Elder Sterling J. Nisson

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

2010-09-02T09:12:00.008-06:00

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

2010-08-27T22:20:00.006-06:00

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

2010-08-08T12:34:00.003-06:00

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!

2010-07-26T23:55:00.002-06:00

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

Update Since the End of June

2010-07-25T12:46:00.013-06:00

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

2010-06-24T15:09:00.002-06:00

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

2010-06-20T22:06:00.009-06:00

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

2010-06-19T23:05:00.003-06:00

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

2010-06-14T21:19:00.012-06:00

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.

Email from 06.05.10

2010-06-08T14:35:00.009-06:00

Here is a picture of Junior, myself and the girl that we just baptized, Adelphe Jousil.

Well my reign as senior comp has ended. LOL. Elder Alger is now the District Leader so he needs to be the SC.

The reasons for the transfers are because some new missionaries were coming in mid-transfer so people were switched around a lot. I don’t know why I had to go, and I definitely have no idea why I am in this area. I have prayed and fasted about it, and what I do know, is that this is where the Lord wants me at this time. We had to get a new place because there wasn’t enough room for all the elders in Fort Lauderdale so they had to find a place for us to live.

I feel fantastic; my wrist only hurts if something pulls back on my thumb. I had surgery on my eye, in fact the doctors were surprised at what they saw, and there was a poor little intern with the eye doctor who got a little scared when he looked at my eye, lol, so funny. They thought it was just a bacteria build up, but when they cut into it they weren’t real sure because it was different than what they were expecting. So they took a couple of sample pieces to the lab. I haven’t heard back yet and I go in for a checkup in 5 days I think. By the way, what’s with all the surgeries? I go 23 years without one then all of the sudden I get 2 in the same year, pretty crazy.

The teaching pool is great, we found 5 kids ranging from 11-17 and they are very interested, so we will see what happens with them. We also have a woman named Netti Baker who will be baptized on the 23rd, and a guy named Ronni who is 17 and he has a date to be baptized on the 3rd of July. I am learning a little Jamaican Creole and Haitian Patwa languages. It is kind of fun . We are still studying in Spanish each day, but in this area, I doubt we will use it much.

Here is a picture of George Halas, Bro Halas’ son, and me. He was in my last area

Email from 05.29.10

2010-05-31T12:55:00.002-06:00

It has been getting really hot and humid lately and we are on bikes a lot, because we have very limited miles we can use for the car. Elder Alger and I got drenched a couple of days ago, it was hilarious because we were going to visit a contact but we had no idea if she was even home. So we said a prayer and ran for it and we were wet from head to foot, dripping everywhere, when we got to our contact Deborah’s house, her brother came to the door, and let us in, the mom called us crazy for being out in that weather, but she gave us towels to dry off. We were able to have a very spiritual message with Deborah and she said she would pray and ask if the things that we taught were true. So I guess sacrifice brings blessing huh, who knew?

That is so cool that it snowed over there, I kind of miss it a little bit, I really miss the mountains though. Something cool though, I think we live by one of the only true hills in Florida and we ride up and down it almost every day...fun stuff.

So I might have to get something cut out of my eye, apparently my sty that I thought I had wasn't one at all. They think one of my pores is clogged and they might need to cut it out. Yaaa, that it so exciting I haven't even been out a year and I will have 2 surgeries here in Florida, so funny. I finally got sister Welch to look at it, and when she did she said "O my that isn't good at all"

New Update...

2010-05-17T22:41:00.002-06:00

We just got a letter in the mail from the Mission Preside that Ster was made Senior Companion in this new area. Can't wait to hear all his new experiences.

Update from the Mission Field

2010-05-16T17:04:00.010-06:00

So a little and a lot have been going on with Sterling. The last two weeks there wasn't a lot of information in his emails. Mom did get a wonderful letter where he bore his testimony for her for Mother's Day. It was a wonderful letter. Things have been going well with Elder Jarvie and him. They had another baptism, her name is Adelphe Jousil. They had Junior (his pic is in the post below) baptize her and one of the Elders confirmed her.

Here is a pic of Ster and a man in his ward. He is a health enthusiast, if you can't tell. :) He was giving information in regards to supplements when Ster wasn't feeling well.

Then there was an upheaval this last week. Both Elder Jarvie & Ster had a PPI w/ the Mission President this week. Then the Mission Pres told them that they are wanting to make some changes in another area and told them that they are being split up and that Ster is going to be transferred the next day. So Ster packed up and is now in the Ft. Lauderdale South mission. He is with 2 other Elders, Parry & Alger. Both are Spanish speaking missionaries but they are in an English speaking area. Elder Alger is Sterlings companion. Elder Parry works in the office during the day. After he finishes in the office he will then join up with Ster and his comp to finish out the day. Transfers weren't for another 3 weeks so this was a shock for everyone.

We know that there is a reason for this transfer and why Sterling was transferred. Can't wait to see why. Keep your prayers coming for him!

Email from 04.26.10

2010-04-29T14:07:00.004-06:00

After transfers Ster and Elder Jarvie are still together in the same area for another 6 weeks. They both seem happy about it.

This is Fania, she's 18, on her baptism day. Aaron, 20, is baptizing her. He goes out on exchanges with them. According to Ster he really likes hanging out with the missionaries and is a pretty funny guy. Ster and his comp are trying to get the ward more involved so they are having them do the baptisms and the missionaries confirm. He had to baptize Fania a few times because of a few issues but it all turned out alright in the end.

This is Junior, who is the only member of his family. He is preparing to go out on a mission himself. He goes on splits w/ Ster and Elder Jarvie as well. Don't they all look scary and threatening? ;)

Email from 04.20.10

2010-04-20T11:13:00.005-06:00

Today is transfer day and Ster is staying in the same place. We are really happy about this and so is he! Here is his email. I'm not lying, I laughed hard on this one:

Well hey guys it’s your son Elder Nisson.

So Elder Jarvie and I are going round three baby woot woot, so we are going to try to get all our progressing investigators baptized. Well that has always been the plan but you know, stuff happens.

So I just want to say that I didn't like slam any of you when I was giving that talk about the family I was just using you guys as examples of the perfect parents, so just wanted you to know that nothing I said was in any way bashing on you guys ok. Oh yea, I also told them about how no one in the family was allowed to ever say “NO” to mom, lol, yea, our family is so awesome. Because you know I love you all and I look back now and just think of how much love you two show for all of us. I really hope that someday I can be as good a parent as you two are. Writing that talk was kind of a humbling experience for me and how I kind of underappreciated you both and the family in general. Seeing all these other families that we teach sure makes me realize how blessed we are, as your children I mean, to have parents that really care and love their children.

I am doing fine. P-days are pretty boring we shop we clean we write letters, sometimes we do other things like sports but not often, that’s about it. Then at 6 we start teaching again. I still haven't driven. lol. You have to sign a paper and I haven't got around to it. Plus you know how much I don't like driving so I may never get around to it... hehehe.

Teaching pool is slowly dwindling away lol. But we do have 4 dates. Maddie and Shelly Manasse, and Maggie Casmir, and possibly JB Manasse. We have others but they are not progressing very fast.

Spiritual stuff is going good I am still reading the Miracle of Forgiveness and I'm not sure if I'm going to make it lol... ugg depressing, any ways. Also, I'm still marking my book of Mormon whenever it mentions Jesus and all his other names, and whenever Jesus is speaking, either himself or through his prophets. And I’m concentrating on Isaiah, if I can figure out that guy then I can unlock the mysteries of the Universe whahahahahaha. Yea its fun stuff.

