"Could ye not watch with me one hour?"

So we had multi zones this week which was awesome!! I seriously love President Smart so much!! All sorts of inspiration flowin' out of that man.

The Temescal Valley Zone

Sister Tucker and I got a phone call the night before from the ZL "Brown" Wood and ZL Randell (we are really into referring to missionaries by their titles) and they said that President wanted us to roleplay a bad companionship inventory for multi-zones. Oh and to add more pressure he wanted it to be funny…I'm not funny.

Obviously, I am pretty dang nervous to roleplay in front of all of these missionaries and President and Sister Smart, so I decide the best thing to do is to just call out missionaries. We pretty muched just had comp study, but went WAY off on tangents that had absolutely nothing to do with what we were studying. 

It was pretty funny. 

I talked in a British accent (which is funny enough considering I can't), made fun of Sister Anderson and sang a line of the star spangled banner…seriously, I can't even believe I am writing all of this… I am so embarrassing.

But, we had a really good training from the APs about teaching the importance of church attendance and the Atonement to our investigators. We broke off and did some roleplays with each other and I used my favorite Atonement scripture, wanna hear?

We sit there and talk about an investigator who didn't come to church and then we are supossed to act as the missionaries and address their concern and get them to comitt to coming to church. So I start out with Matt 26:38-39 which I believe (that could be wrong I don't have my scriptures right this second) is when Christ has His disciples wait for him and then asks Heavenly Father to remove this cup from him… 

There is lots of pausing, lots of emotion and testifying. We talk about how Christ suffered for all pains and afflictions and we relate it to their lives. Then we go to 3 Nephi 18 and talk about when Christ instituted the scarament and how that is our way to show Him our remembrance and gratitude for His sacrifice.

Okay now here is my favorite part…

We turn back to Matt 26 and finish the story. I say "Christ went to check on the disciples to see if they were keeping watch as He was suffering for them, for you and for me. Will you read verse 40 to see what happened?" 

Verse 40 says that when Christ goes to check on them He finds them asleep and turns to Peter (my favorite apostle) and says "what, could ye not watch with me one hour?" 

I pause, turn to the investigator and say "Christ is asking you the same thing he asked Peter. Will you attend church this Sunday, sacrifice one hour to partake of the sacrament and show Christ your gratitude for His eternal sacrafice he made for you?"

It's powerful.

Keeping the Sabbath day holy is vital. We must make partaking of the sacrament our top priority. Sports, shopping or even family are never good excuses for not attending Sacrament meeting. May we all strive to come closer to Christ by focusing our week toward that one hour?

I am out of time, but love and miss you all. Seriously more than you know.

Later Skaters,

Sister Nelson

(email received March 17, 2014)

#throwback

Since Sister Tucker and I are tight and we think we're really funny, we decided to get hashtags trending in the mission.  I think it's working, but this week was beyond perfect for hashtags because I was getting thrownback allll weeeek long. :)

Oh wait. I just realized that I didn't email home last week and that was the email about transfers so in short….

-Sister Boden and I were doubled out of the Corona ward

-I was transferred to the El Cerrito ward with my homie Sister Tucker (which is still in the Corona stake)

-Sister Boden was doubled into a ward that she's alread served in

-Sister Pyper was doubled into the Corona ward

-Sister Anderson stayed, which means the 3 of us are all back in the same stake together.... #cray

-Sister Pack is with Sister Jin in La Sierra

-Oh! and #APWilkinson took #RIPMoser's spot as Assistant to the President

So this week we started our exchanges. I got Sister Anderson again!! Can you beliebe it?? Haha I am on a roll today…

Anyways, I thought that I should probably go with Sister Cho instead of Sister Anderson because I don't want President to think that I just want to hang out with my homies all the time. Plus I love Sister Cho and really wanted to work with her. :)

So we are going throughout our day trying to visit some part-member families when I get a call from Sister Mason in the ward. She goes "Sister Nelson, what are you doing right now..are you busy?"

