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"

Intermission

During all the best live theatrical productions, there is always a break in the middle of the show called an "intermission," where the actors prepare for the second act, the audience gets a chance to use the restroom and relax for a minute so that they are then energized and prepared for the rest of the show, and everyone anxiously anticipates what is going to happen next. The second act is always the best part! The climax happens, the tears roll, and the grand finale brings the entire production to a wonderful close. I say this because that is where I am at right now. I am in the midst of the "intermission" of my 18 month mission. After a few visits to the hospital the last couple weeks, and strict orders to rest it all off, my mission President and I decided it would be a faster and more effective recovery from home. So that is where I am. Home.

Here is what is happening: I was diagnosed with Mesenteric Lymphadenitis. It is a viral infection that I have had for the past couple of months. It's extremely painful, but the worst seems to be over. I have been home since last Monday, to rest and let the swelling go down. The plan right now is that I go back on September 2nd, the day before transfers. So don't you worry! The pain is already subsiding, the swelling is going down, I am getting more sleep (FINALLY), and I am starting to have a little more energy. My doctors here are very optimistic that I will be back in the field before you know it!

On Monday, before I flew home, we went as a zone to the Adidas employee store in Portland and bought some nifty stuff. I love my zone! Here's a few pictures of my companions and I, and then the remaining members of the zone who stuck around for a picture. :)

Fun, huh? It was a nice Pday to end "Act 1" with. :) This week has been pretty cool too actually. Even though I am home and am temporarily released, missionary work continues on and miracles have not ceased! I have had multiple opportunities to teach and help invite people to come closer to Christ since being here. There are 2 potential baptisms happening that could possibly take place during the couple weeks I am home that I get to help out with, so that's nice! God knows me so well. :)

OH! A cool experience that I should share happened when I was at the airport waiting to get on my plane... I was standing at my gate, probably looking a little dumb because I was having "separation from a constant companion anxiety," when a very nice man asked me about my mission. I had been praying for comfort and love when he started talking to me, and he interrupted my prayer. :P We got talking and he said his name was Mitch from Mesa, Arizona and he was a convert to the church and had a daughter out on a mission. We talked for about 20 minutes, and when it came time to board the plane, he told me to take his seat in first class so that I could have some room to "stretch my legs." I wanted to cry. I had never flown anywhere in front of the wings of the plane before, let alone in first class, and here this man was offering me his seat so that I could fly comfortably. I him he didn't have to do that, and he said, "If my daughter were on her way home from her mission, I would hope someone would do the same for her." I hope someone does the same for his daughter too. What a nice man! He was an answer to my prayer, and I hadn't even said, "Amen" yet.

Pretty cool, right? God answers prayers! Not usually so immediately, at least not usually for me, but He answers every single prayer. Every last one of them. I love knowing that my prayers are most often answered through the words or actions of other people. It helps me to recognize the beauty of other people and the spirit that resides with them whether they know it or not. Always strive to follow the promptings of the spirit! You never know how it might help someone and be an answer to their prayer. :)

These next pictures were some fun ones my companions took while I was in the hospital on the 8th. Don't be alarmed, I am being silly in most of them. Haha!

President coming in on his Pday all protective and father-like.
I love that man. (That's me huddled over in the wheelchair...)

Clearly I don't feel too good...

All puffy and swollen with my beautiful companions
who stayed with me the whole time. :)

Sister Cone blew up a glove and then Sister Kearl
pretended it was an utter... I milked her. 

Taking me away to do some tests. Fun stuff those tests.

Gotta have a little fun in intense situations, right? You know me though, I turn everything into something fun for myself. Haha! I am so grateful that my Heavenly Father knows as well as I do that my mission is nowhere near over. I have been released, but I have done my best to stick with missionary life. Getting up at the right time, studying my scriptures, praying A LOT, and not doing worldly things like watching movies or listening to popular music. My focus is still missionary work (and rest of course), and Heavenly Father knows that that is the right place to be. He has provided plenty of opportunities for me to serve Him and help to continue the work here in Pleasant Grove so that my focus will remain the same as it would if I was in Vancouver or Portland. That helps me to remember that He wants me to go back just as badly as I do, and because of faith and prayers, I am finally starting to feel better! Resting is the best thing I could be doing right now, and as is this is the intermission, I am anxiously anticipating the second act of the show! I am going to go back out there with power, faith, and the strength to work hard! I am so excited to see the climax and the grand finale of this wonderful 18 month adventure! Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers in my behalf and for the support that is being shown. I love you all, and I am so excited to be able to serve God with my full energy and dedication to His work without having to worry about healing my body. I'll be sure to update you next week!

Love Always,

Sister Nicole Guilott

So Much Going On!

