Monday, January 31, 2011

January 31, 2011

Hey everybody! so this week was pretty tight.

On Wednesday we went to Caruthersville and had the most successful day since i came out. finally were able to meet up with Ronnie, who came to church, plus we were able to have a lesson with a guy named Allen who lives with an elderly member of the ward, he had been reading the bom and came to church and seemed to like it. Hopefully all goes well, we set a date with Ronni for Feb 26, hopefully we get everything we need to do done by then.
On Thursday, we were walking down the street, saw a health food store that elder Boise wanted to check out. so we went inside. started talking to the owner.. soon enough a rabbi came in. and started talking with him. as we were about to leave the owner (Fred) says hey elders how bout comin over for dinner tonight.. we jumped at that. he gave us directions and we left. anyway we headed out there, and pull up to a giant gate. he opens it up and we drive up to a straight mansion! it was the nicest house i have ever been in by far, it was incredible.. right on the outskirts of the bly... so we had steak and potatoes with Fred the billionaire and Chris the rabbi. they were both super cool dudes. but at one point Fred mentioned that he had gotten a fine from the u.s. government for having some machine, and the fine was for five-hundred THOUSAND dollars... and he said it like it was pocket change.. it was crazy.. it was the coolest thing i think i have done since coming out. today we got to go on a tour of Nucor-yamato steel mill, where most of the people in town work. brother Lowe took us, it was incredible. I got some pictures but left the cord for my camera at home... next week haha

Q and A

l) your back? my back is fine, nothing bothering it.
2) Investigators? we have some investigators, right now Ronnie and Allen are the tops
3) weather (is it still freezing, and do you wear your thermals? this week has been really nice. we didn't have to even wear jackets. and played some football yesterday with a family we are now teaching. but it is supposed to snow tonight or tomorrow or something
4) Do you think you will get to stay with Elder Boice for awhile?? you both seem to enjoy each other? Transfers are coming up in a couple weeks. we have no idea what they will do. you never know. most likely i will get shipped off, but you never know.
5) Weight? I am now down to 203 with full clothes on! so I am under 200
hope all is well at home, i love the BYU updates. Jimmer is the man. MVP for sure this year. aunt glo sends me newspaper clippings haha its sweet.

i love you guys
love elder nelson.

ps so could you possibly send me my BYU tie, and the tool to take a link out of my watch. my watch no longer fits me haha

Monday, January 24, 2011

Pictures from Arkansas


Just two good ol' boys playin their banjo's (I mean Ukelele's)







IMAGINE! BYU vs. UTAH companions!!!



The Mighty Mississippi...

January 24, 2011

what up yall?
The news from home is awesome, so glad that Ty is finally in brazil, he was so excited to get out there when i talked to him, i felt bad when i heard he had to wait. that is awesome that the tanner's are getting their calls soon! tell them congrats from me. and let me know where they are headin. I will definitely keep chase in my prayers, that is so tough. i know when i hurt my back it crossed my mind that i could end up going home if it was serious, and it sucked. i didnt want to think about that. i taught the gospel principles class yesterday on "our chosen savior jesus christ" it went well i think. elder boice helps alot by adding some good comments as well as some of the members. makes it alot less stressful.
We had one investigator, Helen, come yesterday. she is the one who has a speech problem so she doesnt talk much. we werent sure how much she liked it but hopefully she did. we were able to set a baptismal date for her and a lady that lives with her for feb 12. we are praying that all goes well.
I think dad should get the i phone. the droid is way cool. but i think the iphone would be a little easier for him to get used to. either way though they are both sweet. the droid is basically the Bad A** iphone. haha

answers to your questions.

1) What are you eating, 21 slices of pizza sound terrible...
Elder Boice and I were laughing the other day that you and Dad would probably never believe that i eat yogurt and a banana for breakfast every morning haha
2) What do you wear each day? suits ? How are your shoes holding up in the rain?
we only wear suits to church, district meeting and zone meeting. I wear my black shoes every day, they are my "tracting shoes" and by brown to meetings. my blacks are wearing out. we have been tracting machines!
3) James Hirst asked all about you at Church Sunday, it was nice:
next time you see james tell him i said hi and that a mission really is the greatest. every day you face something that you dont think you can do but you jump into it anyway and the spirit leads you through. greatest thing i have ever done in my life
3) How is Ronnie coming along? and the other lady you were teaching?
Ronnie put us for a loop this week, he absolutely loved church was super excited to bring his daughter yesterday... so on tuesday we stop by his house and there is a note on the door. "to whoever comes looking for ronnie, he no longer lives here. you can reach im at ....." so we call the number...disconnected. we were pretty bummed, but then on friday we decided to try the number again, and it went through to one of his friends that gave us Ronnie's cell number. we were able to get ahold of him. he now lives up in Caruthersville, and he said he still wants to come down to church with us, but has to find a job so he can get a car to make it down. hopefully he will be able to.
4) Do you get the Ensign? or would you like me to send you a copy each month?? we do get the ensign. but thank you anyway.


