What up Elderino?

FOOOOTTTBAAALLLLLL. Do you have too many butterflies now that camp is starting soon?

I love it.

Cool that Jordan Larson is Spanish speaking in Idaho.  The Spanish people in Idaho will pronounce it: Eeda-o.

Things here are going pretty well. JCS (julio cesar) is doing well. He is reading and so is his daughter so that is great. Phil dropped us. I guess he just wasn't that enthusiastic about the work. Oh well, we gave it a shot. Blake on the other hand, is getting baptized on the 28th of July!!! He is a funny guy. He has received a testimony of the gospel and is ready to take the needed steps to join the church. I am excited for him, he has really come a long way.  If all works out well, he'll get sealed on one of the last weekends in my mission, and I'll be able to go.

Other than those people, the work is clickin' pretty well. We are going to put some focus into finding people this week. We need to ramp up our teaching pool.

Man, it has been hot here. Saturday was a scorcher. I don't have much to say today, nor a lot of time. We got caught up waiting for this dummy to buy some groceries and it took forever. Sorry.

1. We actually had a talk solely about pioneers. So I guess yes, they are making a mention of it. But other than that, not really.

2. No, he is not a morning person at all. He just sits there like Elder Lopez did while I work out. It's a nice gesture. He's a nice guy.

3. We do not have a ton of interaction with any sister missionaries right now because none of them are in our district. Just guy time, all the time.

Okay my beloved family, have a great week. I love you a lot.

Love, Nick

Aloha!

Aloha!

I got Eric Johnson's autograph? Dang. I forgot about that. I do remember going to UoP to watch the 49ers practice. That was sweet. Even though I am totally out of it all, I am stoked for training camp. I love football a lot, and training camp is just the menu screen to the full force dvd that is the NFL.

Yeah, it has been just so freakin hot here. Luckily, this week is supposed to be cooler. All of the grass here is D-E-A-D dead. It has been a dry heat, like Utah, but gets super humid as night. Just when I think that the sun is down and I will be cooler again, I am covered in water from the air. Gross.

Despite the heat, the work is going well.  I just got a call from one of our investigators. He got his answer. He knows the church is true. It was a sweet experience. Umm, funny story. The other day we were teaching this guy and his kid was taking a nap on the table (I know, weird) and then I was reading a scripture and this kid let out the biggest burp ever. I had to hold every fiber of my being together to not bust up. I hate situations like that. Man, how am I turning 20? I still think burps are funny. The work goes well. We are having a good time teaching people.

We are teaching and preaching like champs. Not much more than that. Our 4th of July was boring. We still had to work but nobody wanted to talk to us that day. Then, we taught this guy Miguel (we mostly tried our Spanish people on the 4th) and it was an alright lesson. I never thought before my mission that I would be teaching a guy in full Spanish on Independence Day, who had a belly shirt on (don't ask), while Hotel California was playing in the background. It was an interesting experience. After teaching him we didn't find too many other people that day. We had a lunch with a member and went to Applebee's to finish it off. Pretty quiet day. The rest of the week was pretty good. We found an entire Spanish family to teach. I am excited about that. The guy's name is Julio Cesar Sanchez. In English that is Julius Ceaser Sanchez. I thought that was funny. Pray that they will read. So yeah, not much else. Kind of a quiet week. Sorry.

1. So I have a base list of schools so far: U of U, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, U of Oregon, Colorado State. I was thinking it would be great if we could get on this pretty soon and try to have the applications in by their "priority date" or whatever.

2. President Keyes just says keep working. Actually, he hasn't said anything about keeping safe from the heat.

3. Ummm, something with peanut butter and chocolate. Maybe more of the other missionaries in the wards' letters. I liked those. Besides that, I'm good.

Okay my lovely family, have a good week. I love you.

Love, Nick

Whazzzzzaaaaapppp?! (do you remember that stupd commercial?)

