Classy pictures in front of Dennys!
This is Hermana Collins favorite treat, just a little carmel covered pirates booty :) She noms.
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
email 8.11.14
Well well well, another great week. This week was pretty
tranquila, and fun, and surprising, and good all around, as usual. Just
the normal mission trip adventures.
We had
some really great lessons, and even found some members that had be
hiding, silly guys, we always find them! Anyway I learned a good lesson
this week about waiting on Heavenly Fathers timing. He is such a
tricky little guy sometimes. But I just know that he has his plan, he
loves us, and he gives us what we need when we need it.
Our cute Noelia, who was supposed to get baptized
this coming week, had a bit of a breakdown. She is 15 and her brother
is 11 and the hermanas had been teaching them since way before we got
here. Anyways she had a bit of a break down this week. We were going
through the baptismal questions with her and I think it is number three
that asks about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, and she just burst
out in tears. She told us that she has been begging for an answer, she
comes to church every Sunday,
she reads the Book of Mormon every day, but she has just not received
an answer yet. She has the most sincere desires, and she wants her
answer so bad, and she is just distraught that she has not received it
yet. Of course we are working with her on recognizing her answer and
being patient, but it just touched my heart, how much she really wants
this. I just thought about how so many of the answers I have received
have been easy, and others hard, but in the end they are always
answered. I just know what she will know someday, and we have to be
patient for when the time is right. Yesterday we fasted with her, and I
had one of the best experiences I have ever had with fasting. I was
able to receive direction not only for me, but for her as well, and the
Sacrament is always a million times better when I fast. I love being a
missionary.
I did have a surprise visit from the one and only
Jessica Nelson, which was so random, and the best! Things were just
normal as ever, just best friends. Which is funny because I think we
have both changed quite a bit over the years. But it was good to see
her!
We started doing assigned splits with the Relief
Society women this week, and so far so good. We really do have so much
support from the ward, which is really nice. It just makes me want to
be a really really really good member missionary when I get back, you
know to pay it forward. Our bishops wife, Hermana Arana came out with
us and we had a wee of a time. Just as missionary work sometimes goes a
lot all the appointments fell through and no one would really let us
in...BUT there is always a miracle to be had! It started pouring rain
and we were just walking around contacting some potentials but then we
saw this kid walking his dog that looked like my cute Cristian from
Chesterfields, so we had to stop him. He was super nice and Hispanic
but was trying to get out of the rain, but of coarse we noted what house
he went into and went back to knock the door like10 mins later...I
think he was a little freaked out, but then his mom came the to door,
and was like "oh hi, Mormon missionaries? My daughter goes to your
church with the neighbors sometimes, please come back and teach me about
your church on Monday at 6." That mostly never happens, so we died of
happiness and knew that we needed to meet her! God is just so good to
us.
My favorite thing this week was lunch with Hermana Claros. She is a member who feeds us every Thursday
for lunch, and she is the biggest gem on the planet. She is just my
mom here in Woodbridge. When I am at her house I feel happy, and loved,
and like I can keep being a missionary even if sometimes it is a
poquito hard. I love her.
I love being a missionary. I love the gospel. And I
love you! I hope you guys are looking for opportunities to share the
gospel all the time, and praying for them too. I love love love you!
xoxo mana myer
Buenas!
Meet Yallena, she is the biggest GEM. She is the daughter of our cute investigator Grisel who we love so much. When she thinks she has to make the windy face. :)
email 8.4.14
We had so many breakthroughs this week, the work kind of exploded and it was so much fun!
First
of all, I had a miracle with my stomach. I got a blessing, and then
decided to stop taking my vitamins...and life is good. God is good.
Just another reminded to always act in faith. Miracles are real.
We got a new set of Hermanas this week! So my good
old pal Hermana Chambers is up here, and she is training too! So that
was exciting because she is my friend and a really good missionary and I
love her! ALSO my bff Sister Seegmiller, who I served with in
Harrisonburg got transferred up here and is my Sister Training Leader,
so we are just having a party here in the Woodhood!
