Seeing the Light

Pretty sure this picture describes the title of this post quite accurately. It's interesting how bright any small amount of light can be if we have been stagnant in darkness. I'm not saying that I have been in the dark, but this week I had a very spiritual experience that flashed a little millisecond of a much brighter light directly into my eyes. It was quick, but it was very distinguishable, and it was enough. But before I tell you what it was, I have a couple of other things I want to share. :)

First of all, and probably most important, Erica is getting baptized this upcoming Saturday! Yay!!! She had her interview this weekend, and she is so excited. So are we, of course! I don't think I have ever met anyone who is more dedicated and genuine about their progression in the gospel so quickly than Erica. Lots of people progress, and eventually they are excited about it and looking forward to it, but Erica just had exact obedience and dedication right from the get-go! It's brilliant, and she sets such an example for me. I need to move forward with just as much excitement for the gospel as she has! Oh, how I love her. 

Something cool that happened this week started as we were visiting some of the auxiliaries of the Ward. We met with the primary president and taught her family briefly, and as we left we asked for referrals. She didn't know anyone, but she said her kids had a friend named Ezra who's family might be okay chatting. She told us she wasn't sure exactly which house was theirs though because the kids only ever see each other on the school bus. So we prayed with them and went on our way. We drove up the street a ways, and eventually pulled over so we could get out and walk back to help a middle aged couple pick up tree branches they had just sawed off of a tree in their front yard. They were SUPER hippie, and definitely not interested, but we taught them a little about the Restoration of the Gospel anyway. As we were walking back to our car, another car pulled in to the driveway we were parked by. I had the very loud and distinct prompting to TURN AROUND AND GO TALK TO THEM, so I did. As I turned around, Sister De Leon had turned and starting walking toward them already too (I'm grateful we are both in tune to the spirit and listening). The man's name was Marc, and he was SUPER nice. Turns out he used to be a pastor or something of the RLDS church, and he loves the Book of Mormon. :) We talked to him for a bit, then some neighbors came over and talked to us too (one was a musical theatre obsessed hippie, and the other used to be a manager for a bunch of famous 80's bands that I can't remember he names of), and eventually Marc's son got off the bus and was introduced to us as Ezra. Isn't that awesome?? The referral we had just received moments before was who we had bumped into. Also, Marc's wife happens to be an exercise nut who is islander (as is Sister De Leon). It's just too perfect. God doesn't do random. 

Okay, so back to seeing the light. We had a Zone Meeting this week that was just... Indescribable. I am learning that every time we have a meeting with other missionaries, I walk away feeling incredibly uplifted spiritually, and I get so much out of it every time, so really this is nothing new. However, the glimpse of happiness that I got this time was unlike anything I have ever experienced before. Towards the end of the meeting, I started to wander off in my own thoughts of the Savior, of missionary work, of a self-evaluation of how I am doing personally in the Lord's vineyard, etc. etc. when the most amazing thing happened. I was so touched by the spirit, that I saw for just a millisecond how hard I fought and how dedicated I was to the work of Salvation in the pre-mortal life. It was as if God was saying, "Okay Sister Guilott, you fought HARD and with no reservations in your pre-earth life for Christ's Gospel and for truth and righteousness, and if you want it bad enough, you can go forward with that same valiance while here on earth as a missionary. This is your potential, no go and achieve it." It was clear as day. I remembered for just a split second how much I wanted the truth to be brought to everyone, and I felt that same excitement and motivation to help it go forth that I felt in the pre-existence. God has showed me my potential, and now I am going to do everything I can to reach it. I am so pumped! And I am so grateful for everything God has given me in preparing me to do His work. Do everything you can to help Christ's Gospel to go forth! Everything you can! It will bring you more happiness than you can even comprehend. I love you! I'll talk to you next week!

Love Always,

Sister Nicole Guilott

P.S. More pictures. :)

"This is how they do the ring of fire here in Vancouver, Daddy.  I like your contraption better."

