Sent: Monday, July 20, 2015 7:58 AM
Subject: Road Kill

 

This week went really quick (just like every other week I guess). It was a pretty good and entertaining week though. I've got a few good stories for you :)

 

So Monday we were driving in the country and ran over a bunny. So what did we do? We grabbed a plastic bag, put the bunny in it, and brought it home. We ended up skinning it and cleaning it real good then we breaded that sucker and fried him up and ate him. We had to throw out the back half of him because the meat was super bruised up, but the part that we ate was pretty yummy. So I'll send you some pictures of that with this e-mail. Yes, I believe I am turning into a redneck up here in the sticks. But hey, rednecks have fun so I'm not too worried about it :)

 

We had exchanges this week so Elder Taylor (from somewhere in northern Utah) was with me here in Trenton for a day. We had a super good exchange and got a lot done. And it turns out that he has a lot of the same hobbies/interests that I do. He's 6'6" and doesnt play basketball at all. But if he's on your team then he still makes the most points because he just stands next to the rim and picks up all the rebounds and puts them in. He's an awesome kid so I was pretty excited to be on exchanges with him.

 

I fried fish for the first time in my life this week. It turned out super good and I didn't even have to use tartar sauce with it because it was so good by itself. So I'm becoming a better cook :) Little by little...

 

We went and did service at Sister Nicholsen's ranch up near Iowa. She asked us to bring some boxes upstairs in her barn so we walked over to it with our boxes and found out that she has like 27 horses there. Well I've never really been around horses at all and everyone else was too scared to walk through them all (because they were all standing in front of the door we had to go through) so I ended up going first. It was super cool because they were all super nice and would just follow us around the rest of the time. I was just really nervous walking in back of them because I didn't want to get kicked, but luckily I didn't so it was all good. And after all we were lucky there were only 27 horses. She used to have more than 100.

 

On Saturday we went to a free fish fry at the Methodist church. We work at the food pantry in town with some old ladies who are part of that church and they invited us to come. There was super good food and Linda Antle made some dang good sour kraut (yeah, I ate it... and I actually like it. Crazy what the mission does to you). It was kind of weird though because everyone else was looking at us like "What the heck are these Mormon missionaries doing at our fish fry?" But, I didn't really care so we just went around and talked to people we knew and helped clean up plates and stuff. It turned out to be a really good experience and the people in charge of the fish fry were grateful to have our help cleaning up.

 

 On my Birthday it was POURING rain in the morning. Lighting was striking across the street from us so it was shaking the windows and stuff. It was awesome. I love the storms here so I was standing outside our front door watching it. We have a little overhang over the front so I wasn't getting wet but then the wind started blowing so hard that in like 3 seconds I was soaked from the rain haha. Then we got a bunch of flood warnings and stuff. Trenton is on a hill though so nothing here actually floods, just the highway coming out of town. I heard that some people around town got about 5 inches of rain within about 2 hours. Then the same thing happened the next day. I just hope the weather stays this way so that we never have to deal with real summer heat. We've only had a few really hot days because it's been raining so much.

 

While on exchanges we were walking up to a house and I saw this guy holding a tiki torch like a spear. I was thinking "what the heck is that looney guy doing". Then all the sudden the torch flew like 50mph through the air and stuck about a foot into a hay bale in front of the guy. So it was definitely not a tiki torch haha. We went up to him and asked him about it and it turns out he was using a native american-style atlatle and atlatle darts (which are about 7 feet tall). This guy makes the atlatles and the darts and now he has started hunting deer with them. He hasn't gotten anything yet but he will soon. He told us that atlatles/darts are what they used to take down mammoths in the day. So we are going to go back and he's going to teach us how to use them/make them. I'm looking forward to it.

 

We've got a few investigators who I am really excited about. They are progressing pretty well but each of them just has a small little roadblock. 3 of them have quit smoking within the last 2-3 weeks. All of them are super interested in what we are teaching them and really want to be part of the church. So hopefully in the next few weeks I'll be able to announce a baptism or two. We were supposed to have one this coming Saturday but the family hasn't been coming to church so we need to help them a little harder to get here I guess. We'll see what happens :)

 

This week I read a talk from President Uchtdorf titled "You Are My Hands". Most of you probably remember it but I'd recommend rereading it. But there was one quote that really hit me that said "As we extend our hands and hearts toward others in Christlike love, something wonderful happens to us. Our own spirits become healed, more refined, and stronger. We become happier, more peaceful, and more receptive to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit." I know from experience that this is true. The only way you can find true happiness while on a mission is when you are giving everything you've got to the Lord and his children. Sitting around doing nothing doesn't make you happy, but as soon as you truly lose yourself in service to those around you, you begin to forget your own needs and find joy in fulfilling the needs of others.

 

Well that's it for the week. I love you all! Make it a great week :)

 

   Love,

      -Elder Nyholm