Monday, April 27, 2015

Baptism Week!! (aka opposition week...eek!)

First of all, birthday shout out to the one who gave me life! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! 27 is a great age! ;)

BAPTISM!!! 
We have a baptism coming up on Saturday and we all know what means! We are just bracing ourselves for the opposition that's going to come. We've already seen some these past couple of days so we're just preparing for more! But YAHOO for a baptism! 

Oh my guess how many investigators we had at church yesterday?! Did you guess 5? Then you would be wrong. Bummer. WE HAD 9 INVESTIGATORS AT CHURCH! 9!!!! That is like....unreal in Sparta, TN!! It was so crazy! AND I had to play the organ in church again and so it was a struggle keeping them all rounded up (wow I make them sound like cattle or something). Also 2 of them were these 2 random ladies that just showed up! They have gone to church elsewhere and just moved here but never really taken the discussions. And one of them, a couple of her grandsons live in Salt Lake and are getting ready to go on missions! Crazy! 

You wanna hear like...the craziest miracle ever?! This is like...one of those types of miracles that missionaries pray for. Well, once upon a time there is a lady in our branch who is like 96 years old and she comes to church with her son and his wife. Well, turns out she isn't a member but comes every single week! So we were like, "Um...why hasn't she been taught and baptized?!" Well, we didn't really know how we would find that out until the Lochners (the son and his wife) came out with us on Friday. So we played the dumb card and we were like, "So how long has your mom been a member of the church?" (because we knew he was convert) And Brother Lochner was like, "She's not a member actually." And we asked him why and he was like, "Well, I don't actually know why. She used to take me to church way back in the 40s and we went for like 5 years because my aunt had invited us and she's a member." And so we were just like "Oh that's interesting!" And we kind of just let it drop. Well fast forward to the next day and we get a call from Brother Shotton, another member of the branch who told us that Helen Lochner (the 96 year old) decided that she wanted to be baptized!!!!! WHAT?!!! So we get to church on Sunday and we were talking about when she would want to get baptized and Brother Lochner was saying how she has had the missionary dicussions several times before (I don't know why they never committed her to baptism!) and she has been coming to church every single week for who knows how long and she is totally ready! Um okay! Easiest baptism of our lives!!!!!!!! We are still working out WHEN the actual baptism will be because we wanted to combine it with Bennie's but they were saying how she may want her own baptism and then they might want to wait until July for a family reunion when all the family is in town to come. But it all depends on what Sister Lochner wants to do so they are calling us today to let us know what's happening. But isn't that INSANE?!!! 

Well, here's some random stories for the week!
So we were trying to find this less active member and it was like 8:30 and so it was dark and we drove out to her house. But the road she lives on....like isn't a road. It has a street sign but it's like this dirt road with huge ditches and stuff and that make it really difficult to drive up and of course there are no lights. So we drive up in and there's only 1 trailer on the street so we figure it must be it. So we get out and it's like....pitch black. So Sister Laws has to whip out her flashlight and we walk up and knock and there's no answer. So then we are walking back to the car and this guy is like, "Hello?" Sister Laws didn't hear him for some reason and he scared the living daylights out of me and so I screamed and then immediately realized that it was just some guy and so I was like, "Sorry you just scared me so bad!" And then Sister Laws was just sooooo confused because she didn't even know he was there and it was just the weirdest thing. Haha so then we asked him if the lady lived there and he said she lived further up the road. What? There was more! The road just curved behind his trailer so it looked like it stopped. And when we drove up there she has lots of lights so it wasn't as sketch. Haha it was just the funniest situation. 

So here's some updates!

James: He's doing awesome! We went and taught his girlfriend before we helped them clean his house and it was really awesome! And James was like, bearing his testimony and stuff like that and helping her understand and it was super awesome! And they both came to church yesterday and it was great! 

