Phone Call Follow Up

Hey there.

Something I forgot to ask/tell you yesterday was that I want to do like 18 or so credit hours this first semester because I will have more time in the fall to do all of that work. Also, I would love to have all of my classes in the morning so that I can have my afternoons and nights open. Hopefully you can work some momma magic.

The call yesterday was great. It was weird to know that the next time I'll talk to you is face to face.

1. I think that Brittany has changed a lot for the better. She looks like she is doing really well. I was happy to see that.

2. We called from the Halls' house. They are a sweet family. You would love them. They remind me a lot of the Wilsons.

3. The first Christmas call made me pretty sad, but the last few calls have been okay. Like I said earlier, this call was weird to be over with.

As far as your lessons goes, I think that talking about the difference between reading the scriptures and studying the scriptures would be something good to focus on.

Have a great week! 

Love you,Nick

Yo, fam.

Now that we have my date all figured out, I feel like I don't have any big news. Just another boring email this week. This past week was pretty good. On Monday night, we had a missionary come in who is waiting for his visa to go to Brazil and he got to Wichita at about 11 pm. 11 is late. I feel like such a baby. So that was cool. Yep, feel like I'm 4.

Then on Tuesday we went to Independence. The meeting on Wednesday was sweet. The new sisters council was at the meeting in the meeting but other than that, it was pretty much the same.  We learned a lot about faith. Sister Keyes said that missionary work isn't for wimps. That was sweet. 

The work went pretty well. We are teaching this guy named Scott who is a stud. He goes to some Non-Denominational church but is really seeking the truth. He has been reading the Book of Mormon and has been to church the past 2 weeks! He is sweet. He is pretty much a member already, all he needs is that confirmation of his testimony. The members have been great with him. We are actually going to eat dinner with him and some members after I talk to you on Sunday. It should be sweet. 

The work is getting better out here. We are working on growing our teaching pool and looking for those who are prepared for the gospel. I was thinking the other day that it would be cool to know the story of my ancestors' conversions. Obviously on Dad's side, it is just his conversion. But I think it would be cool to know how our ancestors on your side of the family initially joined the church. Perfect timing, seeing as you are going to California this week, right? 

Also, we were talking to some members in the ward last night and there are these 5k races called Zombie Runs. I have to do one. You run a 5k obstacle race and have three flags attached to your waist, and there are zombies that try to chase you and get your flags. It has to be the coolest thing I have ever heard of. Anyways, if there are any in Utah in the fall, sign me up. Welp, life is good.

1. I am in 3 Nephi in my English scriptures and in Helaman in my Spanish scriptures. My goal is to read the Book of Mormon in 2 languages before I come home.

2. The new Mission Leadership Council wasn't really any different. Just with a little more estrogen.

3. I may have grown like a 1/2 inch in height, maybe. My waist is a little bigger, but not too much.

Okay mi familia, have a great week. We will talk on Sunday!!!

Love, Nick

Slacker Mom Repents

I kept forgetting to post these. I'm pretty sure it's unnecessary because all of you can read my thoughts, but in case that isn't so, here is what has been happening in Nick's life, starting with April 1st and moving forward.

April 1st: 

Guess what? We're going to the zoo today. Not only are we going to the zoo, we are going to a top 5 national Zoo. ZOO!

Easter was great yesterday. Church was really good. Natalie was baptized on Saturday and confirmed yesterday. She is a full blown member now. It is awesome. Natalie's baptism on Saturday started our superweek. Saturday was a baptism, yesterday was Easter, today is the zoo, tomorrow and Wednesday we will be in Inde for Zone Leader Council, and then we have GenCon this weekend. I feel like it is the last week of senior year all over again. There is a ton going on. On Saturday for dinner we ate with a member family and they invited their friend, Tom, over for dinner too. We were able to teach him a really great lesson. He is sweet. He committed to being baptized on the 27th of April. We are being ridiculously blessed right now. It is great. Last week we did some overnight exchanges with some other missionaries and I worked with an Elder Brown whom I really like. He is super funny, we actually talked about zombie for a good amount of time. Before his mission his hair was 18.5 inches long! When you ask him why he says, "I really like metal music". So that was fun.  

Poor BlueBirds. Why didn't the Giants sign Bri-Bri? What happened with Matt Cain? Did they ever get a better contract for him? 

