Last week in Salt Lake!

So...are my emails getting to everyone? I haven't heard from, Mom, Dad, or Jessica in FOREVER! And Brewy, you're emails aren't getting to me! :( Try to resend them.

Anyhow, this week has been rough, but good! Oh, everyone and their dog in South Jordan has a dog, so I've been in allergy Outer Darkness for a month. It's misery. Anyway. I don't know if I have anything terribly amazing to say today...I'm leaving to Taiwan tomorrow, so I'll call everyone I can (if I can afford a phone card) at the airport. Of course those who have written to me get longer phone call privileges. >:( Haha, just kidding... Anyway, it's sad to leave South Jordan. I actually have really loved this whole experience. It has shown me that it doesn't matter where you serve, just as long as you're serving, you'll love it. I'm really sad to leave some of our really awesome investigators. They are so neat and it's so cool to see them learn. There are the cutest little group of 8-10 year old girls in the neighborhood that we read scriptures with that I'll miss like crazy. They're in one of the pictures I attached.

Well, let's see, one fun event I had yesterday was with our adorable recent convert Townsend (he's the one in the baptism pictures). We taught him some review lessons then the ward mission leader taught him about the Priesthood and Missionary Work. After the lesson was over, we asked Townsend if he wanted to go tracting with us. He was so awesome! He's only 12 but he was fearless and he got us into a door! He taught part of the Joseph Smith story and bore a sweet testimony that was really touching. He is so excited to serve a mission. He was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood on Sunday too.

I've been teaching Brewy (my sister) more and it's so cool! She's really doing so well. She's alot more like the Brewy I know and she's wanting and already making alot of changes. It was so funny to be with her. My companion was a little confused at our humor...we'd start making Looney Tunes "Bull" and Joanna faces and quoting RockaDoodle and laughing hysterically and she thought we were crazy.
You know what I've learned most of all through this whole experience in South Jordan is thus:
1. Those who fall into inactivity for one reason or another generally are very stressed out people. It seems like those who have fallen away feel a general feeling of frustration, but it's nonetheless REALLY hard to get them active again. It's hard because you know that the gospel will help things for them.
2. People don't change, but the gospel changes people. It's amazing the changes a person can make and the feeling you get around someone when they start living the gospel. Both getting reactivated and newly converted people start to have a new light about them. It's really a VISIBLE thing. It's incredible.
3. Heavenly Father gives you blessings depending on your desires. I have prayed my face off for Brewy (my sister) for a few years now, and it's a testimony to me that Heavenly Father loves us so much that he'd let me have the opportunity to teach Brew. I thought that was so neat.

Anyway, I don't really know what else to talk about. I will call you all tomorrow! :)

Running into family while on the mission!

So this week has been good! Well, first off, seeing Rachel, Robert, Lindsey, Emily, Cousin Bev, and Brewy all in the past week, was really fun!! Haha, I don't know if it was good for the focus...but it was good. I'll try to remember all that happened in the past week, it may be hard though...

1. Last P-Day Rachel took me and my companion to the bank to do the Power of Attorney thinger. It was so fun to see her. It made me realize that I was still in Utah and still Nicole Dowdle. I kind of forgot that...She was really nice and bought me and my companion groceries.

2. Last Tuesday our investigator that was going to get baptized but called us and dropped her date and off the face of the earth, called us and said "what will it take for me to be baptized this Saturday?" We were so excited!! We taught her another lesson and got her all ready. She was so excited and things were going so well!! Our prayers had been answered for her. THEN! Sad story. Some member co-worker of hers found out that she was getting baptized and said, "are you serious? You're rushing things. You're not ready and you're getting baptized for the wrong reasons." This really upset our investigator so she cancelled the baptism!! So upset! Why would a member say such things? So that evening we prayed to know what to do and right afterwards a member called about something totally different. But the member and I were both impressed that he should come with us to see our investigator that night. This member is AWESOME and really a stalward kind guy. So we took him to the investigator's house and everything went well. She's still going to wait on her baptism, but she feels better about things. Then she was praying about her co-worker and right when she did, she got a text from the co-worker apologizing, which really confirmed our investigator's faith. It was good.