Bennie!!! :) He's ready to be baptized! We are super excited for the baptism! Anyway, he is doing awesome! We had testimony meeting yesterday because we have stake conference this week and he bore just the best testimony ever! Oh it was so awesome! Also, we taught him about the priesthood and the offices in it and all that this week with Brother Tucker and he totally got it! It just like...clicked! Sometimes he just remembers stuff and totally understands and sometimes he cannot remember something to save his life. Haha that reminds me. This week we were talking about the 10 commandments and we were trying to help him remember all of them. And so had hand signals and rhymes for him so he could remember. But for some reason he could NOT remember 7 (thou shalt not commit adultery) 9 (don't bear false witness) and 10 (thou shalt not covet). We would ask him what number 7 was and the conversation would go like this:
"Bennie what is the 7th commandment?"
"Uh.....don't covet"
"No, that's number 10...what is number 7?"
*thinks*
"Bennie remember the rhyme and hand signal"
"Uh...thou shalt not covet."
"No Bennie that's 10!" 
Haha and he would just keep saying number 10! Then we would ask him what number 10 was and he would have no idea and we'd be like, "You kept saying it for number 7! Over and over!" And he would be like, "Uh bear false witness?" No Bennie! Haha it was seriously so funny. At least he knows what they are and that he needs to follow them. That's what's important! He is so classic though! 

Bobby and Crystal are doing alright. We were going to see them Friday but they said not to come over because of bunch of stuff that was happening and when we went on Saturday we took our Ward Mission Leader and it was like...just an awful lesson. Well first Bobby is struggling with the word of wisdom again and Bobby's brother is visiting and he's just.....not a good influence. I don't think Bobby takes us as seriously when his big bro is there....he just acts differently and it's a struggle. We ended up teaching them the whole restoration again because Bobby didn't understand why he still felt good when he went to their church so what makes us different. It was good because now we see where he is coming from and stuff but we are at the weird stage where if they don't start coming to church and really acting then we are going to have to let them go. Which will be awful! 

I don't know if I told y'all about Tony but he's this guy we have been teaching and he's super awesome! He's been reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it. Haha when we were talking about him praying about it we asked him how he felt as he prayed and he was like, "I don't know how to describe it. I just felt....melancholy." And Sister Laws with her "no filter" was like, "What?! It made you feel melancholy?!" Haha and he just kind of looked at her and then he was like, "Well that's not really the word I meant. I can't think of it." Anyway he was trying to think of  work that meant "wordy" because he was confused to some parts in the Book of Mormon but we cleared that up and also he came to church on Sunday! Wahoo!!! Anyway, that was just a random funny story. 

Also watching 6 year old's do "magic" tricks is the funniest thing of my life.  

I read this quote that someone had on their wall last week that I just loved and wanted to share! "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." I just love this quote especially as a missionary because there are so many things that we have the power to do and there are so many things that we have the power to change and then there are things that we just don't have any power over, like agency. And the key is to find out the difference and then act! If we can change something - change it! If we can't, accept and move on because there are better things ahead! It reminds of the scripture D&C 123:17 "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." Sometimes we just have to do all we can and then wait for God to do the rest!

Love you all so much and I hope you have a great week!
Keep on truckin!
Love,
Sister Myers

PS I'm not sure why I said keep on truckin but whatever...haha
PSS Pictures!
1. We held 2 day old kittens! Aw!!!
2. I like this sign. 
3. Southern people put great things on the sidewalk! Hahaha
 


 

Monday, April 20, 2015

The second half begins....(cue dramatic music) dun, dun, DUN!!!!!!!

Only 9 months left! AHHHHHHH!!!!! *barf*

We went to Wilie's on Monday because he was burning some branches that he had and so we went over to watch them burn slash also Sister Laws had a REALLY old skirt that she's had since like 8th grade that she wanted to burn for being out 9 months and so Willie ripped it in half and we both burned half of it and it was awesome! 

Gina's babies hatched! On Saturday when we looked out there after we got up 2 of them had been born! But since the third one had come a couple of days later it hadn't hatched yet. Then yesterday when we came home from church we checked on them and the nest was empty! Guess Gina got sick of us (or the pouring rain since her nest had no cover) and carried her babies to a new location. That was sad. We miss Gina. Oh well, can't have pets anyway....

