I'm emailing from an iPad. What?!

I have officially made it to Oregon! I couldn't be happier. Although

it has been SO cold! It has been an adjustment. There hasn't been much
rain, which has been a bit of a bummer to me. But wow! So many great
things I want to talk about.

Well on Wednesday we set off for Oregon! I was terrified and nervous
and excited and happy all at the same time. Which is crazy. I got to
call and talk to my parents and it made me so happy to hear their
voices and encouragement. It was the BEST. Luckily, I was traveling
with 19 NEW missionaries from the MTC who were all feeling what I was
feeling as well! I was so nervous for the plane ride because they
encouraged us before we left to share the gospel with someone on the
plane. Turns out... In the MTC it is. It as scary as in real life.
Luckily for me, I was seated next to another sister missionary. So we
chatted anxiously arriving our touch down in Oregon.

When we finally arrived, my mission president, President Russell and
his wife were waiting for us along with his two AP's. They greeted us
with huge smiles and hugs. It was the best. The first thing I asked
sister Russell is if there was still an Oregon Eugene mission sing.
She assured me there was and made the two AP's perform it for me. In
the middle of the airport! She is a hoot. We decided that we are both
really similar. I know that I am going to get along with her just
great and love her forever. Then we all piled into vans and went to
the mission home. We had dinner and heard from the president and his
wife and APs. It was so great. At this point I was really pumped.
Until they told us that we would be joining the current missionaries
in the area for our first experience in a lesson! Then I almost pooped
my pants. I got to go with two sisters that were serving in the Oregon
state campus. We met with a really recent convert that was just
baptized on Saturday! She was solid. She grew up in a very abusive
home with drugs and alcohol and was finally able to turn her life
around. She was great. Also with her there was s member present that
was just baptized two months ago. She was also so great. I commented a
bit in the lesson which was great. They both responded well to what I
had to say and it was so special. When we were about to leave, the new
convert asked to hug me and then told me how SHE KNEW that I was in
Oregon for a reason, and that there is someone specifically waiting
for ME. talk about a burst of encouragement!!!! She is wonderful.

We slept at the mission home that night. It was the best nights sleep
I've had since I left. So in the morning I got up before everyone else
and showered and got ready and then helped sister Russell with
breakfast. She's such a wonderful person. Then we left for the church
to meet our new companions!! When we walked into the chapel, all the
missionaries were on the stand and when we sat down they sang to us
the As Sisters In Zion/Army of Helaman EFY medley. Gosh. Who knew that
song would make me cry! It's so different hearing those words as a
missionary. I loved it.

So... Drumroll. My trainer and companion is
Sister Brownlee! She is from a small town in Idaho called Moore. She
is great. And we are serving in Eagle Point! So we had about a three
hour drive from Eugene. We got to know each other pretty well and get
along great!! I will try and attach a picture.



 Also... We are the
luckiest sister missionaries ever because we get to drive a really
nice Jeep. And we live in a HOUSE. that's right. A house. Not an
apartment. Unfortunately we do not know our address yet. I will try to
get that out next week. But for people who have asked me about sending
packages, go ahead and send it to the mission office address I gave
you already. Because we will be traveling back up there by the end of
the week because Elder Nash from the seventy is coming to our mission
next week!

So anyways. As soon as we arrived at the house, brother Esquibel wasthere to greet us with his wife. He is the ward mission leader in our
ward. And he is one of the sweetest, most generous and kind people I
have ever met. They helped us settle in and carry in our suitcases and
then we went to their house to talk mission business. The area we are
serving in needs a lot of help! So we are excited to get to work. They
also took us out to Panda Express. So they rock. Next day we set out
doing what missionaries do. We tracted! Tracting is the worst and the
best at the same time. Soooo scary. But sister Brownlee made me do it.
And it wasn't so bad! Basically no one wanted to talk to us. But we
were Tracting in a place called Shady Cove. And its name is perfect
for this town. It is so janky and shady. I love it. Weird people live
there. Weird people are all over Oregon! It's the best. But there are
some die hard hippies in Shady Cove. It made sister Brownlee and I
laugh so hard. We also thought it was great when people would reject
us, and then hey would close the door and lock it. It was the best.
Also let me tell you... Everyone and their dog has a dog in Oregon.
And they are massive dogs. Or the really mean small and yappy ones.
Most everyone has a sign that says "beware of dog." I never knew I had
a fear of any kind of dog until this week. Mom would die.

