Dec 30

Hello! 

Big times new from yesterday! I found out that I will be leaving the great city of Drammen. It's been an amazing place to serve and I'm actually really sad to be leaving. But, next I will be serving in the city of Tromsø, up in the Arctic Circle in Northern Norway!

It's going to be so crazy. They speak a whole different dialect up there so it will take a while to get used to. But I'm so excited! Some other interesting news... My new companion, Elder Henriksen, is a Norwegian himself! I've never met him, but I've heard some interesting things about him, so things should be pretty great:) haha I'm so excited!

I leave on Friday, and will be taking buses and planes all day... by myself. I'm a little scared that I'll get lost, but... I did ride the public bus to Provo all by myself... once, so... that was pretty good training. And I flew to Missouri by myself too! So hopefully I'll find my way to Tromsø:)

Tromsø, by the way, is the one place you should go if you want to see the northern lights in Norway, so my hopes are high!

We had an amazing Christmas week here! Tons of food, and tons of visiting with members. Probably my favorite day was the 24th, which is the day they celebrate the most here.

We were with a member family, and we ate Reindeer for dinner (My favorite thing I have eaten here in Norway)

and had a huge chess tournament the whole night! It was pretty fun. One of the family members lives in Utah, but came back to Norway for Christmas, and brought two friends with him, who didn't speak any Norwegian, so everyone mostly spoke English the whole night, so that was nice too:) 

It was so great talking to the fam on Wednesday! It was crazy being on this side of things for once, after all of the calls I've been a part of while all my brothers were out on missions. Sorry if I was a little awkward! haha it happens! 

It's been a good week of Christmas celebrations, but I'm so excited to get back into the normal swing of things. There's a lot of things I'm looking forward to during this next transfer, and I'm pumped about it! 

Hope everyone has a great New Years!

Elder Nilsson

Dec 23

Merry Christmas! 


Besides having every single investigator tell us to come back after Christmas, it's been a decent week. We have been spending a ton of time with the awesome members here  recently, and this week we will be at members houses every night celebrating Christmas! So excited! All of the snow that we have gotten the past two weeks is pretty much melted.. Which is a bummer. It has been about 3-4 degrees celsius all week, which is pretty warm considering the time of year. I'm really hoping it snows for Christmas! I don't think I could enjoy Christmas in places like California, where it's like 70 degrees. Elder Weaver always talks about how him and his friends would go surfing during Christmas break.. That's not even Christmas! It has been suuuuuper icy though. The streets and sidewalks, and pretty much everything else has just been covered with ice. Elder Jones actually slipped and hit his head this last week and got a concussion.. So it's pretty intense! But I'm handling it ok:)

I've been loving the Christmas experience as a missionary! About the time when I got out to Norway President Evans had challenged us to read the Four Gospels, as well as 3rd Nephi by Christmas, and it has been so awesome. As I read through all of it, I also read Jesus the Christ, and watched a ton of Bible videos, and the life of Christ became more of a reality to me. He really lived, and is still living! I feel like I've gotten to know my Savior a lot better as I have been learning more and more about his life here on Earth, and been centering my Christmas around Him. He is the light of the world! 

Hope everyone has a great Holiday season! Merry Christmas!! 

Elder Nilsson

Dec 16

We got some more snow this week! Still not a ton, and it's not cold enough so a lot of it just turns to slush, but everything looks way cool when the whole city is decked out in white. Also, I might have mentioned this before, but we pretty much live in a cloud. It is SO foggy here. It's pretty scary driving sometimes because you can't see a think in front of you.

As far as this week went, it was pretty slow again. We didn't find any new investigators, and the people we were supposed to teach fell through. It was pretty similar to last week. But, as disappointing as that can be, a baptism to close the week always makes up for it:) 

The Jonas family got baptized on Saturday, and it was incredible. Words can't even describe! And then yesterday at church they all officially became members of the church:) It was a long wait, but it finally happened and it was worth it! So that was really good.

I'm so pumped for Christmas! Especially since they celebrate it for like a week! And luckily, the members here are amazing so we will be treated pretty well. The baptism was pretty much the only thing I can remember from this last week, so I don't really know what else to write.. But I do have some pictures!

 We went to Heddal Stavskirke last p day! It's just a really old church i guess. Their are a ton of Stavkirkes around norway, but this is the biggest, and most famous one. Pretty cool!

Just knockin on some doors.....

...no one answered....

Dec 9

Dear Family and Friends,

Unfortunately, not a lot happened throughout this week. Last p-day we went up to Oslo and just walked around, so that was cool! We didn't have a lot of teaching appointments though. Plus we had a zone conference so that took the whole day. It was a good conference though:) Although we didn't have the best week ever, it was all made up for on Saturday, at the wedding for Samuel and Isabel:) It went so well! Although Isabel showed up almost an hour late, it was ok, because it was an African wedding, so they were running on African time. The wedding was just in the church, and there was about 40-50 people there... And 95 percent of them were African, so it was a party! There was a nice little program with some singing and stuff, and then the ceremony. After that, we went into the gym and ate dinner and cake and all that good stuff. They are now officially married, and officially eligible for baptism:) They were so happy, we were so happy, and you better believe all the Africans were happy! I love Africans. They are some of the nicest and friendliest people I've ever met. So this week will have a lot of focus on just making sure nothing happens to them before the baptism! I don't see how anything could possibly change their mind, but you never know... Satan can be clever sometimes..

We got our first real snowfall yesterday! It's only about 5 inches, but I'm way pumped about it! Drammen looks even more beautiful now with all of the snow! I'm also way excited for Christmas! It's huge here. They celebrate it for like a straight week. They've got lights up and big Christmas trees everywhere. The only disappointment is how they do the lights on the tree...

