Raccoons and Surprise Parties

Well this week has been super crazy! And awesome! And tiring and who knows what else! It's been a missionary week. So yeah, that basically covers all emotion or adjectives to describe the week. :) 

Guess what I did. I definitely held a baby raccoon. Yep. That happened. There were some baby raccoons that were hiding in a bush and then under a car right by our house and we told the Elders. Obviously...being 20 year olds...they decided to pick them up. Haha then they handed them to us. Now when I say hold....I mean we held them like a cat because we did not want them to attack us. They were so adorable though. 

I tried a food truck for the first time in my life and it was like...the best food ever. Man it was so delicious I was dying. 

Okay so guess what I did for my birthday? Dishes! Yep, we did dishes for 2 1/2 hours....service, man. Also Sister Phillips and the Elders threw me a surprise birthday party and I had NO IDEA!!! Well, actually I did but I will explain......so Friday night the EQ president...who we are "buds" with because he's only 19 came and gave us candy and stuff for my birthday. He was like, "Sorry I don't know if I'll be able to make it to your party tomorrow but here's this!" And afterwards Sister Phillips was like, "What party is he talking about?" And I was like, "Maybe the Elders are planning something?" and we didn't know.  So then the next day we didn't even hear from the Elders so I told Sister Phillips, "Ha! They forgot! (after she kept saying something would probably happen) I told you Elders don't plan things. Maybe Matthew was just confused when he said that." So then after dinner we were planning for a lesson and Sister Phillips thought of a video we should use and so she was like, "Let's go download on our way to their house." So we walk down by the Elders house and Guadalupe's to get it because they have wifi. Then as we walk up Guadalupe signals us to come inside (she's always doing that so I figured she was going to try to feed us or something) and I went in and SURPRISE! Hahaha! Sister Phillips knew the whole time!! 

Man she is such a good actor. They had been planning for a couple of days and whenever we were talking to the Elders she would air drop them notes on what to get and they were planning when it would happen and all that. Then the Elders did all the work. Then the day of, she would text them and delete the text and I just had no idea. And she doesn't even hold the phone! I do! That sly girl! And the thing that made it even MORE funny was that every time something weird happened that was totally a clue that it was happening I would think it was for some sort of party but then say, "Nah! That can't be it!" For example when she was texting the Elders she said she was texting this LA and I was like, "What if she's texting both the Elders and the LA?....Nah she wasn't on the phone long enough" or when we were walking down to Guadalupe's I was like, "What if the party is at Guadalupe's?.....nah the Elders would have called us and told us to come or something....plus the car isn't even here so they aren't here." Nope! They hid the car haha. It was just so funny because I totally knew but I kept rationalizing it. Hahah so funny! I am SO DUMB!!!!! Sister Phillips is definitely one smart cookie though!!!! It's tough to plan a surprise party for someone you have to be within sight and sound with 24/7!!! 

Also they made 7 layer bars for my surprise "cake". Oh man I love those WAY too much. 

So guess what? George came back! We were going to go see Frank and George was totally there and we were just like, "What's up George!" He totally was ready to read with us and stuff like that. He says he still wants to be in Murray (where he had left to) but its just not time yet because things are crazy over there. So yeah....but that means that we get to keep teaching him! And he was totally going to come to church on Sunday, but he wasn't ready when the ride came sooooo that was too bad. But when we went to visit him that night his friend called him and he was like, "Sorry not right now I missed church so I'm reading with the sisters." Alright! He's still got a long way to go. He feels bad for a lot of the things that he has done but he's still not in the 'hope' stage of being able to overcome. We are working with him on that. Yesterday we gave him Alma 36 to read and I think that he will really be able to relate to that. 

Frank is.....Frank haha. He's been being really weird this week. Just like how he acts has been really odd.....but he we talked to him yesterday he seemed his normal self. He's just an interesting individual. He's in the "this just might work" phase in the gospel. He's still unsure but he's willing to keep testing it out. He's already received some answers to his prayers since he just started praying again but I think that they just scare him a little bit and so he's maybe a little fearful? Who knows. Only God I guess.

