Truly He Taught Us To love One Another, His Law Is Love And His Gospel Is Peace - 29-12-14

Dear loved ones, 

I can honestly say that this Christmas was one of the best in my life. It is always hard to be away from beloved family and friends, but it just felt so special to be a missionary and to have that personal relationship with Christ my Saviour. Let me start with some special experiences of this week before going into the Christmas shenanigans! 

So we knocked on the door of this YSA Hispanic boy who lives with his family and miracle of miracles he was home. (This was actually last week on Sister West's last night but I forgot to include it last week). It was about 8:50pm so the last ten minutes of Sister West's work as a missionary. We were thrilled to go inside and he started telling us that he doesn't believe in organised religion and that he is spiritual but not religious, yada yada yada heard it all before, and we showed him He Is The Gift. He liked that and it brought a nice spirit in. He said that he would believe what we were saying is true if God told him. We asked him if it would be alright if the Holy Spirit told him instead of God and he said he could deal with that so we offered to pray with him and I offered the prayer. After invoking the blessings of heaven upon him and the household there was the sweetest feeling of peace in the home and at the conclusion of the prayer he looked thoughtful and said "I already feel it" and it was such a beautiful moment! He committed to seeing us again and said he would definitely be there. I love being a servant of the Lord and sharing His blessings with His beloved children. It was a great high moment for Sister West to go home with! 

We had another miracle. We were one person away from making our monthly goal and we had five minutes left on Sunday evening when the Elders told us that they have a new investigator for us who lives in our area and is on date for baptism in January and went to Church. It was so perfect! I've learned how Heavenly Father truly does want us to meet our goals and it's important to us so it's important to Him and He loves His children and all we have to do is pray and work and He provides everything else. 

I've seen lots of Visitor Centre miracles this week too. I had a non member woman come in who was so moved upon by the Holy Spirit she could barely step foot into the Christus room. She just cried and said she sees the Holy Spirit within my eyes. It was a very special moment. I also had a Chinese family come in who took a Book of Mormon and asked us lots of questions. That Visitors' Centre never ceases to amaze me that every day we have miracle after miracle. We get the most non members in any VC other than Temple Square in Salt Lake City and we are the biggest apart from Temple Square. I am so blessed to serve there and see the miracles come day after day. We have had lots of German non members too this week which Sister Lipke has been happy about!! 

So here are my Christmas tales! On Christmas Eve we visited all of our Bishops and took them Christmas treats made at the Stake President's house with his wife! We drove out to their homes with one of our member friends and we sang Christmas songs to them and delivered the treats and talked about goals for their Ward for 2015 and thanked them for all their work. It was very nice to see them all! We also got invited out to Golden Corral with one of them so it worked out very nicely indeed ;) After we'd driven around beautiful St George as the sun was setting and seeing all our wonderful Bishops we made our way over to the Ekins in Little Valley who had invited us over for the evening. We made gingerbread houses, my first one ever!, and ate great food and we shared a Christmas message. I love that family so much! They gave us Bath & Body Works gifts which makes me love them even more; ) There was a beautiful feeling in their home. I really love their family. Their daughter just got home from her mission and so was happy to have Sister Missionaries there. I heard so much about her while I served there and now it feels like we're bffs and have always known each other. Anyway we left their house and walked around their Ward visiting all the non members I could remember and taking them treats and singing to them, It was just so perfect and beautiful to be walking around this area that I love with people that I love singing hymns that I love. There were Christmas lights everywhere and it was so calm. It really was like the hymn Silent Night. No one was out, no cars were out, it was very peaceful and we were the only ones out walking seeing all the lights and singing hymns. I truly felt the love of the Saviour and Heavenly Father. It was the best Christmas Eve of my life just taking gifts to non members and spreading the love of the Lord.

We then went and sang to the senior people in Morningside (so I guess I just visited all my old areas) in a rest home with the Morningside Sisters. We visited widows and sung to them and it was so beautiful and sweet. They cried and gave us chocolate pecans haha. Just a beautiful spirit that night.  Then we played Apples to Apples with two other companionships of Sisters which is always fun ;) We had such a laugh. Then we all prayed together and sung O Holy Night together. The spirit was so strong and we prayed thanks for our Saviour. Then Sister Lipke and I went back to our house and continued the singing and the praying until 10:30 when we went to bed!

I couldn't sleep all night, it felt like, because I was so excited to Skype you in the morning! I was SO excited! We got up and opened presents and I loved all of them!! The one that has proved most useful is the scripture highlighter haha #missionarygifts but thank you for everything!!! I love it all. Thank you to everyone who thought of me. We then went to the VC Sisters and Senior Couples breakfast and gift exchange. There was a chocolate fountain and it was so much fun! Then we went back to the Borcherts and I GOT TO TALK TO YOU!!!!! BEST PART OF THE YEAR! After crying a little bit Sister Lipke and I laid out by the fireplace and slept. It was so nice to just lay on the floor by the fireplace and take a nap. I dreamed I was out street contacting though haha #missionarydreams We played lots of games like reverse charades which was hilarious. Then we had to do our shift at the Visitors' Centre and I remembered what you said Dad about finishing strong and working hard so that I have I no regrets when I go home and what Luke said about going home to the apartment pleased with what I've accomplished that day. So I began sharing my testimony with EVERYONE I saw. It was so fun because I didn't do it awkwardly like "I'd like to bear my testimony that..." but I just smoothly slipped into it and most of the time it led into a great tour or referral! So thank you for that encouragement, Heavenly Father knew what I needed. Then we went in the evening and had a Zone Testimony Meeting and watched Ephraim's Rescue. It was so beautiful :') I love hearing missionary's testimonies. It was such a spiritual evening and one that I will never forget. I love the missionaries here in the St George mission!! 

We were privileged to go to Little Valley again on Saturday for the baptism of L. We began teaching her back in June, Sister Rizzo and I, and she got baptised! She came into the Visitors' Centre this week and invited myself and Sister Biery so we got permission from President Center to go together. It was so fun to be in Little Valley with Sister Biery again! The baptism went very well and I'm so happy to see that she was ready to make that step :) 

Well this is my last email for the year of 2014. I cannot believe where it has gone. I feel like just yesterday I laid in my Washington apartment's rock solid, freezing, bed and set goals for 2014, the only year of my life when I would be a missionary for the complete year. I set the goal to work hard every single day, to love everyone put in my path and to change myself and others every day. I cannot believe where the time has gone and I continue to set goals and become the person the Saviour needs me to be for Him and for my future family and life. I LOVE this year. It has been the best year of my life and I have learned and changed so much. I wouldn't change a single day of it because it has moulded me and my testimony. I love  every single person I have met and need all of them. I have been blessed SO abundantly it brings tears to my eyes to think that He has strengthened me enough to have brought me through a year of missionary service. I feel so indebted that it makes me want to serve more and longer! I absolutely love my mission and I have loved 2014 and the hard times and the blessed times. How can I ever show my thanks truly? I love you all and can't wait to see you next year ;) I will be thinking about you ALLL day on New Year's Eve. I'll say a little prayer for you at 5pm here when it's the new year for you. I love you all SO MUCH and pray thanks for you every single day!