We did have some success though! We ran into this wonderful man named
Joel. Who told us about how his faith is struggling. AND he didn't
accept us,  it he didn't reject us either. We left him with a
restoration pamphlet and we are going to meet with him this week again
to follow up. I can't wait. We pray so hard that he will accept our
message. He was our miracle of s very unsuccessful and hilarious day.

Now let's talk about this sweet house I live in. It's completely empty
basically. No furniture. Before us, there were elders living there and
a random guy. The elders told us they cleaned the apartment... But we
think they must be either blind or delusional. Our bishop out it like
this: They cleaned it like "elders" and now we will clean it like
"sisters." Very different. So we have been cleaning on and off in our
spare time. It's a lot of work. But the house is awesome. We moved
into the master bedroom because it had two massive closets. We each
have our own bathroom. Then we have a study room. And an extra room
that we put our suitcases in.  The Esquibels gave us a couch! And it's
so comfy. The ward is trying to help us find a table and chairs.
That's right. We don't have a table. So funny story, the first night
we cooked, sister Brownlee and I decided to make spaghetti. Well.. We
were sitting on the floor to eat, and as sister Brownlee sat down, ALL
of the spaghetti on her plate went all over the floor. We laughed for
like a half hour. It was one of the funniest things I had ever seen.
And the look on her face was priceless.

Yesterday we met the ward and they are solid individuals. And they all
LOVE sister missionaries. We have dinner appointments from this past
Saturday until the end of the first week of November. Every. Night.
Cause they love us so much! It is awesome.

Last night we had our first lesson!! It went... Interesting. We met
this great family. Brionna and mike and their two year old son Tyston.
Brionna questions EVERYTHING. But before we met her, elders had come
over and offered her the Book of Mormon and she actually started
reading it! She's great. But she also has a strong personality. Like
really strong. And has a bunch of questions about everything and wants
answers NOW but won't stop talking long enough for us to teach her.
She has strong feelings about the bible and now it isn't translated
right. Which is great. But because of that, she does NOT like the idea
of prophets. Basically we testified to her of the Book of Mormon. And
invited her to keep reading. We were on,y able to teach her about the
spirit. Which she questions. But we invited her and her husband to
pray about the specific message we shared. Hopefully it goes well. We
have a LOT of studying and praying to do u till we meet with them
again next Sunday. We also have another appointment with a lady named
Faye this week. She's so interested about our church. I can't wait to
teach her. Yay for having s little success in the first four days of
being in the field! We don't have anyone to continue teaching because
the elders left us with no one:/ and sister Brownlee is being what
they called "white washed" in the mission field, which basically means
neither of us have served in this area before, it is all new. AND
she's training a new missionary. Wowza. So we are just going to pray
super hard and all the time.

I made a goal to memorize The Living Christ. I don't know why that's
important to share. But... There you go.

Anyways I love you all so much! The support that I have received has
been awesome. Keep,it up cause it sure makes me happy. :)

LOVE YOU!
-Sister Nowell

The Week Of Miracles!

HELLO!!! I am so stoked that it is P-day again and I get to share all of the amazing things that have happened this week.

1. We are officially not the rookies anymore at the MTC. We welcomed new missionaries this Wednesday! It was great and seriously so crazy to see how far we have come since we first arrived. All the newbies ask US for advice?! Like we are qualified all of the sudden?! So great. 

2. Every Tuesday in the MTC a general authority comes to speak! This past Tuesday Elder L.Whitney Clayton from the Presidency of the Seventy came to speak to us. It was really amazing. I don't have time to get into what his message was. But just know that it was great and it is so wonderful to hear from general authorities. Love it. I can't wait to see who comes tomorrow!!!

3. One of the days this week the MTC president sat with my district at lunch!! It was so cool and he gave us special advice for going out on our missions. BLESSINGS.

4. This point is specifically for Devin. There is a guy here at the MTC that looks EXACTLY like Nicholas Cage. I asked him if he gets that a lot and he said yes and I almost DIED laughing!!! It was the best and he wasn't even offended. He just laughed with me. 