They just kind of hang them straight down from the top, and it doesn't look that great.. But I guess it still works:)  Here's some more pictures for you to enjoy:) 

Elder Nilsson

 Cool view from the bridge the crosses the fjord.

This is pretty much the White House of Norway. On May 17, which is there national holiday, this place is just packed with people and then the king comes out and waves at the people or something. I hope I'm in the area because foreigners get front row seats!

 Me and Samuel Jonas. I don't know why he doesn't like to smile in pictures, but I promise he was happy!

 Some of the kids. The tallest one and the shortest are part of the family. And then there is just this random kid in a gold suit with white shoes haha I thought it was pretty sweet.

 Me, just enjoying the snow:)

Cool ice thing that's right by our house haha

Just a little info on the Christmas in Norway that Sister Evans wrote to us.

"No one loves Christmas more than Norwegians!  It begins with Advent, the four Sundays before Christmas.

Christmas then ends on January 5^th when you have a party to take down the Christmas tree!   Purple is the color of “anticipation” and so you will see purple candles and other decorations in the homes of Norwegians at this time of Advent.

 Four special candles, often in a special holder or wreath or even a plate, often with the numbers 1,2, 3, and 4 on them  are for this special time. On the first Sunday of Advent one candle is lit, on the second Sunday two are lit and so forth until the Sunday prior to Christmas.  Advent is another word for the coming of Christ and it is often associated with His second coming."

Dec 2

Hello! Happy holiday season!

Definitely is the best time of the year. Even here in Norway. I'm loving it! I'm just hoping it snows really soon. The holidays aren't complete without a little snow.

We had a really great thanksgiving week this last week! We had a dinner with members almost every day, and three of them were thanksgiving dinners! Only one of them was an actual real thanksgiving dinner, meaning it had rolls and stuffing and turkey and pie and all of that good stuff:) I'll send pictures probably next week! Right after our last thanksgiving dinner, we all went over to the church for the Annual Stake Christmas Concert. It was so sweet. They had a stake choir and orchestra playing, and just did a bunch of Christmas songs..

Speaking of Christmas concerts, do you remember when we went to the Mo Tab Christmas concert and Sissel sang with them!? Aub? Jace? You guys remember that? Well she is totally from Norway! And we have the concert DVD, and we watch it all the time in our apartment:) and I love her haha She is the bomb. Also, one of the members gave us a fake cChristmas tree with a bunch of lights and ornaments, so I'm pretty pumped about that:)

Not much to report on any investigators. The wedding for the Jonas family is this Saturday!! And then the Baptism is next week! They are still doing so good. We still go and visit them like 2 times a week, but we are running out of things to teach them! They were totally prepared to get baptized like 6 weeks ago, so now they are just unbelievably ready. Everyone just acts like they are already members, which they pretty much are, just not officially yet.

This ward here is incredible. I never would have thought that a ward in Norway could be so good. I'd say it competes with any ward anywhere. The leadership is incredibly strong, and the members are the nicest people ever. I don't really ever want to leave haha.

Don't have a lot of time this week to write this week. We are driving down to Oslo for P-day today, so I will have a lot of pictures next week probably! Thanks for the emails! Love you all!

Elder Nilsson

Nov 25

Kjære alle sammen,

Happy thanksgiving week! This is my favorite time of the year, and we all have so much to be thankful for! Even though they don't really celebrate Thanksgiving here, the members still know we are used to Thanksgiving dinners, so we actually have 4 Thanksgiving dinners lined up for this week:) It's going to be intense! Usually, I try to watch my weight, but I don't even care this week, I'm going all out ;)

Man I love the holiday season! I'll probably get a little homesick, but that's ok, we are still going to have a great time out here:) We started decorating our apartment with Christmas decorations and stuff, so that has been fun. Also in the town square, I guess you could call it, they put in this huuuge Christmas tree, and some lights up and all the other trees, and they are putting in an ice skating rink! I don't know why, but it all just gets me pumped haha. Christmas is in the air here :) 

We had kind of a slow and rough week as far as teaching and finding new people. We have been focusing a ton on the Jonas family making sure they are still ready for baptism and stuff, and there are no issues there. They are amazing. We go play soccer about once a week with Walter and Carlos, who are 8 and 12, and that's always fun. Plus I'm getting to the point where I can semi communicate with kids in Norwegian! 

The houses are weird here. Most houses have their front door on the backside of there house. And there is usually two people living there. Someone on the top floor and someone on the bottom, so there is always a few doorbells at each door haha it's kind of weird.

We live in an apartment, and we live under two other people, Harold and Arne. They are the coolest people ever, and they loooooove the missionaries. They aren't members and don't have any desire to be, but they treat all the missionaries that live under them like we are their own kids. They are so nice. And they bought two computers for the missionaries and put them in the garage, and that's what we use to email every week:)

Elder Weaver is really cool. We get a long really well, and haven't had any problems. He's from California, loves to surf, snowboard, and skateboard, also played basketball and soccer in high school, and has a similar sense of humor! He went to BYU for a year and will be going back there when he gets home:) Really cool guy and is a lot better at Norwegian than some of the other Elders that have been out that long, so it's been really nice to get help from him.