I ate brussell sprouts this week and I had never had them. WOW they were SO good! Gee wiz why does everyone say they're gross?! Man they were good!

Also, here's a funny story. So we were on our way to dinner and to get to this members house you have to pass by this house with this dog that will ALWAYS run out in front of you. It's so annoying. So we were talking to the members about it because they had seen us struggling to get past it because they had been sitting on the porch and they were like, "Oh that dog does that with everyone. You just have to drive really fast and he'll move. If you slow down then he'll get in front of you." So when we went to leave, well a series of hilarious events happened. So first of all, we had all been sitting on the porch and so that family was just still sitting there when we left. So I had to back sister Laws out and I saw a rope on the ground so I decided to pick it up and make her think it was a snake. So when I got in the car I held it out to her and said, "Want a snake?" And she screamed and slapped me so hard when she realized it wasn't. Then we were dying laughing because our windows were down and the members heard her scream. So then I told her, "Okay, drive really fast now so we don't get stuck with that dog." So she starts driving but chickened out and so I was dying laughing and the members were watching us from the porch, probably laughing and the dog would NOT get out of the way and it was just the funniest situation. We were probably laughing for like 10 minutes afterward hahahahah 

So for like the past 3 days we have just been contacting potentials and if you are missionary then this is just a struggle especially when you try like 500 of them and no one seems to be home!!! Ugh we are getting pretty sick of it...but sometimes you just have to do it or else the area book gets way out of hand! Or when people cancel on you and you're backups can't do it and then you just have to do it whether you like it or not! #struggleisreal

We knocked into this guy that was on America's most wanted. He was super nice though and he had a really cute family and you can tell he loves Christ. Also, here's something weird about that. When we knock on people's doors we always try to ask if there is anyone they know that could benefit from a message about Christ and after we knocked on that guys door, 2 other people on the street gave him to us as a referral. Hm.....

Wanna know something crazy?! I went through the Temple one year ago from yesterday?! Wowie it feels like just yesterday!

We were far out in Doyle this week Sister Laws really had to use the restroom so we went into this random little store that was kind of like a gas station but it didn't have gas and wowie it was so sketch. Haha we had to go through this random door in the back and it opened to this room that had another door to the bathroom and it was just insane. I'll have to attach pictures because it was so sketch. 

Also while we were out there we found drove by this cemetery and saw a grave....check out the picture to see what the last name was and why we took a picture with it! :)

Okay now that I've talked about random nonsense I think I'll talk about some of our people! :)

So I don't know if y'all remember Teresa but she is this lady that we have been teaching. So when we went on exchanges last week they went and taught her the restoration and at the end she said "I was going to tell you not come back but this just makes so much sense and I feel like I need to keep meeting with you." And she was just so sincere! So then we took this member, Sister Bartold, who is a convert and KNOWS her stuff (we were planning to teach Teresa the Plan of Salvation but go deeper because she really knows her stuff about it and wanted to know what we believe about it all) and that lesson went so well! She really understood everything and she and Sister Bartold just clicked. A lot of the confusion and feelings that Teresa has is exactly how Sister Bartold felt. And wow, talk about the perfect member. And the spirit was so strong. Then Teresa told us how she worried though because of what he family would think and so that's why she hasn't taken a leap of faith and just dived in and come to church and stuff. So we talked to her about that and then we offered a church tour and she said she would like that because she doesn't like to just walk into random churches. So then the next day we met up with her at the church and showed it to her and then after she told us about how she had stayed up basically all the night studying and reading and praying and researching about everything because she really wanted to know and she said she got the answer that everything she has always believed is right and that the Mormon church isn't for her. Um what? 

We just don't understand! She was SO sincere in wanting to know the truth! And she got that answer?! How does that make sense? Also she were talking about the trinity at one point and she was saying how she believes they are one and we were talking about how they are all separate and giving examples in the scriptures and stuff. Then she was like, "I can see your point but I was just brought up believing in them being one so that is what I am going to keep believing." OK! I was brought up believing that killing is okay so I guess that's just what I'll believe. We just have no idea how that happened. Ugh.  
 
