Happy Valentines Day
 

Life's experiences

“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.”
-----Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

We as missionaries are always experiencing something new all the time.   Friends, assignments,  apartment, sad news, exciting news, disappointment, and the list can go on and on.  These experiences are for our growth and learning.  They help us become better missionaries and people.  They prepare us for more experiences.  It is how we react to these experiences that is important.  If we take the sad news or disappointment negatively and don't include our Heavenly Father and let him help us we won't learn and grow.  We will follow a sad and lonely path.  And on the other hand if we take the good, happy and exciting news without including our Heavenly Father and showing gratitude for our joy we will still be on a lonely road.   It is through our Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, who will support us and show us what we can learn from our experiences, happy or sad. 

We have a sister in our ward, Sandra Morris, that I have mentioned before but I would like to give her honor in my letter today because she has taught me a lot about the hard things in life.  She has had cancer now for quite a long time.  She has been through radiation and chemo more than once.  Each time they think they have arrested it, it gives her hope.  Then another test, another scan reveals another tumor.  She starts over and tries to beat it.  Just as things start to look promising something else develops.  Last week she thought she had a bug bite on her side and found out it was a staph infection.  That has taken its toll on her health.   Then this week she was diagnosed with shingles, very painful shingles in which she ended up on the hospital again.  
We were visiting with her and her little family last week and I mentioned how positive and upbeat she was in the face of such adversity.  She looked at me and said, "I know who I will meet when I leave this life and I want to meet Him smiling and happy."  Every day is a challenge for her and yet she is always smiling and happy.  She is taking the experiences of life and making the best of them she can.  I am learning a lot from her.  We have become very close to this family and love them very much for their diligence and perseverance in the face of adversity.  I must mention that her husband is very supportive and loving as is her little 7 year old son also.  This couple was just baptized last August.

(I began this blog last week and since my writing, Sister Morris  passed away on Monday.  She was a very special sister in the Gospel and a close friend.  I will miss her and her family will greatly miss her.  But they know where she is and are staying strong.  We are keeping in close contact with them and trying to help them in any way we can.  We feel that her best friend is being prepared to hear the gospel soon.  She was so wonderful to and faithful to Sandra.)  

Last week my computer (the new one of course) crashed.  The motherboard went out.  I had to wait a week to get it fixed or I might have had this blog up and running before now.  I realized through this "experience" I could do without a computer for a while.  Things that we're pressing and important to do I did on Paul's computer.  But when mine was finally up and running again I unsubscribed from several emails that distract me from my work.  I usually delete a lot every day and decided that I would permanently delete them and save me time.   Then to top it all off, after we moved, the internet didn't work for 4 days which meant my cordless phone didn't work and my cell phone was giving us fits.  It wouldn't connect to the network.  Just a little glitch in life again.  What did we learn from this?  Life goes on even without cyber space and we added more study time to our days. I am grateful for this experience. 

 It seems that we are always moving someone.  Two weeks ago we helped a young single sister, a new convert, move within the ward.  We've been doing a lot of that lately.  She didn't have a lot but the armoire was enough to do them all in.  It was big and heavy.  A member in our ward had a truck and with the clever arranging of Paul and the Elders we got it all on the truck and in our cars.  We made only one trip across town.  Then we moved last weekend.  After having our apartment broken into last summer and then a new neighbor above us that we were aware of whenever she was home, lots of noise, fighting, etc. we decided we should move and have an apartment that would be ready for the new couple that we hope will move into this ward.  So last month we made the arrangements.  On Saturday, we had about 10 people at our place to help us move our little one bedroom apartment.  The Elders, Bishop, Elders Quorum President, YM President and 5 young men.  Paul told the YM he would contribute to their trip to the Hill Cumorah if they would come and help us move.  They did.  We rented a truck and were moved from one apartment to the other  (in the same complex) in about one and a half hours.  Erika, who we moved two weeks ago, came and helped me put the apartment back together again.  I was so grateful for her help.  Our new apartment is a duplicate of the old one. 

Erika is our new convert, her boyfriend, Dan and our strong missionaries...Elder Farnsworth and McKenna

Paul organizing the truck

Taking it all down

A heavy Load!

Taking it up.  Paul about had a hernia from this load.

Finally it is done!

Beginning the process of the move.  Taking everything apart

I'm too tall for this fixture.  We had it raised...

