Merry Christmas!

We heard from Nicole again today! There's a correction in the ward she's

serving in - Belle Terre, NOT Belltaire. :) Also, she has sent us

her new address. It's at the bottom of her email. Enjoy!

"Merry Christmas!! 

    It's official..today marks my 2 months out in the mission field! I am now serving in the Belle Terre ward. President Mullen attends this ward which is very intimidating! But, the members are so sweet!!

     My new companion, Sister Gosdis, is really sweet. She grew up in Salt Lake baptist and joined the church 3 years ago. She's 24. She's been out for a year and is so great. She's really different from Sister Rogers, though, and so trying to adapt to the different personalities has been difficult. On the plus side, I know 2 missionaries serving in my district! One, Elder Jemwai, is our district leader and he served in my last Zone! The other, Sister Norcross, was in my MTC zone. She is so awesome and we're very similar! We share the car with her and her companion part time! We have the car on the weekends and every other p-day. The other days we walk, bike, or catch a ride. I rode a bike the other day!!!!! It was really weird with a skirt and kinda strange...haha. But, it wasn't too bad.

      Belle Terre is really pretty and my church building is across the street from the temple! It's so awesome to be able to see the Temple every day! It brings such peace to my heart everytime I see it, regardless of how my days are going! 

      We have a few investigators we're teaching. They're all so different! One is a 71 year old man who grew up catholic (lots of Catholics up here). His name is Richard and he reads the Book of Mormon so much! He knows it's true, he's just worried about committment and what his family will think. We told him to just do what the Lord wants, because if you do it the Lord's way, you can't go wrong. It always works out the Lord's way! 

    The next investigator is 9 and her name is Kristin. She is so sweet! The only thing preventing her from getting baptized is her dad. Her mom is a member and her 12 year old sister just joined the church! Her dad is a less active, I believe, and requires Kristin to do a million things before she's allowed to join. We pray his heart will be softened and will allow her to make this choice on her own.

    We met 2 new investigators this week named Terry and Leslie. They are so sweet and have been through so much! They need the Gospel! They are so receptive to our message so far and it's all because of the experiences and trials they've had throughout their lives. It's strengthened my testimony so much that God gives us trials and experiences to prepare us for things in the future! Oh how grateful I am for the trials I've been blessed with! So many great things come through the hard times as we hold to the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I can't wait to see how the Gospel will change them and bring them so much happiness! 

   MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! I love and miss everyone so much! I wish I could be home for the holidays, but know God needs me here right now! I hope everyone enjoys this wonderful season and remember that our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the reason behind this beautiful time of year!! Love ya'll!!

Love, 

Sister Wilson"

P.s. sorry about no pictures...my camera is still broken and I haven't had the time to get it looked at -_-

P.s.s My new address is: 14526 E 24th Ave

                                       Spokane Valley, WA 

                                       99037-9342

Goodbye Glenrose

Nicole got her first transfer call this week! While she's sad to be leaving Glenrose,

she's excited to see what lies ahead of her. Check out her latest email below!

"Hey ya'll!! 

    This week was pretty good! A lot of our lessons cancelled because everyone is getting sick:/ BUT, we met and talked to a lot of really cool people!!! 

     Sooooo.....I found out some heartbreaking new last night. Sister Rogers and I are both being transferred, and Elder Sterling and Elder Johnson are taking over. Sister Rogers is going to Post Falls in IDAHO and I'm staying in Washington in an area called Belltaire. My new companion will be Sister Gosdis and I'll meet her tomorrow. I am so sad. I have never loved so many people so much in such a short period of time! These 6 weeks FLEW BY and I hate to have to say goodbye to so many amazing people (members, less actives, nonmembers, investigators, missionaries that I serve with, etc). I couldn't understand how it was possible to have this much love for people! Today, it hit me. When you are serving the Lord and spreading His gospel to the best of your abilities, you start seeing them how He sees them as His children. You then start to love them as He does. I feel very humbled and blessed to get to see all these people through God's eyes and to feel His love for them! What a blessing a mission is! It is the hardest thing I've ever done yet, but I wouldn't change a second! I am so happy that God allowed me to serve in the Glenrose ward for a transfer! I've learned so much from them and I am truly thankful for all I have! 

