Being Alive Is Super Great!! 31-3-14

Dear Beloved Friends and Family,

I'm still alive! I'm stillllll allivvee (sung in the tune of that song that Luke likes and listens to by Lisa Miskovsky). Being alive is super great! This week we've had lots of people taking care of us. The work has been slow because we have just been exhausted all week. I don't know what was wrong but still by Friday my memory was really bad. I was forgetting basic things like keys, phones, lesson materials, food, scheduling etc. It was so bad! I got scared and spoke to Sister Center about it and she just said that it will come back soon, it's probably still shock. But I think it has come back by now, I'll let you know next week ;)  The senior couples at the VC have taken good care of us. Everyone just heard on Monday that we were in a car accident and that we needed prayers, so everyone assumed the worst and were really glad when we walked in to the VC alive! Haha. But the sweetest Senior Couples in the world serve in our VC and the Kaona's from Hawaii had us over for Hawaiian food on Wednesday, and the Sutherland's from Rexburg has us over for steak and Dutch oven potatoes and double layered trifle on Thursday!!! I just love the Senior Couples, they are like extra grandparents (but obvs no one can replace my own perfect grandparents). I just love talking to them and laughing with them. Can I just say how much I love the Watkins?! Elder Watkins reminds me so much of you Dad, and he says jokes that aren't funny then cracks himself up a ton and his tummy wobbles when he laughs haha. He has a sixth sense to know when French buses are coming, and yesterday it was dead in the VC and he said "Let's hold our meeting now...actually wait, a bus will be here in five minutes" and we were like "whatever Elder Watkins" and by the end of that sentence a BUS PULLED UP and we all screamed in delight and shock! It was the funniest thing ever! Then all the French people came in and I was like "Bonjour! Comment ca va? Bienvenue! Toilette pour la femme, toilette pour les homme" etc etc and they assumed that I speak French and started talking at me and I muttered out "Je parle Francais un petit peu" haha no idea how to spell that but anyway Sister Garcia came to my rescue. When they were done with their tour, I was standing by the doors saying Au Reviour and Bon Voyage and the woman looked at me and spoke and I was like "No comprend" and so her and her friend said in extremely broken English with lots of hand gestures "You...very....nice....You...beautiful" and motioned tall and hair and eyes hahah and I was like MERCI very much and they motioned to have a picture with me and so they stood in front of the Christus and took a picture with me hahahahah then all these French men saw and formed a queue and there was like 5 people in the line to have a photo with me. I felt SO AWKWARD because the men smelled bad and put their arms around me and I stood there so awkwardly but it was hilarious. All the other Sisters were watching and cracking up! They were muttering in French so I have no idea what they were saying but they seemed pleased. I'll charge next time ;) But it's been so great having so many buses and so many people who know nothing about Mormons come to the Visitors' Centre. It really helps me feel like I'm fulfilling my purpose. There is nothing more thrilling than introducing people to the Gospel and sending them on their way with a Book of Mormon! It's hard sometimes never knowing the outcome of your work but it's great at the same time to just focus on the introductions and then hand them back to their own missionaries in their part of the world.

Women's Conference was really great on Saturday! We showed it at the VC but no one came, literally no one was in the VC so we got to watch it. I had to keep walking the place to check that people weren't approaching so I got to see most of it. It was really great! I look forward to seeing it uninterrupted one day!

We did the stop smoking lesson twice this week, once with T's mum L, and once with E. She is still going strong for baptism on April 19th, lots of prayers for her please! It's such a thrill to crush people's cigarettes as they sign their own personal declaration of independence and start a new life as a non smoker! We met up with M and we went to Swig with her and then took her around the Tabernacle and she seemed happy. It was a fun day! It's nice and warm so I have my watch tan and my toe tan back again!

So we went to one of our Ward Mission Leader's house this week, Brother Barney. He is a young married guy with a baby a few months old - CUTEST BABY IN THE WORLD. We love them so much! Sis Barney made us cookies while we were there and they were delish. Anyway so we were talking to Brother Barney and his baby kept distracting us because she's the cutest baby in the world so I mentioned how hard it is to not be allowed to touch babies at all being a missionary and he was replying to that and while doing so he picked his baby up and walked past me (I was sitting on the sofa) and he pretended to trip and "drop" (really he placed her) the baby on my lap and it was so funny because I just shot my arms up in the air like when the police tell you to put your hands where they can see them! So I wasn't touching this baby at all and she was just like leaning on my chest and I had my arms in the air and was like "OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!" and he laughed and picked the baby back up and was like "It's good to see you're an obedient missionary" hahahah! We laughed so much at my reaction! So in one week I had like 7 men hug me and one baby on my lap all without my consent #missionarylife.

So now an update on the whole car crash thing. Everyone has been so nice to us. The AP's, our zone leaders and a few different district leaders were fighting to give us blessings haha. We had a blessing from our zone leaders and the assistants brought us some ice packs and the district leaders brought us food! That way it was fair for everyone ;) then in my locker at the VC the next day there was the most tender card ever, signed by our whole zone with messages from each missionary. It was so cute and I don't know how they did it but everyone had signed it! Sister Center has called us every day since the accident to see how we are doing physically and emotionally. They are trying to arrange for us to see a chiropractor and Sister Center said if we decide to go that she will accompany us and it will be a girls day ;) hahaha! I love her! We have our new car and I have driven a few times and am just taking it slow and driving as though everyone is going to hit us. I'll be okay in a few weeks time. Above all, I am grateful for the lessons I've learned and am grateful to be alive.