5. I have officially gone through two watches so far at the MTC... The one I brought with me ran out of batteries. So I bought one at the bookstore and it works but I broke the thing that holds it on my wrist. *Sigh* Mom, I also thought you would find it funny (or upsetting) that I ripped that polka dot shirt that we got on the way to the MTC... again. On the first day even. So.. apparently we shouldn't have bought that shirt. 

6. Yesterday for the devotional a sister sang "I heard him come" for the opening song. It was soooo good. And definitely made me miss home and hearing mom sing that to me. 

7. So I make this face at mom all of the time and purse my lips together when she wants me to do something. Maybe some of you have seen this face. Anyways.. I told my district about it and they about peed their pants laughing. Somehow I'm one of the funny ones here at the MTC so it's great. So we started doing this thing when we get asked to do something, we purse our lips and look like deer in the headlights and shake our head and everyone laughs. 

8. My companion (Sister Aguilar) and I taught our district yesterday. We were so excited that we got to teach. We spoke about Enduring to the End. I thought I loved teaching relief society but I love teaching in the MTC and to investigators even more!! However, it is significantly harder to teach with another person. But it was still magical. 

9. I sang in sacrament meeting for the first time yesterday!! Ah! It was so fun and scary. I had to play the piano and sing with the other sisters in my zone. It was great. Somehow I am the most musically talented person in my entire zone?! It is so confusing to me. But I played the piano for all three songs ALSO in sacrament meeting because I am literally the only person who knows how to play. I couldn't believe it. But I got to organize the musical number and it went really well and definitely brought the spirit. 

10. Dad might love this. Yesterday for Sunday Devotional Chad Lewis came to speak to us with his wife. Chad played for BYU and then went on to play in the NFL for the Eagles. (Dad's two fav teams) It was really cool to hear his testimony of never giving up and encouraging others to never give up. He talked a lot about using his testimony while he was in the lime light and how even when his team won the superbowl, it wasn't as good of a feeling as the way he felt when he was serving a mission. So cool. Missions are really the most wonderful things. Every so often I start to feel like I want to go home or just so insanely tired, but that feeling only lasts a few short moments and then I'm back to being excited about the work again. Heavenly Father really loves us. I know that. Because he has helped me time and time again. The Gospel is just so cool. Anyways.. Chad Lewis also invited Taysom Hill to bear his testimony. (I didn't know who this is.. but apparently he plays for BYU and just got a season ending injury that Chad also got once upon a time.) It was really cool to hear his strong testimony of putting our lives to the will of the Father. I love that. Faith in the Lord includes faith in His timing. I know that is true. 

Sister Nowell with Kaylee

11. Now to my favorite parts.. I can't remember if last week I talked a lot about my investigators.. but if not I will repent!! I have taught seven people at the MTC. (3 teachers, 2 real investigators [I think], and 2 members.) Well.. the REAL investigators.. I have had so much success with. I absolutely love them. One is named Sydney, and she is wonderful. She's older and I told her I want to adopt her as my grandma. I get so excited to see her all the time and teach this sweet sister who LOVES Jesus Christ. We gave her a Book of Mormon, and all the lessons that she needed. We invited her to church this past Sunday. I hope she went. She is one of the most celestial people I have ever met. So serene. She didn't accept baptism unfortunately on our last visit, but she said if she keeps learning about it she definitely will get baptized! So happy!!!! My other investigator was Kaylee. She is from Korea and didn't speak a ton of English. But her husband is a member and she has her heart in the right place. AND SHE ACCEPTED BAPTISM!!! We have a date set for November 17th. So I can't wait to hear if she follows through. I love these sisters so much and exchanged all my contact information to keep tabs. Sydney told me when I get home, if I drive down to Provo she will make me a dutch oven dinner. She is the best. I will send pictures of them in a separate email (hopefully Hillery can send those out to everyone on the list. They are the BEST.)

