March 9th - Last Week!

Dear Family and Friends,

First off, shout out again to Mom and Audrey!  Hope you both had great birthdays!!  And thank you to Kristen Parker for the letter this week! :)

Holy smokes!  I can't believe 18 whole months has gone by already.  I hit my 18-month mark last Wednesday, March 4th.  And I am so thankful that the time I had in the MTC is made up with 2 extra weeks in the mission field - I love being a full-time representative of my Savior.  I hope I've lived worthily of His name on my chest the past 18 months.

It is so crazy to me to think by this time next week, I'll be at the mission office getting interviewed by President Alba and then going home the next morning.  Whew.  I am going to work my absolute HARDEST this week, though!  I am so excited to spend my last full week in the Lord's vineyard in Vacaville YSA :)  It'll be the best one yet, I'm sure!

So, life is good!  No complaints!  Living the high expectations has become a part of our daily life, and we've seen miracles from it! Last week Sister Belnap and I dropped all our investigators except 3 (none of them were progressing besides Max, Blake, and John) and so this week we get to do some intensive finding!  I am stoked because you know what my favorite part of missionary work is??  FINDING!!  I love talking to new people and seeing the light in their eyes when the Gospel is introduced to them for the first time.  It really is a Gospel of hope and peace and love.

This week was great - we have been helping so many less-active members come back into the fold :)  It's neat to see how many people are starting to let us teach them and are coming back to church.  Probably 6 or 7 people we've been teaching the past 6 months I've been here are attending church weekly now!  Yay!!  Alex Wixom's family is a miracle - the family ward missionaries are now teaching Bro. and Sis. Wixom and William!!  And Bro. Wixom and William go to 5th ward every single week.  Alex is really understanding the Sacrament and the Gospel and the Savior much more and is almost done with Alma in the Book of Mormon!

We also taught Max this week and he is doing so so good!  He even had us over at his group home for dinner, which was...interesting haha.  I thought we were going to sit with all the other members of the group home, but nope - they put us outside in the cold all by ourselves, and with Max and John, of course haha.  It was kind of awkward, but really neat to eat dinner with them and get to know them more.

We had an AMAZING lesson with Blake this week!!  Yesterday we brought a girl - Samantha Hancock - who is leaving on her mission March 18th for Mexico to our lesson with Blake after church.  We taught the Restoration and I had just finished reciting Joseph Smith's first vision when Blake just broke down into tears. He said something along the lines of, "God never left.  He was just waiting for someone to reach out to Him so He could restore it all again.  I know it's true"  Wow.  I had never thought about that before - then we ALL started crying and the three of us sisters individually bore our testimonies to him.  Then we all cried together for a little bit and we recommitted him to be baptized on April 25th and he said yes and that he was nervous but excited for that day.

He is so ready for the Gospel.  I am so thankful I have the privilege of seeing the Atonement work in Blake's life!  He also attended FHE last Monday night and loved it - we helped clean out a widow's rain gutters.  He loves to work hard and serve.

Aside from that, Sister Belnap got sick this week, so that was a bummer haha.  From Thursday-Saturday she was down and out but Hermana Hancock's companion, S. Holguin, was also sick, so Hermana Hancock and I worked together in both our areas and got 40.6.2. for a few days haha.  CRAZY days, but we did it!!  I am thankful for the opportunity I've had to stay busy, productive, and diligent this weekend. 

I am so excited for this last week!  I know that I truly was meant to serve in the California Santa Rosa Mission and I know that this work really is God's work.  I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real and that there is no sin we have committed that cannot be wiped clean through His grace and mercy if we turn to Him and truly repent. 

This week I learned a lot about repentance, especially helping Sister Belnap through some hard times she is going through.  Repentance is such a gift, and is given to us through our Savior Jesus Christ.  It may be a little uncomfortable and painful at times, but there is no comfort in the growth zone, and we are growing to eventually become like Christ: "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect" (3 Nephi 12:48 C.R. to Matthew 5:48).

I am truly changed through the Atonement of my Savior, and have gone from bad to good, good to better, and hopefully through the rest of my life, from better to best and from best to Saint. 

God bless you all this week and remember that God truly, truly loves you.  He knows you personally and hears your prayers.  So talk to Him, please.  He will answer you through His messenger, the Holy Ghost. "And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all thing" (Moroni 10:5).  :) 

Have a wonderful week everyone!!

Love always,

Sister Nikole Decker

P.S. We have an all-mission conference on Wednesday and I am SO excited for it!! It goes from 9:30-4pm.

February 26 - Temple Trip

Dear family and friends,

Hey hey hey! Such a good week, like always! Full of miracles!

Shout out to Justin, Mom, and Dad for the letters this week :) You are all the best! Love ya tons.