On Saturday the most beautiful baptism I've ever seen took place. Remember M and A from Washington? My most favourite family ever, Sister Donaldson and I reactivated them after lots of work and persistence and love and effort and they are doing so well that M received the Melchizedek Priesthood on Saturday morning, then he baptized and confirmed his little girl Saturday afternoon. It was such a thrill to walk into the Washington Stake Center again, and even though H wasn't "our baptism" as missionaries, it was the most touching baptism I've ever been to. The Spirit was so strong, and almost everyone was in tears. I sat there and watched M put his arm to the square and say "Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ" and I just wept and wept tears of utmost gratitude to be alive to witness this miracle. If you'd seen them months ago you wouldn't have dreamed that this could happen. They didn't even want to let us in, and now they are preparing to be married in the Temple. It is a feeling unlike anything else. I just cried and cried with gratitude.

There is nothing more beautiful than being a missionary. There is nothing more fulfilling, more character building or better for your soul than being a missionary. I was so grateful for the angels that protected us on Monday so that I could see M baptize H. After the baptism we were leaving when a man stopped me and looked into my eyes and cried and thanked me for the persistence and work I'd put in with his family. I asked nicely who he was and he was M's Dad, and he and I just stood there holding hands weeping. He could hardly speak and just kept saying thank you. It's in those moments that you know the 1,000 doors you knocked to find that one was worth all the heartache and sweat, and that one day you'll be able to sit down in Heaven together as eternal friends. I know I didn't do the work, the Lord did. He prepared them. He softened their hearts. I was just there doing what I'd been asked to do. I love them so much. Each day this week I've just contemplated how grateful I am to still be here and wept each time. I love my mission. I LOVE my mission. I love the Elders and Sisters here. I love my Mission President and his wife. I know that I was supposed to come to this Mission for many different reasons, but one of them to be so that I could have President Center as my Mission President. Each day I kneel down in prayer and reverently thank my Father in Heaven for preserving my life so that I can still see the change in others when they find Christ again in their lives. There is nothing like this work! I don't want this to ever end. I love my mission. I love St George. There is nothing more thrilling or deeply fulfilling than introducing someone to the Book of Mormon and inviting them to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. I love every one of you for your prayers for me during this emotional and life changing week. I will never take for granted your prayers or my safety or each day I receive ever again. I love each day, and just like my new years resolution, I set the goal to love everyone that I met every day, to change myself and others each day, and to work so hard each day that I am exhausted each night. That was renewed after the car accident because I learned how precious each day is.
In Doctrine & Covenants section 123 it says "Therefore, that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven— These should then be attended to with great earnestness."
It is my hope that I can waste and wear out my life for the next 11 months, but then forever, in bringing to light all the hidden truths that have been lost. Then my favourite is the last verse of the chapter:
17 Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.

It has reminded me a lot of this week and how in that car accident, I cheerfully did all that laid in my power, and then was forced to stand still and see God's arm be revealed in the utmost assurance that He was there and looking after us every second of every day, and that He sent His angels to protect us and push our car forward so that the man didn't hit us at the front or side of our car, causing further damage and injury. I know that He lives, that He loves us, and that He is involved in our lives more than we know. Never blame God for bad things that happen, because He weeps along with us when hard times come. "All these things shall give thee experience and shall be for thy good". Bad things don't come from Him, but we endure them so that we can become more like Him.

I love each of you so much and pray thanks for your love every day!
Sister Nicholls

