Bedridden - 1 November 2010
Well it was really nice to hear about how Dianna was able to work and have fun and success this week. It is so lame how I cannot tell you these things earlier, and that you have to wait a whole week before finally hearing this... But I have been stuck at home since Last Monday. After writing last week, we went to work, and had to come home early, because my leg was killing me. We stayed at home, and I took pain pills, and other things, and Friday, after things were not getting much better, my Mission President told me to go to the Hospital.
So we go, and they take a look at my leg. The lady is poking around my leg, and says "look at this" I freak out, and watch as she pushed with her finger on my leg in a certain area, and it squishes into my leg almost an inch deep, and removes her finger. Then, where she pushed, there was a hole pretty much, a deep indentation of her finger, that did not go away for more than 10 seconds. She said I had lots of water in my leg, and so they had to perform emergency surgery.
I hope you guys are not freaking out right now, because that last sentance was a complete lie. Instead, they give me a special shot, and some special pills, and I cannot work for another 3 days. They say this is probable that it came from cholesterol clots, or something like that, meaning I eat too much food with cholesterol. But that is NOT MY FAULT! Everyone here cooks with pure oil, and this butter stuff called manteca, and they are just FULL of Cholesterol. So, change in diet plan. Now I eat no more bread, and I am going to eat more soy meat (That is actually really good compared to the oily meats) rice, beans, and natural things like that. But that is just fine with me, because a companion and I ate like that when I was in Chepica for 3 months, so I am already used to it, and it is way healthier anyways. So that is my big story for the week. We have been sitting around playing card games, chess, watching finding faith in Christ, and other church videos, and hanging out with the Sister next door, helping her a little in her business. But mostly, I just lay in bed, and sleep. SOOO BORING!!!
Well, I got a few more DearElders from Sam, and from Mom, and the new crazy school, and how the girls are doing. I cannot believe Carter and Liam are getting so big and walky and talky! Man, I really am missing out on so much of their lives...
Well, that is all that happened this week. Super boring, because I have been sitting at home. My Zone went to the zoo today, because it is normally closed on Mondays, but is open today for the "Day of the Dead" so this might be the only chance of me going to the zoo here, but oh well. I am stuck in the house, doctors orders. Maybe another day it will be open. We will see. Well I love you all so much, and love hearing from you often! I am always praying you are doing well in your activities, studies, moves, and in the family. Until next week! And I will have way better stories! Chao!-Elder Nicholls
Linderos death - 25 October 2010
Well, like you guys know, I am killing yet ANOTHER companion, and we are doing really well. We talk a LOT. about EVERYTHING. Sometimes we talk until like 2 in the morning, and wake up groggy and with an attitude. But we are working on improving that part.
So yesterday we invitited the branch to put themselves a goal. Since my comp is leaving in 5 weeks, we challenged everyone in the branch to read the Book of Mormon in these last 5 weeks before my comp leaves for home. And we as missionaries are participating too. But, we have to get up an hour earlier in the morning to be able to do it. And since there are 642 pages in the spanish BOM, we have to read 18 pages a day. WHEW!
So this week I have been feeling a little better with loving the people.
Wow Dianna. I cannot believe it. A whole year. I am creeping up on my 11 months, and after that, a year. In my next change I will complete a year. And hopefully it will be with a SON! WOO HOO!!!! But nobody knows... So our only 2 baptismal dates just died, because they did not go to church, AGAIN, so we have to find something to do with them.Well I am hoping to get some emails, or more dearelders soon from you guys. I hope you are actully actively reading all my emails I send too... What do you do with all my emails? Throw them out? Save them? It would be cool to print them all out one day, and put them in a binder, and keep it as my mission book or something..
Well I love all you guys, and am running out of time. I pray for you all daily, and keep you in my thoughts.-Elder Nicholls
Helloooooooo....! - 18 October 2010
Yes Dianna, I am still sending you emails, just this last week I did not get a chance to write, because we were busy busy busy. Sorry.
Dad, I really like the talk you sent me. I cannot remember too many parts of it in this moment, but I loved it, and plan on reading it again today, and to take a few notes from it too. I also received Moms letter this morning, about Womens conference. I relly enjoy you guys sending me things you learn , and nice experiences you have, and blessing you recognize in life. I really want you to know that I really do appreciate that.
Well this week was really terrible, because I had a trunky comp, but he was really sad, and not satisfied with his missionary efforts. But he ended in a really good mood, and I did all I could to help him end with honor and dignity. I hope he feels good.
Oh Dad I was thinking this week about a thing that happened many years ago, when you were ironing Dianna's prom dress for her senior year. I remember you were about to iron it, when you decided for some reason to "test" the iron, even though it's not the kind of thing that needs "testing" before using it. But as you started playing with it, rusty nasty water poured out, and stained the ironing table. You stated that if you had not tested that beforehand, the dress would have been ruined, and would have had to buy another dress, or another sort of plan B. I know that those are the kind of blessings you have Dad, because you are a faithful servant of the Lord. I have recognized so many blessing we have as a family, that others do not, because we have a Mother and a Father who are faithful to their covenants, and we, as children, get to enjoy those blessings. I really get to apply hymn 301 in my life, "has given me an Earthly Home, with Parents kind and dear." I sometimes feel spoiled with the Gospel, because it has guided my life and work here in the mission, and see it in our family. I am so grateful for having a perfect example of how to raise a family correctly.We have two baptismal dates for the 7th of November, and hopefully they stay on this path. They did not go to church, which is what impedes every single chilean. But we are working hard, and with my new companion, Elder Romo, who is a gringo too, we are going to "tear up" the sector. Oh guess what? This is Elder Romo's last change too, so I will be killing him as well. This will be my 4th companion that I am killing. I hope I train this next change. Well I gotta get going. I love you all and hope to get more letters from you! Chao!-Elder Nicholls
Blah - 4 October 2010
Well this week was so dang long and slow and boring, unlike Dianna's crazy week. We taught a total of 9 lessons, and only one of those was with a member. We did have a really nice activity though, where we had a "movie night" with these big hot dogs called completos, and 50 people went. 30 were not members. So we got some references and appointment from that, but the members did not help us too much....
We found some really good investigators this week. Ones that really want to listen to us, and FOLLOW what we teach. So we will see how far this will go. My comp and I are doing really well with working together with the spirit, and being diligent with time, and contacting people.The conference was really cool, I hope you guys all got to see it. None of my investigators went, so it was kind of a let down. But ]I really liked a few of the speakers, especially that Elder Kearon that cried a lot in his talk. That guy really has love for the children of God. People were making fun of him for it, but I respect it. Because those tears come from the love he has, and that is what I need.
Not going to lie, because I am having a hard time in the mission right now. I am losing my patience really quickly sometimes, because sometimes I have no love for the people. I get really annoyed, and bothered by a lot of people sometimes. What can I do so that I have more love for the people? Any suggestions on what I can do, so that I can teach with love, rather than "because I am called to do it"? I will do anything.
Well That is all I have this week. Nothing happened. Just wandered around all day looking for people to contact. I love you all so much! Chao!Elder Nicholls
Dead - 27 September 2010
This last week was so dead. SOOO dead. We taught a total of 11 lessons, 5 being with less active members. So boring this week. But, last night when we had our companionship prayer to end the day, for some reason, our weekly planning page in my agenda floated into mind, and inside of the goal of 17 lessons being there, 40 was written. So after the prayer ended, I opened my planner, and presented the idea to my comp. He said he thinks it is completely impossible, and that we will not be able to do it, but if I wanted to, he will follow my lead. So we changed the goal for the week to 40 other lessons, and 7 with member. We are also going to try and have the highest number in every category in our zone. Contacts, lessons, references... Everything. We are going to do it. I am so happy that you guys got my memory card. Now I am going to respond to the dear elders I have gotten. So about the whole school thing-basically they want the children to become robots, like in the book 1984. My sisters are going to friendless geeks in another year and 3 months! NOOO!!! But just so you know, I want to be the chauffer when I get home. I want to spend more time with my Sisters. I love them, and I did not spend enough time with them before the mission. That sounds so cool with that whole scripture talking about the generations of Hyrum Smith! I want to know where that is now! I looked in D&C for like 20 minutes, and could not find anything either. Wow. AND AARON IS GOING ON A MISSION!!!!!!!! I leaped for Joy when I read that phrase in the DearElder, and I was on a train, and everybody looked at me weird. But I was so happy I could not help it. Tell Aaron that Elder Kimballs brother (Elder Kimball was my comp in the MTC) that he went to Tacoma Washington, and is a really good mission, with lots of country areas, and lots of success in that mission. And Ben Turley is going on a mission soon too? Sweet! And Enoch Butler will be coming home in just a few months too. Geez, time just flies...So who's the seminary teacher? Do I know who it is?I laughed so hard when I read that story with Matthew and the waitress! That is so totally awesome! That's the kind of thing I saw in movies, and it happened to Matthew! So how are they now? Did he go on the date? Are they going out again? Has he found any other girls? I got a letter from Jordan Abrams, and he has been going on 11 dates a week! Insane! Mom want to know something? In the scriptures, it never says the words "free agency" but only "moral agency". Because we were not given the power to choose to be able to do whatever we want, but rather to learn how to use the power of the Holy Ghost, in determining what is good and what is evil. I think that is neat, because everybody refers to it as being "free". And what you said about "It is a lot easier to trust someone who can follow the dumb rules with the ones that are a lot more important." I totally used that phrase in a lesson the other day, and I said "My Mom always used to tell me..." So weird! Scary story with the pileup of cars! I am so glad nothing happened to you! It is scary how so many things can happen in the blink of an eye! Just 10 seconds later and it is true, you could have really been in trouble... But, you are MY Mom, and are way cooler, so you are loved more, and that is why nothing happened to you. :)
Yes, it is VERY surprising that Dad allowed that ATV trip. Ouch. I bet that was quite an experience for that girl. I remember when I got cholla stuck in my leg once in 7th or 8th grade, and it is nasty stuff. I remember the same exact thing happening, that one spine was in my leg almost a whole inch too! Tell Dad not to sell the bikes, because I want to ride them lots more when I get home, so do not destroy them all! :(
Well do not worry about a Christmas present Mom, because I already have more than enough stuff. Well, I gotta go now. I love you all so much, and look forward to getting more DearElders that you sent. I love you! Chao!-Elder Nicholls
Wow - 20 September 2010
Well, like nothing happened all week, because it was really slow, and only taught like 14 lessons. But something INCREDIBLE happened!!!!! Do you remember a few months ago, I talked a lot about a family of Maxi and Marlen, and their little son, Bastian? How they gave us lunch one day, we talked to them a lot, and taught and fasted for them and everything....?? Check back in my emails, on the day after the last general conference, because we found them on general conference... Well In a big mission activity on Wednesday, I talked to the missionaries that were in my first zone, to see how my converts are doing. Turns out, my first convert ever, Benjamin, moved back to his house, and still goes to church, and did baptisms for the dead! He is totally active and uses his priesthood too! WHOOOOO HOOOO!!! My second convert, Angelica, is dead basically. So I am not too disappointed in what happened. Third and fourth, Scarlet and Jonaton still go to church, but do not participate too much, but are diligent in going to church. Sweet! And I had heard that he had had two baptisms recently, and when I asked for their names he said.... MAXI AND MARLEN!!!! I almost screamed and cried I was SOOOO happy! I DID run around and hug everybody I could in that moment. I cannot believe it still! And he is getting the priesthood this Sunday! And he had to stop smoking and drinking too, and he reads the Book of Mormon all the time now they say. He actually wanted ME to come and baptize them, and the Elders did not even ask me to come! Because in this mission, we can do that , if the investigator wants us to. But for some reason, this Elder did not even ask! Lame... But whatever. Just knowing that he wanted me there makes me happy. SWEET!! And in like 2 months, I want to hear all about baptisms in Chepica, because I left an entire family there investigating, and want to hear good news about them. Wow I am totally loving the mission. I can totally see "The fruits of my labors" like it says in Alma. I cannot wait to get some more baptisms, and have even more joy! Well that is about the main part of my week, apart from playing organ in sacrament meeting, having huge parties at church for the chilean independance day, and teaching some of the best lessons I have had in my mission. I hope everything is well at home. I love you all so much, and look forward to calling you guys in 3 months, and getting some more mail. LOVE YOU! Chao.-Elder Nicholls
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
Dianna Update - 27 September 2010
Transfer week, are you ready for this? - 22 September 2010
Transfers: Not a single Sister in the entire mission moved. I know. This transfer will be 6 months that I'll be with Sis. Ferrell. After this she only has 6 more weeks until she goes home, so I'll probably stay with her those too. That will be 7 1/2 months with her! My life did a huge flipperoo. I went from changing every 6 weeks to staying stagnant.
The Wolfville Sisters are still living with us though, that keeps us busy. Sister Johnson has started working part of the day. She is doing loads better, which is good because she isn't someone who likes to be babied and stay inside. She is a Get 'er done kind of person and it's been hard for all of us to see her have to stay in and not even be able to physically handle the entire situation. They're still looking for an apartment for them but there hasn't been anything yet. We don't know how long they'll be here but we'll enjoy it while it lasts. It's great because we can breathe, we're not attached at the hip to our companions anymore. President has told us to just keep doing exchanges. So, we'll switch every couple of hours, it's fun.
Andrew, congrats on the converts who are staying active. That's a great feeling. I was just informed of some sad news. Terry, the convert in Halifax, has decided to stop going to church for awhile. This is a decision he has made and informed the missionaries of. I'll just keep him in my prayers and hopefully he'll realize what he's missing. I was also informed though of some great news. Daylen, the investigator in Wolfville with a baptismal date that fell off the face of the planet. Well, Bro. Flanagan (Daylen's fellowshipper) called the Wolfville Sisters and told them that he bumped into Daylen on the street and got his new address and phone number and he's looking forward to meeting with them again. This made Sis. Brandley and I go ecstatic! I hope that goes well, they still have to wait until they have an apartment though...
I'm just rambling, I don't really have anything important to say except that we had an investigator come to our Book of Mormon read last night and it sounds like he's going to come every week. OH! AND There is a new family in the Branch, the Gionet's. They're 24 years old and they have a 22 month old named.....LIAM!!!! It's CRAZY! I'm sad that I'm missing Liam and Carter start growing up. I'm going to have to put in some extra babysitting hours when I get back to catch up with all this lost time.
I just reread my email and I realized that I sound very homesick and trunky. Don't worry, I'm not. I just don't have anything else occupying my mind right now. Hopefully a hymn or something will get stuck there soon. LOVE YOU ALL!
Sister Nicholls
So you think I've seen it all...? - 15 September 2010
So, I may have mentioned earlier that there is a Sister Missionary (Sister Johnson) who is serving in Wolfville right now who is extremely sick because of the mold in the apartment there. (I'm glad that it didn't affect me at all). Well, she has been sick for about a month now and within the last week, chaos has ensued. We (Sis. Ferrell and I) got out of a lesson on friday afternoon and discovered we had 3 voicemail messages. That NEVER happens. One was from an investigator, that was good. But the other 2 have flipped our world upside down. One was from the zone leaders telling us that the Wolfville Sisters were moving in with us. The other was Sis. Johnson herself singing a message to us about how their apartment is killing her and she's being dramatic. (She's hilarious!) Anyway, Sis. Johnson had gone to the Doctor friday morning and they told her that her body had reached a toxic level from being exposed to mold and that she had to get out of her apt. ASAP! So, they packed a couple suitcases and headed over, we only had a couple hours notice. That was friday, they're still here! It's been fun. Sis. Johnson can't work, she's not very functional right now. So we take turns "babysitting" her and the other 2 go out and work. It's been exciting. I like working with Sis. Brandley. So, we don't know how long they'll be here. Transfers are next week and they'll most likely transfer them both and possibly close the area, at least to Sisters. I know, I can't believe this either. Don't worry, no one is in real danger. Our Zone leaders and Elder Tanner are taking care of it and we're fine being a foursome here, it's actually really fun!
Thanks for all of the birthday wishes! Mom, I love that skirt you sent. The sweater is too big though. What do you want me to do? I can send it back to you if you'd like. So, I woke up this morning and on the washroom door were a bunch of different pieces of construction paper. At the top was "Happy Birthday" and then in half sheets they had a word starting with each letter of Dianna and a picture to go with it. They had used some creativity. This is what they said: Duvet (because you're comforting, Intinerent (about every 6 weeks), Arizona, Nucleus, Natty ((I had to look that up)), Ardent (about the gospel) and then another paper saying "We love you". I live with the 3 best Sister missionaries there are!!! Today, we went to Pizza Delight for lunch because I could eat free!!! AND THEN we went to the ZOOOOOO!!!! I saw a Zonkey! And a bunch of other cool things. I wish I had more time, but the computer is going to push me off in about 30 seconds, AH! I love you, love you, love you!!!!!
Sister Nicholls
Another crazy week! - 8 September
So, we finally got back to our beds and everything last Wednesday night after all the fun of Sister's conference. I fell asleep faster than ever that night. Unfortunately the night didn't go as planned. Here is how it actually went:
There I was at 4:15 am, asleep. I heard the gentle sound of rain hitting the roof. My initial thought was "Man, and I didn't even get my rain boots yet." I just rolled over and tried to get back to sleep. The noise got louder. Since it was keeping me up I decided to take a look out the window and watch it for a little while. When I got to the window I didn't see any rain, I saw something completely different. I didn't want to believe my eyes so I went and put my glasses on. Sure enough, what I saw was our next door neighbor's porch on fire! I smacked Sis. Ferrell (under the covers) on her leg and exclaimed "Sis. Ferrell, the neighbor's house is on fire!!!" We both jump up and get our shoes on and she grabs the keys and the phone (smart girl) and we head outside. By this time people were shouting WAKE UP! to get the people out of the house. (Every one's fine) Someone told us to move our car because we were parked between our house and the one on fire and they were afraid something might happen to it. So we moved it down the side street to a parking lot. We started walking back to our house (We live above a business in a 100 year old Victorian house) and there was smoke, embers, and ash flying in the air and the house was just engulfed in flames. It was just like in the movies, but worse because it was so real. A fire truck had pulled in between our houses and were laying out fire hoses when an electrical wire exploded and sent sparks flying everywhere and someone yelled "Live wire! Live wire!" I stopped Sis. Ferrell in her tracks and told her we couldn't go back to the house, it wasn't safe. I was terrified that our house was going to catch fire and burn as well. Since it was really hot the day before we were sleeping with all the windows open so we were afraid of all the stuff in the air going into our house but we decided there was nothing inside more important than ourselves so we stayed away. People on the street had come outside and were watching this unfold. What really got me was that there was an older couple who was standing outside in their bathrobes SMOKING! Seriously?! My heart was pounding because I was so startled and my body was still VERY tired. We didn't know what to do because we couldn't go home! We decided to call our Branch President. We told him the situation and he allowed us to come wait at his house. So we drove over there but we had to take the extremely long way because we live on the main street that goes to his house and it was blocked by firetrucks. On our way over we had to pull over for 5 trucks to pass us. So, there we were, in our pajamas, driving to our Branch President's house super early in the morning with nothing to our name. Sis. Ferrell worried because she didn't even have her license with her. We got to President Muise's house and we sat on the couch and chatted with him and his wife for awhile. In the background they had the weather channel on and this didn't NOT help!! All the channel was talking about was hurricane Earl that was supposed to hit us Friday night and Saturday! This just added to our worry and stress. Around 6:30 we decided to try and head home. We had to take the long way again and still had to park down the street because of all the trucks. I felt so weird walking back to the house because we had to walk in between a bunch of firetrucks and, literally, over fire hoses. I was waiting for someone to ask us what we were doing, but they didn't. We finally get back to the house and what do you think was the first thing we did? Grab our cameras and run back out of course! We're sad we didn't get to take any pictures of the actually fire but we got quite a few pictures of the damage and the DOZEN firetrucks that were there!!! Now our next door neighbor's house is black and there is caution tape everywhere and they still don't know what caused the fire. What's especially sad about this is that the house was a salon downstairs and the owners lived above so they truly lost everything.
