A New Area and a New Companion 28-1-14

Dear Everyone! 

What. A. Week. Wow it's been stressful! On Tuesday after we emailed you we went and said our goodbyes to the people I love most who will always have a place in my heart. The people of Washington are amazing and I can't really think about it because it makes me feel homesick even though it was only my home for 12 weeks. I will always love my greenie area! It was sad to say goodbye to the people I love but there's people who need the Gospel elsewhere! So if you think I slept at all since transfer call you are WRONG! Every night I slept from about middnight until 5 or 6am and just laid there thinking about it all. Food didn't taste that great either but I've slept properly since like this last Saturday so that only lasted like a week. It's still scary and uncomfortable but it's do-able and I know I'll love my new area as much as my last. They are just very very very different. Washington was pretty rough tbh! Lots of scary rough trailer parks and druggies everywhere so people were humble and in need of God's love. My new area covers lots of mansions and ex Mission President's who all live on the top of this hill called Foremaster. Everyone we talk to is like "I don't know any non members" and all the non members we've spoken to are not interested because they already have everything life has to offer. So it's very different.

Let me tell you all about my companion!  Her name is Sister Garcia Quinteros and her parents are from El Salvador but she was raised in Canada, so she speaks French and Spanish fluently but is learning English right now. So I am helping her speak English and trying to get her to say things in a British accent rather than American ;). She is 22 and is really really sweet. It's like I have my very own Sister Portillo :) We both laugh a LOT together and she has a very strong testimony and she can say nothing all the lesson then testify at the end and it's the most powerful thing ever. I am trying to get her to say more at doorsteps and on tours but when I give her that look that missionaries give their companions to say that they are done talking and it's their turn she just freezes and says nothing for about 8 awkward seconds until I start talking again. We've talked about it together though and she's doing better. I told her to just open her mouth and it will be filled, and if she really cannot think of ANYTHING to say, just testify about Joseph Smith. It's worked really well and the last day or two she's spoken a lot more. I just love her. I made it my goal to leave a note in her bed every night telling her something she did really well that day. She likes that a lot :) she left me a note in my bed saying "Thank you for always believing in me. I love you big." awwwww so cute! You'd love her! I know I do! I always tell her how great she did and like Luke did with his companion after teaching or knocking on doors I ask her what she thinks went well and what she could've done better. But she knows I love her because when we pray together I always pray thanks for her and when she prays she says "thank you for my companion, she love me." IT'S SO CUTE!!! She's shed some tears because she feels frustrated that she can't speak English a lot and I just hug her and tell her that she's doing amazingly and then she cries and says that missionary work is hard and I just hug her and tell her that it gets easier. Missionary work is hard! I love being a mum though! I have the best daughter ever :)

Driving isn't so bad. I was really tense the first two times driving but then I realized that it's super easy to drive in America! Just press go and stop with one foot and go in a straight line. We still say lots of prayers though and Sister Garcia tells me which lane I need to be in and backs me up like true missionaries. We ride round St Geezy like pros with MoTab turned up like bosses. I can just drive places once and remember it well so we only got lost our very first day in the area and it took us almost 2 hours to find one house that is like 10 minutes from where we live. Our area covers 5 Wards in a 9 Ward Stake, and two of the Wards are old people's Wards where we can't solicit. So it's very different. We cover River Road, this long fast road that has all the restaurants and shops coming off of it and the hospital. Remember when we saw Chuck-a-Rama and wanted to stop and eat but Dad didn't - that was River Road! So I can still see Washington when we're on the top of the hill :) The mission office is in my area too! And Chick-fil-A - so we've made good use of that ;) Lots of shops and restaurants and condos and townhouses where young families move in and out of, so we think we'll have success there. Apart from that all the mansions on the hill! I can't wait to show you it all when you come to pick me up! Sister Garcia had her first door slam the other day, it was really sad. She took the lead and said who we are and he said "I'm athiest." *SLAM* haha! Some people are so rude! It cracks me up! We spoke to a Jehovah's Witness who was teaching us "what the Bible really teaches" and was polite enough but was definitely trying to convert us! 