Oh my Heavens to Betsy, we had a FANTABULOUS week! So many crazy things happened, but all of them were amazing! The order of events is crucial for this week because if I go out of order, you won't understand anything... Haha! So here we go, I'll start from the beginning. :)

On Monday we had a super fun Pday! We went to VooDoo Donuts, and then got lost in downtown Portland, which is out of the mission... I HATE driving in Portland! It gives me crazy anxiety. Really though, why can't all roads be a perfect grid like Utah? At VooDoo, we got these huge donuts that were too much, but way too delicious to not eat the entire thing ourselves.

So yummy... My goodness. On Monday night, we got a phone call from President Taylor, and we were super freaked out as to why in the world he would be calling us! He told us that a Sister was going to go home the next day, and that we would be receiving her companion in an emergency transfer. We were going to be a trio! We were super stoked, but also not, because Sister Cone and I get along better than anything, and we are practically twins, so we were worried that the new Sister would feel left out... But alas, Sister Kearl just happened to be another clone of the two of us. It is the PERFECT tripanionship! We were kind of freaking out though because on Tuesday morning we were getting a "Mini-Missionary." A 16 year old girl from a nearby stake that would be coming around with us for two days to check out what missionary work is really like. Her name is Sydney Packham. The STL's wanted to help out with the crazy of the whole situation by going on exchanges with one of us, but ultimately it just made things even more crazy! So Tuesday morning we got Sydney, then Sister Kearl showed up at District Meeting, then that night Sister Ivans (the STL) came. We had 5 people in our little cottage! It was crazy town, but only in a good way of course. 

Me, Sydney, Sister Kearl, and Sister Cone

Those two days were phenomenal! We got 14 lessons with our mini missionary! 14!!!!! And we never even went on splits. It was awesome. Sydney taught me a lot. She is seriously the coolest cat around. I adore her! And boy oh boy is Sister Kearl wonderful! I love all of them so so so so so much! Our new trio is definitely the bomb.com! This pictures basically describes everything.

The three of us together...? We're crazy. Crazy AWESOME! Haha I love them. Really, I do. :) Anyway, we did some amazing work this week with the three of us. We had a lot of planning to do for the baptism on Sunday! Remember? Sylvia got baptized! It was wonderful. Sunday was crazy though because I had been asked to perform in church. However, some craziness happened throughout the week, so I wasn't able to practice with an accompanist, and I forgot about having to perform in church until Sunday morning... So basically I played some accompaniment for a song that I usually sing, and just added more of a melody to it when I played so that it didn't sound like randomness. It was scary but also kind of fun to improv a song in church! After church we got everything ready for the baptism. I had to give a talk on the Holy Ghost for it, and I wasn't nervous at all until I found out President and Sister Taylor were going to be there... Then I panicked. I was planning on just kind of winging it and bearing testimony about the Holy Ghost, but instead I wrote out a few thoughts and went off of that. It turned out okay. 

The baptism itself was perfect. The spirit that is felt at convert baptisms is one of the strongest instances of feeling the spirit that I have ever had the opportunity to experience in my life. Sylvia was so ready for baptism, SO ready to make that first commitment to God, and very excited to be doing so. She is such a sweet woman, and I am so grateful for the chance that I have had to be the missionary to teach her all 5 lessons. I love that feeling! Being able to be with someone for the entire process. It's pretty cool. 

The lovely Sylvia! Excuse the stupid face I'm making. Clearly, I was excited.

Sylvia's husband, Brother Hunter (on the right), and Ted Ford (the guy they take care of, on the left).

Aren't they just adorable? I love all of them! There are so many wonderful people out there who need and are ready for the Gospel. Oh man, being a missionary is amazing! Having the chance to work day in and day out to find people who are in need is the best thing ever. I say that in every post, but... that just means that I mean it and that it is important! This post is kind of scattered... sorry about that. I am just so excited about everything that happened this week! 

This is kind of a short one, but I don't really have anything else to say other than...

I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK!!! 

Keep working hard to help the work go forth! Missionaries that are set apart and called of God are not the only missionaries in the world. YOU are a missionary too, and God needs your help to bring remembrance and salvation to all of His children. ALL of them. Do you realize how much works needs to be done in order to reach everyone? It's a lot. But it's a part of God's plan, and you who are able to serve Him should do your best to bring people that eternal happiness that they all deserve. "When you are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God." Keep going! I love you all very much! I'll talk to you next week!

Love Always,

Sister Nicole Guilott

P.S.  

Here are some other pictures from this week. :) Enjoy.

Sister Hall. I have quit soda forever to support her quitting coffee. Life is good. :)

The Veamautahau's. I love them and their adorable baby!

Our ward mission leader let me hold most of his guns. I have 5 on me in this picture.

Lovin life and having a little too much fun doing missionary work.

Practicing so I can protect myself in Portland if necessary.

Wearing stupid things to make Sister Cone laugh.

The treacherous trio.

Um... I don't have an explanation for this one. 

Selfie!