Elder Nelson,
It was so good to speak with you on Christmas. It was too short (especially for your mom), but we’re excited for what you’re doing and couldn’t be happier about where you are and what you are doing. We’ve had an eventful few weeks surrounding Christmas. I’ll be glad to get back to work so I can recover from our vacation. They are forecasting super cold days in the minus 20° range, so we might see a few cold days piled on top of the Christmas Vacation (every child’s dream come true, but Mom may still have a day or two before she gets a break from vacation :).
No pressure, but you spoke in Sacrament meeting today. The bishop asked all the parents of missionaries to give a quick report on how each is doing, and I decided what people really wanted to hear was directly from you, and not my interpretation. I pulled parts of your December letters, and included part of Porter’s letter. Don’t worry, you did a great job.
It was fun to hear about everyone else. Noah Franz is teaching a football jock who had put them off until after the season ended. They really connected, and he was baptized just recently, then received the priesthood. It sounds like he’s a really good missionary. Sister Bennett left her wallet on the top of the car when she transferred on the interstate to a new area. A homeless man found her wallet (which had been destroyed) and spent his time tracking down all the belongings which had been spread out over a large section of highway. He gave it to a trucker who contacted the mission office and met the missionaries at the parking lot of a Winn-Dixie. She got everything, including the few dollar bills she had. It was her Christmas miracle.
Jacob Campbell came home last week, then reported to High Council this morning. He is so much more self-assured than when he left, if not a bit more rumpled than before :) He served in Northern Florida and Southern Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. He loved it.
On December 23rd, we helped a family move out of the ward in emergency circumstances. A single mother with 2 kids (one of which was in Mom’s scout group) was evicted, so we had to help them get out. They’re living a hard life with a lot of bad decisions piled on top of each other. It’s the kind of circumstance you wish you could fix, but the number of changes they need to make are overwhelming. Mom bought groceries yesterday, and helped the mom unpack in her new apartment. We pray for the kids, who are so respectful and good, but surrounded by chaos.
Speaking of kids and chaos, did you get the Gunderson family Christmas letter about Daisy? It was awesome and very relatable. If you didn’t, let me know and we’ll send it.
We went to Fullmer’s New Year’s Eve party last night. It’s always fun, but ratcheted down a notch without Dave Newmyer. We got to bed about 12:30, then I had High Council at 7 this morning, read your "letter" in sacrament meeting, Mom oversaw the Primary first-of-the-year transition, I substitute taught Davis’ class on the first vision with Steve Jackson, and Mom did two sharing times. Tired.
I took a little time off this Christmas break to work with Mom on her quilt patterns, which is proving to be fun and good for our marriage. We also went on a date helping at the Food Pantry in Rigby. They help a lot of people in all sorts of unfortunate circumstances. At the Christmas party, we won the Amy Gahn night of foreign cooking, and she delivered on it last Wednesday. She and Mom worked together from one in the afternoon until she left at about 7:30 pm. Mom was on cloud nine.
Porter would like to announce his 33 on the ACT. He is a little bummed because he wanted to beat you in the worst way, and almost did… except he scored a 29 on the math portion, which drug down his overall average. He’s kicking himself because his previous math score was significantly higher… but he’s willing to settle at even with you :) Chris Eckman was back in town for the holiday, and continues to be a ‘godfather’ to porter (if we were italian and catholic). He’s been good to and for Porter.
Pace’s 16th Birthday is this week (observed is still July 3rd). He spent all day Saturday babysitting for Sonja Schaat’s grandkids, then went to a New Year’s Eve party with about 20 kids, then the multi-stake dance.
Tad has probably clocked more hours working for Greg Nelson with Brigham this year than you did before you left. They helped the same lady move, shoveled snow by hand from the footings of 6 Rock Creek apartments, then helped Greg repair the air brakes on a trailer this week. That doesn’t include the recreation time spent dragging sleds behind the snowmobile or sledding at Ucon. We owe Greg and Becky child support.
Sadie has her second band concert on January 4. She’s been playing your clarinet, and is doing great. Davis went sledding with Nelson’s this week, and he and Sadie are back in the same bedroom. It’s good, because the Tad/Davis or Drew/Davis combination was bordering on nuclear melt-down. The Sadie/Davis combination brings a better attitude, but also more decibels.
Drew has really started to bond with Pace, which is good and bad. Pace is good with kids, but on occasion has a tough time foreseeing consequences. He ripped a pair of underwear today giving a wedgy, and we’ve had to comfort numerous minor injuries when he gets too rough. It’s a good thing he doesn’t have any weapons… oh wait.
We love you . I wish we were more uplifting and supportive, but this is what you’ve got for the week.
Love Dad.
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