Tornadoes for Christmas!!

Okay can I just say that this week was fabulous! It was just such a great week! We didn't teach very many lessons and all our investigators are gone but hey it was still great!

Well first, y'all are probably wondering about the title of this email. We didn't actually see a tornado and it wasn't on Christmas but...on Wednesday we all had to go inside because there were tornado warnings they were upon us!! The whole mission ended up inside that evening (after around 7). The tornado sirens were going off till about 9 but we never saw a tornado or anything (not gonna lie I'm slightly sad about that....haha). Sister Dillon is from Iowa and she's seen a tornado or 2 (several actually) so she knew what to look for and stuff. We weren't worried about it even though sirens were going off because it wasn't raining hardly and there was barely a breeze. Haha but the other Sisters called us and they were asking us all these questions about tornados and we were like, "Sisters are you nervous right now?" And they were like, "Hold on, let me just tell you where we are right now and you can decide. We are currently sitting in our bathroom in the bathtub with blankets over our heads." We laughed and we were just like, "Hey it's fine. You can get out of your bathtub. We will let you know if we think it gets bad!" So funny!

We made lots of dramatic videos during the tornados....haha I guess that's just what you do when you are stuck inside!

Christmas eve was pretty fun! We really didn't do that much though because #noYSAaround. We tracted for dayz slash tried all our potentials...well a few of them...and did some LA finding which was actually really good because many of them were home for Christmas and we found out that they actually weren't LA, they just had moved away. Haha well alrighty then. But for Christmas dinner, one of the members of the branch presidency invited us to his parents (who live right around the corner from them) and all their kids were there and their kid's kids and it was just chaos but SO fun! I miss seeing families and chaotic lives! :) 

Oh and here's a random pretty cool story. So we went and tried this guy we met while trying to find a LA and he seemed interested when we met him but when we tried him on Christmas Eve he had just woken up and so we weren't sure how interested he was or anything and we thought we would probably drop him. Well then later that day the Zone Leaders texted us and called us the next day and told us they met him at the gas station that he works at and they said we shouldn't drop him yet but try him one more time! What are the odds of that?! So I guess we won't drop him yet. Anyway, a random story and probably doesn't mean much to you but we thought that was pretty cool :)

Christmas was AMAZING! We got to sleep in and then Sister Johnson made crepes for breakfast and we had tons of fresh fruit and oh man it was so good!! Then we opened presents! It was fun! Then we got ready and had our studies and then we did weekly planning and then we went to the Andersen's (mission president's house) and had Christmas dinner! The Dunn's and the Montgomery's (the Dunn's are the senior couple in the YSA and the Montgomery's are replacing them) were there and a couple of YSA and investigators! It was a blast! After we ate prime rib, potatoes, asparagus and pie we sang Christmas carols and we shared a Christmas message! I wanted to stay there forever! But leaving meant we got to Skype to the family!!! WAHOO!!! I love my family! :) It was fun to talk and laugh with them and made me pretty trunky while I was talking to them...but I got over that pretty quick after it was over! It was mostly just weird thinking about the fact that I will see them so soon....weird

In other news we are in sugar coma's over here.

Also we had a couple of lessons with Baylee this week! She's pretty cool! She's still just working to know that all of this is true and has a few concerns but it's just the beginning! The key is going to be getting her to read the Book of Mormon because as far as we know she hasn't done that yet but she will!!

Also we didn't get a chance to see Kyle because the couple of appointments we had with him he cancelled because he's had a bunch of family issues come up so we are hoping that clears up soon so that we can meet with him.

So there is this part member family from my first area - Jim and Sheila and I got to see them on Saturday! Although not in the best circumstances! Jim had heart surgery on Monday and he was at St. Thomas in Nashville and President said I could go see them so we went and saw them on Saturday! That is probably the last time I will see them until I come back to visit my mission! :( But It was still so fun to visit with them! I love them to death! :)

Yesterday we went to church in the Green Hills family ward and that was just weird all around because 1. It was a family ward meaning the whole sacrament meeting was SO loud! haha and 2. It was at a different time so it just threw us off! and 3. Well I don't have a 3rd point but needless to say it was weird!

I wanted to share a quote we read in the Ensign for December by President Monson: "There is yet time this year to extend the helping hand, the loving heart, and the willing spirit--in other words, to follow the example set by our Savior and to serve as He would have us serve. As we serve Him, we will not forfeit our opportunity, as did the innkeeper of old, to make time for Him in our lives and room for Him in our hearts."

The Christmas season my be over but there is always time to serve others! The spirit Christmas may be over and ending but the spirit of Christ never ends! We always need to be celebrating Christ and His birth because it impacts us every day!

Well I hope y'all had a WONDERFUL Christmas and I hope you have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! :)

I love y'all lots!

Love,

Sister Myers

 

Here's some pics from the week! :)

1. All the fruit for the crepes! :) YUM!

2. I got Tennessee flags for all of us for Christmas!

3. The family pic! Dad....why were you eating while I was taking this picture! It looks like you are frowning! haha

4. Candid pic of me and Jim! :)

5. Us and sister Andersen! I just LOVE her!

6. Us and Anne Parkes. She leaves for Utah this week and we won't see her so we said bye on Sunday...aw I just LOVE her! :(

 

 

 

It's [not] beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Well this week has been pretty fantastic!!!

It was finals week slash when everyone started to go home so it made it a bit interesting but this week is going to be even more of an adventure so that will be good! :) Christmas is this week so that's always fun! Except it doesn't even feel like Christmas really because the work is basically the same and it's been like 70, sometimes colder so it's just odd!

