West Palm Beach...

So his first area is West Palm Beach. His companion is Elder Hamilton from Kansas. We received 2 emails from Sterling on his P-Day, which is Monday:

Well it's been my first week in Florida, and so far so good. I have met some really cool people, all of them are super nice, and very patient with my spanish. We will be having 1 for sure maybe 2 baptisms this week so that will be cool. One of the people we are baptizing is an older woman called Mihian, and she has 7 Cats, thats right Satans pet. But she knows the church is true and she wants to be baptized. So thats cool. The bishop asked that all the new missionaries in the ward would bare their testimony, so I bore my testimony yesterday in Spanish, and I'm not going to lie it was pretty rough lol. but thats the breaks. My companions name is Elder Hamilton and he lived in Kansas. He has only 2 months left in the mission field. He will leave on the 16th of Dec. so I'm probably going to be his last comp. He is really good at his spanish. We drive a car, and there is no grid system here in West Palms, so I have absolutely no idea where we are going, EVER. Luckily Elder Hamilton does.

Their is some crazy things I have seen so far. One thing I like but it's not crazy is their are lizards everywhere. Lol, kinda fun. Also I have seen some iguanas, turtles and frogs. No aligators "YET" and when I find one I'm going to jump on it and ask my comp to take a picture. The only draw back is getting off the aligator hmm... I don't know but I will figure it out.

Mission President & his Wife...

Here is a pic of President and Sister Hale, the Mission President and his wife, with Sterling. This was taken the day he arrived.

We also received an email from President Hale welcoming Sterling into their mission. Here are some things that he mentioned in his email:

This month we attained a record 61 baptisms! This reflects a 220% increase from this same month last year and an increase of 151% in the average weekly number of baptisms per missionary this entire quarter over the same quarter last year. October should be even stronger – our goal is that every companionship is baptizing every month (some every week) and more importantly that everyone is experiencing a greater happiness and joy as a result of their increased efforts. We believe what happens to one of us, happens to all of us and we thrill in the success of everyone mission wide!

Shortly before Sister Hale and I departed on our mission I was able to spend some ‘one on one’ personal time with President Uchtdorf. As I departed his home he said, “Nathan, your missionaries will experience tremendous success in finding, teaching, baptizing and retaining new converts as never before.” I regard this as prophesy and sincerely desire it’s fulfillment. It’s coming – we can feel it and it will be “tremendous” – as foretold.

First Letter from Florida...

Was a hoot! It was a piece of paper that had a typed message to the missionaries that said 'We would like your parents to receive a letter from you on the first week. Please complete this letter no later than Wed evening and ensure that it is mailed by Thu afternoon." It then listed the top 10 questions parents/families usually have. They recommended answering those type of questions in their letters.

What Ster did: He answered those questions 1-10 on the back of the letter the mission office gave him! Too funny. :) So here are some things he said:

1. First impression of Florida: I was stoked once I got here, and the humidity is AWESOME! (Can you hear his sarcastic voice?) :)

2. The mission president and his wife along w/ the APs were at the airport to meet and pick them up. (APs: Assistant to the mission President)

3. What happened when they got there: We had lunch at the mission pres house and a meeting there. About their purpose. Their purpose is to baptize. Which in their area has been a 200% increase!

4. What is making you happy right now: Is the spirit and knowing that eventually I will learn Spanish

5. What do you especially appreciate about your family or those supporting you: Thank you for all your love and support. I'm probably on this mission because of your constant prayers and example to me.

6. What advice that you received before leaving is turning out to be the most valuable: Having patience, being humble, most important stay faithful.

Which one is Sterling...

Someone from his District, or one of his teachers, drew an image of each person in their District. Ster took a pic of each person in his district by their drawing. Really a great job. So, do you know which one is Sterling??? :) You can click on the image to make it larger.

Yep, this is the one. Love the eyebrow! :)

Last Pics with his MTC District and their Teachers...

Here are some images of his District with their teachers. The ones that taught them Spanish. It is the female in the middle and the male on the bottom row to the right. Sister Weiss and Brother Sturgill.

Either doing Ster's gang sign or one of their own. :)

(We're not sure what they are doing here. Maybe some Lamanite sign language???)

Last Pics with his MTC District...

Here are some last pictures of him at the MTC with his District.

Hello, my name is Awesome...

Sterling was my (Pam) primary co-teacher. We taught the 6 turning 7 year olds. Great kids! Well, at the beginning of the year he convinced the kids that his first name was Awesome. :) So they all started to call him that. Then their parents started to call him that, then random church members started to call him that. He looked over at me and said "I didn't really think this through did I?" It was SO funny! So one day I was out shopping and saw this shirt that said 'Hello, My Name is Awesome!' I just had to get it. I sent it to him and told him to make sure he takes a picture in it so I can give a copy to the kids in our class.

Cousins...

(I'll explain the shirt in the blog above)

Here is a pic of Ster with his cousin Jonathon Osborn at the MTC. Jonathon's mission is Northern California. He went into the MTC after Ster did and left a week before him. :) Funny enough, they were in the same dorm building so they ran into each other all the time. Small world!

