June 23rd - Another week feeling Happy, happy, happy.

Dear family and friends,

Hi!!

So first off, thank you Mom and Dad and also the Wood family for sending me letters this week! I love getting letters :) It's my favorite thing! I can't promise I'll write back super quick, but I appreciate each and every one.

Here's my mailing address, by the way, for those who may not know it:
223 Cadloni Ln #C
Vallejo, CA (I don't know the zip code....maybe Google Maps it to find out that haha)

Okay, so I'm going to be honest and tell you this week was HARD, but it was lots of fun and very rewarding! We picked up 2 new investigators this week and are planning on teaching 4 more people this coming week who hopefully will want to learn more.

So biggest highlight of the week: I received news about the Foley family! For those of you who do not know or have forgotten, when I opened my call, my good friend Jenee Hjelmstad was there and said, "My family lives there!" She has an aunt named Natalie Foley whose husband passed away a long time ago. She has three teenage daughters named Amanda, Shannon, and Lizzie who are all AMAZING :) When I got to Santa Rosa, I put their address in my GPS and they lived only 5 minutes away from me! I received permission from President Alba to start teaching them, and so Sister De Rurange and I began teaching them. There is no way missionaries would have been able to get in the door any other way
- their family is SO busy, and loved the church they attended. But God knows His children and had a plan :) So we taught them until I eft the area, and passed the family off to the AP's (assistants to the president - those elders covered that area). And Elder Page, one of the AP's, informed me on Tuesday that the Foley family has attended church multiple times, now, and LOVES it! They are going to be setting a baptismal date with them this week!!! :) I am so excited for their family. I know that the Foley family is a part of the reason why I came here on a mission. I am forever grateful to be a part of their lives and to have helped begin the process of bringing them to the Savior.

So, aside from that, hi from Vallejo! I love it here! Many missionaries always say that this area is sketchy and scary. In some areas of the city, I can see how that is true. But mostly, I just see how amazing, humble, and teachable God's children are here. And in Napa and Benicia, two other areas we cover.

We had a wonderful week! Sister Harmer is just growing and growing, and it's been neat to see her confidence growing in herself and her ability to follow, teach with, and be guided by the Holy Ghost. She is amazing! She knows the doctrine very well and is great at memorizing scriptures to pull from during lessons. She is also very sweet and sincere with everyone who she talks to. I admire her a lot and look up to her. I feel that if anything, training has helped me glean my companion's strengths and try to do better in certain areas. For example, she is just so bold in certain areas that I struggle to be bold in. She connects the Book of Mormon into almost every conversation we have with people on the street! She also does not hesitate to invite others to come closer to the Savior.

I learned something fun about her: she wants to be a wedding planner!
Well, I learned that about her the first week haha, but it's been fun to talk with her about her hopes and dreams :) She also enjoys hiking, as do I! And, she is enjoying running a little bit more, so that's been good for us both. Running feels so amazing in the morning!

Okay, so here are some highlights from the week:

Monday:
-A lady in the Lake Herman ward chopped all my hair off and I love it!
#shorthairdontcare ;)
-We bought bagels. And I love them haha. I am a bagel fanatic.
-I love soy and almond milk! They're the best :)

Tuesday:
-Had the coolest lesson with a man named Steve in a park. It was great to talk with him and share a little about the Plan of Salvation with him, especially since his wife had passed away a few months prior.
-Elder Page was at our district meeting, and he gave me news on the Foley family in Santa Rosa -  the Foley's have come to church a few times. They love it! They are going to set a date with them, so pray that they will accept it and be able to make that date! :).  President Alba, have you met them yet at church? They are the most amazing family. I love them so much. My friend Jenee (Natalie Foley's niece, and one of my best friends from college) is so excited for them. When I opened my mission call the first thing she told me was that her family lived there and she wanted me to teach them. And now, they are being taught and will hopefully get baptized soon :) Ah it just makes me so excited!! I KNOW that the Foley family is one of the reasons I came to this mission.