I LOVE BEING AT THE VISITOR'S CENTRE! Miracles happen in that place. We've set ourselves Visitor Centre goals as well as proselyting goals to make us feel like we're achieving something because we spend half the day in the VC so time in our area is very very short and my numbers compared to last transfer have nosedived by about 500%. So we decided to set ourselves VC goals and gave them to our District Leader and he's going to follow up with us. Our District Leader is really funny. We set goals for member tours and less active tours and non member tours and teaching centre lessons and referrals received. I LOVE the teaching centre! I prefer talking on the phone over talking on IM. I got the best phone call from an 18 yr old boy named B who was interested in learning more about Mormons so I am teaching him and will ask him if he'll accept his local missionaries to pay him a visit. Another exciting thing, I can teach ANY of my friends on the phone! So if you have any questions about Mormons or would just like to learn a bit more about what we believe let me know your phone number and I can teach you! I had the best phone call last night from this less active man who wants to come back to Church and go to the Temple for the first time! I was nervous at the start because it sounded like he was trying to set me up and lead me into a trap with my words but it turns out he was sincere. He was just asking about the light of Christ and what that is and what past feeling is and whether or not Adolf Hitler had the light of Christ etc. I was nervous but it turned out the BEST! 

I had many interesting tours this week! The most emotionally exhausting of them all was with this excommunicated man named J. He was sitting there looking up at the Christus and I felt like I needed to approach him and talk to him so I did and the moment I looked into his eyes I knew he was excommunicated. He started off by saying "I came here to see how in tune you missionaries are" and proceeded to tell me all about himself and some pretty bad things that he had done. His eyes were so cold and detached that it felt like looking into Satan's eyes. It was easy to see how he had Satan's cords wrapped around him for years and years. I took him to the Saviour of the World room and shared some scriptures about the Atonement and about repentance and basically called him to repentance in a really meek way haha. He cried and said he was feeling warmth from the Spirit and that we actually ARE in tune after all. I wish I could remember the scriptures I used haha. It was powerful though. Thank goodness for the Spirit leading the conversation because I was praying the whole time cos who even knows what to say to someone when they tell you the stuff he told me?! I taught another excommunicated man last night who was super humble and it was a very different tour from the one the night before. Our area is hard to find people and because we have only one investigator and are trying our best to find some more. We just need to love our one investigator so that Heavenly Father trusts us with some more. I love being with a new missionary because she is so filled with faith and as we set our goals for the next day Sister Garcia set the goal of finding 3 new investigators in one day! Usually we get like 2 a week but I loved that she wanted to set that goal! I just love being a mumma! 

I love living right next to the Temple! It's in our front windows all the day long. It's most beautiful at like 7:30am as the sun is rising and the red rock reflects off the mountains on to the Temple and it looks pinkish and the sky

is always pinkish. It's gorgeous! I love running round the Temple each morning with Sister Liu! That's the positive to being here and living with all the Sisters - we have SUCH A GREAT TIME together! Sister Liu was in my last district and when she found out I was coming to the VC she told all the Sisters that they're in for a treat because I'm "super chill and super fun". That's been stressful because I have a reputation to live up to ;) but anyway I love all the other Sisters. All the Sisters there are fun and upbeat so we have a good time together! The other highlight was seeing the Jacob's!!! I was taking a tour of three YSA over to the Joseph Smith painting on the wall and someone turned around (LITERALLY) and said "Charlotte!! I mean....Sister Nicholls!!" haha and we hugged and talked for ages and then I gave them a tour and took them through God's Plan and it was great! I loved seeing familiar faces! But don't get any ideas Mum and Dad ;) haha!!

Well I think that's all my news for this week. Well obviously I have more but I don't have time to write one hundredth part of all the tales of my week. 

