Moving Out of Mayfield!

I am sad today because I am leaving Mayfield! I love Mayfield tons and I'm going to miss all the wonderful people here! I'm also sad because my mission keeps going faster and faster and I'm getting on the low end of the scale for how long I have left.....ugh

This week has been great though! I don't know how long this is going to be though because I have a ton of things to do and I don't really feel like writing a lot but maybe once I get going it will be better. 

First off, I don't even know if I have told y'all about Roxie! She's this 85 year old lady who is SO funny. Oh my goodness I love her so much! We tracted into her like, last transfer and did some service for her and stuff because at first she said she wasn't interested. Well, then we got to teaching her and she has come to church for the past 3 weeks and she's getting baptized in the beginning of October! We gave her pamphlets every time we would go and do service for her and after she read them she would say, "That's the most interesting thing I've ever read!" Haha but we didn't know how much she was comprehending. Then she said she wanted to come to church....oh my goodness I just remembered that I have talked about her....oh well...haha well anyway, she's been reading the Book of Mormon and this week we taught her the Restoration, like actually taught it to her with the cups and stuff and we invited her to be baptized at the beginning of October and she said, "Well, I've already been baptized but this one feels better!" Haha we asked her if we believed God would restore the true church of Jesus Christ back to earth and she said, "Oh I know it's true!" Haha she is so great! I hope I'm close enough I can come back to her baptism!

Amy and Bill Powers came to church this week and they seemed to really like it! I hope they keep on coming! Maybe i can come back for his baptism! They are great :)

Got sick this week! It's going around. For the like the entire week I could not stay asleep at night! I've been so exhausted. Then I just felt terrible on Saturday (cold symptoms, exhausted, just generally sick) so Saturday night the Elders were going to come give me a blessing.....then Sister Orchard in the evening on Saturday got so sick, but her symptoms were like, stomach flu symptoms. So she decided to get a blessing too. Well, must have been a trial of our faith because after our blessings we went to bed at like 9, but Sister Orchard just lied down on her bathroom floor for 3 hours because she thought she was going to be sick, and I tried to sleep but I literally could not! Then there was a cockroach in my bed! GROSS! Sister Orchard finally went to bed at like 12:00 and fell asleep. But I didn't fall asleep until like 12:30 or 1 and didn't really even sleep. We were zombies in the morning! It was a struggle. But last night, for like the first time in like, gee a week or something I slept like a rock!!! Woot!!!!!! We decided it was Satan because two investigators came to church!!!!!!! :) haha JK

Randoms:

1. No one here knows what a knock knock joke is...seriously we tried telling knock knock jokes to a couple of people this week and they just didn't know what to say. 

So we did it to Roberto and this is what happened:

Us: Knock knock

Roberto: Mormons are here

Haha then we did it to Mary and this is what happened:

Us: Knock knock

Mary: (No response)

Us: You're supposed to say "who's there?"

Mary: Jesus

Haha seriously no one knows what a knock joke is, it's so funny. 

2. I tried grilled egg plant. it was delicious

3. I'm a nut. In a rut. I'm a nut, in a rut, so what?

Well to make up for this rather terrible letter, here's a lovely spiritual thought: Remember how I was training on the enabling power of the atonement? Well I want to talk about one thing I learned.

So Elder Bednar gave Mosiah 24 as an example of the enabling power of the Atonement (this is when Alma and his people are under the rule of Amulon and they ask God to help them and he comforts them in their afflictions) well, one might wonder why that would have to do with the enabling power of the atonement, which helps us to do and become good. Well, let me tell you!!!

Look at Mosiah 3:19 to you: "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." Wouldn't you say that being as a child, submissive..........would be the attributes of a someone who has done and become good? 

Okay now listen to what Elder Bednar says: "As we progress in the journey of mortality from bad to good to better, as we put off the natural man or woman in each of us, and as we strive to become saints and have our very natures changed, then the attributes detailed in this verse increasingly should describe the type of person you and I are becoming. We will become more childlike, more submissive, more patient, and more willing to submit." Now jump back to Mosiah 24:15, "and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord" Alma and his people were not only comforted but they became better people through the Atonement. So when we use the enabling power of the atonement to comfort and strengthen us, we are putting off the natural man and submitting ourself to the Lord. So really, whenever we use the atonement, in any way, we are becoming better. 