Okay so mostly we just had a million of surprise
member present lessons, which is always the most perfect, and also found
a ton of people to start teaching. We were lagging a little bit on the
new investigator front, but then we were blessed with a million sweet
referrals and then we just talked to everyone, and now we are busy busy
busy teaching.
We met this super awesome guy named Johnny, who is
just the most prepared. We were actually looking for his dad, but he
was asleep, so he let us in anyways. We started talking to him and he
started telling us about his life. He is a little rough around the
edges, but he is in the process of becoming sober and changing! He told
us how his life had no purpose, he was just running around and doing
bad stuff and he hated it and he felt bad inside and he wanted to
change. So he is in that process right now, we invited him to be
baptized and he was so excited, it is exactly what he wants and needs.
He is a gem. More to come.
We have been teaching this cute family for the past
transfer, the Hernandez family. The old hermanas were teaching them,
and passed them over to us, but we didn't get to see them for the first
two weeks we were here. But when we finally started teaching them we
were so excited. They had so much potential. Every time we would go
over they had the best questions, they were reading in the Book of
Mormon, and they want to know if it is true. BUT they had never came to
church. Finally on Saturday night we had a lesson about keeping the
Sabbath day holy. They were so sincere and committed to come to church
on Sunday, because they really understood the importance and want to
know if it is true! YES. They came, they loved it, they felt the
spirit. It was just perfect. Also all the testimonies were really
appropriate, and so that was also a huge blessing.
I think last week I told you about the less active
family, Ascencio, that we have been working with...well they came
again! I about cried. BUT then Kevin, the 9 year old, got up and
shared his testimony. He said that he knows they haven't been at church
in a while, but now they are coming again and he is never going to stop
coming because it feels like home. Then I actually cried, and I think
everyone there too...even the Elders. You know how I feel about my cute
ninos, they just have the most pure testimonies and intentions, and I
love them.
I don't know if I have ever mentioned our friend
Blanca. She is a cute young mom in our ward and she was our first
friend here. She has two cute little boys, and a recent convert/less
active husband...so we visit them. They fed us dinner this week and I
was just so impressed by her example. She just wants to be good, she
puts 110% into all she does, and she is the cutest mom. I am so
grateful for all of the really really good example that I have in my
life.
This week I started reading Preach My Gospel from
page 1, just to mix it up. And I am so happy I did. I have been
reminded about how much power and authority that we have as
missionaries. I really just want to live up every second of having that
privilege. Because it really is a privilege. I read the Following up
talk from conference again and he invites all members to read the PMG, I
know that we will all be truly blessed as we continue to go forth and
share the gospel :)
Funny: We taught this new little family this week
and when we were leaving, the little boy was said "HEY! you guys are
really smart, and know a lot of stuff, but next time can you teach us
about Abraham Lincoln?" We died.
I love love love you all the most! you are my favorite family. I hope you have the best week ever!
Love, Hermana Myer
email 7.28.14
Querido familia!
This week was
wonderful, I had a few Nicole moments this week, which always makes for
happiness. As you know my dear friend Nicole is just filled of wonder
and love and joy and happiness always...and sometimes those emotions get
the best of her and she just cries...and me too sometimes!
First I went on exchanges to Stafford. I got to
serve with Hermana Clark, who is just the coolest person ever. She is
Natalie Boud re-incarnated into Hermana misionera. BEST DAY EVER. She
was just so peaceful and calm and I just sat in the front seat and
worked with her in Stafford. We even got to go to a trailer park where
we met this awesome family and invited them to be sealed in the temple
as the commitment for the lesson. It was so cool. The spirit was so
strong, they accepted and are excited to learn more. Then we ran across
the trailer park in the pouring raid because we were late for our
dinner appointment, and then I cried again. Because I was just so happy
to be having the most classic missionary night. Feeling the spirit in a
trailer park=happiness.