Signing off for 2014

I love you all 

Sister Nicholls

Christ Is The Lord, O Praise His Name Forever! - 22-12-14

Dear Loved Ones, 

I just want to tell you how loved you are. It's hard not to get trunky at Christmas time. Honestly I don’t let myself think about Christmas and then I don't miss you. So it just doesn't feel like Christmas. It's weird to think that next year I will be home and it would've been like five years since we were all together. I am excited though. Christmas is a hard time to be a missionary on a university campus because everyone goes home, just like BYU! We were on campus and saw one life form and all it was was a man with a metal detector who was really determined to find some metal. It's gotten very cold as well. I've very much become a St George person so I know it's not cold compared to Provo or England but it’s freezing for me! We wrap up warm and run in the mornings. It was 26 degrees this morning! My knee is still bruised and slowly improving. It still hurts a lot but I'm very sure that if I do nothing about it it will get better eventually #storyofmymission  haha When I get home I need a mass doctors apointment. I've never been so hurt and had so many ailments as I have on my mission!! 

Well we had a great lesson with N this week. We saw him just before he left to go home. We taught him about the Priesthood and how he can be a Priesthood holder when he finally decides to be baptized. He liked the idea of that and said that he would like a Priesthood blessing in January when he is back at school. N has a great spirit about him and it will be a joyous day when he decides to be baptized. 

We are trying to find ways to spend our time effectively with everyone gone! We went to Sister Rhodes house, the High Councilors wife, and made cookies with her. It felt like real Christmas. We did that again at the end of the week because we'd handed out all the cookies. It was great because we got to know them better, and people are so much more receptive to us when we have treats for them. They were all studying for finals or sleeping so to have us at the door with treats made it a lot better. We actually found a new investigator from it. We stopped this boy on the stairs and gave him cookies and started talking about Christ and he said he has been to the LDS church three times. You know a missionary's first thought when someone says they have already been to church three times? #MIRACLEBAPTISMTHATWE'VEALLBEENPRAYINGFOR but alas he invited us back for the following day and when we went it turns out he is Catholic and is happy to listen to us and to come to church but he will only read the Book of Mormon if he has a marvellous miracle that tells him to read the Book of Mormon. We felt like saying, well here it is! This is the miracle telling you to read it haha. But we are just keeping in our prayers to enlist the Lord for His bounteous blesings to allow something to let him see he should read the Boom of Mormon. Every single person comes with their own struggles and their own bags of problems. Missionary work is never easy. We always have that hill to climb with every single one of them, and I think that that is why we are so exhausted by the end of our missions from being that guide, holding people’s hands and helping them to climb up the hill. But it's not supposed to be easy “The wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land” - Ether 6:8 . 

We had a lot of fun handing out our coookies and singing to everyone. We went out with CJ our Ward Mission Leader and he drove us to YSA houses in St George and we carolled and shared the Christmas spirit. It was really fun. We went to CJ's house to teach his less active roommate. Well less active is an under statement. He is NON ACTIVE. He doesn't know if God is real. I can see a lot of bitternes with him and can just see how lost and confused he is. He says he’s prayed for ages to know if God is there but never gets an answer and it makes him angry. We can see how that will be annoying but that he needs to stay humble instead of getting angry! But I had a very special exerience there with him that is too sacred to write on an email and I'll tell you about it on Christmas Day or something! I told him and he was very touched and said that is the only thing of worth he has heard all lesson haha. I do love him though, he is great. We asked him to watch The Hope Of God's Light. Yesterday we saw CJ and he said that D went for a long drive after we left. I hope that was a good thing!! 

We had the missionary choir yesterday! It was so great to do that again and be a part of all the festivities! I was a part of a double quartet that sung Away In A Manger. I love singing at the Tabernacle, it's so historic and beautiful! I love being in the St George mission! We sung O Holy Night and lots of carols and President Center played his guitar. Sister Hee and Sister Harper, both former missionaries, were there with their parents. It was so hard saying goodbye to that group because there were lots of missionaries I was close with. We were on shift on Wednesday morning and The Wedding of Sister Duval and Elder Campbell was taking place at midday. We were all excited and standing at the back waiting for them to come out of the Temple. Meanwhile Sister Harper was waiting for her parents to come and be reunited with them at the end of her mission. We were all eagerly anticipating both events and then of course the happy couple come out of the Temple at the same time as the doors of the Visitors’ Centre open and in walk Sister Harper’s parents. None of us knew where to look or what to take pictures of hahaha!!! Why do they always happen at the same time? Anyway it was a beautiful wedding and a beautiful reunion! We all cried seeing her hug her parents and all the tears! #trunky #12weeks #jkineverwanttoleave We made this BIIIGGG sign that said CONGRATULATIONS and we went out of the VC and held it up so that the happy couple would see it and slowly one by one people started seeing it and pointing and then Sister Duval walked towards us so her husband followed and we all hugged the beautiful bride. It was so weird seeing my Sister Training Leader coming out of the temple as a married woman! hahah. I'll just be a missionary forever. 

I had some cool VC experiences this week. A Lutheran couple came in who know the Bible very well. It was one of those couples that you just know you were supposed to be the one who gave them a tour because we connected instantly. We just hit it off and I showed them the Temple pictures at the back which usually just takes about 5 minutes but we were there for about an hour and half and they just asked question after question after question and I just knew what to say with the help of the Spirit! I wasn’t nervous and it went really well! Then this one boy who was sitting on the sofa near us was obviously listening in and then he just jumped up and butted in and started answering their questions and saying awkward things and confusing things and using terminology they wouldn’t understand and not letting me saying anything and I went to find a scripture for them to read and he just started quoting it and I was trying to stay Christ-like! He didn’t serve a mission and hangs out at the VC allllll the time talking to us Sisters and he makes me feel uncomfortable. Anyway he finally left and the couple were like...who was that? and I said I have no idea and they were like, oh he isn't a missionary? And I said NO!! But it was a positive tour and they took the Book of Mormon! It was a great experience. 

Then I was putting a movie on and saw in my peripheral vision someone on the sofa crying. I went up to her to talk to her and she had just watched He Is The Gift and said she felt the Spirit and relief and the love of God for the first time in a year. She didn’t say what she was struggling with but I felt impressed to tell her of my exerience with choosing to serve a mission and how it was scary but the Lord led me and has strengthened me and now real life sounds scary!! So she looked at me and told me that was exactly what she needed to hear and we just connected so well. We hugged and cried and talked and again it was someone you just know you needed to meet. One day I'll give you all the details of these rubbishly written little stories on my emails! 

Well Merry Merry Christmas everyone. My last Christmas as a missionary! We have lots of plans and I will miss you and think about you every second of every day. My heart yearns to be with you but I'll Skype you on Thursday and probably cry because I love you so much! Every day you become more precious to me. I'll be thinking about you all week! I love you so much and love the Saviour even more and that is why I'm here serving His children, Doctrine & Covenants 19:37-41 gave me great courage this week! 

I love you so much 

Sister Nicholls

O Come Let Us Adore Him! 15-12-14

Dear Everyone, 

Let me start out the email with a funny story that happened on Tuesday. We get up at 6:23 each morning so that we are out and ready by 6:30 to get a full half hour to work out. We made it 6:23 because then we are allowed to be up at 6 to work out but thats way too early and when we get up at 6:20 we are tired all day but for some reason those extra 3 minutes make ALLLLL the difference! Plus who even needs 10 minutes to get ready to go out? 7 is plenty! haha So we got up and got bundled up to go running to the stadium. Running to the stadium includes running past the hospital, which is on a downward slope. It's very dark still, and Sister West and I were describing our dreams to each other as is necessary on a morning run. One second I was running downhill past the hospital doors and the next second the floor was coming at my face and I exclaimed, in a very non missionary kind of way, "CRAP!!" and face-planted the floor. I couldn't  have been more horizontal than I was. It hurt so much! Haha I skidded a little bit but with all the adrenaline of the moment I JUMPED straight back up and carried on running. A nurse who was leaving the hospital saw what happened and was like "Are you okay?" and I limped/ran on and we went to the stadium and played soccer and it was hard but I put on a brave face and when we got home I checked it out and my elbows, hip and knees were BROKEN haha. All scraped up and bruised. It's been nearly a week and they are HURTING still. We went on an exchange with some Sisters the next day and I felt like I had whiplash, my neck and back hurt so much! I pounded that pavement. Since then I've hit my knee on things and it feels like I'll throw up it hurts so much! But it's bruising nicely and is quite swollen so I'm just hoping it'll get better. I couldn't bend it on Saturday night and I  was in so much pain so I just prayed so hard that Heavenly Father would heal it in the night and I woke up and could move it and walk and it was GREAT!!!!!!! Prayers are always answered when it's His will and we pray in faith. 

