42nd Email: 7th Week in Milton

HEY Y'ALL!!

Okay. I don't even know where to start today. The past week has been so awesome!! Wait, it's been... flurendicularly zippendipidous! (My companion and I realized that we say "awesome" way to often, so we've been creating a new vocabulary to shake things up.) I guess I'll start with my companion. Her name is Sister Boldrin, and she is just fantastic. She is the most enthusiastic, energetic, loving, kind, bold, positive, crazy missionary I have ever met! Working with her has been so much fun! And we have seen SO many miracles. We've decided that our area is basically Disneyland, because it's where the magic happens. I wish I had time to talk about everything that has happened, but I'll share a few of the highlights.

We have been really focusing on trying to talk to everyone everywhere about the gospel, and we have met some super cool people. It's really interesting to see Heavenly Father's handiwork unfold too. On Wednesday, for example, we were driving back from someone's house, and Sister Boldrin asked if we could stop somewhere and get some Ibuprofen because she had a headache. We just happened to be right by a Family Dollar, so we went in, and as we were checking out, we started talking to the cashier, who was basically the nicest, most chill guy ever! He thought the Book of Mormon and the Restoration sounded really interesting and wants to meet with us this next week to learn more! Later that day, we were walking past the park, and we saw a guy sitting on a bench. He was a little out of our way, but we redirected our course and walked up to him. His immediate response to an invitation to learn was that he was atheist and religion wasn't really his thing. We asked him why he felt that way, and then he opened up a little bit more, and the conversation just flowed until all of a sudden we were testifying of the knowledge and peace that comes from knowing God and reading the Book of Mormon. We talked to him for about 45 minutes, and towards the end we talked about prayer. We gave him an example of a prayer and asked him to try saying a prayer, and he did! It was the most humble and honest prayer I have ever heard, and the spirit was so strong. It reminded me of the first prayer of King Lamoni's father in Alma 22 when he says, "O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me." He got pretty emotional in his prayer as he spoke of the trials he's experienced in his life, and I hope he felt God's love as strongly as I did!

Sometimes in order to see miracles we have to be humbled! On Wednesday night Sister Boldrin and I were walking home talking about how incredible the day was and how beautiful the fireflies were, and as we walked up to the door I opened up my bag and my heart skipped a beat. I asked Sister Boldrin if she had the keys, even though I knew she didn't because I had been carrying them all that day. I must have left them inside when we came home for dinner. So, we called the landlord, and luckily he was super nice about it and came right over to unlock our door. We felt really embarrassed, so we gave him a big chocolate bar that was sitting on our counter to say thank you. It wasn't too bad... I mean this kind of thing happens to the best of us, right? Just wait. It gets better. On Saturday Sister Boldrin and I were once again walking home after a long day that might not have been as great as the last few days because most of our plans fell through, but we were still positive and happy! We were a little bummed because we had prayed for a new investigator that day, and we had diligently worked all day trying to find someone, but alas! It was 9:00 and time to head home. Sister Boldrin walks up to the door, turns the knob, I look in my bag and say, "Sister Boldrin...please don't hate me..." Yup. The keys were inside. We just laughed. Sufficiently humbled, I called the landlord again, who was still so incredibly kind and understanding. While we were waiting for him to come, I said to Sister Boldrin, "Well, we're out of chocolate. I guess we'll have to give him a Book of Mormon!" And we did! We ended up having a great discussion, and he asked a lot of questions. He was fascinated! He left excited to read the Book of Mormon and to learn more. And we just floated inside with dazed looks on our faces and thanked Heavenly Father for the miracle. Did Heavenly Father put blinders on our eyes when we walked out the door so we would forget to grab the keys? I like to think so.

Brother Maynard has been to church for the third week in a row. He's back for good. :) He also came to our fireside at Brother Perry's house, which was awesome. We watched the Mormon message "Lessons I Learned as a Boy," and talked about the relationship between love and sacrifice. We talked about God's love, Christ's love, the love we have felt from other people, and how we can show more love. It all has to do with sacrifice! We can sacrifice our time, energy, money, thoughts, and especially pride to show our love. We had a great discussion.