so yesterday we met with a lady named Debra, we were teaching the restoration and i was able to bear my testimony about the book of mormon. as i was the spirit really hit me that what i was saying was true, it was amazing. THE CHURCH IS TRUE YALL!! I love you guys and miss you.
love elder nelson

p.s. we tracted into a lady the other day, and made the opening line and her response was "sorry, i'm baptist right now"..... yep we hear some great stuff.
also ran into my first "basher" yesterday. such an idiot. she started rambling about stuff we "believed" in... which was all false haha i almost cussed her out. i was pretty close. cause she was an ignorant Beezy. but i didnt... i kept control

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

January 17, 2011

hey yall,

just so yall know, the back is doin fine, the prescription that Dr. Fogg sent was the same that the other doctor had given me..
this week was pretty good though. i think i told you about Ronnie, we tracked into him a couple weeks ago, he is an awesome dude. he spent time in jail, but has turned his life around, he is trying to get his record expunged so that he can get a job, but he is also going to school. anyway, we have been teaching him, and he came to church yesterday.. He walked 3 miles in the freezing cold, and got there a half an hour early... he is the man. he loved it though, it was ward conference so the talks were great, and then we went through the oath and covenant of the priesthood, which is pretty deep stuff for a first timer, but he seemed to understand, then we had a potluck after, he stayed and loved the members, the members here are great at fellow shipping. he is excited to come back next week and is planning on bringing his daughter. we will have to find them a ride.
we also tracked into a lady named ruby, we started talking to us and told us she was preaching at her church Sunday night, and we helped her with her talk on the atonement. then she invited us to come and listen, so we did... it was crazy, they had the band goin and people jumpin around, we got about 15 shout outs from ruby as well as the pastor and other people that went up haha it was sweet.
My birthday was awesome, thank you everyone for the presents, they were great.
highlight of the day... i finished the bom that morning, guess what? its true... haha
We went to the ward and met with brother Layton, the ward mission leader and talked about the missionary work in the ward for a while, after he went out and made some stops with us at some investigators as well as some less actives then we went back to pizza inn... it was bomb as always haha broke my record, had 21 pieces of pizza haha and kept it down this time, the Corbett's also had us over for 2 meals this week, and made me a chocolate cake for my birthday, you will get a video of that one when i send it haha.
Not much else goin on though, just doin work, keep praying for us that we will come in contact with those ready to hear our message!!

p.s. mom and dad, did you get my letters?

Love yall,
Elder Jake Nelson

Thursday, January 13, 2011

JANUARY 15TH HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELDER!!!

The Pizza Inn... 21 slices on Elder Nelson's birthday... Did he win the contest??


Happy Birthday...

What a great cake!

Thanks Corbett's



and a Black and Tan coon hound??? Did you get that for your birthday?

I don't think so...


It's snowing in Blytheville!




January 10, 2011 Q & A

hey what up yall.
answers to your questions.

l) how often do you have district meetings?
we have district meetings usually once a week.
2) how often do you have zone conf.?
zone conferences i think are once a month or once a transfer
3) How did it go with Cat? Is she interested?
we haven't been able to meet with cat. some weird stuff going on there)
4) Have you found anyone else to teach? we actually have 5 new investigators this week. Helen, Eleanor, Ronny, George and tareesha. they are pretty cool. we will see this week if they are for real... Helen was a really cool lesson. she cant really talk. can say yes and no, and other than that uses hand gestures. it was an awesome lesson, she was crying the whole time. we tracked into all of the new people. Eleanor was out with her family, invited us in and agreed to read the bom, we are going to see her tomorrow i think. same thing happened with Ronny, George and Tareesha. Hopefully some good stuff happens!!!
5) What are you teaching in gospel essentials?? how is that going? I taught gospel principles yesterday on our heavenly father. it went alright. i think. I really have no idea haha
6) do you ever have to speak?? not yet
7) gang activity still going on, or have they caught the guys? haha its not like a few kids doin the gang activity. everyone in town is part of a gang haha so yes its still goin on.
8)) Is your bike doing better? the bike is holding up well. no problems since the crank shaft broke.
9) did you have black birds falling from the sky??? It showed on the news a picture of an Arkansas street with hundreds of blackbirds dead all along a road.??? we didn't here in blytheville, but we heard about it. it was in bebe arkansas, and it was actually hundreds of thousands of blackbirds that died, as well as 100,000 fish showed up dead on the bank of a river... some crazy shiz goin down!!

