Wanna Hear A Joke? 😏

Knock knock. Who's there?

"THE SISTER MISSIONARIES FROM THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS!" (Ya better open up) jk :) but really. 

Hahaha. I just made that up. Good one, right? ;) HAPPY MONDAY!!

Monday was so oober fun!! Is oober a word? Haha I don't even know. We had our zone activity at the Huntsman's house which was so funny! It's always such a blast to be with the Huntsman fam. They have the most beautiful family too! Gah. It's unreal. It was raining most of the time so there wasn't the usual volleyball tournament, but we all ate good food, they had pumpkin pie (BLESSINGS) from Costco too ;) (THANK YOU SISTER HUNTSMAN!) we talked and played games, emailed, and sister Bennett and I rode their bikes! It was a fabulous p day! And it got even better from there! We had dinner with the Clark family, which literally feels like home being with them! Sister Clark is HUH-LARIOUS. She definitely reminds me of the Aunties on dads side of the family. Haha, and brother Clark is like a chef so we ate wayy good! He makes the best rolls ever. It reminded me of your good food MA ;) That night, we contacted a referral from the Lakeridge 1st sisters.... And they are SOLIDDD!! Pam, the mom became a new investigator, and her two daughters have been going to church in the Lakeridge Ward with their neighbors for 2-3 years. SAY WHATT?! The daughters love the church and young women's! They even went to girls camp. What the?! Plus, the family has a ton of LDS friends. Sis B and I kept thinking, how have missionaries not been over here?! It was a HUGE miracle guys. MAN, day after day, my testimony just grows and grows. I KNOW that God works miracles. He is always there. I am so eternally grateful for His love and blessings.

Tuesday we had district meeting! IN A FOREST. Yep. That's right. In a forest. haha It was so awesome!! And super peaceful too. We had it in one of the elders backyard forest because the elders don't have cars, and we use a ton of miles to pick them up and drive them to the church and la di da di da.... So we got permission to have it in their backyard. Which is a forest haha! SO SO FUN!! Later we called this number of our investigator, but turns out it was the number of a man who lives in Hawaii! His name was Nate and he was very nice. We tried to share the gospel and get missionaries over there but he said he wasn't very interested. Ahaha after I finished the conversation with him, Sister Orr, one of the sisters we live with, was like "you should be a receptionist!" Haha maybe I'll look into that! ;) just kidding, not for me haha. We stopped by the library to prepare for the activity Thursday night, and we had an AMAZING lesson with Kendall and Alana!! Sister Clark and her daughter were able to come and it was just so miraculous. We invited them to be baptized once they feel this message is true, and they said maybe! I sure hope so, I mean come on they've been going to church for like 2 years now and they love it! I'm telling ya... They are SO PREPARED. They were a complete miracle sent from heaven. Testimony builder: THERE ARE PREPARED PEOPLE everywhere! All over the world. In every area. We just gotta put in the effort to find them, and God takes care of the rest. :) Later we had dinner with the Franklin family and then knocked on their neighbors door. We met Bill, who has a super cool life story and a strong faith in Christ. He has such a GOOD heart!! He wasn't very interested in switching churches, but he said he had heard of the Book of Mormon, but has never had one. We happily gave him one! ;) and he was so grateful to receive it, it was so cool to see that. 

Wednesday was so great! Started out right, with morning studies! As always ;) nothing better to start out your day than by reading the Scriptures. Especially the Book of Mormon. Seriously. I. LOVE. THAT. BOOK!! Love IT!! In comp study, we were sharing what we learned in studies and I shared how I read about Ammon protecting King Lamoni's flocks and I said "okay sister. Ammon is BAE." Sister Bennett thought that was funny ahah. But it's so true! There are so many spiritual STUDS in the scriptures. I can't wait to meet them all one day! Then we had to mow the lawn. Which is seriously kind of fun! Haha living in this house is preparing me to do all these housey things when I have my own home! It's great! :) The rest of the day we saw so many miracles! We were blessed to talk with so many amazing people. We contacted Melanie, who we've been trying to meet with forever. We contacted a few referrals, people were so kind and actually talked WITH US for more than a few minutes about God. We set up two return appointments with people we hadn't had the chance to meet with yet. Had a DE-LISH dinner at the Storey's home! Which they have the cutest grandkids ever. The little two year old wanted to sit as close as she could to me when we were eating, and she just wanted to talk to me non stop haha she would keep tapping my arm with her sticky hands to try and get my attention haha CUTEST. I LOVE KIDS! They make you feel so loved :') THEN we met an awesome woman named Rita who lives across the street from our dinner appointment. She was a 72 year old crack up! She didn't look a day over 60. She wasn't interested in converting but she sure showed us great love and respect. We had a great conversation. We asked if she knew anyone who might benefit from our message about Christ and she mentioned her neighbors but they might be busy, and they were pretty religious. Then she said "but you could try! There's nothing wrong with knocking!" AMEN TO THAT RITA!! Then she said this, "If you don't knock, you don't learn. If you don't talk you never know where you're going in life." Wise woman, wise words! I love her she was so sassy and fun-loving. I seriously just love people.

