Happy Thanksgiving!

We got another email from Nicole this week! We sure do miss her 

around the holidays, though Skyping on Christmas is 

always nice and something we look forward to. 

But we know she's exactly where she needs to be right now.

Read all about her week below:

"Howdy everyone! 

    This week we did a lot of street contacting and a lot of tracting (knocking on doors). We no longer have any investigators, so we spend all our time trying to find people. We decided we have to give the Lord some time to work on Jesse. We love his family dearly and we know that less visits from us will help him to see the difference and will allow the Lord to touch his heart some more. 

     Monday we went to a Chinese restaurant with Elder Jones. He's the only one who got transferred from our district, so we went out one last time all together :) 

     Tuesday night we had a really bad windstorm....it was crazy!!! There will be lots of crazy pictures in a separate email. We weren't allowed to be outside, so we went back to our apartment. Shortly after we got home, the lights went out! Because our apartment complex is already a little sketchy, neither of us sisters wanted to stay there so we all went to the institute building on campus. There was light there so we just hung out with the elders until the end of the night. It was so bad, there were a few giant trees that fell!! Fortunately, we were all safe (: God is looking out for us! 

     Wednesday, we saw a less active lady. We see her about every other week. She's going through a really nasty divorce and so we got to talk to her about hope. It was such a powerful lesson!! I'm so thankful for the hope the Atonement of Jesus Christ brings!! (Moroni 7:41). 

    Thursday it snowed (: 

    Friday we had a zone conference all day which was awesome! I love learning from mission leaders! I learned a lot about the Plan of Salvation found in the Bible. I love the Plan of Salvation. It's a Plan of Happiness that gives everyone the chance to return Home to God and to live in His presence with our families for eternity! How merciful God is to grant us such an opportunity! I LOVE His perfect plan!! 

    Saturday we found a new investigator! His name is Marquise. We think he belongs to the Young Single Adult (YSA) congregation, but we'll find out when we see him on Tuesday. We've been finding a lot more potentials. Most of them fall through, but the fact that we're finding some is a step in the right direction! Soon we'll be finding people potentially interested that won't fall through! I can't wait for that day!! We're so determined to work hard to find them!

     Yesterday we went to church and heard talks from our members on the Atonement/sacrifice of Jesus Christ! I'm so grateful for His sacrifice. I know He was the only one who could have performed it. He willingly did it for us! How blessed we are to have such a loving Savior and a Father who loves us enough to send His Son. I am so grateful!!!!!!! I hope you all can find gratitude for the Atonement of Jesus Christ this holiday season! I love you all! Have a great week and a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Love,

Sister Wilson"

 Laundromat fun!

 Laundromat fun!

 Laundromat fun!

Minh's with Elder Jones

Windstorm!

Windstorm!

Windstorm!

Another Transfer in Pullman

Here's Nicole's email from this morning!

She even sent us some fun pictures. :)

Happy reading!

"Howdy!!

    This past transfer has FLOWN BY!!! It's crazy how fast the time is going. But, good news....Sister Ashby and I are staying in Pullman another transfer!!! We are so excited to be serving in this area together for another 6 weeks!!!

