Sunday, May 19, 2013
I have moved my blog to my facebook page...
This blog works sometimes and sometimes not.....Sorry for any inconvenience...my facebook page is Judy Nelson
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Week 7....
What a week this has been. First off, we woke up to a white Monday morning. It was more snow than on the day they cancelled everything in DC. We decided to take the Metro in to work instead of traveling on the freeway with the snow. It was our first time on the Metro.
It was an amazing experience....We went to get the Metro down this amazing tunnel on a VERY long escalator...it was so long and so steep that it messed up your balance at first. It was like going to the end of nowhere...But we made it in to DC and did our work.
By Friday it was like this outside of the Archives.....
There have been a lot of people in DC this week. I have felt bad for them because the weather has been so lousy and cool and the cherry blossoms are not out yet. I guess the cherry blossoms are very late this year. They are having the festival...but without the cherry blossoms....weird.
We made a big mistake at the Archives this week. We have been picturing a lot of documents. At the camera one day, I found a document that needed to be sent down to conservation to be unglued. So I put a place marker to take the picture of the document when it came back from conservation. Well, we forgot about it. Creig got the group of images that we needed to send to SLC on Friday on the hard drive shuttle and took it down to the mailroom. About 3:45, it came to me about the missing document because conservation had brought it back in the afternoon. So we were about to leave and take care of it after SLC sent it back to us...but then the couple in same room as we are suggested that Creig run down to the mail room and get the package and add the missing image. So that is what we did. We were too late to catch the 4:00 shuttle bus, so we waited for the 5:00 shuttle bus to get home. That is when I snapped these pictures while we were out waiting for the shuttle bus.
We went to the $ store and I got some big plastic Easter eggs to fill up for our 4 Elders. It was fun...I put in a matchbox truck for each one and some water balloons and lots of candy. They loved it!
On Saturday we drove out the Creig's sister's place in Virginia. She moved last week from Maryland to Virginia across the Potomac. It took us 2 hours to get there. I just love her place. They are renting it. They plan to be here for the next 4 years. But it is just so lovely out in the rural Virginia. It is just a very lovely home. It has a wonderful deck in the back and a nice fenced yard with so many trees. Just like my dream house....really. I could really live in Virginia. It is so beautiful. Linda told us next time to bring our overnight bags and stay the night. We will just do that. Creig's brother, Dale's son Greg was there with his young family. They live in Waldorf MD, about an hour closer to Linda than we are. We had not seen them in several years. It was nice to visit.
Today at Church there were so many new investigators. There was a couple that found the Church on Mormon.org and ask for the missionaries. They were really excited to be there. There was a young man who is the cousin of a young man that was baptized in November. This young man was made a ward missionary today and is preparing to go on a mission as soon as he has been a member for a year in November. He is awesome! The cousin he brought is very interested in the Gospel also. And there was another couple also. There was a man who had been a Bishop in Chili for 12 years and he had been looking for the Church for several weeks and finally found the meetinghouse. It was great. This little Branch is working to become a ward and the Lord is just sending the people to make it happen. It is amazing.
We had dinner with the Anderson's , the couple missionaries that we carpool with to the Archives, and we had two of our Branch missionaries with us because they didn't have a place to eat for Easter dinner. It was great. They had a little old man that is in his upper 80s come and eat and also a ward member that has just been baptized 3 months. She is from Cameron Africa. Her four children are still over there. Some many come here first and then try and save the money to bring the rest of their family here. She is a very nice person. There was also a pair of senior sister missionaries also.
So it was a busy week. I really hope that the weather improves soon. But we are happy and healthy and doing very well. Thank you for your prayers.
There have been a lot of people in DC this week. I have felt bad for them because the weather has been so lousy and cool and the cherry blossoms are not out yet. I guess the cherry blossoms are very late this year. They are having the festival...but without the cherry blossoms....weird.
We made a big mistake at the Archives this week. We have been picturing a lot of documents. At the camera one day, I found a document that needed to be sent down to conservation to be unglued. So I put a place marker to take the picture of the document when it came back from conservation. Well, we forgot about it. Creig got the group of images that we needed to send to SLC on Friday on the hard drive shuttle and took it down to the mailroom. About 3:45, it came to me about the missing document because conservation had brought it back in the afternoon. So we were about to leave and take care of it after SLC sent it back to us...but then the couple in same room as we are suggested that Creig run down to the mail room and get the package and add the missing image. So that is what we did. We were too late to catch the 4:00 shuttle bus, so we waited for the 5:00 shuttle bus to get home. That is when I snapped these pictures while we were out waiting for the shuttle bus.
