GO, LOVE, SERVE :)

Hello hello!!! HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!! We've been at President's house all day for our zone activity! It's been such a blast!! Here's my week:

(Okay first thing!! I haven't had any time to read emails today because we've been at President's house so I'm so sorry if I don't reply because I literally have zero time! I'm so sorry! I love you all so much though, I love the emails and pictures they seriously make my whole week!!)

Monday we went to the ZOO!!! SO. FUN. AND IT WAS FREE!!!!! Yeah I know, it was such a blast. I felt like a little kid again. Haha I love the zoo!! Ma you know how much I love the zoo ;) it was such a good time.

Then on our way home, the seven seas literally got dumped on us in the blink of an eye. It rains here like no other!! It was kind of terrifying but fun. :) Then we got to teach Jignasha again!! Seriously such a miracle. We hope she gets back on date.


Tuesday we met such cool potential investigators!! We also had a way good zone training. I was feeling kind of down but then went to zone training and at the end, there was time for missionaries to bear their testimonies. They were so uplifting! And a lot of them mentioned how we are so blessed to be serving missions and we need to enjoy every moment. Because in no time I'll be coming home! I'm trying to enjoy each day like it's my last. Keep on keepin' on! :) We also went to Chik fil A!! BLESSINGS. Seriously, it was much needed. "My pleasure" anyone? ;)


Wednesday was an amazing day, holy cow. We were able to have lessons with both of our investigators with baptismal dates! Diane and Kayla and even Kayla's friend Brianna was there. Brianna is really interested in learning more as well!! Which is so amazing we are so happy!! Diane is just changing in front of our eyes and Kayla's desire to change is growing so much. They both are recognizing how much they need the gospel and Christ in their lives. They both want to draw closer to Him and change. I am just so GRATEFUL to be a missionary and to have this special opportunity to watch people change as they accept Christ in their lives. It is so amazing, and nothing has brought me greater joy. P.S. Funny story, Kayla's 4 year old daughter Zion was there tonight and it was so funny. She picked up this cheetah print bra off the ground and looked at Sis. Lang and then me and asked "Is this your bra?!" HAHAHAH IT WAS THE FUNNIEST THING EVER! And Amber was able to come to the lesson! She is a complete angel rockstar. We also taught a new investigator Cheyenne!!! We love her. She is a strong protestant but has always been interested to know what Mormons believe. So we are teaching her!

Thursday was quite the day! We had a meeting called Return and Report, and that's when all the new missionaries come back and have a little meeting with their trainers, President and Sister Huntsman, the office elders and the assistants. It was super fun!! I loved it! During the first part of the meeting, President was talking about something and he was getting emotional so he like stops in the middle of this spiritual moment and says, "sorry, man tears" and laughs at himself. HA! It was so funny I couldn't stop laughing. Then later on he was talking to us about enjoying our missions and things like that. And then he said he wanted to show us a video but it isn't an approved video that we could watch hahah but it's president! So he does his thing. haha He was like, "I could get in huge trouble for showing you this video but I'm going to do it anyway because it made me laugh." hahah It was a video about a woman buying herself a Chewbacca mask from Kohls and then putting it on and laughing at herself. Have you guys seen it? Apparently it's like a popular video. hahah Anyway we were all dying laughing it was hilarious!! Later, Sister Huntsman was stressing out because no one wanted to take the 5 leftover pizzas from the lunch we had, hahah she is the cutest person, I love her!! Seriously President and Sister Huntsman take such good care of us. No worries Ma ;) They are awesome. When the meeting was over, Sis. Lang and I walk outside and the Hermanas were just chillin' in a car seat in the middle of the parking lot. Ya don't see that everyday hahaha. That night we went to go teach a PI (progressing investigator.) We were in the middle of teaching the restoration on this girl's doorstep when Sister Langford had a coughing attack. She had to go around the corner and all we hear is her like dying. haha Anyway, she comes back and not even five minutes later, she runs around the corner again because a bug flew up her nose and she had to snort it out. She runs away yelling, "take it away sister!" Hahaha. Later in the same lesson, Sister Langford yells "don't move" and tried to get a tick off my shirt but pretty sure it went down my shirt. So a tick went down my shirt in the middle of a lesson. Awkward.