     This past week we've learned a lot about the importance of the Spirit. Here's a funny story of how we learned this lesson. Since last Saturday, Sister Ashby and I have been trying to plan more productively. Instead of just planning "street contacting" all day, we've decided to be more specific. We've been pondering on where God would have us street contact and then plan to street contact there for x amount of time. Once we finished our planning, we had a little bit of time left so we "randomly" (we didn't realize it was inspired until later) decided to write out all our plans on the board for the upcoming week. There's a nice outline on the board for us to do so, but we've only written it down once and then never actually looked at it. We decided to do it that Saturday. Throughout the week we've been trying to really stick to our plans instead of straying from them. We figured if we told God we'll be in this area, then we should be there (unless God tells us otherwise, of course). We've seen lots of miracles as we've been sticking to our plans. On Thursday we saw the importance of effective planning by the Spirit. The YSA sisters we live next to went on an exchange with the sisters in Moscow Wednesday-Thursday. The sister who went to Moscow accidentally took the phone with her, leaving the sisters in Pullman phone-less. Sister Ashby and I could only contact them through sticky notes on their door. We normally see the sisters a lot throughout the day, but since we've been trying to stick to our plans better, we didn't see them at all on Wednesday. Thursday morning, Sister Ashby and I went out to street contact as planned. We took everything we needed and put them in our pockets or carried them so we could leave our heavy bags at home for the morning. We did the loop we planned to contact and realized that there weren't many people out. I thought we should stray from our plans because it wasn't very productive, but Sister Ashby convinced me to stay to our plans. 3/4 of the way through our second loop, we see our Zone Leaders drive by signalling us to stop and meet them in a nearby parking lot. When we got there, they jumped out of the car and asked, "what happened to you?! We've been trying to call you 6 times!" We were totally puzzled. Turns out, they all thought we were lost. Haha, our new phone didn't receive any calls for some reason. The sisters didn't see us at all like normal and they couldn't contact us. They all broke into our apartment to see if we were there and they found our bags still there. Looking at our board, they saw where we had planned to be and decided to try that out....we were found :) They were all so scared that something had happened to us and so relieved when we were found. Sister Ashby and I thought it was funny, but were also super grateful for the Spirit to help us know what we needed to do so that everything worked out. I'm so grateful for that funny learning experience! I hope that story made sense....a lot of background information was included to get to the point!! 

     Friday we had a district meeting. Our district leader, Elder Li, had us all go around and share a Book of Mormon scripture that has changed our lives. I don't think I have ever felt the Spirit so strongly in a district meeting before. The power the Book of Mormon brings is indescribable and available to all. I invite everyone to read it! It WILL change your life for the better, IF you let it. If you read it with real intent, wanting to know if it's true, God will let you know. DO IT!! Friday I also did an exchange with Sister Ungricht. She's a hoot! I love learning from our mission leaders!

     Sunday, we went to church. I am so grateful for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I'm thankful that no matter where I am in the world, the teachings are the same. I never have to worry about it being totally different. What I learn in Texas at church is what I learn here in Washington. It's what I would learn in China, or England, or New York. It doesn't change and I am eternally thankful for that! 

     The pictures attached are of our wonderful district! Sister Moody is the one with long blonde hair, Sister Rogers is the dark-haired one. Our Senior couple is Elder and Sister Williams, who's going home, and their daughter Kimberly. Elder Jones is the giant and Elder Li is the Asian :) I love them all SOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

     I love my calling SO MUCH. Words can't describe how much I love it. I'm grateful to be serving with Sister Ashby and Sister Rogers and Sister Moody again! What a blessing it is to be a missionary!  

Have a wonderful week!! 

Sister Wilson"

A giant pinecone 

Miracles, Miracles, Miracles!

Here's Nicole's email from this week!

It sounds like she had a very good and productive

week. Check it out:

"Good afternoon!!!!

     This past week was so great!! It was a little challenging at first, but Sister Ashby and I just saw miracle after miracle! 

     As mentioned last week, we went to the Temple Tuesday...it was amazing, as always! 

     We did a whole lot of street contacting this week to try to find new investigators. It was really tough at first, but it all worked out! On Wednesday, God blessed us for our efforts through a member of the church. It was lunch time, so Sister Ashby and I went with Sister Rogers and Sister Moody (over the YSA ward) to the cafeteria at the university. While we were trying to figure out what we wanted to eat, this man walks up with his friend, introduced himself, and said he wanted to buy all 4 of us lunch :) It was such a tender mercy and we all appreciated it more than we were able to express. 

