Early Huntin' Season

First off, I just want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUMMER! Woooowee! The big 14. You are officially church dance legal. That is exciting. Enjoy your Birthday and enjoy High School! It will be a great experience. Just work hard and enjoy every moment! You are truly a blessing in our Family!

We had another good week this week. Brother Arnold is still doing well. He has gone to church over eight times, and is now living the Word of Wisdom. He baptismal date is on the twentieth of August. Brother Elbirt is also still progressing. He has not smoked since the time we taught him about the Word of Wisdom. The ward and members have really fellow shipped him. He has many friends in the ward that are helping him along on his path to baptism. His baptism date is on the twenty-seventh of August. Brother Mark is another investigator that we have been working with for a few months. He also is addictive to cigarettes. We have been setting goals with him and working with him on his addiction. He has improved a little, but we are still trying to help him overcome his addiction to cigarettes. His baptism will be in a few months. We have had a lot of setbacks and trails this last week with our investigators. Many of our progressing investigators have been going on trips for their work, funerals, and going back to their provinces, therefore we have not been able to teach them the past few weeks. We are doing our best to stay in contact with them and keep their fires of faith burning until they get back. 

But everything is going well. Earlier this morning the Assistants came down and played basketball. Elder Goodwin  will leave the office after this transfer. He goes home in November. And Elder Perkins goes home in December. So we wanted to play one last basketball game before they left. It was a lot of fun. I missed them. It will be weird to see them leave. We woke up earlier and We played for 4 hours. The legs were a little weak after all the games. 

Then another fun story. Friday night, when we got home, Elder Rickafort went into our kitchen and said, " There is a rat" ( this has happened quite a few times.) ( and our kitchen is practically outside, so all the animals just come in and out. They last time we had a rat in the house he escaped, so we were determined to get this one. He ran out side and we kind of cornered him in a corner. We built a little barricade to block him from leaving. We were trying to catch him, but he was getting frantic and him made a run for it and slipped past our barricade. Luckily, I was standing right outside the barricade, so when he ran out, I just kind of reacted and kicked him. ( luckily, we all know I have a golden foot, and all my years of punting footballs really helped. )  so I made a solid contact. He flew about four feet back. But he got up and started running again. This time I use my baseball experience,I was holding an umbrella in my hand, so I loaded and swung. and hit a line drive. He flew right back into the wall. Knock out. Then I put a few more blows to his head and he was out cold. So the rat hunting season has began! Thank you for joining us on "Ruffin it Outdoors Missionary Edition". Tune in next week, to see the pictures ;) 

Everything is going great! I love my mission and the Gospel. Enjoy your last few weeks of summer!

Sumasaiyo,

Elder Nielsen