Well, love y'all lots!

Love, 

Sister Myers

Here's some pics, hopefully they go through! If not....too bad. Maybe I'll send them next week. There were so many to choose from since I took a lot of pictures with people...

1. MYERS FOR THE WIN

2. Bodyguards

 

www.bomb.com/miracles/godisgood/mayfield/aug26

Well if this week was a URL it would be www.bomb.com/miracles/godisgood/mayfield/aug26

I had to put the date in the URL or otherwise it wouldn't be just for this week...#sistermyersissuchaweirdo

Okay for like 2 seconds I want to talk about the abilities to do manual labor as sister missionaries. Once upon a time, Sister Myers and Sister Orchard got really annoyed that no one thinks they can do manual labor because they are girls and so they leave it to the Elders. So they decided that they were going to mow their lawn, and the Elders lawn (which the Elders normally do both) as a service. Upon retrieving the lawn mower from Guadalupe's, Roberto asked them if they needed any help mowing the lawns. They said no. Then Roberto said, "But you don't have any muscles!" Their point exactly!!! Well, as they proceeded to go mow the lawn, they realized it had been so long since either of them had worked a lawn mower that they forgot you had to pull the lever down before you started it. So then Roberto made fun of them as he started it for them. Well, skip forward about 12 hours and they receive a call from the Elders. "Sisters do you have any idea who mowed our lawn? We asked Brother Miller (the ward mission leader) and President Collins and neither have any idea. Did you see anyone over there?" Yeah, they couldn't believe that the sisters did it. Fast forward 1 week. The Sisters decided they were going to mow a tiny lawn of one of the LA's and as they are taking the lawn mower one of the Elders says, "Leave the Elderly stuff to us!" If there had been a punching bag right there, Sister Myers probably would have punched it.........I'm telling you, the struggle is so real. 

Anyway.......

Life in general is pretty miraculous so this week is going to be a miracle week:

Miracle #1: 

Once upon a time, Sister Myers and Sister Orchard went over to Guadalupe's when Roberto and Anthony were just hanging out. They proceeded to teach him the entire restoration AND invited him to be baptized, to which he agreed! Then, either the next day or the day after, they taught him again, and upon reading the first chapter of Nephi with him, they set a baptism date! November 21. (Although unfortunately after so many great lessons, the sisters were a little bit disappointed when he just seemed to lose interest, and in the fact that he is going to be gone for like a month.........it's difficult for them to explain, but we shall see how it turns out) 

Miracle #2:

Sister Myers and Sister Orchard were finally able to see Bruce Riley! After like, gee, 6 weeks or something they were able to get in contact with him! He was struggling with some different things but he was ready to start going back to church because he had his "moment of clarity" and wow, Sister Myers just loves him! :) (Although unfortunately he did not make it to church for some reason)

Miracle #3:

The sisters decided to stop by an inactive member's house by the name of Amy Powers (PS her husband Bill is not a member). They were able to share a short message with her and left. Well, by happenstance, they met President Collins that evening and he got Bill to agree to a lesson - so the sisters received a text from Sister Collins telling them that Bill Powers would listen to our message and that they would both go with them to the lesson! So they set up an appointment with them and on Saturday they went and taught Bill the restoration, invited him to be baptized and set a date for October 24!!! And they said that they would both come to church!! (Although unfortunately neither of them came to church because Amy could not get Bill to wake up and she couldn't come alone because she can't drive on her own)

Miracle #4:

Hubbs Waller....the guy that knows basically EVERYTHING about the church, who comes to like all the baptisms and church events but doesn't come to church (bascially a dry mormon) - CAME TO CHURCH!!!! Elder and Sister Pack, a senior couple who everyone just loves that used to serve here a while back, came to visit on their way to their next mission and got him to come to church!!! Sister Myers almost fell off the organ bench when she saw him walk in (she was playing the organ for sacrament meeting)....although at first she didn't recognize him because he was all decked out in a suit! Sister Orchard cried when she saw him! (Although unfortunately.....ha! Got you there! There is no unfortunate thing on this one!) 

