Tuesday, November 30, 2010
One last call from Texas!
We received one last call from Fort Worth Texas while our Elder had a layover. By now the excitement had worn off a bit and he and his companion were feeling a bit overwhelmed at the thought that now they were in for the "real deal". We loved talking with him and updating him on all the news, so when his calling card said "one minute" it was hard to say goodbye... He was doing great though, and the only tears that were shared were from mommy... (after we hung up of course) We would just love to be there when he meets his Mission President and his new companion. He is in for great ride.
ARKANSAS...Here he comes Nov 30, 2010
Elder Nelson left the MTC at 3:00 this morning, and at 5:00 am we received the greatest call from the Salt Lake Airport. Stuart and I could not be more proud of our sweet Elder. It was amazing how much he had changed already. His testimony has grown, he loves the Lord, and is humble but so excited to head out into the field. He sounded great, and was dodging the TV sets (since they are off limits) haha He is an obedient Elder!!! He will fly to Dallas Fort Worth, and then on to Little Rock. We love and miss him, but would not want him to be any other place at this time. Good Luck Elder, may the Lord bless you and keep you safe.
I am Thankful for...
In no particular order:
1. My Family, that I can be an example to, and is an example to me
2. My Companion
3. My District
4. Missionaries
5. Missionary Work
6. Living Prophet
7. Plan of Salvation
8. Family Support
9. Service
10. Jesus Christ
11. Food on the Table
12. Home
13. Friends
14. The Temple
15. My Home Ward
16. My Sisters
17. My Brother in Laws
18. Jack and Wes
19. Sylvie, Stella, Annie, Ellie
20. Atonement
21. Prayer
22. The fact that I have come to know that the Church is True
23. Repentance
24. Joseph Smith
25. BYU
26. Receiving Letters
27. Rednecks
28. Many other things!!
29. My Heavenly Father, because all the the things on this list are not possible without him
I Love you Family. I miss you and thank you for all of your prayers and support. I hope that I
can be an example to all of you , especially Jack, Sylvie, Stella, Weston, Annie and Ellie.
I will never be able to thank you enough. I want all of you to know that the Church is True. I know it is without a doubt.
Love, Elder Nelson
1. My Family, that I can be an example to, and is an example to me
2. My Companion
3. My District
4. Missionaries
5. Missionary Work
6. Living Prophet
7. Plan of Salvation
8. Family Support
9. Service
10. Jesus Christ
11. Food on the Table
12. Home
13. Friends
14. The Temple
15. My Home Ward
16. My Sisters
17. My Brother in Laws
18. Jack and Wes
19. Sylvie, Stella, Annie, Ellie
20. Atonement
21. Prayer
22. The fact that I have come to know that the Church is True
23. Repentance
24. Joseph Smith
25. BYU
26. Receiving Letters
27. Rednecks
28. Many other things!!
29. My Heavenly Father, because all the the things on this list are not possible without him
I Love you Family. I miss you and thank you for all of your prayers and support. I hope that I
can be an example to all of you , especially Jack, Sylvie, Stella, Weston, Annie and Ellie.
I will never be able to thank you enough. I want all of you to know that the Church is True. I know it is without a doubt.
Love, Elder Nelson
Monday, November 29, 2010
Suspicious Text
Saturday, November 27th Stuart received an unknown text (right in the middle of the BYU vs. Utah game)... Stating "This is Elder Nelson's teacher at the MTC, He needs to know the score of the game. (At the time BYU was up 13 to 0)... The little con artist! We smiled all day!!!
Friday, November 26, 2010
Friends in the MTC
Friends in the MTC...
Elder Farley, Elder Glenn and Elder Hilton (always great to see familiar faces)!
First MTC Photo's
Doesn't look like prison to me~ 
Elder Nelson & Elder Leavitt
The District!
Where in the world is "ARKANSAS"
THANKSGIVING DAY BLESSINGS!
This Thanksgiving Day we give thanks for family, and are so blessed to be surrounded with two of our four children and their families. We miss the other two, but are grateful that they are well. We are especially blessed to have a missionary about to head into the field of "Arkansas". We loved hearing from him, and that he is happy and ready to head out on this amazing journey. We are so grateful that has turned himself over to the Lord and trusts in him.