 Sister Nowell and her companion with Sydney

12. Now for a little story. 

At the edge of the woods, near a small farm, a baby eagle fell out of the nest. The farmer found the eagle, and thinking it was one of his own, brought him to the chicken coop with his other chickens. As time passed, the baby eagle grew up learning to do what chickens do. He clucked and strutted around the coop pecking at the corn and even tried his voice at the morning wake-up call. A neighbor came to visit his the chicken farmer. He was so surprised to see the eagle strutting around the chicken coop, pecking at the ground and acting like a chicken. The farmer explained to him that he had brought the bird to the coop as a chicken and only later discovered that it was an eagle. He further told his friend that since the bird had been raised a chicken, that the bird actually believed himself to be a chicken. The neighbor knew there was more to this noble bird than his behavior showed as a chicken. He was born an eagle and had the heart of an eagle, and nothing could change that. The neighbor reached down and lifted the eagle onto the fence surrounding the chicken coop and said, "Eagle, you are an eagle. Stretch your wings and FLY." The eagle only looked blankly at the man and clucked. He jumped off the fence and continued doing what chickens do. The farmer was satisfied. "I told you, he thinks he is a chicken." he said. The neighbor couldn't sleep that night and returned the next day to convince the farmer that the eagle was born for something greater. The man took the eagle from the dirty coop and carried him to the top of the farmhouse and set the bird down on the roof. The neighbor spoke to him again, "Eagle, you are an eagle. You therefore belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch your wings and fly." The large bird blinked at the man, clucked, and then jumped down into the chicken coop. After another restless night, the friend returned the next morning to the chicken farm and took the eagle and the farmer away from the chicken coop to the foot of a high mountain. They could not see the farm nor the chicken coop from this great height. The man lifted the eagle on his outstretched arm and pointed high into the sky where the bright sun was beckoning above. He spoke, "Eagle, you are an eagle! You therefore belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch your wings and fly." This time the eagle stared skyward into the bright sun and stretched his massive wings. His wings moved, slowly at first, then surely and powerfully. With the mighty screech of an eagle, he flew away. 

Brothers and sisters.. or family and friends...

YOU are an eagle. There are people around you who are trying to make you think that you are a chicken. But you aren't and never will be. You are an eagle and you are meant to soar and be amazing. Fly! Let the Lord always be the wind beneath your wings that carries you to the highest of heights. He KNOWS you.. so intimately and personally that he can help you become who you are supposed to become. There are people around you who are also eagles, who think they are chickens. As you be the eagle that you are, you inspire them to discover and become the eagle that they are. My wonderful friends and family, BE the eagle that Heavenly Father knows you are. He loves us so perfectly and wants us to reach our full potential. 

Right now in this stage of my life, I am the neighbor. My job is to go out into the world and find the people that think they are chickens, and show them that they are eagles. Every morning when I put on my name tag, I am so thankful that I represent Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior of the world. This is my calling, and it is great. On Wednesday I head out to Oregon and I can't wait to meet the people there and to tell them how much Heavenly Father loves them, and to share the message of the restored Gospel and the light that it can bring into their lives. I love the Book of Mormon and I love exercising the Atonement in my life. It has brought me so much joy already. I encourage my friends and family to KNOW that they are eagles, and when they know that.. help others to know it as well. Be the neighbor that shows the eagle that he is not a chicken, but that he has more potential than he could ever imagine. 

Thank you for all the support this week! I have loved getting Dear Elders and letters. PLEASE keep sending them. It makes me so happy and helps me to keep going when things get hard. 

Come what may and LOVE it!

-Sister Nowell 

The infamous MTC world map

Sister Nowell and her companion Sister Aguilar

With her district

We have a tree that smells like Grape Soda!! WHAT?

HEY!!!!!!

Oh my goodness. I have been looking forward to writing home for what feels like THREE WEEKS! Time is so crazy here at the MTC. I can't believe that this is only my 5th day. I have SO much I want to say and I hope that I will be able to fit it all in for the amount of time that I have!

First things first, my P-days will be Monday's as far as I know right now. So writing me on Sunday's is a safe bet. Mom, if you look in my packet that came with my call it will have the correct zipcode. Maybe one of us wrote it down wrong. Also... I got the package today!!! I was really excited. I was the only one who got mail today so my district was pretty jealous. Also mom, hoping you didn't forget to stop my automatic payments from happening at Wells Fargo.

