December 16, 2014

     This week has been good! I got a new companion! Her name is Sister Gass and she is from Circleville! I remembered Sadie's first roomates were from Circleville and if their names are Megan and Marci, Sister Gass totally knows them. I really like Sister Gass, she reminds me a lot of Kelcie which is weird but great! She has been out 5 months and is really nice and a hard worker. I hope I get to end my mission with her.

     So Wednesday and Thursday it was snowing like crazy. Even more crazy, transfers still happened on Wednesday even with bad weather. Luckily I didn't have to go anywhere. Instead I spent the day in Fayetteville with another Sister while Sister Gass traveled down here. Then on Thursday there was like 2 feet of snow outside so we decided to try snow shovel tracting. We were excited to do it but as we made our way to the car to get out the shovels we noticed this old lady in our apartment parking lot which hadn't been plowed trying to get her little Camry our of the parking spot. She is just spinning her tires and ruining her engine so we help shovel her out so she's not stuck. We then are gonna head to the streets but the lady immediately pulls into another snow-filled parking spot and gets stuck again! So the pattern of us shoveling her out and her driving into another parking spot continues for 45 minutes! Finally we shovel out a whole parking spot for her to park in. So she gets into the spot, the whole lot smells like gas and burning rubber, and then she gets out and goes back inside. We were like are you kidding me?! why were you even out here?! so yeah. we are super tired after that but we didn't even get to leave our house. but there was one person I remembered meeting and telling her that we would shovel her driveway for her. so we walk over to her street and she and her husband are out shoveling! I was so happy my idea worked out! it had to have definitely been inspiration. So we got to help them shovel and get to know them. it was great. they still aren't interested in learning but they know us now and like us! also the husband was so appreciative he gave us each some money for lunch. Its awesome when the Holy Ghost tells you where to go. 

     We also visited a crazy lady this week. She and her mom are in our area book and we have stopped over and called a bunch and finally we set up a time to come over. I was so excite to finally be able to meet with them but it did not turn out as I had hoped. the mom let us in and gave us gross Chamomile tea and said we could talk to her daughter. The daughter is nuts! She talks nonstop about random stuff! I think there must be a mental disability there but I was like nooo dang it! I wasn't too disappointed because listening to her and talking with her were very entertaining. I kept it together pretty well but Sister Gass was dying. So we listen to her for a while and try to share a spiritual message but then we left, never to return. Then on Saturday we had a Christmas Caroling blitz. We invited the whole ward to come but it was only us 3 sets of missionaries and our Ward Mission Leader. 

     So not a fantastic turn out but we made the best of it. Our ward mission leader is awesome. So it was awkward at first because singing randomly while walking down the street is awkward  but we handed out about 15 copies of the Book of Mormon so it was a success. That night was the ward Christmas party though so we could have picked a better day for caroling but oh well. And a couple weeks ago our Ward Mission Leader asked us and the elders to do a musical number for the party. So after our voices are worn out form caroling, we have to sing at the party too. it was decent enough but the only other musical numbers were done by this amazingly musically talented family so we were showed up real bad but oh well. except Sister Gass and I also had to do a song in sacrament meeting the next day! I also caught a cold this week so you can only imagine how my singing voice has been. Sister Gass was also super nervous to sing but its over and done with. Also, Paul passed his baptism interview so he is being baptized this Saturday! So exciting! He is really ready for this and the changes that will come with it. So that's the most exciting events of the week...I'm excited for Christmas!

      I will give you details about it next week. Hope it snows in Utah! Tell Kelcie hi for me! I love you all! Keep writing me please!

Love, Sister Quinn Nilsson

December 3, 2014

hello!!

     horay i'll keep my eye out for the package! I will give you more details about Skype and such when I have them. super excited!! Pali better cut his hair before I see him!

this week was super good I will tell you about it

     So last Monday we picked up a new investigator! Her name is Krissy and she is so cute! We met her while teaching another investigator. Our other investigator's name is Stephanie and she is a sweetheart. She has some brain problems and seizure problems so she has a 24/7 staff. We have been teaching her ever since I've been here and she's not progressing so at first I was like ok I get that we are doing a nice service to her by seeing her but is this really going to go anywhere? we still visit her anyway but on Monday we went over just with a plan to share the stripling warriors story. So we read it and talk about faith and learning from your mother and Stephanie loved it as always and then Krissy started participating and we were not expected it because usually her aids just ignore us but we were like ok sweet she likes this. So then she picked up Stephanie's Book of Mormon and started flipping through it asking where the chapter was. We were discussing the story with Stephanie while Krissy read intently. Then she asked if we had any extra copies she could have! I gave her one with my testimony in it and we explained a little bit about what the Book of Mormon is. She told us she feels that this could be something that will fill the hole in her life and that she has a warm feeling when we are there. She is married with two young kids and we are so excited. Talk about being in the right place at the right time. So we also taught her the Restoration this week and she loved it. Pray for her and her family so they can be baptized !:) We also go to lead a sing-a-long at a retirement home this week. Its a super nice retirement home and the elderly were so nice! Especially the activities coordinator girl. She thanked us with tears in her eyes :) We are going back on the 22nd to lead a Christmas Carol sing-a-long. It kind of reminded me of when we sang at old folks' homes in choir. We've been talking a lot about Christmas this week, of course, and using the holiday season to talk with people. Going up to a person and asking them if they like Christmas is a lot easier than asking them if they have heard of the Book of Mormon. Also, we found out this week that Sister Hale is transferring to Gouverneur! It was a surprise to hear that she is leaving because she has only been here 2 transfers but an even bigger surprise to hear that she is going to the best area ever!! She is going to freeze up there but Ithink she will love it! 

