'Tis the Season to be a Missionary

Missionary life is wonderful. Probably the best thing ever, actually. And getting together with a bunch of other missionaries is the best feeling in the world! On Tuesday, we had the annual Mission Christmas Conference, and it was amazing! We started the day by going to the temple. It was cool because our ENTIRE session was filled with only missionaries. There were, I think, 3 zones that were in my session, and the spirit was SOOOO strong! Stronger than I've ever felt. I mean, I've felt it spiritually super strong before, but this time I could feel an actual physical pressure in my chest. It was the coolest thing ever! I don't think I've ever been able to feel the spirit so physically like that, and it was amazing how tangible it was this time... And it didn't go away for the whole session! When we were in the Celestial room and all the missionaries were in there praying and taking time to be close to God, the pressure in my chest increased, and I had some incredibly powerful answers to my prayers. My Heavenly Father loves me, and I am so grateful I got to feel more of His presence this week.

"Sister Burraston's companion rode in a different car,
so she joined our companionship for a temple picture. :) "

After the temple, we all met up at the Vancouver Stake Center for the rest of the conference. We had a program of sorts, were we sang songs and recited some little memorized scripts to invite the spirit and help us remember the true meaning of Christmas: that HE IS THE GIFT!!!! It was lovely. :) We ate dinner together and mingled for quite a while too, and I got to see ALL of my past companions (except for Sister Kearl because she is home now)!!! The only ones I didn't take pictures with were Sister Maughan (my MTC companion) and Sister Borchardt. But here's all the rest of them!

Sister Major

Sister Rasmussen

Sister Duff

Sister Cone

Sister Lammi

Aren't they cute??? I love each of those Sisters so so much! It's weird how fast time flies... Spending time with each of those Sisters on Tuesday reminded me of the feelings I had when I was serving with them in my previous areas. It was a good feeling! But such different feelings for each one of them. I'm so grateful for the time I had with those wonderful Sisters. I have definitely learned much from each of them. :)

There are two really great experiences I wanted to share with you from this week. On Wednesday, we had tried to contact a referral that we had received of a man who was living in the VA named Brother Long. We knew nothing about him, but we gathered that if he lives in the VA he is most likely old and frail. When we found his room, he wasn't there, so we left a note with our number on it and went on our merry way. Later that night, we were checking our phone and we had a voicemail from him! It was the cutest message in the world. It started with a nurse saying, "Now you can leave your message," and then the sweetest old man voice ever saying something like, "This is Brother Long. I am here at the... the..." then the nurse, "The VA," and Brother Long, "The VA." etc. etc. He told us to come visit him whenever we had time. It was seriously adorable. So the next day we went back to the VA to try again. When we walked into the room, he was sleeping so we sat there trying to decide if we wake him up or just come back another day, and he must have heard us because he opened his eyes and lifted his head with the BIGGEST and gummiest smile I have ever seen as he exclaimed, "The Missionaries!!!!" He was so so sweet! He asked us to stay and talk with him a while because he doesn't ever have visitors, so of course we made ourselves comfy and stayed for at least a good hour. We hardly talked because he had so much to say, and we could only understand about every 20th word, but we smiled and nodded and it just made him SO happy! It was the best experience!

On Friday, we had another miracle lesson with Annalee. We were planning on teaching her the rest of the Plan of Salvation and then going on into the Gospel of Christ, starting with the 3 kingdoms of glory. RIGHT before we started teaching, she said this: "I have a question for you guys before we start. Do you believe that there are multiple places in Heaven for us to live according to our individual comfort? I mean, we are all so different!" Our jaws dropped. We taught her about the 3 kingdoms and then asked her how she came to know this already and she said, "The Spirit taught me a long time ago." It was amazing! She has been so prepared for us to teach her the fullness of Christ's gospel! But wait, there's more! As we were teaching her the Gospel of Christ, she asked us if we could always walk in the spirit. We didn't really understand her question because there was more to it and we weren't sure which direction to take it, but as we continued to teach the lesson, we came to the gift of the Holy Ghost she stopped us. She said, "So people DO walk around with the that spirit today?" And we were like, yes! She told us that is something she only felt once in her life and she has longed to feel it again, but she wasn't sure if it was possible until Christ came back to the earth. It was amazing! We told her that she could have that constant companionship of the Holy Ghost after baptism by the proper authority, and we invited her to pray about it. Hopefully, we will be able to set a date when we see her this week. It was so cool! God is preparing His children all over the world, and it is our responsibility to find them and bring them this knowledge! Annalee has known all along that this is truth, but she didn't realize that it was actual doctrine that Christ taught when He was on the earth. Most of the people who are ready for the Gospel simply don't know where to find it!