I LOVE YOU ALL! Keep the prayers coming, I NEED them! I love you all SO MUCH! Thank you for all your love and support! 

Sister Nicholls

Transfer News! 21-1-14

Good morning all!! 

Let me start by telling you about transfer calls! So we get the calls from the AP's on Saturday mornings. Friday evening at 10:20pm our phone rang and it was President Center. My initial irrational thought was that everyone in my family had died, of course. President started out by saying "Well, I'm sure you know that transfers are next week!" and my heart didn't stop thumping, it was just as nerve wracking haha. Sister Donaldson is staying in Washington and training again, and I am moving to Morningside 2 to reopen the area and train a new missionary and serve in the Visitors Centre! He told me it was a walking area so that evening all I had to stay awake thinking about was how to even train a new missionary when I'm new myself! I slept from about middnight until about 5am. My mind was just all over the place. The next day the AP's called and gave us more details about it all and Elder Campbell said "You will be Senior Companion" and I said "Yes" and he said "and trainer" and I said "yes" and he said "and designated driver" and I said "NOOO!!" and he said "YESSSSS!!!!" and I was like "I CAN'T DRIVE!!!" and he was like "You can't?! Oh...thats a problem" and I was like "Well I can drive, BUT NOT IN AMERICA" and he cracked up and I asked if President had prayed about this all and he laughed again and was like "We fully believe that you can do this Sister Nicholls" and other compliments to build my faith haha! So it's been a whirlwind. I'M GONNA BE A MUMMA!!!!! I'm going to be spending a lot of time on my knees in the next few weeks. 

We found the most golden and perfect family this week. We actually have four different referrals for them! One from a member who lives near them, one from missionaries in Las Vegas, one from his boss who is in a different Stake, and one from Temple Square! Someone really wanted us to find them ;) we went in and their house is BARE. They are super poor and we were with the RS President at the time. She made some phone calls that evening and when we went by the next day they had a fully furnished house that looked amazing!!! Thank goodness for RS Presidents! They were just so perfect. I'm sad I won't be around to see their growth but I'm happy they'll get the Gospel either way. They are so well prepared. When we first met him he said to us "Thank you SO much for coming. I've felt SO low the last few weeks and contemplated jumping into a hole and dying. But when I'm with you, there's just this light around you. I feel this positive energy. I feel giddy when I'm around you. I feel like I want to laugh whenever you're around me. I've always been good at discerning people, and you are good people." I honestly had tears in my eyes he was so sincere. That's the best part of missionary work. Not baptisms, not hanging with the other missionaries, just having people feel the Spirit from you. We're not called to baptize, we're called to teach with power and authority. And when people say stuff like that it means we're fulfilling our purpose. It was so touching and I left their home never ever wanting to not be a missionary again. It's amazing to have that Spirit with you all the time.  Anyway they came to Church with us on Sunday but really didn't want to come because they have NO clothes for church. They really have nothing. But anyway the fellowshipper we were with said that he would wear jeans and a polo shirt with them if thats all they have. So they came and they both wore their jeans and polo shirts and it was SO touching and tender because the fellowshipper was SPEAKING in Church! And he sauntered up there in his casual clothes and I wondered how many people were judging him. He was being truly Christ-like by wearing jeans and sticking out just to make the one feel more comfortable. So touching. May we all be more like Brother H! 

We had this awesome door contact this week where we gave the whole restoration speil and the woman invited us back!!!!! We set up an appointment with her and were so excited. We went back guns blazing ready to share the Gospel and the woman wasn't there but her husband was. He acted like he knew nothing about our appintment but let us in anyway. Then he proceeded to tell us about how we're a cult and horrible people blah blah blah. After a long and horrible lesson I asked how his wife is and he said she was hiding in the garage because Mormons make her feel uncomfortable. I told him to pass our love on to her and that we have no intention of making anyone feel uncomfortable. Needless to say it wasn't the greatest evening ever haha! We also had a really hard lesson with the S family. All we want to do is share the Gospel and all they want to do is talk about authority all the time. We always bring a male member with us and everyone else in the room is girls. Whenever authority comes up we all just sit there in silence as the men debate back and forth about it all.  When we left we called the Bishop and he and his High Priest Group Leader (brother U!) are going to pay him a visit and try to answer all his questions and maybe even give him a blessing. He wants it to be true, but he is SO stubborn! 