Miracle #5:

Do ya'll remember that guy named Nick that the sisters met last Sunday right before Sister Collins went out with them? Well they stopped by yesterday and met his wife, Amanda, and they talked to her about the gospel a little bit and she's very interested in learning! She has had several losses in her family and is looking for the church that is just right for her and none of the churches she has tried have felt right yet. And they set up a return appointment with her! Hurrah!

Sister Myers has a thought: "Notice how several of the miracles have "unfortunately"'s attached to them. I just want to point out that this does not take away from the miracles that occurred. What happened was still a miracle even though it didn't end in the most miraculous way. (Although unfortunately, we sometimes tend to believe that if something less than miraculous happens after a miracle occurs, then it means the miracle was really for nothing...and that is false! It's just opposition. It's just Satan. And Satan only has power over us if we let him."

And the biggest miracle of all: 

Our Savior Jesus Christ's Atonement. From the words of Sister Myers: "I've had a lot of time to reflect on our Savior's Atonement this week as I have studied to give a training in District Meeting about how the Atonement helps us to become better missionaries. I have been studying a BYU speech called, "In the Strength of the Lord" by David A. Bednar and wow, I just love the insights is gives about the enabling power of the Atonement. The Atonement is what enables us to do ANYTHING we can't do on our own in our own capacity. Whether that is physical, emotional, or spiritual. It's truly incredible! As missionaries I know this is what allows us to become the missionaries that God wants us to be, despite our weaknesses and shortcomings. It truly enables us to reach our divine potential!"

Sister Myers wishes y'all a wonderful week and she says she loves y'all lots! 

Pictures:

1. Rockin the sunglasses

2. Don't ask

3. Best. Mailbox. Ever.

4. She always gets pictures of me eating cake!...hahah

I love Sister Sumbot....<------Sister Sumbot wrote this

It's been a pretty fantastic week!! :) We have met lots of great people and seen lots of cool miracles!

Okay I'll tell you about all the cool people that we met :)

The first is this guy named Tim! He's so cool! The Elders tracted into him and referred him to us. So we went and visited him and set up a return appointment. Then we went back this last Saturday and he came outside on the porch to talk to us and he was re-looking over the pamphlet that we had given him and he saw the picture of the Book of Mormon and he was like, "Oh y'all read from this book?" And then he was asking us all these questions about it and asking if he could have one and we were just like, "Wait hold on let's start from the beginning." So we taught him the restoration and he kept asking questions that were just going to be answered so we just told him to keep listening. Then we finished and he was like, "Oh that makes sense!" And then we invited him to be baptized when he knew it was true. And he said, "Yes! Definitely! As long as I know from God that my previous baptism was not correct." He totally gets the priesthood!!!! WOW!!!!

Yesterday we were waiting for a member to pick us up to go on exchanges and we were trying to decide what to do so I was like, "let's just knock a couple houses." Well the first house we knocked on BOOM! We met this young dad and he said we could come back and talk to him and his family (him and his wife and two young children) and he said his wife has been looking for a church. BOOYA!

So then the member that took us out, we went and tried some people and then we went to Guadalupe's to visit her for a bit. So we were sharing a message with Guadalupe and Roberto and someone knocked on the door so Roberto went and got it and then went outside. So then we shared a message with Guadalupe and then we went to leave and we went outside and Roberto was talking to his friend Anthony. Then Guadalupe followed us out the door and she pointed to Anthony and was like, "You teach him" And then Roberto was like, "yeah you want to hear about the church?" And Anthony was like, "yeah okay" so we talked to him a little bit (except it was like 9:25 so we were going to be late so we didn't talk to him long) and we gave him a pamphlet and got his number and he said he would meet with us to learn more and come to church! Wow!!!! 

GUESS WHAT?!!!! Jim and Sheila Rider from my first area came to visit me and took us out to lunch!!!! Oh it was the greatest thing ever! I just LOVE them sooooo much!!! We had such a good visit and they are just the greatest! They drove like 4 hours and stayed over night in Paducah to see me! They also saw other family and stuff on the way to and from but still they drove that far! I just love them.

