HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!

**CHECK OUT THE NEW PICTURE ON THE SLIDE SHOW TO THE RIGHT**

Dear Family,

Thank you for all the Birthday stuff!!! It was really fun, I got lots of cards and mail. THANK YOU!!! So I should tell you about my Birthday. It was pretty much a normal day, but it was good. It started off kind of rough, because we totally forgot about daylight savings and so we woke up an hour late!!! And then President called a few minutes after we got up to wish me a Happy Birthday. I probably sounded like I was still in bed! Ha ha We went to church and it was excellent, the Spirit was strong. We didn’t have a dinner appointment, but then the Dillistone’s (he’s the ward mission leader) asked us if we had any where for dinner and then invited us over. I had made it a point not to tell anyone it was my Birthday, I didn’t really want all the fuss. But the elders let it slip to Sister Dillistone, and for dessert she had already made a cake! So it turned out good. Then we went and did some work. Unfortunately our only appointment fell through. We went and saw this less active family and they have four kids. Their house was very dirty and so were their kids, they were extremely nice though. I had a hard time though, because the youngest kid (he was probably 5) had very dirty hands and he was invading on my bubble! He unzipped my bag and started digging through it and taking things out. And my bag is all organized and I didn’t want him to get things all sticky! And then he started getting out my wallet and then he started pulling out my pocket knife. So I’m trying to keep my stuff together and talk to the family at the same time. Then he got a pop and was drinking it and burping and it got all over his hands. And he was sitting right next to me on the couch (pretty much in my lap) and he kept touching me with his sticky hands. And then!! It looked like he had scrapped up his elbow earlier that day and it was bloody and he kept putting his elbow on my arm!!! So I was kind of freaked out. Needless to say I was happy to leave. The day wasn’t the most productive day, but it was still good. When we got home I opened all my presents and cards and then we had cheesecake. And then to make it all that much better, Sister Hill called me!!! She had seen President the night before and he gave her permission to call me. It was so great to talk to her again!! And especially since Sister Hill was here in Teays Valley before she was in Christiansburg, so we talked about the area some. It was a good Birthday!
I should tell you a little about West Virginia. Well all the license plates say “Wild, Wonderful” and I think that says it pretty well. It just feels different here and I would explain it as wild. The roads are very narrow. Some of them are only one lane, and we aren’t talking back roads, we are talking roads in town, in the neighborhoods. And there are so many pot holes! It seems that more people here smoke. In Virginia most people would smoke outside even of their own homes. But here everyone smokes inside and so we smell really terrible everyday. And there is a wide variety of people here. Now I’m starting to understand all those jokes about the tooth brush being invented here (if it had been invented anywhere else it would be called the teeth brush ha ha ha) although for the most part most people have all their teeth. We have a really large area, and we have to really conserve miles. We are going to ask for bikes because it would really help us save some miles for when we go places that are further away. The ward here is really nice, but very spread out and most of the members live on the other side of the ward and not in our area. The members here are not as missionary minded as the Christiansburg ward was, which is weird because they just got a new bishop and the old one used to be a mission president. So we are going to work on the ward and get them excited about missionary work. In Preach My Gospel it promised that when the missionaries and the members work together the work will go forth powerfully. So don’t forget to be great member missionaries and help this work go forward!!! Look around for how you can help.
So Sister Arnott and I are finally getting settled in and used to the area. We have had kind of a rough start here. We both kind of felt a little lost and stressed and that caused a little bit of tension in our companionship, but this week we talked about it and made some changes and these last few days have been awesome. I think the biggest problem was that when we first got here we didn’t do tons of missionary work, mostly we went through records, did planning, and followed the Elders around as they introduced us to people. Now though we are getting to work, and it is making us both feel happier. On Saturday, we did service and I learned how to use an axe and split wood! I will send some pictures, they look pretty funny. Yesterday we had a great day. We didn’t actually teach too many lessons, and all of our appointments fell through, but it still felt like a good day. Sister Arnott and I were both really happy. We went tracting for a few hours and found some really solid follow ups. Usually people are kind of like, “oh well yeah you can come back.” But they won’t set a solid time and you go back and they aren’t home or they aren’t interested. But 3 people yesterday set a time and a date without us even digging for one.
On Saturday we were looking for some former investigators and we went to one house and the girl we were looking for doesn’t live there anymore, but we got a return appointment with the girl that lives there. In Preach My Gospel it tells you that the Lord will lead you to people that are being prepared. Hopefully all of our diligent efforts will pay off.
On Thursday we taught the Stop Smoking Workshop to Chris. He wants to stop really bad, he actually can’t stand the smell of cigarette smoke, weird for someone who smokes. At first when we asked him to crush his remaining cigarettes, he said no way. But then when we were done, I think we had him so determined to quit that he went out to his car and broke his last one! It was great! We haven’t been able to get a hold of him since then and we found out he has been sick. Hopefully he stayed strong though. We teach a lot of people who smoke and most of them really want to quit and they have tried to quit before. I never knew that smoking was so addictive, but people really, really struggle to quit. And we teach the Stop Smoking Workshop which is pretty much guaranteed that you will stop smoking if you will follow the steps. The problem is most people don’t follow all the steps and so they don’t stop smoking. It all goes back to them having a firm desire to quit. Jason is the only person I have taught who quit smoking, and the difference is that he was converted. He wanted to repent and follow Christ. He had a firm testimony of the Book of Mormon. And really the Book of Mormon is what changes people, it brings us closer to God. It gives us that testimony we need to change and have the motivation to keep trying. In Preach My Gospel there is a quote by President Hinckley that says no matter how many times we have read the Book of Mormon, we should read it again. And he promises that every time we do we will have a stronger resolve to do what is right. The Book of Mormon is a powerful book because it is the word of God, given to us in this day to help us know truth. If we will read it and pray about it our testimony of Christ will be stronger.

I love you all!! Thanks for all the Birthday Love!!!

Love, Sister Nicole Polatis