Okay first I want to talk about Kyle!!! WHOO He is so cool! So we had a lesson with him this week and it was like......ASTOUNDING! I am so blown away. He is a celestial investigator, not just a golden investigator, a celestial investigator! He's THAT cool! In our lesson this week, he hadn't read the chapter of the Book of Mormon we gave him and so we read it with him and it was 3 Nephi 11 and that talks about baptism and stuff so we ended up inviting him to be baptized on Feb 6 if he knew it was true! (Well, "ended up" makes it sound like it wasn't planned but it was planned...we prayed about it) and he said he would! Then he literally said this (sit down before you read this): "Yeah it just makes sense. I mean, if missionaries came over about 3-4 times and didn't talk about baptism or ask that question then I would just wonder what the point was." WOW! Then, oh it just gets better, later in the lesson he was like, "I just want to get to a point where I don't need y'all anymore." He TOTALLY gets our purpose! Also, we told him to call us if he has any questions and he has called us a couple of times but it's cool because whenever he asks us questions, he doesn't usually ask us directly, he asks where he can LOOK to find the answer. He's so cool! He even came to church yesterday and stayed the whole time and seemed to really enjoy it! He sat by different people and branch fellowshipped him well!!

Also, we met ANOTHER Baylee!!! This was a referral from President Johnson (kind of). He got a call from a girl who moved here (named Baylee) and she is a nonmember who moved here from Idaho and she was going to take the lessons but moved and she had been to a couple of YSA activities! She is SO cool! I love her so much! She's so chill and just great with people and she's just awesome! I'm excited about her!

The first Bailey and Charlotte are home now for Christmas! We didn't get to meet with Charlotte this week but we are hoping to possibly have a phone lesson with her sometime this week. And Bailey we met with on Monday and had a pretty good lesson. She is...well we aren't really sure where she's at right now. It kind of seems as though she's really only meeting with us for the intellectual side of it. She doesn't seem super interested in actually coming to know that this is TRUE.

Carlos got the priesthood yesterday!!!! It was so great! And he bought a suit and tie for it and he looked real spiffy! Oh I'm just so excited for him! He is doing so great!

So we went on exchanges this week and Sister Dillon and I went to Nolansville with sister Miller (I just LOVE her) and Sister Johnson took over the are for a day! She did so great! And after we got back from the exchange....we had like the greatest finding hour ever! Okay, not ever but it was just really good because we talked to a LOT of people because they were just all home for some reason and set up lots of return appointments and just had really good conversations. It was super awesome!

Interviews were this week and that was SO good! I love interviews! Except when I got in there I just started bawling and I was like, "President! Why do Elders get to serve longer than sisters?" And he just laughed at me haha we have the funniest interviews! Love him! Sister Andersen wasn't able to be there though unfortunately because she got whatever President got a couple weeks ago or last week or whenever that was! Poor girl! I told President that I was sad for her and he was like, "I guess she just didn't have enough compassion on me when I was sick so she was cursed!" Haha classic

We are excited for Christmas! It's going to be a busy day though! But fun!

Sorry that's all I have for today! Not too much happened this week! At least that I care to write about! I love y'all lots and I hope you have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Love,

Sister Myers

1-2 We found these emoji pillows that describe us! I am the weirdo and Sister Dillon laughs till she cries and Sister Johnson is just cute and happy haha soooo funny. if only you knew just HOW true this picture was

3. Utah! There's this area that has like...all the states in street names...random 

 

 

The Black Box (dun, dun, DUN!)

This week was super awesome! A lot of good things happened :) 

Well we had zone conferences this week and that was pretty great! The first half of the meeting was trainings and stuff and I especially loved President and Sister Andersen's training. They wanted to focus on Christ because that's what Christmas is all about and so they read "The Living Christ" but between some of the paragraphs we same some hymns about Christ (several of them being Christmas songs) and it was so powerful. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ. I know He lives.

Also at zone conferences we got trained on what many like to call "the black boxes" or "the Holy Ghost". Haha yes we got a driver accountability program installed in our car - which is actually a program called the Teenage Eyewitness Program or aka the Tiwi. But yeah basically it tells you if you are driving too fast, not wearing a seatbelt, or driving aggressively (turning sharply, going over bumps too fast, stopping and starting too quickly). It actually isn't that bad. It never talked to me until I forgot to log in and so I just had to stop and log in and the other time was when I went 11 in a church parking lot. We called our Tiwi, Simon. It seemed fitting :)

So this week we met this pretty awesome couple named Hal and Chanel and had a really great experience with them! We knocked on their door and they let us in and we started talking to them and he told us some of his concerns about religion and fortunately we were not any of those things he was concerned about and it really peeked his interest. He especially loved how focused on helping people we were, not getting numbers or money. We taught him a basic version of the restoration and set a return appointment. But the thing that was pretty cool was that Hal kept saying that he saw us walk up to that apartment building and he wondered who we were and he really wanted us to knock on his door and said he was just waiting until we came! Cool! We had the appointment yesterday but they had something come up last minute. They live really far away though so we are probably just going to send other missionaries there now (they aren't YSA anyway).

Oh okay and Kyle? He's sooooo awesome!! We had our appointment with him on Wednesday and he actually called us on Tuesday from some random phone because he hadn't got a phone yet to make sure we were still on for Wednesday! So we went on Wednesday and had such an awesome lesson!!! Kyle is really searching for truth! He is so excited to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. And he really wants to understand! We were teaching him about the apostasy and he didn't quite understand as much as he wanted to and so he was like, "can I just read this page of the pamphlet again?" And so he proceeded to read it out loud and then by the end of the page he like had an "ahah!" moment and he totally got it. The spirit really helped I'm sure! Man it was just one of the best lessons ever! Also we invited him to be baptized and he said yes and then he was like, "yeah I wasn't sure if you were going to like bring a preacher guy or something with you if I wanted to be baptized but I was just confused because my sink's pretty small...." What? Haha and he said it so seriously and it took us a second or two to register what he was saying haha. I guess baptism was already on his mind!! We set up a return appointment for Saturday at the church but he didn't show up but we think he just forgot. He got a phone and texted us on Sunday saying he was sorry and we set up a new appointment! :)

We had stake conference yesterday in the Nashville Stake. It was really good! Elder Wilford W. Anderson (the guy that gave the Music of the Gospel talk a couple conference ago) came and spoke to us and wow I just love how he speaks! He just speaks with the spirit so much and he teaches so simply and clearly! It was so cool! And guess what? Charlotte came on the Saturday night and Sunday morning session! And we didn't even invite her! And Elder Anderson talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ in the Saturday night session and it was just so perfect for her. Also one of my favorite parts was when some primary kids (4 of them) went up and bore testimonies of the Book of Mormon. It was so cool and so powerful! Then Elder Anderson called one of them up and asked him questions about FHE and reading the scriptures as a family and stuff and oh my goodness it was so funny. The kid looked SO nervous. I mean imagine being 9 and a member of the seventy calls you up and questions you on a bunch of things. It was so great haha

