Week #89 - God's Stronger

Hey Family!

Well I bet you can all guess what I`m about to say...

I`m running low with time.

Like ALWAYS.

Sorry :)

But I love you all!

Real quick update on the latest week of my mission here now in Rafael Castillo Central...

First off, Elder Roque`s gone :( I`m now with a new companion! I most definitely thought I`d be having an hijo (training), but that`s not what the Lord had planned for me I suppose. I`m here now with Elder Tolaba from a provincia en el norte de Argentina. President Carter had called us up on Friday at like 1 and he said `Elder Nilsen, I`m sorry but I`m about to disrupt your life.` Gulp. `I`m taking your companion from you. Can you guys be here at 4?` And just like that my short little companionship with Elder Roque came to an end. I sure love that brasilero and I miss him tons! The whole time we were driving to the mission offices I thought for sure I`d be having an hijo but we got there and I saw Elder Tolaba waiting for me. President called me in real quick to talk to him and he told me that he told Elder Tolaba that he`s getting a companion that`s 100% obedient and is gonna work his tail off. That`s me! Let`s do it! I`m happy for this chance that I get to be an example to my new comp while this marvelous work keeps on rolling forward. Elder Tolaba already has 17 months on the mission and I`m sure I`ll learn a few things from him and I hope he can learn a thing or 2 from me too (namely obedience and hard work :) ).

That`s that story and now for the baptism!

Everything actually went fairly smooth with the baptism. It was raining Sunday morning pretty good and when it rains here in Argentina, the whole world stays inside. It was a pretty crucial weekend for our zone here because we had a TON of confirmations planned (we got em all and broke the record for confirmations here in Gonzalez Catan :)...32!!!). As we headed out Sunday morning I literally felt like I was fighting head on against Satan. He really did not want Nahuel and the other people in our zone to get baptized. Well...in case you didn`t know, God is MUCH stronger than Satan. So, we won :) Nahuel got to church (thanks to a member that took us in their car because NO buses were coming) and then afterwards we had a nice baptismal service (I directed it) and confirmed him right then too because of conference next weekend. Take that Satan. Boom.

We as a mission for the month of September baptized and confirmed more than we ever have before in President Carter`s time as President. 153 precious souls. Feels DANG good :) Now it`s time to work for October! It`s scary how quickly you can find yourself with an almost empty teaching pool, so let`s work to fill it!

What I learned this past week? God wins. 100% of the time. Satan loses. 100% of the time. Ummm...from the statistics I think I`ll side with God. 100% of the time. God`s stronger. The end.

Family, I love you all. Thanks for your prayers. Thanks for your support. You all rock and I love you with all my heart.

Until next week....

Siding with God,

Elder Nilsen