Hello Family :)
I like how these past couple weeks when I´ve gotten on here to email I´ve had a new family member each week :) Jenna looks so cute! Chubby! She must´ve wanted to be just like Uncle Bub huh? :) Fat baby = happy baby! Congrats though Heidi and Jesse! That sure is a lucky baby to have parents like you.
This week in Argentina...
We took the colective (bus) and there was a man dressed up as a clown on the bus! I realized that I don´t like clowns at all. They creep me out. Bad. Anyway, this clown told us all a bunch of stuff about his life (I didn´t understand him at all) and then gave us all some trippy lookin´ candy. He gave it to us then came around just a few seconds later asking for change. Well, we´re kind of poor as missionaries, so we didn´t have change and we just tried to give him the candy back. He didn´t take it and he told us ´maybe next time you can help me out´. We felt bad, but what can you do? Nothing! We got off the bus and through the candy away. Clowns on buses! Argentina!
Also, only in Argentina do you see kids (like 5, 6,7 year olds) walking down the streets with beer bottles that are ´for their parents´. Gotta love it ;)
Yesterday we were contacting this old man on the street and we got to talking with him about just a bunch of random things. He asked us how we liked Argentina and we told him that we love it. We said that the food is great and the people are all super nice. He then asked us what we thought of the girls. We smiled and told him we didn´t have time for the girls because we are always working. He was amazed and then said ´well, you guys are guys, and I´m a guy too. I know how us guys work. Do you guys take some sort of pill or something to tranquilize yourselves for these 2 years?´ I just about died laughing! Part of me wanted to tell the guy that we take a pill every morning that kills our testosteron (sp?), but we just laughed and told him we don´t take anything but reading the scriptures every morning. Gosh I love the people here in Argentina and the funny/outrageous questions they sometimes ask :)
I got to have an interview with President Carter this week, and oh how I love him! He is so amazing and I am so lucky to have him as my mission president. He always helps me realize what a blessing it is to have a solid priesthood leader in my life. It truly is a blessing! I talked to him about my feelings, how I´m doing, etc., and he helped me see the personal growth that definitely has occured since I´ve been here in Argentina. He helped me realize just how important it is to truly forget about myself and do the work that I need to do. I´m going to have an even more fixed determination to forget about myself and just simply go to work. I got to talk to Sister Carter at the interviews too, and I love her! She´s so awesome! Don´t worry Mom, she cares a lot about the missionaries and takes care of us :)
On Monday Elder Whitlock and I went on divisions and went to different appointments. I went with Maxi, a 20 year old in our ward that´s putting in his mission papers right now. We went to go see Felipe and his family and share a message with them about modern day prophets. I was pretty scared at the beginning of the lesson because it was the first time since the MTC that I was in charge of directing the lesson. I felt kind of stressed out, and it was showing pretty bad. It was kind of slow at the beginning of the lesson, and I don´t think that I was sharing what they needed to hear. When Felipe was talking, I´d be thinking about what I was going to say, and I quickly learned that that is definitely not the way it should be done. I said a silent prayer in my head and decided that I would sincerely listen to Felipe when he talked and I trusted in the promise in the Doctrine and Covenants that says that ´it shall be given you in the very moment the words you shall say´. Immediately, the lesson completely changed. The Spirit was definitely there. Felipe had a few awesome questions that I was able to answer, and then, out of nowhere, he paused and started crying and talked about how happy this made him. He said that this gospel that we were sharing with him just kept filling holes in his heart. He pretty much bore his testimony to us about how he knows this is true and how much he loves his family. I got tears in my eyes as I testified to him that the Spirit was there and that this is the truth. It was an incredible experience that I´ll never forget. It helped me see that I really can do this work! I just have to depend 100% on the Spirit and nothing else.
Fernando! I love that man so much. His baptism is all set for this Saturday and I´m confident that all will go well. We had a cool experience with him this week and I´d love to share it with you :)
We met with Fernando on Saturday night and had a good lesson with him about tithing (he has no problems with it). We told him that we´d see him at church tomorrow, and that was that. The first 2 times he had come to church we had swung by and picked him up and walked with him, but yesterday we couldn´t do it because we were busy in the morning. We got to the church and looked around and he wasn´t there! We were a little nervous because to be baptized in this mission you have to come to church at least 3 times. We quickly made the decision that we had to run to his house to pick him up and get him. We left the church and as we rounded the corner we looked down the street and saw Fernando in the distance, dressed in his slacks and white shirt, hobbling on his crutches coming to church. I just about started bawling when I saw him working his way slowly, but surely, to come to church. Wow. I get chills thinking about it. The sun was just starting to rise and it was shining on him as he hobbled slowly to the truth. Fernando is an amazing man. I guess that on Saturday night a few of his old buddies had called him to see if he was coming to the soccer game that was right during church. I guess that this game was a pretty big rivalry game, and soccer was what had kept Fernando from coming to church the first couple weeks. He thought about it for a second, then confidently told his buddies that church was more important. Wow. Fernando´s strength inspires me. He has had to make some major changes in his life (he still hasn´t drank since the first time he saw Elder Whitlock and I almost a month and a half ago) and his strength truly inspires me. Please keep Fernando in your prayers this week as we make the final preparations to have him ready for his baptism this Saturday ;)
I love you all so much. Every week I realize even more just how amazing the gospel of Jesus Christ is. It truly does help us and makes us better people. Wow. What a blessing.
I love you all so much. I hope you all have a great week! They fly, so make the most of them!
Amazed by what the gospel does for us,
Elder Nilsen
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