Aug 25

Well, I've made it past the year mark and so I guess it's just all down hill from here...

hahah jk this year is going to be UNREAL. Just wait:) 

I think I'm going to tell President Evans that I can't leave here until there is a branch. It's so close and it's going to happen!

We had 8 people in church yesterday! That was the most we have had since I have been here. Veronika, Jan, and Wenche all came, as well as a few others. I taught a Sunday School class after our Sacrament meeting, and that also went really well! It was just us, Robert, and Wenche at that point, but it was SO good, and everyone was participating and learning new things, and Veronika already felt like a a part our little Almost-branch:) It's been hard to meet with her since she was moving to a different apartment and looking for a job, but she is all moved in now and found a job as a kindergarten teacher! So now we will be able to meet with her more. She loves everything we have been teaching and is on her way:)

We also had a lesson with Jan. We finished teaching him the Plan of Salvation, and he really liked it! I believe that he already knows the church is true, but he doesn't want to make any quick decisions and wants a lot of time to really think about it. But he is making a lot of progress, and is just a really nice guy with great faith.

Earlier this week I was able to go on splits with Elder Childs, who is one of the HUGE guys that played on American Forks basketball team. It was way fun and we had a good time chatting about high school basketball and stuff haha. 

It's hard to describe, but I just feel so happy right now being a missionary. I've probably never missed the fam more in my entire life, but I just love it here so much! Elder Vause and I have a lot of fun and are just really enjoying the special work we are able to do here in Kristiansund. Makes me really sad anytime I think about having to leave one day. This week is going to be way super awesome though. We have some sweet appointments lined up, we are going to get some baptismal dates, then on the weekend we will be flying to Trondheim for a "skills workshop" with the North zone, then we'll be bussing to Ålesund the next day for a baptism. And then the next week.... Going to be Elder Bednar!! So that will be great:)

Love you all so much! I know this church is true! Don't be afraid to be a missionary.

If you have the desire, I promise God will help you. He has sure helped me! If you don't have the desire, I promise God will help you with that too. Just talk to Him about it!

Hope everyone has a good week:)

Elder Nilsson

Aug 18

HUMP DAY!!!

As weird as it feels to think about it, Thursday is the 21st of August. Yes, the same day I entered the MTC a year ago. I'd just like to thank all of my fans and readers, family, pets, and all others who have made this year what it has been. It's been one for the books! Besides all of the weddings, new babies, and stuff like that back home, it's also been a pretty good year for me over here in Norway. I've loved it and learned quite a bit:) And looking forward to the year ahead! It's going to be insane!

This week maybe wasn't as exciting as last week, but it was still good. We were able to find some new potential investigators, who I'm sure you will be hearing more about as they turn into investigators and baptisms:)

A good chunk of this week was spent in Bergen! We flew to Bergen Wednesday morning and had P-day there. Bergen is beautiful.

We hiked up one of the seven peaks in the city and got a pretty awesome view! It's always fun to see all of the missionaries and talk with them, especially when we are isolated on our little island most of the time:) But we will probably be traveling quite a bit in the next few weeks! We also got word today that we will most likely be there at the conference when Elder Bednar comes in a few weeks!!!! I am pretty happy about that:)

On Thursday we had the conference with Elder Dyches from the Area presidency. It was awesome! He talked a little bit about how we can become people who act, instead of things that are acted upon. It was super interesting and I got a ton of insights that I had never thought of before! The phrase we used throughout the day was "control your own weather". 

 

Weather is something that we can't control, but when we let the "weather" of our lives determine our attitude and thoughts, then we are just things that are being acted upon. We need to "control our own weather!" Meaning take control of the things we can control, and don't let things that we can't control determine the things we can control. Think about that!  :) 

 

A great example of this is when the Savior teaches us to "Turn the other cheek". When we do that, we stay in control, and are agents that act, instead of something being acted upon. Hopefully that makes sense in someone else's head the same way it did in mine! If not, just know that it was cool and that a general authority said it:)

We should have had an all time high of 8 people in church yesterday, but there ended up only being 5. It was still a good meeting though, and we had our first Sunday School class, which is going to be an awesome thing for investigators. I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting, and Elder Vause taught Sunday School. And we'll probably just switch every week, and soon try and get the members involved:)

Anway, I love you all and hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Nilsson

Some beautiful Norwegian trolls and stuff :)

 

Elder Vause likes to cook.

