12/12/16 Year of the Donkey

DONKEY ..an addition to your nativity costume collection

Christ was carried on a donkey before he was born and before he was crucified.-

When Joseph went to Bethlehem, I think he took great care

To place his tools and close his shop and leave no shavings there.

He urged the donkey forward then, with Mary on its back,

And carried bread and goat cheese in a little linen sack.  CS  38

Matt 21:6-8, Zach 9:9-

6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them,

7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.

8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawedthem in the way.

No Less Servicable “If you feel that much of what you do does not make you very famous, take heart. Most of the best people who ever lived weren’t very famous, either. Serve and grow, faithfully and quietly. Be on guard regarding the praise of men. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount:

“Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

“Most of us will be quiet, relatively unknown folks who … do our work without fanfare. To those of you who may find that … unspectacular, I say, you are ‘no less serviceable’ than the most spectacular of your associates.” Howard W. Hunter  ch 23

…Much like the back of a quilt, the bass instruments in the band, the caregiver at night, the hard work of a father providing or the stability of a mother at home.

Beast of Burden- “Each of us also carries a load. Our individual load is comprised of demands and opportunities, obligations and privileges, afflictions and blessings, and options and constraints. Two guiding questions can be helpful as we periodically and prayerfully assess our load: “Is the load I am carrying producing the spiritual traction that will enable me to press forward with faith in Christ on the strait and narrow path and avoid getting stuck? Is the load I am carrying creating sufficient spiritual traction so I ultimately can return home to Heavenly Father?”

Sometimes we mistakenly may believe that happiness is the absence of a load. But bearing a load is a necessary and essential part of the plan of happiness. Because our individual load needs to generate spiritual traction, we should be careful to not haul around in our lives so many nice but unnecessary things that we are distracted and diverted from the things that truly matter most.”- Elder Bednar April 2014

Merry Christmas

for the most important reason to celebrate Christmas …to opportunity to repent, progress and become like Christ amid our mortal “ness”. We are so grateful for forgiving friends who are fun to be with, fun to work with and make this life so wonderful.   

Love,the other Nelsons

Keith, Karie, (Isaac), Porter,

Pace, Tad, Sadie, Davis and Drew

12/11/16 Mystery Blessing?

Hello Ghana!

We are so sorry our e-mail wasn't sent in time for you last week. I hope there was some mystery blessing in that. I hope it wasn't the hardest week of your mission.

I saw Elder Hendersen's mom post a picture of you, so I messaged his mom. It was fun to connect with her. His blog described the mashed potatoes also. It was funny. 

My Aunt Becky and Uncle Bill are on a mission in Sri Lanka. They sent this info for you. If you want me to look into it more, let me know. 

"I wonder if Isaac knows that the Harmon Foundation works with the church to provide keyboards for keyboard students who pass the church music courses.  There is a church conducting class/book and a piano class/book.  I apply for the keyboards and they are mailed here along with the course material.  Then I have each student sign a contract that they are borrowing them and if they complete the course, we can apply for them to keep the keyboard.  If they do not complete the course, the keyboard is returned.  Classes can be given at the church and the keyboards can stay at the church or if you can trust to send them home and they have electricity, then the student can use them to practice at home.  It is a wonderful program to help those who cannot afford a keyboard and provides trained musicians for church service.  It is a little tricky to make sure the students understand the condition under which they can keep the keyboard.  The sister senior missionary before me even had her students play in a recital.  I am continuing to have the students prepare and play one hymn at Sunday services if they are willing.  We had non-members take lessons too which resulted in baptisms."

Decision time about housing next year.  Are you still ok if I sign you up for the honor dorms? The deadline to decide is Feb 10. 

Are you able to listen to music like "Inside Out" if they are primary songs or hymns?

Last night Dad and I went to a comedy night at BYU-I. It was a great disconnect with therapeutic laughter. Porter and Colton took Sadie and Abby also and went to the other comedy club across campus. He has been going on a date with a different girl every week. 

This week is the Christmas Band concert for Porter on Wednesday and Friday for Tad and Sadie. 

The Hansons bought Keith and Beverly Johnson's home. There has been about 5 young families move into our ward. It has been a great rejuvenation. 

I will keep it short this week. Any questions for us?