3. We tracted an apartment building and ran into a couple "Bible Bashers". It was fun...we didn't bash, but it was interesting.

4. We helped a Hispanic family move for service on Thursday. They had a little boy named Ernesto. He was so funny. I asked if he had any pets. He said, "No we don't have ANY pets. Not a cat, not a dog, not a bird, not a chihuahua." Hahaha. I laughed for so long.

5. We worked hard this week to find people, and were given a kid who wants to be baptized!

6. We are teaching an adorable 9 year old named Andrea. She watched Richard Simmons videos for fun!

7. We had a baptism yesterday! A really awesome boy named Townsend. He has so much faith. His Dad is less active, but he goes to Church anyway. He's such a good boy. He's getting the Priesthood on Sunday and he's so excited. His Dad is starting to show some desire to be reactivated and get the Priesthood too, which is really exciting.

8. President Laney wants Sis Petersen and I to practice Chinese every so often so we have gone on some exchanges with a Mandarin speaking Sister. We taught a 12 year old girl who was just adopted from China. She was soooo funny!! She had so much energy and wore a "hello kitty" headband. The concept of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ blew her mind! We had a book and paintings and she would point to every one and say "This is Jesus Christ?" Sister Tan would say, "No! that's Joseph Smith. You know Jesus Christ has a beard." Then she would laugh and say, oh yeah!

9. We taught Brewy (my sister) the 1st Lesson on Saturday! It was fun to see her again. I miss her alot. Her hair is reddish now, it's pretty cute. It's funny, she wears all my clothes but somehow looks so much cuter in them than I did. Haha. The lesson went well. Brew remembers alot about the Church. The Spirit was really strong, especially at the 1st vision. Anyway, I'll let Brew tell you how she liked it, but I know she felt the Spirit because her eyes were the size of golf-balls after the 1st vision part and she said, "Wow, your companion said that so well, wow, that was crazy. That was intense!" We told her it wasn't how she said it, but it was the Spirit telling her it was true.

10. I saw Emily, Lindsey and Robert on Saturday! We were visiting someone in their friend's neighborhood and I saw their car! We knocked on their friend's door and Emily came to the door and screamed "NICOLE!" It was so cute!! It was so good to see those little girlies again and nice to chat with Robert for a minute. Unfortunately Jessica was out shopping, but maybe I'll run into her before I leave...?

anyway, I've gotta run!! Time's up!

Coley

Nicole hangs out with her sister (*gasp*)

(This post is written by Nicole's sister Rachel)

Due to all Nicole's issues with losing her credit cards and that bag, her mission president gave me permission to see Nicole so we could go to the bank and get things squared away before she left (long story).

So Monday morning I called the mission office and they gave me Nicole's cell phone number upon which I asked for Sister Dowdle.

Nicole picked up the phone and I said in a squirrely Popple voice, "SISTER DOWDLE? This is a Popple!" (inside joke, our family is weird)

She starts shrieking "RACHEL!!! You can't call me here!"

"Yes Coley, I looked in the Illegal Phone Book of Missionary Numbers and found you!"
We met at the mission home and I saw that she had CHOPPED OFF her hair but she was beautiful and shining!

After, I took Nicole and her companion (Sister Peterson) to the bank and helped her tie things off before she left to Taiwan and then I took them to Hobby Lobby and the grocery store, since Monday was their Preparation Day. It was so fun to see her and hang out with her! When would that have been able to happen?? It was awesome. She is such a strong and dedicated missionary. At the bank she even invited the woman from India who was helping us to meet with the missionaries. She doesn't let an opportunity pass her by! She and her companion live in the basement of a very beautiful home owned by a chiropractor who spoils them rotten. She is really enjoying her mission so far, even with this little detour to the Salt Lake City mission. Nicole is told she will have her visa within 1-3 weeks and then she is REALLY off!

We love you Nicole!!!