 James: We finally saw him this week! Okay so on Monday we called him because we were planning to see him that night and his son answered and said he had been in a car accident but he was fine and he was staying in Cookeville with his girlfriend because he had no car or anything. So then on Tuesday his girlfriend texted us via his phone and told us he would love a visit from us. So Sister Tucker took us over that night and we were able to visit with him. At first his girlfriend was sitting with us and they were saying how they were both going to come to church, even though she's not too keen on religion, although she has her beliefs. So we taught her the restoration in 4 minutes (we are THAT good haha) because she had to go into another room to get online for a meeting for work (because she works through online communication or something like that) and we hurried as asked if the missionaries could come visit her so she could understand what James is learning and be able to understand when she comes to church. And she said yes :) So then after she left we were able to have a really good lesson with James be like "What are you thinking?! Why you are not making God a priority!" Not in so many words....but we shared the first few verses of Helaman 12 and talked about how the Lord has to chasten his people or they won't remember Him (because after we set his date and he was doing everything, everything was going well and then he went to his old church and dropped the ball I guess you could say and all these bad things started to happen). Anyway, we were just really bold with him and it was really good. I think he really needed to hear it. Then he was in pain because of the car accident and so we asked if he wanted a blessing and he said yes and so we called the Elders in cookeville and luckily they were free so they came and gave him a blessing and it was really good!
 
Then they didn't come to church on Sunday because they went to his old church again. Ugh. People! Come on! 

Bobby and Crystal are doing pretty good! We've been working on helping them to receive answers. Except they won't come to church! We were talking to them about it and Bobby was like, "We go to church." And we were just like, "Not the true one though!" and we convinced Bobby and to come and yesterday we knocked on their door in the morning and Bobby was up and dressed said he would be there but for some reason he never showed up! What?! Also, funny story, on the way over to knock on their door to come to church, there was this tree that had fallen across the little road that led to their house and we were like, "No! Satan! This will prevent them from coming to church!" But we were determined to not let Satan win and so we just moved it....haha it was huge but I guess moving stuff in Monterey has made us strong enough so we were able to conquer that. Then they still didn't come....ugh. 

I guess we'll have to teach them what I taught in my training on Wednesday. I trained about helping investigators and less actives come to church and talked about how we have to help them understand why. And I came up with this acronym to remember - SPARTA!

Sacrament (we take the sacrament)
Priesthood (sacrament must be done by priesthood)
Atonement (we take sacrament to remember Jesus Christ's atonement)
Renew covenants (we also take it to renew covenants)
Testimony (we bear testimony to each other at church and help strengthen each other)
Abstain (going to church helps us to abstain from doing other things that won't help us keep the Sabbath day hold) 

Here's a cool miracle from the He Lives initiative! So when we tract this has been the main thing that we share with people and then we lead that into the restoration or whatever and there was this one girl that we tracted into, Dusty, and we were talking to her and she was talking about how she doesn't go to church because people judge a lot, but she does have her own basic beliefs. So we asked if we could share the video with her and and she said we could but she seemed pretty apprehensive about it. So we showed her the video and she just loved it. She opened up a lot and when we asked if we could come back and share more with her and she said, "Um....yeah, I actually would like that. You guys can come back on Friday at this time because I'll be out of school then." WOW! Also she's going to college for Early Childhood Education and that's my major so that was awesome. 

This week I've learned a lot about repentance and repenting every single day. Every single day we all have something to repent for. Even just small things. This week I've really been striving to account to the Lord in every thought and action and sincerely repent for every little thing that I might do wrong so I can strive to be even more exactly obedient, be more bold and loving, be a better companion, and just the best missionary that I can be. It's been amazing to see the change that I have felt since I have been working to repent every single day! I can feel the spirit even more and I've gained an even greater relationship with my Heavenly Father. I really want to invite y'all to do the same. Repent - EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. And I'm not just giving you an invite because I'm a missionary and that's what I do, I'm doing it because I love y'all so much and I know it will really bless your life! 

