Sent:

Mon 7/30/12 7:11 AM

HEY!!!!!‏

Dearest Fam and Friends,

I am wearing jeans right now since we will be going out somewhere, not sure where because the Zone leaders are deciding. But It feels so wonderful to be in jeans!!! I love hearing from ya'll. Emails are great but I don't have too much time to read them but I do it. It costs to print them off so I just read them during my hour on the computer. So I am sorry if I do not answer all your questions. If I don't answer your questions send them again the next week and I will try to do it then. Okay sorry that was a lame beginning paragraph but I just wanted ya all to know :)THis week has been alot better with my companion. She still likes to talk or sing non-stop but I am learning to tune it out more. But sometimes I think I tune out when she says something important. So that is what I will be working on this week, tuning out at appropriate times :) She is becoming less stressed and I am learning more what to do. Still have our rough days, but who doesn't when you are with someone constantly? THis week we met with alot of members. I am getting to know most of them, which is wonderful. But that doesn't leave enough time to go out and find people. I think we both don't like going out finding and we find excuse to not. We will work on that too. haha. I still am very shy to talk to those on the street of course. But I hope to really try hard to do it more this week. Big act of faith. But faith without work is dead, right? :) I hope you like all the smily faces I put in the emails. I notice I do it alot :) :) :) haha Anyways..... Tuesday as Sister Jedlicoka and I were waiting for a bus, she stopped a man and talked about eternal families. THat peaked his interest and she gave him a book of mormon. He accepted it and for the first time on Saturday I gave the first discussion about the restoration. It went well and he is going to meet with us again this week. Super exciting! His name is Paul and found his strength in God 2 years ago as he gave up drinking. His story is really touching and I really like him! Most investigators cancel on us. So I have only met a few of them. BUt I should be meeting more this week. I love bearing my testimony to them. Not so much the people on the street but the people that let us in,  I do :) We went by another potential investigator the previous sisters met with. Her name is Sarah and she is really kind and has been searching things about our church for a bit and wants to learn more. I hope it is a sincere learning. She is great also. Really kind. Then met with a less active, Sister Smirnov who wants to go to the temple but has some concerns with it by what she has heard and seen about it. It broke my heart to hear what she has hear about the temple but we bore our testimonies about the temple and it looked like her heart was softening. She is one of the sweetest ladies I have met. So I really want to help her with it. The work is good. I am enjoying it  more and more as I get to understanding it more.

Dad, I just wanted to let you know that I love your example of missionary work and be strong in the church. I know we give you a hard time about it but now being a missionary I see how key members are to the work. I love you so much! You are the greatest. All of you are. But everyone take my dad's example in missionary work and GET INVOLVED!!! :)

Momma, I love you too! You have the greatest example of faith and love. I love you so much.

Amanda, Brent, Kaeli-Ann, and Chris- I could never ask for better siblings. Stay amazing! I love you all

Til next week,

Sister Nicoll

p.s. I had dinner with a member who is famous. Don't know his first name but he is Brother Botts. THey moved here for his schooling from utah. He was the bass player for Ryan Shupp? and the rubber band. They sang Dream big. Remember it? I thought it was neat. Look him up.

p.s.s Olympics are just as big here as in the usa. They think it is cool but not the hottest topic around. A couple times it was on the t.v. when we went to members homes. But we had to turn it off. Lame but obedience is the key :)