     Now, onto the more positive stuff! Our zone went carolling together Saturday night! It was so great to see about 20 missionaries singing Christmas hymns and spreading the gospel! Time and time again you'd see a companionship stop and talk to people! The joy I felt then was so incredible!! I really love these missionaries!!!! 

      We had Zone Training on Friday and it was so great! Our Zone Leaders are way awesome and I've learned so much from these elders! One of them, Elder Leavitt, was talking about happiness and blessings from the gospel. He said something along the lines of "Don't wait to be happy. The blessings of the Atonement of Jesus Christ are effective IMMEDIATELY. Don't wait"! Oh how I loved this! The Atonement of Jesus Christ can and will help us every second of every day, BUT we have to let it! We have to accept Him as our Savior and turn to Him! I'm so grateful to know that even in the hardest times, I can find joy through the Savior! 

      Haha, funny, short story...Sister Huang, the sister with whom I did exchanges, said the funniest thing! I asked her what her favorite american food is and she replied "I used to say Cheetos, but no I not sure". Hahaha, it made me laugh! She's going to be a sister training leader in her area! I'm going to miss her so much when I leave!!! 

     I'm so grateful for all the letters I receive! It makes me so happy to get mail! Thank you to everyone who write me in any form (letters, email, etc.)  I love and appreciate all of you and pray for you! Have a great day and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! 

Love, 

Sister Wilson"

First Snow in Washington

Sorry this post is late! This is the latest email from Nicole. She's bouncing back

quick from missing her first holiday. Read what she has to say below:

"Hey Ya'll!! 

     This week was still a little tough, but much better than last week! You won't get any pictures from me this week, unfortunately, because my camera inconveniently decided to stop working and won't let me do anything...it won't even let me turn on:( 

    Anyways, IT SNOWED!!!!!! It snowed in the middle of the week. Boy was I excited! I was so happy! Sister Rogers thought I was a little too excited over about 2 inches of snow (may I remind you she's from Utah), but it was still really exciting for me! It only lasted the day, though. But, I hear it's suppose to snow on Christmas....I GET A WHITE CHRISTMAS!!!!! Oooh I love the snow!!

    We had our ward Christmas party on Friday! It was fun and it had a lot of yummy food. It was a lot different than Texas Christmas Parties...Frisco 7th knows how to throw a Christmas Party! It was still fun though. Sister Rogers and I sung at it.....so scary!! Oooh, did I tell you that we sing a lot?! We sing all the time in lessons, or for strangers. At first I thought it was really weird, but people take "Can we sing you a song?" better than "Would you like to hear a message about Jesus Christ?" So, needless to say, we sing all the time! It's fun though! It's such an easy way for people to feel the spirit! I love this way of teaching!!! My district is going to go carolling!! I LOVE CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!! We listen to David Archuleta's Christmas cd a lot and it makes me happy! I just love Christmas! It's a great time for us to remember our Savior, Jesus Christ,and all that He has done for each of us individually. Being on my mission has really helped me see just how much we truly do need the Atonement of Christ! He has given up everything for us! I'm so grateful for my Savior and His willingness to take upon Himself all of my sins, sorrows, trials, sicknesses, EVERYTHING so I can have comfort, peace, and joy in this life! Oh how blessed we all are!!!

     This week, I'll have my first transfer call. I really hope I get to stay here! All the members and people are so sweet, loving, encouraging, and awesome! Sister Rogers and I feel we'll be staying together for another 6 weeks, and I really hope that happens! Glenrose has been such a huge blessing and has humbled and strengthened me so much! The members are so loving and comforting! They support and give me so much love as they realize I've been out for such a short time! How great God has been to put me here!! I pray I'll get to stay another transfer with Sister Rogers! 

      Oooh...guess what?? This week I met people from TEXAS!!! It makes me so happy when people actually know where Frisco is! There's this couple here that are moving back to Dallas in a few months. They're a young couple and we visited them last night. The wife, Sister Hansen, was like "when you get home from your mission, we should totally get together and hang out!" Haha, I was like "HECK YES!!" As you can see, the people are so friendly here! 