Here is a story I would like to tell that actually happened last night. We went to see a member to talk to him and the TV was on, and all the sudden naked women appeared on the TV. Elder Jarvie and I just stared at each other and hurried and turned the television off. Lol Then we decided that what we were going to teach changed, we now turned our attention to the law of chastity lol. So we started to talk to him about it and we came to find that he was really struggling with a few things pertaining to chastity, and we talked to him and told him we need to get all the bad things out of your house so they don't tempt you anymore. He wasn't too happy about that but with some gentle persuasion and the spirit he said ok. So after about 20 min Elder Jarvie and I have two bags in our hands that are just filled with pornography. So here are 2 missionaries with a large amount of dirty movies in our hands lol and we then say a prayer lol. Elder Jarvie said " Elder Nisson I think I can safely say this is the first time I have ever prayed for a man in his home holding pornography" lol so funny, that whole thing was just hilarious and sad at the same time, no joke. Then, while we were driving home we had to call the sisters in the ward where this guy goes to church and I had to tell them what happened. Needless to say I would rather look for and throw away pornography and then help this man with other problems than ever have to tell sister missionaries about this stuff on the phone, oh my goodness, so freaking embarrassing. I’m pretty sure I was very red. So any way, there is a funny and sad story for you.

Email from 04.12.10

2010-04-14T19:30:00.006-06:00

Hey guys how’s life been in Arizona where the cacti run rampant and the red rock are everywhere? (mom and dad were visiting Cyn & Deb in AZ this past weekend)

Yea that place is ridiculous, who decided to colonize over there. You know I think there was a quote from J. Golden Kimball when a man who was a bishop in Arizona when it was just barely lifting off said. "Don’t worry Kimball with some water and some more good people this place will be alright. Elder Kimball responded " Well I’m sure some water and a few good people would make hell a pretty nice place also." that’s good stuff.

Well, how did Ryan’s Baptism go? Did he like it? I’m excited to hear that the kids are doing great in Arizona.

So that is what’s been happening lately, fun stuff huh..........man I’m tired. I’m so tired I have two sty’s in my eyes, one for each side lol, this is getting way too stressful.

And it looks like one of our investigators is going to do some jail time and then a probation period of 2 years so he won’t be getting baptized any time soon, also some investigators saw this PBS special about Mormons, and polygamy and Joseph Smith running for president and all this other stuff, which is sometimes hard to explain.

Also we have Fania, who should be baptized this Sunday hopefully, and then her sibling in the weeks to come, once again hopefully if the Lord wills it anyways. Fania is about 18 years old

Mission is going good. Oh yeah I never told you guys that Elder Jarvie and I had to give talks yesterday in Sacrament meeting, about the family unit. I prepared so much stuff but when I got up there I didn’t use anything and I just told about some examples from our family and how awesome we are. I even got to tell some stories about how me and dad went to the car dealer ship and laid down the price, then, he forgot to ask mom lol such a funny story. Everyone really laughed at that. Also mom I used your 3 things to solve everything, prayer, fasting and sleep. They laughed at that too. I also told about how much you both showed so much love for all of us. I also talked about dad and how he is the greatest hero to me and how I thought he could do anything in the world, and has probably done everything. I also talked about mom and her continual revelation for everyone, and her complete selflessness. Yea, I just talked about you guys, I love you guys so much you both have given me so many stories to tell to people especially our investigators, I'm always telling stories about you two to them, I’m sure Elder Jarvie is getting tired of them but I think they are awesome. You two are AWESOME, love you two so much. I even tell stories about my siblings just so many stories to tell that fit into so many situations lol. ahh good stuff.

Well, after reading the book that dad gave me on Blessings and the talk from Elder Oaks, I have been trying to bless people left and right, and two people we blessed got better by the next day, they both said it was amazing, and we tried to tell them it was the spirit and this is part of what makes our church true. That was some cool spiritual experiences.

I love you guys so much you both are such an amazing example of how a family should be, and I never realized it until I gave this talk. But you two truly knew what you were doing. I feel so blessed now that I know that, I know it is kind of like duhh, But for some reason it just hit me now, and that I need to be like you two. Well I Love you guys so much, thank you for always being that perfect example for me and the family I am truly grateful to the lord for opening my eyes to how awesome you both are. I hope you both are feeling good.

I love you both so much, take care.

The last two weeks

2010-03-29T21:29:00.007-06:00

We've had a few short emails from him the last couple of weeks so I thought I would add some pictures.

Here is a pic of Sterling w/ the turtle that he and his comp found to put in the bathtub of the Zone Leaders that live with them.

Here is a pic of Ster and his companion, who is on the phone, and the third man sitting on the car is Aaron, a member from the Ward they do splits with.

Email from 03.15.10

2010-03-17T21:04:00.005-06:00

Monday was Sterling's birthday and his P-day so we were able to talk to him on his birthday, well, email him anyways. He is now 24 years old!!!

We got a few sentences from him:

How is life today? can you believe that I am 24 years old o my gosh just thinking about it i think I lost my hair line.... lol the elders that live in the apartment kind of find it hard to believe also. Elder Simons who lives with us, has the same B-day as me and he turned 20 today.

2 days ago Elder Jarvie and Myself found a Snapping Turtle, so we decided to catch it. So elder Jarvie said, I don’t know about this. I don’t think it would be that good of an idea. I gave him some calming words and he eventually saw it my way. I told him what if we put it in our Zone leader’s bathtub. (The Zone Leaders are in their apartment) Ya that got his attention, so I picked it up put it in the trunk then proceeded to put it in the ZL bathtub, then the next morning Elder Simons got a nice surprise. He he, so funny, so hilarious, aww it was good stuff. He couldn’t believe what was in there, aww we got such a laugh out of it.

I study with Elder Jarvie, my Spanish is kind of on a downhill, but it's all good things will happen the way they are supposed to happen. Elder Jarvie is a great guy and I am still very happy that I can actually talk to people.

We are having one of the 70's here to talk with us tomorrow for Zone Conference so that will be fun.

We kind of wear them (glasses) whenever we remember to put them on :) (note: This came from a letter Sterling wrote: Sterling suggested that they buy some non prescription glasses to wear because people with glasses look like they are smart and look like they know all the answers. J So they bought some, and lo and behold, they got two new investigators. But he says the charm must have worn off because no new investigators since. Too funny.) (You can see him in glasses in the picture)

Love you so much dad and mom, thank you for your love and support you continually show me, it really lifts me up.

Email from 03.09.10

2010-03-11T11:15:00.004-07:00

We did get an email from him last week but he only said a few words and had to leave.

Transfers happened this week and for the first time since he has been on his mission he isn't being transferred. We're happy about this. I think that he is too. He will be with the same companion, Elder Jarvie. The missionaries that were in his condo are leaving and a Spanish speaking pair of Elders will be moving in. We thought that this was interesting because the area that they are in is mainly caucasian or English speaking. So "technically" Ster's comp is the only assigned English speaking missionary in the area.

He also has a new email address which is listed to the left.

Now his email:

Hi Everyone

The couple that we are teaching who aren't married have decided that they probably should be married. We are just waiting on the date now. Here is a spiritual experience that we had:

We were about to visit Sophia and Alfredo and we received a text form Sophia telling us that she would study with us but doesn’t want to join our church. But we went over there a little later to talk, and we were thinking of something we should say so we went with 3 Nephi 27. But when we got there, Alfredos personality had changed towards us, and he would actually smile at us, and we were thinking something weird was going on. But we went into the house started talking, told them our purpose, the spirit was very strong this lesson and I felt the impression to ask them about some of the feelings they have been having. So they told us and a whole lot of stuff came out. Sophia had a dream the previous night about me and Elder Jarvie Killing her, lol, and Alfredo Had received and Answer from his prayers and knew this was the true church of Jesus Christ. This blew our minds we had no idea Alfred was reading the scriptures and Praying, and he received an answer how amazing, so that is why his attitude towards us changed. and we resolved Sophia’s nightmare problems, lol, so they are back on track and moving forward much much faster than before. Cool huh.