 The YM were very helpful.

The Bishop helping us move. 

Oh, if you could see the sweat on his forehead...he was dripping.

Erika helping us move

 

  Gotta have my plants

The past few weeks we have been involved with many of the active members in our ward.  We have done a little visiting of less active and meeting with our investigators.  Our investigator that we presented the non-smoking program to basically failed and has had a myriad of excuses.   We're not sure if it will ever happen.  He mentioned that he going about it in a different way, his way.  Well so far that hasn't happened either.  We'll just keep praying for him.  Another investigator  is also struggling with cigarettes and says that it is his "pleasure" each day.   He also doesn't want to disappoint his mother by joining the church.  So we have a ways to go with him.  However, they both faithfully attend Sacrament meeting, have been welcomed into the ward and have positive remarks about the talks and lessons.   We pray that their hearts will be touched by something they hear or read. 
Sadly we met a lady who told us she had been forced to join the church by her husband to please his boss who was LDS.   When I met her and talked to her for a few minutes I told her that we would love to help her understand the gospel and help her gain a testimony which she indicated that she never had.  I felt so sad as she told us her story and just wanted to put my arms around her and love her.  She lived in a run down old house that looked abandoned.  She was alone and I am sure lonely.  I have felt that we should sometime in the near future try to visit her again before we leave for home.  I could picture her in white and hope to help her wear it sometime soon. 

Last week we taught Seminary and then when Sister Burgeson returned from her trip she got sick and so we taught again Thursday and Friday this week.  Although I drag a little through the week and my eyes are heavy a lot of the time, I love being with the kids.  We try to make it interesting and fun to keep their attention.   One day I had a sheet that asked questions about God, the Father.  Questions like; What truths do I already know about Him; If I were to see Him, what would I expect to see, etc.  Each question builds on the one before.   Fridays are Scripture Mastery day and so I always plan games, worksheets or challenges.  Last Friday I made a sheet up where they would write the scripture in the middle of the page and then find scriptures that apply to that one; find some quotes that apply; definitions of words in the scripture; doctrines and principles that they can learn from it and how they can apply it to their lives.  It was a very good worksheet.  I got the idea on the web. 
Another activity was reading a conference talk. I copied the talk on half the sheet of paper so that they would have a large margin.   Each person got a copy and put their name at the top.  Then they passed the paper to the person to the right.  They were to read the talk for about three minutes and make comments or testimony about what they were reading in the margin.  In about 3 minutes they passed it again.  They would continue reading the talk and comment.  If they wanted to comment on what they read before they went back and added it to the new copy.  We did this for about 15 minutes.  When we were done I had them pass it back to the owner.  It was fun watching them read and comment about what was on their papers.  Another web discovery.   Friday we played dodge ball.  When they were hit by the ball they were out and they had to come to me and I gave them a scripture to find or a question regarding a scripture.  Then we played spoons which was fun with the scriptures.  It was a kind of scripture chase. Everyone had a good time and I think learned something along the way.

 These are the faithful attenders..getting up to be at Seminary at 5:30 am

Dodge Ball

Playing Spoons

Sera, who basically new all of the scriptures won the game.  Paul started to hand out dollar bills and the kids really perked up.  Jackson on the left and Sera each scored with the $.

 

 Last Monday we went to the Florida State Fair for P-Day.  I can't believe that a year has passed since we were there.  Seems like yesterday.  We had a nice day and had our picture taken with the alligators! :)

A few minutes relaxing in a message chair.  Wouldn't buy it!  $6000

Walking through the fair.  

Sand Castle

 Wrestling with the gator

Aren't they cute little critters?  Paul is holding the Albino alligator which is one of a litter of about 7.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day.  Learn from the experiences of your life and enjoy the journey along the way.  
Have a great day. 

Love you all...

 Time flies on wings of lightning, we cannot call it back...

