Spring Break and Final Four

Dear Elder Nielsen,

Another week has come and gone. And I look back and can't remember much about it. Monday night Summer had her basketball banquet. They did all three teams together. We had taco meat over chips kind of like tacos. It was cheap and easy but the best thing is it was free. Summer did not get recognized for any thing.  It did not last too long, so it was good.

Tuesday Mom had a relief society dinner, and Carly went to help run the nursery. Addie and I stayed home and Summer had Choraliers.

Wednesday, it was raining most of the day, and our warm weather went away. The kids had their parent teachers conferences, so mom and I went to those.

Thursday, Summer left for Los Angeles, with the Choraliers and they will get back on Tuesday. On Thursday evening, we had YMYW, and I was planning on going to that, but the sister missionaries called and said they were going to have a lesson with a lady that lives in the Cul de sac near our house. So we wanted to go to that. So I took Carly and dropped her off and then came back and we went and knocked on her door and no one answered the door. I don't know if any one was home or not. We knocked on the door of the neighbor but no one was home there either. So I came home and watched NCAA basketball games. After this weekend, we have the final 4. Gonzaga a 1 seed will play South Carolina a 7 seed, and North Carolina a 1 seed with play Oregon a 3 seed next weekend. So those should be good games.

On Friday I came home from work and worked on taxes and helped Carly finish her hunting safety booklet. Saturday, Carly and I spent all day in the hunting safety class and now she is legal to hunt. So I will be putting in for tags for her, Summer, me and you. It should be fun. You are not eligible for bull elk, but you are for cow elk.

After the class, I worked on taxes all night and mom and Carly went to the women's conference. 

Today, Sunday, I have been gone all day. I started my day at 7 am with ward council, church meetings, after church I went out with the spanish elders to make visits. We went to the Saenz home and Ozzy Moreno was there, so we talked with him. His parents have kicked him out of their home, so he is living with Robert's Saenz parents. I had read in the paper a few weeks back where he was arrested for drugs or something. So he is not making the best decisions. We invited him to church.  We visited another inactive family in the branch and tried to visit 2 others, but they were not home or did not answer the door. Then I had another meeting at the stake center and just got home about 7:30 pm. So it has been a great busy day.

The Elko baseball team is doing ok. They are young. Alec Wall hit a walk off home run last week to beat Dayton in one of their games. But on Friday, they gave up 10 runs in the top of the 7th to south tahoe to lose that game. 4 of the 10 runs was a grand slam. I have not watched them play yet, but will not have time until tax season is over.

We hope you have a great week. Keep working hard!  And do great things in that zone you are in. We love you and are happy you are serving the Lord.

Love

Dad

Sweet 16

Dear Elder Nielsen,

We had another busy week. The weather has been great, low 70's high 60's. Perfect weather, but it is suppose to snow this next week. So we have to enjoy the wonderful weather as we have it. The NCAA tourny is in full swing. It has been kind of a boring year. I went 15 for 16 my first day. Only 2 upsets and I picked a 3rd upset which did not happen. Villanova, a #1 seed got beat by Wisconsin yesterday, but I was in my office all day.  

I had my class on Monday so that was a stressful and long day getting everything ready for that. Wednesday, mom and I went to the self reliance deal which we are not sure why we are there. Most of the people there are facilitators so it is the choir preaching to the choir. Mom and I have decided that we really do not have 2 hours a week for 3 months to go and do that specially during busy season. So I talked to bishop Olsen and thought it might be better for us to do it another time. The people in the stake that really need that program are not attending.

Thursday we had YMYW. Nothing too special there. I did not watch any games on Thursday in March madness. Friday I watched a few games in the evening.

Saturday, we got up early and did the papers, then I tried to work on taxes and I could not log in to my computer. It gave me an windows error telling me I could not log in. So again I was freaking out not being able to access my tax programs or files and during this time of year, that is a scary deal. So I took Summer to her track meet and spent the day in my office trying to log in to my computer. When I finally did, 2/3rds of my programs were gone and not on my homepage. So I called Dwaine hiles and he came down to my office and helped me get my tax program and files back. I still do not have most of the other things I lost, but at this point, all I need are my tax files and program. I worked all day until 3:30 on taxes. Then we went to the church and cleaned the church. I came back and worked on taxes until about 11 pm. I needed to have a huge day as I have less than a month left for taxes. 

