Dianna Update - 27 March 2010

Happy St. Patrick's day - 17 march 2010
I'm wearing green, so no pinching for me! You know what? I had a thought this past week, PEI is to Canada as Idaho is to the USA. There are A LOT of Potatoes! At almost every dinner appointment there are potatoes. Also, I've learned what "Newfie Steak" is. (Newfie is the nickname for Newfoundland). It's Bologna! LOL! So this past week we had Zone Conference. Since we're in the middle of nowhere we had a 3 hour drive to get there. Since it was at 9 am, we decided to leave the day before and stay with a member. We ended up staying with a YSA named Meghann who used to live in Halifax and was a branch missionary! She moved about a month ago. It was nice to visit with her. Since she stays in contact with people there she told me some gossip and how people were doing and then she told me the best news ever! Terry is getting baptized this saturday! I almost jumped out of my skin! I'm SO excited but really sad that I won't be there. But then this monday we met with an investigator, Shelley, and she's getting baptized this saturday as well! So I'll be at a baptism the same day as Terry's just forever away. Guess what she wants to have for refreshments? Soda Pop cake! It's her favorite, except she calls it poke cake. I hope that I remember how to make it. I don't want to mess that up.

Andrew, your mission expectations are WAY higher than mine. It's very evident that we are in 2 completely different missions. We are to have 10 QGC's (Quality Gospel Conversations) a day, go finding (knocking, street contacting) 2 hours every day, teach at least 2 lessons a day, and do 4-6 hours of service a week. People here are SUPER nice but SUPER religious. There are 13 churches in Montague alone. Only like 100 people live in Montague. Most members travel to get here. It's also just a tiny branch with a tiny building. But we have dogs too. BIG ones. Since it's the country everyone has a huge guard dog that roams their property and will bark when they see you coming. We have only been chased once, by a German Shepherd, THEY RUN FAST! Also, we have cars in this mission, but they're getting rid of some in the Metro because they can use the bus. My area is 1/3 of a province (state) with no bus system so we wouldn't get much done without a car.

Love you!
Sister Nicholls

My sun, sun, Mr. Golden sun. Please shine down on me! - 10 March 2010
There's sun! It's been around since saturday minus a day in there. I think I'm going to have to bust out a little coat. WOW! It got up to 3 degrees on sunday and I almost broke into a sweat! It's so weird how 3 degrees is FREEZING going into winter but warm coming out. I've adjusted I guess. I hope this doesn't mean that summer will be hard. PEI fact for the day:Everyone talks about the weather. It's not because you have nothing else to say or for a conversation starter but actually because it's a topic they LOVE to talk about. And this information came from a native Islander.

I realized last week after I left the library that I didn't tell you how BIG by area is. It's 1/3 of the entire province of PEI!!! We're the eastern most third. I haven't seen all of it, or most of it for that matter, yet. I also forgot to tell you something about our apt. We have "excitable" water. This is what Sis. Ferrell calls it because it gets REALLY hot REALLY fast and it won't calm down. I guess it's a blessing to not have a cold shower but being scalded isn't much fun either. I also think I forgot to tell you that I volunteer at a library (the same one I email at) once a week. We help reshelve books and other odds and ends jobs they need done, it's a tiny library.

Oh my gosh! You would NOT believe the wind here! It's a good thing we wear long skirts because if not...well, you get the picture. We walk a lot because everything is so close and we were walking down this steep hill but didn't go very fast because the wind was blowing uphill. It was the first time in my life that I had to lean forward to walk downhill! I have a funny story for you. Remember I told you that we volunteer to help old people play Bingo? Well, this past week I helped an ANCIENT woman named Honey and she had NO clue how to play. She questioned my every move, she almost didn't trust that I knew how to play. She noticed that people were shouting out BINGO but I wasn't so she told me that I should be shouting too. No matter how many times I explained it she never understood. The best part of this situation was that I asked her how old she was and she said, "I think 27, yeah, I'm 27." HAHAHAHA!

Guess what! I have a twin here! Actually I have 2! I haven't seen either of them but 2 separate people have told me that I look like someone they know and it's not the same person they both described. I have another good story for you. We were knocking on saturday and it was in the middle of nowhere where we walked forever between driveways. We got to this one house that had 5 guys about my age standing outside and there were ATV's scattered around the yard. Sis. Ferrell was a little hesitant but I just brushed all fear aside and went right up to them. Let me tell you something, Their driveway was SO muddy, we were getting stuck, AND they were watching us walk up it, how embarrassing! Whatever, I used my special charm (psh, whatever) and introduced ourselves. It must have worked because they were really nice and they weren't too freaked out that we wanted to talk about religion. After we talked for awhile about the church I asked them about the ATVs and told them that we have them. They thought that was cool. I had to explain though because we have very different terrain. (Now this is my favorite part) They asked if I wanted to take one for a ride with them! Here I was, in a skirt, talking to them about God and they wanted ME to join them! What?! I can't get guys to talk to me let alone have them invite me to do things with them, what's going on! Of course I didn't go with them but thanked them for the offer. That just made me feel really good inside. :)

My district here is really interesting. There are 9 of us, it's every missionary on the Island. There is me and Sis. Ferrell, the Ballard's (A Senior couple also here in Montague), Elder Hoff (from Colorado) and Elder Roll (from France), Elders Morgan (Wales), Puddington (Nova Scotia) and Saunders (Utah). It's funny to listen to them because there's an English AND a French accent! Elder Roll can't say Nicholls, he says Nicole, but with a French accent so it sounds like Knee-cole. They don't pronounce S's at the ends of words like in Rendezvous.

I love you all!
Sister Nicholls (aka Dianna)