Another experience I had was yesterday Elder Jarvie and I ate at a members, and this member likes spicy things. and I told him how I have had some really spicy peppers before, he then asked me if I would like to try something called the "DEMON" Elder Jarvies told me about this before and I was kind of excited by the offer. Because I was thinking I have had some hot stuff in the past I can handle this. So he put about 4 drops on a chip, when Elder Jarvie did it he only got 1 drop I think, so I eat it.... wait for a second nothing was really happening, then it started coming and coming and coming and got hotter and hotter and hotter. I was so HOT and I was in more pain than I have been in a long time it was worse than my broken arm. I was sweating everywhere, there was not one pore on my body that did not sweat a little, and the pain it feels something like chocking, you can’t get away from it and it was just stuck there, for 10 min this pain lasted, at 5 min they gave me some milk and some ice cubes, o my goodness never again, that thing was so freaking crazy hot.

Email from 02.22.10

2010-02-24T18:00:00.004-07:00

(*Here is a pic of Ster burning a tie at his 6 month mark*)

Just a few words from Ster this week.

We had zone conference last week. Sister Hale taught us about cooking and gave us a list of foods that are easy to make and really cheap. Pres Hale talked about Prayer and having a Mighty Prayer. We participated in a lot of different activities where we worked as a team. One activity was called the helium stick. A group of us had to lower the stick to the ground w/ our fingers and if our fingers came off the stick we had to do push ups. Then another one where we were on a platform with a bunch of tennis balls under us and we had to try and cross the room on the platform and our team were gathering the tennis balls to keep us going. Then my favorite called "Crossing the Beam". We had to try and get everyone across a beam depending on our weight. It was a lot of fun. (To see pics of these activities go to the FL Mission Website, listed to the left) (*Here is a pic of Ster doing the helium game*)

I got my bike fixed. But, listen to this, Ok, so the guy from Frenchie's Bike Shop fixed everything on my bike, things that didn’t need to be fixed, he basically gave me a whole new bike and told me to pay for it. argg... I was thinking "did I ask you to grease my gears or my shocks, or correct my spokes or put jet engines on my seat, or to add a second seat or put on these crazy alien lights or to unscrew everything and then put it all back together, then charge me the man hours it took to put it back together, and then put helicopter landing gear on the bottom? DID I........) Ok, so some of those things were an exaggeration. But you get the idea he charged me a lot for things I never asked for. Freaking French people. ;)

Well I love you mom and dad. I will talk to you later. I will try to send some mail this week; you guys are always in my prayers. Talk to you later

Email from 02.16.10

2010-02-18T00:13:00.011-07:00

Because of Monday being President's day we didn't hear from Ster until Tuesday. Here is his email. Not a long conversation, he didn't have much time:

Remember the people that wanted to get baptized but not go to church, well they are going to church this week hopefully, and plus they do need to get married.

I love to listen to the scriptures in Spanish and the other talks and music that you sent to me on the ipod. It is really awesome. I listen to it all the time whenever I am home and when I do my language study I listen to the Spanish chapter that I am reading, it is amazing I really appreciate all the effort dad put into it. The talks are amazing and really uplifting.

I've met a couple of Spanish speaking people and then gave them to the Spanish comps but there are not very many Spanish speaking people over here.

Well I will say that I truly love the iPod thing, it is so amazing, I appreciate all the time you put into it Dad. I know it probably took a while. I listen to it all the time, I'm pretty close to being done with the Truman Madson talks. I just really like it. And I listen to the Spanish scriptures in my language studies. So ya, I use it all the time.

The man that said he only needed to read the Bible, we told him to read Ne 29 and I can tell his heart is softening so that’s good. We just need to get him to read the book of Mormon some more and to come to church and if things go well he and his wife will be baptized

I feel almost 100% better, my wrist is still crappy, we'll see how that goes.

I put my bike in a shop called Frenchies Bike shop last week, and I haven’t received a call that it’s been fixed yet, but what should I expect from the Frenchies? Lol

Well I ran out of time I want you guys to know I love you lots and I love this gospel, that is for sure. I will talk to you later.

Sincerely Elder Nisson

Email from 02.08.10

2010-02-09T21:51:00.007-07:00

Hi Everyone,

The contacts are fine. Our teaching pool has about 6 investigators which is better than when I came in and there was really only one. We have some people who will be baptized within a couple of weeks, so that will be good if we can get them to come to church. That is the problem with all our investigators. They want to be baptized but not come to church. It is pretty frustrating sometimes lol.

My health is a lot better. We actually have a nutritionist in the ward, and he has given me some great ideas of how to boost my immune system, also he gave us something which is supposed to be really good against bacteria.

The bishopric didn’t have me speak but I did decide I better go up and bare my testimony, so the people would know who I am in the ward. I bore my testimony on how I was truly converted in the gospel and through my story I mentioned various things. After Sacrament meeting was over a women came over kind of crying and told me she loved my testimony and it really gave her hope for her son who is 25 and not active, and she really knows that he will come back to the church. So, I’m glad I could help someone out.

The salt and pepper combination is fine, I'm actually glad to be here. I finally get to speak what is in my heart, to people. Like sometimes when I speak/teach with the spirit, there have been 3 times now people just start crying. It is so amazing to see their lives changed like that.

My companion and I are doing well, he is a good guy. He has been out like 10 months I think maybe 11, and he is the oldest of the family. He lives in Oregon and was home schooled his whole life and so was his sister, and his two younger brothers. So he is pretty smart. I can just point at a tree or bush or fish or anything and he will tell me about them and their origins and the scientific term used for them, lol, kind of funny.

My wrist is fine if I don’t try to move it up or anything lol. I can move it down just fine and to the left. But, not very easily to the right or up, its all good.

We tracked on Super Bowl Sunday; we can’t go over to people’s homes anymore unless they have an investigator there. That means no dinner’s either, unless they have an investigator there. So, we haven’t had food from members since my last 2 weeks in El Portal. I’m wasting away here. It’s kind of getting hard to see me these days. The members were the only ones who kept me from the pure cereal Diet haha...but seriously. We implemented this rule because members thought their job was to feed the missionaries, when in reality it’s to find new investigators, so that’s why we have the rule now.

Love you guys so much. I really missed you guys today for some reason lol, so I was really excited to get your email.

Email from 02.01.10

2010-02-01T21:46:00.002-07:00

Ok, I’m in Coral Springs East now and it is a really big area. I went from living in poverty in El Portal to living in Luxury in Coral Springs. lol. My comps Name is Elder Jarvie. Elder Jarvie was in the area last transfer. I am in a “salt and pepper” companionship. Meaning one English and one Spanish Elder. Elder Jarvie is English, well the Ward is English. It works fine when we contact, if there is someone who only speaks Spanish then I talk to him. Then if he is interested I pass him to some Spanish elders.

I’m in a car area but we use bike mostly, so we can contact better, and, no my bike is still broken and I use a bike that was left here. lol.

I’m doing better; I just have a bad cough now so I’m steadily making progress.

Here is a spiritual experience to share with you. The first day we got to Coral Springs we had an appointment with a guy named Mike who is a recent convert but is now less active. Anyways, we found out that day that Mike had some bad drug problems in the past and a lot of other things so he is kind of hard to keep focused (o, side note this guy is smaller than me but has a lot more muscle and he had a lot of rough experiences in his life and doesn’t shy away from violence). So, he made us dinner and he put like a stick and a half of butter in it, and then poured like a pound of garlic salt in this pasta. My heart started hurting just looking at the thing lol. Anyways after dinner he started talking about how he was able to quit all the bad habits of his past except for Chew. So when he was talking he started to take some out, because he said he needed it, and when he started to open it I said "wo wo wo Mike, let’s just take a deep breath. Do you like being controlled by this stuff?" of course he said no. so I told him "ok you have to bottles of chew there, in front of you now what do you want to do with it? He said he would like to chew it because it is driving him crazy lol I told him, "ok but in reality what do you want to do with the chew?" he said to throw it away. I told him "Perfect that’s what we are going to do, we are going to throw it away and then after that give you a blessing of comfort and you won’t need chew if you rely on the lord and go to church." after some conversation and cheering him on. He said ok. I asked him for all the chew he had, and he gave them all to me there was like 6 total. And he gave them all to me I pocketed them and me and Elder Jarvie proceeded to give him a blessing. It was a very spiritual blessing. The lord promised him some amazing things if he would have faith in Him and go to church, and that he would be able to stop chewing. After the blessing, he said he felt fantastic and the desire to chew was gone" so everything was fine. We told him we would check up with him every day to make sure he is good, and if he needed help he could just call us and we would do all we can to help.