Time is becoming more and more valuable to us now.  It amazes me how much time seems to be so much more valuable the older we are and the closer the end of our mission gets.  We have less than 6 months left and there is so much that we still need to accomplish before we go home.  "Time marches swiftly forward to the tick of the clock." (Ardern)  I feel that my clock is ticking extra fast these days.
I love what Elder Ian S Ardern of the seventy said in this quote: "Time is never for sale; time is a commodity that cannot, try as you may, be bought at any store for any price. Yet when time is wisely used, its value is immeasurable. On any given day we are all allocated, without cost, the same number of minutes and hours to use, and we soon learn, as the familiar hymn so carefully teaches, “Time flies on wings of lightning; we cannot call it back” (“Improve the Shining Moments,” Hymns, no. 226). What time we have we must use wisely. President Brigham Young said, “We are all indebted to God for the ability to use time to advantage, and he will require of us a strict account of [its] disposition” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young [1997], 286).

Some days I feel that driving all over town, knocking on doors with no answer and having others slammed in our face is a waste of time.  I guess you might say I get a little discouraged. :(   But then I realize I am on an errand for the Lord and every effort is accounted to our good.  We have often met a neighbor, given a pass-a-long card to someone, visited with a non-member or less active family member and hopefully planted some seeds that day.  :) 

This week we have met people that were very nice and will talk to us, say that they will welcome some home teachers or visiting teachers but they don't want to come to church.  One sister was very upset today that we found her.  How on earth did we find her!  Well, the Lord sent us...but she wasn't interested.  She had had some issues with members in the ward.  We told her that the church was true but that people aren't always perfect.  One man shut the door before we could say a word.  We must look scary!  But the work is not all discouraging.  We had a meeting with Don on Friday and gave him a lesson that will help him stop smoking.  He was very excited to try it because every other attempt has failed and he really wants to stop.  We gave him some tools that should keep helping him when his bells or triggers go off.   We had our meeting at the home of the Kennedy's who recently returned from a mission to the church ranch.  They will be his mentor during this time and beyond we hope.  He came to church today smoke free.  We also had a nice meeting with the Leonards (the artist). He doesn't want to change his episcopalian ways but I know that he has felt the spirit in our sacrament meetings and our lessons.   He talks about how he loves coming to our meetings and the people are so nice.  It will be just a matter of Time.

Two weeks ago we taught seminary and had a great time.  The lesson was on the love of the Savior and his last days on earth.  We held court in the Bishop's office.  The Bishop representing the Lord, Paul the defendant, Elder McKenna the defense attorney/Savior and Elder Farnsworth, prosecutor/Satan.  Paul was accused of many things that he supposedly did.  He plead for mercy.  The prosecutor wanted justice.  I think the kids had a good time and got the message that the Savior loves us all, that he will be there for us to save us if we will repent and do all that we can.  Then on Friday we had an "I love you because..." with the kids.  I started the class with some recap of the week and then told each of the students why I loved them.  Then Paul did the same.  We then handed each of the students a piece of paper with a name on it and they had to tell one of their classmates why they loved them.  It was very powerful.  The spirit was felt.  I love those experiences.  We get to teach again next week.

Don has been wanting to take us to lunch on the beach and so we planned a day and went.  It was a rather hot day but beautiful on the beach.  We went to Clearwater Beach.  We ate at a restaurant  called Frenchy's Rockaway Grille.  There were more senior citizens there than I would have expected.  It was a nice relaxing afternoon.

  

We had a great view of the ocean

This bird kept waiting for just a little crumb of food to hit the ground. 

Last weekend we, as a mission, fasted in gratitude to the Lord for the blessing of having 180 new investigators in a week and 61 baptisms during the month of December.  On Saturday, at 5 pm we all gathered together on a conference call and President Summerhays talked for a minute and then offered a prayer.  On Sunday at 5pm we all gathered together again and had another prayer of gratitude.  It was a good weekend.  I love it when we have these mission wide fasts.  I really feel the spirit strongly on those days.

We don't get bored because we always have something to do:  District meetings, Zone meetings, interviews with the President, cooking and baking to feed the missionaries and take to members in need, studying for lessons, practicing the piano, meeting with new converts, talking with those we meet and visiting members.   I even have a visiting teaching route which I am excited to do.  (I had to do the short version to keep this blog shorter)

This past week we gave a Book of Mormon to a lady, Grace, at Weight Watchers.   We have become good friends the past few months and a couple of weeks ago we were talking to her and she started to talk about her faith and beliefs in the hereafter.  She was referring to the death of her husband.  She is Southern Baptist and was so easy to talk to and was excited to get a Book of Mormon to read.  She said that she would read it.  So we are going in this week to talk to her and see if she has followed through.  She is so sweet and accepting of us.  I can only pray that she will desire to listen to our message.  

