Pictures while in Dublin

1) couple from the wedding this weekend

 

 

2)slugs from the service project at a members home

 

 

 

3) Me under the irish rainbow

 

 

4) View from our trip a couple weeks ago. So pretty. By the Irish Sea

 

5) The group that went, Clayton (ysa member) me, Sister Harris, Krista(ysa member), sister Peterson, Tina(ysa member), Sean (our investigator)

Interesting week!

So this week has been interesting but good nonetheless. For the most part all three of us were sick at one point. Sister Harris and Sister Peterson have been fighting a cold all week. Sister Harris had a bad fever the other night but slowly she is coming back alright. It is so frustrating being sick on the mission because you want to get out and do the work but you just cant. But we were able to work around it and teach some people. I have been waking up with stomach pains and through out the day they come on strong. But it is now getting much better. :) So there are a few highlights I will give you from this week. Sean is amazing!!! He got back from his biking trip around Ireland on thursday and he asked us when we can meet again. He is very prepared for his baptism this saturday. This weekend was stake conference and we were going to meet him yesterday morning but sister harris was not well so we called to cancel and he whispered he was in priesthood meeting that started at 7:30 am. We forgot to tell him about it but he found out and went on his own. That is how amazing Sean is!! We are also working with Corinna and her mom is still against her being baptized but she is over 18 and she knows it is right to be baptized. We keep praying to know how best to help her and keep encouraging her. I just love that girl! We have met with this new man named Raj. He is from India and knows very little English. But he did tell us that he did a 40 day fast and during that time he met with Jesus. Which could be very true. Not judging him at all. But that is about as far as we got with him. May meet with him again. This week I attended my first mission wedding. It was very different then I expected. This couple will be baptized this saturday also. Super sweet people. But the cerimony was in the chapel and they started and ended with a prayer and hymn and the special number was a song from a cd. Sister Harris and I couldn't stop laughing during the musical number because it was so odd. But other then that the cake was delicious and there was good support from the ward. Those are the most interesting events from this week. The people here are great. Keep supporting the missionaries in your areas. Support from members helps the work so much. Couldn't get nearly as much great work done without the people in Finglas Ward. I love the Lord and I am grateful to have this opportunity to serve him in the Scotland/Ireland mission. Love you all and hope your week rocks!

Love,

Sister Ashlee Nicoll

What's the craic?

Sent:

Mon 9/17/12   4:45 AM

‏Hey there,

 What's the craic? That is a very common phrase here. I am sure you have figured out what it means but for those who are slower... It means what's going on. Well another week has gone by. And it was a good one at that. I think there are 3 stories worth sharing with you. First is about and investigator named Corinna. She is a sweet 17 year old Philippino  girl. Her dad is a less active but her aunt in Hawaii is very active and when she went over there to visit her, she liked how being members made them happy. So she is meeting with us. We had to do splits and it was just me and Sister Harris teaching her and it went so well. She really opened up to us and how she really feels the gospel can help her become closer to God and how she has a strong desire to follow God. We talked alot about the comfort she can feel from the Book of Mormon and praying. She is reading and praying and she is working toward a baptism in October. Awesome!!! Next story is about food. Every week we go to the troy family and they feed us sooooooo much yummy food that I can not even finish it all. But this week right after them we had a dinner appointment. I was so full going to the next home, the Pescidaro's. But they made so much food also and I just had to drink alot of water and juice to make it go down. It was so hard to do. At both appointments the Elders were with us and one Elder, Elder Holms was willing to take some of my food. He is a skinny guy but can sure force down the food. I was so thankful for that. Last story is about a girl we met with on Saturday. Her name is Dami and she heard about the church through her friend who just joined. She saw it made her friend really happy and her friend told her to meet with the missionaries. It was a powerful lesson talking with her. My comps and I really flowed with talking and were able to be inspired in how to help her with her concerns. She has been through alot in her short 17 years but she keeps trying to turn to God. She agreed to read the Book of Mormon. We hope to meet again soon but she has college and work. She is a wonderful girl and I could really see how the gospel could help her life. Missionary life is hard, emotionally, spiritually, physically, and mentally. Relying on the Spirit and constantly checking myself to make sure I am doing all that I can to be worthy of it is huge. Teaching people that don't want to change and trying to teach those that bail on you all the time is stressful. And being with two people 24/7 is a struggle but blessing as well. But there are two things that keep me here and keep me positive about the work. It is the peaceful feeling I feel as I pray at night letting me know that God is pleased with my efforts and lets me know that I am where I am suppose to be. The other thing is people like Sean, Corinna and Dami. Seeing the change the gospel brings to people. It feels like the ratio of struggle to success is 85 to 15. But that 15 is the greatest and the struggle only builds character if we let it. :) Love you all and hope you have another good week. 

Love,

Sister Ashlee Nicoll

p.s. I met a friend of Josh Drew's. I forgot her name, something like Mackenzie? But she was here in Ireland for a nanny job and she came to YSA on thursday and I found out she was from Queen Creek and that she was in Beauty and the Beast with Josh. Crazy!! Also on Sunday there was a couple here on their honeymoon from AZ and then another couple from phoenix here on vacation. Love running into good ol' Az people!   

Daddy,

As for money each month they put in I think 160 euros. That is for groceries and anything that will help toward fulfilling my mission. In our flat there are 2 rooms and one bathroom. We all sleep in one room. I am on a mattress on the floor. Not too shabby sleeping though. All our stuff is in the other room. It is not super tidy like you would like it but it stays fairly clean and we clean it up each monday :) I have been doing the dishes often just so you know. It is getting a bit colder but I still don't know what cold really is so I will have to see when the time comes, whether my clothes will hold out or not.