Then a couple of days go by he calls us telling us that he is having some major cravings for chew so we pray with him tell him it’s all alright then, he said he’s good and the cravings went away. Then he calls us another day and said his work was getting so crappy that he just had to chew so he did. I told him Mike. You were given a sacred promise of the lord that if you just have faith in him and go to church you will be free of this habit. He said ok I will try again. So, he went to church and so far so good. He even got some patches to help with the addiction. Cool story huh?

Email from 01.26.10

2010-01-28T14:56:00.004-07:00

I saw snow here for like 5 seconds, it was crazy it was when we were having that cold spell and it got to like 30 degrees, and we were Tracting. It was pretty cool. For some reason no houses around here have heater guess they assumed they wouldn’t need one.

We had three baptisms last week on Saturday. 3 kids Miguel, who is 9, Helen who is 10, and Raphael who is 12. Yes, they mostly speak English lol. I got to finally speak to the uncle of these kids after weeks of avoiding me, but eventually I got to talk to him and we started getting along really well. His name is Roger and he is 15 years old. so any ways I talked to him for a while just getting to know him then I taught him the lesson of the restoration invited him to be baptized if he receives an answer that this is the true church of Jesus Christ and he said he would so next week if all things go as planned he will be baptized, cool huh.

Well the kids are fellowshipped by the members now; the missionaries will still see them because they have to teach all the lessons over again, to make sure they know the basic doctrines of the church.

I’m still sick so that’s fantastic. My arm is fine, just stiff and a little sore when I wake up. Other than that I’m good.

I’m being transferred again. I’m not sure where but probably with an English speaking missionary. If everything goes to what pres said.

My studying is great. I don’t know if I ever told you guys but whenever a thought comes to me or I something really hits me in the scriptures, I write it down in a small book I carry around in my shirt pocket. I call it my book of revelations. I write down the thing that felt important or moved me or struck me in a way as to be important for me to know, then I write how I can apply it in my life usually. sometimes like when I write down a scripture I don’t write down how I can apply. But just something kind of cool, I think you all should do it, if I didn’t have this thing I wouldn’t remember half of the impression I have received from the Lord/Spirit.

Well, I have had some spiritual experiences lately something that came to me a little bit ago last week, when I was reading a talk. When it said "keep your eye single to the glory of God". That kind of struck me, so I studied it and prayed about it, and I feel that I can have my eye more "single to His glory" and not of mine. I wrote it down in my book of revelations so sometime I will write it down and you guys can see what kind of book it is, or I will make a little movie on the camera and show you, i am going to send it today. So be on the look for it.

We have about 8 in the teaching pool we dropped some people and some others baptized so we were going to go Tracting but today I will be packing instead.

I haven’t really taught in Spanish for a couple of days I don’t think, but the English is going good lol. Ya, I still kind of attract the English speaking, but it’s alright I have been actually looking at it as a gift lately so if I can help those I can’t help in Spanish, yet. So ya, it’s a big blessing so I can fulfill my purpose.

I love you all so much thank you for your prayers and letters I really do appreciate them all. Well, until next time, I will talk to you this coming Monday.

Email from 01.19.10

2010-01-19T18:50:00.005-07:00

So we are baptizing 3 kids this weekend, named Rapheal, Miguel and Helen. They prefer English, so I taught them a lot. They are excited so that’s good. We have a man that will be baptized next week he is about 50 and has colon cancer. He is being very strong in his desire to know the truth. Then the week after that we should be baptizing 2 guys in their 30's named Marcos and Mario. They are brothers. Marcos was drinking a lot and on the day we contacted him he was kind of, well, he was drunk but he remembers the lesson lol. So after the first lesson we also taught the word of wisdom. And after that he hasn’t drunk since, so that’s pretty cool. He has a desire to be baptized in the church of Jesus Christ. Kind of cool, huh?

I’m pretty sick right now. I went to the store yesterday and bought Afrin, vitamins, and a lot of other cold and flu stuff. But, I’m doing ok.

I’m probably going to be transferred. My PPI was really good and kind of funny.

So, here is what happened at my PPI with Pres. Hale. I sat down, Pres looked at me and I looked at Pres. He then asked me how my teaching was going I told him great, for some reason I teach a lot of English, the people must follow me around. He kind of laughed and said that’s interesting, because Elder Sepulveda said he hasn’t seen so many English people until you came here. Then Pres said Elder Sepulveda also said you are a great teacher in English, and how he just likes to sit back and watch you teach. Pres Hale kind of looked at me for a sec. then said you know I think I am getting confirmation on something, I have been thinking about for a while. I really want you to see one more area before you settle in, and I’m going to put you in the salt and pepper program that I have been doing for a while. Pres Hale said, what I think I’m going to do is put you in another area, and put you with an English Elder, and you be the Spanish Elder, that way when you contact you can speak to both the English and Spanish. I’m thinking, “ o crap this may not be fantastic.” Then pres. began again, that way we will be able to utilize your teaching abilities in English. He asked me what I thought. And I told him that, I would do whatever the Lord wanted me to do. I just feel bad that I kind of failed him in Spanish. He then said, Elder Nisson, this is not a white flag of defeat on Spanish you will still have your language study every day, and in the future you will continue to speak Spanish, but you’re a missionary for FL FTL not a missionary for Spanish. At this moment I feel that my thoughts have been confirmed with the Spirit, with putting you with an English elder. I felt good about that and told him thank you. We talked a little bit more and then we ended with a prayer. So, after that I didn’t feel too much like a failure. I told him, “President I know my purpose, I know I am supposed to invite others to be baptized, there are very few lessons where I don’t invite the investigator in the first lesson to be baptized.” He just kind of smiled and said I think you will do great. Of course he didn’t tell me where I’m going. He then said that the situation could change, depending on what the Lord wants but he felt like his thoughts had been confirmed and at this moment I will probably be visiting another place in Florida.

So it was a very good meeting and I felt really good about it.

Well, this was a fun p-day talk. I think I needed it. Well, I love you guys so much, you are always in my prayers and I love to look at the pics. I show them to everyone, they all tell me I have a huge family.

Mom Dad, love ya and I will talk to you later. I hope you have a great week, talk to you next Tuesday, and we will find out if I am staying or leaving. Love you guys so much.

(This week we heard from him on Tuesday because yesterday was Martin Luther King day and the libraries were closed so he couldn't write to us. Next week are transfers so we won't hear from him until Tuesday as well)

Email from 01.11.10

2010-01-11T15:47:00.003-07:00

Well my wrist is fine I went to the doctors in West Palm Beach and took an x-ray, and he said the screw might be coming out because of the way it is healing...figures lol. But he said in 6 weeks come back with a cat scan of my wrist so he can look at it. He also said I can do pushups and stuff now.

Ya we have some new investigators, we found these two kids that have a real interest in the church. And yes they speak English lol. And we have some new Spanish investigators, and it was so funny one of the girls in this family who is 30 called me baby face lol, and apparently the 24 year old in the family kind of likes me lol.

Well, I ran out of time. Hey could you send some talks or that really cheap iPod with a whole bunch of talks on it? I kind of would like to listen to something else then my music sometimes.

Well I love you Guys your awesome I will pray for Pam (for her job loss) and everyone. Don’t worry too much about the Spanish stuff, things will work out I’m sure.

Well I love you I will talk to you later.

