47th Email: Keep Trying

Dear Everyone,

This week was pretty spectacular, filled with ups and downs and sideways and a whole bunch of craziness! Thus is life!

Probably my favorite moment of the week was the miracle that happened at the Maynard's farm. We go to the Maynard's every week to have dinner and then help Sister Maynard on the farm. The Maynards are recent converts to the church, and Brother Maynard was recently less active but has started coming back to church regularly. A couple of weeks ago we were sharing a lesson with them, and they shared with us that they don't really pray. Like ever. So that has been our focus the last couple of weeks is prayer. On Friday we had a lesson after dinner with Sister Maynard about prayer that was great, and then we went out to weed the garden. The weeds had gone crazy since last week and they were all over the place! So we pulled out the crankety old lawnmower  We all tried and tried to start it for about ten minutes, but the thing was being so stubborn...we were about to give up. I was trying it for the second time around, and the thought crossed my mind that we should say a prayer! So I suggested it to Sister Maynard, and she kind of laughed nervously and said that I could if I wanted to. We all stood together, and I said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to let the lawnmower start so we could get as much work done as possible while we were there. We all said amen, and then I grabbed the lawnmower and pulled as hard as I could and.....nothing. Then I pulled it again.....nothing. I yelled out, kind of laughing, "I'm going to pull this thing until it starts!!" I pulled it for the third time.....and it started!!! The rumble of that engine was one of the most beautiful sounds I have ever heard. Sister Maynard gave an excited scream and grabbed the mower from me and started mowing with a smile on her face.

I know that Heavenly Father knows us and He hears our prayers!! Sister Maynard hasn't had a lot of experience with prayer in her life, but now she has this to look back on and build her faith from there. Heavenly Father is so cool! Ah. I love it.

Sorry it's pretty short today, but the library is super packed and there are people waiting for the computers. I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic week! 

Love,
Sister Myers

46th Email:

Transfer week!!! Heavenly Father is so great and is letting Sister Boldrin and I stay together for another transfer! Ready or not, Milton, here we come!! I'm really excited. We've got a lot going on here, and we have a lot of goals and plans to improve ourselves and the missionary work in this area.

So on P-day we went to the park to play soccer with some of the elders. It was so fun and so hot. After about an hour and a half, we were all exhausted. I got a swig of hydration, and then I looked down at the grass. It looked so comfy and was practically calling my name, so I consented and lied down to rest. I straightened out my right leg to rest it on the ground and BAM!! A big old bee stung me right behind the knee. Needless to say, I didn't stay on the ground very long.

Every Wednesday we volunteer at an Assisted Living facility, and we call Bingo for the residents. It. Is. So. Fun. The people are so great and funny and competitive...we always have a blast. Anyway, there is this young, newly wed couple that comes in all the time because her grandmother lives there, and they live close by, so they just like to come and visit the residents. I love it! That's a tradition I want to have in the future. Every time we go call Bingo, I just wish we could stay there all day and talk to each of the residents and hear about their lives. Most of them are so lonely, and they just need some love! I don't care how old you are. Lennon said it best--all you need is love.

A week or two ago, Sister Boldrin and I met this woman who was at the park with her three granddaughters. We told her what FHE is and asked if we could come do a little lesson and activity for the girls. She said we could! It was so perfect. We brought Sister Carico with us, and while we talked to the girls about prayer and painted prayer rocks, Sister Carico talked to the grandmother about all sorts of things, particularly misconceptions about the church she had heard. Now she wants us to come back and keep teaching! The gospel is true, and once the mystical barrier that has been built up by the cunning craft of the devil has been taken down, then people can see clearly that it just makes sense! I'm grateful for the opportunity to represent Jesus Christ and to clear up some of the confusion.