     Thursday, I decided I was going to work super duper hard. I always try to work hard, but sometimes, you just get a little tired of street contacting all day. Nonetheless, I reminded myself that this isn't my work I'm doing, it's God's work and I need to give it my all. So I told Heavenly Father that I would give my all to Him and work harder than I did the day before. We found 3 potential investigators that day. And, to add a cherry on top, it SNOWED!!! Not for long, but it did snow :) It started out as rain, then went to snow, then turned back into rain. Sister Ashby and I enjoyed walking in the rain/snow with our umbrellas while tracting (going door to door to find people to teach about Jesus Christ). It was fun and a testimony builder to me that when we work hard and do all that we can, we receive blessings. And, it's not that we don't receive blessings any other time, it's just that we don't recognize the blessings as much if we're not fully focused on our purpose. I love growing experiences :)

      Friday we had a Zone Training which was fantastic! We also got to talk to a lot of people (: I love the people I serve with and get to meet! We met this man named David. He was walking his dog and he said he has lots of Mormon friends on missions whom he misses dearly. His girlfriend has family who are members of the church and he said he's opened to learning more. We got his number and we're excited to meet with them! 

       Sunday, we had our primary program. Primary is an auxiliary in the church where kids 3-11 (in my ward it's 3-7 ) sing and learn about Jesus. A primary program is when all these kids sing a ton of Christ-centered songs and share little testimonies of what Christ means to them. It's sooooo cute and one of my favorite Sundays ever!! Haha, our ward only has 4 primary kids, so it was funny to watch them all perform! Another miracle of the week is last night, our district leader texted us and said that they wanted to do something cool as a district. They decided that they were going to go out street contacting at 3:30 and then every 1/2 hour they would say a prayer that we all would find 2 new investigators. It was so neat!! We did that and we found 2 new people! We'll probably end up passing them off to the Single's Ward, but it was still pretty neat! We're excited to keep working hard to find people for us :)

       Another miracle!! So we were suppose to meet David yesterday, but he said that wouldn't work. Instead, he scheduled a dinner appointment with us for today!!! We are so excited and feel so blessed!!!! I can't wait!! 

      I love you all and pray that your week will be fantastic!! The Gospel is true and Jesus Christ lives today!! I love my calling!!!!!!!!!!

Love 

Sister Wilson"

 Snow Day

 Snow Day

Temple

Happy Tuesday

So sorry I forgot to update the blog

last week! Here's Nicole's email from

November 3rd:

"Happy Tuesday everyone!! 

     This week, not much happened, but it was still good! 

     Tuesday, Sister Ashby and I got a new investigator! Her name is Lilian and it's sorta a tricky situation....her husband is in school and they have two 3 year olds....but he's 61 and she looks in her 40s. We just adore them, but we probably will end up passing them off to family ward where everyone is around their age instead of around my age. We'll see how it goes! 

     Thursday, Sister Ashby was sick and we were inside all day. As a result, she got a priesthood blessing on Friday! It was so powerful and it reminded me of how grateful I am for the priesthood! I am SOOOO thankful for our Loving Heavenly Father who has given us His power here on earth to perform these miracles. I love love love LOVE the priesthood!! Friday evening we had our ward Halloween party...it was so much fun!! All the families dressed up together! Some costumes were Beauty and the Beast, Ninja Turtle and Pizza, Lion & Tiger & Bear (oh my!), Cruella Devil and her sidekick (don't know the name), and so much more!! It was a lot of fun! Jesse Weed and his family even came! It was so great being able to have so much fun in an appropriate way. Halloween on campus is super scary and everyone was dressed so immodestly....actually, they weren't really dressed at all....It was good to be at a party with no alcohol, fun and appropriate humor, and people with standards. I'm so grateful for this church and for the teachings of Jesus Christ that are found within. 

      Saturday was Halloween. Because Halloween is scary on a college campus, we were instructed to stay inside once it got dark. We had a lovely dinner at the Staker's home...it was all Halloween themed :) Then we stayed inside and made sure our records were updated and phone calls made..then we watched a church movie :)

      Sunday we went to church and tracted. We met a lady named Micah, and she meets the criteria for our ward! She said we could come back, so we're very hopeful! 

      Yesterday we street contacted all day. 

      Today we're going to THE TEMPLE!!!!!!! AHHHH I'm so excited...I really love that place :) It will be a great day and Sister Ashby and I couldn't be more excited :) 

       I hope everyone had a fun and super safe Halloween and an even better week! Love you all!! 

D&C 112:10 

Sister Wilson"

"Sister Ashby and I did our best to dress up as

Senior Sister Missionaries :)"