Friday was planning day is a good day! Haha jk Planning can be a struggle sometimes. But Sista Lang had an idea of going to plan down by the Potomac River. The Potomac is right by us, and our church is right on the Potomac as well. So that's what we did! We planned right down by the Potomac River!! In a van down by the river ;) eh eh haha. We brought some food, our planning whiteboards, a blanket and everything! AND we planned for a grand total of about 30 min. It was good for the first 10 minutes, when all of a sudden a lady comes over and told us she had just seen a huge black snake slither around in the area we were sitting, as well as a baby beaver. Uh okay?! Haha then red ants and weird contorted bugs started crawling all over our blanket. I got attacked by a huge weird bee. Sister Lang got attacked by a lighting fast spider. We moved to a different spot but that didn't help because there was pokey pine cones everywhere. And it was stinkin hot. I was being cooked like an egg on a sidewalk. Ha ha eh eh jk terrible joke. So we gathered all of our stuff back up again and drove home and finished there. Not as fun, but much more effective. ;) Then we had an awesome lesson with Diane that night! She is getting so pumped for her baptism, we are so excited for her!!!


Saturday was H.O.T. SO HOT! MY LANDS it was a straight oven on fire. And I'm expecting it to get worse! haha I was sweating like crazy! It was a great day though!! Funny story. So we bought butter when we got groceries the other day and apparently we forgot to bring the butter inside. Because on Thursday or Friday, I don't remember what day, when we were headed to an appointment we went to go get something out of the trunk. I was walking away when Sis. Lang was like, "SISTER. THE BUTTER." I was like whaa? Haha She's like, "THE BUTTER! We forgot the butter!" And when she went to grab the box, there were definitely no sticks in that box. HAHA Yeah so butter melted all over the trunk of our car. All over our pamphlets and Books of Mormon! Haha Sooo we cleaned that out! That was a good time. Ha But we were able to have lessons with some new investigators, it was awesome! We had a few lessons with some progressing investigators, and we got one on date! Her name is Jennifer and she's 15 I think. She's stinkin' cute! We hope her whole family gets on date soon! It's hard to meet with them all together though. They are never all home. But we are so excited for her!! Heavenly Father is blessing us SO MUCH. Wow. It's just been amazing. It's been a long week. I've been getting down a little bit lately. I've been trying to work on enjoying each day to the fullest and looking for the miracles in each day. It's easy to get homesick or distracted, overwhelmed or stressed. Satan wants so badly to make us miserable! But we just gotta fight back and keep on keepin on. Missions aren't easy. I'm understanding that lately haha. But they are worth it.


Sunday was wonderful. I look forward to Sundays. I love them so much! Diane came to church with her son again, WOOT WOOT! We had dinner with the Hales family, and then had a little lesson with one of our new investigators, Aminata. She's pretty young, like 11 I think. We then went to go see Gramma but she wasn't home. Then we had what's called the New and Returning Member fireside. It's a meeting put on by missionaries, where new members or members that are coming back to church, can come to. New members bear testimonies and some missionaries do too. It's awesome! It was so uplifting to hear testimonies from people whose lives just flipped around because of Jesus Christ and His gospel. It's what I needed to hear. I learned a lot from each of them.

I love being out here. It seriously is the best. I learn so much every day, I am so blessed to have this opportunity! I love you all so much and hope you have a happy Memorial Day! Stay safe out there! ;)

GO, LOVE, SERVE! :)

Love love LOVE,

SISTA HYMAS :)

Trampolines, Ticks, Baptisms and Picking Up Sticks! (Rhymmingg)

WOO WHAT A WEEK!! Holy MIRACLES!! Seriously, it's been amazing! From trampolines to ticks, to pouring rain and an amazing baptism... Sister Lang and I have had quite an interesting week:)

Monday was a super awesome p day!! It was a beautiful sunshiney day! We were going to try and catch a squirrel, because Sis Lang really wants to and I told her I've caught one before, so she is really wanting to catch one. haha Well, we didn't get to. But one day we will! :)

However, we got permission from President Huntsman to go to a trampoline place called Flight! It was SO FUN! So me, Sister Lang, the hermanas, and Caleigh from the ward, all went. It was a blast! We had a ton of fun! Best workout ever too! Holy moly I've never sweat so much in my life! haha It was so hot inside I was like drenched almost, it was gross. TMI ha sorry But afterwards, we went and tried to visit some people, but no one answered or they were sick. But we had the opportunity to meet some awesome kind people while street contacting. We met a really nice guy who is in a motorized wheelchair. He was paralyzed when he was 20, from his legs down. He asked what Jesus Christ has done for us, and I bore my testimony on the Atonement and explained that a little bit. I shared Alma 7:11-12 and I think he enjoyed that. He can't read so that's a bummer, but we said a prayer with him and he was off on his way. It was a tender mercy to be able to meet such a nice man who was so willing to learn about Christ. 

