Week #3

The Zone Conference went very well.  We had individual interviews first.  Elder Hynes said, “This is not a worthiness interview, so don’t be nervous”.  He asked about health, work projects, the Branch, etc.  Then we had a two hour meeting with a lesson from Preach My Gospel, then a testimony meeting.  The ranch secretary had run to Crowell to pickup lunch for us, which we ate then went on a tour of the ranch.  The ranch headquarters is located at the prettiest part of the ranch, at least that I have seen.  We went to the Pease River which boarders the west and north side.  It was interesting to see the Hunting camps.  There would be a trailer park out is the middle of nowhere with electric and power hookups full of camp trailers.  There are also hunter’s houses here and there, like at Florida.  After the tour, we went to Paducah and had a catered dinner.  We still haven’t figured out what the meat was.  It was beef, but don’t know what cut. 
We really did enjoy Elder and Sister Hynes.  They were great.  Sister Hynes will try to help supply our humanitarian projects, because we have difficulty finding materials here.  They are from Florida so they know lots of the people that the Richardson's know.  Richardson's were in Florida and were the first family to live in the house that Kiley and Jason live in now.

Elder Hynes and Elder Nielson

 Debra Richardson, Elder Layton, Sister  Layton,                                                                                                                                               Sister Hynes, Elder Hynes, Sister Nielson and Elder Nielson

The men worked Saturday since they didn’t work on Friday.  Sister Layton and I went to Childress to Wal-Mart on Saturday.
These are the first lap quilts and adult bibs we have made.  We are already out of light batting.  We don’t want to put much batting in the quilts, after all this is Texas.  We have been using flannel for batt.  Sister Layton has been making the bibs and I have been doing the quilts.  They are quilted on the machine.



Keith and I spoke on Sunday.  It was an interesting meeting.  It started more then 15 minutes late.  It normally starts at 10:30, but there had been a convert baptism previous to the meeting and the Branch President and new member were late.  We all just sat there forever, and it really seemed like forever to us because of our speaking assignment.  Then there was about 20 minutes for speakers, so I flittered here and there in my talking trying to figure out what to leave out, so there was no order at all to it.  Dad did better.  He is going to teach High Priests this coming Sunday, so they obviously thought he could teach.
We were invited to Sunday dinner with Layton's to Brother and Sister Keys.  They are long time branch members and long time converts.  They are both from New Mexico near Albuquerque.  Their history was very interesting.

Week #2

We are still here and seem to be doing fine.  Keith is still in the grader.  I am still doing odd jobs.  We did have an interview with the ranch manager yesterday and he wants Keith to start trading off with some of the ranch workers so he, Keith, can do maintenance.  A big shop door blew out, he knows all about that, so he has been on the phone trying to get a new one.  Not many companies want to come this far.  He is also trying to get the hydraulics on a trachoe working.  There are lots of other things he notices that he would like to fix but never has time.

We did get to the temple last Saturday and were thrilled to see some of the same floor plan as the Columbia River temple.  From the office back was the same, but after the entrance, the building turns so it is L shaped.  They do not have many sessions, four on Saturday.  There is an Amarillo stake temple weekend in a couple of weeks.  We thought that the temple would have to have extra sessions, but everyone say no, they won’t need to.  We will see.

The Childress Branch was great.  The building is new, but small and the branch has outgrown it.  In November we will start meeting in the Presbyterian Church while ours is being added upon.  The SS teacher mentioned that she attended the branch when there were 12 or 15 attending and Sunday there were 130 and not enough chairs.  People were in the hall looking in and also in the Primary room.  There were three Priests and four Deacons and Teachers, at least.  We do have a church assignment to work with the five inactive sisters that live in Paducah.  We need to go meet them and see what we can do, or what the Lord can do through us.

While in Lubbock to attend the temple, we shopped for fabrics to make lap quilts and bibs for nursing home patience.  The nursing home in Crowell was happy to have us ask if they needed such things, and we are happy to have the work.  Sure wish I had brought a tote of fabrics from home.  We also bought a printer.  Keith was more into that than I was.  He likes to print.

We will have a visit this week from the Mission Directors from SLC.  They will be here Thursday evening and Friday, when we will have a zone conference and then they will go on a ranch tour.  When I told that to Kurtis, he said that they had a zone conference scheduled too, but that he was doing it.  What at Elder!

I saw my first wild pigs.  They are bigger than havalina.  They say they are eatable.  Haven’t seen snakes or deer.  Keith sees deer.  We did get a little rain, but mostly wind.  It is windy most days but you don’t notice it as much as you do in Wyoming because it is not cold.

Sister Nielson’s Days

No smiles, wonder why since painting is my least favorite thing to do.  This bedroom is in the apartment attached to the main house.  Actually it was probably originally a guest house.  It had wall paper and the bath is still papered, but the paper is not falling off like the bedroom was.  Dad did some texturing earlier then Sister Layton and I painted.  It really went fast, probably took about three hours the first day, then another hour the next day to touch up and clean up.

 

This is the school at Crowell where we go on Wednesdays.  There are other buildings on the campus too but this is the original building. 

We do have some humanitarian projects lined up.  We stopped at the nursing home in Crowell and asked if they need lap quilts, etc.  They do, so we are happy to get to work, as soon as we can.  We ran on into Vernon to Walmart, but no fabric department there however diesel was $3.45!  Dad and I hope to go to the temple in Lubbock tomorrow so we will shop for fabric there, plus get a printer and the rest of our list.