Sorry that was long, but I wanted to share all the details. We were so tired we ended up sleeping through our studies. I felt bad but not at the same time.
Later that morning we had District meeting and guess what mom!? I got my boots! The Zone leaders had picked up the mail before we had sis. conference but we hadn't seen them so they were practically holding them hostage. But I was SOOOO grateful because I got them just in time for the "Hurricane". Hurricane Earl turned into a Tropical storm before it reached us but it still was SUPER windy and SUPER wet. I put those boots to good use! We were lucky though, we didn't lose our power, but ALOT of Nova Scotia did. We prepared for it though. We made sure we had food and flashlights and that was all easy. The hard part was water. We had already been drinking the food storage water because the water at our apartment was BLACK! We get our water from a well and when the fire department sucked out all that water for the fire it stirred up all the sediment so we had the nastiest looking water for about 4 days. I didn't dare shower and just washed my face in the sink, but even then, I had to watch for a clear break to get a handful. The same went for brushing my teeth. It was an adventure!
Family, I love you. I'm so grateful for the prayers and letters of support. I hope that all is going well with school and work and friends and family and everything. Make sure that you ALWAYS remember that I love you. Distance makes the heart grow fonder.
Sister Nicholls
Transfers: Not a single Sister in the entire mission moved. I know. This transfer will be 6 months that I'll be with Sis. Ferrell. After this she only has 6 more weeks until she goes home, so I'll probably stay with her those too. That will be 7 1/2 months with her! My life did a huge flipperoo. I went from changing every 6 weeks to staying stagnant.
The Wolfville Sisters are still living with us though, that keeps us busy. Sister Johnson has started working part of the day. She is doing loads better, which is good because she isn't someone who likes to be babied and stay inside. She is a Get 'er done kind of person and it's been hard for all of us to see her have to stay in and not even be able to physically handle the entire situation. They're still looking for an apartment for them but there hasn't been anything yet. We don't know how long they'll be here but we'll enjoy it while it lasts. It's great because we can breathe, we're not attached at the hip to our companions anymore. President has told us to just keep doing exchanges. So, we'll switch every couple of hours, it's fun.
Andrew, congrats on the converts who are staying active. That's a great feeling. I was just informed of some sad news. Terry, the convert in Halifax, has decided to stop going to church for awhile. This is a decision he has made and informed the missionaries of. I'll just keep him in my prayers and hopefully he'll realize what he's missing. I was also informed though of some great news. Daylen, the investigator in Wolfville with a baptismal date that fell off the face of the planet. Well, Bro. Flanagan (Daylen's fellowshipper) called the Wolfville Sisters and told them that he bumped into Daylen on the street and got his new address and phone number and he's looking forward to meeting with them again. This made Sis. Brandley and I go ecstatic! I hope that goes well, they still have to wait until they have an apartment though...
I'm just rambling, I don't really have anything important to say except that we had an investigator come to our Book of Mormon read last night and it sounds like he's going to come every week. OH! AND There is a new family in the Branch, the Gionet's. They're 24 years old and they have a 22 month old named.....LIAM!!!! It's CRAZY! I'm sad that I'm missing Liam and Carter start growing up. I'm going to have to put in some extra babysitting hours when I get back to catch up with all this lost time.
I just reread my email and I realized that I sound very homesick and trunky. Don't worry, I'm not. I just don't have anything else occupying my mind right now. Hopefully a hymn or something will get stuck there soon. LOVE YOU ALL!
Sister Nicholls
So you think I've seen it all...? - 15 September 2010
So, I may have mentioned earlier that there is a Sister Missionary (Sister Johnson) who is serving in Wolfville right now who is extremely sick because of the mold in the apartment there. (I'm glad that it didn't affect me at all). Well, she has been sick for about a month now and within the last week, chaos has ensued. We (Sis. Ferrell and I) got out of a lesson on friday afternoon and discovered we had 3 voicemail messages. That NEVER happens. One was from an investigator, that was good. But the other 2 have flipped our world upside down. One was from the zone leaders telling us that the Wolfville Sisters were moving in with us. The other was Sis. Johnson herself singing a message to us about how their apartment is killing her and she's being dramatic. (She's hilarious!) Anyway, Sis. Johnson had gone to the Doctor friday morning and they told her that her body had reached a toxic level from being exposed to mold and that she had to get out of her apt. ASAP! So, they packed a couple suitcases and headed over, we only had a couple hours notice. That was friday, they're still here! It's been fun. Sis. Johnson can't work, she's not very functional right now. So we take turns "babysitting" her and the other 2 go out and work. It's been exciting. I like working with Sis. Brandley. So, we don't know how long they'll be here. Transfers are next week and they'll most likely transfer them both and possibly close the area, at least to Sisters. I know, I can't believe this either. Don't worry, no one is in real danger. Our Zone leaders and Elder Tanner are taking care of it and we're fine being a foursome here, it's actually really fun!
Thanks for all of the birthday wishes! Mom, I love that skirt you sent. The sweater is too big though. What do you want me to do? I can send it back to you if you'd like. So, I woke up this morning and on the washroom door were a bunch of different pieces of construction paper. At the top was "Happy Birthday" and then in half sheets they had a word starting with each letter of Dianna and a picture to go with it. They had used some creativity. This is what they said: Duvet (because you're comforting, Intinerent (about every 6 weeks), Arizona, Nucleus, Natty ((I had to look that up)), Ardent (about the gospel) and then another paper saying "We love you". I live with the 3 best Sister missionaries there are!!! Today, we went to Pizza Delight for lunch because I could eat free!!! AND THEN we went to the ZOOOOOO!!!! I saw a Zonkey! And a bunch of other cool things. I wish I had more time, but the computer is going to push me off in about 30 seconds, AH! I love you, love you, love you!!!!!
Sister Nicholls
Another crazy week! - 8 September
So, we finally got back to our beds and everything last Wednesday night after all the fun of Sister's conference. I fell asleep faster than ever that night. Unfortunately the night didn't go as planned. Here is how it actually went:
There I was at 4:15 am, asleep. I heard the gentle sound of rain hitting the roof. My initial thought was "Man, and I didn't even get my rain boots yet." I just rolled over and tried to get back to sleep. The noise got louder. Since it was keeping me up I decided to take a look out the window and watch it for a little while. When I got to the window I didn't see any rain, I saw something completely different. I didn't want to believe my eyes so I went and put my glasses on. Sure enough, what I saw was our next door neighbor's porch on fire! I smacked Sis. Ferrell (under the covers) on her leg and exclaimed "Sis. Ferrell, the neighbor's house is on fire!!!" We both jump up and get our shoes on and she grabs the keys and the phone (smart girl) and we head outside. By this time people were shouting WAKE UP! to get the people out of the house. (Every one's fine) Someone told us to move our car because we were parked between our house and the one on fire and they were afraid something might happen to it. So we moved it down the side street to a parking lot. We started walking back to our house (We live above a business in a 100 year old Victorian house) and there was smoke, embers, and ash flying in the air and the house was just engulfed in flames. It was just like in the movies, but worse because it was so real. A fire truck had pulled in between our houses and were laying out fire hoses when an electrical wire exploded and sent sparks flying everywhere and someone yelled "Live wire! Live wire!" I stopped Sis. Ferrell in her tracks and told her we couldn't go back to the house, it wasn't safe. I was terrified that our house was going to catch fire and burn as well. Since it was really hot the day before we were sleeping with all the windows open so we were afraid of all the stuff in the air going into our house but we decided there was nothing inside more important than ourselves so we stayed away. People on the street had come outside and were watching this unfold. What really got me was that there was an older couple who was standing outside in their bathrobes SMOKING! Seriously?! My heart was pounding because I was so startled and my body was still VERY tired. We didn't know what to do because we couldn't go home! We decided to call our Branch President. We told him the situation and he allowed us to come wait at his house. So we drove over there but we had to take the extremely long way because we live on the main street that goes to his house and it was blocked by firetrucks. On our way over we had to pull over for 5 trucks to pass us. So, there we were, in our pajamas, driving to our Branch President's house super early in the morning with nothing to our name. Sis. Ferrell worried because she didn't even have her license with her. We got to President Muise's house and we sat on the couch and chatted with him and his wife for awhile. In the background they had the weather channel on and this didn't NOT help!! All the channel was talking about was hurricane Earl that was supposed to hit us Friday night and Saturday! This just added to our worry and stress. Around 6:30 we decided to try and head home. We had to take the long way again and still had to park down the street because of all the trucks. I felt so weird walking back to the house because we had to walk in between a bunch of firetrucks and, literally, over fire hoses. I was waiting for someone to ask us what we were doing, but they didn't. We finally get back to the house and what do you think was the first thing we did? Grab our cameras and run back out of course! We're sad we didn't get to take any pictures of the actually fire but we got quite a few pictures of the damage and the DOZEN firetrucks that were there!!! Now our next door neighbor's house is black and there is caution tape everywhere and they still don't know what caused the fire. What's especially sad about this is that the house was a salon downstairs and the owners lived above so they truly lost everything.
Sorry that was long, but I wanted to share all the details. We were so tired we ended up sleeping through our studies. I felt bad but not at the same time.
Later that morning we had District meeting and guess what mom!? I got my boots! The Zone leaders had picked up the mail before we had sis. conference but we hadn't seen them so they were practically holding them hostage. But I was SOOOO grateful because I got them just in time for the "Hurricane". Hurricane Earl turned into a Tropical storm before it reached us but it still was SUPER windy and SUPER wet. I put those boots to good use! We were lucky though, we didn't lose our power, but ALOT of Nova Scotia did. We prepared for it though. We made sure we had food and flashlights and that was all easy. The hard part was water. We had already been drinking the food storage water because the water at our apartment was BLACK! We get our water from a well and when the fire department sucked out all that water for the fire it stirred up all the sediment so we had the nastiest looking water for about 4 days. I didn't dare shower and just washed my face in the sink, but even then, I had to watch for a clear break to get a handful. The same went for brushing my teeth. It was an adventure!
Family, I love you. I'm so grateful for the prayers and letters of support. I hope that all is going well with school and work and friends and family and everything. Make sure that you ALWAYS remember that I love you. Distance makes the heart grow fonder.
Sister Nicholls
Monday, September 6, 2010
Andrew Update - 6 September 2010
Los Linderos - 6 September 2010
Well, surprisingly I am not in Chepica anymore. I am with yet ANOTHER latino in a place called Los Linderos, in the city of Buin. There is a zoo nearby, which we will totally visit as a zone one day. I am almost 100% sure I am going to train this next change, because I am killing my comp this change. Elder Mejia. From Honduras. And after I kill him, I will train, I just know it. I am so excited to find out. Leaving the sector was so hard. 8 investigators went to church with us last week, and over these last 3 months, we have had an average of 6 investigators go every single week. Incredible. My amaxing family, with Alex, Maria, Kena, Angeles, Katy, and Felipe, were soooo sad. Kena and Angeles were crying up a storm. It made me feel a little weird, because they were crying harder than Emily cried when I left for the mission. They gave me a lot of cool stuff though. I gave them a little electronic piano, a rubiks cube, and wrote letters, so that they could have stuff to always remind them of me. They gave me a big Chilean flag, with notes and names written all over it, and we took a bunch of pictures. I cried only a little tiny bit, but man, Kena and Angeles were BAWLING. Not just crying, but the kind where you cant breath, and you start making kind of groaning noises because your lungs dont work right. Maria started to really cry too. It was a really sad moment. I left them a few letters that said if they get baptized, I could be able to come back and do the baptism, so we can see each other again, and visit a bit. Hopefully they keep progressing in the gospel, and get baptized. They would made GREAT members, because they are just so fun, and loving.
I got more DearElders, and totally forgot to bring them AGAIN. I am absolutely horrible with that. I remember Lauren was saying a lot about how crazy and robotic her new school is. It reminds me of the book The Giver, and 1984. Scaryness. Instead of raising children, we are growing cyborgs. Its odd that Lauren is receiving such top notch education, when the majority of my investigators cant even read of write. So different here.This last Sunday being fast and testimony meeting, I got to give my last testimony, and everyone was choked up. One Hermana said a lot of good stuff about me, and said "I have to confess something, I hated Elder Nicholls when he got here, but I got to know him really well, and now I love him more than these other Elders here by far." Then she went on to tell stories of examples of love I have shown, and that everyone should strive to follow my example of being more Christlike. What lies. If that is true, I am 100% different than from before the mission.
Lauren, I am glad to hear that you are going to keep your promise with me about waiting to date for me. Like, you turn 16 about 2 weeks before I get back, right? So it should not be too hard to wait. And, when I get back, I am going to buy myself a motorcycle as fast as I can. And I am going to take you to seminary every morning on it, take you out to lunch, to school, whatever you want. I want you to be a cool, popular girl. Ok? Deal? I wonder what Mom and Dad have to say about that..
And what do you think about Andy? I think I have decided that my name is now Andy. Mom, you can call me Drew, but to my friends, I am going to tell them to call me Andy. It sounds really cool to me right now, which is weird, because I hated it before the mission. I visited my converts yesterday to say my goodbyes, and I got a letter from the girl, and I learned that she really does understand the gospel, and the importance of it. I feel really good about them being able to retain their membership in the church. And I found out that my converts in Villa el Sol still go to church every week! Cool!
So this saturday, we got to go to the Temple in Santiago. The Chepican government lent us a BUS! We declined it, and accepted a van instead, because we only had 11 people going. But that is so sweet that they offered that! Wow! 3 converts went, and only one was brave enough to do baptisms. I was a witness, and witnessed like 200 baptisms. They only had 1 prieshood holder to do baptisms! I would have done it too, but missionaries are not able to. I understand why, because the majority of the participants were Laurels from surrounding areas. Yep. That is probably a big reason. But everybody had a really great experience, even though one kid threw up twice in the van. Our driver was really cool and patient, and turns out he is Kenas Dad! Weird!
Well, I gotta go, and I promise next week I will write more, and answer questions from the DearElders, with EFY, and everything... Candy bingo... hiking... Alpine slide... But I gotta go. I love you all so much, and am very grateful for my new shoes and belt and clothes. LOVE YOU! CHAO!-Elder Nicholls
Sweet - 30 August 2010
No way Austen is already home!?!?!? That`s crazy fast!!! It seemed like he left like when Enoch left! Time just flies by here on the mission! I am not even kidding! I am going to be home in like 3 months from now, judging how fast time is going! I almost have 9 months now! Next time I write you guys, I will be like 2 days from 9 months. Yes, that sounds like nothing, but it seems like I have been on the mission 4 months! I can`t even remember the MTC! Yes Mom, I got both of the packages this week. My mail hasn`t arrived to you guys yet? I`m going to go by the mail today then to see if they even sent it out, and see what`s going on here... But I love the boots you guys sent, they worked perfect in the rain! Because my feet were nice and dry! :) I love the ties! They are too nice actually, because I am afraid to wear them, and get them dirty! Lots of the missionaries covet them. But the shoes fit perfect, my peelers too, and I have already started using the balloons. I make them for the little kids, and that helps us get into the house so easy, like Dad used to tell me. Playing with the kids, and putting the importance on them, helps the parents understand we are not here to fight and destroy the family.So this week I had my first "Fight" with a seventh day adventist. Halfway through the lesson, I told him "Ok, now we are going to move on to another topic and you are NOT going to mention the word saturday." It worked for a little, but he went back to focusing everything on saturday. He wouldn`t let us use the book of Mormon AT ALL, so we had to practice our mastery with the Bible. We talked about a lot of scriptures that say an APOSTASY will come, and later, a RESTORATION. But didn`t pay any attention to anything. He just wanted to fight about stupid Saturday. But somehow we set a return appointment, and left him with the compromise that he will pray about what we have talked about. I
Dad, The email you sent me sounds familiar... "2 men can do anything..." Maybe Neil L. Anderson from April Conference...?? Haha. I am so pro with scriptures and talks and stuff now. I can`t even believe myself.
So this week, we did divisions almost everyday, so I only worked with Elder Carpio, the Peruvian. But we broke the record of lessons taught, and news found in Chepica, for the last year. We taught 6 lessons with member, 22 others, and found 13 news. That`s not a heck of a lot, but is more than Chepica has seen in a long time. We also had 6 people in Sacrament meeting, and we have like 5 baptismal dates. This has been a record week. And I might be moving to another sector this week, because the sector might go from 4 missionaries to 2, and I might be going. I have no idea, and won`t find out until this saturday to see if I leave monday. Intense.
Well Dianna, sound like you guys are having some cool experiences over there in Canada, visiting around, and having cool experiences like that in the road. I do really love when people mock and laugh, because It shows to other people that watch how we really are. People accuse us of obligating people to do stuff, and that we always yell and make people feel bad. But when they see us offer service, and they yell at us to tell us GO AWAY, people see that, and stop and think a little. How do you teach the first lesson? You do teach the restoration first too right? What do you focus on? How do you convince the people best to listen and believe this message? Any hints on how to teach the restoration?
Jenn- I cannot believe how big the guys are! Liam and Carter... And bald! BAAALD!!!Well I am not in my sector right now, because I am killing my comp this week, so we are in Paniahue visiting his converts, so I do not have any more time to write. I am so happy for your love and packages and support. I look forward to obtaining more experience and stories so I can share them with you all for my entire life. I love you all. Chao!-Elder Nicholls
Not a teenager - 23 August 2010
Well, I am officially old.
I can no longer say I am 19 years old, nor a teenager. Not like I have even said the word teenager in the last 8 months... English is such a foreign language to me sometimes. Weird! So you guys got to listen to D. Todd Christofferson yesterday? Cool! Weird too, because Saturday morning our ENTIRE MISSION along with ALL OF SANTIAGO WEST MISSION got together and we listened to Richard G. Scott talk, in Spanish. He talked a lot about the life AFTER the mission. That the first thing we should do after the mission is immediately look for a wife. AND study. Not just study. But find a wife, and that is more important. And I have a feeling that he was referring to that the world isn`t going to be lasting too long. Scary stuff. But it was a really cool talk, and he gave a really nice testimony about God`s love for us as his children.
