It's Officially Been a Month!

hello family!

so thanks for the email...not. i better have one next week. but ok here is my week. we went down market street at the beginning of the week oyming which stands for opening your mouth which is like tracting but no knocking on doors, just talking to people. we talk to them about family history so we don't scare them away too quickly. we met this one old man (who kind of looked like henry spencer) who made it a point not to give us his name. he is a writer and has studied every religion known to man basically. i figured it out, he talked like yoda and the catipillar from alice and wonderland. we'd talk to him and he'd ask us these questions that made no sense and that made him sound like some intelligent philosoph. he asked us what we believed then we'd answer and he'd be like "are you sure...?" yeah, he wasn't interested in the book of mormon we offered him. so that was that.

 

hey also thanks for the package!! i was super happy to get it. i dont get what those monsters university cards are but they're cute. also yay pumpkin spice m&m's! i look like a weirdo because apparently the first thing everyone knows about me is that i love pumpkin pie. i better be getting some this holiday season. also yes, those tights shauna told you about are super warm. and tell me what prices for a coat and boots aren't ridiculous! but anyway, yes thank you i like the package.

 

its officially been a month! well it was a month a couple days ago but still! crazy! its been so long but so short at the same time. how has it been for you guys? have the douglas's been helping you through it? yes ok i miss utah sometimes but its all good, the leaves are changing here so then i forget about ol' deserty utah. haha so the elder i was telling you about that reminds me of mecham has this theory that one year before the second coming there will be no rainbows. he asked us what we thought and we were like umm no i dont think so but he is very set on the idea. he got it from revelations 10:1 so read it and see what you think.

 

the cool person i met this week is dave. he is i think in his late 30s and he's a very country man from north carolina. he's got a nice beard and is missing his front tooth. he is super genuine and talks forever. we gave him a book of mormon and he said he'd read it! we're seeing him again i think this week so i'm excited for that! i'm getting used to the people here more i think. man, i thought we were poor (no offense) because we didn't all have iphones but i have it so much better than most people here! they seem perfectly happy with their trailer homes and flies all over the house but i can't believe how different the living conditions are! so yes, grateful for my home in utah.

 

ok here come my missionary commands. do some family history and invite the missionaries over for dinner! missionaries love meeting the ward members and like not having to cook! we're not starving so don't feel like you have to have a 5 course meal but its fun to get to know the members! also yes, family history. i think we have lots of ours done but look again and if someone's stuff isn't done, then do it! ok rant over.

 

i love being a missionary! keep writing me letters! its seriously the best to open the mailbox to letters! hope ya'll have a great week!

love, sister nilsson

Tracting, Kitties, and Zone Training

hello family!

sorry i didnt email you yesterday! hope you didn't cry too hard! i wasn't able to email because it was zone training meeting all morning. it was so great! i saw sister gochnour, elder neus, and elder buck there! they are in my zone! ah, i love my old mtc friends! but yeah, the meeting was great too! we learned a lot about how to teach people, not lessons. so much to learn here but i need to learn it all!

so, this was a good week! we had dinner with the Keunzli's (pronounced Cunzel. weird, i know) last monday or sunday and they are the coolest family! they also have the cutest dog! i forgot what its called but its a maltese and a pomeranian mix. so so cute. please get one. and oh my heck their house was great cause for dessert they had ice cream and they hade more peanut butter trails ice cream! you know the one i was telling you about that i had at the mtc? well they have it here too! go buy some! hmm and then the next day was district meeting so we drove up to Elmira with the elders. yes elder jones becomes more like mecham everyday and its the craziest thing. elders are cool though haha. they are missionaries but they are definitely still 20 year old boys. so that was fun being with them for part of the day. oh and they also have a cat! there is a cute little kitty that lives in the dumpster at their apartment and they always feed it so it loves them! so jealous.

i also had my first tracting experience this week. its scary! yes i realize the people behind the door are just people but i still get nervous. the people were all nice but the only one that showed some interest was an old lady who spoke half mexican and half english so we set up a return appointment with her but i dont know if she really knew what was going on so it should be interesting.