J is doing much better! She saw a counsellor this week and when we saw her she was just glowing. It's a complete turn around. Her and her husband have set the goal of giving up smoking together and want to be sealed in the Temple. We taught her husband how to pray and he said the most tender prayer ever about me not being moved but alas it is happening anyway haha. 

But they didn't come to Church on Sunday so that was weird. Good things ahead though. Prayers do work! We went to Hurricane to visit L and she is doing so well. She still reads every single day and her testimony is growing. I'm going to miss these people so much. 

We spent a few hours on Saturday with our other investigator named J and watched Jonnie Lingo and read some Book of Mormon with her. She made us a delicious dinner of ribs and mashed potatoes.

This week was slow because EVERYONE thought it would be appropriate to stand us up. Seriously though I think there was an ad in the newspaper urging everyone to make appointments with the missionaries and then not answer the door. I think we could enter a competition and win for the amount of stand ups in one week. So we relied a lot on back up plans and quick thinking. I told Sister Donaldson good luck in this area for the next 12 weeks because it's so hard to find people right now! I'm outta here to a new area so it's all exciting for me! We had our last ever DTM before we all go our separate ways. Three are staying, but Sister Gregory is going home, Elder Linville is going to Enoch and I'm going to Morningside. It'll never be the same again :'( We had emotional goodbyes and ordered pizza together and all ate lunch together and lolled the whole time. We were so tight as a district and will really miss each other but I have faith that other districts can worm their way into my heart just as much. 

We just started working with an excommunicated woman who wants to be rebaptized and she's so sincere. It was good. Good things ahead for her! Also I keep forgetting to tell you that we've  been to Chuck-a-rama twice in the last few weeks as members take us there. Our WML Brother C of the 3rd Ward is taking us out for lunch today to say goodbye so I wonder if it'll be the third Chuck-a-rama in like 3 weeks haha. You'd be proud Dad hahah. We taught 3 ex FLDS people in one day which was exciting haha. 

Grossest thing ever happened yesterday! We were teaching a family that has a little boy and a few dogs and the little boy loves getting his face licked by the dogs. He'd be licked, then turned around and laugh, and go back for more. It was a repetitive cycle. But then the dog kicked it up a notch, and licked him on the lips! The kid LOVED that even more and screamed in delight (beware, this is DISGUSTING) and the dog put his tongue in the little boys MOUTH!!!!!! The boy LOVED THAT EVEN MORE and did it again and again and again and he squealed in delight every time and the dogs tongue was so far into the boys mouth that the scream sounded like a gurgle or a gargle hahahahahahahahahahahahahahha! GROSSEST THING I EVER SAW!!!!! We came out of that appointment and just DIED LAUGHING the whole way home! His mum can hold it on his head that his first make out was with Rocket-Dog (the name of the dog).

We also taught this less active woman this week who warned us that she has a lot of questions. I was a bit worried but it turned out great! She asked many questions about how the Spirit works because she doesn't think she feels the spirit, and about why God lets children suffer etc. I felt the Spirit guiding me to scriptures and just what to say in general. I felt like Dad, because it was always Dad I'd go to to ask those questions and it hurts me that some people don't have a Dad to ask those questions to, and thus become less active for years. She is super sweet and young 20s but just had no one to ask the questions to. I am so grateful for the opportunities I have to be that da

d for other people haha as weird as that sounds. I love being a missionary! 

