Merry Christmas!!

Hey everyone!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! This is SUCH an exciting time of year; I love it! I hope everything back home is going well and you all are having an incredible time. Things here have been pretty average for the most part. We had zone conference which is always fun, and this time it was even better because we had all the zones on the island there, so 5 zones in all. We had a great training by our zone leaders about applying the Plan of Salvation to our mission « lives » and it was really impressive. I really like having Elder Pratt as our new zone leader; he is really impressive. Then after all of the trainings we had a little Christmas party for the missionaries. Several of the sisters in the Montreal ward had cooked us a beautiful Christmas dinner and we all got to wear Christmas hats and got Christmas presents. It was so much fun : ) I loved seeing all of the elders from last transfer who had been transferred to other places.

I don`t have much news other than that…I really can`t think of anything that`s happened this week. On Monday we went Christmas caroling for FHE, and that was a lot of fun. We spent a lot of time finding since most of our potentials/investigators are MIA due to finals or going home for Christmas or a lack of interest. We did go visit April, the recent convert who was baptized right before I got here, and that was really sad. She`s not interested in the slightestin hearing anything to do with religion and kept us very much at arms length. It was one of those times where the other person is being as rude as they can while still putting on the pretense of being polite. It really was upsetting. Poor Sister Williams took it really hard and ended up crying half the night because of it. Hopefully someday she`ll realize what she`s missing out on… This week should be pretty exciting, although a bit unproductive. My companions have both been sick for the past few days. Sister Williams was so bad she couldn`t even stand up, so we haven`t been as productive as we would`ve liked to have been. They`re now both getting better and I`m starting to get it. Not fun. But we`re hoping to all be better by Christmas : ) OH, and it`s so exciting, after weeks of begging we actually have Christmas plans now! We all hinted strongly in our President`s letters last week that we needed a Christmas dinner since we were the only missionaries we knew that didn`t have one, and then in his training, President talked about his first Christmas in France in which he didn`t have a heater in his room (there was only a space heater to heat the whole apartment and the senior comp had it in his room) and none of his presents had gotten there on time and his comp wouldn`t let him watch while he opened his, so Christmas morning he got up and ironed his sheets to remove the ice from them so they were warm enough to crawl back into and try to sleep while his comp opened his presents. So we figured we wouldn`t get any sympathy from him. BUT! Luckily Sister McKinnon was feeling generous and has invited several companionships over for Christmas Eve dinner, which should be SO fun : ) Then the Bishop of the family ward invited the whole zone over for a brunch on Christmas Day, then a woman who we just met 2 days ago invited us over for Christmas dinner since it was only going to be her and her 40 year old son, so we`re pretty excited about all of that : ) I`m not entirely sure when I`ll be calling home, but probably sometime between 1 and 5 Christmas afternoon…I don`t quite know how it will work out either. I was supposed to buy a calling card today, but I forgot to, so if we get them I`ll be calling from either the church or our cell phone. If not, then I`ll be going to the Anderson`s (the senior couple here…I just love them!) and using Skype to call home.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! Thanks again so much for the support and letters and everything : ) I love you all tons!
Love, Sister Nicole Lindsey

It's almost Christmas! I finally got boots!

Hey everyone!

It sounds like things are going really well back home…it’s almost Christmas time! I’m so excited to call home and talk to everyone :) Tell David congratulations on everything with the Madrigal concert…I bet he was amazing. Any chance he can send me a recording of the songs that he sang? And Michelle too…she said she might send a recording of her choral performance, and I’d love it if I can have it. Our president is really lax with music, and at Christmas time we can listen to any Christmas music, not just LDS Christmas music. We’re still pretty conservative with what we listen to just because we know the difference between uplifting music and mission uplifting music (music that makes us motivated to actually do missionary work instead of just uplifting music), but there are a lot of elders who take complete advantage of President’s music rules. We were in the car with some elders this morning on the way back from doing laundry and they were listening to “Mormon Tabernacle Remixed” which is basically the rap version of Motab. It was hilarious, but not something that I would feel comfortable listening to everyday. We are getting the J Groban Christmas CD for evenings while we’re getting ready for bed tonight though :)

So this week was full of miracles, Saturday especially. Oh but first, I have a new companion! Her name is Sister Morse, this is her 5th transfer and she was in Quebec City for the first 6 months of her mission. She’s a lot of fun; I really like her. And she really wants to work hard and is used to working hard (Quebec is a really hard area without much success…they actually closed it this transfer but are hoping to reopen it soon) so it’s exciting to have her here. And we all seem to work fairly well together. It’s been interesting trying to adjust to 3 people in our companionship and teaching in our lessons instead of just 2, but it’s been pretty good so far. I’m excited for this transfer :) Also, since she’s been up in Quebec, she speaks French perfectly and so hopefully mine will improve. I don’t speak French hardly at all while I’m up here since we only work with English speaking YSA, but I’m hoping to get her to PVL (parlez votre langue - speak your language) with me often. We’ll see how it goes.

But anyways, back to the miracles. Saturday was incredible. We got to the church at a bit after 11 and we were supposed to meet Rob there at 11:30, but he didn’t show up. We waited there just making calls until almost noon and then were about to give up and go to the metro to contact to go for lunch or something like that, but then Sarah, this cute Chinese girl we’ve been teaching, showed up! We were supposed to meet with her on Sunday but she was leaving for China on Sunday so she was going to have to cancel so she decided to stop by the church and see if we were there. We taught her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and then Sister Williams asked why she was afraid of being baptized and she said she just had some questions and asked them and we were able to answer all of them and she was so happy at the end of it! All of her concerns (for the moment) were put to rest and she promised to read everyday while she’s over in China. It was so exciting…hopefully it will be the same when she gets home :) Then we went contacting for a bit, then came back and ate dinner, then met with Earnest and that was so frustrating…there is such a difference between teaching people who listen to answers and those who don’t. He asked a question and I started answering it and 2 words into it he rolled his eyes and made some noise (psh…or something, I don’t know how to actually write the sounds out, haha) and I was so irritated by it and said “Don’t “psh” me; I’m not done talking yet!” and he apologized and listened and I was able to answer his question. My companions just started laughing. Luckily he didn’t get upset that I was that rude…I figured he could take it ;) But it was a very frustrating lesson. Then we went to the metro to wait for our less active, Mike, who was going to meet us there and go to the Spirit of Christmas fireside with us. We waited for awhile, but he didn’t show up. So we were going to leave and guess who came out of the metro, heading home for the day? ROB! Our newly baptized man who had smurfed us that morning for our lesson and who we hadn’t been able to contact all week and had been worried sick about. Turns out he had some military function (he’s with the reserves) and so he hadn’t been able to come and he hadn’t been able to get ahold of us. So we told him about the fireside and he changed his plans right then to come with us. It was SO exciting :). Then the fireside was great. It was one of the musical ones where everyone sings Christmas songs and the Spirit was so strong. Oh, and another miracle: remember the Japanese girl I mentioned that I’d met at the service project last Saturday who had unexpectedly shown up for church last week? We ran into her at the bus stop on our way to the chapel. She had heard about the Spirit of Christmas and had wanted to come, and brought her best friend (a girl from Montreal) with her. Elder Cowley talked to her friend, Raphaelle, and she said she didn’t believe in God at all, and he bet her $100 that she would hear something that night and something inside her would click and she would know that what we were doing and saying was true. And it happened! Elder Ronndahl sang “Oh Holy Night” for the closing song and the Japanese girl, Saiah, was really touched, and Raphaelle just started to bawl. So we’re teaching her next week :) It was so perfect. I love it when those miracles happen…God definitely does have a plan and things always work out the way they do for a reason. Rob smurfed us, but we were there to talk to Sarah. Mike smurfed us, but because of that we ran into Rob. We met Saiah last week and she introduced us to Raphaelle. So perfect. I love it.

Other than that, life has been fairly uneventful recently. We passed off one of our committeds and another really great guy, Zach, to Elder Jest and Elder Laforney because they weren’t in our area which was pretty upsetting, but that’s all right…we’ll find other great people soon, I’m sure. I’m really excited to get out and start working harder. Oh, and it was great! We had a dinner appointment last night with two girls in our branch, Lynda and Sacha, and they are so cute. I just love them. And I will never again complain about having a tiny apartment. Theirs was BY FAR the smallest I have EVER seen…Their kitchen seriously wasn’t any bigger than a closet and their bedroom barely fit a dresser and a bunkbed. I would be so claustrophobic living there. But they love it, and they were so sweet to invite us over for dinner :) Then after that we went to visit a less active with another member of our branch, Jenn, and we got there and could NOT find her house anywhere. Hers was number 919, and the houses went from 921 to 917, with nothing in between at all. We even asked one of the people living in 921, and they had no idea where 919 was. So we called her and she had moved MONTHS ago to somewhere in the west island about an hour away. So we’re visiting her next weekend instead. It was pretty funny.