I said "We are just going around trying to visit some families, but nothing set in stone, why?" 

She replied "Okay I need you at my house in five minutes. Can you be there in five minutes?" 

I said "yes!" and she said "okay, bye!"

It all happened so fast. It was so exciting, but I'm not gonna lie, I was a tad nervous....

So I pull up to her house and there was a car parked out side with someone in it, but funny me I wasn't wearing my glasses that day so I could barely tell that it was a man. I parked across the street and was putting up my hair when Sister Mason comes running over and bangs on the window. 

I get out of the car and BOTH Brother and Sister Mason said "are you sure you want to go inside?" 

I said "What?? Uhhhh yeah..." and they just kept asking me if I was sure which was making me more nervous!

Then Brother Mason goes "there is a hint in that car" 

I was seriously so confused and I couldn't see who was in the car. Next thing I know I am following them across the street and I finally got close enough to see that President McCall was in the car!!!!!! 

I go "Oh yeah. I definetly want to go inside!"

I walk inside and guess who was there? ELDER MCCALL!!!!!!!!!!! 

Seriously, it was so fun. I smiled so big and said "Uhhhh hi!!" and he goes "Oh my gosh…NO WAY!" 

We walked toward eachother and had a real nice handshake. #missionaryproblems

Elder McCall and Nat
(Aaron is a family friend from home that was in Nat's mission when she arrived, but then got transferred to the Redlands mission when her mission split in July.  He was on his way home, but was visiting friends in the Riverside mission with his parents, President and Sister McCall.)

President McCall, Nat, Sister McCall and Elder McCall

OHHHH NOOOO!! I seriously don't know how this happened!! I only have 10 minutes left :(:(:(:( So I have to stop typing or I won't be able to send any pictures home...

Later in the week I was able to go back to EASTVALE!! :) I can't even begin tell you how excited I was! I got to see some of my favorites. #screaming #tears #lovin'

"Bodnar clan"

"Momma Katey"

(Editor: I received a text from Katey with this pic saying "I love my baby girl!")

"Me and my girl Sista Niihau"

Well I wish that I had time to tell you about all the spiritual expierences of the week... just know that I LOVE being a missionary. I LOVE this gospel. I LOVE my Savior and I LOVE all of you!!

Love you longtime,

Sister Nelson

(email received March 10, 2014)

Bonus post and pictures

There is a sweet sister in Nat's ward, Sister Clemmer, that texts me on occasion and sends pics of Nat, but this week I received a long email from her and a bunch of photos.  Nat was on exchanges with Sister Tucker and they surprised Sister Clemmer with a visit because Sister Tucker had previously served in the ward and was close to Sister Clemmer.  They shared a special evening together and Sister Clemmer emailed me and Sister Tucker's mother about it.  I won't post the entire email, but here is an excerpt:

"I know I've told you both a lot, but your daughters are amazing.  The cream of the crop.  They are such fantastic missionaries.  Their testimonies resonate with them.  I love hearing them share gospel messages.  They are so Christ-centered and their purpose here is so important to them and the rest of us who get to know them.  I've often thought about the prophet's revelation to change the missionary age.  What a blessing that is for us all and will be for the whole church and world.  Having sisters in the ward is such a sweet blessing."

I received this email on Thursday and then Sister Clemmer texted me on Saturday telling me that Nat was getting transferred, but that she was going to be companions with Sister Tucker in a ward still in the same stake!  Nat didn't have time to write a formal email this week (or next) but her and Sister Tucker love being companions (still Sister Training Leader) and they have moved back to the apartment they shared a transfer ago.  (Her address is now current on her blog.)

Here are some of the pictures Sister Clemmer sent:

Below are pics of some special people Nat has written about and had to say goodbye to when she left Corona:

Brother and Sister McKee with Nat and Sister Boden

Nat and Sister Clemmer and her delicious cinnamon rolls

Johnny McKee, Puna and Wusu

(Update for the week of February 24th, 2014)

The bible says we shouldn't covet...

