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!

Introducing: The Triple Threat!

SISTER WITHERS AND I ARE GETTING A TRAINEE:):):):):):):):):):):)

So this week was super long for some reason but also very good. Lots of stuff happened and I am eternally exhausted. But, here we go!

SO on Monday Sister Withers and I made the 2 1/2 trek to Farmington in the fog and rain and deer-infested roads, driving through reservation and then getting a phone call at 8:00 from the Assistants to the President telling us we were late for a trainers meeting we didn't know was happening. SO that was wondeful, now we are un-trained trainers but we still made it to farmington safe and on time (at least the time we thought we were supposed to be there) so that was good. We woke up nice and early to get ready to meet our trainee! I got to see some old friends and that was fun, and it was soooo much better to be on the trainer side rather than the trainee side of that meeting. we got assigned our trainee, her name is Sister Dowd! She is super cute, she likes broadway and Disney, and is from Oregon. She is loving the work already so that's good, glad she is cause i definitely wasn't day 1. Anyway we spent our first day in Dove Creek (which is an odd little town) and she loved every minute of it! and of course Sister Withers and I did too because we love our people. Ok so on Wednesday D---- (mean granny) took us out to dinner and I ordered a buffalo burger, thinking it was going to be a nice patty with buffalo sauce and blue cheese and such...then when the lady plops down my plate and i see a sauce-less burger i face the brutal reality that i will be eating BUFFALO MEAT. which is something I never wanted to do and had no plan of doing, but alas I had to eat it anyway. It wasn't too bad, just the thought of eating buffalo threw me off a lot. Also, good news! R----s (11yearold) dad agreed to let someone else baptize her so R----- has been thinking about who else can baptize her! so she can be baptized pretty soon hopefully, i love her so much. Also, A---- got the priesthood on Sunday! he could be ordained right to a Priest, so he is doing so amazing. he's so happy and is such an example to all the other young men in the ward. he really appreciates the gospel and knows life with and without it, which not a lot of people around here experience. so ya

we also knocked on this door this week, and a lady named M---- answered. she's a strong roman catholic so we shared a scripture for the bible, and then the conversation took an unexpected turn to her abruptly closing her bible and asking 'do you ladies take birth control?" and then she started talking about natural remedies for that kind of stuff and got in to WAYYY too much detail, it took all of our might to not just bust out laughing right on her doorstep. needless to say, M--- wasn't interested and we probably won't be going back.

ah on Saturday was a hearbreaking day, one of my favorite less-active couples are having major problems (the ones who feed us dinner all the time) and it hurt my heart so much to see them struggle. T---- is facing hard decisions and she is so sweet and just deserves the best life ever, as does her husband C---- who has had addiction problems in the past which has messed with him mentally. i came to the conclusion that addiction is one of Satan's strongest tools and the one i hate the absolute most because it just destroys people. so ya don't do anything addictive it's evil. So that was hard for us, but T---- got a priesthood blessing and came to sacrament meeting (which we totally didn't expect her to do ), so hopefully things work out better.

thtas basically the week...life here is amazing! stil can't believe i have only a year left, that is just gonna fly by. I hope you all enjoyed your week! I loveyou!

Love,

Sister Nilsson

Sister Nilsson, Sister Withers, and their new trainee, Sister Dowd! Madison refers to them as the 'triple threat'

planning for the day

lovely members who feed the sisters pizza

Sister Nilsson and Sister Dowd

She says its a slumber party every night with a trio. Missions aren't all hard work, they can be fun too :)

always finding an animal to love

The Hiatus is Over

hello everyone this is Sister Nilsson's older sister Quinn who volunteered to be in charge of the blog and I am doing a horrible job. I apologize I will try to do better.
But now for news on Sister Nilsson!
Last you saw her, Sister Nilsson was in Cortez Colorado but just a few weeks ago was transferred to Monticello Utah! She was really sad to leave Cortez, she really grew to love the area, but after a few weeks in Monticello she is warming up to Utah!
She loves her new companion Sister Withers and they recently were able to see one of their investigators baptized.
She tried Venison for the first time, she said it wasnt too bad.
The sister missionaries' BFF from Cortez came and surprised Sister Nilsson at church this past Sunday and she was over the moon.
She and her companion sang at a 50+ singles ward mingle spontaneously.

The favorite member in Cortez came to visit Monticello!

Missionaries even have magic eye fun 

this sandwich is called the Sandberg Sandwich. Apparently its a big deal

Welcome Winter

Highligts from the week:
"we have a new investigator, her name is ____ and she has a cute dog :) "

"she had so much makeup on her face when she hugged Sister Hillam she left a face-print on her shirt. We laughed a little bit."

"we just ate usual Thanksgiving food except for fry bread instead of rolls. It was all delicious"

they finally got a pic of the couple that drives a lawnmower to Walmart. 

Another district hike!

"story behind this picture: we went knocking on doors with ____ this weekend and it was like mildly cold but not too bad so neither of us wore coats. Well that night (the person they went out with) and ____ knocked on our door and shoved Walmart bags in our hands and said 'try these on' so we pulled on these coats and they were a perfect fit! ____ bought us coats cause he thought we were gonna freeze to death, it was super nice of him!"

New Companion

Sister Nilsson's trainer, Sister Strigham recently got transferred to Farmington and Sister Hillam came to Cortez! They are having lots of fun together already

First Zone Conference!!

enjoying goodies from the family. lets hope she shared

She loves the people of Cortez, especially doing service for them such as 

spending a whole Saturday helping people move.

beautiful companions

Transfer Calls

Big news of the week:

Sister Stringham, Madison's trainer, is being transferred to Farmington! She will finish her training with her new companion, Sister Hillam.

at the ward dutch oven cook out

A ward member who stopped by our house to pick up

a care package to bring to Sister Nilsson. She loves the 

members in Cortez

The beloved truck

what an artistic shot

Lots of unique people in Cortez. She loves them all!