Carlos is just doing as great as ever! We had a lesson with him last night and it was such a good lesson! We talked about the restoration but we like focused on missionary work in helping others know about the restoration and it was just cool. Carlos is so awesome! He's already sharing the gospel and was even trying to get his friend to come to the lesson that vey night but his friend couldn't! But yeah he's just so awesome! We set a member date with him though so in two weeks we will have a referral from him! :)

Well here's some random side notes. It was like 74 degrees yesterday so that's cool. Snow will be a big adjustment! Also it's been finals and finals continues into next week so everyone and their dog is studying. Then they are all going home for Christmas. Good. This is going to be an interesting few weeks coming up here! haha #tractingfordayzzzz

Well that's actually all I have for you today! I have to get pictures together that the mission office is asking for so I've got to get working on that :)

My ponderizing scripture for the week is more like just a pondering scripture because I've already memorized it! It's 1 Corinthians 16:14 "Let all your things be done with charity." It reminded of the scripture in 1 Corinthians 13:3 where it says if you do things without charity then its basically worth nothing. We must be doing things out of pure love! That's when they will really count and when us and those we serve gain the most happiness!

I love being a missionary and I love y'all lots! Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Myers

1. Just a tracting selfie :)

2. Mr. and Mr. Claus...aka Pres and Sister Andersen - love them! :)

3. THE best white elephant gift ever!!!

4. "Honey where's the steering wheel?" "Oh I think we left it on the porch!" "Oh okay let me just go grab it!" hahaha so funny 

 

 

BAPTISMO!! :)

Well everyone, Carlos got baptized!!! Oh I am just so excited for him! It was seriously the most baptism ever! It couldn't have gone more smoothly and the Spirit was SO strong! And Carlos, man he is just so happy. He couldn't stop smiling! And after he got the Holy Ghost yesterday he was just glowing even more!! Haha he told us on the phone Saturday night, "I try not to smile too much but it's really hard." Haha oh you can just tell how happy he is! He was so ready! I wish y'all could know how incredible Carlos and his testimony is! You would be ASTOUNDED!!! You know what he said on the phone that I just loved?! "I know that it won't be easy but it won't be as hard as it used to be." Amen!!!

The rest of Saturday was pretty LAME in comparison to Carlos's baptism! Oh but hey a pretty cool thing happened on Friday. So okay, it was the weirdest day of our entire lives. Like seriously. There was quite a bit of opposition but it was cool because Heavenly Father like, used it to do his work! That sounds odd but this is what happened! So we had finished weekly planning and we were leaving the church with the other sisters and the sisters got a call from a former (they had been calling formers in weekly planning). Well we ended up being on that phone call because it was this guy who just bashed us for like 30 minutes. It was awful. He wasn't like rude, he was "nice" about it (if that's even a thing). Well, he was being nice enough that we didn't just want to hang up with him but every time we tried to end the call he just kept on going. But finally we got him off the phone. But now we were leaving later than we wanted too. So we caught the next bus to go out to this place that we were going to knock and on a connecting bus that we were on this guy sat next to me and I started talking to him and long story short, by the end he had a Book of Mormon and a pamphlet, and we had an address and return appointment! (Btw, I just have to say that he LOVED Moroni's promise. He got SO excited when I read that to him and he was just so happy to have us come talk to him!) Miracle!! And we wouldn't have met him if that former hadn't called the sisters and been talking forever! Do you see how God just used the opposition to fulfill his work?! God is so good!! HIs name is Kyle, btw.

Okay so we met with Charlotte this week! Here's the update on her family. So her dad is supportive and so is her mom! Although, her mom just wants her to make an informed decision and wants her to keep going to church and institute for a couple of months to make sure it's what she wants to do. Yeah she's been watching conference for like 3 years, I think she knows!! But yeah she said she would get baptized tomorrow if she could! She really wants it! But hey, it'll make it that much more worth it when she does get to the font!

Oh and here's another awesome thing about Charlotte. So yesterday in relief society they were talking about visiting teaching and they split off into groups where everyone met with their visiting teaching supervisor and they talked about who was visiting teaching who and who their partners were and whatnot. Well, Annemarie, the RS President was talking to Charlotte and she's like, "We need to get you some visiting teachers!" And Charlotte was like, "yeah that would be great!" and then Annemarie was like, "And someone for YOU to visit teach!" And Charlotte said, "Yeah! I would do that!" Well, she's just a dry Mormon now...already about to get a calling basically haha so funny. I love Charlotte!

So the Christmas devotional last night was AWESOME!!! I loved it!!! I especially loved Elder Bednar's talk! It's so interesting to hear the story of Christmas from the point of view of the Book of Mormon because usually we are so focused on the New Testament point! Don't get me wrong I love Luke 2 but it was just a really great talk!! And I loved how he talked about how Christ is the light and that all the beautiful lights at Christmas time should remind us of our Savior! And then I was thinking about Christmas lights and how they shine so bright when it gets dark. This is just like our Savior, He brings light in the darkness - beautiful light that gives us happiness and hope!

Well that's all I got for you today! We aren't emailing as long because we are praciticing for a zone conference talent show! I am in 3 acts! I'm playing the piano for 2 and us and the other sisters are doing a rap together. Yes, I said a rap. It's pretty awesome not gonna lie haha. Speaking of raps we met this guy who calls himself King James on the bus who rapped his whole story about coming to know Christ. It was SO cool! Nashy is the best....just sayin!

Well I hope y'all are having a blessed week and that this week brings lots of Christmas happiness!!! :)

Love,

Sister Myers

Pictures:

1. So this Asian girl gave us this soy milk drink and we took a video of us trying it...that is a screenshot. Just so you know I'm actually covering my mouth because I'm laughing...it wasn't THAT bad...haha

2. Carlos with us, President and Sister Andersen, President Johnson and Sister Case (sister Dillon's previous comp)

3. This is the picture we took after our very weird day on Friday....haha classic

4-5 More pictures from the baptism! The guy in the suit is Ivan, he is also a recent convert and introduced us to Carlos! :)

                                      

BIG NEWS!

