Christmas Letter 2018

Merry Christmas Family & Friends!                                                                                       2018

We enjoy sending out a yearly greeting and hope that all finds you well. We have had many challenges this year but also many tender mercies and blessings.

A long story, but Matthew lost his job (of almost ten years) back in August. We feel blessed to have followed the counsel of prophets to get out of debt and to prepare for the unknown. We have a testimony that preparedness is a blessing. Although currently he is looking for a job, Matt does look forward to the day he can retire. (Prayers would be much appreciated.J) He did enjoy his trip to Bermuda in June (and Trisha got to come along too). He continues to play basketball every week either late at night or bright and early in the morning. We’ve all enjoyed his handy man skills at home.

Trisha is currently on her fourth year of homeschool and has both Brayden (6^th grade) and Brielle (4^th grade) home. It has been yet another medical year as she connected to the RTD community (cureRTD.org) and continues to become educated about the rare genetic disorder that the boys have and how to best treat it. The boys are on a new regiment of vitamins and have had an influx of dr. appointments. (Many friends and family have asked, “what can I do?” If you have face book, find the cureRTD page and like it. Share the page/info to better inform others. Prayers are always welcome and appreciated.) Trisha discovered High Fitness and enjoys going weekly—it’s a great way to relieve stress.  

Brayden(12) was ordained to the priesthood and has been to the Houston temple for baptisms. He enjoys Young Men’s with both the ward and the deaf branch. Recently, the YM participated in laying wreaths on Veteran graves. He likes to measure himself next to his mom and he can almost look her in the eye. He discovered the swap shop at the Houston Zoo and anxiously awaits the free zoo day every month. We could probably nickname Brayden “Santa Claus” b/c he enjoys wrapping up gifts for everyone. He gets all the kids excited about it as well.

Brielle(10) had her “golden birthday” this year as she turned 10 on December 10^th. She has the Harry Potter bug and owns a Hermione robe. She has become more skilled playing the piano and now desires to play the flute. She and a friend played some songs on the piano at a nursing home recently. She struggles with shyness but we continue to encourage her. She has a book/activity club at our house that she looks forward to every month.

Bryce(7) is getting close to his 8^th birthday in February and will finally be baptized. He has wanted to get baptized since Brielle turned 8. Bryce is in second grade. He enjoys school but has had behavior problems that have caused a lot of concern and have been challenging. Recently, he, along with Brayden, had a sleep study to see if sleep apnea is an issue. We hope to find out just after Christmas. His scoliosis has also progressed. Ironically, that’s how we found out about the cureRTD.org and connected with the RTD community. He now has a back brace to help correct the scoliosis.

Brenlee(4) participates in Joy School with four other girls. She loves it!!! It’s hard to believe that she will be a Kindergartener next year. She’s looking forward to her Mom teaching her to read (in the spring). She was evaluated for speech and will start speech therapy to help with articulation (just after the Christmas break).

Ruby turned a year old on December 18^th. She’s Bryce’s alarm clock most mornings. He absolutely loves her!  Snowball is a favorite and we just celebrated our second year of having her in our family.

Our family decided to try something new this year. We saved up for a trip to Hawaii and with Matt’s more “flexible” schedule our family went to Hawaii for two weeks. We decided to go on this trip for an early Christmas. Matthew’s sister lives there so like the kids said, “cousins” were their favorite part about Hawaii. It was a wonderful experience (hence our Hawaiian attire in our family pictures)!!! We also enjoyed our time this summer, in Utah and Idaho visiting family.

We have been involved with LightTheWorld. It’s been a reminder to us to live as the Savior lived. It’s been a meaningful way to focus on Him--to honor Him at this time of year when we celebrate His birth. May we all remember the son of God, the light of the world, and strive to be like Him. Like the star that drew others to the baby Jesus, may our light draw others to the Living Christ.   

Love,

The Nelsons

Double Dipped

Today at the branch, I gave a relief society lesson and a talk in sacrament meeting. For those of you that aren't familiar with our church, we have three meetings: 1) relief society (RS) is for the women and it's the 2nd hour at the branch. 2) we have sunday school and at the branch, that's the first class for us 3) finally, we have sacrament meeting where families are all together. Each hour of church is important and also different. 

In relief society, I used two conference talks about prophets and gave a lesson. It's so nice to have class participation. I really like and appreciate it. For sacrament, I gave a talk about preparing to go to the temple. I'm going to include it here:

This summer, my family decided to hike the Y. It’s a Y on a mountain close to BYU. Matt and I have been before but the kids had never been. We let Bryce continue sleeping b/c we knew it would be too hard for him. We woke up early to go before the sun came to make it easier. The air was chilly and the kids wanted to wear their jackets. We told them they would warm up and not want to carry their jackets. We wore clothes and shoes good for hiking. We were ready!!!