Hope y'all have an amazing week! 
Love y'all bunches and bunches!
Love,
Sista M

PS Pictures!
1. Gina's babies! :)
2. The grave I told y'all about haha
3. Just a rainbow from yesterday!
4. 9 months! By the flame after it burnt the skirt!
5. The sketch bathroom....the door to the bathroom was inside that room on the left haha we were laughing about that for forever after that! 
 














Monday, April 13, 2015

Goin' gray!!!

Okay this week has been super good but OH MY GOODNESS!!!! I AM OFFICIALLY BECOMING OLD!!!! On Tuesday while we was knocking doors Sister Laws pointed out that I had a gray hair and she pulled it out and sure enough! DAH!!!! 

Okay, we found THE funniest get well card ever! Haha or me and Sister Laws are just insane and it's really not funny...but we were in the store and we literally laughed out loud...people walking by were probably like, "Um...what?" Anyway...it had a dog on the front and it said, "As they say in obedience school....." and then inside it said, "Heal." HAHAHAHA it's just so classic!!! Haha yeah we are weird but hopefully y'all thought that was funny! 

Okay so do y'all remember once upon a time when we were talking to Bennie and found out that he had been given a Book of Mormon previously by some Elders and we didn't know who they were? Well, this week we went on an exchange and I went to Cookeville and I was looking at their map that past missionaries have signed and I found an 'Elder Sam. Stout'!!!! Dah! Elder Stout was one of the ones that was in the Book of Mormon! And there didn't even used to be missionaries in Sparta, they would have come from Cookeville or McMinnville so it's probably totally him! Crazy!!!!!!

Speaking of exchanges....that was a crazy exchange...we did like a tri-companionship exchange because there are actually 3 STL's for this zone. There's 2 serving together in Manchester (one of them being Sister Penrod who I simply adore! As y'all know) and then there's on in Cookeville who is just an STL by herself there....and guess who it is?! SISTER OLDROYD!! I don't think I ever told y'all that Sister O is one of my STL's!!! Dah! Sadly I didn't go on an exchange with her....I went with Sister Squire, her companion but that was still good! And it's so fun to have her so close! :) 

Do y'all want to know a struggle of missionary work that you don't really know until you are a missionary?! MILES!!! Dah! We only get a certain amount of miles each month and sometimes it is a struggle. Before we took over Spencer we had 1100 miles per month....and then when we took it over Elder Dunn (guy over the cars) and one of the AP's said we would get some more miles (even if it wasn't much) so we could go to Spencer as needed. Well the ZL's texted us and told us that our miles were changed to 1000! Down 100 miles?! How does that even make sense? Yeah we called the AP's and they agreed it didn't really make sense....so yeah that's a struggle....which y'all probably don't even care haha 

Updates on the bap-dates!

Bennie is doing great! We have seen him several times this week and we have been going over the baptism interview questions so we can really see where he is at...because he tends to forget a lot of stuff and has some weird ideas and some of them are not doctrinal. But he's comprehending more than we thought....also he words things really weird and so sometimes it sounds totally incorrect to us but that's not what he actually means....that probably made no sense....but we just have to ask him like 1000 questions to find out what he is really saying because usually it's been doctrinal...he just words it weird....also we realized that we have to quiz him on like everything we teach him and then he'll remember. Basically we just ask him like millions of questions...but yeah he's doing awesome! 

Bobby and Crystal are on fire! :) So on Saturday we taught them the Word of Wisdom and did a stop smoking workshop with Bobby and it went real good! They are totally willing to follow it. They just handed over their coffee and tea and Crystal was like, "Well it's a good thing I didn't make any tea today!" And when we went over yesterday they hadn't had any! But unfortunately Bobby cracked and smoked 2 cigarettes...but that's still good because he used to smoke a lot more than that! But he is starting again and promised that he wouldn't smoke today! So we are going to stop by today...and like every single day to make sure he is still going good. Also, yesterday we asked them like 500 questions (inspired questions to see where they are at) and it was really good! They still aren't sure if it's all true yet but they want to know and they are reading the Book of Mormon every day and understanding it so I reckon they'll get an answer soon! They just are trying to learn how to recognize the spirit! When we asked them how they thought God would answer their prayers they really didn't know, so then we talked a lot about the Spirit and they talked about how they feel it when they read the Book of Mormon and stuff so we invited them to keep watching for the Spirit and pray to recognize it! It was a really great lesson and they are doing so good! 

