Thank You For Supporting Sydney!

Hello Everyone!

We just want to thank you all for supporting Sydney these past 18 months.  As you can tell, she has absolutely LOVED her mission and I know she has felt your love as she has served the people of Virginia.

We are so excited to have her back home and invite you to come hear her speak September 17th, 2017 at 9 a.m. at the Rosecrest Building located at 5424 Rosecrest Rd., Herriman, UT 84096.

Hope to see you soon!

Troy and Mindi

"Your mission is a gift that keeps on giving." - President Huntsman

Well hey there!!

I had the blessed opportunity to attend the temple for Isaac's first temple trip! He just got baptized in July. He is the one from Ghana. He rocks. He was baptized for his father. It was so touching. I know that the temples are really houses of the Lord. Sacred work is done inside to help our ancestors and others receive ordinances of the gospel and progress on their path back to our Heavenly Father. What a beautiful plan He has for His children.

I had my departing interview on Friday with President. Man that was bittersweet! I'm going to miss President Huntsman's wise words. I have learned so much from him. We talked about the mission and what I have learned. He asked me what my mom and dad will see differently in me. Haha and I just sat there and was like "uhh.... probably that I've matured?" (Haha I just thought back to our last skype call) his reply, "well I sure hope so, it's been 18 months!" Hahah. Halfway through the interview, President says, "Soo... tell me about dating?!" HA I was like uh this is weird, all I've talked about with my mission President this last year and a half is missionary work and then wabam! Dating! So funny. He then told me some more really awesome pieces of advice. He helped me and reassured me once more about my service to the Lord. I really loved when he said, "your mission is a gift that will keep on giving." The lessons I've learned on my mission are priceless and will help me throughout the rest of my life. What a nice quoter! I love President and Sister Huntsman so much!! They have helped me learn and grow in ways I can't explain. I look forward to theirhomecoming next June! Can't wait! :)

It's hard to describe how I feel right about now. I've felt so many mixed emotions the last several weeks that I kind of just feel numb now. Weird huh? I'm sure all those feelings will come back when I'm on the plane. Haha.

Being able to serve the Lord as His full time missionary for the last 18 months (about 18 months. Ha) has been one ginormous adventure. I can't even begin to express how grateful I am for this life changing opportunity. Heavenly Father has taught me what's truly important and how we can be truly happy in our lives. True happiness doesn't come from worldly things; no, it comes from the source of all light, truth and joy, our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. He has blessed us with the gospel. As we live the gospel, our lives will be filled with light, with the Spirit, and we will be filled with immense joy. Joy that lasts through all time and eternity. I know that doing the little things matters! Like studying the scriptures daily, praying often throughout the day, attending church and partaking of the sacrament... the little things truly turn out to be the big things. Each of them strengthens us to be able to face our daily trials and this crazy world. Don't believe me? Try it. 

But most of all, I have gained a stronger testimony of the Savior and His Atonement. We mess up all the time. I mess up all the time. I struggle and have trials, as does everyone. However, I know that because Jesus Christ suffered for me and paid for my sins, that if I repent and turn towards Him, I can be forgiven. My burdens will be lifted. And the sweet feeling of the spirit can fill my heart once more. The gospel is true. Jesus Christ lives. Heavenly Father lives. We are His children. There is no greater joy and satisfaction I have felt than that of serving His children and sharing the gospel with the sweet people of Virginia. I have loved being a full time missionary. The beautiful thing is that I never have to stop being a missionary! Every member a missionary right? :) I invite each of you to share your testimony with someone today. You never know how God plans on using you to help one of His children. Just trust in Him and follow the spirit. Pray for that opportunity.

**throwback to about a year ago**"God is good." - me
"That's like the motto of your mission!" -Sister Bennett

...Yes it sure is!! God is SO incredibly good. He is amazing. I love Him and know without a doubt He loves us. Jesus is the Christ and He is God's Son. He has once again restored His gospel and church to the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith. He has a prophet on the earth today, I know President Monson is His prophet. The Book of Mormon isn't a book "about the Mormons," it's truly another testament of Jesus Christ. It is true. Everything about this work and gospel is true. It's all true. I say all this in the name our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

One, two, skip to my Lou, I'll see y'all soon! ;) (Rhyming fail ahah)

Xoxoxo

Love with my whole heart and soul,

Sister Sydney Hymas :)

"When you believe in God, you don't lack anything." - Bertha

Bertha is so wise. She always tells us wise pieces of knowledge about God and Jesus Christ. I love her and her sweet testimony. She tells us "keep doing the work of the Lord. You will be blessed... I love you people. You are good people." I will miss her. And Africans in general. Just all the diversity!

