Dec 9

It's Christmassy time!

An Idaho nativity...  'nuf said...

Made by the Stake President.

I did an exchange with Sister Eppel (my South African former companion) and found this nativity...  

Good times.  

These were at a church Christmas activity where we had to sing.  They wanted a missionary choir to perform for half an hour while people went around the cultural hall looking at the nativities from around the world.  It was an interesting performance.  We didn't sound like a dying cow!  :D  We sang Christmas songs of course!  Anyways...  We are moving this week!  They are giving our apartment to the new zone leaders next transfer and they want to move us out before the transfer insanity commences.  We are going to live with members!  And the wife has an English accent!!! They are an older couple and we are going to meet them tonight.  Wish us luck for a good first impression!  Going to be interesting going on exchanges three times this week, moving, and having interviews with President Curtis.  Also, we have a baptism this Saturday!  Patrick Sedgewick  (late 20s or maybe 30)  is getting baptized and I'm playing the piano.  Pray for me!!!  Opening song in 116 Come Follow Me and the closing in the Children's Hymn version of I Am a Child of God.  He picked them out.  Good stuff.  Get to practice during our lunch times.  PRAY FOR MEEEE!!!!!!  please.  :)  He said his next goal is to get sealed in the temple.  Awww..  So precious!  That is a golden family.  The wife has been less active most of her life and the kids are great.  They all come to church every week.  Love them so much!  

It's snowy over here!  Look!

I have been driving.  Really good surprisingly! Really slow and pumping the breaks because apparently our car does not have ABS breaks.  Silly.  Been working though!  Hope you are all having an awesome time with fireplaces.  :P  Don't worry, I still love you.

Love,

Sister Nettles

Dec 2

It's going to blizzard this week!  No snow has stuck yet but it is going to storm this week.  :O  Por que?!

Life is good.  We actually had a sleep over for a few nights this week.  Sister Hansen and Orndoff got kicked out of where they live to make room for the relatives that came over for Thanksgiving.  We have 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms anyway so it was fun.  :)  We actually slept!  :O  Thanksgiving went great.  Had a turkey dinner at one of the Bishop's house.  Their daughter is on a mission so they have a giant cardboard cut out of her that was standing next to the table the whole time.  Apparently they make one of every kid that leaves on a mission.  They call it "flat Lizzy."  Super funny.  We went to another house that gave us leftovers that I fried up for breakfast the next morning.  Even converted Sister Hansen:  She loved it!!!  :D  

Things are going pretty well.  Did an exchange last week and have two more this week.  Going to be fun!  *cough* and productive *cough*  We really do get a lot done.  Same old mission life.  The Sister Training Leaders now have to watch exercise DVDs that the sisters want to use and approve or disapprove of them.  Fun stuff.  We have a Christmas talent show coming up for the mission too.  I may be a participant in 3 of the items/ skits.  We shall see how this goes.  I didn't participate in any of them last year.  I have 2 transfers left!  This one is 5 weeks long so only 2 more weeks, then a 7 weeker and a 6 weeker and I'm done.  Insane!  I am 80% positive my departure date will be March 17th.  We shall see though.  Flying by!  >+-  <--that's an airplane if you couldn't tell.  

Had lots of meetings this week.  About 13 hours of meetings.  Great stuff.  At least I stayed awake for all of both meetings.  

Love,

Sister Nettles

 

My companion and I are taking the rule about sticking together seriously!

 

Nov 26

This week has been interesting.  Had a really good exchange on Wednesday and an okay one on Friday.  On Wednesday I rode a bike in a skirt!!!  =:O  And survived!  I bought a purple skirt at DI just for the bike riding occasions.  It's not too long or flowy to get caught in the chains or too tight that I can't get on the bike.  I also bought some super thick tights.  Love them!  Saved me from hypothermia from riding in the rain all day getting lost and just being missionaries.  The second exchange was with a sister who is brand new and is having some difficulties adjusting to missionary life.  She didn't know how to do personal studies.  I thought they taught that in the MTC.  ?  What are they teaching there now?  Got to teach her a few things so it worked out though.  Also got them some maps to help them find their investigators since they just opened that area.  Stole two out of four wards the Elders were covering in Filer.  