The second Nicole moment I had was at the annual
noche de talentos..aka Talent show...in the Hispanic ward=so priceless.
We were forced against our will by the Ward Mission Leader to do a
number...and because we don't have any "showable" talents we decided to
rap the restoration in Spanish. Out of control, but so good. We even
had props..Ill send a picture. They thought we were really funny, so
that was a success. But then the best thing happened, our investigator
Silvestre showed up. We met him a few weeks ago and he was completely
drunk outside he house, but we talked to him to a few mins, and then
taugh him again last week. He works with a member who had invited him,
so he decided to come! And he even decided to sing! It was the most
unreal. So here I am eating some pollo y ensalada, sitting next to
Silvestre, enjoying the noche de talentos, and then someone gets up and
sings la Bamba, and Everyone is singing, and then, I cired again. I was
just so happy. I was with my people, everyone was happy and singing,
my investigator came and loved it, and there was just not one thing to
be sad about. I love being a missionary so much, I would not change one
thing. It is just so good.
Lastly we have been visiting a less active family in
the ward, the Ascencio family. Less actives are my FAVORITE, I just
love them so dearly. So we have been having noche de hogar with them
every week since we have been here. They have three kids and are just
lacking in animo to get up and come to church. But we have been working
with them, loving them, the whole 9 yards. And then yesterday they came
to church! Just walked in with big smiles on their faces, stayed all
three hours, and everyone was so good to them! They were just happy, we
are hoping that this goodness continues! I cried, I was so happy.
Mostly just so grateful that they are trying to strengthen their family
so they can all get to the celestial kingdom together. They are the
cutest.
So this email is dedicated to my dear friend
Nicole. She inspires me to be happy and to have adventures and to love
people, and just to love life.
This week I
have continued studying in the Doctrine and Covenants, and I have been
reading about the different Kingdoms of Glory, and the requirements and
all that jazz. This morning I read about how we really do choose which
kingdom we go to, based on what we decide to do. Verse 32 of section 88 says: And
they who remain shall also be quickened; nevertheless, they shall
return again to their own place, to enjoy that which they are willing to
receive, because they were not willing to enjoy that which they might
have received." How crazy is that, they are not willing to enjoy what
they could have had. How silly! We have to be willing to do what it
takes to get the reward that we can have, and we have the potential to
have all of the rewards in the whole universe! It is so worth it to
keep working! So keep working! I love you all so much, thank you for
being the best family ever!
xoxox Hermana Riley Jane
email 7.21.14
Once again this week I realized how many darn trees there are in
this place, and then I think about how hard it would have been to even
put anything else but trees here, aka houses. But I am so glad they
figured it out, because it is so pretty, and my favorite, and I love
it. I love Virginia, I am so grateful to be here!
This week has slowed down a little bit, for whatever
reason, but still good. We are still being missionary preaching that
good gospel, and we still saw miracles, of course.
We started off with a lovely P-day, going to the "beach" of the Potomac
river...they had a dock and everything! It was not quite what I am used
to, but I really really really enjoyed the time outside in the sun :)
And also part of the dock is actually in Maryland, so we got a little
rebelious and crossed over.
Tuesday was mostly just crazy. It had been
super super super humid, like i am sure over 100% humidity, the most
unreal. And then at night time it will storm, these super awesome
thunder/rain/lightning storms, we always get a good show on our drive
home. But on Tuesday it started raining at like 6 and did not stop
until 12, and our appointments kept falling through etc, and when we got
home it was like we had been in the shower...it was so fun! We were
literally dripping, and freezing, so we got into jammies to plan and
even made hot chocolate, in the middle of the summer!
This week I started the Book of Mormon over again,
and I have been studying it a little bit more in depth. Yesterday I was
reading in chapter five verse five says, "But
behold, I have obtained a land of promise, in the which things I do
rejoice; yea, and I know that the Lord will deliver my sons out of the
hands of Laban, and bring them down again unto us in the wilderness." I
was sitting there thinking about the fact that he was rejoiceing in the
promised land, that he would not actually get to for another 8 years!
