incredibly strong, I get to meet a bunch of new people and grow close
to them, I get to testify of what I know to be true, I get to teach,
and I get to be an ordained disciple of Christ. I love listening to
peoples missionary stories when they come home from their missions,
and this week I had 5 experiences that are part of the crazy ones I'll
share when I get home. "When I was on my mission..." Blah blah blah?
Yeah, a ton of crazy things happened this week. After all, I am in
Portland!
The first one was towards the beginning of the week. We were visiting
a sister in the ward who was less active. I had heard all sorts of
things about this person, but I was always confused by the comments
made. When we got there and I met her, I understood. She is a
hermaphrodite with a very open opinion about everything. She's super
cool, but there have been some instances where she has said things to
the old ladies in the ward that have caused contention and all of this
stuff that I don't know much about. Anyway, we had a good lesson with
her and told her we would save her a spot in church and relief
society, and we left. I really like her. Teaching her is a different
experience, but very exciting! As we were leaving, we walked down the
tiny sidewalk that goes down the middle of the apartment complex, and
a man in his 20's was walking up to one of the doors and knocked on
it. We attempted to OYM him. I said, "Hello!" And before I could get
anything else out, we felt an overwhelming feeling that we should keep
walking and get out of there as soon as we could. As we walked he
said, "Well hello. Mmmm. Too beautiful. Mmmm. I like your outfits."
....We definitely got out of there fast. Sister Duff had our pepper
spray at hand though, no worries.
The next day, we were trying to contact a nice lady we had set up an
appointment with named Karen. She didn't answer, but while we were
standing at her door, a man walking by made some comments about our
appearance, and then asked us who we were. We gave him a Mormon.org
card and introduced ourselves, but again felt like we should leave. We
had told him our names and he said, "Duck and Gillof? Hello pretties."
As we walked away, he kept calling out to us and making creepy
comments, so we got out pretty quickly. There was the definite smell
of alcohol on his breath as we walked past him. We made it to our car
safely. :)
The last sketchy instance happened yesterday. We were driving down a
street and I told Sister Duff to stop by this one man walking a bike.
He had a vacuum and a trash bag full of cans on his bike. We stopped
and OYM's him from the safety of our car this time. He had tattoos all
over his face and he asked us if we believed that Christ was
assassinated. We were confused... He said, "Yeah! The last
missionaries who talked to me said that Christ was assassinated. They
were bigger girls like you two too! But it's okay. I prefer bigger
girls. I spent 18 years in prison so I don't really have a
preconceived idea of what I want my wife to be, but bigger is better."
Anyway, we drove away after talking to him, all confused that he had
kind of hit on us by calling us fat...? That's new.
So besides all the creepy stuff that happened, we had a really
successful week! We had only 1 progressing investigator last week, but
we have 5 now! Isn't that awesome??? I just LOVE when people really
get a hold of the Gospel and understand that we are teaching truth.
Once they see that, it becomes a priority, which is exactly what God
asks us. To consider Him our top priority. The difference in these
people is amazing! They are happier, healthier, and things seem to run
much more smoothly in their lives when they make that switch. It makes
me so happy to see that!
One thing I really love about the northwest is the gardens! You can
grow so many delicious things up here! This week while we were
walking, a member invited us to partake of his garden while we talked
to him, and I had some of the best raspberries and blueberries I have
EVER had. They were so good! And straight off the bush too! Speaking
of walking, we discovered that there is a nest of evil raccoons living
in the tree in our front yard. We had a close encounter with the mom a
few days ago, and now I'm terrified to walk past the tree in the
morning! Haha dumb raccoon.
Oh! Here's some pictures from this week!
 |
| "A mini Mardi! He is so small and twice as fiesty!" |
 |
| "Yummy lunch outside for the Fourth of July!" |
.JPG) |
| "No fireworks in sight..." |
of time. So I thought I'd hit on the exciting stuff and call it good.
Haha! There is one more story that I PROMISED I wouldn't reveal to
anyone until I was home from my mission, but just know this: it is up
there on the same level as Mike Pickard's mission stories. Yeah. THAT
good. Be prepared!
I love you all very very much and I hope to hear from you soon! Keep
sharing your testimony and bringing joy to all of those around you!
Your shining example does not go unnoticed, I promise!
Love Always,
Sister Nicole Guilott
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