Sent: July 23, 2012
First week in the field!!!!!!!!!‏

Hello Everyone,
This has been a crazy crazy week. I will probably forget to write a lot of important things but that is okay! I am missing the MTC! I am so thankful for the experiences I had there. The Sisters and Elders that I got to spend so much time with. My companion from the MTC is serving in Manchester, England mission. But off to a new adventure. We left early early Wednesday morning. I had to be up at 4 am and leave at 5:30am and got to Edenburgh at about 11am. Once we got there we went and hiked Pratt’s Hill with all the trainees and trainers along with President and Sister Brown. It was FREEZING! It was raining pretty hard (at least for an Arizona girl) and the wind was blowing hard. So it wasn’t a beautiful experience physically but spiritually it was. They told us about how Orsen Pratt hiked that hill and dedicated himself to the Lord for his mission and they asked us to do the same. So we all went off and said our own prayers and it was just really neat. We then went back to the mission home and changed. Next was a delicious meal. Potatoes of course with some meat. Then came our moment to find out who our trainers were. Most of them I felt I could get along with. They were all sweet and fun. Except one. She was pretty loud basically the whole time and just wasn’t someone who I would really get along with. And you guessed it. She is my trainer. God sure knows what we need to learn and grow. That is how it was in the MTC also. I could see myself getting along with all the others but the one I am called with is the one I am least likely to get along with. But it is okay. So I am called to serve in Limerick, Ireland and my trainer is Sister Jedlickova. She is from the Czech Republic and I am still working on how to pronounce her name. You pronounce it like yed-leech-kova. Very interesting.  She has been out for about a year. She is really stressed being a trainer because she is use to being a junior companion. This is her first time training and being in charge. So she doesn’t like going slower with it all. She is pretty good though. We decided last night we will help each other in the areas we lack in and help each other grow and get rid of our pride. So we may not stay life long friends but I feel we are both going to learn a lot from it. We are together for 12 weeks. So if I come home early you know why J Just kidding! I just learned I have to be careful what I ask her because she hates silence and so if it is quiet I have to treasure the time. Like yesterday we were walking and she look a little confused so I asked her if she knew where we were and she said yes. But that answer didn’t suffice HER so she had to tell a couple stories of when she was lost. It makes me laugh sometimes. I hope it doesn’t sound too negative. We get along for the most part. It some things we got to work through. Probably when I get use to things more and get what’s going on we will have a better time. Wow that was a lot of nothing. So I will tell you more about my mission. I am on a walking/bus mission. We take the bus to a lot of the homes we visit. And if the bus doesn’t go that way, either our zone leaders or mission couple drives us places. It is pretty convenient. About 4 days of the week we have members feeding us either lunch or dinner. It is hard for them to do it because the branch is so spread out that we have to find a ride over and the branch only has 120-200 members and it is split between us and elders. Yesterday was my first Sunday and the whole ward is so welcoming to the new missionaries. I love this branch. They had me come up and bare my testimony, it was great! The rest of the days we visited investigators and less actives. Great people. Then we went street contacting. Do not enjoy that at all. But we got to spread the word somehow. I let my companion do most the talking. But that is about it. I will send pictures soon. I need to figure all that out.
Enough about me. Sounds like back home some fun things are happening. Sad I didn’t get pictures of landon this week. Can’t believe that Chris and Kaeli got another dog and they didn’t even name it sis. Nicoll after me. I am not surprised that Kaeli spoke for 30 minutes instead of 15. hahah I wish I was there to hear it. She was always a great speaker. Hope your week this week is a great one also. I am always praying for you guys. But It was good to hear from Jennifer, Mom, and Dad. You guys are great. As you can tell my p-day is now on Monday. Letters are great!!! Keep them coming. Also don’t send any packages if you haven’t already. It costs so much. They said it is best to just send money. So you should do that instead. At least til Christmas. I am going to try and write letters today. My companion doesn’t really want to but that is too bad! I love you all sooooooo much!
Much Love,
Sister Nicoll

Sent: July 23, 2012

I forgot some things.‏

Hello again,

I forgot some things. First of all I am sorry to hear about Rozlyn. Keep me updated on that. I really hope she can go out again. I know that she was very excited to serve and she would make a great missionary.

This is my new address for at least the next 6 weeks. Takes about 5 days to get here. So you have time to write at this address and the mail will always get here if you send it to the mission home. 

303 Newtown House

Henry street

Limerick, Ireland

No zip code or anything. That is all of it.

 Alright I think that is all. If not I will tell you next week.

