Hello Portland!

It happened! I have been transferred. From the beautiful Vancouver to
the... Well to Portland. Haha! Portland is different alright. My new
companion, Sister Duff, is the absolute bomb dot com! I love her. She
is from Florida and she is amazing. We live with the Jensen's, members
in the ward, but we don't live in their house. They have a guest house
that everyone calls "the Cottage." Because that's what it looks like!
We have a kitchen, a living room, a bathroom, a bedroom, and a
backyard with fresh raspberries! Those are my favorite!

This area has definitely been prepared for missionaries. We found 7
new investigators in the first 5 days of being here, and they were all
found from street contacting! Even if Portland is weird, the people
are ready for the gospel! Strange experience for the week: we were
knocking on an apartment door for an appointment that was at the top
of some stairs and had 4 different apartment doors in a teensy semi
circle. I felt like Alice in Wonderland. Our appointment didn't answer
the door, but while we were up there, some lady was screaming at her
child somewhere in the parking lot, cussing her kid out. "Get your
'bum' up! I ain't takin' anymore of your 'silliness' today!" etc. etc.
THEN some music started. It was very very loud, like it was being
projected at a rodeo or something, but we were in a pretty isolated
area. It was mariachi music... It was super weird. Kind of like a
strange dream that no one understands. That's Portland for ya!

Happy Birthday to Emily who is now 18 and Dad who is now... Well maybe
I'd better not make that public. ;) And happy Father's Day too! Oh
geez, I love my family lots. I hope you guys had phenomenal birthdays!
So, leaving Lacamas Creek was tough. I love all of those people so so
much! Here are some more pictures from my wonderful first area!

"Keith!"

"Keith and Gabrielle! Oh man.  I love them.."

"Brother Garcia!  I'll miss him and his goofy personality."

"The Slifka's.  Oh man.  They are absolutely wonderful!"

"Sister Steelman and TJ.  I love sitting in Sacrament Meeting and listening to TJ sing the hymns.  He's a hoot!"

"The Wallace's.  They are awesome.  Bonnie is amazing and Jeff likes to think he's funny."

"Jaynie Williams and her son Troy.  I  love them too!"

"Shana and her daughter Tailor.  I ADORE them!  Shana is coming with me
and Sister Major for our 24 day horse ride from Utah to Washington."

"Janet.  That's the room that Sister Major and I helped paint!  Janet is an absolute gem."

"Sam! She is miraculously on date. I can't wait to go back for her baptism!"

What a great area! I will most definitely miss it. But it's okay
because new people and new miracles await here in Portland. This first
week has been wonderful, but also hard. My neighbor from home, who I
didn't know very well, passed away unexpectedly this week, and so did
Michalla Beardall, a friend from high school. We weren't close by any
means, but she was on of those gorgeous people who is genuine and kind
to everyone. Some girls who are stunning, KNOW that they have an above
average appearance, and it helps them justify the "lesser than me"
attitude that they have towards others. Not Michalla. She treated
everyone with respect and care. She showed genuine interest in the
conversations she had with everybody who talked to her. I always
looked up to her, and since I sat behind her in choir from the 8th to
the 11th grade, I admired ALWAYS envied her hair. She knew how to do
it! She told me once when we were on Choir Tour that she would teach
me how to do my hair that way, but we never did. Haha she was so much
fun! This is the sweet Michalla.

Gorgeous huh? Since I have been on my mission, 8 people that I am
associated with in some way have passed away. That is a lot of death.
The only thing I can say is that I know they are where they are
supposed to be, and the missionary work they are doing on the other
side is bringing so many people to the knowledge of the truth who
never had that chance when they were on Earth. I trust that God knows
what He is doing, and I'm excited to see those people again and to see
the eternal perspective of it all.

I'm sorry this email is short... Transfers kind of make things crazy.
I am very excited to be in this new area, and I love the people
already. I'm so grateful for a great companion who is kind, loving,
fun, and willing to be a goof with me! I love my zone (which is
currently the smallest zone in the mission consisting if 12
missionaries), I love my area, and I love my mission! I miss my old
area, but change is good, and I am excited to see what experiences
Heavenly Father has in store for me here in Portland. I love you all!
Talk to you next week!

Love,

Sister Guilott

P.S. More pictures.

"Clearly, I struggle getting into Hammocks.  This is my "concentrated" face."

"These are a recent convert, Erika's drawings of runes from my favorite book series.
Thought Caroline would appreciate this picture since she is currently
addicted to the series. :) Love you Sweetpea!"