I kept better track this week so my email isn't lame haha.

Alright - Monday! (Last Monday, not this Monday) So much fun!! After I emailed, our zone went hiking up a little trail to a beautiful overlook of the hills in the country of Vacaville haha. It was fun to do something as a zone. I'll attach pictures!

Later Monday night, we taught Ty, this amazing lady we met the other day. We tried to meet Lisa (Lisa dropped us :/ Sad day. Not ready yet) and met her neighbor named Ty! Ty needed help with groceries so we helped her out and then she asked if we could say a prayer with her. We did and also left a blessing on her home, and she wanted us to come back. When we finally did (Monday night) she said she was too tired but somehow by a miracle let us in! We taught her about the Book of Mormon and she is so excited to read and pray about it! She has a sweet little boy named Regaughn (pronounced Rayjohn) and has a boyfriend who is away for 3 months in a mine for his work. She is such a miracle! 

Then I kept having this potential family with 2 YSA-age daughters keep coming to mind, so we went by and saw them! And guess what?! They were home, but busy haha. BUT! We talked to 4 guys standing on the other side of the road and one ended up being a former investigator of our's! His name is Mateo. He speaks Spanish and English, but is more comfortable in Spanish so we are giving him to the Spanish sisters to teach. Ha he and his friends were drinking and smoking so we taught about the Word of Wisdom...it went great! They had lots of questions so it was fun to answer them. Miracle again! And we got the high expectations Monday night :)

Tuesday was fun, too! Well, kind of stressful, but good. I was on exchanges with Sister Eyden and all of our plans kept falling through haha. I felt fine about it, because that is what happens in missionary work, but she kept stressing out BIG time and it started to rub off on me. Finally, we sat down and had a talk about attitude and stress. I shared how I cope with stress and keep a good attitude, and hopefully it helps her - she is a pretty new missionary - she's been out 5 months. And this is only her second area. But aside from that, we worked our hardest and reached the high expectations together! 

It's amazing to see how when we put our minds to something and have faith in the promises, that they are always fulfilled! We're teaching more lessons than I ever have before my ENTIRE mission. It is exhausting to work this hard, but I feel SO happy and so grateful to be a part of this mission. I have felt God's hand in my life immensely, and felt Him (still feel Him) molding my life, attitude, personality - everything - to how He needs it to be. It hurts so good haha. There is no comfort in the growth zone, and no growth in the comfort zone. I am glad to be continually pushed and invited to reach a little higher and work a little harder. It is helping me see my potential and more importantly, to see other people's potential that God has for them. 

Wednesday we spent the day in the country of Vacaville, which was fun! We taught Max again! Yay! He missed church last Sunday for basketball practice...ouch. So we taught him about keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. Oh goodness, he is a character haha. He wore leopard pants with a raccoon tail to our lesson...hahaha. We took a picture together (also with his friend John) so you can see him. He is so much fun and brings a sweet spirit to our little ward. We also taught this less-active sister, Alex, who lives upstairs in quite literally a barn! It was super smelly haha. Smelled like dog pee, cat litter, and horses and cows all in one. But I am so grateful we went over and talked with her, because all she needs to come back to activity is an invitation!

Thursday was also psycho. I had my last meeting with the stake presidency and mission presidency here in Vacaville. It is such a special privilege to sit with all the leaders in the stake and in the California Santa Rosa Mission and talk about how to be better together. I am so thankful for the stake president, President Bennett. He truly is a man called of God to do the work of salvation here in the Vacaville stake. 

Alright, Saturday Sister Belnap and I followed a prompting to talk to Blake, one of our new investigators. I am SO glad we followed that prompting! We dropped by and he was happy to see us. He asked us TONS of questions - his roommate is Catholic and very anti-Mormon and he became very concerned with some things he was hearing from his roommate. I am so glad we went over, too, because it made him excited to come to church! Also, he wants to meet with us more often and find out for himself. He shared a really neat experience that he had at church with the Holy Spirit. He said he was sitting in church last week and someone got up to speak. While they were speaking, he just felt a calm overcome him and he was so thankful he came! Then he told us he feels it whenever we meet, too. It was also good because we found out he has several addictions that he wants to shake - especially to alcohol. We talked about the 12-step program and it really touched him that our church offered a service like that for free. Moral of the story: follow promptings by the Spirit! They are ALWAYS worth following, even if they don't make sense at the get go.

And Sunday Blake came to church and loved it! He told us, "I just feel like all you teach is true!" He is amazing. We also had 2 less-active members in the ward bring nonmembers to church. That was really neat and such a blessing - they already have an automatic friend in church! 

As for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week...it has been psycho. It has been a really, really hard week. Our zone has been so close to all reaching the High Expectations every single day and as a result, Satan has been working really hard on us, too. 