So you guys talked about the iron rod yesterday? Weird, because I had to give a talk yesterday, and they asked me to prepare it an hour before sacrament meeting started, and I talked about 1 Ne. 8, and the song "The Iron Rod" and talked about what they all mean. I wanted to draw it out, but that kind of thing isn`t appropriate in sacrament meeting. But I went through every point, and described them, and challenged everybody to read the Book Of Mormon 10 minutes a day, regardless of whatever happens. Told them about the falls of iniquity. Told them clearly that is they do not read the Book of Mormon, that their testimonies will fall, and they will fall from the church, and lose the blessings of God. It was well harsh, but full of love. I still play organ, and people are so grateful for that. For my birthday, so far I have gotten 3 things. And I am sure more are coming as we visit people during the week. Our investigating family gave me a keychain with my name on it, and a sister in the branch gave me two sweet ball point pens with a cool grip in a fancy case. And lastly, a sister invited us over to eat lunch: Chicken legs, potatoes, salad, and rice.
So being in a trio isn`t so bad. We actually did divisions almost all week, so we could double the work. And one of my companions talked to one of the assistents to the president about the changes that are coming. He won`t tell me everything he said, but gives me little hints, saying I am going to be the branch president in two weeks, and there are still going to be 4 missionaries in Chepica. I don`t know if I should believe him. But in two weeks from today, we will know for sure! So exciting! I want to train, or do SOMETHING!!
In the big conference, I saw ALL my district from the MTC! We all got together, and took some pictures. Elder Kimball, from the MTC, still hates me basically. I ran up and gave him a hug, and told him I missed him, and I felt bad for the times we had in the MTC, and that I want to be his friend, and forget about the past, and enjoy the work together, and he just said "Ok." Looking away from me, and walked away. Lame. Whatever. I am doing my part to be his friend. But everyone else in my district was so happy. Because 2 of them I hadn`t seen from more than 6 months. Elders Kimball and Miles I hadn`t seen for 6 months. I was so happy to see them.
Mom your package is here! The zone leaders got it, and I will pick it up on Wednesday when we travel to Santa Cruz to have district meeting. I am so excited to get it! This Sunday we only had 2 investigators in church, because the family that went last week was sick, and nobody left the house all day. I hope they keep going. We taught the word of wisdom this week, to test their testimony, and how much they really want to change their life.
Two days during the week, we rode our bikes FOREVER to do permaneced. It`s a program to find less active members, and share the permaneced message, and try and get them back to church. But the members for this week live FAR AWAY. We had to ride our bikes FAST in one direction for half an hour to get there. But, we shared a lot of messages, but nobody came to church. It is horrible here. There are sectors that have 700 members in the sector, and only 40 people that go to church. HORRIBLE!
During comp inventory, the other Elders complimented me on teaching really well, and always showing love to the people here. I honestly had no idea if I teach well or not, but they said that I "surprised them with how well I teach, it being my second language, having only 8 months on the mission." Sweet. They told me that there was a lot they could learn from me. I love the mission! It is just so worth all the efforts!
Well I am running out of time. Dianna I like your story about the dude with the cross in his backyard. Don`t you like the weird traditions of other religions? People`s beliefs and priorities. Well, I have 2 minutes left. I love you all so much, and for your diligence in writing me every week. I got 3 more dear elders this week in the conference, and I am going to read them and take notes to answer some more questions you have asked. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! Chao!
-Elder Nicholls
Well, surprisingly I am not in Chepica anymore. I am with yet ANOTHER latino in a place called Los Linderos, in the city of Buin. There is a zoo nearby, which we will totally visit as a zone one day. I am almost 100% sure I am going to train this next change, because I am killing my comp this change. Elder Mejia. From Honduras. And after I kill him, I will train, I just know it. I am so excited to find out. Leaving the sector was so hard. 8 investigators went to church with us last week, and over these last 3 months, we have had an average of 6 investigators go every single week. Incredible. My amaxing family, with Alex, Maria, Kena, Angeles, Katy, and Felipe, were soooo sad. Kena and Angeles were crying up a storm. It made me feel a little weird, because they were crying harder than Emily cried when I left for the mission. They gave me a lot of cool stuff though. I gave them a little electronic piano, a rubiks cube, and wrote letters, so that they could have stuff to always remind them of me. They gave me a big Chilean flag, with notes and names written all over it, and we took a bunch of pictures. I cried only a little tiny bit, but man, Kena and Angeles were BAWLING. Not just crying, but the kind where you cant breath, and you start making kind of groaning noises because your lungs dont work right. Maria started to really cry too. It was a really sad moment. I left them a few letters that said if they get baptized, I could be able to come back and do the baptism, so we can see each other again, and visit a bit. Hopefully they keep progressing in the gospel, and get baptized. They would made GREAT members, because they are just so fun, and loving.
I got more DearElders, and totally forgot to bring them AGAIN. I am absolutely horrible with that. I remember Lauren was saying a lot about how crazy and robotic her new school is. It reminds me of the book The Giver, and 1984. Scaryness. Instead of raising children, we are growing cyborgs. Its odd that Lauren is receiving such top notch education, when the majority of my investigators cant even read of write. So different here.This last Sunday being fast and testimony meeting, I got to give my last testimony, and everyone was choked up. One Hermana said a lot of good stuff about me, and said "I have to confess something, I hated Elder Nicholls when he got here, but I got to know him really well, and now I love him more than these other Elders here by far." Then she went on to tell stories of examples of love I have shown, and that everyone should strive to follow my example of being more Christlike. What lies. If that is true, I am 100% different than from before the mission.
Lauren, I am glad to hear that you are going to keep your promise with me about waiting to date for me. Like, you turn 16 about 2 weeks before I get back, right? So it should not be too hard to wait. And, when I get back, I am going to buy myself a motorcycle as fast as I can. And I am going to take you to seminary every morning on it, take you out to lunch, to school, whatever you want. I want you to be a cool, popular girl. Ok? Deal? I wonder what Mom and Dad have to say about that..
And what do you think about Andy? I think I have decided that my name is now Andy. Mom, you can call me Drew, but to my friends, I am going to tell them to call me Andy. It sounds really cool to me right now, which is weird, because I hated it before the mission. I visited my converts yesterday to say my goodbyes, and I got a letter from the girl, and I learned that she really does understand the gospel, and the importance of it. I feel really good about them being able to retain their membership in the church. And I found out that my converts in Villa el Sol still go to church every week! Cool!
So this saturday, we got to go to the Temple in Santiago. The Chepican government lent us a BUS! We declined it, and accepted a van instead, because we only had 11 people going. But that is so sweet that they offered that! Wow! 3 converts went, and only one was brave enough to do baptisms. I was a witness, and witnessed like 200 baptisms. They only had 1 prieshood holder to do baptisms! I would have done it too, but missionaries are not able to. I understand why, because the majority of the participants were Laurels from surrounding areas. Yep. That is probably a big reason. But everybody had a really great experience, even though one kid threw up twice in the van. Our driver was really cool and patient, and turns out he is Kenas Dad! Weird!
Well, I gotta go, and I promise next week I will write more, and answer questions from the DearElders, with EFY, and everything... Candy bingo... hiking... Alpine slide... But I gotta go. I love you all so much, and am very grateful for my new shoes and belt and clothes. LOVE YOU! CHAO!-Elder Nicholls
Sweet - 30 August 2010
No way Austen is already home!?!?!? That`s crazy fast!!! It seemed like he left like when Enoch left! Time just flies by here on the mission! I am not even kidding! I am going to be home in like 3 months from now, judging how fast time is going! I almost have 9 months now! Next time I write you guys, I will be like 2 days from 9 months. Yes, that sounds like nothing, but it seems like I have been on the mission 4 months! I can`t even remember the MTC! Yes Mom, I got both of the packages this week. My mail hasn`t arrived to you guys yet? I`m going to go by the mail today then to see if they even sent it out, and see what`s going on here... But I love the boots you guys sent, they worked perfect in the rain! Because my feet were nice and dry! :) I love the ties! They are too nice actually, because I am afraid to wear them, and get them dirty! Lots of the missionaries covet them. But the shoes fit perfect, my peelers too, and I have already started using the balloons. I make them for the little kids, and that helps us get into the house so easy, like Dad used to tell me. Playing with the kids, and putting the importance on them, helps the parents understand we are not here to fight and destroy the family.So this week I had my first "Fight" with a seventh day adventist. Halfway through the lesson, I told him "Ok, now we are going to move on to another topic and you are NOT going to mention the word saturday." It worked for a little, but he went back to focusing everything on saturday. He wouldn`t let us use the book of Mormon AT ALL, so we had to practice our mastery with the Bible. We talked about a lot of scriptures that say an APOSTASY will come, and later, a RESTORATION. But didn`t pay any attention to anything. He just wanted to fight about stupid Saturday. But somehow we set a return appointment, and left him with the compromise that he will pray about what we have talked about. I
Dad, The email you sent me sounds familiar... "2 men can do anything..." Maybe Neil L. Anderson from April Conference...?? Haha. I am so pro with scriptures and talks and stuff now. I can`t even believe myself.
So this week, we did divisions almost everyday, so I only worked with Elder Carpio, the Peruvian. But we broke the record of lessons taught, and news found in Chepica, for the last year. We taught 6 lessons with member, 22 others, and found 13 news. That`s not a heck of a lot, but is more than Chepica has seen in a long time. We also had 6 people in Sacrament meeting, and we have like 5 baptismal dates. This has been a record week. And I might be moving to another sector this week, because the sector might go from 4 missionaries to 2, and I might be going. I have no idea, and won`t find out until this saturday to see if I leave monday. Intense.
Well Dianna, sound like you guys are having some cool experiences over there in Canada, visiting around, and having cool experiences like that in the road. I do really love when people mock and laugh, because It shows to other people that watch how we really are. People accuse us of obligating people to do stuff, and that we always yell and make people feel bad. But when they see us offer service, and they yell at us to tell us GO AWAY, people see that, and stop and think a little. How do you teach the first lesson? You do teach the restoration first too right? What do you focus on? How do you convince the people best to listen and believe this message? Any hints on how to teach the restoration?
Jenn- I cannot believe how big the guys are! Liam and Carter... And bald! BAAALD!!!Well I am not in my sector right now, because I am killing my comp this week, so we are in Paniahue visiting his converts, so I do not have any more time to write. I am so happy for your love and packages and support. I look forward to obtaining more experience and stories so I can share them with you all for my entire life. I love you all. Chao!-Elder Nicholls
Not a teenager - 23 August 2010
Well, I am officially old.
I can no longer say I am 19 years old, nor a teenager. Not like I have even said the word teenager in the last 8 months... English is such a foreign language to me sometimes. Weird! So you guys got to listen to D. Todd Christofferson yesterday? Cool! Weird too, because Saturday morning our ENTIRE MISSION along with ALL OF SANTIAGO WEST MISSION got together and we listened to Richard G. Scott talk, in Spanish. He talked a lot about the life AFTER the mission. That the first thing we should do after the mission is immediately look for a wife. AND study. Not just study. But find a wife, and that is more important. And I have a feeling that he was referring to that the world isn`t going to be lasting too long. Scary stuff. But it was a really cool talk, and he gave a really nice testimony about God`s love for us as his children.
So you guys talked about the iron rod yesterday? Weird, because I had to give a talk yesterday, and they asked me to prepare it an hour before sacrament meeting started, and I talked about 1 Ne. 8, and the song "The Iron Rod" and talked about what they all mean. I wanted to draw it out, but that kind of thing isn`t appropriate in sacrament meeting. But I went through every point, and described them, and challenged everybody to read the Book Of Mormon 10 minutes a day, regardless of whatever happens. Told them about the falls of iniquity. Told them clearly that is they do not read the Book of Mormon, that their testimonies will fall, and they will fall from the church, and lose the blessings of God. It was well harsh, but full of love. I still play organ, and people are so grateful for that. For my birthday, so far I have gotten 3 things. And I am sure more are coming as we visit people during the week. Our investigating family gave me a keychain with my name on it, and a sister in the branch gave me two sweet ball point pens with a cool grip in a fancy case. And lastly, a sister invited us over to eat lunch: Chicken legs, potatoes, salad, and rice.
So being in a trio isn`t so bad. We actually did divisions almost all week, so we could double the work. And one of my companions talked to one of the assistents to the president about the changes that are coming. He won`t tell me everything he said, but gives me little hints, saying I am going to be the branch president in two weeks, and there are still going to be 4 missionaries in Chepica. I don`t know if I should believe him. But in two weeks from today, we will know for sure! So exciting! I want to train, or do SOMETHING!!
In the big conference, I saw ALL my district from the MTC! We all got together, and took some pictures. Elder Kimball, from the MTC, still hates me basically. I ran up and gave him a hug, and told him I missed him, and I felt bad for the times we had in the MTC, and that I want to be his friend, and forget about the past, and enjoy the work together, and he just said "Ok." Looking away from me, and walked away. Lame. Whatever. I am doing my part to be his friend. But everyone else in my district was so happy. Because 2 of them I hadn`t seen from more than 6 months. Elders Kimball and Miles I hadn`t seen for 6 months. I was so happy to see them.
Mom your package is here! The zone leaders got it, and I will pick it up on Wednesday when we travel to Santa Cruz to have district meeting. I am so excited to get it! This Sunday we only had 2 investigators in church, because the family that went last week was sick, and nobody left the house all day. I hope they keep going. We taught the word of wisdom this week, to test their testimony, and how much they really want to change their life.
Two days during the week, we rode our bikes FOREVER to do permaneced. It`s a program to find less active members, and share the permaneced message, and try and get them back to church. But the members for this week live FAR AWAY. We had to ride our bikes FAST in one direction for half an hour to get there. But, we shared a lot of messages, but nobody came to church. It is horrible here. There are sectors that have 700 members in the sector, and only 40 people that go to church. HORRIBLE!
During comp inventory, the other Elders complimented me on teaching really well, and always showing love to the people here. I honestly had no idea if I teach well or not, but they said that I "surprised them with how well I teach, it being my second language, having only 8 months on the mission." Sweet. They told me that there was a lot they could learn from me. I love the mission! It is just so worth all the efforts!
Well I am running out of time. Dianna I like your story about the dude with the cross in his backyard. Don`t you like the weird traditions of other religions? People`s beliefs and priorities. Well, I have 2 minutes left. I love you all so much, and for your diligence in writing me every week. I got 3 more dear elders this week in the conference, and I am going to read them and take notes to answer some more questions you have asked. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! Chao!
-Elder Nicholls
Dianna Update - 6 September 2010
My week - 1 September 2010
Something exciting happened pretty much everyday this week.
Thursday- My morning started with a knock (actually we have a doorbell so it was a ring) at the door during companion study. It was the Purolator (Canada's UPS) man!!! He had my package with my shoes(and my b-day present)!!! So I spent a few minutes trying them on and then dancing around the apt. in excitement for how WONDERFUL they are! I've already broken in one pair, I'll work on the other ones this coming week. I was surprised to see that there were 2 pairs, thank you, thank you! You're MARVELOUS!
Friday-An investigator fed us a picnic supper at the park. It was...interesting. The member we brought with us ended up getting sick from it. I guess the Lord really is watching over us because we were fine but I knew that we shouldn't have been.
Saturday-There was a Stake Service Project in Windsor. That's about and hour away but the missionaries had permission to go if they could get a ride with a member. So we got to go! Everyone was divided into groups and sent to different parts of the town to do different things that have been pre-arranged. They wanted all of the missionaries to be in the group that was doing the service scavenger hunt but all the Elders disappeared and no one wanted their children to be knocking on and going into strangers homes so it was just 4 Sister missionaries and 2 teenage boys... None of us had a car. They told us to wait at the church while they drop off everyone else and then they'd come back for us. They never came back. Lame. We ended up staying at the church and pulling weeds. It was a good thing too because it needed it REALLY badly! While we were there I got to see a lot of people from my last area and a couple from when I served in Halifax because it's all the same stake. Also, I got to talk to my last district leader, Elder Park (he was one of the ones on that show I was telling you about, I confirmed it, they were on it and it's called All For One, look it up!). It turns out that he has been sick ever since I left and that they aren't allowed to go knocking because of it so they spend their time working with referrals and sleeping. They've actually had a baptism recently!!! I'm surprised that they haven't sent him home. He can't breathe! He can't take in a full breath and he has a horrid cough on top of it, but they said that he can stay and he's grateful for the opportunities that he has. I feel so bad for him. He's such a great missionary!
Sunday- Our branch had a musical fireside. Sis. Ferrell and I have been inviting people to it for weeks now. We had even made flyers to give to EVERYONE! It turned out beautiful! We had 8 musical numbers (one of them was Sis. Ferrell singing His Hands while I accompanied her) and 4 people to bear their testimony. We had so many people show up that we ran out of programs! The Spirit was so strong there as well. We had picked songs that focused around a picture of the Savior clutching onto a "sinner" who is holding a mallet in one hand and a spike in the other. I hope we can do that again some time.
Monday-The beginning of Sisters conference! All 12 Sisters met at the mission home for supper and a training meeting. I got to meet the 2 newest sisters and got to know the other new one that I met briefly. It's fun, we have more Sisters from outside Utah than in. We are from: Utah x 4, Arizona, California x 2, Oklahoma, Idaho, New Mexico, England, and Louisiana. We got to watch the first part of Anne of Green Gables because we were going to go there the next day!
Tuesday- We left for PEI at 6:30 am. We drove all the way to the bridge, across, and then up to Cavendish. We spent about an hour and a half at the Anne stuff and then had a picnic lunch there. Then we headed for Charlottetown for some shopping and Cow's ice cream (heaven on earth in my opinion) and while we were there people kept asking us if we came on the cruise ship. That would have been fun. It was cool to see the cruise ship though, it was HUGE! I still can't get over the fact that they're so big. I don't even think that this was a big one as far as cruise ships go. Then we headed for Montague (where Sis. Ferrell and I served together previously) and the senior couple there had prepared a nice Supper for us. Then we had to rush off to meet the Ferry!!!! That was so much fun!!!! I didn't realize how big that was going to be too. It was crazy windy and of course, we were all wearing skirts... it was funny to see us all with our skirts tucked between our legs. :) Sis. Ferrell and I at one point decided to take a look at the inside. There was a Cow's ice cream there too and for some reason she wanted to go in it, I was hesitant but reluctantly agreed and within 2 seconds of walking in, this couple was talking to us and about how they know so many mormons. They live in Connecticut and named famous mormons they knew. 2 they mentioned were the man who owns Jet Blue and Glenn Beck! Huh! We got to talk to them for about 20 minutes. Sis. Ferrell was inspired even when we were on vacation. It was funny too because we walked out with them back to where all the Sisters and Pres. and Sis. Simpson were and they saw us talking with them! I felt like I was doing extra credit homework or something. No one said anything about it but I could tell by the look of their faces that they hadn't even thought of talking to people and were surprised to see that we were. That made me feel good. :) We then finished the drive back to the mission home, watched the rest of Anne of Green Gables (actually I went to the other room and chatted, so I still need to see it) then went to bed and passed out.
