Continuing the Work: Hump DAAAY!!!‏

Holy smokes, I have 9 months left. Where did the time go? I hit my Hump Day on the 22nd, which was a Wednesday (a real hump day!), and I am thoroughly confused. But I'm excited at the same time! It rained like crazy that day, and apparently it was record rain! Which is saying a lot because this is Vancouver. Haha! Check out my Hump Day attire!

Thank you Clark and Mindy for sending me this wonderful shirt!

I am super sorry if this email is scattered and short, but we recorded another song for a new parody we hope to post in the next couple weeks, so all my time was spent editing. Sorry! I'll do my best! So my Hump Day was super fun! Our investigator family of 3, Erica and her daughters Guddi and Riya made me a hump day cake! We had several very spiritual lessons with them this week, and they are definitely coming closer and closer to Christ. They learn and comprehend so quickly! It's wonderful!

Riya and me with my cake!

Guddi got excited during the "Happy Hump Day" Song. Haha!

Me and the compy!

Needless to say, I can already tell that the time is going faster... And it's only been a few days! It's strange because, like Sister Borchardt told me, the time goes fast because 2 transfers from now will be my year mark, and 2 transfers after that will mean I only have 2 transfers left! So everything is counted in twos lately. Very strange to think about...

This was a wonderful "half way there" week. On Tuesday night, we taught a Bible Study at this "rehab after rehab" place. We have 6 consistent residents who attend, and every once in a while, someone new will show up and listen to what we have to say. We taught Mark chapter 1 this week, and the class loved it! Everyone got so involved and excited talking about Marks bluntness when it came to the Doctrine of Christ. He gets straight to the point and doesn't mess around! Baptism is crucial for salvation! It was fun. :)

On Wednesday, we had a really great zone meeting where President Andersen, one of the counselors from the Mission Presidency, attended and spoke to us for a good hour about missionary work. He is a very wise man, actually, I'm comfortable saying he is the most intelligent human being I have ever met. He knows EVERYTHING. He has a photographic memory too, so that's unfair. But anyway, he said things in the meeting that day that just made me want to run out of that building and teach with passion to everyone I saw! I'll share only one of the many quotes:

"In your moments of decision, your destiny is shaped!"

Wise words, President Andersen. Wise, wise words. He also told us that one of the number one ways to get into houses is by asking people if we can use their restroom, or if they wouldn't mind giving us a drink of water, or even food! We laughed very hard at that one. Those are things missionaries ALWAYS need, but when people offer, we usually get shy and say no thanks. Instead of asking people for food this week, we brought it to them! We made Halloween cookies for a bunch of members of the Ward and investigator families! Yes, I made them!!!

It was great fun! :) Oh my goodness, Emily! Did you know there was a tornado up here for the first time EVER?? Tornado in the Longview area... I wished I was there so I could tell you I experienced your worst nightmare. ;) Love you M&M!

Sorry, I got sidetracked. We had several amazing follow the promptings of the spirit moments. I'll just share one for the sake of time. On Saturday, we were parked on a street downtown (downtown is super sketch, ALWAYS) trying to figure out which of our plans would be best for that moment, and this strange guy walked up across the street from us. He was seemingly normal, but both Sister Borchardt and I suddenly had a terrible terrible feeling in the pit of our stomachs. It was... Disgust and fear. It was super windy that day (we had passed multiple big thick oak trees that had fallen over and crushed a few houses), and as soon as we got the feeling, a huge tree fell over behind the man onto the road, which we took as another sign for us to get out of there and back onto a main road. So we high tailed it out of there. Not an hour later, the sun was down, and we were driving to an appointment downtown. We passed that same icky feeling street and there was caution tape, cops cars, and cops EVERYWHERE. When we got to our appointment, the woman said cops had come by and asked people to stay in their houses because there was a murder and they didn't want everyone involved. ...WHAT??? You guys, God loves us. He gave us an icky feeling followed immediately by a tree falling over. He couldn't have been more clear that we needed to NOT be there. It was crazy!

Okay Mom, now that I've scared you, I'll tell about another Spiritual experience. :) Sunday night, we went over to a newer investigator's house with the Zone Leaders to give her a blessing. She is just recently deciding that maybe she believes in God, and only since she had a miscarriage in August... But she has been struggling a lot. She's a tough cookie, so you can't really tell she is having a hard time, but that night it was clear. It was clear because of the reaction she had to our Zone Leader, Elder Tauteoli, and the testimony he bore. He was so intense, but so real. He KNOWS that this work is the most important thing in the world, and he KNOWS that God expects us to follow Him so that we can live with Him again and be eternally happy. I can't describe it to you in words, but it was truly amazing. Definitely one of the most powerful and spiritual lessons I have experienced on my mission. I was speechless. All I could do was near testimony to what he was saying. I wish I could describe it better! She was crying and the spirit was so present in the room, I could almost reach out and touch it. I love those moments.

I'm really sorry, but I gotta go! This week was amazing! I am so grateful for the experiences I have had on my mission thus far, and I am thrilled to find out what God has in store for me in the next 9 months to come! Halloween is this weekend! Yay! I'll be sure to send better Halloween pictures next time, but for now, this is what you get! Haha, I love you! Keep praying!

Love,

Sister Nicole Guilott