We went to the $ store and I got some big plastic Easter eggs to fill up for our 4 Elders. It was fun...I put in a matchbox truck for each one and some water balloons and lots of candy. They loved it!
On Saturday we drove out the Creig's sister's place in Virginia. She moved last week from Maryland to Virginia across the Potomac. It took us 2 hours to get there. I just love her place. They are renting it. They plan to be here for the next 4 years. But it is just so lovely out in the rural Virginia. It is just a very lovely home. It has a wonderful deck in the back and a nice fenced yard with so many trees. Just like my dream house....really. I could really live in Virginia. It is so beautiful. Linda told us next time to bring our overnight bags and stay the night. We will just do that. Creig's brother, Dale's son Greg was there with his young family. They live in Waldorf MD, about an hour closer to Linda than we are. We had not seen them in several years. It was nice to visit.
Today at Church there were so many new investigators. There was a couple that found the Church on Mormon.org and ask for the missionaries. They were really excited to be there. There was a young man who is the cousin of a young man that was baptized in November. This young man was made a ward missionary today and is preparing to go on a mission as soon as he has been a member for a year in November. He is awesome! The cousin he brought is very interested in the Gospel also. And there was another couple also. There was a man who had been a Bishop in Chili for 12 years and he had been looking for the Church for several weeks and finally found the meetinghouse. It was great. This little Branch is working to become a ward and the Lord is just sending the people to make it happen. It is amazing.
We had dinner with the Anderson's , the couple missionaries that we carpool with to the Archives, and we had two of our Branch missionaries with us because they didn't have a place to eat for Easter dinner. It was great. They had a little old man that is in his upper 80s come and eat and also a ward member that has just been baptized 3 months. She is from Cameron Africa. Her four children are still over there. Some many come here first and then try and save the money to bring the rest of their family here. She is a very nice person. There was also a pair of senior sister missionaries also.
So it was a busy week. I really hope that the weather improves soon. But we are happy and healthy and doing very well. Thank you for your prayers.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Week...6
Hello everyone! I would like to thank you so much for your prayers on our behalf...It is helping so much.
We worked almost 80 hours (together) last week at the Archives. We took nearly 5200 photos. It was a good week. I can now make it up the 18 floors stairs...I do it in the morning and then after lunch. It is hard, but I will get better at it. The days go very fast. We are in desperate need of 2 more missionary couples to work cameras in the Archives. It is easy and the days go fast...Please consider a mission to here. If you are at all interested, I can tell you who to contact in SLC.
My Spanish is coming along. I need to study more and it would be much better. The days just don't have enough hours. But I did get my name tag in Spanish. It was so exciting. Today in the branch missionary meeting, the Branch Pres. ask if I would work with a Sister to create a bulletin board in the hallway by the office. I said , Sure!...So I will work on that. I am understanding more each Sunday. I catch words here and words there and then I have to remember what they mean and put them in context. It is slow, but a little everyday. The sisters here are so accepting of me and so willing to help me. They greet me with a kiss on the cheek each week. It is so wonderful to be here. I am so blessed.
It is still freezing here...It is to snow tonight and in the morning...burrrrrrrrrrrr.... However, I will tell you that I have never seen so very many daffodils. They are just everywhere! So many and so beautiful. I guess people plant a lot of the because the deer don't like them. But they are along the freeway and everywhere. The grass is beginning to green up. So soon it will be spring.
So this week, let us ponder on the resurrection of our Lord and Savior. What a gift He gave to us just because of His wondrous love for us His brothers and sisters. How can we show our appreciation to Him? Can we give a prayer of thanks, help a neighbor, share the Gospel, and love each other. What else can we do? Think on it this week. We are so very, very blessed to have the Gospel in our lives.
I love you all...each and everyone one of you!
We worked almost 80 hours (together) last week at the Archives. We took nearly 5200 photos. It was a good week. I can now make it up the 18 floors stairs...I do it in the morning and then after lunch. It is hard, but I will get better at it. The days go very fast. We are in desperate need of 2 more missionary couples to work cameras in the Archives. It is easy and the days go fast...Please consider a mission to here. If you are at all interested, I can tell you who to contact in SLC.
