Missionary Service Project

We got an email from Finn's mission president a few weeks ago asking us, as parents, to send a small gift to the mission for a zone gift exchange they'll be doing for Christmas. They gave a list of suggestions of things that many missionaries would like----things like shampoo, conditioner, deodorant etc. My brain started turning. I decided to get my family in on the project and collect as many of those things as we could and put them on a truck to McAllen in time for the zone conference. 

The picture above is only a sampling of the amount of supplies we gathered. We ended up with about 100 pounds worth of goods. Hopefully, not having to buy these things for a month or so will help some of the missionaries in Texas.

A new blog....

It took me a while but I finally did it. I set up a new blog for all of Finn's mission letters and pictures. It's a work in progress for sure but you can find it here.

Letter #3 from Finn

Whats up?!

Happy birthday Mom! Ya, its a little late, but i can only email on thursday soo, i guess its not really my fault. You got a bike? Nice! Im jealous of you guys and your Powell trip, i bet it was sick! Thats sweet that Maddie came and said Happy Birthday! She told me about it, thats so nice. I got a PHYSICAL letter! From Grandma and Grandpa England! i was so stoked, I love them. I want to write them back, so im gonna try to, the stamps are expensive so you should let them know i got it and thank them for it for me. And i got another letter in the mail from Maddies dad! He sent me a really cool story, that i felt like it went along really well with missionary work, I read it to my companions and they liked it alot. If you see him around, tell him thanks too! I heard about Zach, i bet his talk was way good, im starting to feel a litle more accompanied now that more and more of the homies are getting mission calls and leaving on there missions and boot camp i guess. It feels like I just got here! The first week, was not good. The days felt like weeks, but now that im at the start of my third week here, its flying by! and i heard that it only gets better once youre actually out in the field. Theres nothing really new here in the MTC, same old stuff, day in and day out. My spanish is deflinately getting a lot better, you can just call me a native speaker cause im that good. Just kidding, not even close. Im starting to get along with my companions more and more, they bug the crap out of me sometimes, but i gotta learn to love em, thats all in the mission experience i guess. I did hear about Indys car! thats sweet! Is he getting surgery soon? And how about my room? Is he sleeping in there every night yet and wearing all my clothes and using all my stuff?

Anyways, im loving it out here, and my P days honestly feel like Christmas cause i get to check email haha.

Love you guys! Ill write soon

Oh and some things on the list of needs for McAllen, more Pens, like the pens that i got from the Sorensons. (Pigma Micron 005) Theyre the best for scripture marking. Red and black colors are best.

I had some other stuff i needed, but i cant remeber. Ill think of them and tell you later!

Pics from Finn

Finn's companions are the two guys just to the left of him. I'm assuming the one on his immedate left is the studier and the one with the glasses is the jokester. 

Elder Brian and Sister Nielson!!!

Letter #2 from Finn

This letter came 9, yes 9, days after he left for the MTC!! We were at Lake Powell all week expecting a letter any day. It didn't come and didn't come! I was starting to panic. I was prepared to call the MTC the minute we got home. Luckily Thursday I got a text from Darin saying that she had just heard from Savy and, since she and Finn are in the same district, I would probably hear from Finn very soon. Within about an hour we had gotten his email. It's short and sweet as you can tell but I think he sounds great.

 Hey Mom and Dad!

The MTC is treating me alright i guess haha. i dont really know where to start, its been a long week. The food sucks, the dorms are nasty, no one speaks english, studying spanish and the gospel at the same time is sooo frustrating, i sometimes wanna punch my companion, but other than all that stuff its been good! im pretty sure ive lost about 5 pounds tho cause the foods terrible, but i can suck it up. So i have two companions right now. Elder Funk and Elder Scott, they are totall opposites of each other. Elder Funk is the kinda kid that wants to study every second of the day, even on free time. Elder Scott is the kid that jokes around and makes people laugh. Pretty good to have the best of both worlds with my companions tho. So the third day we got here, we had an investigator to teach already. We had to teach in spanish and i honestly only knew like 4 words in spanish. It was so awkward and went downhill from the begining. But we have a lesson to teach everyday and it gets better and better each day. My P days are on thursday just to let you all know. I see Savy all the time! Shes in my district, i went to the Mexico City temple with her today! It was awesome, beside the fact that it was all in spanish haha. Im in a house with Elder Avilla too, hes a pretty cool kid. And yes i did forget my toothbrush and gel, but its alright,  some elder hooked me up with a toothbrush. i dont have much time, but I love you guys and miss you guys a lot! but the work is good! Write you soon! Also tell Indy that this message is for him too, i dont have enough time to write everyone!