We got T-boned!! 24-3-14

So I just got permission to email again right now to let you know that we were in a bad car accident today and just got back from the hospital. I was driving, doing the speed limit, paying attention, and a jeep wasn't paying attention and ran a stop sign and t-boned us really bad, they took the back end of our car off, the wheel came off so I was skidding on the road with just three wheels and we were sliding around and the car wouldn't stop but I was so calm. I know it was a huge huge huge blessing because we didn't hit the oncoming cars and I had full grip of the steering wheel and even though the car pushed us pretty far we didn't hit anyone and managed to stop before the sparks and the oil mixed and exploded. You wouldn't believe how calm I was. I don't even know what happened. I was just driving then all of a sudden the two sisters in the back, Sister Duval and Sister Busteed screamed and I swerved but he still got us. It was a huge bang and huge impact and we were pushed really far and I held on to the wheel and felt very calm and we stopped in the middle (the suicide lane as you call it) of the road perfectly. I shouted "IS EVERYONE OKAY?" and there were some gasps so I shouted it again and they whispered they were so we jumped out of the car, our car was strewn across the road for about 50 metres and everyone got out their cars and the surrounding houses and shops and helped us. We called the Senior Elder in charge of cars and stood on the side of the road and men were coming over saying they were Priesthood holders and could bless us cos by this point the two on the side that were hit, Sister Garcia and Sister Duval said that their necks were hurting and their arms were tingling and they needed to sit down so they called ambulances and the police and the fire dept all came to clear the road and it was so traumatic. All four of us Sisters just stood there crying and crying and crying and holding each other and we were then surrounded by all these medical personnel and I just couldn't believe what just happened. We all were in such bad shock and I wanted nothing more than to just call you. It broke my heart to see my companion and Sister Duval laying there with men all around them supporting them and putting them on stretchers. They were crying for us and then the Police were interviewing me and I was so glad that I hadn't done anything wrong. I couldn't live with myself if I was the one who had run the stop sign or if I was speeding or not paying attention. But I could hardly talk I was shaking so much and Elder Sullivan arrived and had his arm around me the whole time and then the Center's arrived and I just felt like everything would be okay because they were there. President Center came over to me and put his arms around me and held me for like 20 seconds while I sobbed into his shoulder and had his arm around me for the whole time we were there. He is the most tender man I have ever met. Everyone was sped off in ambulances so we remained and watched the car being taken away and then the man who hit us who was sheepishly standing up the street told the Police that I wasn't paying attention and that I should be blamed and the Policeman was like "Well.....even if that was the case, which I don't believe it was, you ran a stop sign. She could've been going 100mph and it still would've been your fault." That made me even more upset and President was like "Sister Nicholls, of course he is going to try and cover himself, he just hit four Sister Missionaries by running a stop sign." It wasn't even an intersection, it's just a road I was driving down and he just came out of a junction without stopping or looking and ripped my car apart. So the Center's drove Sister Busteed and I to hospital and it was just heartbreaking to see our companions laying there. We had to wait a while before we could go in, but the Center's were allowed in right away and when we got permission to go in President was in with Sister Garcia and Sister Center was with Sister Duval, and I went in and President was standing there next to her, holding her hand and stroking her shoulder. He had his arm around me the whole time stroking my back and we all cried and it was just so tender. They took Sister Garcia off to the x-ray room and she cried for President to give her a blessing and he placed his hands on her head and said the most tender blessing ever that the Lord was watching over us and continues to do so. After a few hours of waiting there with them we were discharged and told to just rest and got a prescription and our Zone Leaders were at the hospital with us too and word had spread and no-one knew what happened or how we were but everyone knows now. The Center's then drove us to Walgreens and we got our prescription and our District Leaders brought Chick-fil-a into the VC and we have texts from everyone. Everyone hugs us and every time they do we just cry more. But after the Zone Leaders left the hospital they texted Sister Center to say talk to Sister Nicholls she looks awful haha. But we were so incredibly blessed I can't even tell you. It all happened so quickly and I keep having flashbacks to the moment he hit us and we got pushed and the screaming. It was so traumatic but we are doing okay. Elder Sullivan told me I'd done amazing to get a car with three wheels into the middle lane without hitting anyone else. I have had a blessing and many hugs and lots of support so we are going to be okay. We just don't have a car for a while. But I wish my eyes could be opened to see the multitudes of angels protecting us. If we would've been one split-second earlier it would've been a LOT worse. Angels were pushing our car away from the other cars and stopping it. Everyone offered us blessings and help and I just can't tell you how much I love President Center. He just held me for 20 seconds while I cried into his suit and had his arm around me the whole time. I was a wreck but everyone said it wasn't my fault and I did the right thing. 

Sister Center said that you could call her or President for questions or concerns. 

I love you all. Please keep praying for me. We need all the prayers we can get. Heavenly Father protects His missionaries. 

I love you so much! 

Sister Nicholls

Our car!

Someone put the remains of our car in a nice pile on the side of the road.

They balanced the bumper with the car and drove it away.

Happy, Happy, Happy!! 24-3-14

Dear EVERYONE,

Another exhausting week! We are pleased to report that we hit standards of excellence again this week! When we do that, the following P-day we just want to sleep and sleep and sleep because it takes so much work to be in the VC half our day and still teach so many lessons in the remaining few hours we have! But it's great! We love working hard! Can you believe we are in week 4 of Sister Garcia's second transfer and my fourth transfer?!?!!?! Where does the time go?! I had my fourth exchange this week, it was with Sister Duval again and I just love her! We had a great time together and we taught lots of lessons and worked with lots of members. We went to the EQP's house and he has these four little kiddies and they answered every question with "happy" it was so hilarious! We got a nice referral out of the visit and built our relationship with the members. It was just a great day! I want to serve with her before she goes home in five months :0  We laughed so much last night at the VC because Sister Garcia made a little hand sized cutout of the Holy Ghost that looks like a 5 year old has made, and we dared Sister Duval to use it at the Christus and so she was with this couple and she was holding it on her lap and when she said "I know that the Holy Ghost will help you learn your mission language" she just whipped it out and held him up for them to see and said "He will be here to help you" and Sister Garcia and I were just CRYING with laughter behind them. We will work on our reverence. But it was hilarious. We are now each under the challenge of getting the Holy Ghost out during our lessons and saying "Are you feeling him right now? I promise he's here." hahahahahha. We have too much fun in the VC! Cool experience yesterday - we went to Church in the morning for T's confirmation and were scheduled for VC at 3pm, so when Church finished at 12pm we had plans but I just really felt like we needed to go back to the VC. So we drove back and went inside not knowing why we were there, and Sister Watkins saw me and called me into her office and told me all about how like no Sisters had turned up for shift cos some were sick and some just didn't come and they had like tons of buses come and it was so stressful so we put our flags on our name tags and went to work! We did an 8 hour shift yesterday but it was so great to be led by the Spirit. I saw this one black woman sitting by herself so I went and introduced myself and sat down next to her and she told me she's not a member but is from Georgia visiting cos her roommate is Mormon and wanted to show her the Temple while they're on a trip. I went in for the kill and was talking about Joseph Smith and she started laughing and said that I don't have to do this, she is a Church Representative from the MTC and she gets paid to act like a non-member to see if the missionaries are doing their job and if the MTC needs to train the VC Sisters better etc.  I was SO pleased that I spoke to her and didn't ignore her haha!

