Week #14 - Be You

Family!

I can't believe it's already been another week. I still am having trouble understanding how fast time goes, but how slow it goes sometimes too. It's so weird. Overall though, time just flies. I hit my 3 month mark this week! Woo! I'm officially 3 months old :)

So many things happened this week, and I've made a few notes so that I can try to remember the most important/interesting things that happened. As always, I'll start with the funny stories and then the spiritual stuff to end it. Does that work good? That's how I've sort of subconsciously done it in all my emails, so I hope it works!

Last Monday after we got done emailing we went in to Pokie to go to a few stores because there's not too many here in American Falls. We went to Dick's Sporting Goods to get a football for Elder Cheney and holy cow do I miss sports. Seeing all that sporting equipment I was just drooling. I miss baseball SO much! The hardest part about being there in Dick's though was the fact that they had SportsCenter playing on every TV. What the heck right? Goodness gracious. Everywhere I turned I saw it and was just dying. I might have peeked a few times (am I a terrible missionary now?), but I'd always quickly turn away. Man oh man though do I miss sports. The good thing about being at Dick's though is that they had Argentina soccer jerseys there and that made me happy :)

Speaking of soccer, I'm proud to say that in just one week I have already experienced improvement! I don't get schooled as bad by the little 8 and 9 year olds, so that's a good sign right? I think so. We were playing on Friday night in the church and I decided that I'd rock the Messi jersey (I thought I'd play better in it). I may have been doing a little bit of false advertising by wearing the Messi jersey because I probably gave off the appearance that I was a good soccer player, but oh well! Guess what though? I actually scored a few goals though! The best part of playing soccer though by far was the fact that everyone was calling me either "Messi" or "Argentino" :) You can just refer to me as Elder Messi from now on ok? :)

Another cool thing that we did this week was walking a member's dogs for her. Guess what kind of dogs they are? Yup, pitbulls! Was I scared the first time that I was walking them? Definitely. But turns out that they're pretty cool dogs. Now I'm not saying that I want a pair of pitbulls when I get home from my mission (or any dogs in that case), but they are way fun to walk. We take them to the park (or they take US to the park, I'm still trying to decide because they basically drag us there) and we throw the frisbee around with them. Man, these dogs GET UP! They jump so high! They always try to snag branches in the trees by jumping up and man oh man do they get high. I just want to know what people think when people see missionaries walking pitbulls down the street. They probably think, "wait, aren't the dogs supposed to be chasing you?" Something like that I'm sure.

Probably the funniest thing that happened this week (well, funniest thing for YOU, not me) was when we had to go to the doctor for Elder Cheney to get a cyst removed from his neck. We all went in the back room together where they were doing to remove it and I was already feeling a little queasy. You know EXACTLY where this is going don't you? Well, the doctor gave him a couple shots in his neck to numb him up and then started to take the scalpel to his neck. Now, I know I should've known better, but I decided that I'd try to take a glance at his neck while he was operating. Worst. Decision. Ever. I saw the blood that was dripping down his neck and that was enough to get me close to passing out. I quickly sat down and stuck my head in between my knees and tried not to lose it. Man oh man. I was so bad that during the little operation, the nurse that was helping the doctor looked up and asked me if I was doing all right. When it was all done, both Elder Cheney and Solorio were just laughing at me because of how white I was. I survived though, and didn't pass out! Hooray! Oh, and in case I haven't told you before, I'm not going to be a doctor :)

I'm still loving my companions. They're both really funny guys and they keep me smiling. Last night we were talking as we were laying in our beds and we heard this loud crashing noise in the other room. Man, I have NEVER seen Elder Cheney move so fast! He jumped out of his bed and just grabbed onto Elder Solorio in his bed. We were all freaking out until I realized that I had set the mirror kind of awkwardly against the sink and it had fallen and made the loud noise. It was hilarious!

Spanish update! I honestly am not talking too much spanish, and I'm kind of bummed about that. I need to get to Argentina where everyone speaks spanish! Both my companions say that I sound really good and I'll have no problem, so that's good I guess. I'm not too worried about me talking well. It's the understanding of other people that is tough. There's this one guy in particular, Jose, that I can't understand at all. Man oh man. I told him I was from Temecula and he said that he has family there and then everything he said after that I didn't understand at all. He asked me something and I just kind of smiled and said "si" and pretended like I knew exactly what he said. Oh well. I'm thinking that understanding people will come with time and just hearing more people talk. I'm not too stressed out about it. It's just a tad annoying to not know what the heck is going on, but I'm learning "line upon line, precept upon precept" right? It's just a matter of me working up the courage to talk because if the more I talk the more I'll learn!

Getting into the more spiritual things now...

