The above quote is from one of the Sisters in the VC! It cracked me up SO MUCH all week that I HAD to share it with everyone. We were in our daily shift shuffle meeting before the shift begins, assigning who will cover where in the VC, and we were trying to decide if You Raise Me Up is about God or about a person, and one Sister said “It's about God, no boy could raise me up to walk on mountains." and her companion, who knows her very well, said, "Does Josh Groban raise you up so you can walk on mountains?" and we all just started laughing til we cried until she explained that she has the biggest crush on Josh Groban! Now you know. Now on to spiritual things ;)
We worked SO HARD this week! We decided to leave behind the disasters of last week and begin again. And the Lord did provide according to our faith! We found 2 new investigators so we were able to reach Standards of Excellence again!! We are exhaussstteedddd! We had to work so hard! But lots of fun stories from this week!
Let me tell you about the lemonade stand! We enlisted the help of Sister Pack the Relief Society President of the Knolls ward, and we went to work making ridiculously small signs directing people to the park and sticking them on all the stop signs #onlylikefivepercentillegal and then prayed and prayed and prayed that it would be a worthwhile use of our time. Like I said last week, no one answers the doors if we knock, so we wanted to find new investigators this way! It was GREAT! We'd been there like 5 minutes and a retired couple walked their dogs right past us so they came and got a drink and we talked about the Church. We gave them our number and we know where they live now. They didn't set up an appointment but it was a great first contact! Then this car drove past and we waved so hard that they TURNED AROUND and came back! They rolled down the window and it was a Brazilian non member lady who said “I dont want lemonade, but are you collecting for something?" so we said no it's free and introduced ourselves and she was nice and said that we could drop by her house and told us where it is! Turns out we've knocked there a few times before but she was out of town! Apart from that we met some less actives and it was a great use of time. Sister Pack was incredible and helped SO MUCH. She's a saint! I was thinking about how like 9 months ago I'd be terrified to approach random people in a park and tell them about the Church but now I'm so comfortable doing it I can't imagine not doing it every day. I'd feel like my conversations were worth nothing if I didn’t bring up Jesus Christ at some point haha! I just love how focused on Him we are as missionaries. There's nothing else I'd rather focus on, and this time is so short to just cut out the whole world and live for Him each day. I love waking up with such purpose.
So we found this family who just moved from the Stake next door, Boulder Ridge. They are less active with unbaptized children. They are really nice and they told us “It's time for our family to change. We are ready to come back to Church. What do we need to do to get M baptized?" hahaha missionaries LOVE that question.So I guess the time is right for them! It was a great lesson with them, I felt the Spirit so strongly prompting me to tell them how proud Heavenly Father is of them and how they are making the right changes in their lives. I told them and the wife got tears in her eyes, it was a great moment. I love being a missionary!
The second new investiagtor we found was after our lemonade stand. Sister Pack was driving us back and we drove past her neighbour who was laying on the ground doing something in her garden, in the dark, at 9:20pm! Sister Pack said “She’s not a member!" so we jumped out and helped her and she was really grateful. We talked for a while, (we might’ve been late home...but it’s all for a good cause right!) and we will be seeing her tomorrow!! She said she’s been to Church a few times and is good friends with the Bishop and has been to the VC and said she'd like to read the Book of Mormon with us! She is so cute!! I'm excited.
A is doing so well!!!!! She is every missionary's golden investigator. She said she is willing to give up her marriage to get baptized because this is what she's been searching for her whole life. We taught her tithing and she said that she’s not got a job right now but can she donate her time or her skills or something? Haha isn’t she perfect?!?! I just feel a strong connection with her and every day I look foward to seeing her! We had a really intense lesson with her on Sunday where we put her on date for baptism and she had to choose whether to go ahead and do it without her husband or wait for him. We can’t tell her the answer because we don’t want her to ruin her marriage, but she made her decision to be baptized THIS SATURDAY whether her husband likes it or not. I am deeply touched by her example of sacrifice and consecration. To her it's black and white, there’s a right and a wrong. When asked to keep the commandments she just does it without question or hesitation or thought. She comes to each lesson armed with an example of something she learned from the scriptures or a prayer that was answered or how she avoided drinking coffee. She is very spiritual and I can’t wait to be best friends with her throughout life and eternity!
