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

Dearest Elder Nielsen,

We just got back from Ruby Valley.  It was Vivian's homecoming today, so we went out there to attend their church meetings.  It was really fun.  That branch is pretty special. Vivian looked about the same...only different, if that makes sense.  Physically she hadn't changed, but spiritually you could tell she was different.  She gave a good talk on covenants and then she and her family sang a song together and then her Dad took up the rest of the time. She said she tried really hard not to say "Y'all" and to talk w/o throwing in some "Suthern" accent.  Ben Neff was excited to see us.  I told him the girls were too big for him to pick up anymore, but they were OK with giving him a hug.  (they do so kind of reluctantly, but they are good sports) Afterwards there was a big potluck, that was really good.  A whole roaster full of shredded pulled pork--yum!  They do that if they are going to have visitors.  Some missionaries from Vivians' mission came too.  It was very enjoyable.  Afterwards when everything was put away and the girls were shooting hoops with the Neff kids, Peter asked if Summer could stay longer.  We had to get back home because there is a New Beginnings program tonight, but we let Summer stay and hang out with the Neffs, and they will bring her back into town tonight when they come in later to stay at there little house. Summer is starting to rack up the admirers.

Its been another good and busy week.  Summer was finishing up a science fair project.  Carly had a big book review she did on a display board that turned out really good.  Dad had been busy with taxes, and I am trying to get things ready for some visitors coming through this week on their way to Calif.  My friend /old roommate Paula and her family are coming through and want to visit.

Summer ran in her first track meet yesterday and it was an eye opener.  She wanted to be a sprinter and so she was put in the 100m and 200m dash.  She is not blessed with fast -twitch muscles I am afraid.  She came in 4th in her heat in the 100 and last in her heat in the 200.  Then she told me she was the anchor leg in the 4x400m relay and she was really nervous, because she had never run that before.  I gave her some quick pointers from my past experience.  (I was a member of the sub-60.00 club you know   To my amazement she did really well.  Her teammates had established a big lead so I was nervous she might blow it, but when she got the baton she just took off at a good pace and she kept it going the whole way around.  She never gave up any ground.  I told her, I think you may have found your race.  She is a middle distance runner.  She has another meet in Elko this weekend, so we will see how that goes, she may run the 800m to see how she does with that.

I hope you have another wonderful week.  Time is flying, but you stay on the ground and get it done!  Love you lots, Mom