Well it's been a rough week in our area. It's finals week so everyone is NOT HOME but is in the library or taking tests. Also we've got such a small area that by this point we know everyone and it's now a case of softening the hearts of the people we've already met. Also everyone got baptized and everyone is leaving and everyone else are flakes so we dropped everyone except N this week. We taught K and she cried again at how much she loves her church and how it's true to her so we congratulated her on her faith and didn't set up a return appointment. She said if this is the truth then it will find her again, which I thought was cool! She is so nice though, we love her and pray for her still. We got the ultimate bashing by a CHINESE BAPTIST!!! Since when were Chinese people even Baptists?!?! He saw us at his door and said "Let me go and get my Bible" and left and we thought we should've just left at that point but that would've been rude. He returned and told us everything that "we believe" in which wasn't even true and preached at us and after he was done and we told him, yeah we believe in the same thing you do about that and he was like "No you don't! I've studied it." and I said "Well I've lived it for 20 years so ....... " and he invited us in to share with us everything he has found out from his studies and I said "You know, we're two 20 year old girls who just want to talk about Jesus Christ, and I do not appreciate the way you are trying to diminish our faith." and he said he was doing it out of love because we are following Satan and he was simply declaring his beliefs. I just think it's sad how people are so comfortable declaring their beliefs to us but we are simply not allowed to declare our beliefs. People are funny. 

D and B have for sure been dropped because they have avoided us all week and when we knocked at their door, their roommate answered and went to see if they were in. He returned and said none of them were in, and as he did that I saw D come out of his room and glance our way looking scared as he ran to the bathroom. It was hilarious because he looked right at me as he ran! I thought he'd better just try and own it and stay in the bathroom but no he tried to run back without me seeing him haha. I definitely saw both times! #dropped Everyone is dropped or gone and so we have one investigator right now who knows it's true and gets himself to Church and reads and prays every day but wants to tell us when he's ready for baptism. So we are starting from the beginning. There are going to be lots of new people in January moving in around the 10th so we just have one month of nothing and no one. Idk what we'll do but we have lots of room for miracles at this point haha. 

We went to our High Councillors house for our coordination meeting this week, and it was so fun! We had pasta and bread and salad for the fourth time in a row this week, I can never eat italian food again for at least a week! But it was so fun to just be with our Ward Mission Leaders and have a fun chat rather than be business all the time. It was a special Christmas treat. 

So we begun our choir practise for the St George Mission choir, it's obligatory that all missionaries are there! It was on Saturday morning which was crazy because of transfer calls! Everyone was waiting to hear their call and I was avoiding everyones eyes because they all seemed to know my transfer call except me. I had an idea because I walked in and a certain Sister missionary looked at me with the most joy I've ever seen! I couldn't concentrate on singing at all!! We were in the tabernacle again and it was crazy because it was a whole year ago but I was sitting in my same place next to the same missionary and it was just like de ja vu. But I've been in the St George Central Zone the whole time. Everyone else has come and gone but iI'm still here! So anyway after practise I couldn't take it any more so went and asked President "Do I get a transfer call too?" cos everyone else knew theirs and he said "Well.....you are staying in the area...." and I said "do I get a companion?" and he said "No we thought you could just do it yourself...jk you will be with Sister Lipke!" and I screamed and jumped and was like I AM SO HAPPY and he said " We thought you would be!" hahaha!!! So we are staying in Dixie, but together.  The choir was good, we are singing O Holy Night and it sounds beautiful! I am a soprano in a quartet of missionaries singing Away In A Manger. I love it :) 

So today I was reading in the Book of Mormon about Mormon being like "O ye fair ones!! Why have ye rejected that Jesus who stood with open arms to receive you?" and I felt as though I could somewhat relate for the first time. I thought about all the people who have chosen to reject the Gospel and how I had very similar feelings to Mormon. I've reached that point where I just LOVE them all SO MUCH that I feel like I just want to beg them to listen. It's so hard! But it was comforting to see I'm not the only one who feels that way. We try our best and we go on. Shall we not go on in so great a cause? 

I love where the Lord is leading me and who He is helping me to become. I have two transfers left, and it fills me with fear to leave all this behind but I know progression is a part of eternity and I embrace whatever the Lord has in store for me. Sometimes the hardest times in life have us on our knees crying out for help. and they are some of the most precious and sacred times of my mission where I have truly felt the Lord lifting me higher. I love Him and strive to show Him that through my actions. 

All my love to everyone, 

Sister Nicholls

Is not a soul at this time as precious unto God as a soul will be at the time of His coming? - 8-12-14

Dear Precious Family and Friends, 

This week has been great because everyone has been back on campus again! We had a great lesson with N this week. We hadn't seen him for nearly two weeks and he'd been home in California with his family so we were nervous that he would've cooled off from wanting to learn and commit but he was the opposite! He told us that his family and friends at home had been trying to tell him negative things about the Church but he had instead taught them! He said his girlfriend is now more okay with him learning because he taught her about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He said his family asked him what his favourite thing about the Church is and why he is continuing to learn from the missionaries and he said that his favourite thing is how he feels when he is around the missionaries :') SO precious!!!! We brought J with us because as a recent convert she has a strong testimony of baptism and why it is important. It's hard with N because he knows it's true and keeps all the commitments and shares the gospel himself but he just doesn't feel a need to be baptised. Before we went into the lesson with him we prayed very sincerely to know what his problem was and during the lesson J testified so boldly and said "You just need to be baptized N! When you come up out of that water you are filled with such joy and nothing else matters" and he said "You want to know my true reason for not being baptized yet?" and we said "YES!" and he said "I want my family to be there." which is the most legitimate reason ever! So at least it's not the commandments or a lack of commitment. He wants his family to see him be baptized. So we are just praying and fasting that they will be able to come or that that will stop being a concern for him. He is doing really well though. We can just see big things for him. We taught his roommate for the second time though and it went well! We are seeing them both tonight. In the complex they live in there are six apartments with 8 people living in them. 3 of the apartments got evicted for a party that happened and of course it's N's apartment! So they are leaving Wednesday and don't know where they will go. We are PRAYING and begging them to stay in our area haha because the Elders steal all of our investigators and if they move out and have to have the Elders we'll be MAD haha, jokes, but really. 

We found two new investigators this week, called B and D. Right now they are still uncommitted to anything. B brought up this whole argument about how the Bible is up in the air because God wants us to make our own decisions and I patiently listened it out until he was done then told him that the Book of Mormon doesn't try to change what the Bible teaches and that the Gospel is so simple, why would God want it to be up in the air? He is just interesting. It'll be a good journey for them. We tried SO HARD to get everyone to go to Church yesterday! It was one of those Sundays when EVERYONE slept in except N. We knocked SO HARD at everyone's doors and all week they promised us they would be there but they slept in. 