T got baptized on Saturday morning! It was so beautiful! Her parents cried! Her mother is less active but has one of the strongest testimony's I've ever heard, and her Dad is not a member but wants to get baptized but they aren't married yet. Bishop Brigham went to visit them and told them that he could marry them whenever they want, and we are helping them to quit smoking this week so hopefully we will see him baptized in a few weeks maybe! We love their family so much! Even though this area has been really tough a lot of the time, there's some people who you just know you are there for, and they are one of them. After Tiana's baptismal interview, her Mum was just glowing and crying and we talked to her and she just thanked us so sincerely for coming on missions and finding her family and being persistent because they kept cancelling on us but we kept rescheduling and didn't just give up and she is so so so grateful. We cried together and we just love each other so much. They're one of the families I want to be with in the Celestial Kingdom. They are having us over for dinner on Friday night too so that will be funnnnnn :)

E, our Philippine investigator is still going strong with her cutting down on cigarettes and is still wanting to be baptized in April 19th. She was really low last week and wanted to commit suicide so she told us that she sped down the road in her car toward the cliff that has the river below it and had full intention of dying but before she got to the edge of the cliff she felt her hand being pushed to put the car in "park" when she was driving that fast and it skidded to a halt. She cried and cried and said she knew God had done that and that He told her she needed to be baptized. So she has come to Church for the last two weeks and is quitting smoking. It's always hard with eternagators like her (eternal investigators) because she's been on date for baptism so many times before so sometimes it's easy to think that she'll fall off date again but we have the faith that because of this miracle this is the time for her!

I just want to take a moment to tell you how much I love Elder Watkins the VC Director! I love being VC Trainer cos I get to be like his Secretary and he is extremely technologically illiterate and I have to help him send emails and so on Saturday he asked me and Sister Garcia to come to his home and help him put some pictures of quad bikes on Craig's List hahah! He had to answer the phone at some point of the adventure so while he wasn't looking, Sister Garcia got a picture of myself and her out of her scriptures and we put it on their bookshelf in the arms of the Christus statue that they have! We had to try SO HARD to not laugh and the next day Sister Watkins told us she saw our picture and that it was the most hilarious thing she'd ever seen! She said she wanted to keep it forever!

We had so many buses yesterday at the VC; it's really starting to pick up! I love the thrill of seeing the bus approaching on the cameras and getting out all the Das Buch Mormon's and the Le livre De Mormon's etc and saying Bonjour to everyone! I'm picking up the basics in talking to them but still am extremely far from giving a tour of any description haha!

It was such a shame this week because we received a referral from Headquarters so we had to visit this apartment in our area. We got there and had the best lesson ever and he wanted to see us again and then it turned out he is YSA age so we have to hand him over to the YSA Elders :((((( But then as we were walking back to our car this woman was walking her dog so we stopped and petted the dog and talked to her and she told us that she met with Missionaries last year but they stopped coming and that she felt SO good when they visited with her! I was feeling bold so I invited her to be baptized on April 19th right there on the street and she accepted haha!! But then it turned out she is 29 so just barely YSA so we will hand her over to the Elders too. It was just a sad day because it would've been two new investigators and one more on date but instead we had to hand them all over! But it's okay because we're all playing for the same team :) We don't want to poach investigators from the Elders haha. But we did find two more investgiators - two teenage girls who live with their grandparents who are members. Their Mum died last year and their Dad isn't a member and lives in Vernal. We showed the Restoration DVD and committed them to be baptized in April too! The Spirit was SO STRONG in that lesson. Maybe stronger than ever! Sister Garcia couldn't talk cos she could only cry, and we just know how special those two girls are to Heavenly Father. It was incredible. But when we went back a few days ago the younger girl has decided to not meet with us anymore and doesn't have a reason that she's telling us. It was so sad. I got in the car afterwards and just felt like crying. It hurts so much every single time someone doesn't want to continue because I know how much they are giving up. When you love them THAT MUCH after just one lesson and have all these hopes for them it's devastating. I kinda hope it doesn't stop hurting that much ever because it means that I still love and put my whole heart into these people.

We had a cool Sisters Training Meeting  this week; we did a conference with some people in Provo and Salt Lake and they completely re-did the online teaching. The system has all changed and we are learning now how to chat and how to call. It's great! It is helping us to actually fulfil our missionary purpose rather than just answer questions. I love how much it used to hurt to get an abusive chat and now I'm just like whattevvvverrrr! Missionary work is the BEST!

OK time to get back to saving some souls!
I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOO MUCH!!!!
Sister Nicholls

One Year To Go!! 17-3-14

Dear Family and Friends,

Lots of fun things happened this week. For starters we had an exciting Zone Conference. Word on the street for weeks was that big changes were going to be made in the way we teach. So everyone's like WOOOO IPADS and FACEBOOK and then we got there and President began the training and the big changes that are taking place are that we are going to be using the pamphlets for all our teaching. We have to use them like a flipchart, and we have to not deviate from doctrine by using analogies or stories or anything, and we have to show them every picture and say "what do you see here?" .. "why is this taking place?" etc so they teach themselves so it's kinda like going back in time and having the memorized discussions but not really because we can still use our own words. It's supposed to help us with teaching skills because the mission used to have a 3 to 1 ratio of investigators found to investigators baptized, and now it's gone up to 5 to 1 so President knows it's our teaching skills that stops them from progressing so he's trying to get it all sorted out! We role played a ton and I absolutely love it!