We had a good day at church. After church I went with Andrew Bauman to take the sacrament to the shut-ins. Sister Ballard always asks how cody is doing. I thought that was cute. We had left overs for dinner and I took a nap. Mom and I are going home teaching and then I have a priesthood leadership meeting this evening.

Addie last week was sitting on the coach and said something about being "proactive". Where in the world did she come up with that word?

This will be short and sweet. I hope you have a great week, and we look forward to learning of your next assignment. Keep being exactly obedient and work as hard as you can. We love you and are happy you are serving a mission.

Love,

Dad 

Went to Ruby Valley

Hola Elder Nielsen,

This was a good quick week. On Monday, I had Iris, the GBC student who the missionaries taught in our home last fall come visit me in my office. She was stressed out and was seeking help and advice. I guess she had 4 unsatisfactory scores on her quizzes in the nursing program and if she gets six unsats. she will be kicked out of the program. So I thought, well perhaps she is being humbled and needs the Lords help and direction. So I gave her some test and quiz taking advice and strategies and I also thought, that perhaps what she needed was the Lords help to bless her and calm her nerves so she could concentrate and get good grades. So I asked her if she would like a priesthood blessing to help her and she said yes. So we decided that she would come over to our house tonight at 6 pm for the blessing. I hurried home from work early and we were here ready and waiting and she never showed up.My thoughts were as follows: I know that I can only do things with the Lord's help and if she is not willing to get some help from him then she is on her own. She had another quiz the next day, and I don't know how she did. I do know that if we rely on the arm of the flesh to get us through life, it will be a very long and difficult experience.

Tuesday was a normal day, not too much unusual happening. Wednesday, mom and I got asked to be facilitators for a new self reliance program in the church, so we had a meeting at the stake center with the Allemans. I am not sure how this is going to work, but it requires us to meet with people in our group 2 hours a week for 2 or 3 months and then we have 3-4 hours a week of homework. But the facilitator only directs the meetings, so I am not sure what kind of advice etc that we are suppose to give. We follow a booklet for every step. 95% of the people there were facilitators and I don't really want to spend 5 hours a week preaching to the choir. We have another meeting this Wednesday to put us into groups. It is a pretty big commitment for some members of the ward, but I guess the spirit is suppose to be the teacher. So we don't teach any thing, we just read the booklet.

Thursday night we had YMYW combined activities and the Priests were in charge. I had tried to let the priest plan and take charge, but they never did, so we took our pop corn maker and Guesstures game. We ate pop corn and played games.

Friday was pretty normal. Saturday we did the paper route early and then Summer had a track meet in Spring Creek. We were all planning on going out there, but I tried to work on taxes before I left and my tax program would not open. So I was freaking out thinking that I had lost all that info and had to start over, but I called the support for my tax program and spent a few hours on the phone with them getting it fixed. So mom and the girls left for the meet. I had to have the tax program working by 1:30 pm as I had a new client coming to town to meet with me for their taxes. Thank goodness we were able to get it all back in order and I ended up working on taxes all day long. It was a good thing. I needed a day like that.

Today was a great Sabbath day. We had day light savings and moved our clocks forward. I went to ward council at 7 am. Then we all went out to Ruby Valley to hear Vivian Neff's home coming talk. I love that little branch out there. They are all very spiritually mature people and the spirit is very strong in that branch. Their branch is almost the size of the Elko 3rd ward now. We went to all 3 meetings and then the branch had a pot luck dinner afterward and the food was as good as the company.  My mission president's cousin lives in that branch, so we had a good time talking about President Dahl.

We got home around 4:15 pm. But it was a great day. We had beautiful weather, 60 degrees. A great drive, meetings, spirit and food. What a wonderful delightful Sabbath. Now we have to go to young womens new beginnings and a girls camp meeting after that. The spanish missionaries asked if I could go with on splits with them this evening. I will have to see what time all these meetings end.

BYU ended up getting beat on Monday by 31 points by Saint Mary's, so they are out of the WCC tourny and will not get invited to the NCAA tourny, but probably to the NIT. The 4 number 1 seeds are Gonzaga, North Carolina, Villanova, and Kansas. We will see how everything plays out this week.