We took a morning walk in Sawgrass Park a day last week.   It is beautiful in the mornings with the sun shining through the trees, the birds singing and the squirrels scampering all over.  It is so peaceful there.  I think of the song, For the Beauty of the Earth.  It truly is a beautiful world.   I took a lot of pictures.  One of the boardwalks ended rather abruptly.  A fire had burned out the walk and it was in repair so it shortened our walk a little.  The only thing we didn't see this time was an alligator.  We always see them but they were not around that morning.

 I love the reflection of this bird in the water.

I usually don't get this close to the squirrels

 Looking over Sawgrass from the tower  (Pictures don't always do justice.  The colors were more vibrant.)

 There are lots of spider webs throughout the park.  This was a big one.

 The lake has been under renovation but they are now filling it again.  This should bring more alligators.

 Not sure if it was caused by man or lightning.  Glad it didn't do more damage

Last week as I was going up the stairs to our apartment I passed by a big, big snake.  I didn't see it until I was at the top and Paul calmly pointed it out to me.  I'm glad that I didn't see it before because I would have probably shrieked.   I hate snakes, they scare me.  It was a black racer, not poisonous but when he saw us he slithered away very quickly.

 This is what he looked liked.  Would you want to share the stairs with him?

Well the next time that I write we will be moved.  We are moving just around the corner in our complex.  We have some rather noisy neighbors upstairs (tile floors, spiked heels, yelling while watching ballgames, friday night fights, etc) and we need to be in an apartment that is not so vulnerable.  We still worry about being broken into in this area and hide our stuff every time we leave.  We didn't feel that we could leave another couple with these problems and worries.  Brother Satchel told us to find a place and move so that we can have a place for the next couple that comes in if we are lucky to get one.  This ward needs another couple.  President Summerhays said it would be ideal to have a couple in every ward.  In Florida it would be very beneficial.

We hope that you all have had a wonderful beginning of a new year.  We hope this blog finds you all well and happy.  We really love this work.  The Church is true.  We send you our love.

 

Christmas has come and gone and we are already into a new year.  I always love the Christmas season.  It is such a special time to reflect upon our Savior and all that he has done for us and continues to do for us.  We are so blessed to have the gospel of Jesus Christ and to know of the great Plan of Happiness.  I am so grateful for our Savior, his example for us, his love for us, and his infinite Atonement.  I am also grateful to be engaged in His work.  It has been a blessing in our lives this past year. 

On December 8th we had our ward Christmas Party.  I played the piano for the singing and Paul did the spotlight for the program.  We had a dinner with lots of very good food brought by the members.  We had several investigators and people that we hadn't seen in a while.  It was good to be able to get to know them.  Everyone had a very good time.  The Primary was in charge of the nativity story and scene.  We listened to Walter Cronkite tell the World War II story of how the enemies came together on Christmas Eve.  While we listened we had some of the members act the parts.  Sister Bangerter told the story of the three trees.  It was a very enjoyable evening.

 Young Woman - Smith girls on left/Mallory

Jennifer Karbowski

Bishop Todd and Julie Bangerter

Elder McKenna/Farnsworth  -  Colette Mazey

William Morris - our adopted grandson

Elder McKenna on violin

I finished my colored pencil drawing last month.  We got it framed and hung it on the wall.  I am so enjoying my art lessons on P-Day.   Right now I am trying my hand at oils.  We'll see how that goes.

On Friday, 21st, we had the District Meeting at our humble, little apartment.  We are grateful it will fit at least 10 extra missionaries and 2 neighbors.  It was a little tight at times when they were up and walking around the room. We extended our dining table and brought in a table from the church.  With our neighbors we were short 2 chairs but that was ok because Paul and I were up and down throughout the meal and just sat on the couch.

Elder Farnsworth conducted the meeting for about an hour and a half while Paul and I put the finishing touches on the meal.  We took the pies to our neighbor to put in his oven.  I think I read the instructions wrong because in the short time that they were baking they got a little overdone...(burned actually).  But the meal turned out to be a hit with all the kids.  They pretty much ate everything, including the burned pie with lots of cream.  Before we ate I had prepared some word games for them to play while we got the food on.  I also had done a Symbols of Christmas card for them and gave them each one.  We talked about the symbols before they left.  It was a very enjoyable day and fun with all the elders and sisters.  Our neighbor's daughter, Christina, is dating an LDS boy, which we didn't know about til then.  She told the sisters that she feels that she should be a member of the church.  Paul and I are very excited about that because we think this might open the door for her father, Mel.  He has been a little stand off-ish.  But a very good friend.