So transfers are this Saturday. This transfer went by super fast. I'm not excited...at all. I really don't want to leave Corona, but I've been here for 6 months so I know that it's time I go. But, maybe I'll be blessed with one more transfer…we'll see. :)

This week was good! I don't really have that much to talk about so sorry if this is a short one, but I should have enough time to send some photos! You're welcome mom.

WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE ON TUESDAY!!!!! 

It's always the highlight of the transfer. I love going to the temple. I can't wait until I can go every week. It seriously is the boost I need. I always feel so at home and so grateful for my many blessings, especially this gospel. 

Since we can't have zone activities with the Elders anymore, we also can't go to the temple at the same time as them. Fine by me! Now we get to go with just sisters, but from multiple zones. It was awesome.

It was super fun too because one of the members of the El Cerrito ward has a huge 11 person van, so we packed it with the sisters from both zones. 

Lot's of laughing. Lot's of Cafe Rio. Lot's of love.

I was also able to go on exchanges with Sister Seiolla. She is from Micronesia and is such a hoot! Seriously all day long we were just laughing our heads off. We were in Jurupa and I can't lie, it made me miss a car. It's crazy how much more you can get done with one. 

"Me and Sister Seiolla…SO funny!"

We taught Ruben multiple times this week because he was on date for YESTERDAY! He didn't make it, but that's okay because he's on date for this Sunday and we are doing everything we can to make sure that that happens. 

He is beyond hilarious. He is just one big kid which makes it hard sometimes, but it's totally worth it. This week we taught him the 10 commandments out of Exdous with Brother McKee and boy was that somethin'. He gets sidetracked a lot and has a little bit of a joking temper, so you honestly never know what is going to come out of his mouth. 

We've been getting on him about his language and guilt tripping him a little bit every time he swears and he is getting much better at it. When we read "Thou shall not take the Lord's name in vain" we said "Ruuuuuben, what do you think that means?" and he said "I know! I know! Im doinggggg itttt!"

A little while later we read about not "bearing false witness against thy neighbor" and Sister Boden made a comment about gossip. And Ruben said (and please forgive me) "Oh yeah I know that one! My mom always taught us not to do that she said if she caught us being mean to someone that she'd beat our a**!" 

Quickly we said "WOAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Ruben, you meant to say butt". 

He says "No that's what she'd say! She wouldn't say butt, she'd say a**, that's how we'd know she was serious". We were laughing a little and tried for a while to help him understand that was not an appropriate word. :)

Then Brother McKee said "So how are you going to explain verse 17?" and we were like "what?"

And he said "I probably wouldn't read the whole..." and Ruben cuts him off and says "Ohhhh! Look!! There it is! It says a** right there!! Thou shall not covet thy neighbors...ox, nor his ass!" He started spanking himself yelling "The bible says we shouldn't covet people's a**!!" 

We. Were. Dying. 

Of course, we explained to him that it was referring to a donkey which he took to mean a donkeys "behind" and so it was one REALLY funny lesson. It seriously got to the point where Sister Boden was trying to move on and bring the spirit back and I would try my hardest not to think about what he said, but then I'd make eye contact with Brother McKee or something and then start laughing. 

BUT, he agreed to keep the commandments and I don't think he'll be checking out anyone's backside so it's a win-win right? :)

I love Ruben. He's such a sweetheart. I called him "homie" the other day so now he only calls me "homeslice" or "homegirl".  He'll be a homie for eternity fo sho. :)

I love being a missionary. Seriously, things get reallyyyyyyyy hard and sometimes I want to scream, but the good wayyyyy outweigh the bad. So many blessings come from giving everything you've got to the Lord. The greatest blessing though is being able to come closer to Christ yourself as you help others do the same.

You don't need to be a full time missionary either. :) Just "remember who you are and what you stand for" in all things that you do. Christ loves ALL of us and died for ALL of us and desires to be with ALL of us again. So, let's help Him out shall we?

I love you all so so so much! I pray and think about you often.