My Spanish is coming along. I need to study more and it would be much better. The days just don't have enough hours. But I did get my name tag in Spanish. It was so exciting. Today in the branch missionary meeting, the Branch Pres. ask if I would work with a Sister to create a bulletin board in the hallway by the office. I said , Sure!...So I will work on that. I am understanding more each Sunday. I catch words here and words there and then I have to remember what they mean and put them in context. It is slow, but a little everyday. The sisters here are so accepting of me and so willing to help me. They greet me with a kiss on the cheek each week. It is so wonderful to be here. I am so blessed.
So this week, let us ponder on the resurrection of our Lord and Savior. What a gift He gave to us just because of His wondrous love for us His brothers and sisters. How can we show our appreciation to Him? Can we give a prayer of thanks, help a neighbor, share the Gospel, and love each other. What else can we do? Think on it this week. We are so very, very blessed to have the Gospel in our lives.
I love you all...each and everyone one of you!
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Week 5..
Well, we were basically on our own this week at the Archives. The Dickey's came in and out to help answer our questions. We did fairly well. We did over 5400 images of documents that we sent into SLC. We enjoy this job very, very much. It is still amazing to think of being downtown Washington DC everyday. We pass the Capital Bldg. each morning. We are only maybe 3-4 blocks from the Capital.
We had some fun times with some of the senior couples this week. We learned a really fun card game at the Dickey's on Friday night. It is a game that Bro. Dickey's brother created. They gave us a deck of the game. I can't wait to share it with our family. The grandkids will love it for sure.
I have been homesick this week. I think it is because it is Cambreea's birthday Tuesday, and I can't take her to lunch and shopping. I am thinking of you Cambreea on your very important 12th birthday. The weather isn't warming up either and that is a bummer. It looks like it won't really warm up until Conference weekend. Even Idaho Falls is warmer than here today! We are only 39 degrees warm!
Elder Nelson and I are struggling with the Spanish language. It is really hard. I don't know if we are going to make it or not. I would like to hope we can, but in reality....I don't know. But struggling eventually leads to growth, doesn't it? We will give it awhile longer. It is hard to be in Church for three hours and not understand what is going on. Elder Nelson is only at about 40% of understanding, and me still at 2% stretching it! You just feel so helpless. The Branch members are really nice and friendly. I guess I was expecting a miracle.
We are having the missionaries (4) over to dinner today. There are transfers this week and maybe a couple of our missionaries will be transferred. I think we will make this a regular on the week of transfer...dinner with them.
The dinner with the missionaries was wonderful. They also want to include us more in helping the Branch become a ward. They are going to suggest a bulletin board with some pictures and events. They ask if we would help do that...Yes, we would Love to......
We had some fun times with some of the senior couples this week. We learned a really fun card game at the Dickey's on Friday night. It is a game that Bro. Dickey's brother created. They gave us a deck of the game. I can't wait to share it with our family. The grandkids will love it for sure.
I have been homesick this week. I think it is because it is Cambreea's birthday Tuesday, and I can't take her to lunch and shopping. I am thinking of you Cambreea on your very important 12th birthday. The weather isn't warming up either and that is a bummer. It looks like it won't really warm up until Conference weekend. Even Idaho Falls is warmer than here today! We are only 39 degrees warm!
Elder Nelson and I are struggling with the Spanish language. It is really hard. I don't know if we are going to make it or not. I would like to hope we can, but in reality....I don't know. But struggling eventually leads to growth, doesn't it? We will give it awhile longer. It is hard to be in Church for three hours and not understand what is going on. Elder Nelson is only at about 40% of understanding, and me still at 2% stretching it! You just feel so helpless. The Branch members are really nice and friendly. I guess I was expecting a miracle.
We are having the missionaries (4) over to dinner today. There are transfers this week and maybe a couple of our missionaries will be transferred. I think we will make this a regular on the week of transfer...dinner with them.
The dinner with the missionaries was wonderful. They also want to include us more in helping the Branch become a ward. They are going to suggest a bulletin board with some pictures and events. They ask if we would help do that...Yes, we would Love to......
