The Rest of the Story...

September 2011

It all started with a visit from our Stake President late one night telling us that Sterling is going to have to come home from his mission early because of complications that had occurred from his last surgery on his wrist and the discovery of internal injuries.  Both requiring extensive rehab and recuperation time, which the mission could not manage.  So, Sterling was on his way home the next day, September 3, 2011.  Because of the necessity for him to have the flexibility to meet with multiple people and have to be alone, he was given a temporary release from his mission, which is customary, while these medical issues were being fixed.

The doctor visits began and the surgeries scheduled, he had 3.  The efforts to fix his left wrist out in the mission field actually caused him more problems and Sterling was advised by his doctors in Salt Lake City to have part of the bone removed from his wrist because of the deterioration and damages done.  It is weird to see the missing bone in the X-rays.  

Sterling has recovered completely without any lasting physical damages.  He has maintained a very positive attitude through all of this as he did while on his mission even though he was constantly in pain.

Calls came from the mission field checking up on him including returned missionaries, President and Sister Hale, and the office missionaries.  Those from the mission were very complimentary towards Sterling concerning his faithfulness, his testimony, his maturity, and the positive influence he provided while on his mission.  The medical missionary was very effusive about her compliments towards Sterling indicating that how tough, strong, funny, and wonderful he was.  That he was a delight to work with and that he never complained.

During this time Sterling continued to study and prepare for his return to the mission field as requested by his Stake and Mission Presidents.  It was his belief that he would eventually return and finish his last ten months.  Because Sterling was temporarily released from his mission it required him to submit his request back to the Missionary Department to be reinstated as a missionary.  The Stake President and President Hale both indicated that they supported this and wanted Sterling to return.  Because of the length of time it took to heal from his surgeries and, we think, his age (he was almost 25), he received an official honorable release from his mission on January 18, 2011.

One final irony concerning this story, Sterling has accepted the fact that he was asked by his Stake President to go to a singles ward and has had his records moved to his new ward and stake.  He was immediately called to be a Ward Missionary where he served for a year and faithfully went out every week to fulfill this calling, too funny.

Sterling began his mission in unique circumstances.  That is, he didn’t believe that he was going to go on a mission, especially not at 23.  Sterling learned for himself that the Lord really did want him to go on a mission and it came to him loud and clear.  His testimony concerning the Savior was never in question, or any of the Gospel precepts.  He simply did not believe that he was supposed to go on a mission.  To his everlasting credit and his everlasting joy, Sterling did go and serve an honorable mission in the Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission. Using Sterling’s own testimony:

“I know that revelation from the spirit exists, for without it I would never have come to the decision to go on a mission”  ~ Elder Sterling J. Nisson.

We Stop This Program with a Very Important Message....

Ster is going to have another surgery, this is for a new issue and more extensive but he should have complete recovery in a couple of months. He will be coming home tomorrow evening. Then the process begins to meet with Dr.'s here and have the surgery. He will be released as a missionary and then we will see what the Lord desires of him. So this blog will be on hold for a couple of months....

The mission office staff had some very nice comments about Elder Nisson, when we called to get some information......they said "Please get him back here because he is such a wonderful young man and his maturity really helped the elders he served with. He is known as a focused and powerful missionary. He had such a wonderful spirit about him and he has endured so well with his physical challenges." That was sure nice to hear such sweet, voluntary, comments.

Updates for August 2010

We've had emails from Ster every week but he didn't have a lot of time to write so his emails were short. Luckily, he has started writing us letters that have given us more information about what has been going on in his mission. So here are the updates since August 3rd through this week:

Letter from Aug 5th (written 8/2/2010):

