Hey there family! Well can I
just say how amazing your letters were this week. Thank you so much for filling
me in on everything. Dad your joke you made about moms email is priceless! That
must be the reason why our computer at home is slower than a handicapped snail!
It sounds like you all had a great week and enjoyed church. It is so crazy how
Emilee is home. That means Jake is getting close too. Then right after is going
to be Bridger and I. To crazy how fast time is flying. I am glad dad is back to
2 shoes. Can you tell a big difference in the foot you had surgery on and the
other one? I hope you start to feel better and that the next surgery will go
really well. Let me know how it all goes. It sounds like your last trip was way
fun! And that is so good Jacs is feeling better to where she was able to go and
play up in Portland. How did she do up there? Trust me all of the little ones
are always in my prayers. As well as the rest of the family. Man it sounds like
some pretty crazy church news. Especially with the Kofords kids. Hopefully Alex
and Gracie both get feeling better. Man I miss that family! Tell them all hello
for me. I miss our ward in General. There is not a better Ward out there. It is
like we all are a big family. It is going to be sad the Christensen’s are
moving. Bridger and Ethan and all of their kids are good kids and good friends.
Wish them all good luck for me. And tell them thank you for being pretty much
my second parents. Awesome family right there! Oh so last night I watched the
Christmas devotional and it is always so great seeing someone you know singing
up in the Choir! Tell Sister Florence she is awesome and thanks for inspiring
others by using her talents. Man just tell everyone I say hello! :) That
Christmas devotional was so good last night. I hope you all had the chance to
watch it. If not it is on LDS.org.
Super good talks, which get you into the Spirit of Christmas. This is the best
time of year by far because everyone seems to be more charitable. We now need
to change this so it can be year round not just during Christmas. And man that
is some very exciting news about Dan and Brit. Hopefully they will be able to
decide on the name soon because it is coming up!! :) I am so excited to have
another Niece. I must say we have the cutest family by far. :) Good luck Brit
and don't forget your Try-Actin ;) Also tell Jason to keep up the good work and
go to town with his basketball skills! He is going to tear it up this year.
Good job buddy! Well I think I covered mostly everything. Y’all are awesome!
Thanks for the love and support out here! And have the best Christmas ever!
Because next one is only going to be going down hill when I get back haha just
kiddin! :)
Well now for my week. It was
very eventful! Full of teaching and instructions! President Walls promise about
becoming a master teacher was probably a safe promise because he knew how many
instructions I would be giving throughout this mission and lessons being taught
haha! So to start this week off I am going to take you day by day so you can
kind of get a feel of what my life is like right now and on the way I will try
and help you get to know some of the amazing people who will always have a
place in my heart.
Monday: As you know it was
P-Day so we got up did some studies and work outs then came straight to the
library. Emailed then after that we went and picked up a fun member who is our
age named Clarence. We then went and ate at a Chinese buffet and he paid for me
since he thinks it is my last transfer here. Pretty nice! After wards the
sisters asked if I could fix their toilet. It wouldn't flush so I went and did
that really quickly. I had to Jimmy-Rig it. But got that working. Afterwards we
went bowling again! This time I was on my game! We had a great time. The only
bummer was on the way over the other Elders from Thibodaux got into a little
fender bender. Someone ran into them at a red light. Not much damage happened
and no one was injured! Blessings right there. It just goes to show how careful
we all have to be while driving and staying alert. I do like the mission rule
of who ever is driving you have to give the phone to the passenger in the
front. So no texting and driving or even calls. After bowling and helping with
the accident we ran and got some Ice cream at a little hole in the wall place
called Scarlet Scoop! Super good! Then Clarence came with us that night to
visit 3 people. 2 of whom were in the hospital. We visited Melodie (which she
pretty much is like my sister now. We are so close. She is the one who just
went to the temple for her endowments. I will send pictures.) We shared a
little lesson with her about charity and love. Then we ran to the Hospital and
saw Bro Hayes and Bro Munson. They both are doing better and hopefully will be
out of the hospital soon. Bro Hayes is the crazy guy who thinks he was upducted
by aliens. He is the man! Then Brother Munson is the nicest man and most
genuinely friendly person I have ever met. He has a super deep voice and is
pure Cajun. Love him to death!
Tuesday: I woke up feeling
sick with a sore throat and pretty much like my head was going to fall off. But
you can't let sickness stop you from doing the Lords will. After studies we had
district meeting where I really had to be bold with this District. We are so
unified with each other that we sometimes loose focus and get off track. I have
been thinking for the past couple weeks what I could instruct on. I decided to
use Lamen and Lemual as our examples. They were both soo unified in everything
they did. But if they were so unified why did they fall then? Well in 2 Nephi
1:21 when Lehi is giving his sons his last advice before he dies he tells them
to arise from the dust, and be men, and be determined in one mind and in one
heart, united in all things, that ye may not come down into captivity. So it
shows they forgot the last part of that verse. They didn't have a worthwhile
purpose or cause. They were not united with the most important person, which is
Jesus Christ. I then told our district this is how we are right now and that we
need to change it asap!! So I then took them to a verse in 3 Nephi where Christ
is saying how he is united with his father and his father with him. How they
are both one in Spirit and one in mind. So we set some goals on how we can
improve our relationship with God and Christ and putting him first and then as
a consequence we will become united with those around us. It was a great
instruction because I know the Spirit was there. That is all I could ask for.
So it was a very productive and meaningful District meeting. After I did
exchanges with Elder Gordon and went up to Thibodaux.. It was hard because I
felt like crap, but we were able to see some very amazing people and had a
great night.
