HEY-O, Welcome to Bristow! 🙌☺️🙏

HEYYY YOU GUUUYYSS!!! (Ahahah eh eh anyone know the movie...??) ;)

GUESS. WHAT. We reached our goal of finding 300 New investigators! We found 432 NI as a mission with baptismal invites on the first lesson! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?! It was a complete miracle and absolutely amazing!!!!!!! I screamed for joy. The Lord definitely leads us to those who are prepared when we are exactly obedient and strive to do the things He has commanded. I also know the Lord helps us reach our goals!!! I have a much greater testimony of goal setting. Haha I didn't before. But now I do. :)

We went to DC on Monday with the Torgersens! Best p day ever! We went and saw the Ford Theater, where Abe Lincoln was shot. And the house he died In! Didn't get to see inside the theater because they are using it right now for plays, but got to see all the history/museum behind it. Then we went to the national natural history museum which wassweet. There were a million things!! I got to see what I looked like as a monkey. Pretty sweet, right? ;) Haha I'll send a pic. There was a huge ocean part and mammals, and insects, and rocks and gems! We saw the Hope diamond. Pretty gorgeous!! And I saw the biggest diamond I have ever seen in my life. It was like a rock solid chunk of 365 something karats. Tell my future husband to put that on my finger! HAHAHA JK I would sink to the bottom of the ocean. It was literally huge. We had dinner with the Steinbergs, and then had a SECOND dinner with our less active Rita. She is hilarious. We did some family history and she showed us her pictures of her mission! Caleigh came with us too because she's serving her mish in Brazil. It was an amazing preparation day!!

Fort Belvoir District

Bye Bye Hales Family

Tuesday was so NERVEWRACKING! Man. The day we found out about transfers. That night at 9:00 pm! But we went and had one last district meeting. Saddest day :( this transfer with this district was awesome. I love those missionaries! It's like one big happy family.Haha and I LOVE SERVIN IN THE FORT!! It's seriously the best place ever.  We took district pics, and then went finding basically all day. All our lessons fell through. We had a lesson with Kayla though! That was awesome. We had dinner with the Hales fam bam. LOVE LOVE LOVEE THEM! P.S. They're planning on visiting you when they go to Utah. Just FYI :) we took some pictures, and the Torgies had dinner with us too! We did some face swappin pics haha I was dying laughing, they are so funny. Caleigh came out with us that night again! She is a champ. Love her. We went finding and waited nervously for the transfer news...! We drove to the Torgersens, it's a tradition to go to their house haha, ran inside and refreshed my email a million times..... found out.....I GOT TRANSFERRED!!! To Woodbridge, the new zone that just joined our mission!! Serving in the Bristow Ward! I was so pumped, yet so torn, because I have LOVED serving in the Fort. That place will forever be my home. It's got a piece of my heart! I love the people so much, it was not easy to leave. There were many tears. But all is well:) I'm so pumped to serve here in Bristow!! :) It's a huge blessing that I get to serve here, because all the DC south missionaries want to serve in Woodbridge because it's new to the mission and such.... and I didn't really mind at all, but now that I'm here I feel super blessed and lucky!! I love it a lot!! :')

Wednesday was a day full of goodbyes. We helped clean Sister Littles home with Sister Torgersen and Sister Larrabee! We saw Michelle and Athina. Athina is the cutest. That was a sad goodbye. She will forever be my Greek mother. They want me to come back and visit as soon as possible haha. Funny story: Athina was showing us a pic of when she was younger. She was like "Sister Hymas! I'm a look Chinese! I am look Chinese?!" HaHahah I LOVE HER! And miss her so much!! She is the most loving, Christlike person, for real. We got to see an elderly lady that lives in our Ward. Never met her until today! She is so cute and I'm sad I won't see her again. Then we had one last dinner with the Hunsakers! Love that sweet family so much. When we were saying the closing prayer, one of the little boys let one rip. I was the one praying and I about lost it. It was the funniest thing ever. We had an amazing lesson with our new investigator Candice. She said she was going to church on Sunday, and maybe even Kayla's baptism. AND she set a baptismal date for October 1st. MIRACULOUS LESSON! She is golden!! We went to go see Mabinty and her fam. When doing so, we were walking down the street when a car flew down the road and was like, "(Fist pump) go Jesus!!" Haha. Amen brotha, amen. It was an amazing last day in the Fort. I'll miss that place and those sweet people. It makes my heart ache!