Wednesday:
-Had an AWESOME picnic dinner with 3 less-active sisters in our ward.
One of them gave us a referral, so we called, and set up a return appointment with him for next week :)

Thursday:
-Had the BEST lesson with Fletcher! He invited himself to church and to read the BoM and to invite his girlfriend to meet with us as well.
He is pretty much awesome and elect. Except, we got a ride for church on Sunday and he didn't come! It was a bummer. But he has lots of potential. It just means Sister Harmer and I have a bigger opportunity to teach and help his faith grow.

Friday:
-Served at The Table, a soup kitchen in Napa. It was fun, had a good time :) I love helping out. The only hard part was that Sister Harmer was chopping onions and I cannot take onion juice/smell, so my eyes were a waterfall the whole time. But it's all good. We ended up feeding 178 people who wouldn't receive a meal otherwise.
-I invited people to be baptized in Spanish. Quite a feat. Sadly, they shut me down and tried to bash. That's when "Lo siento, no entiendo"
comes in handy haha. But it was a cool experience, nonetheless!

Saturday:
-We "blitzed" our area as a zone and ended up getting 3 return appointments from it! Wahoo! Also, we received 3 referrals :) -Matt Saxton! Such a sweet young man :) He is a less-active member in our ward and we taught him a really cool lesson about Jesus Christ. He shared his conversion story and it helped make him excited to come back. He told us he is ready to take steps to come back and wants to be better.

Sunday:
-We worked really hard to get our investigators and less-active members to church (REALLY hard!!) and had rides set up to pick them up and NONE of them came :/ It was a bummer. Church was sooo good, too!
Sister Alkema, a lady in the ward told us this amazing story if how the Holy Ghost comforted her in a time of need. When she had her first baby boy, she was very young (20) and very naive. She had her baby boy
9 weeks early and didn't realize how dangerous that was. He only weight a little over 3 pounds. But as the nurses started rushing around and making frantic comments about the baby, she realized that her baby boy was in danger and her heart started rushing and she started to cry. She prayed to Heavenly Father, "Heavenly Father, I feel like I would be a really good mom, please don't take him away. I will make his life count." Immediately she felt this peace wash over her, and shortly thereafter the nurses were able to stabilize her baby. After that, she has truly tried to make her little son's life the best it could be :) She is such a wonderful example to me! But even though we couldn't get anyone to come to church, I feel confident in our abilities and we are praying for guidance and strength to help us bring Heavenly Father's children back to Him.

It's been great to work hard and get our area back into shape. The members really recognize that we are here to work and are trusting us with their friends. We are doing our very best. I feel great about the work I am doing with Sister Harmer.

I had one sad experience this week, though. My heart kept aching throughout this week - literally, though - because of what some other missionaries have been sharing with us about the missionaries who were in this area before. They told Sis. Harmer and I about how the past missionaries did nothing in the area the whole time they were here last transfer. It hurt my heart a little not to hear that specifically, but to have Sis. Harmer hear when she is so fresh in the field all about the disobedience of other missionaries and how our area is so disorganized and disheveled as a direct result of disobedience. It makes me want to protect her from it, but it's hard when people will always say to us, "We're sorry you got put here. It must be hard working from nothing." I just want to say, "You know what  it IS hard, but nothing that is easy is worth it. However, things that are hard...things that are hard are ALWAYS worth it." There is so much going for this area, President Alba! The members are amazing, the people here are wonderful. We are finding people to teach, slowly but surely, and we are so happy :) This area is definitely the hardest area I've served in for several reasons, but I am growing to love it more and more. The field is white ALL over, including in the Napa 4th YSA ward! It reminds me of something my brother Bryce says that really helps me when I get discouraged: "Life is hard, but we can do hard things!" That is so true!

"The great the struggle, the more glorious the triumph." Remember that this week. I love you all, choose the right! Remember that you are magnificent!

Love,

Sister Nikole Decker :)

June 16th - Diversity is the BEST

Dear family and friends,

So guess what? I had a great week! Hope you did as well :)

Everything is always blurred into one long day, but I'll share some highlights with you from what I remember.

So first off, I will be sending pictures this week! I remembered my camera, as promised. I need to take more pictures...goal for this week!