"For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it—" 

- Doctrine and Covenants 123:12

Being able to spend so much time with all the other missionaries in the mission, and then having these experiences, I know that there are people everywhere who are waiting for the light and happiness that this Gospel brings them. I challenge each of you to get out there and find ONE person this Christmas season who needs to know the fullness of this Gospel. Find a way to share the gift of Christ. He is what the Holidays are all about! I love you! Talk to you next week!

Love Always,

Sister Nicole Guilott

P.S. More Pictures!

"Our whole zone plus the Stake Presidency at a zone breakfast.  There are a lot of us!"

Elder and Sister McCurdy are some of the office missionaries that finished their mission the day after the Christmas Conference... They are sorely missed, but I am so grateful for their friendship and the amazing spirit they share.

The BEST food of the Holidays! Pecan Tartlets!

One and Only

Thanksgiving was absolutely perfect. This is the only Thanksgiving that I will have on my entire mission, and it was very well spent. The whole week was pretty much Thanksgiving actually, because we had so many turkey dinners and so much to do! I felt so much love and gratitude for my Savior and my Heavenly Father and for all the blessing and privileges I have. Simply being here on a mission has been a huge privilege in and of itself, along with the chance I have to meet all these wonderful people here in Washington and having a forever family waiting for me back home. I am just so so grateful!!!

"That's right, I actually CONTRIBUTED to Thanksgiving!"

All the good stuff started in Wednesday. We volunteered to help put together a Thanksgiving dinner for the people who live at the Central Park Place where we teach our Bible Study class. So we showed up at 11, cooked for 3 hours, then stayed there and served 50+ plus people until about 3:30 or 4. I don't know how to describe the immense feelings of happiness, joy, and true thanksgiving I felt that day. Spending one of my favorite holidays simply serving people is the best thing I have ever done! For a lot of those people, their only Thanksgiving was the one we provided. Most of them don't have family or friends near by, at least not sober ones that they can trust and stay clean around, so it felt super cool to be providing the central part of a main holiday for these people. They were so sweet and grateful and they wanted to know everything about us! It was very very sweet. 

"The lingering residents eating the food we prepared for them."

"I cut the ham all by myself!"

"Sister B with her Pink Fluff.  It was more like Pink Goop the first time though . . ."

Those are all pictures from the event at Central Park Place. It was perfect and wonderful and spiritual and amazing! I loved every minute of it. :) The next day was the ACTUAL Thanksgiving day. We made our yummy treats again (Pink Goop was actually Pink Fluff this time, and my yams were done the right way), which everyone enjoyed, and we ate at Erica's house. :) I just love those people! She had 4 friends over, herself and her two girls, her friend's two children, and the Sister Missionaries from the Young Single Adult Ward. It was AWESOME! We had a wonderful time in each others company, and we were stuffed by the end! 

"Bishop Swanger knew that I love pecan pie, so he made me one! And he and his wife made us mini pies too! Isn't that sweet?"

It was simply wonderful. Thanksgiving night, President had invited our zone to come over to his house for his famous pies. :) That was a blast! We mingled, ate pie, and then Sister Taylor asked me if I would be willing to perform some sort of a musical number. I was nervous, but I can't say no to the Mission President's wife! So I picked a Thanksgiving hymn, and after I played it and sang it, everyone wanted to sing Christmas hymns together! So I stayed at the piano and accompanied my zone and the office missionaries and we all sang Christmas hymns together. It was wonderful. The spirit was super strong, and we were all smiling and just having a jolly old time together. :)

"Selfies with President!"

"I told him to make a funny face. :P"

It was a perfect day! The day AFTER Thanksgiving, we taught a wonderful lesson to our sweet Annalee in the morning, then headed to the church for our 3rd feast. It was with a member family in the ward who had a bunch family in from all over the country, and they held their Thanksgiving feast at the church. So that was a cool opportunity for us to explain the church building and teach a little bit over some turkey. Needless to say, the tryptophan has yet to wear off... So much turkey!!!

All in all, my Thanksgiving week was perfect. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend the only Thanksgiving that I will have on my mission. It was all happiness and joy and service and full tummies. I am grateful for the opportunity I have to serve, and I am so excited about this next holiday coming up... Christmas!!! I love you all, and I will talk to you next week!

Love Always,

Sister Nicole Guilott

P.S.

"My favorite Rodriguez family came to visit us for lunch on the weekend!"

"We found a bat in the caves last week.  Forgot to show you."

"This little guy sat next to me at his sister's baptism last Sunday and drew me the
cutest picture of the temple.  He is so sweet!"

"This is where the great chicken massacre took place . . ."

"President has a beautiful painting of Joseph Smith in his house, and we had to take a picture with it.
The First Vision is so powerful!"