and some more facts about new york: the water is ok-ish....its not bad but its not great. i would definitely still have utah water. and, there are no mavericks here! i just noticed it the other day! also i haven't seen a target in forever or a costco. weirdly enough, i kind of miss my weekly trip to wandering around costco looking at the same magazines every time.

also i have become great at cooking! sort of! i made a nice big breakfast of cheese eggs and hashbrowns the other day. i was very proud of myself. and the other day i had about 6 pancakes for breakfast. its the weirdest thing, i am so hungry all the time. so send me snacks! and oh my gosh! we went to a baptism on sunday and they had some luncheon thing after and there was broccoli salad! just like the one at costco! lets just say i was way excited to get that on my plate. also someone made chicken in a crock pot with salsa on it just like we have at home.

some other people i've met are sister shipmen and the parkers. sister shipmen is just like kathy hawkins its crazy. oh and to make things weirder, he first name is kathy too. yes. mind blown. she's so nice too! then the other day we met the parker family. biggest red necks ever haha its awesome. we're talking to sister parker and then brother parker walks in with a big beard and 10 bags of cheetos and like those onion things. they have i think 5 kids and its just crazy in their house. they're less active so we're going to work on getting them to church. we also met this lady named christine. she seems interested!!! we just knocked on the door to meet her but she invited us in and took a book of mormon and we have an appointment this week! super excited/nervous. i hope she becomes my fist solid investigator!

hey new thing. i'm going to send you guys something i learned this week which is....get involved in member missionary work! please! i know its so easy just to take church and stuff for granted but it is so important that you come to church with a good attitude and remember how priviledged you are to go to church! i've just learned to appreciate that because there are so few members around here but they are all so strong in the gospel and are so good at being good examples! alwasy remember to live by your standards! and if our ward has a ward mission plan get involved! it is so helpful to the missionaries when ward members are willing to help! you might think the missionaries are capable of finding people but it really is tough and although we will do our part in trying to find people by knocking on doors, referrals are so nice to have! don't be afraid to invite people to church activities. even if they reject you, at least you planted a seed! so yes, get involved at church.

i hope that was a good email for you guys! remember to keep sending me letters!! its really fun to get them here because the week is long and i like to hear what is going on at home! love you and have a good week!

Pictures!

Safely in New York

Hello family!

Yeah yeah I'm in New York! Ugh so much to say. Good thing I'm a fast typer. So yeah, we left the MTC at 3:30 in the morning. Not cool. Then we got to Detroit, layover for an hour, got on some tiny airplane to go to New York which took an hour and right after we got off the plane our mission president and his wife met us and took us in the Lamb van for pizza! Then we did some training and stuff at the mission home until about 8ish...I was a zombie all night and was really struggling not to fall asleep during all of this. That morning we went over to the church to be welcomed and meet our trainers. My companion/trainer's name is Sister Whitworth. She's from Glendale CA and has been here a litte over a year I think...she's really cool. Oh and my first area is Corning! I think its next to Pennsylvania... We also have a car and have some sweet music. Its not Mo-tab but like country church music and acapella groups. I feel lame because I like it. Yes you guys were right, everyone here is a hillbilly and a hoarder. Some houses are nicer than others but most  of them are cute town houses but they are also pretty rundown. I went into one apartment complex and the entrance looked exactly like the Monster House. It was so cool. Also, everyone here has those giant circular pools you buy at costco. Oh and lets see, my first dinner appointment was a couple days ago. The Sherrod's invited us over. (No its not an Indian name. Idk if you even thought that but it sounded like an Indian name to me) They live in the countray countray in a trailer with a cute kitty named Smokey. They made us homemade pizza and then gave us ice cream. Yeah, its kind of hard to get used to being in houses that aren't super nice, or even decentely nice like ours but I'm getting used to it and the people that live in the trailer homes are so nice! And Ian, Brother Sherrod's voice sounded just like Merle's but a littler higher pitched. He's even from Atlanta! Oh! And the first thing they did when I walked in was give me some fresh milk. Yep, straight from the cow. It was good though, tasted just like normal milk...