We had a GREAT opportunity to be in the parade in Washington on Pioneer Day. It was one of the best days of my mission! We met up at 6:45am with Sisters Allen and Hokanson just because we're bffs and wanted to ride together. Then we met the other two sets of the Sisters and the 10 companionships of Elders in WASHINGTON where I first served on my mission! I loved being back there and seeing so many familiar faces. Walking those roads brought back so many memories. Anyway we had a great breakfast of pancakes and eggs and bacon for free, and got so much free food throughout the day! Everyone thrust money into our hands so we got pizza and slushies and smoothies and popsicles haha!! And we got to talk about the Church ALLLLL day to people in the HEATTTT! I’ve never been so hot in my life! I was drenched! and so was everyone. We got to walk in the parade and it was so surreal. All we did was walk, but people were cheering and cheering and shouting how much they love missionaries. I thought if Luke walked in a parade in Greece he'd have had Gyro's thrown at his face but we got applauded! Every few minutes someone in the parade would be someone I knew from Washington so I got to run in to the crowd and hug sweaty people over and over again! I loved seeing old faces. Sad news though, the next day a woman I knew well in the 11th ward got hit by a car when jogging and has left behind three teenage children and a husband. It's devastating and the whole Stake is in mourning! I got to see the Sears, the Koevens and many others that I love. I wanted to see the Lewis's but they were out of town but they came in the VC yesterday so we had a great reunion! I love them all so much!!! It was incredible to walk in the parade and see everyone! Washington has a great history!
Great experiences at the VC this week! I gave a tour to this Christian couple and was so tired because it was after the parade (I was scheduled on shift straight afterwards so I didn’t have time to shower - hahaha gross - that's when perfume comes in to it!). But the Spirit was definitely there because usually I don’t know what to do with people on tours but with them it just flowed and I said things that just came out then thought “Woah, where did that come from?" and she ASKED for a Book of Mormon and gladly gave me her details and told me when to call her. I'll let you know how it goes! They were so nice and I love it when you just meet people and know that Heavenly Father sent them just for you. Happens so often in the VC. I was at the Christus talking to this 17 yr old girl whose family is all excommunicated or less active but she comes in every day for strength. She is GREAT! We just had a great deep chat and while we were talking this man I recognised came in and sat by the wall and took a pic of us talking. I would’ve thought it was weird but I'm used to all the French tourists doing the same thing ;) haha then I realized it was Thies!!!!! It was so cool to see him again! He taught me some Dutch phrases to use with the Dutch people! It was great to see a familiar face! He reminded me so much of you Dad that I nearly hugged him and hugged him hahaha! But I didn’t. I introduced him to all the Sisters as my Dad's mission companion and they oo'd and aahh'd haha.
This man came in the VC who served his mission in that place where the School of Prophets is. He said that during District Training Meeting in the School of the Prophets house, a man told a story of how the Saviour instructed the people there one time. The Elder walked out the door and walked back in to say he walked where the Saviour walked. As he walked in he said he felt something stronger than ever before. Fast forwarding to last year he lives here now and he cleaned the VC one evening and said as he was cleaning he felt that same strong feeling and knew that the Saviour had walked where he was cleaning. As he was telling me that his eyes filled with tears and he could hardly talk. I thanked him so sincerely for sharing that with me. I want you to know that the Saviour walks His homes and I am priviledged to serve in a sacred place every day. I strive my best not to do anything to make the Spirit have to leave this home, the Visitors’ Centre.
S hasn’t smoked all week!!!!!! It’s the longest he's ever gone! We're seeing him every day so he should be baptized on Saturday!!! We should have 2 baptisms. Pray for us! We’re working hard!
LOVE YOU ALLLLL SOOO MUCH
Sister Nicholls
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