O Babylon, O Babylon, we bid thee farewell! - 27-8-14

Oh wait, we enter Babylon every day knocking on college dorms!

Dear Loved ones,

This week has been sooo interesting! Lots of fun stories to tell so I'll jump right to it.

Our Zone Leaders are the Spanish Elders of the area, and they were teaching that man named A, remember a few emails back when I told the story of the really awkward eye compliment? Well he comes into the VC every day so we've all become good friends with him. Anyway we got a text saying "Hermana Nicholls, A would like you to give the talk on Baptism at his baptism" so I couldn't say no to that! It was on Sunday morning at 8am and it was ALL in Spanish. It was funny because he asked me to do a talk and Sister Lipke to do a talk. Loads of VC Sisters went, so all the Sisters who went were native Spanish speakers, and then there was us two who couldn't speak a word. Yet we were the two who had to speak. So I just spoke slowly and clearly in the hope that they would magically understand English if I spoke it slowly haha. #typicalignorantbrit But the baptism was BEAUTIFUL! The Spirit was strong and A was so happy afterwards.

We had a great lesson with our new investigator T last Wednesday evening. We taught The Restoration like 10 times last week! But the lesson went really well. These are what make the sweetest moments of missionary work. When you go into someone's home...or dorm....and they are just curious to know more at the start, but throughout the lesson the Spirit touches them and the curiosity turns into a sincere desire to know the truth. There's nothing more fulfilling than entering homes and teaching children of God the truth that their soul once knew but forgot, that they can be together with their families forever, and teaching them how to talk to their Father in Heaven for the first time! So at the start he just wanted to know what Mormons believed in, so we taught the restoration and at the end he said he would be baptized and we all knelt down together and he prayed! In his prayer he said the best thing ever "Thank you for sending the Missionaries to me. Let me know what I need to do to be a Mormon"!!!!!!! Sister Biery and I were like slapping each others arms during the prayer! It was such a great moment, and missions just seem to be filled with those moments that you want to last forever. Sweetest moments of my life have been praying with my investigators. I LOVE being a missionary :))))))

We had a super confusing lesson with this girl from Venezula. She is learning English and she said she was interested, then that she's not, then that she doesn't belive in God, then that she knows her prayers are answered, then that she's Catholic, then that she's not. We were like uuuhhhhhhh okaayyyyy. We just taught and are going to let the Ward fellowship her, specifically some Spanish speaking RMs! Can I just say how scary it is teaching when the members that come with you are fresh back from their missions. And they are all so great that you can guess they were probably the APs and the STLs. Every lesson I teach I get so hot and nervous and sweaty hahaha. I remember being constantly hot and sweaty when teaching in the MTC so I feel like I've gone back in time! Haha. Anyway it's good cos they know what to say and how to say it but I am just battling with so many feelings of inadequacy and stress. The Lord is helping though :) We had a great lesson with this girl named K :) she is from California and she said she'd be baptized and come to Church and to all the activities with all her roommates. Things are going well. We visited N, our investigator who is on the football team. We hadn't met him but we kept trying his house but he was never home because football practise is twice a day. FINALLY a young man opened the door wearing hardly ANYTHING and we were like staring at his face the WHOLE time and he said he was N! It was so great because his roommates were there and we gathered them all to the door, these big guys from the football team all non members, and we quitened them all down and stared at everyones faces only, and shared a scripture about Jesus Christ. When else are we going to do that in our life?! Stand at a boys dorm where all the football players are getting ready to go to practise and talk to them about Jesus?! Haha it was the best! We checked our phone on Friday night and there was this voicemail that went like this "Hi Sisters! This is the former Elder Captain of the Utah St George mission....now Chris Captain. I'm in town this weekend and have some time and need to come teaching with the missionaries. Let me know and I'll come teach with you!" so we were like WHAT ON EARTH!!! haha Elder Captain was the Assistant that just went home a transfer ago, he served in Dixie before he went home so it was SUCH a help. Some of the people we were teaching were people he found! So it was a great experience. But again a very nerve wracking and sweaty experience for the two nervous missionaries. It's always weird seeing missionaries who have gone home come back with their beards and their shorts. But the person we were teaching is from Nigeria and he just loves to debate and has every concern under the sun.

We had a TON of non members come in the VC on Friday night, there was this seventh day adventist convention in St George and they all came to the VC. They were from all over the world and were attending a conference about science and religion. It was exciting because this huge group of Romanians were there and they really wanted to see inside the church building across the street. We found the key and Sister Biery and I gave them a chapel tour. It was so random! When we were leaving I was like "I never thought my Friday night activities would include being in a chapel in St George with a bunch of Catholic Romanians". But it was a great experience. We resolved some concerns about the Sacrament and about the Book of Mormon. Again I thought about how far I've come with not being so afraid of answering tough questions in the last 11 months! It was just casual and normal and I thought how scared I would be to have done that 10 months ago. I love how the Lord helps you become what you need.