Gratitude for Grace

Unfortunately, I have close to absolutely zero time to write my email today because we went to the Ape Caves and it took a lot longer than anticipated. But that is okay! I will do my best to sum up my week Thanksgiving style. :) 

I am first and foremost grateful for the temple. The feeling of peace that I have each time I attend is perfect and serene, but this time was exceptional. We went through the temple with Brother Wilson, the recently returned member of the church, for his first time, and I felt so much love it was pouring out of my eyes in the form of water! The love God has for His children is unimaginable, yet there are times when we are able to get a teensy tiny taste of how He feels for us, and this temple trip was one of those times. I know Brother Wilson is so so loved by his Heavenly Father, and I know that I am as well. I am so grateful for the temple and the overpowering feelings of love I am able to feel for others as well as what God feels for me. 

"He ran off before we could take a picture with him."

I am grateful for Bible Study and for the miracles it has brought us in our teachings. We were able to teach two of the attendees outside of our Bible Study class, and miracles happened. One woman testified of the truthfulness of what we were teaching to the other woman when she doubted or questioned things. It was amazing!!! I have never had that happen before, especially on the first lesson! 

I'm grateful for the influence of other missionaries. We had a wonderful zone meeting this week that taught us both quite a bit! The testimonies of fellow missionaries are so powerful and I always learn something knew when I hear them testify. 

I'm grateful for Sister Borchardt. We did NOT get our transfer letters, which means we are both staying here until January. :) I am very happy about that, and ultra grateful! 

I am grateful for investigators with motivation. We brought up baptism to Erica again, and suggested December, but her response was, "I have been thinking a lot about this, and I feel really good about January 24th." So that is that! She felt inspired, and I am grateful to see God touching the hearts of the people we teach. 

I'm grateful for chickens. :P We rescued one this week! I'm very glad we were able to save one of the 7 from a terrible death. 

I am grateful for family. I miss you all very much, particularly this holiday season. I am grateful to know that because we were sealed in the temple, we will be family for eternity. :) I love you. 

Sorry this is short, but I gotta get out there and get working! Everyone remember to be grateful and gives thanks to God for the blessing He gives you. I know I will be doing my best to focus on those things this week, especially Thursday as I feast! ;) Talk to you next week!

Love Always,

Sister Guilott

P.s.

The full chicken story:

The past couple of days, Brother Roniger has been finding feathers and chicken carcasses either in the coop or out in the garden, and several chickens have gone missing. He started out with 7, and by last night he only had 2 left... He kept asking us if we had heard the chickens screaming ever, but we are hardly ever home, so our answer was no. However, Saturday morning, I woke up because chickens were screaming in my dream and I realized it wasn't a dream! I woke up at about 5:30 and said, "Sister! The chickens!" We sat there listening to the last of the screams and it went quiet... We thought for sure they were both gone and it was too late... But alas, 10 minutes later there were more screams and we knew whoever the murderer was, they were back to finish the last of the chickens! So we grabbed our flashlight and went out to the backyard. Sister Borchardt was scared, so I took the flashlight and stood on the pool deck, pointing the flashlight into the coop and yelling, "Hey! Get out of there! Leave them alone!" When I shined the light and yelled at the murderer, 3 sets of yellow eyes looked right at my light and glowed in the dark. I yelled again, and they ran away from the last chicken, out of the coop, and into the trees. They were 3 HUGE raccoons! Evil little things with their beady bloodthirsty eyes! They left, and by that time, Sister Borchardt had gotten Brother Roniger, who came out with a brighter light and checked the coop. They were gone by then, but he couldn't find the other chicken... So he took the remaining chicken and put her in the greenhouse until he could get up and fix the coop. Later in the morning he found the remains of the other chicken. Those raccoons were very thorough! All that was left was the legs and backbone and some feathers. Poor chickens... Anyway, that was my heroic story for the week. :P The chicken will be finding a new home so Brother Roniger can make the coop more coon-proof and buy new chicks in the Spring. 

Also, here are some Ape Cave pictures from today:

I am in Awe

I feel like my introduction to all of these emails is always the same. "This week was amazing!" But that is because it's true! So many wonderful things keep happening, and I am simply awe-struck at how merciful the Lord is when it comes to His missionaries and His work. We aren't always the best at doing His work with all our heart, might, mind and strength, but He knows what our best is, and He rewards us for doing our best. This week was a definite testimony to that! 

First of all, IT SNOWED!!!! 

I am so so happy that it snowed! It was only a couple flakes, but it was enough to get all us Utah missionaries excited, and also enough to make Vancouver FREAK OUT. They made sure school started 2 hours late so that they could safely drive or walk to school. It was funny. I found this cartoon on Facebook about it, and it's perfect. :)

I laughed pretty hard at that one. But really! The snow made me so so happy. Every morning now when we get in our car, I have to scrape the ice off the windows. It hasn't snow snowed really, but we definitely get visited by Jack Frost every night while we are sleeping. 