Thursday was bittersweet! It was sad to say bye to Sister Livingston. We had an awesome transfer together. I learned so much from her!! But hey! I got to see Sister Lang at transfers!! It was a teary reunion, she started crying! 😭 but so good too :) she is training again! I'm so happy for her. She is an amazing trainer and person and missionary. I JUST LOVE HER! And I met Sister Bennett, my new companion. She is the cutest!! I love her so much! She and I are like the same in a lot of ways. We had an awesome day! We met a few members, she showed me around, and we did some street contacting, and took a nap at dinner. I was SO tired!!! But I seriously love BRISTOW! It is amazing! Bristow Ward is in Manasses, out in the sticks! It is beautiful, and a pure dream come true. ;) I want to live here! P.s. We live in a mansion! Literally, it's a members home but they don't live here. They only live here partially, and we also live with two other sisters. IT IS THE BEST THING!! I am SO SO HAPPY! AGH! 

Friday, all I have to say is.... MAN. I LOVE BRISTOW!!!!!! It's like the boonies all over the place! I want to live here SO BADD! Like after the mish, sometime in my life haha. We planned all day on Friday: new area- new people- new plans. It's so much fun! Then we hadan awesome dinner with the Lodge fam! It was a 3 course meal, and tasted like heaven! We had sweet and sour pork, salad, and pie. And her house was so southern and big and beautiful! Also, sis bennett made me sweet and sour chicken with rice for lunch. She's such a chef?! Also, our home has a mouse problem so there is little mice poops everywhere but someone is coming to fix it I think. Anyway, we are trying to catch it in the huge house. I haven't seen it yet... But you know me... I'm a pro at catching critters ;) haha just kiddin Idon't know anything about catching animals. But I love this place so much! And I love LOVE sister Bennett! She is so sweet, soft spoken, patient, loving, makes killer good food... She's such a blessing and I learn so much from her!! :)

Saturday was absolutely GLORIOUS. KAYLA GOT BAPTIZZEDDDDD!!!!! Oh my goodness, she did it!!! :) I love her so so much! When she came up out of the water, she had this huge grin on her face and gave brother hales a big hug. Tears were welling up in my eyes AGH! Later, Kayla told me she felt so clean and so GOOD! The joy and love you feel is so real. I love being a missionary. I am forever grateful. I also gotta see all my fort B peeps and reunited with sis Lang once more! I LOVE HER GUTS! She spoke and I was just balwin my eyes out the whole time. The spirit was so strong and the happiness was so real in that church that night! A sweet member named sister brown was kind enough to take us to the baptism. I love Bristow so much!! The love and happiness and gratitude is just overflowing my heart right now. Oh my lands. AH! P.s. I sang again at the baptism with sister Livingston. It was super last minute and we didn't get to practice. We sang I am a child of God, the one we sang at another baptism. And it was a complete mess haha. I CANNOT SING IN FRONT OF LARGE CROWDS. HAHA and sister liv is basically an opera singer, no joke she can really sing like that. And I'm just... there. Trying to hit all the right notes gasping for air trying to sing over the piano....!! HA. but it was a beautiful baptism, I am so so happy and proud of Kayla. She is amazing.

Sunday was a glorious Sabbath day. The Bristow Ward is amazing! The people are so welcoming and kind. Plus we are the only set of missionaries in the Ward so they really LOVE us and spoil us! They've had only sisters in the Ward for the longest time. They take WAYY good care of us here. In sacrament meeting, they asked me to stand and theyintroduced me. Wasn't expecting that one!! Everyone came up and welcomed me after, all so lovingly and such! Cute story: we sat by a recent convert and her little sister. She's about 7. All throughout sacrament this little girl was secretly watching me and doing everything I was doing. I would fold my arms and cross my legs. A few moments later, she would too. I would reposition myself and clasp my hands. She would do it too. It was so cute I was tryin not to giggle! Haha :) Later, we had dinner with the bishop, his name is bishop Scott. Sweetest man ever! There are such good people here in Bristow. We went finding the rest of the night. Our area is all in the boonies and the sticks! Where there are huge lots and million dollar mansions. I have no idea how expensive they are, but they look super nice. Way too nice! We got rejected all night long haha. A door slammed in our face, almost eaten by dogs, a fellow who wanted nothing to do with Mormons but would love to give us some discussions on Christianity, and another man who didn't want to give us a referral because he wants us to "work for our money." Haha Welp we don't work for money sir! Haha! It was an adventure that's for sure. On the bright side, this place is beautiful and the people weren't cruel, they were decent! :) plus, the stars are STUNNING OUT HERE!! Man, my favorite thing is to stare up at the stars at night. You can see tons! I love Virginia. :')