Email from 01.04.10

2010-01-04T14:11:00.002-07:00

He didn’t write much. There were some problems with the email program, either at our end or at his. Because he wrote his email and we didn’t get it until 10-15 later. So, we only got this one email from him, plus the picture of the family he baptized. The blonde Elder in the picture is Elder Barrett who was the former companion with Elder Sepulveda.

Well hey dad, it’s me Sterling; I just got on.

Besides being constantly tired I'm doing ok, but I am making a appointment for that surgeon guy again because something weird is happening inside my hand right below my thumb, not exactly something weird but something painful. but other than that things are going fantastic.

We had Mary's clan baptized and another guy named Jose. I baptized the two daughters of Mary, and one of her sons, and elder Sepulveda did the other four. Below is a picture of us.

I'm not good at discerning stuff for others but I do receive some revelations for myself ever so often now. So that’s cool. I actually did tell the Joseph Smith story for the first time yesterday and the Lord really helped me out and I said it pretty good. So I really thanked Him for that in my prayers that night.

I’m not sure what is my favorite thing in the mission, I certainly love the knowledge God is blessing me with. I wish some of that knowledge was for Spanish though lol.

Email from 12.28.09

2009-12-28T12:57:00.001-07:00

Well there isn't really anything to report since I have told you everything already on the phone on Christmas. So I'm going to tell you about a family we have been teaching. I just call it Mary's family or the Mary clan. Because there are 8 kids and Mary and I think there is a dad somewhere I just haven't seen him. Anyways, they are going to be baptized on Tuesday pretty cool huh? I will be baptizing 4 of them and elder Sepulveda will be baptizing 3 of the kids plus someone else so it is going to be a crazy the next couple of days. I think I might do some confirmations I'm not exactly sure, but they will be in English, because the whole family likes to speak English more than Spanish. Though they can speak both.

Also there is a guy whose name is Roy who comes over a lot I think because he likes the oldest daughter. Almost every time I have taught he has been there and he is now investigating the church so the Lord has really blessed my comp to find this family and me because I taught a lot. So, Mary's family is really excited about the baptism. I really had to make sure all of them understood the law of CHASTITY!! (Ya somebody kill me). Usually I do all the talking when its English, unless we are talking to just one person then Elder Sapulveda will give parts of the lesson with me. And that is kind of the way it is with Spanish, I will give little parts but he will do most of the talking.

Elder Sepulveda says he likes letting me teach English because my voice is kind of loud/strong and I am able to keep the attention of people. lol It’s pretty funny when he tries to imitate my voice, he tries to go really deep. ahh funny stuff. So things have been good.

Love you guys.

Christmas Zone Picture

2009-12-23T11:16:00.002-07:00

Here is Sterling's Zone Christmas picture. He is on the last row to the right. His comp is on the front row to the left of Sister Hale.

At the Christmas Missionary Dinner:

Email from 12.21.09

2009-12-21T16:03:00.005-07:00

Ya it has rained a lot, more than I have ever seen I think in my life lol. No problems though. My comp and I are in a car so everything is good.

My new place is an apartment. It is a small place with only one bathroom and four people in the house. It's definitely interesting.

My wrist is hurting more and I think I messed it up playing basketball, but the swelling has gone down. And, I have a brace I just don’t use it. Plus I’m in car so not much that can hurt it. My bike is still busted and I did bring it when I transferred.

Elder Sepulveda, my new comp, is from Puerto Rico, and speaks pretty good English for only learning it 9 months ago. He is a hard worker, and cares for the people, there is a language barrier sometimes, but we get through it usually. He is about 9 months in the mission. The other people in our apartment: Elder Barrett, used to be my comp’s comp, pretty good in the language and has about 7 months in the mission. Elder Orton, if you remember he used to live with me in the MTC but got moved because he already knew a lot of Spanish, he is comp with elder Barrett.

I’m in a branch and there are about 150 people in it. We have a lot of people we are teaching here in El Portal, around 15 people, and some of them have big families.

Where we teach there are only Hispanic and black people around. I’m definitely a minority around here, and yes we only teach Spanish except for some youth, and my Spanish is so bad, I realized that I have only been teaching in English basically for 2 transfers and now I’m really paying for it. My Spanish is really bad lol. Well, if I don’t learn Spanish here I’m not going to learn it anywhere lol. (That was a very nervous lol over here)

Well I got to go I love you all so much and the gospel is still very much true. Thank you again dad and mom for the gifts, I really appreciate them.

------------------

He is emailing from a Library and his computer has a timer on it so he can’t write as much. He said that he has sent some more pictures, so we are looking forward to that. Sterling is now in the Miami Beach area in the city of El Portal. Here is a picture of him and his comp:

Email from 12.15.09

2009-12-15T10:54:00.006-07:00

Well first up I will be transferred again to what area you ask, I have no idea. It’s too bad; I really liked it here with these Elders and the people. I prayed for understanding, it’s hard for me, but I’m holding on to the knowledge that I at least know that the Lord knows what’s going on.

The heat over here got to 91 degrees can we all say ridiculous. It really doesn’t feel like Christmas at all over here.

I was supposed to go back to the doctors on the 24th but now that I’m leaving I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t wear the removable cast anymore even though I’m supposed to and they left half of the stitches in because they couldn’t get it out. They said it shouldn’t be a problem. Though I have this weird twitch in my wrist and eye... lol just kidding. My wrist feels really good so don’t worry.

We baptized Manny, he’s a great kid only 14 years old and he was so excited to be baptized. Here is a pic of him.

I think I had the FLU, I’m not exactly sure why it lasted that long but it was partly miserable. Luckily i had AFRIN the miracle drug. So that was good. I actually haven’t been a 100% since I started my mission, I’m always kind of sick lol, kind of weird, but I don’t notice it much after 11:00 AM.

I don’t know when I will be calling on Christmas but that will be a fantastic gift just calling you guys.

The stages are to pack all my bags, take them to transfer meeting, find out my new companion, say hi, drive to my new place, then unpack, then meet everyone and meet some members in the new Ward.

Email from 12.07.09

2009-12-07T13:23:00.003-07:00

So just a funny story to tell you guys. After the surgery they told me about this nerve block they put in my arm, which numbed my whole left arm. They said I need to keep it up at all times and to keep it away from anything super cold or hot, because you won’t know something’s wrong until you smell your burning flesh. I thought well that's a little morbid but whatever. So I say ok then hold my lifeless left arm to my body and get into the car to drive home. Well, when I get home I have to use the restroom, and I thought, boy this is going to be hard I can’t let my left arm go below my waist so I saw some potential problems. Oh, by the way my arm was in what looked like a big cheese thing and I had to have it on all day and night for that day and then every night until the check up. So I went in and I realized I have to sit lady style lol. Because you know one arm has zero feeling and the other arm has to control the arm with no feeling from falling down so that left me with no arms to control other things lol. So I get up then I realize some potential problems. First, I need to pull up my pants and I need to keep my arm elevated. So what do I do? I put my arm which is in that big cheese thingy up on the towel rack as I tried to pull my pants up. Well I got my garments up and my pants half ways up when I realized, my left arm is slowly falling out of the big cheese thing, and I'm thinking oh crap so I quickly grab hold of my left arm and can’t put it back in the cheese thing because I have zero control over my freaking left arm and my pants fell back down. And I'm slowly losing the battle to keep my left arm from falling. So, here I am in the bathroom arms falling out, my pants are down, I don't know what to do so I yell for Elder B. I said something like "Elder B. I need your help right now hurry." so he runs in and just starts laughing so hard that he wasn't able to help at all. So I grab my arm the best I could and, had my pants around my ankles and I slowly scooted out the door around a now on the floor laughing Elder B. and into my room. I crawled on my bed then turned on my back and proceeded to put my arm back in the cheese thing and pull up my pants. So that's the story. Pretty funny huh? Lol Ya we have had some adventures over here lol.