We thought we were prepared. We climbed but felt tired quickly. There are trail switchbacks and we had to stop and rest at each one. We felt embarrassed when other hikers ran past us. It is also harder to breathe on the mountains bc of the higher altitude. If we go again, what can we do to better prepare?  Maybe more hiking? Maybe bring water?

If you are planning to go to the temple, how do you prepare? What clothes we wear? We need a temple recommend. How do we get a recommend? We need to interview with our bishop or branch president and the stake president too. If we are going to interview for a job, the boss wants to know if we can do the job. Right? The Lord wants to know if we are worthy to go to the temple.  The recommend represents our worthiness to be in the temple. We are all invited to go to the temple but the recommend allows us inside. If we are not worthy, what should we do? ….Repent, right? Repent so we can become clean again and worthy to go to the temple. We need to be spiritually clean and that happens through repentance

On the temple there’s a saying “Holiness to the Lord”. The temple is a special place. It is a sacred place. It is the house of the Lord. For this reason, I believe those words are there to remind us (before we go in) where we are going. Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Can you imagine going to a king’s palace? How would you dress? The temple is more than a nice place, it’s sacred. We want our “clothes to show reverence   and respect”. We should dress in a way so we “would not be uncomfortable in the presence of the Lord.”  How would you act if you were going to meet a king? You would show respect, right? Reverence is how we show respect for the Lord. We are familiar with reverence because we are reverent when the sacrament is passed each week. How we dress and act shows respect to the Lord. It is quiet in the temple because “it is a great school. It is a house of learning.” …”When we do ordinance work in the temple we wear white clothing. This clothing is symbolic of purity and worthiness and cleanliness.”

The “For the Strength of Youth” booklet has a picture of the temple on. I love that! This book isn’t only for the youth. Our monthly councils in RS discuss topics from this booklet.  There are a lot of topics that can help us as we prepare to go to the temple; for example, we are encouraged to have good entertainment & media, to be honest, use good language etc. The booklet can help us prepare to be worthy to go to the temple.

On the hike, we were tired because our muscles were not use to hiking. Going up was hard but also going back down. The day after the hike, it was hard to walk and we were sore.  The runners on the mountain probably go often. If we had hiked the mountain a lot of times, maybe we would have been running too. When you go to the temple again and again, you will become more comfortable and understand better. If you develop spiritual strength, you will be able to connect better with the Holy Ghost. We should go to the temple again and again.

We partake of the sacrament weekly to remember our baptismal covenant. In the temple we make other covenants and we need to go often to remember them. The temple was closed for a long time after Hurricane Harvey. Flood water got into the temple so it needed to be repaired. This summer, we were in Utah and we went to the temple. I had an “I can’t” attitude about some things but after a temple session, I felt my attitude change. I was reminded of the covenants I have made and my heart was changed. It was such a testimony to me that it’s important to go often to remember.

We are baptized at eight and can go to the temple at twelve. My son, Brayden, will soon become 12 and he will be able to go to the temple. We have been reading “Preparing to Enter the Holy Temple”. It is a wonderful booklet about going to the temple. It explains very well what to expect. Most of us have been baptized as members of the church, but in the temple you can be baptized for deceased family members. It was more fun to have climb to the top of the mountain with my family and enjoy seeing the view from the top together.  Family History is another way for us to prepare for the temple. Our families appreciate our help with ordinances too.  When a person dies, they no longer have a body because the body and spirit separate and the body is in the grave. Heavenly Father loves us and wants all of his children to have these ordinances. Temples are the place for us and our deceased family members to progress.

If you plan to go to the temple for the first time, maybe you are nervous? It is normal to feel nervous about new experiences. It is ok. You are not alone. You will have help in the temple. Arrive early so you feel calm and reverent. You will have time to enjoy your experiences. President Packer says,” What we gain from the temple will depend to a large degree on what we take to the temple in the way of humility and reverence.”

The Lord has called prophets to go up to the mountain and many times compares them with temples. From my experience this summer with hiking the mountain, I know it requires a lot of work to make it to the top.  I also know the view from the top is amazing!!! You can see so much. You can see a “big picture.”

Testimony: I know that as we prepare to go to the temple, The Lord will help us see with spiritual eyes. The Holy Ghost will support our learning. The Lord will change our hearts and we will be blessed with wonderful experiences.