FINALLY!!!

God rewards patience. This is the fourth week I've been back, and until now, nothing was happening. We have not been able to really get out there and work until this week, and as soon as we did, Heavenly Father put extraordinary opportunities before us and miracles happened! I apologize for the lack of spiritual insight and exciting missionary experiences in the past few posts... Nothing was happening! It was very sad, but no worries because this week definitely made up for it 10 fold!

I think I told you last time about our mission goals, but let me just refresh your memory. We want to find 400 new investigators as a mission from September 21st - October 1st. That is 10 days to find 400 people in the Washington Vancouver Mission who are ready to be taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and brought closer to Him through the first covenant of Baptism. :) We were slightly panicked with that goal because something has happened every week we've been here that has prevented us from being any sort of successful. But we prayed hard and told Heavenly Father that we had the faith to find! We promised Him we would do our best! It is so clear to me that we really hardly have anything to do with the miracles involved in missionary work, it's all Him! All we had to do was get on our feet and walk around, smile at everybody, attend Ward activities, and go to our dinner appointments. Really! That's it!

On Tuesday night, we had an activity called "Tuesday Night Tours," which happens once a month and is where all the youth do their best to invite their nonmember friends to the church for a church tour and fun activity afterwards. It was great! Our Ward Mission Leader, Brother Hardy, talked to everyone a little bit about the functions of the church and what we do on Sundays and throughout the week, and there was a wonderful turnout! There were 8 nonmembers there!!! After we talked about church and did an impromptu musical number (provided by me and Elder Brase), we had a "Minute To Win It" competition. We put ourselves on a team with two nonmember girls who are 13 and 14 years old. Sweetest girls ever! The Elders are actually already teaching the parents of one of the girls, but the other one, Eryn, we picked up as a new investigator! She asked lots of good questions and asked us to come over and teach her! Woo Hoo!

"This is my 'I am so happy things are finally happening Selfie!"

Wednesday was President Taylor's birthday! We went up to the mission office with the majority of the mission to surprise him and throw him a birthday party. It was super fun and he is adorable. Gotta love President. When I went up to talk to him, he told me that he is so excited about me and Sister Lammi and he feels great things coming up from the Evergreen Ward. That gave us a boost of motivation to work! So when we got back to our area, we were excited to work! However, it was time to start walking to dinner, so we decided we would work after we ate. We arrived to our dinner appointment a little early, so instead of going straight there, we knocked on the two house next to our dinner appointment. The first door was answered by a bald man who kindly rejected us, but behind door #2 we found Shirley. :) She answered the door and at first didn't seem super interested, but as we talked to her and taught her the Restoration, she opened up and became a golden investigator! She was so nice, and very eager to attend our church. She told us that we would definitely be seeing her soon, and she said goodbye to us with a kind "God bless you." I'm thrilled to get to work with her!

Dinner that night was fantastic! We ate with a sweet elderly woman who lives in a pink Barbie house. Really. It's the cutest thing ever! She lives with her sister (who unfortunately was out of town this week), her son, and her two great grandchildren. It's a strange living situation, but it turned out to be a complete blessing to us! During dinner, we discovered that her great granddaughter, Samantha, had not been baptized. Sam had just recently made the decision to turn her life around. She's been working hard in school, living up to her standards, and desiring to realize her purpose. She asked us if we could teach her and help her come back to church! It was amazing! All of these opportunities were being thrown in our faces because of our desire to find God's children and bring them closer to Him! It's astonishing!

Thursday morning, we met up with Liz from Lacamas Creek at Starbucks to catch up and see how she was doing. She has unfortunately taken a step away from the church again, but I'm not worried. I'm confident that when she is ready, she will be able to recognize how much God wants her to know Him and follow His commandments. President Uchtdorf spoke about it a bit at the Women's Broadcast on Saturday night. I really wish Liz would have watched it so she could understand the importance of church and the significance it has in strengthening our relationship with God. No matter what she decides, I will love her and be her friend.

