Winter

Alex made us Dinner

So nothing too eventful happened this week. I had to stay at the mission home until Wednesday morning. It was interesting. It is kind of like a fake house in there. Everything is so perfect and organized. But it was nice, I just slept and took a bath and had a really uncomfortable dinner with my mission President and wife (just kidding). They were really kind to let me stay and get better. 

Winter came again. But I woke up on Wednesday (the snow was coming down hard) and a realization came to me- It doesn't matter what is going on, I can still be happy! I know that is such a cliche phrase/ thought but it just connected with me and it is so freeing! I mean I still have to remind myself of that fact on the hourly as we are freezing our faces off sliding down the South hill roads that never get paved so it is just sheer ice everywhere but we can still be happy! 

Everyone was happy to see us back at church since Carol told everyone that I was in the hospital getting IVs haha oh Carol. 

Alex is getting baptized this week which is exciting! He is so repentant. 

On Thursday we had zone conference. I had to give a couple trainings, which was interesting since I was super sick but couldn't be. 

Thursday night was a humbling night. I was in a lot of pain and giving it my all but my all was so small and insignificant. I just started crying during my nighttime prayer because my 100% isn't what it used to be when I first came out. I have literally given it my all for the last 17 months and now I am feeling it. But I felt a overwhelming feeling of love from God. It reminded me of the story of the loaves and fishes. Some days we have a full loaf to give and other times it may only be a crumb but whatever it is, God gives us thanks and makes it into something more. 

Other mission things: knocking doors, walking miles, volunteering at the food bank and so much more. 

"Do you want CDIFF or don't you?"

Nicole's Letter: "Do you want CDIFF or don't you?"

Feb. 12, 2018

Sorry if this doesn't really make any sense:

Some quotes of the week

Nurse: "Do you want CDIFF or don't you"

Old man: "No I don't but I don't like yogurt"

Nurse: "Mam, you gotta put your pants back on or we will have to detain you"

----As we see bare feet running pass our "room" that is made of just sheets that they pulled around the bed.  

The old man next to us talking about his medical yesterday.  Told them of his prostate cancer and then was like 

old man: "I think they removed my bladder"

nurse: "I don't think so sir"

man: "then it was one of my kidneys"

Nurse: "Let me check your medical history. No, you still have both kidneys" 

 

Old man: "Well, it was a long time ago"

Women going by on a stretcher yelling 

"Where is my vampire family?  Give them back, you zombie slime"

 Some of the quotes that you hear as you are in the ER getting hooked up to some fluids.  

To say the least this week was pretty crazy.

Tuesday we had MLC meeting which was super good and I felt totally fine (no sickness at all).  Learned lots from President and Sister Dymock.

Wednesday it all turned for the worst.  Woke up not feeling to great but I didn't think too much about it but I just asked for the garbage can next to me just in case while we were planning.  Then all of a sudden everything came up.  I didn't make it to the bathroom but instead I was on my hands and knees in our front room throwing up everything in me into the garbage can while my sweet companion was still planning.  I asked her what she was doing while I was throwing up and she was like well I was thinking about who you would want to go see in the off chance that you would want to go out. haha she knows me too well but this time my body got the upper hand and I had to stay in.  But I was hoping that it would pass quickly like last time since our zone had a temple trip on Thursday.  But then Thursday wasn't much better.  I couldn't keep anything in me and so I was super bummed that I couldn't go to the temple.  I just stayed at Sister Blake's house and slept to try to get my fever that was super high down. 

And then Thursday night was still the same.  Up every hour double dragon it.  But luckily we went on exchanges that night and Sister Lilley came with me since Sister John didn't get any sleep the two nights before. Sister Lilley was a CNA and going into the medical field.  So in the morning she knew that I literally was going to pass out if I didn't get some fluids.  We went to the Urgent Care which was pretty pointless.  The doctor was going to send us home but Sister Lilley put up a good fight with him since my fever was high, my heart rate was all the way up to 115 and I literally had nothing in my body.  So they sent me to the ER to get an IV in me.  There they did some tests and put something up my nose and I am pretty sure that it went all the way up to my frontal lobe, it was super painful.  I didn't think I was that sick but they had to give me two huge bags of fluids and put me on morphine which made me super sleepy and dizzy.  But all the nurses and doctors were very nice.  