The Bristow area is definitely different!! It's a harder area. But I love it :) I just love talking to people. Even when they don't want anything to do with you! You just feel so much love for them. And you try your best to share the gospel with them. You try to be bold and persistent. You try your best to testify of the love God has for them. It really is so sad when they don't want to listen, but I know that God gave us agency. I know when we choose to follow Christ, we are filled with real and true feelings of peace and joy. Everyone who has lived or will ever live on this earth, will experience difficulties and trials. I know that whatever they might be, the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ WILL help you. Not maybe, or it won't, but it WILL help you. I know that it helps us, because it's TRUE. I know that it's for everyone!! It's for all of Gods children. I know that this is the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and that Christ stands at the head. He is our Savior, Redeemer, and greatest friend. I love Him and I know for a fact He loves us. I am so grateful for this knowledge, and I know when we share it with others, it allows our own testimonies to grow. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Have a FAB WEEK!! I love you so so so much! The love is real people. I just LOVE love :)

LOVE, XOXOXO,

Sister Hymas 😘

P.S. I invite you to go share your testimony this week with someone!! Will ya do it?? :) hmm??? :) Nike says it best.... JUST DO IT. :) ✔️

P.s. We just got preached to in our own house by the mouse trap person. A nice Christian fellow, HAHAHA it was so weird, but really good! He just bore his testimony basically. All four of us were kinda just like... Uhh haha and then I was just like "AMEN BROTHA!" Amen.Haha :)

Count Your Blessings 🙌

Ello' mate! :) Happy Monday!!

We went to DC today with the Torgersens! :) Last p day of the transfer. It's so sad :( this transfer literally flew by! It's crazy! I can't believe it. This last week was FULL OF SO MANY MIRACLES! My lands! The finding fest as a mission was so amazing. We haven't found out yet if we found 300 new investigators with a baptismal invitation... But I'll let ya know next week if we reached our goal! :)

Monday was such a hoot!! We went to Target and ate lunch at Costco! Whenever I go to Costco I feel like I'm at home, it's so fun! :) sis liv said the same thing! Then we went to Aldi to grocery shop. We bought super healthy food this week. Fruits, carrots, salad... Ya know, the goods. ;) We went and emailed and I sent off a few postcards! It was a chill p day. Those are super nice to have sometimes. We went to dinner at the Robisons! Had a nice steak and sweet potatoe fry dinner :) SO GOOD!! Love those people. Rick Robison reminds me of Kyle. He has a beard and acts like him haha. Later, we helped Rita with family history!! Rita is so awesome! She is from Brazil and she served a mission in Brazil in the 80s. She is the only member in her family. She is less active now, but she wanted us to come by and help her put names in family search so they can have their ordinances done! Isn't that so cool!? We put a ton of names in! And her grandparents can have all the ordinances done now because there was enough information on them! Oh it was the happiest feeling, I was so excited!! :) family history is so cool and rewarding to do! I love it! :) Sometimes it's difficult haha Rita kept saying the funniest things. She was like, "ug I so confused!" Haha Rita also fed us dinner, a Brazilian dish. It was SO DELISH! It's called pancake, but it's like a burrito, a pancake wrap with meat inside. Super good. With strawberry salad and passion fruit juice! BEST JUICE I'VE EVER HAD. While we were eating, the power went out haha and I started laughing and I couldn't stop, I thought it was so funny. It was way fun too! There was a big storm and I just love storms, they're my favorite :) Rita whipped out her candles and we had a candlelit dinner :) for like 3 minutes then it came back on. We ran to our car and had a blast doing so! Sis liv lost her shoes on the way and I almost biffed it walking off her porch stairs, haha gotta love Virginia summer storms! :) love this place so much. Also, when we got home we discovered that Sister Livingston looks like....JB! JUSTIN BIEBER! It is the funniest thing, I'll send pics!

