April 21

Happy Easter everyone! 

Sorry, this one is going to be short. Didn't have too much to report this week. It's still been a little crazy covering two areas and having both me and my companion totally new.

So we have been driving back and forth between Tønsberg and Sandefjord trying to visit people and members and doing some work in both areas. 

Norway pretty much just shuts down during the Easter week though. Almost all of the stores close and everyone just goes on vacation! So it was kind of rough in that way. But Easter was great. 

I'm so grateful for the Easter message, that Christ is our Savior, and that He still lives today. I know that's true! I especially loved the "Because of Him" video that the church came out with. Everything we have is Because of Him!! 

Transfers are next week, so I'll have a little bit of news next week on if I'm staying here or moving again.

Love you all! The church is true!

Elder Nilsson

 

We went up to this cool tower in Tønsberg. I don't really know all the history, but it's from the 12th century I believe! 

 

 

And a way cool legit Viking ship!

 

 

That's a model of what the castle looked like. 

 

And the tower is all that's left

 

taking aim:)

 

 

April 14

I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go, Dear Lord

Hello!

Another week down, and boy was it a week. I will just give a little recap:)

We have really gotten used to Nordstrand and Oslo. It's been awesome here! Pretty much the first half of the week consisted of us setting up an appointment with a guy from Portugal named Helder, who we really thought we would get a baptismal date with. He's the coolest!

We had an appointment with him Monday, but he never answered his door...
Even though we could hear him inside...
It was weird...
So we called him the next day and he said
"sorry", and told us to come back that night at 6!
So we did,
and he didn't answer again.
So we called him, and he said that he had to work, but that we could come back the next night at 6.
So we did.
This time we weren't able to bring a portuguese speaking member, so we were going to have to use google translate a lot.. .
But, he didn't answer again.. .
So that was a bummer. haha

On Thursday, there was a huge mission leadership meeting in Oslo, so I went on splits with Elder Newey, since his companion had to go to the meeting, which lasted almost all day.. So me and Elder Newey, who was in my MTC group, went out and contacted for a while, and had a unusually large amount of conversations and happy people to talk to! It was great!

Then we went and ate a delicious dinner with a member.

On Friday, we met with a kid from Kenya named Timothy. Me and Elder Duncan(below)

contacted him on the street last week. He pretty much bore his testimony on faith when we talked to him the first time, so we were pretty excited about him, and our lesson with him went awesome. He had never heard about the Book of Mormon or the Restoration before and that it would be really important and great if it was true. He is solid, and said he would read, pray, and be baptized if he found out it was true. The only problem is that he said he would be busy til the end of May... But it was still really awesome!
Later that night, and I'm talking like 10:30, right before I knelt down to say my nightly prayer, we got a text message... From President Evans... We were just like, "woah, that doesn't happen very often." Not only that, but the text said "Call me ASAP. -President". So, we called him right away. And pretty much the first thing he says is, " I'm moving you and Elder Nelson to Sandefjord tomorrow."
  

SO! I am in Sandefjord now! We woke up Saturday morning, packed up, cleaned the apartment a little bit, and took at train at noon to Sandefjord! There was some problems with the missionaries here, I don't really know any details.. But not only are we in Sandefjord, but we are also in charge of Tønsberg! We just barely took over Nordstrand, and now we have Sandefjord, AND Tønsberg! Which were two separate areas before we got here.

And I'm back in a branch:) The branch is in Tønsberg (which is the oldest town in Norway), and it's about a 30 minute drive outside of Sandefjord. And we have a car! So that's nice. But its all still pretty crazy haha but I really like it here.

Pondering in Sandefjord on our new balcony.. There is a pretty cool view. It's just blocked by that big red roof.

It's a beautiful area, and one of the families here have really taken us in and helped us a ton. The Fyhn family. They are the best. And they have 3 daughters that are deaf, so we have been learning a ton of Norwegian sign language! I think it's so fun haha.

So it was a pretty eventful week! Still don't really know our way around, but we have a GPS, thank goodness:) Transfers are in 3 weeks, and we have no idea if we will even be staying, so it will be interesting... I hope I remembered everything! haha my new address is:

Thor Bryns Gate 7 #4302
3211 Sandefjord, Norway

The Church is true!
Faith is powerful!
And God loves us!


