Hello
everyone!!
This
week was nothing short of amazing. We had Elder Cook talk last Tuesday night
and I will never forget it. That makes 3 Apostles in a row - Elder
Christopherson, Elder Ballard and Elder Cook. I was talking to a volunteer and
she said she has never seen that before. When an apostle comes they
broadcast it to all of the other MTC's around the world. When we were waiting
for it to start they were playing soft music. The pianist started playing “Army
of Helaman” and everyone started humming it. The spirit was electric. All of a
sudden everyone stood up and it went silent. You can feel the moment an Apostle
enters a room – it’s amazing. He talked about the 4 loves of a mission. 1 love
your companion, 2 love the mission president, 3 love the people 4 love the Lord.
He started talking about how a lot of people share all of their really
spiritual experiences but that you really should keep them for your really
close loved ones and yourself. He started bearing his testimony and
paused, he then said "I know the Savior’s voice, I know his face. Jesus
Christ lives." The spirit testified that what he was saying was true. He
closed and we sang the closing hymn and the prayer and we stood up as he walked
out. Everyone just stood there for a solid minute not talking or moving. It was
unbelievable. I know that they are prophets, seers, and revelators. Elder
Ballard was in Provo last Sunday and had the impression he needed to speak at
the MTC. He called and said I’ll be there in an hour - I need to talk. I
am so grateful that we have the General Authorities who can receive revelation
to help us.
There
is an MTC choir for General Conference and IM IN IT!!!!!!!! There are over
2,000 missionaries here right now and they selected a little over 300. I am so
lucky. My companion didn’t make it and he was really sad. I cannot wait to sing
in the Conference Center! Since we sang in the Tabernacle for Stake Conference
that means I will have sung in both the Tabernacle and the Conference Center in
less than 4 months!!
I’m
learning so much Spanish it’s insane. We are teaching our TRC (an investigator
we teach 3 times a week and it’s like the real deal. no English. no help) and
the first lesson when I got here I said probably 5 words. Yesterday I talked
probably about 40% of the 30 minutes and only had to look down for scriptures.
My Spanish has come that far. We are doing another activity with our
district where we all role play as someone we know and then we trade off
teaching them. You are all by yourself and the lesson is 45 minutes. I taught
about the commandments and asked her to pray in the middle of the lesson if
what I was teaching was true. (This is our 4th lesson btw) and the spirit was
so strong. I asked her if she would follow the example of Jesus Christ and be
baptized. She said yes!! It made me so happy.
I
got to host the other day, meaning I got to meet a new Elder at the curbside
when they were dropped off and escort them in. It was so great! As I was
walking over I heard "Elder Nielsen!!!" and it was our relatives, the
Browns!! I ran over and got to walk Elder Brown in- it was super cool. He got
his flight plans though so he left that afternoon for the Philippine MTC, but
it was super great to see and talk to him. I am making a lot of friends here
and I really have been blessed with such an amazing zone and district and
companion. Our zone leaders left yesterday and it was really sad. I look up to
Elder Morgan and Elder Hollstrum immensely. They are gonna kill it in Texas.
We have
an unofficial slogan in our district and even our teacher is starting to say
it. I started saying "__(fill in the blank)___ es muy importante
para su salvacion" and now everyone says it. Sometimes they say
something funny, other times serious, whatever they fill the blank in with “ is
very important to your salvation.” For example, you can put “reading the Book
of Mormon” in front of it or “praying” or “getting a drink” or “going outside”-
it’s very versatile. Every time my teacher says it by accident she
gives me a high five – it’s so funny. Btw I got to say the prayer after the
devotional yesterday and I ended it in Spanish and everyone started
laughing!!! I didn’t mean it as a joke, I just said it without thinking.
I think that’s a really fantastic sign :) I look forward to devotionals
so much. I can’t wait for General Conference. I have found that if I take
notes I pay wayyyy better attention to everything. I guess I’m learning how to
learn.
Until
next week… I love and miss you all. Thanks for everything.
Love,
Elder
Nielsen
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