"Beautiful Vancouver Sunsets"

"No spanking zone!  Hehe..."

"The band manager guy gave us some healthy food, but we were afraid of it . . . haha!"

"Cutest little dog EVER!  His name was Gary!"

"Love them.  So much."

"Enjoying that tracking life!"

Full Steam Ahead!

Holy Cow. My mission is AMAZING!!! I just love seeing how inspired President Taylor is. Every single time we have transfers, I'm all upset at first, but within the first week of transfers I'm always like, "This ROCKS!!!" So yeah. I'm loving life right now because although I miss Sister Borchardt and the friendship we have, I am so excited about all the new aspects my new companion, Sister De Leon, has brought to the area. We are SO similar, so we work off of each other incredibly well. All of our lessons feel like conversations. We are not telling people, we are testifying. And we aren't teaching, we are facilitating learning. We ask questions that the people we teach are comfortable answering or struggling with until we help them find the answer, and since we are both confident teachers, we can divide and conquer. We are working right now on having daily splits with members of the Ward so we can double the amount of people we are able to see in a week. It's gonna be AWESOME! I am just so excited about this transfer.  

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time to email today because we are going to have an indoor soccer tournament and then a football game at the indoor place against another zone, so we gotta get this done quick! But we did have quite a few miracles this week. I wish I had time for details, but one of my favorite miracles that happened was when a man named Brandon told us out of nowhere that he wants to be baptized! His girlfriend is a member of the Ward, but she doesn't really believe anything. At least, she puts off that she doesn't believe anything, but they come to church each Sunday for the third hour, so who really knows. She is full of all sorts of swear words and vulgarity every time we go over there, but she has two children! One of which is Brandon's. Anyway, we went over there and she was laughing saying Brandon wanted to become a Mormon, and we kind of giggled, knowing she was joking, but then Brandon spoke up and said quietly, "It's not a joke. I want to be a Mormon." Isn't that incredible?? We can't put him on date yet because they aren't married and they don't know if or when they are going to, but we are teaching him now! It's pretty much the sweetest thing ever. We had a very numerous amount of miracles this week, like teaching people in parking lots, helping prevent an investigator from committing suicide by reading the Book of Mormon with her, and helping an inactive member with her groceries and transportation, but I just don't have time to explain them all! Know that they were all wonderful and amazing, and things are just GREAT as of late (Haha I'm a poet and didn't even know it)! And they're just gonna keep getting better! 

I'm really sorry, but due to the incredulous amount of work we did, I only took one picture this week... Don't hate! I'll do better next week I promise! But this is my dear companion with me and our sweetest Riya. 

I simply cannot express to you how excited I am about the work that is happening in this area. Great things are happening, and more and more are on the brink of breaking through and being awesome! I am so grateful Heavenly Father told me to go on a mission and that He sent me here to Vancouver. I have never been happier, and I know that is because I am doing the work of salvation. The most important work in the history of ever. And I am so excited about it!!! I love you so much, and I hope you are able to feel of the excitement God has for His work, and for the urgency in which He needs it to get done. Have a wonderful week, and I will talk to you again in no time! 

Love Always,

Sister Nicole Guilott 

2015: Striving to be Better

Lots of feelings this week. So many happy things happened, like opportunities to become anew with the motivation of a New Year, interviews with President Taylor, my favorite milkshake coming back to Burgerville (Chocolate Hazelnut. It's seriously to die for, but unfortunately doesn't help my New Years Resolutions), miraculous lessons with investigators and wonderful inspiration coming during testimony meeting at church. At the same time, some not so happy things have come too... We had a horrendous meal that was quite possibly the worst meal of my mission, and.... We got transfer letters. :( Nooooooooo!!!!! President had told us on my birthday that we were going to be staying together for Sister Borchardt's last transfer, and we were super excited! He then told us this week at interviews that he knows he needs to learn to hold his tongue because every time he tells us that transfers are going to go a certain way, God tells him later that it is not so. Haha. So he told us that Sister Borchardt is going to the Fisher's Landing Ward (with Sister Lammi) in the Vancouver East Stake, and I am receiving Sister De Leon (who is Sister Lammi's current companion). This transfer is going to be the biggest transfer in mission history because only 12 companionships out of 200 missionaries are staying together. The rest of us are being separated. I'm grateful I'm getting Sister De Leon because I already know I'll like her, but I am sad to be losing my dearest Sister Borchardt. I'm never happy about transfers though. I have loved every companion I've ever served with, so I am always kinda sad when transfer letters come. But I trust President because I know he only ever does things if God tells him to. So ultimately, it's God who decided things about this transfer. And I DEFINITELY trust Him. 