Saturday was weird.  We switched companions back to normal we working on figuring out transfers for President Curtis then were running out of time so we did quick studies and went to teach the Law of Chastity to one of our investigators who has to get married before she can be baptized on December 28th.  It was a terrible lesson.  She said that they were not married because they could not afford the license.  We said if you prayed about it and trusted in Heavenly Father it would work out and she could still be baptized.  She said if she has to wait a while to be baptized then that's fine with her.  :(  We talked to the Bishop and he said the ward could cover it if they bring it up with him.  But they haven't yet.  Then all 5 of our appointments including our backup dinner for the dinner that had already canceled canceled...  We felt rebuked for not studying  the full 2 hours so we made up for it.  Our correlation meetings were weird that day to.  

The next day was Sunday and we found a new investigator so it's okay again.  We also had a make up lesson for Patrick who had canceled on Saturday.  Turns out his house had been on fire and they were trying to clean it up and repair some damage.  :O  We accepted his excuse.  He had been heating up grease in a pan on the stove with a lid on.  He took the lid off and it caught the hood on fire and a cabinet.  The motor for the fan in the stove hood also caught fire.  They threw flour on in to smother it but it made it bigger!  CRAZY!!!  Then they resorted to the fire extinguisher.  But everything is fine now.  They actually had a picture of Jesus with 4 kids, the classic one, on the cabinet and everything was black except for Jesus in the picture.  Really cool.  Patrick was just saying how grateful he is that God protected his family.  Golden family.  He is getting baptized on December 14th.  Nikki and Shelby, the 10 and 12 year old girls are getting baptized the 21st.  Beau (and Maria hopefully) are getting baptized on the 28th.  Beau is in the College 2nd Ward and is super sweet.  Nice kid who thinks simply.  When asked how he felt going to church he said "It felt like I a did a good deed."  Awwww...  He reminds me of a puppy.  He knows nothing about Christ so we are taking things really slowly.  

Thanksgiving we are doing weekly planning, eating supper at one of the bishop's house.  The Hegstroms.  They are the one with a daughter on a mission right now.  Super nice.  Then we will go give a message a family in the ward's house who have non-member family in town for the festivities.  After that we will probably go home and make cards for all the new sisters in the mission that we are in charge of.  Some of them are struggling a little bit.  We are supposed to try and figure out who will be up to training 10 new sisters coming in a couple weeks.  Also, Sister Buckhoff and I will be splitting to train two new Sister Training Leaders so we have to figure out who our companion is supposed to be then submit it to President Curtis.  Crazy stuff.  

Love you Lots!

Sister Nettles

Nov 18

Hello Yet Again!

Life is good.  A Sister Training Leader is between a Zone Leader and AP.  There are four of us now and between of us we have to exchange with every sister in the mission each transfer.  :D  And also deal with their problems, try to help out and love them!  <3  We are exchanging twice a week, Wednesday and Friday.  We are supposed to go up to 60 sisters in the mission December so Sister Buckhoff and I are going to split and each train more Sister Training Leaders and Sister Rex and Calero will do the same.  They are the Spanish Sister Training Leaders.  

We set three more baptismal dates this week so we have a total of 4 scheduled for next month.  Yay!  Patrick is still doing great.  We were going over lesson 3 and the Word of Wisdom.  He was already working on it, but when we brought it up he went to the freezer, got out the coffee and dumped them down the sink; rinsed out the can and sink and ran the disposle.  :O  Super cool moment.  His date is set for December 7th.  Shelby and Nikki are 12 and 10 and are set for December 21st, the day their grandfather who was Mormon died.  Maria is set for December 28th...  Fun times.  