Wednesday!- we had a tasty breakfast and then Sis. Ferrell and I had to take Sis. Johnson and Sis. Brandley (Sis. in Wolfville who we drove with us) to the Doctor because Sis. Johnson has been sick for about a week now. I feel so bad for her. She didn't look or sound good at all and she is one of my favorite sisters! I really hope that she gets better. Oh, and guess what else is new about today? It's 35 degrees!!!! The highest it's ever been is 32!!!!! Even I felt hot when I stepped outside. I sure hope this doesn't last, but I sure hope it doesn't plummit to 15 or something soon!
Well, that's the highlights. I hope you enjoyed it. I wish I had more time and could actually go into more detail and show you the pictures (I took A LOT).
Love you!
Sister Nicholls
My "lucky" penny - 25 August 2010
So, I'll admit it. I was having the LOUSIEST week on the face of the planet, until I found a penny, face up! It was saturday night, we had just had an unsuccessful knocking session and were walking home when I found the penny. I don't know why, but I just got REALLY excited and really happy about everything right then. My week had just turned from night to day, I can't explain it. So, while we were walking we saw only 1 person and Sis. Ferrell was in the middle of telling me a story so I was almost going to let her keep talking and we pass him but I really felt like we should talk to him, so I interrupted her and told her we should stop him. (This whole time I'm playing with my penny). He was really friendly and also not from Kingston, just there for a visit. We talked to him for awhile. We told him about President Monson and he was telling us what the meaning of life was, so we talked about the plan of salvation and gave him a pamphlet and told him to go on the website to contact missionaries at home. In the middle of our conversation a car pulled over and asked us directions to the Yogi Bear campsite (we get this about once a week, I guess we look like we know where we're going). Sis. Ferrell gives him the directions and then he asks us if we're Latter-day Saints. We say yes. Then he asks if the man we're speaking to is LDS and we say no, we just met him. Then this man in the car precedes to tell the man we were talking to that he shouldn't believe anything we tell him, that he should just read the bible because that's where the truth is, and that we don't believe in God, and other such things, and then drives away. Honestly, I was about to cry. That was most likely the biggest form of persecution I've ever encountered personally. I was scared to see what the man we were talking to would say. We were all quiet for a moment and then I asked if he heard what the man was saying. What he said really surprised me. He said, "I heard enough to stop listening." This opened up a great opportunity for us to bear testimony that we each need to come to know the truth for ourselves. He took it as it was, but I think that moment really made him think twice. He had a chance to see us stand up for our believes and he'll probably think about it more now. How lucky was that penny?
What a coincidence, I also spoke this past sunday. I had to speak for 20 minutes! I couldn't believe it, I even made it! My topic was Matthew 6:8 and I shared a bunch of experiences about how God knows us personally and knows what we need before we even ask. I talked about how there will be days when we'll study something out of PMG in the morning and will have the opportunity to teach it to someone throughout the day. Along with other things.
Since I had a bad part of the week, I don't have very many exciting stories to share. I do have great news though! Next week, Monday night to Wednesday morning, is Sisters Conference! We're meeting monday night at the mission home for supper and trainings. Then tuesday morning we're heading to PEI!!!!!! We're going to go to Cavendish and see Anne of Green Gables stuff, then to Charlottetown and THEN we're going to MONTAGUE!!!!! We're going to have Supper with the Ballards, the senior couple that serves there! Sister Ferrell and I are SUPER excited to see them again, and just to see PEI again, in general. We're taking the long way up, across the bridge, and then the short way back, on the ferry! That's going to be exciting. The ferry is only about 20 minutes away from Montague, but since I was there in the winter, it was closed and we had to go around to the bridge. Then we'll head back to the mission home and we'll have breakfast in the morning and say our goodbyes. :D I'm SOO excited! This also means I get to pick up mail from the mission office! I'm going to get my boots!
Oh, someone gave us a bunch of frozen shrimp and scallops. Please email me a good recipe or 2. I don't actually know what to do with them....
Thanks for everything. LOVE YOU!
Sister Nicholls
Something exciting happened pretty much everyday this week.
Thursday- My morning started with a knock (actually we have a doorbell so it was a ring) at the door during companion study. It was the Purolator (Canada's UPS) man!!! He had my package with my shoes(and my b-day present)!!! So I spent a few minutes trying them on and then dancing around the apt. in excitement for how WONDERFUL they are! I've already broken in one pair, I'll work on the other ones this coming week. I was surprised to see that there were 2 pairs, thank you, thank you! You're MARVELOUS!
Friday-An investigator fed us a picnic supper at the park. It was...interesting. The member we brought with us ended up getting sick from it. I guess the Lord really is watching over us because we were fine but I knew that we shouldn't have been.
Saturday-There was a Stake Service Project in Windsor. That's about and hour away but the missionaries had permission to go if they could get a ride with a member. So we got to go! Everyone was divided into groups and sent to different parts of the town to do different things that have been pre-arranged. They wanted all of the missionaries to be in the group that was doing the service scavenger hunt but all the Elders disappeared and no one wanted their children to be knocking on and going into strangers homes so it was just 4 Sister missionaries and 2 teenage boys... None of us had a car. They told us to wait at the church while they drop off everyone else and then they'd come back for us. They never came back. Lame. We ended up staying at the church and pulling weeds. It was a good thing too because it needed it REALLY badly! While we were there I got to see a lot of people from my last area and a couple from when I served in Halifax because it's all the same stake. Also, I got to talk to my last district leader, Elder Park (he was one of the ones on that show I was telling you about, I confirmed it, they were on it and it's called All For One, look it up!). It turns out that he has been sick ever since I left and that they aren't allowed to go knocking because of it so they spend their time working with referrals and sleeping. They've actually had a baptism recently!!! I'm surprised that they haven't sent him home. He can't breathe! He can't take in a full breath and he has a horrid cough on top of it, but they said that he can stay and he's grateful for the opportunities that he has. I feel so bad for him. He's such a great missionary!
Sunday- Our branch had a musical fireside. Sis. Ferrell and I have been inviting people to it for weeks now. We had even made flyers to give to EVERYONE! It turned out beautiful! We had 8 musical numbers (one of them was Sis. Ferrell singing His Hands while I accompanied her) and 4 people to bear their testimony. We had so many people show up that we ran out of programs! The Spirit was so strong there as well. We had picked songs that focused around a picture of the Savior clutching onto a "sinner" who is holding a mallet in one hand and a spike in the other. I hope we can do that again some time.
Monday-The beginning of Sisters conference! All 12 Sisters met at the mission home for supper and a training meeting. I got to meet the 2 newest sisters and got to know the other new one that I met briefly. It's fun, we have more Sisters from outside Utah than in. We are from: Utah x 4, Arizona, California x 2, Oklahoma, Idaho, New Mexico, England, and Louisiana. We got to watch the first part of Anne of Green Gables because we were going to go there the next day!
Tuesday- We left for PEI at 6:30 am. We drove all the way to the bridge, across, and then up to Cavendish. We spent about an hour and a half at the Anne stuff and then had a picnic lunch there. Then we headed for Charlottetown for some shopping and Cow's ice cream (heaven on earth in my opinion) and while we were there people kept asking us if we came on the cruise ship. That would have been fun. It was cool to see the cruise ship though, it was HUGE! I still can't get over the fact that they're so big. I don't even think that this was a big one as far as cruise ships go. Then we headed for Montague (where Sis. Ferrell and I served together previously) and the senior couple there had prepared a nice Supper for us. Then we had to rush off to meet the Ferry!!!! That was so much fun!!!! I didn't realize how big that was going to be too. It was crazy windy and of course, we were all wearing skirts... it was funny to see us all with our skirts tucked between our legs. :) Sis. Ferrell and I at one point decided to take a look at the inside. There was a Cow's ice cream there too and for some reason she wanted to go in it, I was hesitant but reluctantly agreed and within 2 seconds of walking in, this couple was talking to us and about how they know so many mormons. They live in Connecticut and named famous mormons they knew. 2 they mentioned were the man who owns Jet Blue and Glenn Beck! Huh! We got to talk to them for about 20 minutes. Sis. Ferrell was inspired even when we were on vacation. It was funny too because we walked out with them back to where all the Sisters and Pres. and Sis. Simpson were and they saw us talking with them! I felt like I was doing extra credit homework or something. No one said anything about it but I could tell by the look of their faces that they hadn't even thought of talking to people and were surprised to see that we were. That made me feel good. :) We then finished the drive back to the mission home, watched the rest of Anne of Green Gables (actually I went to the other room and chatted, so I still need to see it) then went to bed and passed out.
Wednesday!- we had a tasty breakfast and then Sis. Ferrell and I had to take Sis. Johnson and Sis. Brandley (Sis. in Wolfville who we drove with us) to the Doctor because Sis. Johnson has been sick for about a week now. I feel so bad for her. She didn't look or sound good at all and she is one of my favorite sisters! I really hope that she gets better. Oh, and guess what else is new about today? It's 35 degrees!!!! The highest it's ever been is 32!!!!! Even I felt hot when I stepped outside. I sure hope this doesn't last, but I sure hope it doesn't plummit to 15 or something soon!
Well, that's the highlights. I hope you enjoyed it. I wish I had more time and could actually go into more detail and show you the pictures (I took A LOT).
Love you!
Sister Nicholls
My "lucky" penny - 25 August 2010
So, I'll admit it. I was having the LOUSIEST week on the face of the planet, until I found a penny, face up! It was saturday night, we had just had an unsuccessful knocking session and were walking home when I found the penny. I don't know why, but I just got REALLY excited and really happy about everything right then. My week had just turned from night to day, I can't explain it. So, while we were walking we saw only 1 person and Sis. Ferrell was in the middle of telling me a story so I was almost going to let her keep talking and we pass him but I really felt like we should talk to him, so I interrupted her and told her we should stop him. (This whole time I'm playing with my penny). He was really friendly and also not from Kingston, just there for a visit. We talked to him for awhile. We told him about President Monson and he was telling us what the meaning of life was, so we talked about the plan of salvation and gave him a pamphlet and told him to go on the website to contact missionaries at home. In the middle of our conversation a car pulled over and asked us directions to the Yogi Bear campsite (we get this about once a week, I guess we look like we know where we're going). Sis. Ferrell gives him the directions and then he asks us if we're Latter-day Saints. We say yes. Then he asks if the man we're speaking to is LDS and we say no, we just met him. Then this man in the car precedes to tell the man we were talking to that he shouldn't believe anything we tell him, that he should just read the bible because that's where the truth is, and that we don't believe in God, and other such things, and then drives away. Honestly, I was about to cry. That was most likely the biggest form of persecution I've ever encountered personally. I was scared to see what the man we were talking to would say. We were all quiet for a moment and then I asked if he heard what the man was saying. What he said really surprised me. He said, "I heard enough to stop listening." This opened up a great opportunity for us to bear testimony that we each need to come to know the truth for ourselves. He took it as it was, but I think that moment really made him think twice. He had a chance to see us stand up for our believes and he'll probably think about it more now. How lucky was that penny?
What a coincidence, I also spoke this past sunday. I had to speak for 20 minutes! I couldn't believe it, I even made it! My topic was Matthew 6:8 and I shared a bunch of experiences about how God knows us personally and knows what we need before we even ask. I talked about how there will be days when we'll study something out of PMG in the morning and will have the opportunity to teach it to someone throughout the day. Along with other things.
Since I had a bad part of the week, I don't have very many exciting stories to share. I do have great news though! Next week, Monday night to Wednesday morning, is Sisters Conference! We're meeting monday night at the mission home for supper and trainings. Then tuesday morning we're heading to PEI!!!!!! We're going to go to Cavendish and see Anne of Green Gables stuff, then to Charlottetown and THEN we're going to MONTAGUE!!!!! We're going to have Supper with the Ballards, the senior couple that serves there! Sister Ferrell and I are SUPER excited to see them again, and just to see PEI again, in general. We're taking the long way up, across the bridge, and then the short way back, on the ferry! That's going to be exciting. The ferry is only about 20 minutes away from Montague, but since I was there in the winter, it was closed and we had to go around to the bridge. Then we'll head back to the mission home and we'll have breakfast in the morning and say our goodbyes. :D I'm SOO excited! This also means I get to pick up mail from the mission office! I'm going to get my boots!
Oh, someone gave us a bunch of frozen shrimp and scallops. Please email me a good recipe or 2. I don't actually know what to do with them....
Thanks for everything. LOVE YOU!
Sister Nicholls
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Andrew Update - 29 August 2010
Another week - 16 August 2010
Well, we had an emergency transfer today.
Nothing because someone got hurt, but a missionary went home a few weeks early to start with school, and my comp took his spot in another sector. So now me and the other two missionaries are in a trio. I am in a TRIO. Weird. And one of my companions is ending his mission in three weeks, and I think after he dies, the sector is going to go from 4 missionaries, to two. Elder Carpio and I. And my other comp is called Elder Abrams. So Elder Gomez is gone, and does not live with me anymore. So no more worries about arguing with him! Sweet! But this next change, if I am with Elder Carpio, he will be my third comp straight, of latinos. At the end of this next change, that would mean 7 and a half months of living with a latin companion. Wow.
Well this sunday, we had more investigators in church that ever in my mission. 9. Not counting the two that got confirmed, because technically that would be 11. And we had an investigator that was going to go, but got called to work, and she has a baptismal date, so there´s another, plus a few other investigators that usually go, didn`t. But what was sweet, is that we had an ENTIRE FAMILY THERE. An atheist Dad, Alez, (who is changing lots, and is beginning to progress actually) the Mom, Maria, (Who was hardcore catholic who prayed to the virgen, and did weird stuff, and constantly reminded us she is never going to change, but she has changed her mind on a lot) two daughters, Angeles and Katy, and the nine year old son, Felipe. Plus The friend of Angeles, Kena. This whole family is going to get baptized within a few weeks.
So I loved your Hallmark Cards! I was laughing here alone, because nobody around me understands English, So I was here cracking up and the rest just stared at the dumb gringo. Ha. Speaking of english, my english class is still going strong! I love teaching, and I am getting better at teaching it! We play games, do stuff on the board, and always bring treats.
Dianna, you always have some kind of story to share. I wish I could do more knocking. That is the only thing I do not like about this sector, is that we can never hardly do knocking, because we have knocked everywhere thousnds of times, and nobody wants to talk to us, and pretty much have horrible thoughts about the missionaries, and do not want anything to do with us. But that`s alright. I am glad I am not having to deal with bees and bugs like you, or humidity. I just worry about the dogs chasing my bike, and making sure my bike works. Speaking of...
Bikes are amazing here. Ok Dad, Mom, Dianna. Think. If you needed to replace the axel on a bike, and the ball bearings inside, how much do you think it would cost to have a person:
1: Take the bike, and dismantle it.
2: Find the replacement part, and instal it for you.
3: Put the bike back together.
4: Fix up the brakes, and grease up the chain, and joints.
How much do you think that would all cost? Hm? Any ideas? I will tell you how much it costs here. Are you ready? Three dollars. For ALL of that. THAT IS NOTHING!! If you have a BIG problem, like missing parts, and really broken pieces, the most you would spend is about 10 dollars. SO CHEAP!
Well I hope everything is going well at home. I heard that Mom needs to take 4 trips a day just to get the girls to school.. Where is this school at? Ya I sure you can get some kind of carpool set up, or maybe they will get busses, or I am sure something is going to happen, to make life easier for you guys. I hope members do something for my birthday, since there are a few with birthdays this week too, even one on the SAME day as me. Maybe I will finally make that coffee cake Mom sent me to make! I cannot believe I still haven`t made it! I just never have the recipe when I am shopping, because we have to shop out of town. Sad huh? We have to take a bus for 40 minutes just to go shopping. We live in nowheresville.
To end, Mom, did you get my suggestion about how you can read the Book of Mormon? About how every time, get a new paperback copy, and highlight everything you find in of one topic, for example, all the prophesies(?) and quotes from Jesus, next time, Faith... Dad! You should totally buy a regular paperback copy of El Libro de Mormón! Because in the back, there is something that doesn´t exist in english! It´s like the bible dictionary, with the topical guide put together! In every subject, there´s a definition, the churches view on the topic, and other useful information, followed by referencias from all 4 books of scripture. It is amazing! Well my time is up, gonna watch my hallmark cards again, and head out. Love you all, Chao chao!
-Elder Nicholls
Wow - 9 August 2010
We have misters??? WHAT!?!? What other rich people things do we have? We have a word for that here in Chile, cuico. It means that we have fancy looking things, kind of like bling bling in English. What other additions have been made to the house? How are my things? Mainly my guitar... Where did it get put? Who is using my speakers? Haha. Just curious. My english class is doing well, and I have regulars, and they really enjoy coming and playing games, and learning REAL english. Because I can actually PRONOUNCE the words correctly.
So this week has been really cool, because we found a lot of investigators. Way more than usual, because we are applying other methods into our work. We teach a lot in the doorway, and at the gate, because people are too stubborn to let us in. We have had a lot of progress with one family in particular. Maria the Mom, her husband Luis I think (He doesn´t listen much, just eats with us sometimes, and goes to activities, but doesn´t learn the gospel) The daughters Katy and Angeles, the son Felipe, and the friend of Angeles, Kena (Maria Eugenia). Katy is 18 years old, Angeles 14, Felipe 9, and Kena 15. We have to be REALLY careful with these people, because the girls are snakes sometimes. That means they do not care about the message, just want to flirt and be around the gringo missionary. It started off like that, but now they are beginning to understand the difference of this church, and that it really blesses their lives. But since they come to church, participate, and always receive us into their house, we can´t just drop them. But we are working on helping them understand the difference between members and missionaries. We tell them ALLL the time, they just don´t get it. Patience, love, and prayer. But do not worry about me, my focus is all on the work. But this family is incredible, because they always invite us to eat, or have family home evening, come to church, and read the Book of Mormon. I can see all 5 getting baptized, leaving the Dad out, because he is very stubborn, and we have to let him be, or he gets mad. Que porfiado! But whatever.
