Hola Elder Nielsen,
It has been 58 degrees out the past few days and feels like spring. We love it! Most of the snow has melted now except for in the shady places. It has been a good busy week.
We are having the presidential elections in the US coming up and all the candidates have been coming to Elko to try to get people to vote for them. On Monday morning I went to hear Marco Rubio speak, he is a senator for Florida who has some conservative values. Then Monday evening, mom, Summer and I went to hear Ted Cruz speak at the convention center. His deal was a show. He is a senator from Texas who mom likes and I was leaning towards Rubio or Cruz so I wanted to listen to both of them before I voted on Tuesday. But after attending Cruz's event on Monday I was sold. They had David Osmond, the son of Alan Osmond sing the national anthem and another song. He has been on American Idol and has that crystal clear Osmond voice. We enjoyed that. Then they had Glen Beck speak. Who mom listens to on the radio everyday. He is LDS and I had not ever listened to him or gave him much attention, but I was very impressed. He was a great speaker and really sold me on Cruz' values and ability to be a great president. Then Cruz came out and spoke to the group. The convention center was packed like it is with the Christmas choralier's concert. But Cruz did a great job and sold me. They were running against Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, and Donald Trump. Trump is a lose cannon and has been winning all the other states elections so far. He is a crazy man and you never know where his is coming from or where he is heading. But I believe the american people are fed up with politics and want something different. But I think he is a dangerous guy to be in that powerful position.
Bush dropped out of the running as he was not winning and a few of the others need to drop out. Really it is between Trump, Rubio and Cruz on the republican side. HIlary Clinton is running against Bernie Sanders for the democratic side. Things are pretty scary on the political side right now in the US. On Tuesday, we had a PAL game and we played probably the 2nd or 3rd best team in the league and we only lost by 1 point, so I was happy with our performance. Summer had 2 points. I dropped mom off to go vote before our game and I went after our game. Cruz won Elko county but Trump won the state of Nevada, so that is not good. Also on Tuesday I was a watch dog at Adelaide's school, so I got to spend the day with her. She really enjoyed that. She was so excited to have me go to school with her that day that she got up and was dressed and ready to go to school at 7 am. She does not go until noon, but she was ready and excited to have her dad with her at school.
On Wednesday, we had PAL practice. We only get about 6 of our 9 girls there at practice so it is hard to try and put in any plays or run defenses. Afterwards we were waiting for some parents to pick up their girls and found out about a few a them. The little Filipino girl, both her mom and dad are doctors. And another little girl on our team that live by her up by the new Marriott, both of her parents are anesthesiologists. So both families are very wealthy. We were thinking that you might be able to meet with the Filipino family when you get home off your mission. We went to the East stake and mom and summer played on a women's team from that stake. Summer did really well and had 8 points. I think it is good for her to just play and get confidence and a feel for the game.
On Thursday we had PAL pictures and YMYW. Addie was coughing a lot and wanted me to rock her as she had a fever and head ache. There has been some colds and sicknesses going around.
On Friday, Elko played Clark in the state semi finals. Mom and I went out to dinner with the Simons and another couple that was visiting them from West wendover who are LDS. He is a judge over there and comes over to help Mason. It was a nice dinner, we used the gift card I received from the Elko baseball team for doing the announcing for the games. Then we listened to the games on the radio. Elko did not score its first points until 2 minutes to go in the 1st quarter. Clark has 2 freshmen that start for them. We knew what would happen, they would shut Eric down and win the game. That is why you need 5 threats to win a game. Elko lost 54-37. Baum had 12 points, Eric had 9, and a few others had points, but when you only have one threat, it is easy to shut down. I don't think Elko will ever beat Clark with Klekas coaching. Desert Pines beat So. Tahoe by 20 points and Clark beat Desert Pines in the final by 4 points 43-39. So Clark has won 3 out of the last 4 state championships.
On Sat. we went out to Spring Creek to watch Summer play volleyball. Then I worked on taxes all afternoon. Sat. evening we went over to the simons house for a birthday party and pizza. Stephan Curry has been playing great again this year and Golden State will be the 1st team ever to win 50 games before a certain time period. He played on TV Sat. and had 43 points and 12 3-pointers. They have only lost 5 games this year.
