a cross country running team comprised of Mexican kids whose families were produce pickers.  That description sounds kind of like a lame movie, but it was really good and a true story.

The first full week home I could tell he needed things to keep him busy.  He asked me what he could do to help me.  !!!! thank you mission!!   He cleaned two bathrooms for me. He filled out some online applications to Home Depot and Smiths.  We went over to Home Depot too and he talked to the manager and they were really excited that he could speak Tagalog and would have liked to have hired him, but the process takes about a month and that would have wasted too much time.  He then went to Smiths the next week they hired him on the spot.  

Week June 25-July 1

Cody started work at Smiths.  He started with training and then because of the July 4th weekend coming up, he was needed more.  He is a bagger.  The day after training Dad came home with another job offer at Queenstake Mine.  They wanted to hire a student worker for the Summer at a salary of 16.00/hr. and guaranteed 40hrs a week.  He gets 11.00 at Smiths.  He was really torn, but decided to stay at Smiths since he had just committed to them.  Plus, he would be working with one of Dad's inactive priests and we all felt that was not by coincidence.  Still it was tough to pass up.

Summer sang the National Anthem at the Basque Festival again this year.  Ramon called her again, and this time she was a little more prepared, having been in Choraliers for a year.  He again paid her 100.00 out of his own pocket.  He's a nice guy.

Week July 2-9

We had a fun 4th of July.  We went to Angel Lake with the Simons Family.  Jason Wilson was in town, and he went to the HS to play early morning basketball and then Cody invited him over for breakfast.  He and Cody fished up at the Lake and we all sat and talked and played in the water.  It was pretty hot .... and there is no shade up there, except if you can get under some of the shrubby vegetation.   The water level was really high from all the run off.

We had burgers for dinner and then we went to the college to watch the fireworks show.  We got there toward the end, since Dad had to go pick up all the flags.   Jerry Harris asked him to cover his route for him, since he was out of town.

We went to Utah for the Moon Cousins Reunion up in Huntsville, UT on Saturday, and then we went to Costco and had Adelaide's and Cody's  eyes checked.  Cody got new contacts and Ads had her eyes checked since the school nurse said she had said she had not passed the eye test at school.  It turned out that her eyes were just fine.😒  Cody hung out with Elder Perkins that night.   He came over to Sharons and they played one on one outside after they unsuccessfully attempted to drum up some girls for a double date. They were APs together and he is a really sharp kid.  They will be roommates at the Glenwood in the Fall.    He was so nice to the little girls; remembering their names and complimenting them on their basketball skills. Sunday, we attended President and Sister Bertin's Homecoming talk in North Salt Lake.  That was really fun.  The first two rows were all missionaries that had served with them.  We went over to their (Lovely) home afterwards for an open house.  They had a Dole Whip ice cream machine that you could make your own cone.  It was yummy, Ads had 3 cones!  There were 2 sisters that seemed to enjoy catching up with Elder Nielsen.  They were in his MTC district.  They were trying really hard to leave a good impression.  It was amusing to watch.

Cody has painted a lot of blinds these past few weeks.  It takes some time, but they look 100 % better.  We have been trying to keep him busy.  He will be working this week, so that will be good to get him out of the house.  This is all I can remember from the past  couple of weeks, I'll try to do better.

Love, Mom

Elder Nielsen's Homecoming

Dearest Family,

Well, this is kind of different; I now don't have a missionary to write to, but you all want the emails to keep coming, so I will keep writing.  I should have written this last week, but that was a busy day, so I am going to write retrospectively, and hope I can remember all the things I want to put in the history.  Monday, was the first day of the girls' summer break.  It was rainy and kind gloomy that day.  I thought it was kind of a prank of Mother Nature to throw that kind of weather at all the kiddos.
It only lasted that one day, and then it progressively got nicer and more hot throughout the week.  I put the girls to work in preparation for the big homecoming.  Summer cleaned the living room, vacuuming and dusting behind the couches.  Carly tacked the family room and she and I cleaned off the bookcase shelves and did some rearranging.  Tuesday, Summer was given the assignment to sweep and clean spider webs off the front porch.  Wednesday, she and I worked on Cody's room in the basement; putting clean sheets on the bed and making it look as "homey" as possible.

I went with Dad to buy some watermelons at the Mexican fruit stand, La Unica.  He had to get food for a priesthood encampment that was taking place over the weekend.  As we were getting in our car, we looked up and saw a jet way up in the sky flying overhead, its white contrail scratching a white line across the blue sky.  We thought, "that could be Cody's plane, he'd be going from Portland to Salt Lake right about now."  We'll never know for sure, but it was fun to think that.

We got a call from Denise Wheat that night at about 9:15 pm.  She knew Cody was on that late fight and she called to inform us that the fight was going to arrive ahead of EST , (that being 10pm)  She said it was going to get in at 9:35.  She works at the airport, and is usually the one who opens the plane door for the passengers, and says "Welcome to Elko".  We hustled and got out the door and as we were driving there we could see this bright light coming into town.  Dad said, "there's his plane!" We parked at the airport and literally waved to the plane as it was landing and we were approaching the doors of the airport.   We had our signs and posters ready.  No one else was there at the airport to greet him, but us.  A few people said they were going to be coming, and we didn't encourage nor discourage any other greeters, but we were kind of happy the plane was early so that we could have "our moment"  all to ourselves.  He was the last one off the plane and I of course got the first hug. (Mothers always do)  He looked really good--happy, tired and a wee bit a

awkward.  He said Adelaide had changed the most, (bigger) and Carly was a lot taller.    We went home and he unpacked all his goodies, gifts and souvenirs.  It was fun to see him look at all the stuff on the shelves, some things were the same and some things were new.  I wondered if Chica would remember him.  She was kind of uneasy, I know that because she had a little  "leaky" after he pet her.  She's over that now, and they are "besties" again.