My comp and I are getting better, because that p-day, he just ignored me ALL day, even when working, only talking to me in the lesson. Then after 2 days of that, I finally got fed up and called the zone leaders to talk to him and set him straight. They told us to do comp inventory on this specific problem, and he just yelled at me, and told me to recognize my errors, and change. But he always complains about my personality. About my sense of humor, or how I talk, or how I think, or things that have nothing to do with him whatsoever. Always tells me to change things, because it bugs him that I do something a certain way. But to be honest, I do not want to change, or can´t change, because it has to do with my personality. He tells me "If you don´t change on the mission, you will never ever ever change to be better in all your life!" But, it doesn´t matter! I am going to have friends that LIKE my personality, and going to marry a woman who LIKES who I am. But he really doesn´t understand it. So the zone leaders had us go on divisions with the other elders in the house. I went with another gringo, and he went with another latino. That way we could talk in our own languages and figure things out. Hey! Felipe, the son of that family, just came up from behind me and scared me! I just talked with him a few minutes, and we are going to pass by in like 20 minutes now. Because their cat peed on my backpack, so the mom is cleaning it, and I am using a briefcase they lent me. So ya. So me and Elder Abrams talked and talked, and figured out some ways to solve the problem. We returned, and me and my comp talked a lot, and decided to erase everything, forget it all, and start over again with love. And now we are a way better compañarismo. Then afterwards, Elder Abrams told me that him and his comp were listening the whole time while we solved our last problems. He said I had handled it in the best way he thought was possible, and that skills like that are what´s going to carry me into leadership positions, and in solving future problems. All in all, we all agreed, except for Elder Gomez my comp, that Elder Gomez is the source of the problem. Because it really is like that. He gets mad because he doesn´t listen to me when I talk, and when we leave to do something and he has no idea what´s going on, He says "Why didn´t you tell me before!" And I say that I did, and he says no, yes, no, yes.... And he gets mad and doesn´t talk, or says bad stuff about gringos. Whatever. I love him anyways.
Well I got like 10 dear Elders this week, but haven´t had much time to read, because we have been getting home at like 10:20 this week, super late. Too late, but our lessons have been making us do that. But next week I will respond. I love you all, and Dianna, have fun with those dogs! Keep up the hard work, and buy yourself a sweater! Or maybe I´ll knit you one, because I learned how, and am making scarves for my investigators and members... Love you all! Chao!
-Elder Nicholls
Well, we had an emergency transfer today.
Nothing because someone got hurt, but a missionary went home a few weeks early to start with school, and my comp took his spot in another sector. So now me and the other two missionaries are in a trio. I am in a TRIO. Weird. And one of my companions is ending his mission in three weeks, and I think after he dies, the sector is going to go from 4 missionaries, to two. Elder Carpio and I. And my other comp is called Elder Abrams. So Elder Gomez is gone, and does not live with me anymore. So no more worries about arguing with him! Sweet! But this next change, if I am with Elder Carpio, he will be my third comp straight, of latinos. At the end of this next change, that would mean 7 and a half months of living with a latin companion. Wow.
Well this sunday, we had more investigators in church that ever in my mission. 9. Not counting the two that got confirmed, because technically that would be 11. And we had an investigator that was going to go, but got called to work, and she has a baptismal date, so there´s another, plus a few other investigators that usually go, didn`t. But what was sweet, is that we had an ENTIRE FAMILY THERE. An atheist Dad, Alez, (who is changing lots, and is beginning to progress actually) the Mom, Maria, (Who was hardcore catholic who prayed to the virgen, and did weird stuff, and constantly reminded us she is never going to change, but she has changed her mind on a lot) two daughters, Angeles and Katy, and the nine year old son, Felipe. Plus The friend of Angeles, Kena. This whole family is going to get baptized within a few weeks.
So I loved your Hallmark Cards! I was laughing here alone, because nobody around me understands English, So I was here cracking up and the rest just stared at the dumb gringo. Ha. Speaking of english, my english class is still going strong! I love teaching, and I am getting better at teaching it! We play games, do stuff on the board, and always bring treats.
Dianna, you always have some kind of story to share. I wish I could do more knocking. That is the only thing I do not like about this sector, is that we can never hardly do knocking, because we have knocked everywhere thousnds of times, and nobody wants to talk to us, and pretty much have horrible thoughts about the missionaries, and do not want anything to do with us. But that`s alright. I am glad I am not having to deal with bees and bugs like you, or humidity. I just worry about the dogs chasing my bike, and making sure my bike works. Speaking of...
Bikes are amazing here. Ok Dad, Mom, Dianna. Think. If you needed to replace the axel on a bike, and the ball bearings inside, how much do you think it would cost to have a person:
1: Take the bike, and dismantle it.
2: Find the replacement part, and instal it for you.
3: Put the bike back together.
4: Fix up the brakes, and grease up the chain, and joints.
How much do you think that would all cost? Hm? Any ideas? I will tell you how much it costs here. Are you ready? Three dollars. For ALL of that. THAT IS NOTHING!! If you have a BIG problem, like missing parts, and really broken pieces, the most you would spend is about 10 dollars. SO CHEAP!
Well I hope everything is going well at home. I heard that Mom needs to take 4 trips a day just to get the girls to school.. Where is this school at? Ya I sure you can get some kind of carpool set up, or maybe they will get busses, or I am sure something is going to happen, to make life easier for you guys. I hope members do something for my birthday, since there are a few with birthdays this week too, even one on the SAME day as me. Maybe I will finally make that coffee cake Mom sent me to make! I cannot believe I still haven`t made it! I just never have the recipe when I am shopping, because we have to shop out of town. Sad huh? We have to take a bus for 40 minutes just to go shopping. We live in nowheresville.
To end, Mom, did you get my suggestion about how you can read the Book of Mormon? About how every time, get a new paperback copy, and highlight everything you find in of one topic, for example, all the prophesies(?) and quotes from Jesus, next time, Faith... Dad! You should totally buy a regular paperback copy of El Libro de Mormón! Because in the back, there is something that doesn´t exist in english! It´s like the bible dictionary, with the topical guide put together! In every subject, there´s a definition, the churches view on the topic, and other useful information, followed by referencias from all 4 books of scripture. It is amazing! Well my time is up, gonna watch my hallmark cards again, and head out. Love you all, Chao chao!
-Elder Nicholls
Wow - 9 August 2010
We have misters??? WHAT!?!? What other rich people things do we have? We have a word for that here in Chile, cuico. It means that we have fancy looking things, kind of like bling bling in English. What other additions have been made to the house? How are my things? Mainly my guitar... Where did it get put? Who is using my speakers? Haha. Just curious. My english class is doing well, and I have regulars, and they really enjoy coming and playing games, and learning REAL english. Because I can actually PRONOUNCE the words correctly.
So this week has been really cool, because we found a lot of investigators. Way more than usual, because we are applying other methods into our work. We teach a lot in the doorway, and at the gate, because people are too stubborn to let us in. We have had a lot of progress with one family in particular. Maria the Mom, her husband Luis I think (He doesn´t listen much, just eats with us sometimes, and goes to activities, but doesn´t learn the gospel) The daughters Katy and Angeles, the son Felipe, and the friend of Angeles, Kena (Maria Eugenia). Katy is 18 years old, Angeles 14, Felipe 9, and Kena 15. We have to be REALLY careful with these people, because the girls are snakes sometimes. That means they do not care about the message, just want to flirt and be around the gringo missionary. It started off like that, but now they are beginning to understand the difference of this church, and that it really blesses their lives. But since they come to church, participate, and always receive us into their house, we can´t just drop them. But we are working on helping them understand the difference between members and missionaries. We tell them ALLL the time, they just don´t get it. Patience, love, and prayer. But do not worry about me, my focus is all on the work. But this family is incredible, because they always invite us to eat, or have family home evening, come to church, and read the Book of Mormon. I can see all 5 getting baptized, leaving the Dad out, because he is very stubborn, and we have to let him be, or he gets mad. Que porfiado! But whatever.
My comp and I are getting better, because that p-day, he just ignored me ALL day, even when working, only talking to me in the lesson. Then after 2 days of that, I finally got fed up and called the zone leaders to talk to him and set him straight. They told us to do comp inventory on this specific problem, and he just yelled at me, and told me to recognize my errors, and change. But he always complains about my personality. About my sense of humor, or how I talk, or how I think, or things that have nothing to do with him whatsoever. Always tells me to change things, because it bugs him that I do something a certain way. But to be honest, I do not want to change, or can´t change, because it has to do with my personality. He tells me "If you don´t change on the mission, you will never ever ever change to be better in all your life!" But, it doesn´t matter! I am going to have friends that LIKE my personality, and going to marry a woman who LIKES who I am. But he really doesn´t understand it. So the zone leaders had us go on divisions with the other elders in the house. I went with another gringo, and he went with another latino. That way we could talk in our own languages and figure things out. Hey! Felipe, the son of that family, just came up from behind me and scared me! I just talked with him a few minutes, and we are going to pass by in like 20 minutes now. Because their cat peed on my backpack, so the mom is cleaning it, and I am using a briefcase they lent me. So ya. So me and Elder Abrams talked and talked, and figured out some ways to solve the problem. We returned, and me and my comp talked a lot, and decided to erase everything, forget it all, and start over again with love. And now we are a way better compañarismo. Then afterwards, Elder Abrams told me that him and his comp were listening the whole time while we solved our last problems. He said I had handled it in the best way he thought was possible, and that skills like that are what´s going to carry me into leadership positions, and in solving future problems. All in all, we all agreed, except for Elder Gomez my comp, that Elder Gomez is the source of the problem. Because it really is like that. He gets mad because he doesn´t listen to me when I talk, and when we leave to do something and he has no idea what´s going on, He says "Why didn´t you tell me before!" And I say that I did, and he says no, yes, no, yes.... And he gets mad and doesn´t talk, or says bad stuff about gringos. Whatever. I love him anyways.
Well I got like 10 dear Elders this week, but haven´t had much time to read, because we have been getting home at like 10:20 this week, super late. Too late, but our lessons have been making us do that. But next week I will respond. I love you all, and Dianna, have fun with those dogs! Keep up the hard work, and buy yourself a sweater! Or maybe I´ll knit you one, because I learned how, and am making scarves for my investigators and members... Love you all! Chao!
-Elder Nicholls
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Andrew Update - 24 August 2010
Chepicano - 2 August 2010
Thank you Dad for your email!
Even though it was short, I was so happy to hear that you had shared the gospel a bit this week! Sweet! I actually almost cried! I have no idea why! I can not wait to get home, so I can go on splits with the missionaries! Woo hoo! I know I was terrible at not going out before the mission, but I am so repented now, and the members here inspire me so much! Story:
The family Salinas. The Mother, Ines, pronounced e-nez, like e-mail combined with pez candy, e-nez, leaves with us all the time to appointments. She RIDES HER BIKE with us to appointments. She is so awesome! I cannot even believe this lady! She is totally a missionary still, even after being home for 30 years from her mission! She gives us so many references, and always asks US if she can join us in lessons, that I gave her a present. A missionary agenda. I filled it up with the dates, a bunch of appointments, and marked it in the back where she can put her references. She has already put in like 7! She is into politics, so she knows almost everybody in Chepica! ALLLL the time in contacts, people always so, "Oh ya, I know la hermana Ines. She is my friend." ALLL the time! And her son, Felipe, leaves with us all the time to work too. That family, along with her nephew Michael, all help us all the time.
For Hermana Ines, I am going to make her a scarf. I learned how to knit, or something. How do you say tejer in English? Because I can do that. So I am tejiendo Hermana Ines a scarf, and am building her a door for her house. She lives poor, and her door is made of that super thin wood, I cannot remember what it`s called in English. Cartón. Plywood! I remembered! So I am making her a real door out of 2 by 4`s, and nails, and good hinges. She`s going to be so surprised! I want to serve her, because she always serves us! Since she only likes us, she feeds us lunch sometimes, and bought me a beanie, and buys me egg bread.
So Saturday we celebrated pioneer day. We did a pioneer trek! for like 30 kilometers I don`t know... We left the chapel in chepica at 5:30 am, traveled for half an hour, went up a big hill, had a big fire, devotional, I walked with a guitar, and we sang hymns on top around the fire. (I can play like 6 hymns on the guitar now, I am so proud!) Then we walked and walked in mud and rivers until 3:30 in the afternoon all the way back to Chepica. I took lots of pictures. And 3 of our investigators went, and had a blast! More of our investigators wanted to go, but their parents wouldn`t let them... lame. I also made this thing called a manto. Like a big blanket coat. All the huasos wear them here. A huaso is like a cowboy kind of dude. They wear big sombreros, and stand on street corners in their cloaks, and do nothing all day. Just stand and salute people, or ride horses all day. So I made one of those cloaks and wore it while I played guitar, so I could be more Chepicano. Ha. It was lot of fun. We got to grow really strong relationships with investigators, because before, they did not really trust us that much, or liked what we do. But after spending 12 hours straight with them, they realized how awesome we are. Being all girls between 14 and 18, they complained a lot. That sounds bad doesn`t it? That 3 teenage girls spent all day with us. But don`t worry. We were in a group of like 30 people. But we talked a lot, and they complained a lot, and I helped them get through a lot of tough challenges. Climbing over barbed wire fences, and getting stuck in deep mub, I had to pull them out. It was really funny, and I got a lot of good pictures. Haha. MY shoes came off once, and I had to dig them out of the ground., It was a classic movie scene. I even laughed, even though it was really lame. But now they really trust us, and want to follow this gospel, because they can see the difference between the member that went, and the investigator.
Afterwards, we had a fireside in the chapel, and Pres. MacArthur came to speak! The mission pres! Sweet! And the School orchestra came and played a few hymns. It was a realy good experience. We had them play, because we teach two members of the orchestra, and the director. Funny huh?
Well I am totally out of time now, and need to go shopping. I love you all! Thank you for your love, prayers, support, and being MY family. I am so proud of my family, and tell stories about you to everyone I know, especially the families I teach. I want everybody to have a family like I have. I hope my converts serve a mission, and I try to support every single person I talk to, whether they are a member or not. I know that my efforts have changed this branch I am in, because a few members that usually are not active, I have helped respark their interest in going to church, and not attend regularly, and bear testimony in church, and give talks. Well I love you all THIIIIIIIIIIIIS MUCH! (With my arms spread wide open) Chao familia!
-Elder Nicholls
Here I am - 26 July 2010
I want to respond to a few DearElders I got a few weeks ago...
Mom: It is true, we have been learning about the temple since we were about three years old. How important must it be then to recognize the importance of it? Also, it is really important to really search for the right spouse because it is a selection for an Eternity. Being a Mom, you really have taught me a lot of how a Mom should be. I realized over these last few weeks that you and Dad NEVER yelled at each other. Sometimes you bickered and disagreed and were disappointed with each other, but you never let it out of control. That is an incredible example for me. Happiness really IS knowledge that all is well, like you said. What do you mean "You JUST talked like a year and a half ago???" That is forever! I give talks like ever 3-4 weeks in church! So what are the callings of everybody in the church? Mom, Dad, Jenn, Sam... I cannot remember, and do not know if anything changed.. I really wanna know because a lot of people ask me, and I do not know... Yes it is super sad to see converts stop coming to church. My old companion Elder Rodriquez came here to Chepica on his last p-day, and it was a very sad experience for him. Because all of his 7 converts from here are not active, nor do they want anything with the church. They told him that they do not want anybody coming back to their house. I felt so bad for him. I cannot even imagine the pain. But, he certainly did his part, because they have their free agency, and understand their sins.
In a lesson this week, the husband of a lady returned home in the middle of the lesson, and said stuff like "Christ never existed, all this is false." Then went on in a little speech trying to destroy my hopes, and asked me something like "So what happens if all this is fake?" And in this moment, I remembered what Jeffrey R. Holland said once, or at least I think is was him... But I said something along the lines of "If all this is fake, then billions of people have been misled into a path of happiness success, family unity and peace, when really the life is made to be miserable, fight, and always question the truth." Then he shut up after that, and we both testified of the existence of the Savior, and the Book of Mormon. I was really proud of myself. But after the lesson, the lady told us not to come back anymore, because even if she received a testimony of this church, she will not stop being Catholic, because it is a tradition in her family.
This week has been really cool, because for a while in every single contact, even if they yelled at me to leave, I mustered up the best spirit I could, and testified of the Savior and the Book of Mormon. And in every contact like that, they left to go inside quiet, not yelling, and changed. They left their house with the intentions of rejecting me, but entered like a puppy with it´s tail between the legs. Testifying of the Book of Mormon really is the best weapon I have in fighting the evil here. It sounds weird talking like this, that I make it like a video game. But it really is like this. We have weapons, and so do they. We have a certain amount of energy, and they do too. I am going to employ using the Book of Mormon more often in contacts this next week, to see how I do.
Well until next week. I love you all so much, and hope all is well. Chao!
-Elder Nicholls
Chepicano Soy - 19 July 2010
Well Family, hello.
Well to start of, I want to say I love you all. And secondly, has anybody seen the video from the church "By small and simple things"? Because the main actor in it, the boy who receives the Book of Mormon, and in the end gets baptized, I know him. He was my EFY counselor one year, and he gave me a nickname, and was so cool and unforgettable. But the other day I chose that video to show in a lesson we had in the chapel, and when it started, I recognized him, Jason, and strangely missed him. I wanted to see him again, talk to him more, know him better. Weird... But I told everybody I knew who he was, and they were all impressed, including the other gringo missionary in the branch. Ha.
So, want to know something weird? Ok I have never really been that good at the piano, but the mission lent me an electric piano, to practice for sacrament meetings. But instead of playing the piano, I play the organ. I put it on the organ function, because it doesn`t have a pedal. So we have an ORGAN in church, and I can play a lot of hymns now. I am so impressed with myself. I cannot believe how good I am getting at piano, especially because I can only practice about 10 minutes a day, if that. But, cool!
MOM!!!!!! I love you!!! I read that talk you gave me from Sister Lant in the conference, and did as you said. I felt inspired to share it with a family that has been investigating for MONTHS. The Mom does not want to get baptized, but the children have gone to church like 25 times, gives talks in sacrament meeting, read daily, and go to seminary. But the Mom will not give them permission to get baptized, because they "Are not ready". But after prayfully reading this talk with my companion, we decided to enlist the help of a Sister in the branch, and we shared the talk with the family. And the Mom gave us permission! After months of asking for it and being denied, she finally decided to hand over the authorization! Wow! I really feel like I was the missionary needed in the conversion of these youth. Now I cannot talk too much, because the baptism is not until the 8th, so the Mom can still withdraw. But we are working hard to encourage her in her decision, and remind her it was the right thing to do. Because like the talk says, the parents have to allow that the children act, or when they leave the house to live, they will not be able to make good decisions, because they do not have the experience.
Well 6 investigators went to church with us yesterday, so we are definitely having some good progress. We do not find so many news, but we teach a bit with members. And the Engligh class I had this Saturday, like 15 people went. And we set an appointment with a lady called Genesis, and she is so awesome and smart and nice. That appointment is tomorrow, SUPER far. We have to ride our bikes like 30 minutes just to get to her house. Or even longer. Because we do not know exactly where she lives.
Well I do not know what else to tell you guys. Well yesterday we had a confirmation, and the lady asked ME to do it! I did not do it, really because I was not prepared. I did not know what to say, because there are certain things that must be said, and I did not know. Because the branch president always does it. I felt bad, but in the end, everyone agreed that really the leader should do it, or someone from the branch. Well we still give blessings to the sick, and it is so awesome, because it´s out of this world, literally! Well I am looking forward to getting an email from you guys this next week, because today I did not get anything. I hope the letter I send home today with my memory card reaches you quickly without problems, or anybody stealing them. Well I love you all! I hope you don`t forget who I am or what I am doing! Because I think about you guys daily!