We had a baptism this week!!!!! M was baptized on Saturday morning. Wow it's been a rollercoaster with her! We didn't know if she'd get baptized or not but we spent like two hours with her the night before her interview going over everything because she just wouldn't answer any of the questions and we were scared she wouldn't pass the interview. But our Zone Leader did the interview and he is awesome with kids so he did a great job and got her to talk. She is 13 but has such social difficulties because of past problems with her Dad who is in prison now. She has scars on her wrists too. But it's been so amazing to see her grow in the Gospel. She is blossoming and her countenance is changing. It's so beautiful to see how the Gospel can heal the wounds that nobody else can see. It's been a privilege to work with her. When we first met her it was so frustrating cos she wouldn't look at us the whole lesson and wouldn't say anything but we've gained her trust and we're all good friends now. Her family are all inactive except her Grandad, and after her confirmation he greeted us and thanked us so sincerely for all the work we've done wtih her and for not giving up and he had tears in his eyes then all of us had sweaty eyeballs that spilled onto our cheeks because it's the best moment to see how someone has grown. He said he knows it needed to be us to teach her. The Baptism went really well. It was nerve racking because no one knew who was in charge of filling the font, the bishop and the ward mission leader and the ward missionary couldnt come, and the programs were done last minute, and then in walk President and Sister Center!!!! I was just praying that there would be some water in the font because then all would be well. But I had a cool experience when she was being baptized. Her Grandad said the prayer wrong and immersed her wrong and all these voices were trying to tell him what to change. Sister Garcia and I were behind the font watching from the sidelines and so couldn't see anyone who was shouting out, everyone saying different things and the Grandad didn't know who to follow. And then I heard the most Christ-like and loving yet authoritative voice say exactly what he needed to do, clearly and lovingly but full of authority. It was President Center, and I learned a valuable lesson from it. It reminded me of the apostasy, and how people wanted to be baptized but nobody really knew how to do it. All these other churches were saying "do it this way!" and "no, do it this way!" and the baptisms couldn't really happen and we needed Jesus Christ to restore His church to show us the right way. Only Jesus Christ can tell us how to truly perform these ordinances, and so even though it was President Center's kind and loving voice, to me it was like Jesus Christ. After the baptism I told him what he'd taught me and his eyes all filled with tears and he said thank you for sharing that with him. I love them so much!

Also I had some visitors at the Visitors' Centre this week. Well we always get visitors but I mean some special visitors. I think it was on Friday? While I was away from the front desk dealing with a situation that had come up Sister Garcia told me that someone had come in to see me, and that she had red hair and I just knew it was Nicky and I was devastated that I'd missed her! Then the best thing ever happened and 2 hours later she came back!!! With the whole family!! I was so happy I could've cried! It was so nice to see them all! I love them so much!! I took them through God's Plan For His Family and I just wanted them to stay all day! Then straight after they left the Christensen's came in!!! It was SO NICE to see them!! BEST DAY EVER!! I gave them a tour of the art work and again wished they could've stayed all day! They are such a great family. Then the Criddle's from Washington came and took Sister Garcia and I out for dinner! It was succhhhh a good day. I love the Criddle's so much! It's so great that M is going to baptize H in a few weeks and then they're going to go to the Temple in a few months!!! MISSIONARY WORK IS THE BEST!!!

The other day Sister Garcia and I were running a few minutes late and as we were driving to the appointment I said to her "There's a reason why we're a few minutes late. There's going to be someone on the street who needs us who would've been in their house if we'd been there a few minutes before." and we parked up and were walking to the appointment and this man on the other side of the road was just standing there crying and he saw us and waved us over so we mosied on over there and he burst out into fresh tears and told us that he needs help and that he can't pay his rent and was so heartbroken and so we got him in touch with the Bishop and that was that. It was just nice to be led by the Spirit to help people.

I was reading the scriptures this week and this verse really stuck out to me:-
Alma 37:36 Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

I thought about how that describes us as missionaries. I've really experienced this week how it feels to truly give yourself to the Saviour. To give Him all my pains and burdens and heartaches and insecurities and worries. I needed to humble myself and rely on Him rather than try to carry it all myself. I was like the children of Israel who wouldn't merely look at the staff to be healed. But this week I've pleaded with the Saviour to take it all, and I've felt the power and the hope that comes from truly handing it over to Him. I just needed to cast my eyes over to Him to be healed. And He has healed me. I'm really working on my humility. I want to be as the Saviour is, and to love as He does and to always rely on Him. It's a work in progress and will be forever but I've had my eyes opened to how much more I need to be doing.

I want to tell you all how much I love my companion. We are best friends forever! We laugh so much together, we cry together, we pray and study together. In short, we work together. We never want to be transferred away from each other. We lay in our beds and just laugh and laugh and laugh when we should be asleep. Everyone will know who trained her because she says all my phrases but with her thick accent. She says "oooh sista you crack me up!" haha and "bad timmesss" and "what on earth?!" hahahahahha and I've started saying "what happen here?" meaning what is going on? haha she says the cutest things. We had a great evening last night! I was in the VC in the daytime, and then there was an emergency transfer involving the VC Sisters so I had to completely redo the schedule for the next 4 weeks! It was crazyness. So I had to stay in the VC for hours more and didn't get to go to our area except for an hour and a half in the evening. It was the best though because we worked so hard and had two member present lessons and an other lesson where we put someone on date. It was E and she was so mad at God for not giving her money that we had to drop her last week but then this week we felt impressed to see her and so we went and she was crying and saying how she knows she needs to be baptized and we put her on date!! YEAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I love MISSIONARY WORK!!!!!

This week I was in a meeting with the Watkins' and my VCT companion (that happens like twice a week!) but this one was special because we Skyped Salt Lake headquarters and had a discussion about how to help the St George Visitors' Center progress in their teaching centre skills (the mormon.org chat and calls!). It was so cool to be involved with it and I learned so much! I need to be a better example to the Sisters and step up my teaching skills! It's a constant learning and growing experience.

