Good morning fam!

How are we all doing? Man those were a lot of really good letters to get from each of you and it sounds like things are just tickin’ right along. I can't believe that we are already back to Monday, these things keep on coming faster and faster it seems. Thanks for all the fun reports and things, it is always fun to read and hear what's goin’ on whether you think it’s important or not. That's crazy dad that you are going to be taking another trip over to China- good luck with that. Come on by, we're not too far away. Anyways, hope that things go well and that you can enjoy your big travels. That is a lot of travel for 2 1/2 days.

Just to answer your question on what the sister missionaries do- well they pretty much do exactly what all of the elders do. Except every branch begs until they can have sisters and the sisters kick all the elders' trash with investigators and things. They are all super good to have around- I have a lot of respect for all of them. And thanks for all the fun updates of things that are goin’ on with missions and stuff like that momma. Those are super exciting things to hear that are going on. And finally, lil’ Tanner that is way fun to hear that you are doin’ well with your ballin’ and things. Sounds like you've been hittin’ well and stuff and that is way cool to hear. I hope you have a good season, man I'm super jealous those are such good times. You better save up some good games for when I get back to come watch you bro. And Sarah, love you lil’ sis. Anyways, good to hear from all you and hope things keep goin’ good.

Well, we have had quite the week. We are all back to transfer time and so today and the last few days and the next couple days are some nice busy ones. However, this week has gone really well and we have been able to have some really good things happen. The big one- Ryslan- is just movin’ along as usual. He is definitely a slower mover, but man we love that kid so darn much. We were only able to meet with him because the store he works at is closing down and so every time we pass by the place is buzzing and so we don't want to bother him. But we just need to help him realize how important faith really is, for some reason there is just something holding him back from trusting God because he will say that he trusts us, but will not trust God. Kinda interesting to see how that works.

We then spent a couple days back in the old area on the other side of town with the zone leaders. Man it seems like a dream ago that I served there but I forgot about how many good memories I had at that place with Elder Broekhuijsen and how much I loved that area. Sometimes things move so fast that you forget to smell the roses, but luckily I got a second chance. We pretty much contacted the whole two days which was really fun, it's funny sometimes that "dirty work" of contacting and knocking kinda drags on you, but heck we haven't had a free day to do any of that for two transfers now and it was actually super fun to just be a normal missionary for a couple days it was so good. Anyways, we also had a great meeting with big Anna this past week and taught her the Sabbath day. She has a hard time getting’ to church as do most Russians, so I hope that made an impact on her so that she started to come and take all this seriously. She is so cool though, she showed up to our meeting with little post it tabs in her Book of Mormon with questions that she had about what she read. Then we realized that she was asking about Isaiah in 2 Nephi and luckily we had a member to help us out- I don't even understand that in English! Haha it was pretty funny. We all have a lot to go that's for sure.

We then spent the day on Saturday doing the big transfer calls for the upcoming cycle. Phew- I know I wasn't very good at talking on the phone at home so I hope that I have learned a thing or two since I've been here on a mission makin’ a few calls. It was pretty fun. It is exciting to be having all the missionaries coming in- our next incoming group will be 14 missionaries! We are trying to find places to put them because half of these branches will now be missionaries! They're gonna have to start spraying for us. Probably the coolest thing from this past week though was yesterday at church- we weren't able to get anybody to church which was a bummer and so we ended up passing the Sacrament just because that was needed yesterday. So, when we went to sit down after the sacrament, I looked up and saw a kid sitting there that I hadn't seen before, so I went and sat by him. He said, "sorry, this is my first time here. I don't really know what to do, but I have been learning a lot about you guys and have even been writing back and forth with the people on the internet and have a ton of questions. But I think that I have maybe found my answer." Holy cow- it was so sweet. His name is Ivan and is about 22 and just a cool, norm dude. When we come across those types, that are actually interested, we pounce all over them. Anyways, we had good church meetings and things and he is going to come next week and wants to find answers to his questions that he thinks he can find here. Pretty cool stuff, I think it really shows how much Heavenly Father really is in charge of this work and is looking out for us.

Besides that, we have been running around helping people get on trains and sisters lift their big ol' suitcases full of who knows what in and outta the trains and getting people all switched around. Transfer time is actually pretty fun. But, we've got it mostly taken care of till we go pick up the new group from the airport tomorrow, so I can sit here in the office and write with my big snickers that President Sartori gave me. Doesn't get much better than that.

Anyways, we are doin’ well and things just keep on keepin’ on. It has been another good week down on the mission and we're lookin’ forward to another good one. I sure am lovin’ it and hope you can all feel my love at home. Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Nielson