Heavenly Father is in the details of our lives, but just like Sister Vest down in Salem, VA always says, "the devil's in the details," too. So much good is happening here, and Satan knows it! Right now we have a lot of great investigators who are sincerely seeking for truth and direction, and six of them are working towards a date to be baptized. Our focus this last week was getting them to church. Church is where revelation is received, questions are answered, and the spirit is felt. Most of our investigators were planning on coming to church this last Sunday, and there should have been at least 6 or 7 there. Satan knows how important church is, and so he'll do whatever he can to prevent people from going. We had everything worked out with rides and such to get our investigators to church, and then on Saturday, one by one, we found out that no one was going to be able to make it. Sister Boldrin and I talked about it a lot, and we realized that all we can do is focus on the future. We don't always understand why things work out the way they do, but if we trust God and act in faith, good will come. We can say, like Ammon in Alma 26, "Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the [Miltonites], and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success." The future is as bright as your faith! I know Heavenly Father loves us and that going to church is so important! If it weren't important, why would it be so hard to get there?

3 Nephi 5:13 is one of my recent favorite verses of scripture. "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his work among his people, that they might have everlasting life." That's my purpose. That's why I am here. Sometimes it's hard, but "I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory (2 Timothy 2:10)."

Love,
Sister Myers

45th Email: 10th Week in Milton

So Sister Boldrin is always writing cute little nice notes all over the place because she is super thoughtful and witty. Today is my 11th click day, which means I have been out for 11 months (Ahhh!!!), and Sister Boldrin told me that every month is like 5 years in mission years, so that means I'm 55 years old. This morning when she was done using the bathroom she drew a little picture in the shower with dry-erase markers of a stick figure in a dress (me) skiing down a slope that had a tombstone at the bottom. She wrote, "Happy 55th birthday! You're on the downward slope, so just enjoy the wind in your hair!" Pretty much made my day.

We had a pretty good week! We went to Paintsville and Pikeville Kentucky to exchange with the sisters out there. Since they are so far away, we just stay out there and work in their area for the day. It was great fun! There are so many great missionaries out here. I got to spend the day with a sister who goes home in a couple of weeks, and it was great. She had a lot of wisdom, and I loved seeing how she teaches. She feels peaceful and confident that she has given the Lord her whole heart for the last 18 months. I hope I can feel that same way when it's time for me to go home! If I ever go home... Sister Boldrin and I decided that if we don't show up for our last transfer meeting then we won't have to go home. I mean, they can't really force us to go, right? We thought maybe we would just find some tiny little West Virginia town and go be undercover missionaries for a while.

We found out where Debbie is living now, and arranged for the Elders out there to go see her. Debbie is the one we found (well, she found us, really) who has gone through so many hard things in her life and is pretty much homeless. She is doing better, and is still really interested in learning more and she wants to come to church and get baptized and everything! I'm so excited for her. I can really feel God's love for her, and I just want her to be happy! She is a beautiful daughter of God, and I know He has a plan for her.

Love,
Sister Myers

44th Email: 9th Week in Milton

What a great week! We had a lot of meetings this week...MLC with the new mission president and his wife on Tuesday, zone meeting on Thursday, and a "get-to-know-the-Salisburys" meeting on Friday. President and Sister Salisbury are amazing! They are full of enthusiasm and excitement, and they already love all the missionaries so much. I know that they are supposed to be here. The way President Salisbury talked about the mission made it seem like he'd been here forever and knew exactly what was going on with everything. It was very obvious that the mantle of mission president has been placed on his shoulders, and he is already receiving revelation for us as missionaries. And Sister Salisbury is just the sweetest thing. She never served a mission, and was terrified to come, but she is so full of confidence and trust in the Lord. They are both great and I'm excited to serve with them. :)

Sister Boldrin and I have had a great week! We've learned a lot and had many adventures. The other day we went out to Hamlin, which is a city in our area that is about 45 minutes away, so we don't get out there too often. We felt the need to go, however, and we met some great people out there. On the way home, we learned a very valuable lesson: You can't always trust the GPS. Haha Sister Garmin (the GPS) told us to go down this road to get to a main road, and so we did. The road got more and more narrow, and after about two miles it turned into a dirt path barely wide enough for a horse. Welp! That's not gonna work! So we turned around and headed back. I can't complain though, because if it weren't for the GPS I would definitely be totally and completely lost 99% of the time. Ultimately the GPS is a gift and a crutch.

Anyways, life is pretty grand. I love being a missionary! Heavenly Father is helping us SO much because we are so imperfect.

Love ya! Take...luck!