I can't believe we're half way through March already!!!!!!! ONE YEAR TO GO!!!!!! I am so excited but don't want to think about it at the same time! I love you all SO MUCHHHHH! Please keep writing to me and praying for me because I need all the love and help I can get ;)

LOVE YOU ALL! Keep working miracles in everyone's lives!
Sister Nicholls

And this is the account of Sister Nicholls and her companion, their journeyings in the land of St George, their sufferings in the land, their sorrows, and their afflictions, and their incomprehensible joy. 10-3-14

Dear Family and Friends,

It's weird that it's p-day again already, I feel like I just had p-day like 6 days ago. Because that's just what happened. This week has been the best and the worst! The best because we made extremely high goals and we HIT THEM!!! We reached the Standards of Excellence and that's only ever happened twice in the history of the VC Sisters hitting Standards of Excellence!! So we are so excited about that. I couldn't relax until Sunday evening when we submitted our numbers just in case one of our investigators didn't come to Church or fell off date or something. But I've learned how much faith it takes to set high goals and how effectively you need to plan in order to make them. We planned so effectively every evening and spent 30 minutes with everyone instead of 1hour and shared a message with EVERYONE we met. We talked to everyone and it's just been the best week ever. We are so excited to be reaching our goals. It only gets better from here! Then it was a rough week because we had to drop C as she just cancels all our lessons and doesn't do anything like come to Church or read, and E dropped us because she's really mad at God right now, and A's parents told us that A doesn't want to learn anymore. But that's strange because A really seems like she does and it's her parents who do NOT want her to learn. But either way we have left it and will just pray that one day she'll be allowed to make her own decisions. She's almost 18. So that's four people dropped in like 9 days. But I found these two amazing scriptures that really spoke to me this week:-
Alma 31: 38 "And the Lord provided for them that they should hunger not, neither should they thirst; yea, and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ. Now this was according to the prayer of Alma; and this because he prayed in faith."
and also
Alma 28: 8 "And this is the account of Ammon and his brethren, their journeyings in the land of Nephi, their sufferings in the land, their sorrows, and their afflictions, and their incomprehensible joy."
and I changed it to be "This is the account of Sister Nicholls and her companion, their journeyings in the land of St George, their sufferings etc" and it was so comforting to me!

So E is really mad at God because she needs more money and keeps praying for more money but God isn't giving her any. So she has thrown away the Book of Mormon and doesn't want to be baptized or go to Church any more. Sister Garcia and I were silent for a lot of the lesson trying to listen to what the Spirit was saying to us and to her but really we just felt like she needs some time to cool down. She won't pray because she's so angry at her Heavenly Father. So we tried our best and are just giving her some space. Also we went to Eagles Landing Ward and that's where D goes to Church. He saw us when he was talking to someone but we were talking to someone too and he left and it really hurt that we were all so close and progressing so well and then he just ignores us at Church. It hurt a lot. Also J who I put on date for baptism at the Visitors' Centre hasn't been going to Church so didn't get baptized this last Saturday. Really in my mind I've had that line from the Emma Smith song stuck in my head that goes "How much can one heart take?". It's been rough but I've found solace in praying. It's so refreshing to just pour your soul out to Heavenly Father. My testimony is growing and growing every day. I had a miracle on Friday! I was feeling really sad and I just wanted to call you guys and instead I just prayed that I'd see a familiar face at the VC and then the evening went on and at about 7pm literally 8 people came in to see me. Four of my absolute favouritest people in all the world from Washington came in - The Lewis's and the Criddles! It made my heart SO HAPPY!!!!!!!  It was like we'd never been apart for those 6 weeks! It made me even more happy that Sister Criddle had just done baptisms for the first time EVER and that their little girl will be baptized by Brother Criddle in a few weeks! They are taking us out for dinner on Saturday!! The Lewis's had planned to go to the Temple but had forgotten the recommend, so they came in to the VC, and the Criddles were driving away then felt like they needed to come back inside and see if I was there! It was so amazing!! He answered my prayers!

Sister Garcia and I had an interesting experience at a less active person's home this week. He is kinda old and is saying how he went to Church and fulfilled callings his whole life but he never really wanted to or had a testimony and now he can get away with not going anymore. When we were sitting there looking at him I could just see him as a Mission President. I got the distinct feeling that he was supposed to be a Mission President but he didn't reach his potential. When we left I mentioned to sister Garcia how I'd felt and she said that she had the exact same feeling, that he was supposed to be a Mission President if he had followed the path he was supposed to. It was cool but sad too!
I had a cool phone call from a woman in Newcastle!! She had a thick northern accent and said that she couldnt believe I was from Essex, I sound way too posh to be from Essex hahaha! But she had lots of interesting questions and I was able to answer them for her in a way that satisfied her and it always makes me think of Dad and all the questions I'd ask him, and its so sad that some people don't have a Dad to turn to for questions so I'm glad I can be that Dad for other people! She is investigating the Church but isn't too sure if she'll join or not. I hope I could help somewhat. It was like 3am for her when she called! But it was so nice to talk to a British person! We had a laugh and a spiritual time too!

Sister Garcia and I were spending every minute we could preaching the Gospel this week so we brought a packed lunch with us to spend 10 mins eating in our car. We picked a really romantic spot on the hill we cover and had the windows down cos it was so hot and had some motab (Mormon Tabernacle Choir) playing! We didn't have time to pack an awesome lunch, so we grabbed some tortillas and some crisps haha, and of course we put the crisps in the tortillas. We felt like such students again haha. Sitting on a hill, overlooking the beautiful view, eating crisp tortillas and listening to motab. It was the best!