-Elder Nicholls
Thank you Dad for your email!
Even though it was short, I was so happy to hear that you had shared the gospel a bit this week! Sweet! I actually almost cried! I have no idea why! I can not wait to get home, so I can go on splits with the missionaries! Woo hoo! I know I was terrible at not going out before the mission, but I am so repented now, and the members here inspire me so much! Story:
The family Salinas. The Mother, Ines, pronounced e-nez, like e-mail combined with pez candy, e-nez, leaves with us all the time to appointments. She RIDES HER BIKE with us to appointments. She is so awesome! I cannot even believe this lady! She is totally a missionary still, even after being home for 30 years from her mission! She gives us so many references, and always asks US if she can join us in lessons, that I gave her a present. A missionary agenda. I filled it up with the dates, a bunch of appointments, and marked it in the back where she can put her references. She has already put in like 7! She is into politics, so she knows almost everybody in Chepica! ALLLL the time in contacts, people always so, "Oh ya, I know la hermana Ines. She is my friend." ALLL the time! And her son, Felipe, leaves with us all the time to work too. That family, along with her nephew Michael, all help us all the time.
For Hermana Ines, I am going to make her a scarf. I learned how to knit, or something. How do you say tejer in English? Because I can do that. So I am tejiendo Hermana Ines a scarf, and am building her a door for her house. She lives poor, and her door is made of that super thin wood, I cannot remember what it`s called in English. Cartón. Plywood! I remembered! So I am making her a real door out of 2 by 4`s, and nails, and good hinges. She`s going to be so surprised! I want to serve her, because she always serves us! Since she only likes us, she feeds us lunch sometimes, and bought me a beanie, and buys me egg bread.
So Saturday we celebrated pioneer day. We did a pioneer trek! for like 30 kilometers I don`t know... We left the chapel in chepica at 5:30 am, traveled for half an hour, went up a big hill, had a big fire, devotional, I walked with a guitar, and we sang hymns on top around the fire. (I can play like 6 hymns on the guitar now, I am so proud!) Then we walked and walked in mud and rivers until 3:30 in the afternoon all the way back to Chepica. I took lots of pictures. And 3 of our investigators went, and had a blast! More of our investigators wanted to go, but their parents wouldn`t let them... lame. I also made this thing called a manto. Like a big blanket coat. All the huasos wear them here. A huaso is like a cowboy kind of dude. They wear big sombreros, and stand on street corners in their cloaks, and do nothing all day. Just stand and salute people, or ride horses all day. So I made one of those cloaks and wore it while I played guitar, so I could be more Chepicano. Ha. It was lot of fun. We got to grow really strong relationships with investigators, because before, they did not really trust us that much, or liked what we do. But after spending 12 hours straight with them, they realized how awesome we are. Being all girls between 14 and 18, they complained a lot. That sounds bad doesn`t it? That 3 teenage girls spent all day with us. But don`t worry. We were in a group of like 30 people. But we talked a lot, and they complained a lot, and I helped them get through a lot of tough challenges. Climbing over barbed wire fences, and getting stuck in deep mub, I had to pull them out. It was really funny, and I got a lot of good pictures. Haha. MY shoes came off once, and I had to dig them out of the ground., It was a classic movie scene. I even laughed, even though it was really lame. But now they really trust us, and want to follow this gospel, because they can see the difference between the member that went, and the investigator.
Afterwards, we had a fireside in the chapel, and Pres. MacArthur came to speak! The mission pres! Sweet! And the School orchestra came and played a few hymns. It was a realy good experience. We had them play, because we teach two members of the orchestra, and the director. Funny huh?
Well I am totally out of time now, and need to go shopping. I love you all! Thank you for your love, prayers, support, and being MY family. I am so proud of my family, and tell stories about you to everyone I know, especially the families I teach. I want everybody to have a family like I have. I hope my converts serve a mission, and I try to support every single person I talk to, whether they are a member or not. I know that my efforts have changed this branch I am in, because a few members that usually are not active, I have helped respark their interest in going to church, and not attend regularly, and bear testimony in church, and give talks. Well I love you all THIIIIIIIIIIIIS MUCH! (With my arms spread wide open) Chao familia!
-Elder Nicholls
Here I am - 26 July 2010
I want to respond to a few DearElders I got a few weeks ago...
Mom: It is true, we have been learning about the temple since we were about three years old. How important must it be then to recognize the importance of it? Also, it is really important to really search for the right spouse because it is a selection for an Eternity. Being a Mom, you really have taught me a lot of how a Mom should be. I realized over these last few weeks that you and Dad NEVER yelled at each other. Sometimes you bickered and disagreed and were disappointed with each other, but you never let it out of control. That is an incredible example for me. Happiness really IS knowledge that all is well, like you said. What do you mean "You JUST talked like a year and a half ago???" That is forever! I give talks like ever 3-4 weeks in church! So what are the callings of everybody in the church? Mom, Dad, Jenn, Sam... I cannot remember, and do not know if anything changed.. I really wanna know because a lot of people ask me, and I do not know... Yes it is super sad to see converts stop coming to church. My old companion Elder Rodriquez came here to Chepica on his last p-day, and it was a very sad experience for him. Because all of his 7 converts from here are not active, nor do they want anything with the church. They told him that they do not want anybody coming back to their house. I felt so bad for him. I cannot even imagine the pain. But, he certainly did his part, because they have their free agency, and understand their sins.
In a lesson this week, the husband of a lady returned home in the middle of the lesson, and said stuff like "Christ never existed, all this is false." Then went on in a little speech trying to destroy my hopes, and asked me something like "So what happens if all this is fake?" And in this moment, I remembered what Jeffrey R. Holland said once, or at least I think is was him... But I said something along the lines of "If all this is fake, then billions of people have been misled into a path of happiness success, family unity and peace, when really the life is made to be miserable, fight, and always question the truth." Then he shut up after that, and we both testified of the existence of the Savior, and the Book of Mormon. I was really proud of myself. But after the lesson, the lady told us not to come back anymore, because even if she received a testimony of this church, she will not stop being Catholic, because it is a tradition in her family.
This week has been really cool, because for a while in every single contact, even if they yelled at me to leave, I mustered up the best spirit I could, and testified of the Savior and the Book of Mormon. And in every contact like that, they left to go inside quiet, not yelling, and changed. They left their house with the intentions of rejecting me, but entered like a puppy with it´s tail between the legs. Testifying of the Book of Mormon really is the best weapon I have in fighting the evil here. It sounds weird talking like this, that I make it like a video game. But it really is like this. We have weapons, and so do they. We have a certain amount of energy, and they do too. I am going to employ using the Book of Mormon more often in contacts this next week, to see how I do.
Well until next week. I love you all so much, and hope all is well. Chao!
-Elder Nicholls
Chepicano Soy - 19 July 2010
Well Family, hello.
Well to start of, I want to say I love you all. And secondly, has anybody seen the video from the church "By small and simple things"? Because the main actor in it, the boy who receives the Book of Mormon, and in the end gets baptized, I know him. He was my EFY counselor one year, and he gave me a nickname, and was so cool and unforgettable. But the other day I chose that video to show in a lesson we had in the chapel, and when it started, I recognized him, Jason, and strangely missed him. I wanted to see him again, talk to him more, know him better. Weird... But I told everybody I knew who he was, and they were all impressed, including the other gringo missionary in the branch. Ha.
So, want to know something weird? Ok I have never really been that good at the piano, but the mission lent me an electric piano, to practice for sacrament meetings. But instead of playing the piano, I play the organ. I put it on the organ function, because it doesn`t have a pedal. So we have an ORGAN in church, and I can play a lot of hymns now. I am so impressed with myself. I cannot believe how good I am getting at piano, especially because I can only practice about 10 minutes a day, if that. But, cool!
MOM!!!!!! I love you!!! I read that talk you gave me from Sister Lant in the conference, and did as you said. I felt inspired to share it with a family that has been investigating for MONTHS. The Mom does not want to get baptized, but the children have gone to church like 25 times, gives talks in sacrament meeting, read daily, and go to seminary. But the Mom will not give them permission to get baptized, because they "Are not ready". But after prayfully reading this talk with my companion, we decided to enlist the help of a Sister in the branch, and we shared the talk with the family. And the Mom gave us permission! After months of asking for it and being denied, she finally decided to hand over the authorization! Wow! I really feel like I was the missionary needed in the conversion of these youth. Now I cannot talk too much, because the baptism is not until the 8th, so the Mom can still withdraw. But we are working hard to encourage her in her decision, and remind her it was the right thing to do. Because like the talk says, the parents have to allow that the children act, or when they leave the house to live, they will not be able to make good decisions, because they do not have the experience.
Well 6 investigators went to church with us yesterday, so we are definitely having some good progress. We do not find so many news, but we teach a bit with members. And the Engligh class I had this Saturday, like 15 people went. And we set an appointment with a lady called Genesis, and she is so awesome and smart and nice. That appointment is tomorrow, SUPER far. We have to ride our bikes like 30 minutes just to get to her house. Or even longer. Because we do not know exactly where she lives.
Well I do not know what else to tell you guys. Well yesterday we had a confirmation, and the lady asked ME to do it! I did not do it, really because I was not prepared. I did not know what to say, because there are certain things that must be said, and I did not know. Because the branch president always does it. I felt bad, but in the end, everyone agreed that really the leader should do it, or someone from the branch. Well we still give blessings to the sick, and it is so awesome, because it´s out of this world, literally! Well I am looking forward to getting an email from you guys this next week, because today I did not get anything. I hope the letter I send home today with my memory card reaches you quickly without problems, or anybody stealing them. Well I love you all! I hope you don`t forget who I am or what I am doing! Because I think about you guys daily!
-Elder Nicholls
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Dianna Update - 8/20/10
Random facts about my life - 18 August 2010
So, I told you that I had 2 more stories from last week. The first one happened just before 5 am on a thursday morning. We were awakened by a VERY LOUD beeping. We checked out our smoke detector and our kitchen and stuff, nothing there. Then we checked our carbon monoxide detector. The green light was still flashing saying that all was well, but we were scared because we were positive that was what went off. I don't know if you've heard, but 2 missionaries somewhere in Europe died from CO and 2 other missionaries are brain damaged from it. Because of these instances, every missionary apartment (I'm told, I know at least my whole mission has them now) has a CO detector. The missionaries who are brain damaged had woken up to the alarm, thought the sound was obnoxious, turned it off, and went back to sleep. So this story made us paranoid because CO is odorless. So we decided to be extra safe and called 911 for an extra opinion. They sent someone over, he drove up in his truck, wearing an official looking jacket. He came in, looked at everything, told us that there was nothing that could be emitting CO at the time, assured us we were fine, and he left. In the meantime, a firetruck had shown up. They had their lights on but no sirens, THANK GOODNESS! I think I would have DIED if they turned on their sirens! He just waved them away when he left. That was a scary experience but I'm glad that we decided to be safe rather than sorry.
The second story is that we had an 18 year old girl, Ali, come and be a missionary with us for a day. It was totally her idea, and we loved having her with us. She came at 6:45 am because her mom was going to work and that's the time she could drop her off, so she had studies with us in the morning, went to an appointment with us, she even went knocking for a couple hours with us!!! She said she'd do anything we were doing. We tried to make it an easy day because we figured she wouldn't want to knock all day, so we had 3 appointments, BUT she really got to experience a true day in the life of a missionary, 2 of those appointments cancelled! She was sad to find out that we were going to replace those appointments with more walking and knocking. She got really lucky though because we had a supper appointment with the coolest family in the ward! They had us stay for FHE too (our appointment for a different FHE had cancelled so we figured this was PERFECT) we taught the lesson and then we played some fun games with them. I wish I could be part of their family. Not that I don't like you guys, they just make a perfect substitute while I'm so far away.
We had 2 baptisms 2 sundays in a row! Don't get too excited they were both 8 year olds. The first one, Rebekah, was so sweet. She had stage fright just before she was going to be baptized, so they had the doors closed until she got in the font. The Branch President, who is also Rebekah's grandpa, went back to encourage her. When he came back he said that Rebekah had asked her parents "What's this warm feeling I have right here?" pointing to her chest. That was the sweetest thing ever! The second baptism was the coolest baptism I've ever been too. It was at the ocean! Yes, I got to go to an ocean baptism. What made it even cooler was that it was that family we had FHE with that I'm already in love with. :) We all just sat on the rocks (it's not a sandy beach) and had the program there. The music was played by his, Kimball's, 9 year old sister on her violin and his grandpa on the guitar. It was a very nice ceremony. The water was really cold, but was really worth it they said.
You guys are going to have to look up Canada's version of Extreme Home Makeover next month. I don't know what it's actually called but I hope you can find it online. I found out yesterday that Elders Park, Millar, and Clayton, are on it. They are a trio in Windsor. Elder Park was my district leader when I was in Wolfville. They were walking by when the house that was being renovated and they were looking for volunteers so they asked them to help out. AND they interviewed them while they were wearing their white shirts and ties AND name tags! That is the coolest thing I've ever heard of! I really hope that they air the interviews, but you should keep your eye out for them!
I don't remember if I told you or not, but we have a Native American talking stick. So when we have companionship inventory each week we take turns holding it and sharing any thoughts we have about the companionship. It's not very big or heavy, but when Sis. Ferrell went to pass it to me she decided to spear throw it at me. Being the chicken that I am, I flinched and covered my head, but the stick managed to beam me in the part of the forehead that wasn't covered! I couldn't believe it! And by the look that was on Sis. Ferrell's face, I don't think she could believe it either. It didn't hurt at all but we both were surprised and remembered that Sis. Ferrell had asked Sis. Rowe (she was the psychologist who gave it to us) if we could use it to hit each other when they weren't listening, and she said no. But Sis. Ferrell ended up doing it anyway and I WAS listening. We laughed that off, but things only got better. The next day we were walking by this house that creeps the missionaries out because it has a GIGANTIC white cross in the back yard. I'm not even exaggerating a little bit, it is taller than the house. We, without thinking, always stare at it with a weird expression on our face when we walk by. This particular day though, there was a man outside mowing the lawn. I decided that I was going to be friendly, so I lifted my hand to give him a wave and a smile but he turned right at the same time. Also at the same time, there was a horrid sound that came from the mower and a sharp pain on the side of my neck! A piece of bark had come SHOOTING out of the mower and nailed me right in the neck! Sis. Ferrell saw it and her face was shocked, I'm sure not as shocked as my face was! That hurt! There's no bruise or blood thought, that's good. What makes this story even worse, or better depending on how you look at it, is that he didn't even notice! We just kept walking. I couldn't believe my luck. I'm so grateful though that there hasn't been any more hitting accidents since.
So, I got to really TALK with a JW with week. She was REALLY nice and she "warned" us where all the other JW's live. (She was actually just telling us about different people from church and pointed out where they live, so now we know where the "higher ups" live, so we can either avoid them, or be prepared.) I'm surprised at how much we have in common. I'm glad she turned out to be nice because we were worried when we were greeted with "Is that your Bible? I'll go get mine." That's never a good sign. But we enjoyed a lovely 2 hour conversation with her in which I got to share about the Spirit World. I've never been able to share anything with a JW before, it was great!
Alright, I should go. I love you all!
Sister Nicholls
P.S. We actually had an investigator at sacrament meeting this week! The work IS moving forward here in Nova Scotia!
MOOOOOOO TWOOOOOO - 11 August 2010
6, That is the number of hamburgers that I ate this week. Only once did I have 2 at once (and I was forced to, no joke). That means that on 5 different occasions I was fed hamburgers. WHAT IS WITH THIS?! It's a good thing that I LOVE hamburgers. I think everyone is conspiring against us or something... Also, along with those hamburgers we are served ice cream, but, I'm not going to complain about that. :)
Knocking experience: We had 3 weird houses IN A ROW.
House #1: bees. Like most houses here in Nova Scotia, there is a front door that no one uses and is usually blocked off, in this case there was a flower pot on the front steps, and a side door. We walked over to the side door and noticed that it was surrounded by flower bushes and SWARMING with bees. We thought about it, and decided to try the front door. There was no way that was going to happen. So we trudged back over to the side door, said a prayer in our hearts and knocked on the door. A sweet German man opened the door. We ended up talking to him for 30-45 minutes and he even stepped outside! We were hoping he would invite us in instead, we even pointed out the bees and he just thought it was cool. Our conversation was amazing and no one was stung. I'm feeling so blessed.
Then we head over to house #2. We go to the side door (actually it was the back door) and we ring the door bell. While we're waiting for an answer, we hear this scratching sound coming from the thing that hangs over the door, roof thing (sorry, I can't think of a name for it at the moment.) I don't know how to describe the noise other than it sounded like a GIGANTIC spider crawling across the top. Sis. Ferrell and I looked at each other and walked away as fast as we could without looking back. We usually knock or ring twice, but we didn't at this door.
House #3. They had a long, gravel driveway with weeds growing in it, but that's common so we didn't think much of it. But as we were walking grasshoppers were hopping up EVERYWHERE! It was like a plague. I was hoping a bunch of seagulls would show up and eat them! It was funny and disgusting feeling at the same time. I just couldn't believe my eyes! There were way more grasshoppers than you can even imagine. I don't even know how to make it sound dramatic enough. Luckily, it was worth the trip. The guy at the house was really nice. :)
Random bit of information: Growing up I remember thinking, What would happen if I dialed 765-4321 on the phone? Who knew that if I had the right area code I would reach a member here in Kingston, NS!!!!!! (sadly, they just changed their number and everyone is mourning the loss).
Every monday we have FHE with a single mom (a recent convert) and her 3 young kids. A couple weeks ago we read the story of Samuel the Lamanite out of the Children's Book of Mormon and we had them act it out. It was HILARIOUS! We had Seth, 7, play Samuel. We tied a blanket around him like a cape and he chose a light saber to be his stick. As we narrated he acted it out and stood on a chair as the wall. Then we had Noah, 5, through waded up newspaper at him. I just have to say, Noah has never had so much fun reading a scripture story. The next week, we talked about Joseph Smith getting the plates. Seth is SO smart! He told the entire story, not missing ANY details. Then we had hidden our own scriptures. We had written on an index card "I know the Book of Mormon is true" in that code we used as kids during sacrament meeting. We gave them directions on how to find it and when they found it they couldn't translate it, but then we gave them the code to be able to read it. It was a fun correlation.
Transfers: Transfers are this week and guess what?!?!?!?!? NOTHING IS CHANGING FOR ME!! Woohoo! This is the first time in the history of my mission that I am not involved in transfers! I'm so excited, but I'm also kind of sad because it's over. I can no longer tell people that something for me has changed every 6 weeks. Oh well, I'm over it.