I had an intense day yesterday being pulled between 2 different companionships that are really struggling and also trying to work hard in my own area. But I am alive! At the end of the night, my companion, Sister Belnap, and I said, "Well, neither of us died today, so that's good." Haha but God is so loving and merciful no matter what. I am grateful for that!

Also, We've all been feeling really inadequate and like we just can't do enough, so I am SO thankful for the temple trip we had today! It helped all those negative feelings fade away and I feel so happy now :) I had such a feeling of peace come around me when I walked into the Celestial Room, and I know that the temple truly is the House of God. All that really stuck out to me about the temple was the place of refuge. I love in Isaiah how he constantly talks about coming to the house upon the hill for refuge. I know that the house Isaiah speaks of is the temple. And I know the temple is the House of the Lord. 

Guess who I saw at the temple, too?! Kristen Parker! Haha good to see you, Kristen, thanks for coming!!

I love you all, have a marvelous week :) Talk to you on Monday haha.

Love,

Sister Kolee Decker

February 16 - High Expectations for DAAYYYYSSSS!!!

Dear friends and family,

Hi! Had a great week in Vacaville! Thank you to Kristen Parker and Mom and Dad for the letters this week, as well as my family for the package!! :) I appreciate and love the letters.

Well, I am running short on time today so I won't be able to write much, but we had a great week!  We met the High Expectations every day this week (20.3.1.) and picked up 2 super solid new investigators named Blake and Gabriel! Blake came to church and really enjoyed it.
Blake used to Jehovah's Witness but didn't agree with it and left, and is super open to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon! Gabriel was found on exchanges so I haven't met him yet, but at first he was "Atheist" but as we talked with him his heart softened and he said he wants to find out if God is real and wants to get baptized!!

Yay!! Miracles! Life is so so good. Sister Belnap and I both are hard workers and love the high expectations, so we have a blast together!
We sometimes bicker like old people haha (reminds me of me and Alicia Ferrin when we were little) but we love each other and are working our hardest!

We had to move Max's baptismal date to March 28th because he is a slower mover, but I am excited for him, even though I won't be there for his :/ He is amazing. And so funny haha. We also are starting to teach his caretaker, Nick!! Yay!!! We are meeting with him tonight.

I had exchanges with Sister Rodriguez in the 2nd ward and it was so much fun! She set a great example for me to follow the Spirit. It was neat because I truly just felt the calming influence of the Spirit the whole time. I asked how Sis. Rodriguez calls upon the Spirit and she told me that we have the ability to draw as much or as little of the Spirit in as we want to. It made me realize that I need to draw upon the Spirit more than I do most days. And not to get annoyed at little things but just let it all go and draw the Spirit in.

This week was so good! Man it just FLEW by. I can't really remember much else...just know I a, working hard and trying to come closer to my Savior and my Heavenly Father and help others come closer to Them, too :)

Love you!! You are magnificent, make good choices this week!

Love,

Sister Nikole Decker

February 9 - Happy Valentine's Day

Dear family and friends,

Hey hey hey! It's been a psychotic but wonderful week here in Vacaville :) Happy Valentine's Day on Saturday!

Shout out to Dad for the letter! Love you, Dad! And happy birthday to Camille this week on Wednesday! I love you and miss you :) Card coming your way. It will probably be late. #struggleisreal

Well, Monday and Tuesday were absolutely insane haha. We had to start AND finish packing and moving our old apartment. There was heaps of extra stuff in that apartment so we ended up donating most of it to the local homeless shelter for families called "Opportunity House."

Tuesday, Sister Holguin and my companions left early to head to transfers for their new companions. It was sad to say good bye to Sis.

Ngawharau :/ She is one companion I have had who has taught me SO much about humility, quiet dignity, laughter, hard work, diligence, and patience. After they left, our zone banded together and deep cleaned our old apartment and threw away or donated all that was left in it.

THEN, we had to organize the other apartment. Haha. Craziness. We had barely finished and then Sister Belnap and Sis. Holguin's companion, Hermana Hancock, showed up and we unpacked and went grocery shopping and did companionship inventory.

Sister Belnap and I get along pretty well - our teaching is kind of rough right now but we both know the doctrine. We just need to figure out how to switch off. It's such a wonderful change to not have a new missionary haha. I LOVE training, but it is a nice change to have a sister who knows how to teach the doctrine really well. I know God needs me and Sister Belnap to be with each other my last transfer in the field.

Sister Rachel Belnap. Haha she is a puzzle - I keep trying to ask her about her but she keeps saying "I don't know." She is from Ammon, Idaho (near Idaho Falls) and is 21. She comes from a HUGE family - she has 13 siblings, but also has 8 step-siblings! So 21 siblings all together. Whew. She went to BYU-I before this and is planning on going back. She's been out for a transfer less than me - so I "die" in 5 weeks, she dies in 11 weeks. It's fun being with a companion who knows the ropes of missionary work.