"I promise this milk shake is the best thing in the world.  So good!"

"I'm gonna miss this girl."

We had an AMAZING lesson this week with Analee. Surprised? Me neither. We had told her last time that we were going to read the Book of Mormon with her this time so she could ask questions and progress in her reading, so that's what we did. We went in there and started reading Alma 32, which is about faith. As we began reading, Cynthia came in with her Book of Mormon and said she would like to read with us too. Half an hour later, Kathy saw us and came in too! I opened a Book of Mormon to the page we were at, and she joined us too! It was wonderful! And it was EXACTLY the chapter that they needed that day. Each of us ended up crying and relating to the chapter in a different and personal way. It was a miracle lesson for sure. Kathy kept her Book of Mormon, and they are all excited to read more and learn more. I couldn't believe it. But at the same time, I could because miracles always happen when we teach there. :) 

That lesson was stellar, and then that night, we ate a rancid dinner... When we got  there, I saw vegetables on the stove and got all excited, but that wasn't what was served first... The mom brought over this HUGE pot and said, "I hope you like mushrooms!"  I love mushrooms, so I was actually rather excited. ...Until she served me  She used a ladle and scooped out three big scoops of this brown watery broth with white and brown things swimming around in it, then proceeded to pick 4 giant mushrooms out of the bottom of the pot and put them into my bowl.  The color and smell was wrong... And they were each the size of my fist.  I was terrified.  I couldn't cut them apart with my spoon no matter how much I sawed at it, so I finally just lifted a whole one to my mouth, said a prayer, and went for it.   It was the most disgusting thing I have every eaten.  It was rubbery, definitely not chewable, and each time I chewed, some juicy and swimming things would squirt out of it and into my mouth.  It was awful.  I looked at Sister Borchardt, and she was having just as difficult of a time getting them down as I was.  It was terribly awkward too, because no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't keep the hint of disgust off our faces.  We survived though!  They fed us some super yummy stir fry afterwards, and that made it all better. :) Hurray for that!

Enough stories. I want to share with you what I have learned this week. With the New Year, I am determined to achieve my Resolutions! So I made some pretty simple ones that I know I can accomplish. :) Everything about New Years implies that we are each going to do our best to become a "new person," and we are all given the chance to have a "new start" or a "clean slate." I am particularly excited about that, because that means I can do my absolute best to focus everything I have on the work. All of my resolutions are directed at missionary work and how I can personally improve and become a better missionary, and I know I can do it because it is the Lord's work, and they are righteous desires, so I know He will help me. Along with the New Year, our Bishop talked about his theme for the year yesterday in sacrament meeting when he bore his testimony. He said his theme for 2015 is the word "striving." We can't guarantee how this are going to go and how we are going to change, but we can always be striving to do better. We can strive to be kinder, strive to be more positive, strive to study the scriptures and pray more, etc. etc. God asks our best, and if we are striving to come closer to Him in all that we do, we are doing it right and He is proud of us. The only kind of failure is giving up. Not achieving our goals at exactly the level we set them is no big deal, as long as they remain our goals and we are continually striving to do better. As long as we are striving to come closer to our Savior, who is calling to us with open arms. 