Okay, I can't remember if I told y'all last week, but my district leader, Elder Williams, came out at the same time as me! It's been really fun to serve around him again. Reminds me of the good ole' MTC days haha. Whew...glad I don't have to do that again. He gave me a blessing last week because I have been feeling super stressed, and it helped me so so SO much! I am so thankful for righteous priesthood holders who keep the Spirit with them so they can be instruments in God's hands to give His children comfort.

So, from the first of the week: coolest following a prompting story ever!! Monday evening we only had about 30 minutes before we needed to head back home to Vallejo from Napa. We had several potential investigators to drop by, but this girl's name popped into my head:

Brittany. She is an inactive member who asked that the Church do not contact her. But I felt the feeling again we should go by and see her, so Sis. Harmer and I talked about it and decided to go. As soon as we knocked on Brittany's door, she opened it and invited us right inside!

She was eating dinner with her fiancé, Jordan, who is also an inactive member. We shared with her "Because of Him" and talked about the Atonement and eternal marriage, and how God wants more for them than what they have now. Brittany was in tears the whole time and said she is ready to take the steps to come back. At the end of the lesson she said the prayer and started crying. She said, "I haven't prayed in a long time. It feels so amazing." :) Moral of the story: follow the promptings you receive from the still, small voice. They are so important. God knows when people are ready, and if we listen to His Messenger, we can become "instruments in His hands" to bring back those prepared to come back into the fold of the Good Shepherd.

Something else from this week that was pretty funny, was that I got asked to be someone's girlfriend this week during a contact! Why does this always happen? I've come up with a theory: people mistake feeling the Spirit with being in love. It is such a good feeling! If you haven't felt the Spirit before, I could totally see how that could happen. But anyway...It was awkward. You know, the usual.

#lifeofasistermissionary

Another highlight: we had a member from the first quorum of the Seventy come and talk to us at a half-mission conference on Friday!

His name is Elder Falabella from Guatemala. He is awesome!! It was a lot of fun, and I learned so much from him. I think the biggest thing I learned from him was to ALWAYS be a full-time missionary: in the car, in the store, on the streets - everywhere. We only have 18-24 months to do so. So, we followed Elder Falabella's advice and have been trying to talk to EVERYONE all the time, no matter what. It's been great to see how when we open our eyes and ears and hearts to truly committing to being a full-time missionary, more opportunities to find and teach come into play. We had the coolest experience on Saturday when we were trying to find a potential investigator's house.

We got lost and drove by a park, but I saw quite a few people in there and we just drove right past it. Sis. Harmer said, "Maybe we should go back and talk to the people there." So we headed back to the park and the first person we talked to we taught a lesson to! His name is Eugene. He asked us so many questions about the Plan of Salvation - why are we here? Where do we go after? Where were we before to life?

Why do bad things happen to good people?

My testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel grew tenfold during that lesson. We have the truth. It is simple, pure, and perfect. We have answers to those questions. We have full access to the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true! It really is Jesus Christ's church restored to the Earth once again.

I just love being out here! There are so many amazing people we get to talk to every day. I love this area, as well. On Saturday, we contacted 22 people on Saturday, and only two of them were white. Not that I have anything against seeing a lot of Caucasian people, but it was cool to see all the diversity! I thought back to the people and counted 16 African-Americans, 2 Asians, 2 Polynesians, and 2 Caucasians. It was awesome!! Each culture is unique, and I love experiencing a taste of people's cultures as we talk with them :) Yes!

Okay, so - Sis. Harmer is very creative! She thinks of out-of-the-box ideas. We were thinking of ways to get our investigators to church and she came up with making formal invitations! Such a cool idea! We'll see if it works :) She is so much fun! I love working with her and feel privileged to be her companion. Also, she wouldn't try tortillas from the store for some reason, but she tried them and found out she liked them! Which will greatly augment our food choices haha.

Well, I think that's about it for this week. We are working very, very hard and trying our best to find new investigators. Our members are awesome and continue to feed us and come out with us.

Hope you have a lovely week full of surprises and happy memories!

Love you!

Love,

Sister Nikole Decker

P.S. On exchanges this week with Sis. Shurtleff and Sis. Johnson, we accidentally locked our keys and our phone inside the church....yeah.

