"Light the World"

Hello World!!

Another transfer is here and it's Christmas time!! I am so happy to be here in "my new home" for the holidays! There is a new spirit here now that the holidays have arrived and everyone is very cheerful! I have a picture with Sister Bell and I with our new companion from this transfer, Sister Gibbons!! She is from Colorado and is the perfect addition to our companionship! We are lucky to all be together in this wonderful ward during this holiday season!

Sister Bell, Sister Gibbons and Me :) 

Before transfers ... last time together!  Our "serious" sides

This week, we have been getting the "Light the World" initiative out!! 

EVERYONE!! GET ON TO mormon.org RIGHT NOW!! There is a wonderful video you can watch.

It shares two scriptures which I love, John 8:12 and Matthew 5:14. They both talk about Christ being a light, and also how we can be a light. The website also includes an advent calendar, which is awesome! You should check it out! 

We need to remember the real reason behind the season.  This season is the time for us to be like Christ, and remember all He did on the this earth as He taught and served. I am just so grateful for this time we can have an "attitude of gratitude" and we can do "service for a purpose" this holiday. 

I love you all! Please go on to the the website and look up the "Light the World," and I know that it will really help you this season.

Have a wonderful week!  Sorry this is short, but know I love you all and am thankful to be a missionary in Modesto at thsi time!

Love, Sister Guilott

Thanksgiving Week

 Hello!

I am sorry that I don't have much time to write today.  We got transfer calls yesterday and I will be staying here in my area.  I can't believe I will get to be here for eight months at least (that is how long it will be until the next transfers).  But I know that God wants me here and I am thrilled!  There is still a lot of work to do.  We will have one change:  We are getting another companion.  Sister Gibbons! She will be moving in with us and we will be in a tripanionship. We have lots to do to get our apartment ready for another person so it is a busy day.

I am grateful to be in my mission "home ward" for the holidays.  I am grateful for all my wonderful family and friends in my life that bring me so much happiness and I am grateful for God's plan of happiness.  It is the most amazing thing that we can always have hope.  I am thankful for my Savior.  I am thankful to serve a mission.  It's tough but I love it: the people, the trials and the joy.  It's amazing!

I hope you all have a wonderful day. And a wonderful THANKSGIVING!  

Love to all,

Sister Guilott

Grateful Heart

Omelets!  Mom, are you proud?? :) 

Well, hello world!

This past week we had the amazing opportunity to go over our Christmas Initiative for this holiday season. The theme is "Light the World" and it gets me so excited! I just can't believe the holidays are coming up so quickly. I am seeing Christmas trees up, lights are up, stores have new Christmas decorations....  CHRISTMAS!!! And it's not even thanksgiving. So. I would like to dedicated this email for all the things I am grateful for in my life.

First off, there is a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants, Section 78, verse 17-19 and it reads:

 17 Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are a little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;

 18 And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.

 19 And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.


I love this scripture so much. It just shows that when you have a thankful heart, you will be made GLORIOUS. I wanted to make a list of what I am grateful for and they are as follows:

• My family here in Modesto, I love the people here and they just inspire me so much.
• My companion, Sister Bell. I have learned SO MUCH from her and am so grateful we are together, learning and growing.

  

  My wonderful companion, Sister Bell, and our wonderful omelets!

• My trainer Sister Rugg, I have learned so much from her as well. 
• My fellow missionaries in my district and my zone.  They help you with so much.

  

  Sisters in my zone (minus the Hermanas)

• The California Modesto Mission.  It is seriously the best mission FOR ME. I know that God is real, because I was called here to serve.
• My mission president, President Palmer. He is truly inspired and I learn so much from him and his example.
• His wonderful wife, Sister Palmer. She is such a delight and a wonderful missionary.
• All the people I have had the opportunity to meet and be a part of their lives and I have been able to see the changes they have made for be happy.
• I am so grateful for this gospel. I know it is true.
• I am SO grateful for my family back in Utah, I love them and I am so happy we will be an eternal family.
• I am grateful for all the wonderful family and friends in my life that bring me so much happiness.
• I am so grateful for God's plan of happiness; it is the most amazing thing we have to give us hope.
• But I am so especially grateful for my Savior. And His wonderful example. He is my older brother.
• I am grateful for the sacrifice He did for all of us, which was to perform the Atonement.
• I am grateful that He knows what everyone is going through.