Something else cool that goes along with all this is baptism. Yesterday, January 4th, was my 12 year baptism anniversary. 12 years ago, I was baptized and confirm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My sins were washed away and I was given a clean slate and a new start, along with one of the greatest gifts of all: the companionship of the Holy Ghost. I was given the third member of the Godhead to be with me always so that I could have help keeping my new slate clean. The spirit comforts me and keeps my focus on what is right. I am so grateful for the miracle of baptism and confirmation, and for the gift of the Holy Ghost. I am grateful I was given the chance to become better and start anew, and for the ability to strive for Christlike perfection. I know that is in achievable here on earth, but that is why the word "striving" is so great! My Heavenly Father is merciful, my Savior is the way, and the Holy Ghost is how I am able to communicate with them. For this New Year, I am going to strive to be closer to my Savior, and strive to share His Gospel with everyone who will listen. I love my mission, I love the Lord, and I love 2015!!! Happy New Year!

Love Always,

Sister Nicole Guilott

P.S. More fun pictures from the week. :) It was a good one. 

"Our surrogate parents and wonderful people we live with, the Roniger's."

'Twas a Jolly Holiday

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Oh boy oh boy, I love Christmas. This was my first Christmas ever away from home... That was strange. But it wasn't hard until I hung up the skype call to my family. There's no snow here, we didn't have a real tree nor any real decorations, and we didn't do half the things I normally do on Christmas, so it really didn't feel like the Holidays much at all. But as soon as I talked to my family and they were all in their Christmas pajamas sitting in my family room opening presents and what not, it suddenly felt like Christmas and I felt like I was missing out on it for the first time. So that was a little bit sad, but it's okay. I am where I need to be right now, and I am grateful I have been able to invite people to come closer to Christ during the season that celebrates His birth. :) 

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start with Christmas Eve! That day, we went around delivering Christmas presents and companionship carols to as many people as we could. The sky was super pretty and it was freezing cold and we had a great time. Singing duets was fun, and helped us to feel the Christmas spirit as well as bringing it to others through music. That was nice. I only got one picture with the pretty sky, but you can't really tell. Oh well!

That night, we ate dinner with the Steinegal's! I adore them. They had a bunch of friends over who are nonmembers, so it was fun to talk to them about the true meaning of Christmas while we were there. One of them even sewed us each some cute little ornaments while we there and gave them to us when we left! It was so sweet of her. We did a service project while we were there too! We made a candy house for a Battered Women's shelter nearby. It was super fun! 

It was wonderful. :) When we got home that night, we had our own mini celebration with Apple Cider Martinelli's and Ghirardelli chocolates. It was yummy. We also took one present each from our "stash" and opened a Christmas Eve gift. I found decorations in mine! Pretty snowflake lights that added just the right touch to my snowflake papers in our bedroom. It looked lovely. 

Christmas morning, we woke up, arranged our presents, finished our advent calendars, and opened our gifts. I got a lot of wonderful things that I needed, and a few extra things that were nice little surprises. Thank you for making my Christmas wonderful! It sure was a good one. The best part of the day though, was when I got to skype mi familia! Oh man, I am so glad we got to talk on Christmas. I miss the fam so so much! There was no better way to celebrate Christmas than talking with family. 

It was definitely a Christmas morning to remember. So was the rest of our day... And our weekend... Our dinner appointment for Christmas night had told us the night before that they all had the flu and didn't think it'd be a good idea to have us over, but then called on Christmas Day claiming a "Christmas Miracle" and saying they all magically felt better, so we ate dinner at their house. Saturday night, it hit me and I've been throwing up ever since. My companion caught it yesterday. Lovely, right? What a nice Christmas gift! Haha we are finally starting to feel better though, so we are okay. 

Besides Christmas and Christmas Eve, we had a few cool things happen. The first was on Monday night after we had spent some of our Pday at Erica's house hanging out and stuff. They were leaving for Maryland the next morning for Christmas, so we said goodbye and went to work. However, when we left, we both felt frustrated because we didn't know where to go. We were heading downtown to go visit some people, but neither of us felt good about it, so we pulled over and said a prayer. The answer we got was to go back to Erica's... But we are ALWAYS there and we just came from there, so we figured that couldn't be right. However, the longer we pondered, the more we thought of going back. So eventually we did, and it turned out to be exactly where we needed to be. We helped Erica pack and chatted and watched some uplifting videos. It was great. 

