New Transfer!

it's officially day 1 of my 6th transfer! at the end of this transfer, i'll be like 3 days from my halfway point. what is happening? time is going way too fast, it's all a blur. We received transfer news on Saturday, Sister Withers will be step-training (training is a span of 2 transfers, so her trainee has already been a missionary one transfer) in Durango, CO which was in my zone when I was in Cortez. I've been there a good amount of times, its really pretty there and super green and stuff. Lots of hippies and college kids, there's a college there. A bit different from Monticello, not as small-town and mormon, that's for sure! It should be good for her. Sister Dowd and I will be staying here in Monticello, I will be finishing her training, it should be fun! I'm a little nervous, Sister WIthers was a nice peace-maker and Sister Dowd and I can have our moments, but nothing a little talking and food can't fix. I'm also super nervous to basically take over Monticello, I'm not that confident in my way around and the people yet, even though I've been here for 2 transfers I really should be pretty confident, but alas here I sit very stressed and a little overwhelmed, but time will fix it I'm sure. It will be an interesting couple of days, Sister Dowd will adjust to having one companion (all she's ever known is our trio power) and she will have to talk a lot more. So that means I will get to talk less. So it will be a challenge for the both of us. The problem is I will have to allow awkward silence to give Sister Dowd a chance to think of what to say and such, which makes me cringe but she is really excited to work on becoming more outgoing and social! President teases me about how much I talk, so I think he's excited to see how this will work out. Hopefully I can be a good companion and helper for Sister Dowd as she strives to reach her goals.

 This week seriously went by SOOOOO fast. on Tuesday we picked up another new investigator in Dove Creek, which again, miracle. His name is S----, we met him as we were walking to an appointment, he was out watering his lawn so of course we went to go talk to him. He was super open and asked wonderful questions that we answered and he was excited to learn more. We'll be seeing him tomorrow. We also eat these really good pulled pork sandwhiches at the sinclair, and Sister Withers was trying to ask the man who smokes the meat for us what his name was, and he replied it was "herman smergley" which SHE BELIEVED HIM and of course me not filtering what I say laughed and said "is that really your name?" luckily he was kidding and it was definitley a fake name, but it was funny to watch Sister Withers react to that name and try not to cringe at what a dumb name it was. we laughed about that all week. on Wednesday we FINALLY got to see R--- again. she was in texas last week so it was so long without her. and her little brother and my favorite human, C---. He's 8, have i talked about him before? he's such a little stinker I love him. We also had DELICIOUS ribs cooked by a member from Hawaii, he's gonna cook us kalua pork next time:) 

AH on Thursday I witnessed the most scarring thing on my mission- a dog get hit by a car! Remember that dog that peed on me like my first week in Monticello? ya he was running across the street and he just got straight up hit by this truck! Luckily i closed my eyes and plugged my ears fast enough, but still heard it all:( LUCKKILY again, hes alive, just has some stitches and is pretty beat up:( a very scarring day for Sister Nilsson, even Sister Withers and Sister Dowd were pretty shaken up and they selectively like dogs, they don't love them like I do. on Friday 

we had a wonderful lesson with our part-member family, the Hickmans. they told us they would "probably" never come back to church, but we taught a powerful lesson on the Atonement and then tied in how we remember the Atonement through the sacrament, then BAM invitation to come to church. and they didn't totally deny it. they promised they would pray and council as a family, which was better than what I expected, so we are excited to see their progress. THey need a little bit of a push and need to recognize that we as misssionaries don't just come and give a nice little message and leave. we have expectations, well I guess the Lord has expectations and they are very capable of doing these things that will bless their life. I love them, hopefully they understand that. anyawy, off soap box. On Saturday

 we had another dinner with the Helquists! it was a huge family gathering, we had elk/deer/beef fajitas, tons of salads and fruit and EVERYTHING, then DELICIOUS blueberry and apple dutch oven cobbler<3 it was SO MUCH FUN and we were so happy, C---- even set up an entire "redneck scene" for us to take pictures with, I will be sure to send those to you:) Saturday was also when we received the call about Sister Withers leaving, we are sad but excited for her. Sundaywas a normal day. we ate dinner with Darlene  on Sunday, then had a rockin' lesson with our investigator H----. It was a good week, fast, and now a new transfer. We'll be traveling to Cortez tonight to drop off Sister Withers, then the week will be me and Sister Dowd! Wish us luck! Hopefully all will be well, I'm sure it will be great:)
I love you all so much! I hope you are enjoying your week and having fun and being safe and everything. Sounds like you're all doing well, stay strong and enjoy family time and everything:) I miss you but also LOVE SO MUCH being a missionary. Enjoy every day, enjoy conference (can't believe its already my second General Conference on the mission!) (only 1 left) and we will be skyping before you know it! hopefully i dont have "chocolate" on my face this time, but no promises.

Love,

Sister Nilsson

Miracles!

Hello! This week went by super fast. mission time is weird because the days are long but the weeks fly by. I feel like i was just typing last week on the computer. But today was so amazing! I'll write about it towards the end. 