M should get baptized this week on Saturday morning. We're not sure if it will go ahead or if we'll have to wait a week because we just don't feel like she's ready. I'll let you know what happens. She really is starting to trust us and like us. It's been such a long battle for that! She is so quiet and answers every question with "I don't know" and barely looks at us, but now after a few weeks she looks at us and laughs sometimes and contributes to the conversation every now and then! I love it! We're excited for her. And KC is our other investigator on date to be baptized in April! We needed him to be on date in order to achieve Standards of Excellence, and his Mum said he could be baptized if he read the whole Book of Mormon. He is only 10. So he has been reading the kids Book of Mormon stories and HE FINISHED THE WHOLE THING!!! So we put him on dateeee and were SO happy!

We had a good welcome meeting for all the new Sisters. I find it stressful still having to train the other sisters because I feel like they're all thinking "What does she know? She's only been here a few weeks!" but I'm trying my best. Sister Miller said to me this week that I'm her favourite VC Trainer ever because I'm so laid back and give everyone their agency to be obedient rather than ordering people around. I let them know what I expect of them all and allow them to choose to do it. And she said that she appreciates how friendly I am to everyone! I really needed to hear that because it is so easy to always feel like you're not doing enough.

As in keeping with all weeks we've had people come in who just needed someone to talk to. I spoke to a woman who just got out of prison hours before coming in, and I spoke to a man who had just had his van broken down and some men came and stole everything from him. It's so heartbreaking to hear some people's real lives. But I just count myself blessed and keep listening and helping in any way that I can!

One of the senior couples that work with us are so funny and we have such a laugh. There's a tally that we keep of who comes in and who speaks to them and so each of us want to be on the chart lots of times so we fight trying to greet each person. She is really sarcastic and she greeted the woman third out of all of us but put her name down next to the woman and said that it's the third person to greet them who gets to put their name down hahaha. She kept changing the rules all day so that it was her name on the list again and again and she made us laugh so much! She was completely joking, and then we put all four of our names together to make one Sister who just greets everyone! I love the Senior Couples we have here :)  Sad news:- I never get to serve at Brigham Young's home anymore now I'm a VCT, I have to be in the VC every day! Oh well! In 2 more transfers!

I need your prayers and your love!
It keeps me walking and smiling! Missionary work is the best cos miracles happen every day!

Sister Nicholls

Another crazy, busy week! 4-3-14.

Dear Family and Friends, 

Oh my GOSH what a week that was!! Lots of crazy things and exciting things and sad things. I'll start with the sad so that it doesn't end with the sad!  Dave has officially dropped us. He told the fellowshippers to tell us. It hurt SO MUCH that both SIster Garcia and I were crying half way through the phone call and couldn’t really speak. It felt way worse than breaking up with someone. Because you have all these hopes and dreams for people, you see the way their life is changing and how happy they are and then BOOM one day it's all over. It was just unexpected because we'd seen him like two days before and he'd sent us these texts about how our parents should be so proud of us and our friendship and grace means everything to him and how he always looks forward to seeing our smiling faces and then two days later we're not allowed to contact him anymore. And we drive past his house and it hurts, and we see his name in our phone and it hurts and we just cried for a day straight. It's so hard to go about daily missionary work when you have that pain in you. The pain hurt so much and I was on my knees for about 20 minutes and I finally asked Heavenly Father to take the pain away and I came away from that prayer refreshed and invigorated, knowing that my personal Saviour had taken that pain away. He knew thousands of years ago the pain I'd feel as Dave dropped, and He chose to suffer that so that I didn't have to. I cried the Saviour's tears all week and am feeling His hands carving away my heart to be more like His. "It's the price we pay to become acquainted with God and it is a privilege to pay". 

The next morning after that phone call we had Julie Rogers come in and give us a tour of the exhibit of her own art work in the Visitors’ Centre. We just got it this week and she is a local artist from Kanab. The artwork is amazing! It's called Yesterday, Today and Forever and shows us how the church is the same church that Christ set up. The pictures go in twos and one shows from Christ's time and one shows from our time demonstrating the same principle. I LOVE IT SO MUCH! I wish you could come see! It's so powerful! Anyway so our hearts were hurting and then Julie Rogers gave us a tour and we shed many tears because of the stories she shared and the spirit she brought. Each picture has an awesome story and was so inspired. I have tried to remember it all and use it for each tour I've given. I love being in that room! Hopefully it'll stay forever but we'll see. 

So a funny thing happened, we were out knocking doors in this rougher part of our area and this man was getting stuff out of his car so we raced over there and said Hi and he did like a triple take and looked at me and said "WOAH!!!!!!!!! You are BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!" and then at Sister Garcia "and you are GORGEOUS!!!!" and I said "thank you! We are the new sister missionaries of this area and we wanted to introduce - " he butts in with "WOAH!!! You have a BEAUTIFUL accent!...If I was a few years younger and we were in the same religion, I would MARRY YOU!" and I was like, “Well thank you! Anyway the Book of Mormon blah blah blah" hahahhahaha and he has read everything of every religion and is "spiritual but not religious" and thanked us so sincerely for our work. He said he travels the world to help make people happy and that we are doing the same thing and thanked us so sincerely. It was nice! He was obviously high on something, he was so jittery and funny! 