We love you and are so grateful for your sacrifice. Dad and I were contemplating going without water or electricity for 2 weeks in honor of you.....but we might have to wait until summer. 

Love you,

Mom

Pictures-

Porter playing in the PEP band. 

Pace LOVING his new police jacket that Ms. Smith gave him. He was glowing.

12/3/16 early day

Hey there on your early P-Day. This one’s short because we forgot until this morning. 

We’re going Christmas shopping this morning. As usual, this is my last-minute approach, while Mom already has all her shopping done and delivered (Amazon). When I was a kid, my Dad would take a day to go to ‘town’ with us to find a present for the sibling. We had no money, so he’d give us an allowance for the present, and we’d wander the aisles of K-Mart looking for something that we didn’t know we needed to get for a present… So this brings back good Christmas memories for me, while Mom doesn’t enjoy fighting her way through the crowds, so I let her stay home and have a quiet day alone, which is the real Christmas present :)

We’ve been following the Church’s daily “Light the World” suggested activities for the month of December, although we cheated a bit for the first day of service. This year, I was supposed to find people to put wainscot around the bottom of the main room at the West Piney Girl’s Camp Lodge. We planned for about 8 guys for 4 hours. We worked on it for 12 hours, and didn’t get done, so on the Monday before Thanksgiving, our family went up after work to finish the rail on the top (see pictures). We left at 4:30 pm, and got home at midnight, but we got it done. Mom determined that would be our service. Even so, we helped set up chairs for a funeral on December 1st, so we ‘technically’ met the criteria.

The missionaries are teaching Zaide and Zack Marsden (Brenda Poole’s grandchildren). Francisco Diaz is serving a mission to Las Vegas. We just found our email sent 4 hours ago. Hopefully we get this off in time… but I think we missed you.

Love Dad

11/27/16 Thanksgiving Week

Happy Thanksgiving. You’re probably short on turkey and potatoes, but we made up for you :)

This week all the kids were out of school ALL WEEK LONG. I know what mom is thankful for this holiday season. Sadie and Davis both got glasses to help a slight eye-strain when reading close-up things (see Sadie pic below). 

On Thursday we went to Grandma and Grandpa Johnson’s new house. Chris and Naoko, Tia, Yuki and Evelyn (Yumi), Adrial, and our family were all in attendance. There were a couple of soccer games, a few movies, and a canasta game included in the day.

The next day, Mom and Grandma went to a material store in Salt Lake City, while Grandpa and I took the rest of the kids to the airplane museum on Hill Air Force base in Layton. It was cool. You can see about 10-12 planes outside, but they have 40-50 planes inside the hangars. They started with replica’s of the Wright Brothers flier and worked their way through World Wars 1 and 2 in the first hangar. 

Drew's and Pace’s favorite airplane was a black, customized WWII bomber that had 12 machine guns (3 on each wing and 6 on the nose), 6 soft target missiles, 4 hard target missiles (armor piercing) and 2 bombs.  

Porter’s favorite was a cut-away internal combustion engine that showed all the pieces moving and working together. Tad liked the massive cargo planes outside the building, the biggest of which had an open front that would allow a semi-trailer to drive into the inside of the plane. 

Sadie liked the Navy’s F-14 tomcat, which has swing wings for variable slow and super-sonic flight. The museum didn’t have one on display, but the gift shop had a 4 inch replica that she liked a lot?!? Davis just liked them all. 

My favorites were hearing grandpa talk about what he flew (F-4s, F-16s and C135s, primarily), and about some of the experiences he had like landing a c-135 refueling plane with a damaged, non-retractable refueling boom full of fuel… which did catch fire as they drug it down the runway when landing the plane, or overseeing the Air Force’s adoption of the F-16. Turns out he oversaw the team that accepted and tested the very first F-16 which was at Hill Air Force Base. I was also amazed at the size of some of these aircraft which look much smaller on TV. They had a Sikorsky helicopter that was as long and taller than our house, and the SR-71 Blackbird that ‘officially’ flew at about Mach 3, although we heard an SR-71 pilot unofficially say he outran missiles with a max speed well above Mach 3 :).

We also wanted to thank you for the letters. We’ve received Pace, Porter and Drew letters. They appear to have been sent in a bottle across the Atlantic (see pics :) They’re fine, but they got a little moisture, and in one case, transferred the ink from another letter (see pics).