That afternoon, we had our first lesson with our new investigator Alexis. She is the one who approached us at church last Sunday and told us that her mom had finally given her permission to take the lessons. We had a lesson at her fellowshipper and best friend Olivia's house, and it went very very well! We taught the Restoration and she was so excited to learn about every little detail! She was shy and sweet, but I could feel how excited she was to finally be doing the official stuff. She has been coming to church with Olivia since she was 8, she's been to girls camp 3 times, and she is teaching the lesson in her Sunday School class in a few weeks. She really truly is golden! It is such a special experience to be able to work with people who have a genuine spirit about them. Alexis is phenomenal! By the end of the lesson we had set her on date for October 11th. :) All we need now is to make sure she has her parents permission. I'm confident things will work out in Alexis' favor. She definitely deserves it. Like I said earlier, God rewards patience.

*insert picture of "boom" fence with caption, "We found this after our lesson with Alexis and committing her to baptism. We thought it fit the situation pretty perfectly. :)"

After that, we had dinner with the Trana's. I love them! This time, their son Nolan was there, and he is not a member. He's a sweet guy, but clearly not necessarily following the right path. His parents adore us, but I wanted to find a way to connect with him on his own level... So I used my eyes and noticed the game system still out and connected to the TV, with Call of Duty and Halo cases laying next to it. He had a friend over for dinner too, so I gathered the obvious: they had been playing just before we came. Long story short, I brought up video games, COD and Halo specifically, talked to them in detail about those games, and ended up transitioning into Christ caring about them. ...Kind of a weird connection, but it worked! Now, I'm not saying that Christ necessarily cares about video games, but he does care that Nolan cares about it! From there, Nolan and his friend Tyler brought up, "You have mentioned about 4 things besides video games at this dinner table that I, individually, care about. How could you have known that?" That question got us started about what Christ wants for them and that He often answers our prayers and shows us that He loves us through other people. We got a return appointment with them to help them find other ways to recognize God's love for them. And it was thanks to video games. :) Nolan is a former investigator, so he doesn't count as one of the 400 new, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that he is reinterpreted in strengthening his relationship with Christ.

After dinner with the Trana's, we had a lesson with a less active family, the Jenkins. Their 14 year old daughter, Isabel, was just baptized in March, but the two brothers have not been baptized. During our visit, I was talking to the dad about cars, when the littlest brother, Xander, heard us and came out to hear us talk about it. He LOVES cars, and was apparently super impressed that I knew what I was talking about (even though I'm pretty sure I didn't have a clue what I was saying...). He joined the conversation, was present for the spiritual thought, and said he wants us to come back and talk to him more about the Gospel. ...And cars. :P He is 11 years old, and super sweet. So that was another new investigator.

On Friday, we had weekly planning, and it was a pretty lengthy one due to our abundance of new investigators, so it took us all day long. The only breaks we had were lunch and dinner. When we came home from dinner, the Haskett's daughter Allison was hosting an "Origami Owl" jewelry party. Her neighbor Nicole was the one selling the jewelry and presenting it all, but nobody had showed up... So when we walked in, Allison asked us if we would sit and listen to Nicole practice giving the presentation. So naturally we said yes. :) We listened to her spiel, and as she was presenting the necklaces and the charms that go with it, she came across a little green shield looking charming with the letters "CTR" on it, and she didn't know what it meant. It was under the religious section of charms, but she had never heard of that before. We told her what it meant and the got a really good conversation going about our religion, what a mission is, and generally what we believe. Long story short, we set up an appointment with her to meet at her house and answer more of her questions.

In the end, we found SIX new investigators this week! We were very proud of ourselves. But also not, because it was clear that having the miracle of finding all of these prepared children of God was not our doing, but His. He put us in the right situations at the exact right times, and we were simply able to be an instrument in His hands. I am so grateful for the knowledge of this Gospel, and for all the times He has picked me up when I have been weak or nearing that point of giving up. I'm very glad that the long stretch of nothingness is over and that we have lifted ourselves up this week and began to see success. Life is GOOD!!!

Today, I am off to face my fear of volcanoes by walking around in some lava tubes of an active volcano: Mount St. Helens. They are called the "Ape Caves..." I guess I'll figure out why! I'm only slightly terrified, but if St. Helens decides to blow up while I'm inside it, know that I love all of you and I have a testimony that God lives! :) Hopefully, I'll talk to you all next week!