I was on exchanges with Sister Donovan yesterday, and we had one of the biggest miracle moments ever! I was in Morningside with her, and we knocked on this door and a few minutes later this scary looking man who stunk of cigarettes answered the door. He started out by grumpily saying that we had woken him up (at midday) and that we shouldn't waste our time with him. I said to him that we are his missionaries and want him to be able to know us and recognize us and come to us for anything. Turns out he was in the Navy all his life and has lived oversees so I asked him the biggest thing he learned from seeing all the world, and he said that there is GOOD in the world, not just bad. So we started sharing our message about being God's children and there being a Prophet on the earth and he said that he isn't religious but enjoys meditating but that out of all the religions he likes Mormons the best. We invited him to learn more and he declined and said he wasn't interested and we went along on our merry way. As we walked away I just felt so strongly that we needed to go back and give him a Book of Mormon. We were nervous to go back but thought about it and asked ourselves what Jesus would do. So we wrote a note in the front of the Book of Mormon and went back and saw he was sitting in front of his porch smoking and staring into space. I took a deep breath and said that we really wanted to give him this as a gift. He looked at us with such sincerity and said "I am so glad you came back. Since I shut the door I felt this glow in my chest about what you were saying. It was such a good feeling and I saw your aura's and they are such glowing and beautiful auras. I don't know what you girls have done, but you must've done something right in God's eyes." and went on to say that he trusts what we say and that he was for sure going to read the Book of Mormon and that we should go back to his home next week. We promised he would feel the same feeling as he read the Book of Mormon. He started reading right there and then with his cigarette in hand haha. It was one of the most precious moments of my mission.

Lastly, we have been screwed over by this crazy lady. Some Young Single Adults contacted us to say they met someone who wants to be taught, and set up a lesson for us. We went there and taught her and she said she'd be baptized and we made a return appointment for this evening. She went to Church and everything. Then we went to put her number in our phone and it was already saved as "DO NOT ANSWER" so we felt slightly alarmed and called the Elders and asked what they knew and they were like "She has been baptized a few times under different names and tries to get every missionary to teach her" its so weird!! And then I remembered that I'd heard about her when I first arrived in the mission, that we should avoid her because she made false accusations about the Elders when they went to teach her. So President told us all to avoid her. But we'd already been in her home and taught her haha! AND HUGGED HER!!! We were proper played like a pack of cards.

Anywayyyyy that's all my time for now! It's been a week of growing and learning. If repentance just means changing, then I've repented a lot this week. The Lord is showing me the cracks of weakness within myself and I'm using His love and strength to overcome it. I am coming to know Him better through my struggles and I never want to be far away from His spirit. I began the Book of Mormon again this week and learned how Nephi said four times "Let us be faithful in KEEPING the commandments" and he talked a lot about accomplishing the thing which the Lord commands. I learned that it's not enough to just try to keep the commandments, but we must be faithful in accomplishing that. He went back three times to get the plates. It would've been so easy for him to be like "Well we walked all this way and tried and Laban has his agency and chose to not give it to us...oh well, we tried, we did our part." But he didn't! He knew he wasn't keeping the commandments if he didn't accomplish it. So he went back again and again until he'd accomplished it. I thought about how often I blame people's agency for not giving them a tour at the VC or not giving them a BOM at the door. I learned that I need to accomplish what the Lord has asked of me and not just try or give up at the first hurdle!!

I love you all! Thank you for your support and love and encouragement! I pray for you all!

Sister Nicholls

DIXIIEE!!! - 20-8-14

Dear Loved Ones,

I'm going to start out by saying how I was right last week. I am ALWAYS surprised at transfer calls, and this time was no different. So Saturday morning came and I was feeling nervous, anticipating that anything could happen. There was going to be a trio of Sisters this transfer due to an uneven amount of Sisters so I thought that that could be me too. But after hours of painful studies just looking at the phone, we went to work in our area. No ONE answered and our one appointment stood us up, so we decided to do our weekly planning back in our apartment. On the way home, we drove by the mission office. Sister Biery said she needed the bathroom and wanted to check if we had any mail (because they don't send it out on week 6 of the transfer) so we went in and walked through the office to use the bathroom and waved at the AP's making the calls. A few minutes later they followed us out and were walking up the hallway towards us. They asked if we wanted our transfer call and we said YESSS so they said "Sisters, you'll be leaving your area, and staying together as a companionship to open Dixie 1.5" AHHHHH so it's exciting because we share the Stake with them.

They cover a whole bunch of Wards and we cover 5 of them, just in central St George. It's scary because they're GREAT missionaries and get things done, so we are going to work our best to keep up and get things done. There are two Young Single Adult Stakes in St George (not like Provo with it's 50 Stakes haha) and they covered all of it, and now there is the 1st Stake which is covered by us and the AP's and then the 2nd Stake which is covered by another set of Elders. So it's fun to be in a team with cool people. When they told us I screamed so loud that a baby started crying and we hugged and screamed and jumped and were SO excited. It couldn't be more different from Little Valley. There are non members all over the place from all over the world and they actually listen to what you have to say. So it's GREAT!

Sad news for Little Valley. We met up with A in the park the other week and she told us that she had booked her flight home to Boston. She went home on Monday. I've grown so close with her and love her so much. I think I was just there in Little Valley to meet her. She came on the day that I was brought into that area and left on the day that I left. She was Heavenly Father's tender mercy to me and I know we'll be eternity-long bffs. She feeds my soul and I miss her so much. It feels like raising a child and then sending them off into the world, hoping that you did your best for them. I hope she remembers everything we taught her and everything the Spirit taught her and everything she felt. She says she is for sure being baptized but she knows her husband needs to be there. So we are going to continue to teach her on the phone and by email at the VC and help her stay on the straight and narrow. We will get her in touch with her local missionaries and Bishop and Ward. They have no idea that they have the biggest miracle coming their way very soon!