First of all, I've had to use my home card more than I'd like because the ward here isn't giving us that many meals. I think it is probably because they are mostly students, so a lot of them are gone for the summer getting out of this stupid freaking heat. Speaking of stupid freaking heat, bron bron finally got his ring. Good for him I guess, now the haters can't hate.
That Broney thing is funny. I must tell you, my next planner looks pretty epic with a lot of sharks and such on it. Thanks for that.
I have been thinking about schools and such, and I think I wasnt to stay on the west coast for school. I don't know what I want to do with my life yet, but that is something that I have been praying about.
The work here is going really well. Ally's baptism was really great. I guess the church got a new water heater, so the water was like hot-tub hot for the baptism. Usually, we just turn the hot water on and then the heater runs out and by the time the font is full, the water is perfect, but I guess it was super hot. Her dad baptized her, so I never even felt the agua. I guess hot water is better then freezing cold water. When I baptized the Borjorquezs the water was freezing. The baptism was the highlight of the week for sure.

Sounds like everything is going well back at HQ. It has been stupid hot here. It was in the 100's just about everyday last week. So that was just fantastic. 

The other guy that we have on date is Gabriel, who is from Mexico. His hang-up is that he needs to quit smoking. He really has a lot of desires to join the church but is having a hard time giving up those death-sticks.

The guy who wears converses, Phil, is doing well. He isn't a convert, but he should be soon. He is very interested in the church, so hopefully that leads him to the right path.

Evelyn is doing great. She is such a little firecracker. I really hope to keep in touch with her after my mission. The work is going well. We have some solid people that are learning right now. We should be able to see some more fruits of our labors (BAPTISMS!!!) in July. Will you guys pray for our investigator Blake? He more or less has already received an answer to know if the church is true, but he hasn't been able to recognize it. Pray that he will realize his answer. Other than that, life is great. I'm enjoying myself out here.

1. The Olympic what?? ha. I guess not.

2. We have a barbeque to go to on Wednesday with some members, and pretty much after like 7, we're supposed to be with members so that we don't get into trouble or something, so we won't do much work that night. Also, our zone got over 10 baptisms in June, so the stake is making us a pancake breakfast on the 4th as well. Free food? Yes please.

3. A typical pday is as follows: laundry, get ready, email, get some lunch, meet up with other missionaries, usually here we go window shopping and such at an outdoor mall here. There isn't much to do in the Midwest. then at six, it's missionary time again.

Please read Alma 7:11-13. Tell mom to read it. Tell dad to read it. Make Chelsea read it.  You too, Devon and Brit. It is one of the most powerful Atonement scriptures ever. Christ suffered through EVERYTHING. He knows what each of us is going through in our individual circumstances. No person is outside the bounds of the Atonement, but not everyone uses it like they should. How wonderful is it that Jesus Christ has given the ability to use his grace to everyone. "For by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" -Ephesians 2:8. We are saved by grace through faith, but faith is through action. By having faith in the Atonement, we can begin to use it. To fully use the Atonement, there are more or less 3 things to do. 1) be repentant 2) enter the waters of baptism (or partake of the sacrament and use it fully) and 3) obedience to God's laws. How great is it that all mankind has the opportunity to start anew. The best way for each of us to turn our lives around is through the gospel. We must make sure that we understand the why of the gospel. The what informs, the why transforms. Many have a long path ahead to redemption. But there is a path. For every person, there is a path. I bear witness of Jesus the Christ. He lives and through his ultimate sacrifice for us, we will live. The Church is true, and we have the Savior's words from the mouth of our prophet. I leave these things in the Redeemer's name, even Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love, Nick

All is Swell

I am glad you had a good anniversary. I miss the Red Iguana. I only ever went like 3 times, but it was delish.

Dude, it has been so freakin humid here. The actual air heat isn't too bad to me, but the fact that by the time we get to our car from the apartment, which is like 50 feet, I am sweating. Yesterday we walked around a lot and I was literally dripping. It was nast-ay.

Also, my comp and I were talking, and can you send us some pictures of sharks for our planners? Also pictures of Street Sharks, it was a cartoon in the 90's. We would really appreciate it.

All is going well here. Carla totally bailed on an appointment that we had with her, so that kinda stank. But other than that, the work is moving along really well. Evelyn is doing great. She is super solid.