Nothing much else really to report for this week. We are kind of expecting things to be slow during December just because people will probably want to take breaks for Christmas and stuff like that.. But we're still going to try! Even if it is freezing cold. It's been about -10 degrees Celsius this whole week. Nothing that we didn't see in Utah, but still freezing. The thing that makes it bad is we get some reaaaally cold wind to go with it.. But nothing to extreme yet:)

Hope everyone takes this week to really remember how blessed we are. I'm so grateful for all of my family and friends and for the support I have. I'm so grateful that I can be out here in Norway doing the Lord's work as a missionary. Every single thing I have is because of my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and there is no way any of us will ever be able to fully repay them, but we can still try our best! One thing that me and Elder Weaver have been trying to do lately is showing our thanks to Heavenly Father, not just saying thanks, which is still very important. But I know that if we say a prayer of thanks, and also ask Heavenly Father for opportunities to SHOW our thanks to Him, then we will receive them. Keep your eyes open! There's a lot of different ways to do it, but just try it! 

Again I'm grateful for Heavenly Father and for my Savior Jesus Christ. They are the source of all blessings:) The church is true!

Elder Nilsson

Nov 18

Dear Family and Friends,

Another fine week here in the promised land. It had been unusually warm some days though! I mean, it's not warm at all, but for Norway in November, it is very unusual! There isn't even any snow yet! Some days it just feels like a nice chilly fall night, and then others I feel like all the layers in the world couldn't keep me warm. So it's been weird. But I'm ready for some real Norwegian winter. Bring on the snow! It is also getting way dark. It's pretty dark by 4:30, so that I'm still getting used to that.

So Friday, I probably had one of the best days of my mission. It was just amazing. The morning started off a little rough though. We went and did some service with this guy who just lives out in the middle of nowhere, but his house is like right on the fjord and it was just beautiful. But anyways, there was this huge ditch next to his house that we had to fill in, so for about 3 hours we were just hauling way heavy wheelbarrows full of gravel and pouring them in the ditch, then covering it with dirt until it looked as good as new! It's hard to really describe.. but my back is dang sore from all of it.. Anyways, after that we ate lunch with this guy, who made us some hot dogs and burgers. Let me just tell you, Norwegian hot dogs are nothing compared to American dogs. Same with the pizza here. Not even close. Anyways, I was stuffed full from hot dogs, and probably ate one more than I should have, and I told myself I would never eat another hot dog again. So after that we went home and studied for about an hour, and then we went to The Weggersen's for dinner. That's the Cheaper by the Dozen family. Seriously the coolest family in the entire world though! The problem was, I was still completely full from lunch! We finished lunch at like 2:30, and then we had dinner at 4:30. I didn't know how I was going to force down any more food.. and to make it worse, right when we walked into their house, all we saw were a bunch of hot dogs on the table!! Some how I forced down three more. I thought I was going to explode..

 (Just a way cool church down in the city. I'm pretty sure it's one of the State Church buildings, which means it's a Lutheran church. It's way cool!)

After dinner we went down the our church building to meet President and Sister Evans, since they were going to come with us to teach the Jonas family. I talked to sister Evans while Elder Weaver had an interview with President. Then we left and had the best lesson ever with the Family!! We talked about the importance of reading and praying everyday. We also got a wedding date for the parents, and a baptismal date for the family! They are getting married on December 7, and then baptized on the 14th:) So I am pumped for that!

Last thing we had planned for the day was to go visit the Eduardo family. They are the ones who referred the Jonas family to the church. The Eduardo's are from Angola, and were baptized about a year. Funniest and nicest people. So we planned on just going and sharing a thought and seeing how things were going and talking to them about some other referrals we have, but as soon as we got in, we saw that they already had a friend there! So we just talked to them for a little, and got to know their friend. Her name is Samya, and she is from Brazil. We didn't know if she was interested in the church or if she was just there visiting the Eduardo's. Anyways, we still just shared a thought, and then we asked if there was anything we could do for them.. there was a couple seconds of silence, and we were just about to wrap up Samya came out of nowhere and just say "pray for me." Then she just broke out in tears and started to tell us about how she is going through such a hard time right now, It was really sad, but it gave us a great opportunity to bear testimony, that God really is there, and that God really does love her. And then we invited her to come to church the next day, and she did:) The spirit was just really strong, and it strengthened my testimony about the Gospel. We are going to start teaching her the lessons this week:) It also shows how important the members are! The Eduardo family is a perfect example to all of us. This is how missionary work should be, because it is the most effective.

The Church is true! It really is! And there is no greater happiness than the happiness that comes from the gospel:)

Elder Nilsson

(A look of my study room/bedroom...)

Nov 11

Dear Mom,

Its hard to believe the news about Grandma. I've been thinking about it a lot this week, and I did kind of have a feeling that she passed away, but it was just really surreal opening up my email this morning actually hearing that it really happened. I miss her already. I hope you are doing ok, and Grandpa as well. That's got to be so tough on him and all of you and your siblings. I will be ok. I feel a lot of peace and comfort about it. This is really the first time I've had to deal with the death of someone really close to me, and it just strengthens my testimony and makes that much more grateful for the gospel. We are so lucky that God has such a great plan and especially that we know what it is. But I don't want you to worry about me at all, I'm ok :) 

I did not expect the news about Grace at all though! That is so great! I'm so happy that Jenna and grace are healthy and all went well:) Aub sent me a picture and she is adorable! Tell her I love her! It's crazy to think she will be able to walk and stuff when I see her for the first time. How is Amelia? Does she love her sister?:) 

I'm doing really well mom:) I am learning so much. About myself and about the gospel and my relationship with Heavenly Father. It has been hard and really frustrating at times, but all in all I am doing really good and I am really lucky. 

I will be ok. There is a work to do! I know Grandma will be helping me out as much as possible:) Hope all is well back home.

Love you sooooo much mom!!!!!