Love you longtime,

Sister Nelson

(email received February 17, 2014)

"Forbidden fruit makes the best jam"

You know how some churches have those signs that say the darndest things? We saw one that said that this week. We were dying. I wish I would have taken a picture. 

People crack me up. 

I saw a picture on a church sign once that said "Don't read The Book of Mormon that's how they get you"......……yep, that's true. :)

This week was a life changer. 

In my email last week I was going to tell you about a girl named Sienna, but I ran out of time. 

We received a call from one of Brother McKee's sons, Brian, who lives in the Citrus Hills ward. He asked what we were doing the next day because he scheduled an appointment for us. He said that he met a girl in Taco Bell and had testified to her of a few things and asked her if she wanted to meet with the missionaries which she agreed.

Just open your mouth, that's all I'm sayin'.

Well, unfortunately we had MLC with President the next morning and there was no way to get out of it. :( Sienna doesn't have a cell phone or any way to contact her so rescheduling wasn't an option either. We called Sister Tucker and Sister Young and asked them if they'd be willing to go for us and to make sure they schedule another appointment and put her on date. Not saying that they wouldn't have done that, we were just making sure. :)

The next night the sisters called and told us about the lesson. They said that it went great!! They got there and met Brian's co-worker who said "I hope that she shows up!" which right as she was saying that Sienna walked in and says "I always show up. I never miss an appointment." 

The sisters said that she is adorable…short, tiny 18 year old girl with thick curly hair that's cut like a fro and the sweetest face. They said that she has had a really hard life and is desiring to find some hope. They taught her the Restoration, which she cried through the whole thing and said "I can't remember the last time I cried in front of someone". 

They asked her to be baptized, she agreed and scheduled an appointment with her the following Wednesday, which was this last week. We asked them if they knew where she lived (because that will determine which missionaries teach her) they told us that she said she lives with her cousin behind the lemon trees…then Sister Tucker goes "I don't know if that's true though based off of the things she says and the clothes she was wearing, I bet there's a good chance she's homeless".

I can't even tell you how anxious I was to meet her. We had talked with Brother McKee about her and after hearing some of the details of her life he asked if he could come and said "I want to help her" which Sister Boden and I knew meant "I want to help take care of her". 

So FINALLY Wednesday came. We met at 10:30 AM at Taco Bell. Sister Boden and I spent all of companion study roleplaying the lesson. I don't know why, but I was sort of nervous. I knew that this was going to be something.

We ended up leaving the apartment a little late and riding our bikes there fast wasn't really as fast as we thought. So we showed up about 10 minutes late. :( We walked in and Brother McKee was sitting at a table with Brian, his co-worker Tiffany and Sienna. She's adorable. Not what I was picturing when I heard "homeless". 

Brian had bought her "breakfast" I guess if you call tacos and burritos at 10:30 in the morning breakfast, and then we were ready to start the lesson. I sat closest to her and Sister Boden sat next to me and Brother McKee was behind her. I turned to her and asked her to tell me about herself, which is when Brian and Tiffany excused themselves and it was just the four of us.

Sienna started telling us about her life. How she was born with FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome) and that she was adopted and never knew her birth parents. Both her and her sister had issues because of things that happened to them, but that it changed her sister into something bad that she couldn't control and could no longer try and parent.

She also said her adoptive parents were abusive in every way and that she couldn't handle it anymore and ran away to her cousin's house. But, living with her cousin is also hard because her cousin is only 20 and can't parent, but has kids. Sienna said all she wants is a mother and family who loves her.

Now that was the shortest version of what she said and trust me I left out many many awful details. She cried as she spoke and I promise you've never heard anything like it. Or maybe you have on like those crime shows on TV, but never face to face from an 18 year old girl in Corona California.

I cried the whole time she talked. It didn't even phase me that this was all going down in Taco Bell, I was totally zoned in on her. As missionaries, we are told a lot that there are certain people just for you. We sort of look for those people in each area, or at least I do. 