Porter spoke in Sacrament meeting at Mikayla Fullmer’s ‘farewell’ to Brazil. Her dad Alan is making really good gospel progress. Porter did a great job speaking about how to prepare to serve a mission. He had good insights about Ammon turning down the kingdom 3 times in order to be a missionary.. first Mosiah’s, then Lamoni’s, then Lamoni’s father, and how there is application to us as we prepare to serve. Mom is recovering from a long week, and the flakiness of Primary Teachers today who have a hard time keeping commitments (sound familiar). She’s going to bed early, even though the boys and I made lunch and dinner. 

Drew says Happy Christmas. 

We’re grateful for your letters, and look forward to reading the Christmas version. If you don’t have anything to write about, here are some thoughts: 

How far away is the ‘grocery store / market’ from your apartment?

How far do you walk in an average day / week?

Do you have any stories or analogies that help people you’re teaching understand important gospel principles?

Is there a gospel principle you didn’t really think much about before you left that has proven really important?

What do you say in a typical ‘door approach’ or ‘street contact’ to initiate a gospel conversation?

Is there a strong military or police presence, and do you interact with them very much?

Could you give us a recipe of something you’ve eaten recently?

We love you.

Dad

11/21/16 Dad Bought Me a Two Seater

Hello Ghana!

Dad and I have always had the itch to get a tandem bike.  As Dad was looking on Craig's list he found some he could pick up while he was in Boise with Simplot this week. He picked up, not one, but THREE, brand new, still in the box, tandem bikes for family bonding. The guy bought them at an auction and was selling them cheap. Dad kept his promise after buying the 15 passenger van. He bought me a 2 seater.......THREE - 2 seaters. He is an overachiever. 

Porter is taking the bikes on a date tomorrow.  Maybe not. He just said the forcasted high was 30 degrees.

After a business trip to Boise to meet with Simplot on Thursday and Friday, Dad got up early to head to West Piney to work on a very tedious and underestimated remodeling project of the lodge. He got home late last night, had high council this morning and spoke in the Spanish Branch at noon. 

As I was waiting at the church to pick up Tad today, I heard Jeff Gunderson sustained as the 1st counselor in the 3rd ward. Tad was set apart as 1st counselor in the Deacons Quorum. 

The Jefferson foundation had their annual craft fair and, in payment for all the high school counselors do for us, I try to help. This year we helped the Bronsons and Nelsons with the pancake breakfast which included Porter and Pace carrying the heavy grills from the City of Menan, mixing pancake batter and cracking eggs. 

Our plan is to go to Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's for Thanksgiving on Thursday through Saturday. Chris Naoko, Adriel, Tia and Yuki are are also going. Mike and Molly's  family will meet us for dessert that night. I hope we can go, but sickness is in the air at our house. Sadie missed school all last week and Drew and Davis are on the verge of grossness. The other option is to go up to West Piney for the end of the week. They asked dad if he wanted to finish the remodeling project and have his family stay over during Thanksgiving. It doesn't sound as fun. 

The rest of the Johnson Aunts and Uncles are coming down in Dec. when Natalie gets married. 

Grandma Nikki made it through the last of her cancer treatments. She will get tested again in three weeks. 

Tad went on a scout campout on Friday, but Isaac threw up in the middle of the night and Frankie felt sick, so they skipped breakfast and their 15 mile bike ride home. Tad was the only other scout. (The picture with the bridge is from last week's 25 ml bike trip with Brigham, Becky, Isaac, Lacy, Tad and I)

The end of the trimester was Friday. Yahoo!!!! 

You asked for tips  about non-members and inactives. Here are some ideas. Be their friend, and give them a responsibility.  Invite them to act in a meaningful way that is clearly defined. 

Davis has the responsibility for the next pack meeting to share a food that is typical Christmas food in Ghana. I told him that they don't really celebrate Christmas in Ghana, but .....Any suggestions?

I am so grateful you are serving a mission. I am grateful for your determination, music ability, your great writing skills (love the e-mails), and your flexibility to live in a new culture. --Just some of the things I am grateful for this week. 

Love you!!

Mom

11/14/16- Normal Week

Good Morning / Afternoon. This week you’ll get an uninspiring update on everyone’s activities the land of President-elect Donald Trump.