Oh! And we had our first REAL snow storm! I bought boots on Tuesday (thank goodness…they were entirely too much money though) and there was a huge snow storm on Wednesday. Like 10 inches. But they cleared the roads and everything, so yesterday I thought I’d be fine wearing regular shoes instead of boots, so I didn’t wear them. It snowed again yesterday. Another 4 inches just while we were in church…so crazy. I realized having boots doesn’t help too much if I don’t wear them :) But the snow is gorgeous and it will definitely be a white Christmas! I’m so excited! I hope you all have a good week and take care…I love you tons!! :)

Love, Sister Nicole Lindsey

PS: thanks for the letters! That always makes the day more exciting. Love you tons!

I survived the transfer and am in a threesome!!

Hey everybody!

This week was WONDERFUL! :) ROB GOT BAPTIZED!!! It was SO exciting...it went really well. It was at 9 in the morning, so we had to be there extremely early to fill up the font, had a bit of a difficult time printing programs, and we ended up starting a bit late, but it still worked out all right. It was pretty funny; at about 8:45 Rob and the elders were the only people who had shown up, so we were starting to get a bit nervous. We called our ward mission leader, Jean-Luc, and asked where he was and he said "Oh sisters, thanks so much for waking me up!" Sister Williams just about flipped. He asked us if Brother Donaldson (counselor in the branch presidency) was there yet and if maybe we could just do PEC first and THEN have the baptism. Sister Williams was furious. She was trying so hard to be nice at first but then stopped and said "I'll preside the stupid thing myself if I have to! You had better be here in 15 minutes or..." and he interrupted her to say he would be there as soon as he could, but it still might be a little while. She just hung up the phone. Then the APs showed up and she started complaining to Elder Cowley and he said "Wait, Jean-Luc? He's out in the parking lot right now on the phone." and then he walks in, completely ready. It was so funny :) But the baptism itself went really well. I took pictures, I'll try to send them next week. One of the recent converts, Robyn, gave the talk and did an incredible job, and then Richard, a convert of about 2 years, actually performed the baptism, and it was so neat. He did a really great job. And afterwards Rob was so happy! He was so excited before it actually happened and then afterwards we asked how he felt and he said he just had such an incredible feeling and was so happy...he couldn't stop smiling! :) I loved it. A guy in the ward, Jared, did the confirmation which was good. He had helped a lot in the fellowshipping so it was great that he was able to participate in some way. I think it's good that members of the ward participate actively in the confirmation/baptism ordinances...that way there isn't really just the one missionary that the recent convert is depending on. They can form that bond with someone in the ward who won't be leaving anytime soon. Otherwise they'll be like many of the other recent converts who are torn apart completely when the missionary who baptized them goes home or is transferred. i think I'm going to encourage everyone from here on out to have members of the ward baptize them instead of missionaries...we'll see how that works out :)

What else happened this week? Oh! We did a service project on Saturday which was so fun! We collected food for the NDG food drive and we got to go around with the military/ SIster Williams and I rode in one of the army trucks...definitely worth the 3 hours of freezing outside while we were knocking doors, haha. I loved it. We were also on the news while we were sorting the food afterward, or at least, that's what the woman in charge told em at church yesterday, but I don't know if we actually were or where you would be able to find that to see it. But it was still a really neat experience. I also met a girl there from Japan who had been living in Quebec for 2 months and then moved to Montreal just 2 days before and I talked to her for a bit, she came around the town with us while we were collecting food, and we invited her to church and she showed up! It was such a shock...but there she was, and she stayed for all three meetings! Two of the girls in the ward are fluent in Japanese (one served her mission there, I don't know about the other one) so they both talked to her and explained everything, which was wonderful, and so it turned out really well. I'm not sure she's really interested, but she said she might come to FHE tonight and she'll definitely be at French class tomorrow, so we'll see what happens. I'm expecting a miracle this Christmas...maybe she's a part of it :)

Also....I made it through my first transfer!! My second transfer officially starts tomorrow, and I have my planner decorated and ready to go :) I'm excited. We got home Saturday evening to wait for the call around 8...it didn't actually come through until almost 10 so we were just sitting there waiting for news to come in. We had our friend Bruno sneak a peak at the board in President McKinnon's office (he cleans the mission home) on Friday and so we pretty much knew what was going on with us (President Mckinnon was so upset though...he said he's never letting Bruno in his room again. But we got the information!), but didn't know much else that was happening, so we were sitting and waiting for all the other elders to call us and tell us what was happening with each of them, and it was CRAZY. They flushed like 5 areas, 2 of them were zone leader areas which is like unheard of in this mission, and then they just put bizarre companionships together in random places. 3 of the elders are leaving halfway through this transfer to get back to school in time, so we weren't sure what was going on with them, and they ended up doing some completely unexpected things. Like Elder Porter is being transferred to some boonies area in Ottawa and training an elder fresh from the MTC for these 3 weeks and then they'll have to replace him with somebody...not quite what I would have done. As for us, both Sister Williams and I are staying in Concordia (the YSA English branch), but since one of the sisters is going home and we're not getting any new ones this transfer, they're closing Quebec City and Sister Morse is coming to Concordia so we'll be a trio. It will be an interesting experience...I can't quite decide what to think about it. Our apartment is so tiny, so we've spent the past day or so cleaning out the junk that has been piling up for the past 5 or so years and it is insane how much can accumulate. I've heard she's pretty quiet, but that she likes to work hard, so we'll see what she's like when we meet her tomorrow. I think it'll be a good transfer :)

Other than that, there hasn't been anything too exciting going on this week. Life is pretty much the same as always. We were both a bit under the weather this week so we didn't get quite as much contacting done as we wanted to, and I didn't think we were working all that hard, but we still managed to do better than every other area in our zone. Kind of crazy how that works out. And we had a miracle (of sorts). Remember that kid Michael who came to church with his friend Sonny last week? He randomly showed up at the Church on Thursday wanting to be baptized and we just happened to be there, so we taught him the first discussion and it went so well. He's had a pretty rough life, but wants to change it completely. He said he felt something in church...he almost started crying during Sacrament meeting, and he wants that always in his life. So it was great. We taught him the second lesson on Saturday and that went well too, but we're going to have to pass him off...he has an 8 yr old daughter who he hasn't seen in 3 years, but he's taking his ex to court for custody, so he's not exactly YSA. But it still was exciting to have him be so interested. And we met with a member referral who was way sweet and another really cute girl named Dominique who we met on the metro about a month back. Unfortunately both of them have finals this week so we can't see them again for another week or so, but I'm hoping for good things with both of them :)

I love you all tons and thanks so much for the letters, support, and prayers! It really means a lot to me. I miss you tons and can't wait to talk to you in just a couple of weeks! I love you!

Love, Sister Nicole Lindsey

We got your Christmas package!!!

Hey Mom!

So the internet isn’t working right now…I was able to read your messages but not respond, so I won’t be able to answer your questions in full right now since I don’t really remember what they are. I did get the packages though!! They came today; it was so exciting!! J We were doing our laundry and one of the elders (Elder Leman from Belgium…he’s so fun, I just love him) called me to tell me that I had two HUGE packages waiting for me. It was so exciting. And there were several other elders there who all made a huge deal about having enormous packages and I just laughed and said that my family loves me J Thank you so much! I’m so excited to go home and decorate! Sister Williams and I were looking through them a bit and found the little tree and the decorations…such a cute idea. Thanks again, so much!