James and Sabrina....haven't seen them in like 300 years. He was gone all this week for....someone dying then their funeral? His girlfriends grandma or something? Who knows....and we have no idea where Sabrina is...so that's good. 

More service in Monterey this week! And we got to do it with Sister O and her companion!!! Woot, woot!!!! Also, when we got to this one house we got out and there were these little baby bunnies hopping around in the grass and we caught them and they were SO adorable!!!! I'll send pictures for sure...but y'all should be jealous because they were just soooooo cute! Anyway, service was lots of fun and I didn't even get any crazy cuts or anything! Only small ones so that's good! 

Wow there wasn't much to say for this week! Ah well, now you won't be so board with my letter! Oh but hey, I listened to the Priesthood Session of conference this week and WOWIE it was SO GOOD!!! If y'all haven't heard it yet ya definitely should because it was real good! Wow Elder Ballard's was incredible! President Uchtdorf's - WOOWW! That one was SOOOO good. I loved when he quote the guy who said, "'Many of the things you can count, do not count. Many of the things you cannot count, really do count.'" I need to remember that one! Sometimes I am so focused on numbers and counting what I can count that I don't focus on the things that I can't count...and that's what counts!  And I just loved President Eyring's! I love this quote from him: 

That includes you, from the newest deacon to the seasoned high priest, and some, both old and young, who may soon go to the spirit world, where they will hear, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” That salutation will go to some who will be surprised by it. They may never have held high office in the kingdom of God on the earth. Some may have felt that they saw little result from their labors or that some opportunities to serve were never given to them. Others may feel that their time of service was cut shorter in this life than they had hoped. It will not be the offices held or the time served that will be weighed in the balance with the Lord. 
It reminds me of the talk by Michael T. Ringwood about titles. They don't matter and that should not be our motivation! We should be motivated by our love of our Savior and that should be all that matters!

Well, sorry for the weird format from the quote. But I just loved it. And I hope y'all just having the greatest week! :) Love y'all!

Love,
Sister Myers

PS Pictures!
1. Me and the baby bunny #bejealous #myheadlookshugeinthispicture
2. Just a cool lookout spot
3. Our team!!! :)
4. Just lifting a tree...no big deal....also look at my right leg!!! It's looks slightly freaky
 




 

Monday, April 6, 2015

BAPTISM!!!!! (for reals this time)

Wowie Kazowie this week has been INCREDIBLE!!!! So many amazing things happened!!!

For one thing...WILLIE GOT BAPTIZED!!!!! On Tuesday we got a text from President that said, "Just got the go for Willie"...it was so funny. I read the text and I probably stared at it for a full 30 seconds before I fully realized what it said and I showed it to Sister Laws and she freaked out and then we were going crazy for a minute. Then we wanted to tell Willie in person and so we thought we would have to wait until Wednesday to tell him because that's when we planned on seeing him but then our evening appointment cancelled and so we went to his house...haha and we made him get out of bed so we could tell him! Haha and we talked about when we could do it and it would have either had to be Friday....or this coming Saturday and we prayed about it right there and Willie felt like it should be on Friday. So then we went into a series of about 500 phone calls on the way home to see if everything could work out. Wow it was stressful! And there were a couple of hiccups that we had to sort through but God obviously knows what He is doing and so we got it all sorted out and the baptism happened on Friday! And we got permission for him to be confirmed right after so that was good! The next couple days after that went totally smoothly. Then about an hour and a half before the baptism, that's when things started to happen (as we knew they would!). Well, first of all, there was a pretty bad tornado storm warning for most of the day and especially leading up the baptism and it was pouring rain and there was lightning and thunder and it was crazy. Then, Willie kept having little things come up right before the baptism, like the fact that as he was putting on his shoe there was a red wasp in one of them that stung him. How does that even happen?! Also, there were these people from his past calling him and saying they owed him money and he better answer his phone and stuff. Then we were having trouble with the programs and getting everything finished setting up....but then as soon as Willie got to the church then everything was smooth. The baptism probably couldn't have been more perfect! Brother Shotton baptized him and Brother Tucker confirmed. And Brother Shotton pulled me aside after and told me that when Willie got to the top of the steps after being baptized, he just started bawling and Brother Shotton just held him for about a minute until he got it together. Wow! There was seriously just such an incredible spirit there! And I'm so grateful for the opportunity I've had to teach Willie and see that change in Him, despite his rough past! That's truly what the gospel is all about - Change! Change through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

