Week #16 - My Quest To Become

Family!

Holy cow! Didn't this last week just FLY? I feel like this week was one of the quickest ones that I've had so far on my mission. I had a MUCH better week this week and most definitely felt of your prayers. I hope you all know that I can really feel your prayers for me and I thank you SO MUCH. I love you all and hope that your week went well.

So I kinda decided that from this point in my emails when I talk about investigators I'm just going to use their initials (kind of like my good buddy Elder Stewart). I figure that since this letter gets posted on the internet and everyone in the whole world can see it, I should respect the people's privacy and just use their initials. Is that ok? If not, well...I'm sorry!



Me golfing! (Rocking the Messi Jersey out on the course!)



Last p-day and this p-day I got the chance to go golfing! Woo hoo! I love golfing. Not gonna lie, playing golf made me miss baseball a lot. Nothin' quite like the smell of fresh cut grass ya know? Oh man I love that smell. So ya, today I will be buying a baseball so that I can at least have SOMETHING that helps keep me sane right? I think I'll have all of my companions throughout my mission sign the ball too. Pretty good idea in my opinion :) Last Monday I also got the chance to get a tour of a potato cellar. It was the craziest thing ever! The branch president here is a farmer and we ate dinner in his huge house and then he gave us the tour afterwards. I wish I would've had my camera, but just do your best to imagine this ok? A 20 ft. wall of potatoes that goes back for 250 ft! CRAZY! I can proudly say that I have stood on top of approximately 7 MILLION lbs. of potatoes. Not many people can say that huh? After we got the tour and we were driving back home for the night, I was just all of a sudden caught up for how much I love it here in Idaho. I'm not saying that I'm going to live here or anything, but it's so pretty. I love looking out at night when the sun is starting to set and just gaze at the huge fields. It's so pretty! I guess I'll be able to survive here a few more weeks :)

This week while we were out walking around me and Elder Solorio decided to have a little fun and we started talking in all different sorts of accents to each other. It was so funny! I was doing a British accent while still trying to speak in spanish while he would try to do an Australian accent in spanish. Just imagine a fluent, Mexican, spanish speaker talking spanish with an Australian accent. Flippin' hilarious right? He's currently working on his Russian accent, so hopefully he'll have that down soon. I'll keep you updated if you'd like :) As I look back on the experience, I'm realizing that it just might be one of those "you had to be there" moments, but I thought I'd share with you anyway since I love you so much :)

This week we also passed by the house of a very less-active member named K. I've been to K's house before and it's always hilarious to talk to him because we're all pretty sure he's a compulsive liar. We listened to him talk to us for about an hour about how water is the most powerful weapon in the world, how to knock somebody out with just your thumb, and how you can reverse someone's blood flow to make them die. Yup, that's K for you. We were all trying so hard not to laugh during our little visit with him, so when we finally got outside again we all just about died. Man oh man, K. Gotta love him. It was also nice to get outside after an hour in his house because we all felt like we were going to die from the smell of cigarette smoke in his house. I had a headache, but I'm still trying to decide if it was from the smoke or from me laughing so much.

I got to do some sweet Idaho service this week out on the church farm this week. For two hours we were out in the dirt field just picking up rocks. Just rocks. Big rocks, small rocks, all rocks! The old Tho--, I mean Elder Nilsen, probably would've complained about how lame of a job this was, but the new and improved Elder Nilsen loved this service! For two hours I just worked my butt of the field picking up rocks and throwing them into the tractors. It felt so nice to just lose myself in the service. Those two hours went by SO fast! Before I knew it, it was time to go, and I was actually kind of sad to leave. I was having so much fun working! Even as I type those words right now I'm having trouble believing it! I was loving the work! It really is all about the work on your mission. I've heard that time and time again, but I actually saw the whole "get lost in the work" principle come to pass. It was pretty nifty :) 

I got a letter from Lyss this week, and the only reason that I'm bringing it up in this letter is because I want her to know that I most definitely felt the Spirit as I read her letter. Thank you so much for your encouragement and your testimony that you shared with me of eternal familes. Your letter really got me pumped to work to bring familes to the gospel so that they can be together forever. I have worked harder this past week because of your inspiring letter, so thank you Lyss :) Oh, and I'll also do my best to spell plaQUE right from now on :)



Me and my comps after walking in the pouring rain!!