The other cool story happened on Friday, after we went to the mission office to pick up a package and drop some referral information off. We were in the office with all the office missionaries, just chatting about our Christmas and having a good old time, when Sister Borchardt and I both stopped and looked at each other, then announced that we had to go. We didn't even really say goodbye, we sort of just left, but we didn't know why. As we walked out of the mission office, we got a text from an investigator saying, "Hey girls, I'm in a really low point right now, so please pray for me. I need to get out of this hole I'm in." We told her we had just left the office and had nothing planned and could be there in 15 minutes. It was so cool that the spirit touched both of us and told us we needed to leave so we could go visit with our investigator! God is so aware of His children, and He will always send help when He knows they need it. Whether it be missionaries, neighbors, or simply an answer to your prayer found in scripture, He will always answer us. :) 

This Christmas was different for sure, but wonderful. I'm so grateful I have had the opportunity to be serving God full time, especially during the Christmas season. I am so excited for the New Year and the chance to improve my quality of missionary work. I'm definitely gonna step it up! And I know that 2015 will bring many a miracle! Time to forget myself and go to work! I love you!!! 

Love Always,

Sister Nicole Guilott

P.S. We take ugly selfies sometimes. 

A New Decade

Woah! "I'm old! Oh, I'm like the crypt keeper!" Name that movie. ;) I can't believe that I turned 20 this week. That feels so old! I still remember wanting my 16th birthday to come faster, and now I'm 4 years past that. So crazy! It was my only birthday on the mission, and it was a pretty good one! Thank you to all who sent me messages, posts, and cards. It made me feel absolutely wonderful. :) People couldn't have been kinder to me, so I'm very grateful. 

The day before my birthday, we had District meeting. It was a dang good one too! We learned about being able to recognize the spirit, and how we can help teach others how to recognize it as well. Very powerful meeting. Our district is pretty cool if I do say so myself. After the meeting, we all decided to just stay and eat lunch there at the mission office, so as we were all pulling out lunches out, my District Leader, Elder Rankin, pulled out a red velvet cake from out of nowhere and had us all go outside to light the candles and sin happy birthday to me and Sister Hutchison (her birthday was on Sunday). It was so sweet of him! I didn't think they even knew about our birthdays, so it was a pleasant surprise. 

Isn't that nice? I sure thought so. On my actual birthday, we ate dinner with the Bristow's, then went over to Erica's (and they had presents for me! It was so sweet), then came home to find a cute package from home and a present left at the house from a family at lives in Camas but used to be in my homeward in Pleasant Grove? It was the nicest surprise! 

Over all, I had an absolutely phenomenal birthday. It felt very special because of all the people who showed me love and expressed their appreciation for me. So thank you to all! :) On Thursday, we had kind of a fun experience... Haha. A lady had called me and Sister Borchardt a few months ago and asked us if we could come sing Christmas carols to her residents. She works at an assisted living home, and I guess the missionaries came and sang at their Christmas party last year, and they liked us so they wanted us to come sing again! We thought it would be a wonderful way to do some Christmas service, so we invited the whole zone to come along and carol. When we showed up originally, there was just us two and four elders.  We have a zone of 26 missionaries, so we were disappointed and worried we wouldn't be able to be heard in front of all the residents of this home. When we got inside however, there were only 4 people there at the party... It was so awkward. But we got singing anyway! Over time, all 26 of us showed up and sang to those 4 people. I can not express how terribly awkward it was for all of us. They dished up some food and were eating while chatting amongst themselves, every once in a while looking over at us and listening to our "choir." Oh man, it was hilarious. Definitely one of those stories to tell my children when they ask for mission stories. It was dang funny. 

