8 months today. how.

Hello part people what goes on. This week went by pretty quick! It was a good week! Last Monday we actually got into some houses we havent' been able to get into for a long while, so that was exciting. One of the ladies is a native and she is dating a married man who is too lazy to get divorced, so in order for her to be baptized, there are some hurdles we will have to jump through but I'm not worried :)
We have been working hard in our units so hopefully something good comes of it. On Tuesay we had another lesson with our new investigator in Dove Creek. Sister Dowd got to extend her first baptismal invitation and she did such a fantastic job! She is becoming more and more confident everyday, its fun to watch her grow. Our investigator said he still needs some time to learn and read and pray before he accepts a baptismal date but we are working with him and have good high hopes.

On Wednesday we had phone problems, our phone had zero service so we made trips back and forth from the church phone to Darlene's phone. It was kind of nice to not be able to text and confirm appointments, then the people couldn't take the easy way out, by texting and cancelling. Now they either had to tell us over the phone or when we showed up in person, its harder for people to do it then. This phone should be broken more often.

We also got 2 new investigators in teh 1st ward this week (truly a miracle, we have had zero the entire going on 4 months here) so we were really excited about that. On Thursday we had a meeting with A----, he is doing wonderful and it going to the temple to do baptisms on Wednesday! It was so funny, he had to work on Sunday so he missed watching General Conference, and he knew we were going to ask about it so he was super nervous the whole week. We actually saw him briefly on Wednesday night and just said hi, and he was so relieved because he thougth we were going to ask him how he enjoyed conference so he stayed up til 1 am on Wednesday watching it, and he loved it! HIs favorite speaker was the one who talked about his conversation (I forgot his name), which was funny because that guy basically sounded just like A---. Honestly wouldn't be surprised if A--- was up there someday.
On Friday we tracted into a nice old lady who repeated the same story 10x so that was fun. On Saturday we went to  relief society  activity that was actually a lot of fun. Then had dinner with the Helquists, classic navajo tacos, their cute grandson, cute puppy, and we got to look through their scrapbooks. Which was the best thing ever. They are so cute. I just love them.

Sunday was H---'s baptismal interview! We had a few scares because he was involved in a poaching incident, we had to call President to make sure all was clear, but all is well and H--- is well on his way to baptism.
Today we went on a district hike in the Canyonlands! It was sooo much fun, we just drove through Canyonlands, stopping at different sites and hiking around, reminded me of stuff we would do. Got some good photos I'll be sending. My district is pretty fun. We manage to have some fun here in Utah.
I love you all and hope you have a good week!
Love, Sister Nilsson

First Sister-Witherless Week

Hello! This week went by both slow and fast. I feel like I was jjust told that I'd get a picture of Ian's hair "next week" but now that week has come! His hair looks wonderful by the way. I was telling dad, I did like showing everybody my super hairy younger brother, they thougth it was gross but I thought it was amazing. Ian I'm so proud of you, keep rockign it. Anyway, back to my week.

This week was good! Monday was pretty fun, we ate dinner with the Helquists for Sister Wither's last hoorah, and we got to witness "redneck vet". Basically the Helquists have like 5 hound dogs and one of them ate some kind of  a sticker called cheat grass and it gets stuck inside their mouth and can get infected so Brother Helquist being Brother Helquist, had us come watch as he held his sweet pup on the bed of his gruck and cut open the infection slightly with a RAZOR BLADE and let the infection pour out, which I thought was going to be more scarring than it was, but the dog was super tough and didn't even whimper. Always something at the Helquists.

Anyway we had delicious food as always, and we had to say our goodbyes (well, Sister Withers had to) and then we were off to drop her off in Cortez. We saw a rockin' double rainbow which was nice, a Monticello goodbye to Sister Withers. It was super sad to see her go, we've become pretty close and I consider her to be a close friend.

The trip home was weird, I spent 6 weeks chilling in the back of the truck and now I get to drive around Monticello and try to figure out where people live because nobody believes in actual addresses around here.

Tuesday was a Dove Creek day, and it was pretty long. We spent a majority of the day knocking on doors and getting no results, which makes the hours draaag. It was also super rainy/snowy so then it wasn't even enjoyable to be outside. But we pressed on. We did get to have a lesson with one of our new investigators, S---. It was so amazing! He had so many questions, and all of them aligned perfectly with the message of Restoration, so we answered all his questions and he was excited to learn more and read the Book of Mormon. He's very willing and recognizes the necessity to make time, which I wish all of my investigators recognized that.

I don't know if you got my letter, but we ate lunch in Dove Creek and met the infamous 'mustache lady' we've been hearing about in Monticello. I wrote more about her in my letter, basically the moral of the story is both Sister Dowd and I really lost our appetite after she served our food. We got to see R---- again. She's doing well and is still preparing for baptism on June 3. Her dad keeps bailing on our meetings with him which is frustrating and her mom we finally asked if she would be willing to learn again and she said no. But I have faith she'll come around.

On Thursday we saw A---- again, he'll be doing baptisms for the dead next week!

On Friday it snowed which was depressing but we now get to use the Easter Initiative in our missionary work which is exciting! Have you seen the video, Prince of Peace? Its really good.

On Saturday we got to watch Conference at Darlene's house, it was really good! Sunday was the best of all though, I have been praying really hard about the Book of Mormon lately, mainly because I'ver never really received that promised witness that its true, and i've been really hard-core studying it, I've read it like twice on my mission and am halfway through my 3rd round and i'm really markign it up and loving it. But I really wanted to know that it was true so I could teach and testify of it with more sincerity and confidence. and what was the one thing our prophet spoke on? The Book of Mormon. THE BOOK OF MORMON. Out of alll the topics he could have chosen, Heavenly Father inspired him to speak on the Book of Mormon. Talk about answer to prayers and solid spiritual witness that not only the Book of Mormon is ture, but that Joseph Smith is a prophet, we have a prophet who speaks to God today, but that truly the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Christ's church and gospel back on teh Earth.

We've been experiencing a lot of people, specifically who have become 'too smart' for the church. This one guy especially basically has let questions that can't really be answered and doubts completely soil his testimony. Listening to him talk and ask his unanswerable and controversial questions just makes my heart hurt, all I know is please NEVEREVERVER become like this guy. Its so sad to see how the adversary can really pull people so far away from the truth. Dont let doubts and 'too deep' of questions pull you away and make you forget everything you've experienced.

I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week and be safe and enjoy everything you'll be doing :)
favorite conference quotes:
"Let us love one anohter completely, that no one feels abandonded, alone, and helpless" -Renlund
"Don't burden yourself with constant fear" "He wants you to be not afraid, only believe" -Uchtdorf
"Love should never be withdrawn if someone doesn't reach your expectations" - Palmer