Week One

Ty couldn't get his email account working yesterday, so he hand wrote this letter that we received today:

Dear Family,
I love y’all, and I love Alena, and tell her to do good in school and to work hard and not to slack. It is crazy how time works here…the days feel like weeks, but the weeks feel like days. Oh and I need laundry detergent. I don’t know what happened to those slips of detergent/dryer things, but if you could ship me some of those, that would be awesome. My companion (Elder Schvaneveldt) is a stud, and is really sensitive to the Spirit, which is awesome, and is a hard worker. The other two Elders that are in our room are way cool too, but as of right now, they are struggling with each other. The first couple of days were tough for me, too. I was more tired than I’ve ever been, I wasn’t learning Spanish all that fast and no matter how hard I tried I wasn’t feeling the Spirit and this was really hard on me. I was just getting so aggravated about how everyone in my district was saying how strong they felt the Spirit and I had only felt glimpses of it. I had felt before coming into the MTC that I knew more than anyone else did and for some reason I felt superior to everyone else. I remember that my companion wanted to go sing in the choir (Sunday), and so I consented to do so. We were singing the song, “Be Still My Soul” and throughout the song, I just kept on thinking about how I couldn’t let God and y’all down. I honestly just started crying, and kept on thinking how I would email dad and tell him everything that was going on and tell him how depressed I was. It was then that I just poured out my soul to my Heavenly Father just pleading for him to help me through this. And all of a sudden it just hit me how selfish I had been and how the only person I had cared about was myself. I had been studying the bible and other good books, but I had not read from the Book of Mormon since I had arrived at the MTC. At the devotional that night, the last speaker just hit me so hard and finally I was just radiating with the Spirit. Then we watched the Joseph Smith move and I knew from then on that I would not let myself stop reading the Book of Mormon. I would not let myself stop having faith in Jesus Christ and his restored gospel. I would not let myself try to live without the Spirit in my life. I have a testimony of this gospel. I have a testimony that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and as he prayed in faith, in order to find the truth, that he truly saw God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. I love this gospel so much. I love the joy that I can receive from reading the Book of Mormon. I that that if I am going to teach this gospel to others it will no longer be about me, because it is impossible to do so that way; but it will b through the Spirit and through the prayers of those I teach. I promise that as you pray to know of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and this gospel you WILL know of its truthfulness. There are no ifs or doubts. Also in our district we have sister missionaries and at first I was like dad gum, ‘cause I have heard so many different things, but they are so awesome. They are a threesome. Hermana Miller is a Hawaiin/Somoan and I have never met anybody so full of love and friendly. She talks to everybody and always expresses her love and testimony. Hermana Riggs doesn’t speak as much as the other two sisters, but her faith and testimony is really strong and when she shares it, you know she means it. She played b-ball at Snow College. Herman Williams is from Delaware and took 4 years of Spanish in High School and 2 in college (jokes). But she is amazing and converted to the gospel when she was 18 and her testimony of the gospel is truly amazing. So yeah, I love my district and oh my branch president’s name is President Nelson and he seems like he will be way fun. Elder Esplin and Elder White are our zone leaders and they are both from St. George, which was weird. My companion is from North Ogden. Oh and I have seen everybody here I think. I have seen, of course, Elders Anderson & Hintze and I also saw Elders Bangeter, Harris, Andersen, Richen, Jacobsen and Bodily so that was really cool and in some cases unexpected. Sister Andersen sent me a package which was amazing, as well as a letter, which Nick gave to me and that was really fun to read. Both Josh and Jordan came in today, so I might be able to see them. I also got Grandma’s letter which I really enjoyed and loved hearing from them. For right now the email is not working and I don’t remember my account and password, so that is why I am writing this letter. Gym is fun. We mostly play volleyball and 4 square, and a little b-ball. Food is also good and I found the ice cream machines. I have gained a couple of pounds, but I will probably lose them here shortly, ‘cause I am fasting today and then its fast Sunday this week. No bueno..haha. Just kidding, but seriously Fast Sundays here are going to be tough, so I am ready for the challenge. It’s from 4:30 on Saturday (that’s dinner) ‘til 5:45 on Sunday. Yeah, that’s most definitely over 24 hours. OK, well I think that is basically it. Oh and that story about Angela and her kids and dad and everything made me laugh so hard! Alright, I love you guys all so much.
Love,
Elder Nelson
P.S. You can send me cookies or something if you want

First letter home

Here are some notes from Ty's first letter home. This Elder is not long on words. I hope that will change, but at any rate, here is what he wrote:

It has been crazy and fun! The first day was really good. We helped watch and teach these 3 investigators and I really learned a lot and the Spirit was really strong. My companion is Elder Schvaneveldt (Shwan-velt) and he is way cool and it's fun. Our other 2 companions in our dorm are Elder McCullan who is 6'7" and Elder Mathisen 6'4". Then we have 3 other sister missionaries in our district, but one of them is being transferred because her Spanish is so good.

He then lets us know that he will fill us in on Wednesday, which is his P-day.

The Adventure Begins

We got a letter from the MTC last night that Elder Ty Christopher Nelson was all checked in. So now his adventure begins. We can't wait to hear about all the amazing experiences he is going to have. I can start by telling you of one. As our family is driving up to the MTC parking lot we are looking and looking to see if we can see Elder Nicholas Andersen. Sadly, we do not see him. We do see a group of Elders who are starting to cross the parking lot on their way to the temple. In this group, Ty spots Elder Steve Anderson, one of his very best buddies. He starts to shout out Steve and then quickly corrects himself and shouts out Elder Anderson!
As we are pulling into the parking lot Elder Anderson is there giving Ty a welcome Elder hug! Also with Elder Anderson is also Elder Cody Hintze. So amazing! We were able to get a picture of all these Elders together. I feel I need to share a quote from Elder Bednar's The Tender Mercies of the Lord talk:
"Some may count this experience as simply a nice coincidence, but I testify that the tender mercies of the Lord are real and that they do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Often, the Lord’s timing of His tender mercies helps us to both discern and acknowledge them." " I repeat again, the Lord’s tender mercies do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Faithfulness and obedience enable us to receive these important gifts and, frequently, the Lord’s timing helps us to recognize them."
We know that the Lord's tender mercies are going to attend our Elder Nelson and we can't wait to hear all about them.