Chelsea and David came the next day, they arrived at around noon. He is sure a cute little guy.  Adelaide and Carly played with him a lot. We all went to Pres. Lewis office that night and had a very nice release/report. Later that night Amber and Kevin, Erin and Landon and little (not) Emma came together from Idaho.   She has grown a lot since I last saw her and is a very pretty baby.  It was a fun reunion.  Cody got to meet the new members of the family since he'd been gone. .. Kevin, David and Emma.

Darhl, Joanne and Russ and Linsee, and Josh and Adrienne came out Saturday night.  I made Chicken Rice-a-Roni salad for all for dinner for all of us.  The next day, Sunday, Sharon and Brian and Charlene and Dee Ray drove out for the day to hear Cody's homecoming talk.  He did a good job, comparing the fruit on the tree of life and Lehi's desire to share it with his family and others to the gospel and missionary work.  I whispered to Dad, "Don't they have microphones in the Philippines?"  because he spoke very loud, and very confidently.

 After church, we had a homemade Cafe Rio spread for dinner.  Everyone helped and it was good and fed a lot of people.  I  was really tuckered out after such a busy day.  It's wonderful to have him home, he is the same funny kid, but just a lot better and more mature in the gospel. 

Love, Mom

Last Letter to Elder Nielsen

Dear Elder Nielsen,

We really enjoyed your last email summing up your last two years. I printed it off and shared it with about 8 people at work and students. I think it would be good for missionary efforts here in Elko.

Monday after work our family went to clean the church. Tuesday evening after mom got done with scouts, we went over to the Mierins house for Rose Harris' home coming. There were a few other families there from the ward and we had a good visit. We did not get home until after 10 pm.

Wednesday night we watched the NBA finals game. The Warriors are playing the Cavs. The Warriors are up 3-0 and have swept every team in the playoffs so far. They played again on Friday night and the Cavs beat them. So now it is 3-1. The Warriors were up last year 3-1 and ended up losing the series.

Friday was the last day of school for the kids. Friday night was the high school graduation, but we stayed home and watched the NBA game. The spanish family wanted us to go watch their twins graduate, but we had too much to do around the house. We are trying to get it ready for when you get home. But you might be helping us get it ready for when your sisters arrive.

Saturday we worked around the house again and went to senior parties for Cade Christiansen and Ashlynn Olsen.

Today, Sunday, we had our church meetings. After church we went to pick up 2 more beds from the GBC President's house. At 2 pm I had our young men presidency meeting and at 6 we had a Priesthood Encampment meeting. 13 stakes in Nevada are getting together this week for the encampment. I have to plan everything even though I will not be attending.

Finish up strongly boy. Work to the very end. Enjoy every minute you have as a full time dedicated missionary. We love you and are happy for the way you have served.

Love,

Dad

Amber's B-day today!

Dear Elder Nielsen,

I am thinking back at this past week and I can't remember much of what happened. Monday was Memorial Day and we worked on our home and trying to get things organized. It was another busy long day.

Tuesday, I had a student from my accounting class come in and visit with me. She wanted my opinion on a few things. She had just broken up with her live in boy friend and had moved back home with her mother. Her father passed away last July of Cancer and it was his birthday the previous week, so she was really having a hard time.  She said she wanted to see a counselor (psychologist) to help her get her head on straight, so I asked her if she wanted to listen to the sister missionaries as I told her some times the spirit can help us get our head on straight. She has an 18 month old daughter that was kind of fussy and making a lot a noise in my office and she did not know if she was going to make it through her next appointment with an academic adviser.  So I asked her if she wanted me to take her daughter for her during her next meeting and she said yes. So took her daughter and we walked around and looked for squirrels and birds and she was great. I went back into my office and was rocking her in my chair and when her mom came back she was almost asleep. She called me the child whisperer.

Then at 5:15 pm that Mexican family came in, it was just the Dad and the other daughter who is graduating. So I helped them fill out her FAFSA, and at the end, I asked them if they would like to come over for dinner on Sunday and we could have the missionaries come over and teach them about Jesus Christ. The dad did not act real excited, but said "yes, what could that hurt". They are strong in the Catholic church and go to church every Sunday.  So I was not sure how they would handle it.  So Today we had Stake conference and afterward we had a flat tire on the van. So I caught a ride from Reed Smith to the college as I had left the trooper there and went back and picked up the family and took them home. We were getting the house ready and the meal ready for 5:30 when the family was suppose to come over. Mom made the Chicken mushroom dinner with mashed potatoes and watermelon. The mom and dad and their daughter (Alda, Francisco and Kiara Hernandez respectively) showed up a little after 5:30 pm. The spanish missionaries showed up at around 6 and joined us for dinner. They also had 2 twin daughters (Michelle and Kimberly) who graduate this year and they were getting their senior pictures taken. So we ate dinner and waited for their daughters to get here and then we had a discussion. It was awesome to have their family and ours together for a discussion with the missionaries. They did not give a very long discussion, they just introduced the plan of salvation and the Book of Mormon. And asked them if they could come back and teach them again. The dad said he had been commenting to his wife this past month that there is more to life than just this 80 years or 60 years that  we live on this earth, as it goes by so quickly. He said he would definitely like to hear the answers to the 3 questions from the Plan of Salvation. So this next weekend all the seniors are having their parties etc, so our next discussion will be Sunday the 18th when you are home at 6 pm. One of the twins said she is friends with Hannah Barker and liked her and her family. The dad said he use to play basketball at the the Mormon church in Mexico as a teenager. A very lovely prepared family.

