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 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..
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!
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
Elder Nilsson
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