Dad you'd be proud, I took a Dutch family around the VC and they LIKED it. I love the Dutch people because they make me feel closer to you. They are the nicest European groups we ever get. This week has been creeper central in the VC. That polygamist guy I wrote to you last week about? He came back and wouldn't leave me alone and said creepy things to me and the other Sisters said he was looking at me wayyyyyyyy too much so I went and hid in the break room until he left. It was a looonng time to sit there looking at the walls haha. But he was scary!! It's such a shame when that happens because all you want to do is give them a chance at eternal life and all they want is to be creepy #boys BUT now I'm in YSA it's more prominent! We had two boys invite us out to breakfast yesterday and we were like "As long as there's teaching involved...and it's at the Visitor's center....at 3:00pm....we can be there then!" hahhaa

I have to tell you about the best Zone Conference of my entire mission. Remember a few weeks ago we got told that there would be an impromptu Zone Conference so rumours of Jeffrey R Holland were flying around? Well it was better than that. It was a missionary testimony meeting. I wish I could put into words how sacred that meeting was to me. I feel like that about my whole mission though, how can I put it into words? So we first had to drive to the chapel and were instructed to leave our hood and trunk popped with our keys in the front drivers seat and the doors unlocked. It was a sight to behold all these cars in the car park with their hoods and trunks open. CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT IN ESSEX? We came out of the meeting and everyone's cars were still there and the keys were in the ignition after they'd all been checked! I was astounded haha. Everyone's testimonies were so touching. We get to bear our testimonies every day, and the missionaries we work alongside of are our best friends, but we don't really know each other that well. We know each other's strengths, and each other's spirits, but we don't KNOW things about each other - where we came from, our struggles, how Christ has helped us personally. It was a beautiful meeting and I thought that the chapel would be translated at any second because the Spirit was so strong. It was the boost we all needed. I was sitting by a window and saw cars rushing by and everyone running around in the world and I knew that there was nowhere else I'd want to be, and nowhere else I'd ever want to be than in Zion. Have I ever mentioned how much I love my mission? I have 5 transfers left and it sounds like ages but it's gone by soooo fast that I know how fast this will go by. But knowing how short it is left makes me want to work harder, it doesn't make me trunky. I have so much to learn every single day, and it seems like the longer I'm on my mission the more imperfections I find with myself. I am really learning how to use the Atonement and how to use prayer and how to not be hard on myself. I expect way too much of myself compared to what the Saviour expects of me. I am learning that I'm not perfect, but that that is okay. In fact, that's how it is supposed to be. I love it :) I'm leaning on my Saviour for support and He is lifting me up.

We started working in our new area yesterday. I am thrilled to still have Sister Biery because she helps me to be better. We nervously walked to the dorms that we cover and began knocking. It's scary because there's been such a legacy of great missionaries there that they all still remember and love and it's easy to feel inadequate and terrified. But there have been so many tender mercies already.We fasted together to be placed in the right places to find the elect, and as we were fasting a woman approached us and told us she is a landlord for an apartment complex we cover and that 3 non members moved in and so did one of the Elders who served here who has gone home. He is attending DSU now and lives there with them! So that was cool! Then yesterday we just knocked and knocked and we have 7 return appointments with non members, and taught two of them right there and then. YSA seem to be great for letting us in. We just say we are here to teach about Jesus and that it will help them be happier. We are being really bold and telling them that there's a Prophet on the earth and he's called us to come to them and tell them that Christ's true church has been restored. They usually listen to that and invite us in straight away! It blows me away every time. No one was rude to us, and non members made return appointments. When does that ever happen in Little Valley?! We texted our 21 year old RM Ward Mission leaders and they have coordinated for other students to be at our appointments. It's so great! It's a walking area so we walk everywhere. I am reminded of the Washington ache, where I was being trained in that walking area and got aches and muscles in places I didn't know existed. SO I LOVE walking. And we don't have dinner appointments because they are all students so I'm losing weight and it's the best.

Pray for me please, new areas are always scary. It's my third time re-opening and I feel like President Center must think I haven't quite gotten it right yet so I need to keep doing it again and again. It's scary but I love a challenge, it always brings me to my knees and helps me learn more about the Saviour.

I adore you all
Sister Nicholls

Will this be the last week in Little Valley? - 12-8-14

Dear Friends and Family, 

Lots to type this week so I'll try and get it done! Firstly, this is week 6 of the transfer so we get transfer calls on Saturday! This is the first time I've had to wait for the Assistants to call on the Saturday morning for about 4 transfers so I'm nervous!! President has made a few outbound jokes to me recently so maybe I'll be packing my bags and getting on the transfer van for a few hours. I'm fine with whatever happens, but I always seem to be surprised so I have no guesses as to what is going on! 

The highlight of my week was seeing the Herbertson family!!!