So I don't remember if I told y'all about Rosetta but she's this lady we are working with that has been taught by missionaries for like a year. Definitely an eternigator. She told Sister Phillips and Peterson (her last comp) that she was just going to read the Book of Mormon until she got an answer. That's all fine and dandy but she doesn't come to church or pray consistently and diligently about it and so she's not really receiving any answers. We had a good lesson with her about that but she still hasn't come to church. This week we are going to give her the "pre-drop" talk and let her know that we can't keep teaching her if she won't keep commitments! It's about time though. One day I am sure she will join. Maybe she's just not in the right place right now. 

The branch is doing great! It's still super small but the Elders are teaching this family...and they have 6 kids! Oh man we need kids! They have 1 in YW's, 2 in YM's, and 3 younger kids! It's so cool! Oh yeah and they are getting baptized on June 13!!! Well, not all of them. I think the 15 year old isn't. Also 2 of them aren't old enough but later in June one will turn 8 so then the dad will be able to baptize her.  That'll just be so good for the branch! They are such an awesome family! :)

Okay so you wanna read like the best Ensign article ever?!!! It's called "It isn't a sin to be weak" in the April 2015 Ensign. Here's a couple of quotes from it that I just love: "Though He was without sin, Jesus Christ joined us fully in the condition of mortal weakness. He was born as a helpless infant in a mortal body and raised by imperfect caretakers. He had to learn how to walk, talk, work, and get along with others. He got hungry and tired, felt human emotions, and could get ill, suffer, bleed, and die....We cannot simply repent of being weak--nor does weakness itself make us unclean. We cannot grow spiritually unless we reject sin, but we also do not grow spiritually unless we accept our state of human weakness, respond to it with humility and faith, and learn through our weakness to trust in God."

Wow sorry that email was SUPER long. My bad. There was just so much to say! Well....I hope y'all have the best week! :) 

Love, Sister Myers

1. Raccoon picture.....poor raccoons....haha once in a lifetime opportunity there #onlyinkentucky

2. Southern people...

3. Delicious cake slash the candles are classic 

4. What do YOU do with 800 sticky notes?

5. Raccoon pic 2 

"I felt a creepy feeling like I was supposed to pick it up and read more"

Well this week was awesome except for the fact that I got sick for like 3 days! And you wanna know how I cured it? Eating a ridiculous amount of food. It was the weirdest sickness of my life. Luckily I was still able to go out and work so that's good. Just literally had no energy. Luckily the elders are super nice and let us have the car some of Friday and all of Saturday when it was raining so I could still go out and wouldn't get more sick. Also figured out I'm basically not even related to Elder Myers...we are 11th cousins...and not even through the Myers line so that's interesting!

We had zone conference this week and that was really good! It was the first normal zone conference since...like forever because the last 2 have been with general authorities so they have been different! So yeah it was kind of weird to just have a normal one! The training's were seriously so good though! 

Okay here's a crazy story. So once upon a time the Elders told us that they randomly knocked on one door on this random street and found this girl named Patty and she was super awesome! Just one of those prepared people that is ready for the gospel! (She loved the fact that we have prophets and said she would be baptized if she knew it all was true). So anyway, they sent over her record Tuesday night but we didn't ever really look it at. So then Wednesday night we decided that we wanted to go tracting. So we were over in this one area and we could not decided where to go. And so we prayed and then looked at a map and Sister Phillips was like, "I think we should go here" And it was this one street that was pretty far from where we were so I was just like, "Okay lets go!" So we go over there and we knock into this one girl who was pretty cool and we are just kind of talking to her and she said that 2 missionaries had knocked into her a while back and we were thinking "Dang the Elders already tracted this." But we keep talking to her to see what she thought of the pamphlet they gave her and randomly I have this thought, "This girl is pretty cool. That reminds me. We need to go see Patty. She sounds super awesome. I wonder if she would let us come around this time (this was after 8 so pretty late for people in the south)". And so we keep talking to her and then we ask if we could come back and she said yes and we asked her her name and she said it was Patty!!! WHAT?! Yeah we totally accidentally knocked into her. It was such a weird moment. She's awesome though. 

