October 16, 2017

LOVE MY HOMEWARD IN UTAH!! That little package made my day! THANK YOU!! :D 

GOOD AFTERNOON FAITHFUL FOLLOWERS WHO STILL READ MY BLOG!

So!! Can I just tell you how funny it is when you are having great weeks and then suddenly... your week is as still and slow as the number of emails you get as a missionary who has been out over 17+ months... This week was a rough week. Not to be negative, but we have usually many lessons during the week. But we had a total of 11 lessons cancel on us this week. Including investigators, part member families, less actives... I have to say though: My companion and I had to just laugh at it and not be too discouraged during this week when these appointments would fall through. We would get a text and one of us would say: "oh, it is probably a cancelled appointment." AND SURE ENOUGH! We laughed about it all. We continued on, trying to keep a positive attitude through it all.  But here are some funny moments of this week, I promise we had many spiritual experiences... But it is fun to share the silly things we do.

*We got to a man's trailer where we usually have our lessons with him (he is now coming back to church and wants to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood) and he told us he had to go get something... We were kind of scared at first, his house is kind of a junk yard and we were scared he would give us something he found... haha. But he came out with a little box and placed it on my lap... IT WAS FULL OF KITTENS. OH MY GOSH. I WAS IN HEAVEN. We were able to play with kittens and have a great lesson with him about keeping the Sabbath day holy. By the way, I think an activity you can do on the Sabbath day is play with kittens in a box. :)

* Outside of our apartment, we have all these pretty roses outside and if you know me... I love roses. And we were going to have an interview with our mission president and his wife that day. Sister Palmer had said that she loved yellow roses. We had the brainy idea to go and cut some roses. So we went early in the morning to cut the roses. Funny thing... our neighbors are under many different "influences" if you know what I mean... And the roses kind of smelled like those different "influences" but they were so pretty, so we put them in a vase and went down to our interview and gave them to Sister Palmer. She looked at them and was so happy. Then... she smelled them. She told us: "WOW! These smell great! Usually yellow roses smell very bad! I am so impressed! Where did you find these?"  Yep, hahahahahaha!! COOL! :) 

The roses we gave to Sister Palmer ;) Pretty huh?! Who knew that there would be roses in October. ;)

* Best experience of the week... drum roll please... Sister Rose and I were about to leave for our dinner and she closed the door. She gave me a stare... I asked her what was up. She said: "Sister Guilott, I locked the keys in the house." WE JUST LAUGHED!! We had no keys to the house OR to our car... so after many phone calls, we got a hold of our district leaders who have a spare key for emergencies. We got a member to drive us to them (since they only have bikes) and we got the key back! AND WE WENT TO OUR DINNER APPOINTMENT ONLY 2 minutes late... WHAT AN ADVENTURE. :) 

Our view as we were trying to call people as we were locked out. ;) haha!

I just love all the experiences I have on my mission. And I have learned that you can ALWAYS find joy in the crazy days. Even during a week where so many things fall through in your life, you can count the many blessings that the Lord has given to you. :) I love you all. I hope you have a great day!

Love, 

Sister Guilott 

Cute puppies we found as we were looking for people in the country area! 

October 9, 2017

Past and present companions

I can't believe how fast October is flying by! The weather has been only in the 70-80's! It feels nice and cold... ;) I bet all of you Utah friends are freezing. ;) Just kidding! I just am trying the best that I can to make each day the best I can make it! Even on the slow days, I can see so many miracles that God has graciously given to me and my sweet companion! I would love to share some experiences this week! And I promise there will be pictures. I made it a commitment this past weekly planning to take more pictures, I hope you are proud of me Mom. :)

We had a fun day on Tuesday.  We got to go serve in the community and serve with many different people from different religions and it was so much fun! The people are usually a lot older and it is fun to hear how much they love their families and how God has been a huge influence in their lives. But then... WE GOT A SURPRISE LUNCH WITH MY PAST COMPANIONS!! Sisters Anderson and Bell! I was SO happy! I hope you enjoy the pics above ;) It is so fun to be with so many people that I adore and love. ;) 