The dad also said what attracted us is that my most important thing is my family and his most important thing to him is his family. So that is what we have in common and what attracts us as friends.

This past week I had to drive to Reno on Thursday for our quarterly financial aid director meeting with all the directors in the state. I got back late Friday night. I had planned on doing a session in the temple, but could not fit it in to my schedule.

Saturday was a crazy day. Mom and I did the paper route early, then we worked on the house, putting things in the attic so we can work in the basement. Then we had to shower and be at a baptism for the spanish branch at 9 am. Afterwards, we went to President Curtis' house to pick up the TV and cabinet and other items. He is GBC's president moving back to Michigan so they are getting rid of everything. We had to make 2 trips and pick up the lawn mower and other items. Then we came home and ate lunch and had to be at a wedding in the spanish branch at 2.  We left early and mom dropped me off at the stake center for the Priesthood leadership meeting. I had to bum a ride home with Brother Smith again as I did not have a car and then mom and I dropped the girls off at the Hatch's home so they could baby sit for them and mom and I went to the adult session of conference.  We had Elder Stoddard from the quorum of the 70 as the visiting general authority. He was good and a funny guy. He served as a mission president in Chicago and had 3 missionaries from our stake in his mission. That is a small world.

After that we picked up the kids and went to Shawn McCarrey's wedding reception in the other stake building. We did not get home until after 9 pm. We were suppose to clean the church today as a family, but we did not make it happen. So we will have to go on Monday to do that and go tomorrow and fix the flat tire of he van which is at the stake center still. Things are busy and never get boring around here.

Well my boy, we love you. Keep working hard right up to the very end. Cherish every moment you have as a missionary. We have plenty of missionary work lined up for you here when you get home. We told that Mexican family that you will have to bare your testimony to them about your mission and experiences when you get home as we will translate. They are excited to hear from you and meet you. This family is awesome. I have a deep love for them already and I have only known them for 2 weeks. The charity of Christ is a very real thing. We can't wait for you to meet them.

Have a super week. We get one more letter from you. We will miss those weekly letters.

Love you,

DAD

Happy Memorial Day Weekend

Dear Elder Nielsen,

Another crazy week in the books. These weeks are blowing by too quickly. Monday, Summer had her Track Meet banquet and she received her varsity letter in track. So she lettered in Soccer and track as a freshman. Not too bad.  Krenka does a good job of getting us in and out.

On Tuesday, that Mexican family was suppose to come in and visit with me, but they called and postponed until next week. So I will have to ask them if they want to hear the discussions this week.

Wednesday, I had to go to a meeting at the church for our Aaronic Priesthood encampment that we are having in June.  I took Thursday and Friday off so I could work in the basement, but I still am not getting too much done. I need help down there and I don't get too much help from your mother. She had book club on Thursday, so I helped her get the house clean and then on Friday she went out for a couple of hours visiting teaching. So we keep getting curve balls thrown at us. On Friday and Sat. I cut a whole in the garage ceiling to get access into the attic to put support for that shelf that you and I built before your mission. The left side is pulling out as there are no studs up there in that area.  After I got the whole cut out, I got up there, and I can't see or get access to the area where the shelf attaches. So I do not know what I am going to do.

Saturday, I went and helped the Doug and Corine Sills move out to Spring Creek for 3 hours. I was sweating like a pig. I did not plan on going as we were meeting at 9:30 am, but we got the robo call reminding us of the move at 10 am, so I figured there were not too many people that showed up. They are struggling right now with church activity, so I went over to show my support for them.

We also had a service activity on Thursday night Young men spreading new bark around the church, but we only had 4 young men show up. And they are as lazy as an old tired dog. I did most the work myself. We are lucky we had brother hirst and a few other adults or we would have been there all night.

But Saturday, we were going and working all day long. I was dead tired around 8 pm at night. 

Sunday we had our fast and testimony meeting. It was good. I helped Nick Mierins with the shut ins. Then we had the sister missionaries over for dinner. They are very sweet sisters.  We told them we would have to have them over for dinner when you get home, and one of them said, oh no, I don't want to be giving the spiritual thought in front of an AP.

I went to the Dentist office for teeth cleaning on Monday and I visited with that lady for about 1.5 hours in a very natural way about the church and you on your mission etc. She said that her and her husband saw 2 missionaries crossing the street in front of them in Reno, and she said to her husband, " I think every young man should serve a mission or go into the military."  Little does she know how true she is.  We had a great discussion about the Book of Mormon, families, etc. I scheduled you and Amber an appointment with her the day after you get home. I thought we could tag team this effort. Mom has an appointment with her this week.  I was hoping the 3 of you could seal the deal on what I started.

The Simons dropped Maybelle  their dog off for the 3 day weekend, so we are watching her for 3 days.

Keep working hard, sprinting to the finish line. We love you and pray for your continued success. 

