Listening to the Spirit... (07/25/09)

We received this in his 2nd letter to us:

Here is a really cool spiritual experience. It was the 2nd or 3rd day we have been here, I and a few elders were studying the 3rd lesson in Preach My Gospel. And I could tell something was wrong with one of them. He was a little depressed and I wanted to help him. So I asked, "Elder X, are you OK?" he replied "Ya, I'm fine".

I really didn't know what to say because I knew he wasn't fine. I asked "Can I do anything for you?" He replied again "I'm fine." I knew he wasn't but what could I say? So I just started reading lesson 3 again.

While I was reading I got an interesting thought. So I just said what popped in my head. I asked "Elder X, in your patriarchal blessing did it say that you would go on a mission?" He kind of sat up from his slouching position and said "actually it did." I replied "That's a cool thing to know. Knowing that the Lord knew that you were going to serve him!" He said "Ya, it is pretty cool." That was the end of the conversation, but Elder X started to get back into action.

As we were all walking down the hall, he turned to me and said something along the lines of "Elder Nisson, I was really starting to doubt that being on a mission was the right decision, until you mentioned my patriarchal blessing. Thanks." Just shows you how the Lord works, It was a pretty cool experience.

His First District...

Here is a picture of his first District on the way to the temple on their P-Day.


They lost 2 sisters and 1 elder due to them having a higher understanding of the Spanish language. Because of that the elder who lost his companion joined Ster and Elder Flint. So their companionship became 3. The third companion is their District Leader, Elder Cotterell. He is the one sitting down with Elder Flint under the sign below.

His First Companion...

On Sterling's first day at the MTC he was introduced to his companion, Elder Flint. This picture was when he first met him. Can you believe he was this social on the first day? :)

Ster and Elder Flint take turns on being the Senior Companion. Ster was the Senior Companion for the first month and Elder Flint the Sr. Companion the second month.

Here they are in front of "The Map". I guess everyone takes a picture in front of the map showing where they are going. Ster pointing to Ft. Lauderdale and Elder Flint pointing to Paraguay.

Dropping him off to the MTC... (07/22/09)

OK, I have one word for the MTC drop off. FAST. It happened SO Fast! They changed it now so you have to drop them off at the curb.

So we took all of our pictures before we left the house. The only one I"m going to attach is his last photo w/ the parents. So cute. :)

Then we (Mom, Dad, Spence, Ster and Pam) got all in the car and drove down. It was a kind of quiet drive. Here is a pic of Ster sandwiched between Spence and I.

We get to the MTC, they tell us to go to drop off #7. We arrive at our numbered station. There are TONS of missionaries EVERYWHERE. All lined up and ready for the new recruits. Ster gets out of the car...

A man comes up and starts giving him some instructions. This lasted about a minute or two.

During this time 2 missionaries come up and get his luggage for him. He says a quick goodbye to everyone again and they escort him to the MTC doors.

SERIOUSLY the whole experience was 3 minutes long. The one thing we wished we could have gotten was a picture of him being "escorted" by the 2 missionaries but we were all in the car and leaving so fast that we didn't get one. Bummer.

On the drive home we just kept commenting on how weird that experience was, how fast it was and realizing that he won't be in our day to day lives any more. Sounds like we were mourning but it was a type of mourning. He is everyone's friend and he is just so much fun to have around. We definitely are so excited when we get a letter in the mail from him.

The Nisson Boys...

We needed to take an official picture of Ster for his Mission Plaque at church. (His mission pic is in the upper left hand corner) So while we did that we had him take a picture w/ Spence and then w/ Spence and Dad. They turned out really great.

Receiving the call...

Here are some great pictures of Ster receiving his call to his mission. I especially love the last one.

Ster was nice enough to wait until Spencer and I (Pam) got home from work. The parents, Becca and her 2 boys, Spence and I were at the house. Deb was on the phone. We tried to get a hold of Cyndi but couldn't get through. Come to find out we were calling her while she was in school. Sorry Cyn! :)

Here is Ster holding his letter. I love the smile on his face.

Here he is starting to read his call...

He just read that he will be serving his mission in the Florida, Fort Lauderdale SPANISH Speaking mission...

When he read that he laughed big time. :) Of course, all of the girls were yelling. Ok, only Becca and me. Deb couldn't hear because of that so he read her the beginning part of the letter which made her yell as well. Then Cyndi called back right at this time and Ster read her the beginning part of the letter. We were all so excited. He was very excited as well. Nervous about another language but still excited.

Mom said 'Well, you are probably the farthest away you could possibly get from us but stay within the states'. :)

The Florida Fort Lauderdale mission covers the bottom tip of Florida, including Miami and the Keys. (Better stay away from Miami during Spring Break time!) :D

The long road towards a mission...

Since Sterling was a young boy he talked about serving a mission. When in High School things kind of changed. He quit talking about it and we, his family, noticed a social difference. He loved old people, children and animals, but did not care to be with his peers except his best friend from elementary school Michael Quinones. When Sterling graduated from High School we, his parents, talked to him about getting ready for his mission, and it was then he told us that he wasn't going to go. Possibly because it never mentioned him going on a mission in his Patriarchal Blessing.  He used it as a reason why maybe he is not suppose to go. Since we had a couple of boys in our ward that came home soon after they left for their mission we didn't want to push Sterling, we wanted it to be his decision. For 4 yrs we prayed that he would know the Lord's will concerning a mission.  We would also occasionally ask him if he had changed his mind about serving a mission. His reply was always "No, I am not going". We would just say "Oh okay, just thought we would ask in case you changed your mind".

In Dec 2008 Sterling had a meeting with President Smith, our Stake President.  He told Sterling that his heart wasn't open to the Spirit. That statement really bothered Sterling that he would be hard-hearted. Also at that time, Spencer & Melanie gave him the book Christ and the New Covenant by Elder Jeffery R. Holland for Christmas. He started his quest to draw closer to the Lord, by reading that book, reading scriptures, praying daily, and also fasting. He was also confused about what direction to go for his education. He was in a real quandary at the time. On Sunday March 8th 2009, during the Sacrament, he was again praying for direction of what to do, including mission or not. He said that the answer came to him so strongly and he thought to himself "Oh Crap, I am going on a Mission". When we (his parents) came home from Idaho, we told him that his Aunt had asked if he was going to go and we told her no that he didn't really want to. Then, Sterling said to us "now I don't want you to get excited and over-react, but I have decided to serve a mission".

Since that moment he has never wavered in his decision. In fact his conviction to go only got stronger. He would say "I know I am suppose to go and Serve the Lord". His joy and excitement just constantly increased as he prepared to go. He was ready and anxious to get started on his Mission for the Lord. An answer to many peoples prayers.....