So, do you guys remember that talk by President Gordon B. Hinckley “10 Things to bring home from a Mission?” Well, I was looking over the list, and pondering about some of the things I have learned. Something I am most grateful for has to do with loving people. I know I never had a real love for the people around me except for my family until I went on my mission. President Smith (former Stake President) basically told me I had a hard heart (in so many words, but that is what he meant), and he was right, my heart was like the “Grinch’s” heart. But now I find myself just caring about others and hoping for their happiness. In the Book of Mormon, Mormon (73 years old) who had been a general of the Nephite Army and fighting the Lamanites since he was 16 years, seeing war and hatred all of his life among his people still was able to write one of the most loving epistles about faith, hope, and charity. (Moroni 7) He had such a loving spirit about him and now I know why. It was because of his faith in Christ and his love of the Savior of the world. I feel so much more happiness now then I use to. I am so thankful that the Lord changed my heart. That I can see people for who they are, which is a son and daughter of our Heavenly Father and we are literally brother and sisters. I love feeling this way about the people I am teaching and all the people around me. I am not perfect in my love, but I am so much better at it and hopefully will continue to learn even more.

Email from Aug 9th:

Things are going great over here in Homestead. We should be having 2-3 baptisms on the 22nd, so that’s exciting. We had about 5 people at church yesterday so that was good to see. But the speakers were horrible, well one was. It was a testimony shaker lol, I was even asking can this church be true lol, kidding of course, but we will be talking to some of the investigators later this week to see how they liked church.

Ok, so that thing in my eye is all gone there is no mass left. I am not sure what it is called. It was caused because my eye wasn't draining properly, so my eye just basically quarantined the bad stuff and closed it all off which made the mass. (pic of his eye after surgery)

So I was praying one night and I just felt this impression that I was going to stay English for the rest of my mission. So I asked about that to Heavenly Father and I got a confirmation that most likely I will stay English, so I told president Hale in an E-mail, and he said "that sounds right, we will go English from here on out." so there you go. It is alright though. I don't feel bad about it or anything but the Lord’s will needs to be done, right?

Letter from Aug 19 (written 8/15/2010):

Everything over here is fantastic. Life is good, we are actively teaching about 8 – 10 people and we have over 20 in our teaching pool. We hope to have some baptisms in the first week or two of September. We concentrated on finding investigators during the month of August, and will focus upon teaching and baptizing during the month of September. So things are progressing here in Homestead and Florida City. The Lord is really directing our paths and is showing His mercy towards us. Also the whole mission is progressing pretty well too. Our mission goal is to have 100 baptisms for the month of October.

I love you guys and I am continually thankful to the Lord for putting me in your family. God is our Father, and Jesus is the Christ, and I know He lives. I know that this is a Church of Revelation and it is the true church of Jesus Christ.

Email from Aug 16th:

Something kind of cool happened. There was a Drug bust in Florida City, we teach a couple of people there, you would of expected the circus to be in town with how many people were there watching it was crazy, there were so many cops it was interesting.

I have seen many of the Elders change when they got called as DL and ZL and I don’t want any of that. I want to serve Heavenly Father without any of those problems. That is why I said I wanted to be just a regular missionary. Of course I will do whatever I am asked to do. I just don’t want to change and be different and act better than I am.

So next week on Monday I will get this ridiculous cast off, it is more exciting than hitting my year mark out here in the mission lol.

Email from Aug 24th (week of transfers):

So here is the update on my arm.... it’s still not healed lol, but the doctor said that there is some healing. There is also some deformity of my bone for one reason or another. So they put me in a cast again for 3 weeks instead of 6 weeks. So that isn't too bad I guess, but this cast isn't waterproof so that's a little lame. The doctor said he had high hopes though that it would heal. He also said that there is a chance that it won’t heal for a long time or during the next few years, it will just slowly fill in, so who knows. This whole bone thing is getting rather bothersome. Ya, I will still be using the bone stimulator for the next couple of weeks. Ugh.

So I'm staying in Homestead, basically the whole Zone is staying the same. We won't have any baptisms until September; we should have around 6 to 8 baptisms next month, if all goes well. Mission wide is doing ok, we have been struggling a little bit over the last couple of months but we are hoping for a dynamic increase in the coming months.

Well, that's about it. Love you guys!

Email Update 07.26.10 & 08.03.10

I am teaching mostly Haitians and African Americans with a few Hispanics who speak more English than Spanish. We have only seen about 30 white people around here, and they were all in our ward.lol

The storm that was supposed to drop in never really did, we got some rain but nothing too much. And we got 72 hour kits as well as a Hurricane emergency kit, in case of an actual hurricane.