We had an awesome lesson with Amber! She shared her conversion story with Sister Lichtey, a member, who came with us. Her story is amazing. It breaks my heart to hear one part, but she has such a strong witness of Christ and His Atonement. It's so real. And her testimony is stronger than strong! We are so happy and excited for her baptism!! Today, the Lord has really been teaching me how He is preparing all men to hear the gospel. In His own time and own way. They have the choice to accept or reject it. It is so amazing and such a blessing to be able to hear the other side of some stories and realize that if a certain event didn't happen, that person probably wouldn't be where they are now. I'm so grateful for the things that I've been given in my life that helped prepare me to really convert to the Lord and His gospel. He is real, and His gospel is true.

Tuesday we picked up a bunch of tools for service, made brownies for district meeting, it was Elder Jones last one! We dropped off some chocolate to an investigator. We went and saw Athina, and Alec was there. Sister Lang pretty much told him that we come to teach and help Athina because she wants to learn, and he needs to respect that because we respect him, haha and I think he got it. We will see!

On Wednesday, Diane set a baptism date!!! June 11th!!! WOOOOOOOOHOOOO!!!!! So SO SOO PUMPED FOR HER!!!! I love her to death!! She seriously is so pure hearted, and teaches me so much about being humble and kind and Christlike. She is the cutest!! We taught Amber the Ten Commandments and then practiced singing for Amber's baptism. Two members sang with us. We sang "How Great Thou Art." I was so nervous! Okay and my voice is like not the same, I can't sing as high as I used to. I'm like going through puberty like a teenage boy HAHA for reals Kyle was right! Lately I'm learning so much about being humble. Being submissive to learn what the Lord wants me to. Being willing to accept your weaknesses then turning to Christ and His help to turn those weaknesses into strengths. I cannot at ALL do this work without Him. I literally don't know what I'm doing every day and it stresses me out sometimes or makes me frustrated with myself. But I think the Lord wants me to learn patience with myself as well. Patience is a virtue.

Thursday we had our zone service project at a non members home. She has like the coolest old semi-mansion home ever. Anyway, there was like 22 missionaries over at her house full on cleaning her whole huge yard. We fixed it up real nice, it looked awesome! It was super fun! We came across a huge black scary snake and of course the elders had to catch it and throw it in the forest. Two missionaries almost got bit by it. haha Found some frogs and had a frog race. And oh my, TICKS! There were ticks everywhere, and there were some in our car that came outta nowhere while I was driving! It was almost a catastrophe. So I hope and pray that I don't get a tick. Cuz they are everywhere out here! I don't want Lyme disease! Ain't nobody got time for that! There was a missionary who got it before. It makes me nervous! We had exchanges the rest of the day. My first exchange! With Sister Alcantra from Peru! She's super cute and fun! We had a member dinner, and finally got to have a lesson with Jignasha! We taught her the restoration and invited her to baptism. She said she would read the Book of Mormon and learn more. We had a grand evening!! P.S. We found out that our investigator, Adama, the one that moved, she has already been baptized! Yeah crazy I know! It's a long story haha but yeah fun fact!

Friday was planning!! Tried to catch a lizard. Appointments fell through, but we had a lesson with Agartha and her kids about the Ten Commandments. Awesome dayyy! And shout out to my home girl Rach! Happiest of birthdays to you Rachie!! 

Saturday, in the morning, we got to visit a potential investigator, Cheyenne. She's got a cute little family, I want them to get SEALED! We didn't stay for long, but dropped off a Book of Mormon and restoration pamphlet and set up time to meet next week! 

Then It was Amber's BAPTISMMMM! YEAAAHH! It was WONDERFUL!! It was such an awesome time.