In other news...I hit my 9 month mark this week. Barf.

Okay! Here's a crazy small world moment! So you know Bobbie and Krystal? Well, we found out this week that Krystal... is Willie's dad's nurse (and Willie lives with his mom and dad and takes care of them) and also Bobbie and Willie totally knew each other years and years ago! Isn't that so weird?! Anyway that was crazy when we found out. 

Guess what? A bird made a nest on our back porch thingy. We randomly have this laundry hamper our there for some odd reason...been there since I got here...and it is kind of in the corner and a bird made a nest between the wall and the hamper and totally laid eggs in it! I'll send pics. We named the mom Gina because...well that's a long inside joke...but anyway so that's pretty crazy. Dad you're probably going to be like, "Well, those are bleh bleh bleh bleh's eggs and bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh..." Haha telling me all these facts about them or something....pretty sure its a robin. She just chills in the nest....even when we open the door...so yeah that's pretty cool...and y'all can see my mad photography skills...

So here's a story! I locked us out again! When we went to work out on Tuesday, our of habit I locked the door. LUCKILY, I had the phone with us. But, the office wouldn't open until 9 and we had to be at a Zone Meeting at 10, and had to actually be there at like 8:50 because it was at our building and they were having a meeting before for trainers and stuff and so we also had to go early and then also I was playing the piano for a musical number...yeah so anyway we couldn't wait. So we called Brother Tucker who we knew had a ladder and he brought it to us and Sister Laws went through out bedroom window because we had had it open the night before so it was still unlocked....so yeah we got in....but we had to wait a while for Brother Tucker so we didn't get in until 8 so we had to rush and get ready and go to the church and then we had to go back and get Sister Laws iPad then we went back to the church and practiced for the musical number...which went super well, and then we had Zone Meeting...but it was a crazy morning! So yeah the other day we finally went and got a spare key and gave it to the Tuckers so we don't keep running into this mess! Haha it's always my fault though! :)

So we had to take this online course for Safeguards in Using Technology and they had a bunch of videos from a couple of the apostles speaking to missionaries who were using technology and since we are still going through the testing - there's probably only like a couple 1000 people who have seen the videos we watched for the apostles so that's pretty special. 

Also we had interviews on Friday! (Yep, Friday was a JAM PACKED day! We were so tired by the end of the day....) Anyway we had district meeting while they were happening. It was really good. Also interviews we way good! They are just so enlightening and man MY MISSION PRESIDENT IS INSPIRED!!! Wowie. Get this: at one point he told me basically exactly the same thing that a member of the 70 said in one of his talks....and that was Friday so it was before conference...how crazy is that?! Yeah President Anderson is pretty awesome. Also here's a random funny story: as we were leaving the building, I was the last one to have my interview and President had set down his bags to turn off lights and Sister Anderson had set down a bag and so I picked them up and told them I had their stuff (and I was holding my bag and scriptures so I was holding 5 bags and scriptures) and so we go out to the car and I asked them where they wanted the stuff and President looked at all the stuff I was holding and he was like, "Sister Myers what are you doing?!" Then he laughed and he was like, "It's okay everyone I've got my phone and this piece of paper!" Haha it was so funny. 