Eastvale, it was the Edwards family. I promise you I knew them in the premortal world. And I have met a lot of people here in Corona and a lot of them have had an impact on my life, but none of them did I feel like were for me….until I met Sienna. The spirit testified to me as she spoke that she needs me. Or maybe not me, but us. And that I am here in Corona to love her.

She finished speaking and I said...(pausing between sentences trying to keep my crying under control) 

"Sienna, I have some really good news for you. We love you and we are going to help you. We have a message today that will change your life as long as you are willing to do try. Sienna, Jesus Christ loves you so much. He is mindful of you. He has sent us here to help you feel that. I promise you that as we teach you today and as we continue to meet with you that you will feel of the perfect love He has for you and the strong desire He has for you to return and live with Him and our Father in heaven again."

We then said a prayer and started to teach and testify of the Atonement. I wish I had more time to go into greater detail of the things we shared. Just know that Christ does live and love us. That He desires for all of us to come unto Him so that He can comfort us and lift the burdens from us. Through Him we can be made whole, but we must have the faith to come to Him and trust in Him.

I know that to be true, Sister Boden knows that, Brother Mc Kee knows that and after we taught Sienna, she knew it too. We talked for a little while longer and at the end, with tears streaming down her face she said "I have never felt like this in my whole life. This is the feeling of family that I've been looking for." 

Sweet Brother McKee told her that if she ever needed anything, and literally anything food, clothes, transportation, house, etc. to call any of us and we'll help her.

We closed with a prayer. Gave lots of hugs and started to walk out. She was next to me when I noticed she was fixed on the Taco Bell menu. I said "Sweetheart, are you hungry?" To which she said "a little" and I said "then let's get you something!!" 

I told her she could get anything that she wanted. I had her get some lunch and some dinner to take home. 

As I was paying, Brother McKee was talking to Sienna and Sister Boden and the next thing I know we are all getting in his car to go shopping. He said we were going to Kohls and I said "I didn't know Kohls has food" and I was quickly informed that we weren't shopping for food, but for clothes.

I wish you could have seen her face. She was in heaven I tell you, but my heart broke for her. She hung on me through the whole store like a child to her mother. We went to the changing room with a big pile of clothes. She took off the HUGE sweatshirt she was wearing and I saw what "clothes" she had on. She was wearing a childs t-shirt, tights for pants (and no not leggings, black cut out tights that you'd wear under a dress) and some vans without laces. 

She was so cute as she tried on the clothes. She was SUPER grateful and talked about how beautiful she felt the whole time. She came out with a dress on and looked so dang cute, but it was hard to miss all of the scars all over her body. I ended up asking her about them after she made a comment and she said "I've been beat up a lot" and then walked back into the room. 

We stopped by a couple more stores. Bought her pants, shirts, shoes and two cutesy church outfits.We threw away the clothes she had on and she walked out of the store with a whole new outfit. It was really neat because I remember when I was little and I would do that, Im pretty sure her face looked similar to mine.

We stopped and got lunch and then asked her where we could drop her off. She was super sketchy the whole day about where she lived and asked if we could drop her off at the park. Right before we got there she said "we are meeting tomorrow at 10 AM right?" (We had told her that we wanted to meet with her every day until she is baptized so that we can make sure she's okay and so we can help her.) 

Then she asked "can I leave the rest of these clothes here and get them tomorrow?" Of course, Brother Mc Kee agreed and we dropped her off, said our goodbyes again and drove home.

Time is up and the story is longer than you know, but when we went to meet her the next day she didn't show up. We haven't heard or seen her since. We've all drove around trying to find her, but haven't. I don't know what happened to her and I am praying she is okay. Please keep her in your prayers. I know that Heavenly Father loves her and will look out for her, but she needs all of the help she can get.

I am so grateful for this opportunity that I have to be a missionary. To feel of the love that our Father in heaven and the Savior have for each one of us. I know that they have a plan for us, and it's the plan of happiness. They desire for all of us to return to Him and it's our responsibility to make sure we do.