Life here is pretty standard…nothing too exciting from this week. It has gotten pretty cold…today it’s about 2 C according to the weather in the metro (don’t ask me how cold that is in F) and tomorrow it’s supposed to be 0 C, getting to a low for the week of –2 C on Thursday. So crazy. And I still haven’t bought boots yet. We were going to go last week but then it was Sister Cerdhe’s birthday so all of the sisters on the island (all 8 of us) and Robyn went out to eat and it ended up taking all afternoon so we didn’t get a chance to buy them. So we were going to do it this morning, but laundry and groceries and everything ended up taking forever and we don’t have tons of time, so I have no idea when we’re going to be able to go get them. I need to soon though; the first snowfall of the year was today! I guess it’s a lot later than it usually is so some of the Canadians were a little nervous…one of our investigators prayed for snow the other day. Her name is Stephanie and she’s way cute, but I wasn’t too happy about that part of the prayer…oh well. It is pretty at least J

Ooh, and happy (late) Thanksgiving! I forgot about it last Monday or I would have said something in that email. It sounds like you guys had a lot of fun! And I completely forgot about black Friday…I’m bummed I missed out! That’s great that you were able to finish most of the Christmas shopping…I love this time of year! Our Thanksgiving was really fun. Elder and Sister Anderson, a senior couple here that teach Institute and are just the sweetest people, invited all the missionaries in our zone over for a Thanksgiving dinner. It was SO much fun…they set it up as a buffet and people were coming and going from 1 until about 5 pm, so we went there around 3 with 6 or so other elders and it was just so much fun. It made the day a lot better. Unfortunately, they tend to take after Grandma and Grandpa Lindsey in their celebration of Thanksgiving and only had one kind of pie…I think next year I’m just going to make about 10 the day before Thanksgiving so I can finally have a real celebration ;)

OH, there were some crazy things from this week though that I almost forgot to mention! We were in the metro on Tuesday, talking to one of the members that Sister Williams knows from another ward, and one of the drivers on the green line got out of his car and went and talked to the police officers. I guess he really doesn’t like missionaries and always makes an announcement when he sees them telling them not to proselyte on the metro because it’s “illegal”. Sister Williams recognized him because he had to talk to her one time since she didn’t understand the announcement and he was pretty rude to her. So anyways, he talked to the police officers and then they came over and told us we weren’t allowed to talk to anyone in the metro. I said that we weren’t selling anything and we weren’t handing anything out unless they were interested in which case we gave them a pass-along card, but we didn’t do anything more than that (which is within the bounds of the rules…we weren’t doing anything wrong) and they said that we weren’t allowed to do that there. I asked if we would be allowed to continue just talking to people without handing out the cards and they said that was bending the rules and we weren’t allowed to do that at all and we would have to leave the metro station if we tried. So we left the metro station and ran into one of the APs on the way out and told him what happened and he told us we should go back in there and keep talking anyways. Then if we got arrested we’d be legends J We still didn’t go back, but just rode the metro for awhile talking to people instead. Oh, and while we were riding the metro, there was one time when there were no YSA people on our car, so the train stopped and I got off to get onto a different car and try to talk to some people. Right as Sister Williams went to follow me off, the doors shut, leaving me on the platform and her in the car, and there was nothing we could do. So she rode to the next station. I waited for the next train and wasn’t sure if I should get on it or not, so I decided I might as well get on. She wasn’t sure what to do either, so at the next station she got on the train heading back to the station we had split off at. Luckily, my train arrived right as hers was about to leave and she looked over and saw me through the window (pretty miraculous how it happened with both of us being on cars across from each other) and so she quickly got off and we were back together again. And I definitely freaked out about not having a companion with me. 5 weeks into the mission and I can't be without one, haha. Also, tell Michelle that I already have the missionary voice too...it came about the first week here and I know I'm doing it and I can't stop it. I'll try to get rid of it before I come back though, don't worry :)

OH, and another crazy story...so remember that one I mentioned last week about that guy Sonny who asked for my number in the metro but we never called him, then he randomly showed up while we were waiting for someone else and so we had the elders teach him and he dropped off the face of the earth? (side note: make sure you always call the missionaries back. It's so frustrating to just wait for days and have no idea whether you should keep calling or not.) Well, SIster WIlliams and I ran into him and his friend, Michael, at the metro on Saturday and invited them both to church on Sunday. His friend is Catholic, but said they would come anyways as long as he was welcome. So they both showed up for Sacrament meeting yesterday and I invited them to FHE tonight, so we'll see if they come. Michael, after church, asked me if he was doing something wrong and I didn't quite know what he meant, so I said not at all, and he said "Are you sure? I just think I'm doing something wrong." But then I had to run because I was teaching the Sunday School class so I didn't have time to ge to the heart of his question. Hopefully he comes tonight and we can work it out. It was just kind of crazy. oh, and I did speak yesterday in church and it actually turned out pretty well! It was definitely an inspired idea...I had no idea what I was going to talk on and then I remembered the primary song "I belong to the CHurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" and so I took that song and went principle by principle through it: we know who we are (God's children...I quoted that first part of the YW theme), we know God's plan and will follow Him in faith, we beleive in the Savior, Jesus Christ, and honor His name, and finally His truth we will proclaim. I was pretty pleased after writing it. Then I was freaking out a bit Sunday morning since I really hadn't spent hardly any time planning it and wasn't sure what I was going to say and hadn't spent much time on my lesson or anything, and so I asked Bro. Banfield how long I was speaking for and he said "Oh, did I not tell you? You're not speaking today. It's the CES production so Brother Limoges is talking." So I calmed down a bit. Then 5 minutes before it started, Elder Cowley came up to me and said that there''d been a change of plans, Brother Limoges's wife couldn't come, so I was speaking after all. It was so crazy. But it went really well and I had one person come up after and say that it was just what he needed...he had been a bit iffy about church attendance recently and my talk was just what he needed to solidify his testimony. It was really neat :)

AND best news of all!!! ROB IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!! :) This Sunday!! I'm so excited for him. It's going to be so wonderful. He's the first person I ever taught, and he's going to be baptized! I really can't wait at all. OH, and the girl that you talked to on Facebook, Mom, is Robyn and she is probably my favorite person in the branch. I just love her...she said she had talked to you on there and gave me a hug for you last Monday (she came out to eat iwth us) and it was so exciting. She is so cute and we talk to her just about every day. I LOVE her. But anyways, I need to wrap this up, my hour is about over. I love you all tons, and thanks again for the package! You are amazing!! :)

Love, Nicole

Are you freezing yet?

Hey Mom!

How are you? It`s always so good to hear from you! Things here are insane, like always. This week wasn`t quite as good as last week in our work ethic or quality which was pretty frustrating, but we already have a million lessons planned for this next week, so it should be a lot better! Except it`s crazy...I really thought that leaving BYU and coming on a mission meant that I wouldn`t have to deal with boys asking me out anymore. Obviously, I was wrong. I don`t think I told you about Sonny, but he was actually from last week. We met him on the metro (we had planned on going home about 20 minutes earlier and eating dinner, but we ran into one of our zone leaders and he said we couldn`t leave the metro until we had at least 2 phone numbers) and I went up and in the middle of introducing myself he asked me for my phone number. I gave it to him on the condition that he gave us his. I counted it as one of the 2 I needed to appease Elder Sabin, but really had no intention of calling him since he kind of creeped me out. He called us twice that week, and we missed it both times and didn`t call him back. Then we were in the metro last saturday waiting for a man, Curtis, and he came up to us and just kind of stood next to us for awhile. We got the elders to teach him the first discussion and he said he`d be baptized, but then never called or came or returned the missionaries calls, so they decided he was really just in it to meet me and then when he found out I wouldn`t be teaching him, he wasn`t interested anymore. Then I was talking to a man from Turkey on the metro the other day and said we were missionaries and gave him our card with our number on it and he has called EVERY DAY this week to ask me out for coffee. I`ve missed every call and haven`t called him back yet...I need to at some point, but I`ve always been horrible at that...;) THEN we were teaching a less active recent convert, David, the other day and he said at the beginning he wanted to get to know us both better. I said we had tried to get this girl Genevieve to come with us, but she couldn`t, but she`s way cute and we love her so we`d try to get her to come the next time, and he said "Well you`re pretty cute too, I think we should just have you come next time." I wasn`t quite sure what to make of that comment, so I ignored it and went ahead with the lesson. I thought the lesson was going pretty well until about halfway through when he randomly asked "Are you allowed to date on your mission?" I said no and he asked whose choice that was and I said that it was mine. It was a rule given to us, but my decision to obey the rule and I wasn`t going to date until I got home and he said "Well I can easily see someone following you back to the United States when you go home to date you." We tried to get back on topic, but he wasn`t paying much attention at all and we asked if he had any questions for us at the end and he said the dating one was the main one; he just wanted to know if i had a boyfriend or anything. We decided we`re only teaching him once a week from now on and Robyn is coming with us EVERY time. She actually volunteered and said there would be NO comments like that made again while she was in there...she`s so fun; I just love her. She`s probably one of my favorite people in the ward and she helps us all the time...I love it. But yeah, so that made for an interesting week..