Yesterday was the best day of my mission EVER because we went to Zion's National Park with the Lewis's and the Koevens! We hiked three trails but not angels landing because that's against missionary standards due to imminent possible death. It was so good though! Met so many BYU students. Everyone spoke to us because we have our name tags on still. I was posing for a photo and a boy said "I never got to do anything this cool on p-day" and I said "Because you didn't serve in the coolest mission in the world!" and we got chatting and it turns out he served in Sacramento and ate with Sister D's FAMILY and he goes to BYU and knows Sarah Headman! Small world! It's funny how everyone talks to you when you have a name-tag. We met one non-member and invited him to the Visitors' Center! I was walking somewhere and someone stood in my way and their son moved them and said "Watch out for the Sister" hahah I love being "The Sister". Well because we went we didn't get to go shopping my poor Greenie will starve all week due to us not being able to go to the store on Wednesday as our VC shift is 3pm-9pm. But it was so worth starving! We had a great time and I just love them both SO MUCH! They feel like family and it feels like having to say goodbye to my family all over again and start afresh all over again. But I've set some goals and feel good about the fresh start. I'll be a better missionary this transfer in my area with my new companion. I got them all to sign my missionary journal (just a book that everyone I love writes in) and they wrote the most tender things. The journal has quickly become my most treasured item. I can't wait for you to read it one day when I come home. I'm quickly approaching my 4 month mark! So crazy!!

Pray for me lots this week, I'm gonna need it. I feel like it's gonna be the blind leading the blind haha. 

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH 

Sister Nicholls the MUMMAAAAAA

Teaching with the help of Dolphins 13-1-14.

Dear Family and Friends, 

This week has been good over all! We had a great lesson earlier this week where we just turned it into a question and answer session! The girls were roughly our age so they asked really good questions and I felt the Spirit working through me to answer them. It's like a little voice in your head telling you to say something and you're like "But that has nothing to do with what I'm talking about right now!" but you slip it in and they're like "That was exactly what I needed to hear! Thank you!" So it's always wonderful to be used as an instrument in God's hands! Also we were out knocking and this woman is impressively less active and her husband broke away from FLDS and she didn't want to talk to us but I felt impressed to mention family history and when I did she was super softened and invited us back to help her with family history!!! LOVE IT! 

The other day we were out walking and felt impressed to knock at a certain house. We knocked and the people invited us in. The woman is a former investigator who didn't get baptised because she isn't married to the man she's living with, but she knows the scriptures inside out and knows it's true. So we shared a message with them, and I just opened my scriptures and picked the first one I saw, and shared it with them. They looked really shocked and were like "You had no idea we were going through such a hard time right now...how did you know to share that exact scripture? We know that you have been sent to us from God because we said just a few days ago that we need God in our life again. Honestly, this is the most we've spoken to each other in weeks." So it was really humbling and amazing to experience that. Those are the kinds of experiences that I would've missed out on if I didn't go! 

We started teaching these two 9 year old girls and our Ward Mission Leader joined us for the appointment. He is retired and is the kindest man in the world, he used to be Bishop of that Ward. He got there before us and we walked in and he had this BIG dolphin teddy in his lap that he was stroking cos one of the kids had given it to him. It was so cute! The little girls were nervous of us so I used the dolphin to lighten the mood by telling Dad's story about how when we went swimming with dolphins his dolphin didn't work as well as the rest of them ;) hahaha it made everything go smoothly after that! So we had no idea when were like 10 years old swimming with dolphins that I'd use that story on my mission haha. 

We started a Book of Mormon class this week! We teach from the Seminary manual. We had a total of 7 come! We were expecting like 2 so it was good! Terral Tyler's Grandma came! I love her so much! She's just the cutest and my absolute favourite. It went well I think, and we're hoping in the next few weeks to actually get some less actives or non members there as it's supposed to be a finding tool. A Dutch man came Dad! I asked him hoo da dack or however the heck that's supposed to be spelled! *

Funny moment this week was that we were teaching this man who is super golden but is on probation right now and his roommate was in the back listening to rock music really loudly. I was trying to teach the pivotal moment of the Restoration where Joseph sees a pillar of light and "The Stroke" by ... Billy Squire? Is that his name?!?! Comes on and all I could see was Chazz Michael Michaels come out onto the ice rink and women throwing their underwear at him. **  It was SO HARD to teach when that's in your mind hahahhahaha! I was like, this is one of those moments that goes into the journal. 

