Chocolate 16 bucks worth

Nicole's Letter: Chocolate 16 Bucks Worth

March 12, 2018

There are no words to accurately describe a mission. I feel like Elder Bednar when he said something like, I am increasingly dissatisfied with the insufficient words of the English language to describe the feelings of my heart. But what I have found similar to my feelings are in 

2 Nephi 33 
"But I, Nephi, have written what I have written, and I esteem it as of great worth, and especially unto my people. For I pray continually for them by day, and mine eyes water my pillow by night, because of them; and I cry unto my God in faith, and I know that he will hear my cry.

4 And I know that the Lord God will consecrate my prayers for the gain of my people. And the words which I have written in weakness will be made strong unto them; for it persuadeth them to do good; it maketh known unto them of their fathers; and it speaketh of Jesus, and persuadeth them to believe in him, and to endure to the end, which is life eternal."

I have prayed for these people, I have laughed, cried, some of my greatest sorrows and joys have been found on my mission. I have hope just like Nephi that the words that I speak in weakness will be made strong. What we share, the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. It does lead to eternal life, I don't think we fully comprehend that on the day to day basis. That is what we do here, living the gospel of Jesus Christ brings eternal life. Yesterday there was extra time in sacrament meeting and Bishop called me up to bear my testimony since it is my last week in the ward. I have loved these people so much! I love Manito but it is time to bow down gracefully. 

This week we had MLC and it was super good. It was so fun to see all the other missionaries and past companions. And Sister Lilley came with us, which was super fun! Went on exchanges with Sister Davis which was fun! We went to Young Women's and Hannah Blake and I exchanged paintings that we did. Street contacted into someone that I have talked to before. I stopped him and asked a question and he goes "yeah I have already talked to you and you have already asked me that question. I got to go." I'd say i have been here a long time. 

Some other funny moments this week:

Had a lesson with the Carothers (part member family) and Alex (recent convert) came as well. It was so funny! Alex loves the Spokane 1st ward and it has been a hard transition and I was like "Well it's the same gospel in any ward" and Alex goes "um I don't know about that" haha just perfect in front of our investigator who has lots of concerns. So she started to ask questions and we just couldn't help but laughing.

And Alex said that he misses the comfy chairs that Spokane 1st use to have 2nd hour because they met in the high council room. So after sacrament meeting sister lilley and I rolled the stake presidents chair down the hall into our classroom. Alex loved it haha. He is going through some seperation anxieties i think :) I mean we are leaving and the elder in Spokane 1st that he loves is leaving. So he had us over for dessert last night. He texted after church and he was like "I want a lesson at 8 and I have a female friend" that's what I like, finding his own fellowship! But seriously he is the best. Fed us so much ice cream, cheesecake and chocolate cake. And yes i am paying for that right now but i couldnt resist. I know that people are put into our lives for a reason and he definitely is one of those people. He said that I have an inner glow. And then Sister Lilley and I had to walk home from Alex's and it was so sketch so the elders just rapped to us over the phone to protect us.

Also during gospel principles, Yvonne (Brother Carothers nm wife) turns to me and was like "what's your first name?" And then Alex from the back sitting in his rocking comfy chair goes Nicole and then everyone for a solid 5 minutes was talking about my first name. The poor teacher didn't know what to do. Gospel Principles is so funny because the people are always from all walks of life. 

Sister John went home. It was sad to see her go, she was awesome. Now I am staying with the Moran Prairie sisters and Sister Lilley as well. It has been kind of crazy! 

Some quotes i liked:

If we approach adversities wisely, our hardest times can be times of greatest growth, which in turn can lead toward times of greatest happiness

It is like building muscle strength. You must break down your muscles to build them up. You push muscles to the point of exhaustion. Then they repair themselves, and they develop greater strength. Increased spiritual strength is a gift from God which He can give when we push in His service to our limits. Through the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, our natures can be changed. Then our power to carry burdens can be increased more than enough to compensate for the increased service we will be asked to give.

Sister Cooper wanted to fed me one last time. Made meatloaf and gf pizza. 

Last day together, went for a run by our apartment. 

Alex, our body guard. 

We bought a lot of chocolate this week.

Sister john

Sister Lilley and me after mlc. 