She is SO good at working with members, at being straight up, and at asking inspired questions. She makes me laugh all day, too haha.

Sometimes I don’t fully understand her jokes, but the way she tells them cracks me up anyway. It feels good to laugh :)

Every day since we've been together we have hit the high expectations!! (20 contacts, 3 lessons, and 1 baptismal invite). It feels so good to be working hard. All of our investigators except Max and Arely and Dulce have dropped us...agency is hard sometimes haha.

So we are working our hardest to find new people to teach, and especially striving to work with members so they will refer their friends and family. It is amazing how essential we all are to this work.

Without the members friendshipping our investigators, when the missionaries leave they find it hard to stay active. But when the members are involved in lessons, activities, rides to church, etc., our investigators have friends and a support system going on. Sister Belnap is a great example to me of involving members in the work. I am stoked to be working with her!

Highlights from this week:

1. Max Bloom! He is progressing so well! He came to church again and loved it :) He is so funny - whatever part I sing for the hymns on Sunday, he follows - literally. Like, the same octave haha. Singing super squeaky high when I sing the soprano part. Man, Max is awesome haha!

2. DULCE came to church finally!! We were seriously considering stopping teaching her because she just would not keep commitments, but Sister Belnaps's bold, straight-up personality really helped her! In our lesson on Friday with her, Sister Belnap told her that she wasn't doing much to find out if this is true or not, and Dulce pondered that a little and said, "Okay, let me give it a try." And NOW she came!

3. BROTHER WIXOM came to church in the 5th ward!!!! Wow! He has not been to church in a loooooooooong time! Will Wixom - Alex's older brother who we have been teaching - talked with the bishopric and decided the best course of action to be active again was through his home ward so he could also take his 2 daughters there. He told us he was going to come, and yesterday we had dinner at their house. Will was gone with friends, but after dinner Alex and Bro. Wixom stayed for the lesson (and Sis. Wixom sat in the kitchen and listened) and we talked about enduring to the end. Sis. Belnap (again, being super bold and awesome like she is) told Bro. Wixom that he was leading his family off the strait and narrow path described in 1 Nephi 8 and that he needed to lead them back. That really struck Bro. Wixom and he was pretty moved by it. At the end, we committed him to attend church with Will the next day and he gave a very small maybe. But look: he CAME!!!

Miracles in Vacaville! I know I was supposed to come here to help the Wixom family come back into the fold. They are all so amazing.

I know that this is the Lord's work and I am grateful to be doing His work in the California Santa Rosa Mission!

I wanted to end with my testimony of our mission's "High Expectations." It has changed my whole perspective and outlook on life. Without the expectations President and Sister Alba have in me and the other missionaries, I would not live up to my potential and would not have the drive to be bold, be diligent, be loving, be a missionary. Why? Because this is the hardest thing I have ever done.

But it is also the most rewarding and the most exhilarating.

Seriously, though - I finally see a glimpse of my potential, and now I want to live up to it. I know who I am! Matthew 10:39 "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." I want to leave you with something called "Fellowship of the Unashamed" by President Henry B. Eyring in the First Presidency. It will be one of the pictures attached. I didn't feel this way before my mission, but now I do!

*Attach picture of it*

I love you all! Remember how much God loves and cares for you this week, especially with Valentine's Day on Saturday :) Show your love for God and help someone come closer to His Son!

Love,

Sister Nikole Decker

P.S. Pic: Me and Sis. N wearing our turquoise necklaces!

January 19 - Hard week, but a good one just the same

Dear family and friends,

Hello from Vacaville!!

This week has been a week full of miracles!

As a zone we have been striving for each companionship to talk to 20 new people for 7 days in a row, and today is day 7!!  So far we have talked to 7 new people about the Gospel - only 13 more to go!!!  I love sharing the Gospel with so many people every day.  If I count up how many people I've talked to in the course of my mission, it would be...11,210 people :)  Amazing how just one person can talk to so many people in such short amount of time.  

Some companionships struggled to talk to 20 people everyday, so our mission president came up with a neat idea called the SOS text - if at 8pm one companionship is struggling to talk to 20 people, they can text out an "SOS" to their district members and if the district members have reached the high expectation that day (talked to 20 new people, taught 3 lessons, and invited 1 person to be baptized), then they can drive over to the struggling companionship's area and "blitz contact" it for them!  However many contacts they get contribute directly to that companionship!  It's helped so much!!  The "SOS" has helped our zone reach higher and higher and become so united in an exactly obedient way.  We want to get our 20.3.1. before 8 o'clock so we can help our elders and sisters out if they struggle to get their 20 :)  It's been amazing to see the change in our zone!  Everyone has the fire and the drive now!  

