Hello Familia Nilsen :)
¿Como estàn? Espero que todo estè tranquilo por allà en la tierra hermosa de Los Estados Unidos! Hey! It`s 4th of July this week! Eat a big ol juicy hamburger with grilled onions, mayonesa, ketchup, mustard, and lettuce for me! (ooo...I`m kind of hungry all of a sudden!)
I want to quickly thank you all for you prayers and fasting this past week. I was able to fast too and I was able to see the Lord strengthen me and help me here in 25 de Mayo. The mission is the best! Sure makes you grow up, no doubt about that.
I would like to start off this wonderful email sharing a scripture that I found this morning that I think applies to us as missionaries here in 25 de Mayo. It`s found in Philippians 3:2 and says, `beware of dogs...` Dogs are crazy here! They chase us down on our bikes and try to bite our ankles! This week we were blessed with the opportunity to see a HUGE rottweiler chowing down on a smaller dog that he had chased down. GROSS. Beware of dogs...GREAT counsel we learn from the scriptures :)
Another little thing before I really get going with this email...this morning before coming to do email I went and bought some SWEET gaucho clothing! Ya! I got some cool pants that the gauchos wear, bombachas de campo (umm...translated it would be `country thong`....it`s not what you think!), a sweet belt, a new pair of alpargatas, and a sweet shirt. PLUS, later today I`m gonna get the sweet hats they wear too. It`s like a burret, but 10 times cooler :) I`ll have a good halloween costume for halloween 2014. Heads up!
Here`s some quick updates on some of our gators...
Jorge and Laura are SO nice! I love them so much! I wish that the computer would read my camera so I could send you a picture of us eating ASADO (bbq) with them. Asado`s aren`t super cheap here in Argentina, but they fed us anyway and it was so great. I love these people so much and we`re gonna go with Laura this week to the Civil Registry to see what we can do about her divorce she needs from her ex-husband. They are so great though! Just working with them to stop smoking. Pray for them and their challenges with the Palabra de Sabidurìa (word of wisdom) por favor!
Hey! Yesica came back! Woo! We`ll have to get her excited about the church and stuff again, but she came back! Woo! Gonna get going with her again this week too. Pray for her to stop smoking tambien por favor! She needs the gospel NOW in her life and we`ve just got to help her realize that.
We found a new couple named Marta and Antonio as we worked with members this past week. Working with members is the KEY in this work of salvation. If you haven`t participated before, get on board now! The work goes forth with so muich more power and efficiency when the full-time missionaries have the support of the members. Be patient with us. We`re only 18, 19, 20 years old, but we know what we`re doing is true. We`re sharing the everlasting gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Climb on board and help us out! It`s so much easier to find, teach, and eventually baptize with the help of the members. We went to visit this couple and we (obviously) got right in right away and were able to teach them and address some of their trials and challenges. We`re still really young in the teaching process with this couple so I don`t have a ton of detalles (details...sorry my spanglish is at an all-time worst (or...best, I guess) today). Be praying for Marta and Antonio!
We also found a cool new lady working with another pair of members here. Our mission`s big focus right now is on involving the members fully in the work, and I`ve seen the blessings of it already! We asked these members who they knew that needed the gospel, they told us about their neighbor, and then we invited them to come with us and visit her. We did just that! We`re really early on in the teaching process with her (Florencia) too, but we`re excited to see how she`ll progress. She had some great questions and was responding really well to our teaching PLUS she gave us some super tasty alfajores to eat :)
I`ve thought lots this past week about love and hope. Let me talk about what I`ve learned about them.
First off...love. Love is so powerful. We see in the scriptures so many great examples of the power of love and the profound effect that it can have. Thinking about Jesus Christ, everything He did for us was motivated and inspired by the love He had and still has for us. Some scriptures that I stumbled across while studying love this past week really caught my attention and helped me see the importance of this Christlike attribute. Some of those scriptures are 2 Tim. 1:7, 1 John 4:18, and 4 Nep 1:15. Love changes lives! It inspires us to do things that we would otherwise not be able to do. It motivates us to lift those that need our help, reach out to those in need, and to be more like our Savior Jesus Christ. Applying this all to missionary work now, without love, missionary work doesn`t work. This is a labor of LOVE. I thank God that He has blessed me with such a great capacity to love others and I humbly pray that I may be able to fully use that gift to bless the lives of others. I thank Him also for having tested my love and thus increased my ability to love. I`m quite the lover :) Ha....that sounds funny, but it`s true! I love Argentines! SO much!
Now, hope. I was able to fast this week to be able to have a little more hope in my life. I`m the kind of person that often limits the hope and vision that I have. I place my hope and vision on things that are temporary, that come and go. I might be really excited and hopeful for something, but as soon as it`s over I get really sad or bummed. I`ve come to realize that I can`t do that anymore! I can`t do that. I have to place my hope in a source that won`t go away, that won`t end. That source is...you guessed it! Jesus Christ! If we place our hope, our expectations, our dreams in Him, we can`t lose! We won`t be let down! It was a nice little bit of personal revelation that I received this past week that served me well :)
I love this work. I place my hope in Jesus Christ.
I love you all family!
Loving and hoping,
Elder Nilsen
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