Colorado says Yes

Hey Hey Hey,

That's good that Colorado State wants me. Don't blame 'em. Oregon sent me an email about looking at scholarships that I'll forward to you. 

That is cool to hear that Kaepernick is doing so well. He seemed legit in college, I guess it is all paying off. That stinks that Cal had to pay so much to Tedford. Oh well. Sounds like all is well in the sports world. 

It's good to hear that you made it through the drive safely. I've been having lots of dreams about the Bay Area recently. Weird. Did you gobble like a turkey during the trot? That would've have been very funny and embarassing for Chelsea. Does anyone still call her Chi-Chi? Kyle will most definitely be taller than me sooner than later, it's okay though, I'll still kick his rear. You and mom are turning into Sharyn and Grandad, true foodies. It's cool though. On Thanksgiving we ate with a Dominican Family. We had ham and chicken (because Hispanics hate turkey), and lots of good sides. It was a pretty basic Thanksgiving, which means super good. We had some Tres Leches cake which made me sick though. I guess our gene's weird onset lactose intolerance has hit me. Oh well. I'm doing better now, so that's cool. 

Yeah, we talk in 29 days. That's wild. It will be hard to set up because transfers are 5 days before the 25th and the Monday before is a holiday, so the libraries probably won't be open. I guess we'll see what happens.

The work is going well. The goal of focusing is helping a lot.We are teaching some great people.  We have quite a few investigators that are truly searching for truth. It is awesome. One of them, Wilfrid, is really exciting. He moved to the States from Haiti about 2 years ago. He is learning English so he has some questions about certain words and things, but he is really promising. We're hoping that he can come to the Christmas Devotional next week. You should watch that. It's gonna be sweet. So yeah, the work is great. 

Have you started decorating the house for Christmas yet? Did you get a new tree? You should. ha.

Concerning the death of Hostess, we heard about it quite a bit. We also heard that there were bids on eBay for $10,000 Twinkies. That's America for you.

1.   The Loyas' baptisms yesterday were awesome. Their dad wasn't able to make it. I hope that he got called into work instead of just not going. It was really spiritual.

2, The Hills will probably have to move their date back a few weeks. They haven't received an answer yet. I don't want them to make a big commitment like baptism if they don't know that it is all true.

3.The work has been pretty much the same since the sisters left. Nothing too huge.  

Everything is going well. I'm very grateful to be here, in this area, at this time.My comp is doing well. He seems more sure about being here which is good. At the beginning he kept mentioning that he was here because his mom wanted him to go. Now, he's here because he wants to be here. So yeah, that's all that is going on. Have a great week. I love you.

Love, Nick

Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving will be a Dominican one for me. A family from the Dominican Republic signed up to feed us. It should be fun, and tasty.

Sounds like everything is good on the homefront. That is pretty wild that Anna got called to Perth. Small world. 

Things here are going really well. We just had a Zone Conference last Friday. It was incredible. The theme was "Qualify for the Work" and we now have to memorize Doctrine and Covenants section 4 as a mission. Surprisingly enough, I still remember a good chunk of it from when Bro. Draper had us memorize it when we were Deacons. We were taught a lot about how the doctrine (the why) and the principles (the how) connect. It was just sweet, man. 

The work here is going really well. Mariana and Jossua are ready for Sunday. It's gonna be great. Roger Hill came to church yesterday and really liked it. He said that one of the talks was just for him. Then, we ate barbeque at his house last night. It was good. Too bad you don't eat meat. Princeton is doing pretty well. He didn't come to church yesterday and I'm not sure why. Hopefully everything is okay with him. We have a good amount of investigators with actual interest in learning, it is sweet. 

This past Friday night was the big ward Thanksgiving dinner. There were a lot of people and a lot of turkeys. Guess what? On Saturday, we found the most diverse street in Kansas City. On one street, we met some Africans, some Vietnamese people, a family from Assyria, and saw an authentic Italian restaurant. It was pretty interesting. KCMO is a pretty diverse place. It is kinda funny when you think about it because we are in the center of the continent, and there are lots of immigrants here. So yeah, life in Kansas City is good.