Whelp, the church is true, people! God is a god of miracles, and his joy comes from our joy. Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven. Faith comes by righteousness, and it just keeps growing and growing forever! Serving the Lord is the most intelligent thing to do. It brings the most joy, and it's just fun when you do it right! Ah. I love it.

So this is a little random, but we always get a Missionary Truth in our weekly email from the Pitts, and I really liked the one for today. President Pitt’s Missionary Truth: “The same boiling water that hardens the egg will soften the carrot. It all depends on the individual’s particular reaction to stressful circumstances.”

Love you all! Have a great week!

Love,
Sister Myers

41st Email: 6th Week in Milton

Welp, it's transfer week again! Time keeps flying by. Sister Wines is getting transferred to South Hills, which is in the Charleston, WV area, which is where she was trained! And she's going to be companions with a sister that she trained! She's pretty excited. I'm staying here and Sister Boldrin is going to be my companion. She's great! I've met her a few times and I like her a lot. She's full of energy and enthusiasm, and I'm excited to serve with her. We've got a lot of potential here in Milton, and some investigators who are doing pretty well. I've learned a ton this last transfer. I've learned a lot about compassion, humility, patience, and change. It's been a really good learning experience, and I'm grateful for it.

So I've been learning some new words and phrases here in West Virginia: Knoll (a little hill), Just as wells ta (might as well), Youins (You all), and Do-what? (What did you say?) are just a few. I love it! It's so beautiful out here. Yesterday we were driving home at the end of the day, and it was right when the lightning bugs were starting to come out. We were going down this curvy road that had all sorts of plants along the edge and a creek running alongside the road, and the lightning bugs were flying around the plants, so it was kind of like the road was lined with magic pixie dust or something. It was really pretty. And there are these pretty orange lilies that grow everywhere! I want to email some pictures, but the computers at the library here won't let me. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it.

We had dinner at a member's house yesterday, and it was really fun. They're an awesome family, and they have the cutest kids. Daniel, who just turned 4, called us the "sisternaries," and it was adorable. They have taught their kids from a very young age to love Heavenly Father and Jesus, and I loved the spirit I felt in their gospel centered home.

Love,

Sister Myers

40th Email: 5th Week in Milton

What a week! Life's been full of ups and downs and spiritual awesomeness!

So on Monday we got a call from Brother Maynard. He's a member of our ward, and he's only been a member for a few years, and he's been inactive for the last seven months. We have been going to their house every Saturday to have dinner with them and help on the farm, and to fellowship with them. Sister Maynard is the one who always calls us and asks us to come over, and Brother Maynard has always been cordial, but never wants to be involved in the lesson or even the blessing on the food. So we were a little caught off guard when he called us on Monday and told us he wanted us to come over for dinner that night. We went, and Brother Maynard stayed in the room for the blessing on the food (which he never does) and after dinner he told us the reason he wanted us to come. He talked about how his grandmother, the woman who raised him since his mother died when he was 3, had just passed away, and while he was sitting at his funeral service, he looked around at all the people there who were nodding their heads at what the preacher was saying, and Brother Maynard said to himself, "all these people have faith, and I don't have faith." He felt lost and just wanted to know what to do to find his faith. We had a great discussion and talked about coming to church, and he agreed that maybe the first step he needed to take was to just come to church. And he did! We went back again on Saturday for our normal farm work and dinner, and he was all excited about coming to church. He'd even posted on Facebook, letting everyone know he was coming. Everyone was so excited and supportive at church and he had a great time! He put away his coffee maker, hasn't been drinking beer, and told everyone at church that he's back for good. :)