So there's this awesome girl named Jade that we are teaching and she just has the craziest life but she is super awesome and loves us even though she only met Sister Phillips (before I came) like 2-3 times and she already calls us her Mormons and stuff. She's super cool. Anyway, this week we were teaching her....and oh the spirit is so cool. So she was talking about all the bad in the world and about how sad it is so see all the evil and stuff like that. And I just had this thought that I REALLY needed to talk about agency. So I told her that the reason that a lot of the bad is there is because of agency. God gave us the power of choose and sometimes people don't choose good things and that effects others, and sometimes in bad ways. But because it's a gift from God he can't just stop what we are doing because it takes away that gift. And she just looked at me and was like, "Wow. I have been asking myself why God won't stop it my whole life. And NO ONE has been able to answer that for me. I have asked that to SO many preachers and they just say things like, "I don't know" or "That is too complicated to answer." And then she just kept saying wow over and over. It was such a cool experience. We weren't event talking about agency...we were talking about trials and hardship....amazing how the spirit works! 

Okay so this week we randomly got this text from someone and they asked if you could remember life before you were born. And we were just like, "Who is this?" So we ask him and it's this guy named Frank, who is George's roommate (oh by the way George moved so different missionaries will teach him so that is sad) and he is just kind of odd but anyway then he called us and asked if we could meet with him so we're like "Okay!" So we meet him at the park and we have this super awesome lesson about the plan of salvation and I guess he has this memory of the pre-mortal life and how he was so excited to be born and he just couldn't wait...and he was looking into a cauldron or something weird like that. Also he has kind of a different concept of Christ and God but we are working with him to help him pray and gain that relationship with God. He says he thinks this church has the most truth. And he was talking about how he is always watching the Elders get rejected and doors slammed in their faces and stuff and that's what made him want to learn more about the church....people notice!!!! Anyway, he came to church yesterday and he really liked it. And he's really interested he just has some really weird ideas and thoughts about things. I thought Bennie was weird but Frank is a whole different story. But he is definitely sincere and I think he really wants to change and become better. He just has a long way to go. Haha we had the funniest texting conversation with him this morning. Haha you just have to hear it because we were seriously dying. It might not be that funny because you don't know Frank and his personality but oh man haha 

FRANK: 

I got bored 

so i read

US

Is that why you read lol? 

FRANK

SHSHSH don't tell anyone

My grandma used to say curiosity killed the cat and couldn't eat it but then she said alot

I felt a creepy feeling like i was supposed to pick it up and read more 

So i put it back in my bag 

US 

Who do you think would give you that feeling to want to read the BoM? 

FRANK 

It was an unfamiliar spirit my people call them strangers 

It was in the Book itself 

US 

No Frank that's the Holy Spirit. its a good thing! The Holy Spirit was telling you to read because the Book of Mormon is true and from God

FRANK

It wasn't pleasant or unpleasant

Please don't be ill with me 

US

Frank we are not being ill we are just trying to help you understand. The Holy Spirit is unfamiliar to people who are new to the Gospel. The Holy Spirit always leads you to want to do good and the Book of Mormon is GOOD 

FRANK 

k

Haha he is just so odd haha ...but he's awesome! 

We talked to a super weird guy named Timothy and he told us Satan is a girl and her actual name is Lucy. Also something about Nubians....And something about giants and pyramids. Also Moses is really Moisha. Weirdest thing that's ever happened to me. 