Okay, so my first day seems like forever ago. But it was crazy. As soon as you guys dropped me off they shoved me into a room to get my name tag! AHHH! I am a real missionary! With a name tag! Then I got a ton of paperwork and a meal card and they sent me with an escort and a bunch of other sisters to go find our rooms. I got to my room and dropped all my stuff and then it was time to go to class. I was the last one to arrive. As soon as I walked in I got attacked with a hug! It was my companion Sister Aguilar. She is great. She is from Bastdrop ( I don't know if that's how you spell it.) Texas. So we jumped right into a short lesson. I wish I could tell you what it was about but I can't remember. So everyone in my class in my classes is a part of my district. All of the people in my district are really awesome. The two other sisters we room with are Sister Vance (from Farmington) and Sister Heidden (from Draper) They are wonderful and both my companion and the other two sisters are going to Oregon together! We are the only ones in our district that are going to Oregon. (I am going to attempt attaching a picture of all of us.)  I wish I would've had Kiela or Heather explain more to me about the MTC, because turns out I know NOTHING about how any of it worked/works. We had a devotional with the MTC presidency and then we went to this group meeting, where we taught (as a group) missionary discussions with three investigators. Crazy right?! The first day! By the end of that meeting I just wanted to go to my room and cry because I was feeling to inadequate. Somewhere in there we ate dinner and met our zone. I shared my talent of making bubble noises with my mouth and now my zone refers to me as Sister Bubbles. It has stuck. (Also I'm the only one with a nickname, so I think I'm doing pretty good, eh?)

The second day was not my favorite. I was SO tired all day and could barely stay awake in any of my classes. Luckily my companion was feeling the exact same way so I didn't feel so bad. What was really hard for me was that up until that point, I hadn't felt the spirit once since I had arrived at the MTC. It was so hard and I felt like I was just going through the motions and I wasn't completely connecting with my companion. To make it worse, we had a meeting with our Branch President and we all got interviews and Sister Vance and Sister Heidden got picked to be the Sister Training Missionaries. For some reason that was really hard on me. (I WAS BEING SO PROUDFUL.) So that evening, Sister Aguilar and I were studying and I looked up at her and told her I was struggling and not feeling the spirit. Who would've known that she was feeling the EXACT same way I was! We both cried together and decided to pray and work together on being happy. IT WORKED. Things with Sister Aguilar have been great ever since. :)

The third day we had to wake up early and do service. Which basically just means we get assigned to a building and get a bunch of tasks and clean it. So it wasn't too bad. But I will tell you what, I drank some water from a drinking fountain while we were cleaning and it taste so bad that I puked it back up!!!:/ EW! So I barely made it to a trashcan. Also.. funny story. Sister Aguilar and I got assigned to vacuum ALL the halls of this building we were assigned to and I laughed so hard because when we received our vacuums, they were the EXACT same ones that my girls at Maple Rise (my work) used to clean the school and the house! Who would've thunk. HOWEVER... this day was also awesome because we taught our first investigators!!!!! So cool. Well.. our investigators are actually our teachers. (Sister Gweyn and Brother Weeks) However, they portray real people in their personal lives who need the Gospel. They go into a small room that represents their house and then we knock on the door like real missionaries and go in and teach them! So I taught Scottie today. It was amazing. I LOVE teaching. It's like teaching relief society, but a hundred times better. I know you might think that us teaching our teachers is kind of strange, but it actually isn't for some reason. They are like real people to us that are separate from our teachers. We pray for them several times a day and we plan lessons based around their needs as our investigators. It is such a cool experience. Okay also something that was important about this day was that I was feeling so sad that it was Pizza Friday and I wasn't getting pizza, but then we walked into the cafeteria and guess what!!?! PIZZA!!! Hunter was right, the MTC just feeds you so much food. It's the best. ALSO the MTC has de-caffeinated Coke!!!! I have been in heaven. Also I got a Dear Elder from Hill on this day and it made me SO HAPPY. I wish everyone would send Dear Elders!! They print them off and give them to us everyday and it was the best thing to get one! And to answer your question Hill, the MTC is EXACTLY like my freshman year at BYU. So many babies running around and being super immature... however there is one Sister in my zone named Sister White who is also 23 and she is the best. I love her. And her awesome companion, Sister Whitmarsh is my favorite. She coined "Sister Bubbles" and she's from Australia so it sounds so cool when she says anything. ALSO... I ran into Wilson Parson on this day! And it was so random and fun and made me so happy to see a familiar face!