It was a miracle that we even saw each other because I wasn't on shift, but we had an appointment at the VC and so we went and before I could walk in, Sister Garcia ran out and told me to shut my eyes and took my hands to lead me in. I was so scared and said "IS MY MUM HERE?" as a joke and as I said it I heard this British voice say "Ello Sister Nicholls!" and I knew it was Nathan and I might've jumped and screamed (but all very professionally because I'm a missionary) and then hugged Julie for about 10 minutes. There was NO ONE in the VC so all the Sisters were staring haha but I didn’t care, it was great! We'd just been stood up four times that day for appointments so I was more than thrilled to see smoeone who liked us haha. We talked and LAUGHED and hugged and took pictures. It was so weird to see Nathan because I feel like we were just at the Olympics together and I was nervous to go to BYU and he was nervous for his mission and then now it's all over! It was more weird to hear them say my name. They said “Let’s pose like this for Charlotte's camera" and I hardly recognize my first name anymore! But it was sooooo nice to see them! But yeah EVERYONE stood us up again this week. I got the lowest numbers I've ever gotten. I got the same as I got when I reopened an area on the first week :o but its okay because we're learning patience and gratitude and we strengthen each other!

We spent some time making cookies and handing them out to people to make them like us more! We went back up the massive hill to give them to a non member family and it was hilarious because we discovered that there was a wasps nest up there and they began chasing us - nice move non members ;) way to keep the missionaries away. It was worse than Colchester Zoo with Luke and Perry hahaha. We RAN and RAN and RAN down that hill and wasps were chasing us and we jumped in the car and drove and then there was a WASP in the car!!!!! I have never feared for my life so much! Those were the wasps of Satan for sure. We met some great people giving out cookies though. This one Baptist preacher and his family really like us now, so we are working with their neighbours to do a FHE with them. We met a new Catholic family that just moved in and she was so cute! She looked at my nametag and said "Sister Nicholas....can I just call you Nicky?" hahaha she thought it was my first name and I just said sure thing. Everyone calls me Sister Nicholas!

I had a tragedy in the VC this week! We were about to leave to go to Church on Sunday morning at 11am and I'd been in the VC since 9am and hadn’t eaten breakfast but we'd had a nutella milkshake dropped off to us the day before and I wanted it and so I drunk most of it and there was ONE mouthful left, and in keeping with life it’s when you do the final lap or the last second or the last mouhtful that everything goes wrong. Can I mention I was wearing a white skirt and the brand new top you sent me mum. I took the last mouthful overzealously and overshot and overestimated the swig and it went ALLLLLLLL DOWN MEEEEE!!! It went down my chest into my shirt and down my skirt and into my SHOEEEEEE!!! And we had 2 minutes until Church started! We both just stood in the kitchen in SHOCKED SILENCE and I dared not look at what monstrosity I had just created. And I broke the silence with my laughter! It was EVERYWHERE! I didn’t have time to change or I'd have missed Church so instead we just wiped some of it off and ran to church! I had to sit through 1hr and a half of Sacrament Meeting smelling like chocolate milk and being freezing cold and sticky. My shoes were stuck to my wet milky feet and my arms were sticky and I just felt miserable but it was hilarious! We ran home afterwards and I washed it all today and it's all come out so crisis over! 

We had our Zone Meeting this week and it was more like a Zone party. We have the Mesquite missionaries in our Zone now so they were there and when we had to return and report our numbers for each area of new investigators we're all like “We had 3 new investigators this month" or “We had 2 new investigators" then the Mesquite Elders stand up and say “We had 28 new investigators last month" and everyone’s mouths dropped open! #mostcovetedareaofthemission - haha - but the Zone Leaders provided a classy break time treat for us. There was bottle after bottle of Martinelli's apple cider and plates and plates of different cheeses from all over the world and home made bread and brownies and lots of different cheesecakes hahah. It was SO FUN! We were popping those bottles like nobody's business. It was so fun! Also we discovered that Sister Pearson and I were at the same New Years Eve party in 2012 in London! Fun fact :) but it was such a great Zone meeting.

In the VC things are going well! We have a brand new art work exhibit by Al Rounds. It's entitled "Sacred Places" and it goes through all the Church history significant places, like the Sacred Grove, Joseph Smith's house, Hill Cumorah, Martin Harris farm, Kirtland, Nauvoo, Liberty and Carthage jails, PRESTON ENGLAND, St George, Salt Lake, Hawn's Mill, Adam ondi ahman etc. It is so beautiful!! I love it and I love giving tours of it. I've taken some pics of it and will use it for my next planner art work! I had a great experience giving a tour in the VC this last week. A Sister came to get me because there were three British women in the back who wanted a tour. It always works out best when their own nationality greet them so she came to get me and it turns out they're from Luton! Haha it was a delight to hear my own accent for once. They know where the LDS Church in Luton is. One of the three women was soooo interested. They were here to golf and have been here before and will come next year. She said that the people here are just such nice people and are beautiful inside and out, and it just intruiged her as to why. We talked a lot about the Temple and about the Book of Mormon, and they told me that they had been to Deseret Book and bought a book called something like 100 questions answered about Mormons. She thought it was so interesting and when I picked up the English Book of Mormon from the big Book of Mormon table and said we could give her one she just snatched it out of my hand and said thanks! Hahaha she REALLY wanted THAT Book of Mormon! So I had to find another one to replace the one on the table. But she asked such great questions and she gave me her contact details so I will continue to teach her online. She gave me her email address and said "I shall be disappointed if you do not contact me." and just loved everything we talked about. I love the VC for reasons like that, that you get to meet people from all over the world who you can see have been prepared for that experience for a long time. 