Mom is knee-deep in Primary President activities. The new Sunday School initiative to improve gospel teaching in the church (more interactive, less lecture) means that once a month, they hold teacher improvement meetings during the 2nd and 3rd hour of church, and invite the teachers from Primary, YM, YW and SS to attend. That means there need to be replacements for each of those teachers available  once a month. Mom has been thinking and praying about it, then made the rounds yesterday and invited a lot of barely active / newly active members to help with that. They all told her yes. All in all, this calling has given her a stretching but natural outlet for her gospel talents, and she’s doing good things with the opportunity. We’re proud of her.

Abby asked Porter out last week. They went to a showing of the updated Meet the Mormons, I think at the visitor’s center in Idaho Falls. Abby’s family is looking to move to another house somewhere (still in Jefferson County), so they also looked at a few houses for sale after the fact. He’ll deny it with a slightly disconcerted look, but he’s had a crush on Abby for a long time, so we’re interested to see what happens. Colton Campbell’s mom sent a note the other day thanking us for raising him, and saying how much they appreciate his influence with Colton. That goes both ways. Porter just put in his application at Boise State, and is prepping his application for U of U. That’s been a surprise. Last year he was thinking Burkley, but after the Space Camp last summer, he realize that Boise has one of only 3 programs that actively feeds NASA (3 of the most recent astronauts were Boise State alumni).

Pace has worked a couple of Saturdays this month for Adam Korth, who bought the Lindstrom’s house out by Robert Poole. They are putting in a fairly extensive set of corrals, and he’s had a few of the boys from the ward helping. Last week, Pace came home after a full day looking like he’d wrestled several muddy posts… and lost. Turns out he had, in addition to capping a spouting irrigation pipe, while the water was going. He wasn’t as dirty yesterday, but put in a full afternoon (Merit Badge Pow Wow in the morning). It’s been good for him. He put in his application to work at Salmon High Adventure.

Tad also attended the Pow Wow. He’s still attached at the hip with Brigham Nelson. They’ve been attending a Dave Ramsey money management class with Brigham on Wednesday nights. He’s excited about putting his summer mowing money into a Mutual Account. He’s working with mom to find one and transfer his money in before his mission. Wow. A) that he has enough money… thanks to Brigham for working together on the lawn mowing business, B) that he has the interest… thanks to Brigham for taking him to the classes, and C) that he’s planning now for a mission… thanks to a lot of people. He’s really had a good couple of years recently, and seems to be getting a lot more self-confident. Mom, Becky and Lacy took Tad, Brigham and Isaac out of school on Friday and went on a 25 mile bike ride from Ashton to Tetonia. It was summer weather and they went across three huge bridges on the old train bed.

Sadie recently changed rooms, and now has her own bedroom… sort of. For the last year, she’s been asking Mom if she could live in the coat room by the front door. Mom finally gave in, and last week when they had a day out of school because of a gas leak, she moved a mattress and all her stuff into the entryway closet. It looks a LOT like Harry Potter’s room under the stairs, but she’s totally happy with it. Mom’s going to give it until
Christmas before reviewing. We’ll see.The good news is that room finally has all the coats off the floor.

Davis also inherited his own room, partially as a way to isolate the cause of contention away from both Drew and Tad :) His first act as king of his room was to consolidate all the furniture and leave the majority of the room open for wrestling and other forms of recreation. The whole family ended up in there last night with Mom playing UNO, so strangely, isolating Davis has made him more social :)

Drew is blissfully oblivious. He loves school, loves learning Chinese, and loves playing with is siblings, at least until he gets hurt or offended. Mom has a little book of stories where you randomly fill in the blank with a noun, verb, etc, and get a funny story out the other end. I was surprised to see he had written several words by himself yesterday at church to fill in one of those stories. Mom read the story at the table, and Drew just laughed and laughed at his story, which did include the word “chicken”, the default humor word for Drew. Lots of punchlines include the word chicken right now. (news flash: it’s 5:30 am, Drew just threw up, and Tad just announced it to Mom who’s in the bathtub. Normal day in paradise.)