Remember the Craig family that I had the blessing and opportunity to teach in Bristow? The12ish days I was there? Haha. They are completely amazing. Matt, Jamie, and Indy were baptized this last Saturday and I had the chance to go see them be baptized. Wow that was such a touching experience! I have never had the opportunity to help teach afamily that got baptized. What a huge tender mercy from Heavenly Father. I'm so so thankful. My heart was so filled and tears were shed that day. I just want to go to their sealing in a year! Haha. Plus, it was even more amazing because I got to say bye to so many of my wonderful Bristow friends who I love so much and didn't get the chanceto say bye to.

Side note: it is SO FUN to love people, even if they reject you!! It's the best thing ever. You are truly filled with charity as you strive to serve others and share the gospel with them. God will help you see others as He sees them if you pray for it and work for it.

We went to the temple today with the Parkers. I went one last time. I felt so much peace there. That temple is stunning. and I could stare at the mural of Christ inside for hours. It takes my breathe away every time. While inside, before we left, Elder Parker said "do you feel peace about finishing your mission? You should. Your service is acceptable. You are an obedient missionary." It was so random, but definitely perfect to hear. I think Heavenly Father just wants me to feel happy about going home. He keeps answering my prayers in several different ways, and assuring me that my mission is acceptable to Him. Sometimes he has to answer me several times for me to get His point. Haha.

I have loved my mission. I'm tearing up writing this right now. I have changed so much and grown so much closer to God and His Son, Jesus Christ. I know they live. I know this gospel is true. I know we are God's children, and He wants us to be happy, successful and reach our full potential. We can reach that potential as we live the gospel of Jesus Christ and rely on His Atonement. To those who feel burdened and down, I testify that you aren't alone. Jesus Christ has atoned not only for our sins but for our sorrows. Let Him take your pain. 

Someone really wise reminded me recently that He has felt all we have ever felt, and that includes JOY. He is sorrowful when we are sad and He rejoices when we rejoice. It's my testimony that when we give all of ourselves to the Lord, He takes us as we are and makes us so much better than we ever thought possible. I've watched Him do that to several people i have had the blessing of meeting on my mission. And He has done that and continues to do that to me. I love Both Him and Our Heavenly Father and know without a doubt they love us. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.


Alma 26:11-16 Amen to that. That's just how I feel. He says it so well.

Love,
Sister Hymas
Xoxoxo

So Bittersweet

Ready for the Eclipse!

This week was a bittersweet roller coaster ride of emotions.

But first! We had a solid restoration lesson with the CUTEST senior lady sisters from England. Ann and Barbara. They had accents and everything. I was reminded of Rach and her mission. Their hearts were so open and prepared to hear the message it was amazing. My jaw just dropped like a million times. They had met missionaries several times before but we were the first ones they let in and listened to. They were like "ohh wow what's the difference?!" Just talking about our beliefs. Haha we introduced the Book of Mormon and Ann said towards the end of the lesson, "I don't know about you Barb but I'm going to be doing some praying about this!" It was such an awesome lesson.

The departing temple trip and dinner was Saturday. That was so surreal yet so good. Being in the temple with that awesome group and with the Huntsmans was a highlight of my mission. I felt so much peace there. It was so good to be back! I shed some tears throughout our time there. I love the temples, I know they are houses of the Lord. It is asacred place. We may be going next week so I might not be emailing on Monday, it may be Tuesday or something. The dinner was so good and the testimony meeting was so amazing. I held back many tears. I got home that night and my heart was just so full.

I have learned so many things over the course of my mission, it's hard to even put it in words. I know that no matter how difficult life gets, as we put our faith and trust in God, we will be blessed, we will be guided, we will be able to be given strength to overcome the trials we face, all made possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I love the Lord and this work. I have never felt so happy and satisfied than while serving my mission. God indeed lives, and He loves each and every one of us.

Love,
Sister Hymas

P.S. Happy birthday President Monson! He is so awesome. I know He is a true prophet of God. We are so blessed to have the fulness of the gospel on the earth today.

Peanut Butter Soup is definitely not like a peanut butter sandwich

Can I just take two seconds and express my LOVE for Africans? I love them! SO MUCH. I still have a dream to go to Africa. It will happen one day... One day. 

Two girls we are teaching, Adwoa and Akua, are on date for baptism and they ROCK! Their aunt Janet, made us a classic African dish on

Thursday night - peanut butter soup and Foo-foo. Even in all my time serving in Fort Belvoir, I never had the chance to try it! I always heard several stories about it... And I finally got to this week, thanks to my dear Ghanaian friends. The Foo foo she made was made out of Casava and plantains. It's like a dough, I think it's supposed to help fill you up maybe? I'm just guessing. But you don't chew it! Sister Millward told me you aren't supposed to chew it or it grows or something!? Haha so you just push it up on the roof of your mouth and swallow it. You are supposed to eat it with the soup. Now, peanut better soup, I remember sister Langford talking about it- and how they just throw everything in it. But this peanut butter soup had chicken in it... and I don't know what else. Haha it was kind of spicy! And then we also had rice balls too. I liked that better than foo foo. Anyway, there's my African adventure for the week! 