Thursday sister Bennett was not feeling well so she slept the majority of the day and I finished preparations for our YW lesson and listened to Mormon messages all day! It was really peaceful and relaxing. Then we went out to dinner with Sister Cuesta! She took us to Moes. Kinda like Costa Vida! She was hilarious. She's from Columbia and she just is so funny! Then we went to young women's! The Prince William Ward asked us to conduct a "district meeting" for their young women. It was SO FUN. Oh my lands! It was a blast! We recited our purpose, sista B and I each did a training, I taught about the restoration and we did practice teaching, they even got their own name tags! Light bulb moment: It's so cool because the only thing that I remember from my setting apart blessing (I wrote down some other things from the blessing too but pretty sure I left that list at home. Nice one sister Hymas haha.) is that I would work with a lot of youth on my mission. And it's SO TRUEEE!! I have worked with a ton of youth on my mission so far, and it seriously so fun. I love teaching them. It's cool to see specific blessings come to pass..!! :) and then at the end of the activity, we had like a question and answer missionary panel where some return sister missionaries came and the girls all asked us questions. Throughout the whole time they were talking about their missions and how it was a huge blessing and it changed their lives... I was just thinking to myself: soon it's going to be ME saying "oh I remember when I was on my mission..." It's just so crazy that missions really do fly by. I can't even believe it!! Being with those young women and hearing the stories and testimonies of those RM sisters strengthened and uplifted me so much. It reminded me to live in the moment and of how grateful I am to be serving a mission and to have this sacred opportunity to be the Lords full time missionary for 18 months. Tears just welled up in my eyes and my heart burned and I just felt overwhelmed with gratitude. I seriously love my mission. I cannot explain how beautiful and wonderful it's been, every up and every down has made it the most glorious experience. It is so true that the experiences you have on your mission are to help you become the person God needs you to be. I can testify of that, in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Friday was super great! We planned and finally finished planning! Usually never happens. Then we went to go drop off invites to people about general conference women's broadcast!! We stopped by Kate's and then went to go knock on her neighbors door. The guy was super uninterested and his little dog started yapping at us. We left and the dog followed us nipping at sister Bennetts ankles! I was thinkin" get yo lil dog off my companion!" I felt super bad for her. He wasn't very nice. Reminded me of how much dad loves those dogs hahah. ;) NOT! Then we stopped by one of our investigators, Tami. Her house was super dark like all the other houses in this area. We were planning on knocking or sticking the invite on the door. Well we almost get to the porch, it's pitch black when all of a sudden we hear, "oh my goodness! Y'all scared me!" Oh my I BOUT HAD A HEART ATTACK and went ninja status. She was sitting on her porch stairs smoking. And that is why you use flash lights boys and girls. So ya don't die. Lesson learned. Haha the rest of the evening was safe no worries :) we just got barked at by a ton of dogs again. Dogs just really don't like me in this area. Whatevs.

Saturday we cleaned the Eng's home in the morning, it needed to be done! And they were coming home for the evening. It was so fun too! We played music and everything, it was just like Saturday morning chores in the Hymas home :) never thought I'd love cleaning so much! ;) ma and dad taught me well. Then we went and got.... FLU SHOTTSSS! Tis the season everyone! Get your flu shots! :) then we went finding and met the kindest people! We met a woman named Josephine who I KNOW and could feel she was prepared, even if she didn't know it. She said she would read the restoration pamphlet and let us know but.... You betcha we are going back anyway :) haha AND she gave us water!! So kind :)

We were able to go to dinner with Serena and other ladies in the Ward right before the general women's broadcast. We ate Chinese food and I DOWNED what I got haha man I was so hungry. Who knew! I sure didn't know I was super hungry. Sometimes ya just want to eat a whole feast. No big deal haha. Then.... The best part of the day. We got to watch the general women's broadcast. IT WAS SOO GOOD. MAN. and I just love President Monson! He is the cutest ever. He is looking thin, but that didn't stop him from blowing a kiss or two and waving goodbye like he's usually does. :) I know he is a prophet of God. I know the apostles and leaders of the church are called of God. I absolutely loved Pres. Uchtdorf's talk on Faith. He was so bold, but so loving. It was something I needed to hear, especially as a missionary. 