So we had to be creative and try to figure out a way to get in contact with someone to let us in. We said a prayer and felt like we should message a lady in their ward on Facebook! As it turns out, she was online, and sent some other missionaries to unlock the church for us.

God answers prayers, no matter how silly or small :)

P.P.S. A lady in my ward is pixie-cutting my hair today!! Woot woot!

It's gonna be so short, I'm excited. Hopefully I don't hate it haha.

I'll send a picture next week ;) And I'll make a new profile picture on Facebook.

P.P.P.S. I did not say Happy Father's Day!  So here it is: Happy Father's Day!!!  Shout out to my dad, who is the world's most amazing dad.  So supportive, funny, laid back, righteous, fun, loving, humble, and hard-working.  You're the best, Dad, I love you!

June 9th - I'm Over the Hump

Dear family and friends,

I am currently typing on a computer that is in Spanish...so it took me a while to get to this page because everything was in Spanish.  But!  I made it!  I don't know how to fix it to be in English. Doesn't really matter, though.  I'm typing in English and everything is all working out just fine haha.

Anyway, just a random fun fact for you!

I hope you had a wonderful week!  Sister Harmer and I had an incredible one together :)

Guess what?!  I hit my 9-month mark last Wednesday!  I am officially over the hump.  That means that my mission is more than halfway through.  It kind of makes me want to hyperventilate because I just want to do this forever, but it's okay, still have 9 months left!

But really.  It has simply blown by!  I am a completely different person than when I first came out, and I love it.  Family and friends, I have truly lost myself in the work, and I really have found myself, just like the scripture in Luke 9:24 promises: "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it."  I have such a strong testimony of the Savior and His Atonement - even more so than when I first came out.  I know He lives, and that through Him we can be made clean, whole, and perfect.

So.  This week was AMAZING!!!

Yesterday was especially awesome:

We received 5 member referrals and they all committed to setting up a time we can meet with their friends in their homes by next week.  We have lots of tasks to make sure we follow-up.  It was neat!  This all came about because Bishop Judd asked us to speak in Sacrament Meeting on missionary work and why we do it.  Sister Harmer focused on the how and what and why of missionary work, and my talk focused on how missionary work helps us fulfil our baptismal covenants to Heavenly Father.  I used an illustration from The Butterfly Circus (oh man,  that video has changed my whole perspective).  I felt the Spirit guiding my talk - it was really powerful!

After I sat down, a member in the ward, Megan Terry, leaned over to me and whispered, "I have two friends I want you two to teach.  I'll talk to you after church about them."  She told us about these two friends and also shared some amazing things from her Patriarchal blessing that our talks brought to her remembrance.  She is coming to a lesson with us on Saturday, giving a less-active member a ride next Sunday, and is also feeding us on Wednesday!  She is so amazing, and we are very grateful to have such an amazing sister in our ward who is so willing to help. Later at night we had dinner with three members and they each shared someone they want us to teach.  SO amazing how when the Spirit is present and they can feel the love of the Savior, they want their friends to learn the Gospel.  I know that's true with me, as well.

AND, we were able to get a less-active member to church yesterday - Aja Miller!  We taught her on Saturday, and she shared with us that she prayed and feels like she should serve a mission!  So we laid it out for her and told her if this is something she wants to do, she needs to be willing to keep her covenants.  One of those is coming to church.  She said she knows, and she came to church yesterday!  The ward did an amazing job fellowshipping her :)  She felt so welcome, and our bishop also went up to her and asked her if she would like a calling in the FHE committee.

Little did Bishop Judd know that just 10 minutes earlier, Aja had been saying that if she were to have a calling at church, she wanted to be in something related to family night activities!  It was so inspired.

Also, one girl in our ward in particular really stepped up and talked with her - her name is Adrienne.  Adrienne offered her a ride to church every week and is coming to her lesson on Saturday with us!