Have a super week!!

Love,

Dad

Spring, finally!

Dear Elder Nielsen,

It was great to see you and talk to you. You look great. I hope you are surviving the heat ok over there. It is starting to warm up here now. It usually goes from winter to summer in a week. It was cold at the beginning of the week and the Ruby Mtns got about 1.5 feet of snow. We received grapple down here in the valleys. 

Monday was Summer's Choraliers concert. It was good, and Ms. Rodgers is enjoying things a lot more every since Erin's grade graduated. There was a lot of contention with her and that group. Summer wanted to go out to Denny's afterwards, but it was too late. They did not go over there until 9:30 pm and we get up early around 4 am. So to go pick her up later was not good for us. Summer has to get up early and do her paper route any way. I know you kids the older you got, the less desirable that was. (Except for Amber, she wanted to go out afterwards every year)

On Tuesday, I had the nicest family come in to see me about there FAFSA. They are a Mexican family with twin daughters that are seniors. The mom and dad do not speak any English, so we were talking the entire time in Spanish. It was very fun and we hit it off together very well. We both enjoyed the visit and I told them we would have to have them over for dinner some time. You know what that means..... An invitation to listen to the missionaries. They told me they were Catholic and attend church every week. I did not invite them that first night, but they are coming in to see me with the other twin tomorrow, so I will make that invitation then. They are an awesome family and would make great members of the church.

On Wednesday, I had to drive to Reno for meetings. I left around 2 or 3 pm and got to Reno about 7 pm. The wind was blowing badly the entire drive over there. I was hoping to make it over there to go to the temple and do some work, but the last session ended at 7 pm. They only have about 5 sessions a day.

I had meetings all day Thursday and a half a day on Friday for the NSHE retirement advisory board committee that I serve on.  I was hoping to make it to the temple on Thursday night, but we all went out to dinner and did not get done in time for me to make the 7 pm session.

So on Friday, we got done at noon with out meetings and I went to the temple and the next session did not start until 1 pm. So I did some initiatory's for an hour and then I did a session. So I left Reno about 3 pm and got home about 7:45 pm.

On Saturday, mom, the kids and I worked on the house all day. I put another shelf in the fruit room. Mom has filled that thing up already with food and storage.

Sunday, I had to give a talk on "Using the Book of Mormon to get answer to prayer".  It was kind of a specific topic, but I worked on that Saturday evening.

They talk went well. Mom and I went out and did some home teaching tonight. I also went with Brother Hiles to give Sister Gurr a blessing. She fell and hit her head and had spent some time in the hospital.

Elko lost the 1st 2 games at state in baseball to Boulder City and Moapa Valley. Spring Creek made it to the championship game but had to beat Boulder City 2 to win, but lost the first game 9-8.

The Cavs are blowing out the Celtics in the Eastern finals and the warriors are blowing out the spurs in the Western finals. On Friday, the Cavs were up by 41 points at half time. Largest lead ever in a play off game at half time.

Well, keep working hard. Sprint to that finish line and give it all you got. Don't be waving at the fans until you cross the finish line. You might pull a hammy or something like that.

We love you and pray for you daily. Missionary work is the best thing ever. Enjoy it while you can. I can't wait to make that invitation to that Spanish speaking family tomorrow evening.  Ma bajo un kili kili mo if you are working as  hard as you should be.

Love,

Dad

Happy Mother's Day

Hello Elder  Nielsen,

We are having a wonderful Mother's Day today. I got up early and made mom breakfast, Torta de Papa, = potato cake. With eggs, potatoes, bacon, cheese, onions, etc. Mom liked it and gave some to the kids and they wanted me to make it for them. So I had to make them a batch as well. Addie said, this is really good, I want this in my lunch. But I spent about 2.5 hours in the kitchen. After church, mom had thawed out one of grandpa Nielsen's old chickens, so I made fried chicken, potatoes and gravy, green peas, and spinach salad. The chicken was great, but the gravy was not as good as mom's. It lacked some flavor. Addie said, this is really good, maybe you should cook every day. I said, "Not so fast girl".  But it was fun serving mom. Then we cleaned up and did the dishes and mom did not have to lift a finger today.  Mom said, so this is what Sunday's feel like for you. Again, not so fast Trigger.

This week, went by quickly. On Monday, I taught my last class for the semester. We went right up until 10 pm as they were all getting ready for the final exam.  Monday afternoon, mom and I went over to hear Summer sing with the Choraliers. We sat by the Shumways and had a nice visit with them. 

Thursday for mutual we were going to do indexing but ended up looking up relative finder. All the boys had a good time seeing who they were related to.

Friday, I took the day off to work in the basement. But mom and I ended up cleaning and going through old boxes. We were busy all day, but did not make much progress on the basement. Friday evening we went to a spanish branch cinco de mayo celebrations combined with the 2nd ward. It was really good. They had a live band and the Young Mexican dancers performing live for us. We had about 200-250 people. It was really nice and fun. I enjoy visiting and talking with all those spanish speaking people.