Anyway.....here are some random thoughts:

1. I ate some mexican dish called Mole and it was rice and chicken with this peppery chocolate sauce and it was SO GOOD! Haha the Elders kept telling me to try it and I asked what it was but they kept avoiding saying there was chocolate in it and so I ate it and it was so good then I found out it was chocolate later. Probably would not have tried it if I had known haha.

2. I still don't know any Spanish

3. There are these weird things here that look like a mix between a cricket and a spider.....hm....

4. I never want to get knee surgery

5. We had literally had 4 other people besides us in Relief Society yesterday....that was just odd

6. It's super nice being clergy because you get a good parking spot at the hospital

Well, that's all my random thoughts and stories for today! I'm learning so much about following the Spirit here! Sister Phillips is seriously so good at following the Spirit! I am blown away at the times when we'll be planning for a lesson and then she'll be like, "We should teach them this...." And then the LA or investigator totally brings it up or asks a question about it and then we have a super awesome lesson on it! It's seriously so cool to watch and I'm learning more and more about how the Spirit works and to follow it because I am so bad at that. 

I heard a quote this week at zone conference that I loved: "Find the Savior and you will find the reason for all that you do." The Savior is really the reason for everything! He's the reason we are here on the earth living our lives and the reason we do anything in this life! He's definitely the reason I'm on a mission! 

Love y'all lots!!!

Love,

Sister Myers

PS Next time I talk to you I will not longer be a teenager. Hm. Weird

 

Oh yeah and pictures!!

1. more awkward selfies

2. We drew mustaches and glasses with window markers...haha..ps it was super difficult to take that picture

3. Are these not the best shirts you have ever seen?? Hahahah

 

 

 

May in Mayfield Kentucky!

So I got transferred to Kentucky! Its this really small town....well
it's bigger than Sparta but I just love it to death! There are so many
great people here! And a lot of Spanish people....hence why there are
Spanish Elders here. And we are all in a baby district. It us, the
Elders and the trio of sisters in Fulton. It's super weird. And guess
what my DL's name is? Elder MYERS! What?! Weird. And it's super awko
taco because people in the branch keep joking about how we have a
senior couple now. Or they'll be like, "If you got married then Sister
Myers wouldn't even have to change her name." Okay....weird! Anyway so
that's awkward but kind of funny.....

Anyway my companion is SIster Phillips and she's from West Jordan. She
is seriously the cutest person ever and she has the BEST facial
expressions! We are seriously laughing all the time. Also she's half
black and but she acts super white. And I'm like really tan and so we
are basically the same color so that's funny. Anyway, she is dying
this transfer so I am killing someone! Weird! That also means I'll
have to take over Mayfield and so that's a little bit crazy but it'll
be great! :)

Here are some random thoughts:
1. I got sunburned this week....good
2. We share the car....and we just changed how we share it so we have
it Sunday through Wednesday and they have it Thursday through
Saturday. They gave us more days which is really nice of them.
3. Mosquitos are back and I've already got like 6 bites....good. good good.
4. I don't know any Spanish
5. Darn humidity is back. Darn.
6. We live in a house and I have my own bathroom - score!
7. We have the TINIEST BRANCH I HAVE EVER SEEN!!! Seriously there was
maybe 30 people at church...and it was a good day. Also it's kind of
cool because we have Spanish people so the Elders had to like...sit in
back and have the little mike and translate and all the Spanish people
had headphones. It's kind of cool! Also we have a building which is so
weird because Sparta's branch was way bigger and we did not have a
building....
8. I had to speak in church yesterday so that was fun....
9. SISTER SUMBOT IS MY STL!!!! YEEEEEESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week was super crazy! Like so many odd things happened! For one
thing our phone was acting up and so we called Sprint to get it fixed
and we were trying to figure it out and it took 3 HOURS!!!! Ugh! And
we kept having to hang up and call the phone person in the mission
then call back but we would get a new person and then they would ask
us the same questions and all of them tried to fix it in the same
way....but that WASN'T WORKING!! So then we were going to just master
reset it but it needed some passcode and we didn't know it and neither
did our mission phone guy so we just had to get a new one. But the guy
in the mission office disconnected our phone and got the new one set
up so we were without a phone for like 2 days. And that as a
missionary is a STRUGGLE! Yeah we had to use the Elders phone so
much....because we had to coordinate getting the new phone...without a
phone...and it's just struggle central. They were probably more
relieved than us when we got our phone.