It was a week of miracles though because we set a monthly goal of 2 baptisms this month and are DETERMINED with faith that we will make it even though right now they're all up in air because there are various concerns with each of them. But we are exercising faith and not praying just for baptisms but praying that we will be led to the people who are ready for a December baptism or people who have been to Church enough times or people who we might've dropped who are ready again or people who will be staying in St George over Christmas who could be baptized. It's been great because we went and knocked on L's  (remember former investigator from Nigeria who beat boxes) door and he said he has been writing a paper about the Bible and Book of Mormon and the more he looks into it the more he thinks it's true! It was a HUGE miracle to hear those words come out of L's mouth! Then we went and knocked on J's door and he said "Wait right there! I have something to show you" and went and got a brand new triple combination Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenants and Pearl of Great Price with his name engraved. His mentor is a Mormon and has told him LOTS about what we believe in since we dropped him and J agrees with it and loves it! We were so happy and he said if he gets confirmation from God he will be baptized this month! So we have been truly blessed since deciding to pray very specfically for our monthly goals. If every area makes their monthly goals, then we'll make our misison goals. So it all starts with us! As the leaders for the Sisters we are working so hard to lead by example of making goals. I've discovered the secret - just rely on Christ and He makes up the difference! 

We had Mission Leadership Council and Zone Meeting again this week. They come around so fast! I can't believe that this was my 14th Zone meeting as it happens at the start of each month! I only have three left - WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?! But anyway we did a training to the Zone on loving your investigators and loving the people. I remembered Elder Clark of the Seventy telling us that a missionary's happiest day is the day they learn to love the people more than they love themselves. We shared some scriptures and some experiences and there was a good spriit there. It went down well and we were happy that the Spirit was able to touch some hearts. I've really seen how sincere love  for the people we teach helps them to progress and to come closer to Christ because if we are to represent Him how do we do that without love? I find myself pleading for charity because that's the only thing that matters really! 

We went on exchanges this week with Sister Gearheart to Washington. You wrote about her last week Mum that you met her former companion from the MTC who is in the London Visitors' Centre! I went with her to Washington (my Greenie area) and we tried our best. Then I went with Sister Leota from Samoa and brought her to my Dixie area! I loved being with her. We came out of the MTC together and she has changed so much on her mission. She can speak English now so we had a laugh and it was just a good day. Exchanges are exhausting but I love them! I really do love getting to know these Sisters well. Everyone has a unique story and I appreciate the Sisters more when I understand where they've come from etc. Sister Leota and I definitely have very different stories because we are from very different parts of the world but the gospel unites us all! 

Last p-day we played West vs Central Zone kick ball!!! It was exhausting because the Elders play hard! They got way too into it and it was definietly different than Thanksgiving when we played all Sisters kick ball haha. But this is when you know you're in St George mission - the game got stopped because a nice man saw us playing and went to Dominos and ordered like 10 pizzas or something for us!! So the game abruptly ended and we all ate pizza haha. We prayed thanks for the man whoever he was. #utahmissions #treatedlikegoldeventhoughweareservants 

D and H got the Priesthood! I love seeing our recent converts progress in the gospel. K went to the Temple with her roommates to do baptisms! It just fills me with joy that I can't even describe to see them embracing the Gospel and being truly converted. When we haven't seen them for a few days we miss them and see them in the Church hallways and have a joyous reunion. I just LOVE them all so much and don't know what I will do when I can't see them every day! 

We had dinner at President Center's house with J and CJ the Ward Mission Leader who met Hillary Young last week. They are just being involved with the missionaries and offer their house for lessons so we ate dinner and taught a lesson. I was super nervous as always having to teach in front of President! But it went well and they loved J. We all do. It'll break my heart when she goes back to Brazil in a few weeks!!! :((( 

I had a realization this week that I love missionary work and feel like I've done this forever because this is what I spent my whole time doing for a really long time before I came to earth and spent 19 years not really doing it. It feels familiar to us and feels right and joyous because we've done it for so long before this life, just teaching of Christ and preparing our brothers and sisters to come to earth and to choose Him. I am reading the Doctrine & Covenants and trying to finish it before I finish my mission and I love it so much! A LOT OF it relates to missionaries! 

The other day I got a card from Auntie Mandi where she talked a lot about Grandad and his last days and I was reading it in the break room in the VC and got really sad again and might've cried for a few minutes and put the card away and then did what Grandad would've wanted me to do - to work HARD! So I went out to that VC floor and I worked harder than I have worked in MONTHS! I talked with EVERY DANG PERSON THAT WALKED PAST ME and I shared my testimony WITH EVERYONE and I asked EVERYONE for referrals. And guess what? I forgot about my own sorrows and troubles and was healed. I felt like Grandad was next to me telling me to pass out the pass along cards to everyone like he always did! And I got two golden referrals that I have since taught on the phone and both want to continue learning! That almost never happens, that both I get want to learn. I tried to do the same thing last night and between us, Sister West and I got 10 non member referrals!!!!!!!! We are going to end our missions strong! I really learned that true hard work is the best balm for the soul, more than anything else. I love the power of prayer and the power of hard work. Heavenly Father is sending people into the VC that I love from my old areas every evening that I need it! 

Well that's all folks. I love my Saviour and am striving to love Him more and to have no more disposition to do evil but to do good continually. I fail every day but He picks me up and puts me back to work. I am striving to know Him more and love him more. Keep sharing the gift with everyone this Christmas time. I cried that you are all going to Grandad's funeral without me but sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven! D&C 117:13 

Love you all, 

Sister Nicholls

"Home in that heaven where Father is waiting for me" - 1-12-14

Dear loved ones, 

It's certainly been a different week. Campus was absolutely dead, so it was hard to find things to do when no one is there to teach and no one is there to knock doors. So we saw our international recent converts every day and we saw our Stake President and stuff like that. It was so eery being somewhere where you absolutely cannot see any other life form! 

But Thanksgiving was the best day ever! We got up at 6:30am (OF COURSE!!!) and got ready and had ALL the Sisters over to our apartment to host a breakfast! It was sooo fun! There were a ton of us all squashed into our little apartment but we had such a laugh! Everyone brought something and we filled ourselves up even though we knew it was Thanksgiving and we had much more to come that day. After we ate we drove over to the nearby park that has volleyball courts and a baseball court thing. We played kickball and it was all us VC Sisters and a random pair of Elders came haha. The rest of the Elders played football against YSA teams in a tournament and the Elders team WON! #GOSTGEORGEELDERS We played kickball for just under an hour and then we played soccer! It was SO fun! Again all the European Sisters got really into it and the next day we were all SO SORE! Every muscle in my body was aching haha. But we played soccer then ultimate frisbee. The grass was really slippy so we fell over a few times ;) But we laughed and had so much fun. We were playing sports for about two hours and then we went home to get ready for the day. We made ourselves presentable and then studied for an hour. During my studies I remembered that on the last two Thanksgivings I like to do a half an hour prayer of thanks. I went into the bedroom and knelt down at my bed and poured out my heart in thanks for half an hour. It always goes by SO fast! When you know you have that much time I really could think about my whole life and all the people I've met and the experiences that have made me who I am. I prayed thanks for each one of you and all you have taught me and done for me. It was so cool to see how many more people I can pray thanks for this year than last year, I prayed thanks for how far the Lord had brought me and how much He has taught me and how many people He has brought into my life. My heart truly was brimming with joy and my gratitude spilled onto my cheeks as I prayed thanks for my Saviour's atonement and the countless times it has lifted me on this journey! I truly have MUCH to be grateful for and I could've gone on for ever. It was great to have that spirit with me throughout the day of everything He has given me. Afterwards we went to the Stake Center and had a huge dinner with all the VC sisters and Senior Couples and the Watkins' etc. Susan Easton Black was there with her husband. How many of us can say we've shared Thanksgiving with them ;) haha but we ate a delicious dinner and all shared things we are grateful for about our companions and about the VC and about our missions etc.