So last week I told you about the MEP who came in and offered an internship, and this week someone else came in and offered us internships. It was this incredibly interesting woman who goes undercover into Colorado City and helps save the people there. She saves women and children from abuse and she has set up a school and buys clothes from DI for the kids to wear to this school and she was just telling us all about her job and we were all captivated by it. She said she needs volunteers and interns and gave us all her business card! Ever since I got here I can’t even describe the feelings I have for the polygamists but I just feel drawn to helping them and when she came in and talked to us about what she does it was incredible. It's definitely an option to consider :) Yesterday I gave a tour to a lost boy who broke away from the polygamists a few years ago. He said he had taken the missionary discussions twice but never felt like he could be baptized. But he came in because he was in desperate need of feeling the Spirit and he has nowhere to live right now. It was heart breaking. It was really cool because in the morning during companionship study we listen to the Spirit and prepare something for the VC that we feel inspried to prepare. That morning it was the Family Proclamation. As I was giving him the tour, we ended up at the Family Proclamation and I taught about our Apostles and Prophets and their role in strengthening families, and he got all tearful and shared some horrific stories about how he was disowned and what has happened to his family. I put him in the Modern Prophets booth and put on President Monson's testimony from Special Witnesses and at the end he was all tearful and said he has made his decision - he needs to take that step and be baptized! He gave me his details and wants to be taught. It was such a great experience and we just clicked. His stories just break my heart and I can’t describe how I feel about them. It was one of those experiences I'll never forget at the VC. We had a French bus break down outside he VC the other day so there were 30 French people STUCK in the VC with no way out. We preached and preached til every one of them wanted to be baptized ;) 

Lastly, the exercise is going well!! I've only thrown up one more time after exercising so I'm taking it easier and not drinking as much haha. We've started playing soccer in the mornings too. It's funny because none of the other Sisters get as in to it as myself and Sister Lipke, the Sister from Germany, get SO into it and we tackle and sprint and kick and love it and the other Sisters are like “Of course the two European Sisters are the ones that actually enjoy this" hahha. They were like “Have you played soccer before?" and we're like “We're European, its in our blood. This is what we do." hahahaha but we get all intense and everyone else just watches. We make sure we get to the field before the Elders take it! hahaha! It's all fun! 

I gotta go now! I loovveeee being a missionary and serving the Lord and the people of Little Valley!

Keep me in your prayers and I'll keep you in mine.

Sister Nicholls

"Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly!" - 5-8-14

Dear Loved Ones, 

What a week! Missions definitely are filled with the highest highs and lowest lows. The highest high was definitely S being baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!! We just love him so much and are so proud of him that he made it!  He's been taught since October, and wanted to be baptized so badly but just couldn’t quit smoking. I can't claim that we did anything different than the Elders did with him at all - I just think it was the right time for him! He has come from a rough background and a hard life, and I can't tell you the change I've seen come over him in just the few months I've known him. He was positively radiant on his baptismal night and his confirmation morning. He was prepared and ready and he did it for the right reasons. When the man who baptized him bore his testimony he said "Just like with everything, it takes some Sisters to get the job done." and we all cracked up. But in seriousness the Elders did a great job - he talks so highly of them and we couldn't have gotten this far with him without their influence too. So we're grateful for all involved. It was a beautiful baptism, and our Zone Leaders came with their investigator. They are Spanish speaking so the man was Mexican and he was so sincere. He loved it and has since accepted a baptismal date. It was the most awkward moment of the week with him though: so both the Elders and I and Sister Biery were standing with him talking about the baptism and I asked him where he is from and he said Mexico. He didn’t look Mexican because he was white with green eyes and Elder Castellanos said “Can’t you tell he's Mexican with his white skin and green eyes?!" and then the man said to me "Green eyes just like yours....no, blue.....Beautiful blue eyes…Beautiful." and I felt so awkward and thought my face was going to explode and die because the mantle of missionary awkwardness has definitely found place within me. I couldn’t say anything and just looked at the floor and muttered “Thank you" and there was about 7 seconds of the most heavy awkward silence ever. Sister Biery had to walk away she felt so awkward hahahahahaha. It was horrible!!!!!! The Elders didn’t know what to do and neither did we! After we left they texted us saying "That awkward moment when Sister Nicholls can't take an eye compliment" Hahahha I feel like I'll never be able to speak to a man or hear a compliment ever again in my life without feeling like I'm going to die of awkwardness. Missionary life is so much easier ;) 

I am in love with the family we're working with called the M family! They came to Church as a family and stayed the whole 3 hours. They were suited and booted and looked great as all Little Valley people do! They cried from the Spirit and said how they needed to change their life and have this all the time. We went to Gospel Principles with them and our Ward Mission Leader Brother Slade was teaching. He is a counsellor and the whole class was on parenting techniques taught in the scriptures. It was great!!! Then we went to Relief Society and Brother Slade's heavily pregnant wife was supposed to teach but asked him to do it, so he taught again about communication between couples. So I got 2 hours of free therapy! Can I just say, every time I go to Relief Society I hear those great words that every missionary wants to hear "Today, Relief Society Sisters, we will be learning about eternal marriage" and me and Sister Biery look at each other and know it's going to be a looooonnnggg lesson! And it seems to be all we've learned about in RS for the last few weeks! Anyway Sis M loved it and after Church we taught them a lesson and they shared with us what they learned at Church and it was very positive. Also something very exciting! They are getting a mummy and a baby LLAMAAAAA!!!!! MY FAVOURITE ANIMALS!!! And I said what are you going to call the baby? and their little girl  said "We are thinking either Fiona or Charlotte!" and I nearly spat out my water hahahaha they had no idea that was my name haha!! I told them and they said "Well then we MUST call it Charlotte"  hahaha. I now have a baby llama with my own name #whatanhonor 