Ally is set to be baptized by her dad this Saturday and all is going well with her. She is ready.

We are teaching this guy, Phil. He is a cool dude. He's in probably his late 50's to early 60's but wears high top converses and is a really cool guy. He was a referral from a member in our ward. Yesterday, we were waiting for our investigator, Juan, to show up to church, but it never happened. So we went in to church and we were kinda bummed. Then out of nowhere, here comes this member and Phil. It was sweet. He wore his converses to church. looked good. So that was sweet.

Also, the other day, I totally lost the phone. Like it was gone. We destroyed the apartment looking for it, but it was no where to be found. It was time to go, so we left and went about our day phoneless. it wasn't too big of a deal. Then, when we got back to the apartment, it was phone hunting time. We looked, and looked, and looked, but it was not there. So we went to this member's house and set up a very tedious sort of strategy. We had to give him our number and then tell him to wait until a certain time so we had the chance to get back to our place in time for the call. Then once we got back we heard a distinct buzzing coming from the couch. The phone was in the couch. Like INSIDE of the darn thing. I couldn't believe it.. But we have the phone now. So life is good. All is well is super humid-ville. SUPER. HUMID.

1. The apartment is pretty thrashed. Missionaries have lived there for like 10 years now. Um, it has an open room in the front, probably about the size of my room at home. We have a couch and our desks there. That room is attached to our tiny kitchen. basic apartment kitchen, nothing too fancy. Then we have the bedroom. It is again about the size of my room at home. And we have a bath room. All of the walls are white, the crowning is brown. The carpet is dirty.

2. Luckily, you're supposed to teach as if you were teaching a child as far as explaining things clearly, so we don't change much. She is a really smart girl, so she understands what we say.

3. Yeah, I have been thinking about it. I don't want to be a doctor. I'm not sure what I want to be, but not a doctor. I really want to be involved in sports, whether it be administration, marketing, or journalism. Something along those lines.

Okay familia, I hope this week is great. Love you.

Love, Nick

It's happening

I'm glad that you liked the letter. I like drawing pictures in them because one, they take up space, and two, it shows how crazy I still am.

Yeah, Sis. Gaona called me before she went over there. They're so cool, huh? I'm glad you got to meet them. Did Jaime go? He loves the Cowboys. I just had to get past that.

 Things are truckin' like a Peterbilt our here. If everything that we have planned goes through, we could have 5 baptisms in June and July. Evelyn was baptized on Saturday. Her grandson did it. She is so great. She was crackin' her little southern jokes the whole time. It was a really great experience. Then she was confirmed yesterday, and now she is a legit Mormon.It was pretty sweet.

We have another for the 30th-we are teaching that one 12 year old I mentioned earlier, Ally. She is very excited.  So the work is clickin. Not bad.

We also put this Spanish guy, Gabriel, on date for the 21st of July. This one is a little more tentative, like there is a lot of work to do with him, but I think that he can do it. He wants to, so hopefully he uses that desire to get there.

We also got some media referrals, like from a Visitor's Center or mormon.org, and went to see them. We got in contact with one, her name is Carla. It was pretty cool, when we got there, that was the first day that she had been home in 3 months because she was in Atlanta for a while. She said when she put her name into the system, she kept thinking about the church, and then boom, she gets home, and we go over. There really aren't any coincidences. There is a lot of good work to be done out here.

Everything is going well. Thanks for the package. The comp is great. The ward is getting really involved. Life is sweet.

1. The kids is the Spanish branch just go with the English ward on all of the scout camps and girls camps. All of the kids can speak English, so it's no big deal. And there is only one girl that is youth age in the branch.

2. The dogs here are pretty tame, and not running amuck in the streets. In Kaw River, there were lots of dogs everywhere, but here, nothing too scary.

3. Let's see, one life lesson... Probably that everything happens for a reason. Everything that happens to us is to help us grow and God puts us in certain situations all of the time that we would otherwise never be in.

Okey dokey, have a great week. Love ya.

Love, Nick

Keep On Swimming

Congrats on the indexing. 7000 names is a lot.