The week started wonderfully, because we played indoor soccer as a zone! It was the first time I had played indoor soccer since I was 15 or 16, and it felt OH so good! It made me miss my favorite sports: Soccer, Swim, and Softball. I will definitely be playing more of those sports when I get back. Sister Borchardt and I both played really hard on Monday, and though it felt good in the moment, we suffered for the rest of the week... I had blisters all over my feet, and we were SO sore!!! 

"Clearly, the other missionaries were tired after a while too!"

"We were very tired by the end of it all."

So yeah, sports are still wonderful, and they still tucker me out. :) On Tuesday or Wednesday, a family took us to a Greek restaurant in downtown Vancouver called "A Touch of Athens." They bought us each a lamb shank! It was yummy. Sister Borchardt and I kept quoting My Big Fat Greek Wedding the whole time. The music was Greek, the food was Greek, the waiter was Greek, and it was all just beautiful. Then on Wednesday we were able to meet up with an investigator of mine from Lacamas Creek for lunch! She is so sweet. :)

Now for the good stuff. Saturday was AMAZING. It started at 9 in the morning with what we all called the "Snow Conference." It wasn't really a zone conference because half the mission was there, but it wasn't a mission conference because only half the mission was there. :P So we called it the Snow Conference because Elder Steven E. Snow from the 1st Quorum of the 70 came and spoke to us. It was marvelous! Before the conference really got going, he wanted to meet each of us individually, so he had us all go up to him and shake his hand and introduce ourselves. It was cool. The conference was mostly about teaching us how to be better public speakers... He had each of us write a five minute talk on faith this week, and then he called up 4 missionaries randomly and had them give their talk on faith. After each one spoke, we critiqued them. It was a very unique conference to say the least, but we all learned a lot! 

After lunch, the second half of the conference we heard from his wife a little bit, and then more from him. We talked about the Holy Ghost and the role that He plays in our missionary work. We also talked a lot about our personal testimonies. He said that NOW is the time to learn about the Holy Ghost and gain a testimony of him. So that is what I have been studying during my personal study since Saturday: learning more about the Holy Ghost. There was one other profound thing he said that I thought I'd share, he was talking about Jesus Christ and the work He performed in this earth, including the Atonement. He said, "Christ's ministry could be performed by any good prophet, but only He could accomplish His mission." Each of us took those words personally as we realized that anyone who has the desire can go on a mission and serve God, but only I can accomplish MY mission. My burden is not nearly as heavy as Christ's was, and to even make such a comparison would be blasphemous. But I was called to the Washington Vancouver Mission and put in these areas with these companions at this EXACT moment in time because only I can accomplish MY mission. 

All in all, the conference was wonderful. I learned a lot about missionary work and what is expected and required, and I also learned a lot about myself as a missionary. After the conference, which ended at two, we headed to central Vancouver, the Evergreen Ward for the baptism of Alexis Wilt!!! Oh my goodness, it was phenomenal. So many people showed up, people had to stand because there wasn't enough room for everybody. Bishop Sears baptized her, and it was just precious. The spirit was so so strong in that room! And it was great to see everybody from Evergreen!

"We wrapped a little something for her birthday and baptism gift."

Baptisms are definitely the best part of a mission, especially when you get to be the missionary who teaches them from the very beginning, and then gets to see them baptized. I can't even imagine what it will be like to see these wonderful people who have been baptized make it to the temple. That will be amazing... I can't even think of words enough to describe how that will feel! I am so happy for Alexis. She is definitely ready to make and keep covenants with God. 

After her baptism, we drove down to Gresham, Oregon to the baptism of Terri, an investigator of Sister Borchardt's. We ate dinner with Erica, Guddi and Riya in Gresham, and then went to the baptism with them. I think they really liked it! It was so cool that they wanted to drive all the way to Gresham to see a baptism. :) I love them. Erica told me and Sister Borchardt that she wants the two of us to speak at her baptism. :):):) That made us both very very happy. I am so happy to see the progression of the people we are teaching, not just Erica. A recent convert just received the Aaronic Priesthood on Tuesday night, and this week we get to go to the Temple with Gary who just got the Melchezeoik Priesthood last Sunday. So many wonderful things are happening! And to top it off, we sang "If the Savior Stood Beside Me" together in church on Sunday. Erica and Riya came, and there were 7 less active members there that day! So I think it was a great day to sing in church. I am still so so happy, and I can't wait to tell you all about this upcoming week! I love you!

Love Always, 

Sister Nicole Guilott

P.S. 

This is for you Mommy: An attendee of our Bible Study class talked about Delilah this week. She said, "she's this radio woman who has a night show from like 7 to midnight, and she just has this really soothing, calm and peaceful voice." I died.