It's a Birthday Boy!!

This week Elder Nielsen turns 20 years old! It seems like just yesterday this 9 lbs 1 oz little butterball of a boy made his entrance into the world. Our lives have been infinitely blessed by having him a part of our family. This birthday he will be having dinner with a "super sassy and cool dominican woman" who is making him "mongu, which is apparently like the best" so he is excited. His cute zone leaders and I have a special surprise for him too...but we will keep that a secret for now. Hopefully we will get some good pictures next week. Here is a part of his last letter.

"Hello. I just love you a lot ok. I miss you a lot too but that's ok. So don't get mad but I opened my Birthday package. I got too excited. BUT don't think that it ruined my birthday whatsoever. In fact, I wanted to open it when I had time to appreciate it. Plus, I think of birthdays as more of like a week thing than anything. But anyway, the reason I am telling you this is because I wanted to tell you that I love you so much. You are my best friend in the entire world. Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you. 

This week was a fast one. We taught a lot of people. I went on an exchange on Tuesday-Wednesday in Freehold. Super fun. I was with Elder Laceste who is this super funny Asian guy. So I was speaking English for about a day, which was SUPER HARD. No me gusta. It's hard to condense everything I want to say into something that is of value to investigators and whatnot, so learning Spanish is an absolute blessing because I talk too much in English. We (my friend Elder Bylund and I) do this thing when we're contacting where if we get nervous or hesitant then you just say "Oh. You're not down" and then you have to. Like, I'm so down. No one will tell me otherwise. So I think that in my head whenever we're contacting. Anyway, I was with Elder Laceste and we were doing this table in which we give out pamphlets and BoM's etc. and this guy stops his car in the middle of the intersection and just sits there. And cars just went past him. So Elder Laceste turns to me and says "You're not down" and I HAVE TO BE DOWN ALWAYS so I walk up to this guys window with a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and ask if he wants it and he unrolled his window a little so I could slide it in. It was a good time. I'm so down. Don't worry though. I was safe. I always am. I have to make it home to my mom, obviously. 

Another good one is this guy came up to us when we were outside my favorite Mexican grocery store and this guy comes up to us and he smells like straight up vodka. So naturally, because I love drunk people, I engage this man in conversation. He gave us his cell phone number and had us call it so he could prove it was his. So he leaves and calls me like 5 minutes later to tell me his name and to tell me he loves Jesus. I responded in the same manner. 5 minutes later I received the same call. I kind of felt like Joseph Smith when he received the visit from angel Moroni 3 times during the night but instead of an angel of the Lord it was Drunk Martin. That was fun."

Jack ended his letter with this.

"So know that I feel very loved this birthday. That's the best thing I could ever receive. I'm happy. And I love my mom. I am currently sitting at a computer in the Family History Center wearing my new tie (that I love) and my grey slacks and brown shoes and belt and ankle socks because *shrugs*. I am always your boy. I am just away for a little bit so I can show people how beautiful this all is. The gospel is breathtaking. Everything I do is about love. I just want to show people how loved they are. And I feel like that's a noble work. I'm honored to be able to do it. I love you more than anyone has loved anything ever."

Happy Birthday Elder Nielsen. You are loved.