First Day/First Letter - March 23 - 25, 2011

MARCH 23, 2011
Mom, Dad, Joel, Val, Lily, Violet, Derek, Lindsey, Nixon, Miles, Lorenzo, Paige, Nick, Hayley, Rex, Nina & Dahlia - 

The MTC President gave us permission to write today and tell you that I'm alive and well.  My ears are already starting to feel a little better and I bet by tomorrow I won't even notice them. 

I, of course, had a companion who didn't show so I'm with two other sisters as a three-some.  My companions are Sister Barrus from Logan & Sister Correia from Hawaii ("Aloha & Mahalo for flying Aloha Airlines.  Mahalo.") So far we've met our district, had an opening orientation, had dinner at 4:45 (3:35 Las Vegas time...) and now we're waiting to do some role-playing.

My companions are going to [my cousin] Jack Christianson's mission, Rochester, NY as Visitor Center sisters.  It sounds really fun. They have Hill Cumorah, Sacred Grove, Whitney Farm, Restoration of Aaronic Priesthood and The Book of Mormon Printing Press.  Neither of them have been there before.  They'll love it.  I was right about what will be hardest for me. But, at least I was prepared and so far things have been fine.  Though, they went to the bathroom earlier when I didn't have to go, but now I have to go and don't want to make them.  Oh well.  I'll learn to speak up or go when they do.  

Anyway, I'm doing well & trying to take it all in.  I'll be glad when we're done with orientation and into our daily routines which supposedly isn't til next week.  I'll write again on P-day but I don't know when that is.  Everyone is very welcoming and nice here.  I'm pretty sure I'll love it here. 

Thanks for your prayers!  I love you!

Love Sis. Nelson

[following day...]

I'm going to the dentist today to get my tooth finished (cross your fingers it'll all be done after this) [Her last stages of an implant installation resulting from a bad filling that turned into a crown that turned into an emergency root canal without anesthesia in China! That's another epic tale for another day on her other blog but it proves that she can do and endure hard things. Mission? piece-a-cake!]

Also, there's not any pain in my ears today. Thank you for your prayers and fasting!

I love you all

Love Sis. Nelson

PS - They offer gym classes (the for sisters only) in addition to our schedule of gym time, the only catch is that it starts at 6 am.  My companions set our alarm for 5:30 am. - that's an hour earlier than the time we're required to get up.  No comment.

Drive-thru Drop Off - neat!

Loving Sisses say good-by

One last hug...

Nick's High-5 - how 'touching' (nice watch, Sis. B)

MARCH 25, 2011

Mom and Dad-

I can't believe it's been 3 and1/2 days since I've been here.  It seems like forever. The days are so long, but they all seem to blur together at the same time. I'm exhausted, but I'm not tired, if that makes sense.  I'm not sure that it does. It's just that we're so busy.  It's go, go, go.  But it's not tiring, it's invigorating. There are times when I have to fight to keep my eyes open, but it's not like with depression where my body decides to sleep and I have to give in.  I want to be awake. 

 The MTC isn't really how I thought it would be. I mean, we do all the things that they say, but it's not as easy as I thought it would be.  It's easy to read and study, but I'm just realizing that I have so much to learn and I feel like I have such little time to do it in.  And I get annoyed with all of the housekeeping things we have to do because I want to just study all day.  I'm surprised that we're only allotted one hour of personal study a day.  The rest is all workshops or companion studies and I like those things but I wish I had more time to study the things I want to study as well.  


The spirit is different here, too.  It's not like in a testimony meeting where your heart is beating really fast or you're crying or anything like that.  It's more like the temple.  It's almost like there's a big blanket over the entire MTC. It's like a comfortable pressure that you can feel all the time.  I'm loving learning about sharing the gospel. I'm really liking my district, too.  We have four elders and then the three of us sisters. One of our elders has a famous family, I guess.  His name is Elder Murphy and his dad is a famous baseball player named Dale Murphy and his brother, Shawn Murphy plays for the Broncos and his other brothers works for the people who make World of Warcraft. He's a funny kid. 

My companions are Sister Correia and Sister Barrus. I LOVE  Sister Correia.  She's from Hawaii. She's pretty quiet.  I think in my first letter I said that she's shy, but that was wrong.  She's just timid. She's extremely easy to get along with and I really respect her for being on a mission.  She comes from a family where she was baptized but didn't go to church.  Her family didn't even come to her farewell because they don't like the church. She's hoping to bring blessings to her family while she's out here. She's shy about talking about her testimony, but she loves the gospel and she has a beautiful testimony. I wish I could spend a whole transfer with her. [Please keep her in your prayers.]

My other companion is Sister BarrusCorreia and I go, too. She's very sure about how things should be and she's very particular. She gets me up at 5:30 every day instead of 6:30. [She was raised on natural medicine.  The other day a pen exploded all over my hands.  I tried washing the ink off but it was pretty stained on my skin.  Sister Barrus gave me some natural oil to take it right off and guess what...it didn't help at all.] There are a lot of things that I'm learning from her. 

I'm excited to get out to Kentucky, but I'm enjoying my time here and am very glad to be here. I know this is where I'm supposed to be and I can't wait to see what blessings await me out in the field.  I love you and pray for you.  I can feel your prayers and I need them, so thank you.  Please pray for me and my companions to have unity so that we can teach well and have the spirit with us.

I'll write you a more when I have the chance.

I love you all.  The church is completely true and it brings people happiness, including me. 

Love-

Sis Nelson