BIG NEWS EVERYONE!!! Carlos is getting baptized THIS SATURDAY!!!!! Oh my goodness after 5 months and him wanting to wait until January miracles occurred as you heard last week (thanks to President Johnson) and Carlos is going to get baptized! He is so excited and we are too! It's crazy though because we set the date with him and he was praying and praying about it and this last week he said he got an answer through a dream! He dreamed he got baptized into the Mormon Church and God was telling him it was right. Crazy! We are so stoked.

Pray for him though (and us)! Satan's gonna be whipping out his big guns! He already tried when we found out that another ward had booked the building ALL day for a Christmas party at 6:30pm (our baptism is at 11am). But don't worry we got it all worked out so it's all good! :)

Also funny story about Carlos. Well, kind of indirectly about him. We were having a phone lesson with him on Thursday night and he was telling us something about...well I don't actually know because while he was talking we suddenly hear this rattling at our door of someone trying to get it. And I saw that the door was unlocked and I'm panicking and thinking "Why the heck didn't we lock it?!" (We like ALWAYS lock the door even if we are home) and sister Johnson goes to like brace herself against the door but Sister Dillon holds her back and it was this intense moment of waiting/panicking for those 2 seconds until we saw who was coming into our apartment. It's okay everyone it was just the other sisters! Our door WAS locked, they had just used their key to come int because they thought we weren't there. Okay and what makes this story so funny is that Carlos was talking that whole time and we were so quiet about it that he had no idea. And I went outside to tell the other sisters what happened because they were so confused and Sister Dillon hurried and grabbed the phone when Carlos finished and was like, "Yeah Carlos! That's so awesome!" Or something like that. It was so funny but so scary haha

Also, we are staying together another transfer! Wahoo!! We totally thought Sister Dillon was leaving! She'll be here for 7 1/2 months! Oh yeah but unfortunately our car is transferring! I'll miss Shadrach! (yes that is his name!) Now we will be sharing with some other sisters in our district (not the sisters that live by us though). But it's a 2015 car so that's a plus! :) I am sad Sister Richardson is leaving us! She's transferring to Utah! :) And I secretly really hope that Sister Orchard takes her place because that would be the BEST!

Well here's quick update on the peeps:

Nathan - well because of some miscommunication and some struggles that weren't anyone's fault, both the times we tried to meet with him it fell through so that is a bummer. But he got together with Alek, the member that he gets along with so well and they read the Book of Mormon together and it brought him a lot of peace! So that's good! And Alek invited him to church and he said he would come for the first hour! Sweet! Keep him in your prayers though! He has a lot to work through right now!

Charlotte - we haven't gotten to meet with her this week because she was gone for thanksgiving BUT she texted us this morning and said that the conversation with her parents went better than expected! Man we are so excited to meet with her so we can hear about it!

We are teaching this girl named Amelia. Matt, this member introduced us to her because they are really good friends and we had dinner with Matt and her and she is so awesome and pretty interested! We have an appointment with her at Matt house tomorrow evening! We are pretty excited for that!

So we've really been working on asking for referrals from people and like this whole last transfer we have been asking for referrals from EVERYONE! But we like, would never get like any. And people always say the same thing. "No I can't think of anyone." or "I don't know anyone around here." or "I can think of a lot of people" but then they don't give us anyone! Dah! Well, the past couple weeks we have been getting 3-4 referrals and they were even from us asking for them specifically and I was wondering why. Then this week we got 7! And they were like GOOD referrals (don't get me wrong all referrals are good but not all are created equal). And I realized it was the situation of blessed BECAUSE of our efforts not THROUGH our efforts again. We have been asking and asking and asking and now finally we are reaping! It's been cool to see! And we already got another one today! Blessings! God is so good!

Well I'm going to wrap this up but I just wanted to let y'all know that I know the gospel is true, I know the Book of Mormon is true and I know that God loves all of us! Keep on truckin and remember: it's a great day to be alive and an even better day to be a missionary! Keep sharing the good word!

Speaking of missionary work #ASaviorisBorn video is so fantastic. I always feel so pumped after I watch it. Share it with your friends! That's a great way to share the gospel! :)

Love y'all lots!

Love,
Sister Myers

Here's some picture for y'all!

1. Happy Thanksgiving!! We went contacting at Centennial Park on Thanksgiving asking people what they were grateful for! :) And talking about how we are grateful for the gospel! That was fun!

2. Thanksgiving selfie

3-4 Some Thanksgiving jumping selfies haha the second one kills me 

 

 

Let the mighty miracles roll on!

Wow what a week!!! Life as a missionary is the BEST!!!!! 

 

Okay y'all want to hear the CRAZIEST STORY OF YOUR LIFE??!!!!

Okay I don't know if it will be the craziest of your life but seriously, prepare to be amazed! :)

Okay I really hope this makes sense in the way I explain it. So the elders had this investigator named Bailey that we contacted and she gave us her number to contact her of a good time we could meet. So a few days ago Sister Johnson texted her and asked her if we could meet and she said yes and we set up the time for Saturday morning. Well, we wait the church on Saturday morning and this girl walks in and says, "Hi, I'm Bailey! I'm here to meet with the Sister missionaries!" Okay but get this: this is NOT the Bailey that we talked to. I was legit SO confused. I was like, "How did the Elders investigator Bailey give us the number to another Bailey who was also interested?" What?! So we just rolled with it and had a lesson with her and it was an AWESOME lesson! We did How to Begin Teaching and taught the restoration a little bit and even invited her to be baptized if she knew the message was true and she said yes! Wow she was so prepared! So then at the end I asked her how we got her number and she said she had referred herself on Mormon.org.