     So not much happened this week, but I still learned a lot. God shows me that I can't do things on my own and that I really do need Him and His help every day...we all do! I'm so grateful for this extremely difficult, yet extremely rewarding opportunity He has given me to teach others about Him and His Son, Jesus Christ! I love this gospel! I love ya'll and hope everyone is doing well! 

Love, 

Sister Wilson 

p.s. I LOVE letters(: 

p.s.s If you haven't checked out He is the Gift yet....DO IT!!! Christmas.mormon.org"

Thanksgiving

Nicole had her first rough week in the mission field this week being away

during Thanksgiving. But she bounced back quickly! Here's her

latest email home, complete with pictures.

"Hey Everyone!!!! 

Yesterday we had a Zone Training so that's why our P-day has been a little off. BUT, I hope ya'll had an AWESOME Thanksgiving!! 

This week was VERY hard for me. Normally, missionaries don't tell home that they're struggling or that they're homesick, etc. But, because it's through trials that you grow the most, I feel it's okay to share them! I struggled emotionally this week for many reasons, and being away from home on Thanksgiving was much harder than I thought! I really missed home. It was a very emotional time, but I'm so grateful and blessed to have that struggle. I don't think I've ever relied so heavily on the Atonement of Jesus Christ before. I spent much time on my knees and in the scriptures and ensigns. I received much peace as needed and I felt my Heavenly Father's love! This insanely tough week was NOT fun, but a huge blessing that I am thankful for! God gives us trials that we CAN and WILL overcome as we turn to Him and trust in Him! 

On the bright side, we had many blessings and miracles! We received 5 new investigators, met sooooo many awesome people and had a very yummy Thanksgiving! There was so much food!!!!! I'm trying to eat healthier, and they kept sending us home with candy and pie...I'm going to get so fat! We had Thanksgiving at the Clark's home, some members from our ward. Sister Clark just got reactivated and Brother Clark is less active. He calls himself a Jack-Mormon. He has a strong testimony on prayer and he always opens his home to missionaries. He believes the religion and He has strong faith. The only issue is he struggles with the Word of Wisdom and isn't ready to give up coffee and cigarettes. He is the nicest man, though and we had a great time at their home for the holiday! 

This week, I GOT TO SEE MY MTC DISTRICT!!!! We had a new missionaries and trainers meeting so all my friends from the MTC were there! It was so much fun to see these wonderful people and to get to hear all their stories and miracles! The really tall girl in the picture is from the MTC...her name is Sister Mills and she's awesome! We hope to be future companions:) 

Next awesome thing that happened: Holly, our investigator Mario's wife, was reactivated not too long ago. She grew up in the church and went inactive and just started going back before I arrived. She got to go to the Temple for THE FIRST TIME EVER the other day! She's 39! She was so excited! We helped her get a name to do Baptisms for the Dead. She got to baptize her mom...she was so happy which made me so happy! I love the work we get to do in the Temple! The Spirit that is there is so awesome and I'm so grateful for Heavenly Father's plan for families to be together for eternity! It brought much joy to see her so excited to be worthy to enter into the House of God! There's a picture of her holding her mom's name! Soooo fun!!! 

This week we met a really awesome guy! His name is Chris and he has made me so humble! He has seriously been through every hard thing I can imagine. He's been divorced, literally got run over by a car and has scars all up his legs from multiple surgeries. He has brain injuries from that and has lots of metal plates in his legs. He will never be able to walk again and he doesn't get to see his daughter very often. He's broken most of the bones in his body and he is in so much pain all the time. Nonetheless, he knows the church is true. He's a less active, but since he's been hit by a car, he has turned to God. Most people would turn away from God, but he knew that God has so much in store for him. How inspiring his story is to me! The whole lesson I bawled. I'm so humbled and thankful for the gospel and for the people I'm meeting on my mission. They teach me so much every day and I have such a strong testimony of God's love for His children! 