I think she really had a great experience. Sis Lang, me and two ladies from the ward sang "How Great Thou Art." And my voice sounded completely UGLAY but it's all good. Sis Lang has an UH-MAZING voice! She puts all other singers to shame! So I hope no one noticed the dying cow noise coming out of my mouth hahah. All in all, the song made Amber cry so I think she liked it. Diane, who is on date for June 11th, came to the baptism!! After it was over, she leaned over and told me YEP I'm gonna do it. I was like YUSSSSS! She is awesome! I love her!! She gave Sis Lang and I a card that says how much she loves and appreciates us. She thinks we're such good people and just wanted to say that she's grateful there are still good people in the world. LOVE. HER!! Like who does that?! Only sweet Diane!! Then we had dinner with the Hales, drank some Gossners milk, SO GOOD! They have a daughter named Caleigh, who went to Utah State so she brought some back and was kind enough to share with us! Then we headed out to see our potential, Florence. We were able to have a lesson with her and her daughter Sandra!! Taught the restoration, and they accepted the invite to pray about baptism and read the Book of Mormon. Heavenly Father is literally pouring miracles and blessings upon us. EVERY DAY. All of our successes are because of him!! It is seriously a miracle that we just had a baptism, and two other people on date. When we are obedient to Him and try our best, He blesses us like no other. Today was an AWESOME DAY. I am so so grateful to be a missionary. I am SO happy. So so happy. :)

Sunday it rained like CRAZY. Seriously it was like the seven seas got dumped on us out here in Virginia! hahah HOLY MOLY it was so beautiful though! Amber got confirmed in church and we got to visit some less active members. The spirit was so strong when she got confirmed. Diane came to church again with her son! I love her guts, she is the cutest lady. And then we had a super good dinner with some members, the Richardsens. They are a young couple with two young kids, and they
both went to Utah State! WOO! Haha it was way fun! It was a super good day. Sundays are the best. I love sacrament meeting. The chance that we have each week to focus on the Savior and the sacrifice that He made for us, is just priceless to me.

I love my Savior. I know that He lives. I know that He loves us. TRULY LOVES us. I hope we remember, especially in difficult times, that Jesus Christ knows what we go through and how we feel. I know that Christ knows how I feel. I know that He knows what it feels like to be rejected, yelled at, made fun of, or mocked. I also know that Christ knows all of our happiness and joys. For He is the one that has felt the worst pain and the greatest joy. There are no words to describe how grateful I am for my Savior. "...Oh sweet the joy this sentence gives. I know that my redeemer lives."

Sending so much love,

Sister Hymas :)

"Hey Blondayyy" and Two Temple Trips!!

Hello hello hello!!! This week was AWESOME. Oh my lanta, we saw millions of miracles!! The Gospel is so true! Oh my goodness, okay here we go...!!

Us with Amber

Monday we went to the temple visitor’s center with our investigator Amber! She gets baptized next Saturday, yay!! The temple is absolutely stunning. My lands! It is gorgeous!! Okay, an embarrassing moment, there’s a 3D model of the temple in the visitor’s center and it’s behind glass. I was looking real close... a little too close because I smacked my head on the glass. It was super embarrassing. And it was loud! The visitor center sister missionaries were teaching Amber when all of a sudden SMACK! HA I was like “oops, the glass is just so clean I couldn’t tell. ha ha ha....” AHH it was pretty funny but super embarrassing. Good times good times.

On Tuesday our car DIED. YEP. haha We had to go run inside real quick so I parked perpendicular on two parking spaces so Sis. Lang wouldn’t have to back me out, and when we came back out.... it wouldn’t start. HAHA Lesson learned there! When you gotta park, park like a normal person. haha Not like me. So, we called the Torgersens. And once again, they had to come rescue us. They seriously have done so much for us! They are like our grandma and grandpa out here in the field. Today at Athina's, Alec was there again and we didn’t really get to teach. A little bit of bashing going on there. When we got in the car we were talking about how we felt and getting shut down and shaken up a lil' bit. We talked about how it hurts to have some one tell you “no, that’s not what you believe” or “no, that’s not true. Mormons don’t believe that...” Or whatever. We were both a little hurt and feeling down. When I was saying the prayer before we got out of the car, a deep feeling of love and gratitude of being the Lord’s missionary entered into my heart. I started bawling. The spirit really taught me during those moments that evening that everything we were feeling Christ knows. Heavenly Father allows us to have these experiences so that we might feel just a sliver of what Christ felt when He was on the earth. Many rejected Him and told Him that He wasn’t the Son of God. So many terrible things happened to Him and yet, he showed deep love and patience for each of them. He forgave them. I’m learning more about Christ and His life as I’m out here. I am so grateful for my Savior. I could not do this without Him.