After dinner there was a talent show and Sister Watkins told us to do something funny so we rewrote the words of Part of Your World from Little Mermaid and its called Part of Your World, Trunky Edition haha and it was all about missionaries who want to be home. It went really well! Sister Garcia recorded it on my camera so you can watch it when I get home! It was very well received. We had a lot of fun and there were lots of good talents. Afterwards we let our dinner go down for an hour before going to our next appointment, at President Center's house!! There was us, the Spanish ZLs and the APs. It was hilarious because they are just a funny bunch of people. There were two of President's children and one of them is married so his wife and little boy were there too. We had a great meal and during the meal President looked at me and he was like "Sister Nicholls, you haven't left St George yet have you?" and I was like "No......but I love it here" and he was like "Hmmmm...I think you're a Kaibab kinda girl" and then Sister Center was like "Or a Price kind of girl!" and I very quietly said "You know...I'd really love to go to Delta..." and they were like "Delta!!!!! why?!?!" and I said "Well there's  a missionary who taught my Dad who lives there with his family" and they were quiet for a second and nodded and looked at each other with a look on their faces that held the possibility of my last two transfers! SO I MIGHT BE GOING TO DELTA!!!! I MIGHT LEAVE ST GEORGE!!!!!!!! It was exciting! Anyway after dinner we played this game, like Guess the Cuckoo where we all had to write our names on a piece of paper and a statement about our lives that was true, and then the woman would pick up three of our stories and say the story and we had to tell the story ourselves and the others had to guess whose story it was! It was HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!! I did the story of when I was in AZ for Thanksgiving a couple of years ago and nearly got arrested for trespassing haha. We all learned a lot about each other that day. What happens in President's home stays in President's home. My story wasn't picked until nearly the end so I was up there lying so much and every time President believed whatever I said and voted for me and they were all lies hahahhahaha. Such a fun day! We all sung songs together and President was so chill all day, it was WONDERFUL! 

Then in the evening we went home and got onesies on and went to the Zone activity, we all watched Tangled. It was hilarious because all the Elders sung along to every song! We had such a fun evening and it was a great day! Then the next day President called me in the morning to tell me that Grandad had passed away and that he found out yesterday morning but forgot to tell me. I'm glad he did because I had a great day and was able to make good memories. I shut myself in the bathroom and cried it out for a little while before praying and praying. While I was praying I felt the peace that comes from the Saviour's love descend upon my heart. And since then I really have felt fine. I know that we were blessed to have him in our family and to learn from his example of Christlike love and service and missionary work. I know that I have a new companion with me now and that whenever I get the urge to hand out pass along cards to everyone it's because he is there whispering in my ears urging me to hand them to everyone like he always did. It's hard to be sad when you know that he lived a wonderful dedicated life, and that he is with his family again, and that his body isn't holding him back anymore. He had a strong spirit in a weak body for a long time, so I cannot feel sad. We taught the plan of salvation after I came out of hiding on Friday morning and I was able to teach it with a renewed love for it because I could truly know the joy this plan brings us. I was blessed because Friday night and Saturday night people I love came into the VC, the Gygi's, and people from Morningside and Little Valley. Tender mercies for sure. The Temple has it's lights up now and we've had like 100000000s of visitors, all of them members and none of them want to talk to us. It's been crazy! 

Yesterday was the Recent Convert Fireside and J, H and J all spoke (J from Morningside). I recorded it on my camera :) I just love those things because when I'm there I never ever want to stop being a missionary. It's incredible to hear the testimonies of those newly planted seeds in the recent converts. They are powerful and I love them so much! There is nothing like this work of salvation and I never want to not be a part of it. I love hearing their testimonies! 

Well I have to go now! I love you all! Keep #sharethegift with everyone! 

Sister Nicholls

24-11-14

Dear family and friends,

This week I've seen how the Lord waits until we cannot endure another second before He swoops in and saves us. I've seen how He is truly on our side and doesn't enjoy seeing us suffer but wants us to have success. Sometimes our own doubts stop us from seeing the blessings. I really want more than anything to come home from my mission a changed person, just trusting wholly in the Lord and His timing.

Yesterday I received some sad news. I was just in the Visitors' Center reading the Conference Ensign when Sister Larsen from Washington 6th Branch came in. She put her arm around me and asked me to walk with her. Instantly I knew something was wrong, and she told me that Mazie Breen, an older lady in her ward whom Sister Donaldson and I had reactivated and she went through the Temple, had suffered a heart attack and passed away the night before (Saturday night). It was such a shock and I just cried and cried into her arms. We both cried together in one of the teaching rooms and rejoiced that she had changed her life in time. She was baptized when she was 8 and had even been endowed when she was younger but after some years away from the Church we taught her and she went back through the Temple for the first time in like 60 years. Her husband was always against the church and left the home whenever we were there but Sister Larsen said that as Mazie passed her husband asked lots of questions and will even let her be buried in her temple clothes. It is incredible. She told me that Mazie had read the scriptures every day since we were there up until the day before she died and that she attended the Temple regularly and talked of Sister Donaldson and I often as angels sent from Heavenly Father. I will attend her funeral tomorrow and pay my last respects. Oh I was so sad when I heard that she had died. But she is prepared to rest in the arms of Christ.

Well this week we were able to find 3 new investigators!!! One is A, N's roommate.  We taught about Enos and the power of prayer and N taught him how to pray. When we got to the part in the story that says "Thy sins are forgiven thee and thou shalt be blessed" he proper perked up and was really interested that his sins could be forgiven him. It is a privilege to preach repentance and forgiveness through Christ's atonement to even the seemingly hardened football players haha. It is just the best thing to let people know that they can be whole again. N met with us on his own later on in the week and we taugt him the law of chastity. He has been with his girlfriend for four years so we knew that there would need to be some changes made in his life in order to live it. He took it really well and I asked him if he believes this is from God and he said "Well if you two say it is from God then I trust you" and it was so touching. It reminded me of the Book of Mormon when King Lamoni and his father trust everything the missionaries say. N is coming along slowly but surely. it will be a joyous day when he decides to be baptised. He came to Church for the first time in his own Ward and enjoyed it. So we're getting there!

Another new investigator is a CHINESE BOY named T! I LOVE HIM!!!!!! HE IS SO CUTE haha! His English has some improving to do but he LOVES the Book of Mormon and has read some of it already and we watched The Restoration in Chinese. He has accepted a baptismal date already and is just so pure in heart. We also found this boy named M who is very...depressed. The Elders taught him for a while but he lives in our area and he was abused for a long time as a child and doesn't believe that he is lovable and is sober from drugs, alchool and pornography. He got out of prison and is changing his life. He'll be a more challenging one to share the love of God with than T, but he'll get there. We don't give up just because someone's had a hard life, if anything he needs it more! But it is a joy to have all of these children of God being brought into our lives.