******************************************************************************

Dear Friends and Family,
 

Just a short one for this week! I found out I will be staying in Drammen for at least another transfer! I'm really happy about it too. This place is so cool and the members here are awesome! Plus I wanted to learn a little bit more Norwegian before I have to move to a new place and make a fool out of myself again.. :) So i'm pumped about that! Elder Weaver said my Greenie excuses won't work anymore haha but hopefully I won't need to use them anymore.

Had a good week as far as the work goes! There is always people to find, no matter where you are! We found a couple new investigators this week that we are excited to start meeting with. As far as the Jonas family goes.. We are still just waiting on some papers to be sent back so that they can get married! Hopefully they can get married and baptized this week!

Exciting things are happening in missionary work here in Drammen, as well as the rest of the world! It's such blessing that we all can be a part of it. Never hesitate to share the gospel with people, and ALWAYS be praying for opportunities to do that! I know that if he sincerely pray for opportunities, and keep our eyes open for them, God will give them to us. God has a lot of children that he is preparing, and we always need to be ready! I'm so grateful for the Gospel. The church is true!

It was tough to hear about Grandma, but I know that we will see her again soon. I know that God has a plan for her and for all of us, and that His plan is always best. Also, congrats to Jace, Jenna and Amelia! Welcome to the family Grace! 

Have a good week! Love you all! The church is true!

Elder Nilsson

Nov 4

 

Dear McKay

Prayers for Grandma Haws. She is in the hospital with a pretty serious breathing issue. She has to have oxygen and they are giving her some steroids to try and help but they haven't really kicked in yet. I am in St George with her. All my siblings are here too... It came on pretty fast and they are not sure what the deal is. Hoping for the best.

Sorry I don't have anything better to write. This is all I can do before I fall asleep. I am happy to hear your success. Please keep up the. Good work.

Love you sooo much!
Mommy

****************************************************************************

Mom,

That is really really sad to hear about Grandma. I had to re read a few times to make sure it really said Grandma and not Grandpa. That is so surprising. I will be praying for her always along with the rest of you. Please give her a hug and a kiss for me and tell her that I love her! At least we know the God has a plan, and whatever happens is part of that plan. Can you imagine what it would be like without that knowledge? I can't.

I love you mom. I hope you and all of your siblings are doing alright. 

*****************************************************************************

Greetings from Drammen!

There is only about a week and half left in this transfer, so it could be my last full week in Drammen. I really hope it's not, cause I love it here. The ward really is so legit, and I can see why everyone says it's the strongest ward in Norway. I just hope I get to stay here for at least one more transfer, and then I hope I get sent back here at the end of my mission:) 

The weather hasn't been too cold here actually, but it has been raining a ton. This week is supposed to be pretty chilly though! 

We had kind of a crazy week this week. We haven't been able to find very many new investigators recently, and we actually lost a few investigators this week. So that was a bummer. So much of our focus was on getting ready for the baptism for the Jonas family on Saturday. We went over every night and taught them and made sure they were ready. And they totally were! They are the most humble, awesome family ever! They have such desire to follow Christ and be baptized. So we were soo pumped for their baptism. So we went over on Thursday night and filled out all of the forms and records and stuff. We get pretty much the whole thing filled out, and then Elder Weaver asks them what day they were married, and they say "oh, we actually aren't married..." WHAT!? First of all, how did we go through the Law of Chastity 3 times and the baptismal interview questions 2 times and not find this out? Second of all, why are they not married!? They are such an awesome family, and it never even crossed our minds that weren't married. But I guess they thought they could just get married after they were baptized.. Buuut, no. So we had to delay the baptism. :( The good news is, is they have already started the process of getting married, and it's going really fast! Here in Norway you can't just head down to Vegas and get married. You have to send in forms and stuff and then wait for them to be sent back, which takes anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks. So we are just waiting for the papers back and then the bishop can marry them and they can get bapitzed:) But man, what a shock that was. haha but it' all good!

Had a cool experience a couple of nights ago. It was cool for me at least. So me and Elder Weaver live with one other companionship. Elder Weaver is a zone leader, and then Elder Nash is a zone leader, and Elder Nash is training Elder Jones, who was in the mtc with me. So on Saturday night, Elder Nash and Weaver had to plan something, so they told me and Elder Jones to go out and start knocking on doors. One thing I have really be struggling with while I have been out here is getting up the courage to try and contact without Elder Weaver. I just get so nervous that I won't know what to say and I will have no idea what they are saying back to me. So I have passed up a lot of opportunities to do that just because I was kind of scared.

But I have been praying a ton that I can get the faith and courage to just try and talk to people by myself. I also started reading the Book of Mormon and focusing on what it teaches us about having faith and courage, and I can't think of a better example than Nephi. Reading his story is just what I needed. For example, can you imagine how much courage it would take to have to go up to a wicked king and ask for something that you know he won't give you? And then the king tries to kill you, but then you are told to go back again. And then tries to kill you again. And then when all hope seems lost, you go back AGAIN, having no idea how you are going to do it, but just having complete faith that God always provides a way. So I decided to just try and have some of the same faith that Nephi had, and me and Elder Jones, not being sure that we would understand anyone or know what to say or do anything productive, went out and started knocking on doors. We ended up understanding almost everything everyone said, and being able to talk back to them. Our missionary skills weren't the greatest, but I learned more during that hour than I had ever learned while knocking doors. We even got one persons number:) They ended up texting us like 20 minutes later saying they didn't need our help, but we were still proud of ourselves, and thankful for the Lord's help:) So that is my message for today! It's important that we just take a step of faith sometimes. Even when you can't see how it's going to work out, just have faith the God will provide. We receive no witness until after the trial of our faith :) And I received another witness that God really is there, and that he really does love us and wants so badly to help us. But in order to help us in the best way possible, He just asks that we take a little, or sometimes a big, step of faith:) 

Takk for deres støtte! Jeg er glad i dere! Håper alle har en fin uke:)

Eldste Nilsson

Oct 28

Dear Family and Friends,

Pretty good week here in Drammen. The weather was a lot warmer this week, so we didn't need our big coats too much, so that was nice! This transfer has been going fast! It doesn't feel like I have already been here for four weeks. I think I'm starting to get a hang of things pretty good. I'm feeling a little more comfortable going up and trying to talk to people on the streets and to members and church and stuff. Definitely still a struggle, but as I pray to get better, I can literally feel the Lord's help. It sounds weird but I don't know how else to describe it! Thank you for all of your prayers as well, because they really do help!

