It's been a month!

It has now been a month in the MTC, which is both awesome and crazy to think about! Alongside just learning language and other everyday stuff this week, I got to help with a couple other awesome things. This week I got to help put up all the flags (The MTC has somethings like 30-40 flagpoles that they rotate countries flags through) and it was really fun! And it was one of my prouder moments when I got to raise the Swedish and United States flags. It was pretty cold because it was 6:30 in the morning and I was outside the whole time, but it was cool!

I also had the opportunity to host new missionaries this week. That means that I was the missionary who helped take new missionaries into the MTC, get all of their stuff, and take them to class. I've been wanting to do it for a while so I was super pumped when I heard they had asked our district to do it. I got to welcome and show around 3 new missionaries over the course of 1.5 hours or so. It was funny to consider how "old" and experienced I felt compared to the new missionaries that are coming in even though I've only been here a month. But it was a really good experience, and hopefully I didn't freak them out or anything!

That's most of the exciting stuff that's happened for me. Besides that I've just been in the normal schedule of language learning and prepping/studying for lessons. The language is actually coming along pretty well, and tomorrow I should recieve my flight plans. It's only a week and a half left until I enter the country! It will be here so soon!

Elder Nelson

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I realize that it is September, but our district decided to celebrate a different holiday each week for the rest of the MTC. So this P-Day is Christmas, next week is Thanksgiving, and then on the last week we have Halloween. And Christmas Eve was awesome, so I'm hoping today (Christmas) will be good too! Last night we sang some Christmas songs, took awkward family photos, and then hung up stockings (in my case, just a normal sock). But is was fun and we had an Elder dress up as Santa and fill them up. And we even brought an extra mattress into our room so all 7 of us Elders could sleep in the same room for Christmas. It's been really exciting to set up decorations and sing Christmas hymns, even though it is actually only September. Later today we are having a District wide secret santa gift exchange, so we'll see how that goes too!

We had an awesome devotional this week that was really amazing. Quentin L Cook from the quorum on the 12 came and spoke to us. I'm in the choir so we started off singing "The Morning Breaks" and then he and his wife both gave talks. He spoke about love and about missionary work in general. It was a really good talk and then he ended with his testimony of Jesus Christ. It was so powerful and the room was absolutely silent and attentive as he bore his testimony. It was a fantastic experience.

This week we also had our second week of TRC, an activity where you teach lessons to returned missionaries in the mission language. It is a really cool experience to teach returned missionaries and to hear their testimonies about Christ and missionary work in general. After it finished, my district and our teacher took us to a hallway in the new buildings of the MTC where there are tons of pictures of Christ. He was healing people, laughing with people, comforting people, and just showing His love in many ways. We then had a mini testimony meeting. Just like the devotional, this was an experience that reinforced how much the Savior loves us and how important He is to all of us. Bearing my own testimony and hearing other's testimonies was really moving.

I've officially reached the halfway mark for the MTC. Before long, I'm going to be in the country of Sweden, which is both exciting and terrifying at the same time. Well, I think that's all I have time for this week.

Sincerely,
Elder Nelson

Oscar the Octopus

I have officially been in the MTC for two weeks! And it feels like I've been here so long. It's been really good and really hard at the same time. Learning the language has been really tough! There is just so much to learn and so little time to do so. But it is so satisfying to be able to say what you want to say. And I feel like its so important to learn. We have a thing called TRC, and in it you teach BYU students that served their mission in Sweden. And talking to them was awesome! It was so inspiring to hear how excited they are for us to go to Sweden. The returned missionaries have so much passion for missionary work and it made me want to learn better so that I can teach the people there. The RM's love for the people started to rub off onto me and I think its awesome!

My district is really fun! we learn a lot together but also have a good time. I have a little story to tell about them. So one night we were in our room before sleep. Another Elder that has been here a few weeks more that us came in and asked us if he could change our trash can liner (suspicious, I know). But we let him do it. A few mins later he came back and he actually had emptied our trash. He put it on the ground and left, and we thought nothing of it. Later we went to move our trashcan and realized it was really heavy. So we took the liner out and looked inside. At the bottom of our trash can was about 5 inches of water and a giant fake octopus. Apparently the Swedish elders before us had used it to prank people and now it has been passed onto us. So we of course have been using it! My companion keep taking Oscar ( the octopus) out of its home and doing things like putting it under people's pillows before bed so when they are going to sleep they feel it. And it has been really funny! The best part has been that we have just accepted Oscar as part of our room and now he has been living in our trashcan for about a week or so. I left my camera at my room, but sometime soon I will send some pictures of him.

The MTC has been a good experience so far. It has been awesome to see how the Spirit can be here so strong, especially when we are teaching people and bearing testimony. it has been really good overall! I know that as we do that which God asks us to do, we will be blessed. Fight on!

Elder Nelson

I can't believe it's been a week already!

Hello everyone, I am alive! My P Day is on Thursdays, so from now on I will be emailing then.

The first week at the MTC has been such a flood of knowledge, blessings, and language. From day 1 our teacher has spoken almost entirely Swedish to us, and it has been so much to take in! It has been slow in coming, but it definitely has been coming. So much knowledge is trying to get crammed into my head all the time, and so far only a little has stuck. But it's better than nothing! On the first day I learned that I was going to be in a trio (so I have 2 companions instead of 1) and I was really excited. My companions are Elder Fronk from San Diego and Elder Young from Pleasant Grove. They are both really cool, and we have so much fun together. It's been pretty constant laughing and language learning for us.

On Friday of the first week we got to teach our first lesson to an investigator in Swedish. It was a scary thought! I felt like I knew basically no Swedish, so the idea of having to teach someone, understand questions, and respond to them was terrifying. But we did our best to prepare and then taught. And it actually went ok! We understood a good amount and were able to address her questions. We have now had four lessons, and have been able to teach about the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation. When we are teaching I can feel the spirit so strong, and it has been such a blessing. After we taught her about the Atonement and what Christ has done for us, I felt impressed to share another scripture. I asked her to read Alma 7:14 (I think). It was all about how through baptism we follow Christ. And then I asked if she would follow the example of Christ and be baptised. There was a tense moment, but the Spirit was there so strongly. She said she would because she felt it was right. It was amazing to see how powerful the Spirit can be in affecting people. It was more of a verbal commitment to baptised planneddate or anything. She said that if she continued to feel what we were teaching was right, she would. It was an amazing blessing.

Our zone and district is lots of fun. We are constantly joking around and laughing together. We have already grown really close after only one week. Besides that, I want to say that the Spirit is so strong here at the MTC. If you are acting in a way so the Spirit can be there, it is. What a blessing! Elder Oaks of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles came and spoke to the MTC on Tuesday, and the Spirit that was there reaffirmed my testimony that the Prophet and the Apostles are called of God.

I would like to end with a brief testimony. I know that Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father love us and are looking for opportunities to bless us and help us grow. The Gospel is such a simple and beautiful thing. It is a way be which we can return to God, and all it really takes is to turn to God and follow Christ. I love this Gospel and this opportunity I have to serve the Lord.

Elder Nelson