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