MVH
Elder Nilsson

Elder Shanklin and I.
I am among Giants...
 

 

April 7

What a great week, and what an amazing weekend! 

 

General Conference was so good, as always. It wasn't even just the prophet and 12 apostles, but every single talk. I didn't didn't even doze off one time:) haha 

 

We watched the first session on Saturday night, and then watched the rest on Sunday, so we were up till midnight watching the last session live. It was amazing! I especially loved Elder Packer's testimony. So many strong and amazing testimonies were borne and hit me right in the heart. I know that we truly have apostles and prophets of God on the earth leading this church! I know that Christ lives and that this is His church! I love it!

We were able to have a few lessons this week. Most of them were our first time meeting with people, and so we taught them about the Book of Mormon, and committed them to reading it. We also had another lesson with Boris, the kid from Hong Kong that I sent a picture of last week! We had the feeling that he was just meeting with us and coming to church and ward activities for the cultural experience of being in Norway, but as we taught him this week, we found out that their was much more to it than that:) We taught him the Plan of Salvation, and he thought it was so interesting! He told us how it would be so great to know why he was here, and to know what was true, and committed to praying and continuing to read the Book of Mormon. The only tough thing is that he is leaving for about three weeks, then comes back to Norway for about a month, then leaves back to Hong Kong for good, so I am praying that he gets a quick answer!

                                                                    Back in my element! ;)

Oslo is awesome. I'm getting a lot more familiar with the area which is really nice. We really don't spend that much time in Nordstrand at all, unless we are visiting a member there, or just back at our apartment at night. The weather has been getting nicer and nicer and it's been awesome! We now are allowed to go out without our suit jackets, which is the first time since I've been here, so soon enough maybe it will be warm enough to whip out the short sleeve:)

           Me and Elder Nelson. He changed his name tag to Nielson. I'm still not sure why.. haha                     

 

Well, Elder Ballard challenged us to share what we have been learning from our studies in Preach My Gospel, so I will share a little! Although there weren't very many talks on missionary work this conference as in the past couple of conferences, it doesn't mean that we get to stop! I loved how he challenged every member of the church to study out of Preach My Gospel. It is an amazing book, and is modern day scripture. Recently I have studied out of Chapter 5, about the Book of Mormon. Great chapter! 

 

When it all comes down to it, all we really need to know is whether the Book of Mormon is true or not. So many little questions or doubts can sometimes shake or rattle our testimony. I've experienced it quite a bit with the investigators that I have taught. They want to know if it is true, and come with so many questions about little tiny details or crazy things that they have heard, and base everything on whether or not they get answers to those questions or concerns. I know I have had some little questions or concerns in my own life concerning my testimony. But it is so much simpler than we sometimes make it. If someone wants to know the Church is true, or if a principle is true, or if a commandment is real, or whatever it may be concerning the church, they need only to find out if the Book of Mormon is true. And once we know that the Book of Mormon is true, everything else seems to fall into place. Not that we get answers to every single question we have, but we will be able to face those questions with faith in the Lord, and they won't hinder us from progressing in the Gospel:)

Just some thoughts on that!

I know that the church is true. I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior! I love Him!

Elder Nilsson

March 31

Hello! 

First I will just say that the computers we use here in Oslo are pretty dang slow, so it's hard to respond to some of the emails I
get from people because it just gets frustrating.. And we have also
been going out to do stuff on P days so I don't have nearly as much
time to write as I used to.. So I apologize if I don't write back
right away.. On the bright side, I get to go play tennis today!! So
get this. The Sister Missionaries here, (one of which is Sister
Frampton, who I was pretty much one of my companions in the mtc), just barely taught and baptized a guy from Pakistan, who is a professional cricket player, and they are also teaching a Lithuanian woman who won the Lithuanian tennis championship, and has played on the pro tour! And she invited us to all go play tennis with her today:) So I'm way stoked!
 

Us with the Lithuanian national champion! I got to play doubles against her. She's pretty good.. haha it was legit!

Also have been able to play ping pong a few times this week. Even though some guy from Ghana that I had never met before came in a dominated me, it was still fun.