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Week #3
I am marking the weeks since we have landed here on our mission in DC. We graduated from the training that the Archives gave us on Tuesday. Hooray! We can not handle the documents. Then on Wednesday morning we woke up to a snow storm. They shut down Washington. We had to get on this website and it tells us whether Washington is open or closed. The snow amounted to about an inch, actually less than that here. But it was cold, and we stayed in our apartment all day. The next day the radio was calling it "Snowmagadon" making light that they closed everything down for that small amount of snow!
So on Thursday we were able to get our hands on training. The supervisor, Jackie, will look at our images a couple of times a week for a few weeks. It was just so fun to get started with what we are going to be doing. The Dickey's, who were on that video, are so kind and gentle in teaching us. The time just flies by when we are working. We look up and it is time for lunch, and then the next time we look up, it is time to go home. I like unfolding the documents the best. Capturing the images is a bit harder to get used to because there are pedels on the floor that you have to work with both feet to have the table go up and down to the glass. I got my hand caught a couple of times. Also, Elder Nelson and I keep wanting to turn the documents face down-like to photocopy it. But it has to go up for the camera to take the picture. We got in some good practice. We were tired after 2 full days of our real work.
Some of the missionaries take the stairs..I am working on getting up to the 18th floor, but I can only go as far as the 12th. Elder Nelson is working at it also. We get more exercise here than we ever did at home and we can feel the energy it is giving us.
On Saturday we went to our Spanish lessons with the Elders at the Church. It was really, really good this week. I am starting to put some of the pieces together to learn this language. On last Monday, and every Monday for the next 6 months, I have a lesson over Skype on learning how I learn so I can learn this Spanish in the quickest time possible. It is an hour lesson. Then on Wednesdays I have my Spanish tutor, also on Skype. He is really nice. Both these teachers work at the Senior MTC in teaching languages to the Senior missionaries. I didn't really understand what I was suppose to learn on Wednesday until my lesson with the Elders on Saturday. The Elders are helping me so much. A light went on and now I can work on my lesson for Wednesday's lesson on the bus the next 3 days.
Elder Nelson and I are also trying to learn how to use our time the best. We want to get our Saturdays as free as possible to be able to go and see things. But then again, we didn't come here to site see...We are also working on how best to fix dinners and lunches that are quick.. When we get home at 5:30 after a day at work, neither of us wants to cook a meal. So we are trying to work things out that way, and also when to do our laundry, and our grocery shopping. Because I have language training on Mondays and Wednesdays. This week we did laundry on Thursday this past week.
Today in an early morning meeting with the Ward Mission leaders and the Elders, Elder Nelson and I were given 4 families to help with. Some are new converts and some are investigators. We will go with the Elders for awhile until we can get better at the language. They really have a strong mission effort in this little Branch. The new Mission Leader, Hermano (Brother) Cortez, is a new convert himself and you can tell that he has a very strong testimony of the Gospel. So that will use some of our evenings also. But it just feels so wonderful to be here and to be needed.
The members I am growing to love. For the celebration of the Relief Society's birthday this month, the sisters are going out to a restaurant to eat together. I am excited about this. This will be on the 23rd of March and then the next day we are to wear blue and gold to Church because it will be a Sacrament Meeting about the Relief Society. And blue and gold are the Relief Society's colors.....I did not know that. Did you?
We had such a good lesson in Relief Society on Lorenzo Snow's lesson #5. There was a sister sitting next to me helping me to know what was going on in the lesson. The Spirit was so strong in that lesson. There in that small Branch of the Church sat a few sisters learning on what they can become someday. It was so touching. And even though they have a different language from me...their faces show the same feelings as I have. I love being here. I am so very thankful that we are on this mission. We feel happy and so very, very blessed.
There is Elder Branning (from Houston, Texas, second generation member)...he is the tallest one. Elder Anderson (from Utah) is on his right. He got here the same time we did, so he is new. Elder Gleed (he was born in the same town in Texas I was!) on the left of Elder Branning, and Elder Guerro (can't remember where he is from :( ) on the end. He is just brand new like Elder Anderson. His birthday is tomorrow and he will be 25. No 18 year olds in this group. Both Elder Anderson and Elder Guerro are also struggling with learning the language also.
Well, this catches ya'll up on this Grand Adventure we are on.....adios!