Love,
Sister Myers

P.S. This is one of Sister Salisbury's favorite verses. D&C 84:88: "And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." When we talk to strangers on the street, there are angels around us. Who might those angels be? Perhaps this stranger's deceased family members who want this person to have the gospel? Who knows! That's a pretty cool thought President Salisbury shared with us.

43rd Email: 8th Week in Milton

What a great week! Life is so beautiful and the gospel makes it even more so. 

We helped Debbie move on Tuesday. She still hasn't found a solid place to plant her feet and get her life back in order, so life is still pretty crazy for her, but I'm so glad we were able to meet her and give her a taste of the gospel. We'll be passing her information on to whatever missionaries are in her area, and hopefully she'll be able to keeping learning and growing. I think being a missionary has really helped me understand charity more. I love Debbie so much even though I hardly know her! It breaks my heart when I think about all the hardships she's gone through, and I just want her to experience the fullness of joy and peace that comes from the gospel. I just want her to be happy! I'm going to miss her.

We had a lot of great opportunities to teach and serve this week. There is a cute little Presbyterian church around the corner from where we live, and when we were walking by the other day, a couple of elderly women were out weeding the flower bed. We asked if they could use any help, and they kind of laughed and said, "Ya know what? We were actually just talking about how we wanted to hire someone to weed around the back. You're an answer to a prayer!" When we went back to weed the next evening, the preacher of the church came out to thank us and talk for a bit. He was so nice! He told us he loves our church, and as a matter of fact, part of his Sunday morning routine is listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He also asked us if he could borrow a few copies of the Book of Mormon, because he is Chaplain at a hospital and mental ward, and sometimes people ask him for a Book of Mormon, so he'd like to be able to give them out.

So. Sister Boldrin and I received the greatest, simplest, and most enlightening revelation the other day while we were doing our weekly planning. We were talking about all of our investigators, and how it was frustrating that we didn't know what to do with all of them--what they needed to learn next, how we could help them progress, or whether we should even keep teaching them. We talked and talked, but we just felt stuck in a rut, until finally, it hit us! If someone doesn't have desire, they won't progress. I think too often we tell ourselves, "well, they aren't progressing, but they still let us in there house and listen to what we have to say, so I guess we should keep going and hope that things change." That doesn't work! We can't force people to want to change or to really want to learn and understand the gospel. Another way to know if we should keep teaching someone is to ask ourselves: Are they INVESTIGATING the church, or are we trying to FORCE FEED it to them? I'm sure I've always known this principle on my mission, but for some reason the Holy Ghost just taught it to us so clearly the other day. And then, right after we figured it out, we went out and taught two lessons. The first one was with an investigator who clearly doesn't have desire because she isn't willing to do anything, and asking her questions is a bit like pulling teeth. The second lesson was with an investigator who is full of desire! The spirit flowed so much more easily in that lesson, and it was so clear that she would progress. It just makes so much sense! And now we see this principle everywhere. As we study and talk about different things, it all comes back to desire! In Alma 32 it talks about how faith and experience begin with a desire to believe.

Sister Boldrin taught me about a teaching technique her MTC teacher taught her, and we've been trying to use it in our teaching. It's called seek 5 times, then testify. Basically what you do is ask a question, and when they respond, keep asking follow up questions, and they will open up more and more, and then you testify based on the things they have shared. It's awesome! It's incredible how strong the spirit is when people are thinking deeply. Sister Boldrin is such an incredible missionary, and I am so grateful for all that I am learning from her.

Oh, so I forgot to tell a funny story that happened last week. Sister Boldrin and I were out trying to contact some potential investigators, and no one was home. We didn't even have any solid lesson plans because we ran out of time that morning to talk about everyone we were going to see. It was starting to rain pretty hard, and so when we knocked on the last door we were going to try and they didn't answer, we stayed on the porch to say a prayer and ask Heavenly Father for direction. Sister Boldrin said the prayer, and she started out by saying, "Heavenly Father, we're sorry we are not very prepared for the people in this area. We want to repent--" BOOM!!! We heard the loudest crack of thunder in my life! haha we tried to hold in our muffled laughs, and Sister Boldrin said, "We're really, REALLY sorry," because the thunder just kept going and going for like 15 seconds.  Haha it was so funny! Heavenly Father has a sense of humor!

Love ya! Have a splendid week!

Love,

Sister Myers

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