As far as finding new people, this week was really rough. People were just not having it haha so we don't get any new investigators this week:( BUT! The Jonas family that we have been teaching had their baptismal interview on Saturday, and will be baptized this coming Saturday! It's going to be so awesome. Since the District leader had to come give the baptismal interview, I went on splits to Sandvika on Saturday. I was with Elder Rowe, who is my age and went to Highland, and has only been out for ten weeks. So ya, we were very inexperienced and not very good at the language. But it turns out we only had appointments with people who spoke English that day hahaha so that was kind of nice. We ate dinner with an American family. The dad works at the embassy here so they have lived here for a year and didn't know any Norwegian, so we spoke English and ate some philly cheese steaks! haha yummy:) It was a good day and it was cool to go to a new area, but I was excited to get back to Drammen. I seriously love it here! 

This week we will just focus a lot on finding new people and getting ready for the baptism on Saturday. We will also be teaching the 21 year old daughter in the family this week, and hopefully she will be baptized in just a few weeks! 

Things are just moving along. The work is progressing and miracles are happening everyday, whether big or small. I'm so grateful for the gospel! There really are people all over the world who are searching for truth, and I am grateful to be in Norway trying to find them and teach them! This church is true!

Elder Nilsson

Oct 21

Family and Friends,

It’s been a really great week here! It is actually snowing right now for the first time this year, and it’s awesome! I don't know how cold it’s getting back there, but man, it’s cold here! But I didn't expect anything different so it's all good:)

My Norwegian is getting better and I am able to talk a little bit more with investigators and members, which feels really REALLY nice. Most of the time I’m just way awkward and don’t say much, but I've been doing better!  The Lord DEFINITELY is helping me, and I can feel it big time.

The members here in Drammen are so awesome. The ward here is actually pretty big, and we barely have enough room in the church, so it's awesome. I never realized how important members were to missionary work. It’s hard to even explain how important they are! Really important! Probably why the church has focused so much on members and missionaries working together:) So when I hear " The greatest generation of missionaries", I think of the full time missionaries, but I also include the members! Because without members doing their part, missionary work wouldn't be nearly as strong.

As for people we see in the streets and stuff, man Norwegians are so grumpy sometimes! They think it’s so weird when people they don't know try and talk to them or something. Like we when try and talk to someone that is walking by; they look up and just look so surprised that someone is actually trying to talk to them. So they will either just say no or they won’t even look up at us and just keep walking. So, rude... haha it’s funny though. Sometimes I’m just like, “come on, you live in the most beautiful place in the world, why you gotta be so grumpy!” haha 

We have had a lot of progress with some of our investigators, and some really neat experiences. The family that we have been working with just takes in everything we teach them. We were just teaching the parents and the two younger kids, but now the 20 year old daughter comes to the lessons and the whole family came to church! But they really just take in everything we say. We taught them about the word of wisdom this week, and we knew they drank coffee and tea and stuff, so we were a little worried how they would react to that, but when we mentioned that we don't drink that stuff it didn't even phase them. They just kept nodding their heads. They didn't even ask why! And then they just told us why they think it’s so important that we keep our bodies clean. So ya, it was a pretty awesome lesson; and they couldn't have been more prepared by The Lord. 

We have been doing a ton of service stuff lately. I feel like every single person we know is moving! haha so we have been helping move a lot of stuff, so that’s been good. And then there is this one family who decided to tear down their whole vacation house to build a new one, but they are doing it pretty much all by themselves. The tearing down part at least. So we got there and there was just a huge pile of wood. And for the next 5 hours we were just loading up wood into a trailer and then unloading it at some recycling place. So that was fun haha. Norwegians are so strict about recycling though. We have like 5 different garbage cans in our apartment that we have to sort our garbage into. 

Missionary work here in Drammen is going crazy right now. We have been noticing so many small, and big miracles happening. Whether it’s just being led to a random house to knock on or an investigator progressing a lot, or receiving an awesome referral from a member, miracles are happening all over the place. My companion just keeps telling me how spoiled I am, ‘cause this is the best "success" he's seen on his mission, or even heard of on his mission. And I know it’s not because of us haha the Lord is just preparing so many people. The work is hastening, that’s for sure!

It's awesome that I get to be a full time missionary right now, and I feel so privileged, but really we are ALL a part of it, and we are all blessed and privileged to be missionaries right now! At least that’s how I look at it:)  a Its exciting!

That’s all for this week

Love you all!

Elder Nilsson 

Oh and P.S.

The northern lights were BLAZING over Drammen a few nights ago!!!! Too bad they started about 15 minutes after we went to bed.... I am really, really upset about it. And I probably will be until I see them... anyways, here's some pics!

Second Week in Norway

Dear family and friends,

 Dear family and friends,

Second week in Norway was a good one! I'd probably say I can understand about 35 percent of what people say now, so that is progress! Some people just need to slow down a little bit when they talk. But its all good! It's coming!