     My new comp's name is Sister Gass. I kind of know her so I'm excited for her to come. I think I will spend my last 2 transfers here with her. So weird. Time has flown by for sure. Except not really. Paul is still on date for the 20th. He's really excited. He just needs to be better at coming to church! I'm kind of nervous to take over this area but I think I will be able to do it. This is a really good area and obviously, miracles are happening!! I hope things are going well at home! I miss you all a lot but I'm loving life over here. Please keep writing me! I will see you in 12 weeks!

L8r,

Sister Quinn Nilsson

 

 

September 22, 2014

yay! pictures! oh my sean...yay!! pali in his football gear hahaha he looks so funny. yeah his hair is reaalllyy long. wow, sounds like a lot of new babies i will have to meet when i get home. also, thank you for forwarding camden's email! now i know when he gets home haha. he gets home on the day of our baptism :) yep our Jamaican investigator will be baptized this Wednesday :) we are so excited for him. He told us he wants to be baptized on his birthday because it would be like a gift to him. So cute! Also yes transfers were this week. My new companion is Sister Huang. She is also from Temple Square and Taiwan. She's so cute I am excited to be with her. Also wow this week has been long. On Tuesday we went to the museum here and it was way cool. They had tons of exhibits on nature stuff around here and the metropolitan history and a 9/11 exhibit. also we got to go to the top of this big building called Corning Tower and get a view of the whole city and more. When you all come up here to visit with me we will have to go to the museum. But anyway, back to the new transfer. Sister Huang and I are enjoying working together but that's not all! A sister in Latham is going home for medical reasons so her companion, Sister Curtis is going to be with us for the time being. Trio! Sister Curtis just got here yesterday afternoon and we are already having lots of fun together. I hope she gets to stay the whole transfer because she really adds a lot to the companionship. We also got to teach our investigator the other night. We were trying someone else on his street but they weren't home so we were walking back to the bus stop and we decided just to try him before we left and he answered and we got to teach him about the Book of Mormon. We don't get to see him as often as we would like but I know that if we were able to see him more frequently he would progress so quickly! Both times we've seen him he says he feels so good after talking with us and that what we've taught him is good. It's cool when people acutally tell you that you make them feel good. Cause in trainings we always learn that we as missionaries or even just members of the church kind of have a light and others can see it but when the people actually do tell you they feel good around you it is so much cooler. Taking over the area has been challenging. I basically do all the planning for our days because neither of the other sisters have any idea about the area but I feel like I'm getting the hang of it. At least I am with the bus schedules. We haven't missed a bus yet so that's good. The fall is also coming in. The trees don't look that spectacular yet but they are definitely changing. Well I'm going to email some other people now but I love and miss you all! Keep writing me and have a good week!

Love, sister quinn nilsson

September 8, 2014

Hello Family!

I'm still waiting for those pictures of Ian in his football get up! Yay:) I"m excited for the package :) oh man I forgot about Joe's chicken. That sounds so good. So I will tell you about this week. 

It was pretty good! Nice weather. Crazy people. We tried to teach the Muslim family English on Wednesday. Our original plan was just to read the Book of Mormon with her because that does help people learn English but then she ended up having some books so we kind of quized her on those. We did give her a homework assignment on reading a page in the Book though so we will see if she was able to.like I said they are just a super cute family. We also met this cool girl from Russia! She was waiting for the bus and I saw a Jazz Folder in her hand so I asked her if she liked the Jazz. Then she started talking about herself and all that so we gave her our number and she said she wanted to come to church but I'm not very smart and I forgot to ask for her number so hopefully we will run into her again. We are excited for our investigators baptism! He's the old Jamaican guy we are teaching and he has lots of health problems and every time we go over to teach him he tells us he doesn't think he has much longer to live so we are crossing our fingers he lives til his baptism haha. I'm sure he will. We also went down to Utica to go to MLC. Fun ish as always. I got to see Sister Barley again though so that was the most exciting part. She just told me all the goings on in Gouverneur. I still miss Gouverneur a lot! MLC was cool. There was a big emphasis put on expecting more miralces to happen like in the book of mormon when there are thousands of people converted wihtin only a few days. Things like that really can happen if we just have enough faith so hopefully all the mission leaders will be able to raise everyone's faith so crazy awesome miracles can happen. We are also going have a table set up on Wednesday at the university of Albany so hopefully we will be able to find some cool college kids to teach. Its just been a fun week. I'm a bit nervous to take over the area next week though. I still dont know this area too well and I especially am still not familiar enough with the bus system. Its a challenge I'm kind of excited for as well though. Well thats about all I have for this week. I'm glad you guys are doing good. Hope you have a fun week! Write me!! lOve you!

