Magadang gabi Elder Nielsen,
Well we think that is great that you are training already. Now you can call the shots so that you and your companion are exactly obedient in all things. We got an email from your mission president telling us that you were going to train. We were very surprised that you would white wash a new area with a new companion. But just put your total faith and trust in the Lord and he will guide you and direct you in all things. We hope you are doing well and every thing is going well with your training. Is your new comp. american or Filipino?
I talked to Randy Jenkins today and he said that Brandon is being thrown into the fire as he has not completed his training yet, but is getting a new companion, so he will have to be co-senior companion and introduce him to the new area. I forwarded you his email. I thought he was training to, but he is not training a greenie or FOB (fresh off the boat) as Amber likes to call them.
We finally got the snow I was waiting for on Summer's hunt on Tuesday. 1 day after her hunt ended. We got about 5-6 inches and it was a real heavy wet snow. Many large trees and branches were broken around town because of the weight. They got 22 inches of snow at Wild Horse, 17 in Tuscarora, etc. So I am wondering how much snow they got up in mom's elk area. This way perhaps we can get on fresh tracks and track a big bull down. SLC did not hardly get any snow. It also finally got cold. The day time highs are around 45 degrees.
Carly had her pal game on Tuesday and she is playing better and being more aggressive as I prefer. Afterwards, Addie and I had to go to Mountain view for Watch Dog sign ups and got a piece of pizza. We also had all the girls parent teacher conferences, and they are all doing great. They are all great kids, good students and their teachers love them. Summer had all As except 1 B. So that is good. Addie loves school and is doing well. Her fine motor skills are amazing, she must get them from the Grandpa Croft side of the family.
On Thursday, we had a combined activity for mutual and we watch the Cokeville Miracle movie based on the true story of the Bombing of the Cokeville, Wy elementary school. I remember we had many of those survivors come speak to our stake here in Elko in the mid 1990's. It was amazing that that bomb went off and none of the 98 kids or teachers were killed. The only ones that died were the 2 perpetrators. You will have to watch it when you get home.
On Friday, Elko played spring creek in Football to see who goes to semis state finals. It was a cold cold evening. Mom and I went and we were bundled up like crazy. It was a hard fought game and Elko won 12-8. Nick Smiley was 4 for 4 in field goals all of them around 27-32 yards. He has been very solid at the kicking position. Elko dominated in time of possession. We could never punch it in, but were inside the 10 yard line 3 or 4 times. We would kick a field goal and then we did an on-side kick and recovered that and kept spring creeks offense off the field. Jon Jund played for SC but he was not 100%. So now we have to travel to Las Vegas and play Moapa Valley. They beat Desert Pines. And some other team from the south beat Faith Luthern, so that team will travel to play Fallon this week.
BYU beat San Jose state 14-13. I did not see or listen to that, but we were suppose to blow them out. TCU got beat for the 1st time this year by Oklahoma State. I wanted them to go undefeated and break up this playoff system which is still a joke.
On Saturday, summer had her 1st 2 Adobe bball games. She is point guard and played most of the time, but she needs to get more confidence dribbling with her left hand and get stronger and protect the ball. We played Owyhee and those big girls were mauling us and the boys don't call any fouls, so I was telling Summer, reach and tip the ball, they aren't calling any fouls, be aggressive. And she did very well with her aggressiveness. She shot a lot but did not have any points the first game. And we lost. Then we played Jackpot and she had 2 buckets and we won handedly. AFterwards, the Elko boys soccer team was playing Sparks for the regional championship, so we went back there to watch and it was tied 0-0 after 2 overtimes and went to PKs. Sparks won 5-4. Aren Villegas Nadalie's brother missed his kick, it hit the side pole and went out. But they will still go to state as the number 2 team.
I came home and started cutting up Summer's doe. I got about 1/2 done. I have been watching videos on you tube to try to do it quicker. They make it look very easy, but they waste a lot more than I do. We had stroganoff, and that old doe is a tough old bugger. We cooked her neck over night and throughout the day and the meat will still not come off and is tough as leather. We might have to jerky the entire deer as you like your jerky very chewy and she is chewy.