The next day we went to a New Trainer meeting where all the trainers and new missionaries meet together and have a conference. This past transfer we had like... over 20 missionaries come in and BOY. There were so many missionaries, I just got SO excited about the work progressing and seeing the Lord's chosen people/missionaries all in the same room! I felt really old though... All the new faces, all the "kids" just out of high school. So fun! But I remember something a newer missionary had said that really touched my heart: he was talking about how the work as a missionary is difficult (I understand...). But he said: "He suffered for me, the least I can do is suffer for him...." AND THAT SPOKE TO ME. We can all go through life, but to really go through it we have to go through ups and downs. And as we suffer, we can relate to how Our Savior did actually suffer for ALL of our pains, sins, iniquities, our personal failings, and the suffering we will feel. I am SO grateful for my Savior who did perform His Atonement for all of us. He is real and I know that He lives! 

We then had the best lesson with an investigator we had to put in the Lord's hands for a couple of weeks to see how she would be... She was so happy to see us and had said of all the things she was going through... She had said that she was feeling down and had missed going to church, she felt that she was missing something... HOORAY! SPIRIT! ;) We knew that she was going through some difficult times with her family, especially with some members being under influences. We felt prompted to read 3 Nephi 17 with her. As we read, she was saying:"I can totally relate to this!" and you could tell she was feeling the spirit. We then invited her to pray about being baptized, and she said she would!! I just know that she may not be baptized in the next couple of weeks, but I know she will be someday! I am just so grateful to be able to be a "touch point" in her life. AND THE LORD IS DOING EVERYTHING FOR HER ANYWAY! 

I just love being a missionary, and I am so grateful I get to do the Lord's work. I love you all. I hope you enjoy all these pictures and experiences! I hope you have a wonderful week! 

Yours truly,

Sister Emily Guilott

October 2, 2017

Hello world! 

So two weeks ago the weather here in Oakdale was down into the 70's and then last week it was up in the 90's... Today, we woke up and it was sweater weather outside!! CRAZY!! 

We had zone conference this week and it was awesome! But the highlight of this week was definitely General Conference! It is very neat to be a missionary and listen to General Conference! I love receiving the revelation that is needed for the area we are serving in. I loved all the talks! If you haven't been able to watch or read General Conference, I invite you to do so! It is incredible!

The most exciting thing that happened this week was we had a lesson with one of our new investigators on Thursday and we invited her to be baptized this month. She was hesitant about it, so we invited her to pray about the day we were thinking of and see how she felt about it! We will see on Thursday what she is thinking. Pray for her! She is so interested and ready, and it is amazing to see how much faith she does have in letting us come over and teach her. 

I am so grateful for my mission. I love it so much. I love being here and helping others. I hope you all find ways to help others as our Savior helps you in your everyday life. I love you all so much! Have a great day!

Love, 

Sister Guilott 

September 25, 2017

HELLO WORLD!

This week was an amazing week! Sadly, we were praying really hard and my companion and I had to have a lot of the people we are teaching "be placed in the Lord's hands" for a while. Many of them were not committing to live the gospel and they were not going to church. That is usually hard, but we told them that we would see them every couple of weeks. So, that made me really sad. Because I know that I have limited weeks left, and I love them all so much.  One night I was praying and asking who needed to be found so we could teach and help them get closer to Him. The next day, was a day with lots of long time spent finding. We went door to door knocking, going through old investigators, and going to part member family's houses to find people. We didn't have much luck. We went the next day, doing the same thing... Not much luck either.  But that didn't get us down, we had faith that the Lord would help us find someone and put someone in our path. It was a week of patience, and we had a lesson with a part member family. A girl that the elders were teaching a long time ago had stopped teaching her, and we went over to meet her. We had an awesome discussion with them and she told us how she loves how she feels going to church, she feels wanted there. She even told us "my parents are not at all happy I married a 'Mormon,' but I love this church. I would like to be one one day actually..." Me and my companion were SO HAPPY! We asked her if we could teach her the lessons again, she was very excited and said yes!! :D I am so excited for her, and I am honestly SOOOO grateful for my Savior. Even though we had to endure many days of patience, our patience ended with the reward that we were desiring to have. I am so grateful to be a missionary, and even though I have limited time... That is not going to stop me from being a missionary for the rest of my life. You don't need a name tag to be one, but at the same time... My mission has completely changed me, the Lord has changed me to be what He wants me to be. And I am so indebted to Him for helping me to be the person He wants me to be. I love you all! I hope you have an awesome week!!!