I love our mission theme: Mission: Possible!  It's been so fun to strive to do better each and every day :)

My testimony was already very strong with the high expectations, but now it's grown even more! And it's just helping us lift and lift and lift :)  I realized yesterday evening that I was starting to be pretty hard on myself and had to take a step back and breathe, but our zone in Vacaville has become so much more consecrated to the Lord and I love it!

My fellow sister training leader, Sister Holguin, has also really been helping me rise up.  She has such a fire for the work and it's contagious :)  She has been helping me desire to rise up and be better!  And Sister Ngawharau definitely challenges and helps me to be better every day.  She's pretty blunt, which was hard at first since the truth hurts sometimes haha, but she has helped me to see my weaknesses and I've been able to see significant progress in myself.  It's also helped us work together to help our area grow.

And Sister Ngawharau is amazing!  Her shyness is melting away and the ward absolutely LOVES her.  She is a friend to all and has so many Christlike attributes, especially humility and charity.  She would be a wonderful sister training leader, President Alba, even right after her 12 weeks finishes in 2 weeks.  She told me it would be scary for her, but she has this special gift and ability to reach out and touch and befriend others, especially those who are struggling.  She has completely befriended Sister Lesser and Hermana Grant in our zone, and they have been opening up and improving so much as missionaries.  She always writes thoughtful little notes to others in our zone, too, and helps motivate people just by being their friend.

This week has been pretty hard, but good.  I honestly can't remember much from it...it blurred by!  

It was hard because we have been working harder than ever and picked up 3 SOLID new investigators, and 2/3 dropped us because of their family not allowing it (one investigator has a Baptist family, the other a Christian family that is anti-Mormon).  It's hard to see people held back from learning the Gospel because of their families restricting their agency.  However, I know that they will get the opportunity sometime later in their life.

We also talked to MANY people who were pretty hostile towards us, which can get pretty grating after a while.  But I let out a little cry yesterday and I'm feeling much better haha.  It's funny because Sis. Ngahwarau never cries, and I cry often.  At first it made me feel uncomfortable that she never cried when I did so much, and then Sister Holguin said told me at MLC after we'd both been crying a lot, "You know what?  The scriptures told us Jesus wept, so, so will I!"  Ha then I thought to myself, "Yeah, same here!"  I understand that verse a lot more now than I did before my mission:

I know what it feels like to love people but have them reject you before even taking time to see what an amazing thing they are rejecting.  I know what it feels like to ache for my brothers' and sisters' salvation and see them stay in their sins. 

But I also know the joy that comes when I am God's tool in His hand to bring even one soul back to Him.  I love being His servant and serving my mission for Him and my Savior.  

I don't have time to write a really neat miracle I wanted to share, but if you can, remind me to share the story of Orlando Crumpett (the homeless man I gave my oranges to about a month and a half ago).  We just talked to him and got the neatest update!

I love you family and friends!  Sorry for the shortness and the lack of updates on specific people we're teaching - today has been crazy with cleaning and such.  We have a member of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy, Elder Nielson, coming tomorrow for a half-mission conference and we're STOKED!  But he's also coming to inspect our apartments after so we scrubbed them down GOOD today.  

Love you all!!  Thanks for the letters and emails, you are all magnificent :)

Love,

Sister Nikole Decker

January 12 - Homeless people are the BEST!

Dear friends and family,

Kia ora! Hope you had a good week - I had a wonderful one :) And if you didn't, well, today is the first day of the rest of your life - it can be better today. Choose to be happy :D

Okay, so quick shout out to Dad and Mom and Kristen Parker for the letters! Thank you, I appreciate them SO much :)

Alrighty, well I'll just say some highlights from this week!

I can't remember if I told you about what happened during Sacrament Meeting on Sunday, but I'll share it again anyway. So! We have been working with this less-active sister named Cheyenne, and she stopped meeting with us about 2 months ago. Last Saturday while I was still at Camp Liahona, Sister Ngahwarau felt prompted to call her. She invited Cheyenne to church and Cheyenne accepted. Lo and behold, who do we see walk into church but Cheyenne with her nonmember friend, Andrew! Since it was fast and testimony meeting, everyone was getting up to bear their testimonies and then Cheyenne walked up to the pulpit - she said something like this: 

"A month ago, I had made a decision to stop calling myself a Mormon and refer to myself as just a Christian. I was going to attend The Father's House and stop attending here forever. Then Joyce Came by [her visiting teacher]. I thought it was just a coincidence and shrugged it off, but had a thought in the back of my head. Friday night I had it set in my mind: I was going to stop coming here and attend The Father's House. Then the next day, the sister missionaries called and invited me to church. And here I am. I don't believe that twice in a row of someone coming to see me is just a coincidence. I can understand once, but twice? So, I don't understand a lot, but I am going to try to learn. And you will see more of me now. Amen."