Well, time to go, I love you all... Elder Jake Nelson

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Pictures from Blytheville!

These are pictures of our planner covers, and here is what goes down. We decorate them with pictures and whatnot, and lamenate/tape them onto our planner. Anywho, I am going to send a couple home for the family to decorate with pics of the fam, byu stuff and whatever you want.
This is my District that I am in. We had just eaten lunch after district meeting... we have a very small district. The Elders are Elder Kelly, Elder Hannaman, Elder Boice and me. Elder Hannaman is the Elder going to the "Y".

Jumpin Elder Nelson







Happy New Year's Jan 3, 2011

What's up yall,

Happy New Years!
I'm going to go ahead and answer all these here questions yall sent me!

1) Did Linda make it for baptism? No Linda didn't make it to baptism, she ended up getting baptized by other means...unfortunate
2) Did you get Taysia's Christmas present (she heard it had been resent)? I did get the photo book, and just by the way, we have the best darn looking family ever, hands down..
3) How was New Year's? dinner? pizza? New Years was pretty sweet, we ended up not doing our pizza eating contest, it got postponed until next month, but we did get to go over to Sister Corbett's moms house new year's for lunch with the whole fam. We had black eyed peas, cabbage, fried potatoes, and hogs jowl, hogs jowl is a lot like bacon, it is just the meat from the cheeks/jowls of the hog. It wasn't too bad, other than the aftermath...haha
4) How is your weather?? We heard Missouri and Arkansas had bad tornado's (I looked up the counties and it looked like you weren't in the middle of them??? We weren't hit by any tornados, but that day that the storming was goin on we were out riding and it got dark and we went to visit an elderly woman in our ward, and when we left it had started raining, so we headed for the church which was 3 miles away, and about half a mile into the ride it started pouring, we were soaked and covered in mud by the time we got there, it was pretty sweet though. The rain here is insane, Elder Boice said it wasn't that hard of a rain and it was raining harder than I had ever seen it rain in Utah.
5) Have you found anyone else to teach?? We are all praying for you to find people.. Tim told me it was hard to find people to teach in France too.. "On Sunday this lady named Cat came to Church, which was a surprise, they had taught her before I got here and she is one of Linda's friends, but she showed up and actually paid tithing!!! (she is not a member) anywho, we are feeling pretty good about her and are meeting with her on Tuesday, so we are thinking maybe Linda was just our way to finding Cat!!
6) So your birthday is coming, do you need anything?? I hate to just send stuff you don't need but have to house... "I really don't need anything, just some ties... every missionary likes ties!
7) Can you listen to the "Arkansas" songs?? or just specific artists?? "I have heard the Arkansas songs in most of the cars I have been in, so I am going to say yes..
8) How is the "gang" activity going?? any worse? or better? The gang activity is about the same, on New years day we were walking down the street and all of a sudden 2 housed down a guy came out and unloaded his shotgun off his front porch...scared us to death!!!haha

so funny story, the other day we stopped at sonic to get some grub, and the girl that delivered the food handed me her number haha so we promptly wrote ours down .... on a pass along card... and gave it to her... never got a call, shoot,, still hope she will get baptized...

I also learned something interesting that I had never heard before, we were visiting with a guy and the civil war came up. Turns out they don't refer to it as the civil war, but as the war of northern aggression, or the war between the Americans and the d*** Yankees. haha I never knew that the south didn't consider it a civil war because they were succeeding, and didn't consider themselves a part of the country, they also say that the war was not over slavery at all but over economics, and the explanation we got actually made a lot of sense. It was cool to learn something new about the south!!!

Well, I have to get off, but I love yall. Tell everyone hello, and tell dad he can still call me "Jake", haha Talk to you next week

Love, Elder Nelson

ps Glaziers sent me a great package, with a freakin basketball hoop in it, we hung it on our door.