I love you all. I am grateful for you. I hope you all have a wonderful week! :)

Love, 

Sister Guilott 

I guess I am extremely allergic to mosquitoes.  I am thankful for Benadryl! 

Daily Planning Meeting . . . And the apples we got from people that day!

Seven Months Out

No pictures today so mom got to include a favorite!  :) 

Hello Wonderful World!!

I can't believe I hit my 7 months out on my mission this past week. WOW! I look back to where I was before and looking at myself now and I can see so much change and that is all due to my Heavenly Father and how He has helped me see my true potential as His daughter. I am seriously so grateful to have has the opportunity to come out on a mission. I see all the wonderful people around me and I just feel so much joy. I know if I would have been home, I would not have gotten this far or changed (for the good) so much. I know and feel my Saviors love.

This week was a week full of wonderful member present lessons. Our investigators are progressing slowly yet surely. I am so grateful for them, and they make me learn the attribute of patience and listening with my heart, mind and ears. We had a lesson with one of our investigators this week, and we were learning about the Plan of Salvation. Our investigator would say many funny comments, but at the end of the lesson, he knew that it was true. Just learning about the Plan of Salvation is really neat, because so many people have the questions of "where did I come from?" and "why am I here?" and "where am I going after this life?" And when you teach someone who learns this for the first time, it is SO EXCITING. They feel hope in their lives and they are able to understand their purpose and potential in this life and the next life to come.

I was able to go on exchanges this past week! I went to Spanish work AGAIN!! I don't know why I always get to go Spanish, but I seriously LOVE IT!!!!!! We had so many neat experiences! I was able to pray in Spanish  without ANY NOTES!! I felt so proud. And I also got to read in espanol and didn't do too bad! And there was such a neat experience I was able to have while I was on exchanges. We were teaching a family (and at the time I did not know they were all investigators; Hermana didn't tell me so I thought they were members with maybe one investigator.) They asked me to pray and read and I was very willing and open to try. I was terrified but I knew that God would help me. And He did.  (After all, I thought they were members)  During the lesson, everyone was reading in Spanish and I just felt the spirit so strong. It was so neat to not be completely understanding it, BUT I knew it was true by the spirirt. So after my companion spoke, I asked her if I could say something. She translated and I just shared how I know everything that was being said was true from the Holy Ghost. The family stopped and stared. They started to ask us about the gospel and about missionary work. Then the mom looked at me. And asked me why I came on a mission. I then bore my testimony on everything. And I have never felt the spirit so strong in my life. I cried and spoke as much spanish as I could and they all cried. They all committed to go to church. That was seriously such a neat moment that I am going to treasure for the rest of my life. 

Want to hear one crazy experience we had this week? I won't say names... But I think I had the craziest lesson of my mission this past week: We met with one of our investigators who is progressing and is very interested. He always has many questions and he gets deep into the doctrines of theBible and the Book of Mormon. We had a lesson before with him, and the doctrines he was asking about were so complex that we needed help. Also because he was getting through the Book of Mormon so quickly! So we (Sister Bell and I) prayed about who could join us in the lesson as a member present. We got the prompting to bring our Stake President (who happens to be in our ward and always offers) to come! We knew he was so busy but we felt he was the one to ask, so we did and he was excited to come!  He is a very inspired man who has a broad knowledge of the gospel. So we knew itt was going to be perfect. That day, we were praying before we went into the lesson. And there was a strange feeling that came over me. I knew that something was going to happen. So we knocked on our investigator's door, he opened up the door quickly. The times we have been there before, he was kind and open. This time, he was very scattered minded and not in the right mindset. We all sit down and our investigator quickly get out his notes and was very frustrated. We continued to pray and read with him,  but he just kept going off on a Bible bash. Instead of reading the Book of Mormon, he was "tearing" it apart and trying to prove it false. Thankfully, our Stake President was able to be patient and gave some knowledgeable answers.  I was so glad he was there with us. Our investigator did not like these answers at all. He stared to stand up and shout. We all were silent. Until I felt the spirit prompt me to say something.... So I said in a kind voice:"We are here to not take away anything you know. We are here to bring you the good news of the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We know as you pray, you can receive an answer." He calmed down, he said a prayer saying that our church was full of lies and to help us to see that we needed to be humbled. Then we left. There was a scary spirit of contention in that home. Right after leaving his home, the spirit came back. Boy. CRAZY. But I am glad that happened. It made me realize how lost some people are and they are not willing to change or have a open heart. Lesson learned.  And how thankful I was that Sister Bell and I had not gone there alone, but had followed the Spirit to take along our wonderful Stake President.  