To add a little cherry on top of everything the APs sent out a mass text to all the Zone Leaders warning them that a bad case of the flu was at MLC.  The Zone Leaders in our zone told me about it and apparently at the end it said please forward to your STL and they were like yeah We think we will pass since it was our STL.  So the whole mission knows. 

And now I am here at the mission home to get some rest.  But I learned that the symptoms might last for weeks so that is just great.  But hey I lasted until this long, just 10 weeks shy of the end of my mission.    

oh and I missed Carol going to the temple.  What is this?! Missed two temple trips!

But God is good.  He sends so many amazing people into our lives.  The ward took good care of me and the sisters in my zone.  Also, got a really powerful blessing that was really spiritual.  God is real. (since I probably would be dead if he wasn't) 

You Gotta Have Both

Nicole's Letter:

"You gotta have both"

Lili got baptized!!! It was such a good day! We started teaching her in September and it has been a long road for the family. Lots of tears and prayers to get to this day.  And Lili was so excited! The ward was amazing and the Young Women support was strong. It seriously is the best thing to see someone take that first step toward our Heavenly Father and making that covenant. Lili also got confirmed yesterday and she was petrified to go up. I thought she wasn't going to go but her mom walked her up. And then after she was happy and confident. She said that she felt so good and couldn't even describe the feeling of how she felt. The spirit is real. 

A thought that came to me after we learned that Frankie can't meet with us anymore was that -We are doing the work of eternity on an earthly timetable. 

Miracles do happen. In the Bible dictionary it says that Christianity is founded on the greatest miracle of all. The resurrection of our Lord and Savior. Why don't people believe miracles could continue. I know that saying that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ is a bold claim but in reality it is a miracle that the fullness of the Gospel was restored to the earth once again. I mean why couldn't it happen, Christianity started with a miracle. 

 

There are miracles all around us. Do we chose to see them? This week Frankie saw a miracle even though his parents aren't allowing him to be baptized at this point in time. He got up to bear his testimony yesterday and he bore a sweet and powerful testimony that God is aware of us. He told the events that have occurred with meeting with us. He related how we asked him to be baptized and then the next week to pray about a date, following week we followed up and he told how a date came to his mind which was February 24th. He didn't know what day that was until the next week when we brought a calendar to map it all out and he discovered that the 24th was a Saturday. And it was a small thing but powerful to him that God impressed his mind with that date. I hope that we can all see those small miracles or tender mercies or blessings or whatever you want to call them because God is real and God is good.

 

Had a lesson with Tarah and her family. Tarah had read 10 chapters of the Book of Mormon! She had lots of questions for us. By the end we asked if she had prayed about the Book of Mormon and knew if it was true? She told us that before we came over she didn't think so but God used us as mouthpieces to answer her questions and she knows that the Book of Mormon is true. Now they just have to come to church. They are awesome! I love their family! 

We had lots of fun times walking and riding the bus this week. On Friday night we had to get the car from the elders (We now share the car with them) and so what would be a 10 minute drive to their place took a hour of travel time. The joys of public transportation :) but we walked super fast trying to get to this one bus stop but then we knew that we were too far so then we waited for another one but that would take us to the plaza (which is a sight to see, just where all the buses connect downtown) and then we had to wait for the transfer and then that bus took us about a 20 minute walk from the elders. While we were walking in the dark on a Friday night, Sister John was like Never would I imagine this being a mission. And I just thought "if we did, we probably wouldn't be here". There are lots of those moments but I love them! I love my mission life and I hate that I am to the point where people are now saying that I have no time left! 12 weeks, crazy! Enjoying my time while I have it! I think that I have been on a mission a while though since yesterday at dinner they asked how much school I did and I was like "3 transfers". Apparently everything is in transfers in my mind now.

Pictures:

Lili's baptism

We went to Manito park and they have a ton of daffodils, it is so pretty!  

went to lunch for birthdays​​

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