1. There is a lady in the ward who has a salon so I go there for free. It is very nice of her.

2. I wash my towels every week and my sheets every week. Relax, mom.

3. With Princeton's background, I feel like the Atonement and baptism are two things that really click with him. I mean, who doesn't want a second chance?

Oregon sent me an email about my transfer credits, I think I'll forward that to you. President Keyes already did the ecclesiastical thing. It took all of 2 minutes.

Man, driving to California. That's going to be a long drive. Have fun with that. Are you going to see anybody not family out there? Like Bruce? How is Bruce? 

That is a really interesting change to the Sunday School. I think it will pay dividends. I have been thinking, I don't have too much time left on my mission, and I need to focus all of my efforts on these next 9 months. I need to give my heart, might, mind, and strength to the Lord for a bit. It's the only time in my life I can focus like this. I'm so lucky.

Drive safe! Thanks for everything that you do. 

Love, Nick

49ers V. Rams

 Hey There,

A freakin' tie? A freakin' tie?!!! That's stupid. I've always disliked the fact that there is a tie in the NFL. What is this, the MLS? I could've told you that the ducks were going to score 50+. They're scary good.

I told my fellow elders about your goal to only buy gas once a month. That is quite the feat. 

Stake conference sounds like it was pretty awesome. That is really cool that he left an apostolic blessing on the stake. That is something that will last with the stake for a long time. 

It is good to hear that everything is going well at home. That is really crazy that DJ is home already. 

 Missouri decided to be crazy in weather again. Friday and Saturday were in the 70's. It snowed on Sunday. It was another 40 degree drop in a day. Crazy. 

Things here are going really really well. We had a great week last week. We have 5 people with a baptismal date and 7 investigators came to church yesterday. It was awesome. Mariana and her brother Jossua, are getting baptized on the 25th of this month. Another is doing really well, but he hasn't been able to come to church recently because of his job. In our mission somebody has to go to church at least twice before they can get baptized, and he's only gone once. December 1 is coming up so hopefully we'll see some miracles. 

Our investigator, Princeton, also came to church yesterday. He looked really happy to be there. It was sweet. I am really excited for all of the work here. Riverview is catching on fire. All of this work is really paying off. Us farmers and starting to see the fruits. I am really stoked about what is happening here. Also, the sister missionaries in our ward got nixed here. I'm not sure why, but there won't be sisters here for a few transfers. The ward seems kinda sad about it. So yeah, life is really good right now. No complaints whatsoever. 

1. Christmas Wish List: Some ties, a green one, a light-blue and black one, and a grey one. Also, I want a Johns Hopkins Lacrosse shirt. Size L. Nothing more, and my two front teeth.

2. Yes, mother, I exercise. We have some weights at our house and a bench press. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are biceps and back. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays are chest, triceps and shoulders.

3. Favorite talk from Church yesterday: Yesterday was the Primary program. It was pretty good, no Kristine LaMay production, but pretty good.

Alright Familia, have a great week. Love you like Missouri loves changing weather.

Love, Nick

The Winner Is....

Okay- business first: I don't remember the ACT or SAT stuff at this second, but when I'm done I'll hop on and see.

All is good in the hood. Things are going well here in Missouri. The weather has been bipolar as of late, warm one day and then cold and rainy the next. Other than that, nothing too crazy is going on. 

We should be catching fire and having quite a few baptisms before the end of the year. Yesterday in Sacrament meeting, before people got up to share their testimonies, the 1st counselor was like "We don't need any soap-boxing, or to know how grateful you are for random stuff, please just share what you know to be true" and then sat down. It was freakin' awesome. It seems like people just go up there and say how happy they are and share pointless stories. I hope you didn't share some random story yesterday, otherwise this would be super awkward. Anyways, life is sweet in the streets. 

Transfers are coming up this week, I should almost definitely stay because I have to finish training. Unfortunately, the next transfer date is December 20. Yep, 5 days before Christmas. Crazy.

Elder Javeloza is doing pretty well. Some guy had a seizure in church yesterday, and Elder Javeloza looked like he was going to pass out. Nothing too crazy happened other than that, granted that was pretty crazy. They had to call 911 and have an ambulance come and pick the dude up.