Drunken Chinese investigators (Week 2 in the SLC mission)

So, 2nd P-Day in the field! This past week was good. We had one of our investigators come to church finally which was awesome. It was a great testimony meeting, which was very good since sometimes they can be scary. Haha. It was really good. There are SUCH good members in this area.

Hmmmm...what happened this last week? Days are SO full of stuff that sometimes you wonder if you've just lived a 36 hour day. Well, my bag is unfortunately lost forever. :( I actually still have faith that I will get it back. Because it turns out no one used my cards, and if I were a crook and stole a bag, I would have at least tried the credit card at Walmart or something. So I don't think it was stolen. Plus, about 40 minutes after I lost the bag I'd called Temple Square and described the bag and they said they'd put it aside and hold it for me. Then magically it *disappeared* and they are assuming that they found another bag that looked like mine when they told me they found mine. I really appreciate Grant going back and forth and searching all over for the bag. I feel so AWFUL because Grant gave me the bag in the first place and it was SO perfect for the Taiwan weather and biking and stuff. WAH! Anyway, what I think happened is some missionary/visitor's center person put it in a *safe* place and it'll come up sometime. This is what I'm praying for at least. Sister Egbert who I live with is so sweet...she replaced my scriptures for me, so I don't have to use my old smelly quad. Haha, my old ratty ones really do smell like puke.

So we tracted a Chinese door at the beginning of the week and set an appointment to come back and teach. The young guy was really nice and his Dad from Beijingdidn't speak English, but was also really fun. It turns out he's some sort of government official from China in their Health Department. He's really interested in the Church, but not from a really religious standpoint. His son said he tried to get into both the Salt Lake and Oquirrh Mountain Temples and the workers had to tell him that he had to have a recommend. But the sad ending to this story, is that when we went back to teach them, the father and their tipsy friend were the only ones who listened to us and they were both drunk. And they both asked questions that were beyond deep and not necessary and confusing altogether. Like "God created us, but nature is different. Nature created itself. Maybe God created people, but He couldn't create Nature". Huh?? Must come from their Daoist background. We asked one of them if he would pray about our message and he immediately closed his eyes and started mumbling then said "sorry, I didn't get an answer". We told him to try again when he was alone and there weren't a ton of people around with crazy amounts of noise and he said "I will probably just start thinking of my girlfriend." Haha. It was interesting. We'd also be in the middle of teaching and the father would get up and get out a HUGE camera and snap dozens and dozens of pictures. Haha. So funny.

We are teaching this cute kid named Townsend. He's 12 and so pure and good. He's getting baptized on Sunday and we're SO excited for him. Tracting is actually kind of fun. It's fun to be surprised at who is behind the door. Sometimes it's an inactive member, sometimes nonmember, sometimes interested, sometimes not. It's fun. We felt prompted to go to a certain door the other day and it ended up being an inactive member that we just did the dishes for. Anyway, missionary work is fun.

Hmmm...well, I can't think of anything else that's of much interest. I'll just say that it's interesting how much your testimony is strengthened by the sharing of it and the sharing of the gospel. And I used to be afraid that if someone said, "You're Church is wrong and blah blah blah" that it would weaken my faith, but so far, it just makes me want grab them by the shoulders and say "If you ONLY knew!! If you only knew what you were saying. The truth is staring you in the face!!"

Anyway, Love you all! Sorry my emails aren't cooler. Haha. Tell me what you're all up to!

Nicole's new address!!

Until further notice,
Nicole's new mission
address is:

Utah Salt Lake City South Mission
Sister Nicole Dowdle
8060 South 615 East
Sandy, Utah 84070

Write her!
She'd LOVE it!

First week in my *new* mission!

Hi all!

SO! Guess where my first area is? South Jordan! I'm in the neighborhoods right behind the District with Hobby Lobby, Harmons, Target, etc, across from the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It's funny because when I lived with Jessica I applied to work at that same Hobby Lobby and a bunch of places in the District. Haha. It's interesting, I also ran into one of the parents of one of the Elders in my MTC District, Elder Van Wagoner. Random and fun. We live in the basement of the Egberts...it's REALLY small world because they were in the Ashley Park Ward in our old stake but just barely moved into this area. Their daughter Amanda Egbert knew Brewy I think...It's really funny.