Then it dawned on us. We had received a referral from HQ for a girl named Bailey Higgins and we had called her and texted her and never got a response so we assumed she wasn't interested or something so we just dropped her. Well, a few days ago Sister Johnson, when she went to text the Elders investigator Bailey, texted Bailey Higgins, thinking that the Bailey in the phone was the Elders investigator Bailey. Yeah, really confusing but if you understood that whole story then you should be dying because that is INSANE! God is so good everybody! And to top it all off, we contacted the Elders investigator Bailey, and it turns out she couldn't meet anyway! :)

Okay here's another cool story. So we planned to go street contacting by Belmont (college) because there are tons of YSA walking around there all the time. Well, when we got there there was a street preacher guy who was yelling at everyone about how if they don't repent they will go to hell or something like that. Like he was legit holding a sign and bible. I know, sounds like a movie or something! So we decided not to street contact around there because we didn't want anyone to think we were associated with him. So we went to Centennial Park instead and we went over to a guy on a bench and ended up talking to him for like 45 minutes about the gospel and he was asking so many sincere questions that were totally awesome! And then we tried to get his number to meet up with him again because he had so many questions but then we weedled out of it and said he would call us if he has questions (and he was really sincere about it though). We have been praying he will call. He was so awesome! We hope a Best Two Years story happens with that! :) That would so legit!

OH MY GOODNESS CARLOS SET A BAPTISM DATE!!! December 5th!!!!!! Wahoo!!! We had this super awesome lesson as President Johnson's house and it was so cool because at first he was still like not going with setting a date but we all like bore our testimonies about asking in faith and how the gospel will bless his family and then we invited him to be baptized on December 5th and he said yes! He is acting in faith right now. He hasn't received an answer for that day yet but I believe he will! If not, that's ay-okay :) We love him anyway!

We also had a super great lesson with Charlotte this week! We taught the plan of salvation and it was just such a powerful lesson! We also talked about her Book of Mormon reading and she says that she was received her answer that the Book of Mormon is true and that the church is true! We invited her to prepare herself to be baptized and she said yes! Although, we did not set a date because we didn't feel like we should yet. We wanted to wait until she made sure it would be all good with her parents. She went home on Friday and she said she was going to try to tell them on Sunday (yesterday) so we'll find out hopefully soon if she did. We have been praying and fasting that that all works out so keep her in your prayers because if that goes well, we are going to set that date faster than butter falling off a hot biscuit!

We've had quite a few other cool little miracles this week! It's been so great! The members of this branch are so awesome! We are so blessed! When we went to church yesterday we had 1 dinner this week, on Thanksgiving. And after church we had a dinner every night (except today because we crossed off Monday's haha). God is good! Well, the members are good! :)

I'm trying to think if there's anything else I want to say about this week!

Gratitude everyone. Gratitude! (obviously since it's thanksgiving)

Last night I decided to start writing a gratitude list and previously I have just done a list of 100 things I'm grateful for but I decided I want to do as many things as I possibly can. My ultimate goal is 1000 things by the end of the week. I'm at 657. It's been so cool because since Ive done more than 100 things I've realy been thinking about EVERYTHING I'm grateful for so now I keep seeing things I'm grateful for and it's been so incredible! I just started the list last night! I have a lot to be grateful for! And still more! The list of things that Heavenly Father has given me is infinite! The list of things Heavenly Father has given YOU and ALL of us is infinite! He loves us so much!

I hope y'all have a blessed week and a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Love y'all!!!!

Love,

Sister Myers

We really didn't take many pics this week...hahah but here are a couple from district meeting this week....the AP's came and the ZL's who usually aren't there were there so it was a HUGE district meeting...legit half the zone so basically it was a zone meeting! Crazy!

Also I just got to see Sister Oldroyd! Oh my goodness best day of my life! I love her SO much! We only saw each other for a minute but that's better than nothing!!!! 

 

 

How is your heart?

Wow wow wow this week has jam packed with lots of goodness...and craziness! And miracles! And this! And that! And lots of things!!

Well "let's get this show on the road! Cricket get the bag!"

Soooo hm where to begin. Well let's start with the awesome miracle of the week! We were tracting this one apartment complex on Tuesday and we tracted into this guy who said he was an inactive member from Utah (but he's been in Tennessee for a long time). So we just kept talking to him and he invited us in. (Okay side note: it was a miracle in and of itself that we are in a trio so we were able to go in!!) So he asked a few random questions about what we do with inactive members and we told him our purpose is to help everyone come unto Christ. And then wow THE SPIRIT...he opened up at that point and told us he was actually excommunicated. But he said that as he has been attending other Christian churches he said this "Regular Christianity just doesn't compare to Mormonism. It's like basic math vs. Algebra. Mormonism has all the answers." Then he talked about how his culture is LDS and he still believes all of the doctrine. We ended up talking to him about the Atonement and the spirit was so strong! Then he said he wanted to go through the process to come back to church and be re-baptized!!!! WOW! THEN he told us about how he had sold his car last week and how he had pulled out a Book of Mormon he had in there and so it was on his mind this week! God is just sooooo good! In case y'all didn't know! :)

So we had Zone Conferences this week and oh man they were SO good! Elder and Sister Zwick (he's from the 70) came and wowie I was just blown away! And I got a picture with him so he could send it to Sheralee (my YW's leader who is his secretary) so that was fun! I just love them! Anyway, I don't have my notes with my so I'm trying to remember some of the things that I learned! One of the things we talked a lot about was simplifying and intensifying! Elder Zwick taught us this new way to teach a lesson so that we can "teach a simple lesson, invite the spirit and then get out".  It is pretty cool and we have been using it so I'm excited to see how it will help the work move forward!

Also a common question that everyone who trained asked "How is your Heart?" They talked about how our hearts must be in the right place and we must become true disciples of Christ and purify ourselves so we don't have any dry rot in our spirits that will hinder the Spirit from helping us in the work of Salvation! It was super good!

Also our musical number went really well! I wish it wasn't too big to send because it was so great! The sisters sang so well and they were right on key the whole time! :) And most importantly the spirit was so strong!

Oh man I wish I could remember more of what we learned off the top of my head but my brain is just going a million miles an hour right now with emailing, and p-day and the busy week and ahead and so on!

Okay so do you want to hear a funny story of the week/ embarrassing moment?