His Travels and He's Arrived...

Dad heard from Sterling for about 3 minutes when he had a moment in Atlanta, his layover. We were wondering why we didn't hear from him at the SLC airport this morning and now we know why:

Well being flight leader has some trials as he has come to find out. So they arrived at the airport in SLC and one of the sisters realized that she left her ID and money on the bus. So Ster called the MTC who then contacted the bus driver who drove back to the airport to give her her money & ID. They had to rush to their flight. Ster said they barely made it.

Way to go Ster, way to take charge. :)

So he called again when he arrived in Florida and Dad talked to him for about 2 minutes. They were waiting for their baggage and APs to arrive. He thinks that they will stay at the mission home tonight. Can't wait to hear how his first few days in FL go.

Don't worry, they got permission to call while traveling. :)

He's Leaving...

Ster found out that he is flying to FL the morning of September 22nd with 7 or 8 other people. He has also been made flight leader. I guess that means that he will be making sure that everyone stays together and makes their flights.

First Lesson Teaching in Spanish... (09/01/09)

Here is some good news on the lesson that we did in Spanish on Wednesday, Aug 26th. It was like a train wreck. It was horrible. But the lesson on Saturday the 29th went amazing. I study about 2 of Christ's attributes every week and while I was studying humility I realized that when we were teaching on Wednesday we were trying to rely on ourselves and not on the Lord. So I tried really hard to humble myself and rely completely on the Lord and just study my hardest and try to concentrate on the investigator/visitor and it went absolutely wonderful. I mean we still messed up with our words and our tenses but the spirit was very strong. It was just such a humbling experience. Then after the lesson we were so pumped about the experience and so I told my comp's that we need to give a huge prayer of thanks.

Apostolic Blessing... (08/26/09)

At one of our devotionals Elder Richard G. Scott was there and talked. I have never seen this side of an apostle before, it felt so personal in the devotional like the talk was something that felt like it hit home to every one of us at the meeting.

First he looked at the crowd, then asked for all the missionaries who are going to be speaking another language to raise their hands. So we all did. After that, he gave us an Apostolic blessing for the gift of tongues. Any doubt I had about me learning Spanish vanished when he said that. Oh my goodness the spirit was so strong, it was absolutely amazing.

He then preceded with his talk. His first principle was "I will seek to learn by what I hear, see and feel." He talked about the importance of writing down experiences. He then talked about the benefits of being led by the spirit and how to discern a thought from the Spirits impressions. Then Elder Scott talked about if we want guidance from the spirit we have to take action and said to learn to be sensitive to the spirit and obey it's promptings, and obey it's prompting even if you don't understand why.

He also said to take your time in prayer to pour your heart out to the Lord, don't rush the sacred privilege of speaking with our Father in Heaven.

Then he gave another Apostolic blessing that we will be protected in everything we do, as long as we have faith in Jesus Christ and use good judgement.

But even more amazing was his testimony. He said, "If we only remember one thing tonight remember that the Savior Jesus Christ lives, and the Atonement made live the plan of salvation. Without it we would have nothing. With it, we have everything." Then ended with "I know he lives because I know him." It was so personal and probably one of the greatest experiences I have ever had.

His Daily Schedule...

We received a letter on 8/19/09 that lists his schedule. I've also included some pics of his room, desk and classroom:

6:30am - Wake Up, usually wait in line for a shower, take about a 5 min shower (Yes I have been taking 5 min showers) (**Side note from his sister - he would take 20-30 min showers at our house**) get out, dry off, get dressed, do hair, shave, get breakfast, go to class at 7:20am

7:30am - Class starts. Class goes for about 2-3 hours, and during that time we learn Preach My Gospel (PMG) and Spanish.

9:30am - Have personal study for an hour. In personal study I usually read the BOM for 20 minutes, then study one of the attributes of Jesus Christ, such as Faith, Hope, Charity, knowledge, and so forth. I study one of these attributes in the BOM/PMG for about 20 min sometimes 40 min, but if I only studied that for 20 min then I would study "Jesus the Christ" by James Talmage. After that our personal time is over.

1:00pm - We go into companion study for an hour and review together what we learned in personal study then for the rest of the hour we go over the lesson we will be teaching that week, find scriptures that support our beliefs or go over something that we think is really important. Then we go to lunch

11:30am - Lunch

12:00pm - Gym

1:00pm - Shower, get ready, go back to class

1:30pm - Have a lesson for 2-3 hours depending on the day. then have Idioma for about an hour, which is language study. I usually study flashcards for 20 min, then verbs for 20 min, then tenses/conjugations for 20 min.

4:30pm - Dinner

5:00pm - Class to have MDT which is a time you can study anything you want until 7pm

7:00pm - Devotionals, zone teaching, TA meetings, referall center time

8:30pm - More MDT time

9:00pm - We plan in class as a companionships for the next day for what we want to go over in our companion studies, then we plan for ourselves for personal, language and MDT.

9:30pm - We head to our room and from that time until 10:30 we can do what we want, such as journal writing, vending machines, or just hang around and talk.