It's starting to get reaaaally chilly here. I actually really like it though. I'm looking forward to the first snow! I just wish I brought some Trans Siberian Orchestra to play for when it snows, right dad?:)

I actually really like the food here. The pizza? not so much. But everything else has been really good! The pizza just has, like, no taste here! And they don't use pepperoni; they use something else that they "call" pepperoni, which does not taste like pepperoni... haha but the members have been feeding us a few 3 or 4 times a week. We ate with a burmese investigator, and that food was actually pretty good! Looked a little sketchy at first, but turned out pretty good:)

We had some awesome progress with our investigators this week! Samuel and Isabel and their family that I was talking about last time committed to be baptized the other day! Man, the Lord prepared them really well. It was our third lesson with them, and we felt like we should just talk about Christ. So we watched Finding Faith in Christ, and just talked with them after. It was pretty much like a testimony meeting. The Spirit was strong, and that was an amazing experience!

We had some other really awesome experiences where the Lord just places people in our path, and us in their path. He is working miracles here, and all around the world! The work really is hastening! It is definitely rough, but every time we are able to share the gospel with someone, and even plant a seed, it makes it all worth it.

I can't really think of anything else. I need to start writing things down again that I want to put in my email, cause I always forget! So sorry this is short.. I'll send some pictures and hopefully that will make it a little better:) Thanks for the emails, I love to hear from everyone! Ha en fin uke!

Elder Nilsson

There is nor way im actually here in Norway!

Hello family and friends!

I have finally made it to Norway!! And its so incredible! I just love it. I really do. Words cant really describe how I feel about it. haha My first area is called Drammen! Man what a beautiful place. Its just a fjord with houses and buildings built all around it and on the hills. And luckily, my house is on a hill overlooking the whole city:) Ill send some pictures but they dont do it justice. Overall my first week has been great. My trainer is Elder Weaver. Hes from Cali, and is just a very chill guy. Hes really cool and nice and works hard too so im really pleased with it. Hes dang good at norwegian too so that helps haha I have a really tough time understanding Norwegian here, but every day gets noticeably better! I try and go talk to memebers and other norwegians so I can practice and get better, but its hard because I know that if i go up and start talking to them I am going to have no clue what they say back to me! haha but the people here in Drammen are soo nice, and especially the members. President Evans, and pretty much everyone else has talked about how the Drammen ward is the strongest ward in Norway. And I can see why. The bishop is super awesome. He's only like 28 haha but is just the man! His whole family lives here and they are all awesome. His mom is like stake relief society president and his dad is like High priest Group leader or something like that. My second night here we had to go to ward council meeting and I understood about 10 percent of what was said haha I felt pretty useless. The ward mission leader is awesome too. Hes probably like 30 years old, and when we went over to his house for dinner, we got to speak english since his wife is from the states, so that was really nice to actually get to know him and talk to him and stuff haha. Ive already met so many awesome people here! This place is a melting pot. In just a few days, I've already met and talked to people from 16 different countries. Its crazy. We've taught a few lessons, but the first few I didnt say much since i had no clue what was being said, but every lesson i am able to understand more and contribute more. Yesterday I probably had the coolest experience so far. The weekend before I got here there was a ward open house, get together kind of thing that focused on the restoration, and Eduardo, a convert of about a year, brought a guy he worked with and his family who are from Angola. Samuel is the father, and Isabel is the mom, and then they have two boys ages 12 and like 8. We were able to teach them a lesson yesterday after they came to a session of conference, and man, they were sooo prepared!! It was amazing, because I guess there has been maybe 1 family get baptized in norway in the last year. Anyways, I was able to help teach a lot more, and the spirit was strong, and it was just such a cool experience. They said they would all read the book of mormon, and once they find out its true, they will get baptized. So we have a lot of hope for that. 

General conference was sweet!! We watched the first session live at 6 pm here saturday night, then we watched all of the other sessions yesterday. We loaded up on Norwegian chocolate, which is riduculously good by the way. So ya, i loved it! I wish I had more time to write, cause I could go on forever I feel like! Its not too cold here yet, but it feels like every day it drops about 10 degrees haha I love going down to the city and contacting haha people are so funny. Normally I will usually just stop people, introduce who we are and that we are sharing the book of mormon, and as soon as they respond, elder weaver takes over because I have no idea what they are saying haha but its good! I feel like im improving. Man. I just love it here. The pictures really dont do it justice. But ill send a few anyways. Love you all! Ha det fint!

Elder Nilsson

Last email from the MTC!!! Week 5 1/2

Saturday, Sept 27

Mom!! Thank you so much for the package and everything! I love the shoulder bag, the treats were great, and thank you for my patriarchal blessing and talk from Area Conference:)

I've got some new news for you.... I got my visa!!!!!! Yes!! Everyone got theirs except for two, and theirs can come any day. So ya! I'm leaving Monday! They also changed our plan a little. We are taking frontrunner to the airport at like 6 am. So it doesn't change much, it just means that we'll be at the airport for longer:)

Thanks for the debit card and calling card. Just wondering, why do I have two cards now? Just in case? I'll make sure they work today. And I'm not sure how calling cards work.. So I really hope I don't screw it up, cause I want to talk to you:) I put the memory card in the camera and it said it was full, but it only had one thing on it, and it didn't even say it was a video, so it was a little messed up. So I don't know. Thanks for trying!:) So ya! Today isn't a full P-day, but I'll be able to check my email and stuff throughout. I'm not sure if I have anything to send home or not yet.

