May 18

It's been quite a crazy week full of changes and good experiences. 

Last Monday while I was still in Stavanger, Elder Allen and I hiked up to Preikestolen.

It was amazing! Pretty foggy, and windy, and rainy, which was kind of a bummer, but we still had an awesome time.

It's definitely a must do for anyone who visits Norway! 

We ran into some members from Logan, who actually happened to be the parents to Elder Duncans senior prom date haha. So that was pretty funny. (mom posted this pic from them in my blog last week..)

On Wednesday I moved up to the beautiful city of Trondheim in the Trønderlag area.

It's the third biggest city in Norway after Oslo and Bergen and it's nice to be in a bigger area. Many more people! The area has kind of struggled recently so we are basically starting from scratch as far as investigators go, so we're hoping to get things going as soon as possible. I'm living in a pretty good apartment with a total of 6 elders! That's the first time that's happened for a while haha it's fun though. They are all good guys.

The last half of the week was full of opposition and we were really struggling to get things going. We street contacted a lot since we really need people to teach. It was kind of funny though, because the more opposition we faced such as cancelled appointments, not being able to find any new investigators, etc.. our hope and excitement seemed to go up, because we really felt like if we endured and kept up our faith, something great was on the verge of happening. We've seen that many time before:)

I sent a bunch of pictures this week! Some from our hike last week. There is also an area in Trondheim called Hell, so technically Hell is a part of my area.. haha.

And yesterday was the 17 of May!! We aren't allowed to proselyte or anything.. We still had a sacrament meeting later in the evening. Norway's 4th of July! 

It's so awesome. EVERYONE is outside and there is always a big parade (not really any floats, mostly just different kinds of people) through the town,

and all of the women are dressed in the traditional bunads (proof that modest really is hottest, and by that I mean most beautiful),

and most all the men are in suits (probably the only occasion where Norwegians actually wear a tie with their suits.) and the Norwegian flag is waving everywhere. The Norwegian flag really is a beautiful sight. I still love america though. I'm sad i'll just miss 4th of July :(

I'm super pumped to be here though! So much good work to be done! 

Happy birthday to Dad, and Aub who had birthdays this last week! I love you guys and I hope it was awesome!

Elder Nilsson

p.s. Don't worry about the picture with all of the girls. I'm still focused. It's just a picture. You better believe I was way scared to ask them though. I'll pat myself on the back for that one!

May 11

Hey! It was great to talk with the fam yesterday. It was weird having it be the last one. Hanging up and knowing the next time I see you will be in real life was pretty crazy! You all look great though. I love you.

I don't have time to write anything other than the fact that I'm moving to Trondheim this week!

Home to former Apostle John A. Widtsoe! I'm super pumped. My new companion is Elder Tate. It's gonna be sweet! 

I'll send a bunch of pics of our hike next week when I have some more time! Sorry I didn't have time to respond to any emails this week! Hope everybody keeps the faith this week. Make it a good one.

Elder Nilsson

(note from mom: Got this email the other day...)
We ran into your missionary sons on our hike to Preikestolen in Norway.

It was great to visit with them. They are both doing great. I served in Norway 25 years ago and it was nice to get updated on what is happening in Norway. We told them we would send you a picture.They are great guys.
Sincerely, Jon and Julia Robison

May 4

"Live your life in such a way that those who know you, but don't know God, come to know Him, because they know you." 

Just a nice quote I heard in church yesterday. It's so important for us to first understand who God is and what His attributes are, and then work towards getting those attributes. But we need to know who He is first before we can try and become like Him! The quote also points out how what we do can have an important effect on those around us. 

We had an amazing week this week! I don't know if I've ever had such a successful week on my mission as far as reaching all of our weekly goals go. Once again, we were coming down the home stretch and heading into Sunday before we saw many of the miracles. We were so blessed on Sunday! And that's what made it possible for us to reach our goals. How could we really grow if God gave things to us right away all the time and didn't make us hold out to the end and show faith? I feel like I've probably said something along those lines in about 80 percent of my emails.. So hopefully it will be engrained in my head haha. 

We got a new baptismal date with a guy from Iran. He is so sincere! And get this... He grew up Muslim of course, but has been in Norway for a few years and speaks an ok amount of Norwegian; Still pretty tough for him to express his thoughts. A few years ago he had a crazy dream! Long story short, he was drowning so he called out for Mohammed to save him, but nothing happened. So then he called out for Jesus to save him, and He came!! And he has been Christian ever since. Amazing! He still doesn't know a ton about Christ but he has a good understanding of the basic principles that we have taught him so far.  His brother was killed by terrorists not too long ago, and that has also driven him to learn more about Christ. What makes it even better is that we have a way strong member here in Stavanger who is also from Iran and speaks great Norwegian, English, and Persian, which is the language which they both speak. So that's pretty legit! And he came to church for the first time and loved it so much. It was awesome!

This is the last week of the transfer, and it will most likely be my last week in Stavanger. It feels like I just got here, but it's been by far my longest area! Anything can happen, but I think my time has come, which means I'll probably get moved one more time and that will be my last area for the last three months. But I don't want to get too ahead of myself, cause who knows!

Fun fact, I just barely found out what it means to throw a "Hail Mary". Apparently, that is a common Catholic prayer just like the Lord's prayer! So when someone says "let's do a Hail Mary" in football, they are basically saying they'll just throw up a prayer.

It's really of no significance to know that, and maybe I'm the only one who didn't know that already, but I thought it was pretty cool.

Hope everyone has an amazing week! Love you all!

Elder Nilsson