We worked super hard on Saturday because that's always the best day for finding. We handed out some Book of Mormon's which is always good! We'd had Zone Meeting the day before where they'd taught us to talk to absolutely everyone even if it would be awkward! So we walked passed the family dollar store and this employee was sitting round the back on her break smoking and of course we approached her and gave her a Book of Mormon! She said she would like to learn more so we'll see what happens with that one! I just love having this one chance in my life to do awkward things like that! When I don't have a name-tag I'd never go up to someone smoking round the back of a building to give them a Book of Mormon but it works perfectly and I must continue to do so without the name tag! 

A high of the week was when we were in Walmart a stranger came up to us and gave us $30!!!! Kindest man in the world! 

Well, we had quite a few rough spots this week but it has been a privilege to cry the tears the Saviour cries about His lost sheep. I've truly learned of His unconditional love for all of His children no matter their choices, and the pain He feels when they turn away from Him. These experiences are moulding my heart to be more like His, and I know I'll never be the same again. Even though they're hard, it's what He goes through every day. I want to become like Him and completely forget myself but consecrate every desire of my heart to His will. And if that means crying with Him about His lost sheep then I do it gladly.

I love you all so so so so much and pray for you all the time! Transfer calls this week so when I email next time I'll let you know where the next chapter of my mission will take me!

Sister Nicholls

*    Goede dag!

**  Blades of Glory!

Happy New Year!! 6-1-14

Dear Family, how has it been three months tomorrow?!!? I don't know but IT HAS! Well, this has been the warmest New Years ever!!!!! I was wearing a skirt, a t-shirt and a light cardigan and may or may not have sweated a little bit. It's been beautiful. I walk around Washington and marvel at how a place can be so beautiful!

J and L were confirmed this week. As expected they had a very difficult week. J had the cravings to smoke and even asked her son in law for a cigarette but L got there just before he handed it to her! YAY! She was so disappointed in herself. But she made it so we are proud of her! L also had a hard week. But they made it through and both enjoyed being confirmed yesterday. J went home after Sacrament Meeting because the Spirit was so strong that she was overwhelmed haha! But we had a great evening with them on Saturday. We took them to the Visitors' Centre and we watched the Prophet of the Restoration film and it was so good! I loved seeing Fiona Smith from Ilford in it :) J cried at the end and couldn't believe that someone would murder Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith! Even her husband was crying. Now let me tell you about her husband. He is so inactive and has many word of widsom problems but we invited him in for the after-baptism lessons and he's doing well! He feels fatherly towards us and looks after us. He's gone fishing the last few days to try and catch us some fish to eat - super cute. Anyway it was a great evening because we showed them around the VC afterwards and J started crying again because she said she will miss us so much now we don't have to see her every day cos she got baptized! It was so tender! She had her temple recommend interview yesterday to go do baptisms and she wants us to come with her! We'll see how that goes! We love her! Anyway after the VC they surprised us by taking us to Denny's for the evening! It was our second dinner of the evening haha! It was great though. They are so kind! We couldn't finish it all and so took it home in a box and ate it for our breaking the fast meal haha! The C's are doing SO well!!! Every time we go round there they've corrected one of their bad habits without us even addressing it! M has given up smoking since Jan 1st in order to baptise his daughter in April! They are doing so well! We love them so much! As usual Saturday contained many miracles! Saturday just seems to be the best day of the week (apart from P-day obviously) and we found two new investigators by contacting some referrals we were given. One is a 9yr old girl who lives with her less active mum in a trailer park. While we were there we ran into our friends the Jehovah's Witnesses who gave us a dirty dirty look! It was funny because they were knocking on doors, going from door to door to door and we walk right in that trailer park, mosey on up to the door we had a referral for, stand there for 10 minutes sharing the gospel, praying, reading and laughing, and walk away with a new investigator mincing right out of that trailer park while they're still knocking on doors and had seen the whole thing. They weren't our biggest fans that day. But we love them! They are good people! We also contacted another referral and he was just dying to see the missionaries but it turns out he's on probation so he wont be baptised for a long while. But we will teach him and he seems golden apart from his criminal record haha. While we were out walking the other day we walked past this Mexican household that is like almost next door to our house and we've spoken to the people and given the Spanish Elders their details. It's funny because I don't know if it's because we're girls or because they don't really understand what we're trying to say but they seem interested in our message when we're there. But then we send our Spanish Elders over and NOBODY wants to hear their message. It's happened time after time after time. So we apologized to the Elders for keep giving them rubbish referrals and they were like SISTERS!! Dont say that! We've got 2 new investgiators this week that we found when we were going or coming from contacting a referral you gave us! So keep it coming, we appreciate them so much and keep doing what you're doing because you must be doing something right. It was so nice because we felt so bad that nobody we give them wants to listen. Anyway we walked past this Mexican house and three little girls out playing on the grass called out to us and said "What's your names!!" and we told them and they told us their names and asked us where we live so we pointed to our house and they pointed to theirs and then they said "You're really pretty!" and we laughed and said thank you and that they were too and asked them if they'd seen the boy missionaries before and they said they hadn't. So we contacted the Spanish Elders and told them to go back to the house and be more pretty because apparently that works with them ;) They were such cute little girls though and so confident!