D-- also came to church. D-- is a woman we met a couple of weeks ago who is going through an extremely hard time right now. Her husband left her with nothing. She has no money, no car, no place to stay, and to top it all off, she has a bone disease that is causing her a lot of pain. It was really a miracle that we met her, and I know it wasn't by coincidence. She has gained a lot of comfort and encouragement from the gospel. She's been reading the Book of Mormon and has found some great things! The other day when we went over she was really excited to share with us something she had found. She told us that for some reason she randomly stuck a picture of her and this older man she used to take care of (home health care) in the Book of Mormon, and then later, she opened to the page she had bookmarked and just started reading. She opened it up to share, and I saw that she had opened up to Alma 62. My first thought was, "Oh great, she read a random war chapter. Hopefully she wasn't too confused!" But then she read verses 50 and 51, which say: "Yea, they did remember how great things the Lord had done for them, that he had delivered them from death, and from bonds, and from prisons, and from all manner of afflictions, and he had delivered them out of the hands of their enemies. And they did pray unto the Lord their God continually, insomuch that the Lord did bless them, according to his word, so that they did wax strong and prosper in the land." Then with tears in her eyes she told us how that's something that J-- (the man she took care of) used to always tell her, that if you trust God, he'll take care of you, and even though she couldn't see how things we going to work out, she knew that that was true. I know the gospel blesses lives. It might not give D-- a place to call home or a job to provide for her needs, but it has given her the strength the press on and the hope of God's light. I also know that we are just instruments in His hands. We can't do anything without Him.

Heavenly Father so great and full of wisdom and a kind of love that is beyond my ability to comprehend. Alma 26:16

Love,

Sister Myers

39th Email: 4th Week in Milton

Hello! I hope you're all having a superb week. Life is wonderful in West Virginia. Wild and wonderful! The days are hot and humid, and the nights are cool and full of fireflies. I've never seen a firefly before and they are so cool!!

So we had MLC (mission leadership council) on Tuesday, and it was awesome as usual. I learned a lot and was really uplifted! It was President and Sister Pitt's last MLC, which made it super sad. The Pitts really have put their whole hearts into the last three years, and it's very apparent. Every time President Pitt talks about how much he loves all of his missionaries and how much he wants us all to be totally converted for the rest of our lives, he gets really emotional, and you can just feel his love. He is such a great man and a spiritual giant.

On Friday we had a super fun zone meeting. It was a great big role "play." We were supposed to teach about how in lessons we invite our investigators to do things, they commit, and we follow up. So, we decided to turn it into a three act play! It was so awesome!! The zone leaders were the missionaries, I was the investigator, and Sister Wines was the director. The zone leaders would give a poor example of inviting, or following up, and then Sister Wines would yell, "CUT!" Then we would discuss with the rest of the missionaries what went wrong and what they could have done better, and then the play would resume with a better example from the zone leaders. That would be the end of one act, and during the "intermission," the other missionaries would practice the things they had learned. It was really fun. We made popcorn, handed out homemade perforated tickets and programs, and even had an orchestra playing mood music as the audience walked in and the actors got ready and a fanfare as the play was about to begin! (Sister Morgan and Sister Ostler played some hymns on the flute and violin) It seriously was so fun. I hope all the missionaries enjoyed it as much as we did.

Life is good. I'm learning a TON, and having a blast. :) That's basically a mission in a nutshell!

Love,

Sister Myers

 The leadership of the WVCM

38th Email: 3rd Week in Milton

This week was pretty great! I can't believe it's already the end of May. Time sure flies! Like Fruit!

Well, life's the usual. Teaching the gospel, coming to know the Savior, relying on the Lord day and night, seeing miracles, and just having fun!

So the month is almost over, and Sister Wines and I are running pretty low on our allotment of miles. Our solution was to have a walking day! Granted, it was P-day, so we only had 3 hours that we would have driven around, but we decided to walk. There aren't a lot of people to see close to where we live, so we walked a little ways to knock on some doors. It took a little longer to get there than we thought it would, so we ended up not having a whole lot of time to knock, and of the few doors we knocked on no one was interested. It was time to head back, the sun was beating down on us, we were super thirsty, and we were a little discouraged. As we were walking back, we were walking past this house that had some people on the porch, so we walked over and talked to them. They were really cool! There was a mom who lived there with her two sons (10 and 13 years old), and they were pretty interested. We talked about the restoration and the Book of Mormon, and they asked if they could have a copy and if they could come to our church sometime, and they want us to come back and teach them more. It was great! If we had driven the car that day, we wouldn't have been able to meet them. I know God works in mysterious ways, and he wants us to find success.

I love you all! Have a great day! :)