GUESS WHAT??? I found out we get to watch A REAL MOVIE on New Year's Eve!!!! :):):):):) I am so excited!!! We are going to watch Frozen! I miss watching movies. It's so bad, when we walk into a house and they're playing a movie, I find myself slowly being absorbed and starring at the tv. Sister Rogers laughs at me and asks to turn the tv off....it's pretty sad. So, needless to say, I can't wait to watch a normal Disney movie(: 

Tonight I start my first Exchange.....that's when we get a different companion for 24 hours! We switch companions tonight and we don't switch back until tomorrow night. I'm really anxious because I'm staying in my area and have to take charge. I don't feel ready to go out without my companion!!! But, I know that God will be with me and that it will be a good learning experience. We have 2 new investigators to teach for the first time tomorrow so it's a little scary, but I'm excited still! My new companion will be Sister Huang. We've done splits together before and she's so funny! She's from China and is so cute! She was on the phone the other day and I hear her ask "what does goofy mean?!" Haha, she's so naturally funny! I'm excited to do exchanges with her! 

So, here are a few pictures from this week. I can't send them all in one email, so excuse the few different ones you'll receive. The one with the 2 kiddos are from our ward. They ask to see our name tags so they can wear them all the time. We just had to snap a photo! The lady in the blue dress is Holly before the Temple! Just look at how she's glowing!!! The one with me in the cowboy hat is the Clark family that had us for Thanksgiving! Brother Clark used to be in rodeos and this was his special hat...so much fun! I felt like a true Texan:) Lastly, our Zone ordered zone t-shirts!!! They are so cool! We're called the mega zone because this transfer, they combined 2 zones into 1. I guess it's pretty big compared to a normal zone, but I wouldn't really know. Our zone is so awesome and have blessed me in so many ways. 

I'm so grateful for all the people God has put in my life; my zone, my investigators, the awesome members, my family and friends back at home, and all the people I'm going to meet! God's hand is in this work! He knows us personally and better than ANYONE! He loves us perfectly despite all our imperfections! As we turn to Him, He will bless us! I love ya'll and hope all is well! Thanks for your prayers and thoughts! 

Love, 

Sister Wilson 

p.s. everyone should check out the He is the Gift video the church has done! It's so powerful and brings in the Spirit and true meaning of Christmas! May we always remember our Savior Jesus Christ and all that He has willingly and lovingly done for us!"

One Month Mark!

We got another email! With pictures!

It's crazy to think she's already been gone for a month now. :) 

We're so glad she seems to be having so much fun!

"Hey everyone! 

      This week has been a great week! We saw lots of miracles! First off, I reached my one month mark! That's CRAZY!!! It's insane to see how much happens in one month! Oh how blessed I am to be a missionary at this time! 

     This week we got to participate in 2 service projects! The first, we got to rake our new investigators yard! So many young men came to help, it was so awesome! We're so grateful for all the participants who have reached out to this family! They were so grateful! The second one, we got to help Holly (Mario's, our investigator, wife) make cute ornaments for a service thing she was doing! It was so much fun because I'm not creative, but they all turned out cute! I love being able to serve others! It brings a joy that only comes from being selfless and turning outward! 

      Speaking of Mario, he's doing pretty well! His prayers are so sincere and personal and you can tell he's talking to his Father in Heaven! I want to pray more like him and make my prayers more meaningful! I think I was called to serve a mission, not to teach others, but so I could be taught by others! I'm so humbled by everyone we teach! I walk into every house and think of how blessed I am. It's the little things that we take for granted that are truly great blessings from God. I am so humbled by the people here and what they go through! Oh how I wish I could help them all with everything. I know I can't, but that Christ can, and I can help them see that. 

    We got 3 new investigators this week and I am so pumped!!! They seem willing and open to hear our message that will greatly bless their lives! I hope they are receptive to our message! We just had an investigator drop us after 1 lesson. It was awful! Sister Rogers and I felt like we just got dumped:( We really liked Barb and thought she was a golden investigator. It's so sad to see how hard the adversary works on people as they learn the gospel. We felt really bad about it, but know that God has people prepared for us that will accept the gospel! We can't wait to find them! 