Zone Conference was wonderful! We watched Meet the Mormons and it was WONDERFUL! It was so weird to see clips of movies from the world but it was great. We heard music that wasn't Mormon Tabernacle Choir and saw Elder Niumatalolo who served in our mission whose Dad was featured on there and he talked on the screen a lot. We all cheered when he came on. Haha! Then we watched the new Christmas initative named He is the Gift, similar to Because of Him. The Church has bought the main masthead of youtube for advertising for the whole of December and a place on Times Square for the whole month too. Each missionary has been trained on how to give out the cards and the VC is getting a new kiosk of it. IT IS SO EXCITING! It is a wonderful video and touches me every time I see it. It will be available on christmas.mormon.org the day after thanksgiving. It's a nice easy way to share the gospel with people. It will touch many lives, and us misisonaries are being asked to record how many new investgiators we get as a result of it. Exciting!

Our little J got baptised this week! When she got out the water and was in the changing room she said "Oh my goodness, I'm a freaking Mormon!" hahahaha #ILOVEYSA because in Brazil her family members (cousins and aunties etc) were Mormon and they always annoyed her and she never was a fan of the Church but came here and went to the VC and felt something and read the Book of Mormon and just knows it is true! It's incredible - the power of that book. So her baptism went well and she brought lots of Brazilian non members there with her so we taught The Restoration while she was getting changed. She is moving back to Brazil in December so it's sad to think I might never see

her again :((( D got baptised last week in Provo and confirmed this week in his Ward and his non member family all came. We were actually giving the talks in Church and of course they were about missionary work so it was interesting to try and figure out how to talk about missionary work in front of non members, so I kept emphasising how we are all children of God and the worth of souls being great in the eyes of God. I hardly even prepare for talks anymore because I've served for long enough to have experiences that I can share and scriptures memorized etc, its truly a blessing or it would take a long time to prep for talks every single week! It's cool how every talk is different though! We spoke in the Young Single Adult 4th Ward last week and ate with the Bishop on Saturday and he said that three young women have come to his office to go on a mission since our talk. It was cool because I just felt strongly that I needed to talk about the things that hold us back from being missionaries like fear or feeling unworthy and how it's wrong. It's good to see that the Spirit can touch someone. We are making our way around all of the Wards slowly!

So we ate dinner with the Bishop and his wife and our investigator A who is having a hard time. Susan Black said she would come to the lesson with us but then couldn't so it was just us five there but it went really well. We focused a lot of the lesson on the great apostasy so she could see the need for a restoration and we had a great discussion and shared lots of great scriptures prophesying about the apostasy. She is praying about a baptismal date!

I went on three exchanges within the last week! #exhausting! I got to be with MY BABYGIRL SISTER GARCIA! She came into my area with me and we had a blast!!!! I love her so much! Then I was with one of the German Sisters that I'm already close friends with and went to her area and we were able to see miracles. We prayed hard to find one new investigator by the end of the evening and went to this recent converts' home who has a non member husband who comes to Church but has never wanted to learn.We just laid it out that if they want their family to be blessed they need to both go to the Temple! He accepted the invitation to learn for himself and we rejoiced so much! In YSA our lessons usually last about 25 minutes but I forgot how long people talk for in Family Wards, the old people just TALK AND TALK AND TALK AND TALK! Everywhere we went we were there for an hour!!!! But it was wonderful!

We've decorated the VC all Christmassy and it looks great! Thankgsgiving this week is looking good. We get to have a VC dinner and talent show with all the Senior Couples, then we were invited over to President and Sister Center's house with the Assistants to the President, and then our Stake President has invited us over! So it's all exciting!!!

I love my mission and I love my Saviour Jesus Christ.
Happy thanksgiving everyone! 

Love Sister Nicholls

17-11-14

Dear Family and Friends, 

Well I don't have a ton to report on this week. Our D got baptized in Provo! The missionaries tried their best to get their Bishop to sign the record so that he would be baptized into their Ward, but they didn't succeed! We don't have any pictures of it because it took place up in Provo! 

It's been quite a heart wrenching week really. We couldn't see A for one day, and the next day she stood us up, and the next day she didn't come to Church, and the next day she didn't see us, and we got increasingly nervous and when we saw her she just broke down and said that her mother back in Connecticut told her that she should remain Catholic and that the Mormon Church (insert all kinds of anti Mormon theories here) etc etc and it was so hard. She has taken it really hard and it's proven to be a huge stumbling block for her. So then she started to doubt everything she's felt and has drunk coffee again. We just bore testimony of Joseph Smith and we took her to the VC to watch the Joseph Smith movie. We think we'll get Susan Easton Black to talk to her too :) #stgeorgemissionrewards haha. We also had Elder Jensen give her a blessing, and it was an incredible miracle. I knew that she would need something very specific so before he came in to give her a blessing I just said to him that she was having doubts about Joseph Smith, and then during the blessing I was praying SO HARD in my mind that she would be told something very specific. He said something like "Your schooling will go well" and I thought "Oh great, she's not even in school, now she's going to be thinking this isn't even legitimate" and then he paused for a second and I prayed so hard in my head and said "Heavenly Father, even if no one else in this room has faith, do this from my faith, I know you can guide him and open his heart to the Spirit and open his mind to hear it's promptings and have the courage to say whatever the Spirit is prompting" and then he was silent for like ten seconds and we all held our breath and he said "Heavenly Father wants to tell you that your sister is okay." and then he closed the prayer. As he left she looked at me and said "What did you tell him about my sister?" and I said "Nothing! I don't even know what happened to your sister?" and she said ".....My sister died a few weeks ago!" and we were genuinely like :OOO  for reals my mouth fell open. It was incredible! What a miracle! It helped her for sure but she has still been avoiding reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. We don't even know what to do to help because we are trying everything we can. She still didn't come to Church. 

Then I wrote about K last week. Well we saw her each day and she was doing great and then on Thursday we came over and she started out the lesson by saying that "Sisters I have something I need to tell you....I just don't think I can do this anymore" and she BROKE DOWN and told us how much she loves her church and how her family dislike her investigating the Mormon Church and how much she loves the Pope and just was hysterically crying. It was so hard so we just sat there and listened and told her how much we love her. We resolved to just read the Book of Mormon with her twice a week. She said she wants to wait until the summer to convert so she can talk with her grandparents about it because she's super close with them and hates that she is hurting them. We just don't know what to do. But I've been studying more about the Catholic church and its really interesting. We read this talk called The True Church by Legrand Richards, very good. We had dinner with her last night though, it was wonderful. We are still good friends but we don't know what to do to help! 

J is still going strong and doing good :) she's our ray of hope. We went on exchanges with the Morningside Sisters. One of the Sisters is going home in four weeks and I was nervous for the exchanges because what can I even show a Sister as experienced as her? But a miracle happened because we were planning for the next day and forgot to plan for the first hour of the day! Just randomly forgot to plan! As I was praying how to help her that night before bed, because she'd just opened up to me about how hard things are right now, I just saw us sitting at the Temple talking, so we went at 10am and sat in the Temple grounds and I was led by the Spirit to know which scriptures to share and we just cried together and strengthened each other. We had a great day together. However......we had many people be HORRIBLE to us and tell us  horrible things about Joseph Smith and shout at us and give us anti Mormon literature, that I just ripped up as we walked away, and seek us out to shout at us and tell us every anti Mormon thing they could think of. Door after door. We got likened to Satan and we got told we are going to hell. It was ridiculous. I was so done. It was tough. Utah missions are HARD because there are lots of members but then there are also lots of people who hate Mormons. 