Teaching has been going well. We have some really great investigators right now. Mariana and her brother Jossua should be getting baptized this month. Then we have some other good things going on that should bring us some fruits in December. Our hard work is paying off. I've gotten a lot more bold since being on my mission. I noticed that last week. There were a few instances when I looked back and thought "Dang, I wouldn't have said that 6 months ago." I guess the Lord works in mysterious ways, right? Guess who is sitting next to me right now? Elder Palilla. He is in one of the areas pretty close to mine now. Welp, that is all that I got going on.

1Iron chef Competition: We have a winner...................... Jeffrey Duke LaMay!!  He chose two of my favorite things: sushi, and Reese's. Know your demographic. I think I almost went into a sugar coma over Halloween.

2. We should have a typically freezing winter this year, yes. I think that I will be good with the things that I have. 
3. The sisters all had a pretty good week. i don't know what I did, but something worked. Hopefully we can keep the momentum going into next transfer. 

We get to talk to each other next month! 

Okay, fam, have a great week. Love you like the trees love shedding their leaves.

Love, Nick

GGGGGIIIIIAAAAANNNNNNTTTTSSS!!!!!!!!!!! I hope that you DVR'd at least the last game.

Too bad for Cal. They recruited like the #1 or #2 qb in the nation last year, so hopefully they'll be able to win some games next year. I'm wearing a red tie today to root for the Niners. I do it weekly, on the day that they play.

Yeah the number of days is dwindling away. It is crazy. By Christmas I'll be 2/3 done and by February my sister mission is over. The year-mark-out-of-the-MTC milestone was pretty normal. Nothing to crazy went down in the celebration seeing that there was no celebration.The time is going by really really fast.

It is really cool that Steven baptized my companion.  

I haven't taken too many pictures as of late. Sorry, I'll do better at that.

Guess how cold it is in Missouri? Freakin'. Guess how well our heater works in the house? Not. Guess what the amount of degrees it dropped from Wednesday to Thursday? 40. Wednesday was warm and muggy, Thursday was cold. It looks like the Midwest will actually have a winter this year.

It's good to hear that all is going well at home. Hopefully Devon doesn't get washed away by the Frankenstorm. We ate at Sis. Bennett's house last night. She does this thing with cakes where instead of using oil, she puts applesauce into the recipe. I highly recommend it. 

This past weekend was Stake Conference in the Independence Stake. It was really good. President Keyes spoke and said that the amount of missionaries will go up by 50 here in the next year. We'll have over 300 missionaries. That's crazy. The biggest mission in the world is about to get bigger. We were way, way, way in the back and this kid from our ward fell asleep on me. Kinda like when Devon fell asleep on that stranger on the airplane.

Anyways, the work this week went pretty well. We weren't able to see Princeton at all this week, but I think he's doing well. The Hills are doing great, and should be set for their December 1 date. We have some other baptisms coming up in November. One of them is Mariana, and the other is her brother Jossua. They are 9 and 10 and their mom in the YM president in the ward. They haven't been baptized yet because the dad didn't want them to, but now he is willing and open to it. Hopefully, it will soften his heart some more to the message. We are working hard and finding lots of people to teach. We should be seeing a lot of success in the coming months.

The district hasn't been doing too well lately. We are trying to figure out how to motivate the sisters and get them going. It's hard because with a district of elders you can give them a little more stern motivation like "Get to work", but with the sisters you have to be very nice. That is really all that is going on with me.

1. They don't even deliver pizza to our neighborhood. The mailman only comes if he has something to drop off. So no, there unfortunately will not be any kids trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. They all go to the rich neighborhood in the north part of the city because the Home Owners' Association gives the houses free candy to give out and they go all out with it.

2. We will usually help the members with what they need help with.  We find something new every week, sometimes from our meetings with the Bishop. We don't do anything too scheduled.

3. We have a full time car in this area. We share with nobody. It is sweet.

Concerning the college stuff, I think that once a week should be alright. You can use the myldsmail account.

Okay family, I love you. have a great week. Thanks for everything, the candy sushi was freakin' good.

Love you, Nick

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