Today we had our southwest regional conference. Elder Lynn Robbins from 70's talked on simplicity how we need to simplify our lives to concentrate on only the best items. Sister Reeves, 2nd councilor in RS talked about repentance, Elder Lawrence Corbridge talked about ?? I can't remember. Elder Oaks talked about keeping the commandments and being blessed. He talked to the youth about spending less time texting and social media and spending more time following the Savior's example. It was all good. We have our stake conference next week.
Have a super week. We love you and are excited for you in this new opportunity. Rely on the Lord for everything. Don't think you can do it alone. He knows the area, he knows who is ready and prepared to receive his gospel. It is your job to follow the spirit and you will be directed in all things. If you are exactly obedient and do your part you will be blessed. Enjoy the warm weather while you can as we are freezing here. We still don't have the heat on and it is 55 degrees in our home. It has been getting in the teens during the night here.
Kylee Olsen comes home next week or so. Her family is flying back to pick her up.
Keep working hard.
Love Dad
Dear Elder Nielsen,
Well, it happened, after such a nice weekend, we got dumped on with snow. It hit Tuesday during the night. I woke up to do papers and it was snowing-- a super wet snow. It is such a pain to try and keep papers dry when a puddle of slush is collecting in the bottom of your paper bag. I was so wet when I got home, I stepped in a puddle and I sunk up to my ankle! I did notice a lot of tree limbs that had snapped because of the heavy snow and many of the trees have not yet dropped all of their leaves. I was just thinking about Erin and Landon's reception and she wants to do kind of a woodsy- winter scene and so I was going to put up tree limbs like we did at Chelsea's reception. I wasn't sure when/where I was going to find people trimming limbs and PRESTO! There are limbs broken everywhere. I asked a guy on our street if I could have his and he was more than happy to have me take them off his hands. He even got his chainsaw out and cut them of the main beam for me.
Tuesday, I had to make a pot of soup for our RS Holiday Dinner. I decided this year we were not going to do our dinner in Dec. for our annual RS Christmas dinner. Its too busy and frankly, kind of stressful, So, we did a low-key soup dinner in bread bowls and it was just fine. We played games and then I pulled out the music chimes (the pipes) and we plunked out a couple of Christmas songs. That is always fun and funny. I told them the bell ringers had nothing on us. We only had 16 ladies attend (probably affected by the storm that day), but we had a good time and good food.
Summer and Carly had dental appts. last week and we were in there 2 hrs. Summer was able to watch the entire movie they put on for her. They said that hardly ever happens. They filled Carly's 2 cavities first, he said the one was a bit deeper than he had originally thought, and Summer had two small cavities between her teeth (she needs to floss) Are you flossing? Its pretty important.
It was Parent/Teacher Conference time this past week and we were quite pleased. All 3 girls had good reports, Summer and Carly both had all A's except for one B (math) and Addie's teacher said she was really coming along and was a pleasure to have in class. It made me so grateful to have good kids who make a teacher's life a little easier. What a great example that is set by just being a delightful student. Your teacher's have liked all you kids. We were sure blessed to not have any troublemakers. Although...Ads is still young... She was on one today. We had to go to the Stk. Center for a special SW Regional Conf. and it was time to leave and she still wasn't dressed and didn't like what we had for her to wear, etc, etc. I told her she was going whether it was in her jammies, naked or half dressed, so she'd better get going. Carly helped her get dressed in the car on the way, and did her hair during the meeting, because it was a wild mess. It was a really great broadcast, seen by the members in the Southwest Regional. Chelsea and Brian watched it as well. I loved the first talk about simplifying our life by Elder Robbins.
Summer had her first Adobe basketball games on Sat. The first game was against Owyhee and they had a hard time with them because they kept fouling us so much. The refs were just the HS kids and they weren't really calling all the reaches and body contact. Summer did OK, she was nervous since she is one of the point guards and isn't really an accomplished dribbler. She seemed more comfortable in the 2nd game which they won easily against Jackpot.
We are so amazed and proud of you that you are training now! We actually got an email from you president before you told us, but we didn't say anything in our last letter because we wanted to hear it from you. He sure has a lot of trust and confidence in you. I am eager to hear about your new companion, his name, where he's from, etc. You are a papa now! :) Teach him well, Amber says a good trainer is hugely important. She had to untrain bad behavior from a companion that had kind of a lax trainer. Do your best to bring him up well, I know you will be blessed. You are a great source of happiness to your Dad and I. I love you kid, Mom
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