Well I have to go....we are watching Meet The Mormons on Wednesday for Zone Conference then J's baptism is on Saturday! So excited :) lots of good things ahead. Please keep us in your prayers, we need help. Sorry it's short this week, not much happened. 

I love you all

Sister Nicholls

10-11-14

Dear Loved Ones, 

My transfer verdict is that I am staying in Dixie 1.5 with Sister West. This transfer is only going to be 5 weeks because a 6 week transfer would fall on Christmas Eve and no one wants to be transferred on Christmas Eve! So the next transfer will be here before we know it! We think I'll be staying in Dixie for another transfer after that too because Sister West is homeward bound in five weeks and unless they whitewash it this will become my second home. Which is nice because the longest I've ever spent in an area is three transfers and it's hard to get to know everyone and really feel like you're making a difference in two transfers, especially when half the time you're at the Visitors' Center. We
were observed by an MTC woman this week and she is in the Missionary Department for writing the curriculum for missionaries and Mission Presidents! She got home from her mission ten years ago and the purpose for coming out with us is because she writes the curriculum for the MTC and needs to keep up to date with what missionaries are doing and what challenges missionaries face. I was a bit nervous beforehand but she was REALLY NICE and literally followed us around listening. If we asked her a question she would talk in lessons and stuff but apart from that she was just listening and writing her little notes on her iPad haha. It was cool though because she taught really well and was just fun. And she had a car!!! We went for dinner in the evening with our new Stake High Councillor and his wife and she came with us like a trio!! I love our new Stake High Councillor and his wife!! It was good because knowing someone was following me around gave me the push to try my absolute best and I realised that I want to be that kind of missionary every day, no matter whether someone is following me or not. It taught me a great lesson that I just needed. 

Mission Leadership Council this week was wonderful. The other Sisters ask us what happens at MLC so I told them that it's actually just a big party for all the Mission Leaders at the Mission Home, we say that we are counselling on things but really we party, it's actually called MLP, Missionary Leadership Party. Hahaha ;) But it was a really spiritual meeting. We set the goal of 136 baptisms in our Mission in the month of November. That is higher than we have ever achieved while I've been on my mission. We calculated every single individual area's baptismal goals for the month and put it together. Usually we lower it a bit after adding it altogether but not this month - we are going for high goals. There were some doubting Thomas's so we all knelt down in prayer right there in President's living room while one of the Assistants offered the prayer to know if this is the Lord's will. The Spirit was so strong and afterwards we all just knelt there and agreed that this is doable. The Lord will teach us powerful lessons. It's great because now we are all personally committed and converted to this goal, then we had to take the goal back to our Zones and help them to be converted to it too!! Zone meeting was great and we had pizza at the end, what could be better? Our Mission is receiving a LOT of new Elders this transfer and only one new Sister, but a lot of Sisters are going home so a lot of Sisters' areas are closing and being whitewashed with Elders. So, a lot of Elders are going home in a few transfers and they are all the Missionary Leaders, so it was an interesting transfer because a ton of the Zone Leaders have been released and will train for their last transfer, and a whole Zone has been whitewashed from Sisters to Elders who used to be Zone Leaders but are now training. It's interesting!! 

I had the privilege of attending the Baptism of M in Morningside on Saturday. He is the man whom when Sister Donovan and I were on exchanges we knocked on his door and he said he wasn't interested at ALL. We walked away but felt strongly that we needed to go back and give him a Book of Mormon and when we did he was a completely different person and said he saw the light around us and when he shut the door on us he felt a power stronger than ever before and knew that we had done something right and that he wanted that light with him. We gave him the Book of Mormon and he promised he would read it. Well, I've taught him at the VC and over the phone and now he is BAPTIZED!!! I wish you could see the change that has come over this man. He was scary looking with long hair and stunk of alcohol and cigarettes and was just very scary and rough looking and when he got into that water I just couldn't fathom the massive change that had come over him. He had told us how uninterested he was and how he didn't believe in this at all on that doorstep compared to the man who gave up "all his sins to know God" and be baptized. He cut his hair and has Christ's light shining through his eyes. Oh it was so beautiful I wanted to cry. The difference it has made in this man's life. And I was thinking about what if I'd not listened to the Spirit's promptings to go back. What if we hadn't recognised it? I just love seeing how the Lord can soften any heart and all our job is is to follow the Spirit. Its just one of those miracles in my mission that I will always hold dear to my heart, to see how the Gospel changes lives. 

We had a miracle yesterday, we needed to find one more new investigator to reach our weekly goals so we prayed and prayed and had like 3 hours to knock on doors because we had a day fully in our area with no VC shift. We went to this Catholic girl's house,who we have seen many times and have developed a good relationship with, just to see how she is. Sister West just said to her "So have you ever taken the lessons before?" and she said "What lessons?" and she said "The missionary lessons?" and she asked what we teach so we told her that we teach about modern day Prophets and what Temples are and how we can be with our families forever and the plan Heavenly Father has for us to be with Him again and she said "Sign me up!! where do I go for these?" and we said that we teach them in people's homes and that we had five minutes right then if she'd like. She said "Yes!" so we sat down and taught The Restoration and it was INCREDIBLE. She said it all made sense and when we taught about Joseph Smith she teared up a bit and then just full on started crying and apologized! Haha I love it when people feel the Spirit and they don't know what it is!! She is just so in tune with the Spirit! At the end she prayed and asked God if this is Him guiding her to what the Sister Missionaries were teaching and if this is right! It was so cute. She is incredible and has such strong faith. I just love her already! 

One of my favourite things from this week is how well N is doing. We usually see him once a week but last week it was twice and this week it's been three times!! ANDDDDDDDD he came to Stake Conference with us, AND brought his non member roommate, also on the football team, AND he invited us over for dinner and made a legit dinner with chicken and potatoes and green beans!! Because he heard us say that for the day we taught him we'd had cereal for two meals and pizza for the other. He was so mad at us for not eating a proper diet that he invited us over for dinner. He also said that after he meets with us he just feels warm and good and that he knows the Book of Mormon is true. He gave us his home address so he can find the Chapel closest to his family at home because he's going home this weekend and wants to know where the local church is! He is GREATTTTTTT! When we were just talking at dinner time he was like, oh I did have a question for you guys. So we braced ourselves for a difficult question and he's like ....."How many outfits do you both have? Every time I see you you are wearing something different!" haha and it was just the highlight of everything. He is praying about baptism and we both just love him! He's just a good kid and we can feel the power of his spirit and know that the Lord has great things in store for him. For some reason we are taking it slow with him, we don't feel that we need to push a baptismal date or anything. I think it will come with time. 

J is doing wonderfully! She accepts every commandment and dresses like a Mormon! We taught Tithing and she just said that she knows this is from God already! It was great. D will be baptized this coming Saturday but up in Provo so that his non-member family can be there. He had to tell his sister (who is the only member in the family) that he wants to be baptized up there and to get the font ready etc and she told the Provo Missionaries and of course they JUMPED ON IT and thought it was their miracle for the month and tried to schedule lessons and a baptismal interview with him! We were like OHHHH NOOO YOU DON'T Provo Missionaries, HE'S OURS because he is going to this Ward and lives down here and will be confirmed into this Ward, he is just physically being put in the water in Provo and it escalated and so they just called us and we talked it out on the phone haha. PROVO MISSIONARIES TRYING TO POACH OUR INVESTIGATORS! So we won't see his baptism but it's better that his whole family get to be there for it! 