Yeah the people her are going crazy for the Shockers. Fun fact of the day: Shockers mean multiple shocks, or stocks, of wheat. Yep. They are a team of freakin' wheat. Stupid. 

A member last night showed us a clip of the Louisville game when some kid shattered his leg. It was disgusting. 

This week we are going to prank another set of missionaries. We have a key to their apartment and we are going to go in and get their bedsheets wet and throw them in the freezer. It is funny because their dryer doesn't work. Then next week, we will take all of their lightbulbs but one. We're not sure what we'll do to them after that. 

The work is going really well. We had a baptism on Saturday and we still have 5 people on date. We are working really hard and talking to lots of people. The ward here is sweet. They love the missionaries so we have tons of support. 

1. We still aren't sure what we are doing for conference. It all depends on what our investigators are doing.

2. We are tracting a little bit. People here are fairly receptive but the best way to find solid people is through the members here.

3. Elder Taylor and I are both exercise freaks. He is going to play college basketball in Canada after his 2 is up, so we are trying to stay in shape and get stronger.

Debate of the week: Why are people from Canada called Canadians? We aren't Americians. They should be Canadans, right?

Okay, love you like lions love eating free food at the zoo. Go Giants!

Love, Nick

April 8th: 

Hey  Fam, 

My return date will depend on my college. If I go out of state, I will probably come home August 5th. If I have to go to Utah, then I'd just come home on the transfer, August 23. 

This past week wasn't the best. I got ridiculously sick on Wednesday and was put on a 48-hour clear/low sugar liquid diet for Friday and Saturday. It was bad. I had no energy. I did lose about a 1/2 inch from my waist, so I have a flat tummy for no-suit-coat season. 

Independence was sweet as always. We talked a lot about Christlike attributes. It was sweet. President Keyes is the man. The work was pretty halted this week because of all of the craziness. We are still teaching a guy named Tom. He is doing really well. We are also teaching a lady name Sandy who is going to marry a member. She says that she is really interested. That is really all that is going on.

1. I think that the change in the council stuff is crazy.  I like our Meetings with the brethren and with the sisters, it will be different. Change is good.

2. I really liked seeing the bears, the wolves, and of course, the elephants. It was rainy and cold, so we were the only people there. It was sweet because the animals were bored and would come out and see us when we went by.

3.  Sandy was able to watch both sessions on Sunday. She really liked Sis. Wixom's talk about children. She says it makes the church a lot more interesting to her.

Okay family, have a great week. 

Love you, Nick

April 15th:

I emailed President Keyes today about my return date. I told him that I would need to be back before the 23 or 24 of August, and that if there were any other missionaries going home a bit early, to just throw on the flight with them. So we'll see what he says next Monday. 

I'm glad that you are enjoying yourself in DC. I really liked it out there when we went a few years ago. I have been thinking about trying to get out to the DC/MD/VA area after my first year of schooling is done. I feel like that would be a good place for me. I would love to work for InsideLacrosse, ESPN's affiliate lacrosse coverage. Maybe that could be my game plan? 

For now, I guess sign me up for the U. I'm going to talk to some other missionaries and see if they would want to live together. I'll keep you updated. 

You asked about cicadas. I freaking despise those things. They are very very very loud. They make this terrible screaching sound about 24/7 in the summer. It is annoying because you can hardly teach people outside in the summer because of the bugs. Ugh. 

Anyways, this past week was alright. We had an ice storm on Tuesday night. Literally everything was covered in ice. It was cool looking. It cut some trees in half. It was interesting because on Tuesday we were on tornado watch, and then Wednesday morning we woke up to ice. This place is crazy. 

We unfortunately were dropped by an investigator who was progressing on Saturday. She got really caught up on how Joseph Smith received the priesthood and she couldn't let it go. It was sad because she had a lot of promise. We think she got confused and asked her pastor. That rascal. 

On Sunday night we had a really good fireside about the Life of Christ. The missionaries put it on and it was sweet. I'll send you the script for Mother's Day. 

We are having a hard time getting people to come to church. Sometimes agency is just so darn frustrating. These people have great weeks and then Sunday comes around and they make poor choices. It's okay though.

 Transfers are this week. I think I will stay one more in Derby, but who really knows.

1. The Midwest has some bugs, that is for sure. We have an assortment of mosquitoes and other biting bugs. We have chiggers, which are the worst things ever. We have fireflies which are sweet. And we have those stupid cicadas.

