Week #49 - Angels in the Outfield

Hey Family :) Guess what? We get to TALK next week! AHHH! I`m so excited! Woo! Deep breath...focus Thomas, focus. One more week. Keep your focus this week. Got it! Just so you know (and Mom, so you don`t freak out) I won`t be emailing next Monday. The phone call on Tuesday will replace emailing next week, so ya. Just FYI :) This week was yet another great opportunity to learn some sincere love and patience for others (particularly with my companion). I`m just doing my very best to maintain a happy attitude at all times whether or not my companion chooses to cooperate with me or not. It`s just a great chance for me to develop some Christlike love for others. A very close friend of mine once said `smile through the trial!` and that`s what I`m doing. Smile through the trial and just fake it til` you make it :) Thank you friend for teaching me those nifty phrases!

Lautaro's baptism went pretty smooth I guess. It was a little stressful getting things organized (especially without the help of our ward mission leader), but we did it. I`m developing a sense of getting things done whether or not I have to do it on my own or not. Does that make sense? The work of the Lord`s gonna go forward whether or not I`ve got the support of the ward mission leader or my companion or not. Do work! (Another little phrase that good friend often says :) ) When everything goes well and we have the help of members, baptismal services go fairly smooth. For this one, however, we had to do a lot on our own. It`s the end of the school year down here so there`s lots of events going on in the schools and such so I forgive the members. I love the members in this ward so much. They`re great. But ya, I`m getting off track. The baptism! It was supposed to start at 7 and we were waiting anxiously for members to show up. Well, 7 rolled around and still there was NO ONE there (including Lautaro! AH!).

I started calling everyone I could to see if they were coming and no one was answering me. Finally our bishop showed up at 7:05 and then Lautaro showed up with his whole family (minus one brother) just a bit later. We got changed, took some pics, then started the baptismal service with just me, Elder Banegas, obispo, Lautaro, his dad (Fabian), mom (Alejandra), and 2 brothers. No one else. Only in Argentina! Hey, everyone reading this, please do me a favor and go to baptisms! Support the missionaries and also the new convert being baptized. Ok? Thank you :) I gave the talk on baptism and mentioned how at my baptism the hot water didn`t work and so I got baptized in cold water and Lautaro was all smiles. Little did he know that at his baptism the hot water didn`t work either! Cold water for him too! It`s all good though. He got baptized and that`s the most important thing. There wasn`t anyone there, but it was fun to be able to enjoy some time with this family at the baptism. Hopefully now we`ll be able to see some progress with the others! Best part of my week (besides the baptism of course) was Tuesday when I was on divisions with Elder Wilson. YES! I love Elder Wilson so so so much!

He`s seriously the BEST. We`re super good buds now, and we will be after the mission too. Seriously, I love him so much. Wow! Ok, so Tuesday with him was the greatest. I can feel the Spirit around him and I always experience miracles when I work with him. We ate lunch at our house and then he asked me what the hardest part about missionary work is for me. We started to talk and it was so great. He helps me so much! I don`t know what I`d do without him here in the zone. He`s kept me going these last 2 and a half transfers. Lifesaver. We talked and he gave me some advice and he complimented me and told me that I`m a great missionary. Sometimes I get down on myself and feel like I`m not a good missionary, but he helped build up my confidence. Anyway, we made plans for the day (while laying on the ground because we`re goofs and didn`t want to sit at the desks) and he taught/remined me that there are angels preparing the hearts of people in our area to receive us and that`s why we plan. Through our planning, we give the angels a place to go prepare hearts! We made plans to go to a certain area of the area and look for new investigators. Elder Wilson turned around and looked at the roof in our house and said `all right, did you hear that? we`re going to that area at this time, go prepare some hearts for us!` He was talking to the angels! He said that there are angels in the outfield preparing hearts. What a goof! But it worked! We started working in that area and the hour that we had set apart had just about come to an end. We had 3 minutes left and I suggested that we head to our next appointment. Elder Wilson said no and that we had people to find still. We clapped one more house and it was there where we found the hearts that had been prepared by angels. We got there and offered them the pass along cards we use that has the question `can we continue living as a family after death?` and the lady that we were talking with thought for a second then let us come in. The family of 4 was sitting outside and we showed the card to the dad too and he reflected for a second and told us that it was a great question. He then told us that his dad had just died yesterday and he`d been praying for help. WOW. What a miracle. We sat down and shared a message about the plan of salvation with them and then gave the man a big hug at the end of the lesson. His heart had been prepared. The best part about the story is that he lives on the very edge of our area. DEEP outfield. Probably warning track! So yes, there are definitely angels in the outfield :) Sorry if this email is short or a little confusing. I`m feeling a little scatter-brained today, but I hope you can feel of my love for all of you! I love you so much and can`t wait to TALK to you next week :) Working with the angels in the outfield, Elder Nilsen