Wednesday we had zone conference!! SO GOOD AND SO FUN! I love President and Sister Huntsman. They show so much genuine love to each missionary. I love all of the DC South missionaries too. They all rock. I was asked to bear my testimony on being called as a missionary as part of the zone conference training. I shared how it was such a blessing and miracle for me to be out serving, because of previous health issues. (Which it is literally a miracle that I am out here and have not had any problems with my health!! God is blessing me every DAY!!) the Lord provided a way for me to be out here because I had the desire to serve Him. He LOVES us! The Lord’s work is going to go forth with or without us, it is an incredible honor and blessing to be able to participate in His great and marvelous work. It is an amazing thing to be His missionary. I know the Lord loves His missionaries. He protects us. And He most definitely helps us when we are being obedient to what He has asked us to do.

After zone conference, we visited some people, met two new people who we taught right there and they became new investigators. BLESSINGS!! We are so excited to go back and meet with them. We were walking to the Koughs for dinner when we ran into a pastor. He was real nice, he was from Africa. He was kind and respectful. While we were chatting with him, there was a big black guy who was walking along the sidewalk and passed us. When he passed us, I happened to turn and look who it was, and said hi. As he was walking by, he looked me up and down and said with a deep voice that made my heart drop to my gut. “Oh hey miss wonderful.” OH GAG. You nasty maann!! I wanted to barf! Ha Anyway, it wasn’t a happy feeling. And we were in one of those areas we needed to be careful around, so I felt a little on edge the rest of the night. haha The Koughs dinner was awesome! That family feels like my family. I love them. They are a complete blessing in my life. I am so so grateful for them and the love they bless us missionaries with!

Thursday a member, Caleigh, came out with us!! She is 18 and totally rocks we love her! We had a lesson with a girl we had met while going to Alphonso's lesson. He never answered the door, but it’s okay because the Lord needed us to talk to Dorsa! She’s Muslim but wants to learn more about Jesus Christ. We taught the restoration and she accepted to think about baptism and pray about it. We visited a lady named Barbara. She is trying to quit smoking. She can do it through Jesus Christ and His Atonement! Then we Saw Kayla!!! Kayla is one of our investigators we had to take off date because we hadn’t seen her in a month or so. BUT she called us and told us to come over! She is doing so well. And guess what... she set a baptismal date for June 15^th!! She is serious about changing her life. She told us about how she wanted her daughter to have a better life. She wants her to grow up to be like us. I almost started bawling when she said that! She just expressed how grateful she was for us and for God. Love her! We. Are. So. EXCITED!!! She has been through so much and has such great faith.

Us with Comfort

That night we went to the temple with Comfort to do baptisms!! It was so special. Comfort is a recent covert. Fatima, her mother and who is also a recent convert, went with Comfort for the first time too!! It was so special! There was like 7 missionaries there. It was a lot! haha. Such a wonderful day!! We saw so many miracles oh my goodness. Heavenly Father is so good to us. He is so good in general! He loves His children. He loves us.

Friday, you know the usual. Planning all day e’erday. We had a pass off lesson with our investigator Adama. The one who moved. We miss her so much already. Driving home we got hit on by a car of gangsta men. They pulled up at the light next to us and were like, “Heeeyyy blondddayyyy!!!” I was like “uhh roll up the window and lock the doors!” Hahah AH!

Saturday we visited some people, and got hit on by a Mexican guy. “Hey Hunnay you got a nice face.” Ew ew ew. DRIVE AWAY! Then we went to the Elder’s baptism with Amber!! I’m so excited for her baptism! We met an AWESOME referral named Zac. He’s been investigating the church for a little while and knows a lot about the gospel already. We are so looking forward to teaching him! We visited another investigator Jennifer and answered a lot of the questions she had about Joseph Smith and being Mormon. We testified of the joy that the gospel brings into our lives. It was an awesome lesson!

Kayla and Brianna...and Bro. Emmons :)

Then we received news that Kayla was coming to church and was bringing her friend Brianna!! AHH MIRACLES UPON MIRACLES UPON MIRACLESSS! Heavenly Father is totally blessing us so much and is helping us reach our goal of getting our investigators to church. It is so amazing and I am so grateful to be able to experience all these miracles!