We are going to drop Beth this week. We went and visited her with Sister Collins and Sister Vaca and Sister Vaca told us she thought that Beth was just in it for the company because she has zero desire to come to church or be baptized. We had been thinking that so it just kind of solidified our thoughts. It will be hard to drop her because we don't know how she'll take it because she just loves us coming over. 

So I don't think I told you about her but there's this investigator we found named Roxie who is so old and she's just the funniest lady. Well we started by doing service for her and then we started teaching her. Well we've been giving her pamphlets because she just loves them. She keeps saying, "That is the most interesting thing I have ever read!" Well we invited her to church and she said she wanted to come but she didn't have a dress. So we found some old dresses in our apartment and we took them to her. And oh man it was so funny because we helped her try it on but it was over her clothes and she's like 85 and the struggle was so real. Hahah but SHE CAME TO CHURCH! That's the first investigator that's come to church in like a transfer! It's been so hard getting people to church! She just loved church, except she couldn't hear any of it, but she still loved it. 

I taught Gospel Doctrine...by myself yesterday. And I had that morning as preparation. The struggle. It was fine though because the lesson was on "Live in the Spirit" so it was pretty easy to get conversation going...or at least I was able to talk a lot. No one really wanted to talk so it was pretty awkward. Also Sister Orchard wasn't there because we were basically on exchanges because she went with Roxie and Sister Taylor to take Roxie home. So yeah that was interesting. 

The Elders had another baptism this week and there were so many missionaries there because I guess they had been taught for a long time. But their story is cool because they were waiting to get baptized because they wanted to get baptized when they go back to Mexico in 3 years. Then they overcame that and decided they would be baptized but wanted to do it in a river. Then they were struggling with tithing. Then a baptist preacher guy kept giving them anti. But they just kept working through it and it was all good! :) Haha they are so cute! Their names are Roman and Eloisa. 

Random thoughts:

1. Everyone has been sick this week!!!! It's insane. Left and right someone's sick. 

2. It's cooling off! (at least right now it is) it was like...60 this morning when we walked outside. Crazy. 

3. We saw Frank this week. He's as crazy as ever. I'm going to send a picture because he is sooo funny. He made himself look really crazy in the picture. He looks more normal than that haha

4. I took pictures with two inmates when we were doing service at needline - the food pantry. The inmates go there to do community service and they are the nicest people ever, but anyway so we took some funny pictures with them. I'll send those.....if my iPad decides to send pictures today.......

Well that's all for this week I think! 

Elder Escalante asked me to train next week in district meeting again about how the Atonement will help us to become better missionaries. I am really excited to study about it because I just love the Atonement and becoming a better missionary because man I need all the help I can get! :) But anyway I was reading a talk about the enabling power of the Atonement - I've read it many times before because I just love it. I want to share a quote from it that I just love, hopefully I haven't shared it before! "Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said, “I suspect that [we] are much more familiar with the nature of the redeeming power of the Atonement than we are with the enabling power of the Atonement.” He suggested that most of us understand that Christ came to earth to die for us, to pay the price for our sins, to make us clean, to redeem us from our fallen state, and to enable every person to be resurrected from the dead. But, Elder Bednar said, “I frankly do not think many of us ‘get it’ concerning [the] enabling and strengthening aspect of the Atonement, and I wonder if we mistakenly believe we must make the journey from good to better and become a saint all by ourselves through sheer grit, willpower, and discipline, and with our obviously limited capacities.”"

I love the Atonement and I love my mission. 

Hope y'all have a fantastic week!

Love,

Sister Myers

TEMPLE TRIP!!!! WOOO and then #bikeprobs

So the highlight of this week was that we got to go to the Temple!!! Wahoo!!! I just love the temple! I am will be so grateful when I can go any time I want to! Y'all are so blessed to be able to go whenever you want to! Don't take it for granted! Of course, only being able to go every 6 months gives me an even greater appreciation for the temple so that's a blessing. 

