A Third of the Way Already?!

I have been on my mission for 1 day short of 6 months now. Does that
sound ridiculous to anyone else? That means I'm already a third of the
way done, and I only have a year left! I DON'T LIKE THAT!!!! Sister
Duff always tries to kid herself by saying she's "only been out for
two weeks" rather than a year, and I think I'm going to follow suit on
that statement. I've only been out for two weeks! I have a full 18
more months left! Believable, right? Think President will buy it...?
Haha probs not. But I will keep trying! I wish I could stay out here
on my mission forever! It's just that amazing! Anyway... 6 months are
gone. Time to make this year the best of my life! I'm stoked!

This was another week PACKED with goodness! There were a ton of crazy
things that happened, but for the most part they are the "good" crazy.
There was only one and a half not-so-good crazy things, but even they
can be looked at as a good thing! I'm not making any sense... Oh well!

One of the not-so-good crazy things that happened this week was that I
got to go to the hospital! Yay! Haha calm down, I'm not dead. I've
just been having really awful stomach aches in my upper abdomen for
about 2 months now, and the pain has only gotten worse. So far, I have
had 4 blood tests, an ultrasound, and as of Friday, an upper
endoscopy. Hence these pictures:

"Notice my tag? I'm still a missionary! Even in nasty looking hospital gowns!"

They have not quite figured out exactly what is wrong and why I am in
pain all the time, but they did discover that my liver is a little
bigger than it should be. And they pinpointed the pain to my liver
so... Yeah. That's what's up. The endoscopy came back normal, so
that's good! Except that means we still don't know what's happening...
But never fear! We will uncover this mystery, and solve it! Like I
said, I'm not dead or dying yet, so don't worry! The Lord's work is
much too important for me to be sick, so I know as I continue to work
hard and keep my faith strong, everything will work out! So yeah, got
to spend a day in the hospital. There's a SUPER crazy story that goes
with that experience, but I haven't the time to type it right now.
Maybe I'll put it in the P.S. Maybe.

A good crazy thing that happened was a lesson we had at Jamba Juice.
We were doing our weekly planning last Friday, and there was a
potential investigator named Dan that we had never met nor tried to
contact before, so we called him. He answered and said he would agree
to meet with us IF we met in a public place, and if we promised to
come with an open mind. We were kinda confused, but we agreed because, well, we're missionaries and we're not gonna pass up an opportunity to teach! So this week, we met him at Jamba Juice. We were a tad
nervous... But he turned out to be really nice! Just chatty. :P We spent the whole 45 minutes listening to his take on deity. It was very interesting! Everything he said, whether a positive comment or more of
a negative concern, touched on a principle of the Gospel that we teach. So even though we had no time to get any words in, he gave us a lot of things to prepare for for the next time we see him. He was very
kind. I love being able to go home and study the scriptures so that I might know how to best help each individual person we come in contact with! It's wonderful!

"Brother Mckenzie and his kitty.  Love that guy."

On Wednesday, we had interviews with President Taylor!!! Oh man, I
LOVE interviews! President and Sister Taylor are phenomenal people,
and I couldn't have asked for a better mission mom and dad. I love
them! My interview was great - interviews are the only time we get one
on one time with President, and I loved every second! I asked him some
doctrinal questions just because I knew his answers would be simple
but elaborate at the same time. And they were! President is an
inspired servant of The Lord, and every time he speaks to us I always
know that he is following what God wants him to do or say that is best
for the missionaries. He told me at the end of my interview that he
would be keeping me and Sister Duff together for this next transfer,
and I was so excited! I LOVE Sister Duff! Ya never know what
information you're gonna get at interviews... Hehe.

"Sister Gomez"

Sister Gomez and I both went to Pleasant Grove High School. She lives in Lindon. We talked for about 45 minutes about ourselves, and in the last minute, realized that not only did we go to the same high school, but we KNEW each other! We used to talk in the hall every single day! And neither one of us recognized the other until we showed pictures of ourselves! It was crazy. We decided it must have just been a change in our
countenance...? Haha! Fun huh?