Sunday was an AMAZINGGG DAYY!! Diane, Amber, Kayla and her friend Brianna came to church! Miracles!! I am so so grateful they came! Brianna had a great experience and now wants to take the lessons! Say wha!? Ah!! I am so SO EXCITED!! I love those people so much, SO SO much, I just want them to accept the gospel and be baptized, go to the temple, and build their faith in Christ. I love them so much! So grateful to know them!! We got to have dinner with Bishop Blake and his family. Cutest and most kind and genuine people ever. Dinner was so good! She made like little F-zookies like the ones in Logan! SO. GOOD. We went and saw Jignasha tonight and she wants us to come back on Tuesday! We haven’t been able to see her in like ages, so we hope she gets back on date. I want her to be baptized so badly, I feel like she wants it but just doesn’t know it!

All in all, it was another super awesome, blessed week in the mission. I am so grateful to be here, I love it so much. I am eternally grateful to be the Lord’s missionary. Sometimes it is really difficult and you can get down on yourself real easily. BUT why do that?! We aren’t perfect humans and the Lord doesn’t expect us to be perfect! I know that whatever we do in life, if we are doing our best that’s all we can do. I love being a missionary. It’s the greatest thing ever! Remember that God will work miracles in our lives if we are obedient to Him. I know the Gospel is true! I love it so much.

Have a rockin week!! Love you all so so SO much!!

Sister Hymas :)

Miracles Upon Miracles

Costco...the happiest place on Earth

Aloha!!! This week was so wonderful! We witnessed so many miracles! And had some interesting experiences so you're in for a treat! ;)

Monday we went to Costco with the Torgersen's and we all seriously ate all the samples! hahah It was so fun! I love Costco. It's the best place!! Okay then we went to dinner at a members home and it is seriously out in the boonies, but they are the most BEAUTIFUL boonies you have ever seen! After dinner we got ready to leave when all of a sudden it started pouring golf ball sized hail! Yeah, it was a crazy storm for a little bit but it calmed down so we were able to leave. It was CRAZY!!

Tuesday we went and picked up a Hermana for the day because her comp had to go to the temple with another missionary. We had to drive all the way to Oakton which is super far but it was worth it. Oh my goodness but coming home was a different story!!! Yeah so I've never driven on these Virginia roads before so first, the traffic here is so crazy. There is a TON of traffic! It's like impossible to get anywhere. But going back to Oakton to drop her off was terrible. I took 3 wrong turns on this huge spaghetti bowl highway thingy ma-jig. I felt so bad we got home way late! hahah But it's all good. The day was awesome! We had a solid lesson with Amber at a member's home about the Book of Mormon. Amber says she relates so much with Joseph Smith. She is so strong. She has no support from her family in getting baptized but that isn't stopping her. She knows the gospel is true. She is such an incredible person! And an incredible example to me.

Wednesday we taught a referral that we got. Her name is Freda and she is from Ghana.  We taught the restoration and she understood all of it so well. We invited her to read the Book of Mormon, come to church and be baptized and she accepted the baptism invitation!! It was awesome!! She says she needs to pray and ask God about it, which we were like YES PLEASE DO!! Later we went and visited our friend Athina from Greece. And this lesson was super interesting. Her nephew was there and he is a bible basher. So he was bible bashing a lil bit, the whole time we were trying to teach her. So yeah that was interesting!! The spirit definitely does not stay around when there is bible bashing.

The Three Amigos

Thursday we had lunch at iHop! So fun! And we had our district meeting. We totally celebrated cinco de Mayo at our meeting. haha I love my district, we have a good time. We had a testimony meeting at our district meeting which was super uplifting and powerful I loved it. We later dropped off a bible to a referral we got and talked to her about coming back and teaching her. She's in the middle of moving but once that's over, she said we definitely could! And then later we found out that one of our investigators that is on date for baptism, Adama, is moving. So we have to pass her on to some other sisters. Aggh, we will miss her so much!

Friday is planning day! We also did some service and helped clean a member's home. We met a cool guy named Jonathan while going to check on a referral. He is so nice! We can't start teaching him till June because his wife just had a baby and no one is allowed in the house. But he is so SOLID. I hope he accepts the Gospel! We had a little adventure in a forest while knocking on some doors. Oh, and when we were leaving I had an impression to stop the car and get out to talk to a man walking his dog. Welp, he turned out to be a Jehovah's Witness but he was still super nice and respectful. HOWEVER, we ended up talking to a Spanish guy sitting on a tree like 5 ft away from where we were talking to the Jehovah's Witness. The Spanish guy's name is Leny. Yes, and as you know, Sis. Lang and I are practically fluent in Spanish and we start testifying in Spanish. Haha jk But we tried. He was kind enough to listen. We passed him to the elders and the elders said he is interested and will stay in contact him! So again, the spirit is your BFF!! Listen to the promptings of the spirit. Miracles can happen if you're willing to follow those promptings!