Other than that, we decided on Tuesday to start the day of with service. Robyn was having a really hard time with some things, so we made cupcakes for her and wrote "we love you!" on them. It was so cute :) We had extras, so we made some with the same message for another recent convert, April, who`s been sick for the past 2 weeks and then we made a cake for a recent convert/less active, Mike, who had a birthday on Saturday. It was so fun...we went to RObyn`s house to deliver it, but she wasn`t home, so we tried to break in (she wouldn`t mind). The back door was unlocked (turns out she keeps it unlocked just for that reason...in case someone needs something from her house and needs to break in), so I opened the door, but I forgot that she had a MASSIVE dog who started barking at us and I slammed the door shut and then we couldn`t open it again. So we just left them for her outside with a little note. It was fun :) Then we went to April`s house and gave them to her and she loved her cupcakes as well. On the way back though there was this woman on the metro who started screaming at another woman who was getting off because she had a baby and wasn`t married. The woman was calling her all kinds of names and being HORRIBLE to her, and the woman with the baby just ignored her and got off the metro. I looked down the car and made eye contact with a girl about my age and she kind of half smiled so I did the same and the woman hit me with her purse and started screaming at ME asking what I was laughing at and just started swearing at me. I have NEVER been talked to that horribly in my life! It was completely shocking. So I apologized for whatever I had done and she kind of stopped. I looked the other way again and this man smiled at me (I think he just felt bad for me) and so I smiled back to show him that it hadn`t bothered me that much and she started yelling AGAIN asking what I had said, and I replied that I hadn`t said anything and I was sorry, but I really hadn`t said anything. She must have been having a horrible day because she kept swearing and yelling for another minute until the metro stopped and we got off. I just kind of laughed it off, realizing she was having a bad day adn it wasn`t anything personal, but Sister Williams was a bit shaken up and was almost crying because of it. We had interviews with President McKinnon on Wednesday and I mentioned all of those experiences to him (that was the 4th person in as may days to yell at me...and we had another woman on Tuesday tell me that Mormons had no rights and we shouldn`t be allowed to talk to anyone and we were all brainwashed and someone should investigate it. She was a journalist, so she would know ;) ) and he told me that if anyone said anything again, I didn`t need to be polite. I should tell them exactly what I`m thinking. I said I didn`t want to give the church a bad name, and he said the church wouldn`t look good if I punched the guy, but it also didn`t look good if I looked spineless standing there letting him walk all over me. So next time to go with my instincts. I haven`t had anyone bother me since, so I haven`t tried it out yet :)

Hmm...what else happened this week? Oh my gosh! This morning it was awful! Well first, Saturday night we came home a bit early and S. Williams spent 2 hours calling all of the old potentials we had and setting up appointments and since we only had the one phone and I really couldn`t help with anything, I decided to scrub the bathroom and kitchen floors and they were SO gross...I really don`t think our apartment has been deep cleaned in about 2 years. But anyways, so while I was cleaning the bathroom, I felt something in my hair and I freaked. S. Williams came running in - turns out there was a spider in my hair. It was so gross. Then this morning I was in our room doing an ab workout (we have 30 minutes each morning to exercise) and I saw this HUGE bug speed across the floor, so I called her in just as it ran across the floor the other way under her bed. We spent the next 15 minutes trying to find it and finally found it on top of her suitcase. It crawled on the floor and we caught it under this tupperware container. It was so gross...it had about a million legs and was at least 2 inches long and super fast. So we kept it under the container and waited for it to calm down and then had this master plan for S. Williams to lift the container and I would slam the dictionary down on it and kill it. Unfortunately, I didn`t anticipate how fast the little booger would be and I aimed wrong, missing the bug and it came sprinting RIGHT AT ME. I shrieked and jumped on the bed and S. Williams grabbed a tissue box and mutilated it. We decided we didn`t need a cardio workout after that...it had gotten our heart rate up enough :) Hopefully there are no more...

And other than that, life has been pretty standard. We taught a lesson Saturday to a man about blacks and the priesthood. His name is Theo,he is extremely intelligent, not receptive to testimonies in the slightest, and extremely passionate about blacks and the priesthood since he is from Ethiopia. We tried SO hard to find a member for the lesson, but after calling about 10 people and 8 sets of missionaries, we realized we wouldn`t find one. Elder Jest gave us a copy of a fireside he had found on the subject though which helped a lot, and we spent an hour and a half just answering his questions. He still has more, but we answered quite a few. We were pretty proud of ourselves at the end. And it was really neat...there was one point where he asked a question and I answered it, but I had never even THOUGHT of the question before. The words coming out of my mouth were definitely not mine, because they weren`t even ideas I had ever had before until I was saying them, and I knew the Lord was speaking through me and answering Theo`s question with me just as the mouthpiece. It`s a little hard to describe, but it was a really neat experience.

But that`s about it for this week...it`s supposed to snow tomorrow (it`s starting to get REALLY cold here) so I need to go buy boots...wish me luck! Oh, and I`m speaking in Sacrament on Sunday as well as teaching the lesson in Sunday School...please continue praying for me, I need all the help I can get :) I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week! I miss you tons!

Love, Nicole

Life is Crazy!

Hey Mom!

How are you? It’s always so good to hear from you! Things here are going really well…it’s been an interesting week. It’s crazy to see how many ups and downs I’ve already had and I’ve only been out here like 3 weeks. That’s another crazy part…it feels like I’ve been out here for at least 2 months already! I was talking with the zone leaders and one of the ward members, Jared, the other day and they were all shocked when I said I’ve only been out here about 3 weeks and Jared said “Wow…you don’t even LOOK like a greenie anymore!” I guess I’ve adjusted to everything pretty well and fit in well with the ward so they think I’ve been here longer. It makes things a little easier.

So I’ve gained an even stronger testimony this week of the truthfulness of the Elder Holland’s conference talk last October on the Ministry of Angels. I know there are angels around us all the time. This weekend was a bit interesting…on Friday night S. Williams and I went out to eat with the AP’s at this restaurant that our friend April recommended to us. We didn’t quite know how to get there, so this man gave us directions, but he gave us the wrong ones and we ended up on Rue St. Catherine, which is off limits completely for missionaries. That’s where all the strip clubs and barsand everything are, and it’s not a very fun place at all. While we were walking toward it, these 6 guys in their late 20s, early 30’s came up and started talking to me and asked how long I’d been in Montreal “saving people” and I answered their questions and one in particular just wouldn’t leave me alone. The AP’s thought I had contacted them and didn’t want to interrupt if it was a good contact, so they didn’t say anything at all. It was so awful though…I really don’t like situations like that in the slightest. But I finally said goodbye and walked away. Then after dinner (we were a bit late getting home), we were waiting for the metro and this VERY strong Catholic man, Andre, came up to E. Ronndahl and me and started talking to us. S. Williams had talked to him before about a month ago, and he had called us 3 times in one morning to try to convince us that we should be worshipping the saints. So we talked to him for a minute and he was very respectful to E. Ronndahl but didn’t listen to anything I had to say at all. It was just interesting. So then Saturday evening we ran into him again on the metro. He came up to us while we were in the middle of talking to some else and was very vocal about how the Catholic church is the only true church and the Book of Mormon is a false book and on and on and on. I tried talking to him, very diplomatically, and he wouldn’t even let me talk at all. It shook me up a bit and I was ready to cry at the end of it. Not fun. So then yesterday was Stake Conference (I’ll talk more about that in a minute), but afterwards we went to the Metro and ran into him yet again! He asked me if I had thought about what he had said, and I said that I had. He asked me what I thought and I said that I know the Book of Mormon is true and he started yelling about how we’re going to Hell and the catholic church is the only true one and we know that because it’s the ONLY one that won’t support gay marriages, won’t let a woman be a priest, and has been around since the time of Christ. We didn’t argue, but responded quietly. I say we, but mean me; Sister Williams didn’t say anything during the whole thing. He said something else, I don’t quite remember what, but I responded with “I believe there are good people in every religion” and he said “no. No there aren’t. There are good people in the Catholic Church and false prophets and gangsters in every other religion.” That was a kind of funny statement J But then he got on the metro still yelling about how Lionel-Groulx (the name of the metro) was a Catholic priest and he had built that place and we had never done anything like that. It was not a very fun experience. So I was shaking by the end of it, like I could barely stand, and we got on the other metro and almost immediately this other man came up to us and “warned” us not to talk to him, because we were children of the devil and we come in all self-righteous with our books (we usually carry a copy of the Book of Mormon everywhere we go), but he didn’t need that and he didn’t want to hear our false rumors and preachings. I tried to thank him for his concern, but he interrupted me and said that he was sure I was grateful and he could see exactly what I was thinking written all over my face, and I just smiled. He kept going on and told us we were going to Hell and said we didn’t even know anything about God, we only knew about our father, the devil, and then as he was getting of he asked “You don’t even know anything. Who is God anyways?” And I responded that God is our loving Father in Heaven, and he said “yes he is, but you wouldn’t know that because you don’t know anything about Him. He’s not your father.” It was so awful…I don’t enjoy confrontations like that at all, and I was already shaken, so I just started crying as soon as he got off. But getting back to the Ministry of Angels part from earlier…I was blessed enough to have one standing nearby. There was a giant of a man next to me who didn’t speak any English hardly, but he started trying to comfort me. He kept patting me on the back and used his finger (S. Williams said it completely covered my face…he was a huge man) to wipe my tear off my face. It was so sweet. Then he gave me a hug and told me it was Ok and not to cry. He asked if I was Mormon and then where my parents were and then gave me another hug as we were getting off. It was so sweet. I know that my Father in heaven does know me and knows what I need and He does send people to help us whenever we need it. It was wonderful. And thank you for your prayers…I know they help me.
Anyways, in other news…it has been a good week! We still go contacting a lot, it’s always in the metros. We’ve been asked by our mission president to contact 3 hours a day, so we’re in the metros at least that long talking to people. But some of them turn out SO well! We ended up getting the ugly ties earlier this week and had to wear them on our bags all week long until we committed someone, so finally on Thursday we did! We talked to this guy that S. Williams and S. Orozco had contacted while we were on splits the other day, and we committed him to be baptized! I hope it works out…it went so well in the lesson. We had 2 members there with us, which helped a lot, and he stopped in the middle of the lesson to ask how he could join our church, so we told him about baptism, and asked him to be baptized on the 19 of December. He hesitated slightly so we said we didn’t want to push him, but we knew he could have an answer by then, and he said we weren’t pushing at all. It was all just so out of character for him…he never talks to people on the metro, but he felt he should talk to the sisters and then he actually showed up to the appointment which surprised even himself. Then he finished with “Don’t worry…I’ll be a member before long.” It was SO exciting! We also talked to a girl Stephanie who was so excited to meet with us…she said she had just had such a happy feeling when we called to confirm the appointment and she was excited to learn more. It was really great! Earnest came to church, but then got sick and went to the hospital so we haven’t seen him since. But on the plus side, our less active/recent convert who told us on Monday he didn’t want to talk to us or come to church again called us 2 days ago to tell us it was his birthday! S. Williams talked to him for about 30 minutes and by the end he had decided NOT to go to the strip club with his friends and went and said a prayer and then went to bed instead! It was really exciting!

