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