Love Always,

Sister Guilott

P.S.
I guess I took all my pictures from this week on the same day? Lame. Sorry!

"HeHe...Tiny trash can..."

"Is this not the cutest front yard accessory ever?"

"Clever way to get tough gel nails off"

"Pretty cool picture of the Portland Temple!"

A Continued Series of Unfortunate Events

Not gonna lie, I feel like I've been somewhat of a downer these past couple of posts, but I am STILL confident things are going to be looking up this week. I'm pretty positive that the crummy is done happening for a little while. After all, this week wasn't that bad, it really wasn't. But at the same time, I'm definitely done staring at the ceiling in our house. I'll explain, but first I will tell you about all the good things that happened this week!

First, we had a wondrous Zone BBQ last Pday which was an absolute blast! Our zone is huge. Have I already told you that? Probably. Well it's the biggest zone in the mission so we know we are going to have a really good time whenever we get together. Monday was no exception. :) We met at a Bishop's house from another ward who had a BBQ, a pool table, a Foosball table, a trampoline, and all sorts of goodness. We had a ton of fun! Here's a picture of all the Sisters that were there (we are missing 2) because Elders will be Elders and they wouldn't stand still long enough to take a picture all together as a zone.

On Tuesday, we had interviews with President Taylor! Oh boy, I love that man. Having interviews with him is always the best thing ever because you get one on one time with him where you can ask anything you want and he will answer you in the best way he knows how, which is ALWAYS inspired and amazing. He told me a few things that pretty much blew my mind, and a few other things that made me feel great! He said he trusts me a lot and appreciates that people get along with me easily because that makes things easier on him. He also told me to keep doing exactly what I've been doing because it fits what a missionary should be like when it comes to working hard but still having charity for others. I'm not trying to make myself sound awesome or anything, it's just what he said and it made me feel really great. :)

We also got to go to the temple this week! That makes it my 3rd time going to the Portland temple. Every time I go, I learn so much more and feel the spirit even stronger than I did the last time. This temple is HUGE, and it's even bigger and brighter and more beautiful inside. It was great to go with Sister Lammi too, because we have so much fun together and we think the same way, so having conversations about spiritual things is so insightful because I understand what she's saying and she gets what I'm saying too. Haha does that even make sense? Whatever. I love her.

What a great trip! Okay, hold on to your hats. Our mission has set some crazy awesome goals... we want to find, obtain, teach, and baptize 400 new investigators as a mission in the next 10 days!!!!! Well, okay we just are striving to find 400 in the next 10 days. The teaching and baptizing comes later. Isn't that crazy??? Also, along with the 400 new investigators, we want to have 80 baptisms from October thru November, and have 50 baptisms in December. HOLY HANNAH THAT'S A LOT!!! There's a scripture that goes along with this goal: Doctrine and Covenants 29:7 - "And ye are called to bring to pass the gathering of mine elect; for mine elect hear my voice and harden not their hearts." Pretty good stuff, right? Oh man, I am SO excited!!!

Yesterday at church, I sang. Again. It was super awesome because I had never heard the song before until last week, and I found another person in the ward who plays the piano like me! We had a lot of fun playing duets and writing music at her house last week, and she accompanied me while I sang this beautiful version of "Guide me to Thee" just to see what it sounded like. Little did I know that her husband was leaving a voice mail for the guy in the ward who is in charge of the music. He said, "I found you a musical number for this week," and then recorded me singing and his wife playing the piano. So I sang in sacrament meeting. :) We had 2 new investigators there too! Woot woot! All of this information is pretty out there considering the condition I was in all week...

Here is the unfortunate part. I got bit by a spider. Just a wee little lad. Okay, I never actually saw the thing, but judging by the size of the bite, he was a pretty big guy. Long story short, he made me sick. I have been vomiting all week because of him, and once the infection of the bite (aka the venom) spread, I had to go to Urgent Care and get a few shots of steroids. I have been on bed rest all week long. Like I said, I am SO DONE staring at the ceiling of our room. But hey, what can ya do? On Wednesday morningish, I woke up with a second bite on my stomach. But that one hasn't turned into anything big and nasty and scary, so hopefully it'll just go away on it's own. Crazy though, huh? This WOULD happen to me. I get back to the mission healthy and ready to work, and I get bit by a venomous spider. Putting me on my back for at least week, and sending me back to the doctor after only 2 weeks of being back in the field. Well I'm not getting down! I'm a tough Sista and I'll be back up and running this week for sure!