I love and miss you all!!! Happy Valentines Day!

Sister Nelson

(email received February 10, 2014)

Ps. I was able to go on exchanges with my girl Sister Anderson this week and of course we were out walking on the only day that it rained. We were out in the ran for an hour, got sopping wet and so we asked Sister McKee to take us home so we could dry our clothes and warm up. :)

You know you're looking at a winner, winner, winner!

Dad should probably change his ringtone back to JT's "Winner" considering….

WE WON!!!!!!!!WAHOO!!!!!!!!SEATOWN BABY!!!!!!!

In all seriousness, yesterday was officially the hardest Sunday of my entire mission.  I was dying ALL day. We had a combined 3rd hour and Brother McKee was sitting behind me so I turned around and said "Soooo, is it okay if we come by around 3, 4, 5, and 6 PM today?"

He laughed and said "It would probably be better if you came around 2:30, 3, 3:30, 4 and 4:30".

Obviously, we were kidding…well sort of.  I knew that I would be gladly welcomed, but we didn't go. I didn't get anywhere near a TV.  But, you better believe that I called Brother McKee, Sister McKee and Johnny McKee trying to find out the final score.

Lot's of happiness with the result. :)

Oh and SUPER cool that Golden Tate was rockin' SODO during his Super Bowl press conference!!!

"We have the same sweatshirt NBD"

(Editor: SODO is a mens premium sports apparel company that Nat's Dad recently launched.)

Click here to go to sodoapparel.com

Back to the life of a missionary…

We went on two exchanges again which means I didn't get very much sleep.

We also had lots of meetings which means not very much time to teach or proselyte.

AND we received a text message from James that said "Idk my mom says she found a place I can get baptized so now Idk what I should do lol"

I don't know why he said "lol" because I didn't find any part of that funny.

It all means that Satan is working hard over here.  He hasn't fully dropped us yet and we aren't dropping him so we'll see what happens this week.  We are having the Elders fellowship him by inviting him to play basketball with them so hopefully that will help.  It could either be really good or really bad.

I was emailing my mom and trying to send pictures and then had to switch to a really slow computer so now my time is up…so sorry!!!!

Love you all longtime!

XOXO

Sister Nelson
(email received February 3, 2014)

Coastin' on a dream

On the 24th I officially hit being out for 9 months (half way!) and it's not my favorite feeling in the world…being on top of the hill.  However, since I don't go home until November 4th, I'm just coastin' at the top until I start on the downward slope.

This week was a "normal" week of missionary work.  We kicked it off with exchanges and since we're on a bike (the only STL's on a bike) President was nice enough to give us all the sisters in Corona and only a few outside.  Lucky for us, every one of the sisters are in a car which makes it easier to actually exchange.

We planned on going on two exchanges a week, one with a companionship from Corona and the other from somewhere else.

The first this week we were with the Temescal Valley sisters.  Sisters Graff and Niihau.  I love, love, love both of them.  It was so fun.  I stayed here on a bike with Sister Niihau and we had a blast.  She was such a hoot on a bike.

Nat and Sister Niihau

Our area is small, but it isn't the easiest area for biking. Going east to west it's flat, but going north to south it's one huge hill.

It. Is. A. Killer.

On our first day, Sister Boden and I were biking to Sister Clemmer's house which is at the top of the hill.  It was pretty hard…so hard that Sister Boden had to get off and walk her bike (the thought crossed my mind too, but I'm much too proud…yeah I know I'm working on it).

Sister Niihau knew that story and so she set a goal to stay on the bike no matter what.  Of course, we ended up visiting a less active family that from our house to theirs is one straight hill…nothing but up! It was in the evening so it was cooler, but it was still difficult.

I kept turning around to see how far back she was, wouldn't be able to see her so I'd sit, wait and pray and then all of the sudden I would see her scooting herself along the curb of the street.  Hahaha…she literally did not get off the bike!  She said she didn't care how she did it or how long it took just as long as she stayed on the bike…I was so proud of her. :)

I also went on exchanges with Sister Greenwood in Riverside and we also had fun.  It was a pretty hard day because we spent the day finding. We couldn't get any of our lessons to follow through and we couldn't find any members to go with us, but we were able to teach a few drop by lessons and leave some blessings with people on the street.