So New Years Eve was such a distracted day for me! I kept thinking about what you'd all be doing and it was so hard to focus haha! I hope you like the pictures of me at 5pm our time so 12am your time! I was having a party in my head :)

Our New Years Eve was great! We worked all day up until 5pm when we had a district activity. We met in the Elders' Stake Centre and we watched......TOY STORY 3!!!! Watching movies with missionaries is probably the funniest thing in the world to do. We are so immersed in the Gospel that watching anything even slightly worldly like Toy Story was so crazy! And of course we can't watch it without shouting out Gospel parallels. The best one was Sister L. We'd got to the part in Toy Story 3 where they are falling towards the fire and about to die all because they didn't trust Woody when he said that they were supposed to go in the loft not in the rubbish and she goes "They should've listened to Woody all along. He's the Priesthood holder!" and you had to be there it was just #missionarylolz. And they were falling towards the fire and we're like "Oh that's outer darkness for sure!" and all sorts of banter. It was a good evening.
The district loved my Percy Pigs, THANKS BE TO TEDDY GAN! When one of them wanted one they'd shout out for a PIG and I'd throw a pig at them haha. We then played apples to apples until 9pm and just laughed until we cried. It was a great evening. Then Elder L the district leader informed us that New Years Day was supposed to be like Christmas Day only without the presents or the Skype, so we had to not do any missionary work. Why didn't he tell us that before 9pm the evening before?!1 We'd booked our whole day up with missionary activtiies! So we cancelled a few of the lessons but wanted to keep some of the ones that would be hard to move. So overall it was a really HARD day because the mission had put on activities for us all day, so because of where our appointments fell, we had like two hours of fun followed by an hour of missionary work, then two hours of fun followed by an hour of missionary work, then two hours of fun followed by misisonary work followed by fun. So I didn't know if I was coming or going! Missionary hat on, missionary hat off, missionary hat on, hat off etc. So in the morning we went to the Dixie State University football field because we were doing sports! The Elders had the football field and they played a huge game of football called the Daisy Bowl hahahhaa because it was a take off from the Rose Bowl that college football does on New Years Day. The AP's gave a coach-like-pep-rally-speech and all the Elders were down on one knee listening. They had a big bowl of daisy's for the winning team. It was so funny! President and Sister Center were the referees. The Sisters all played soccer and frisbee too. It was a good morning. Me and Sister L ran up and down the bleachers to do our legs some good. I don't know if it did good or BAD because it HURT SO BAD for the next few days! I think I wana do soccer when I get back to BYU! Then we had a lesson with D so had to change super fast into missionary clothes! We committed him to baptism then it turns out we have to hand him over to YSA Elders so it's not even going to be a baptism for us but it's all good because he's coming unto Christ no matter what. He's doing so well!! Then we went back to the Elders' Stake Centre and watched Despicable Me 1 with the district! It was so funny again! We had pizza and stuff too. Then we went back to missionary work for a few hours and taught a family who are riddled with drugs and problems and are ready to divorce but are trying to work things out. It went well! Then we went to dinner at the D's (who BTW it was their apples to apples that we were playing with the night before. They gave us permission to break into their unlocked home on New Years Eve and steal their apples to apples game for our district activity hahah!) who we LOVE! Sister D went and bought me some lipgloss from Victoria's Secret because I ran out ages ago and miss it and don't feel like a Sister Missionary should go in there haha! So she heard me say that and then went and bought me some! She drove past us on the street the next day and stopped the car and bibbed and we ran out into the road and she handed me two of my lipglosses! I love her! Anyway after dinner at their house we went to our Zone Activity in the Institute Building on Dixie Campus and played games and watched Kung Fu Panda and Ephraim's Rescue.