Progression of the Spider Bite

On the upside, today marks my 8 months. WHAT?!?! Is this real life? Geez time, take it easy!

Well I love you all and I will talk to you again next week about how awesome it is to be up out of bed and working hard! Haha love you!

Love Always,

Sister Nicole Guilott

Slow And Steady Wins the Race, Right?

Unfortunately, this week was incredibly slow again. Not as slow as
last week, but pretty slow. Walking is hard! Especially since we are
white washed, so neither of us know what to do, where to go, or who to
call to help us. It is slowly picking up in pace though, so no
worries, baptisms will happen here, I promise! We asked the ward if
any of them have bikes that they could spare for us, and a few have
offered to lend some to us, so we may or may not be getting bikes. It
wouldn't be much of a difference, but at least we could cover more
ground if we had some way to get around besides our own feet. We'll
see.

We had a few pretty fun things going on this week despite how slow it
was work-wise. The first one is that I got to see Meg and the boys! We
went out to ice cream with them! I cannot tell you how much I love
being so close to my first area. I get to see people from there
whenever they can basically, and I adore each and every one of them!

They are such wonderful people. It feels like I was JUST there in
their home teaching Meg about the Book of Mormon for the first time,
and now they read it together just about every night! I am continually
amazed by the effect that the spirit has on people. My testimony of
it's power and truth grows bigger and stronger each and every day,
especially out here on my mission where I am able to witness the
spirit working in every person we teach. Ya know what I noticed this
week? I've gotten so in the habit of saying "we" rather than I, and I
have just now discovered the real and legitimate reason for that
phrase! "We" implies me and my companion, but really "we" means me, my companion, and God. Me and my companion don't bring people knowledge of the Gospel, but "we" (us and the spirit/God) sure do! Anyway, that was just kind of a realization I had. Thought I'd share.

We had a super cool service opportunity that involves all of Clark
County! It's the "Clark County Day of Service" where everyone signs up
for a different service project and goes to work on one specific
Saturday. Our ward signed us up for what is called "Open House
Ministries" which is a service fair run by another church. Basically
homeless people and less fortunate people come and get a free meal,
ice cream, photo booth, hair cut, face paint, and a bunch of other
stuff. It was super cool! And since we had our name tags on, a bunch
of people asked us who we were, why we were there and all of the good stuff that comes with it. We were able to teach a few lessons while we were there, and people listened so intently! We were there for about 2 hours, and life was good! Woo Hoo for service!

We had a super awesome zone meeting this week too. We had a training about how to spend time wisely, and the Elder giving the training pointed out some crazy interesting things. We are on our missions for 5,840 hours (sisters). But when you take away time for Pdays, zone meetings, zone conferences, leadership meetings, study, sleep, meal times, etc. etc. we only get to spend maybe 3,000 hours proselyting. That is if we maximize our time and do everything we can to be effective missionaries. Crazy, huh???

This upcoming week is going to be so amazing. We have interviews with President, a temple trip, maybe getting bikes, and a bunch of other
wonderfully perfect things that are going to happen because we are
going to continue to be diligent and work our little tails off! I love
this work so so much, and I am remaining faithful and trekking forward
in the work of salvation. I love you! Talk to you next week!


Love,

Sister Guilott

ACT TWO BEGINS!