On Saturday, we got up at 4 am, did the paper route. Then Carly and I had to be at the church at 7 am. We went to the Bountiful temple. It was a great experience. Carly got to be baptized and confirmed for the 3 ladies that she found all by herself.  They have changed a lot of things in the baptistery. Now if you are confirming you do not need to be dressed in white. But I did not know that and I had my white clothing on. One of the gentlemen working at the temple asked me if I was going to do baptisms and I said, I don't think so. And he said so why are you dressed in white. I said I thought I  had to. Any way, I thought, (well I'm in white and had about 11 more male names that I had found to do), are there any youth that want to be baptized, and they were all done, so Brother Mason Simons said I will baptize you for them. So I went in and was baptized and confirmed for all of those names. That is the 1st time I have every done that. Being raised in Nebraska, I never had that opportunity as a youth. After my mission, I always did the baptizing and confirming. So it was a fun special day. We went to Chuck o Rama afterwards. Then we came home. Got back about 6:30 pm.  I was pretty tired from driving and getting up early. They asked me to take the suburban and I only ended up taking the 2 Bauman boys and their mom. We had about 15 youth from our ward and 5 adults and 2 youth from the Spanish ward with 3 of their leaders.

Elko ended up taking 3 in league in baseball, so they did not get a bye game. They played South Tahoe and beat them 3-1, and then they played Dayton and beat them. So they ended up playing Spring Creek, and SC beat them by 1 and Elko went down and beat Fallon in the loser's bracket. They then had to beat SC 2 for the regional champ. They beat them the first game by two and ended up losing the final by 1 point. But both SC and Elko will go to state. So that is good. But all the games were really close. Elko had to play 5 games and SC only played 3.

Summer went to the regionals for track as an alternate, but the 4x400 relay took 4 and will not be going to state. So she left Thursday after school and got home late Saturday night. But she said Krenka told her she will earn her varsity letter in track as freshman. So that is 2 varsity letters for her as a freshman, which is great. 

Well we look forward to talking to you today. It should be any time now. We love you and pray for your success. Keep sprinting to the finish line.

We love you,

Dad

Your Mother is a year older this past week!

Hello Elder Nielsen,

Another good week. Mom had her birthday on Wednesday. We did not do too much special. We all went to the Red Lion for the buffet on the football pickers that I had won. We had to pay for Adelaide and a tip. Summer was not too impressed and likes mom's cooking better.

Summer went on a track meet to Fallon for regionals. She ran the 400 but did not qualify for the event. So she will go with the varsity team next weekend to regionals as an alternate in the 400. The boys bus broke down in Winnemucca on the way back and she did not get home until 11:30 pm last night.

We had combined YMYW activity Thursday at mutual and played glow in the dark dodge ball. It was pretty fun. Addie had gone with us and she wanted to play. So she was out there in the middle of things playing dodge ball. Addie lost another tooth this week.

On Saturday, we had big plans to get a lot done. Mom and I did the paper route early. And I came home and tried to fix the dead bolt on the front door. It was getting sticky lately and Carly had broken off her key in the door, so we could not lock it from the outside. I had bought a replacement which was the very same brand and kind, but I could not get it to line up. I had to drill a bigger hole in the side of the door and then I had to chip away part of the door to get it to work. I worked on it for about 3-4 hours. You would think that the same company and some lock would work the same way, but they had changed them all up. Any way it is fixed now and locks nicely. 

I also charged the bug battery, so we have been driving the bug around all week. It was really hot on Friday, low 80's or high 70's. We basically go from winter to summer, with very few spring like days.

Saturday afternoon, Merrick Simon's had a birthday party and we all went over for pizza. They had 3 or 4 families over there and it was fun visiting with all of them. But we kind of left on a down note. They were talking about people were are becoming inactive and things that had happened to certain members in the area and it was sad. I am not sure how people can serve missions and have been through the temple and give that all up for worldly desires. It was bothersome to hear that news. We came home and watched the Kentucky Derby and then we went to the church for a going away party for the Shumways. They are selling their house and probably will not be coming back to Elko after their mission. He said they might go back to Arizona to take care of their parents. Anyway, it was sad saying our goodbyes.  They will make great mission president and wife. He has already been in contact with the mission president and is getting information and getting up to speed. Sister Shumway said she thought the timing was a little early, but when they met with President Uchtdorf, and mentioned their daughter Kate, he told them you watch and see, that she will be blessed and be better off than if they were here with her for their service. The enabling power of the atonement at work. But we had fun visiting with other people that we rarely see any more as they are in different wards.

Today was fast Sunday and it is always a delight. Had good meetings. Came home had a simple dinner. The church wants everyone to have a user ID and password to log into LDS.org and family search. So I set one up for Carly and then she and I and Summer went to work finding family names. Carly found 4 names, 3 of which she can take to the temple this Saturday to do baptisms for. Summer found 1 name and I found 3. So not a bad 2 hours work. Carly and Summer both said, this is fun. I also helped mom upload a picture of her Grandpa and Grandma Croft in 1925 canoeing at Bear Lake. It is a cool picture. I guess they were engaged at the time.

We hope you have a great week. We were talking to I believe Emily Anderson and she said she was in Winnemucca and heard Elder Grays home coming and knew that you and he had met up in the MTC. It is a crazy small world. We love you and pray for you daily. Like you said in your last email, enjoy every second you have serving as a missionary and representing Jesus Christ. This is truly a very special time in your life and it will all be over before you know it.  Keep being an awesome missionary.  

Mom thinks we should do the phone call around 6 pm Sunday night our time and what ever time you suggested. That would be Monday morning for you. But she will firm up the details from your letter.