     As much fun as this week was, I was fighting a cold all week -_- I felt awful every morning and every night when we got home. I think it's no coincidence that my cold was the worst before going out, then after the day, yet during the day as we went out to serve, I almost completely forgot about it. It would subside so much and I wasn't too bothered by it. The Lord really does bless us as we do His will and help the progression of His work! He took care of me and I'm so grateful for His hand in this work! I know He's guiding us and is preparing a way for us to do this work, even if I have a cold. 

    Yesterday I went on a mini exchange with Sister Huang! We went to ward council in her ward and this sister gave the spiritual thought. She said "if you're not happy enough, you're not grateful enough". I loved that because it's so true! God has given us SOOOOO many blessings, and many of them we take for granted. It's not until we meet people who are worse off than we are that we realize just how blessed we are. When we humble ourselves, and appreciate all that we have, despite all that we might not have, we are so much happier! I thought I would share that with everyone since Thanksgiving is coming up! I hope everyone has a wonderful week and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! I love ya'll and pray for you everyday! 

Love, 

Sister Wilson(:"

Another Great Week in Spokane!

We got another fun email home, and a few pictures! We got the email

a day late due to Zone Conference on Monday, so we were really

excited when we got this email. Sounds like she's having a blast!

Hey Everyone!!!!! 

         This week was pretty good! We got to talk to a lot of people and they're all so awesome! The people here are so cool and nice and I just really love them all! It's really cold up here though, and lots of people think it's funny that I'm from Texas and freezing my butt off. We went shopping the other day for winter clothes and such, and I was like, "I don't know how to wear that...I'm from Texas and never had to before..." They think it's funny that I don't know how to properly dress for Washington weather..haha, but they've been a huge help!! 

        Washington is really funny because there are a lot of deer that run around randomly. It's funny to drive by and see a family of deer chilling in someone's front yard. BUT, it's not as funny as seeing a MOOSE chilling in someone's front yard! We were driving to a less active's house and we stopped to make sure we had the right address. I busted out laughing and Sister Rogers gave me this really funny look. Then she saw what I saw....a MOOSE in someone's yard eating from their trees!!! It was really funny because you don't see that in Texas!(: 

So these are just a few pictures, but I'll take and send more next time! Sister Rogers is beautiful, inside and out, and is from Lindon Utah. The dog we're holding is Tini (short for Martini...haha). She is Sister Sachse's dog and is so fun to live with! We took her for a walk and dressed her up. Doesn't she look so cute?! The sunsets (at 4:00 -_-) are BEAUTIFUL behind all the trees and mountains!!! 

        My district and zone is so awesome! I love all the sisters and elders I get to serve with! They're all so supporting and encouraging of one another! I know that God has purposely put me with this group of missionaries and I'm so thankful for that!

        So a really cool thing happened this week. As you'll see in some of the photos, I'm holding a lizard....for those of you who know me, I HATE lizards! They just creep me out. I can look at them but if it gets near me, I freak...not as badly as Syd though(: Anyways, our investigator, Mario, has a pet lizard. Mario is progressing well and the cool thing is, his brother, JJ, has been sitting in on the past few lessons we've taught! Supposedly, Sister Rogers has been trying to get him to sit in for a long time so this is real progress!! Anyways, we had dinner with them Thursday night and Sister Rogers wanted to see the lizard and so they brought him out. They got me to touch it and I thought I was going to die. Sister Rogers wanted to hold the lizard and JJ wanted to see me hold the lizard. I told him NO WAY! He insisted so I thought I would make a deal with him! Sister Rogers and I were going to take Mario and his wife on a church tour Friday night and then to a chili cook off the ward was putting on. JJ said if I held the lizard he would join us. So....... I DID!!! I'm trying not to spazz out in the picture, but it started crawling on me and I thought I was going to die!! It was cool though because JJ came on the tour with us. We got to teach about the gospel and share our testimonies with him. We just know he felt the spirit and it was a neat experience! Then we all had yummy chili and CORNBREAD afterwards(: 

We got a new investigator this week! He's 15 and his name is Zach! He wants to be baptized and be "a member of God" as he puts it! I'm so excited to start teaching him and help this desire in him grow!!!!!! I love seeing how happy the gospel makes people and it's been a true blessing to be here, despite the challenges! I have been very humbled by the things I've seen, heard and experienced! I'm so grateful for God's love for me and the people I teach. I love feeling the love that God has for His children! It's such a special, and sacred feeling to me! I know this church is true and I've been so blessed to be able to help people get to church! Stay strong and remember who you are! God loves you all! I love you all! 