But he was already rejoicing, because he was depending on the promise
that he was given. I need to do that more! I have been promised so
many things, in the temple, in my call letter, and in my patriarchal
blessing, and I may not have all the blessings right this second, but I
can have that hope and happiness that one day I will! Just put things
back into perspective for me!
We had a return and report meeting in Richmond for
all the trainers and the trainees, and it was awesome. The APs trained
us on not only inviting to baptism, but inviting people to be sealed in
the temple. Because that is really our goal. I got my fire reignited
to just talk to every single person, to helpt them repent, and be happy,
and mostly to go to the temple! hurray for meetings!
Mostly this week I am just thankful for my family. I
am thankful for people that love me and want me to be happy, that
really care about me. We have been meeting a lot of people that just
don't have that. Last night we finally taught a potential named
Silvestre, he has no one, he wants to be happy. He is going to be
baptized, because this is what he needs. He needs hope and love and
care and support, and that is what we have. I makes me sad when people
don't want what we have, there are so many that are suffering, I just
want to help them!
Yesterday my sweet trainer came to church to visit
me! She has been working at EFY for a few weeks and she suprised me at
sacrament meeting. I about died. She is a gem. She taught me so much,
and it was just good to see her again. Anyway, we had a great week! I
still love being a missionary and teaching and finding and praying.
That is pretty much all we do here, oh and a lot of loving. I love love
love you all!
xoxo Hermana Myer
Felicidad
Birthday!
Cute Hermana Penaloza
Ivonne y Fulovio
Our cute member Betty who comes out with us all day every Wednesday, who is moving to Utah this week :(
email 7.14.14
This week was amazing! Being a missionary just gets
better and better every day and also just so classic always. And
mostly just felicidad.
First I did have an
awesome birthday, it was super tranquilla, and relaxing. I got my nails
done, we had a party, and ate brownies. It was perfect!
On Tuesday we had exchanges and my favorite Hermana
Penaloza came to Woodbridge, I lived with her in Harrisonburg. We had a
wee of a time, and just did WORK. It was so fun to be back with her,
especially right before she goes home, and to learn and laugh and all
that good stuff. She is s real gem. We took a member out with us who
ended up knowing all of the people we visited and had a break through
with some less actives. It was awesome.
We also had another breakthrough with a less active
family that the elders have been trying to visit for ages, but have not
been able to get in their home. The daughter called us to ask us if we
could help her with a paper for college, so we jumped at the
opportunity. She is in the Pathway program at BYUI so her paper was
about why we have trials and how we can get through them. She shared
all her experiences with us and bore her testimony, and then came to
church on Sunday :) we were happy. I love getting to know all these
cute people and know their lives and just love them.
We had the coolest miracle with a referral from
Headquarters. It was from the temple and we knew they had member
family, so we headed out! We met Ivonne and Fluvio, the cutest little
Columbian couple. They are SO prepared. Their son and his family are
strong members that go to an English ward, and their granddaughter is on
a mission. Basically they said that they want to be members of the
church and when can they be baptized. We didn't know what to say, so we
started teaching them. Ivonne told us that the sprit has touched her
and she knows it is the right time. I think they have been being
prepared for a long time, and we are so so so excited to teach them!
They had to go to New York this week, so hopefully as soon as they get
back we will be able to start teaching them for real! It was such a
miracle. And they are the cutest little things. Ivonne reminds me of
Grandma Jane and I even had a little moment of crying in the bathroom,
because really Grandma Jane's Columbian twin was sitting outside. It
was a happy happy day.
This week we have been so blessed to have a ton of
members come out with us, and it has made our work so much more
productive. And we have been able to have some awesome lessons with
less actives. I have been trying to focus this week on improving my
prayers for others. It is so silly to try and help people by
ourselves. I love the example of Enos, he pleads for his people,
because he knows it works. And I also know it works. The work is
moving forward here and we are so so so happy!