We had an incredible "power hour" with the Alkema's, a couple who fed us last night.  We felt really prompted to go by this lady named Estella (a potential investigator), but she had moved.  We were surprised, because we felt so prompted to go.  So we looked through the people we were going to see tonight, and decided on Humberto, another potential.  We had to drive across town for about 25 minutes, but it was really cool because when we got to his house, we were able to set a return appointment for today at 7!  We also have a member coming with us to a lesson at 6 tonight, and she is willing to come at 7 as well - her name is Carly.

So, as you can now see, Sunday was awesome!!  It was also cool to see how much the members are trusting us.  Especially our Bishop.  He gave us a list of names of people he wanted to come out with us, people he wanted us to visit, etc.  We worked really hard this week visiting those people and it really helped us to gain his trust.  We gave him a list back of the people he asked us to see and what happened with them, and then he gave us more people to go see this week!  We're excited to continue helping him :)

Sister Harmer and I really broke through some barriers together, as well.  We were having a hard time getting along (or at least on my side I was) but during companionship inventory on Friday we really got to know one another and I learned a lot about her that is really helping me understand how she ticks.  We are getting along MUCH better now.  The only hard thing: we like totally different foods haha.  She loves snacks and treats and sweets....and I don't eat them. So that's a difficulty, but we're working on finding compromises!

She has also really grown this week - she is amazing at contacting!  She is not afraid to talk to anyone!!  She invited 3 people to be baptized!  Her goal was 4, and she is bummed about it so she wants to invite 5 people this coming week haha.  She's a fire ball and brings such a positive energy and excitement to the work in the Napa 4th YSA ward.  I love the greenie fire!  I love working with her and being her companion.  She is helping me to be better and to be a little bit kinder and a little bit more patient.

Patience...I've been working on it my whole mission, and I still struggle.  But bit by bit, I've been getting better!

Well, that's about all I have to share with y'all this week!  I hope you have a wonderful Monday and an even better week.

Working hard feels so good!  I love it :)

Love you all so much!

Love always,

Sister Nikole Decker

P.S. I forgot my camera again...I'm sorry!  I promise I'll remember next week!!

P.P.S. My district leader this transfer is an elder who I came out with - Elder Williams!  It's been lots of fun serving around him and his companion, Elder Jeppson.  They are awesome missionaries.  Oh!  And my zone leader is Elder Carrillo, who was my first zone leader when I came into the mission :)  

P.P.P.S. Our apartment has so many spiders!!  My arachnophobia is slowly lessening though, so that's good!

June 2 - First Week in Vallejo!

Dear friends and family,

Hi there from the ghetto: Vallejo! Haha but really. It is the poorest area in the mission, but the apartment complex we live in is in a nice part of town and I feel very safe.

I'll tell you about my week in a nutshell and then give some fun facts at the end!

So my last couple days with Sis. Petersen were great - we worked super hard and found a couple new investigators in St. Helena. And then, it was sad....I had to leave her! I will miss her soooo much! We have become very close and we teach well together and get along so great.

Tuesday night, the trainers met the new missionaries and did a few practices with them, and it was really fun! The new sisters were very quiet this transfer, so I was a little nervous about who I would be with, since I am (as you all know) not very quiet and like to talk haha.

But Wednesday morning, I found out who I was with and so far it has been a crazy, weird, intense, stressful, fun, awesome time thus far! I am with Sis. Rebecca Harmer, and she is so much fun! She is from South Jordan, UT (4/5 companions have been from Utah so far haha). She is so sincere and is a great teacher. She also isn't afraid to talk to people on the street, and that has made contacting really fun. She also wears the cutest outfits! We haven't taken any pictures yet, but I'll send some next week.

It has been a psycho adventure, this whole whitewashing ordeal!

When we got in on Wednesday evening, we didn't have ANY food in our apartment! Or condiments, or salt and pepper, or ice...yup. It looked like the Grinch who stole Christmas had come into our apartment. Since we whitewashed in, the elders moved out of their old apartment (now

ours) and took all the food with them...

So, we went shopping and had to eat out for dinner...which, the elders didn't give us our dinner calendar until Saturday so we missed a couple dinners. We literally have been surviving on PB&J's and Frosted Mini Wheats and grapes for the past 5 days haha. However, we shopped HARD today and got lots of little things and big things we need for our apartment and food-wise. Many members in our ward also signed up to feed us, so we're excited about that, too! No more PB&J's for lunch AND dinner!