Tuesday was AMAZINGGG!!!! we had district meeting and I made myself a salad for lunch, healthy right? ;) Then... we went FINDIN LIKE CRAZY!! We talked with so many awesome people. None were interested but it's awesome to talk to people! We helped Kayla move into her new place!! It's super nice I'm so happy for her. We went to dinner with the Pews! Then we went FINDING!! And tracted, street contacted, offered service, talked to a ton of really different people... We were praying and praying Heavenly Father would guide us to someone who was prepared to hear the gospel. We were walking up the stairs to check on Fatimah, when we heard a noise hit one of the doors we had passed. I had the feeling to knock on it, so we did. We met a woman named Sronel. And guess what...she invited us in!! No one ever does that! Rarely!! And we had a restoration lesson right there and invited her to be baptized. She said she would read and pray about the pamphlet and message! We are going back next Tuesday!! P.S. She's a pediatric nurse and so SWEEETT! I love her so much it was a complete miracle sent from heaven. Then Fatimah got locked out of her house, unfortunately. It was sad. We tried to find people to help unlock her door but couldn'tfind any workers! I felt helpless. It was sad :(

Wednesday we served a few different members in our Ward. We cleaned some floors, and helped organize some things in a home. We had a wonderful time at Athinas! She made us a cute little snack, she is the cutest. I love her SOO MUCH! She said she was going to cry when I leave and no joke I'm going to bawl. I don't want to leave. AGH. Caleigh came out with us!! We met a man named Thomas while street contacting and he became a new investigator!! He is awesome. He met with missionaries a long time ago, and came to church a few times. Grew up baptist, but interested in learning more about the gospel.MIRACLES that God helped us find him!! OH ITS SO AWESOME!!! We then had dinner with the Torgies :) oh I LOVE THEM! They do so so much for us! I am going to miss them like crazy!! After dinner, we had Kayla's baptismal interview with president which went super well! She was so happy afterwards and president just loved her and her sweet spirit. Hesaid he wants to come to the baptism!! :) then we went and checked on peoples... And there was a lightning storm too! It was really cool, I love storms. Then it straight down poured right when we got inside our apartment. BLESSINGGGSS! :) funny story: we were driving home and I was jammin to popcorn poppin on the apricot tree, while we were stopped at a red light. This man pulls up and gave me the weirdest/trying not to bust up laughing look. Hahah it was pretty embarrassing yet super funny!

Thursday was so amazing. It was 10:37 am, and we had street contacted two people, and the third woman we contacted became a new investigator!! SOO AMAZING!! We were like: SAY WHAA?! God is SO good. We had a lesson with Michelle and talked about the restoration. I am so grateful for the knowledge of the restored gospel. It is truly a marvelous work and a wonder. Hannah Raeolina came out with us too! We had lunch, and went finding some more. We went and checked on a former investigator who no longer lived in the home anymore, because we met a lady named Keya! She just had a baby 4 weeks ago, p.s. cutest baby I have ever seen in ma' life! She is struggling to find employment, and asked us to pray for her. Anyway, she became a new investigator too!! MIRACLESS!! We had dinner with the Dartings and made our own pizzas. We had a lesson with Zac which was awesome, and we invited him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. At the end of the lesson, Zac turns to me and says, "You're always so hopeful and positive, and then I just have to bat it all down...!" Because he is so philosophical and doesn't focus on feelings. Later that night he texted us and said he was thinking about coming to church on Sunday!!! WHATTT!???? Miracles!!! After, we had a lesson with Melanie and Sister Lewis was able to come!! She said she will try to come to church soon, and she understands now the priesthood authority. She said she was going to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. It was an amazing day!! I am so humbled and grateful.