We also got 2 new investigators this week.  Sam and Beau, both in the College 2nd Ward.  We taught Beau on Friday and he came to church!  Started officially teaching Sam on Saturday and he will be there this coming Sunday.  And they both came to the Region YSA Fireside last night!  There are tons of people prepared over here.  

I would love a stocking!  We have transfers the week before Christmas so my new companion then may need a stocking.  I have to pray and pick who it will be, then run it by President Curtis because we will both the STLs then.  The mission is running by and the work is exploding.  We have 13 referrals and we still need to contact some from the ones we got last week.  We contacted 6 and got 7 more on top of the ones left over from the week before that.  Not enough time to get to them all when they will be home!  :O  Good problems.  

It hailed a few days ago but no snow has stuck.  Thank goodness!  I will never have a bike for the rest of my mission!  BLESSINGS!!!!!  But I did buy some thermal tights for when I will be exchanging with the sisters that are on bikes.  We will be getting rides or walking when I'm there when the snow starts sticking.  I WILL NOT DIE!!!!!  :

 My new companion: Sister Buckhoff.  Lived in North Dakota till a teenager and then moved to Southern Georgia.  Been out 9 months.  She was the sister that came into the Boise mission after the long time of no sisters after Sister Huffman and I came out.

 

Writing on the table.  It wipes off like a white board!  We play games on it at night.  So much more satisfying the doing it on paper for some reason.  

Love, 

Sister Nettles

P.S.  I won!

 Sister Conference!

Nov 11

Dearest Family Dear,

Soo...  It's transfers!  Guess what!  I'm a great-grandma!  Sister Eppel's trainee Sister Moore is training, and Sister Eppel is training again as well.  I'm soo old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I have two daughters, three granddaughters and a great-granddaughter.  And I'm a Sister Training Leader.  =:O  <-- my eyebrows standing up.  I am staying in my super awesome area and Sister Buckhoff is coming to be my companion.  Sister Knuth after 6 weeks of training will be training and opening a new area on a bike.  bikes.....  I will now only ever have to ride one on exchanges.  Wahahaha...  

Things are going great.  Patrick is still going to be baptized and we are going to set baptismal dates with Nikki and Shelby on Tuesday.  They are 10 and 12.  Also, Maria and Levern want to be baptized.  :D  So on splits I got to go teach Levern with a member of the ward.  Levern suffers from multiple types of arthritis and is in a wheelchair.  She had to lie in bed as we taught her Lesson 1: The Restoration.  She said that as we were teaching she could feel the pain leaving her body.  Super cool.  She also asked if we could meet twice a week.  :O  Of course we said yes.  :)  Also working with a less active lady who wants to get to the temple to be sealed but we have to get her to church and her husband baptized first.  Baby steps.  

I't not too cold right now.  50s instead of the 29 on Sunday morning.  Bought more tights today.  Thermal ones.  Haven't worn them in a while.  This is either going to be a horrible winter or a mild one.  We shall see.  I love you all.

Love,

Old Fogie

Cooking Deer Meat.  We used A1 and Worcestershire Sauce!

 Good-Bye Sister Knuth!

Farewell lunch with a member family.

Nov 4

Nov 4

Hello from the Great White almost North!

It snowed yesterday and today!  :O  Hasn't stuck too much yet.  Things are going great.  

This week has been awesome.  On Monday we bought pumpkins and on Halloween night we carved them.  Mine has awesome teeth!  Unlike some people in Idaho.  So we had a sign that I've been here too long.  I no longer notice when the people we talk to have no teeth...  

Our Halloween Day consisted of Chick-fil-a for lunch.  :D  Punching holes in the lollipop wrappers and pass along cards and tying them together with ribbon, teaching a lady who is working on addiction recovery, (her cat's name is Aris, as in the goddess of discord :)  ), hanging out with the district after 6 carving pumpkins and drinking sparkling cider.  Good stuff.  

The lesson with Patrick went amazing.  He is getting baptized on December 7th!  They are doing family prayer every night now!  :D  They also came to church again this week!  We also got two investigators the Elders were teaching because they actually live in our area.  It's two girls who are 10 and 12 who are already going to church and trying to get their brother to realize why baptism is important.  Their Dad is less active member and is fine with them getting baptized.  Yay!  They are named Nikki, Shelby and the boy is Brock.  Going to be fun and.  We met them in their front yard for an hour.  Super smart and funny kids.  

Don't know if I already told you guys about my other Idaho experience yet...  So we go to teach a 87 year old widower who just got baptized in another area and I had to go to the bathroom.  I go in and there is a vanity against a wall in there.  Sitting on the vanity is a weaved basket full of real potatoes, sweet potatoes and yellow onions... with an air freshener ball in the middle.  :|  No comment...

We went to the temple this week!  Love it.  Miss going all the time.  

Love you all!

Sister Nettles

 Picking Out Pumpkins

 Sister Knuth's is the missionary appropriate one!

Oct 28

My companion, Sister Knuth

The desolation of Nehors in front of us, the canyon behind!

Oct 28

'Ello!

This week has been pretty awesome.  Our wards are on top of everything.  We found 4 new investigators this week, and 2 the week before, and one of them came to church with his whole family and the ward almost mobbed them with welcomes after sacrament.  They said they felt loved though so it's all good.   Our primary president, relief society president, ward mission leader, and bishop are all on top of making sure they have what they need, know where to go, introduce the kids in primary, and put together a gospel principles class for them.  Answer to prayers.  :)  

The first investigator is a lady who's boyfriend is a member.  The second and third are mother and son.  Tina and Steven.  Her boyfriend is a member but hasn't gone in years.  They are going to pray together every night as a family before they go to bed.  The next one is the guy Patrick who came to church with his less active wife and three kids.  So on Tuesday we had exchanges so I was not there, but Sister Knuth and Sister Hansen went to their door and the wife answered.  She said her and her husband were different religions and not interested.  The next night we get a call from the bishop who said that the husband of that family called and asked what he needed to do to be baptized.  :O  So we hang up and go over over there!  Turns out he does want to learn and we set up an appointment for Saturday.  We go that Saturday (2 days ago) and teach about Christ and prayer.  The only picture of Christ they have in the house is a pass along card stuck in the corner of another picture frame, but the wife had kept it for years.  :)  The husband Patrick said he does not know much about anything but he does believe in a higher power.  We went to the car and got our picture book and went though the life of Christ with them and their 4 and 5 year old.  Every picture the kids would yell out "That's Jesus!"  and get super excited siting right up close to the pictures.  So cute!  At the end we all kneeled and the wife and husband both said a prayer.  Their first family prayer together.  :)  It was a really cool experience.  

We also had a member of the 70 come through our mission conference this week.  Elder Cardon and Elder Allen.  Had a lot of good insight.  One suggestion was to contact all the people who will be giving talks in sacrament meeting a few weeks before and work with them in inviting a friend to come see them talk in sacrament meeting.  Really cool!  So we are going to start doing that.  If you guys ever give a talk you should try it too!  Just invite them as a friend to come see a non-paid crazy person, I mean someone in our family, speak.  :O  Nice idea eh?  

Emily I love you!!!!  Hope you are doing better soon.  I'll pray for you!  And for Rachel, and Mom and Dad, and maybe Spencer too.  :P  Jk.  I LOVE YOU SPENCER!!!!!  My companion is awesome.  We get along really well and are seeing miracles happen in our area.  We hope we stay together her next transfer because we already have splits with the relief society and dinners all worked out for next month.  I think we will.  Transfers are in two weeks so we shall see.  :/  Well, I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, 

Crazy Sister Nettles