Oh, and it was so funny…every time I tell someone I’m from WV, they mention the John Denver song. I didn’t realize it was so popular until we were in English class the other day and this Chinese man asked where I was from. I told him, and he just started singing “Country roads take me home to the place I belong…” it was SO funny. I loved it. The people here are really great. And I just LOVE the elders in our mission. There are so many incredible ones. I was sick on Wednesday and so we had a million calls from people telling me to feel better soon and giving advice (eat oranges for vitamin C, boil ginger and honey and drink it for sore throats, etc.) Then E. Berrios and E. Jest (the zone leaders for the other zone that we do laundry and groceries with each p-day…I love them) called me another night because they thought I might be having a hard time and sang a song for me over the phone. Then we’ve had 2 sets of elders make us cookies this week just for the fun of it and several call us each night just to make sure we’re doing OK. I love it.

Oh! And Stake conference was yesterday which was SO fun. Elder Cook came and spoke and he has some hilarious stories. He said there was a boy in his high school who he hated and who hated him. They ended up getting their mission calls on the same day, to the same mission, and were bunk mates in the MTC. They became good friends, but each night the other elder would pull out a huge picture of a gorgeous girl and say “She’s waiting for me” and E. Cook would say “You’re such a loser…she’ll never wait for you!” They ended up becoming good friends. The girl didn’t wait though… Elder Cook married her instead, haha. It was pretty funny. So that was fun. And one of our less actives came, which is always exciting. And Rob is doing SO well! He was there and LOVED it, and he also went and visited the temple with the institute group on Friday and sat and read his scriptures and Robyn said he was just beaming the whole time and absolutely loved it. I’m so excited for him. So things are going really well here!

I’m glad to hear things are going well at home! You should video tape the girls and then send it to me…if you put it on an SD card, I’ll be able to watch it on my camera…or there’s probably another way to do it too. I don’t have my camera with me now, but I do have some pictures to send…we went to this huge cathedral last week for P-day, so I have several pictures from that. I’ll try to remember it next time and send it to you. But I’m glad to hear things are going well and I hope this week is wonderful for you! I love you tons and tons! Thanks so much for the letters and the prayers…I miss you!

Love, Sister Nicole Lindsey

Mail packages now to get them for Christmas!!!

Note about packages:

REMEMBER - Tell your families and friends that Christmas packages need to be sent as soon as possible. Otherwise, you will not get them until February!!!! Please remind them that they MUST check with the shipper to be sure there is no COD charge for customs. If packages come through the post office, there doesn’t seem to be a problem. $50.00 value is fine – more can be a problem!! If they come COD they go to package prison until you pay the fees. The office can’t do that. Thanks so much!!

What a week!!

Hey Mom!

I decided not to change your subject, since it fits my feelings perfectly, haha. It has been kind of a crazy week, but definitely a good one! We had Zone Conference last Wednesday, which I LOVED. We have two incredible AP's: Elder Cowley and Elder Ronndahl, and their training was incredible. Then the mission president and his wife both did their trainings, along with our zone leaders. I guess our mission went from being one of the worst in the North America North East area when the Mckinnon's first came back in 2007 to being on par or better on each of the factors as the other missions in the area. But then the past few weeks our numbers have just plummeted as missionaries become more and more relaxed in their efforts and less obedient. President McKinnon isn't very strict about all of the rules and just kind of hopes that we will work hard anyways, but not all the missionaries are willing to work hard and some really take advantage of his lenient attitude. It's pretty sad. So they addressed that quite a bit in the Zone Conference, and I realized a lot of things I need to work better at. Then our zone leaders came up with this "ugly tie" idea. They went out and bought 2 of the ugliest ties in the store (one is just completely hideous) and we're passing them around the zone, and each companionship has to wear them until they commit someone. So now it's our turn and I think we might have them for awhile...we haven't been having much success. There are lots of people who just don't show up for things. We had like 20 lessons scheduled for last week and only 7 of them actually happened, and some of those were because we just met with the recent convert members who had agreed to come with us for the lessons with the investigator who never showed up. So frustrating. But this week will be better, I just know it :)

The lessons we did have this past week were pretty good...we met with Rob and he's doing so well! I just love meeting with him. Elder Cowley came to one of the lessons and answered all his questions that we didn't even know he had...Elder Cowley is pretty amazing :) He can be very direct without making the person feel uncomfortable or intimidated. I haven't quite mastered that art yet...

Then we met with a man named Theo who is INTENSE. He asked me last week why God needed a body and tried to argue it with science, and I couldn't come up with a good answer that he understood. He has studied MANY religions and even was in France for 3 years studying to be a Catholic priest, but then decided it wasn't for him. So he's having a hard time accepting some of the things we teach and wants to skip right to the deep doctrine stuff without having any faith in the basic parts, and it doesn't work that way. So Saturday we taught him plan of salvation and he couldn't understand why a loving Heavenly Father would allow His children to have agency and to suffer the consequences of their choices. The member, Lynda, and S. Williams tried to explain that it's because He loves us that He lets us experience these things, but Theo would have none of that. And I was so upset by it and just wanted so much for him to understand that our Father in Heaven is a very loving God and He loves each of us and WANTS us to return to Him, so I ended up just bearing testimony about that and I was shaking and crying and I just wanted so much for him to understand. He asked why I was crying and I said I just felt to passionately about it that he HAD to understand it, and he seemed to accept it. Or he stopped questioning it at least. But then he has some HUGE issues with blacks and the priesthood (he is black) and so we're going to work with him on that next time. Say a little prayer for me please...I'll need it.

In other news, there were some funny things that happened this week. In the metro on Friday night, we were contacting and ran into our ZL and told him we were going home in 20 minutes and he said we couldn't go home until we had 2 more potentials (or had 2 more people give us phone numbers so we could meet up with them again later). So I saw this guy sitting on the wall and I went to him and introduced myself and S. Williams and said we were missionaries and he interrupted me and asked "can i have your phone number?" and I said "Sure, if I can have yours." So he gave us his number, we gave him a pass along card with ours and told him we wanted to teach him about Jesus Christ and then walked away, happily counting him as one of our potentials but not realyl interested in calling him. So he called us yesterday to ask what we were doing...we missed the call and can't decide if we want to call back or not yet, haha. Oh, we also got invited to a party while walking home on Thursday. The guy started talking to us in a mix of French and English, and we thought he was asking us if it would be warm the next day so we tried to answer, but then he said something about seeing us that night after work because we were going to have a party. I don't know exactly how the conversation went to that, but we said maybe and then he asked where we lived and we pointed to a random building about 2 streets away from where we actually lived. I figured lying was justified in this case :)

Then another funny story: yesterday we were going to a recent convert's house (Robyn...I LOVE her. She is SO amazing!) for breakfast with her, Crystal, and the elders, and we asked 2 girls for directions to the street, so they pointed out where it was, then one of the girls asked "Umm..are you looking for the Jehovah's Witness place? Because if so, that's over this way..." and we just kind of laughed and said no, we were members of our church, and she was a bit embarrassed, but we thanked her for the help anyways and just brushed it off. Then the other girl said "well they hand out really great pamphlets around here, so it's actually a complement.." and we couldn't help but laugh at that. It was just such a funny situation :)

