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Elder Nelson - New Convert Testimonies

Dear Family,

We did not do any sightseeing but did some chores.

There are two events that I want to report on.

1. Last Sunday night the stake put on a fireside. The speaker was a non-member professor from the University of Virginia. His expertise is marriage research. The gist of his message was that the stuff you hear in the media and the concepts that are popular in our culture about marriage are just wrong. He showed the results of many studies and scientifically or statistically marriage the way it is taught in the Gospel gives the greatest probability of being a happy marriage and that the children of a traditional marriage have a much higher chance of being happy and avoiding troubles with education, careers, drugs, divorce, etc. The professor’s name by chance is Brad Wilcox, but not the Brad Wilcox from BYU.

I guess the Lord knows what he is talking about.

2. Tonight, we went to a New Member and Returning Member Fireside that is put together by the Mission. It was wonderful. 3 recent coverts shared their conversion stories: a Baptist, Catholic and Muslim. The fourth was a sister that was baptized two years ago, went inactive and came back. I was amazed at how articulate they were about fundamental Gospel principles and how big a part the Book of Mormon played in their conversion. Of course, the best part is to see how big a difference embracing the Restored Gospel has made in their life. They are happier and their families are much happier. They are more patient and have more peace in their trials. They talked about the new (ward) family they have now.

It is great to see how embracing the Gospel brings a change of heart, obedience and happiness.

It was a good week in the Mission Office. I felt I got a lot done, I am more organized and I more of what I am doing.

At WES we got a lot of new orders. Now the problem is delivering the work. This is the kind of problem I like.

Love you all,
Dad

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