Go Giants!

I was not aware of the Giants going to game 7. Go Giants. And go Niners. They needed a good win after that embarrassing loss.

I got your post card with the bogus information on Walt Disney's hands. Guess what? Walt Disney is from Kansas City. The building where it all began has lots of old school Disney characters on the outside. It's pretty cool but it is in an area that is pretty janky.

For the U of Oregon app, I think that is everything that I need to provide. Most of it is just my grades and whatnot. As long as you can pull all that stuff together without any necessary info from me, then please go ahead and send the application. This is stressing me out.

We saw a bunch of arrests this week. one of them we saw go down. It was like we were watching Cops. Bad boys whatcha gonna do? This area is crazy, but it is awesome. The ghetto is fun.

So I was reading the story about Edie, and it reminded me, I was talking with my comp, and he said that in April 2011 when he was baptized, one of the elders was Elder Schmidt. He's pretty sure that his ward is in the Carlsbad, CA mission. Tell Edie to ask Stephen if he remembers a Carlo Javeloza. Mormons: we're everywhere.

My world is going really well. We are totally blessed. Like everyone that we are teaching seems to be prepared for this message. It is awesome. I think that the Lord is really blessing us to find those people that have been prepared. We got a referral from the Gladys Knight devotional who wants to get baptized. His name is Princeton, like the school. His mom is a member, and he just got out of the pen, and he says that he feels something "special" when we come over. I'm really excited to see where it goes with him. The rest of our investigators are doing well. I think that the bold approach to teaching the Book of Mormon has been helping a lot. We have more people reading that Book of Mormon now than I've ever had in my mission. It's sweet. Cra'y cra'y on mommas, if I may go so far to say. Things are going really well. I'm happy. Life is good.

1. I will not imitate your sneeze in this quiet library and see if anyone laughs. I will not do that.

2. Our apartment is pretty clean. It could use a good sweeping, but it is not too bad.

3. Our last Zone Conference was on my year mark. We talked about helping our investigators progress.

 

I think that I forgot Brittany's birthday. I just realized that. Whoops. 

Welp that is about it, have a great week and GO GIANTS!!!!

 I love you, Nick

Gladys Knight and the Mishes

Stupid Niners.

Great Giants.

It's good to hear that all is going well at home. There is a member here who is from St. Louis and is a HUGE Cardinals fan. Needless to say, she told me that our teams were playing for the NL. Cool. Go Giants.

Dad, Mom says that you're trying to figure out the new Sunday School stuff. What's different in it now?

Mom, Mom, Mom, I don't think I'm going to be one of those guys who comes home vowing to never watch sports again.  It would go against the very nature of my being if I decided that sports were a waste of time. If I thought that sports were a waste of time, I might as well think that breathing is a waste of time too.

Things here are going really great. We have been finding people who are truly prepared to hear the Gospel. We have been focusing on teaching boldly about the Book of Mormon right off the bat. It has paid off immensely. If someone is willing to accept a Book of Mormon, they are willing to listen to us. It has been awesome.We have a lot of really solid investigators. I think that we should see some good baptisms coming up soon.

My comp is doing pretty well. He is still kinda unsure of himself, but he is working hard.

We had the Gladys Knight devotional on Saturday. That was incredible. I wish you could have seen it. They sang some soul-pumping gospel music. Man, that lady has got some serious pipes. Her choir is really good as well. She and her husband both bore their testimonies at the end. Cra'y cra'y on mommas (that's the new "it" phrase apparently). Then, to top that sweet thang off, we have received a bunch of referrals from the devotional already. Hopefully these referrals turn into solid investigators. President Keyes wants this devotional to have the same effect on the mission as the Temple Open House. He wants us to act quickly and use the spirit that the people felt to help them learn more about the church. I think it will work pretty well. We have been able to get some new people to church, which is always great. It is really hard to get people to church. I'm glad that we have been blessed in that category.

1. re:  Saying your dad died  when you mean your trainer finished his mission. The "dad" and "son" lingo is still used by some missionaries. I personally think it is stupid. It should be something more professional like "sensei" and "padowan" or whatever.

2. I'm not entirely sure what I will teach this week yet. Probably about Revelation through Church Attendance, because that's what the district can work on- getting investigators to Sacrament Meeting.

3. The St. Louis fans don't even hail in comparison to Giants fans. If I became a Cardinals fan, I wouldn't even bother getting on that plane next summer. I wouldn't be able to look Dad in the eye.

As far as business/sports marketing, it feels right. The doctor thing just wasn't clicking.

Okey doky family, have a great week. Love you.

Love, Nick

 

Conference Thoughts 10/8/12

Aloha from FREEZING Missouri,

 

This past weekend it got cold. Like really cold. Like in the 40's ALL weekend long. I don't think we'll see another day in the 70's until 2013. It might be a long, cold, icy winter. I'm glad that you enjoyed yourself in beautiful sunny California. There aren't really any cities better than San Francisco, so I'm green with envy, and frostbite.