November 24, 2010
Hey Mom and Dad;
Sorry this is coming so late, the computers were down so I was just able to get on! I wrote you a letter, but now I'm on so oh well. Things are going much better for me, if you get a bill in the mail from the health center don't worry. They told me that I am getting ulcers from stress, so they gave me some pills. I'm doin alright though. We got our itineraries and we leave on Tuesday the 30th at 3:00 a.m. so be ready for a call around 4:00 to 4:30:) You can wake up that early... haha Thank you so much for the package tonight... It was really fun opening it. (We sent a bowling set, so he didn't have to miss the annual family Thanksgiving bowling, and a BYU football, with alot of party treats.) It was really sweet!! Actually both of them (Pies). My district/whole apartment floor loves you!
Make sure you Dear Elder me this Saturday as soon as the game is over, so I can know what happened (BYU UTAH) I will be freaking out. I could hear the game on Saturday and it was killing me knowing you were so close, and that I was missing it. I got to sing along to the fight song though!!! I could hear that well! I even knew every play they ran!!! Let me know how the basketball team is doing too, and the Jazz, and Eric and the Chargers!!
I can't wait to get our of here and go to Arkansas!! I did write to Dusty today too, we need to get him baptized.
I sent my camera card to you yesterday, so it should get there soon. It has some good pictures on it. You are amazing, sorry if I forgot to tell you anything. I have to get to class pretty soon so I've got to wrap up. I love yall so much and miss you like crazy. Two years is going to fly by though, this past week has felt like a day.
Oh, I ripped my pin stripped suit pants, is there a way I can ship them home and you fix them? they are pretty bad, I can't do it myself. Our new roommates are pretty cool, one of them is about 6'6" and looks just like Thomas! It's freaky, he just has black hair. Anyway, I've got to run, teacher is getting mad. I will talk to you on Tuesday morning.
Love you,
your baby boy
Elder Nelson
Oh and something else. The sisters in my district are going to Temple Square, so when you go there you need to find them and say hi, they are sister Wilson, Sister Holliday and Sister Bryars (all Australian) Try and Dear Elder me with scores as often as you can, I don't know anything about the outside world... We are in prison... less sodomy though hahaha Hopefully Dad laughed at that, and I'm sure mom has that half smile half trying not to smile look on her face. Love to all.
Sorry this is coming so late, the computers were down so I was just able to get on! I wrote you a letter, but now I'm on so oh well. Things are going much better for me, if you get a bill in the mail from the health center don't worry. They told me that I am getting ulcers from stress, so they gave me some pills. I'm doin alright though. We got our itineraries and we leave on Tuesday the 30th at 3:00 a.m. so be ready for a call around 4:00 to 4:30:) You can wake up that early... haha Thank you so much for the package tonight... It was really fun opening it. (We sent a bowling set, so he didn't have to miss the annual family Thanksgiving bowling, and a BYU football, with alot of party treats.) It was really sweet!! Actually both of them (Pies). My district/whole apartment floor loves you!
Make sure you Dear Elder me this Saturday as soon as the game is over, so I can know what happened (BYU UTAH) I will be freaking out. I could hear the game on Saturday and it was killing me knowing you were so close, and that I was missing it. I got to sing along to the fight song though!!! I could hear that well! I even knew every play they ran!!! Let me know how the basketball team is doing too, and the Jazz, and Eric and the Chargers!!
I can't wait to get our of here and go to Arkansas!! I did write to Dusty today too, we need to get him baptized.
I sent my camera card to you yesterday, so it should get there soon. It has some good pictures on it. You are amazing, sorry if I forgot to tell you anything. I have to get to class pretty soon so I've got to wrap up. I love yall so much and miss you like crazy. Two years is going to fly by though, this past week has felt like a day.
Oh, I ripped my pin stripped suit pants, is there a way I can ship them home and you fix them? they are pretty bad, I can't do it myself. Our new roommates are pretty cool, one of them is about 6'6" and looks just like Thomas! It's freaky, he just has black hair. Anyway, I've got to run, teacher is getting mad. I will talk to you on Tuesday morning.