Love, Sister Nicoll

Headed to Scotland/Ireland- A "Real" Missionary

Group of 19 going to Scotland/Ireland!

Final Day At the MTC- District Pictures

Final MTC EMail- Too Short!!

Sent:

Tue 7/17/12 1:44 AM

Leaving SO soon!‏

I am to just let you know that I am leaving tomorrow the 18th. Sorry I thought it was the 17th for some reason. I am to wake up at 4 am to start my transfer day. Brutal! But I am nervous and excited. I have some awesome people here that I am traveling with. Love you all and email you next week!

 Love, Sister Nicoll

British Fish & Chips July 16, 2012

MTC Relief Society- July 15, 2012

Ashlee & MTC Missionaries Singing- View the Video

View the Video

Final Day of Street Contacting July 13th

England MTC Group Photo July 12th

P-Day at the Temple

The Abinadi District

 

Street Contacting in Manchester

Sister Nicoll and Sister Crookston give away their first Book of Mormon

The area in which they were contacting

Week Two, BABY!!!

Hello!!!!!

Another week has gone by! Craziness! It has been a great week. All the events blend together, so sorry if it is all jumbled up or if I have already mentioned things before. It has still rained a little bit each day and stays over cast most of the day. I love it! So much better then sunny and 110 degrees. During exercise time I play sports. I am so happy I have a pretty laid back companion that likes trying out sports. I have played basketball and football(soccer). It is way fun and great weather to play it in. So the biggest thing that happened this week was street contacting yesterday. It went pretty well. The whole MTC (only 52 of us, not 500 like provo) went to Manchester to street contact. Me and my companion worked well together. I was fine at going up to people and starting a conversation about themselves or get any coversation going and then my companion would segway the conversation to the gospel. We would both bare testimony of something and leave them with a pass along card and gave one man the Book of Mormon. We did well for our first time. Talked to a group of 6 friends on the bus there that were headed home from partying all night in liverpool. So with them we just talked about England. Not much about the gospel. They asked thing about our mission and why we were doing it but they didn't care much to here about our beliefs. Which was fine because we learned about England and their lingo. In Manchester we talked to about 5 or 6 people. Some people we talked to for about 15-20 minutes. There are very interesting people in the world. Talked to a man who said we don't have the authority to preach because we have not been born again. Which we never understood what his definition was of born again but we for sure were not born again. Another man has seen the resurrected Lord (which he may have, not judging too much) and He told this man about the millenium and the second coming. Funny people. I noticed the more people tore us down and told us we were wrong the more I knew it was true. We have the FULNESS of the gospel. It was still hard listening to them but I felt love for them and can't wait for them to know the truth. Hard but good experience. We are going again friday. Very nervous. Another cool event was singing in the ward that is near our MTC. It was powerful singing with all the Elders and sisters there. We sounded awesome!!! Not bragging or anything but golly it was good. Most other days we had class, class, lunch, class, dinner, class and bed. Long but good days of learning. Can't believe I leave to the field one week from tomorrow. Next week I will only have 5 minutes to email because it will be transfer. So it will be a short email. Thank you for all the emails and letters. I love getting emails. And we are able to print them off here and read them so it doesn't count as the 30 minutes of emailing. So I can read them all but not sure how it works in the field. I will let you know. But I loved hearing from all and sounds like this week has been a great one for the family. Glad to hear from Grandma and Patti and to know you all are doing well also. Hope Aunt Ginny continues to recover well. Love and miss you!

Love, Sister Nicoll

 

p.s. sorry about the grammer and spelling again. I should really work on it :)

Choir, sisterly love, devotional broadcast with David Archeleta:)

Maybe the sisters felt like they should match like the elders do :)

Musical number by David Archeleta (who is at Provo's MTC)

Class outside!

175th Anniversary of the First baptism in England and singing in the choir

Celebration in Avenham park

Choir practice, P.E., & getting ready for class

Fourth of July celebration (while in England)

Traditional hamburgers, BBQ chicken, potato salad, corn on the cob and rootbeer

Trip to the England temple