Week #15 - BBB (Boldness Brings Blessings)

Well hello there family!

Boy do I miss you guys. I hope you all know how much I love you all.

I never know where to begin with these emails! So much happens in just a short time, and I'm tasked with trying to fill you all in on what's going on in American Falls, ID! Don't worry though, I love filling you in :)

It's hard to go to work when you're tired and the last thing you want to do is to work, but it's something you just gotta do. It's hard dealing with rejection after rejection after rejection. It's hard to be away from all my family and friends (who I've come to realize mean the world to me). I miss you all so much. I hope you all know just how much I love you and appreciate your influence in my life.

Argentina just feels like a dream. I feel like I'll just never get there. Today marks 6 weeks since I should've been in Argentina! I should've already been through my first transfer in Argentina, but nope! 

Enough with my feelings of selfishness...

Let's see, what happened this week? I guess I can start by writing about my 2 fun experiences with dogs this week. That'll be a good start don't you think? Ya, let's do that ;) 

First experience: We were contacting this girl on the street who was walking her dog. I couldn't tell you what kind of dog it was, but it was shaggy lookin' and looked nice enough. We were talking to this girl and the dog started to bark and she had to pull on his chain to keep him from getting us. I squatted down next to the dog and started petting the top of it's head to try to calm him down. He calmed down for a second and all seemed to be well. I kept petting him and scratching behind his ears when all of a sudden he took a snap at my hand! It scared the living daylights out of me! I moved my hand just in time and avoided the bite. Very close call though. We finished up our contact and said bye and started to walk away when all of a sudden the dog took another snap at me. This time he was going for my butt! What a perv. I dodged it and gave him a mean look and then kept walking. 

Second experience: We were knocking the door of the house of the girl that we had contacted in the previous story. She had told us we could stop by, so we did! We knocked the door and were waiting for an answer and we saw in the side yard the dog that had tried to get me the other day. Luckily, he was chained the fence so he couldn't get us. He was barking like crazy though and trying to bust the chain. Good thing it was a strong chain! We were waiting there, laughing at the dog, when all of a sudden a pit bull comes running at us from the side yard! AHHH! So flippin' scary! We turned and just booked it. Elder Cheney found the nearest truck and hopped in the bed and I just booked it down the street. Luckily the dog stopped chasing us and we got our composure back. We went back to the house and the girl was outside and we told her the dog had chased us. She laughed and said sorry and explained that the dog had just had puppies and is a little protective. Doesn't matter the excuse, a flippin' pit bull was chasin' me lady! We all survived and got a good laugh out of it. The rest of that day though we were a little paranoid as we walked around. We would hear a noise behind us and quickly turn around just to make sure it wasn't a dog. I just remember the advice I've always heard: "You don't have to outrun the dog. You just have to outrun your companion." :)

Also this week I was stung by a bumble bee about the size of a 50 cent piece. It hurt. He got me right on the tip of my middle finger. It got a little bit swollen and it stung quite a bit for a while, but I survived. We had parked the car and left the windows rolled down because it was like 80 degrees (yes! I love the heat!) and we came back to the car and started to drive away. I felt something on the back of my head and started to itch it, thinking it was a gnat (because there are gnats EVERYWHERE here). The little sucker then stung me and my finger started to throb a little. Elder Cheney pulled the car over and we ran back inside the apartment and put some dirt in a container and put some water in it also so that it'd be mud. (I really just explained how to make mud, what is going on with me?) I stuck my finger in the mud and that made it feel better. One of the pics I sent you is of me with my finger in the mud.

Yesterday, we stopped by a soccer game that was being played here in American Falls. I guess the Sunday soccer league started yesterday. Holy cow! Hispanics galore at the game! We drove by it and we were like, "we're definitely going to go hit that up." It was fun to watch some soccer (the players were in their 20s) and to talk to people in spanish. It felt so nice outside yesterday! It was in the 80s! But yes, I'm finding out more and more each day just how important soccer is to Hispanics. Gotta have futbol!

