Transfers

..... WE ARE BOTH STAYING!

Sister Madsen and I are staying in Manito! We are way excited!

Highlights this week:

We went to the temple which was amazing!

had some awesome lessons

walked around some in the rain

had the best ward council ever! this ward is "stupid good"!!! I love it!

Carol is still planning on getting baptized on October 14 and we are teaching some other solid people! 

Missions are the best!  Sorry this is a really short email, can't really think of what we did.  We helped someone weed their yard, mom you would be so proud of my weeding skills! They have increased since I have had so much practice.  Kind of funny, I would have never thought that I would be weeding so many people's yards in 18 months but it is the best! They people are always so appreciative :) 

car selfie 

old zone sisters

got soaked in the rain

Zucchini that someone gave us

When you let the book speak for itself

Nicole's Letter: 

"When you let the book speak for itself"

So many amazing things happen this week! 

Yesterday was one of those days that you picture when you picture a mission.

It started off with us being a little off of our groove since it wasn't our p-day and it has turned cold and rainy!!! We didn't really have any set plans either which isn't always the funnest in the rain.  So in the morning we decided to try this one family but they live about 20ish blocks away.  We walked all the way there and they weren't interested and then it started hailing as we started to walk back and both of us didn't have hoods.  But we both were just laughing and having fun.  

We then felt like we should go tract this one apartment complex that Assumani lives at.  So we started from the bottom to the top.  First floor no one answered.  But then towards the middle of the second floor this woman answered.  We were doing a door approach to let the Book of Mormon speak for itself.  We were asking if they would be willing to read a page of the Book of Mormon and then write their thoughts on the top of the page.  The lady, K, said she would.  But asked us if we could come back in like 10 mins so she could read it.  We keep knocking and we knocked on this door.  They let us right in.  Apparently they were taught by missionaries in the past and then they moved.  We got to share some of the Book of Mormon with them and they want us to come back.  It was awesome.  Then we went back to K's and she opened the door holding the Book of Mormon and said that she didn't write anything.  I thought she was handing it back to us but instead she asked if she could keep it and read some more.  She was like "I have been reading since you left it with me" (which was at least 30 mins).  She asked if we could come back and explain it more.  Miracles when you let the Book speak for itself.  We found lots of potentials!  We also had a lesson with Assumani.  He still really wants to be baptized but his wife who still is in the Congo wants him to wait so they can be baptized together.  He told us that it is his dream to be baptized.  He was like but I don't know if I can wait because no one knows how long you will have on this earth and I know it is essential.  He is so amazing!

Went on exchanges with Sister Norman and while we were walking down the street a guy pulled over and yelled 'Sisters! Can I talk to you?"  He previously had been taught by missionaries and wants to meet again!

I got attacked by the cutest little autistic boy this week.  They are from Syria and they let us in.  The boy was in love with me and then he got so excited that he made this super high pitched squeal and then launched himself towards me and grab my hair.  So it ended with his parents who don't speak English trying to pry their little boys hands off from my head.  It was pretty eventful.  Ingrid dropped us hard this week.  Ended with her handing us the Book of Mormon back to us and told us that she couldn't even keep it in her home.  

Life is amazing!! Pray that Sister Madsen and I stay together!!!!!!

Zone Conference Pictures

smoke this week

the smoke is so bad! That should be a huge valley but you couldn't see any of it!

Carol!!!

Our wall at our apartment

Costco!

manito park 

Sister Norman is in the same zone

cold stone

Nicole's Letter: Sept. 11, 2017

"Smoke This Week"

The goods and the bads:

We went to Costco today!!! We went with Sister Blake who is the best! It was so fun! Reminded me of old days of running errands :)

We are teaching this guy from the Congo.  His first language is Swahili and so his English is a little basic.  But it is so fun teaching him because we both have to rely on the spirit to touch his heart.  Yesterday we went over and we were a little late and he was just standing outside on the road waiting for us.  We read the first chapter of the Book of Mormon with him.  We would go around reading verses, us in English and him in Swahili.  We asked if he prayed about the Book of Mormon and he said "I know this book is the word of God".  At the end we invited him to be baptized and he said "When you feel the spirit this way, I just can not refuse"  So we are super excited for him since our stake is trying to start a Swahili class/unit and eventually a branch because there are so many people from the Congo here.  

We are also teaching Sister Hudson's neighbor who is awesome!! Sister Hudson has been working with her for the past two years and then she felt like she could trust us so she sent us over to their house.  We love Ingrid! her family is so cute!  Her big hang up is grace vs works so I have been studying that and it has been interesting.  It really is all interrelated.  Jesus Christ really makes everything possible but if we have true faith then we will be moved to act.  Pray that she will feel the power of the Book of Mormon.  It was interesting in our lesson with her at the beginning she was like just so you know I am not looking to convert and by the end she told us that she is looking for the truth and open to it.  So we will hope and pray for the best!  

We had to go into the valley a lot of times this week and Sister Blake took us one time and she bought us ice cream so that was super fun and good!

The smoke was so bad this week.  We could stare right into the sun and it didn't do anything because the smoke was so thick and you couldn't see downtown.  It was a ghost town.  On Tuesday morning we woke up to a text from the mission nurse saying how terrible the air was and that we all should go buy masks and anything else we needed like eye drops etc.  But all the stores were sold out of masks. 

Then the APs texted and said that we were not allowed to bike at all and that we had to keep our walking to a minimum.  They wanted us to go to set appointments and do lots of our proselyting on the phones to try to set up appointments.  So we went a little bit stir crazy.  We would go out for a little bit but then come home and feel sick from the smoke.  Staying in as a missionary is the worst, makes you go stir crazy! So we wrote lots of thank you cards to ward members. 

So the really bad smoke lasted about three days.  So by Thursday we were going crazy inside.  But luckily we had weekly planning and then Sister Hudson took us out to dinner! We love the Hudsons so much but they just moved yesterday so it was super sad. Friday we went to their goodbye party and this ward is awesome! We love it so much!  It is one of those wards were you would actually want to be in :)  And it was a BBQ at one of member's super nice houses.

This email is super random and jumbled up so hopefully it makes a little bit of sense.

Smokane!

Nicole's Letter:
September 4, 2017
"Spokane"

It was a good week!

Some sisters in my zone (including Sister Norman:) And some sisters that were in our zone!  Love them!

Went on exchanges with Sister Young she is the greatest!  

We rode bikes all day on Friday and it was so fun!  I might have flashed a bunch of cars and have a lot of bruises but it is all good!  We were riding down Regal which is a super busy rode and this guyt comes running pass us and so I said hello and then we proceeded to talk.  Me riding a bike, him running all while on a skinny sidewalk with tons of cars going by.  It must of looked pretty funny! Also, I don't want to jinx anything but I have improved my bike riding skills.  I mean I was riding my bike all while talking about the gospel with this random YSA guy.  But apparently I had talked to him before and so we finally just stopped riding and running and we talked to him about the Book of Mormon.  

Then also we literally ran home 25 blocks in 20 minutes so we would be home by 9 o'clock.  It was funny while we were running home this guy was like "HEY! You Christians?  And we were like Yah we are!" Then he gave us a huge hug and we both started running again.

The Book of Mormon has so much power in it! Read the BOOK!  I love it so much because it speaks for itself.  If you want to know if this is all true, you got to read the book that holds it all together.  

The food bank was anarchy this week. 

Carol is on-date!!!  She is the cutest person ever!!!

Sorry this was so short and fast!

LOVE TO ALL!!!!