SIster Quinn Nilsson

September 2, 2014

Hello family!

Man. Lake powell sounded like a perfect trip. Bummed I missed it but it will be there next year! You better post some pictures that I can glance at! Did you see my birthday party pictures Diego posted? Hmm so I will tell you about my week. I wrote about it in my letter but I can tell you about in in here too. I got to work with Sister Hansen and Sister Kunz in Latham for 3 days and it was lots of fun! I got to meet a lot of awesome members and investigators over there and the sisters are so fun. I loved being able to work with them for 3 days too because we are a lot closer now. We get to see each other at district meeting every week but being companions for 3 days helped us bond a lot more. So the exchange took up the majority of my week haha. Sister Hansen leaves this transfer and throughout her mission she has made scrapbooks of it. I looked through them and they were so cool! I hope I can remember everything important about my mission so I can make fun scrapbooks too! Its been super hot this week. Wearing only one layer is even too hot for me. I guess I know what its like to live somewhere humid now. I prefer hot humid to cold humid but its still not super fun to be out in. We had a party last night for one of our investigators who successfully stopped smoking for a week. It was fun! Sister Yu is going to be going back to Salt Lake soon and everyone thinks I'm going to be training next transfer. That would be really fun but who knows if it will happen. I will keep you posted. Yeah the members up here are really great. They are all so willing to go teaching with us a drive us around and do everything for us! Its crazy! and they do it without even making it look like an inconvenience. We could miss our bus to get back home and call a member at 9 pm and they would be completely willing to come take us home. But. Since I am now in the capital of New York, I will probably be able to find ya'll some really awesome authentic new york christmas presents :) totally off topic but i just remembered that. But yeah, just make sure to be a good mormon to the missionaries out there! They run into about a million mormons a day but it really is nice as a missionary to find people who are polite and treat you like you're important. But whenever people get me down I just think of all the awesome missionaries I get to serve with, all the wonderful people I have met, and the fact that God is always with me and wants me to succeed. September may be a boring month for you but its looking to be a good one for us! yes! Letters and packages! hmm requests...pictures :) and idk skirts if you can find any? just stuff that makes me feel loved :) and don't forget to include something for my companion as well :) I love you all and miss you so much!! Have a good week at school :))))

August 25, 2014

hello!

! this week was good! I'm still enjoying my life as a missionary :)

I will tell you something i have learned in this first i guess. Missionary work is hard! I knew it would be hard but it is hard in so many more different ways than I thought it would be. We tracted a lot this week which I enjoy. Everyone knows Jesus Christ loves them and died for them, people do think there are prophets on the Earth, people have valid points as to why they don't want to be involved in a religion. Its hard to have the right thing to say to them because half the fime, I don't even know what they are talking about so I don't have a good answer. I know there are elect people out there who are ready for the gospel and I should be focusing my efforts on them but at the same time, I have to do all within my own power to help others accept the restored gospel. People know a lot more about God and Christ. So don't worry, I'm not having a breakdown or anything haha thats just something i"ve noticed about this week. We also met this nice guy on the street. He just moved here from Iraq with his family about a year ago. We talked with him (the best we could) for a little bit. His english really was not good but somehow we were able to communicate that we wanted to come to his house the next day. So we did and we met his cute family and they live in such a nice clean house and are such nice people. I just think they are so cute and I agreed that we would come over once a week to teach them english. I don't know, maybe hopefully somethign will come of it. I have also realized this week that I have been gone so long!! One year! I keep seeing things that give me flashbacks of Corning and man was I there a long time ago. I'll see you all in 6 months which seems so far and also so soon! I don't even know what to think anymore! Mostly I've just been thinking of how I can not be distracted by anything and just keep being super focused on being a missionary here. I think though that as times goes on and I'm more immersed in this city with the people then I will stop thinking of home. Its always when you enter a new area that you get homesick because you no longer have your church family. I miss Sister Barley. Everyone here is really great though, more time spent with them just has to pass. Also today we have a district activity that will take up like all day so I probably won't get a letter written to you guys! :( sorry:( I will write one for sure next week though! I'm jealous of your lake powell trip, tell me how it goes! Send a picture of pali in his football stuff!! i love you all and miss you a lot! 

Love, Sister Quinn Nilsson

August 18, 2014

 this week was pretty fun! We had a Zone Training Meeting on Tuesday which was good. The zone is huge and there are a lot of strangers. its so weird to meet lots of missionaries who you think you haven't met because they are old but really, they are young and you are old. So weird. We are teaching this Jamaican guy and the first time we taught him the Plan of Salvation  We finished teaching the rest of it and he loves it He doens't really know much about the church besides he knows he needs to join it and he wants to get baptized on his birthday :) We also met a lot of nice people just walking around this week. am pretty confident that we will find people who actually care here. It will just take a little time and continued effort looking. Working with Sister Yu is still great. She laughs when I say things I think are funny so its good. I hope to receive more letters from ya'll. I understand its busy with school starting but really! Ok I got to go now but I love and miss you all! Have a fun last week of summer :))))