It was so funny! Seriously missionaries are the best people to watch movies with. Everything has a Gospel parallel. Also there's this Elder from Alabama with the strongest southern accent EVER. We were watching Ephraim's Rescue and there's this bit where they're in England and there's this British girl with long blonde hair and he shouted out in the strongest southern accent ever "Sister NICHOLLS!!! YOU DIDN'T TELL US YOU WERE IN THIS MOVIE!" and everyone cracked up so much! Then they mentioned something about a stodgy soup and he was like "SISTER NICHOLLS!! WHAT DOES STODGY MEAN?!" and I was like "I'll be holding a question and answer session after the movie is done". It was such a good evening. I love the Elders and Sisters in this mission. Even though it was so nice to spend the day socialising with other people our age, it was so exhausting switching on and off from misisonary to relaxed. It honestly felt SO good to just work hard again Thursday onwards. It's so hard taking time off because you remember home and it's hard to get going again. So it was nice but I'm excited that we don't have another day off for a very long time! It felt so good to work again once New Years Day was over.

So Sunday (yesterday) I was fasting to just feel happy and close to Heavenly Father and to know how He felt about me. I said that I just wanted to feel like I feel after I have a Priesthood blessing even though there was no Priesthood there to bless me. But I asked that through my own faith and through His Priesthood if He would bless me to have the weight lifted from me and to feel happy and close to Him. As soon as I said it I felt as light as a spring morning and could see myself as He sees me and it was magnificent. All day I felt amazing and happy and ready to face everything that missionary life throws at me. I truly experienced a miracle through my own faith and His power. I felt so light and happy allllllllll day! I knew that I have nothing to worry about and that I'm precious in His sight, and I felt so strongly His gratitude to me for giving up this part of m life to find souls for Him. It was so wonderful. Because of it I learned that we are all so precious in His sight and that we only need ask Him in faith and He will give. We are often so much harder on ourselves than He is on us. We have been in some houses this week that really have problems. Washington has quite the drug problem and a lot of trailer parks that are so run down. I have just felt so happy to be raised in the family that I have been raised in. We have taught some really hardened people this week and the contention in their families hurt the Spirit with us. I just had my eyes all filled with tears as I thought about how blessed I am and how much I love my family and our house. I wouldn't change anything for anything. I miss you all so much but I know that I'm needed here for 15 more months! My new year's resolutions are to work, to love and to change. Every single day. To love everyone and to love myself, and to work so hard everyday that there's nothing I can do more, and to change myself and those I meet every single day.

I love you all forever! Thank you for all the support!
Sister Nicholls