Love you,
your baby boy
Elder Nelson
Oh and something else. The sisters in my district are going to Temple Square, so when you go there you need to find them and say hi, they are sister Wilson, Sister Holliday and Sister Bryars (all Australian) Try and Dear Elder me with scores as often as you can, I don't know anything about the outside world... We are in prison... less sodomy though hahaha Hopefully Dad laughed at that, and I'm sure mom has that half smile half trying not to smile look on her face. Love to all.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Keep Praying!
Our hearts are full as we see such a humble change in our son, but also can feel his homesickness and know that he needs our prayers. We are so proud of him and know that great things come from hard work and sacrifice.
Nov 17, 2010
Dear Mom,
To answer your questions: My best experience so far is we had a devotional by Elder Pearson of the Quorum of the Seventy's, the spirit was amazing. He talked about us no longer being the boys were were at home but the desciples we need to be in order to be great missionaries. We have to do what we are supposed to do 100% of the time or we won't get everything we can out of our missions. My worst experience is the food... awful! and my funniest experience so far is my companion and I staged a fake fight for some new Elders that were coming into our room. (Me and my comp were the only two in our room the first week). It was awesome and we all had alot of good laughs. As far as my testimony, I went into this thinking that I could do it by myself, and quickly learned that that wasn't possible. In order for me to be the missionary I can be I must give myself completely to the Lord. This is the hardest thing I have ever done, but since I made the decision that I need to be a desciple and not Jake Nelson the baseball player or whatever I was at home, things have been so much better, and I have been happier.
Anyway, thanks for the updates on the gamnes, I was dying on Saturday not being able to watch, and didn't even know the outcome till tuesday!!! I was so excited though, especially hearing that Utah got thumped. BYU is going to win this year!!! It's great. The Jazz updates are awesome too, they are getting a chanpionship while I'm gone!!
The MTC is a rollercoaster, some days I want to come home and give up, and I feel terrible, and some days I feel like I could go out and teach right now! I miss you guys so much.
I think it might be easier for you to send me some cardvoard or something to tape my phot card to to send it home. I made a couple videos for you so you can put it in your camera and watch! thanks for working on my car. I'm sure Josephine looks amazing! Don't worry about me, I am doing great, my comp is a redneck, so we are getting along great!!! Tell everyone hello for me and I love then. Love Elder Nelson ps. Oh, and keep praying for me, I need them
Dad,
I love you guys so much, thank you for everything, you are amazing. Give me a honk on the way home from the game on Saturday, we are in the building on the far southwest corner of the MTC, so you know haha 4th floor. Keep praying for me.
Sorry I'm not there to help with the leaves, honestly there have been times when I would rather ve doing that, but I'm good now. I love you so much and hopefully I'm not forgetting to tell you something because I only get 30 min. on the computer every week at like 11:30, so I gotta hurry, the computer shuts off when the timer runs out. Send pictures, I can't open them on the computer so send them snail mail, I can't even tell you how much I miss you. Oh well, love you guys, keep cheering on my teams... Elder Jake Nelson
To answer your questions: My best experience so far is we had a devotional by Elder Pearson of the Quorum of the Seventy's, the spirit was amazing. He talked about us no longer being the boys were were at home but the desciples we need to be in order to be great missionaries. We have to do what we are supposed to do 100% of the time or we won't get everything we can out of our missions. My worst experience is the food... awful! and my funniest experience so far is my companion and I staged a fake fight for some new Elders that were coming into our room. (Me and my comp were the only two in our room the first week). It was awesome and we all had alot of good laughs. As far as my testimony, I went into this thinking that I could do it by myself, and quickly learned that that wasn't possible. In order for me to be the missionary I can be I must give myself completely to the Lord. This is the hardest thing I have ever done, but since I made the decision that I need to be a desciple and not Jake Nelson the baseball player or whatever I was at home, things have been so much better, and I have been happier.
Anyway, thanks for the updates on the gamnes, I was dying on Saturday not being able to watch, and didn't even know the outcome till tuesday!!! I was so excited though, especially hearing that Utah got thumped. BYU is going to win this year!!! It's great. The Jazz updates are awesome too, they are getting a chanpionship while I'm gone!!
The MTC is a rollercoaster, some days I want to come home and give up, and I feel terrible, and some days I feel like I could go out and teach right now! I miss you guys so much.