I had my first "walking in the pouring rain" experience this week, and boy was it fun. Lyss also reminded me in her the letter of the importance of always wearing a smile because you never know who you'll affect. So with that in mind...it was pouring. It was windy. It was freezing cold. But boy was I smiling as I sprinted around in the rain :) One of our appointments fell through and so we had to walk about a mile or so in the rain and all I did for that whole mile was smile :) The smile mile! (Boy was that corny...but I had to take advantage of how "smile" and "mile" rhyme. Forgive me would ya?)

This week I realized a pretty darn cool thing. Whenever we're talking/teaching somone that is being really nice and receptive to us, I almost immediately imagine those people taking all the steps of the gospel. I see them gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon. I see them going to church. I picture them wearing white and being baptized. Then, the ultimate goal, I imagine them in the temple. It's so cool how, almost immediately, I see the heavenly potential that all of God's children have. I feel blessed to be able to see that with all of the people that accept us. It's a blessing and inspiration to help me work harder.

I was fortunate enough this week to be able to recite the First Vision to 2 different people that we were teaching (in spanish). There is just so much power in those words. I feel closest to Heavenly Father when I am looking investigators in their eyes and reciting Joseph Smith's words to them. I love seeing their eyes sort of light up and just feel the Spirit that comes into the room when those words are spoken. I truly do feel like an instrument in God's hands. I love it.

This week, just a little progress was made with our investigators. We taught J the Restoration lesson this week and I know that he felt something. He had some good questions (including one about polygamy) and I really feel like we'll be able to get a baptismal date with him soon. We had a couple return appointments set up, but everytime we passed by he wasn't home :( I'm learning quickly how to deal with disappointment on my mission. I'll be a pro soon hopefully! We're going to do our best to meet with him soon, because he's already doing so many good things. He believes in God, he prays, and he knows the difference between right and wrong. We've seen some beer cans and cigarettes around his house, but we'll be able to work with him on that, don't you worry :)

We got to teach D again this week in her home. We watched the 20 minute Restoration DVD, and the Spirit was so strong. Her dad (a convert of a year) watched with us, and we're also pretty sure that her mom was watching too. We asked D how she felt after the movie and after we had testified of the truthfulness of the Restoration, and she said that she felt really good inside. Golden words to hear right there! We testified that that was the Spirit and she seemed to be understanding pretty well. We didn't ask her to be baptized because we don't want to rush her, but we'll be popping the question again pretty soon (and no, not THE question (will you marry me?) :)

Yesterday in church I worked up the courage to get up and bear my testimony in the spanish branch. I wasn't going too, but the Spirit got me up there. There was a less active family that came to church and I feel like that I had something to do with why I was prompted to share my testimony. I was scared, but as soon as I was up in front talking in spanish, I felt pretty calm. I bore a simple testimony about the gospel and my love for doing missionary work and that was that. I just hope that some way, some how, my simple testimony affected someone (especially the less-active family).

I realized this week that here on my mission, I am just on a personal quest to become. Talking with my companions this week I said something that I ended up writing down because I liked it so much (yes, I did quote myself):

Me and Elder F. from Chihuahua.  He calls me Messi!

"It's not about becoming a new person, it's about becoming a BETTER person."

That's what I'm doing here on my mission. I'm becoming a better person. It's hard sometimes, but that's how it's supposed to be. If it wasn't hard, then how would I grow and become a better Thomas? I wouldn't! That's the whole point of having trials and challenges in life: to help us grow and become better. I really liked what you shared with me Mom and about how when we're experiencing trials and challenges, we should recognize that that is a sign that God is ready for us to become better. I'm going through challenges and trials, so that means I'm being pushed to become better right? Right!

So here I am on my quest to become a better me :)

I love you all so much.

Not alone as I strive to become better,

Elder Nilsen