Then yesterday at church we ended up having a new investigator come, which was SO exciting! His name is Earnest, and we weren't expecting him there at all. We met with him once about 2 weeks ago but never set up another appointment, then called him Saturday to remind him of church, not expecting much, but he actually came! It was really exciting until Sacrament meeting started and we realized our Branch President and 1st Counselor were speaking, and instead of giving inspiring or spiritual talks, they spent the whole time relating stories about their childhoods. They both tried to make them connect to gospel topics, but I had a hard time understanding the connections, so I'm sure Earnest did too. Not exactly the spiritual meeting I was hoping it would be. then I had to teach Sunday School, and that was interesting. I was SO nervous for it and I hadn't spent tons of time preparing, but everyone said I still came across very confidently and did a good job. I was speaking about missionary work, so it was something that's very close to the hearts of most of the people in there (it was the investigator/recent convert class) and Robyn and several of the other girls came up at the end and said they had to tell themselves not to cry at the end because they were so close to it. So hopefully he was able to feel the Spirit at least a bit in that class and then in Priesthood...we're meeting with him on Tuesday, so we'll see! :)

Then it was really neat, after church we went upstairs and were trying to track down who had taught this media referral we had gotten who had been taught a lesson like 2 months ago. So we spent awhile with that and it was a bit frustrating to waste that much time, but then we walked downstairs and Brother Holland (stake missionary coordinator or something like that) was talking to a less-active/recent convert, Jimmy, and said "You asked for a teacher Jimmy, and the Lord sent you Sister Lindsey. What do you want her to teach you?" So we went and taught him the Plan of Salvation. It was really neat how all of that worked out :)

But anyways, that's all the news from here! It was so great to hear from you and everything that's been going on there! I'm so glad the adoption is final...that is SO exciting! And thanks for the pictures...I always show them to my companion and she loves them too. I'm glad you got the package from S. Andrews...I actually don't know what she wrote in that letter, so I would like to see it when I get home if you don't mind keeping it :) I just love her...she is SO amazing! And yeah, if you could send the package from her, that'd be great. My companion here said packages usually take about 6 weeks to get from the US to here...I don't think letters take as long because I got the letter Dad wrote the Sunday right before I left the MTC last Monday, so those take about a week, but packages do take MUCH longer. But I want to get the one from her at some point. The pictures are the ones we took on our disposable cameras while in the MTC so I haven't seen them at all. I'm excited to get them! :) Anyways, i hope you're all having a wonderful week and I will hear from you next week! I love you tons and tons!

Nicole

Adjustments and I am in the best area!

Hey Mom!

Thanks so much for the pictures! The kids are all SO cute...and Dad and
\david both look wonderful all dressed up :) I showed my companion, Sister
Williams, the pictures of all the little kids, and she thinks they're
adorable too. I'm glad to hear things are going well at home and I'm really
looking forward to reading Dad's letter...it's always nice to have them in
the mail so I can read them whenever I want and not take up all my internet
time reading them. Luckily the pictures didn't take long to download at all
and I have an hour now instead of half an hour on here each week.

Things here are going really well...it hasn't been too difficult adjusting,
but it definitely feels like I've been here longer than a week already. My
companion is Sister Williams. She's from Wales and is so sweet. I like her a
lot. I'm the first person she's trained so she's been a bit nervous, but
she's taking on the role of senior companion really well. AND she makes all
the phone calls which is WONDERFUL for me, haha. This first week we had 4
sisters all crammed into our little 1 bedroom apartment. I guess they'd been
living there for almost a month while their apartment was getting redone.
They just showed up one day and their bathtub had been ripped out of the
bathroom, so they moved in to my apartment. It was fun having them, but 4
girls in one little bedroom is a bit tight, so it was nice when they finally
moved out last night.

My first area here is supposed to be the best area in the mission.
Everyone's told me that so far, and it is a lot of fun. I'm serving in
Montreal in the Young Single Adult english-speaking branch, and the members
are SO fun. I guess there have been like 12 baptisms in the last 3 or so
months here, which is crazy, but the new converts are all so much fun.
There are 2 in particular, Robyn and April, who are just the sweetest girls
and I LOVE talking to them. It's still a bit difficult adjusting to mission
life and the rules associated with that, but I think I'll improve with time
:) My companion doesn't like speaking \french at all, so we really don't,
which is a bit of a disappointment, but I'm going to try a bit harder to
make an effort to speak it whenever I can. I really want to learn the
language and learn it well, so I'm going to try hard for that. It has been
difficult trying to manage my time though. It still seems like I don't have
enough time in the day to do everything I'm supposed to be doing. If we do
our language study it means we don't get out the door until 10:30 or 11, and
then we're supposed to spend 3 hours a day in contacting (which is AWFUL, by
the way...i am NOT outgoing enough or comfortable enough to just walk up to
random strangers and say: Hi, I'm a missionary for the church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but I'm working on it) and then add that to
teaching lessons, service projects, and talking with recent converts and
less actives, and it's next to impossible. Somehow the elders are all able
to do it, though, so I'm going to experiment a bit more this week and see
what I can come up with. \we'll see how it goes :)

The weather is pretty chilly up here already. Not quite coat weather yet,
but i definitely need 2 layers. Except since we're in a metro area and we
do all our contacting on the metro, we really aren't supposed to wear heavy
coats; they become WAY too hot in the metro. So somehow this winter I'm
going to have to find a balance between dressing warm enough to walk the 10
minutes from our apartment to the metro, but not too warm that i die while
I'm in there. It's going to be interesting...

The elders that I've met so far are all really wonderful. I was pretty sad
at leaving the MTC and not having those elders around anymore and not having
Sister Andrews as a companion (THAT part has been really hard...we were so
perfect for each other and had everything in common, and although Sister
Williams is really sweet, it's not quite the same), but it's been fun here
too. I talked to several people on the plane and in the airport, so that
was fun, and then we spent the night at President and Sister McKinnon's
home, which was really great. I talked with President for awhile, and he is
such a wonderful man :) And the AP's were there, and they're really great.
We're the only sisters in our zone, which is fine; the elders are all really
wonderful. Most of our appointments take place at the church (it's a HUGE
building) so we get to see the other elders in the district and in our zone
quite often, so it's fun.

Yesterday was the first day at church in this branch, and that was really
neat. the RS president, Rebecca, has her mission call and is leaving the
beginning of February for San Francisco, and I am SO excited for her! She is
the cutest girl. We spent awhile with her yesterday going over the girls in
the RS and finding out who were the less actives and who would be willing to
help us and things like that, and it's so sad to see so many people who are
less active. There are quite a few who were baptized and then 2 weeks later
stopped coming to church for some reason or another and it's just so sad to
see that. But at the same time, I'm glad that they went inactive then
instead of waiting until after they had gone through the temple and made
those covenants...those are the ones that are really hard to see.

But anyways, we've been working pretty hard...i think we could be working a
little harder, but my companion is convinced that we're working as hard as
we can, so that's been interesting. I really want to take charge more, but
we've already had one companionship inventory where she told me that she
felt like I didn't trust her or think she was capable of doing anything
because I always say exactly what I'm thinking and we do things my way. I
hadn't noticed that at all, but I guess it had really upset her, so I'm
trying not to step on her toes too much, seeing as she is the senior
companion. So somehow this week I'm going to try to find a way to sneakily
do more work without her thinking that I'm taking over...we'll see how it
goes :) But we do have one investigator who we've been meeting regularly
with, Rob, and he is wonderful. He is so accepting of everything and is
really trying hard to find things out and know them for himself. It's so
wonderful :) He had a baptism date set (Dec. 6) and we're working hard to
help him get everything ready for that. he's trying hard to quite
smoking...he really wants to obey the Word of Wisdom and knows that's a good
thing. He's still trying to figure out if the Law of Chastity is a true
principle, but he says he has faith that he will receive an answer about
that soon. But he brought up the Law of Tithing himself and decided he would
start paying it before he was even baptized. \he came to church for the
first time yesterday and came to Elder Uchtdorf's CES fireside last night
too. (speaking of which, is there any way you could get me a copy of the
fireside last night, just a printed one, it should be on LDS.org, and send
it to me please?) I'm so excited for him :)

Then there's another investigator, Therese, who we committed to baptism on
Tuesday and that was SO excited. She was so thrilled about it, and it was
wonderful to be there when she said she wanted to be baptized. The
conversation was kind of going in that direction and it seemed like the
perfect time, so I asked her if she wanted to be baptized and she said yes
over and over again. It was wonderful :) But then she didn't come to church
yesterday and we called but haven't heard back, so we dont' really know
what's going on. Hopefully she was just sick or something and will be better
soon instead of having changed her mind. We'll see.