Well, once upon a time we were tracting yesterday evening and we tracted into this man and when we talked to him he told us that he didn't know English. So, I recognized him to be a Hispanic and so I proceeded to introduce ourselves in Spanish. Nope, not Hispanic! Oh it was so awkward! He was from Nepal but my goodness he looked Spanish! So we tried to talk to him but the language barrier was such a struggle. And then he invited us in as we were trying to tell him bye so we walked in for a minute. And he was telling us to sit and so we tried to tell him that "we are about to leave" and he's all "Bathroom?" "No, we have to go drive home." "Oh my son he is out right now but when he come home he give you ride." Agh the language barrier struggle!! Hahaha but we finally were just like, "Well bye!" As we like walked towards the door and then he got it...hahaha such a struggle!

I felt better about thinking he was Hispanic when our district leader who is a Spanish missionary told us he's done that soooo many times haha

Well, now for a quick update on the peeps!

Carlos is doing just great! He's been taught everything at this point and we are still trying to set a specific date! Oh and get this we were teaching him the Plan of Salvation again this week and at the end we were bearing our testimonies and stuff after we did he was like, "And I too know that the Plan of Salvation is real." haha YES! It was so awesome! This week we are having a lesson with him at President Johnson's house again and we are going to kneel down with him and pray about the date and then wait till he gets an answer! Pray all goes well!

We didn't get to meet with Charlotte this week on account of Zone Conferences but I'm sure we'll see her this week!

Nathan dropped off the face of the earth and we haven't heard anything from him which is really weird for him...even when he's been disinterested he usually texts us back...hm....hopefully we will hear from him soon!

Well, I'm thinking that's it for this letter!

My ponderizing scripture for the week is DC 64:33-34. Oh man I just love this scripture! I may be doing small things but I am laying the foundation of a GREAT work - as long as I give my heart and a willing mind and I am obedient! Simple, yet so essential! I love the gospel and I love my Savior Jesus Christ. There is nothing better than being an instrument in the hands of God in bringing souls to Christ. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I love it with all my heart and soul. I know Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that he restored Christ's church back to the earth. I know that my Redeemer lives! And I know that He loves each and every one of us with a perfect and unconditional love that will never end!

 

 

Y'all have a blessed week!

Love y'all!

Love,

Sister Myers

Picture time of course!

1. Sister Dillon just takin a nap in the back haha

2. Elder and Sister Zwick and me :) I just love them!

3. Just driving to Zone Conference! :) It's nice to be wearing sunglasses where you can't see your eyes because then it looks like you are looking at the camera but you really aren't! haha 

 

My life has been changed....by ice cream!

So this week has been slow but full of miracles! I am looking back on the week and I was just thinking about how we have just done a lot of finding with not lots of numerical success but we've kept busy. BUT despite that we've seen some awesome miracles.

The first miracle is that on Saturday I did 700 calf raises and this morning I did 1000 calf raises. Wowie.

Okay so let me update you on Nathan! He's progressing! Slowly but surely! And he has a long way to go but that's okay! We had a lesson with him this week and it was a pretty good lesson! He is a lot like Alma the Younger in Alma 36 and so we gave him that chapter to read. Also, here's some background: last week in our lesson (I think it was last week) we invited him to come to church and he straight up said no because he feels like people will judge him. So this week we didn't even mention church. Well, yesterday near the end of sacrament meeting we looked back and saw that Nathan was there!!!! OH MY GOODNESS YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH OF A MIRACLE THIS IS!! I only you knew Nathan! Anyway he ran out and left right after it ended (probably so he wouldn't have to meet anyone) And we asked a member of the branch presidency if he saw him come in and he said he wasn't sure but it was either right before or right after the sacrament. Oh my goodness! So then we texted him and asked him what he thought of it and he said that he felt a lot of peace there. And he told us that he read Alma 36 and he also felt a lot of peace while reading that! AH! Peace is what Nathan needs!! God is so good!

Charlotte is still going strong! She was able to come to all of church yesterday and we had a lesson with her this week and she's just still so prepared! Its so amazing! She had a few questions this week about controversial issues in the church but we helped her to understand those a bit! And the member that was with us that she's good friends with said he would show her some articles on lds.org about it. I love our members!! We have some really awesome ones!!! :) Anyway, Charlotte's going to talk to her family about getting baptized when she goes home for Thanksgiving (means we have to wait a bit...but oh well) so we are excited for that!

CARLOS!! Oh my goodness GUESS WHAT?!! Carlos said he wants to be baptized at the beginning of December!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHH!!!! So exciting! It was seriously a miracle. President Johnson invited him to meet with him in his office yesterday and Carlos went and I don't know what President Johnson said but at our lesson last night Carlos just plopped the news on us! I almost fell of my chair! The lesson is tentatively set for December 12 but Carlos is praying about it and he wants to make sure President Johnson is there for it and he said he would be gone a few random days in December. But it doesn't really matter when! It's better than the New Year!!!

Also here's a funny story. And it may not be as funny since you don't know Carlos but yesterday in our lesson we were talking about different President's Carlos knows, like President Andersen, President Johnson, President Watson (that's the stake president) and Anne Parkes was jokingly like "Even President Obama could be at your baptism" And we just laughed about it and then later we were talking about Carlos's baptism again and what day it would be and Carlos was like, "As long as President Obama doesn't baptize me." Hahaha we literally died. And it's so funny just because it's Carlos!

This is super random but there's a Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream place and Anne Parkes took us there after dinner once this week and we got a pint to share of Salted Carmel Blondie ice cream. Wow. Life changing I tell ya.

This week we have zone conferences and Elder Zwick from the 70 is coming! Sweet! We'll see if he remembers me from all the times he came to our young women's! Anyway that should be so cool! Also President or Sister Andersen...or someone...wants us to do a musical number with the sisters in our district for that so it will be good! I am attempting to arrange some music for it myself and so we'll see how that goes. But anyway we are doing the words of Nearer My God to Thee and I Need Thee Every Hour to the tune of I Need Thee Every Hour. The meters are a little bit different but it still works!

