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Sister Nelson - Weekly Letter

Dear Family,
Here it is another week.  What a week we had!  Derek and Jessica and family arrived at church just in time for the sacrament last Sunday.  How fun it was to have them here with us—and they didn’t even complain about the tight quarters.  After church we went to see Arlington cemetery and the changing of the guard at the tomb on the unknown soldier.  It never ceases to amaze me how many people have given their lives to protect our liberty.  I wonder why I have been so blessed to be born in this country of freedom at this time when gospel is here.  How very blessed I feel.  We had a family discussion of what we were going to be studying in Come Follow Me this week.  We had four parables that we studied and tried to determine what they meant and how we could put them into practice in our lives.  Well done.
Monday Derek and family went to Washington D.C. and did a bike tour of the Mall and enjoyed that a great deal.  They felt that it gave them a good over view of what was available to see.  They also took a tour of the Capitol building.  Garn and I went to the office to get things done there.  I needed to get the rent for April printed and in the mail.  Here’s hoping that all of the rent checks arrive this month.  I’m sure there will be some that don’t make it, but hopefully it won’t be very many.
We were able to come home and fix dinner for everyone and then had a wonderful family home evening led by Tyler. 
Tuesday was another day at the office for us just trying to keep up with everything.  We took the husband of the other senior couple living in our apartment complex to the office with us today because his wife (who is the nurse ) had to go to the hospital to be with one of the missionaries.    Derek and family went to Mount Vernon and seemed to really enjoy that.  We went shortly after we got here and really enjoyed our time there.  In fact, we could have stayed longer.  We played games in the evening with the kids.
Wednesday was another office day for us, but Derek, Jessica and family went to Shenandoah National Park to hike.  They had a good time and got a good work out, but the scenery would have been more spectacular in the Fall or even later in the spring when all of the trees have their leaves on them.  After visiting with Derek and his family in the evening, we took the mail over to the mission home so President Caplin could deliver it to the missionaries that he was interviewing on Thursday.  When we were visiting with him after dropping off the mail, he told us to take a day or two off while our family was here to visit with.
Following his suggestion, we took Thursday off to go to Washington, D.C. to spend the day with Derek and family.  Of course we picked the day that 100% chance of rain all day.  They were right!  First thing we did was to get a time slot for our tour of the Office of Printing and Engraving.  From there we went to the Museum of American History.  We spent a good portion of the morning there and didn’t even make a dent in what was available to see.  It was time to go to the car to eat our lunch so we could be back at the Printing and Engraving Office for our 1 o’clock tour.   It was hard to comprehend the value of all of the stacks of paper there on the floor.  We arrived in plenty of time to make the tour, but they didn’t open the doors.  When we finally got in, we found that they had already started the tour so we had to hurry to catch up with them.  It was still interesting; we’ll just have to try it again to get all of the information.  From there we went back to the museum of American History so the girls could see the First Ladies’ dresses.  It was kind of fun to see how styles have changed over the decades.  Again, we didn’t get to see everything, but it was time to move on to the National Archives.  This museum seemed a little more crowded—maybe it was because the things to see weren’t as spread out and we had to  put everyone into smaller spaces.  It was, however, amazing to see the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and the Magna Carta.  As we left here, we walked out into a VERY heavy downpour.  We had used our umbrellas all day, but this was different.  There were puddles everywhere because it had been raining all day so we were sloshing through puddles that were sometimes up over our shoes.  I was walking with Tyler and he was dancing all around and I was having a fun trying to keep him under the umbrella.  By the time we got back to the car we all had wet feet and wet pants up above our knees.  Everyone was more than ready to get home and get into dry clothes—but a very fun day.  We walked almost 7 miles today.
Friday we were back to the office to catch up on a few things and Derek and family were back to the museums.  They wanted to see a couple of the art museums.  For some reason the office was hectic with lots of people coming in and out.  Love to see the missionaries and others that come in, but it does cause me to get interrupted and I’m not as productive.  Derek called when they were through with the museums and ready to see a few of the memorials.  We were interested in seeing the Jefferson Memorial, the Martin Luther King Memorial and the FDR Memorial.  As we were walking towards the Jefferson Memorial it was a bit windy and the clouds were pretty black, but we were glad that it wasn’t raining.  As we walked into the rotunda area where the statute of Jefferson is it was wonderful to read the sayings that are engraved around the walls.  I was so impressed because God and His help were mentioned a lot.  There was a feeling a reverence there.  About this time the wind really picked up and it felt like we were in a wind tunnel.  If we got out of the door ways, then it wasn’t quite so cold.  Then it really began to rain and soon it turned to hail that came so quickly that it covered the lawns.  This was a pretty intense storm with thunder as well as the hail and wind—kind of fun because it was so intense and we weren’t out in it.  We went down inside of the monument to the gift shop and museum area and learned a lot from the murals on the walls.  By the time we were done there, the storm was over and the sky was blue and we were ready to go see the other memorials that we had planned to see.
About 5:30 we left.  Derek, Jessica, and kids went home to Florida and we went to a discussion with the office elders.  It was with the same lady that we have gone to before.  This time the 10 year old boy was the only one besides his mother at home.  He wasn’t too excited to be at the lesson, so one of the elders asked if he wanted to draw on the white board that they had brought.  They wanted him to draw the Plan of Salvation as they talked about it.  As soon as he asked Lucas, he thought “Oh no, what have I done.”  Dad thought it would be a disaster because Lucas was being a little ornery.  He didn’t want the collar on the dog because the dog was a free dog and shouldn’t have the collar on him.  He finally decided he would draw and it worked out better than any of us thought it would.  He was listening and drawing so he was learning.  While we were discussing some of the things Lucas got restless and would torment the dog.  One of the things he did was put his mouth over the dog’s nose and blew really hard.  There was a strange sound that came out.  I thought one of the missionaries was going to lose it.  Anyway, it was a good discussion and we saw the lights begin to turn on for Nancy.  I think it will be a little slower for her, but hopefully she will find the truth and her family can be together forever.
We came home to a very quiet and lonely apartment to eat dinner.
Saturday I worked on the monthly missionary funding while Dad worked on taxes.  Then about 2 we left to go the Space and Air Museum out by the Dulles Airport with the senior missionaries.  It was fun to see the space shuttle, a space suit, and lots and lots of airplanes.  From there we went to one of the missionary couple’s home for a pot luck dinner.  It is always fun to associate with good people. 
Today was a good day at church.  Always seem to learn things that I need to do to change.
Today was also our day to go to dinner at one of the ward members.  They have all the missionaries over to their home for dinner and we have a good dinner and get challenged by the young elders to do more to improve ourselves and help bring others to Christ.  Good reminders.
Well, that about does it for another week.
Know that we love you,
Mom
I'll send pictures--it is too late tonight. 

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