We had exchanges this week, and I was with Sister Potter who is from Florida. It was a really great exchange and we had a lot of fun! I love her a lot. We contacted this Philippino family who were so nice! The Dad said that he was 6 days away from being baptized when he was in Indiana but he didn’t make it but he loved Church and took his kids. The wife didn’t go because she's Catholic and she looked at us with daggers in her eyes. It always hurts my heart that because of my name tag people are terrified of me or despise me. So we are making cookies with Sister Pack to soften the hearts of the people in the surrounding areas. It’s been fun because it's rained a lot this week and it feels like we've had thunder storms every night. We go home for planning and then it starts raining and after planning we all go outside and run around and dance and take pictures. It's a lot of fun :) 

I had two cool things happen in the VC this week! One, I found a note in my cubby hole that says: "Sister Nicholls! Hey, you may not remember me but back in February you took my 3 friends and I around the VC. We watched God's Plan and talked. I wanted to tell you that our experience got us talking about our missions. It was a turning point in my friend's life and I wanted to thank you for the love, light and spirit you brought. Much love, Whitney" 

Try as I might I cannot remember this tour at all! But I trust that it did happen haha. So they came in and I wasn’t there so they just wrote that for me! It showed me how you never know how your words can help someone, even if you’re just simply doing your job. There's a verse in the D&C that I love about every man performing the duty to which he has been called with all diligence, and I've studied it a lot recently. I love it! 

Lastly, a man came into the VC who is from Wales and represents UKIP in the European Parliament. I excitedly told him all about my A Level in Government and Politics and he told me some horror stories about how corrupt the EP is and the hard life of an MEP. It was scary! He likened it all to Ether in the Book of Mormon and he said that when I go home in March I am to contact him and he will get me an internship for the summer!! So that's exciting! It's all making sense why I took politics now ;) haha we'll see! It was so cool talking to him though! 

Today we are going to Mesquite with Sister Pack for lunch! It's in our Zone so we're allowed :) hahahah! We are THRILLED because its the first time I've been out of St George in 10 months! I've been in this city for 10 months, going to the same grocery store and the same email place and the same houses every day for 10 months. I'm SO EXCITED to enter Arizona then Nevada!! I’M LEAVING UTAH FOR A SHORT WHILE! 

I LOVE YOU ALL

Sister Nicholls

"Does Josh Groban raise you up so you can walk on mountains?” - 29-7-14

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

"God our strength will be, press forward, ever called to serve our King" - 22-7-14

Dear Loved Ones, 

This is definitely a refining experience! This week started out sooooooooo fun!! On Wednesday instead of our shift at the Visitors' Center we went to the Brigham Young Winter Home. I was incredibly rusty because it was March since I did a tour there. It's really hard to remember the wood everything is made of, and the names of the architects, and what the little holes in the ceiling mean after that many months. Thankfully the first tour I gave only wanted to know about EVERY LITTLE obscure detail haha! I just said everything really confidently so they would think I knew what I was talking about!! Then in between tours I just devoured the book about the place so I could learn little stories about Brigham. It was so fun, I love being there. It was SO hot though! We had some polygamist visitor's there for a tour, they love it at Brigham's! So it was such a nice change to do something different than being at the VC every day :) Also I came around the corner with a tour group and saw Megan Torgenson sitting there, and she brought treats for us!!!! It was SO good to see her and to talk for a few minutes. She is great! 

We did have a cool miracle at the VC this week. A Slovenian bus came and wanted a tour, and they were all so nice! I was just standing by the front desk and greeted a man named S. He started to explain to me in broken English that he felt good here. He said there was a "good energy" in this building. I explained to him about the Holy Ghost and asked if he believed in God. He said that he is Catholic. I told him that he could have a book in his own language that would give him the same good feeling if he reads it, especially in his home with his family. He was so happy and I gave him a Slovenian Book of Mormon! He went and showed his wife, then came back and found me and asked me to sign the front of it for him. I did so, and HE asked ME if he could give me his email address and have me teach him more! How perfect is that?! It was incredible. So I did, and I took his home address and he wants local missionaries to visit. If I was a missionary in Slovenia I would jump at the chance to teach someone who had already been introduced. When does that ever happen in those obscure little European countries? VC is the BEST! The other night in the VC it was really really slow, there was not ONE visitor there. So naturally, we put Johnny Lingo on in the theatre and one by one all the Sisters ended up in there while nobody was out there to talk to! We played Because of Him REALLY loudly too and there might've been some dancing too but I can't possibly disclose who might've been dancing. #youknowyou'reamissionarywhenyougetexcitedaboutplayingbecauseofhimanddancingtoitwithothermissionaries