!!!!!!! Yay! Wednesday night we taught Cheyenne for the first time and we felt like we should bring Destiny, our recent convert. Glad we did! Destiny bore her testimony of learning and growing her faith in Christ and Cheyenne had a light come into her eyes and told Destiny thank you - she had a lightbulb go off and she understood for the first time that God is not there to be a punisher, but to be our support and our strength. He is the person who we can rely on in the best of times and the worst. And that Jesus is there to help us, too, and pick us back up.

I love Heavenly Father. The more I learn about Him and our Savior, the more my heart fills up. I really feel like David in Psalm 23: "my cup runneth over" (v 5). The more I give my heart to God and Jesus Christ, the more They give so much more back! Crazy how that works.

As for the rest of the week - it was just GREAT! We have been teaching so many street lessons and talking to so many people. I LOVE it. And I am going to bed incredibly exhausted - that is a good sign. It means I am working hard haha.

I know God helps us fulfill our goals, too! 

As part of our goal as a mission, one is to get 20 contacts every single day.

We had a neat experience on Monday with that! Monday we had a fun preparation day (played SOCCER!! Yay!) and after dinner we were trying to talk to 20 people before we had a lesson at 8. We got to 14 and ended up talking to this group of drunk homeless men. They were kind of joking around with us so we left shortly after and walked down the street a ways. One of the men named Dennis, who also happens to be YSA-age, called after us and said, "Look, I know I am drunk. But I want to learn more about the Mormon church. Can you teach me?" So we sat down on a bench and taught about faith in Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His Gospel through Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He was so excited to learn and to get his own copy of the Book of Mormon :) And we set up another appointment for Wednesday. Then we looked at our watch after the lesson and it was 7:55! We still had to talk to 6 more people but didn't have any time before our next appointment. As we turned the corner to get to our car, there were 6 people standing outside of a restaurant! !!! So we were able to talk to 20 new people, too! Yay for miracles!

We also had a crazy night of contacting on Wednesday haha. We brought Quentin - a recent convert who is about to leave on his mission to Thailand -  with us to a return lesson with Dennis, the homeless man we met Monday, but he wasn't there. We started walking around by the bridges where they live and asked for Dennis. They kept pointing to this one area but it was quite a walk away so we couldn't walk over there that night. However, on the way we talked to about 15 homeless people and we knew them all! We are friends with many of them haha. I love these people. They are so humble and kind. And we also ended up teaching this wonderful woman named LuAnn about the Book of Mormon and she was so stoked to read it!

Biggest highlight of the week: ORLANDO!! He was the homeless, YSA-age man I gave the AZ oranges to a while back. Remember him? He came to church and a member, Blake, took him to Santa Rosa to stay in the rehab center for a couple weeks? Well guess what?? ORLANDO IS STILL AT THE REHAB CENTER!! He loves it there. It is safe, clean, and uplifting. And he is getting the help he needs. That was such a testimony to me that we should ALWAYS follow our promptings that the Spirit puts into our hearts and minds. Look what happened: we were able to be tools in God's hands to help change this sweet man's life. 

Thursday was...interesting haha. Sis. Ngawharau had a root canal and it took a solid 3 hours, so I was just chilling in the waiting room and these 4 YSA-age siblings came in. They were HILARIOUS. Haha I was laughing so hard at their jokes. There was a brother and a sister that were just dying of laughter to the point of tears rolling down and no sound coming out of their mouths except for when they took a breath haha! It reminded me a lot of when Justin and I crack up together - remember those good times Justin?! Haha. Just open your mouth and crack up for dayssss. It was a tender mercy to be in the waiting room with those people.

And Friday was amazing! It was Sister Ngawharau's 22nd birthday :D We woke up and I sang happy birthday to her all morning long haha. I set little reminders on her iPad that popped up with notes during the day and that was fun, too :) I also set up a little surprise birthday lunch with the rest of the zone - we had brownies and balloons and presents and ate lunch together! And the rest of the day we planned for the coming week, and ate this SUPER good dinner at a member in our ward's house. His name is Parker and his family is Japanese. They fed us this DELICIOUS bread. 

Okay let me explain how it went: everyone stood around the counter and there was a big skillet with olive oil, butter, and garlic boiling. You put whatever meat and veggies into this communal skillet and it cooks them, then use chopsticks to scoop them out. You have two pieces of bread - 1 to place the food on to cool and soak up the oil, the other to eat with the food when it has cooled! Man, it was so good!! I need to figure out what the name of it is. Parker keeps telling me but e name is super confusing and Italian...

