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Elder Nelson - Little Miracle

Dear Family,

Mission News
One of our visa waiters needed to go to Atlanta to get his visa for Mexico. Our alarm went off at
3:55AM to get him to the Dulles Airport by 6:00AM. We picked him up from the airport and got him
home by about 10:30 PM. It was a long day. We planned to take a nap, but we were too busy.
The elder’s name is Giovani Garcia. His father was baptized in Guatemala, moved to Texas, married and had children. Normally getting a visa to Mexico is not hard, but Elder Garcia was here for two transfers. Of the 117 missions in the US he was assigned here. Of the 10 Spanish units we have in the mission, he was assigned to a ward whose membership includes the missionary that baptized his father in Guatemala. This brother was somewhat less active and Elder Garcia has helped him become active again. The Lord works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform. We got up this morning at 4:53AM to take him to the airport to fly to Mexico City.

The mail is heavy and we in the office are spending extra time getting the mail out. Mom and I went to McLean (about a half hour drive) to deliver mail to that zone.

Mom had a tough week with the utility companies. She keeps running into new problems. Hopefully
she will run out of “new” problems in a couple of months.

This coming week is transfer week, so things will be a bit crazy with missionaries leaving and
missionaries coming, and missionaries being transferred. Lots of change. We have 3 more visa waiters coming that will eventually go to Equator.

Fun Stuff
Sunday we were invited to Brother and Sister Jung’s for a Korean Dinner. It was real Korean food
beautifully presented and it was very good. Sister Jung and I had talked about Kimchi at church. When there was not Kimchi on the table, I said kiddingly, “What! No Kimchi?” Sister Jung went and got Kimchi. I felt stupid, but the Kimchi was very good. They told their conversion stories and how they met. It was fun.

We left there and went to the stake center where they had a Messiah sing-a-long. The orchestra and
soloists were good. I cannot remember the last time (or ever) I sang in a Messiah sing-a-long. It was
fun, except I had a cold and mostly whispered the words. The music is wonderful and the lyrics (the
scriptures) are powerful. We then raced home to enjoy the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. It was wonderful Sunday.

Tonight, Sister Chesbrough, the service missionary that helps in the office 3 days a week, is having the office missionaries and the mission president and his wife over for dinner. It will be fun. Mom is doing a green salad.

WES
We had a motor go out on one of our machines that cost $9,000. A lot of people were out sick this
week.

Family News
Mom and I had our first visits to a new GP. We miss our medical folks in Santa Clara.

Love,
Dad

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