Speaking of futbol, we played again this week (like always) and everyone still called me Messi...and I wasn't even wearing my jersey! Yes! :)

So remember how last week I told you about teaching Allen and Blanca and then Allen got deported? Well we've met with Blanca a few times this week and tried to help her. She's a little overwhelmed with everything right now. She has trouble focusing when we talk to her and it's somewhat frustrating. I hate it when I'm teaching someone or just talking to them and they're going through so much. It's frustrating because I know that this gospel will help them if they just accept it. They won't accept it though! Gosh dang it. So we've been trying to help Blanca this whole week. We were by her house the other day going to another appointment when we noticed Allen in the driveway. We stopped the car and were thinking that there was no possible way that the guy we had seen was Allen. Well we got out and went and talked to this guy and it was most definitely Allen. We asked him what was up. He just said that he'd been working and had been busy there. We weren't going to straight up ask him if he had been taken by immigration, so we just asked him if anything bad had happened and he said no. Ya, we have no idea what's going on there. The whole situation is a little fishy and kind of weird. We can't really do too much as missionaries except be there for support, but the whole situation is getting super weird. Allen's family is being rude to Blanca and then Allen kicked her out of the house and then Blanca had to sleep in her van or something. We don't know. We're going to just do our best to try and figure out what's up before we really continue with teaching the gospel. We did set a baptismal date with Blanca (I was the one who invited her in spanish so that was kind of cool), but who knows if this baptismal date will go through. I think there's a whole lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that we don't know about, but we'll do our best to work with her and get her ready for May 12th.

Our lesson with Diana this week went really well. We had her Dad, Jose (a recent convert of a year), sit in on the lesson with us. We started out by teaching her about the 10 commandments and some of the other commandments like praying and reading the scriptures. It was kind of a dry lesson and you could tell that she was pretty bored. Well, at the beginning of the lesson we had sort of talked a little bit about her reading in the Book of Mormon. She said she had read and prayed and that she had "felt something inside of her." Those words just make missionaries smile :) That's the spirit! After seeing her boredom with the commandments, we quickly changed the lesson to be focused on the Book of Mormon and her feeling the spirit testify that it is true. I bore testimony and shared my experience of coming to find out that the BOM is true. We asked Jose, her dad, to talk about his experience when he came to find out the book was true. He shared his experience and it brought the spirit into the lesson. I know that Diana felt something. I know she knows it's true. Now, it's just a matter of getting her to see just how important it is to be baptized. I think we'll get a baptismal date set with her this week :)

Like I said earlier, this week has been kind of tough. I'm still loving working with my companions. They're awesome and have helped me a lot. I've come to find out that one of my biggest weaknesses as a missionary is talking to people. Making street contacts. I am just terrified to be bold. Every time I get scared to talk to someone I immediately hear Elder Holland's words in my head:

"I'm looking for young men who won't voluntarily bind their own tongues."

Every time I pass someone I know I should've talked to I just think, "well shoot, I just bound my own tongue." It's a bad feeling. I just walk past people because I'm scared. I deny those people of the blessings that will come from the gospel. I feel bad, but it's just so scary. Please pray that I'll be able to have more courage and be able to talk to people without worrying about what they think of me.

I'm trying really hard to find the balance here on my mission. The balance between being to harsh on myself and pushing myself to be better. I'll be honest and say that I think I can be a lot better. I think that I can talk to more people and share more of what I know. It's hard though. I think that my companions have a little bit of a different mindset than me when it comes to the work. They work hard, yes, but a lot of the time they're seeking to just be friends with people. We have a lot of people that I personally think are ready to hear our message and start progressing, but the other Elders are just seeking to be friends. I'm not saying it's not good to be friends, because it most definitely is, but can't you be friends and share the gospel at the same time? I think so! It comes down to being bold again.

That stinkin' word "bold" always is in my head. Like I've told you (and like I'm sure you already have known), I stink at being bold. It's just not how I am. Being bold is so important as a missionary, and it's something I haven't been. A part of me feels like I've been failing as a missionary because of my lack of boldness. When I'm not bold, I fail to allow people to receive blessings in their lives. It's kind of crazy to think that I am the key for people to receive heaven's blessings. It's quite the responsibility.

For some reason, Heavenly Father has trusted me to be the messenger of the gospel and to bring heaven's blessings into people's lives. If Heavenly Father has chosen me, then I can do it right? I think so. I just need to remember the "triple 'B' phrase": Boldness Brings Blessings. I just made that up on the fly right now. Pretty good huh? :)

I feel like I've sort of rambled here towards the end of this email. Sorry bout that!

Please keep me in your prayers, because you sure are in mine. I love you all so much.

Not alone as I seek to be bold,

Elder Nilsen


 

P.S. Yo Brad (Jacobsen)! You've been on my mind all week my brotha! You're down to 10 days! I'm writing you a letter today, so keep an eye out for it :)