Then later that night, we celebrated Agartha's birthday! Yay! She's a less active member.

Saturday we visited a referral. His name is Tolosa. He wanted a bible so we gave him one and taught him the Restoration right there on his porch. He's from Ethiopia, and he's kinda interested...but not. I can't tell! He said he'd read the pamphlet and he would let us know. We went out to dinner because we literally did not have any food left at home. haha So we went to the Firehouse Grill. Then went and had a way fun family home evening at a member's home. We played Restoration Jenga! Funnest and smartest idea ever!

Sunday was an AMAZING DAYYYY!!! 2 investigators came to church, Diane and her son, and Amber and her daughter! AND a less active, Rita who hasn't come to church in a YEAR! She came and it was AWESOME!! Miracles upon miracles! I also got up and bore my testimony. And for the first time like ever I didn't cry! WHEW haha There was a lady who bore her testimony and started singing 'Swing Low Sweet Chariot' up at the pulpit. It was pretty awesome! And then we went and took a nap after church for our lunch break. haha Then went to dinner!

Seeing Double

And then we skyped our wonderful families :) I LOVED IT SO MUCH! I just am so grateful for my family! I love you guys so much!! It is so precious to me to know that we can be with our families forever. That is just priceless. I am so grateful to be with my crazy fam forever! Love you guys!! ;)

Something that I love that I learned from one of the members a week ago. We were at their house for dinner and he started talking to us
about love. And I LOVE what he said. He said, "Two people can't create love. Love is a gift that comes from God. The only reason we know what love is, is because God loves us." -Brother Thompson. Isn't that good?!? I loved it. It just reminded me of how much God loves us. And he gives us families and other people to learn about how to love others. We cannot become like Heavenly Father if we do not learn how to love others, like the way that He loves us.

One of the coolest most rewarding things that I've experienced since being out here, is being able to recognize that we each are children of God. Heavenly Father has completely changed my perspective and view of other people. He has helped me see the incredible worth of each person I meet, and has allowed me to feel so much love for them. He has helped me see that the person across the street walking her dog, or the man I ordered lunch from, the person who cut me off, or shut the door in my face (which has only happened once!), etc etc.... are each children of God. We all are loved by the most glorious being. We are all brothers and sisters. So this week, I encourage all of you to be kinder to someone, serve your neighbor, be a friend to the person who has none, get to know someone new, write a kind note, be more forgiving... All in all, show Christ like love to everyone you meet. I promise you that as you strive to see people through God's eyes, and love them like God loves them, you will begin to realize how much He loves you. You will be truly happy.

Have a glorious week! I love you ALL!! :)

Love love love,

Sister Hymas :)

April Showers Bring May Flowers :)

HAPPY MONDAY!!! :)

WOAH NOW. I've been out a month say what!? Okay but apparently I heard that my time at the MTC doesn't count towards my mission so I haven't been out a month? Is that true? Idk! Weird if ya ask me! But oh my lands lemme tell you about my crazy week!!!

Okay so just real quick, I know I probably haven't explained much about my area. Honestly, I have no idea what I've told you so far! hahaha I never remember! I'm in Fort Belvoir, and that's in Lorton/Alexandria. I've met people from like EVERYWHERE! It's awesome!! I am so blessed to be put into an area where we already have A TON of people to teach, a ton of new and progressing investigators... etc.  Everyone says that this area is the best in the mission. I am so grateful!!! 

So Last Monday, our solid investigator named Amber, set a date to be baptized, May 21st! She is so prepared holy moly batman. Every time I talk to her I'm just like UHHH WOW! She teaches me so much! So she came to stake conference this last Sunday and we are planning a temple visitor center trip for next week. We are so happy and excited for her! Later that night, we went and visited grandma hahah (the old lady from Africa) and she made us go buy her a coke from 7-11. Hahah I love that lady. 

Tuesday we had the opportunity to serve a lady in our ward who moved. We cleaned out her kitchen. We taught a lesson to a guy named Fernando and his two little girls. They might be interested, he said it's up to his wife. We had a lesson that night with another one of our solid investigators, Adama. She is from Sierra Leon, Africa. She has kids and they are WILD. We love them! The struggle that a lot of our investigators have right now is coming to church. They all have to work Sundays so it makes it hard for them to come to church. We have three investigators with baptismal dates in May! But two of them might have to get pushed back because they can't come to church. 

