Last Day As A Teenager! - 9-6-14

Dear Family and Friends,

To enjoy my last day of teenage-hood before I have to grow up, I am going to Snow Canyon to hike!

So this week was a GREAT week! We wanted to get Standards of Excellence this week, but knew we would have to work VERY hard and have a lot of faith! We pleaded with the Lord to lead us to new investigators and to help us be in the right situations with the right people so we could teach 20 lessons and have hearts softened so people would accept a baptismal date etc. We prayed and prayed and prayed and then worked and worked and worked. We had 2 on date for baptism, and we'd had 9 lessons and it got to Friday night and we were thinking it wasn't looking too good because we had to get 11 lessons in the three hours we had available in our area the next day! Haha so we prayed and thought and decided to kill a few birds with very few stones - we contacted many RS presidents/Primary presidents and other leaders, and arranged to go on splits with them, and asked them to prepare 4-6 names of less active/part member/non member people we could visit in the time with them. We committed them to not talk for longer than 20/30minutes with each person. It was incredible! We had so much opposition against us because just an hour before the split was going to happen two people cancelled on us so we had to find new splits who would be available in just an hour and have people we could visit. BUT we had so much faith that it would work out and we separated. I went with a Sister Ericcson from the Red Butte ward, and we walked in the 110 farenheight heat and knocked and knocked and shared the gospel again and again!! We had a lot of fun together!! The first thing she said to me was "I have a son on a mission who is tall and blonde! I hope you're still here in four months so you can meet him when he gets home!" Haha she was trying to sell him to me, listing off that he is the AP right now and he is this and that and everything and I just laughed. She was really cute!!! She served a mission in Sweden so it was great because she knew how to do door contacting and how to talk about the Gospel! We met so many people and it really helped me to get to know the area, the members, the less actives way better than before. It was highly effective! In the meantime Sister RIzzo was out with someone else doing the same thing. We met up for dinner and then were off again with different leaders in different areas. It was nerve racking cos neither of us knew what the other was accomplishing so we were both just working hard and teaching non stop! Sister Rizzo taught two of our investigators and I was praying that one of them would accept a baptismal date because if she didn't then we wouldn't have gotten the standards! So we both just worked individually with our split and kept going and going! It was so much fun to get to know the members better. The second woman I was with had not served a mission and was awkward with people haha, but it was so funny. We went up to this part member family's home and she started the conversation by saying "Is Cale here? Sister Nicholls really wants to meet Cale?" and i nearly died of awkwardness. He looked awkward and I looked awkward and all thoughts of sharing the gospel went out the window. Then she said "The Elders have told her ALLLL about you Cale!" hahaha and I resolved that he never wanted to see us again! Then we went to another door and she said "Hi! We would like to share a message with you?" and surprise surprise they said no! But it was so cute because she was trying her best and I appreciated it a ton! After that one she asked me if she was doing it right and so I politely suggested that at the next one how about we try introducing ourselves first and then weaving a message into the conversation so she said she'd watch me do it, so we went to this family's home and they answered and we chatted and chatted and chatted and the woman is SOOOOO CUTE!!!! We just clicked with each other and she knew absolutely nothing about the church even though she had been baptized when she was younger. She didn't even know what the Book of Mormon is! But we have a return appointment for this week and I am so excited! There are just some people that you just connect with immediately! It was such a great experience! Then we went to this other woman's house and she answered the door and said "A Sister missionary and a member were at my door earlier and they shared a message!" so we cracked up that we should've liaised a bit better and figured out where they were going to go! But she let us in to teach her so she got two lessons in one day! I was like "Well at least you've met both of us now!" hahaha! So after all that we went to the VC and I ran in and met my companion and we both had the hugest smiles on our faces and were hugging and jumping up and down when we put our numbers together and had realised that we'd MADE IT!!! Or rather, the Lord had helped everything to fall into place so that we could make it! It was incredible!! We were SOOOOO happy!!!

We had this great contact with this Philippino family! The Elders had visited them and softened them up and we went and gave them a Book of Mormon and have a return appointment with them this week! I am excited!!! They started off so wary, the door was open like one crack, and we stood at the door and had sweat dripping down our faces and our backs cos all the heat seems to gather in the doorway! But we were standing there for a while inviting them to the VC and then to church and finally they realized we were trustworthy people worth opening the door for and we talked and talked and have a return appointment. I just LOVE being a missionary! It's the best! There's nothing better than talking with families about the Book of Mormon. Every single time I get to talk about how the Book of Mormon has blessed my family and brought us closer together I get a little bit choked up. I'm so grateful that you have raised me with the Book of Mormon being the fundamental unit of our family!

One of the highlights of this week was speaking at a youth conference! I was in the VC and Elder and Sister Watkins asked me if myself and my companion would mind missing an hour and a half of our VC time to go to a mansion in Washington up on the hill and talk with youth about our missions in exchange for a fancy dinner. I was like, is that even a question?!?!?! So we piled into their jeep and rode off to the youth conference together. They had been asked to bring some Sister missionaries with them so I was thrilled that I was in the right time and the right place to be asked! We rode up to, hands down, the most beautiful house I had ever seen, and we ate with the youth and made best friends with them all! At the end of the evening we talked about how we decided to serve a mission, and I made sure to tell the girls to just follow the Spirit. If the Lord wants them to serve a mission, then do it and don't look back. This has been the best decision I have ever made and I know I will be grateful for the rest of eternity for the things I've learned and the miracles I've seen. But if they're not prompted to go, then don't go and be happy with it! There's a unique plan for each one of us that will bring us the most happiness if we follow it. It was quite intimidating talking to that many youth when you have nothing prepared but the Spirit was really strong and I was grateful that I could have that experience to feel the Spirit working through me. Before we left I gave all the girls a hug and they gave us t-shirts so it was a fair exchange. On the way home the Watkins stopped at McDonalds and bought us McFlurry's hahah!! I LOVE the Watkins! They're seriously my favourite people ever. When they finish their mission I'm going to request to go outbound haha. I can't imagine serving alongside anyone else. I love how close I've become with them because of the opportunity to serve here!

Some exciting news about the people I'm teaching in the teaching centre! W who I told you about last week has agreed to have missionaries come! I taught him the Restoration on the phone and he loved it and now the Elders are visiting him and I am just in a supporting role now, just reading the scriptures with him and such. He is so well prepared and every time I speak to him or just get to talk about Joseph Smith to anyone I love it! Also D is progressing well. Then A who came into the VC the other week who it turns out is in our area is one of our people on date! She is a miracle. The Zone Leaders heightened our Zone goal for baptisms this month and invited us all to exercise faith and find a golden person to baptize this month! Since then we have prayed and prayed and we know that Heavenly Father has a few people in store because we have found two people who are ready for baptism like next week! They are living the commandments and have been to church many times! So we are going to work with them this week and see if we can have some baptisms in two or three weeks! Keep praying for us, we need it. I'm really seeing how the Lord blesses us until our cup truly runs over. We hand our cup over to Him and He just fills it and fills it! I am so blessed to be serving the Lord and learning more about myself and the Lord and His love for people. It's so sweet to love people that you've never met before, because you know it's the love that He has for them!!

Okay I have to run off now! But I am signing off for the last time as a teenager and will write to you as an adult next week :)
I'll be thinking about you all day! I prayed for Luke all day that he was having a good birthday! I love you all SO MUCH. Thank you for showing me how to love and how to serve. I need you all!
Sister Nicholls the teenager....