Summer did well in the 4x400 relay yesterday.

We love you and pray for you daily. Keep working hard and push yourself to the very end. It is sprinting to the finish line time.

Have a wonderful week!

Love

DAD

March Madness is coming

Dear Elder Nielsen,

Another week in the books. Monday I had my accounting class and got home after 10 pm. Tuesday, Mom and I went to the Red Lion to the buffet as it was the last day we could use our tickets I won. It was Italian night. It was good, but nothing to brag about. I am glad it was free. The 2 ladies that were serving us were from the Philippines so I used my Tagalog on them. You arm pits stink. and they just throw their heads back and give a big old belly laugh.

On Tuesday after basketball, my elbow started hurting. I could hardly move it and it swelled up. I think it might be shooters elbow or tendonitis. It is really sore and when I move it, it pops like your ankles, but the popping is painful. So I don't know what I did to it. It did not go to bball on Thursday and I could not shoot or pass with my right arm. I would have had to do everything left handed. I hope it gets better. It does not hurt as badly today, but it is still sore and pops every so often.

Wednesday was a  usual day. Thursday, we did not have Mutual as we had a Face to Face with Elder Holland and President Eyring. But I had to go to the church to meet with a lady wanting church assistance and set her up on a budget. Then the bishop met with her, so I had to stick around and wait for them to have the double leadership present.

Friday I had to go to Elko high school and talk to 2-3 classes about college and financial aid. Friday evening we stayed home and relax.

Saturday, we had a beautiful day. It was in the 50s. We did the paper route and then Summer went and ran the running part of the triathlon. Me and the 2 older girls had the Face to Face Saturday morning at 10 am. It was great and I learned lots of things. Afterwards they fed up lunch and then we put together Hygiene kits. I came home and worked on taxes for 3 hours and watched BYU mens bball team beat Loyola Marymount University in the quarter finals of the WCC tournament. The BYU girls team won in overtime. So now both teams are in the semis. Next Sunday is selection Sunday and March madness officially begins.

Saturday evening we went with the Harris family to the Elko boys bball team crab feed. The Harris' family buys the tickets and then they never come, so they give them to us. I do their taxes for free in exchange, so it is a good trade off. I still have mixed feelings about that as there is no accountability for the money they make. I think it goes to the Klekas family slush fund. So we don't ever buy or bid on any auction items as I am not supporting the slush fund. There needs to be some accountability of what money comes in and where it goes.

I guess AJ Jordan is getting serious or almost engage with a girl from Korea that served in his mission with him. Amber told us you got accepted to BYU Provo. That is awesome and a great accomplishment. Cole Smith and a girl that got baptized a year ago in the 4th ward Maria got accepted also. But the scored 31 and 30 on their ACT test respectively.  I figured if you were meant to go to BYU, Provo, you would be accepted.

Today we had a great fast and testimony meeting.  It turned cold again and was snowing and blowing like crazy. We had the sister missionaries over for dinner. We got a new greenie sister fresh out of the MTC from Micronesia, but was adopted and is from Arizona. The 2 sisters are very nice and sweet sisters. They gave us a challenge to find someone for them to teach in our home by the 25th of March. So we are praying to find someone in the 3rd ward for them to teach. We will see how it goes. We set a date, have faith and move towards that date.

Mom and I went home teaching to Sister Sargeant. We love going over there and visiting with her. We have great gospel discussions.

We home you have a great week. We love you and are happy you enjoyed Elder Bednar's visit. Mom and I were wondering if you got any paper cuts turning those pages for you companion. That was probably a rough job seeing that the hymns are all on one page.

Keep working hard and being exactly obedient to the end. Try to accomplish every thing the Lord wanted you to accomplish on your mission to the Philippines. We saw Dr. Hernandez at the crab feed and they had their niece visiting them from the Philippines. So of course I had to test me Tagalog on her and tell her Ma bajo un kili kili mo, that her arm pits stink. They all had a good laugh and mom never understands why.

Did we tell you last week that Jimmer had 73 points in one game in the China league.

Have a super week.

Love,

Dad