We helped Victoria, a lady we are teaching, clean her back porch. We weeded and cleaned it all up for her. It looked super nice! And lemme tell ya, she was so beyond astonished and grateful. She cried tears of joy. She has been through a lot. She is super strong. I admire her faith, courage and trust in the Lord.

BERTHA!! I forgot to tell you about her! She is from Liberia, and is the sweetest old woman ever. We read the Book of Mormon with her yesterday and I think she expressed how it's like the Bible, just different stories. And we were like YEAH! Haha. She has such strong
faith too. She bore her testimony of how God will take care of us because we are His people. She even got tears and shared how He has brought her through hard times, and brought her here, and is mindful of her.

Wow, all these people. I love them so much. And I've only been here a week! Ha! I went to my last zone conference this week. That was bittersweet. It was such a good conference too! We received some great counsel from our leaders. President Huntsman has such a solid testimony. I love hearing him share his testimony. Especially about the Book of Mormon - woo, it's like BOOM when he shares it! Haha it always gets me pumped and when he says amen I'm like "AA-MEN!" Hah. I love the Book of Mormon. I always believed it was true before my mission, I was not super good or consistent at reading it before either... but Heavenly Father has definitely taught me something. There is Power that comes from reading the Book of Mormon. The Spirit fills your heart. You are reminded of Jesus Christ. That Book testifies of Him. I have received a confirmation from the Holy Ghost several times throughout my mission that the Book of Mormon is true. I know it's true. You can know for yourself too; if you read, ponder it's message about Jesus Christ, and pray and ask God in faith, with a sincere heart and real intent. And "by the power of the Holy Ghost you may know the truth of all things" (Moroni 10:3-5).

By reading the Book of Mormon, my testimony of the Savior has grown and been strengthened ten fold. I indeed know that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer of the world. He atoned for each of us, individually. He knows us. He loves us. I know He lives. Read, ponder, and pray about the Book of Mormon; and your testimony of Him will grow too. There's a reason why the Prophet Thomas S. Monson told us to read it everyday. I say all this in His name, even Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love,
Xoxoxo
Sister Hymas :)

Unexpected Turn of Events

Hello :)

This week has been a WHIRLWIND. haha quite the adventure. Let me tell ya about it!
So I can't actually remember what even happened this last week, I know that's super sad. I know that the week was super amazing, But... I'll tell you about Saturday and then maybe you'll understand why my brain forgot all of the rest of the week! Haha.

Saturday was car fast day. It was a beautiful day! Sister Lodge picked us up and dropped us off at our destination. We were blessed to find a family of four in a trailer park, who was referred by a member family. We taught them the Restoration and they agreed to an appointment next Saturday! We contacted several people and I whipped out the only Spanish phrases I know regarding missionary work ahah. I'm excited to share them with you when I return ;) when I start talking in Spanish all the Hispanics are like "ayyy!!" Hahah so fun and funny. I love those people. 

Sister Storey picked us up and took us to Chick Fil A for lunch. We shared Helaman 5:12 with her and talked about building our foundation on Christ. We will not fall when we do that. Sister Storey reminded us that life can get hard, but if we follow Christ and His gospel, it's worth it. We went home and had comp study and 12 week training for sister Bagley. During that time, the phone started ringing. It was President Huntsman. My heart dropped. I immediately felt that I was leaving Bristow. I answered and he asked to talk with me privately. He explained that there was a sister who was struggling, and she was serving with Sister Madduma. She was designated driver in the area and Sister Madduma is from the Philippines. She can't drive, doesn't have her license. Due to what the sister was struggling with it wasn't safe for her to drive. So President talked to me about switching spots with the sister. I was totally okay with it, I knew that sister Bargeron and sister Bagley would take such great care of the sister and I love sister Madduma anyway so I felt it would be a good thing. So did President! President told me to pack up and so I did after the phone call. We had to quickly get things together and I had to say bye to sister Lodge! I just love her to pieces. Then we drove and met the sisters that night and switched. 

The next morning was church, and studies and finding (we met the CUTEST lady from South Africa! Her accent was so cool!) and dinner (we ate fresh caught salmon from Alaska dad!! Brother Keele had just gotten back from his fishing trip in Alaska. It was super good) and more finding. We were blessed to find 3 new gators! Oh yeah our mission had a finding goal this week with an emphasis on the Book of Mormon, to find 531 new investigators, one for every page of the Book of Mormon. Haven't heard what the results were, but I'm not even kidding, every time my companion and I have set a goal to find a certain number of investigators that day, and worked for it and prayed hard for it, God has NEVER let us down. He has always always helped us achieve that goal. It's such a miracle every time and my testimony has grown so much of setting specific goals and working hard to achieve them. He can help us become so much better. He can help us reach our full potential.