Ok, on to the spiritual side of things:

(Clears throat here)

Well once again I came upon the whole trust aspect of the Lord. I have told you and written in my journal numerous times that I need to trust in the lord. But what and undertaking to really learn to trust the Lord, right? How do we trust in the lord? Well, usually by exercising faith which is done through our actions and experimenting upon the Lords words and following His commandments He has set forth, which, when done our soul will gradually grow into something more. But I don’t think that is all. We have been having many discussions about knowledge in trainings and talks by General Authorities.

Now it can’t be just on knowledge but spiritual knowledge, something that the Holy Ghost has confirmed to you, or led you in your search, it has to be something spirit to spirit. Sometimes there is anger in the home or with companions. Or possibly there is just something wrong. Could it be because we don't study the scriptures? It is said if you want to talk to the Lord then pray, if you want to hear from the lord then read your scriptures. So true, with added knowledge we then get on another plane of thought and faith. How can we experiment on the lords words if we don't truly understand them (I'm not talking about fully understanding the lords words lol because I don't know if that is possible) but gaining more knowledge. Which will expand our faith, which will allow us to grow, and then trusting in the Lord becomes a lot easier. I think there is a reason that the lord asked all of us to study the scriptures diligently. So in conclusion we need more knowledge, but not just any knowledge but pure knowledge led by the Holy Ghost, i.e., spiritual knowledge.

And that is the spiritual thought of the month lol.

So I am doing great, I feel good, I have no idea if this arm will ever heal, and I want to rip this cast off every day. Florida just isn't the place to have a cast.

I'm not sure why I am driving; I just do it because the paper they give us said I have to lol. I think Elder Zubia would rather drive also :)

The companionship is good and Elder Zubia is a great missionary. I like serving with him, I am learning a lot from him, he is quite the student of the scriptures.

1 Year!

On July 22, 2010 Sterling hit the one year mark!

Update Since the End of June

This is a picture of Sterling after he and his companions got finished painting a man's house pink.

Here is an update and some pictures since the last post:

Sterling had wrist surgery again on July 2nd because his wrist just wasn't healing. In his email he stated:

I am in a lot of pain. In the first procedure, I didn't feel any pain afterwards, but right now I'm even on oxycodone and it still hurts. The doctor changed the procedure at the last minute, he told me that they were going to take some bone from my forearm, and put it into the cavity that the screw made in my wrist. Basically he said that they did a bone graft. Also, the doctors sponsors are going to donate a bone stimulator to me so that is pretty cool. I should be getting it in soon.*

*This is a real blessing to the family. The bone stimulator will help him out a lot but the insurance wouldn't cover it and it is very expensive.

Here is a picture of Ster after his surgery and then him in his cast with the stimulator port on his wrist. He attached a device to that port and the ultrasound makes blood flow in the area which will help with his healing.

Update from July 10th:

Well, hello there family. This is your son Elder Nisson reporting in from South Florida. An update on my arm It is still swollen, but that's to be expected. The pain is pretty much gone. I only took 3 Oxycodone the whole time because I would get the worst migraines I have ever had in my life. In fact, I have never had a migraine so they were the worst I have ever had in my life. Elder Alger dropped his pencil on the floor when I was having one and the noise almost made me double over. So I just dealt with the pain in my wrist and took some Tylenol. That took care of the migraines, the sick stomach and my arm doesn't hurt that much so I'm good.

We have found 6 new investigators this week so that is great news. We didn't do anything on the 4th but do missionary stuff. There was some TV show like CSI Miami or something filming a block away from our house but we didn't get to go see. Kind of cool I guess. Transfers are coming up next week. I have a feeling I will be transferred but that probably means I'm staying. lol.