And we ended the night with Destiny! She came out and did missionary work with us all Friday evening. We taught a wonderful lesson to a returning-to-activity member named Jordan (who also reminds me a TON of Eric Sheffield, by the way! You two should meet haha) about faith in Jesus Christ. It's amazing how no matter how many times I teach it, I learn something new. I love teaching with Sister Ngawharau. She is a pretty recent convert, so her experiences are so new and sweet and pure. She is such an amazing companion!

Destiny's grandma in Crescent City is getting worse so Destiny's dad is taking her to Crescent City for at least a month to help her grandma :/ I will miss her a lot! Glad she could spend her last night in Vacaville with me and Sis. Ngawharau :)  We are working closely with elders there to make sure that she keeps attending church and getting new member lessons. Also, I am grateful for Skype! We can continue teaching her new member lessons via Skype until she returns, as well.

Saturday we did the coolest service with planting grass and trees in barren areas in Vacaville along the trails they made for cyclists and runners and dog-walkers. It was so cool to meet so many different people in the community from different backgrounds coming together for a common cause. It strengthened my faith in service as a community for sure. Also, Sister Ngawharau and I taught the first lesson EVER 50/50. We have been working on it the whole time we have been companions and it has been a struggle because she is naturally shy. It is amazing to see what we can do through Christ, though - she is already transforming and becoming better and more confident.

One thing I've noticed in her is this gift she has to befriend those who are not easily befriended. She truly looks out for the downtrodden and broken-hearted and seeks to lift them up. She always makes me laugh whenever I feel down, too :) Sometimes I get too serious haha. She helps me remember who I am, what we are doing, and how to enjoy it. I am so grateful she is my companion! I am thankful for the example she is to me of being more like Christ with each passing day.

Haha story of the week:

Last night while contacting we ran into this Thai lady and her American husband. After talking a bit, we found out sue owns a Thai spa in town. She looked at me and said, "You come work in my spa - you nice skin and little body and happy smile make my customers want come to spa" Hahaha - then she started laughing super hard and then it made ME laugh and then her husband started laughing and then we were ALL laughing. Then she turns to Sis. Ngawharau and said, "And you make good officer with tall and strong body." Hahaha. She was so sweet. And now I know I can get a job at her spa if I ever wanted to move here post-mission haha. 

Man, I just love being a missionary! I know this is God and Christ's work and I am grateful to be a part of it :) I want you all to know I have a testimony of this Gospel. I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is truly Christ's church on the Earth again and He leads and guides it through a prophet today, Thomas S. Monson.

The book is blue, the church is true, and God loves you!

Love,

Sister Nikole Decker

January 7 - 16 Month Mark What???

Dear family and friends,

Hello!!  Shout out to Josh Burley and to Mom, Dad, and Justin for the letters and pictures this week! I will attempt to write you back soon...haha. #struggleisreal 

Also, congratulations to BreAnne and her hubby!!!  Have a happy honeymoon!  I am excited to meet her husband when I get home :)  And on that note, to meet Marissa's baby!!  I can't believe I haven't met him, either.

And finally, Happy New Year!!! Make 2015 the best year yet :)  Make this year the year of miracles.

This week was super crazy but crazy fun as well!  FYI: I hit my 16-month mark yesterday.  What the?!  So odd.  AND I got my "pink slip" this week, which is the slip of paper you get when you are close to going home that asks you where you want to fly into and such.  Bah.  It motivates me to work even harder and to bring as many souls to Christ as I can for this last transfer and a half I have left.

I was in my area for a total of 36 hours haha.  We had pday last Monday - which was so much fun, by the way, since we played volleyball and my 6'2" companion and my 5'1" self tore it up - and later that night we went to FHE and STILL managed to reach the "high expectations" President Alba has for our mission (20 contacts, 3 lessons, 1 baptismal invite).  It feels so good to be obedient and to work hard.  I am thankful forever for my mission for that testimony of obedience, sacrifice, diligence, and hard work.

Then Tuesday we had a great district meeting all about the Book of Mormon, and it helped me so much to have a renewed desire to spread the Book of Mormon throughout Vacaville!  We also got kicked out of contacting in two of our favorite contacting places - however, that is GOOD - it means people know who we are and that we are here to spread the good news haha.  It's been a tender mercy because lately we felt like the people were turning more into numbers.  Without our two favorite contacting places (which also happen to be busy places), the contacts we have had this week were much more in depth and personal.  I feel so grateful for this fresh year, and that I get to start it off on a mission.  What better way to begin? 