I’m working long hours again for end of year, which is a blessing. We’ve been blessed financially this year (thanks for that) but that’s usually tied to crazy deadlines. I’m going to Boise on Thursday / Friday to meet with Simplot to plan promotional opportunities for their GMO potato next year. That’s in the middle of a project where we’re animating 20 training modules for an online learning company… by Nov 30. I’ll come home Friday night and spearhead a West Piney construction project on Saturday morning (those always hit at the wrong time). It doesn’t leave a lot of time or patience for the most important things in life, but the money has been helpful.

We love you and pray for you. Tell us some details about some of those you’re teaching.

Love Dad

11/6/16 Baked Potato Season

Hello Ghana!

What have you learned about Nigeria? Have your companions influenced your personality at all?  Do you think you have changed in any way because of them?

This week was the annual Middle School  Band Concert and Potato Dinner. We are eating leftover potatoes again today. It was Sadie's first concert. She did great on the clarinet. Tad dressed up with Brigham as Mario and Luigi . The Jazz band is especially fun to listen to. Dad, Davis and Drew went to that while Porter, Pace and I went to Porter's soccer banquet. It is a little step up with carne asada (thin cut beef cooked on the grill). We bought some extra carne asada to take home from the soccer banquet. Porter got a cool goalie award and a picture of him jumping above the goal. (Look at that height!!!)

Davis was sick with a hacky cough this week, so missed several days of school. One included a grocery shopping day that I had planned with Drew going to Newmyer's so I could get it all done. Davis ended up coming with his bed set up in the van, homework and books to read. 

Dad has been working hard on training animations. He comes home for dinner and then continues til late at night, including Saturdays. 

Natalie (Johnson) is getting married on Dec 18th. Included in Bret's e-mail was also the news that Parker has decided to have his records removed from the church. That was sad for us. Bret said to ask Parker directly if you have any questions. Dad-Make sure you're converted, and continue in the path after your mission. Mom-We don't really know anything else about Parker's situation. But keep in mind that life continues after your mission. Life sends you curveballs and so learning the basics of prayer, testimony, serving others, living by faith, solving problems, finding answers, getting along with others, doing hard things...ect will help you stay on the boat. Heavenly Father is constant. You will continue to have learning and growing experiences.  

My uncle Billy was in the newspaper headlines for making comments directed toward the Evan McMullin (in not a good way). He was even the subject of a whole Glen Beck segment. That was fun for Dad to joke about the Johnson relatives. Sooo, if you don't know,  the elections are this Tues!!!!AAHHH!!!! 

I sent some quilt samples to Canyonlands and Bryce for the 100th year Anniversary of the National Parks. Canyonlands said they sold out of all the fabric patterns after they put it out.  

Porter went to Sadie Hawkins with Stefanie Fielding. They did a scavenger hunt in Idaho Falls and went to eat at Cafe Sabor. He had fun. His friends have been coming over for Mongolian Monday (make your own stir fry). They go to Colton's for Taco Thursday, and Abby's for Waffle Wednesday.  

Tad and Dad went with the deacons on a 10 mile bike ride from Menan to Wendy's in Rigby on Saturday. Dad, Brigham and Tad went the 10 extra miles and biked back while everyone else rode back in the truck. Our goal is to ride from Bear Gulch in a few weeks and Hiawatha trail in Northern Idaho next summer. 

Pace talked non stop to Dad and I one night this week. We were floored! It was the most he has talked to us in years. He loves chemistry, ultimate frisbee at lunch with his friends and the police cadet stuff.

Jason Watson bore his testimony today about wanting to do good at work, visiting people, helping neighbors,getting to church on time, magnifying calling, helping family and wanting to do so many things that you just get parlyzed. Then remembering that the Lord works in small things and we should remember the small things that we do. "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass". 

An article in the Friend magazine by Elder Erying also continued that thought "....His whole life he did little things for God that he was prompted to do....Act on the promptings you feel. If it is to pay tithing or visit a sad friend, you should do it. whatever it is, do it. When you show that you are willing to obey, the Spirit will send you more impressions of what God would have you do for Him. As you obey your power to choose the right will increase. When it seems difficult, God will send the Holy Ghost to help."

We love you!!! Keep working hard and make lifetime habits that will help you through the hard times and the fun times. We know the Lord is mindful of you and will answer your prayers. You are a great example for all of us. 

Love, Mom

Advice from Dad this week- The most successful times of my mission were when my companion and I got along and enjoyed being with each other. We had fun but we worked hard.