Things are very different from #1 how I imagined, and #2 how they'll be in Taiwan. I highly doubt Taiwan will be as cooshy. We have a car and a cell phone and get fed awesome food every night by members. We have to work to get investigators, but often the members are just "fed" to us by members. We are teaching twin 13 year-old boys who were friendshipped by their friend in the stake. One of the boys had stolen the girl's Book of Mormon and wouldn't give it back. He wanted to go to Church with her so he and his twin went with her then we taught them yesterday. They are really good boys! We taught the first vision and the Spirit was really strong. The one brother is a really deep kid. He was very contemplative about the First Vision and they both agreed to pray about it. It was pretty neat. We had a woman drop her baptism and told us she didn't want the lessons anymore which was pretty frustrating, but hopefully her fellowshipper keeps tabs on her.

So I've been trying to really find the reason I'm here and not in Taiwan, so I'm finding every opportunity I can to use Chinese. Our stake doesn't have a whole ton of Chinese people, EXCEPT for my neighborhood. Hmmm...interesting! We knocked on one door and set up an appointment to teach her next Tuesday with a Taiwanese member. Then we knocked another door of a part-member Chinese family. It was funny...if people in Taiwan are the same as these people, it will be VERY interesting, because all 3 of the Chinese houses we've knocked have let us in. But it's funny because they say pretty much "Come in we're not interested!" in the same breath as if it were one sentence. The part-member family opened the door and immediately said "come in!" and the wife yelled from the top of the stairs "we're Buddhist and SO BUSY!" But they were very cordial and talked about how busy they were for about 15 minutes. Haha. The man denied he was a member. I bore my testimony in Chinese and they said, "Oh very good Chinese, bye!" Haha. They were awesome. They looked very much like every older couple we ran into in Ningbo. Then we knocked another Chinese door and an older women and 3 little kids scurried to the door. The woman said she didn't speak English. So I found out at the door in my broken Chinese that she's from Indonesia and is Catholic. She let us in and showed us her ADORABLE grandchildren. I could have stolen that baby, he was SOOO CUTE!!! We chatted for a moment, then I realized..."What is going on? I'm sitting on this lady's couch, we're in her house, it's awkward...I think I'm supposed to start teaching something now." So I blundered through asking her about her belief in prophets and the Bible then told her about Joseph Smith and the first vision. She said she understood (I wonder how much she really did...) and I asked her if she believed Joseph Smith story and she said she did. I asked her to pray about JS and she said she would. It was really cool but there is still so much of a language barrier that I'm not totally sure if she knew what was going on or if I even knew what was going on too. Oh well. When we teach the Chinese family on Tuesday we are going back and going to give her a BOM and we'll have the Taiwanese lady with us so hopefully it will work out.

Anyway, it's really good here. I'm really enjoying this. I honestly am not anticipating Taiwan being this relaxed, but that's okay too. We're given alot of opportunities to serve people. One day we knocked a door of a little girl we were going to teach (parents are members but inactive). The mom answered and said her daughter wasn't going to be baptized any time soon. She was pretty blunt. We could have just walked off the porch, but it just seemed like the lady didn't want us to even though she was saying she did. Then she burst into tears and said life was hard at that time. We felt like we should just give her a hug. It's interesting where Heavenly Father puts you sometimes.

So the mission President Laney is AWESOME! He's so laid back. We go to the temple every Tuesday and new missionaries get to go to Temple Square. So last Friday, Sister Peterson (another Taiwan visa-waiter) and I got to take Trax with a ton of other new missionaries and tour temple square. Of course, I left my stupid bag in the visitors center!! ARGH!!! It had my scriptures and my wallet in it. It's so awkward, because the APs told me to call family or friend to pick it up and give it to them. So embarrassing. BAH. Yes Danny, I lost my purse again. Haha.

Anyway, love you all! Can't wait to hear from you! If you wrote last week, I won't get it until next Monday because our mail schedule is lame. :S