Love,

DAD

Tomorrow is May

Hello Elder Nielsen,

It was another busy week. Monday I had my class to teach. Tuesday I took my lunch and went and watched Elko play Spring Creek again. It was a close game until the 6th inning and Elko changed pitchers and the wheels came off the bus. We ended up losing 12-8 but it was 12-4 there for a while.

Wednesday, I went up to Owyhee with 4 other people from the college to present the regents scholar award to a girl attending GBC from the reservation. Her name was Shiara Holmes. She was a sweetie. The most grateful and humble girl I think I have ever met. She would get emotional and tear up any time any one would say something nice about her. She was an amazing young lady. She should be a member of the church. And she is very pretty. She looks like an indian princess. I think she is dating Joe Thomas. Come to find out I had worked with her grand mother when I use to go up and audit the indian reservation. And Her father recognized me. He had coached against me when I was coaching the Elko freshman team. So I felt like I knew the family already. They know Jacob Conklin and her father is 2nd cousins to Joey Navaro.

Thursday I had to go to a President's scholarship award ceremony and to young mens, which I got there late due to the GBC deal.

Friday, our GBC president is retiring and Tawny, mom and I went over to the president's house and look at all their furnishings. They are moving back to Michigan and are selling all their belongings. So we bought a bed, and some book cases and a few things for a song and dance. I went and watched Elko play Fernley and Elko lost by 1 run in 8 innings. Elko made some costly errors that cost them the game. The wind was blowing and it was freezing cold. It has been cold and raining all week here.

Saturday, I had signed mom, Carly and I up to go on a field trip out to Ruby valley to watch the Sage hens strut around on their lek. We got up at 3 am and did our paper route and had to be out to the BLM at 4:45 am. We let Addie sleep over at the simons as you had to be at least 12 years old. Summer had a track meet in Winnemucca and ran the open 400. So we started early and got out to the BLM and took a nice tour bus out to Ruby Valley. We got out there and it was 28 degrees in the morning when we left. But we got out and looked around and there were no sage hens to be seen. They said that was the first time they have every been skunked. They think a coyote of Eagle was in the area and the birds did not come out. But we now know the area, so we will have to go out and check it out ourselves. They said they were watching it last weekend and 15 roosters were there doing their dances. So we took the bus back in to Lamoille, and the FFA kids had made us breakfast and they had a few people talk to us about the sage hens and sage brush. We got a free t-shirt and ended up back home by noon.

We spent most of the afternoon going over to President Curtis' house to pick up the items we purchased from them. Today was a beautiful day here. "Its a good day for a coon hunt". We had good meetings, came home and prepared a meal and we had the Sister missionaries over for dinner. These two sisters are very sweet. They look very similar. Long dark hair and dark skin. The one being from the Philippines and the other from the Marshall islands. I took the sacrament over to the shut-ins after church. This evening mom and I went and did some home teaching. We are still tired from yesterday's short night.

We hope you have a great week. Keep working hard and give it all you got. We love you and pray for you daily. That hope things are working out for you with the 3-some. We were thinking that transfers are this week, so you will probably get a new companion this week.  Utah Jazz beat the clippers in the series and now face the Warriors, which will be a tough match.

Make sure to try and accomplish all that the Lord wanted you to accomplish there in the Philippines. We hope you can survive the heat.

Love,

Dad

Adelaide can ride a bike!

Dear Elder Nielsen,

Well I made it through another busy tax season. I feel as though there is a huge monkey off my back and I can think about something other than taxes. I had a pretty good tax season. I only extended about 8 returns and one of those is mine. That is the least that I have extended in many years. Usually I extend about 15-20 returns.

Monday I took the day off and finished up all the returns that I had received information to do. I was scheduled to take both Monday and Tuesday off, as the dead line was Tuesday and those are usually crazy days. But I had everything under control and was able to go to work on Tuesday.

Tuesday and Wednesday were normal days. It rained a lot on Tuesday. Wednesday, I took my lunch hour and went and watched Elko play Spring Creek in baseball. Elko won 5-4. It was a good close game. SC was leading most of the game. Elko's player playing in left field did a Cody Nielsen trick. Sheldon Wilkerson hit a deep shot to left and he was running back watching the ball and tripped and fell on the upward slop and the ball about hit him in the head as he was falling down. When he was running back, I kept thinking to myself, you need to be careful and sprint back to a spot and try and locate and catch the ball. But he dropped it and Sheldon got a triple. Sheldon is walking on to UNR to play football. The win puts Elko in 2nd place behind Dayton. 

Thursday after work I took Carly and Summer to the Church and we met up with a Lady (Cammie) and her 4 daughters to practice bball. I guess they go up a couple times a week and have a girl Carly's age. Cammie played college ball in Montana. We need to get them in the gym as much as we can to improve their skills. We just stayed there until mutual started.

Friday, I went to work and we just hung out at home Friday evening. Summer left for Carson City on Friday for a varsity track meet on Saturday. She ran the open 400 and the 400 in a medley relay. Saturday morning, mom and I got up and did the paper route. Mom went to the clean up Elko day with the cub scouts. I stayed home and filed tax paperwork all day. Mom got us all free tickets for the lunch. So we went to the city park for a BBQ. Sat. evening we had a fund raiser for the girls camp. Mom helped Carly make that cheese cake we had last week and it was auctioned off and it went for $70. I offered a tax return preparation for either this year or next, and two couple were bidding it up to $150 and I said I would do them both for $150. So the Nielsen clan raised $370 out of the $800 they raised that evening. It is all for a good cause. 