All I can say now is that I know that I have gotten my own confirmation that this gospel is true. That the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the church on this earth with all the complete truth. I know that the Holy Ghost will come to us and help us know the things we are in need of knowing. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and he was the one to restore the church back on the earth today. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and if anyone reads from it and ponders it in their hearts that they will know it as well. I know that Jesus Christ lives.

Have a wonderful week everyone! I love you all!! Sorry, no pictures this week... BUT I will get some next week!

Love, Sister Guilott

Happy Halloween from Modesto!

Fall has fell in Modesto!

Happy Halloween!  Hope you all have a wonderful fun Halloween and stay away from anything suspicious.  Especially clowns, right?  

It's beautiful here in Modesto!

I have to admit, this week was a tough one.  But God gives us these experiences to try our faith and to help us reach out to Him for help.  I am grateful for the chance to grow and rely more on God as we do His work here as missionaries!  Here is a quick sum up of what happened this week:

Two of our investigators dropped us.  They even had us over and prayed for us saying, "Dear God, please help the girls not feel like they are failures ..." as they said goodbye to us.  But I can say that we were able to get very good progress out of one of our investigators, Sister Harris.  I seriously love her so much. Something cute about her is that she LOVES Joseph Smith.  She loves it when we talk about him or she sees a picture/painting of him.  She is awesome.  She has felt the Spirit more than ever and has come to Church twice and loves it.  We believe she could be baptized by the end of the month and we are trusting God and His timing.  Also, patience is something needed in my life, so God is giving the opportunity to exercise that.

We love this wonderful sister, Sister Poye!  She makes us happy!

A cool experience this week: we were at church yesterday and we were in a class with Sister Harris learning about the importance of scripture study.  I was listening and pondering the things being taught.  I then began to pray in my heart, asking God why it had taken Sister Harris so long to get this far without getting baptized, and asking if the reason she has not accepted baptism was because I was not a good missionary.  These thoughts led me to feel bad and discouraged with myself.  Then at that very moment, a slide popped up in a PowerPoint in the lesson with Alma 36, with the very scripture I had read that morning with the phrase "trust in God" and I knew at that moment God heard me and it was personally an answer for me.  It cheered me up and reminded me that God loves us all and is mindful of our hearts and needs.

We also asked Sister Harris at the end of the lesson if she would come to church next week.  She said she was going to go to another church she is investigating.  We were patient and respectful and said she would be missed.  Later that day we had dinner with our Ward Mission Leader who had picked up Sister Harris that day for church and then taken her home.  (We ride our bikes to and from church).  He said that after a long silence in the car while he took her home, she had told him she had decided to come back and go with us.  We are praying for her and excited for this next week.

Frozen Yogurt

Riding home with dinner is a challenge . . . 

I am grateful to be out here learning and growing.  I love everything about my mission.  It is the hardest thing I have ever done, but I am so grateful that I chose to be here.  I know that I couldn't have grown or learned so much about my purpose and God's love for all of us anywhere else. I am so happy to see the changes for good in my life already from serving a mission.  I know that this gospel is true.  And I know that when you trust God and go out of your comfort zone and endure to the end, that there will be miracles.  I love you all!

Sister Guilott

Happy Halloween from Missy the dog!

They delivered a mattress on a rainy day so we had to dry it out . . .