On Friday we met people from Tonesia and Cameroon!! And guess what... The Lord guided us to another new investigator!! MIRACLES!! So many miracles! I felt like we should go knock on a certain door, and we did right before dinner. A kind man named Paul opened the door. He and his family are from Cameroon. We are going back on Tuesday and he wasreally looking forward to it! He is Catholic, but he told us he didn't turn us away because we came to talk about Jesus. He said, "Jesus comes in different ways, when you need Him." He is awesome! My heart was about to burst when he was talking with us, I felt the spirit so strong. AGH! It's so amazing! I have such a testimony of setting goals. I never had one before but I do now! God can't help you reach your goals, if you don't set specific ones. And write em down!! The Lord is definitely helping us reach our goals!! We also planned, and had dinner with the Beutlers! FUNNIEST THING. Cerefin, the 6 yr old boy, loves bread. And butter. That's all he ate at dinner, we had soup and salad and such. Anyway, Sister Beautler was like, "oh, what's that on your place mat?" And he's like "oh it's butter." And plops a huge tablespoon chunk of butter right in his mouth! And chews it for awhile and swallows. It was the funniest thing hahah gotta love butter! ;) reminds me of the movie life size when she eats butter. So funny. We saw Ashley Rivera and her kids one last time before I leave :'( andgramma! We sang and helped put her dishes away. She is my favorite African gramma. I love her with my whole soul. We also saw Agartha one last time. Man I hate goodbyes!! Or see ya laters, they are all breakin my heart!! AGH. Quote of the day: "Hey! Tina! I saw that, I saw you look at me!" Sister Hales. Hahah. LOVE HER!! P.S. The Hales know about dad always yelling Tina! Hahaha so they say it all the time now. 

Friday was awesome. We helped Jackie saw a fallen tree branch in her yard, and break it into small pieces to drag and dump in the forest. We gotta see her attic and basement too!! We also had the chance to go to the TVC with Kayla!! It was so amazing! AGH we watched the families video and I almost bawled like always. That movie makes me cry every time!
The spirit was so strong too. Kayla even was touched and got a little emotional! :') she has a great time. We planned for her baptism too! Then MIRACLES: we went to check on our big friend Maurice, he wasn't home but we met his wife, Candice. Who invited us IN! And she became a new investigator!! I can't even tell you how my heart was filled with awe and astonishment, and the spirit, and love, and gratitude.. It was going to burst! And not even 10 minutes later, we went to our Ward BBQ and we saw our less active, Zac, talking to some people. HE CAME!!!! MIRACLES MIRACLES MIRACLES!! The BBQ which was a blast. We got serenaded by Nate Hales while we were eating. Haha. That kid is so funny. I just LOVE THE FORT BELVOIR WARD!! I never want to leave!! I love this place so much, I love these people, I love LOVIN!! My heart is going to break when I leave. In half. BLEH ARRG. We went finding rest of the night. It was great. We met lots of kind people. And met a few potentials! It was an amazing day. My heart is so full. So many good things. God is So good.


Church!!! Sundays are the best ever. We went to Ward council. We got asked to teach the 16 year olds last minute, (and there was like 20 of them) so we winged that lesson!  and get this: it was on MARRIAGE and family. Haha we didn't know how to teach that so we just really focused on family! Haha it was fun and turned out great. We went to Grammas to help clean her dishes. Bishop had to set off three bug bombs because gramma has roaches in her house. We helped her clean up some stuff and the dishes. We drove up to post after grammas to pick up a chocolate cake that Sister Darting so kindly made us. We pull up and the post guard was like "Here comes the church girls! WOOP WOOP!" Haha thanks kind post guard man, he's our friend. Basically all the guards know us now because we go on post so much, OR because we get pulled over, hahah. We had a lesson with our NI, Keya. She is awesome! We talked with tons of people, who are all so different! We got a ton of potentials. We had dinner with the Cardons! And then we went finding some more! We met this super energetic guy, super funny, personal trainer, really conversational. He asked if we liked sports and started talking to Sister Livingston about what teams she likes. Then he asked me and I was just like "uhh I don't really care! But I like watching!" Haha and he was like "Naa you seem more studious, like you reading 500 pages a day!" -Shareed. Haha oh, do I? He was super cool. He said if we ever run into trouble we could go get him and he would pummel some people.  That night we were bout to go home, and we talked with one last guy named Kalin. Welp we say bye, I turn around, step off the curb and roll my ankle like a champ. I almost ate it. Smacked my hand on the car next to me trying to catch myself, made a huge thud noise. A big surge of numbness ran through my ankle. Haha I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe and sister liv was trying to help yet she was laughing. It was a hot mess. Complete hot mess. It was an awesome day!

