Very Grateful

It's Monday! Which means we got

another email from Nicole. Here's

what she had to say this week:

"Hello friends and family! 

     This week was long, but GREAT! I learned so much and saw God's hand in the lives of the people I love the most :) 

      Tuesday, we had Zone Conference all day where we were trained on how to become more effective instruments in God's hands. I learned so much on how to strengthen our testimonies and how to better myself! I'm grateful for our inspired leaders and for all they teach me :) 

      Wednesday I was on an exchange with Sister Day in Canada. It was so much fun!! She helped me a lot and I learn so much every time I'm around her! We had a great time together full of laughs, love, and learning. I'm thankful for her and her example and hope to serve around her more before she goes home in December. 

       Thursday we had weekly planning. President Dymock just changed the way we do planning, so instead of  planning for 5 hours, we only plan for 3 which allows more time for us to talk to people :) We got to see the Schmidts that evening which was bittersweet. Sounds like things fell through and they won't be able to move to Spokane. Although I want to continue to work with them, I want more than anything for them to go to Church. I'm not here to make friends (even though I'm doing that too and sometimes forget my real purpose), I'm here to help others come closer to our Loving Savior, Jesus Christ. Going to church will help them the most right now, and would have been more accessible for them in Spokane. I pray we'll be able to help them feel more motivated to attend here and I'm very grateful for the time I've had to work with them. 

      Friday and Saturday were great! We got to talk to A LOT of people which is the happiest time for a missionary! Friday we approached an old man and he said he wasn't interested, but that he still loves us and then he gave us an air kiss. Super weird....I really should just have a section in my emails all about my awkward encounters with men....I could call it, "Men Moments (M&M!)" ahaha, missions are so strange :)Saturday, we finally got a new investigator in Deer Park! We ran out of investigators in Deer Park. All of them are flakey, or haven't been getting back to us. We've had to drop them or allow the Lord to work on them for a time. We're starting from scratch. We tried this former investigator (someone who's looked into the church before) named Erin. She let us right in and we started talking to her. The missionaries in the past randomly stopped coming and she had no idea why. Her record doesn't even say why they stopped. She's totally open and said we could come back! We let her read out of a pass along copy of the Book of Mormon and when we told her she could keep it, she said "oh good!!". She's thinking about baptism right now! We hope she will stick with it and see the blessings that come from the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I'm excited to work with her more! 

     Yesterday, we met with our new investigator Jazzlyn from the group home. D'yani (Dee yawn ee) also joined and they both really want to be baptized. They said they just know it's true! I love them so much already! It's amazing how quickly you love the people you serve with. The message that Jesus Christ loves us so much He restored His church brings people closer together than anything else and I'm very grateful for that! I hope and pray we'll be able to teach them a little while longer! 

       This week is the last week of the transfer and it's very bittersweet. They're seriously and desperately looking for housing for another set of missionaries in Clayton. This will be really good for Deer Park because it needs the 100% attention and focus. Nonetheless, Clayton is where all of our investigators and Less Actives that we're working with are. I pray that the missionaries who will help them to progress even more will be placed in Clayton, even if it's not me. I want these wonderful children of God to come closer to Him in every way. As I anxiously await the call of doom, I am very grateful for the people God has trusted my companions and I with in these areas. 

        The picture attached is from Friday. We have a lot of fires up here and President Dymock asked us to prepare a 72 hour bag just in case. I've never had to do it before so I was pretty excited haha. Nonetheless, it's also scary. I'm not use to so many fires. Deer Park seems to be doing good, but the rest of my zone, from Addy, Wa and north, seem to be covered with them. My prayers go out to all the firefighters and people all throughout Washington. I'm very grateful for the work and efforts being put into getting these fires out. 

        I hope everyone has a wonderful week! I'm very grateful for all of you and hope school goes well (I think it's the first week of school?)! 

I love my calling!! 

Sister Wilson"