So I'm learning a lot about relying on the Lord for strength. It's been a tough week! It seems like there was an ad in the newspaper urging everyone to make appointments with us and then to go out for dinner so that you're not in the house when the missionaries knock! OR just urging people to hurl all kinds of abuse at the Sisters! Both feasible ideas. We were trying to re-find this less active person I'd seen weeks ago and were walking to their house when we saw this old woman bent over on her drive picking things up and putting them in buckets. We were like, oh we should help, so we went over there. Before we even made it to her drive she shot up and started shouting all kinds of horrible things at us. We both just stopped and looked at her, and wished her a good evening and kept walking. She followed us still shouting and so I stopped and she kept coming towards me, and I thought she was going to hit me! I let her come closer and closer to me, and I just said “We are so sorry, we were not aware you felt that way. We will leave, have a good evening. Thank you for letting us know.” while she's shouting "NOBODY WANTS YOU HERE. NOBODY WANTS YOUR CAR ON OUR STREETS." and all kinds of hurtful things. We kept our heads held high and walked away and knew we were standing shoulder to shoulder with the Saviour who had much worse abuse yelled at him. The scripture in Mosiah 14 "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” means a lot more to me now. I am in no way comparing what we go through as missionaries to what the Saviour went through, but I know that I am coming to understand how He feels about people better. How He must've felt when He came to bring hope to people, and they rejected it. It can be so discouraging when you pray for people by name for days, spend an hour in the morning preparing for them, and then go to their house and they just don't answer. It's happened about 12 times this week. But we are learning to keep being happy despite circumstances. The Lord is sending blessings to help us remember He is still there and still loves us. We had a great District Meeting last week which was exactly what I needed. The Elder doing it was super inspired and taught about how the atonement can help us in missionary work. He used a often-used Elder Holland talk about missionary work and the atonement, which basically shows us how our missions are all about us learning how to use the atonement. If salvation wasn't easy for the Saviour to bring to mankind, why should it be easy for us. We need to cry out for help and use the atonement to keep trying and keep going. I feel like this week I've used mighty prayer more than ever before on my mission. I cant explain the sweet feelings that come as I know my Father is listening, and also that He understands me perfectly too. I plead with Him to bring my heart some joy, and I opened my scriptures and the first verse that my eyes hit said this : (John 16)

21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world

22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.

23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.

24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.

33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

And it was just exactly what I needed. Exactly! It brings me hope to know that He is aware of us all and loves us all perfectly. It's all a big learning experience! 

So an awesome story this week! D who I was teaching in the Teaching Centre got BAPTISED!!!

It was in Green valley so not very far away so I could go. They asked us to sing too, so myself and the two other Sisters sung "Lead Kindly Light"! It was a beautiful baptism. The Spirit was so strong, especially as the man said those words “Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ" he paused and couldn’t speak for a few seconds and everyone in the room was in tears! We brought two of our investigators and both were crying and then tried to explain to us that they felt this pressure in their chest but that it felt SO GOOD and both of them are pumped for baptism. I taught A after the baptism on a split with a member and she just cried the whole time and said she would be baptised this weekend or next weekend depending on what her husband said. If he didn’t mind her going ahead and doing it without him being there, she'd do it this Saturday. If he wants to be there, it'll be next Saturday! SO it's all great! I just remember the Spirit being in that lesson so strong, and I remember it being REALLY HOT in there haha. I think I sweated the whole way through the lesson. But that's just every day life now ;) always hot and sweaty. S is still going strong, 6 days without smoking! SO hopefully a baptism in a week and half!!

Last night  after our hard day we watched The Testaments after planning and gave each other back massages hahah #whatarecompanionsfor? I love my companion. I really love her! We are helping each other eat more healthily so I live on fruit and quinoa haha. With that said, we are craving krispy kreme donuts so if anyone wants to send us some that'd be great. The first person to send us some krispy kreme donuts will receive the prize of a HUG from me in 8 months time OK? THANKS. 

This week looks exciting! We have been asked to help out in Pioneer Day festivities on Thursday! On Friday we are going to do a free lemonade stand in the park in our area to try and find some people to teach. We will battle the heat! Also we got informed of a last minute special Multi Zone Conference in two weeks so maybe someone special is visiting! How exciting :) Exciting times as a missionary! Also a member we ate with is a dentist and is bleaching our teeth for free!! WOOOOOOO :) 

I love everything I'm learning and I love you all so much! 

Sister Nicholls 

"Consecration is the only surrender which is also a victory" - Neal A Maxwell - 15-7-14