We had an absolutely amazing, miraculous week! Heavenly Father led us to 6 new investigators. He blessed us with A TON of safety! Especially when driving. Kayla is preparing for baptism. We got to go to DC with the Torgersens, the best people ever! It was a pretty amazing week and I am so so grateful. That's all I have to say about that. :) I hope you're all enjoying this beautiful day! Whatever the day has in store for you, I hope you smile and love it :) I know that despite our trials and struggles, there is always something to be grateful for. God is so good! He blesses us so much. Always remember: "Count your many blessings, see what the Lord has done" :)



XOXOXOX

Sister Hymas :)
P.S. My ankle is A-okay Ma :)

104 degrees and 100% Humidity. OH-YEAH. 😎

One, two, skip to my Lou! Hello hello! First, I cannot even believe it's halfway through August. Where does the time go?! And Sister Livingston brought it to my attention this morning that I only have 9 transfers left. I'm down to single transfers?! CRAZZYY. I remember counting down transfers till Rach got home from her mission. So weird that I'm out here now! I LOVE IT!!!

Monday was great! We switched our p day to Wednesday for the temple. So we had a lesson with Michelle, we helped her clean her home. We also did a lot of finding. We talked with lots of people! Met a way cool guy named Cornelio from Romania. He was kind. He had talked with missionaries before on several occasions in Romania and here. We gave him a Book of Mormon, Resto pamphlet, and plan of salvation pamphlet. He wants to read all of them! Although, he doesn't seem  super interested in joining. We are going back to give him a Romanian Book of Mormon,  and we will see what's up :) we also went to the mission office to pick up supplies. We helped the hermanas with a car situation. And had dinner with the Christensens! Love them!! I just love this Ward so much. Transfers are coming up too quick. I am 99% sure I'm leaving too. :'( hate it. Ha. Okay ha! FUNNY STORY: We were going to check on one of our potential investigators, his name is Maurice. He is a super big guy, in the military, works for the president basically. Anyway, we knocked a few times and we were just standing there at his doorway talking to one another. A few moments pass by. Then WABAM! He like opens the door and wasn't expecting us to be there, he was getting ready to go somewhere and he opens the door and finds us there and I have never seen a big guy like him look so frightened! HAHAH IT WAS SO FUNNY. He got pretty startled. So did I!! It scared us all! Ha he was like, "Man y'all almost got kicked!" He told us he hasn't been scared in over ten years, and two Mormon girls finally got him. HAHAHA. It was funny. Oh! We also had lunch with brother Vance at Denny's, haha that man is hilarious. He is so nice to take us out to lunch. He made us brownies too, how nice right? I love the elderly. I miss my residents at Beehive homes. :')

Tuesday oh my lands! Was miraculous. I feel like every day is miraculous in its own way :) we had zone training which was super awesome. I always get so pumped up afterwards to go preach the gospel! We have this goal as a mission to get 300 baptisms this year. We have 161 baptisms so far, but they set this new goal starting next Monday to find 300 new investigators and invite them to be baptized in the first lesson, all in one week. So I'm super pumped! It'll be awesome. Sis liv and I are gonna go find and invite like crazy! HOO-RAH! The rest of the day we went finding and checked on a lot of people. We had dinner with the sweet Maney family. We then were invited to help out with the relief society activity that night, which was about family history. It was so good!! They talked about different ways we can get into family history. They did a little skit in the beginning and we were in it. Anyway, have you guys ever heard of relative finder? Well it's super cool, it will show you what famous people you are related to! Ma, go check it out and let me know who we are related to! Okay but get THIS. Our investigator Kayla was able to come to the activity (p.s. Also we found out that she isn't moving out of our area, wahoo!! AND..... MARGO showed up!! It was super awesome! We weren't expecting it because we hadn't heard back from her, but she came and it was so great. MIRACLESS!! :) p.s. Funniest story. Sis Wilson, the one we had dinner with the other night, told us such a cute story. Her 7 year old son wanted to come say hi to us at church last Sunday, and he was going to but then apparently he was like, "hmm... No mom. They're too old for me." HAHAHA so cute and funny right?! I was laughing so hard. Oh snap, try the CTR 8 class bud ;) hahah.