Oh, and I got a package from the bishop full of goodies. It seemed like It was supposed to come a while ago, but I don't know. Will you just let him know that I got it and tell him thanks for me? Thanks:) 

I can't think of anything else right now, so just email me back and maybe I’ll think of some more questions! Mom I am so excited to go to Norway! Our teachers showed us some pictures, and man, I cannot wait!!! Could you do me another favor, and go on Facebook and message Chiara and ask her what her email address is? I kind of want to send her an email before I leave, but I don't have her email… so if you could do that I would really appreciate it:) Thanks! Love you so much mom! Talk to you later! :)

Hey! Ya, I saw Parker a ton here haha and yes, I feel very blessed to get my visa. I haven't tried the new card but I will today. The thing with calling is I’m pretty sure we can call at all the airports, but we hardly have any time in Dallas, I believe, but we have a ton in London, but it will be more expensive there I guess, and I'm not sure how the whole international calling thing works. But we have a looot of time in London I think hahaha

So glad Jenna is feeling better! I will still keep her in my prayers and fast for her tomorrow.

 Awesome about your blog! (theysawourday.blogspot.com) I will definitely look at that when I get the chance!

 Love you mom!

Week Five - TRAVEL PLANS!!

 Mom!

I love you so much:) Sounds like it has been kind of a crazy week back at home. Thanks for all of the updates. That is really sad to hear about Sister Homewood. But how awesome is it to know that God has a plan for her, and for their whole family? That’s why the gospel is so amazing. I can't even imagine how hard losing someone would be if you thought you'd never be able to see them again. Thank goodness for the amazing plan of salvation!! I will definitely keep Jenna Jace and Amelia in my prayers. We have Fast Sunday this week, also so I would love to join in on the fast.

We got our travel plans!! I'll probably repeat a lot of what I tell you in the family email but I still want to tell you personally cause you're most important:) We haven't heard about our visas yet... and we might not hear until Friday and I don't know anything about my passport either, but if all goes as planned, our first flight out of Salt Lake is at 12:30 pm! We leave here at about 8 I think? Anyways, we then fly to Dallas, stay there for about two hours, then to London, and then we're there for a few more hours, then to Oslo!! Mom, I am so excited it's ridiculous! I forget to bring my paper with me so I will give you exact times a little later, and probably just send a picture of my plans a little later. But, ya, I'm going to Norway!!! Whether it’s in a week or maybe a few more weeks…I’m going to Norway, and I'm ridiculously excited!! I leave a little later than Shaylor, so I probably won't see him, but he is also going to Dallas, then London, then Czech, so that’s kind of cool.

I see Nick all the time, and Weston. All the time haha I love it.

As for Chad and Jace… If it's cool with the MTC then yes!! Totally! I forgot to tell them when our temple walk was, but I think we are going to the temple at around 9:45 this morning, so we'll probably get there at about 10 if they can or want to go! I don't know if they'll read their emails that early… But unless they wanted to come on campus like Annie did, this is probably the last chance we have! Jace could maybe come on campus with Jordan Clarke or something haha I don't know, but I'd love to see them!

I wish I could remember what I wrote in my letter to Amelia hahaha I do remember that I thought it was pretty funny, though:)

I'm sure the bag your sending me will be great. Anything is better than carrying around the black carry-on bag that I brought haha

So mom I’ve never really used a credit card or debit card or anything like that... So when I use it do I just need to type in the pin? And am I just using that for all of my travel expenses and stuff at the airport? I don't have a lot of cash left… Oh! And also, I'm not sure if I brought my patriarchal blessing or not.. .I looked in my bags and couldn't find it. :(. so if you remember where we packed it or if you see it at home I'd love to get that!

Me and a few Elders definitely sat outside Saturday and listened to the BYU - Utah game haha We couldn't tell who was winning but somehow we kept hearing updates from random people... not sure how they knew... but anyways, that’s too bad. Glad I'm on a mission!!:) hahaha

I got the last package, thank you so much!! Thanks for telling me about the calling card! I was this close to buying one from the bookstore yesterday, but ended up never getting to it. So that will be good! Not sure how to use it but I’ll make sure to read the instructions haha

That is SO awesome to hear about you and shelly. I never knew all of the details, but I always had a feeling that things would get better. We're all just trying to be the best people we can be, and some people have different challenges than others. I hope everything continues to get better there!

I got so excited to watch the video you sent me, but then when I clicked on the link it didn't work… These computers are reaaaally restricted haha worse than safeeyes ;) hahaha pretty much you can only get on lds.org, mormon channel, and you're missionary portal and email and everything else is blocked…but I will try to open it on a different computer, cause I want to see it!

We got up and did laundry really early again, so I will definitely be back on in the afternoon to write the family email and everything. The cord for the my camera didn't really work so I borrowed some guys memory card adapter thing last time a sent pictures, and I’m going to buy one at the bookstore today, so hopefully I’ll be able to send a few pics:)

It's been a great week! Mom I have been learning so much here. I have been doing really, really well with the language, I think. I'm not trying to compare myself to the others or boast or anything but just to give you a gauge of how I’m doing.  I think I am picking it up a lot better than the others in my district. I'm by no means saying I’m good though hahaha I still have to think hard about it and it still takes a lot of effort, but I understand all of the grammar and rules that we've learned. I feel like I just need to learn more vocabulary. Understanding it is becoming a lot easier. So I’m just hoping by the end of two years I’ll know Norwegian:) It's the coolest language ever:)

Another cool thing.. Before I got to the MTC, sure I’d read my scriptures almost every day. But I had the HARDEST time studying them. I didn't know what to study, how to study it, and I'd never make it past 20 minutes, and I hardly ever read more than ten minutes a day. So I didn't feel like I was really getting anything out of it. Now? I will sit down at my desk in the morning, and be able to study for like an hour, or more, without ever even looking at the clock. And then someone will say it’s time for breakfast, and I’m like, “what? I need more time!” haha it feels so awesome! The scriptures are packed!! I'm sure it’s just what happens as a missionary, but the spirit just points out the most random awesome things and it just goes on and on.