On Saturday, we went on exchanges. I went to Salmon Creek with Sister Fitt, while Sister Borchardt stayed here with Sister Schmoekel. It was a good exchange! We had a good time learning together, and we had one lesson in particular that was notable. We were tracting, and the 8th person we talked to invited us in to discuss our beliefs. We thought it would be a new investigator for sure, but he and his wife were only interested in converting us while still learning everything they could about our religion. He said that he had studied Mormonism thoroughly and he had found many "inconsistencies" between the Bible and he Book of Mormon, but he had never read the Book of Mormon, and he reads a different version of the Bible. All in all, it was a very interesting lesson, and they want to know more so we are exchanging again on Tuesday so we can both teach them. That will probably be the only time we go back, but we sure learned a lot about other people's beliefs. It definitely made me even more grateful that we have the complete truth. Being able to know that God is our Heavenly Father and always has been, that He has a body and is separate from Christ and the Holy Ghost, and that God still speaks to us today is such a blessing! I would feel... Incomplete if I didn't believe in those things. I mean, why would God only choose to talk to His children during biblical times? He loves ALL of us, so of course He communicates with us today! I'm just very grateful to have that knowledge and to have a close relationship with Him and with Christ. :) 

Yesterday, we had the Christmas program at church. A few days ago, a member of the bishopric called and asked if I would be in charge of the music, so I said yes and he gave me the program. I guess when he said music, he meant THE WHOLE PROGRAM. I had to call and make sure someone was willing to play the piano, someone was narrating, the primary kids were singing, etc. I thought I was going to die. We didn't have the music for one of the songs, so Sister Borchardt and I sang a primary song accapella instead. That was scary. The good news is, the whole program went pretty smoothly. At the end of it, another member of the bishopric got up and shared a thought he had as the program was going on that I thought was kind of cool. Christ was born in very humble circumstances: a manger of hay in a stable where the shepherds brought their flocks to eat. Christ is often referred to as "the bread of life," so how tender that He was born in a place where people came to be spiritually filled, uplifted and edified. Christ loves His flocks, and so do we: our friends, our family, our neighbors, and anyone we talk to is considered His flock. We should be doing all we can to bring each other unto Christ, to partake of the bread of life, and be made whole. I love this Christmas season, and I am so grateful to know my Savior, Jesus Christ, personally, and I'm even more grateful for all He has done for me. I love my Savior, and I love that everyone else is remembering Him at this special time of year! I can't wait to talk to the Fam Bam on Christmas! Only 3 more days!!! Agh! I love you! Have a very Merry Christmas! 

Love Always,

Sister Nicole Guilott 

P.S. More pictures. :)

"Christmas pajamas!  Thanks Mom!"

"It's name is Nagini!"

"Comp unity. :)"

"Pecan Tartlets . . . Mmmmm . . ."

"The wild rabbit that we were afraid was going to attack us like Monte Python . . . "

I Still Serve God

Hello hello. This week was a tad bit slower, but that was for multiple reasons: I got sick, my companion and I both were in the "Holiday Away from Home Slums," and my Facebook got shut off! 

Speaking of which,  I must apologize for my name being "Nicole Guilott (Sister Guilott)" on Facebook now rather than "SisterNicole Guilott." Don't worry, I am still a missionary. Facebook deleted my account completely because it said my name was not my real name. I am the only person this has happened to so far because I have so much traffic through my page. Hundreds of messages and 800+ friend requests (that I have not responded to) because of my video. So I had to submit a picture of my ID and an appeal as to why I want my Facebook back. At first they rejected my request, so I wrote another appeal and said I would be willing to compromise and have my current title be in parenthesis next to my actual name. So they changed my name for me and said this: "Please keep in mind that you'll no longer be able to update your name from your settings, if you need to change your name in the future (ex: you get married), please fill out this form." I was pretty furious. But it is what it is. I am still a missionary and I am still serving with all my heart, might, mind and strength! Never fear. 