Lili!

"do you see the wires coming out of my back"

Nicole's Letter: March 5, 2018

Some things this week:

I always get to Monday and never know what to write because honestly how do I even describe what happens on the daily basis.

A list this week to describe my week

-interviews with president. I always love having interviews.  And it was very good timing with different things going on.

-Then we had exchanges with the other sisters which is always super fun! Sister Kauvaka came to Manito with me.  We street contacted a lot of people, literally talked to everyone that we saw and literally no one was interested but hey you do your part and leave it up to the Lord!  Street contacting is super fun because it is so uncomfortable so many times but you just got to laugh.  There were these two guys doing some construction work up a driveway and I asked Sister Kauvaka if we should even go talk to them but then I just started walking up their super long driveway/alleyway and we tried to talk to them but it was an epic fail. Then we tried to talk to some other people and they just said no thank you and laughed maybe because they were high, smoking and carrying in a lot of alcohol and we were just trying to share the good word of god haha good times.  

Tracting literally is just like Russian Roulette, you never know what you are going to get.  Well last night we were lower on the hill, closer to the heart of downtown (usually not a place that we go after dark) but we were trying to contact a referral but there was no apartment number with the referral so we just started knocking.  This one lady told us/showed us all about how there are many wires in us and that she is pulling them out of her body with magnets and baking soda.  It was interesting to say the least. 

A homeless man walked into the church building on Sunday and was just saying all this crazy stuff.  Everyone didn't know what to do so apparently everyone's first instinct is to go get the sister missionaries to handle the situation haha.  But nothing really phases me anymore so we just talked with the man for awhile and then he asked to talk to the elders so we called the elders and then they talked to him for quite a while.  

We also went to the Sacred Heart hospital with the elders to visit people and the elders gave them blessings.  It is super interesting how God works.  We were visiting this one lady and they gave her a blessing and then the lady that was sharing the room came around the curtain and was like "Elders and Sisters?"  She was a member and needed a blessing too.  God is aware of us.

Did service at the food bank and I met someone that knows someone from Campo! Crazy connections!

The other sisters had a stalker so they slept on our floor on Saturday.  Bathrooms in spokane are covered in Human Trafficking posters and boxes for needles and injections.  I love my mission but Spokane has a lot of sad aspects of it. Someone told us that it is number 1 in the nation for car burglaries and number 6 in the nation for human trafficking. 

Yesterday in fast and testimony meeting a lot of people bore their testimony about Lamb of God (since they are doing that here in Spokane).  It made me miss it so much! And it is sad that I am going to miss going in this stake since transfers are next week and most likely I will be leaving.  It has been good here but it is time for me to go.  I got up and bore my testimony about broken hearts.  I was listening to the Lamb of God music, the song Make me Whole and it really made me realize that we can be become whole again through Christ.  We are meant to be broken and have broken hearts so we can be healed through the atonement of Christ.  There is a talk that I read and it said that the soil is broken to plant wheat.  Wheat is broken to make bread.  And bread is broken for the sacrament and the sacrament heals our broken hearts.  It is so true.  

Loving life over here in Manito! LOVE YOU ALL

​​sis john and i 

waiting for the bus

a good one

Nicole's Letter: "a good one"

Feb. 27th, 2018 

ALEX got baptized!!! It was a good day!! He is such an amazing guy and I am so glad that I get to know him.  We missionaries are just fortunate to be a tiny little part of people's lives and I am so grateful for it.  Alex got to this point on his own (well and with God's help) and that makes his testimony even stronger.  After his baptism he got up and bore his testimony and said that it has been a long journey for him (which it definitely has) and that he is just so happy that he is here at this point and that he got here.  He is going to do great things that is for sure.  I definitely have a testimony of how the gift of the Holy Ghost definitely changes people's countenance.  I have seen that after people are confirmed and are sanctified by the Holy Ghost they are so pure and you can see the light that is in their eyes. It is amazing to see.