A picture of Ster and his two companions Elder Alger and Elder Parry

Update from July 13th:

Well, I'm being transferred tomorrow. I don't know where I'm going or who my companion will be. It is always nerve racking wondering what's going to happen. Am I going back to Spanish? (Hope not). Am I going to get a good comp? (Hope so) What's my area going to be like? (Who knows) You know those kinds of things. But, you just have to remember to trust in the Lord and pray for strength in whatever trials come and remember His mercy and His desire to only do that which is best for all his children. :)

I heard from my Mission President and he indicated that he expects that from now on transfers will last from six months to a year. So it looks like I might be where ever I'm going for a while.

Update from July 19th:

My new companion is Elder Zubia, who is an assigned English speaking missionary. He is also the District Leader of our area. We are as far south as you can go, except for the Elders who are in the Keys. We are in the Homestead area and it is certainly different than any where I have been before. It is kind of set apart from the rest of south Florida and it is a very easy going place and people are friendly. Elder Zubia has about 6 more months left on his mission. I had to give a little schpeel about who I am and my conversion story on Sunday. No problem there I guess. I still get very nervous when I have to give a talk but when I get up there my heart rate goes down and my legs stop shaking. LOL So once again the tender mercies of the Lord getting me through another talk.

The ward is pretty good. Elders Quorum is like ours in West Jordan. There is no interaction and we will have long periods of silence. So one of us missionaries has to speak up. So Sunday was a good experience.

Now to my arm, well it is sad to say but I lost the battle, they have to amputate my arm. Kidding of course, but I did lose a battle. I begged the doctor not to put me in a hard cast for 5 weeks in this horrible Florida weather but he insisted that my arm be in a hard cast so it can't move around. It was a sad day. It was a 3 hour trip just to get to West Palm Beach and I'm the driver now, so we got lost a couple of times (figures). But we made it. I will have to go back in 5 weeks and get the cast off. Oh funny thing, my hand from the scar to my first two knuckles might be numb for the rest of my life. Isn't that awesome? Something about moving some nerves during the surgery and I may or may not recover feeling in that spot. All I really heard was that I won't feel pain, so cool.

An update on my eye. Still having issues. I'm going to a doctor appointment in Ft Lauderdale today where they will chop into my eye again.*

* We heard from the church's office and his surgery went well. Here is a picture of his eye.

HOPEFULLY, this will be the last of all medical issues w/ Ster while on his mission.

Email from 06.21.10

We heard from Sterling today since he wasn't available on Saturday due to the Mission conference.

How are you all doing this wonderful Monday? Oh wait, first let me say HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! I know it isn’t for a couple of days but I won’t be on here in a couple of days. Love you dad.

I did get to reconnect with some old comps, and good friends here in the mission at the conference, that was pretty fun. Talking with Elder Jarvie is always fun. The activities were good and very in depth, so that was cool. I felt like my head would explode with all the riddles and clues and the running around that we did. As you know, I’m not as young as these other missionaries out here, lol, my knees and hip started to hurt, that was embarrassing ha ha.... the Christ mosaic was amazing and the whole activity was from 8 am to 8 pm. I was exhausted by the end of it. But it was all very nice and I learned a lot.

Yep my third surgery in my life.... wait a minute how many surgeries did I have when I wasn’t on my mission? Yea that’s right, 0, now how many will I have most likely, 4, because they have to do something with my eye again lol, I’m falling apart out here, and it's kind of funny but just mostly embarrassing. I feel like an old man going to doctor visits constantly, no offense dad, you know I love you. Sister Welch is so Amazing, probably one of the coolest senior missionaries out here, she is really funny. Oh yea I will be having surgery again on the 2nd of July!!

We will be having a baptism on Tues, her name is Sister Netti Baker she is 63. And if you remember Olgin, he will also be baptized on your birthday, so the 23rd is going to be a busy day.