Dear Family and Friends, 

I love my new companion! Sister Biery helps me to work harder and be better. We laugh a ton together and we are coming to know each other really well. I am so grateful for her, she is exactly what I need at this point in my mission. Some of the sisters who served at the VC but went home recently came back this weekend to visit and they asked me how I am and I responded that I just feel tired and they said that that's normal and you get through it :) so there's hope that the exhaustion will stop soon. You know you're becoming accustomed to st george weather when you get in the car and it says 90F and you're like "why is it so cold today?" haha. We had the worst experience ever on Sunday! We were fasting and we wanted to contact some referrals that were all on the same street, so we parked the car and walked and honestly I've never felt like I was walking through the desert more than I have that day. It was such a struggle to put one foot infront of the other, and we were drenched in sweat. We dragged ourselves to each door and prayed that one of them would open and not one of them did. We kept walking and made it to a members house and begged them for water. We looked at the thermometer and it was 111F! No wonder we were dying!! I've never felt so drained! It's exhausting!! I dont know if it's the 9month exhaustion point or if it is the heat but I've started sleeping at the most innappropriate times! Haha I fell asleep when Sister Biery was saying a really long prayer the other day. I dreamed and everything, and when she said amen, I said amen and jumped up and had a huge red mark on my forehead from my hands! Haha we were watching a movie with Lauren our investigator and I slept through most of it haha! Lukcily we've seen them all 1000 times so the ending notes woke me up and I was just like "So how did you feel when _______ " hahaha. BAD TIMES!! I always fall asleep in church too! I feel like my parents ;) BUT cool thing from Church, I was wearing my nametag with my british flag and I met Elder Tautfest's parents. They go to the ward across the street from the VC! They are really nice. They said he really liked basildon! They remembered that you were the Bishop, Dad. He's coming back home in August so maybe I'll meet someone who has seen my parents since I have :) It was definitely a tender mercy of the Lord! 

It seems like Little Valley is the place for active members in any denomination. The only people who are not members of the LDS church are the ministers and preachers of the other denominations. Most of them are really nice! We were invited into this female Methodist Minister's home and she was really nice. She told us that Joseph Smith used to be Methodist and we agreed whole heartedly. She knew her stuff. She isn't interested in learning more because she doesn't understand why the Lord would allow Methoidst women the Priesthood but why the Mormon women are not allowed. She thinks the Lord told the excommunicated woman yes to the Priesthood and thats why she keeps pursuing it. There wasnt much we could say back to that! Apart from that we've met with Baptist preachers, non denominational worship-leaders etc. I'm just working hard so that the power and authority of our calling from God can be manifest to the soft hearted. It's definitely a new experience compared to coming from Basildon where God just isn't a thing. 

We met with a less active woman yesterday who we first met on Sunday and she invited us back for Monday. It reminded me a lot of my first area, Washington, because she lives in what is probably the only run down bungalow looking apartment stuck on the side of a house. It felt like home to be back in an apartment like that :) not because our home is like that, but because the first 8 months of my mission was in places like that. Anyway she was married in the temple then got divorced and doesnt come to church ever. She's been to all the churches and thinks that there is truth in everything, and we agreed with that and talked about how each church is made from elements of truth and inspired people, but that there is a Church that contains the WHOLE truth and a Prophet called of God. It was pretty bold but we did it lovingly. Then one of the sweetest moments of my mission occurred. I asked her what prompted her to invite us back and she looked very thoughtful and stared at us for a while and said "Because of the light that is around you. I always invite the missionaries back because of the light that shines and radiates from them. You carry this bright light that nobody else has, and I just want to bask in it all day." it was powerful and so touching. You never realize the authority of your calling when you're the one marinating in it all day! When we said goodbye she hugged me tight and whispered "you have the most beautiful bright light shining from you". It was incredibly humbling and touching. Send me back to the humble poor people! 

Gina, our investigator who is afraid of baptismal committment tried to get herself off of date for August 16th. We let her off for a week then prayed so hard and went into the lesson and worked our best and the Lord sent the Spirit to guide us. Her concern is that she needs to be perfect after her baptism and I was like "Have you ever MET ME?? I've been baptized and I am NOWHERE near perfect!" hahaha. But we put her back on date forAUGUST 2nd so we got to move it forward!!! We are excited! Apart from that, Lauren is still doing good. She had a rough past, she's an orphan and went from foster home to foster home and did a lot of things she shouldnt have but she's ready to leave that all behind. She's just embracing the Gospel! Shane smokes and smokes and then feels bad and quits then goes back in the circle. ANy ideas for how to get people off of that circle would be greatly appreciated. Amy's husband came into town from Boston but they went out of town with each other for the whole week so no baptism :( We think we will give her a btpsimal date and invite her to invite him to come back into town for that day! 

My Teaching Center investigator's are going good! I LOVE teaching over the phone. it defintiely takes some getting used to but once you've accustomed to not seeing the person's facial expressions or body language it gets better. I LOVE IT. One of them said the best thing I've ever heard! We were talking about 1 Nephi 1: 9-10 and countenances and radiances, and I asked him "what do you think is something you can do to make sure that you have that radiance about you?" and he thought about it for a few seconds and said "..................be mormon......." hahaha I was like YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT'S EXACTLY RIGHT!!!" 

Since we were invited to deactivate our facebook accounts and stop listening to music other than mormon tabernacle choir I've been praying a lot about what more I can sacrifice. The Lord definitely shows us what we need to do. It's often painful and difficult, but along with sacrificing whatever the Lord wants comes the sacrifice of our pride. As we hand over to him the things that we've been carrying with us for so long, the attributes that are not Christ-like, or the vices we haven't buried deep in the earth, we are ultimately handing over our pride and our will. I've been drawn to studying D&C88:119 but changing the words so it says : 119 Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a mission, even a mission of prayer, a mission of fasting, a mission of faith, a mission of learning, a mission of glory, a mission of order, a mission of God;

It's my greatest desire to make my mission a mission of God. Not my own, not anyone elses, but His. Consecration really is the only surrender which is ultimately a victory! My mission is teaching me so much, and I cant believe that I only have 8 months left! I need to learn everything I can while I still have time. I love you all and need your prayers and strength. 

Sister Nicholls