EXCITEMENT!

Oh my goodness gracious! So many things happened this week that are fabulous! I just... Don't even know where to start! Ooooo I know: Mother's Day. Best day of the week! I got to talk to my wonderful family for a whole hour and make my Daddy laugh his crazy laugh! Boy have I missed hearing that. I am so grateful for my family and the wonderful support they are to me. I don't know where I'd be if I didn't have them!

It was great to be able to see my whole fam bam for Mother's Day, but it IS called MOTHER's day. My mom is the absolute greatest, and no one will ever be able to convince me otherwise. I adore her. She has been there for me when I have asked for her help, and she has stayed by my side when I have been too stupid to realize that I needed her. I love my mom so much, and even though I know I will never be able to repay her for the things she has done and continues to do for me, I can love her continually. :) I am so grateful that Heavenly Father sent me to her and made me a part of my family for eternity. I would truly be
lost without them. Thank you Mom for being my best friend! Happy Mother's Day!

This week was truly a great one. Some exciting things happened! We had an appointment set up with our Russian investigator Serg, who only speaks a little bit if English, but not enough to understand church or a lesson, but our translator cancelled on us! We were devastated! But we are diligent missionaries, and we were NOT going to cancel on Serg! So we used the tools this mission provides us, and Facebook messaged
some people until we found a handful of translators willing to FaceTime or Skype us to help translate for a lesson. My dearest Jared Naumann ended up FaceTiming us and translating! It was awesome! We finally understood where Serg was coming from, and he better understood our purpose. It was great! (Side note: when we met him at the church to have a lesson, he pulled out some Katy Perry perfume and sprayed us both with it... Not quite sure what to think of that...) We had a great lesson with him, and we will definitely be utilizing FaceTime and Skype to continue to teach him. :)

A little too excited to have a translator for Serg...

Did you know I love food? Well I do. And this week was an interesting food week! One particular day, we ate mostly fruit. We had rambutan's, mangos's, watermelon, pineapple, and some other stuff I can't remember. It was a nice colorful assortment! Another day, we had dinner with a member couple who own the evil dog named Scooby. I think I've talked about them before... Anyway, they made us some chicken and other stuff, but I was NOT a fan. So... I fed it to the dog! They were like, aw he finally likes you! Well I had to make sure it stayed that way, so I kept feeding him. It was funny. Sort of a had to be there thing now that I'm writing it out... Oh well! Last night we went to Meena's house, the sweet Indian woman who likes Bollywood, and she fed us some authentic Indian food! It was delicious! We had... Let's see if I can remember what it's called... Rotis (row-tee-ss) and Dahl (doll). I think that's it. It was super yummy!!! Meena and her sons spoke Punjabi to each other a lot and I just sat there wishing I could communicate with them! But all I knew was things like, "Om Shanti Om," "Kal Ho Na Ho," "Main Hoo Na," and "It's the Time to Disco." And that's more Hindi than Punjabi, so basically it was worthless. Oh well! I could eat their food and listen to them talk all day!

Part of our healthy fruit day. :)

I feel like I'm starting to recognize more and more Coraline-esque things around here... First they put me in a mansion similar to the "Pink Palace" in the middle of the woods, then the investigator with a thousand Scottie Dogs, then I find a secret and smallish Coraline door, and now there are banana slugs roaming around. What next??

I was trying to be like Wybie and put it on my upper lip.  It was too gross, so I couldn't.

Crazy huh? That was just a thought I had this week. ANYWAY, we had some super cool moments with investigators this week. Unfortunately, Tony was not baptized because he ended up in Portland for some reason. We will keep working with him! We had a few really amazing lessons with a man named Keith. He is about 6 feet tall, has tattoos all over his body, always wears a wife beater, has a ponytail that reaches below his waist, and he has no more teeth because of past drug abuse. He is a very sweet man, and we love teaching him! He has made comments about how grateful he is that we don't judge him by his appearance,
and that we are willing to teach him and bring him closer to Christ. It's very sweet. :) We got another new investigator named Lisa who is rooming with a referral that we tried to contact, but got her instead. She is super kind too! All the people here in Vancouver are just so darn wonderful! I'm so excited to be able to teach them all!

Lastly, we had dinner on Friday with a member and her extremely less active son, Troy. I kept feeling like I needed to say something to him, but couldn't figure out how to approach it... So I just spat it out. I said, "Troy, why haven't I ever seen you at church?" to which he responded, "Oh, because I'm not active in the church." I said, "Why?" right upfront, and apparently that was the right decision because from there, we had a wonderful conversation for about an hour about his beliefs and how they differ from the church. He talked about science and about his belief in medical marijuana, etc etc. I told him that I am a science major and that we spent a lot of time studying theories such as the Big Bang and evolution and I addressed every single one of his scientific concerns. Not in a preachy "But God created that" sort of way, but more on his level of understanding. I told him that I found the balance between the two by making them a part of each other instead of trying to force one to be right and one to be wrong. It came out of my mouth a lot better than it is sounding on here, but the point is that it made perfect sense, and for the first time in about 15 years, Troy allowed himself to ponder it instead of standing by his pre-formulated opinion. It was funny because his mom knew she had never gotten that far with him before, so for the whole hour we were talking, everyone was silent for fear of ruining the progression he was making. I invited him to come sit by me in church and talk to me about what he was feeling and thinking throughout sacrament meeting, and we could discuss how to combine the truth with the evidence, and he said he would definitely consider that. We now have a weekly Friday night appointment with them. :) I think that was my favorite part of this week (besides Mother's Day of course!).

I am so grateful for this area, Lacamas Creek, for the people here and for the wonderful places that Heavenly Father is taking me. If you are ever doubting Him and what He has in store for you, or doubting your faith, or anything of the like PLEASE get down on your knees and pray to Him. He will ALWAYS answer. I am past believing in Him and in this Gospel. I am past believing that I can return to Him and be
resurrected to be with Him and my family forever. I am past believing. I KNOW that this is true, and I KNOW that if I ever have questions or am in need of comfort, my Heavenly Father is there for me. I am so
grateful for the relationship I have with Him, and I know He sent me here because He knows me perfectly. I hope you all will take the time to establish that relationship with Him for yourselves. Have a wonderful week! Talk to you next time!

Love,

Sister Nicole Guilott

P.S. Elizabeth changed her mind again. :'( But we will not lose hope! Ever!

Coping with having to hang up on our families by eating ice cream under fuzzy blankets!

My tribute to Sister Major for today.