Today we had great meetings at church. Good speakers in Sacrament meeting. Brother Welch and brother Bates spoke to us on Family history. During the 3rd hour, the young men and young women took care of primary so all the women could go to relief society. I, of course went into nursery and had a ball with them. It was fun. We had left over soup for dinner and mom and I are going to go home teaching this evening. It has been a delightful Sabbath today.

I showed Sister Balbuena your picture of your district from the MTC and her trainer was in your group as well as her 2nd trainer. But she knew 4 of the sisters in your district. What a small world! She said you wrote her back which was neat for her. She said her trainer told her that you helped her a lot with her Tagalog as she was Polynesian and spoke a different language. 

We hope you have a great week. Keep working hard and finish strongly. It is sprint to the finish line now. Dig deep and hit it hard to the end. We love you and pray for your daily. 

Love,

Dad

Emma's Blessing

Hello Elder Nielsen,

How was your week? We had another busy week. I was in Seattle Washington and got home around 10 pm on Tuesday. I did not go out and see any thing there. When I was not in classes, I was in my room trying to finish up tax returns. I did meet a couple of people that worked at the hotel who were from the Philippines, and of course I had to tell them that their arm pits stink which is a great ice breaker. I had a lady come into the financial aid office a few weeks ago from the Philippines, she understood Tagalog but spoke sebu. The little sister in our ward from the Philippines is a convert since 2011, so that is great that she is on her mission. She said she wrote you an email as 2 of her friends are serving in the Quezon City North mission. She was not sure she had the correct email address.

I went to work on Wednesday to try and get caught up from being out of the office a few days. I took Thursday off and worked on Taxes all day long. I am making good progress, but still have a lot to do. I went to mutual Thursday night. They called mom to be a den mother in addition to the nursery calling. On Friday, I had meetings at work, so I went to work.  Erin, Landon and Emma got here on Wednesday. Little Emma is a little tank. I think all she does is eats and sleeps. But she is a cute little thing. I can't see any Nielsen traits in her. We think she has a Croft nose and looks more like the Welch's side.

Summer had a JV track meet on Friday and ran the mile. She took 5th place at 6:21, but it was cold and snowy that day. She was suppose to go with the varsity to a meet at Boise State, but she told him she wanted to see her sister and niece.  I guess Benton walked on to Boise State's football team. He played in their spring game on the 2nd string defense at middle linebacker. He thought he did ok, not too terrible, but the coaches seem to like him. I guess coach Gilligan used his brother's contacts to set all that up.

Saturday, we got up early and did the paper route. I had to be at a clients house at 6:30 am to do their taxes and then be at the church for a priest laurel activity at the church with the missionaries. We then went to the Elko Federal Credit Union annual meeting. Addie and Carly won $25 each and that was it. But we got free orange juice and donuts. Afterwards I had a training at the stake center for young men leaders and scout leaders. Our speaker worked at the Provo MTC for 4 years and was talking about how scouting prepares young men for missions. He said he interviewed 17 return mission presidents and asked them what traits make the best missionaries. They all said these four items:

1. They know how to work hard

2. They made obedience a personal quest

3. They are good communicators and look people in the eyes

4. They have a testimony of the BOM and the gospel.

They also wished that all missionaries would have 1 significant away from home experience before their missions, learned work ethic, and had leadership opportunities. 

You will have to ask your mission president what his opinions are about those subjects.

After the meeting I came home and worked on taxes for a few hours until 5 pm and then Carly, summer and I went back to a fireside by that same guy, Brad Harris and he talked more about preparing for missions etc. It was good. Came home, worked on more taxes and mom worked on making Emma her blessing dress out of scraps from hers and Erin's wedding dresses. 

Today was Easter Sunday, our early morning meetings were canceled. But we went to our church for all 3 meetings, they were good. Then we came home and went to the 2nd ward's sacrament meeting where Emma was blessed. Landon did a great job and it was a great service. When Emma fussed a little, I got to take her out. All you have to do is give her a bottle and she is completely content and goes to sleep. Kind of like her mama, eats and sleeps.

We are watching a young couple's 2 kids (the Wheeler's) now as they teach missionary prep. The 2nd ward is as small as the elko 3rd ward. The NBA playoffs have started Utah is in it, first time in 5 years. They beat the Clippers with a shot at the buzzer. I applied for our tags. I put you in for deer, antelope, Desert bighorn and California bighorn, So we will see what happens. Elko's baseball team is 10-4 when I last checked and tied for 1st with Spring Creek.

Have a great week. We love you and pray for you daily. I will be extremely happen when the 18th is passed and I am finished with taxes for a while. Keep working hard and be a great example of what a missionary should be all the way to the finish.

Love,

Dad

More of the Same

Hola Elder Nielsen,

Another week in the books. As I look back, I can't remember much that happened. I have had a really bad sore throat all week, and Carly was sick on Wednesday, so she and I stayed home from work and school. Addie has missed a few days as she says she doesn't feel well either. We need to get better before Emma comes to visit us. On Tuesday night my throat hurt so badly that I could not sleep. I had a little nap before 11 pm, but when I went to bed, I was up from 11 to 4 am, not able to sleep.