Something funny, a couple of days ago me and Elder Alger had one of the worst mission days ever, lol, it was so funny, we were buffed at appointments and it was so humid, people were being....let’s say less than hospitable, and I then found out I had to get surgery again, and my right hip and knee were killing me. It was so funny, well it was funny afterwards, then to top it all off, some woman who knew about Mormons was riding behind us while we were walking and said "Hey Mormon Boys" we looked back and this woman flashes us. I can tell you that hell opened up and decided to mess with us. Then we were on exchanges, walking down the road and that same woman was coming our way, and we looked at our exchange, a brand new member of like 2 months, and kind of yelled quietly and said “Harry close your eyes.” He wasn’t very happy, but did it, then me and Elder Alger closed ours and as we did we could see that woman going for her shirt again. It was so funny because Harry thought it was some kind of trust exercise, and it was, so he had no idea what was really going on, because we didn’t tell him, you know you don’t tell people you are having a hell of a day right? Anyways, when that day ended all we wanted to do was go to bed lol. But now I can laugh at that day because so many things went wrong lol. Anyways, funny story, and Elder Parry who is in cool air conditioned office till about 5 pm comes out and says it can’t be that bad, I wanted to slap him silly for a little bit. ahh good times.

I'm glad you are enjoying the book (Sterling gave Dad “The Continuous Atonement” for a father’s day gift). I loved it just because it seemed like it was almost talking directly to me. It just made the relationship between us and the Savior so much more personal. I don’t know how to really explain it other than I just received a huge amount of love and appreciation for the Atonement and the Savior. It was amazing for me, and I hope you like it also.

Well I love you guys and have to get off. I will talk to you all later, hopefully I will be able to send a letter today. I think the world of you guys, and pray for you all every night.

Again, happy birthday dad, you are amazing.

Conference Images from 06.19.2010

On the Florida Ft. Lauderdale Mission site they posted some images from the mission conference that they had this weekend. The following images are the ones that had Ster in them. Here is the first picture from the conference. Can you find him? I have to say I'm pretty impressed with his arms. He looks great! :)




The second one is a mosaic image of Christ where they used pictures of missionaries from their area. The theme of the Mission Conference was: Can They See You In Him. Can you find Sterling? I'll give you a hint, the image is his main missionary image and he's in the shoulder area.

On the mission blog they had this caption under this picture: We are the Face of the Savior in South Florida. They had this picture behind some curtains, and I am sure it was breath taking, as they opened the curtains & revealed this picture of the Savior, done with Missionary pictures and pictures of their mission experiences. This collage had to be at least 10 feet tall.

Update

There was a missionary conference today and since this was Ster's P-Day we didn't hear from him. We're not sure if we will hear from him in the beginning of the week or not until next Saturday.

We did get a call from the mission office though saying that the doctor wants to take out the pin in his wrist since it isn't healing. So on to surgery #3! We just think this is hilarious. OK, maybe only I (Pam) do. He is 24 and has never had any surgeries. He goes on his mission and in less than a year will have 3. :)

Email from 06.12.10

Guess what I did yesterday? I mowed the lawn, that's right I did it. For some apparent reason I thought I wouldn’t have to do that for another year and a month, but this Veteran, who has emphysema, and who we are teaching, needed some help. I'm thinking what in the world, do all veterans get the good life just because they get shot down 12 times or shot 3 times or get put behind enemy lines???... ya You Veterans do deserve the help.

Here is a picture of me mowing the lawn. :)

We should be having a baptism on the 23rd and possibly one on the 11th of July. Nothing really amazing to report. Physically I think I'm doing well, mentally I'm Super tired. Spiritually I'm doing well.

Thank you so much, you guys are truly amazing, I really have grown a deep appreciation for everything you guys do for this family.

Pat Wa is a funny language it is English just shorten everything and it is pat WA. Like "what’s going on" is "wa gwan man" you always have to say man after it lol. I can’t speak Creole, or really understand it but because the Haitian people live close to the the Dominican Republic they speak Spanish sometimes. It is definitely a new experience.

Humidity is killing me, go outside and SWEAT, just tons and tons of SWEAT, it is horrible sometimes lol, man I don’t remember OK being like this, it is so bad, kind of funny though. It is worse cuz we bike every day. We have very few miles we can use in the car.

My eye is fine the results came back negative, so that good but I still have a weird lump in my eye, but I think it is going away.

Well I love you guys, the gospel is true and you are so amazing, and I am so blessed to have parents and family like you.