Sent: Monday, July 27, 2015 7:19 AM

 

Where to start? This week was awesome. We had a lot of really cool stuff happen. A lot of good memories made. So here goes.

 

The Coons. We met an AWESOME family named the Coons. They are the daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren of a guy that we work with at the food pantry. They have a farm about 10 miles northwest of Trenton and run quite a bit of cattle. We had a super fun time up at their place, tagged two calves, rotated pasture, Elder Maaelopa touched a big old hotwire and thought his hand got blown off hahaha. And they have some meat rabbits and one of them bites and scratches so they are going to let us take it and eat it :) I'm super excited to be able to go up and see them again. We are hoping that they will want to come to the Nicole Pikus Pace fireside in Liberty on Tuesday. We'll see.

 

So TomDog and his wife Linda brought us to the Wild Onion for lunch on Tuesday (which is how we met the Coons). Well Tom ordered us some tenderloin sandwiches and sweet potato fries. While I was eating, some random lady came up behind me and asked me about the sweet potato fries and then took some without even asking me hahaha. I was like what the heck is wrong with this crazy lady. I've never seen her before in my life. But it was definitely an experience to remember haha.

 

We got to go to the temple this week to do baptisms for the dead with one of our recent converts. It was an awesome experience (only the second time on my mission that I've been able to do it). But what was even better than that was that we saw President and Sister Keyes (the old mission president and his wife) there!!!! They flew in that morning to attend a sealing of someone that they taught while they were here and they were flying back out in a few hours so it was a miracle that we were able to see them. I miss the Keyes so much! But it was awesome to be able to see them again :)

 

This week we took the trek up to Cainsville and went to the Wrights where we killed, skinned, cleaned, cooked, and ate a meat rabbit. It definitely tasted a lot better than our roadkill rabbit. The best part is that now we know how to work with the rabbit that the Coons are going to give us :) Also found out that the heart and kidneys taste pretty good but that I'm not a fan of the liver. Oh! and while we were at the Wrights, Elder Maaelopa wouldn't touch their hotwire fence (which is much less powerful than the Coon's) but then on the way out he went to get in the truck and it touched his butt and zapped him pretty good. It was hilarious haha.

 

We did a heck of a lot of service this week and really built some bridges with a lot of our potential investigators and with our members. Lots of yard work in the early mornings. It was definitely worth it though.

 

I was reading in Preach My Gospel this week and there was a part that stuck out to me that said "many voices in the world compete for your attention, and they can easily drown out spiritual impressions if you are not careful". 1 Kings 19:11-13 say "but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it". Our Heavenly Father loves us and speaks to us, but we must be intent on hearing him if we desire his council. There are so many distractions in the world and we have to be careful that we do not allow those distractions to keep us from hearing the quiet promptings of the spirit. The spirit is essential in everything we do in missionary work and in life in general. So if we cannot hear and understand it, then we are much more likely to walk on paths that we should not. I know that God speaks to us, often through his holy spirit, and that He will always guide us in the way that is best for us in our lives.

 

I think that's it for the week. I love you all. Have a great week!

 

      Love

          -Elder Nyholm