Wednesday we went to the TEMPLLEEE!! It was the best thing ever. So uplifting and spiritual. So peaceful. So much HAPPINESS. :) We went with the Hermanas and my favorite, Sister Liechty!! I love her so much! She seriously feels like a mom and a BFF combined. She takes such good care of us. I love her. Gonna miss her so much when I leave! Ma, I want you to meet her! You both would be such great friends :) After the temple, Sis Liechty took us all to cafe rio which was super good. Then we came home and went grocery shopping really quick then emailed. It was a super fast p day! 

That evening was way fun, we went over to Bonas! She taught us how to make spring rolls. Look at me ma, learning how to make Cambodian food! Say WHAA?! Haha they were SO GOOD! And healthy! Mm MMM. She stuffed us too, we had just eaten cafe rio and we were like oh yeah we're getting full, and she was like NOPE! She kept them coming. Haha.  It was an amazing day!!

Thursday was SO. FUN. AND MIRACULOUS!!!! We went on exchanges with our STLs, sister Bray and sister Walton. Sis Walton came out with sister frei and were companions for awhile! Sis bray is from England!!! I love her accent oh my lands. I want to go there. Anyway, I was with her for exchanges. We did SO many things and I learned so much from her!! We talked with the most people I have talked with in one day! Each time we met someone we invited them to be baptized and gave them a Book of Mormon. She was on FIRE! She taught me so much. I just want to be so much better in so many ways! I love what we can learn from other missionaries. Anyways, we sang nearer my god to thee to a woman we just met and she loved it. We picked up garbage in someone's yard, we had lunch at El Paso which was super good! I sweat 500 gallons of sweat, I swear. It was the most I've ever sweat in my mission. But it was AMAZING!! we saw so many miracles. We had a lesson with our less active member Zac. Two members came and it was such a solid lesson. Zac hasn't prayed and refused to pray for a long time. But guess what. HE PRAYED!! Let alone in front of us!!! And it was so amazing. He was crying. The members were crying. I was choked up. I felt the spirit so strong. WOW. I LOVE THE GOSPEL!!!!

Okay but Scary story: we went to check on a man named William right before we were about to go home for the night. We pull up, they have zero light outside. It's completely dark. As we are walking up sister bray was like, "oh yes, they have really scary dogs so we have to be careful." We get to the door, their screen door was the only thing that was shut and it had rips in it. Their other door was wide open. So we knock. All of a sudden. The most terrifying barking noise I've ever heard in my life comes charging at the door! We are like holding the screen door shut, all the while this 300 lb pit bull is trying to eat us alive through the screen!! It was TERRIFYING!! This lady then ran to the door, yelling at us to run, like asap. So I start booking it and sister bray was like oh is William home?! Haha anyway, this man came and got the dog and we were able to talk with the woman. So all was well :) but it was pretty terrifying in the moment. Then I got saran wrapped to sis liv that night. OH SISTERSSS. I'll send pics. :) it was such an awesome exchange!! Loved it!!

Friday we planned and dropped off a Romanian Book of Mormon to our friend Cornelio. We invited him to be baptized and he said he wanted to read the book first. We also got to see Rita finally!! She is doing well, and we are going back to see her today to show her how to do family history! She said she has names to put in so they can have their work done in the temple! I was like WHAAA?! So so awesome. Also her dog almost attacked us. They always do haha. What is up with ferocious dogs wanting to eat us?! Idk! Then we had an awesome lesson with Melanie, Ayokos sister. We showed a video about the Book of Mormon and she said she was reading it! MIRACLES! THENNN we had a lesson with Kayla! And her good friend Jacky, who's a member, was there. We talked a lot about baptism and Jacky bore her testimony to Kayla. Well... Guess what.... Kayla is back on date for August 29th!! She is super excited!! She has come SO far. She told us she knows 100% this church is true. MAN I LOVE MISSIONS!!

