HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!! :)

Hey everyone!

This week was a LOOONG week...it took about a year to make it through, but it was good. And I had about 3 people tell me that there was a storm in WV and asked if I was able to call my family and find out if they were ok. It was kind of funny to hear about the news from my state here in Montreal from people in my English class. I'm glad to hear that everyone is doing well! Hopefully the power comes back on soon...that would really stink to be without it. That is one nice thing about being here; we have tons of snow, but they have an incredible snow removal system so the streets are always clear and the power hasn't gone off once. It's kind of funny though; the other day we were out tracting and each of the yards had HUGE mountains of snow in front of them from where they had just cleared it off the streets and there were kids playing in it and sledding in their front yards...so cute. But it will be nice in a couple of months when the snow melts and we can see the ground again....


Things here are going really well though. We had a really fun week! Last P-day we went to the winter carnival and it was SO much fun! We had a blast. It's like one of the biggest winter carnivals in the world, and it was so fun. There were all kinds of snow and ice sculptures and a whole castle built out of ice in the middle. Somewhere in Quebec there's an ice hotel that we really want to go see, but we're not entirely sure where it is, so we'll see if we can find it and make it there sometime in the next month or so. But we did play a lot of games at the carnival and they had a tent with cookies and milk so we went inside and spent a bit of time in there..I loved it. We went with the zone leaders (the district leaders went out to lunch with us, but then decided they didn't want to go to the carnival so they left, but then the zone leaders met up with us, so it was still a couple of us together. Always fun.) and I just love them. We have some really incredible elders in our mission.

Then for the rest of the week, we spent A LOT of time out knocking doors. Like 5 or 6 hours a day knocking doors. It was a lot and it really is exhausting. But on the plus side, it wasn't snowing, so it made it a better. And I don't really mind it that much as long as I have at least 2 pairs of handwarmers, 4 pairs of pants, and a couple of sweaters :) It gets cold REALLY fast. Oh, and then church yesterday was SO fun! We were a bit disappointed because we hadn't found ANYONE to come to church with us this week, but then we pulled into the parking lot and Gabrielle was there! She's the investigator we were teaching in Montreal before I left and she is just SO cute. She came up to me in the parking lot and it was SO exciting to see her! So we showed her around the chapel and then sat down for Sacrament, and after Sacrament meeting someone came up and gave me a huge hug from behind and I was so confused since I still dont' know the people in my ward well enough for anyone to do that (the language barrier is a real problem...I understand maybe half of what they tell me and they don't understand much of anything I say...not the easiest way to make friends) and it was Rebecca from the YSA ward in Montreal! She and Phoiba (another girl in the YSA ward) had come up for the weekend and come to church in the ward instead of the branch so they could see me! It was SO exciting...I LOVED having them here! Now I just need to make those same kind of friendships with the people here...

Oh, and another fun thing from this week: we went and did service at the Blouin's house. They have a cute family. The wife died of cancer just about 2 months ago, and I guess before that the sisters would go over once a week to do service, but after she died we needed a chaperone and couldn't go as often. So this was the first time we'd been up there in awhile. We went with the elders (the district leaders) and helped the 2 girls clean up there rooms so that we could move some furniture around the house from one room to another. It took longer than expected, but was SO fun! They have a really great family and are just realyl wonderful people. I didn't understand anything he said to me really, but we laughed a lot while we were over there and just had a fun time :)

This week we don't have tons planned...we have a lesson tonight and then 3 more scheduled for tomorrow, and the rest of the time will be spent finding. I'm really excited for it..we had like 7 lessons scheduled for this past week and all except for 2 smurfed us, and one of those was woman who dropped us, so it'll be fun to teach a little more this week. I'm way excited. AND:: IT'S ALMOST VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!!! I CANNOT wait! I already started making cookies and valentine's to take to our less actives...it'll be wonderful. I'm so excited. Unfortunately, I didn't get your valentine's day package yet and I won't get it until the 19th...the AP's and President always bring the mail up when they come and they only come about once every 3 weeks and they're not coming for interviews until the 19th, so I won't get it. But that just means that I'll be able to celebrate valentine's day AGAIN when it gets here!!!! I can't wait. But anyways...good luck with everything this week! I hope the power comes on soon and I'll definitely be praying for you! I love you tons and hope you all have a WONDERFUL Valentine's Day! :)

Love, Sister Nicole Lindsey