The work here is going well. We are still ramping up for Evelyn's baptism on Saturday. It is pretty amazing to see the change in her from when we met her to who she is now. The temple has blessed so many people in this mission. If all goes well with another investigator, Ally, we should have two baptisms in June.

The other day, we were walking back to our car after an appointment fell through and this lady stopped us on the side of the road. She said she has been a member for a long time but has fallen away from the Gospel. She just recently moved into our area and is looking to change her life around. We got her info and then went on our way. The next day she calls us and sets up an appointment to have us over and teach her boyfriend about the church. It is pretty amazing how God provides for us. When one door closes, one or two more open.

One of the things President Keyes is getting us to focus in on is finding. Some missionaries love tracting, some do not, but overall the best way to find is through members. That is the thing the Elder Burden and I are going to focus on. We have some plans to just start asking the members to fellowship or befriend the people that they brought to the temple, and then see from that point whether they are someone that we could teach. The bishop here also wants us to start teaching the Preach My Gospel lessons to the members after dinners and stuff to get them in that missionary mindset. It should work pretty well. So yeah, things are going pretty freakin' peachy here. Hope all is well at home.

1. I don't have a bike, so I have not crashed or biffed yet. Luckily, the buses are close-roofed, so there is no chance of me falling outta one of those bad boys.

2. There are ZERO snow cone shops in my area. It blows. I have grown to love snow cones. I miss them.

3. In the Spanish branch, no one really conducts the singing are anything like that, we all just kinda sing. If anything, I just pass the sacrament a lot. Nothing too crazy though.

That is exciting that Trevor is leaving. He is going to do great.

We are working hard and sweating up a freakin storm. Saturday was REALLY hot. and it is only June. Fantastic. Things are kicking along quite swimmingly.

Okey doky, have a great week. I love you too much.

 Love, Nick

It's Hot Here

Good Morning America,

Umm. It is way hotter here, and you don't have to walk around with a backpack full of pamphlets and books. That's too bad that your AC went down. Sounds like fun in the sun. Was it hotter than snot there? It was pretty warm here until like Friday, then got hot yesterday.

It's crazy that the Taylors are moving. In Platte Woods, the yearly cycle of med/dental students are beginning to leave, and so we'll have some more coming in soon.

Everything is going very well here. The work is booming. Evelyn has a week and a half until her baptism. She is doing really well on her Word of Wisdom stuff. Pray for her to have strength. We found this guy Juan, who surprisingly only speaks English, and he is a really nice guy. He works at a prison as a corrections officer and in August is going to take his retirement and start a pet grooming place. From dawgs to dogs. He was taught a few years ago, and now is changing his life around a little and wants to learn again. We see the Cool Book of Mormon Dude on Wednesday. Hopefully that goes well.

So yeah, life is good. My comp is a cool dude. We get along really well, and people always feed us.  Such a fun guy. So yeah, all is going really well. Any trips on the horizon? Any thing fun coming up this summer?

I miss being able to sleep in. I mean, I'm used to 6:30, but if I could catch some more Z's every once in a while, that'd be sweet.

Dad, did you see the MLK Monument? They were building it last year when we were there. I'm glad that you're doing well in your interviews.

Guess what, this system has emoticons. !!!!!! I hope you're not just looking at squares. If you are, you're missing out.

Not much new here, summer is around the corner and there are tons of bugs. Also fireflies, which are a new experience for me. They are cool. We have a baptism a week from Saturday, and other than that the work is really clickin'.

Sounds like there is a lot going on at home right now. Especially boring tv shows.That is funny that Spencer is serious, going Reid status. 

Here ya go:

1.Yes, we have AC, and we use it. Nothing better than going from hot and muggy to cool and fresh.

2. We can listen to anything that is a hymn, EFY songs, and MoTab. So we mix it up and keep it real.

3. Polygamy is usually the first question we get. "Do you really have 7 wives?" is one I've gotten too many times. If I had 7 wives, I definitely wouldn't have time for a mission- too much drama to deal with.

Alright, family, have a great week. Love you more than Chelsea loves Otter Pops.

Love, Nick