Love,

Sister Nicoll

Hello From Ireland! September 10, 2012

Dear Fam and Friends,

hello everyone who knows sister Nicoll. I would just have you know that she is a really really great missionary and is doing great things out here and is quite possibly the funniest person that i have ever met. So thanks for letting me have her for a while :) well can't wait to meet you ;) love always sister harris 

Sisters Nicoll, Harris & Peterson

Sister Harris is one of the funniest people! She really wanted to write something! So as you can tell I am having a good time with my companions! These past two weeks have gone a bit faster then before. I will just briefly tell you what has been happening here in my life in Dublin. I am getting to know more people and loving them. A woman named Babs in the ward, not sure if I have mentioned her before but she is great. Last night I was talking to her and tell her that we badly need to go shopping because I will be eating rice cakes for breakfast. This morning she texted us and said "man can not live on rice cakes alone, so I will be bringing you all breakfast". She brought us a feast. She brought a loaf of bread, eggs, sausage, bacon, and loads of candy (she works at Candbury). She took us out to eat last week to a very nice restraunt. She really takes good care of the missionaries here. Another cool thing about her is that she knows Irish Sign Language. Alot of signs are different then ASL but some are similar so I am having her teach me and compare what we know. There are a few deaf  people in the ward and she told them I know a little sign, so I sign very little with them but it is fun. They understand that I don't do well. 

So I have three things I want to tell about. First, last p-day we went on a hike along the irish sea. It was beautiful. It is somewhere near Bray I think? But our cool investigator Sean took us. I have lots of pictures. It was a nice sunny day and perfect weather. Today is more of a shopping and relaxing p-day. We may go to the church and play sports with the elders. Then this past week we went finding in city centre. We had a station set up about family history and were encouraging people to come to our church to use the computers there for family history. Sister Harris and I had a contest of passing out 5 pamphlets first. It made it alot better. Last thing to say is yesterday I gave a talk in the ward. It went well. I talked on covenants and them blessings that come from keeping them. But the best part is, that after sacrament an older couple came up to me and said that they are from Mesa, Arizona also. Had I nice chat with them. It was a sweet blessing to just meet people from your home town. They are here for a couple days and then going on a nice cruise. But over all this week has been a great one. The work is moving slowly but moving nonetheless. You all are the best!!!! I love you all and thank you for everything. This week I got a package from patti, grandma and grandpa Nicoll and then from Cody also. All full of sweet surprises. Being on a mission you begin to appreciate the same things and absolutely love the big things. I love Heavenly Father and Jesus and I know that they are mindful of us and want the best for us all! Hope all is well this coming week.

Love,

Sister Nicoll

NOW IN DUBLIN!!!!‏

Sent:

Mon 9/3/12 4:17 AM

Hello Fam and Friends,

So I am now in Dublin, Ireland. It is a whole lot busier then Limerick. So many people. I live once again in the City Centre because we do not have a car and travel by bus to most everywhere. It is nice though because basically everything we need is within walking distance. It is beautiful here. I have noticed that most the parks in Ireland are so pretty. Probably because it is green everywhere here! But I just love when we meet with investigators in the park. Anyway... I love my new companions. I am pretty sure I was sent here to get help from them. They seriously are such a help to me. I am now with Sister Peterson and Sister Harris. Sister Peterson is the senior companion and does an amazing job at helping me and Sister Harris. She leads by example and it helps so much. But pretty sure she gets annoyed with us two because we laugh a whole lot. Sister Harris is super funny. She is still having a tough time because she had a hard time with her previous companion. But we keep praying that she will get through this hard time because I can honestly see that she will be an amazing missionary. She loves to go out and talk to people even though she is struggling. So both of my new companions are great examples. It is different working with them but so far it has worked out a bit better for me.  Sometimes it seems overwhelming with three Sisters to go visit people but there was a trio here and one just finished her mission so most people are use to it. But it makes it harder to know when to speak up in lessons but we have done pretty well with that. The Dublin ward seems good. I still miss Limerick but there seems like there are some pretty solid cool people. There is one man named Kalvin Troy and he likes basketball a lot and he even has played against Larry Bird. So it is fun talking to him. Then there is a lady named Babs and she is just a nut. She is hilarious. She works at Cadbury so we get free chocolate and candy often :) They seem to snatch up the missionaries really quick in the wards. I have been asked to talk in church next week already. I don't think they understand my fear of talking or maybe they do so that is why they ask. BUt all will be well. 

Wednesday is when I arrived in Dublin. Got to my new flat around 11 and Sister Jedlickova stayed with us til 5:30pm when her new companion arrived. It was p-day so we got together with about 6 Elders from this area and went to a free museum and it was neat. Not a huge fan of museums. But it was a fun day getting to know all the new missionaries I will be serving with for the next 6 weeks. Wish there was more to write about but can't think of much else. It has been a great week and I am excited to see what this transfer holds in store. I am warming up to speaking more, although we haven't had too much finding time this week. They have been working with a young man named Sean. He is soooooo cool., He is an Irish man and he is actually taking us on a hike today to see the beautiful sites of Ireland. I am super excited. Don't worry mom I will take lots of pictures. :) Love you all so much. Thank you all for the support it means alot to me. 

Glad to hear that Josh and Cody made it home safely. Love hearing from them!

Love, 

Sister Nicoll