We had good meetings in church. We have to go to new beginnings tonight as Carly will becoming a young women in Sept. I can't believe it.
Well, have a super week. Keep working hard and being exactly obedient. We love you and pray for you always. Being a special witness of Christ is truly amazing. Take advantage of every moment you have. Reagan Goulding got her mission call to Concepcion Chile. Kyle Olsen is engaged and will be married in July some time.
Love Dad
My Dear Elder Nielsen,
We loved the picture of your entire mission! That was pretty neat. There are a lot of natives in your mission, yeah? and you singing in the choir! In Tagolag, right? All that Choraliering was good for something besides funnin' around. I liked to picture your group heading over to the conference all packed into a jeepney, who drove? That was a good letter, especially, about how Elder Nelson was strengthened by the spirit--loved that.
Well, around here we have had a bunch of visits from the people running for president. Hillary Clinton (D), Bernie Sanders(D), Ben Carson, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz (Donald Trump sent his son). They all come to Nevada because we are a swing state. Utah and Idaho never get this kind of political attention because it would be a waste for either side, they are dominantly Republican. I didn't go to any of them accept for Cruz. That is the guy I support and I didn't want to spend the time going to any others. Dad, Summer and I went to hear him on Mon. night at the convention center. It was a mix of political rally / patriotic program. They started with a prayer and then David Osmond sang the national anthem and another peppy-get-everyone-going kind of song. Glenn Beck the radio broadcaster spoke for about 30 min. and he was really good, about how we need to get back to The Constitution and how Ted Cruz will uphold the Constitution. Then Ted came out and spoke for 45 min, about all he wanted to do and change when elected president. He was great. The next night was the Nevada Caucus when went to vote for the person we want to represent the Republican candidate next November. Dad kind of liked Rubio from watching the debates on TV, but after the Ted Cruz visit he changed his mind and voted for Ted. Summer had a game that night and we lost by 1pt! Summer had 2 points. We played better than we thought we would against the team we played. The next night, "I" had a basketball game with the East Stk. women. They invited me to play with them. The other team had only 3 ladies so we all just divided up the jerseys and did it that way. Summer even got to play and she did really well--a lot better than in her PAL games, she had 8 pts. I guess playing with a bunch of old ladies isn't quite as intimidating as the girls her age. I had 8 pts. as well. It was fun-- just the right balance of fun and competitiveness. Those ladies can play.
Friday, we went out to dinner to Machi's, finally using the gift card that Coach Gilligan gave Dad for announcing those baseball games from the booth. The Simons invited us to go out to dinner with them and gave us the choice of where to go, so we went with that. Then we went home and listened to the Boy's bball game on the radio. It was a thumping from the tip-off. We played Clark and they went ahead 7-0 right off the bat. The paper said it well, "Clark was too tall, too fast, and too athletic for our boys. They beat us 54-37. There was no bruiser on the team like you this year. Benton could have filled the role if he had been able to play. Clark went on to beat Desert Pines for another state title.
On saturday, Summer had volleyball games out in SC, and then that night we all went to the Simons to celebrate McKinley's 5th Bday. We had pizza and cake and the kids ran around while the adults talked about our crazy politics.
Amber and Kevin have ordered their announcements, and she is going to wear my wedding dress. This is kind of a good story... so Amber didn't want to spend a lot of money, so I said that she should just wear my wedding dress. She said there was a group of BYU-I students that were on their way back to Rexburg, from Reno that had attended some conference or something over there. Kevin knew one of the guys in the group and he texted him to see if he would take my dress back with him to Rexburg. They were stopping in the Raleys shopping center to grab dinner. So, 5 min later, I grab the dress, throw it into a Marshalls bag and I am in the car driving to the Raleys parking lot trying to find a complete stranger to give my wedding dress that I made myself back in the day. I get there and see a big charter bus and and "my contact" standing outside the bus waiting for me. I wonder what the others thought when he got on the bus with a big ol' "Marshalls" bag. I wonder if anyone asked him, "What did you get a Marshalls? "Oh, just a wedding dress!"
Have a great week, sure love you, Mom
PS Raegan Goulding got her mission call last, last week to Concepcion, Chile. She's very excited! Leaves May 10th
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