Saturday we helped a lady move into the apartment above us. I was dripping sweat all day too! It was like 104 with 100% humidity. SO HOT!! We also went to jackies and watered her flowers! She has this cute little garden and she calls it the missionary garden. :) becausewe all come and take care of it with her. She fed us brownies and snacks. Then we got to see her basement. It was pretty scary, we ran down to take some laundry down there and her basement is straight scary movie status. Half the lights were off and it just looked like ascary movie could be filmed down there! And I hate it when you're the last one going up the stairs and you have to turn off the lights and run super fast... that's what happened to me. Haha. We had a lesson with Barb and Darlene and we had to drop them. They aren't interested in changing religions but they love when we come over. Sad day but all is well. Love them! 

We saw gramma, and she is still a crack up. She gave us some African clothes! When we go over, it makes her super happy. She gets so energetic and happy it's hilarious. Here was one of our conversations:"Gramma why are you laughing? "(She Giggles) Because I luhv you!"*a little while later*"Why are you yelling at me?""Because I luhv you!"HAHA. ALL IN THE NAME OF LOVE. :) we saw Kayla and had a tithing lesson with her! She is so solid. We also helped clean her kitchen. We had a quick lesson with Ben and also saw Agartha that night. We  had dinner with the Xidis fam and they were having a pot luck with other members in the Ward! Sis Xidis is a crack up. She reminds me of aunt Angie and Trisha combined. Haha it is so funny!! Feels like home :) also we got to go to a baptism! Sam Obbin got baptized by his younger brother, Josh, who just got baptized a few months ago. It was so sweet.! Also Kayla was able to come!! And she keeps talking about her baptism with everyone, she is the cutest and I just love her dearly. I love being a missionary so much. My testimony of the gospel and of my savior grows everyday. I love it here and am so grateful to be here! I love this work. It is the greatest thing I have ever had the privilege of doing.


Sunday we went to church, and had dinner with the Baileys!! Love them! Cutest family. Reminds me of home! :) they fed us Peruvian food!! See pics :) we also saw grandma again. We did some finding and met a drunk guy who said we could come back tomorrow! Haha and then unintentionally contacted a Referral named Patrick. He told me my handshake was too firm and tried to teach me to have a softer handshake. Don't worry dad, I wasn't takin it ;) we had an AMAZING LESSON with Melanie!! She's French, and Ayokos sister. We watched a restoration video by L. Tom Perry and she said that the video just makes sense!! WHAT?! It was a miracle. And she said she would think and pray about baptism!! She wants to come to church when she is off of work. This was a complete miracle, we have been working with her for a long time and she is really progressing now. It's amazing. Then we had a lesson with Kayla about the baptismal interview questions. She is another miracle! She has come SO FAR. Her testimony is amazing. She knows the gospel is true and the Savior lives. She is so excited to be baptized. She has been through awful things, and I am so excited to watch her take this step in her life. I love her like she's another one of my sisters! She is the best. I JUST LOVE THESE PEOPLE SOO MUCH! It's going to break my heart to leave them. I'm so grateful for the gospel. 

Yesterday during studies, I was reading through the restoration and Joseph Smith's first vision. I had the thought, "do I really know if the first vision is true?" As I was reading the first vision, the most peaceful and tranquil feeling came over my heart and body. I know those feelings don't just come out of nowhere. They are brought by the Holy Ghost. I know for a fact Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know he was called to be a prophet and that the gospel was restored through him. I admire his faithful dedication to serving the Lord and doing what the Lord commanded Him. Never once did he deny the vision he had. Never once did he waiver in his faith. I love where he says, "I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it." What an amazing man he was. I love the words written in the hymn Praise to the Man, especially where it says, "Millions shall know brother Joseph again." I KNOW this to be true. I know that as we go out to declare the message of the restoration to our friends, family, or complete strangers, we will have angels on our right and our left to help us. God will guide us and give us the words we should say. Let the whole world know about the Restoration of the Gospel and of the Savior. He lives!! I know that He lives.

XOXOXOX

SEESTER HYMAS :)


P.s. Fun fact: I've jammed to MO-TABs "I Believe in Christ" more times than I can count within the last few days. Okay maybe just a few times but seriously that song brings the spirit so quick and hits me like a ton of bricks! I. LOVE. THAT. SONG!!! If you're ever having a bad day, just blast it in your car. You'll either be smiling ear to ear or be bawling like a baby in no time. Both happen to me ALLS the times. You should go listen to it now. DO IT. :)