Funny experience last night! We went to the Devotional that happens at the Institute Building every Sunday night with our investigators and the guy stands up and is like "Today I'd like to talk about dating and the process of a relationship, the committment levels etc" and I just felt super uncomfortable and it got worse and worse and worse as he explored the amount of relationships you can have with a casual commtitment compared to a finalized committment and I just pulled out my Book of Mormon and kept the missionary bubble around me. It felt HORRIBLE! It felt like going to a party where things turned bad, and you have that horrible feeling and you just know you need to leave. Isn't it funny how missionary bubbles are so strong that even a Devotional about dating is awkward? So we lasted like 5 minutes of it and I said "We need to leave Sister!!" and she agreed so we got up and walked out and did missionary work haha!! 

It's been a great week full of great experiences. S who we baptized in Little Valley came into the VC this week and he is still doing strong. We read the Book of Mormon together. I just can't believe that I have only 3 transfers left. It feels like a stab in the heart every time I think that. How can it come so quickly? I feel like a Greenie still and have so muchhhhhhhh still to learn and do. It freaks me out. I just love my mission so much and love the people here. But I love you all too and am so excited to see you! The Christmas lights are up at the Temple and it looks great!! 

I love you all 

Sister Nicholls

PSSSSSS P-days are Mondays from now on!!

So Many Miracles!! - 4-11-14

I am going to type SUPER FAST SO I CAN TELL YOU EVERYTHING!!! 

First of all, our Asian baptisms were BEAUTIFUL!! The Spirit was so strong! Afterwards we just hugged and cried and smiled. I can tell that they will do great things for China and Hong Kong. H will for sure be a leader there! He is great! He bore his testimony at Church and said "I pray and get better score on my test, I think that is miracle, so I know God is there. My friend sick, I pray and she get better so I baptise yesterday, I guess that is miracle. I'm done now." and sat down. haha! IT WAS ADORBZ. Such a beautiful privilege to be there. If they are still here when you pick me up you need to meet them, you'll fall in love with them. Us and the Elders sung Amazing Grace for the baptism. I was super nervous as usual but Sister West is helping me to overcome my fear of singing in public! President and Sister Center were there as well, it was just a great baptism. 

For Halloween I dressed up as Sister Myers from The District, shout out to all RM's in the world ever! It was great! I felt so traditional haha until it got to like 80 degrees and I was boiling! We had to be home by 6pm on Halloween night, no proselyting and the Visitors' Centre was shut. So we met with our Zone Leaders and discussed the needs of the Zone and then met with the Assistants and practised our musical item for the baptism the next day. When I get home I can fill you in on all the jokes that happened that night, email cannot accurately portray all the details, but it was hilarious!! The Assistants are our best friends now. We carved pumpkins for District Training Meeting the day before and in keeping with classic missionary art I carved the plan of salvation and one of the Elders carved the First Vision (but he's annoyingly good at everything he does so you could actually tell what his was and mine was just blobs all over the pumpkin and an outer darkness haha) and Sister West carved a church haha. I love it! 

Our investigators are doing well. N from the football team is DOING SO GOOD! He makes me so happy!!!!!! He came to Church for the first time on Sunday and in our lesson yesterday he said he knows the Book of Mormon is true :)))))))))) He also said that he feels this warm feeling every time he meets with us. We haven't put him on date for baptism but he is praying about baptism. For some reason wtih him we both just feel that it needs to be taken slowly. And if that's okay with Heavenly Father it's okay with me! So we teach him once a week cos he is super busy but this week we got to see him twice!!! Things really are moving forward with him and it just fills my soul with exceeding joy. I love how when they truly read the BOM and pray every day it sincerely shows them that this is true. My confidence in sharing the Gospel has grown because I've seen how even the hardest heart can accept the Gospel. But he is just a good kid and has a good spirit about him. He is worried about his family back in California  rejecting him for thinking this is true so I told him all about you Dad and how you joined the Church by yourself. It helped :) J who got baptised in September just got the Priesthood and is doing really well! A the girl we found when we knocked on her window on our bikes is doing GREAT!! We see her each day and she is so immersed in her ward. Our Ward Mission Leader loves her and wants to marry her hahaha. #ysaprobs Yesterday we were going to teach chastity but she needed to walk to put her rent in that second so we went to her house and walked with her for like 20 minutes and taught the law of chastity while we walked. It was certainly a memorable moment that doesn't take place every single day haha! How often do you walk across a unviersity campus teaching the law of chastity? But she just embraces everything. SHE LOVED the law of chastity and the Plan of Salvation!!! 

We also found this Brazilian girl who LOVES EVERYTHING! and she has undergone a massive change of heart. She only likes logic and dislikes feelings but went to the VC and felt something powerful and said she needs to learn more. She's met missionaries in Brazil but she discredited everything they taught and didn't want to learn. But now she is like "Wow I was wrong!" and just embraces everything. She is getting baptized on the 22nd November, same as A. She comes to all the activities and is so well integrated. She was even talking to us about how she is ready to be in the minority of Mormons back in Brazil! When you go to Brazil on business again I need to come so we can see her :) I just love all these people so much!!! 

So we had a miracle on Sunday! It was Fast Sunday and I was fasting to be able to help someone who come into the VC. It's easy to get stuck in a rut when you've been there for 7 transfers straight and to just feel like you give the same tour again and again. But anyway this couple came and sat by the Christus and I was talking to them and it turned out he was not a member but she is. He said that he has always felt drawn to the Mormons though and asked me "How on earth does a beer drinking Brit get converted to the Mormons??" haha and so I told him all our family history of conversion, Dad, and Grandad Hatch, and how our family used to own a pub haha he liked that a lot. Anyway we were just relaxed and easy around each other and it was good to feel like I was supposed to be talking to them. So I said a quick prayer in my mind and felt strongly impressed to randomly start talking about Prophets and how I think it's amazing that our Church believes in modern Prophets just like in the old times and he looked at me and said "Thats funny you should say that because that is probably the strongest thing I believe in about your Church" and then I shared a scripture with him from 1 Nephi 10:18-19 and he said, "Where is that?" and I showed him and he said that is  the chapter of scripture he is on right now as he just begun reading The Book of Mormon!! It was so great and the Spirit was strong and it was easy to see how necessary this tour was for us both! And there was this YSA  boy reading The Book of Mormon behind us throughout this whole conversation and he comes in to the VC to read the scriptures each day and he came in yesterday and was like "Hey how did that tour turn out yesterday?" and it was cool because I didn't know anyone was watching. But I love being used as an instrument in the Lord's hands. Especially when He answers our prayers. 

Also Sunday was miracle day because we needed one more new investigator to meet our weekly goals. We had half an hour left before home time so we prayed and visited every single house we could think of. We didn't just pray that we would find someone, but we prayed that we would be led to the right houses, or that we would remember people to visit, and that they'd be home and that they'd hear their doors being knocked and that they would feel the Spirit when we talked and that we'd know what to say. The Lord blesses us when we are specific! We knocked lots of houses and were running round St George like headless chickens when I remembered a YSA girl who came into the VC and said she had a non member roommate. I remembered roughly where the house was and we found it very quickly and they invited us in straight away and we taught and she said she would like to learn more!!!!! IT WAS A MIRACLE!!!!!! I love how the Lord really is helping us every day when we turn to Him. 

This week we have Missionary Leadership Council, Zone Meeting, and on Saturday someone from the MTC is coming to observe us for the whole day!!! We will be in a trio. AND ALSO it's transfer calls on Saturday so I don't know when my next p-day will be! I could be up in Manti before we know it or I could forever be at the VC, who knows? So think of me on Saturday :) It's a nerve racking week with all of this!!! I love you all!!! 

Sister Nicholls