Oh, and you asked about mailing package rules...as I said last week, you'll
have to call the mission office. They told me what they are briefly, but I
don't remember them at all
and I don't know which are the best delivery systems. Sister Castleton
knows everything though and she can tell you exactly what the rules are
because I really don't know what they are at all. But if you are thinking
of sending me a package, I want just a little clock (I had one sitting in a
bag at the bottom of my bed when i left...are you sure you can't find it)
and wheat thins, since they only ones they sell here are ridiculously
expensive, haha. I thought of some other things that would be nice to have
the other day, but they're not necessities and I can't remember what they
are, so it doesn't really matter that much :) And just keep sending letters
to the mission office...they said Canada mail is extremely slow and so not
to send it to individual residences since I might be transferred before it
even gets there.

So that's life here..pretty fun :) How are things back home. i hope all is
going well and I can't wait to hear from you next week! I love you all tons
and tons!!

Love, Nicole

PS: Grandma and Aunt Tami: I'm SO glad I got to see you in the airport!
Thanks so much for the packages...you are so sweet! i love you tons!

Oh, and it was pretty funny: in the airport, everyone else had to pay $40
for their bags. For some reason or another, they decided my flight was
international so I didn't. I love it. :)

Last P-day in the MTC. Leaving for Canada on Monday!!

Hey everyone!

So I got my travel itinerary this week! It was so exciting. We were supposed to get them last Thursday, but hadn't, so on Monday Soeur Andrews and I went in to the travel office and asked. Turns out they hadn't gotten the memo that we were only supposed to be here 3 weeks, so they hadn't planned anything for us. Because I don't need a VISA, mine was settled that same day. I'm flying out Monday morning on Delta. We're leaving the MTC at 5 in the morning, and our plane leaves SLC at 8, we have a very brief layover in Cincinnati and then on to Montreal. It's so exciting. And one of the elders in my class, Elder Dautel, is leaving the same day for Wisconsin, and he'll be on the flight with me to Cincinnati, so that should be fun :) Sister Andrews' was a little more difficult to work out: the French consul sometimes takes awhile, so they asked for it to be rushed, but submitted her for a temporary assignment anyways. If the VISA takes less than 2 weeks, they usually just let you stay at the MTC, but if it takes more, they send you to a temporary assignment. So she was headed to the Washington DC South mission for a few weeks, but then the consul called and said her VISA would be active this Wednesday, so she's leaving sometime this week as well. So we're both SO excited..she was not looking forward to having a new companion at the MTC or having to stay here longer.

Other than that, nothing too thrilling has happened this week. Sister Reed (one of our teachers) was sick all week, so that kind of threw off our schedule. We ended up combining classes several days which made things a bit more interesting, but we ended up repeating several classes that we've already had, so it wasn't as beneficial as I was hoping. But that's OK; our other teacher, Brother Owens, asked me which classes I specifically wanted during the next few days and rearranged the schedule to teach me what I wanted, which was SO nice of him. I have wonderful teachers here :) Class has been a bit different this week though...Elder Boer and Elder Mourin both left on Monday, so we've only had 4 people in the class and it has been SO quiet. AND we got new zone leaders and several new missionaries, so it's been quite a change this week in our branch. The zone leaders are incredible though...Elder Valgren is from Denmark and he served there for 2 months before coming to the MTC and at first I was not impressed with him at all, but then I actually saw him in the leadership position and working hard and completely changed my mind. It's really interesting how some people change when they get put in a leadership position and can really step up to the responsibilities given to them.

Oh, also this week I found out that my old home teacher from sophomore year, Travis Hall, works at the MTC. It was SO crazy...I saw him come in and it was just such a shock and he didn't recognize me at first because he didn't even know I was serving a mission. But I talked to him for a bit and it was really fun to hear what he's been up to lately. I also ran into Michelle's friend, Jeff, which was a bit surprising; I'd forgotten he was here at all. And one of Tiffany's students works at the front desk and so I saw her the other day too. It's kind of strange to think that my life I used to live with all my friends is only about 5 minutes away instead of clear across the country.

Other than that, there's nothing really to say. I'm glad to hear that things are going well at home, and thank you SO much for the letters! It's always wonderful to hear from people and know what everyone is up to while I'm not around. And Aunt Jackie and Uncle Bryan sent me a Halloween package! It was SO exciting...I can't believe I'll be in Montreal in just a few days and I'll be celebrating Halloween there! I'm so excited :)

But anyways, I hope all is going well for everyone still and I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend! I love you all tons! :)

Soeur Nicole Lindsey

Nicole makes us laugh! October 16th email.

Hey everyone!

So I made it to my second P-day in the MTC...finished at least an entire week. It took FOREVER! This week took at least a month it seemed like...there is so much packed into so little time. But then to think that I'm leaving in like 2 weeks is so crazy (I know it still says December 7, but my zone leaders said I was leaving Oct 27, so we're going to the travel office on Monday to check on that) and it seems like I haven't been here at all. We've been trying to speak French, but it seems like I'm still at the same level as I was before coming in where I really didn't know much of the vocab, and I'm not quite sure how I'm going to learn everything before I leave. But we've been working hard and I'm sure it will turn out all right.

How are things going for you? Thanks so much for the letters...that's always so exciting! And thanks for sending them dearelder, as opposed to emailing them to me, since email time is EXTREMELY limited. Soeur Andrews almost wasn't able to send her email last week because she got down to 6 seconds and it almost didn't go through before it kicked her off. So it's nice to be able to read the letters at other times and just type during this time.

It's so great to hear that everyone is doing well! Have David write me and send me pictures...I want to hear all about Homecoming this weekend :) it's great to hear that things with Racheal are going well and that she's such a good baby; that was a huge relief for me. Also, thanks for the updates about Mike! I STILL haven't heard from him, so if you happen to go in today to see him (good thing you didn't go yesterday...he never works Wed and Thurs, and you might want to call before going in today), let him know that I am very impatiently awaiting my letter from him talking about last week. I want it soon! ;)

So things here are going really well. This week was a bit crazy as we got more used to the schedule and got to know the other elders in our class more. Souer Andrews and I still get along beautifully, and it is SO much fun! I love having her around :) She had to go to San Francisco this week for a little day trip on Tuesday with 8 other missionaries to turn in her VISA (I guess with the French consul you have to turn it in in person) and so she was gone for a whole day and it was so awful. I was with the elders ALL day and I definitely prefer being with her. The elders are great, but SO different. And it seemed like everything funny happened that day while she was gone! First I was walking to lunch and talking with several elders in a different zone, and they asked where i was headed and I said "lunch" and they were very enthusiastic about it and said "Oh, that's so great! That'll be so much fun!" and I agreed, but it seemed a bit odd...so i asked where they were headed and they both said "Ärgentina" and I just started laughing...i guess they misunderstood when i said "lunch"and thought that that was where i was serving my mission. So I tried to change it and say Montreal, and they just looked at me funny and walked away. i thought it was so funny; I told Elder Dautel who was acting as my companion and he didn't find it near as humorous, but then when I told Soeur Andrews the next day, we both laughed forever. (She was supposed to get home Tuesday night, but their flight was canceled and so they spent the night there and got home Wednesday at lunch time instead). Then at lunch on the day she was gone, I was surrounded by elders, and Elder Boer (the one from Italy...I just love him :) ) was sitting next to me and showing me this "magic trick"where he used both hands to pretend to stick a knife up his nose and then have it come out his mouth, then in his mouth and have it come out his nose. So as he was having it come out his nose, he blew really hard to pretend like he was blowing it out his nose, and this huge thing of snot came flying out and landed ON MY SHOULDER on my jacket and it was SO disgusting, and all the elders were laughing so hard that they wouldn't even help me get it off...eww, it was so gross. So he's been referencing that ever since. And he realized last Sunday while talking to me that he can see his reflection in my eyes, so he randomly stops and does what Jacob used to do and looks at me and says ï can see myself in your eyes..." He's so strange :)

