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Elder Nelson - Leo, Alex, Jim and David

Dear Family,

Mission News
Monday we took an elder to the airport. He said that in high school he never talked with anybody that he did not already know. Now he is doing street contacting. The approach that works best for him is to talk about a person’s tennis shoes. He is an expert on tennis shoes and that is how he starts many of his street contacts.

Friday night we attended a baptism of a 20 year old college student named Alex. The missionaries found him street contacting. Their opening question was, “Wow, how do you get your shoes so shiny?” From that start he was baptized 3 weeks later. He was a golden contact that was searching for something more spiritual. He quickly got a testimony of the Book of Mormon. At the end of the baptism, he bore a strong testimony. He is thinking about going on a mission.

Wednesday morning I took a 27 year old mentally handicapped boy to his work. His father has passed away and his mother broke her hip and is laid up for some number of weeks. He was fun to talk with. One thing he did was quiz me on my addition facts.

Saturday we attended the baptism of a 9 year boy (Leo) from a part member family. About a year ago the family was approached by the missionaries, but they got a cold shoulder. A couple of months ago the missionaries tried again. This time the family was ready. Leo’s primary teacher said he is quite smart and answers questions in class. He is a natural leader. Cecilia, the 15 year old daughter is supposed to be baptized in 2 weeks. She bore her testimony in Sacrament Meeting today. The father is softening a little, but he will take some time.

Top row: Cecilia, Frank (father) Alma (mother), Sister Banluta, Sister Withers, Front row: Leo, cute little sister, Adrian

Thursday we took the sister missionaries to Japanese restaurant for lunch where a friend (missionaries don’t have investigators any more – they have friends) works. The friend, David was the man that dropped by the mission office a week and a half ago passing out fliers for the restaurant. The sisters hope to start teaching him on Tuesday. David is a recovering alcoholic and recently lost his job and his family. He is at rock bottom, but I think coming up. Timing for teaching him might be just right.

Today, Sunday at 7:20 we got a text that our former neighbor (Jim St. Pierre) who moved to Mt. Vernon was coming to church. We hurried and went to his Sacrament Meeting which started at 9:00 about a half hour away. We had a nice visit with him. He moved to be closer to his children which has worked out well. His divorce will be final in two weeks and his X left him a little money so he is happy. He is not super passionate about religion, but hopefully he will see the light.

I was told this week that all of the mission-owned phones should be taken from the field and missionaries should use their own phones. This will cause me a ton of logistical problems in the short term and there will be a different SOP with transfers and phones. My plan is to do nothing until mid-July. This will give me time to get a plan in place. Also we will have 40 new missionaries with new phones and the missionaries leaving have tablets. This should make my life a bit easier.

Fun Stuff
Sunday Night we attended fireside that featured some wonderful music from a backup tabernacle organist and other very accomplished musicians. Along with some of the music they showed amazing photographs of nature scenes. Most of the pictures were of birds. I thought of Uncle Phil. The photographer’s name is Ralph Johnson. You can see his pictures on his Facebook page – if you do Facebook and I don’t.

After the baptism Friday we went to dinner with Elder and Sister Larsen, who also work in the office. They are wonderful folks. We sure enjoy them a lot.

WES News
WES broke even in April. May should be a good profit month.

My partner gave us last and final offer to sell his shares to WES. Mom and I still praying about this.

Family News
Keri had a fun time in San Diego. See her blog AVeryPerrySituation.blogspot.com

Love,
Dad

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