Speaking of talking more, we were tracting the other day and it was my turn to do the door approach. We were walking to someone's house we had contacted before when I realized that we should be hitting all of the houses on the way. So I told the Elders that we were going to go knock this one door and they agreed. Well, walking up to the door I realized that the guy was in his car outside his house drinking a beer. I didn't have any time to get scared or to think about what I was going to say. I just started talking. In spanish! I shook this guy's hand (Jose, but not the same Jose I referred to earlier) and started talking to him. Turns out he's talked with missionaries before and he likes our message. I was about to say "can we come back another day and share more?" but then without realizing it, different words came out my mouth.

"Can we share more of message with you right now in your house?"

Looking back now, I think it was the Spirit changing my words. The guy said sure and we went in and talked to him and got to know him a little more. We didn't teach too much because he talked A LOT, but I think he'll end up being a good investigator. Just goes to show you that you need to be talking to EVERYONE! (even those that are sitting in their car drinking beer)

We taught Diana again, but nothing too big came of it. She's only 17, so it's kind of tough to read her emotions a little. She seems a little apathetic to what we're teaching. I don't know. It's tough to explain. She said she prayed about it and felt like it was the truth, but she still just kind of seem like she wants to learn more. So we have another appointment with her again this week and hopefully something good comes of it!

The spiritual highlight of my week came when we were teaching a guy named Allen. The missionaries have met with Allen's wife, Blanca, before and Blanca is so ready for baptism, but she wants to do it at the same time as her husband. The missionaries had taught Allen before, but he hasn't been super receptive to the teachings. We were teaching him and the lesson was going pretty well. I hadn't said a single word because I was trying to figure out what was being taught. I can pick up parts here and there, but it's still tough. After about 30 minutes of Elders Cheney and Solorio talking and Allen answering questions, I finally started to figure out what was going on. Allen just wants to know how we know that our church is the "one faith" (Eph, 4:5). I was trying to figure out what I'd say in spanish and I was having trouble figuring out what I'd say. After a few more minutes of trying to figure out what I'd say I thought to myself "forget this! I'm just gonna go for it!" So then I started talking. It literally was a fulfillment of the scripture in DC 84:85 that says the spirit will fill your mouth what you should say. I told Allen that I haven't always known this church true. I told him that I've always been a member, but that didn't mean I've always known it's true. I told him that I sort of just followed my parents and was a member because of them. I told him that there came a point when I just had to know that this church was true. "It comes down to prayer" I told him. I said that I prayed to my Heavenly Father to know if this church is true and I got my answer. I challenged him to do the same.

This whole little dialogue was in spanish. I was looking him in the eyes and it was SO COOL to just sort of see how his eyes kind of lit up. He was looking at me, and you could just tell that he was understanding and that he was going to pray and find out. The spirit was there, and I felt it. More importantly, I know that Allen felt it too. You could see it in his eyes.

That's a great story and all, but here comes the bad news. The next morning we got a call from Blanca, his wife, crying. That morning at 6, immigration had come and picked Allen up. Talk about a bummer. Man. I was so disappointed. He got deported :( It was really sad to see Blanca just sobbing because it hurts me to think that we can't even do anything. It's sad and disappointing, but something good might come out of it. Blanca might be getting baptized now, so that's good. It's just tough that it had to be like this. Pray for her would you please?

After about 10 days now here in the mission field I've learned some important lessons. I'm learning that I can't be "deceived by my own expectations" (Neal A. Maxwell). I realize now, that I had quite the expectations for myself. I mean, I wasn't expecting a baptism every week or anything, but I have learned that other people definitely do have their agency to choose and that we're not always going to be accepted. It's tough to get rejection after rejection, but it's the one that matters. That one golden person that you contact that you know is ready to hear what you have to say. It's just a matter of pushing through all the disappointments and break through.

The other important thing that I've learned is the importance of being myself. I can't pretend to be somebody I'm not. This might sound weird (or not, I don't know), but I feel like I'm sort of a different person when I talk spanish. Like, I can't completely be myself when I'm talking spanish. It's weird. I can't connect as well with people. That's why I just need to be me. In spanish AND english. When I first got here I was pretty quiet and didn't talk too much to investigators or members, but now I'm slowly coming out of my shell and being me. I've learned how to come out of my shell faster and be myself. It's still a work in progress, but I know that as I be me, I'll have more success.

Success comes through being you!

Be you! We are all a certain way for a certain reason, and we need to be us! I can't pretend to be someone else. It's funny how it takes confidence to be myself, but it's true. I can't worry about what other people think of me. After all, everyone probably thinks I'm a little strange huh? :)

I love you all so much. I know that this church is true. I want to share with you a quote I heard in the MTC:

"You're scared now, but can you imagine how scared you'd be if this gospel wasn't true?"

Cool huh? I'm scared as I go up to people and talk to them. I'm scared as I go up to a door and knock it. It's scary, but it'd be so much scarier if the message I bring to people wasn't true.

The church is true. Don't forget it. Christ is with us and He is helping us at ALL TIMES. I know without a doubt that I have had heavenly help with me thus far on my mission, and that it will always be with me.

I love you all so much. Keep choosing the right! It's so simple. Just choose the right :)

Not alone as I work hard,

Elder Nilsen