Well I'm going to wrap this up! We are headed to the church so I can practice on a piano for the musical number!! Oh but wait! My ponderizing scripture is Alma 29:9, "I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy." I glory in being in the service of the Lord! It's truly the best thing in the world! I wish I could do it forever because just like Alma is truly is my joy!

I love y'all lots! Have a blessed week!

Love,

Sister Myers

Pictures!! (Of course!) :)

1. No parking or standing

2. We went on exchanges this week! Our STL's are the greatest! I went to Nolensville with Sister Osborn in the middle! She's great!

3. No parking or standing

4. Cool locomotive

5. Centennial Park...so pretty! 

 

 

Halloween #2!

Well this week went by SO fast! It was a good week though!

So last Monday we decided we wanted to carve pumpkins for Halloween....so we did! We took some pretty funny pictures which I will send! Haha and one of them that I will send...well we laughed at if for seriously probably 5 minutes and every time we look at it we just can't help but laugh....And when you see it, just so you know, I was not scared in any way shape or form...and I didn't mean for it to look that way hahaha I'm laughing just thinking about the picture....Also, my pumpkin, I mean for it to just have a normal smile but I made it kind of crooked and so now it looks like a hick pumpkin from the south. Fitting.

Some other fun stories from the week was that we had to stay in for Halloween - we had to be in by 6 pm. So we did some weekly planning during that time and then we watched - get this- Together Forever. Bahaha #classic. We were dying. What a great wholesome way to spend Halloween. Also I dressed up for Halloween with part of a costume I found....

So, for the people now!

We had this crazy day one time this week where all these weird things just kept happening to us! Haha this is so funny. So we were going tracting at this one apartment complex and Sister Dillon was telling us how she had tracted it before but since that was in the summer there were probably new people there. Then as we were tracting she was telling us a story about this crazy guy she had met. She said he had a really heavy accent because he was Muslim and he would just go on and on about the weirdest things. Well, guess what happened? We tracted into him. Haha we were there for like 30 minutes listening to him ramble about the government and children and just weirdo stuff. And we kept trying to leave so many times and we didn't know how we would get out of the situation and we were praying for a way to get out and all of the sudden this giant woodchipper truck thing turned on like right by where we were so the men could chop the wood or whatever and it was so loud that we couldn't hear him hardly (not that we could even really understand him before that) and so we were able to get away. Blessin.

Then right after that we tracted into this guy named Sam and he was normal, don't worry but it was so random because he said that he was watching a movie so he didn't really want to talk which is usually an indication that people aren't interested but we asked if we could come back anyway and he said, "Uh yeah sure! Can you come back tomorrow, like right at this time?" Um...yes! Haha it was just so random!

Then right after that we were walking into McDonalds so we could figure out where an LA lived and we met this old man and he started talking to us and he ended up showing us all these random things he had, like a National Geographer magazine about something or another and his whole family history written out! Haha we gave him a family history card. And he just kept talking and saying how he just wanted to keep us (haha) and then he went away on his motorcycle. Oh classic. It was the weirdest day.

Charlotte!!

We FINALLY got to meet with her this week! And oh my goodness she is so prepared!!! She has been watching General Conference since Oct 2012 and she did MOTAB Mondays with her little sisters. Also, she has read half of the Book of Mormon and she even has one of those really only versions that's light blue with angel Moroni on the front. She has never met with missionaries before because her parents wanted her to wait until she was 18. So she hadn't ever prayed about it because she was afraid if she came to know it was true then she wouldn't be able to do anything about it! We invited her to pray about it! Although, I think she already knows its true. And the member that was with us that is friends with her was like, "It sounds like you already know it's true. You just need some confirmation." It was so cool. I'm so excited for her.

We didn't set a baptism date with her or anything though because she knows it's ultimately her goal but she just wants to make sure it's totally okay with her family, because she loves them so much and they do so much for her and so she doesn't want to rock the boat or anything. She'll get there though!

Nathan is doing pretty good! We planned on teaching him the Restoration but it turned into a lesson on prayer. He doesn't REALLY know how to pray and so we focused a lot on that. He has a lot of other things going on that will keep him from progressing but we are working with him on that. He will be a slow progresser but it will come. Alek, the member we usually bring is SO good for him. He is seriously such a miracle because Nathan just connects with him and Alek totally understands him because he used to be in the same situations. I'm so grateful for the wonderful members here!

We are having another lesson with him this week at Alek's house also with another member and so hopefully that will go well! Pray for Nathan though, he needs a lot of them!

Well, that's all that I really have for this week! There hasn't been a lot of crazy stories or anything to tell! :)

But I will leave you with my Ponderizing scripture! John 15:16 "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, He may give it you." President challenged us to Ponderize this scripture this week and I was thinking a lot about this and I really love this scripture! God calls us to do his work and to work in his vineyard so that we can bring forth fruit, that our fruit should remain. This makes me think about the section in PMG called, "No effort is wasted." The fruits of our labors will remain and are never wasted when we are in the service of the Lord and called by God - even if we can't necessarily see them right away...maybe they are like potatoes growing in the ground! :)

I love y'all lots and I hope y'all have a fantabulous week! :)

Love,

Sister Myers

1. Brace yourself...this is the picture I was talking about hahahaha

2. Imitating our pumpkins

3. Hi. I'm Mat.

4-5. My Halloween costume

 

Canadian Comp, Nashville Tribute Band, and Baptisms!

This week has been one of the greatest and most stressful weeks of the mission!! Although most of the time some of the best weeks are also very stressful!

Sorry this one's gonna be a long one! SO much happened this week! But there are some amazing miracles you just got to read!! :) 

Well first, I'll start out with transfers...our new companion is Sister Johnson!! She is soooo amazing! I just love her so much!! And also, we heard the wrong thing and she wasn't sick, she was just waiting for her visa so she was serving in Canada for a while. So she's actually been out about 7 or 8 weeks! but she seems like she's been about for at least 7 or 8 months! She is such an amazing missionary! I didn't know I was going to get trained so much in my mission! :) Haha

We went street contacting for the first time with her and wow I realized how terrible I am at it. She just has this way of getting people to stop. Actually it's really simple but she just doesn't fear anyone! And she is so good at testifying! And she is such a hard worker! Man I could go on and on and on. She's just THAT cool.