Okay here's a funny slash good slash crazy story. So we had this
referral for the son of a woman that the sisters used to teach and his
name is George. So we finally get in contact with him and he's super
awesome! He read the Book of Mormon while he was in jail and he is
really hungry for the gospel and getting relief from his guilt from
sin. You can tell! So we gave him Helaman 5 and some questions and
told him to read, pray and write like it talks about in Power of
Everyday Missionaries and he agreed to do it and said we should come
back in like 2 days and talk to him about it. So we go back but he's
not there. So we try to the next day and he's like had a couple of
really bad days (he didn't tell us the details or anything so we don't
know why) and so he hadn't read at all. So we were like aw man and
then no joke he literally said something like this, "I just....really
want to know how I can build a better foundation on Christ." I
thought, "Well if you had read the chapter!" haha but I showed him
Helaman 5:12 and he was just like, "Oh. I really need to read this
chapter don't I?" Haha and we were like, "yeah." and then we invited
him to church and he was totally going to come to all 3 hours! But
then he texted us in the morning and said he would make it because he
had to move out or something like that....so that's sad....we haven't
really talked to him since sooooo yeah.....we'll see how that goes.

Well today is a weird day. Lots of stuff happening. We had to go to
the hospital because our recnt convert is having surgery so she wanted
us to be there when she went down and then when she wakes up....so we
have to go back there pretty soon....but yeah her name is Mary and she
is black and seriously the best person ever. And she has a huge family
that's all in the area. We taught her grandkids the other day (well we
told them some Book of Mormon stories) and there were like 9 of them.
It was insane.

Mothers day was great! TALKING TO THE FAMILY WAS THE BEST THING
EVER!!! Woot! Yep...nothing much to say about that! :) I just love em
all! Also we made a mother's day card for another recent convert named
Guadalupe and she is the best. She just fills in the empty spaces on
our calendar. And she lives just down the street from us across from
the Elders so that's nice! Except she really only speaks Spanish
sooooo I really can't communicate much with her....but her 2 sons
Roberto and Luis (Roberto is also a RC and Luis isn't a member) know
English, like they are fluent so they just translate. Also Sister
Phillips knows quite a bit so she can do basic communication. And I
just sit there really lost....haha it's awko taco.

Well, that's really all I have to say for this week! I'm sure I'll
have lots of good stuff next week! Also I forgot my scriptures but one
thing I wanted to share was his quote: "One cannot forget mother and
remember God, one cannot remember Mother and forget God." Our mothers
were given to us so that we could learn and grow and become more like
our Heavenly Father! God does not make mistakes! Our mothers may not
be perfect but they are the perfect ones for us!

I love y'all lots and I hope you have a great week!
Love,
Sister Myers

PS Pictures!
1. Awkward selfie of me and Sister Phillips
2. Someone had like a million cats...and that's not even all of them....yuck

So long Sparta.....

Well I am just flat out depressed and stressed. Depressed because I have to leave the greatest place ever that I love dearly. And stressed because it's transfers. Probably nothing more stressful than when you have to move your entire life in the course of about 2 days not knowing where you are going or who you will be with. All while trying to say goodbye to everyone you want to say bye to and still somehow prepare for the rest of the week while doing missionary work. Yeesh. 

Yeah so this is probs going to be short because I have too much to do than sit here and write a novel.