SOO here we are now! It was a whirlwind of an emergency transfer, and lots of change all in less than 12 hours. My body and mind were just like AGH! Haha Sunday morning I was feeling a little overwhelmed and stressed. But after we came home from church and had studies, I felt so much better. My stress had melted away. Heavenly Father blessed me with peace and contentment. There is power and peace that comes from studying the scriptures. They are the word of God. I know that they can help us have strength to overcome trials and difficulties in our lives.

So yeah, That is why I'm writing today. Im not going to the temple this week. Just FYI,
I'm now serving in the Fairfax ward with Sister Madduma. She is the sweetest sister ever. We have been out the same amount of time except she goes home after next transfer. She seriously is full of love! She is always complimenting me. She tells me I'm so beautiful and kind, and in tune with the spirit. And that's not it- she just is constantly lifting me and those around us and helping us feel God's love. I'm so blessed to be here. Even when life/missionary life gets crazy, God leads us through and helps us to learn and grow as we rely on Him.

I love serving the Lord. I know this work is His work. There is no more satisfying work than the work of the Lord. I know it's true. The Savior and our Heavenly Father love us infinitely and eternally. They are there for us always. 3 Nephi 9:14

Xoxox,

Love you so much!Sister Hymas

"3-legged-baby-train"

I cannot even tell you how hard I have laughed this week.

I LOVE THIS TRIO!! Sister Bargeron is so hilarious. She is just like Maddie Simpson. She is leading us out this area like a boss too, and she makes me laugh till I can't breathe. That's like- the BEST. We are both finish training Sister Bagley, she is adorable! So sweet and smart. She's like Rapunzel and she seems like she's been out 6 months so.... I have had such a great week. And that's not even all!! It's so good to be back in Bristow!! Sister Lodge had us over for dinner one night, and when she opened her front door, she gave out the biggest holler and gave me a huge hug!! Seeing everyone at church yesterday just made it feel more like home. I love this place.

3 Generations

We are SO BLESSED to teach some amazing people here in Bristow! This place is on fire, sooo many miracles! We are teaching this AMAZING FAMILY named the Craigs. Jamie and Matt, the parents, are the coolest ever. Matt is the first sergeant at the Arlington Cemetery (uhhh yeah- like a big deal), he's the one that's in charge of all the soldiers and making sure everything goes right in the day. Talk about stressful job! Well I would be stressed. He's like super awesome.. when I first met him yesterday at church, I went in to shake his hand and he gave me a solid handshake, and said with his deep booming voice, "Hi, I'm Matt Craig." Also he's like 6 foot somethin. Straight stud. Jamie is a stay at home mom, but also was in the army. They have four of the cutest kids ever. She loves Al Fox, the tattooed Mormon. She is so sweet! Basically the sisters met them a few months ago when a member in the ward just randomly said "yeah I guess you could check on them over there," they moved in like a year ago. Matt and Jamie and their oldest son, Indy, are all on date for August 26th. I seriously love them so much, they are so prepared. They are so willing to live the gospel and come closer to God. It's so beautiful to watch them embrace the gospel.

Yesterday these 3 young single adult boys came up to us in our car when we were about to leave for dinner. Sister Bagley had waved at them. Pretty sure they were trying to hit on us and then we were like "oh yeah we are the missionaries!" And they wanted to hear ourmessage. One of them, Hasuan was so solid! He got baptized in his church not too long ago and really wants to be a missionary. We had the chance to share with them the Book of Mormon and first vision. As I recited the first vision, they were all captivated. The Spiritfilled my heart. I know that Joseph saw God the Father and His son, Jesus Christ, and I know God called him to be the prophet of this last dispensation. When I invited them to be baptized if they came to feel it was true, Hasuan's response was so funny.. he immediately was like "Well I ain't tryin' to go to hell!" So I'd take that as a yes! Good response Hasuan, good response. Haha

The gospel is so simple and beautiful. I love being a missionary. I love serving with these two marvelous hard working sisters. I feel so blessed to be here. God is so good. I'm so grateful for the many blessings He has given to me as I've strived to live the gospel 
throughout my life. I'm reminded each day just how precious these gospel truths are, and how much people really need to hear about them. I cannot even express how REAL the command is from God to share the gospel. Do all you can to lift others, love them, and share the beautiful restored gospel with them. Some may accept, some may reject it. But when they accept it, you will feel no greater joy. You'll be filled with immense gratitude and joy. I can promise you that. I love you all so much! Let your light shine everyday. ☀️

Xoxox,

Sister Hymas :)

P.S. This transfer is temple transfer, so we might try to go to the temple next Tuesday. So I might not be emailing till Tuesday, just to let you know. Love you all so much!