First letter from Finn!

Hey Mom and Dad just wanna let you know i made it here safely! Its a whole other world out here haha. None of the leaders or teachers or whatever you call them will speak english. Not one word. So im pretty sure im gonna be speaking fluent spanish in like a week. The flight to Mexico felt like forever and i had a headache 90% of the time but its all good now. Im dead tired and trying to keep my eyes open as i write this message. The campus is huge! But its pretty baren right now, no one is here, you guys were right when you said im in the first batch of missionaries coming here. Theres like 50 elders and sisters and thats it. On the flight from Salt Lake to L.A. i met 2 other elders that were going to McAllen so i was pretty stoked about that and then in Mexico i met like 5 others. I found the kid you were talking about Mom. He came up to me and said that our parents knew each other but i cant remember his last name. I havent met my companion yet but i should be meeting him in just a little bit. Im stoked to get to work tomorrow tho! Ill write again soon. Love you guys

Departure Day

For Finn's last night at home, Kurt and I took he and Maddie out to dinner. We were following a tradition of that since that's what Kurt and I did with his parents the night before he left on his mission 25 years ago! Since there was no Marie Callendar's close by-------we went to Pizzeria 712. (much better anyway....)

It was so hard to have to tell these boys to clear out so we could get Finn packed up. They have all been such good friends to Finn over the years. Alex is the next to leave in August and the rest will be leaving not too far in the future. Of course, a few like Q and Jonny have already left.

We dropped by over to the Hunters to pay a visit to Nate. He had surgery yesterday morning so he isn't able to be up and around quite yet. These boys have been friends since birth. After we came home from the airport I was looking at Finn's phone and found a very sweet text from Nate. He thanked Finn for being such a good friend and credited him with his decision to also go on a mission. Makes me cry all over again. These are some good, good boys...

grabbing a little cat nap on the way to the airport...

now if that doesn't make you tear up....

The airport was FULL of missionaries. It was so exciting to see. I think it gave Finn a renewed sense of excitement seeing all of them ready to embark on the same adventure.

One of the most tender mercies we have received through this mission process is that Savy and Finn were booked on the same flight to Mexico City together. How lucky they are to have each other through their MTC experience. 

Today was hard.....really hard. I'm not sure if it's the culmination of sending 2 missionaries out but I'm having a hard time not crying. I'm pretty sure I don't love Montana less than Finn but I didn't cry this much when we dropped her off at the MTC.  I really would not want Montana or Finn doing anything else right now but that doesn't make it any easier necessarily. I am so proud of each of them and feel really lucky to be their mom. 

Our CRAZY weekend

This last week has been a whirlwind of activity. Trying to get a missionary ready to leave in a week is CRAZY! But everything has fallen in to place and I think we are almost ready. 

Saturday night Finn received his endowment at the Draper Temple. It was a wonderful night. We were so lucky to have so many Brian family members in town with us so it was extra special. The temple worker helping him for the night has a son who returned from the Texas McAllen mission last September so he had some fun experiences to share with Finn.  

Everyone gathered at Sherry's after the temple to eat. What a beautiful view from her front porch!

Yes, it's very blurry but you have to be sneaky when taking pictures in church! The farewell went well. Finn's talk was perfect. He shared a part of a letter he received from Isaac Burr. That was the only time he teared up. I'm very proud of him and look forward to hear all about his adventures in the next few years to come. 

Finn's Mission Call

I feel like our lives have had one giant milestone after another happening lately. And I'm not sure I like it this way. Too many exciting things are happening too fast. My kids are growing up too fast and leaving me too quickly. There are days that I am so happy and proud that I feel my heart will explode right out of my chest. Then there are days that I am on the verge of tears the entire day. 

But EVERY day I am so grateful for this family of mine and love them more and more.  

About the time Montana got her mission call Finn wasn't so sure what he would be doing after graduation. He hadn't applied to any colleges and had no thoughts as to his future plans. But I think seeing Montana get that mission call stirred something inside him because, almost immediately, he started working on his papers. 

Yesterday afternoon that big white envelope finally arrived----not on Wednesday as we had hoped!! 

We had Kurt on FaceTime since he was in Canada for work. 

talking to Kurt on the phone....

TEXAS MCALLEN SPANISH SPEAKING! 

REPORTING TO THE MEXICO CITY MTC JULY 17, 2013!

best friends since birth

London-lou

My two missionaries!

Proud grandparents!

Finn and Maddie

One proud mom!