I love that she has certain words that she says like, "washroom" instead of bathroom and she says "pardon" instead of "what?" and also she says the word pasta "pass-tuh" It's so great. Also when she was serving in Canada she was serving with my friend Elder Stallings (Taylor) from Utah State!! So that was fun to figure out! :)

So the big thing of the week was the baptism we had!! It was really wasn't our baptism though, we just walked into it and planned it basically. The Elders were teaching this guy named Thomas and he had a baptism planned for October 24th but then the Elders left so we had to get it all planned out and get him all ready! Now this is where the stress of the week comes in...(I'll get back to this in a second though)

So Thursday was a great day (but insane!) So we had a bunch of things planned for the evening and so all the timing had to work out so we could get places on time so we could leave on time and so on. So we had this appointment with that guy Nathan, the one who came to church and it was just such a weird situation (we finally reached out again and he said he would meet with us...(even though he seemed 0% interested)). so we planned to meet him at 5:30 because he got out at like 4:30 from work but traffic is a struggle in Nashy so we set it for later. And we had to leave by 6:15 or 6:20 to get to our dinner appointment. Well, he didn't get there until 6:00 because of traffic!!

Okay but this is where is gets SO GOOD! Brace yourselves for this MIRACLE! So we sit down with him and we ask him about his BOM reading and what he thinks about everything and he said he wasn't sure about Joseph Smith, like he literally didn't know anything about him so he was asking who he was. So we talked about him and also we talked about the BOM and the Bible and he said he felt so much better because he thought we didn't read the Bible! And then we started doing some How to Begin Teaching and talking about how this message will bless his life and what not and he just kept saying, "That's nice." (Don't get me wrong...that sounds condescending but his tone was one of sincerity).

So then we shared Moroni 10:3-5 and invited him to pray about it and we talked about the Holy Ghost and he said, "So y'all are the messengers. I was also praying another time and I read a verse that said that messengers would come before my face and prepare the way for me (PS that's Matt 11:10). You are the messengers." I about cried the spirit was so strong. And then the member that was with us bore such a simple but amazing testimony and it was so cool.

Then after we kind of finished he asked, "Do y'all do baptism?" And we were like, "Yes!" And he said that a year ago he was reading in the Bible and he prayed and opened it and read a verse about baptism and he knew that's what he needed to do. So then we invited him to baptized and he said yes. So then we invited him to be baptized on Nov. 28 but then he asked a question about baptism so it never got to the point but it was one of the most amazing lessons I have ever had on my mission. And we left by 6:20. Booyah.

We made it on time to our dinner appointment and left on time to make it to the mission home to have a lesson with Carlos!!! (The timing working out was a huge miracle in and of itself!) I finally got to see the mission home!!! :) We had a great lesson with Carlos and the Andersen's. Also, Patti (RC I think I told you about) came and so did Ivan and it was so awesome. We talked about temples and eternal marriage and it was so perfect to have the Andersen's there!

But then we didn't even leave there till 9:30 (haha at least President was there) because the Andersen's were coming back from a meeting. So then we didn't get home till 10 and we were planning Thomas's baptism interview and then we looked at his teaching record and saw that he didn't have any of the laws and ordinances! And some random commandments (like obey and honor the law and stuff). So we called up Elder Barrus and we asked him what the dealio was and well...there was confusion about what needed to be taught before and after baptism. So we had to call President and ask him what to do and he said to try to teach him everything since the baptism was already set for Saturday and so then we had to move his baptism interview to Saturday and teach him everything on Friday and we had like 10 million other things to figure out...we didn't end planning till like 10:45.

So then on Friday, there was about 17 struggles getting to be able to teach him because he doesn't have a car so we went with this other member to pick him up and then go teach him but traffic was INSANE and so we went to a park and then this homeless guy was selling some art or something and then Thomas had about 45 min - 1 hour before he had to be back (including driving). But the lesson actually went really smoothly and we got everything taught and did the baptism interview questions to prepare for his interview! We felt like he was ready to be baptized. We were worried because we didn't want to baptize him too quick so we prayed and prayed and prayed all day before the lesson that we would have the gift of discernment to know if he was ready. All of REALLY felt the spirit as we went through the questions so we knew he was ready!

Gratefully, the baptism went really smoothly and it was just a great baptism! The Elders were able to come back for that and many YSA came and it was just great :)

So yesterday I got to hear the Nashville Tribute Band for the second time on my mission!!! Oh my goodness they were SOOO good! They did their "Redeemer" CD and oh my goodness I always forget that it's like 20 million times better live!! It was so cool and the spirit was soooo strong. Carlos came to church and went to the fireside by the band but him and Ivan left part way through for some reason but I'm glad he got to hear some of it. I seriously love the NTB so much!!

Well that's it on this insane week!! This week is probably going to be pretty busy too! We're working with double the people since we took over the Elder's area! It's crazy but I love being super busy!

I love being a missionary so much!! I'm not gonna lie, if I was offered the ability to serve 2 years like the Elders, I would take it in a heartbeat! I think it's so unfair that they get to serve longer than us! I told sister Dillon this week, "I feel so unfaired!" I like to make up words sometimes...haha

My ponderizing scripture for the week is D&C 42:14. One of the goals for this transfer is to improve in my ability to listen to, recognize and follow the spirit and so I wanted to pick one related to that. I really like this scripture because it can be like a command or a statement of fact. We are commanded as missionaries that we must teach by the spirit or we shouldn't teach. And on the other hand, if we aren't teaching by the spirit, we really can't teach. It would be pointless to teach without the spirit because really we aren't the teachers, the spirit is.

I love y'all lots and I hope y'all have a blessed week!

Love,

Sister Myers

PS Happy Halloween! :)

Here's some pictures!! :)

1. Us and the other Sisters at Sweet Cece's (like Menchies...owned by a member so we eat free once a week!)

2. Us, Alek (member) and Tim Gates - what a classy guy!

3. Us and the Truman brothers :)

4. Us, Jason Deere (lead singer of NTB) and Dan Truman! 

5. pickin up sister Johnson at transfers!

6. matching with sister Hammer! And sister Richardson photo bombing! :)