Anyway, the beginning of the week was a little slow. Monday nothing exciting, Tuesday was a slow morning in Dove Creek. We got to eat at the sinclair, they actually have really good smoked meat there! So we got some pulled pork sandwiches and milkshakes, but i got too full so Sister Withers pulled a Quinn and drank basically 2 milkshakes cause she didn't want to waste food. It was impressive, I can't believe she did that. made me sick to watch her. But ya, we ate at a gas station, just like home. really good though! we'll try it when we take a tour of my mission, since it's a mere 4 1/2 hours away:) 

On Wednesday we experienced a MIRACLE! there is this less active man named J--- who has really struggled with drug addiction,. last week he randomly came to sacrament, bore his testimony, and declared he is going to turn his life around. So everybody and their dogs found us and was like "you have to go visit J---!" so of course we tried to see jared on wednesday. We went up to his house and he was in the garage, listening to some really loud rap music so that was nice. Anyway, when we got his attention he turned to look at us, he had a cigarette in one hand and a can of beer in the other. He then just was like "i cannot believe you are here, this has been an awful day and I've been 35 days sober and i relapsed today" yada yada yada then he said "out of all the days to come to my house, you chose today" and also turns out his sister (Jenny Phillips) (famous mormon singer) called him today, as well as his sponsor for AA to make sure he was coming to his meetings, so he took it as a really big sign from Heavenly Father that He was aware of him and loved him. So that was amazing to watch J--- piece together Heavenly Fathers mysterious ways, he was happy to see us but had to go to AA so we set up an appointment. Which we tried him again, he wasn't home but his less-active wife was. She was very nice but talked about how she lacked a testimony and didn't like to pray because she felt guilty for asking Heavnely father for something and not giving him anything in return. Anyway, she actually got pretty emotional and we were able to bear solid testimony and challenged her to say a prayer asking Heavenly father how he felt about her. 

We haven't heard back, but she really liked the idea and seemed really open. So hopefully we are able to help the family. J--- came to church on Sunday and seemed to enjoy himself and really pay attention. on Thursday we met a guy who talked for a solid hour about mules, an hour of my life i'll never get back, apparently mules are better than horses? kinda stopped listening after a while. Monticello is full of either cowboys, rednecks, or ranchers. and everybody here is missing fingers. weird stuff. On Friday i hit my 7 MONTH MARK, which where in the world did that come from? Still can't believe that, I feel like i was just emailing about my 6th. time flies. and we knocked doors ALL NIGHT and came up with nothing. all in a days work. on Saturday we had dinner with the Helquists (my favorite people) and we WENT UP THE MOUNTAIN and had a camp fire and roasted turkey (the most amazing turkey i've ever had) and dutch oven cobbler and we smelled like camp fire the rest of the day and it was beautiful. it was so fun! they had a lot of C---'s family with us, who are mainly less-active but in the elders area. but it was a good exposure for them, we got to share a message that they all seemed to really enjoy. C--- comes from super active parents, so i think they really appreciate us. We also got sucked into a random service activity, helping a native family move. their house reeked of cat pee, not as bad as Helens so luckily i have been de-sensitized, but still not enjoyable. the elders were there as well, until one elder bent down to pick up a box and heard the ripping of seams, something no elder wants to hear. so they had to go change. we also got to have lunch with  Darlene, she got us all of this stuff to make spaghetti, it was a lot of fun just eating with her. She's so cute. On Sunday we got to give talks in 3rd ward. That was fun, it's nice to have 3 of us because we can take up less time each, I know the bishopric appreciates when we can speak on a minutes notice, but luckily they told us on Wednesday.

and then TODAY we went to the mountain again with the Helquists! they took us to all these pretty lookout points, which i will send pictures of, then we went to this little spot where they usually "bear camp" (camp for when they are hunting bears), roasted marshmallows, hot dogs (gross but i ate them anyway) and chatted. Their son, Hunter and his friend Curtis were there too, and i have officially learned the difference between a redneck and a hillbilly. They gave me the whole rundown on how to identify them. Basically i was hanging out with rednecks all morning, they are the best. i'll send pictures:)

This week we have interviews and zone conference! so i'll get to go to Cortez on Wednesday and see my friends:) ALSO, i just read an email from Sister hillam that said Alexis and Syann (2 investigators we had been teaching forever in cortez) are on date for baptism APRIL 22! best birthday gift ever! i am so excited for them!:):) Oh also, R---- and I made a deal this week that if i run for 10 minutes every morning, she'll read for 10 minutes every morning. So Sister Nilsson is getting fit. 

i think thats all for the week, thanks for your emails and support. i love you! i hope your week is wonderful, please stay SAFE and stuff. LOVE YOU!

LOVE,

SISTER NILSSON

Sister Withers pounding 2 milkshakes

this woman called the canned bean company this week because she found a stem in her can

the endless food treasure of Dove Creek

morning run

lunch with Darlene

BBQ in the mountains!