Our BEST Christmas Present!

On Christmas morning, Tim and I were up brightand early because we were so excited about it being Christmas.We weren't thinking about the presents under the tree or the food we would eat, we were thinking about getting the best present of all... a call from our son Elder Nelson! He told us he would be calling about 10 am his time (8 am our time). So we hurried and got everything ready for Christmas and I got the rolls in the oven. I was so distracted I forgot to set the timer and so they got a little burned. Then we waited. At 7:40 we woke Marley up and made sure Grammie was up so we could all be ready for Alex to call. We had set up a tape recorder and put it near the base unit of the phone so we could put the base unit on speaker phone and tape it. So 8 am came and went...So we opened presents. 9 am came and went.... Finally at 10:10 am the phone rang and Marley answered it. We were all so excited! We got the phone # and Tim had planned on calling back on his cell and conferencing in the house phone and Alex, but that didn't work... so Alex called again.. so we just went ahead and called him on the house phone.

First off, it was wonderful to hear his voice and know at that very moment, he was on the other end of the phone and talking to US! I miss that voice so much! Marley yelled, " Merry Christmas!!!" and he laughed.Then his dad needed to take the first few moments to discuss finances, then after that, we chatted. He was at the home of the Pulvers and they opened presents there and then called us. They had 2 other houses to visit that day. So he was going to get plenty to eat and be very well taken care of. He told us that being a missionary was different because he thought people would be interested in hearing the message they had, but they aren't. He said they get yelled at a lot! He talked about finding out about other relegions and how interesting that was. He has finished the Book of Mormon in 6 months and talked about the things he learned from reading that and said, if you have a desire to learn and understand as you read the Book of Mormon, you will. He has grown SO much and we are thankful for all he is doing!

We didn't cry until after the phone call and then Tim and I looked at each other and just started crying and hugged each other. Then Marley came into the room and saw us crying and said, "now your gonna make me cry" and she started crying and then the 3 of us hugged and cried, and then Grammie came in and she was crying too. So we hugged too! We were all so thankful to be able to talk to him and HEAR how he was doing!

We are thankful for him and his desire to share the message of Jesus Christ with others. We know that what he is doing is so very important and we are proud of the hard work he is doing!
We love him and miss him but know that nothing is more important at this time than what he is doing.