I think it might be easier for you to send me some cardvoard or something to tape my phot card to to send it home. I made a couple videos for you so you can put it in your camera and watch! thanks for working on my car. I'm sure Josephine looks amazing! Don't worry about me, I am doing great, my comp is a redneck, so we are getting along great!!! Tell everyone hello for me and I love then. Love Elder Nelson ps. Oh, and keep praying for me, I need them
Dad,
I love you guys so much, thank you for everything, you are amazing. Give me a honk on the way home from the game on Saturday, we are in the building on the far southwest corner of the MTC, so you know haha 4th floor. Keep praying for me.
Sorry I'm not there to help with the leaves, honestly there have been times when I would rather ve doing that, but I'm good now. I love you so much and hopefully I'm not forgetting to tell you something because I only get 30 min. on the computer every week at like 11:30, so I gotta hurry, the computer shuts off when the timer runs out. Send pictures, I can't open them on the computer so send them snail mail, I can't even tell you how much I miss you. Oh well, love you guys, keep cheering on my teams... Elder Jake Nelson
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Wahoo!!! First Letters 2 at once
Mom and Dad;
Shoot, today has been a blur, things have gone by so fast. My comp is awesome. His name is Elder Leavit, he is from Moapa Valley NV. (The hole you go through on your way to Lake Mead, is how he puts it). He is a football player and seems cool. We are getting along great so far. We got here today and met with our zone. Our zone is cool, we have an Elder and a Sister from Australia, but we are the only two going to Arkansas, everyone else is going to Everett Washington. I am doin good guys, I miss you like crazy but so far it has been good. Hopefully I can sleep tonight. My P days are on Wednesday, so that will be the day I can respond to you. By the way, I am the only lad in here without treats, so you should send some, and some listerine strips so I don't feel bad getting treats from others. My zone leaders are cool too, pretty relaxed so it's going to be good.
When I first got here I ran into Elder Hilton and we talked for like half an hour, it was great, they are sending him to Pocatello on monday until his visa comes through, so tell Gary and Karleen to watch for him. We had a good talk though and he is doin good. I also ran into Elder Farley and Elder Glenn, it was nice to see some familiar faces.
Anyways, I am supposed to be asleep so I've got to go. I love you and miss you so much.
Love Elder Jake Nelson
Letter 2
Mom and Dad there are a few things I didn't tell you that I forgot, please send vitamins, I was told to take them so I don't get sick. My second day was great. People say it takes some time to get into the flow and start enjoying it. It's tough to get going, but I am loving it already. Elder Leavitt is awesome. We are getting along great, and we are alot alike.
They made me District Leader today by the way. So I am over the 12 missionaries in our district. We spend pretty much the entire day together. The district is great, we have some good Elders and Sisters. Tell T-Bizzy her letter didn't come, no idea why.
The check I sent you I found in my pocket, so you know. So you all know you don't have to send me letters just use dearelder.com and I will get them that day. Make sure when you write to let me know what is going on in the outside world. We don't hear anything in here.
Tell everybody hi, I love you all soo much and I miss you like crazy!!!! Love Elder Jake Nelson
p.s. send me and my comp a case of mountain dew!!!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
November 10, 2010
Stuart and I could never have prepared for our feelings and emotions today. We are filled with a sense of pride, happiness and unbelievable gratitude for Jake's service and sacrifice to the lord. On the other hand, we ache at the thought that we won't see him for 2 years. Stuart is having bigtime withdrawl not being able to text him and we both wish we could just be there to see his face each time he has a new, incredible experience. Our emotions are high, but there is no other place in the world that we would want him to be at this time. We love you Elder Nelson and can't wait to hear from you.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
We'll Miss you Elder Jake...
The water works started when Jake's little 3 year old nephew Jack came up to him with a "self made" map and said "Uncle Jake, I made you this map, so you can find your way home after your mission! Emotional goodbye's-We love you Elder Jake!
November 10, 2010
This morning we had our final family sendoff party. We started with breakfast and enjoyed our annual Christmas morning casserole, followed by some good ol family wrestling. Elder Jake ended up with some battle scars from the nieces and nephews, but showed his sisters who is still the boss.
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