The only downside of going to the Temple is that Satan works SO hard. Seriously, it's a struggle. This week I decided he tried to get to me through my bike. So a while back my bike pedal fell off. I took and got it fixed, well on Wednesday it fell off again and so that evening was a struggle because I had to ride Elder Westberg's bike and his bike is no bueno. So then on Thursday we took it Guadalupe's and her son Luis put it back on. Well, not even an hour later it had fallen off again. #thestruggle

So then we went to the temple on Friday and this is what happened: we got back to the house and quickly ate dinner. It's like 6:45 and we had an appointment with someone at 7 so we had to ride over there. So I grab Elder W's bike and we head out. Well, I rode like 15 feet and this bug flew in my eye so I had to stop to get it out. BUT the bike brakes on that bike are way to good so I stopped really fast and well, yep I fell off. But hey, no harm done. Just scraped up my hand and knee a tiny bit. Then that darn bug was still in my eye so we went back to get it out and clean up my battle wounds and I had locked the keys in the house! I about cried because of all of that happening in less than 10 minutes. Well anyway, long story short we got a spare key from the Elders and got in and it was fine. Although we didn't make it to the appointment till an hour later because we had to wait for a ride because it was too far to walk and Elder W's bike was busted. And then he basically dropped us so that was a struggle. It was a rough night. No bueno things always seem to happen around temple time! 

But esta bien the Branch President and his wife came and picked us up yesterday and took us and our bikes to their house and he fixed mine and Elder W's bike! Wahoo he is the best!!! Also, we had the car that day but the Elders borrowed it and when they brought it back it was basically out of gas and the Collins were still there and we were talking to the Elders about whether we should go get gas on the Sabbath because we had a set appointment that was pretty far away. So we kept talking about it and the Elders were like, "Just pray about it." But then Sister Collins was like, "How about I just drive you where you need to go! Then you don't have to worry about breaking the Sabbath and you will make your appointment." Oh man she is just the greatest mission mom. Life saver!!!

Beth says she doesn't want to be baptized or come to church. She just wants to keep reading the Book of Mormon. And she says she believes the Book of Mormon is true. She was even praying at the end of the lesson and she prayed about it and she said, "Now that I think about it, I do think it's true." We're going to have to work on what that means! She just really loves her preacher she watches on TV and she's "not comfortable" going....but she's never come! Oh the struggle. 

We met this super awesome guy who's really searching for peace. He just kept saying that he doesn't like living in a world where there seems to be no peace. We just testified a bunch of how the gospel brings peace and blesses our lives and he seemed to be interested! We are going back tonight! Well, not me because we are going on exchanges today through tomorrow. I get to be in Paducah! It will be a blast! :)

Michelle Aalders, I might have told you about her but she we went back to see her and she had put the pictures from the Resto pamphlet in her window! Including the one of Joseph Smith in the first vision! She couldn't meet with us but she said she was reading the Book of Mormon! Cool! She's gonna get baptized! :)

Random thoughts of the week:

1. A member brought us deer steak wrapped in bacon #ultimatesouthernfood I'm not going to lie it was SUPER good. Also they told us it was deer they shot on their property...haha so funny 

2. What happens when you mix a joke with a rhetorical question?

3. Sister Sumbot says HI

4. Im the best trainer ever

5. Sister Sumbot is my favorite STL ever.

6.  Cheddar Jalapeno Cheetos are super delicious

(FYI: 4 and 5 were added courtesy of Sister Sumbot.  Thanks Sister Sumbot! She's sly!)

Alrighty I don't really have anything else to say so I'm going to peace out of this popsicle stand. Y'all are the greatest. 

Jacob 6:12

Love,

Sister Myers

PS sorry my letter is lame this week haha there really wasn't' much to write about! Talk to y'all next week!!!!! 

