Hello Family!
Well...I'm still kickin' it here the MTC. Kickin' it probably isn't the right word because that makes it sound like I've just been chilling, and I definitely have not been doing that. I've been taking advantage of this extra time and I've been studying hard. This is the Lord's time after all, so why would I waste it?
I've officially decided that I am champion of the waiting game. Whether that's a good thing or not I have yet to decide, but I am definitely the champ. Visas for Argentina missionaries have started to come in, so I would imagine I'd be leaving fairly soon. There was one Elder from my mission that got his on Monday around 3 PM and he left at 11 AM the next morning, so once I get mine I'll be heading out pretty quickly. I can't wait!
We're down to just 4 Elders left in our district. It's me, Elder Hansen, Elder Beck, and Elder Weiler. We're all in the same residence hall room and we're the last ones here! It's kind of a coincidence that it worked out like that, but I like it. I love all of the remaining Elders here in our district. The last week or so I've just gotten kind of sad that I have to say bye to them soon. I'm quickly finding out that the mission is full of goodbyes. Goodbyes are tough enough already, but the bonds that are formed while doing missionary work make the goodbyes just that much more difficult. Life goes on though! Goodbyes are part of this calling as a missionary, so come what may and love it!
I think it'd be really funny to watch all of us Elders here in our classroom when the intercom in our room comes on. When we get our visas they page us on the intercom and tell us to come to the travel office, so we all just jump up out of our seats and cross our fingers and close our eyes. It doesn't matter what we're doing, whether our teacher is in the middle of teaching us or whatever else we may be doing, we drop everything we're doing and just start praying that it is us. The last few days I've been really anxious for mine to come and I've just stood with my head against the wall right by the speaker, banging the intercom so that it will turn on. In case you're wondering, banging the speaker doesn't make it come on. We're just constantly on the edge of our seats in the classroom, and it's actually pretty fun. We're all like brothers in here now and it's awesome.
So usually I make notes of what I want to talk about in my email before I'm actually emailing, but this week (since I thought I'd be leaving) I didn't really do that. Sorry in advance if this email is a little scatter-brained. I'm just going to be sharing a couple quick experiences that happened this week.
This past Sunday, I (with a few other Elders from the district) went where no other missionary has ever gone before here at the MTC.
The Sisters' Residence Halls.
That's right! Me and a few of the Elders in our district were lucky (is that the word?) enough to enter into the unknown realm of the Sisters' Residence Halls. I'm tempted to just move on to the next subject now and leave everyone on the edge of their seats as to why I got to go there, BUT since I love you all I guess I'll share the experience. It was actually a pretty cool experience.
For the last 10 days or so, the one Sister in our district has been SUPER sick. I don't know it she'd want me to share with all of you exactly what she's been sick with, but let's just say that she's been a "kidney rockstar" the last few days (that was a terrible joke, I know. And in case you didn't pick that up, she's had a kidney stone, but yes moving on now from my terrible joke...). She hasn't even been able to get out of her bed. We've all been very concerned about her because over the last 9 weeks we've just gotten so attached (missionary appropriate relationship of course) to her. Well our branch president's wife came and got us on Sunday and told us that Hermana Coleman needed a blessing immediately. So we dropped everything we were doing and went over the Sisters' Residence Halls. Sister Tyler (branch president's wife) went upstairs and made sure all was clear and then she came back downstairs to get us.
Well we went upstairs and followed Sister Tyler to Hermana Coleman's room. We were all amazed at the fact that not only we were in the Sisters' Residence Halls, but we were actually going into one of the bedrooms! It felt so weird going in there, but we were Sister Tyler and we were on a Priesthood errand so we figured we couldn't go wrong. We went into Hermana Coleman's room and made sure that we were quiet (she was super sensitive to any noise at all). Hermana Coleman was curled up in a ball in her bed and Sister Tyler gently leaned down and asked her who she'd like to give the blessing. I could barely hear her, but I heard a quiet voice whisper:
"Elder Nilsen"
I immediately was filled the Spirit and knew that I was lucky enough to give this blessing to her. Well me and Elder St. Martin knelt down by her bed and gently placed our hands on her head and I started whispering the blessing. As soon as I started, I felt the Spirit even more and immediately knew that the Spirit was with us in this dark, quiet room. I followed the Spirit as I gave Hermana Coleman the blessing and then I finished.
I felt so peaceful. The Spirit was there with us as we gave Hermana Coleman that blessing. I knew that I was an instrument in the Lord's hands for those 5 minutes or so.
The Priesthood is real. We are so lucky to be able to have the power and authority of God with us on the Earth. It really is such a blessing. I want to ALWAYS live worthy so that I can have the Priesthood and to be able to act in God's name.
I wish I had more time so that I could tell you another quick story, but I guess I'll have to save it for another time since I'm already over on time.
Pray that my visa will come and pray that I may be able to have courage as I go to Argentina! I'm so excited, but I'm also very scared, so please pray for me.
I love you all so much!
Working hard,
Elder Nilsen
P.S. I'll just quickly share a quote that I heard this week that really shows the significance of missionary work:
"In some of your areas, you will literally be people's ONLY hope for salvation."
Pretty crazy.
I love you.
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