Well I think I found the answer to my question while reading one of D. Todd Christofferson talk in the book of Mormon study guide about unity with the Savior and the Father. So, I will work on that. It is great that we can get answers to our prayers because the Lord loves us. It is sometimes hard to follow what is asked of us huh? I love our Savior and Heavenly Father, I really do.

I just hate feeling like I can’t do all that I need to be doing with the investigators, because I want to say so many things to these people and tell them about the gospel. It’s just frustrating that I can’t do it as well as I want too. I completely rely on the Lord, and I know He knows the struggle I’m going through cuz He knows me personally through the Atonement. Well, all things will be good. Here are some pics of me in the cheese thing and after Thanksgiving so you can see my hand all wrapped up.

Email from 11.30.09

2009-11-30T14:14:00.005-07:00

Work is going fantastic. We are going to baptize a couple more people this week and next week for sure. Next week’s baptism is Gonzales. He is so prepared, he read all the brochures and is reading the Book of Mormon daily and has read the gospel principles book twice, and asks the greatest questions. Like one question was "what is the gathering of Israel". And he is asking how he can share the gospel and, talking to us about celestial marriages. This man is just so prepared its amazing and he is a super nice guy I will send some pics later. He is like 35 or 40 years old and will be baptized this week on Saturday. The next guys name is Manny, he is 15 and he had no religious background. He didn’t even really know who Jesus was and had no idea who Adam and Eve were. We really had to teach simply but he is also a very prepared young man, who is soaking up everything we teach him, and he loves all of it. So he will be baptized on the 12th of Dec.

We will have another transfer in 2 weeks and I’m not sure if I will be transferred, I haven’t had my PPI yet so we will probably have one over the phone sometime. I was at the hospital when the Pres. came over to our house. So, Elder B. and I will have our PPI's over the phone I think.

I’m going to the doctors today to check up on my wrist, and then he will put my wrist in something else, probably a hard cast possibly a wrist brace which would be nice. They gave me some oxycodone for my wrist after the surgery and it really messes with my head and I have to take it like every 4 hours. I truly hate it lol. So I don’t really take them all that much so I can focus every once and a while and teach. Lol. We cleaned up before Pres Hale’s visit; I did a lot cuz the others think cleaning means stuffing things into closets and just organizing your trash lol. But, the Pres liked our house. :)

We ate a huge amount on Thanksgiving. We had three appointments in a row, one hour after another. And they don’t let us choose how much we want, they just pile the stuff on and we just have to eat it. aggghhh.... I felt disgustingly full after the second meal, and I was pretty sure I was going to throw up. Thank goodness I didn’t. Our last meal was at the Bishops and luckily he had compassion on us and let us just pick how much we wanted. I did eat just so I wouldn’t offend anyone, but I didn’t eat a lot. We ate pork, turkey, and ham, and had potato salad at all three houses. I am thankful for the kindness of those who invited us over to their homes and fed us, but I’m thankful that it only comes around once every year. I don’t know what we do for Christmas. :)

New Info on Ster's Hand

2009-11-25T08:58:00.000-07:00

President Hale called us last night and he said that the surgery went well and that Ster is doing great. Ster needs to lay up for a few days but otherwise all is well.

Zone Conference Picture - Nov 2009

2009-11-23T11:03:00.001-07:00

Zone Conference image for his Area. Ster is in the middle row to the right. His comp is right in the middle.

Email from 11.23.09

2009-11-23T10:34:00.000-07:00

He didn't write much today because of his broken hand so it was taking him longer to write. He said he wrote some letters that we should get towards the end of this week/beginning of next week. Here is some info from his email:

I am having surgery tomorrow. I’m not nervous from what the doc said this will be really quick and easy. If I didn’t get the surgery they would put me in a full arm cast up to my shoulder for like a month and a half then a half cast for another month and a half. The surgery will put me in a half cast for about a week then a wrist splint for a little while which I can take off whenever I want so there is hardly any down time. It's outpatient surgery. I have the car now because they don’t want me riding on a bike with my arm.

Oh, here is what is broken: Wrist, the bone below my thumb. Alright, so the break is from an old break at Mikes house when I was younger. It turns out that it might not have actually ever healed so it is in the same spot. The doc said that this particular bone doesn’t heal well because of how the blood runs through it.

His First Baptism...

2009-11-20T11:51:00.001-07:00

So I (Pam) forgot to put his baptism picture up so I'm re-posting the information from his email in regards to the baptism and the picture. This baptism took place on November 8th.:

I baptized my first person yesterday in Spanish woot woot, it was an amazing experience, I baptized a kid named Leonardo Alexander Rosebelth who is 11 years old. It was such an awesome experience. And I didn’t mess up either I said it all perfectly, thank the Lord for that because I was pretty nervous but the Lord really helped me, and it was awesome to be part of His work and glory. I have a pic and I will send you guys showing us in white. The other kids that were baptized were Bridgett, baptized by Elder Hamilton, and Omar Rosebelth, baptized by Elder B.

Update on Ster's Spanish...

2009-11-20T09:30:00.000-07:00

So from Sterling's emails and letters he still thinks his Spanish is bad, but when Pres. Hale called yesterday and talked w/ dad he commented that both of his companions have said that his Spanish is very good one even said that it exceeds what he could speak at this point. So we figure that he is just hard on himself and expects to be as good as those that are about ready to go home. :)

Update on Ster's Hand

2009-11-19T15:59:00.000-07:00

Pres. Hale, the mission president, called and talked w/ dad. They are thinking that Ster is going to need surgery to put a pin in his hand. They are going to talk to the medical specialist first but they think that this is what they will be doing.

Email from 11.16.09

2009-11-16T12:01:00.000-07:00

The previous 2 posts were from this email as well. Here is the rest of it:

My Spanish is really bad, but it’s all good. I will keep trying my hardest, and I will learn at some point because the Lord called me to teach in Spanish.

Ok, I have started putting gel in my hair cuz the mission pres has asked all elders to have a part in their hair. Here is a pic of me trying to figure out the style, you have to understand I haven’t put gel in my hair since middle school, so this pic shows me getting frustrated lol.

{Doesn't he look like he put his finger in a socket. Too Funny! :) }

It’s weird to have gel in my hair and I don’t like it at all. lol. The reason is because the Pres wants us to have unity in the zone.

Does something look out of place???

2009-11-16T09:55:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, this is too funny. This is Ster w/ his companion Elder B. And Shawn Bradley. Sean and his wife were in town last week because his wife served her mission in Ft Lauderdale and she spoke at the Sister's conference. So Ster met him and this is what Ster said about it, 'had a good one on one talk with him and he thought I was very mature, so I told him I was almost 24 and he said oh, that must be why.' lol.

For reference: Ster is 6'0" and his comp is 7'2". Shawn is 7'6"

My Name is still Awesome...

2009-11-16T09:36:00.000-07:00

Well I was riding home with my comp back to the house (at night but that doesn't matter) and my comp was ahead of me, and you know he is 7'2" so I can't see past him. All of the sudden he swerves barely missing this guy on a bike. So what do I do? I swerve also the same way as my comp, but the guy on the bike swerves my same way, so we had a huge collision. Flesh and metal was everywhere. I kinda jumped and rolled, and when I got up I thought I was fine except for a pain in my side where that guys handle bars hit me. That guy was down hard, his shoes even flew off. Lol That's how hard we hit. So after all was said and done we rode off. On the way back my wrist really started hurting, then it was really swollen, and then I couldnt move it lol. So I went to the doc the next day, we took x-rays, and he said it was just a bad sprain. So I thought I dodged a bullet. But then the next day, an orthopedic surgeon called and said I have a broken bone in my hand so we will see what will happen tomorrow. They might take me out of this wrist brace and put me in a hard cast, I dont know. But thats not the end of it. The next day after the wreck we still had appointments so I still needed to ride my bike and on the way the thing holding my bike chain blows out and I can't peddle. So my comp had to tow me home with my broken hand lol. good stuff huh?