So basically, we've done more service for the Catholic church and First Congregational Church of Christ since I've been here but its all good. You guys missed out, the First Congregational Church had a huge yard sale we helped at. The lady also gave us free hot dogs and lemonade. We also volunteer at a Catholic food pantry every week so yes, we are saints.

 

Oh I've also met the coolest people! After the Sherrods I think I met Sister Ambrozac. She is like in her 60's I think and she lives alone with her dog and has a motorcycle! She's the coolest most easy-going person too! I guess she went into the doctor's to have some operation or whatever and they accidentally nicked an artery (can't spell) and basically she could feel herself dying but after they fixed her she told them that she would come back! She's like the cool motorcycle grandma. Also, oh my gosh hahahahah her little doggy peed on my companions! Ah, so funny. She felt so bad! So yes, first missionary experience. After Sister Ambrozac we went to Sister Williams' house. She lives in a Monster House apartment with her husband. She is a spunky and not-all-the-way-there black lady and she is hilarious! I think she's probably in her 40's and she is just so funny! We have to draw out pictures of our lessons for her so she can understand them better. Oh and then yesterday we went to visit dear Sister Laura Burguess. Oh my heck. The cutest old lady I have met in my life (after grandma of course) she also lives alone with her kitties and has the cutest clutter-filled house and we actually caught her right in time because we pulled up to her house after she was getting dropped off after a one year old's birthday party. She is so cute and has a really strong testimony of faith so thats good and she is just the epitamy of grandmothers. We also went to the Brignone's house for dinner yesterday. Got some potatoes and I forgot what its called but its the meat dad likes to put ketchup on and carrots in butter and brown sugar which I usually don't eat cooked veggies but I decided to try them and they were good! Also everyone has given us cake for dessert so far...they made us ice cream cake! So good. Oh and they do pears wtih shredded cheddar cheese on top. They were really nice and super into the church.

 

We also have some cool elders that work within our boundaries. Elder King and Elder Jones. Me and Elder Jones were new for this transfer. Elder King is from Tennessee and Elder Jones is from Saratoga Springs. Elder Jones kind of reminds me of Mecham which is weird. Which reminds me, forward me the emails I get from him!

 

And oh! I think I know where dad's bad grammar comes from!! He got it off his mission! Everyone here says says instead of said too! I keep hearing people say "so I says to him" and its so annoying! Ugh, I will not pick up on that. Ha, also there is an amish town around here so we drove around and saw people in their suspenders and stuff and we went to an amish store. Although we think they are Mennenaites (still can't spell) because they have cars and use electricity. Yeah I bought some nuts from the amish store. Very tasty. Also, I'll have you know I have cooked more than my companion since I've been here! I made cheese eggs and muffins this morning! She made some barley something or other for breakfast but I made muffins. Yeah everyone I've met likes cracked wheat or cream of wheat and its weird.

 

Church here is so weird! They only have a branch and maybe 40 people come. The chapel is tiny and its so weird! The parking lot was empty after church because there wasn't another ward coming. But I liked it...at least everyone knows everyone. and this Sunday a nonmember came! Idk why she came but we met her and she's an old lady and her name is Beatrice and she was so nice! We asked her how she liked church and she said she loved it and everyone was so friendly! She's in the Elder's area so they got her info but they felt like she might be more comfortable around sisters (and they have like 6 investigators while we have none) so they gave her to us. I think we're going to visit her this Wednesday.

 

So yeah, thats all the stuff I wanted to write. I'll be sending some pictures. Send me some if ya'll want. Just some pictures you think I might like. Also, dad! Me and my companion like singing Joseph and the Techinicolor Dreamcoat so make a copy of your cd and send it to me! I don't have my address with me right now but find it and send it! Also mom, anytime you can would be nice to get  me some tights. Its getting cold. The warm ones, send the warm ones!

 

Ok so I'll email with more stories next week!

Love you,

Sister Nilsson

Finally Some Pictures from the Sister