We had a cool experience the other day. We were planning for the next day and we felt inspired to visit a woman called R, so we put her as the back up plan for if someone cancelled on us. They did indeed stand us up, so we went over to R's house and she started crying and said that she had prayed that someone would come because she'd had a horrible day! It was awesome how the Lord knew she would have a hard day the next day and inspired us the night before to go and visit her! I love it :) It's moments like that that make every day worth it. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! 

We had this crazy rain and wind this week! It was so funny because we'd come out of our Zone Meeting and there were 3 companionships of Sisters walking back to our apartments and the heavens opened and it was seriously like being in Universal Studios in one of those theatres that recreates the apolocalypse or one of those movies! We were just walking them all of sudden it RAINED AND RAINED and the wind was SO STRONG! We were trying to run forward but couldn’t run and were low to the ground and our skirts were flying EVERYWHERRREEEEEEEE and we were all screaming and laughing and crying with laughter. It seriously felt like being on I'm a Celebrity on that bushtucker trial where they try and run and the wind and the water cannons are being aimed at them. We made it into our apartments and collapsed on the floor and laughed SO MUCH all wet and windswept! It was crazy! While we were running to our apartments Sister Bristol from Morningside (remember she took us to dinner and it turned out I went to EFY with her son in 2009) saw us and invited us out to lunch! So we went to Red Robin and it was so good! She spoils us a lot! I love her and her family so much! It was a lovely surprise and we had a great time. She said that I always have a room in her house after my mission if I come to visit! I LOVE THEM! I also got to see Sister Koeven after Zone meeting cos she picked up the Washington Sisters. I waited for like 10 minutes just so I could see her for a brief second and have a hug! I LOVE HER SO MUCH! 

The VC arranged for us to all go to the dentist and have our teeth cleaned. It was great! They massaged our face and neck too hahaha! I have no cavaties and all the dentists were remarking on how marvellous it is that I’ve never had a cavity or a filling! All the other Sisters heard and so it was a topic of discussion for the day! They gave me a sealer on one of my teeth that has a deep ridge in it though but you can’t feel it or see it. It was way nice to have my teeth pampered. 

We had transfer calls this week and the only difference is that I've been called to be a Visitors' Centre Trainer. It's a two transfer calling and I serve with another Sister who is from Germany called Sister Schafer. Our main responsibility is to be the lead shift Sister, so people have to come to us for permission to do stuff and we make sure all the Sisters are where they should be and aren't on Facebook when they're supposed to be on mormong.org chatting haha. We have to do weekly training meetings and make sure each of the sisters are happy and we have to do the six week transfer schedule. Oh. My. Gosh it was CRAZY. It took three days of being in that office working. It was like doing a maths logic exam for three days. We had 11 companionships who have to work 5 or 7 days a week, and had to divide it according to car sharing, pdays, full area days, language skills, coordination meetings, district meetings, and equal amounts of mornings and evenings. It was such a headache!! We slaved and we slaved but Sister Schafer and I became GREAT friends during those hours! We laughed so much and just love each other! I feel like I've known her forever. I'm really excited about this assignment.

I also had exchanges this week which was amazing. I was with Sister Duval in her area, the Dixie YSA Stake! It was such a cool experience to be a YSA missionary! Everyone says I'm going there in a few months so we'll see. I'd be more than happy. It's so different from being in a family ward. We taught lots of lessons and had a great time! I love Sister Duval! We plan on living together in Provo after our missions ;) but she goes home in a few months and will probz get married before I get there. Funniest thing ever, we were knocking at a door in the evening when it was raining and we saw two people running up the road. We thought it was the boys we'd seen earlier playing volleyball so as Sister Missionaries naturally we turned away and stared at the blank door ahead of us. They got closer and Sister Duval said “Are they Elders?!?!??!!?" so I looked too and saw scriptures and nametags and she shouted "ELDERS!!!!!" and it was the AP's and they abruptly stopped and looked around and she shouted again and they looked so embarrassed haha! They were in their white shirts and had their scriptures tucked under their arms like American footballs and were sprinting up the street and she was like "Why were you running Elders?" and they looked so sheepish and were like "oh...erm....we just.....errr...." and she said “Are you trying to lose weight?" hahah BINGOOOO she'd hit the nail on the head. We exchanged pleasantries for a minute and they raced off up the road and we saw them running like five more blocks in the dark and rain! She said she saw them running a few days ago too. So then we left the door and RAN to our next appointment and we were like imagining someone in their house seeing these Elders run past and then a few minutes later these Sisters run past! It was the best! 

We really are starting to see the work pick up in our area. We are trying so hard to gain the members trust and it is WORKING! We bore our testimonies in two of our wards on Sunday and it was just amazing because the members are really starting to trust us and recognize us as hard workers and they love us for it! We are showing them that they can trust us with their friends and it's working! We have a family that moved in a month ago from California that we are teaching tonight because the members worked with them and handed them over to us! We are aiming to reach standards of excellence this week which is CRAZY because we spent 35 hours a week in the Visitors Centre and only have a few hours 5 days a week in our area but we think we can do it. We are making every single minute count and are anxiously enagaged every single day and are planning meaningful activities each minute of each day to help us reach our weekly goals. We are determined to reach the standards of excellence by our faith and by our work. We are exhausted every night we go to bed but it’s the best feeling knowing that you've thrusted in your sickle with all your might. I just love testifying of Christ every single day! Please pray that we will be led to the people who are ready and be led to the places that will help us reach our goals! We love our area and we love our members and we are ready to work. 

Inviting people to learn about Christ - this is my favourite thing to do.

I love you all. I miss you all. It's my five month mark this week! It scares me where the time went. 

Sister Nicholls

Saying goodbye to the Sisters on the transfer van going up north this morning.