I have 2 more stories but no more time. I guess you'll have to wait. Here's a preview of one: calling 911.
LOVE YOU ALL!!
Sister Nicholls
That's right, I whipped out the tights! - 4 August 2010
I can't believe it. It's cold. WHY?!?!?!??!!!!!! For the past 2 weeks I've been wearing a sweater. There have also been a few mornings where I didn't want to get out of my warm bed. I was sleeping with 2 blankets on!!! IT'S JULY!!! (well, I guess NOW it's August, but that doesn't make too big a difference.) I actually wore tights instead of nylons the other day because it was THAT cold. Of course, I'm the freak around here too. I'm the ONLY one who is cold and wearing a sweater. We had zone conference recently and Sis. Simpson commented on the fact that I was wearing a sweater and I told her (and Sis. Ferrell confirmed) that I'm ALWAYS cold. She FINALLY is showing sympathy for me. In the winter everyone complained of the cold and no one believed that I was colder, but now she believes me. I saw her again yesterday and I, again, was wearing a sweater and she just shook her head. My fingers are usually cold and I'm resisting the urge to break out the gloves again. This is getting ridiculous. When we knock on the hotter days people sarcastically ask us if we're enjoying the heat and I honestly answer with a resounding "Yes!" and Sis. Ferrell gives a moan. I don't think very many people actually believe my yes. Oh well, I'm an honest person. ;)
It's about time for more knocking stories. Dogs are the topic this week.
Dog #1: Mandy, an English Sheep dog. She lives in a HUGE yard and is bound only by an invisible fence. The first time we went to this house, she was inside so we only heard her bark. We had talked to the Mother of the house for awhile and she said we could come back. When we came back, Mandy was outside. We decided we would be okay because she was barking but backing away. So we slowly approached the door while she barked (she has a REALLY loud, deep bark). We were almost there when the man of the house, who we had yet to meet, came out and yelled at us to back up and called the dog in. By this time the dog had come right up to us, was baring her teeth and making small lunges at us. I was SCARED TO DEATH. This dog is BIG! The owner yelling wasn't very helpful either. He finally got her to go inside and we were scared he was going to tell us to get off his property. Lucky for us, he came out and was very pleasant and told us that Marilou, the mother, wasn't home and we should come back later. He also was kind enough to tell us where the invisible fence was and that if Mandy was outside that we should wait behind the line and he would come out when he heard the barking. This was comforting to know, but also, it scared us enough that we haven't gone back yet.
Dog(s) #2: I forgot their names, I'll call them Lulu and Bob, English Mastiffs!!!!! Again, another HUGE yard. This time with a steep driveway. We are about halfway up the driveway when we notice Lulu and Lulu notices us. She stands up, we FREEZE. (They must be called Mastiffs for a reason.) We notice she is on a leash and deem it okay to proceed. Lulu starts to bark. By the time we reach the top of the driveway Ross, the owner, comes out to see what all the hubbub is about. He, too, is a big, rather hairy man. Sis. Ferrell has a mini freak out on the inside and doesn't go any closer. I figure, well, we're here, it would be weird to just walk away. So, I say "Hi! How are you?" Introduce myself and ask his name. Turns out, He is the NICEST man on the face of the planet! He calmed down Lulu and went to pet her. We noticed that when he went to pet her, she cowered. It turns out that Ross rescued this 170 pound dog from an abusive owner. After some chit chat we discovered that Lulu is small next to her brother, Bob. Bob came to the glass door, thankfully he stayed inside. He is 200 pounds and his face is almost 3 times the size as mine, no joke. He too was rescued. I can't even describe to you the size of these dogs. I'm just so relieved to have walked away from that house safely.
Mom, I guess I should tell you that my mail has all caught up to me now and I'm back on schedule it seems. I got a letter yesterday and learned that you guys have finally put up a mister on the patio. Woohoo! Also, it sounds like Liam had a lot of fun with those water balloons. I wish I could have seen him! Sis. Ferrell is curious, what's the name of that movie about the teacher with Turrets? And what is Despicable Me about? People ask us all the time about recent movies and it's fun to hear their reactions when we tell them we haven't seen any movies or previews in a LONG time. About Carolyn's arm and the scar tissue. I understand, I think. When I cut my finger back in November, after it healed, it really hurt to bend it. They told me to rub it every once in a while to break up the scar tissue. I guess she just has a bigger version of that. If that's all it is though, she'll be fine eventually.
We met this super cool family last week and have been there a couple times now. They're fascinated with the fact that we're from the states. The mom asked me to send her something from AZ. I told her she'd have to wait awhile and she said that's fine. But then I realized I still had a bit of your toffee left so I brought that over and they ALL FELL IN LOVE!! Carson, the 11 year old boy said that you have to come here and teach them how to make it because it's the best toffee in the world. Chelsey, 19, also agrees. I'm so spoiled to have you as MY mom.
Well, I should go. I love you all too much.
Sister Nicholls
Lack of interesting title... - 28 July 2010
Well, today we hiked Cape Split again but this time it was just 4 of us girls. It was WAY fun and we didn't get lost. Sadly though, my camera died halfway through so I didn't get some pictures, but I did get some really good ones.
I have some REALLY happy and some REALLY sad news... I'll start with the happy. Daylen, an investigator I had in Wolfville is getting baptized on August 21st!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited for him! I've discovered that I'm definitely the missionary that does the sowing. I do a lot of finding and planting seeds and then people come behind me and finish off the job. I did do a bit of reaping in Montague though. That was just a short time though so it's hard to remember to count that. The sad news is that Sam, another investigator I had in Wolfville no longer is getting baptized and her boyfriend is going to have his name removed from the records.... None of us saw this coming and we still don't understand why that's happening. It's so sad.
Yesterday we had exchanges and Sis. Peaden came here to Kingston with me! It was fun to have her back, I missed her. We did a lot of knocking and received 5 potential investigators from it! We're so ecstatic! That rarely happens! It's funny because one of them actually came up to US! and another one we only had 15 minutes so we walked down a street and we only talked to one person, but it was the right person, we have an appointment with him on saturday! Missionary life is so exciting! (sometimes)
So, we had zone conference and my mission president announced that, worldwide, we will only be having zone conferences quarterly, so only 4 times a year! It's not just your mission Andrew. It's sad because this means we won't get mail here either. President said that he'll try to have mail distributed at transfers but he can't make any promises. I really hope that my package makes it to the office before transfers and that I actually get it, otherwise it WILL be snowing before I get it. The next zone conference isn't until NOVEMBER! Also, at zone conferences they sing happy birthday to the missionaries who will have a birthday before the next zone conference, so they ended up singing to me, along with about 10 other missionaries. They sang to Sis. Peaden too, her birthday is in October. It's going to be so different, and weird.
Hodge Podge. Have you ever heard of that? It's a soup/stew thingy. It's made with baby vegetables and potatoes(whole) in a cream sauce of your choice. I've had it twice now and it is REALLY good! You actually eat it on a plate with a fork so it's not really soup like but it looks like a soup and you ladle it out, but when you cut/mash the potatoes on your plate, they soak up the creamy liquid and it's really good.
I'm going to have to keep this email short because our hiking adventures pushed us WAY behind schedule, but I LOVE you all, and I'm glad Becca is now happily married and that there was a mini Swegle family reunion. I hope you all had a chance to enjoy the festivities over all the stress that I'm sure was involved.
Have a good week! Travel safe to Snowbird (that's your next stop right?!).
Sister Nicholls
MOOOOOOO!! - 21 July 2010
Steak anyone? This is the season for BBQing! No one in the Maritimes has AC, so they don't like to turn on the oven, or dryer. So clothes are always on the line (which is really cool actually) and they're always cooking outside. So 3 times this week we were fed steak. It's a good thing I like steak. I'm tired though of cutting so much, it's hard work to eat one of those things. I shouldn't complain though, that stuff's not cheap.
This week I got to pick raspberries! We were visiting this older couple and they were outside picking raspberries in their backyard and they TOLD us to pick and eat some. Let me tell you, they were SO good! I would have stood there eating them all night if I could! It was quite a fun experience. Nova Scotia is fun and lively in the summer, I'm sad that I'm only going to have 1 summer here.
We aren't teaching very much these days because our investigators are gone on vacation a lot. So we've been doing a lot of finding. For 2 weeks in a row we spent 21 hours finding! That's almost 1 entire day out of 7 spent knocking on people's doors! This, sadly, isn't bring the desired results either. I'm getting slightly discouraged because it's almost to the point where I can't even bear my testimony. The hearts and minds of the people here are closed and stuck in the traditions of their fathers. We're doing all we can though to help them learn about the restored gospel. I love finding those people who are willing to listen and even more ecstatic when we find someone willing to make changes!
This past Sunday and Monday were really exciting. Sister McQuivey, a missionary who went home in January, was here visiting with her mom. She served here in Kingston just before she went home and she really loves them and they REALLY love her. It was fun to visit with her, I had known her as well. What was really fun was that she came and taught someone with us on Monday. We are teaching someone who she had taught when she was here so we brought her along and she was SO surprised and happy to see Sis. McQuivey! The lesson went well and Sis. McQuivey told us that Peggy, the investigator, has really progressed so to keep up the good work. That was good to hear because we were debating dropping her because she has been taught for about a year now, but we have found renewed hope in her. :)
Mom, I got your talk. Good job! I like the things you mentioned about Sis. Lant's(?) talk. Also, you made me almost want to cry. You made me sound like a perfect child, which both you and I totally know is NOT true. I'm grateful though to know that you still see the good in me. I guess that's why (or because) you're the mom. Mom's are good at that.
Kristen and Carolyn, thanks so much for writing me! I loved hearing all about what you're up to this summer. I hope you had fun in Knott's Berry Farm. Also, I can't believe that you've shaved your legs! You're not allowed to be that grown up yet! You're still 10 to me, too. Carolyn, do you really think you'll have braces before I get home? That would be cool. I know you guys said something else that I wanted to comment on but I've forgotten, sorry. I just want you to know that I REALLY love when I get to hear from you too. I love you two!
Well, I wish I had a cool story for you this week, but my well is dry. I will tell you this though, we play games with a group of old ladies every other week. They live in a house that someone bought and takes care of them in, and the owner is gay. It's a fun time when we go there. 3-5 (depending on how they're feeling that day) old, hard of hearing women, 2 young Sister missionaries and 1 middle-aged gay man with a lot of energy and spunk. I love my life. :)
Well, until next week, LOVE YOU!
Sister Nicholls
Fun with Sister Ferrell - 14 July 2010
Good morning Family!
So, we haven't been teaching much of anyone these days. Our investigators are all on vacation and we're having trouble finding new investigators. But we're dedicated and we spend every minute we can knocking on doors and walking the streets. This week we spend 4 1/2 hours knocking on this one street. It's a country road so we had a lot of time to walk between doors but they were being especially friendly that morning (we knocked from 10 am to 2:30 pm, we didn't break for lunch because we didn't want to lose the good streak we were having). At one house the man who opened the door told us immediately to come in and we did and met his wife and niece and nephew who were visiting for the summer. We talked for over an hour. The woman had met missionaries recently and had a lot of questions about what the others had shared so we got to answer those and after about 30 minutes the niece, who's 7, went and got a box of string and beads and started working away at something. I eventually asked what she was doing and she said she was making a bracelet for Sis. Ferrell. She made this cute bracelet that said FERRELL on it and beads with butterflies and hearts. When she finished and had tied it on her wrist and everything she wanted to make me one too, but there wasn't enough string and not enough letters. She contemplated just spelling my name NICHQLS but we convinced her to just make a key chain that said SISTER. So, we're sporting the latest Taylor creations and are proud of it. She's so cute. We left the woman, Karen, with a pamphlet about the restoration and Taylor goes and takes it and starts reading it! We're so excited to go back and share more with them! We're thinking of something to give to Taylor, if you have any ideas, please share.
That same "morning", we met this older couple that welcomed us right in as well and at first they weren't willing to talk about religion, they just wanted us out of the heat, but when they told us what church they went to, we recognized it as one that a member of our church's husband goes to. We told them that relation and they, for some reason, were more willing to talk about the gospel. I guess when people notice how UN-close minded we are they are more willing to talk. I bet a lot of the reason why people avoid talking religion with us is because they think we're going to shoot them down and tell them their wrong, which isn't how we work. That's the way another religion goes about it, but not us. That's not Christ-like.
We had the opportunity to help out with a Branch service project this week. We painted the exterior of a members house. We, amazingly, were able to do the entire house, including scraping, in 4 1/2 hours! (We only stayed for 3 of the hours) The members of this Branch are amazing! They are SO dedicated in serving one another, it's not even funny. It's their life.
While knocking one day last week we had gotten really far from our car and when were walking up to our last house before we headed back and it started to sprinkle (we had our umbrellas so we were prepared) but as we were talking to the uninterested lady at the door it started to POUR! She had us step inside to wait and see if it would lighten up. Maritimers are SO nice. This woman, totally uninterested in our message still saw us as human beings who needed someone to look out for them. After a few minutes of small talk and even heavier rain, she offered to give us a lift back to our car. We accepted and this woman ran out to her van, took our the stroller in the back so she could put up the back seat, waved us to come, and she drove us. She got soaking wet just to help us out. We are eternally grateful for her kindness. We feel so blessed to have met her at the exact moment we needed her. She has earned extra brownie points for the next life. :)
I was reading the June Ensign the other day and guess what! I know someone in it! She was in my cast team at Pageant! She opened her mission call on the Hill Cumorah too. She, her mom, and her grandma are on page 39 (or somewhere there). That was a funny experience to see. :)
Andrew, I'm in my 4th house. My mission has transfers every 6 weeks, so every 6 weeks there is a chance you or your companion might change. And so far, EVERY transfer, me or my companion has changed! Transfer 1-Halifax with Sis. Moss, 2-Halifax with Sis. Olsen AND Sis Moss, 3-Halifax with Sis. Olsen, 4-Montague with Sis. Ferrell, 5-Wolfville with Sis. Hamblin, 6-Wolfville with Sis. Hamblin AND Sis. Peaden, 7-Kingston with Sis. Ferrell (again). I'm half way done with my mission and haven't had 2 transfers that were the same. I'm hoping that it will happen sometime soon. We also have Zone conference every transfer, so that must be about 9 times a year, same as you.
Well family, I still haven't heard from you, but I did hear that I got a letter and a package in Wolfville, I probably won't get that until the 23rd or so. I know you still care, and guess what?! I still care too! I love you all lots! Have a good week!
LOVE Sister Nicholls
So, I told you that I had 2 more stories from last week. The first one happened just before 5 am on a thursday morning. We were awakened by a VERY LOUD beeping. We checked out our smoke detector and our kitchen and stuff, nothing there. Then we checked our carbon monoxide detector. The green light was still flashing saying that all was well, but we were scared because we were positive that was what went off. I don't know if you've heard, but 2 missionaries somewhere in Europe died from CO and 2 other missionaries are brain damaged from it. Because of these instances, every missionary apartment (I'm told, I know at least my whole mission has them now) has a CO detector. The missionaries who are brain damaged had woken up to the alarm, thought the sound was obnoxious, turned it off, and went back to sleep. So this story made us paranoid because CO is odorless. So we decided to be extra safe and called 911 for an extra opinion. They sent someone over, he drove up in his truck, wearing an official looking jacket. He came in, looked at everything, told us that there was nothing that could be emitting CO at the time, assured us we were fine, and he left. In the meantime, a firetruck had shown up. They had their lights on but no sirens, THANK GOODNESS! I think I would have DIED if they turned on their sirens! He just waved them away when he left. That was a scary experience but I'm glad that we decided to be safe rather than sorry.
The second story is that we had an 18 year old girl, Ali, come and be a missionary with us for a day. It was totally her idea, and we loved having her with us. She came at 6:45 am because her mom was going to work and that's the time she could drop her off, so she had studies with us in the morning, went to an appointment with us, she even went knocking for a couple hours with us!!! She said she'd do anything we were doing. We tried to make it an easy day because we figured she wouldn't want to knock all day, so we had 3 appointments, BUT she really got to experience a true day in the life of a missionary, 2 of those appointments cancelled! She was sad to find out that we were going to replace those appointments with more walking and knocking. She got really lucky though because we had a supper appointment with the coolest family in the ward! They had us stay for FHE too (our appointment for a different FHE had cancelled so we figured this was PERFECT) we taught the lesson and then we played some fun games with them. I wish I could be part of their family. Not that I don't like you guys, they just make a perfect substitute while I'm so far away.
We had 2 baptisms 2 sundays in a row! Don't get too excited they were both 8 year olds. The first one, Rebekah, was so sweet. She had stage fright just before she was going to be baptized, so they had the doors closed until she got in the font. The Branch President, who is also Rebekah's grandpa, went back to encourage her. When he came back he said that Rebekah had asked her parents "What's this warm feeling I have right here?" pointing to her chest. That was the sweetest thing ever! The second baptism was the coolest baptism I've ever been too. It was at the ocean! Yes, I got to go to an ocean baptism. What made it even cooler was that it was that family we had FHE with that I'm already in love with. :) We all just sat on the rocks (it's not a sandy beach) and had the program there. The music was played by his, Kimball's, 9 year old sister on her violin and his grandpa on the guitar. It was a very nice ceremony. The water was really cold, but was really worth it they said.
You guys are going to have to look up Canada's version of Extreme Home Makeover next month. I don't know what it's actually called but I hope you can find it online. I found out yesterday that Elders Park, Millar, and Clayton, are on it. They are a trio in Windsor. Elder Park was my district leader when I was in Wolfville. They were walking by when the house that was being renovated and they were looking for volunteers so they asked them to help out. AND they interviewed them while they were wearing their white shirts and ties AND name tags! That is the coolest thing I've ever heard of! I really hope that they air the interviews, but you should keep your eye out for them!
I don't remember if I told you or not, but we have a Native American talking stick. So when we have companionship inventory each week we take turns holding it and sharing any thoughts we have about the companionship. It's not very big or heavy, but when Sis. Ferrell went to pass it to me she decided to spear throw it at me. Being the chicken that I am, I flinched and covered my head, but the stick managed to beam me in the part of the forehead that wasn't covered! I couldn't believe it! And by the look that was on Sis. Ferrell's face, I don't think she could believe it either. It didn't hurt at all but we both were surprised and remembered that Sis. Ferrell had asked Sis. Rowe (she was the psychologist who gave it to us) if we could use it to hit each other when they weren't listening, and she said no. But Sis. Ferrell ended up doing it anyway and I WAS listening. We laughed that off, but things only got better. The next day we were walking by this house that creeps the missionaries out because it has a GIGANTIC white cross in the back yard. I'm not even exaggerating a little bit, it is taller than the house. We, without thinking, always stare at it with a weird expression on our face when we walk by. This particular day though, there was a man outside mowing the lawn. I decided that I was going to be friendly, so I lifted my hand to give him a wave and a smile but he turned right at the same time. Also at the same time, there was a horrid sound that came from the mower and a sharp pain on the side of my neck! A piece of bark had come SHOOTING out of the mower and nailed me right in the neck! Sis. Ferrell saw it and her face was shocked, I'm sure not as shocked as my face was! That hurt! There's no bruise or blood thought, that's good. What makes this story even worse, or better depending on how you look at it, is that he didn't even notice! We just kept walking. I couldn't believe my luck. I'm so grateful though that there hasn't been any more hitting accidents since.
