Final Week...

Hey everyone!

This is just going to be a short email this week as I'm going to be seeing and talking with you all in person in just a few days. It's kind of crazy coming to the end of my mission...I was expecting to be sad and want to stay longer or to be extremely excited to go home to the point where I couldn't focus on my mission, but neither of those things happened. Sister Palmer and I continued working like we normally had (except we took a little bit more time out of our schedule this week to update the area book) and I'm excited to come home, but not to the point where it's all I think about. I'm still worrying about our investigators and planning like I'll be here all next week. Then I'm sad to leave the friends that I've made, but not to the point of tears. I thought I'd cry at that last transfer call, but I was just SO EXCITED that Sister Leonard was coming here (she was my companion up in Quebec if you remember and she's one of my favorites...I was half praying that she would come! I'm SO excited for her and Sister Palmer!) that I wasn't sad at all. Haha, Elder Corbitt when he called told me that my new companion would be a man named Michael and I said "Oh, that's my dad!" and he said "Well that'll be interesting...your new companion has the same name as your dad...odd." It was funny :)

But this week was a good week overall. We had our sisters sleepover and training at the mission home and it was SO much fun! It was great to be able to see all the sister again and to meet some of the ones that I haven't served around yet. Everyone kept asking me what my plans are for when I come home and I couldn't think of anything to tell them...to be honest, I haven't thought much about going home at all. But it feels like it should be the next step, so it's good. So the sleepover was a lot of fun, and then the training was probably one of the best trainings that I've had so far in my mission. President gave a wonderful one about working with the priesthood and the things that they said applied not only to us as sister missionaries, but they're things that I can apply after I get home as well. Sister Cannon talked about unity and the importance of being united as sisters, and it was really neat. There is such a force for good when we all work together for a common goal. I love it :)

We taught several people this week, but nothing extremely interesting to note there. We taught Denis tithing and law of chastity and he accepted both fairly easily. He said as we were teaching tithing that everything just makes so much sense as we teach, there's no reason for him NOT to accept it. I loved that answer :) He's wonderful...he'll be baptized in 2 weeks and I'm SO excited for it! There's so much going on right now in this area...Sister Leonard and Sister Palmer will be great and I'm really excited for them.

It has been really neat to be able to reflect this last week on lessons that I've learned on my mission. One of the greatest lessons that I've learned is how much God knows and loves each one of His children. It's really easy for me to think that He loves me and my family and my friends, but it was harder to think about Him knowing the people that yelled at me in the street. But there was one day in particular that I looked around and started to really think about each one of the people that I saw and how they each had goals and hopes and worries and how God knows all of that and loves them and wants to help them. It marked a turning point in my mission where I started looking more at people as children of God instead of just as people in the street who I don't know. Another lesson I learned is just how importance obedience is. Really, each blessing is given based on our obedience to a law given by God. Our Father in Heaven really does WANT to bless us. He is even more willing to give miracles than we are to receive them. As soon as we obey even the smallest commandment, God blesses us as much as He is able, and that's something I've seen and experienced while here on my mission and I love it. I've learned a million other little lessons, but those are the two that have made the greatest impact on my mission. I'm so grateful for the chance that I have had to come here and serve the Lord for 18 months with my whole heart. I've seen so many miracles and really come to know my Savior personally and it has been wonderful to help others gain the knowledge that I have. I can't wait to go back home and continue serving the Lord with all my heart, just in a different capacity. Thank you for all of your love, support, and prayers. I love you all!

Love, Sister Nicole Lindsey