DC 58:3-4, read that, its good. I love the Doctrine and covenants so much.
Funny:
This morning when we were working out outside our funny neighbor was
going to take the trash out. He is a funny bald guy, who is 50 but
thinks he is 20, rides a skateboard around and is always trying to chat
with us about our car, and we call him Rex. Anyway he asked us how our
workout was going, and told us he a personal trainer and used to be a
body builder, and told us we were doing a good job. Then he informed us
that the whole apartment complex has been talking about us and how they
want to join that "couple" for the morning workouts! He thanked us for
inspiring others, and then we died laughing. What a gem.
I hope you all have the best week! I love love love you!
xoxo, Mana Myer
Bueno
Sneakers, our investigators dog that kills me. He is a puppy and runs around like crazy and that was the best picture I could get, we were all crying/laughing.
God Bless America.
Feliz Cumpleanos, thanks for all the party stuff friends!
email 7.7.14
Todo esta muy bien aqui en Woodbridge. Hemos tenido un semana LOCO. Como siempre. Pero me encanta la vida de ser misionera.
But
really good good good week. The work is rolling right along and we are
talking to everyone we see. We had a training at the beginning of the
week at district meeting on how important the people in our immediate
surroundings are, how God litearally places them there, and if we don't
talk to them, we are doing the work of God a diservice! So we got fired
up on offering the gospel to every single human, and it has really
changed the week. I just feel happy when get to share the gospel. This
morning we saw two hispanics when we were on our walk, so you know we
talked to them and we even set up appoitments! Mostly it was lucky we
both remembered our tags! Life is just happy when you talk about how
happy the gospel is, you should all try it :)
This week we were so fired up about talking to
everyone that when we were stuck in HORRIBLE traffic (we are super duper
close to DC so the traffic gets really bad here) we decided to roll
down our window, and would you guess, there was a hispanic right there
in the car next to us! We chatted and invited him to church, and even
threw him a pass along card. The next time we stopped we were next to
another hispanic, so you know we just continued the pattern. Hermana
Collins thinks I am nuts sometimes, but she goes with and and we always
have a good time!
We have been blessed to mee some really gem
humans here. The other day we were knocking doors and this guy just
stuck his head outside of the window from the 2nd floor and then we
proceeded to teach him the restoration from the lawn. We call him
window popping Juan, he is a gem. We aslo finally got to meet with a
family yesterday that the other sister had been teaching and they are
GOLD. We taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we had a
member with us, who pretty much taught the whole lesson, invited them to
church, and the whole nine yards. They are so prepared and asked
really great questions, and with a fuerte member friend, they are going
to be solid. We are so excited for them!
The fouth of July was pretty darn good! The
morning started off with a classic Breakfast with the ward. There is
nothing more rich than the Hispanic 4th of July Breakfast complete with
tortillas and beans and even pupusas. Also donuts and orange juice and
all that jazz. They played country music, sang the National Anthem, and
even had USA trivia. We were in heaven, it was just so classic. Our
Bishop is hilarious, we were sitting with his sons, and we were all
dying at his trivia questions, which he ended up not even knowing the
answers to. So good. Of corse we dressed in red white and blue, as I
demanded, to get into the spirt and we had a pretty successful day
contacting and even had a couple of lessons! Sadly we didnt get to see
fireworks, but we did have some glow sticks the grandma Jane sent me, so
we had a good time.
I started studying the Doctrine and Covenants last
week and I just can't put it down these days, the history of the church
is so cool. And all the revelations for us today, I mean we are so
blessed. I am so so grateful for the truths that we have here on the
earth today!
Mostly things are good here in the Woodhood, just
working hard and loving being a missionary as always, and just trying to
find all my cute humans to share the happienss with! I love love love
you all the most! Have the best week :)
love, Hermana Riley Jane
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