Today Layton’s are expecting company and Sister Layton is preparing, so I washed windows in our apartment and at the office.  Still have more to do.  We have started walking in the mornings as soon as the road grader operators leave.  They are working on a different camp (unit) so don’t bring home their graders every night but commute in a work pickup.

Elder Nielson’s Testimony of Prayer

I wish to acknowledge the hand of the Lord that has been with me constantly. It is really is satisfying. I feel as if I am buoyed up, I don’t tire as easily. I am not bored being in the grader 12 hours a day. Yesterday I came upon a large washout in the road I was grading. It had formed a cliff six feet high. There seemed to be room to make a new road next to the washout. I tried to ascend the hill, but a large boulder caused me to spin out. I looked for another way up and finally found a rather graded incline up the hill a few hundred yards away. I was able to make at up between the trees and rocks. Once on top I returned to the washout hoping to go down the narrow way and push the big boulders in front of me. I went over the edge and got high centered on the blade of the grader and there I was, miles from headquarters, alone. I prayed and asked Heavenly Father how to get out. I was impressed to maneuver the blade back and forth, and sideways finally making a grove that let me lift the blade ever so much, then the tires were on the ground and I pulled out. I worked about 2 hours making a new road around the washout and got home just as it was getting dark. I sure didn’t want to be out in the thousands and unfamiliar acres trying to find my way home. Elder Keith Nielson
This is at the bottom of the washout the next day.

The washout.

Our 1st Week

Well, what a different life we have than Kurtis in Ecuador.  He works so hard and what an example.

Our week started with Keith learning how to drive a road grader with no steering wheel.  He says he has no time to get bored because of the learning curve and the terrain.  He has graded every day from 7 am to 6 or 7 at night.  Saturday we watched conference and before and in between seasons he textured a bedroom-a big bedroom.  Sunday we watched conference again and had dinner at the manager’s home, with his family and the other missionaries and intern’s family.  The intern is from Blackfoot area and knows Jordan and McKenzie Linn.  They are going to school in Rexburg and have one little girl named Blakely.

I stayed home on Tuesday, but Wednesday, October 1, went to Crowell, Texas with the other sister missionary, Sister Layton, to volunteer at the school.  She is normally there all day, but we left an hour or so early because the class we were in, in the afternoon, had a substitute and she didn’t quite know what to do with us.  The first little boy I worked with just wanted to talk.  He kept saying he was dumb.  He lives with his uncle and aunt and his grandmother lives there too.  He father was found dead and his mother is mean and he does not want to live with her.  He kept yawning, but could read.  He just didn’t know it.  The other students were pretty much the same story.  Makes you want to take them all home.

Thursday Sister Layton and I worked on her family history.  We were successful.  We need to get back to it-she will be able to submit names soon.

Friday, she and I went into to Paducah to the post office, quilt store, and grocery store.  Paducah is 15 miles from the ranch turnoff and Crowell is in the opposite direction, but 20 miles.  The ranch is in Paducah school district but the ranch kids go to Crowell because their mother is a teacher there.  The bus (suburban) does come here, if needed.  Much to our dismay, the quilt store was closed on Fridays.  The grocery store is small, but we found what we needed.  The milk was cheaper ($4.19) than Walmart’s ($4.25) in Childress.  No Winco.

The Mission Directors are coming here on the 17th for a Zone Conference.  We do not know what that entails.  We will meet with them in the morning then they will go on a ranch tour, then we will all go to Paducah for dinner and they will stay at the hotel (Hunter’s Lodge) there.  Hunter’s Lodge is a very unique place.  It looks like an old court house, but there is an old court house, so do not know what is was originally.  We have been assigned to read Jesus the Christ by Easter, which is about 5 pages a day.  We are doing good, even ahead of schedule.

Triangle Ranch, Texas

We arrived here about 5:00 p.m. after stopping in the town of Childress to get food and fuel.  We had been told that the ranch was flat and not very pretty, but opinions can differ and ours sure does.  We think that this a beautiful place.  It is green, has lots of grass and trees.  It is warm, hope it stays warm in the winter, and our apartment is great.  I do feel like I get a headache when the gas oven is on, but we open the doors and windows and turn the ac so it won’t run. 

 

Leaving Highway 70 for County Road 345.

The lane is only 5.5 miles long.  Grandpa Brown wouldn’t know what to do with such a short lane.

Outside of our apartment which is at the end of the garage.

The two road graders rented to grade the 900 miles of roads, which is what Elder Nielson and Elder Layton do all day.

Corals and barns behind our house.  There is a hunters house inside this fence, the office is next to the barn, shop is behind the barn and intern’s house is to the west of the office.  The other missionary apartment in on the east side of the ranch house.  Nothing sloppy here.

Continuation

Next we were at Jensen’s.  We attended three ballgames, watched women’s conference, ate really good food and attended Kameron’s ordination.  He is now an Elder and right after the ordination, gave Cole a blessing since he is having such trouble with his knee.

Didn’t take a picture of Weston after his game.  Hopefully I will remember to always take my camera wherever I go soon.  Weston did give the best talk in sacrament meeting. 

Ren and grandpa are still best friends.  Wyatt and Grandpa made a headboard.  Doug and Kameron went to Michigan for the Wyoming football game and Erica tended us all.