This week was pretty good. I love it here! So many people, so many
members, and so many opportunities! We had a lot of our appointments get cancelled at the last second. Well, all of them actually. haha and we haven't been able to get a hold of a lot of people.. But! We did have some bright moments. We went to try back this lady that the other Elder's met while knocking doors a few weeks ago, and she answered and we ended up talking to her for about 30 minutes on the doorstep! She said that she works for Nuskin, and has been to Utah a few times, and the owners of Nuskin are Mormon and she just loves them! She doesn't feel like there is really a need for God in her life though, since she already has it so good. Typical. But, she said she would start reading the Book of Mormon and that we could come back. Her name is Astrid,
and she has a lot of potential!

This weekend was pretty exciting. Since the ward in Oslo is so unique and has over 50 nationalities in it, we had a huge multi cultural party! There was a TON of food, and all different kinds of people! I think it is safe to say that the Norwegians were pretty outnumbered. It was awesome.

And then right after the party, was the baptism for Kashim the cricket player. I love baptisms! Our mission goal is 157 for this year. It's a pretty big goal, considering that we only got 66 last year, and we are off to a pretty slow start since we only have about 9 so far this year.. But 157 is still our goal. And we are going to reach it:)
 
The weather has been SO nice the last couple of days! Warm and sunny! It felt like a nice spring day:) Still a little chill in the air, but
it felt soo good! There is absolutely no snow here, and it is starting
to get really nice. I can't wait for summer!
 

Something else I can't wait for? General Conference! In one week! I've been reading back through all the talks from last conference, and something I realized is that I always underestimated and took for granted pretty much every speaker besides the prophet and quorum of the twelve apostles. But as I have read back through all of the talks, it has hit my how EVERY single speaker is speaking the word and the will of God! So that is one of my focuses going into this conference. Give my focus and attention to every speaker, not just the big names. I don't know if anyone else has felt the same way.. But I'm looking forward to hearing from everyone that the Lord has chosen to speak to us! Everybody better be watching as much conference as possible:) (Here is the link to watch it live)

I love you all. It's sad to hear about Grandpa Haws.

He was such a great example to everyone, and I love him! and I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have of the Plan of Salvation. My prayers and thoughts are with the entire family.

Have a great week! The church is true!
Elder Nilsson

 
Out in the fields

The Nordstrand church across the street from our apartment

Me and Boris! He is a foreign exchange student from Hong Kong that the Missionaries have taught a few times! He is the coolest guy ever!

March 24

Hello from Oslo!

So I flew away from the magical island of Tromsø, down here to Oslo on Wednesday! My flight got a little delayed, and I ended up not getting to my new apartment until about 11:30, but it was all good. Our apartment is pretty nice too:)

It's been pretty crazy here! Everything is so much more fast paced and crazy being in the city. There is so many people here! Although I live in Nordstrand, we spend most of our time in Oslo. We do a lot of things at the Center for Young Adults here in the city. It's a pretty nice place! It's also been nice living the member dinner life again!! haha the ward here is pretty big, but I'd say there was definitely more people that came to church in Drammen. So far we have just been visiting with a couple of members and trying to get our area organized since me and my companion, Elder Nelson, are both new to the area. Elder Nelson is a cool guy. He likes video game designing, learning other scandinavian languages, and throwing knives haha we got along well! Really though, we do. :)

I don't know about any of you, but I am PUMPED for General Conference coming up in two weeks. I've been reading through some talks from the last conference, and one that I really like is Look Ahead and Believe by Edward Dube. Such a great talk, and a great message. It's helped me a lot, and I have experienced that as I have looked ahead with faith, that I'm always comforted knowing that Heavenly Father is in charge. (Here's a link to my mom's study of the talk if you are interested...)
 
 

One of my favorite quotes from the talk is when he says "Faith always points to the future". Go read the talk! Or listen to it, since he has an awesome accent. haha I know that Heavenly Father is a part of all of the details in our lives. He is in charge. This is all HIS work, and as we Look forward with faith, and take action, we will experience the peace and comfort and blessings that come with living the gospel:)

Sorry it's short and I don't have any pictures.. Hope you all have a
great week! The church is true!

Elder Nilsson