2. I think I will send my jacket and winter stuff back with my Mother's Day stuff.

3. The best meal we had this week was Taco Salad. It was pretty tasty.

 I am having a good time being a missionary though. I kind of like the challenge of it. I told somebody for the first time the other day that I have been out for 20 months. It it weird. I almost have more months on my mission than years in my life. Now everybody is like "wow, you go home soon right?" So I'm going to start lying about my age. Maybe I can say something really generic like "I've been out a minute" or "over a year".  It was pretty cool looking. On Thursday we went to the Goodwill to look for some service to do, and we had to wait for somebody to come talk to us. While waiting we started to look at the ties. I left that Goodwill serviceless and 3 ties richer. Welp, nothing else too exciting is going on. 

Have a great week. 

Love you, Nick

April 22nd: 

I am still in Wichita. Same ward, same comp. I'm happy about it. 

So I asked President Keyes about my return date, and it is pretty much up to me. I am thinking either the 10th or the 12th of August. The 10th is a Saturday, and the 12th is a Monday. Any preferences? After I know my return date, you CANNOT tell me how many days I have left, okay? 

Anyways, this past week was great. We had a correlation meeting with the Stake President on Tuesday. He is a really great person. Then on Thursday we had transfers. Because we are Zone Leaders we had to help out when the big bus came. The ward that we are in got 2 Sister Missionaries as well. One is 19! It is super weird. The 19 year old has only been out for 2 transfers and the other Sister has been out 2 seconds. They both look like they are scared of their own shadow. 

We were able to get out and work this past week and we saw a lot of success. We were able to find a family! I love teaching families. I hope things pan out for them. Also, we are teaching this guy named Tom who is going to get baptized on the 18th of May. He was able to come to church yesterday which was awesome. All of the talks were on testimony and how to get one. It was perfect for Tom. We also had another investigator come to church. It was great because that has been a weak point for us recently and to have 2 people at church yesterday was a total miracle. 

Last night we had a fireside given by S. Michael Wilcox, who was a director of Institute at BYU and now does educational tours all over the world. He is also the Bishop's father. He talked about temples and it was really sweet. He talked a lot about the symbolism within the temple and how we can apply that to ourselves. It was a good end to the week. That is really all that is happening with me. I'm doing well and working like a beast.

1. This spring has been the craziest ever. We have had multiple days when the temperature will drop 30-40 degrees from the day before, and then two days later go back up to the 70s or 80s. It is really crazy. People haven't dared to plant anything yet because of the forecasted freezes every week.

2. I'll be plenty excite4d about the draft next year, believe me.

3. We took some light bulbs and hid them from one of the companionships. It was funny. We have some other deeds in mind as well.

Okay fam! Have a great week. 
Love you, Nick

April 29:

I got some breaking news on Wednesday concerning my return. President Keyes called and said that he is putting me in a group that is coming home on either the 29th or the 30th (most likely the 30th) of JULY. I guess there are a few missionaries coming home early and I told him that I was flexible with the date.  It is kinda soon, because it puts me at double digit days, but that's life. If we come home on the 30th, that means that I'll be able to go to the temple with some other Elders and do some of the going away stuff. I also don't really care who is at the airport and who is at my talk. Chelsea and Devon can choose which one they want to do. 

So apart from that crazy news, life is good. Today has been hectic because they are doing some mid-transfer changes and so we have to help out a bit with that. 

This past week was pretty good. We found some really great new people to teach. We also taught Tom on Thursday night and had a really good lesson. He is still progressing towards his date in May. 

Yesterday in church we had an RM give his homecoming talk. He went to Iceland, where there are 6 missionaries. His parents also spoke about the blessings that come from having a missionary in the field. It was really sweet. 

We are going to Independence tomorrow for a Mission Leadership Council. It will be great as always. This time it will be a little different though because of the new system of Mission Leadership. There will be a few Sisters there. Hopefully it doesn't change too much, because I have learned so much from the others..

 I am sending a package home next week with some winter stuff and some Mother's Day shenanigans. It is a big box. Welp, you know what time it is.

1. Usually the Ward Mission Leader or one of the Ward missionaries teaches the Gospel Principles class.

2. Being in the Midwest, there are a lot of Christian people. A lot of the people that we teach have a foundation of who Jesus Christ is and we are able to build upon that belief.

3. I am a normal English missionary right now. I really miss being in a Spanish area.

I still feel like I have a lot to do. 

We get to talk soon!

love you, Nick