(Note: For those of you who read Nicole's blog, you know she has been sick.  She had a viral infection that caused Mesenteric Lymphadenitis. That caused her liver to react and she was very sick. The second trip to the hospital in a month indicated that Nicole was not getting better and her dedication to being a fantastic missionary wasn't helping her heal as she continued to work hard serving the people in her area.  The decision was made to have her come home, rest and get better. She was home exactly three weeks and when we welcomed her home, we were so shocked at how sick she looked.  But of course we know miracles are REAL and saw one ourselves as Nicole in two weeks was almost completely healed.  We are so thankful for the prayers, love and concern sent her way.  And as a family, even though sending out our missionary was even more difficult the second time than the first time, what a wonderful treat it was to have her home for what we called an "intermission." To have had the chance to hear first hand her mission stories, attend the temple and spent so much time with her was delightful.  How lucky Vancouver Washington Mission is to have her back for a "second act" to her marvelous mission.  We learned so much about love, faith and prayers during this time. Sister Guilott, your family loves you sooo much!)

NOW BACK TO NICOLE'S LETTER:

There is so much to cover, I don't even really know where to begin!
I'm sorry I didn't post for the past 2 weeks, that was lame of me. But
it's okay because now I can catch you up to speed with everything!
Being home was weird. Wonderful because I got to see people and I got healthy again, but also strange because it was in the middle of my
mission. There were some wonderful blessings though that came from it! I got to be a part of a lot of great missionary experiences while I
was home which was incredibly helpful because it kept my focus on the
work of The Lord. I even got to participate in a baptism while I was
home! A family friend of ours had taken the discussions a few years
ago, and decided recently that he wanted to be baptized. :) So I went
over with my Aunt and the missionaries and taught him and set up his
baptism. It was awesome!

"The one in the middle is who got baptized, and the one on the right is my uncle who
baptized him.  Such a cool experience!"

He was baptized and confirmed (given the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost) that day, given the priesthood the next day, and then got to baptize his 8 year old daughter that night. It was incredible. I
love being able to see the amazing progress and the wonderful spirit
that is felt at baptisms. Especially that this time it was for someone
who I have known for quite some time rather than an investigator who
I've only known for a short while. God doesn't do random, and for some
reason I was meant to be home for that baptism. I am so grateful that
He loves me enough to provide me with plenty of opportunities to
remember my mission and continue the work.

Another great thing I got to do while I was home was attend the temple
often. :) I went at least 5 times while I was there, and it was
perfect! The house of The Lord is my favorite place to be. I learn so
much every time I go, and the 5 or so times I went these past 3 weeks
were some of the best and most enlightening experiences ever. I grew
to have a better understanding of God's plan for me and that His plan
for each of His children is well thought out and divine. I found
pieces of me in the temple that I knew were there, but hadn't allowed
them to surface just yet. And now I have them! I know that as I
continue to attend the temple regularly, I will be able to discover
even more of those missing pieces and apply them into my life for the
better. God really knows me. I'm so grateful He does.

It was Tuesday morning at about 8:45 am that I left Utah and came home to Washington. Saying goodbye a second time was strange... It was difficult, but I also knew that this time it would feel shorter
because 7 months were already done. And I was just so excited to get
back to doing The Lord's work in the area I was called to serve in!
The fun part about my flight was that I got to fly out with all the
new missionaries from the MTC! There were 2 Sisters and a bunch of
Elders heading to the WVM that day, and it was super fun answering all
their questions and telling them about how wonderful our mission is.
It was fun. When we got to the mission, President and Sister Taylor
were there to greet us, along with the 4 AP's. We piled our luggage
into a U-Haul, then all the newbies rode in a van and I rode with
President and Sister Taylor in their car. We got to the mission
office, and they had the whole "new missionary meeting" that I got to
stay for until our ride came to pick us up and take us to our area. Us
being me and my new companion Sister Lammi! She is amazing. We are best friends already! We didn't take many pictures this week... So
here is a screenshot from a video we made.

