I´ve made a few notes about things that I´d love to share with you about this past week and I hope and pray that I have the time to fit it all in here. Here we go!
First off, thanks to all my buddies that wrote me! I love hearing from you and I will always do my best to get back to you. Keep the emails comin´ por favor :)
2nd, conference was super great right? I´m gonna touch a little bit more on conference a little bit later in the email, I thought I´d hit you with a few updates about investigators first. Is that ok? Hope so!
Well actually, before talking about investigators, I just want to quickly say that I played baseball this past week! Well, sort of. We cut down the branches of a tree this past week for Carlos and the tree had a bunch of those little ´pokey green balls´. We gathered those up and cut off a ´bat´ from one of the branches and did some soft toss for a bit. Obviously I wasn´t using a real baseball bat or hitting real baseballs, but still, it felt SO good! Oh how I love baseball.
So ya, Carlos is doing great. Helped cut down the branches of the tree by his house this past week and that was super fun. It was a good little forearm work out too! It´s been great to see the change in Carlos since his baptism. He´s a little bit more lively now, talks a little bit more, and just looks happier. Coincidence? I think not! Baptism opens our eyes and makes us happier! He showed up to one of the sessions of conference all by himself rocking probably one of the fanciest shirts he had, so that made me pretty happy :) I´ll be interviewing him this next Sunday so that we can give him the priesthood ASAP :)
Iris is turning gold. She´s super great. We taught the word of wisdom this past week and she has no problems with it at all. She said she drinks coffee and tea, but she sees no problem with stopping. She was totally in agreement with the law of chastity and said that she supports it and will live it no problem. She just seems to ask all the perfect questions and then (even better) she gives the perfect answers to her own questions! She´s so great and we´re getting her ready for the 20th. Our new goal right now with her is to get her 13 yr old son, Luciano, involved in the teaching process too so they can get baptized together! How sweet would that be? Pretty sweet!
I was able to read President Uchtdorf´s talk from the general YW meeting last weekend and I absolutely loved it! I love his talks, and this one was especially inspiring to me. ´Your wonderful journey home´ is what it´s called and it was really uplifting and inspiring. I also watched the little 5 minute video that they showed at the conference showing the girl getting up in the morning and going to the temple. So great! The church is so great with inspiring the youth and leading them in the right direction in this unsure world. I feel so blessed to be a member of this church :)
Ok! Conference! SOOO great! I was so pumped for it to start I could hardly wait. I´m kind of a goof. The timer was on the screen and I did a countdown outloud and started cheering when the voice came on saying, ´from the conference center in Salt Lake City....´ I love hearing those words! I felt connected to all of you too, knowing that you were watching it with me. I may have watched all the sessions in spanish, but it was still the same conference with the same spirit. So great. Conference also helped remind me that I am a member of the church. May sound sort of funny, but sometimes I forget that I´m a member of the church and not just a missionary FOR the church. It´s such a blessing to be a member of the Lord´s church.
So, let me quickly mention a few of my favorite talks...
Let´s cut to the chase here. What talk of Elder Holland isn´t moving and inspiring? That man just talks with so much power and I LOVE it. I hope one day to be able to speak from a pulpit with as much power as he does. Something that he said that I really loved was about faith. He said something along the lines of it´s not so important how much faith we have, but rather how much integrity we have towards the faith we already posess. I love that! You have to be true to the faith (although it may not be more than a seed) that you have. Great principle. I loved when he said something like, ´don´t fear, just believe.´
I loved Elder Bednar´s chastity talk too! I felt very gratefuly for a certain someone and the example and defender of chastity that she is. I know that I am where I am right now because of the help of that special person and her desire to always stay pure and worthy. Thank you so much :) I´ve come to realize that I have a strong testimony about the law of chastity because I´ve seen the blessings that come as we obey it! I know that it´s not by coincidence that I have such trust and love in my relationships with others. Obeying the law of chastity gives us strength and hope and fortifies our relationships with others.
One of my favorite talks was Elder Cook´s talk about peace. While he spoke, I felt the Spirit so strong, testifying to me of the truthfulness of his words. Christ is the source of true, lasting peace, and I learned from Elder Cook´s talk the importance of having a strong, faithful relationship with Christ. I wish I could expound a little bit more, but just know that I know that Christ is source of all peace and happiness, and Elder Cook was inspired to answer the questions that I had about where I should turn for peace.
What I personally have taken from conference is the necessity that I have right now to strengthen my relationship with my Savior Jesus Christ. I´ve constantly had the words ´I need thee, oh I need thee, every hour I need thee´ in my head and I´ve come to realize that the atonement of Christ is my source to go to right now. I know that it´s through the atonement of Christ that we receive a remission of our sins and can become clean again. I know that and understand that, but what I maybe don´t fully comprehend (that I´m slowly starting to comprehend more and more) is the enabling and strengthening power that is available for me through the atonement. The happiness, peace, comfort, EVERYTHING that I am looking for is right in front of me! I just need to reach out and take advantage of the gift that is right in front of me. This week, I´m going to make a concentrated effort to direct every thought towards Christ. ´Look unto me in every thought. Doubt not, fear not.´ (DC 6:36).
What a blessing it is to be a member of the restored church of Jesus Christ. I know it. I live it. I love it. :) Thanks Sister Ann Dibb!
I love you all so much!
Relying on Him,
Elder Nilsen
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