Despite the crazy of the week, we still saw miracles! We had a wonderful Pday last week, hanging out with the Bristow Girls in our footie pajamas! They are my favorite. The Bristow's I mean. Okay and footies. :) 

They are the best. At Bible Study this week, prayers were answered for some of the residents who attended, and it was a heartwarming miracle! Before we started reading, one of the residents expressed a concern he had and that he was praying about, and the chapter ended speaking directly about the concern he voiced!!! It strengthened everyone's testimony and made them all feel like praying and reading their scriptures more! Haha it was wonderful. 

Thursday night, the power was out. The wind gets crazy here and blows trees down and there's forest debris everywhere! And this week's wind storm caused the power to be out for a while. Our dinner appointment called us and let us know that the power had been out, so the food might be a bit cold, but that they would feed us no matter what! ...yay. Cold food. Well when we got there, the power was on! They said that just seconds before we knocked on the door, the power came on! Our dinner was still on the colder side, but we ate in the light. We found out later that five minutes after we left, the power went off again. I guess we bring the light with us or something! Unfortunately, Sister Borchardt got food poisoning. So we ended up at Erica's for the rest of the night where the power was off and we taught in the candle light. :) I thought it was lovely. Sister B did not... Haha! 

We had yet ANOTHER miracle lesson with Annalee on Friday. We keep getting so nervous before every lesson with her because we feel unworthy to teach her, but we are always so happy when we leave! This time, she told us that ever since last week she has been so excited about baptism!!!! And we didn't even invite her! She told us though that she would definitely have to pray about it, although she is pretty sure she knows what the answer is going to be. :) We are overjoyed. Her one concern was that she knows God isn't going to stop blessing her just because she isn't baptized by a certain person, and I responded with a scripture in Mosiah 18:8-10. And I explained to her that of course blessings aren't going to cease if she doesn't get baptized, but they will increase if she does. Verse 10 says, "Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?" So really it would just be allowing God to open a flood gate and pour out the spirit more abundantly upon her. She liked that answer. I am always amazed when I am able to open my mouth and the spirit fills it with words. :) It was the right answer, and it was amazing. I love Annalee! 

On Saturday, we had the ward Christmas party where we sang "Mary Let Me Hold Her Baby" from the forgotten carols in front of everyone, ate yummy food, and had more people to talk to than we knew what to do with. There were at least 12 nonmembers there, Annalee and a few others from Bible Study included, and we were just busy busy busy all night long! It was crazy! TONS of less actives and part member families were there too, so by the end of the night, we were tired. But it was so worth it! 

I had started getting sick on Wednesday, but because I knew we were singing at the ward party on Saturday, I willed myself to stay healthy enough to sing! I succeeded, but as soon as it was over, the sickiness came at full force. I woke up yesterday morning with a sore throat, plugged ears and nose, aches all over, and a hard time breathing. Sister Roniger commanded that I stay home and rest, so I had a blessing and we went on exchanges so that Sister Borchardt could be at church for our investigators who planned on coming. Guddi came! She went to church all on her own! It's a Christmas miracle. When Sister Borchardt got back from church, she informed me that I would be leading the Christmas program this upcoming Sunday because the music person is going to be out of town. Whoopdido. Nah, I'm excited. :) It'll be good! If I'm not still sick and have no voice... Haha! Despite being sick and losing my Facebook and all that good stuff, I am still a servant of the Lord! And I LOVE doing His work. :)

Well I love you all very much and I am excited about this upcoming week. According to Sister Borchardt, I am turning the age of perfection. No longer in my teens, but not quite a legal adult, so I'm technically nobody. And NOBODY'S PERFECT!!! Haha I'm excited to turn 20. It'll be strange to be away from home, and even worse if I'm still sick, but it'll be all good nonetheless because I am a missionary. And this is the only birthday I get on the mission, so of COURSE it'll be a good one! Till next week! 

Love Always,

Sister Nicole Guilott

P.S. I had real sushi for the first time. It was scrumptious. :)