The top picture shows me in the brace until I go to the orthopedic surgeon to see what needs to be done. The following picture is of Elder B still laughing at me after the accident.

Email from 11.09.09

2009-11-09T10:36:00.000-07:00

Well I got a new Comp his name is Elder B. I don’t usually say his last name because I sometimes butcher it. Well I will start with his height. He is 7'2" that’s right 7 feet 2 freaking inches, when I hugged this guy I hugged his belly button lol, and yes he does play ball. He will be playing for Arizona State when he gets back in like 5 months, also he knows and is acquainted with the GM for the Celtics and they are interested in him and will most likely play in the NBA, freaking crazy isn’t it? He doesn’t play ball with us on Mondays just because he doesn’t want to ruin his future which I completely agreed with. He is from Canada and sometimes he does have the accent lol. I just call him gigantor. He is a funny guy and his Spanish is really good. He said that I will be able to speak Spanish within this transfer so here is hoping. Also, I’m in the bike area now and that’s very different lol.

(Side note from Pam: Here are 2 pics of him. One is his mission pic and the other is his District picture from the last Zone Conference. He's tall huh? )

We live in a new house that is infested with spiders so that was a real treat cleaning up, a lot of bug bombs were used and two cans of spider and roach killer was used lol. And yes, there are three people living here with me, Elder Hamilton, Elder B. and Elder Seely.

We were shucking coconuts for the coconut milk and the meat inside and we were going to make coconut rings but we didn’t have enough time, and yes, one of those knifes were mine. (Side note from Pam: Here are some pics of him and his comps w/ the coconuts. Looks safe huh?)

I’m happy about the companion; he really helps me with my Spanish. Well we have about 12 investigators now, in our area, and we are planning on baptizing all of them.

Alright so I wanted to tell you now we weren’t able to catch that huge iguana. Dangit, but it was a funny story.

Videos w/ his first companion group

2009-11-09T10:19:00.000-07:00

This video was so funny because you can hear Ster laughing so hard in the background. Plus the expression on Elder Hamiltons face when he turns to the camera and smiles is hilarious!

Ahhh.... Ster & Swords And yes, one of those machete's is his.

Just a few comments from Ster. So good to see him.

Some Pics from his First Area...

2009-11-09T10:07:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures from his first area:

His first apartment:

Here is a pic of him standing in front of his closet. We thought that this pic was so funny because he added the 'twinkle' to his eye. We are always telling him that his eyes twinkle when he smiles. So funny.

Here is a pic of an iguana that is up in the trees that the missionaries are trying to catch. No luck so far. You have to click on the pic to see the real size of it. It's pretty big.

Their kitchen. Love the oreos, gummy worms and sugar cereal on display. They sure try and stay healthy. ;)

Can you guess which closet is Sters? (His is the way too organized one)

This is how they keep track of their investigators.

Email from 11.04.09

2009-11-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

Well Monday, Nov 3rd, came and we didn't get an email from Ster. We were coming up w/ reasons on why we didn't hear from him but basically we were just disappointed. :) Come to find out they moved his PDay to Tuesday since they were doing transfers on Wed. Here is his email:

Well turns out that I will be leaving to a new home today, but in the same area. I’m not going to lie, this place is so plain and by plain I mean like twilight zone plain and spiders are everywhere. Needless to say I went at them with a vengeance, and killed all I could see.

I'm pretty sure with the new transfer I will be on a bike but we will find out tomorrow at the transfer meeting. I will most likely have a new comp but again, we won’t know for sure until tomorrow.

I haven’t written in my journal yet but I have started an oral journal on a tape recorder, and that’s a lot better, and it goes faster to and I can get into more detail. So that’s pretty good. I will keep that up and send it to you guys.

Well, since transfers are tomorrow, they make p-day today, so we can pack and be ready tomorrow, but then it goes back to its regularly scheduled program.

I'm constantly cleaning around the house, it’s kind of funny, because I have a hard time living in really dirty places so when we clean I really go deep and the other elders love me for that lol. My OCD pops in whenever there are dirty dishes and unclean floors lol. I have some cool stories that I’m putting in my oral journal, I think you guys will like them.

Every once in a while I get frustrated with my Spanish but then I just go on my knees and ask for patience. Elder Hamilton is going to the new house with me I think, but not sure.

Email from 10.26.09

2009-10-29T14:24:00.000-06:00

Here is a pic of the Sanchez's and me:

To answer some of your questions: we eat at someone’s house a couple of times a week then we teach a little lesson. Yesterday for our lesson Elder Hamilton thought that we should sing a song just him, me, and a guy named Brian, in front of a whole freaking family. Yes to answer your question, it was uncomfortable lol, but we got through it and they said we did a good job. Also, I would like to tell you another story about another language mess up I had; so there is a guy Named Oscar and he is an investigator and last Saturday I asked him if he would be baptized. He kind of looked unsure so I told him that he should be prepared in two weeks to be baptized. Ok, but the funny part in this is when I was telling him that he should be prepared I accidently said another word so I was try to say "You will be prepared for your baptism in 2 weeks" but what I apparently said was "you will be prepared for your Beat Down in 2 weeks" WOOPS lol, But after a good laugh he said he would be baptized in 2 weeks, so there you go, the spirit can work through a fumbling fool such as myself. Now we just have to teach him some commandments that he is currently struggling with and into the waters of baptism he goes.

We are teaching about 5-6 investigators, and almost all want to be baptized but circumstances aren’t allowing them to. For instance, there are three kids that want to be baptized and their mom told them they can’t but the dad said they can. They are divorced, and the mom has custody, so I’m really close to going over there and dusting some shoes off, lol, if you know what I mean. In our companionship I am the more bold one, I constantly ask if the investigators want to be baptized and sometimes I have to ask elder Hamilton to challenge some of the investigators to something. For example, when we went over to the house with the three kids; for some reason when my comp and I went to the mothers house he looked really nervous then looked at me and said "You got this" then went and walked towards the kids and started talking to them. I was not so happy about that but I was going to ask the mom to let her kids be baptized. But she never came to the door, apparently she doesn’t like us too much. One reason I know this is because when the kids saw us at the door their eyes went really wide and they said "I don’t think mom wants to talk to you" I think that’s what got Elder Hamilton so uptight. But how bad can it be? They are all like 5 foot nothing lol. I’m basically a giant to them. Anyway, so we will be going up to her house again later.

No one has gotten baptized yet, like I said things just keep coming up that won’t allow them to be baptized. But we keep praying and trying to do all we can. I have given a lot of blessings since I have come here; I even did a blessing on a home, because the mother of the house thought that her daughter was bringing in some bad stuff.

I will look out for that letter from Levi. Tell him he really is an Awesome Jr.

On p-days we do anything we want until 6:00 pm then back to teaching.

Things are going good over here, I haven’t heard any news about an upheaval of Atheism. Course, I don’t know much about what’s going on outside the world of south Florida. There is a huge amount of different churches here, some with names that I have never heard of such as "The Church without Walls" the question is, how does the roof stay up? lol

Here is my haircut from my comp:

Email from 10.19.09

2009-10-26T11:37:00.000-06:00

So we wake up about 6:30 go downstairs lay around for a bit and sometimes sing a song depending on how tired we are, then the four of us have prayer. We eat, shower then at 8:00 we have personal study, and you study whatever you want.

At 9:00 we have companion Study, sometimes we will role play, other times we will go through and read parts of preach my gospel, or translate some pamphlets, there are a lot of things we have done. At 10:00 the English Elders (Elder Nutt and Elder Fredrick) leave to go to appointments, while Elder Hamilton and I do some Language study for an hour, usually reading the Book of Mormon out loud. I can actually read really well I just can’t speak the language.

At 11:00 we head out to our appointments, we come back at 2:00 for lunch. At 3:00 we go back out until about 6:00 when a member will usually give us some dinner, we teach a lesson, commit, and leave. We go back out until 8:30-9:00, we go back to the house, plan for a half hour, then just hang around and have good time until 10:30-11:00 then we go to bed. That is my day.