LOVE,

SISTER GUILOTT :)

Hello!

I can't believe that I don't have many blog posts to post. I want to congratulate those who have been going through this adventure with me and reading these blog posts. But I can't believe how fast time is going. I can look back at LAST year and think about all the things I was going through and all the things I was doing! I am excited to finish strong.  I know that the work I am doing is VERY important; it is the most important work you can do on the earth: The Lord's work. I know it can get difficult (all missionaries and return missionaries can agree) but I know as you keep trying and have faith... things will work out. I found this quote and I thought it was perfect: 

You do have more faith than you think!! You keep on trying! AND DON"T GIVE UP! Here are some experiences I have had this week! :D 

Once upon a time, me and my companion where having a rough morning trying to contact people. We have been asked by the mission to go out from 10 am to 12 pm every day and got knock on doors and talk to people! SO WE DO THAT.   And one day this week,  no one was opening their doors. Or wanting to talk to us. ugh. Anyway. We decided to say a prayer and asking the Lord to direct us on what He wants us to go. NO JOKE. Right then we got a phone call from our old bishop, from the old ward we are serving in that got dissolved, and he said he needed help. His wife just was at the store and saw a sweet woman in the area that she knew happened to be a member but who hasn't gone to church in a long time! The Bishop told us he was trying to find the records of this woman for years, and that he had just found the address. He asked us if we could please go stop by when we could.... HOLY COW. WE ENDED THE CALL, AND WENT STRAIGHT TO THE ADDRESS. We got there and we knocked on the door. An adorable woman opened the door, she was in a rush, but she told us to come in! We started talking to her: she has had a rough life and is wanting to find peace in her life. We were able to bring up eternal families and the spirit was so strong. By the end of the discussion, she was in tears (including us) and telling us that "God sent you to me today, I needed this." We gave her a Book of Mormon to read, and we will follow up the next time we see her. We left the appointment with the confirmation that THE LORD DID DIRECT US TO HER. I am so grateful for the work, and how the Lord directs His missionaries. I love my mission. I know that this mission will just be the beginning of me being a missionary for the rest of my life. I love you all! 

Hope you have a wonderful day! 

Love, 

Sister Guilott ;) 

September 11, 2017

We went to a ward "Super Saturday"

Today is a day to remember. I would like to first have a few thoughts on this historical day of 9/11. Even though many scary things happen in this work, I am so grateful to know that God's love surrounds us everywhere. And even though life seems unfair, things are made right through Jesus Christ's Atonement. He feels everything that is being felt, and all we need to do is trust Him and allow Him to come into our lives.

We got our transfer calls yesterday, and for my final transfer I will be staying in the wonderful city of Oakdale with my companion Sister Rose. :) I am very excited for this transfer and what it has in store. This ward is amazing and I would love to live here!! It is cool to see how everywhere around the world, especially in Oakdale, members from the church are creating their own "zion" and helping the people around them hear of the gospel, inviting them to church and serving constantly. It just shows the church is a church of love and service. 

OKAY!! I have a CRAZY STORY... (don't worry mom, I am okay.) ;) haha! I bet she doesn't like it when I start like that... Anyway! My companion and I got a list of people to go visit in what we call "the country." To give you a visual, think dirt roads that lead you to houses that are acres apart with many horses and cows and creatures that Sister Guilott isn't too fond of... But we got to this one house. It was a old house with vines all over it and looked like a haunted house. But a sign said the last name of the person we were trying to find lived there. So we started to walk forward and we saw how there were no steps leading to the front door. My companion was just saying how are we going to get to the front door when all of the sudden we heard a dog bark. The gate right next to the house was open, and there was a lock in the gate where it looked like it was suppose to be locked... BUT IT WASN'T. In the opening of the gate, we saw this BIG dog come running toward us. My heart dropped. We then heard two or three more dogs behind it. We turn around and I am about to make a run for it, when I heard my companion shout: "WALK." Thankfully, I listened to her. We walked calmly back to the car, which was not very close. We didn't look back, we just kept going. We kept hearing the barking getting closer and closer. We finally got into the car, and as we were driving away we saw the three big dogs chasing us who started to run after the car.  As Sister Rose and I were driving from the house, we looked at each other, dumbfounded that we didn't get attacked by those dogs. IT was SO SCARY. The Lord really does protect His missionaries.  We had a couple days ago discussed the topic of "what happens if you get chased by a dog"  and we had talked about it together and I KNOW the Lord was preparing us now looking back.

BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here is something good that came out of that:  After Sister Rose and I recovered from the shock of our almost dog attack for a couple of minutes, we remembered that there was a couple that lived by the area and we decided we should try them. So we put in the GPS of where they were, the GPS said that we had "arrived at destination." We looked over to the right of where we were and we had already arrived!! We got out, knocked on the door, and this adorable older man in his 90's came to the door and let us in. We had a wonderful discussion with him and his wife. I do believe that the Lord had directed us to them. It was amazing. 

I am so grateful for this gospel. I know that it is true. I am so grateful to have a living prophet on this earth, who we get to hear from soon! :) I am so excited! I know that God lives and loves us. I love my mission sooooo much. I love you all, and hope you have a great day! STAY AWAY FROM DOGs. ;)

LOVE, 

Sister Guilott

9/4/17 Labor Day

Did you know that Oakdale is right now the center point of surrounding fires? Thankfully, there are NO fires here... But we get stuck with all the smoke and it is very humid here lately... It doesn't help that we are having a 100 degree every day heat streak...I guess you could say I now understand what it means to be in the "refiner's fire."

I love this area so much. We had a lot of crazy things happen here! So this week, the two wards me and my companion are serving in got dissolved and became another ward. We now understand why we were serving in both wards.  It was stressful, as it caused a bit of chaos, but it was good.

We got to see our Stake President, I love him. He is such kind man and has the spirit with him AT ALL TIMES! It was fun to see him again, I consider him a friend!  Well, the ward we were in during the morning was the one that got dissolved, and SO MANY people were crying and hugging and making it a huge deal.  It didn't help our investigators who were at church.  They were confused. But I felt the spirit confirm to me something to tell them and was able to explain to them: "We get really connected with others in our ward, and we literally are all brothers and sisters of God and it is hard to separate from others that we were close with; Like being on a mission, you don't get to see your family. I miss my family very much, but I know that I will always be with them! It is the same here!" :) They liked that answer. 

All of the investigators we are teaching (and I am so grateful that God has allowed us to teach such precious souls) are progressing! It is so fun to teach, because I can just feel the spirit teach through me! I LOVE IT!! :D I would love to share a really neat experience though from this past week... It actually just happened yesterday! 

One recent convert in our ward said that he has a little brother that wanted to go to church with him because this brother has seen his brother change drastically the past months and he wanted to know how he was able to to change.  The recent convert told his little brother it was because of the church he has been going, so for the little brother has been going to church the past two weeks and LOVES IT. We were finally able to ask him if he would like to take lessons from the missionaries to learn more about the church. He accepted. So yesterday, we finally were able to teach him! We asked him about his beliefs, his family, and then we got to his age.  He said he was 14.  We were thinking, JOSEPH SMITH. WE ARE TEACHING A BOY WHO IS JUST LIKE HIM. This boy has studied to Bible everyday of his life. He loves God and wants to become closer to Him. He knows that there are many churches on the earth and wants to know if there is ONE CHURCH FOR EVERYONE.  He is so prepared. We were able to teach him the Restoration, and we got to the part about Joseph Smith. His eyes were fixed on us, and you could tell he was feeling the spirit. My companion was able to share the first vision. And after the first vision, his words were: " That makes sense!" He accepted to meet with us the next week and is now reading The Book of Mormon with his recent convert brother! IT IS AMAZING!!! :D :D I am sooooo grateful for that amazing opportunity to teach him, it was like he was teaching us and the SPIRIT was teaching him. I love my mission SO MUCH!! :D I know that this gospel is true and this is God's true church on the earth. I know that Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. And I know that God loves all of you! 

I hope you all have a great Labor day!

LOVE YOU!!

Sister Guilott

Some fun pictures of a fun day out exploring with our district.