So on Thursday we were able to get our hands on training. The supervisor, Jackie, will look at our images a couple of times a week for a few weeks. It was just so fun to get started with what we are going to be doing. The Dickey's, who were on that video, are so kind and gentle in teaching us. The time just flies by when we are working. We look up and it is time for lunch, and then the next time we look up, it is time to go home. I like unfolding the documents the best. Capturing the images is a bit harder to get used to because there are pedels on the floor that you have to work with both feet to have the table go up and down to the glass. I got my hand caught a couple of times. Also, Elder Nelson and I keep wanting to turn the documents face down-like to photocopy it. But it has to go up for the camera to take the picture. We got in some good practice. We were tired after 2 full days of our real work.
Some of the missionaries take the stairs..I am working on getting up to the 18th floor, but I can only go as far as the 12th. Elder Nelson is working at it also. We get more exercise here than we ever did at home and we can feel the energy it is giving us.
On Saturday we went to our Spanish lessons with the Elders at the Church. It was really, really good this week. I am starting to put some of the pieces together to learn this language. On last Monday, and every Monday for the next 6 months, I have a lesson over Skype on learning how I learn so I can learn this Spanish in the quickest time possible. It is an hour lesson. Then on Wednesdays I have my Spanish tutor, also on Skype. He is really nice. Both these teachers work at the Senior MTC in teaching languages to the Senior missionaries. I didn't really understand what I was suppose to learn on Wednesday until my lesson with the Elders on Saturday. The Elders are helping me so much. A light went on and now I can work on my lesson for Wednesday's lesson on the bus the next 3 days.
Elder Nelson and I are also trying to learn how to use our time the best. We want to get our Saturdays as free as possible to be able to go and see things. But then again, we didn't come here to site see...We are also working on how best to fix dinners and lunches that are quick.. When we get home at 5:30 after a day at work, neither of us wants to cook a meal. So we are trying to work things out that way, and also when to do our laundry, and our grocery shopping. Because I have language training on Mondays and Wednesdays. This week we did laundry on Thursday this past week.
Today in an early morning meeting with the Ward Mission leaders and the Elders, Elder Nelson and I were given 4 families to help with. Some are new converts and some are investigators. We will go with the Elders for awhile until we can get better at the language. They really have a strong mission effort in this little Branch. The new Mission Leader, Hermano (Brother) Cortez, is a new convert himself and you can tell that he has a very strong testimony of the Gospel. So that will use some of our evenings also. But it just feels so wonderful to be here and to be needed.
The members I am growing to love. For the celebration of the Relief Society's birthday this month, the sisters are going out to a restaurant to eat together. I am excited about this. This will be on the 23rd of March and then the next day we are to wear blue and gold to Church because it will be a Sacrament Meeting about the Relief Society. And blue and gold are the Relief Society's colors.....I did not know that. Did you?
We had such a good lesson in Relief Society on Lorenzo Snow's lesson #5. There was a sister sitting next to me helping me to know what was going on in the lesson. The Spirit was so strong in that lesson. There in that small Branch of the Church sat a few sisters learning on what they can become someday. It was so touching. And even though they have a different language from me...their faces show the same feelings as I have. I love being here. I am so very thankful that we are on this mission. We feel happy and so very, very blessed.
Well, this catches ya'll up on this Grand Adventure we are on.....adios!
Saturday, March 9, 2013
a videa
A quick post...
Here is a video that was done about our mission. The couple in the video, the Dickeys, are our trainers. We are replacing them. Pass this along...we need more senior missionaries.
http://brightcove.lds.com.edgesuite.net/66852713001/2013/03/66852713001_2212077432001_2012-02-007-elder-and-sister-dickey-washington-dc-north-mission-8000k-eng-copy.mp4
More tomorrow!
Here is a video that was done about our mission. The couple in the video, the Dickeys, are our trainers. We are replacing them. Pass this along...we need more senior missionaries.
http://brightcove.lds.com.edgesuite.net/66852713001/2013/03/66852713001_2212077432001_2012-02-007-elder-and-sister-dickey-washington-dc-north-mission-8000k-eng-copy.mp4
More tomorrow!
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
We graduated!
We graduated, so we can now handle the historic documents...Today there was a snow storm (nothing compared to Idaho or Utah), and the government shut down. We didn't have to go to work. Stormy, cold day. Now I know why we came on a mission....it is boring to be just home with not a lot to do! So glad we are here! Anxious to get back tomorrow.
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