Yesterday I decided to finally figure out what the heck Jacob 5 was talking about, cause I never even wanted to try before cause I thought I’d never understand it, but as I prayed for the spirit to help me, I studied it for more than an hour, and I think I kind of get the gist! I know I’m not even close to understanding what the real meaning is or anything, but I actually understood the gist, and I was just grateful for that haha

I am so pumped for General Conference!! I hope I’m watching it in Norway! Our teacher told us that in Norway, you get to watch the first session live at 6:00 pm Saturday evening, and then the next day? 8 hours of General Conference:)  It’s going to be awesome! Anyways, I decided to give you a long email because you deserve one:) Thanks for being with me every step of the way mom! I SERIOUSLY am not sure what I would do without you. Hopefully our visas come and we'll be able to talk on the phone in a few days!! I'll be back on in the afternoon to write the family email and the rest of the emails I need to write. Love you so much mom!! Thank you for everything. Hope to hear from you a little later today! :)

Mckay

P.S. Thought I’d just share this with you. So when I was saying bye to Chiara the day before I left, I gave her a note, and at the end I just bore my testimony and told her why I’m going on a mission and why all of her friends are going on a mission. Then I talked about the Book of Mormon. And then I wrote my testimony about the Book of Mormon and gave it to her. I was anxiously waiting for her first letter ‘cause I had no idea how she was going to react, and then the first week I was here, I got a letter and she said she was reading a chapter or two every single night. It was the greatest thing to hear! And she said she also prayed and it made her feel so much better, ‘cause she was reaaally down and sad about everything in general. So I was like, “awesome!” And then a few weeks ago I got a second letter from her and she has still been reading and praying every night and she said she even goes on lds.org to look up things if she doesn't understand them! She said pretty much everything just goes over her head, so I told her to just focus on her feelings, and she said that helped a bunch. Anyways, I got another letter from her last week, and she talked about how hard 2 Nephi was haha and I told her it was ok cause I didn’t understand it either, then she said she's re-read it three times! And that she still prays! And she is even talking to the missionaries!! I was like holy cow! It’s frustrating though, cause she said the missionaries won’t answer any of her questions… and they just tell her to pray about everything. So she is frustrated about that. But hopefully my last letter will help a little. I can't really remember what I said haha but that has been an awesome experience and I hope it doesn't stop! Anyways, just thought I'd share that little experience. Love you mom!

Hello family and friends!

Another week come and gone! Such a good week though. They have all been good weeks, haha The most exciting thing that happened is we got our travel plans!! If all goes as planned and we get our visas on time, we should be out of here on Monday! We leave the MTC at around 7:30, and our first flight out of Salt Lake is at 12:30 pm. Then we fly to Dallas, to London, and arrive in Oslo at 4:15 the next day, our time. So a lot of traveling, but I can't wait to get to Norway. I'll send a picture of my plans just so you can know exactly where I am, mom:) haha

So for the last couple weeks that we have gone to the temple, we've been going down to the cafeteria in the temple for breakfast. And I don't know if it's because we have gotten so used to MTC food, but the food in the temple is SO good. Like heavenly, haha. I weighed myself earlier this week at gym… I've gained 7 pounds... 7 pounds! I'm ridiculously out of shape haha but I’ll work that off in Norway, don't worry:) 

We got to host the new missionaries this last Wednesday, so that was fun! It's pretty sad taking people away from their families, but it seriously feels like yesterday it was me haha times flying! 

So I hear BYU lost to Utah. That’s a bummer. Glad I’m on a mission:) haha You better believe I was representing though! I was decked out. And yes, I went outside and could hear all of the cheers and boos haha We tried to keep a tally of what we thought was BYU cheers and Utah cheers, but we could never tell, so we gave that up pretty fast.. haha

I got my first hair cut ever that I can remember that wasn't from mom today... It's not too bad. Nothing like mom's though! I seriously wish I had a Flowbee, though. I think that would be so awesome. I just want my hair to be like dad's as soon as possible:) 

Norwegian is coming along pretty well, I think. I understand everything for the most part, and I've been trying to speak it as much as possible here. Such a funny language! Two of our teachers got in an argument (they were just messing around with each other) and they were just yelling Norwegian and it was SO funny! I couldn't stop laughing hahaha it's hard to sound mad in Norwegian. 

We had another great devotional on Sunday, and then after, we went and watched a talk that Elder Holland gave here about a year ago. That guy is unbelievable. Not many things get me as excited about being a missionary as listening to him. It was sooo good!!! One thing he said was kind of like a slap in the face to me haha but I needed it. I would always joke around with other Elders and say jokes like "oh ya, back in real life I would do this" or  "ya, when we get back to real life we'll go do this," referring to my mission as “fake life” I guess... Not that I meant it that way, ‘cause my mission has been so awesome. But in his talk he pretty much said, "I get so frustrated when missionaries referred to their lives back home as real life. This is real life! This is as real as it gets!" And he's right! The gospel is as real as it gets. Nothing is more important! In a perfect life, we would be able to focus on the gospel 24/7, and that’s exactly what we get to do on missions. So there's a cool thought:) 

I'll try and send a few pictures. I hope they work! Thanks to everyone who emailed and wrote this week! I love hearing from everyone! Since we leave Monday, we get to email and stuff on Saturday, just to let everyone know. Love you all! Ha det bra!

Eldste Nilsson