Wednesday we went to see a referral that we got. Her name is Teresa and she has three little girls. She's had a hard life growing up, and she is really interested in learning more about the Gospel. We taught her the Restoration right there on her porch and she really liked it! We could tell that she was touched by the Spirit and the prayer that we said at the end. She is so sweet, I love her family so much! She also said she would try to come to church this next Sunday!! We then had our district meeting. We have 4 sets of missionaries in our district. Two sets of elders, me and Sister Langford AND our sweet senior missionary couple, Elder and Sister Torgersen. We visited our Greek friends, Athina and Maria, and every time we go over there, Athina stuffs us with food. HAHA She sends us home with chips and cookies and all sorts of good stuff! haha 

Wednesday was RAINY but so beautiful!! I LOVE IT! We got to go see another referral, and she is from Africa too! Her name is Freda and she said she's met with missionaries before in Ghana, so we are going to go meet with her more :) We went to lunch with a member named Billy. He is an elderly fellow and is so kind and sweet. He loves the missionaries! We were out doing some contacting when we came across this old Spanish man. And you know me, fluent as can be in Spanish, try to speak with the man. My companion and I are both trying to understand what he is saying and we are both throwing Spanish phrases left and right... when all of a sudden I understood what he was saying! "Tengo iglesia" is what I got out of it. haha He said he needed to find a church to go to! The gift of tongues is real. I know Heavenly Father totally helped me understand what he was saying. We gave him our card and told the hermanas to go see him. 

Friday, we PLANNED! Yay! Weekly Planning day is a fun day. My companion has this thing she does, where we make "plan-cakes" HA! Get it? Pancakes, except plan cakes?! So creative huh?! Later that evening we went and visited one of our other investigators with a baptismal date. Her name is Jignasha, and she's from India. She's been super sick lately, so we brought her some soup, crackers and ginger ale. We shared a message with her and really encouraged her to come to church! It's hard for her because of work. Man oh man. If only everyone didn't have to work on Sundays! That would be awesome! We then went to dinner at a members house. 

Okay *COOL EXPERIENCE TIME*** after dinner, we were headed to go see a less active member and I just had a strange/off feeling. I kept on driving. Then, suddenly but just quietly, the words "don't go" settled in my mind. In the moment I didn't think much of it, so I shook it off. (P.S. DON'T SHAKE OFF THOSE FEELINGS. That's the Spirit!!) We finally got to the place and the feelings were still there and they were stronger. I finally just asked my companion if she felt like a weird feeling or if something didn't feel right. She said she felt fine. So we parked. And my companion started to say a prayer while we were still in the car, and I just couldn't close my eyes! I felt so nervous and off it was so weird. She said amen and the first thing she said after the prayer was "do you feel like someone's watching us." OH MY HEAVENS when she said that my heart dropped to my stomach and I put those keys in the ignition and we were outta there!! So lesson learned: FOLLOW THE SPIRIT!! I am SO grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost. He has got your back. I am so glad we left and didn't get out of the car. I have no idea what could've happened but I'm so glad we didn't try to find out! 

Okay Saturday we were helping some people move and I'm pretty sure I got a hernia! Like a small one in my belly button! AGH but it's all good. Just a fun fact for the day! hah

It is so beautiful out here!!

Ma, you would die, it is so green and beautiful and there are so many cute houses that I've seen! They totally remind me of you!!! I finally got my iPad! Yay!! We do everything on our iPads like our area book etc. so it's super nice!

Everyone I have talked to here is so respectful! They are so nice! Even if they aren't interested in hearing about the Gospel, they are so kind. I am so grateful for that!! I am so grateful to have this wonderful opportunity to serve. It is so amazing to see people change their lives and bring themselves closer to Christ. I know that God loves us. He is real. And He knows each of us individually. Not everyday is super uplifting, sometimes it can be really hard. But I know that no matter where we are and what we go through, Heavenly Father is ALWAYS THERE. Christ is always there. We can give all of our worries to Him. Neither of them will let us down.

Well, have a SPECTACULAR WEEK!!! I love all of you so much!! Look for ways to uplift and strengthen those around you. I know that as you do that, you will be so blessed and will be truly happy. :)

Love,

Sister Hymas :)