Dear loved ones,
It's certainly been a different week. Campus was absolutely dead, so it was hard to find things to do when no one is there to teach and no one is there to knock doors. So we saw our international recent converts every day and we saw our Stake President and stuff like that. It was so eery being somewhere where you absolutely cannot see any other life form!
But Thanksgiving was the best day ever! We got up at 6:30am (OF COURSE!!!) and got ready and had ALL the Sisters over to our apartment to host a breakfast! It was sooo fun! There were a ton of us all squashed into our little apartment but we had such a laugh! Everyone brought something and we filled ourselves up even though we knew it was Thanksgiving and we had much more to come that day. After we ate we drove over to the nearby park that has volleyball courts and a baseball court thing. We played kickball and it was all us VC Sisters and a random pair of Elders came haha. The rest of the Elders played football against YSA teams in a tournament and the Elders team WON! #GOSTGEORGEELDERS We played kickball for just under an hour and then we played soccer! It was SO fun! Again all the European Sisters got really into it and the next day we were all SO SORE! Every muscle in my body was aching haha. But we played soccer then ultimate frisbee. The grass was really slippy so we fell over a few times ;) But we laughed and had so much fun. We were playing sports for about two hours and then we went home to get ready for the day. We made ourselves presentable and then studied for an hour. During my studies I remembered that on the last two Thanksgivings I like to do a half an hour prayer of thanks. I went into the bedroom and knelt down at my bed and poured out my heart in thanks for half an hour. It always goes by SO fast! When you know you have that much time I really could think about my whole life and all the people I've met and the experiences that have made me who I am. I prayed thanks for each one of you and all you have taught me and done for me. It was so cool to see how many more people I can pray thanks for this year than last year, I prayed thanks for how far the Lord had brought me and how much He has taught me and how many people He has brought into my life. My heart truly was brimming with joy and my gratitude spilled onto my cheeks as I prayed thanks for my Saviour's atonement and the countless times it has lifted me on this journey! I truly have MUCH to be grateful for and I could've gone on for ever. It was great to have that spirit with me throughout the day of everything He has given me. Afterwards we went to the Stake Center and had a huge dinner with all the VC sisters and Senior Couples and the Watkins' etc. Susan Easton Black was there with her husband. How many of us can say we've shared Thanksgiving with them ;) haha but we ate a delicious dinner and all shared things we are grateful for about our companions and about the VC and about our missions etc.
After dinner there was a talent show and Sister Watkins told us to do something funny so we rewrote the words of Part of Your World from Little Mermaid and its called Part of Your World, Trunky Edition haha and it was all about missionaries who want to be home. It went really well! Sister Garcia recorded it on my camera so you can watch it when I get home! It was very well received. We had a lot of fun and there were lots of good talents. Afterwards we let our dinner go down for an hour before going to our next appointment, at President Center's house!! There was us, the Spanish ZLs and the APs. It was hilarious because they are just a funny bunch of people. There were two of President's children and one of them is married so his wife and little boy were there too. We had a great meal and during the meal President looked at me and he was like "Sister Nicholls, you haven't left St George yet have you?" and I was like "No......but I love it here" and he was like "Hmmmm...I think you're a Kaibab kinda girl" and then Sister Center was like "Or a Price kind of girl!" and I very quietly said "You know...I'd really love to go to Delta..." and they were like "Delta!!!!! why?!?!" and I said "Well there's a missionary who taught my Dad who lives there with his family" and they were quiet for a second and nodded and looked at each other with a look on their faces that held the possibility of my last two transfers! SO I MIGHT BE GOING TO DELTA!!!! I MIGHT LEAVE ST GEORGE!!!!!!!! It was exciting! Anyway after dinner we played this game, like Guess the Cuckoo where we all had to write our names on a piece of paper and a statement about our lives that was true, and then the woman would pick up three of our stories and say the story and we had to tell the story ourselves and the others had to guess whose story it was! It was HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!! I did the story of when I was in AZ for Thanksgiving a couple of years ago and nearly got arrested for trespassing haha. We all learned a lot about each other that day. What happens in President's home stays in President's home. My story wasn't picked until nearly the end so I was up there lying so much and every time President believed whatever I said and voted for me and they were all lies hahahhahaha. Such a fun day! We all sung songs together and President was so chill all day, it was WONDERFUL!
Then in the evening we went home and got onesies on and went to the Zone activity, we all watched Tangled. It was hilarious because all the Elders sung along to every song! We had such a fun evening and it was a great day! Then the next day President called me in the morning to tell me that Grandad had passed away and that he found out yesterday morning but forgot to tell me. I'm glad he did because I had a great day and was able to make good memories. I shut myself in the bathroom and cried it out for a little while before praying and praying. While I was praying I felt the peace that comes from the Saviour's love descend upon my heart. And since then I really have felt fine. I know that we were blessed to have him in our family and to learn from his example of Christlike love and service and missionary work. I know that I have a new companion with me now and that whenever I get the urge to hand out pass along cards to everyone it's because he is there whispering in my ears urging me to hand them to everyone like he always did. It's hard to be sad when you know that he lived a wonderful dedicated life, and that he is with his family again, and that his body isn't holding him back anymore. He had a strong spirit in a weak body for a long time, so I cannot feel sad. We taught the plan of salvation after I came out of hiding on Friday morning and I was able to teach it with a renewed love for it because I could truly know the joy this plan brings us. I was blessed because Friday night and Saturday night people I love came into the VC, the Gygi's, and people from Morningside and Little Valley. Tender mercies for sure. The Temple has it's lights up now and we've had like 100000000s of visitors, all of them members and none of them want to talk to us. It's been crazy!
Yesterday was the Recent Convert Fireside and J, H and J all spoke (J from Morningside). I recorded it on my camera :) I just love those things because when I'm there I never ever want to stop being a missionary. It's incredible to hear the testimonies of those newly planted seeds in the recent converts. They are powerful and I love them so much! There is nothing like this work of salvation and I never want to not be a part of it. I love hearing their testimonies!
Well I have to go now! I love you all! Keep #sharethegift with everyone!
Sister Nicholls
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