PS here are the pictures from last week and this week I think I got them all but if not oh well :) 

1-4...I can't figure out which one is which but one is of a classic door, another is of me at the Tennessee state line, a picture of me and sister Orch at the temple and our REALLY southern meal! :)

5. Us and Roberto a couple p-days ago

6. Our zone! 

7. They got me

8. What is this world coming to...they actually tasted like biscuits and gravy so it was just weird

9. Sister Allred, me, Sister Orchard and Sumbot at the temple :)

Faith to Reap

So I had this great email composed about all the things that have happened this week. Guess what happened? So the whole thing got erased so I had to start all over. Oh well, life goes on. But this is going to be a bit shorter because I just don't have the time or energy to re write the whole thing. 

We went to zone conference this week. It was sooo good! My favorite training was by Sister Andersen. She based it off a talk called Faith to Reap. Greatest. Talk. Ever. I love it so much. It's actually a devotional that was given at BYU Idaho last March. If any of y'all want to read it just let me know because it's super good. And mind blowing. One thing he talked about was Laman and Lemuel and how a lot of times when we think of Laman and Lemuel we think of how they were just these terrible brothers who just complained and murmured but Elder Andersen points out in the talk that they really did have faith. They had the faith to try. Laman went in and asked Laban for the plates and both of them gave up all their possessions in order to get them. That would take faith! The difference between their faith and Nephi's was that Nephi had the faith to do, not just to try. Anyway, it's a great talk. 

Also another thing I liked was one thing one of the AP's talked about. He talked about Mosiah 3:19 and the natural man. He pointed out that it says "put off the natural man" and he says when he thinks about what that means he imagines literally taking something off of us, like shoulder pads or a jacket. And he said that this implies that we have put something on. We have all put on the natural man and now we have to take it off. We are all here on the ear to learn how to take it off. I thought that was a really interesting insight! 

That old man Marvin that we have been teaching dropped us this week. We called him on Monday and he said he didn't want to meet with us and we talked it out with him. He said he just kept feeling confusion and that God is not a God of confusion. We convinced him to have one last lesson with us and he agreed. But then on Saturday when we called him to remind him he said he wasn't going to come. Sad day. I think that he just did not have the right motives. He just really wanted to marry a member and so he told us that's why he was learning. Our motives and desires really have to be in the right place in order for God to help give us answers. 

Random notes:

1. We met an inactive member who is totally agnostic now...sad day

2. We went to Paducah today and hung out with the sisters :) I just love them! 

3. Sister Oldroyd goes home this week.....REALLY sad day :(

We've worked with a few formers and investigators that have been in our area book forever and wow that was actually really successful! It's amazing how giving people some time can really change things! This one former used to be mad and at God and not even believe in Him because of some of the terrible things that have happened to her in her life. But now she is at least starting to some different churches because she knows it's what she needs to do, even if she's not sure about God yet. That shows faith whether she knows it or not! The other one, her name is Anna and she just loves the Book of Mormon and she said she believes 100% that it is true! She just knows but she just doesn't know how to explain the feeling! She hadn't read in a long time though because she lost her Book of Mormon and has been so busy she hasn't been able to go look for it. But we gave her another one and she said she would read it ever day! :)

Been preparing a training on family history and addressing the importance of family this week that I have to give at district meeting. It's actually been really cool to think about why it's so important to use it while finding! And I'm also learning lots of cool things about family history...and the history of family history haha but anyway I read this cool talk called...the New Harvest or something like that and there's this quote in it that I love: "In April 1894...the First Presidency and the Twelve established the Genealogical Society of Utah. From modest beginnings in an upstairs room of the Church Historian’s Office (this first collection started at about 300 books) its collection and facilities have grown. Today the Family History Library™ occupies a modern five-story building with access to 280,000 books, 700,000 microfiches, and more than 2 million rolls of microfilm, making it the largest library of its kind in the world." 

Isn't that so cool? I thought it was. Also it said that experts estimate that about 20 percent of Internet use is related to genealogy. Wow! The talk was given in 1998 but still that's so cool! Maybe it's more now! :)

Well I'm about out of time! I love y'all lots! Sorry this email is rather lacking!

Love,

sister Myers

PS here are pictures but I don't know if they will even work because they like never work when I send them from my iPad. (Mom please tell me which ones you got so I know which ones to send next week)  (This is Annette---obviously the pics didn't work! Hopefully next week!)