                             So now we cook:)

Aug 4, 11

Hooooooly smokes. I'm a little overwhelmed just by thinking about trying to write this email. I don't have much time at all since we only get a few minutes to email today, since our real p day will be in Bergen on Wednesday, and SO much has happened the last two weeks!! I'll do my best to explain:)

We have a baptismal date with a girl named Veronika! She's Norwegian, about 35 years old, and just has an incredible background story with how Christ has helped her in her life. She is even writing a book about it! We contacted her on the street last Tuesday, met with her last Thursday, and we when we invited her to be baptized, she said yes with no hesitation! The spirit was so strong during the whole lesson, and even though she didn't really know what she was saying yes to, she said that right when we invited her she had a feeling rushing into her that just made her say "YES!" So then we had to explain a little bit more about what it meant, and committed her to prepare to be baptized on August 30:)

We hadn't been able to meet with her last week since she was really busy, but then she showed up to church on Sunday and was just smiling the whole time. After our sacrament meeting she was talking to another one of our investigators at church and we heard her say how there was such a special feeling there. Which was HUGE because when we met her she wasn't really so into church at all...  She said that the last time she went to a church she got a bad feeling and just stood up and walked out. But she loved the Church of Jesus Christ:) She is so awesome. 

We had 6 people in church! Us, Robert, Stein - the quiet guy, Veronika, and a man named Jan. We met Jan outside of the church last Saturday and he had heard a little about the church before, and so we talked to him about the Book of Mormon a little. He has a strong faith in Christ but mentioned how it was just hard to know what was really true. So we invited him to come to church last week, and he showed up! Then last week we taught him the Restoration, and then he came to church again! We watched the Restoration film after Sacrament meeting yesterday, and it was awesome. Afterwards we just stood up and bore testimony, and then Veronika talked about how strong she felt the spirit and how much she loved the film and everything. It was a great day at church:)

So we have been meeting with Wenche, a former member, and she has been in contact with the Bishop in Trondheim, so that is a great start. So we are just teaching the lessons to her again and giving her the commitments, even though we don't know if she will need to baptized again or not. When we showed up to our first meeting with her, which was about two weeks ago, she had a cigarette in her hand... And said "This is my last one!" and she hasn't had one since:) She has such a strong desire to come back! It's been way tough but she has been way strong. She also drinks a TON of caffeine-free coffee, but we told her that she has to stop drinking that too and she was not happy to hear that.. since she thought that was approved. But she is going to gradually cut down. She's awesome:)

Last Wednesday we met a lady on the street named Mareta, and she invited us to a meeting with Baptist's later that night, and it sounded like she said something about us talking.. we weren't quite sure. So we prepared to just throw down some Restoration stuff if they did want us to talk! We showed up later, and the Baptist church had a sign on the door that said they were still closed on summer vacation..... the church was closed because of Summer vacation!?! (I thought it was pretty ridiculous too.) But anyways, Mareta showed up still! So we asked if she had a few minutes, and taught her the restoration outside on some chairs. She seemed a little skeptical about the Book of Mormon, and when we invited her to read and pray about it, she just sat there for a second, then pulled the BOM that was sitting on the table closer to her, read a random verse on the random page it was open to, and then the spirit just dominated her! It was some verse in 3rd Nephi, and after she read it she said that it related exactly to what she was going through. We just sat there and let the spirit go to work. She kind of just sat in silence and you could tell she was feeling it way strong, and she didn't know what it was so she all of the sudden closed the book shut and pushed it away from her. It was intense! Then she said she would read and pray about it:) We haven't been able to meet with her again, but we did go to the Baptist meeting this week!

We walked in a little late, and there were about 8 people there. It was actually way good. The preacher was totally preaching about tithing and using the scripture in Malachi. And sure enough, he invited us to go up and say something, so we both just shared our testimonies and told a little bit about who we were and what we do. It was the first time I have ever gotten some "Hallelujahs!" and "Thank you Jesus!" from the congregation as I bore my testimony! That just doesn't happen so often during any of the fast and testimonies meetings I am used to haha. We also sang some fun hymns from their little hymn books. And then one of the old ladies there, told ME to go sing a song! I didn't know any of the hymns in their hymn book, but! I somehow found How Great Thou Art.. 

So to all of you brothers and sisters and mother and father of the Nilsson family, I may not have nurtured my musical abilities by doing Clayton Productions like the rest, but needless to say, I went up there and sang a solo in front of a little group of brothers and sisters of the Baptist church.. I'm not going to boast and say it was that great.. But I'll just let the fact that everyone in the audience had their eyes closed, hands up in the air, and were throwing out "Hallelujahs" whenever they felt the need to - speak for itself:) Not gonna lie, they made me feel pretty good! hahaha and then that thought came into my mind...... "Maybe I should have done Clayton after all!" 

After the meeting we talked with the priest a little and some of the other members, and now us and the baptist church are pretty tight! It's nice too, because our church building is just right across the street! 

The work is going forward, God is providing a way, and miracles are happening! Not just here, but everywhere! Don't miss your chance to be an active part in it!

Sorry if I'm not able to respond to anyone else this week.. But I love you all!

Elder Nilsson