The bike stays at the house I have used it once when I went on exchanges with another Elder. and me and Elder Nutt and maybe the other two will be biking early in the morning for some exercise.

I cut Elder Nutts Hair 2 days ago and he said I did an awesome job except for almost cutting one of his side burns off lol. Then he cut my hair today, and he made super low cut its not a buzz but its short and it feels good out here in the Florida weather.

We usually go shopping on p-days and I usually get just a lot of bread for sandwiches.

Daniel Sanchez probably won’t be getting baptized this week or this month, we just found out what his real problem was, and it is his family, who aren’t really for Mormons, and one of them is a Baptist preacher. So we think he is afraid of being disliked by his family. So yesterday I gave them the story of how dad joined the church. I did it in English cuz I can’t tell a story in Spanish I have enough trouble trying to not tell people i love their wives let alone telling a detailed story about dad... sigh, so Elder Hamilton translated for me.

Yesterday we were fed twice in just one hour after the other, and they wouldn’t stop giving us food. I felt like I was going to throw up, so when we were at our second dinner appointment, me and Elder Hamilton started pocketing our food, because we couldn’t eat any more.

Well now that I have been out here for almost a month, Elder Hamilton has me Teaching some lessons mostly by myself, it gets hard at times but, I get through them. We found out that one of the members in our ward has three children that haven’t been baptized. So we taught them all the lessons, and all of them want to be baptized except one of the kids is in a gang and does some wrong stuff. I told him straight out he needs to change. He said he would. then I asked him how he would change, then he made a plan sort of on how to change.

We met an older couple who is about 80, both of them, and they called in to receive a free restoration dvd. They talk about the most random things and they talk all the time, it is so hard to keep them on track. The wife (we think) wants to be baptized but the husband told us "I was born Catholic. and I’m going to die catholic" lol, but he still wants us over kinda weird huh.

We receive Referrals by members usually but occasionally we receive one by text on our phone, saying that this person wants a free something, So we go over there and give it to them, and usually put in a quick restoration lesson.

We also live in Town House with another set of missionaries. Here is a pic of my comp and the other companions. (His comp is the one sitting on the desk)

The Love for Investigators. :)

2009-10-13T10:43:00.000-06:00

Ster had zone conference this last weekend. Here is a pic of the Palm Beach - Coral Springs Zones within the Ft Lauderdale Mission. He is in the middle left side of the picture. Doesn't he look younger than most of them?

So here is Ster's email from Monday, October 12th. I just have to say TOO FUNNY.

I’m going to tell you a little story that is very embarrassing for me but probably funny for you guys. Well you know the Sanches family right? Well like I said, Daniel isn’t a member so we went over to teach him and I challenged him to be baptized, twice, cuz he said no the first time. I then started really talking to him and I was telling him how our Father in Heaven loves him and loves his wife. And for some reason my Spanish was just horrible today, I felt like I couldn’t say anything. The only thing I could get out of my mouth right was my commitment for him to be baptized,a very humbling experience. Well anyways, so when I was telling him that the Lord loved him and loved his wife, I accidentally said " I know God loves you and knows your doubts and I love your wife" Well played Elder Nisson. Of course I didn’t know I said that until after the meeting when my comp told me what I said. But nevertheless Daniel said he would try to be ready in two weeks so at least the spirit got to him. Thank goodness the spirit can speak through goofs like me lol. Ahh good times.

We set a date for three children to be baptized one for this week and two for next week. So that’s pretty cool. Well guys I love you and the fam so much, this work is truly the work of the Lord and I am so happy to be a part of it.

Email from 10.05.09

2009-10-09T14:53:00.000-06:00

So Ster let us know that his only kind of communication he will be sending is through email so here is his last email...

We didn't have the Baptism last week because the woman that was supposed to be baptized disappeared, and we haven't been able to get a hold of her. So we are trying to baptize her this week lol, we also might baptize a 17 year old girl named Lian this week or next week, she just showed up at church with a friend and she said she wanted to be baptized. We're like "sounds good".

We teach mostly in Spanish except for a few that either like speaking in English or don't like speaking Spanish, like Lian she can speak Spanish but she doesn't like to. Which makes it easier for me, because my Spanish is not good. But not being able to speak Spanish keeps me humble lol. Though one member gave me a compliment the other day he said you don't know a lot of Spanish but your pronunciation is really good, that made me pretty happy.

There is this family the Sanchez, and I met them last week, but that family is my favorite out of all the people I have met before. The Wife Lillian Sanchez is a member and has been through the temple and has had a daughter serve a mission, Her Husband is not a Member, so we are trying to work on him, and we took the Bishop with us to help in the teaching experience, and finally he agreed to read the book of Mormon and pray about it, so that's a good sign. This family is so awesome. and their food, DONT even get me started on how good it tastes. I ate so much yesterday at their house it was almost disgusting lol, but I think they took a liking to me, they make fun of my Spanish or the lack there of, jokingly of course. Sister Sanchez is my favorite she will always talk to me in Spanish and I will try to answer but it is almost always wrong cuz I have no idea what she is saying and she speaks really fast. (Side note she does speak English the husband doesn't) and she will say, Elder Nisson do you understand me (in English) I will usually say something like "Hermana you know I don't speak Spanish" or I will say something like "no se" and she will always come back with some remark like "Elder Nisson Why not?" I say something like "I don't know" lol good stuff you kind of have to be there to understand it all. But its funny. This family is like in their 40's I think. They're super nice always telling me something like "Elder Nisson this is your house (in Spanish)" I will have to look at my comp and go "what did she say? something about having a house?" and then she will usually tell me in English what she said. Like I said Awesome Family.

So we are teaching the husband Daniel hoping he will desire to be baptized so they can have an eternal family. I have testified a couple of times of the truthfulness of the gospel, but in my mind it always falls short cuz I can't say much, but I know that the Spirit can speak through my bad broken Spanish. It doesn't make it easier though knowing you can't express what you feel. but in the Lords time all things will be as it should, and at this time all things are as it should. Well I'm going to write some more here in a few seconds.

Alright so things are going good the people are really nice. My comp is good, no one cooks at our house, we all just eat sandwiches or something the members give us. Speaking of food I ate this desert called Flan, I'm not sure, but it was delicious ask Spencer if he has ever had it.

No I'm not learning the geography cuz I have no idea where we are going and they don't use a grid system here so I'm lost like usual. Well I love you guys and I hope you will always remember that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ and I know that as we are obedient and faithful we will know the true happiness the gospel brings.

West Palm Beach...

2009-09-30T13:42:00.000-06:00

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...

2009-09-30T13:26:00.000-06:00

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...

2009-09-30T12:14:00.001-06:00

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...

2009-09-28T12:24:00.001-06:00

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...

2009-09-28T12:14:00.001-06:00

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...

2009-09-28T12:08:00.001-06:00

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

Hello, my name is Awesome...

2009-09-28T12:02:00.000-06:00

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...

2009-09-28T11:58:00.000-06:00

(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...

2009-09-22T15:40:00.000-06:00

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...

2009-09-16T13:14:00.000-06:00

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)

2009-09-13T19:47:00.000-06:00

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)

2009-09-13T19:29:00.000-06:00

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...

2009-09-01T14:09:00.001-06:00

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...

2009-09-01T14:05:00.001-06:00

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

The Nisson "Gang"...

2009-09-01T13:56:00.000-06:00

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)

2009-09-01T13:46:00.000-06:00

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...

2009-09-01T13:12:00.000-06:00

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...

2009-09-01T11:30:00.000-06:00

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 :) **)

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

2009-08-29T21:55:00.000-06:00

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...

2009-08-29T21:45:00.000-06:00

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...

2009-08-29T21:37:00.001-06:00

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)

2009-08-27T11:05:00.000-06:00

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...

2009-08-27T10:56:00.000-06:00

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.