Bennie watched every single session of conference including the Priesthood session! And we weren't even there to watch it with him! :) 

CONFERENCE WAS SO AMAZING!!!! :)
Okay I just have to say that this conference, for me, was different from the others in such in incredible way!!! I'm not exactly sure why....but well, this time I think I just really was able to learn from the Spirit. Previously when I have listened to conference I've just taken notes and had talks that I really liked and I would be like, "Oh that was a really good talk." And then I would maybe have like 1 or 2 that really spoke to me but this conference I'm pretty sure I learned something specifically for me out of basically every single one of them! Wow I just loved SO many of the talks I don't even know how I could talk about them! And I don't even know if I made sense....

First off....85,141 missionaries...and I'm one of them! (I hope that was the right number haha) 

Anyway...oh I just don't even know where to start:
 
Henry B. Eyring: He just put fasting and fast offerings into a whole different light! I have paid my fast offerings each fast sunday but it just made me think about them differently! Also my friend Sister Giles is in Vanuatu on a mission and I remember in her letter her writing about the cyclone...but luckily she was not in the midst of it. So yeah that was interesting.

LInda K. Burton: This one was really interesting to apply to myself as a missionary and having a missionary companion. I was just thinking about how if everyone followed the 5 questions that she gave then there really wouldn't be any problems in any missionary companionship. Especially when we seek to complete rather than compete

Dallin H Oaks: I especially loved this one because I have never really seen the Parable of the sewer (sower?) in this way and detail. It's interesting because at our zone meeting a member of the stake came and spoke to us about this same Parable but talked about a totally different aspect of it and we have just heard this parable over and over lately but each time we've heard it it's been different and so I was just thinking about how we will always get different things out of the scriptures and there are so many different meanings to the Jesus Christ's parables and it made me want to study them more!

David A Bednar: Wow this one was just so cool. I had never thought of Godly Fear as something so good and something so....well he said it's what gives of peace and assurance...but it's interesting to think that Godly Fear is what gives us that....I don't know if that made sense but that was just a sort of mind blowing talk that I had never even thought of!

Wilford W. Anderson: The analogy of the music and the dance. Wow that was just incredible! I was just riveted! Probably because I am very musical so it made a lot of sense in that way but Wow I just loved it! 

Dale G. Renlund: First off, I have met him personally when he came to our mission a while back so it was cool to hear from him. Also, he said a couple of times "God doesn't care who you were, he cares who you are becoming" or something along those lines and it's interesting because when we was here at our Zone Conference he probably said that about 15 times or different variations of that. So that was cool to hear it again. I also just loved the rest of the talk. It was something that I needed to hear. Just that we all progress at different levels and we have to be kind, patient, supportive and understanding of those who are trying to overcome their personal difficulties because all God asks of us is that we try!

Gerald Causse: I loved this one! I just kept thinking to myself about how, "is the gospel still wonderful to me?" Also it's interesting because we were kind of talking about this at zone meeting this week too. We were talking about how we always need to be increasing our testimonies every single day and having recent experiences where we have gained more testimony and we were specifically talking about the Book of Mormon but it could be applied to all aspects of the gospel. Anyway, so that was interesting to see how that came up again. 

Jeffrey R. Holland: Oh I just loved this talk. It was SO touching to me. I just kept thinking about how Jesus Christ knows us. Like the little brother in the story he told, Jesus Christ knows what we will do and he is standing right there to help us when we are slipping. That wasn't necessarily when Elder Holland was talking about but that's what I was thinking. 

Dieter F. Uchtdorf: Wowie his talk was just so good I don't even know where to start! It was just a really interesting twist I guess you could say on keeping the commandments and Grace and it was just a really incredible talk! Oh I just loved it. 

Okay I'm just going to be done now or this is just going to go on and on and on and on and on. I just loved SOOOO many talks! And I haven't had the chance to watch the Priesthood session yet and I didn't even talk about the General Women's session! Gah! Conference was just sooooo good! Anyway, I'm going to end now before y'all die at how long this email is. Sorry I just couldn't stop! :)

Love y'all lots!!!
Love,
Sister Myers