So, I got to really TALK with a JW with week. She was REALLY nice and she "warned" us where all the other JW's live. (She was actually just telling us about different people from church and pointed out where they live, so now we know where the "higher ups" live, so we can either avoid them, or be prepared.) I'm surprised at how much we have in common. I'm glad she turned out to be nice because we were worried when we were greeted with "Is that your Bible? I'll go get mine." That's never a good sign. But we enjoyed a lovely 2 hour conversation with her in which I got to share about the Spirit World. I've never been able to share anything with a JW before, it was great!
Alright, I should go. I love you all!
Sister Nicholls
P.S. We actually had an investigator at sacrament meeting this week! The work IS moving forward here in Nova Scotia!
MOOOOOOO TWOOOOOO - 11 August 2010
6, That is the number of hamburgers that I ate this week. Only once did I have 2 at once (and I was forced to, no joke). That means that on 5 different occasions I was fed hamburgers. WHAT IS WITH THIS?! It's a good thing that I LOVE hamburgers. I think everyone is conspiring against us or something... Also, along with those hamburgers we are served ice cream, but, I'm not going to complain about that. :)
Knocking experience: We had 3 weird houses IN A ROW.
House #1: bees. Like most houses here in Nova Scotia, there is a front door that no one uses and is usually blocked off, in this case there was a flower pot on the front steps, and a side door. We walked over to the side door and noticed that it was surrounded by flower bushes and SWARMING with bees. We thought about it, and decided to try the front door. There was no way that was going to happen. So we trudged back over to the side door, said a prayer in our hearts and knocked on the door. A sweet German man opened the door. We ended up talking to him for 30-45 minutes and he even stepped outside! We were hoping he would invite us in instead, we even pointed out the bees and he just thought it was cool. Our conversation was amazing and no one was stung. I'm feeling so blessed.
Then we head over to house #2. We go to the side door (actually it was the back door) and we ring the door bell. While we're waiting for an answer, we hear this scratching sound coming from the thing that hangs over the door, roof thing (sorry, I can't think of a name for it at the moment.) I don't know how to describe the noise other than it sounded like a GIGANTIC spider crawling across the top. Sis. Ferrell and I looked at each other and walked away as fast as we could without looking back. We usually knock or ring twice, but we didn't at this door.
House #3. They had a long, gravel driveway with weeds growing in it, but that's common so we didn't think much of it. But as we were walking grasshoppers were hopping up EVERYWHERE! It was like a plague. I was hoping a bunch of seagulls would show up and eat them! It was funny and disgusting feeling at the same time. I just couldn't believe my eyes! There were way more grasshoppers than you can even imagine. I don't even know how to make it sound dramatic enough. Luckily, it was worth the trip. The guy at the house was really nice. :)
Random bit of information: Growing up I remember thinking, What would happen if I dialed 765-4321 on the phone? Who knew that if I had the right area code I would reach a member here in Kingston, NS!!!!!! (sadly, they just changed their number and everyone is mourning the loss).
Every monday we have FHE with a single mom (a recent convert) and her 3 young kids. A couple weeks ago we read the story of Samuel the Lamanite out of the Children's Book of Mormon and we had them act it out. It was HILARIOUS! We had Seth, 7, play Samuel. We tied a blanket around him like a cape and he chose a light saber to be his stick. As we narrated he acted it out and stood on a chair as the wall. Then we had Noah, 5, through waded up newspaper at him. I just have to say, Noah has never had so much fun reading a scripture story. The next week, we talked about Joseph Smith getting the plates. Seth is SO smart! He told the entire story, not missing ANY details. Then we had hidden our own scriptures. We had written on an index card "I know the Book of Mormon is true" in that code we used as kids during sacrament meeting. We gave them directions on how to find it and when they found it they couldn't translate it, but then we gave them the code to be able to read it. It was a fun correlation.
Transfers: Transfers are this week and guess what?!?!?!?!? NOTHING IS CHANGING FOR ME!! Woohoo! This is the first time in the history of my mission that I am not involved in transfers! I'm so excited, but I'm also kind of sad because it's over. I can no longer tell people that something for me has changed every 6 weeks. Oh well, I'm over it.
I have 2 more stories but no more time. I guess you'll have to wait. Here's a preview of one: calling 911.
LOVE YOU ALL!!
Sister Nicholls
That's right, I whipped out the tights! - 4 August 2010
I can't believe it. It's cold. WHY?!?!?!??!!!!!! For the past 2 weeks I've been wearing a sweater. There have also been a few mornings where I didn't want to get out of my warm bed. I was sleeping with 2 blankets on!!! IT'S JULY!!! (well, I guess NOW it's August, but that doesn't make too big a difference.) I actually wore tights instead of nylons the other day because it was THAT cold. Of course, I'm the freak around here too. I'm the ONLY one who is cold and wearing a sweater. We had zone conference recently and Sis. Simpson commented on the fact that I was wearing a sweater and I told her (and Sis. Ferrell confirmed) that I'm ALWAYS cold. She FINALLY is showing sympathy for me. In the winter everyone complained of the cold and no one believed that I was colder, but now she believes me. I saw her again yesterday and I, again, was wearing a sweater and she just shook her head. My fingers are usually cold and I'm resisting the urge to break out the gloves again. This is getting ridiculous. When we knock on the hotter days people sarcastically ask us if we're enjoying the heat and I honestly answer with a resounding "Yes!" and Sis. Ferrell gives a moan. I don't think very many people actually believe my yes. Oh well, I'm an honest person. ;)
It's about time for more knocking stories. Dogs are the topic this week.
Dog #1: Mandy, an English Sheep dog. She lives in a HUGE yard and is bound only by an invisible fence. The first time we went to this house, she was inside so we only heard her bark. We had talked to the Mother of the house for awhile and she said we could come back. When we came back, Mandy was outside. We decided we would be okay because she was barking but backing away. So we slowly approached the door while she barked (she has a REALLY loud, deep bark). We were almost there when the man of the house, who we had yet to meet, came out and yelled at us to back up and called the dog in. By this time the dog had come right up to us, was baring her teeth and making small lunges at us. I was SCARED TO DEATH. This dog is BIG! The owner yelling wasn't very helpful either. He finally got her to go inside and we were scared he was going to tell us to get off his property. Lucky for us, he came out and was very pleasant and told us that Marilou, the mother, wasn't home and we should come back later. He also was kind enough to tell us where the invisible fence was and that if Mandy was outside that we should wait behind the line and he would come out when he heard the barking. This was comforting to know, but also, it scared us enough that we haven't gone back yet.
Dog(s) #2: I forgot their names, I'll call them Lulu and Bob, English Mastiffs!!!!! Again, another HUGE yard. This time with a steep driveway. We are about halfway up the driveway when we notice Lulu and Lulu notices us. She stands up, we FREEZE. (They must be called Mastiffs for a reason.) We notice she is on a leash and deem it okay to proceed. Lulu starts to bark. By the time we reach the top of the driveway Ross, the owner, comes out to see what all the hubbub is about. He, too, is a big, rather hairy man. Sis. Ferrell has a mini freak out on the inside and doesn't go any closer. I figure, well, we're here, it would be weird to just walk away. So, I say "Hi! How are you?" Introduce myself and ask his name. Turns out, He is the NICEST man on the face of the planet! He calmed down Lulu and went to pet her. We noticed that when he went to pet her, she cowered. It turns out that Ross rescued this 170 pound dog from an abusive owner. After some chit chat we discovered that Lulu is small next to her brother, Bob. Bob came to the glass door, thankfully he stayed inside. He is 200 pounds and his face is almost 3 times the size as mine, no joke. He too was rescued. I can't even describe to you the size of these dogs. I'm just so relieved to have walked away from that house safely.
Mom, I guess I should tell you that my mail has all caught up to me now and I'm back on schedule it seems. I got a letter yesterday and learned that you guys have finally put up a mister on the patio. Woohoo! Also, it sounds like Liam had a lot of fun with those water balloons. I wish I could have seen him! Sis. Ferrell is curious, what's the name of that movie about the teacher with Turrets? And what is Despicable Me about? People ask us all the time about recent movies and it's fun to hear their reactions when we tell them we haven't seen any movies or previews in a LONG time. About Carolyn's arm and the scar tissue. I understand, I think. When I cut my finger back in November, after it healed, it really hurt to bend it. They told me to rub it every once in a while to break up the scar tissue. I guess she just has a bigger version of that. If that's all it is though, she'll be fine eventually.
We met this super cool family last week and have been there a couple times now. They're fascinated with the fact that we're from the states. The mom asked me to send her something from AZ. I told her she'd have to wait awhile and she said that's fine. But then I realized I still had a bit of your toffee left so I brought that over and they ALL FELL IN LOVE!! Carson, the 11 year old boy said that you have to come here and teach them how to make it because it's the best toffee in the world. Chelsey, 19, also agrees. I'm so spoiled to have you as MY mom.
Well, I should go. I love you all too much.
Sister Nicholls
Lack of interesting title... - 28 July 2010
Well, today we hiked Cape Split again but this time it was just 4 of us girls. It was WAY fun and we didn't get lost. Sadly though, my camera died halfway through so I didn't get some pictures, but I did get some really good ones.
I have some REALLY happy and some REALLY sad news... I'll start with the happy. Daylen, an investigator I had in Wolfville is getting baptized on August 21st!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited for him! I've discovered that I'm definitely the missionary that does the sowing. I do a lot of finding and planting seeds and then people come behind me and finish off the job. I did do a bit of reaping in Montague though. That was just a short time though so it's hard to remember to count that. The sad news is that Sam, another investigator I had in Wolfville no longer is getting baptized and her boyfriend is going to have his name removed from the records.... None of us saw this coming and we still don't understand why that's happening. It's so sad.
Yesterday we had exchanges and Sis. Peaden came here to Kingston with me! It was fun to have her back, I missed her. We did a lot of knocking and received 5 potential investigators from it! We're so ecstatic! That rarely happens! It's funny because one of them actually came up to US! and another one we only had 15 minutes so we walked down a street and we only talked to one person, but it was the right person, we have an appointment with him on saturday! Missionary life is so exciting! (sometimes)
So, we had zone conference and my mission president announced that, worldwide, we will only be having zone conferences quarterly, so only 4 times a year! It's not just your mission Andrew. It's sad because this means we won't get mail here either. President said that he'll try to have mail distributed at transfers but he can't make any promises. I really hope that my package makes it to the office before transfers and that I actually get it, otherwise it WILL be snowing before I get it. The next zone conference isn't until NOVEMBER! Also, at zone conferences they sing happy birthday to the missionaries who will have a birthday before the next zone conference, so they ended up singing to me, along with about 10 other missionaries. They sang to Sis. Peaden too, her birthday is in October. It's going to be so different, and weird.
Hodge Podge. Have you ever heard of that? It's a soup/stew thingy. It's made with baby vegetables and potatoes(whole) in a cream sauce of your choice. I've had it twice now and it is REALLY good! You actually eat it on a plate with a fork so it's not really soup like but it looks like a soup and you ladle it out, but when you cut/mash the potatoes on your plate, they soak up the creamy liquid and it's really good.
I'm going to have to keep this email short because our hiking adventures pushed us WAY behind schedule, but I LOVE you all, and I'm glad Becca is now happily married and that there was a mini Swegle family reunion. I hope you all had a chance to enjoy the festivities over all the stress that I'm sure was involved.
Have a good week! Travel safe to Snowbird (that's your next stop right?!).
Sister Nicholls
MOOOOOOO!! - 21 July 2010
Steak anyone? This is the season for BBQing! No one in the Maritimes has AC, so they don't like to turn on the oven, or dryer. So clothes are always on the line (which is really cool actually) and they're always cooking outside. So 3 times this week we were fed steak. It's a good thing I like steak. I'm tired though of cutting so much, it's hard work to eat one of those things. I shouldn't complain though, that stuff's not cheap.
This week I got to pick raspberries! We were visiting this older couple and they were outside picking raspberries in their backyard and they TOLD us to pick and eat some. Let me tell you, they were SO good! I would have stood there eating them all night if I could! It was quite a fun experience. Nova Scotia is fun and lively in the summer, I'm sad that I'm only going to have 1 summer here.
We aren't teaching very much these days because our investigators are gone on vacation a lot. So we've been doing a lot of finding. For 2 weeks in a row we spent 21 hours finding! That's almost 1 entire day out of 7 spent knocking on people's doors! This, sadly, isn't bring the desired results either. I'm getting slightly discouraged because it's almost to the point where I can't even bear my testimony. The hearts and minds of the people here are closed and stuck in the traditions of their fathers. We're doing all we can though to help them learn about the restored gospel. I love finding those people who are willing to listen and even more ecstatic when we find someone willing to make changes!
This past Sunday and Monday were really exciting. Sister McQuivey, a missionary who went home in January, was here visiting with her mom. She served here in Kingston just before she went home and she really loves them and they REALLY love her. It was fun to visit with her, I had known her as well. What was really fun was that she came and taught someone with us on Monday. We are teaching someone who she had taught when she was here so we brought her along and she was SO surprised and happy to see Sis. McQuivey! The lesson went well and Sis. McQuivey told us that Peggy, the investigator, has really progressed so to keep up the good work. That was good to hear because we were debating dropping her because she has been taught for about a year now, but we have found renewed hope in her. :)
Mom, I got your talk. Good job! I like the things you mentioned about Sis. Lant's(?) talk. Also, you made me almost want to cry. You made me sound like a perfect child, which both you and I totally know is NOT true. I'm grateful though to know that you still see the good in me. I guess that's why (or because) you're the mom. Mom's are good at that.
Kristen and Carolyn, thanks so much for writing me! I loved hearing all about what you're up to this summer. I hope you had fun in Knott's Berry Farm. Also, I can't believe that you've shaved your legs! You're not allowed to be that grown up yet! You're still 10 to me, too. Carolyn, do you really think you'll have braces before I get home? That would be cool. I know you guys said something else that I wanted to comment on but I've forgotten, sorry. I just want you to know that I REALLY love when I get to hear from you too. I love you two!
Well, I wish I had a cool story for you this week, but my well is dry. I will tell you this though, we play games with a group of old ladies every other week. They live in a house that someone bought and takes care of them in, and the owner is gay. It's a fun time when we go there. 3-5 (depending on how they're feeling that day) old, hard of hearing women, 2 young Sister missionaries and 1 middle-aged gay man with a lot of energy and spunk. I love my life. :)
Well, until next week, LOVE YOU!
Sister Nicholls
Fun with Sister Ferrell - 14 July 2010
Good morning Family!
So, we haven't been teaching much of anyone these days. Our investigators are all on vacation and we're having trouble finding new investigators. But we're dedicated and we spend every minute we can knocking on doors and walking the streets. This week we spend 4 1/2 hours knocking on this one street. It's a country road so we had a lot of time to walk between doors but they were being especially friendly that morning (we knocked from 10 am to 2:30 pm, we didn't break for lunch because we didn't want to lose the good streak we were having). At one house the man who opened the door told us immediately to come in and we did and met his wife and niece and nephew who were visiting for the summer. We talked for over an hour. The woman had met missionaries recently and had a lot of questions about what the others had shared so we got to answer those and after about 30 minutes the niece, who's 7, went and got a box of string and beads and started working away at something. I eventually asked what she was doing and she said she was making a bracelet for Sis. Ferrell. She made this cute bracelet that said FERRELL on it and beads with butterflies and hearts. When she finished and had tied it on her wrist and everything she wanted to make me one too, but there wasn't enough string and not enough letters. She contemplated just spelling my name NICHQLS but we convinced her to just make a key chain that said SISTER. So, we're sporting the latest Taylor creations and are proud of it. She's so cute. We left the woman, Karen, with a pamphlet about the restoration and Taylor goes and takes it and starts reading it! We're so excited to go back and share more with them! We're thinking of something to give to Taylor, if you have any ideas, please share.
That same "morning", we met this older couple that welcomed us right in as well and at first they weren't willing to talk about religion, they just wanted us out of the heat, but when they told us what church they went to, we recognized it as one that a member of our church's husband goes to. We told them that relation and they, for some reason, were more willing to talk about the gospel. I guess when people notice how UN-close minded we are they are more willing to talk. I bet a lot of the reason why people avoid talking religion with us is because they think we're going to shoot them down and tell them their wrong, which isn't how we work. That's the way another religion goes about it, but not us. That's not Christ-like.
We had the opportunity to help out with a Branch service project this week. We painted the exterior of a members house. We, amazingly, were able to do the entire house, including scraping, in 4 1/2 hours! (We only stayed for 3 of the hours) The members of this Branch are amazing! They are SO dedicated in serving one another, it's not even funny. It's their life.
While knocking one day last week we had gotten really far from our car and when were walking up to our last house before we headed back and it started to sprinkle (we had our umbrellas so we were prepared) but as we were talking to the uninterested lady at the door it started to POUR! She had us step inside to wait and see if it would lighten up. Maritimers are SO nice. This woman, totally uninterested in our message still saw us as human beings who needed someone to look out for them. After a few minutes of small talk and even heavier rain, she offered to give us a lift back to our car. We accepted and this woman ran out to her van, took our the stroller in the back so she could put up the back seat, waved us to come, and she drove us. She got soaking wet just to help us out. We are eternally grateful for her kindness. We feel so blessed to have met her at the exact moment we needed her. She has earned extra brownie points for the next life. :)
I was reading the June Ensign the other day and guess what! I know someone in it! She was in my cast team at Pageant! She opened her mission call on the Hill Cumorah too. She, her mom, and her grandma are on page 39 (or somewhere there). That was a funny experience to see. :)
Andrew, I'm in my 4th house. My mission has transfers every 6 weeks, so every 6 weeks there is a chance you or your companion might change. And so far, EVERY transfer, me or my companion has changed! Transfer 1-Halifax with Sis. Moss, 2-Halifax with Sis. Olsen AND Sis Moss, 3-Halifax with Sis. Olsen, 4-Montague with Sis. Ferrell, 5-Wolfville with Sis. Hamblin, 6-Wolfville with Sis. Hamblin AND Sis. Peaden, 7-Kingston with Sis. Ferrell (again). I'm half way done with my mission and haven't had 2 transfers that were the same. I'm hoping that it will happen sometime soon. We also have Zone conference every transfer, so that must be about 9 times a year, same as you.
Well family, I still haven't heard from you, but I did hear that I got a letter and a package in Wolfville, I probably won't get that until the 23rd or so. I know you still care, and guess what?! I still care too! I love you all lots! Have a good week!
LOVE Sister Nicholls
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