Oh yeah and y'all are probably wondering where I am going....well I don't know. I don't remember if I told y'all but they have changed the way they do transfers. So now they don't tell you where you are going or who you will be with, just that you are leaving or staying. And then everyone who is getting transferred goes to transfer meeting and they show all the different areas on a slide show and you find out where you are going. It's slightly insane. And don't ask me why they started doing that because I honestly don't know. Maybe they just want to try our patience or something.

Aaaaaanyway.......BENNIE GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!! What a better way to end in an area than with a baptism! I found him, taught him and baptized him. Then I leave. Definitely one of those people I was meant for! It was super fast because we did at 6 right before Stake Conference at 7 and so that was a bit stressful but it was fine. But it was really good. I sang while playing the piano because Bennie wanted me to. I'm not a fan of singing in front of people by myself. Also Bennie went and bought a suit and he wore it for the first time. Aw he looked so good! 

Stake conference was awesome! Elder Pino of the seventy who spoke in one of the Sunday sessions of General Conference came! Wow he is so funny. I was seriously dying. Also it was interesting because he had an interpreter because he prefers to speak in Spanish. But he can understand English and sometimes speak it. I guess hearing and understanding is different than speaking. But anyway, both the adult session and the morning session were really good! I didn't get the chance to meet him though which is a bummer. 

Here's an awkward story. So one of the members called us this week and told us that one of her coworkers said that Charles and Dewanna's (previous investigators if you remember them) son had passed away and I was just so sad because I love them so much! And one of our potentials is the daughter....who would be married to the son that died. So we told her to tell us when the funeral and stuff was so we could go see Charles and Dewanna there. So she told us there was a viewing that evening from 5-8. So we went and got a card and I wrote my testimony of the Plan of Salvation in it and then that evening we went to the funeral home in town and went to the viewing. So we get there and we walk in and I don't see ANYONE I know. Not a soul. So I'm like, "Are we in the right place?!" And so we look at the name and it's "Gregory Goines" And I'm like, "Oh I thought his name was Charles....what?" But I wasn't sure so we went back to the car and called the member and she looked up the obituary to find out the name of his parents and yeah...it wasn't Charles and Dewanna's son. Same last name and same fathers name but not the one we know. Her coworker had just heard Goines and she knew that this member had gone to see Charles and Dewanna with us and so she thought it was the same one and oh it was just such a funny slash awkward situation. 

In other news Bobby and Crystal's dog is getting giant. Also Sister Laws and her new comp will probably have to drop them soon if they don't get their acts together and keep commitments. 

I really don't have any more updates. We haven't seen a lot of our main people this week. It has been insanely busy. 

Here's some random thoughts:

1. I hate saying bye. 

2. I get to talk to my family in less than one week! 

3. It's getting hot and humid and I'm certainly not a fan. 

4. Nail polish does come out of rugs very well

5. A slushy sounds really good right about now...not sure why 

Uh....yep that's about it. I don't really have anything else to say nor do I really have time to. Oh yeah but first I just wanted to share a couple of things I learned from Elder Pino at ward conference. He talked a lot about the work of salvation and he talked a lot about how we all need to participate in the work of salvation. For example in the home we must be teaching doctrine so our children will grow in the gospel and then they can do work for the dead and do missionary work. Teaching our children and raising them in the gospel is part of the work of salvation. He also talked about how we all need to be in harmony when doing the work of salvation. Otherwise it's like a bunch of different people all singing a different hymn at the same time. Not good! We have to be in harmony and all be working together in order for the work of salvation to be achieved.

Anyway, that's all I remember without my notes. 

I love y'all lots!

Love,

Sister Myers

PS Pictures!

1. Me and Sista Laws after stake conference

2. My and Lyers (bobby and crystal's dog)

3. Bennie's baptism!

4. Our district!

5. Just a sample of the beautiful garden's of that old couple we always help. And that's just a tiny piece! And no, Tennessee is not THAT green yet. It's just a filter...but it's getting there!