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