Okay day four was... Saturday? There was a mixup and we had to do service two days in a row. Which... isn't horrible. But you have to wake up a half hour earlier and that is just the worst. Waking up at 6:30 is already hard enough. So waking up at 6:00 isn't my favorite thing in the world. Also it is important to note that this day was my FAVORITE day so far in the MTC. So many wonderful miracles. I felt the spirit stronger than I ever had in my life. We taught Scottie again and our other investigator David. We are really started to make strides with both of them as they are starting to agree to pray to their Heavenly Father. God is working miracles with them. We gave Scottie a Book of Mormon and she agreed to read it! WOO. We follow up with her and teach her another discussion tonight so hopefully all is well and the spirit is testifying to her. The spirit really testified to me while I was teaching her that I have a purpose and that I am on a mission for a reason. I love that! Also my favorite part of the day was that we got to create a discussion for a volunteer member in the community. So we met with an RM who goes to school at UVU. Her name was Hayley. We taught her about having REAL intent in her prayers and testified of the Savior's love for her. It went to good! She even got really emotional. It was great. I love seeing how Christ changes people. And she is a REAL HUMAN with REAL PROBLEMS. I love the Gospel so much. Sister Heidden, Sister Vance and Sister Aguilar and I laughed SO much at dinner on this night and it feels like we have been best friends for years. It is so fun.

Sunday!!! The best day of all the days! We started off with breakfast and a district meeting with Brother Meredith (in our Branch Presidency) Then we got to go on a walk around the temple!!! We took lots of pictures and it was great to get out of the MTC and see some sunshine. After that we went to a womens conference about dress and grooming. (Basically the MTC is just a million classes where you study all day and eat. That's it. Hahaha.) Then we got to go to sacrament meeting. The piano playing was REALLY bad... so turns out I am the new pianist for next week. I have to play in sacrament. Not intimidating at all..... YIKES. Then the sisters in our district all joined the MTC choir. So we went to practice and that was a great experience. We also went to a couple of different devotionals that were amazing as well. But what was really amazing was a film we watched of Elder Bednar giving a talk at the MTC on Christmas Day titled The Character of Christ. Let me tell you what... that is a lifechanging talk. LIFE CHANGING. The word on the street at the MTC is that you can ONLY listen to that talk AT the MTC. I don't believe that. So hopefully someone can find that at home and let me know. Also so many happy things happened. I ran into THREE people I know! Sister Porter (Madi and Braedon's sister who is going to Japan! We chatted for a bit.) I also ran into Sister Dawn Dimick who I was in LDV with last year! When I ran into her she told me she was leaving for Russia in only TWO HOURS!!! So cool that I saw her. I also ran into Catherine Smith's little sister (who I went to BYU with) who is going to Thailand! So fun to see people you know in the MTC. It's magical, really.

Today is P-Day and we went to the temple as a district!!! It was so happy.

So... this is a long email. I will try not to make them so long in the future, but so much has happened!! I had to get it all in. The MTC is the coolest thing ever. It is really hard. Like... really hard. You have to rely on the Savior so much and put your complete trust in Him. But it is so worth it. I can't even tell you. I love the Gospel more than I ever thought I could and am growing so much already. Also... I played volleyball. With Elders during gym. AND THEY ARE ACTUALLY NICE TO YOU WHEN YOU COMPLETELY SUCK. So.. that's a win. I was super homesick the first night, but I am so happy to be here now and haven't thought of home too much! But that doesn't mean I don't miss and love you all SO much. I can't wait until I get to go to Oregon!!! I am flying out on Tuesday morning of  next week (the 21st). It is going to be so cool. PLEASE write and send letters or emails. It makes me so happy!! The church is true!!

p.s. It's the best thing in the world that I am not learning a language. That would be so hard. There are some Elders behind me studying some language that sounds like a lot of spitting and hacking and I am just so happy I get to speak English.

p.p.s I can't figure out how to send you pictures:/ Sorry. I will try to learn by next Monday!