I also got to go to the temple this week!! We found out that Sister Norman's (my old companion) zone was going and so we texted President and asked if I could go with them since I was dying when my zone went and he said yes!! It was such an amazing experience.  I seriously love that place! To be honest at first I did not have a personal testimony of the temple.  I knew in my head that it was a good place but since being on my mission I have felt for myself that it is not just a good place but the house of the Lord and I love being there!!! And we had a little trio for the day with Sister Lilley.  Dinner appointments with trios are probably my favorite.  It is always super fun! This time it was with an older lady in the ward.  Needless to say we had some pretty good laughs.  And she said that before I leave this area she is going to make her meatloaf again! I love this ward!!! 

We got to go play racket ball today since Sister John loved playing it before her mission and she has been sort of down lately so our district leader and Sister Lilley set it all up as a surprise for her. It was so fun! Even though every time that I do something athletic I am always so shocked by the lack of coordination I have, it really blows me away. 

Church was awesome yesterday! 5 people came!!!! It was so cool! People that haven't come in years finally showed up!  One cool thing was that Alex asked someone from the Sullivan ward, in the valley, to speak at his baptism, Brother Carothers. He also came to his confirmation on Sunday. Brother Carothers' son and his wife, (who we have been teaching) haven't been to church for years came this Sunday. They didn't even know that Brother Carothers dad would be there or that it was Alex's confirmation.  It was so cool to see how the first Sunday back was the Sunday his dad came to our ward and Alex has been long time friends with the whole Carothers family. They will be good support for each other.  God is in the details of our lives.

We helped someone move on Saturday and everyone is always so shocked by how much we can do in a dress.  But I love doing service.  It makes me happy :)

I love my mission.  Yes, there have definitely been hard days, hard weeks and moments but all I have to say is what Elder Wirthlin's mother said "Come What May and Love it".

And I am lovin it!

love you all!

Sis steve

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​​

​​

THE NEWS

TRANSFERS>>>>>>>I'M STAYING ANOTHER IN MANITO!!!!!!

I know no one would have guessed it but here I am, staying half of my mission in one area.  Kind of crazy but I am happy! Sister John is the best and the area is so great! 

We have four people that are on date for this transfer so hopefully all will go well and they can all make their dates! 

One of them is Lili! She is getting baptized this Saturday and she is just my favorite! She was super nervous for her baptismal interview but she did great!  We made invitations before and she leaned over and was like "I just wish that my baptism could be tomorrow!"  It will be this Saturday and I can't be more happy for her! She needs this in her life!

Some other things this week:

I had my first "official" sick day on Tuesday since I was up literally all night in the bathroom.  I was so mad because I have never had to call and have to stay in but right when I told the nurse she was like you can't go out.  So I slept a lot.  But we had a lesson with Lili and we had stake reports with the Stake reports (with the stake president, high counselor and our mission president)  I was determined to not take the whole day and luckily I felt much better after some sleep and was able to go to everything in the evening! 

We had another lesson with Frankie and it was amazing!! (I mean what do I expect, he just gets it).  Anyway he prayed about a day and he felt like Feb 24 so that is what he is preparing for! Hopefully his parents will agree!! Pray for that! He said that his mom just wants him to be happy and said that he could but we are still waiting for his dad.

A story from Sister John's email:

​​"Yesterday Sister Stevenson felt prompted to go visit a family that has rejected us multiple times. Once again, they rejected us. BUT THEN. We turned around and there was a park across the street. A man and his 4 year old son were walking around the park, skipping rocks off the frozen pond. Sister Stevenson and I looked at each other and agreed we needed to go talk to him. After talking with him and leaving our number and a pass along card, we walked away down the street. But I was uneasy. It's hard to explain what I felt - I just wasn't satisfied with the conversation we had with him, even though we bore testimony and it was so strong. So I told Sister Stevenson that we needed to go back, and we gave him a Book of Mormon. He was so touched that we had given him that book and mentioned he had recently watched a powerful video about Joseph Smith!!!!! Unfortunately, he told us his wife is basically anti Mormon. We promised him blessings and he was so sincere about reading the Book of Mormon. He even started reading a little bit as we were standing there talking! He just kept flipping and scanning the pages. I have a feeling we will hear back from him soon. That was the first time I felt prompted to go talk to someone on my mission. Although it wasn't huge or gut wrenching, something just kept turning me back. I have faith that Reese will help his wife soften her heart and come into the Gospel where they will experience countless blessings as families!!"