Always a good time when you're living the good life.

We have a new investigator named Ruben (I don't think I've mentioned him yet) and let me tell you, he is a hoot and a half! He's probably in his late 20's, but he has special needs  so the bet way to describe him is that he's a big kid.  He was a media refer all we received and I am SO glad we did.  Never a dull moment with my boy Ruben.

Sister Boden, Ruben and Nat

He talks and talks and talks so sometimes it's hard to teach him, but it's totally worth it.  We have to really simplify the lessons, but that just makes it more fun.  The first time we talked to him we took Brother McKee (our ward mission leader) with us.  Ruben told us about his member friend who has been teaching him about the church and Ruben said "I already know everything, but can't get my friend off my back!"

So obviously I said "then do you want to be baptized?"

And Ruben said "yes!"

So then we started talking about a date.  He has come to church three times and we knew that it would take a little longer to teach him so I said "well, what about February 2nd?"

I am still embarrassed about it now and I can't believe that I made that mistake because I feel like the 2nd is all anyone talks about these days…

So Ruben replies "Uhhh the SUPERBOWLLLLLL!!"

We were dying.  We ended up putting him on date for the 16th. :)

We have taught him a couple of times, but he doesn't have a phone and his landlord doesn't love us.  So we just show up to our "meeting spot" and pray that he does too…which he has every single time without fail.

This last week was the McKee's anniversary so we asked Sister Behrens if she could come with us. I love the Behrens'!  They're such a sweet family…super missionary minded.

Sister Boden and I show up and Ruben gets there soon after.  While we are waiting for Sister Behrens, Ruben says "Hey, I found a phone!"

We were super excited and continued to ask him about it which we soon realized that he literally had just found the phone on his way to meet us.  I asked him if I could see it and he pulls out a brand new smart phone!  So, we tried to convince Ruben that he needed to return the phone, but he wasn't having it.

After Sister Behrens shows up we start teaching him about the gospel and Sister Behrens teaches him about repentance and then she says "Ruben, I think that we need to talk about your phone".

He was not a happy camper.  For the next HOUR, the three of us were going at it trying to help him understand that he needs to give the phone back.  He had lost a few cellphones himself and was keeping it more because he was holding a grudge towards those that didn't give his back.  Finally, he said that he'd give it back, but that he was going to ask for a reward and that he wasn't going to tell us when he'd do it.

We tried everythingggggg.  There was lots of "what would Jesus do?" kind of talks and "we're not mad at you, just disappointed" and even some reverse psychology, but NOTHING was working. We could not soften his heart.  He just sat there with his head resting on his hand and his eyes closed and he stayed like that for about 10 minutes.

Sister Boden said "did he just fall asleep on us?"

He remained silent a little while longer then Ruben peaked open his eyes and saw that we were still there.  The three of us laughed and said "Yep, we're still here!" :)

So then we tried bribing him by telling him he could go with Brother McKee in his cool old bug or even with Sister Behrens her her convertible mustang…and still nothing.

Finally, Sister Behrens slapped a twenty-dollar bill on the table and said "Here!  Here is your reward...but, only if you give it back right now!"

Ruben looked at it, started to grin and said "Okay!"

Hahaha we all started cheering and were very excited and then we took him to Verizon so they could scan the phone and contact the owner.  Ruben asked the worker to call them right then and wanted them to know he found it, but that he was making sure they got it back. :)

Sister Behrens was so sweet and told him since she was so proud of him that she would take him through the McDonald's drive through for lunch.

He was VERY excited!

Ruben came to church on Sunday and I have to say, I really, really love him.  He is so funny and really does want to learn more and get baptized.  Can't wait to see what happens this week.

Love you all!!!!!

Sister Nelson
(email received January 27, 2014)