Wednesday: I am still on exchanges
with Elder Gordon. We went and did some service and saw some more awesome
people. Then that night we had ward coordination with our ward mission leader
brother Tabor. He is the best mission leader ever! It was a great night and
some great Cajun food!!
Thursday: I am back in Houma
with Puefua! This day is always our most hectic day of the week because we go
to Cut Off which is 60 miles south. Blessing of having a car!! ;) Before we
went though we had an assignment from Bishop to go out and see an older man and
lady out in Raceland. This was very difficult for us because we don't have a
ton of miles. So I gave them a call in the morning to set up an appointment,
but no answer. So I was getting nervous. We were about to start driving out
there, but I had a feeling we should go to the library first and get some
better directions instead of our map. So we acted on that prompting and boy am
I glad! We met an awesome member from Layton Utah who was here just for a
couple of days and he was very friendly to us and told me about how amazing the
Ogden Temple is now. Really cool well he wasn't the reason why this was so
cool. So we got the directions and they were the same as what I had mapped out
so I was just a little confused so we started our journey out there. Right when
we got there the people we were going to see pulled up as well. We were then
able to meet with them both. He has a lot of health issues and she is not a
member. She is very strong Catholic, but she brings her husband to church and
sits through the meetings and really enjoys it. She is an incredible lady. Well
this man probably has the most faith out of anyone I have ever known. It is the
kind of faith where if he asked for a blessing he will be healed because of his
faith. It has happened before back in 1993. He went into the hospital and was
diagnosed with Cancer. Well he had a blessing that night and then 2 days later
the cancer was gone. Most incredible story ever! Well he asked if we could give
him a blessing and specifically me. I was so honored. Afterwards I asked if the
wife would like one as well. She accepted and I know she felt the Spirit
because I for sure did! So awesome. Well we said our goodbyes and right when I
got into the car I turned to Kingsley Puefua and said you know what... If we
hadn't have acted on the prompting to go to the library we would have been 20
minutes earlier and would have missed them. So it just goes to show how
important it is to listen to the smallest promptings even if they don't make
sense. Afterwards we made it to cutoff and saw 4 families down there. Then
raced back because the Kennedy’s invited us over for dinner and invited a
friend to listen to the discussions. We used an awesome little thing. We told
her since Elder Puefua is new to the mission we go over to the Kennedy’s to
practice teaching and asked her to ask us questions and to give us a report
back afterwards. Well it was supposed to be a 10 minute lesson on the Plan of
Salvation.. Well it turned into an hour lesson with deep questions. She said
she wants to learn more. It was so awesome! A great lesson! So she is a new
investigator. That is how missionary work should be. Members inviting people to
be taught! So much easier when the people have an instant friend in the Gospel.
It was a great night!
Friday: We had Zone Training
meeting down in NOLA. The ZL's asked if I would give a 20 minute instruction on
our purpose as missionaries. It was very good and I kind of likened it back to
the instruction I gave at District Meeting. I brought candy to get people
involved by throwing them a piece if they would answer questions. It was a ton
of fun! And the Spirit was there thank goodness. After ZTM we ate at Canes and
then since we never get to go to NOLA anymore we ran downtown and went to the French
market and walked up Canal street. I bought me a sick hat from the New Era
store. It is a Saints hat which will be my new boating hat! Then all of the
missionaries in our district did a hot sauce challenge. It is the hottest
pepper in the world. That was fun. Then we drove home and had a good night!
Saturday: A member invited us
to lunch at a mexican restaurant. It was sooo good! I haven't been to a good
mexican place in a while. So that was fun. Afterwards we ran and got those
pictures taken. And before one of the sisters gave me a haircut. She went to cosmetology
school so she hooked me up! Then afterwards we went and saw a few people. Our
plans with some investigators fell through. It happens every week. Hopefully
not this week though!!
Sunday: We get to the church
at 8 for the ward council meeting. That lasts an hour. It is where we talk
about members who may need help or investigators. We then get assignments and
make our weekly report. Then church starts at 10. It was a very good service. I
had to teach gospel Principles. So I taught about repentance. It went really
well. Afterwards we were slam packed with appointments. We had one new
investigator who of course didn't answer... The TV turned up after we knocked.
Love that... not! Then we ran out to the Voisions house for some lunch and
talked about her trip she had just made to Utah. That was fun. She went to a
bunch of temples. Afterwards we took the Sacrament to Sondra and Brother Munson
at the Hospital. Then we ran over to the Munson house where they had made some
of the best chili with corn bread!! We watched the Christmas devotional over
there. It was amazing!! I love that family. They are someone I for sure want to
come back down to visit! Then I did some numbers and made my calls to all the
missionaries to see how they all are doing the week and if they need anything.
I then report the numbers to the ZL's. Then they called me at 10:25 and I
didn't get off the phone until 10:50. It was another busy day! And guess what!!
I get to do that again this week!! :) Being a missionary is so fun and so
rewarding. Even though I was sick the whole week and still don't feel that
great it was a great week. I know I was blessed and I know through me others
were blessed too!
Well I just want to close this
letter with my Testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. That is was Christmas is
all about y’all! Lets keep Christ in Christmas. I know he lives. I know he
loves me. I know he will always be there for me. As well as for everyone who
makes an effort to get closer to him. I have changed my studies for this month
on strictly the Savior. I am so thankful for his sacrifice for all of us so we
can live again as perfect beings with our families for eternity. I love him and
I love you all. Mom and dad thank you for all you do. I love you. You all have
the best week ever!! Good luck Brit! Love you sis!
Love Elder St. Nick
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