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