I was on exchanges from Tuesday evening to Wednesday evening and I absolutely loved it :)  I was with Sister Poulter in her area, and she is such a fireball - we worked SUPER hard and almost reached the high expectations that day (21.2.1.)  She is such a good example to me of humility and desire to be better.  I always feel privileged to be Sister Training Leader and work with these absolutely amazing sisters in the California Santa Rosa Mission.  This mission truly is the best in the world ;)  Sorry all other missions haha.

Then the highlight of the week, and also, the highlight of my mission: Camp Liahona!!  

For our MLC (Mission Leadership Council) for the month of January, the 1st to the 3rd - Thursday, Friday, and Saturday - all the Sister Training Leaders and Zone Leaders met up in Santa Rosa Thursday morning, then packed up some vans and drove up about 2 hours north into the redwoods to a Girls Camp place called Camp Liahona.  It's all a pretty big blur, but I have NEVER felt the Spirit so strongly my entire life than there in the beautiful Redwood forest during that MLC.  President and Sister Alba also gave us SO much to take back to our zones about this new year of 2015.  I am so excited to share a little with you!!

The first day we got there we ate lunch and then immediately split into groups and did service - my companions for the MLC were Hermana Nimmer, Sister Day, and Sister Anderson.  My companion for service was Hermana Nimmer and we had a BLAST.  We had to move broken asphalt from a big pile to a washed-out road from the rain and basically Tetris-ed the pieces together to build a road.  It was very heavy for my little arms but it was fun haha.

Later that night we had dinner and MLC began.  I learned the neatest thing about Redwood trees from a training President Alba gave us: for every foot a redwood tree grows, the roots only grow three feet outward instead of downward.  Their roots are not these incredibly deep roots, but these trees are ENORMOUS.  Redwood trees do not grow by themselves, either.  They grow in clusters, otherwise the wind would push these towering trees over.  But here's the neat part: the roots.  Because they grow in clusters, their roots grow and intertwine with one another.  They create a strong, unbreakable system under the ground that allows these trees to grow and tower over all the other trees.

I took a picture in front of one that is 2,400 years old - it was there before the time of Christ!  It had only been there for 200 years when Lehi and his family came over to the Americas.  What is even more amazing is that these trees' seeds are tiny - about the size of a walnut.  And yet, they become something magnificent.  

There is so much spiritual parallel to the Redwood trees.  We have families and wards and stakes and this church itself and the Gospel of Jesus Christ to grow our roots strong - to intertwine them with others so that when the wind blows, we stand strong.  Also, that our faith, our hope, our life does not have to start off in great circumstances to be successful.  These incredible, HUGE Redwood trees start off as small seeds that take thousands of years to become these towering trees.  But with time and lots of rain and fog, they grow :)

I had the most incredible experience in the forest - on Friday, we started the morning with a short hike to a grove of trees.  It is called the "Sacred Grove."  We all sat down in the cold morning and President Alba talked about Joseph Smith's story - how he was just a young boy trying to find out what church was true - which one was God's.  A few people shared their testimonies of when they came to know Joseph Smith was a prophet, and then an elder, Elder Olson, got up and recited the First Vision according to Joseph Smith:

"I saw a pillar of light, exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.  When the light rested upon me, I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air.  One of Them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said, pointing to the Other, 'This is my Beloved Son - hear Him.'"

As I heard the words, "This is my Beloved Son," my heart burned within me and I just started crying.  I have never received such a strong confirmation that Joseph Smith is a prophet, but when I thought I couldn't feel more confirmation, then a group of 5 elders stood up and started singing "Joseph Smith's First Prayer."  Then I was REALLY crying and my heart was just beating so hard inside.  After the song, then we sang a closing hymn, "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet" and I just broke down into sobs and couldn't even sing or talk or anything haha...poor Elder Wright and Sister Holguin sitting next to me.  It was amazing though.

I cannot deny the feeling I had - I know Joseph Smith was called as a prophet of God.  I know he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and that he restored the Church of Jesus Christ back to the Earth one more time before Christ comes again.  I also know with all my heart that the Book of Mormon was translate by Joseph Smith by the power of God and that it truly holds the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its purest form.  I know the Bible is the word of God as well.  I know that families are forever, and I am so excited to share this renewed conversion with all those I meet :)

I have so much more I want to say, but I have to go!  I'll tell you about it post-mission, I suppose haha.  Ask me about Camp Liahona!!  For reals, though.  I want to tell everyone all about it.  Oh yeah, and I taught at it haha.  It was scary, but I felt good - I taught about charity and it fit perfectly into President Alba's talk about introspection.  Man, I just love President Alba!  I know that he and his wife are so inspired :)

We got back Saturday night and we had an awesome Sunday - two investigators came!  Yay!!

I love you all!!  Hope you have a wonderful week :)

Love,

Sister Kolee Decker