She is truly wonderful. She is from Roseville, California and had been
going to BYUI before the mish. I adore her. :) So we waited at the
mission office and participated in the new missionary meeting until
our ride got there. Our ride was the Haskett's! The wonderful couple
we are living with. They took us to our new home in the Vancouver
Central Stake in the Evergreen ward. Get this. Right across the street
from us is the Van East Stake and Lacamas Creek ward!!!! I am RIGHT
next to my first area! It is so fun to be so close. I have already had
the chance to see a few of my amazing friends from Lacamas Creek since being here and that has been awesome! Woot woot! The members we live with (the Haskett's) are absolute gems, and they are so hospitable. We have a bedroom, bathroom, and living room all to ourselves upstairs, and we share their kitchen. I love them so much! Here's the extra crazy thing about the new area I'm in: we are white washed! That means that both Sister Lammi and I are new to this area, neither one of us has been here before. So we are starting out new and completely ignorant as to what is going on in this ward. Oh, and we don't have bikes or a car so we are walking. :) No worries though, the members here are AMAZING!!! They have informed us as to what work was going on before they lost the Sisters (it was Sister Kearl who was here last and she went to Columbia River with me the week before I went home), and they all offer us rides everywhere. They're great. This ward is DEFINITELY missionary minded, and super excited to have Sisters again. We share the ward with Elders so they take the far away parts of the ward since they have bikes, and we cover the part of the ward closest to us. I love it here!

Thursday was Sister Lammi's 9 month mark, better known as her HUMP DAAAY! So naturally, we had to celebrate! It was about 8 o'clock at night and we were going to get Burgerville milkshakes, which I remember being not too far away from where we were at. So we began our journey. As we trekked toward Burgerville, the sun got lower and lower and eventually it was dark. I was certain is was only a few blocks further. We walked past this giant open field in the dark which is right next to a highway, and as we walked and Lammi talked, I noticed a bunch of eyes staring at us from the field behind Sister Lammi... Then I remembered that there are coyotes all over up here. I freaked out a little bit but I didn't tell Sister Lammi until we had passed the field safely. It was a close one! Never fear, we called and got a ride back from Burgerville rather than walking past the field to return home. It was quite the adventure!

The next day was lovely, and we had dinner with the Nuffer's
(noo-fer). We had quite the experience at their house! We ate a
delicious dinner consisting of my favorite vegetables (brussel
sprouts, asparagus, red bell peppers, zucchini, and more) and chicken,
then we fed fish up close and personal, and ate flowers from their
yard. It was great! Again, didn't take many pictures, but here are
some screenshots.

On Saturday, we had a Zone Breakfast and let me tell ya, our zone is
HUGE! I went from the smallest zone in the mission consisting of 12
missionaries, to the biggest zone in the mission! We have 3 districts
rather than just two. It's crazy. It was fun to get to know the
missionaries in the zone. Sister Maughan is part of it! And Elder
Archibald, who was district leader in the MTC while I was there is now
my district leader and training a new missionary. He's obviously good
at this. Anyway, it's been fun to meet new people and see old faces.
I'm to the point now that I know just about every missionary in the
mission, so whenever transfers happen I usually know the majority of
the people in my zone right off the bat. It's super fun to be that
way!

That night, Sister Nuffer so generously took us to St. Helens, Sister
Lammi's previous area, so that we could attend two of her baptisms! It
was wonderful. And guess who I saw there???

My beautiful trainer, Sister Major! Oh how I love her. While we were
there, we took a picture with President Thomas (a member of the
Mission Presidency) in his jumpsuit because he was going to baptize
one of the baptizee's and we thought he looked adorable. :)

After the baptisms, Sister Nuffer showed us this super cool place on
our way home that I haven't the slightest idea what the name of it
was. Some park under a bridge. It was cool though!

We concluded out week with a wonderful time at church yesterday. The
ward truly is amazing, and I am so excited for this week! Last week was extremely slow because we didn't know anything, and all the information was outdated, so not much teaching happened. But this week will be great because we now have a relationship with the ward members, updated info on people we are teaching, and a reestablished excitement for the work in this area.

My intermission is now over, the brilliant second act to my 18 month
adventure has begun, and though I enjoyed my 3 weeks at home with my family, it so so nice to be back. I anxiously await the finale to this
grand adventure, and the many wonderful things that will happen
between now and then. What a blessing it is to be serving. I wouldn't
have it any other way. I love you all and I hope you are continuing to
come unto Christ. Never stop. He loves you, and He wants you to be
close to Him so that He might be closer to you. Have a great week, and
I will talk to you again soon!

With Love,

Sister Guilott

"Sister Missionary Ninja Turtle"

"Sister Lammi Ninja Turtle"