Also, the apartment was not the cleanest...yeah. We scrubbed that and the car the elders gave us down today haha.

I have been a little discouraged, but Sis. Harmer's positive attitude to moving the work along has really helped me keep my faith!

Everything is just so new! New area I don't know my way around, new companion who is also a new missionary, new apartment, new elders and sisters to serve around....it has been rather overwhelming for me.

However, I have been relying very heavily upon The Lord and I have confidence that He will guide us and help us to turn this area around!

When we first came to the church, we synced our area book and our calendar had a couple of finding hours, but lots of space in between...I tried not to let Sis. Harmer know I was freaking out, so I told her that normally, our planner should be filled, and when Friday came we'd really fill the next week with useful, good activities. So we had to wing it for the past 5 days, but we feel good because next week is all planned.

As the week progressed, it got better, though. Thursday we met with the ward mission leader and talked over specific plans and goals. The ward hasn't come up with a ward mission plan, but the bishop and his counselor, Bro. Bosch, and the ward mission leader are excited for the newness of having sisters be in their ward and want some real work to start happening, so they said that they will come up with one and share it with us.

Friday we were able to really plan for the coming week, and I feel confident about it and happy with the plans we have made.

Saturday we taught this amazing recent convert in the ward, Reuben Bosch!  We did a little get-to-know each other and he told us his conversion story! He said that he was overcoming his last addiction to nicotine and had two days left on the patch. It was a Sunday, and for some reason he felt prompted to not use the patch that day. He went to church that day at the Napa 3rd ward to see what our church was all about. Later that night, he was having withdrawals from not being on the nicotine patch and he prayed to his "God" he made up for his 12-step program, and the pain wouldn't go away. Then he thought that he would pray like we did, and he said a prayer and IMMEDIATELY he felt the urge go away and was filled with warmth. He felt better right away! He said that sparked the desire to learn more. He got baptized a month later! :) So cool! He has just finished the standard works (Bible, BoM, D&C, and the Pearl of Great Price). He is just EATING information up.

Sunday was perfect, because before then I felt like I was treading in deep water just barely keeping above the surface. But Sunday, The bishop gave us a list of names of people to go see, and his wife helped us fill the dinner calendar, and his counselor Bro. Bosch is incredibly gung-ho about missionary work. Tender mercies!

The ward is focusing a lot on reactivation, which I think is a great idea. We only have 10 people on average come to church every week with a member list of 57. It's pretty daunting, but I know we can definitely help and especially help the members step up to invite our inactive brothers and sisters back.

OH! Here is my new address for the next 12 weeks, at least:

223 Cadloni Lane #C

Vallejo, CA 94591

I'll end with some fun Vallejo facts:

1. There are lots of hills! Our runs in the morning definitely get my heart rate going.

Golden rolling hills with this pretty grass on them.

2. I think I've seen a total of 6 white people out here thus far.

3. Hilarious conversation with a grocery store worker on Wednesday:

Me: "How are you doing?"

Sassy African American lady: "Girl, look at mah face. *Makes fishy

lips* I've been done working too hard."

Lol. Love black people.

4. I have only heard 1 gunshot thus far (and it was late at night)!

Everyone was saying we'd hear them all the time, but so far so good!

I am so excited for this upcoming week! I have trust in God that He will help us move this area forward and upward :) Remember that the worth of every soul is great in the sight of God (D&C 18:10, 15-16).

God loves you!!!

Love,

Sister Nikole Decker

P.S. This is from my studies this morning. I just are up the Book of Mormon today! Well, are up one verse in the Book of Mormon. I studied the history of Zedekiah at that time - here's some great references I

found:

1 Nephi 1:4 with ALL cross-references.

2 Kgs. 24:18, 17:13 (13-15).

2 Chr. 36:10, 15 (15-16). 2 Chr. 15:9.

1 Chr. 9:3

Jer. 37:1, 44:30, 49:34, 52:3 (3-5), 7:25. Jer. 26:18, 20 (17-19)