We got a new missionary in our ward this week and she is from the Philippines. I have not met her yet and don't know where she is from. Someone told us she served in the Philippines before she came to the states waiting for a visa.  I have been working on taxes all week trying to get them all out and done. On Saturday morning I got up a 3 am to get showered and ready to catch my flight to Seattle, WA for a WASFAA conference. We got to SLC and it was raining real hard in SLC, but our flight was suppose to leave at 9:46 and we did not end up leaving SLC until 3 pm. They said there were bad storms in Atlanta with tornadoes and that messed up all the flights for 2-3 days. We were waiting for a flight crew to come in from Vegas and they were delayed. Any way, I sat in the airport and figured out all our hunting tag apps. I just put the 2 girls in for deer. With Summer in sports it is hard to find a free weekend to hunt. So I used it to my advantage. I had not applied for yours yet as I will do that online.

We got to Seattle and to our hotel about 6-7 pm. I had to figure out the closest church and figure the bus routes to get there.  So this morning I woke up early and walked to the bus station around 7 and caught a bus and it took me to about .5 mile from the church and then I walked the rest of the way. But it was good. I got there about 50 minutes before it started. A little old Spanish speaking lady was there in the chapel so she and I had a good conversation in Spanish for 50 minutes. She said she joined the church in 2009 but did not understand much as it was all in English. She was asking me what the conference was all about, so I played her a couple talks in Spanish on my ipad.  But it was a good ward and had a great bishop and a great spirit there. A gentlemen in the high priest group gave me a ride back to my hotel in his Jaguar.

I can't think of much else to say. Summer went to Boise on Sat. for a varsity track meet. They gave her a varsity uniform now, so I guess that means she is on varsity.

We hope you enjoyed conference. I have re-listened to a couple sessions this week and it was great the 2nd time as well. Keep working hard and we hope you turn that area around and have a lot of success.  I met a family here in my hotel from Guatemala and was  talking to them about Braden Nielsen serving in the mountains. 

On Monday, Gonzaga last to North Carolina by about 6 points. Gonzaga was up by 1 with 2 minutes to go and ended up losing. The sister missionaries came over to say goodbye so we missed the last minute or so. But it was ok, we will miss Sister Martinez from Puerto Rico. She is a real sweet heart.

We love you and pray for you daily. I will be happy to get through this last week of taxes. There are still about 8 clients who have not gave me their tax info. yet. I told the missionaries here in Seattle that you were trying to find 35 new investigators a week, and the one elder said, he did not know if he had found 35 new investigators in his entire mission. So be grateful that you are serving in an area where the people are humble and willing to listen.

Have a great week.

Dad

Springtime, Conference and Final Four

Dear Elder Nielsen,

We just finished watching General Conference. It was awesome as usual. Great speakers and great topics. 3 or 4 or them talked on the holy ghost.  But I really liked Elder Rasband's, Holland's, Bednar's, Uchtdorf's in Priesthood session, the guy from Korea, and Argentina, the sister on Sunday morning session. I really liked all of them. They all were great.

We had a good week. The girls were out of school for spring break and we were watching the Simon's dog and the Smith's dog. Mom is calling herself the President of the Kennel club. They were not too bad, but it still is extra work and Chica gets tired of dog sitting the others.

On Wednesday, I had to drive to Lovelock to talked about financial aid to students and parents. We had a good turn out about 30 people. That evening, I drove back to Winnemucca to stay the night. On Thursday morning, I was thinking about leaving at 3 am to make it back to basketball, but it was raining and blowing really hard. After I ate breakfast and was checking out of my room, it was snowing and blowing like crazy. The water was coming through the window in my hotel room. I filled up with gas and I could not see a thing. I got on the highway and started home, but the roads had about 1.5 inches of slush on them and the wind was blowing and snowing so badly, I had to roll down my windows to see out. So I got off the highway at the end of town in Winnemucca and thought I would go to the Winnemucca campus and hang out and work there until the storm passed by. By time I got to the campus, the power was out. So all I could do was sit in a room next to a window and read the paper. I did not end up leaving until about noon. The power was out in Battle Mountain as well. But I thought that by the afternoon the storm would have passed by.  There were 2 or 3 wrecks on the Hwy 80 during the morning. By time I ended up coming over Emigrant pass, the roads were fine and I was able to get home safely.

Summer had a track meet in Elko on Friday. She ran the mile and her time was 6:11 which 16 seconds better than her previous personal record. Now she needs to break the 6 minute mile. She missed the 800 as she said she did not hear it. Then she ran the 4 x 400 and was the lead off runner.

I have been working on taxes and trying to get them all out. I leave for a business trip next Saturday and want to have most of them done by then.

In the final four, Gonzaga beat So. Carolina 77-74 and North Carolina beat Oregon 77-76. So it will be two number 1 seeds in the final Gonzaga vs No. Carolina tomorrow. Elko has been doing pretty well in baseball. They have a really young team, but they are in 1st place with a record of 7-4. No team is really dominating the league this year. Alec Wall has 2 home runs. We have not watched any of their games yet, but want to watch one when tax season is over. The U Conn women's team got beat by Southern Miss. in the semi finals. 1st loss in 111 games.

It was kind of cold and snowy this week here, but Mom's flowers are blooming in the front yard. We are ready for spring.

Keep working hard. We hope you enjoy this next area with your new companion. Do every thing you can to have great success in the next few months. Elder Peterson's mom forwarded a letter from Elder Peterson and it was great and gave you some great compliments. Just don't inhale it as President Uchtdorf taught in the Priesthood session.

We love you and are very happy you are serving the Lord on this assignment. Work faithfully to the end.

Love,

Dad