Hi Family!
So much to say, so little time! Here I go!
Well, I've officially been reassigned to Pocatello Idaho!!! Woo hoo! I'll be there until I get my visa, and then I'll finally be on my way to Argentina! I have no idea if I'll be speaking spanish in Pocatello, but I guess I'll find out soon! If you can imagine the scene from "The Singles Ward" when he gets his call to Boise, that's exactly how I feel right now! I even did look at a map :) I wanted to find out if Rexburg is in the mission and it is! It'd be cool if I got to serve there. We'll see. I was hoping for Chicago, St. Louis, or St. George, but heck! I'll take ANYWHERE out of the square mile or so I've been living in for the last (almost) 3 months.
In honor of me finally leaving the MTC I've made a remix to the tune of "I Hope They Call me on a Mission." Enjoy!
I'm glad I'm gettin' out of Provo,
Now that I've endured the MTC!
I'm glad they finally reassigned me,
to teach and preach the gospel to the people of Pokie!
Hope you enjoyed that little song :) Also, over the last few days I've made this list, and now I feel it is appropriate to share since I'm finally leaving!
You know you've been in the MTC too long when...
- you've been here longer than missionaries that are learning Russian or Chinese or Albanian
- the letters on your MTC ID card have almost completely faded off
- the branch presidency jokes about how they're going to put placks on your residence hall room door since you've been here for so long
- you've seen 9 different districts from your zone come and go
- you've seen your teacher (Hermano Pacheco) break up and get back together with his GF 5 different times
- you've been through the cafeteria meals about 9 times each
- you tell people how long you've been here people either cringe or make a sad face and say "Ohh, pobrecitos"
- you've done all the possible jobs at Tuesday morning service at least 4 times each
- you've sung "Called to Serve" over 50 times
- you've used almost all the showers in your residence halls building (12 each floor, 4 floors)
- you've been a member of 2 different districts
- you've been through the MTC learning curriculum 2 different times (one in an intermediate district, one in an advanced district)
- your branch president jokes about he's going to call you as a zone leader again
- you realize you've been here almost a whole school semester
- you've seen all the Preach My Gospel training videos about 3 times each
- teachers that haven't seen you for a while see you and say "Todavia esta aqui?" (You're still here?)
- you've been here long enough to see the leaves fall of the trees and then start to grow back on again
Well, there ya have it! Hope you enjoyed that list and it made you laugh a little :)
So conference. Flippin' awesome right? It was definitely the most meaningful conference I've ever watched, that's for sure. I think it's because with this conference I actually prayed before it and came up with a few questions that I hoped would be answered. Well, mostly all of my questions were answered in some way and I'll share just a few thoughts with you about conference. I wish I had more time so I could break down each talk (because they all were AWESOME!), but I don't have that kind of time, so I'll deal with it.
One of my questions was "How do I develop strength/courage and get rid of fear?" I'm still a little scared about going out into the "real world" and talking to people I've never met before in a language I don't know TOO well. It's scary. So I asked that question, hoping that I would get some sort of answer. Well I don't know if you remember or not what the first intermediate hymn was of conference, but it was "How Firm a Foundation." I've sung it before and it's helped me before, but this time when I tried to sing the 3rd verse, I couldn't because I just started crying.
Fear not, I am with thee oh be not dismayed!
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid.
I'll strengthen thee help thee and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous
Upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand.
What comfort. I just felt peace as I tried to sing along. I can do this work. It's hard, but I need not fear. I can do it! It reminds me of the scripture in Romans 8:28, 31. Go look it up :)
Another question I had was "how do I overcome inadequacies and have confidence in myself?" I'm not good at talking to people (in english, let alone spanish), and so I'm not feeling too comfortable with talking to everyone I see, every single day. Well, as I listened to O. Vincent Haleck's talk, my question was answered.
From what he said, I determined that I need to do my best to try to see myself through Christ's eyes. If we can try to see ourselves as Christ sees us, we will feel so confident! Christ knows our potential, and He knows what we're capable of. The phrase that I came up with that I kind of like is that I need to try to see my "heavenly potential." There's so much in store for me and I really don't need to feel inadequate. If I had more time to explain, I would, but the most important thing that I got out of his talk was that as I focus on Christ and His perfect love for me, I can overcome inadequacies because I will take strength in my divine, heavenly potential.
Like I said, if I had more time I'd share more thoughts, but 30 minutes flies!
Lastly, we had our regular Tuesday devotional this week and we heard from an emeritus seventy named Lance B. Wickman. He gave an awesome talk and told some war stories of Vietnam and related things back to the gospel. One story he told us was about a company who had a motto: "Go for broke!" He said that we need to have the same mindset on our missions. We've already made the biggest sacrifice by coming on our missions, so why not go for it? Making the decision to come was the biggest sacrifice, and now we're here and we just need to go for broke. I'm going for broke!
Well, I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't scared. I have confidence and strength, but just the fact that everything is so unknown is a little scary to me. Please keep me in your prayers!
I love you all.
Not alone as I work hard,
Elder Nilsen
P.S. I've officially decided that I most definitely want to play baseball when I get back. The smell of spring has inspired me. I miss baseball a lot. Anyway....I love you!
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