 

NNNNIIIIINNNNNEEERRRRRSSSSSSSSSS.

Wow, 45-3. That is crazy. They destroyed the Bills. That Viking loss sounds like the best thing for the team as of right now. They needed something to correct, and they have that first loss out of the way, so they should go 18-1, right? (I accounted the divisional round, conference championship, and superbowl).

Yeah, so Conference was sweet. The age change is wild. There needs to be a lot more missionaries out to do this work. It will answer that need. I think that the age change for the sisters is good because it changes the culture around sister missionaries. Instead of people just thinking that they're in the mission because they couldn't get hitched, they'll know that they actually have desires to serve the Lord. So that's good. And with the 18 year old little boys serving missions, that puts a LOT more stress on the Young Mens program. These guys will need to be absolutely mission ready by the time they graduate high school. No more going to a year of college to "grow up". Also, one of the brothers in the ward mentioned that over time, there won't be any more pre-mission guys at like BYU and whatnot. There'll only be RMs. Crazy. Elder Holland said in a press conference that the church is planning on opening up quite a few more missions. Maybe they'll split this mission eventually. It's big enough to do so. Who knows.  

Overall, conference was the bomb.edu. Elder Holland's talk was legendary. It was sick. Conference was pretty great.

The work is going really well. We have some good people in the woodworks here. President Keyes loves that phrase, in the woodworks, I'm not even really sure what it means. He has lots of little phrases that he says.

 As far as the work goes, we had an awesome week. We were able to get some investigators to conference which was sweet. We are still trying to teach as much as possible. The Hills are doing really well and are progressing towards their baptismal date nicely. We also have a mother-daughter combo, the Vargas family, that came to conference with us. I think that they liked it. We didn't have too much of an opportunity to talk afterwards because they had to leave really quickly. Life is good in the hood.

1. I watched conference in a chapel, in a suit, in English. Not very many snacks, just notes to take.

2. If I understand your question, I think you asked if I'm Spanish speaking, like in the compy? Well, he only speaks English, and Tagalog, I guess, and I am the Spanish know it all.

3. Re: see above

Okay Familia, have a great week. I love you tons.

Love, Nick

 

P.S. For the Oregon stuff, I got permission from President K eyes to go online and look at colleges. I started the app process for UO.  I have the app essay info. just letting you know. love you!!

P.P.S. haha, also- What is my GPA? and can you get some contact info for Coach Coe so I can start filling out recruitment papers? And for the major at UO do business administration. most likely do that for all of them, unless there is a specific sports.

New Comp Time 10/1/12

Yo Yo Ma (get it?),

 

NNNNNIIIIIIIINNNNNEEEEERRRSSSSSSS.

Sweet, I'm glad that they got their feet back under them. Too bad for Cal.

 

Thing here are going well. I have a brand new companion. My comp is Elder Javeloza. He is serving from Oceanside, CA but was born in the Philippines. He is very "deer in the headlights" still. He is a good guy, and I think a little freaked out, especially because he is in the ghetto. He is a good kid though.  He wants to work and learn. He was baptized a year and a half ago with the rest of his family. Training is going well. We have some extra study time which we have been using to help Elder Javeloza practice feeling more comfortable with teaching and just with understanding the gospel in general. He is a very quiet guy so we are working on getting him more used to talking with lots of people. Training is fun.

 

Elder Hanson went to Sedalia to serve with Elder Palilla of all people. Small world.

 

The work is going well. We set Sierra with a baptismal date. SWEET. I'm excited for that family. Other than that, we are working like crazy. I am having a good time out here. This past week, the work went really well. We taught a TON and spend some quality time looking for more new people to teach. . I am excited for  one family. My whole mission I have wanted to bring a whole family into the gospel and I think that I have found my match. Everything else is going well.

 

Mis repsuestas a Las Preguntas:

1. We can only go to the temple twice a year, so we have slim pickings, but Elder Hanson and I went to be with Billy when he did baptisms for the first time. It was pretty sweet.

2. So far this year I have read the New Testament, everything in the Triple, and Jesus the Christ. Right now, I'm working on going through the Book of Mormon again.

3. I haven't weighed myself in a while, but I have probably gained 5-10 pounds. Most of it is bulky muscles, so that's cool.

 

Sorry I am lacking words. Not much is going on in my brain right now. The library is freakin' packed, so I'm on a crunch for time. But just know that I am fine, breathing, and full of joy.

Okay fam, have a great week. I love you.

Love, Nick

BUSINESS ITEM for Mom: I need to know what the application questions are for the University of Oregon. When you get this, can you get them and email to me right away so I can read them next week? Thanks.