(**His desk he shares w/ his companion**)

10:30pm - In bed/sleep

6:30am - Start the whole process over again (except for P-Days and Sundays)

May the Force be With You...

We got these pictures of Ster. He refuses to explain how he does it no matter how many times we ask:

The Nisson "Gang"...

Sterling and Spence have a "gang" sign that they do to each other and in almost every picture they take. Here is an image of Ster standing by the Statue of Samuel H. Smith, the first missionary, showing the "gang" sign: :)

Then Ster in front of the Provo Temple:

He has started to recruit other missionaries at the MTC:

(Elder Cotterell, their District Leader)

The Name is Nisson, Sterling Nisson... (08/12/09)

One day I was brushing my teeth and one of the elders walked out of a stall and said to me "Has anyone ever told you, you look like James Bond from Quantum of Solace and Casino Royal?" I just kind of laughed and said "No, I haven't". He just stared at me and said "Well, you look just like him" Then he started calling other people in to examine me, and all of them kept saying that I look like him, so I was getting really uncomfortable. But that's not the end of it, now I am called Quantum of Solace by a couple of the Elders here, so it's kind of funny.

Elder Nisson Epistle of Answers found in the Book of Nisson...

We got a letter from Ster that had a lot of answers and this is how it read: (08/12/09)

Alright, since you guys are asking like a kagillion questions. This letter will be called, and forever be known as the Elder Nisson Epistle of answers found in the Book of Nisson (That has a nice ring to it)

(His sister will only put down a few answers of the 20 he provided)

- yes, I have had a haircut and they still leave the front too long, and I'm thinking of cutting it myself.

- I have lost 2 pounds since I have been here, and I am doing some P90X twice a week after basketball, but lately I have been playing soccer with the rest of the district. I usually play soccer to get some running in and it's funny to watch everyone play and laugh because there is only like 5 people who know how to play soccer and I'm not one of them.

- The meals rotate each week but you eventually start having the same stuff. Yesterday I decided to try this pork meal, and it tasted like they poured salt on it, then threw it in the Great Salt Lake, then dunked it in a vat of salt then served it to us. Needless to say it was very salty.

- Elder Flint is doing better in Spanish, I'm basically where I was last week, but I have faith that eventually it will kick in.

(He ended his letter with the following:)

I know this is the work of our Savior, and I love this Gospel so much and I am happy to serve the Lord who has given me an insurmountable amount of blessings. And I know that the Lord will bless me with the gift of tongues in the Lords time, which will be the time I'm supposed to have it, and I have faith that it will happen. I love you mom and dad so much.

Gospels True!

A Few Tidbits from His Letters...

July 29, 2009:

Today was our p-day and it was pretty nice to wear regular clothes again. We did our laundry (No discolored shirts in the end boo yaaa!) Got some things laminated and basically just chilled today. We will be going to the temple at 12:20, which I'm excited for.

Elder Flint and I taught the first lesson on Tuesday (7/28) about the Restoration of the Gospel in English. It went really well.

I still can't get the language down so that's a little frustrating but I'm sure I will eventually get it.

August 5, 2009:

First fast sacrament was a little rough. I was so exhausted. I had the infant head thingy. lol. First fast was good, and probably my first actual 24 hour fast. Yes I did bare my testimony but I did it in English, cuz my Spanish is horrible.

I had a real hard time going to sleep the first night, in fact I don't think I got to sleep until 2am. That was rough night, but since then it has been easier to get to sleep. In the waking up department, it has been super easy, ever since I got here I have been a really light sleeper

(**Side note from his sister - we could never wake him up. Even a fire alarm that went off in the middle of the night that was even in his bedroom couldn't wake him up so for him to be a light sleeper and be able to wake up on his own is a miracle. :) **)

Sometimes it is hard to teach with one of the elders. He has a short fuse and I have had to talk to him about having the spirit of the Lord with him and stop bringing in the spirit of contention.

Things have been going better with Spanish, I'm still not good at writing in Spanish or speaking Spanish, but for some reason I can understand it pretty good. Which is nice when our teacher is only speaking spanish for the day. I am about the same age as one of my teachers which is kind of funny. The studying is going fine, and since it is the only thing you get to do away from class, you start enjoying it.

August 12, 2009:

I told my companions all about you guys. They like the war stories I told about you dad, I have basically raised you to a superman level. Talking about how you took out thousands of people w/ one well placed missile, hovering in the air, while you took out the people below, how you ran over mine after mine and you didn't even get a scratch, and yes, I did include the dragons. LOL but seriously they think your pretty cool w/ the stories I have told of you. Mom they love you too, haha I shared some of the letters you sent me and they all laugh at the instructions to keep my hands out of my pockets. I just tell them "It's because she is a redhead" they also get jealous when they see the letters you send me and they don't get any, lol, well I tell them it's because my mother loves me.

(**Side note from his sister, Ster's pockets on his dress pants tore twice before he went on his mission so Mom told him to just keep his hands out of his pockets and maybe that will help :) **)