On Thursday, we got to go to the temple! It was amazing and beautiful
and peaceful and perfect, just like it always is. I feel spoiled
because I just got to go 6 weeks ago, and I already got to go again! I
love the temple. There truly is nothing better than The Lord's house.
I feel the Spirit in abundance there, especially as a missionary. God
loves me so much, and that is made so apparent in the ways He is
blessing me and the calm feelings I have as I go about His work and
enter into His temples. I love Him very very much. :)

On Friday, when I got home from the hospital, Sister Duff came to me
and said, "Sister, I have some bad news..." I was freaked out! She
then pulled two envelopes out of her purse that were from the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We got TRANSFER letters! What?!
President told us we were both staying here! I guess God changed His
mind. I am losing Sister Duff on Wednesday. She is going to La Center,
Washington. I'm devastated. BUT! It will be okay. I can handle taking
over this area, right? I will be receiving Sister Cone. I don't know
her, but I know OF her, and all I know is good things. So that will be
interesting to get a new companion and to be the one who "knows the
most" about this area. I'll miss Sister Duff like crazy though! I
mean, look at her!

How can you not just love her immediately? She is amazing, and I am
definitely going to miss her. It will be different here in Portland
without the guidance of my current companion, but I know that Heavenly
Father has a plan and a reason for transfers. There are still people
in this area that I need to find, and find them I shall! I know I say
this every time, but I really truly love this work. I know this is
where I am supposed to be because no matter how gross my body is
feeling, I am always genuinely happy and feel good spiritually.
Anything good is of God, and that is why I know I am where He wants me
to be. I love you all very much, and I hope you share in the happiness
I am feeling as I serve my Heavenly Father. It truly is a spectacular
feeling! I'll talk to you next week!

Love,

Sister Nicole Guilott

P.S.
Okay, I guess I have time to tell the story. When I had my "procedure"
done on Friday, they put me under "twilight sedation," which means I
am technically awake, but at the same time I am unconscious and won't
remember anything when I wake up for reals. So apparently, it took the
doctors a whole lot of medicine to knock me out - much more than
normal. When it was time to wake up I remember hearing nurses saying,
"welcome back, sweetheart. It's time to wake up now." I responded out
loud to that with, "it's good to be back!" But I guess no one heard me
because they kept on talking and telling me I had slept too long and
it was time to wake up. I was confused. I kept talking, but they
weren't hearing me. I could hear them perfectly, and I could feel when
they touched me, but I couldn't see. It took a minute for me to
realize that my body was still asleep, but my mind was awake. I wasn't
actually talking out loud at all! The nurses were super confused as to
why I wasn't waking up, and I think I made them nervous... They tried
everything to wake me up, not realizing that I was conscious and could
hear and feel everything they tried! They tried tickling my feet, then
scratching my feet, then taking all my blankets off and stripping me
to try and freeze me awake. They shook the bed, then they shook me by
the shoulders. THEN they decided to try some ER maneuvers. They did
the sternum rub thing on my chest to try and wake me up through pain,
and when that didn't work, they pulled my jaw forward! Nothing was
working! The whole time, I was screaming as loud as I could so they
would hear me, but nothing was coming out of my mouth! I felt like
Melanie from "The Host" because I was trapped in a body I couldn't
control! That's when I started to panic. "Am I in a coma? Oh my gosh
I'm in a coma! They don't know I'm awake! Is this what everybody who
is in a coma feels like? Let me out! Let me out! Wake me up!" It was
traumatic. When I finally did wake up, I was in a recovery room
different from the one I started in because they thought they'd have
to admit me to the hospital if I slept too long. I told the nurse what
I had heard the other nurses saying, and what I had felt. And she was
shocked! She said that never happens, especially with this procedure
which they do multiple times daily. It was crazy. Anyway, that's my
story! No worries though, I'm awake now. Obviously. :P Have a great
week!

"This was a souvenir I bought last week at the Mall.  Pretty great, huh?"

"The Fam Bam was in Newport Beach, California the past two weeks, so I had to take a picture with the lady who worked at See's to show that I will always find a way to keep up tradition! I hope y'all went to the See's grandma Aggie took you to while y'all were in Cali!"