Elder Larrabe, Perry,Durrant, Fitzner, McKenna, Farnsworth, Smith, Walker, Sister Turley, Rood and Christina, our neighbors daughter.   l to r

 

We spent Christmas Eve at the Bishop's home.  I made some French bread rolls and Julie made some French Onion and Potato corn soups and a salad.  We both baked some goodies to take with us when we went caroling.  The meal was delicious.  After we had our fill we put together some bags of goodies and went out and to sing to some of the members of our ward.  We directed our path to some people in the ward that the Bishop didn't yet know.  One was a little sister in a care center.  She has no family nearby or anyone that pays attention to her for that matter except the missionaries.  We and the Elders try to visit her on a regular basis.  She was so sweet and appreciative of our visit that night.  

Christmas day started with a walk.  We wanted to go to the park to walk but when we arrived the gate was closed and we couldn't get in.  So we came back and walked around some of the apartment complexes nearby.  It was a beautiful morning.  Paul and I opened our gifts around noon.  Thanks to our children for their thoughtfulness.  At 4 pm we went to dinner at the Hesses' home.  They have a traditional Italian dinner every year.  And I think they always have the missionaries present.  (They joined the church over 40 years ago in this ward and have been here ever since.  They are strong and a wonderful family.  He has never missed Home Teaching his 12 families in all that time.)  We were invited 6 months ago.  It was quite a feast.  They began with a huge Antipasto salad full of meats, cheeses, vegies, olives, etc.  It was piled high.  Topped with anchovies ( I got 2).  I had to push them aside.  I'm not fond of them.

Vicki Engerer

Antipasto Salad

Cute Charlie Brown Tree-They seem to be very popular around here

Elder Farnsworth - Elder McKenna

Host and Hostesses - Brother & Sister Hesse and their Daughter Maureen

New Years Eve was spent at home.  We welcomed the time here and not having to go out somewhere.  We spent some time reading, playing Rook and Uno and listening to all the fireworks.  Fireworks are big here in Florida on New Years. They started early in the evening with a few here and there.  But at midnight it sounded like a war zone.  The fireworks went off for more than 30 minutes continually and there was a roar in the air the whole time.

This time we had a German meal.  Pork, sauerkraut, spiced applesauce, garlic potatoes, yummy garlic green beans (they were my favorite).

We have a man in our ward who paints very nice boat and water scenes.  He has wanted us to buy one since we met him.  Paul and I have been a bit undecided.  Paul had liked one boat picture that has quite a story behind it and is the reason that Treasure Island here was named.  The boat carried a huge amount of treasure and was sunk somewhere near the coast here.  Hence the name Treasure Island.  We visited with him last week and were looking at all his pictures and there was one that I liked very much.  I love the colors in it.  A very nice shade of peach and he is very good at detail.   After we debated a while, Paul offered him a price for both of them and he accepted.   Some day I hope to be able to paint that well.

Well, it's already a New Year.  Can you believe it is already 2013?  Paul and were talking about all the things that have occurred in the past 13 years since the calendar rolled over.  We became empty nesters; our seven children have blessed us with 28 grandchildren; we've been able to serve our Heavenly Father on two missions (one being a service mission); Paul can still golf; I've been able to get back to my art; we've had opportunities to travel; my parents and Paul's dad have passed away; we have made and continue to make many new friends, to name just a few of the blessings and trials in our life. There are too many to list them all.   But life goes on and we are grateful for all the wonderful blessings and the trials that we are met with.  They humble us and help us grow.  We are looking forward to our continued work here in the mission field, 100th birthday party for Paul's mom in March, and a reunion with our children when we get home this summer.

Thanks to all of you for your love and support.  To our children we are grateful to hear from you on the internet, phone and through the mail.  How blessed we've been this past year.  Keep the notes and pictures coming.  It helps me when I get a little melancholy.

Wishing you all a very prosperous and Happy New Year.  

Elder and Sister Nelson