Hello Family,
What an incredibly long week. I don`t know why, but this week just felt like FOREVER. I`m alive and doing well though, don`t you worry ;) I`m safe and sound in my new zone, Merlo, in my new area, Parque San Martin, with my new companion, Elder Hutchings from South Carolina. I`ve also been given the assignment as being the senior companion in this companionship, so new responsibilities! Ah! It`s been a stress filled first couple days here as I`ve tried to adjust (everyone knows that Thomas just LOVES change!) and settle down in this particular area of the Lord`s vineyard. It`s a different part of the vineyard, but it`s still the same vineyard right? That thought gives me comfort!
My first couple nights here I didn`t sleep AT ALL because the first night I was just super stressed and was just overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done. In this area, there`s not a single investigator right now. Ah! I hate not having investigators! It makes the work so much more stressful! But ya, I couldn`t sleep the first night because of just how many thoughts I had swirling around in my head and then the second night....ugh. The second night. I was up all night sitting on the good ol` inodoro (toilet). I got what my new companion refers to as the `double dragon`. I sat on the toilet having diarreah while holding a bucket in front of me puking. It was just lovely. That`s how I spent the WHOLE night! I was super dehydrated the next day and called up the mission doctor about what I should do and he told me to go get some medicine and then just drink water all day. I was still having diarreah all day, so Saturday we couldn`t even go out and work. I felt so terrible. I weighed myself when we went to the pharmacy and it would appear that I lost 15 pounds this last week! Wow!
I hate not working. I have a different mindset now than I did before my mission huh? I didn`t like to work so much before my mission, but now I feel just lame and useless if I`m not working til` I can`t work anymore! Work work work! That`s the key right? It reminds me of a quote a good friend always tells me in letters: `Do work!` :)
This area is pretty sweet though. It`s amazing to me to see the difference between here and Laferrere even though they`re just about an hour apart. This ward is so much bigger! The church building is so much bigger! Everything is bigger here! This ward has a bunch of RMs that know how to teach in Elders` Quorom and we (the missionaries) don`t have to give the Gospel Principles class here! It`s crazy! Another thing weird to me about this area is how many more Argentinos there are. In my other area it was a good mix of Argentinos, Bolivianos, and Paraguayos, but here it`s all Argentinos! Argetinos look pretty American lots of the time, so it`s pretty American feeling here. Obviously it`s not America, but it feels just that much more close to home in this area ;)
Not much to report on with investigators since we don`t have any, but I`ll just say that it was super sad to say bye to the members and recent converts in Laferrere. I almost cried when I said bye to the Orregos ;( I love them all so much and I can`t wait to go to the temple with them in about a year! Ah that`s gonna be such a great day :)
It`s been quite the blessing to see just how much Castellano I really do know as I`ve worked here the last few days. Elder Hutchings doesn`t speak much and doesn`t know Castellano all that well, so it`s been me doing most the talking. I`ve been seriously blessed. That`s all I can say. I`ve been seriously blessed with the gift of tongues for sure. I`ve been able to understand (almost perfectly) what people have said to me, and I`ve been able to communicate to others very clearly as well. What a blessing.
Well, I hope I`ll have more to report about next week. We`re going to work super hard this week and find some `gators! :)
Skinnier and more humble,
Elder Nilsen
P.S. Meeting with the General Authorities this Friday! Yes! :)
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