Oh, and we had our first TRC lesson the other day while Soeur Andrews was gone, so I was working with Elder Dautel and Elder Parisuthem (from India) and it didn't go all that well. we rated the first part about a 5, because the Spirit was there, but we were definitely not unified in our teaching, and then the follow-up appointment a 7 because it went MUCH better. It's just interesting to see difference personalities in each of the elders and different teaching methods, and they don't always complement each other at all. But it was good practice. We have our second one tonight, and thank goodness Soeur Andrews is back...I think i'll be MUCH more relaxed and teach much better with her. OUr only problem is that we both think the exact same things at the same time, so we both try to say it. It's pretty funny; every time I defer to her and let her say something, it's exactly what I would have said, and vice versa. OH! and we've gone to the RC twice now...the first time it didn't go that well: I had random phone numbers. A department store in France, A mexican who only spoke Spanish, an operator in Illinois, and several other random numbers. Then we went back yesterday and I had about 20 answering machines, 4 hang ups before I even said anything, one please call back later tonight, and then I gave away one gift. But it was great: we called back the person who asked to call back and she wasn't there so we talked to her husband, and asked if we could send the missionaries (i had asked her earlier but she said she had to talk to her husband about it and to ask her at 5 after she had talked to him) and he said that they were actually Baptist and didn't really need a church, so i said it might be fun to have someone to talk to about the Bible anyways, and they asked S. Andrews and I to stop by today. Seeing as they're in Tennessee, we really couldn't do that, so we said we could send the missionaries if they wanted to talk in person or we could call back. They wanted us to call back so they could tell us a bit about the Baptist faith and we could just talk about the Bible a bit, so we're calling back this evening. (side note: they said to call at 5, but I can't remember if TN is 2 hours off or just 1...oh well) So hopefully it goes well! I'm a bit nervous...these are actual people, not just members pretending to be investigators. So please say a little prayer for me if you can! :)

Also, we are learning SO much here that I think would be good to implement back in our home ward. If I get time, I think I might copy my notes and send them to Dad just as some suggestions for the sisters in our ward. We had a really great meeting the other day on simple thigns to do to get people to WANT to come to sacrament meeting, and I really enjoyed it. Also, we had a fireside where they talked about in the BOM, 1 Nephi teaches all the principles of the gospel, and for investigators, we should have them start at the beginning instead of just hopscotching around from place to place. So it was really fascinating.

Anyways, time is close to up, so I should probably get going. Thanks for all the letters! You all are amazing! :) I love you all TONS and miss you like crazy!

Sister Nicole Lindsey

PS: Tiffany, i did leave my watch at your house, but I think I'm getting a new one since that was too big for me anyways, so you don't have to send it to me if you don't want to.

Mom: I do have some things that I'd like you to send to me if you can. I think I left my clock at home, and I really don't want to buy a new one of those, is there any way you can send it to me? And maybe some pictures of the family? I want to send them to S. Andrews. Those aren't necessary though.

Also: My camera isn't working hardly at all. I tried taking 2 pictures the other day and the batteries died after only 1 of them, I replaced them and it just wouldn't take the picture at all, and the rechargeable batteries won't work at all in the camera. Do you have any suggestions on what to do for that? Could you maybe buy me a new one, nothing expensive, just something to last for the mission so that I have something to take pictures of everything? If not, that's fine...just let me know!

I hope everything is going well for you and I love you tons!! :)

First letter from Nicole. She loves the MTC

Hey Mom and Dad!

How are you? How is life at home? I got your dearelder letter...thanks so much! It was so exciting to walk in this morning and have mail sitting and waiting for me (it would have been handed to me directly, but Soeur Andrews and I were slightly on the late side...it's becoming a bit of a bad habit). And Rachael is the perfect name for her...I'm glad we stuck with that suggestion :)

So things here are going SO well! I really am enjoying myself. i don't think it's quite sunk in yet though that I'm going to be here for awhile...it feels very much like an adult EFY. And soeur Andrews (my companion) is SO amazing! We get along SO well and spend all of our time together, and not just because we have to either. We have so much in common and are so similar in everything, even how neat we are and how long it takes us to eat, haha. She's from San Diego and heading to Toulouse, France, which would be SUCH an incredbile mission. She goes to BYU-I and is studying English teaching with a minor in French, so like the exact opposite of me. There are 12 kids in her family, she's the 7th child, and the more we talk the more we find have in common. It was so funny; yesterday during gym time we went jogging for like 45 minutes just around the track and talked nonstop. About every 3 minutes we'd pass this group of elders on one of the weight machines and they just started laughnig at us after awhile because we never stopped talking and the things we talked about were so random...it was great :) And we both love to laugh; our class has come to the conclusion that we're the giggliest girls here. I love it.

And the classes have been wonderful so far. We're with the same group of elders all day, so that's fun to get to know them. Elder Dautel is from Germany, serving in Wisconsin; Elder M (I can't remember his full name...it's way too long) is from India, serving in Provo; Elder Pedebone is from Samoa serving in Orlando (I think); Elder Mourin is from Montreal (!!) serving in another Canadian mission; and Elder Boer is from Italy, serving in London, England. It is SO much fun; it's great to see the differences between the cultures. For example, Elder Boer is SO outgoing and SO energetic and loud and it seems like most of the other Italian missionaries are similar in personality. it makes class so much more enjoyable. We were sitting there yesterday waiting on our teacher and he just started singing Phantom of the Opera in Italian and then Hakuna Matata, also in Italian. It was so great. Then you can tell Elder M from India comes from a culture where men are more dominant...he's very respectful, but just in some of the things he says and does, it's fairly easy to see. But they're all great guys, and a lot of fun. We're in an international branch, and it has the largest group of sisters out of every branch in the MTC. There are about 32 sisters and around the same amount of Elders. So far, Soeur Andrews and I are the only American ones; everyone else is international. Many are from Samoa/Tonga (I can't remember who is from where) or Asia, and I'd say almost half of them are serving in the Temple Square mission. It's pretty neat.

Then, what else? The food is pretty standard...nothing too exciting. Getting around here though is AWFUL! Soeur Andrews and I have not found one place yet without having to look on the map, and we realized today that we're the ONLY people we've EVER seen looking at the maps. But I'm sure we can't be th eonly confused sisters, so our goal today is to catch someone else also looking at a map ;) Everything else is going really well. We had the gym time yesterday, which was fun, then every morning at 6 they have a work out program for any sister who wants to come, so this morning we got up and did kickboxing, and it was SUCH a workout. i loved it though; I think tomorrow is pilates and we're going back for that. We've pretty much accepted that there's no way to be on time for evreything though...no matter ho hard we try, or how early we leave, we end up getting lost and getting there late. But we're going to try harder from here on out :)

Oh, and to answer Tiffany's question from her letter, I have ran into several people I know! It was SO crazy..Becky Perez, my freshman roommate, reported here the same day I did! She's going to the Chicago North, Spanish-speaking mission. I had no idea she was even here, and then she came up to me and started talking! It was so crazy. Then I also ran into my Sophomore roommate Sophie who's been here 3 weeks and is going to Long Beach, CA, Spanish-speaking. That was SO exciting! And then I've seen Alex Peacock from my study abroad several times...it's just so crazy to see so people that I know here. I wasn't expecting to see anyone except Alex. It's great.

Oh, and yesterday we had to have our medical records checked and receive any immunizations we needed. They didn't have a paper for me at the beginning, so I had to wait in this HUGE line to see a woman about it, and she made a new paper for me and worked out all my shots and everything. We just guessed on the Hep A one because I couldn't remember when I received it. But that took awhile, and I decided not to get the flu shot, and they weren't too happy about that, but they let me do it anyways. But the whole procedure took close to an hour and a half, so we only had 5 minutes for lunch, making us late to our next class. But our teacher didn't mind much. Oh, and I met my branch president last night! He's so great :) we had a branch meeting and then personal intreviews, and I walked in and he said "Wow, you never stop smiling do you?" and then went on to tell me I have a beautiful smile that he's sure will help open doors to me. Made my day :)

But anyways, my time is almost up, so I'm going to have to stop writing...I hope all is going well at home and that you all have a wonderful week! Thanks for the letters, I always appreciate them. I love you tons!!

Soeur Nicole Lindsey

PS: Tiffany: thanks so much fo the MLIA: i laughed SO hard, especially at the leaf one...it's totally something I would do :) I shared them with Soeur Andrews and she died laughing.

And Michelle: thanks for the package! I loved it...it made me laugh so hard! Soeur Andrews thoguht it was so cute, and the chocolate chips were a great touch. Anyways, love you all SO much!! And I am glad I'm here after all :) I really won't have this opportunity again, so it's good I'm doing it now. thanks for all the support. i love you!

How to get a letter to Nicole fast!

Anyone that would like to write a letter to Nicole can go to http://www.dearelder.com/index/
She is in the Provo MTC and her
po box is 301. The mission is Canada, Montreal.
You just write the letter at that website. If you do it before noon MST she will get it the same day. They print it out and give it to her. I know the missionaries have an unspoken (well maybe not unspoken) contest to see who gets the most letters each day!

Getting Ready.. :)

So today I'm just working on setting up the blog, getting it all ready for my mom. She's going to take over and post all of my weekly emails and any pictures that she can for the 18 months while I'm in the MTC and in the Canada Montreal Mission. So come back weekly to see what I've been up to and how everything is going!