    Oh...please send me pictures through email and mail so I can hang them up on my wall! I love and miss ya'll lots! Thanks for my package and letters...I LOVE letters! I'm keeping ya'll in my prayers! 

Love, 

Sister Wilson(:

First Week in Spokane

We got another lovely email home yesterday from Nicole. She seems to really like her first companion in the mission field in Spokane, and is enjoying Spokane. She also gave us her new address!

"Hey everyone!! 

So these photos are really all from the MTC and with my district(: I'll get more from Spokane next week!

So, Spokane is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!! It is breath taking with all the different colors up here! We arrived here Monday and I fell in love with the scenery so quickly! This week has been very bittersweet! I LOVED my district from the MTC and it was so hard to have to tell them goodbye! They've strengthened me way more than I thought possible! BUT, my companion now, Sister Rogers, is such a blessing! She has helped me feel welcomed, and loved, and important! Her testimony of the gospel is so strong and it strengthens mine. So, I arrived Monday, as I already said, and we spent the whole day with our district and mission president. We had some very awesome members willing to open up their home to allow our sisters to stay the night. Tuesday, we met our companion, had some training, got our bikes and package, said a tearful goodbye to our district, and headed off!

We live at a member's house. Her name is Sister Sachse (pronounced Saxy). She's a single woman with a dog and cat. They're really cute and sweet and friendly! Sister Sachse is so sweet too! I just love her dearly! 

Tuesday night I got to meet my first investigator! His name is Mario and he comes from a Part Member Family (PMF). His wife is a member. He is AWESOME! He had a drinking problem and a chewing tobacco problem, but he has desires to overcome them and has been progressing! He's learning to rely on God for the strength he needs. I love seeing how the Atonement can strengthen us. I've relied on the enabling power of the Atonement all week! As I struggled with this change, I've turned to my Father in Heaven through long, sincere, sometimes desperate prayers. The comfort that comes through prayer is indescribable! I'm so grateful that our Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers! Through prayer and the power of the Atonement, I've made it through this week and have started this new week off fresh!

We have another investigator, named Rachael, also from a PMF. She struggles with smoking...a lot of people here smoke. She has a desire to overcome it too. She's just scared of the withdrawals because she becomes really mean and angry as side effects. Again, we've taught her that through the Atonement, she can and will be able to overcome! She's set a baptism date for herself!!! January 31....we're trying to get that date closer, because we know with her desire, she can quit smoking earlier! I'm so grateful to be able to see how the gospel helps people change for the better! 

The ward up here is so awesome! Everyone is so nice, warm, loving, friendly, and welcoming! I miss 7th ward though, but this is a great temporary replacement! 

Soooo...Spokane is really weird! The sun sets at 4:30, and by 5 pm it looks like midnight! It's CRAZY! We don't ride our bikes either. We live on a hill, so bike riding would be dangerous where we live. But, we do have a car that's shared with some elders. When we don't have a car, we have to rely on members for ride. They're always so willing to help! It's suppose to get really cold this week. I'm pretty sure it's not suppose to get above 30 degrees the next couple of days and it's suppose to snow this weekend!!! I'm definitely going shopping today! 

My mailing address is (for anyone who wants to write me letters:): 

Sister Nicole Andrea Wilson

4607 E 16th Ave

Spokane Valley, WA 99212-0261

I love ya'll so much and appreciate everything you do!! Hope everyone has a fantastic week! 

Love,

Sister Wilson"

Here are some fun pictures of Nicole at the MTC:

Here are some pictures of Nicole and her time in Spokane so far: