June 24

Greetings in Return from Fickle Weather Idaho!

It's been mostly warm here lately so it's nice now.  I have a stalker Elder!  So there was this Elder Butler who went to Carlsbad High School and worked the temple shift after me, was in my MTC district and them in Meridian in my district for 6 months.  Now he's in my district again over here in Rupert.  Crazy!  What have I done?  JK.  He's pretty good at missionary work.  

I am the only one left from our district last transfer.  All other areas were shotgunned and I'm training.  The Burley Zone used to be one of the best in the mission before I got into the mission field then it became one of the worst.  When Sister King and I shotgunned the Rupert West stake it started to change.  Now the rest is too so things should be looking up.  

The Work of Salvation broadcast was amazing.  We sat next to a lady who's son was in the MTC choir.  We were crying together.  Why do I cry so easily!?!?!?... (during the musical numbers)  During the meeting we got a text from someone who wants to work with us and afterwards we got 3 investigators and a house to teach one of them in!  Hopefully we will get iPads soon.  It is not fun continually having to reprint ward directories and specialized lists.  Also, we wouldn't have to wait for Mormon Messages and the Bible Videos to make it to DVD them have to buy them to show in lessons.  We could also show people to to submit referrals and so forth.  We have already tried to give church tours before, but the investigators would never show.  :( That may change soon!  

Sister Eppel is doing amazing.  She even started the lesson last night!  It was the lesson with the guy from South Africa so they had lots in common.  She was born in Zimbabwe, lived in Johanasburg for 10 years and just moved down to Durban in South Africa.  So funny, we have lots in common.  We both love Doctor Who, Harry Potter and quite a few other things.  She sound's like Amy Pond.  It's awesome!!!  Thank goodness I watched British television so I know what she's talking about sometimes.  And she says "zed!"  I am falling apart slightly less now.  We have a phone again but are starting from scratch with the contact list (up to 52 contacts now).  We had tacos made from a guy actually from Mexico last night.  SO GOOD!!!!!  It was Sister Eppel's first time having Mexican food so it's a good start.  It has been the first real Mexican food I've had on my mission so far.  The rest was cooked by white Idahoans.  Oh well, I got my fix.  

One of our investigators is finally softening.  It has taken about two months.  She got a Priesthood blessing yesterday so we will go see how she's doing later this week.  It's interesting.  She doesn't make promises, not even to God.  She hates the feeling of breaking promises so she just doesn't promise anything.  She said she would try really hard to read and pray about the Book of Mormon this week.  We shall see...  

The work is good.  The companion is good.  The changes are going to be crazy.  3 missions instead of 1, age change, tons more coming to train, hopefully incoming technology, and new mission president rules.  :D  Little bit hectic.  Our area is on fire!  We got one more investigator last week and two, maybe three this week.  Hopefully more!  

Love you all,

Sister Nettles

P.S.  My favorite color is purple and my quest is to baptize Idaho.  :)

June 20

Okay, so I got my new Sister Missionary: Sister Eppel from South Africa.  She's awesome!  And 19!  And only speaks English with an accent!  She's emailing right now to tell her folks she made it alive to Idaho.  Also, I'm falling apart.  I lost the phone, keep misplacing everything else, forget to pack a change of shoes for after service (so I drove back to the house in a skirt, tennis shoes and socks) and having my cereal explode all over the counter.  So by now she already knows I'm not perfect.  Yay!  Well, at least I can teach.  And be obedient.  That's all that matters right now... I hope.  I will be in the Twin Falls Mission so my new mailing address is:

 

421 Maurice Street North

Twin Falls, ID 83301-4932

 

Love Ya!

Sister Nettles

June 17

I'M TRAINING!!!!!!  Staying in Rupert and training a brand new missionary.  I guess I'm going to be in the Twin Falls mission.  Sister King is going to Boise South and will finish in the original mission.  Crazy stuff!  I don't know who I'm training yet, it will be one of the 17 coming in on Wednesday that I still have not seen the pictures for...  Comes with being in the boonies.  So, apparently the Stakes goal for baptisms this year was 4...  We had five in three months...  Booyah!  And still going.  That's a sad goal for a stake.  A ward maybe but a whole stake?  Sad.  Going to be in Boise for 3 days waiting and going to meetings with the greenie.  Fun times!  Hope I don't scare her away the first day.  We shall see.  I'm not that scary looking am I?  Transfers are in an hour and a half.  Weee!!!  3 hours in a transfer van.  The conversations were interesting in there last time.  Last time the Elders were arguing about what type of guys girls like and if silk garments are too much like lingerie...  Weird...  I will try to survive. 

So... yeah!  We had 5 investigators at sacrament meeting on Sunday and are teaching 15.  Some are almost ready to be baptized and others have issues.  We went down from 24 lessons last week to 23 this week.  That's what happens when you need time to pack.  We had 10 member present lessons!  One less then our all time high last month of 11.  Nice eh?  I will be here for the "big" 4th of July celebration.  It's a week long fair, a parade of tractors, food booths, one concert and a pancake breakfast for the Scouts.  It takes place in the square, so a quarter mile by a quarter mile, or less.  :)  So cute.  There will be fireworks though on June 29th. 

Our front yard looks like an abstract painting I would entitle "cubes"  Lots of bales of hay placed in regular intervals on the giant field.  When you turn onto the street they look like cubes, but as you drive down the street they turn into rectangles.  Crazy perspective stuff.  Well, I love you lots!

Love,

Sista Nettles

June 10

Hello again! 

Life is pretty good.  Had the double baptism this weekend and it went well.  Did Emily get her birthday card?  I can only buy things and write letters on Monday and I wasn't thinking far again enough and got the card just a couple days before and missed the mail so it didn't get out of our mailbox until Tuesday.  Lame sauce, but at least it got sent right!?  Things are crazy over here.  Been teaching 24 lessons a week for the past three or four weeks.  Keep finding new people to teach and loosing our investigators to baptism.  Good problem to have.  It is finally warm and I went and got 2 summer skirts from the DI, another white shirt and a backpack for $10!  And their cute!  Amazing.  Went to the chiropractor this morning.  He's a member so he worked on us for free.  Yay!  Going to Twin Falls this afternoon for last P-day before the transfer before the mission split.  We are doing sports and BBQing!!!  Should be good.  Being a lot healthier.  I used to take apple cider vinegar for my ulcers and I have a few left I can take.  Been saving them for if my stomach acts up again.  Headaches are better still.  Got my hair stuff.  Thanks!!!

Mom, are you hand making journals for the girls?  If so you are COMPLETELY spoiling them.  I want to go!!!  Sounds like the best camp ever.  Hope everything is going well.  My camera is dead and I can't find the charger chord.  Havn't been able to find it since I got transfered to Rupert.  Need to get another one somehow.  Hope you all enjoy your summer off.  

Love, 

Sister LMNOP

June 3

This month I will be half way done with my mission.  Insane!  The baptism on Saturday went well and we have 2 more this Saturday.  Half our investigators are doing well, the other half are hard to catch.  Especially with the holiday and now summer.  We got another investigator this week named Jordan who is 13ish.  He already goes to church and scouts.  Nice eh?  There is tons of work to do out here.  We have been teaching 24 lessons a week.  Some are harder than others, but it's all good.  And free DQ helps!  Jk...  It is finally acting like spring.  I really want a spring/summer skirt, so I will go looking soon.  There is a DI close to bowling so I'll start there.  Someone asked me yesterday if missionaries can only wear dark colors.  :(  Is it that noticeable?  Well, we had 7 investigators at church on Sunday and one more was ready but her ride never came.  >:(  AAARRRGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!  And it wasn't for a righteous reason either...  erk.  She said she'll just drive herself next week.  (She's 54, she can do it.)  

The people are really nice here.  Had a general authority come by again but this time just to our stake and had a missionary meeting.  Some of our wards are getting on top of things finally so yay!  

Stay awesome.

Love,

Sister Nettles

May 28

Libraries were closed yesterday so here we go...

 

Baptism went well on Saturday.  My second one in Rupert.  Have another one this Saturday and 2 more the Saturday after that.  We are teaching 17 people right now.  I wrote you a letter yesterday so hopefully you will get it.  There's no bug in the ear in the new Star Trek?  I love it already!  Yay!  They listened to my childhood nightmares.  Anyways.  A lot of our investigators are going through hard times and busy schedules so it's hard to meet with them now.  One new investigator we found last week  because we were driving down a street and my arms got tingly.  'There's someone here ready for the gospel...'  We stopped and I narrowed it down between 2 houses by staring at them all.  The first one no one was home, the second one was a success!!!  I think my arms have some sort of radar.  It's weird but it worked.  Yay!!!  The guy's name is David who grew up Jehovah Witness but had Mormon friends.  Gave him a Book of Mormon and everything. 

 

Love,

Daughter Dearest