Dear Family!
LOVED that 12 days of christmas! fav. obviously the 3 trees! and OF COURSE
im trying so hard to write in my journal! and i think you are right
actually, about the whole making a list of things I wanna share w u on p day. U
are right! we had an exchange with Elder Peters, one of the Assistants to the
President and he showed us how he keeps a sticky note in each day of his planner
and writes down things that happen during the day, RIGHT when they happen so
when he writes in his journal he remembers. Ive been doing good in my journal!
in my setting apart blessing it says be an avid journal writer so im keeping
up!
Can't wait until karson gets his call.. holy cow. Also! will you please
text shauna and get hummers email PLEASE!! i need to email him! did u hear Caleb
broke his leg? how is katie hogge doing?? and what is Amber Rokovitz friends
name who got called to Tampa?? Today we are going to a beach in St. Pete called
Fort De soto for christmas conference:) super excited about that!
Monday we had p day! just stayed around south tampa, and we get free food
from this place called the jerk hut:) its so flippin good. Mario is a member in
our ward who recently was reactivated and he hooks us up! its jamaican food:)
then that evening we taught a man named kenny with the Freestone family. They
are one of our favorite families!! I love them so much! they have a great big
house and they have 5 kids! hillarious! kenny is bro freestones friend and
partway through the lesson Elder Peters (the AP) came and helped us teach! IT
was awesome! Kenny expressed his feelings of being lost... and wants to know
what god wants him to do. He said he would come to church (didnt) but its okay
cuz we will meet with him soon! Tuesday we had the bulk of the exchange, elder
peters came down with both of us, and we got a bunch of work done! he brought
his mini van haha, so after being on FULL BIKE it was soooooooooo so so nice :)
we went to tampa general hospital which is downtown and gave a woman a blessing
and the chaplin who called us stayed and watched it with us and said she felt
something. We are going to give her a book of mormon sometime :) then we met
with a less active man and taught a lesson, and we tried to contact a referral.
But the whole time we could just feel the spirit cuz of how awesome an example
Elder Peters set for us. He told us his story about how he came on a mission and
it was the coolest thing. Then after we went home so he could review the
exchange with us and get ready to go. When he started talking he started off by
saying... well.... and I was worried about what he would say... and then he
began to tear up and say with emotion... I dont want to leave.... i love you
guys... and you are doing such incredible things down here. I only have like two
things to say, work on, and the rest are good things. I WAS BLOWN AWAY! I WAS
LIKE ARE YOU SERIOUS!?!? he told us how much he cared about us, and complimented
us on so many great things we are doing, i was just like... out of all the
missionaries he knows and talks to, he can care this much about us? taught me a
great lesson. we both told him how much we appreciate him and support him and
man. We both want to be just like him. And I know that experience happened at
the beginning of the week because the rest of the week had some ups and downs.
Our lessons fell through a lot, and Alecia is leaving for a week... but the
spirit keeps telling me, there are miracles on the other side! they are
coming!
A family moved out of the ward on friday. The Johnsons. Elder Langi and I
got really close to Bro. Johnson and he helped us SOOOO much. He is a resident
at TGH (Tampa General Hospital) and still found time to come out on splitz and
get us food and take us anywhere. Well, when we found out they were leaving we
just had to help them. And see them, they did way too much for us, not to give
back a little. Well we went over there and waited for Bro. Johnson to get home
from work, helped pack up the trailor and ( bro Johnson came straight from work,
in his scrubs, he's always in his scrubs) and then he tooks us out to get
dinner. and afterward he tooks us to the church and before we left we got out
gave him a hug and both gave him ties. I wrote a little note to them and we
explained how much we appreciate and look up to him and EVERYTHING and he looked
down and tried to talk and couldnt... he walked over to his truck and looked
back and was like I can't talk... then he goes... (and its crazy cuz he ALWAYS
says this) "if you guys ever need anything, food, a ride, ANYTHING... just call
me... ill drive down from Cincinnati and pick u up. u just call me... and at
their house in oklahoma they have a bunch of like boats and 4 wheelers and stuff
and they said... "in all seriousness, when you are done w your mission come
over, come visit and we'll go have some fun! so we are so going there!!
:)
Wednesday... we had a district meeting... and! well... im actually the
distrcit leader now. So I was in charge of district meeting and WOW! i was sooo
nervous! so nervous, but one of my BEST friends out here Elder Hawkes who is
serving in the tampa 5th spanish ward, said its so cool cuz the spirit totally
takes over. AND IT DID! the spirit totally took over and it was awesome! the
spirit was so strong! Our district is all the missionaries in our ward which is
Elder SHupe and I? AND ALLL SISTERS!! ha. its crazy! but that was a cool
experience!
Saturday was the ward christmas party! :) soooooooo fun! we tried to
organize a talent for the talent show but it just didnt work out, so we were in
a couple other ones with some of the youth in the ward. IT was funny :) I cant
wait til our familiy reuinions when we are all married? I bet our familiy can
come up with some HILARIOUS ones! especially with megan in the fam now haha :)
The sweaters we got? Sis. Ball MADE THEM FOR US! mine had stockings all over it
and there were pockets in the them and she put CANDY CANES IN them! so the kids
would come up to me and ask for a candy cane ALL night! it was hilarious!
Sunday... well sunday was great. There were some great investigator s there
and Alecia came:) she is leaving til next monday. but I just KNOW! she is going
to find the truth when she is ready. But yes, I sang a forgotten carol :) I was
not his father... he was mine in sacrament meeting:) the Lewis' recorded it haha
so im sure you'll see it eventually:) and yes I know I messed up in the end so
just ignore that!! ha. I cant wait for you guys to meet the lewis' seriously you
are going to LOVE them! :) ah okay I got to end now :) but I HOPE! Thats enough
info for what happened.... OH!
one last experience that was a miracle...
We were riding our bikes tuesday night after our exchange with Elder
Peters, and we saw a lady with a dog. so we stopped and talked to her... well
she started explaing how she felt with religion... she was saying like " well i
just feel like there are so many churches, wouldnt god just want us to be in
one? God isnt found in so many places? he is not changing he is the same? and
saying like I just want to know what the truth is, so thats why I havent gone to
church in a long time" ELDER SHUPE AND I JUST ABOUT LOST OUR MINDS!!! SHE IS SO
PREPARED so we will keep you updated on EStrella :) ( thats her name)
We saw the hess's at the christmas party and we are going to lunch with
them on thursday :)
We dont get to go to members houses that much, they are all working on
getting investigators there still but it'll pick up soon!
Favorite food so far? Bro. Johnson took us to get sushi a few months ago at
this place called chef thai? SOOOO GOOD :) so ya... the food is the same haha:)
bbq is bomb down here too :) Corn fritters? BOMB.com :) !
love you guys! see you in a few days:)!
Be not afraid;only Believe
Elder Nelson
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