Sunday was so wonderful. Church was just amazing as usual! I love the Bristow Ward. They seriously have your back like no other. It's one big family!! They take such good care of us. We also were able to go into primary and talk about missionary work with them! We did a little practice teaching and had the kids be missionaries with us, it was awesome! Then we had lunch with the Roderick fam, FUNNIEST family ever. We ate breakfast for lunch=CLASSIC. And then we contacted a few referrals! We had member present lesson, but then the investigator dropped us. She will come around one day though :) it's a part member family. Then we tried to contact Josie, a NI, but she wasn't home. However we met her two daughters who became new investigators! We shared the plan of salvation pamphlet with them and how families are eternal and ordained of God. I think it is one of the coolest things to watch people's countenances change from when you first start talking with them compared to the end of the conversation. It's amazing what the Spirit does. He softens and changes hearts. It's miraculous. The same thing happened with Sister Cooper! Who we popped on over to, she's their neighbor who is a less active we have been trying to contact this whole transfer. Well guess what. SHE WAS HOME. THAT never happens!! It was so amazing and I know that where we needed to be at that time was in that neighborhood at those two homes. We talked with her for a few minutes because she was in the middle of a conference call. We talked about general conference and invited her to watch it and she said she had never missed one! Isn't that amazing?! I was like: Say WHAA?! So so cool :) 

We have seriously seen so many miracles this week. It makes me want to cry and just burst into song because of all the miracles we have seen! There really are wonderful things that happen each day. It's so easy to look on the downside of things and work yourself into a Negative-Nelly mess. That is exactly what Satan wants you to do. However, no matter what evil is going on in the world, and how dark it may seem in life sometimes, "there is no darkness so dense, so menacing, or so difficult that it cannot be overcome by light." -Elder Vern P. Stanfill. Light always overcomes the dark. Good always overcomes the bad. Counting your blessings and looking for miracles WILL always cheer you up. 

Dearest family and friends, I can tell you and testify to you that GOD IS GOOD. He works miracles in our daily lives. He is kind and loving. He is merciful. He is sweet. He is our Father in Heaven and He truly wants us to be happy. Because of Him and His son, we can be. 

Look for the miracles daily! They are ALWAYS there, I promise you. :)

In the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.

Xoxoxox

LOVE LOVE LOVE,

SISTA HYMAS :)

Quote of the week-

"The refiners fire is real, and qualities of character and righteousness that are forged in the furnace of affliction perfect and purify us and prepare us to meet God." -Elder Quentin L. Cook

The trials we go through are meant for us. They are preparing us to meet God again. Its kind of weird, but I am so grateful for them. :)

We had to take a serious picture. Turned out kind of scary. It looks like it should go on a scary movie cover haha.

Just a sista and her machete

"Yoo-hoo! Hi family!" - Frozen

GOOOOOD AFTERNOON FOLKS!!! It's 112% chance of rain out here in Manassas, Virginia. Fall time is just around the corner....! We got a good looking week ahead of us! There were lots of gnarly events that happened this past week, lots of laughs and tears. Most of the tears from laughing so hard. HAHA! :)

On Monday we went shopping and emailed, and lent the elders our car because they are on bikes. So we hung out at home a little bit and I cleaned the kitchen. Wrote a letter, and emails, made myself some food! Quite productive, I know! :)

Then, GET THIS. Sister Bennett and I got ROLFED. Yeah. That's right. ROLFED. Anyone ever heard of that?? Haha I hadn't either until like two weeks ago!! Serena, Jim's wife, is a Rolfer. A Rolfer is almost like a massage therapist, but not really. "They are even better" Serena says!! They work with the connective tissue in your body and helps with realignment and stuff like that. She works from home, so we walked a mile or so to her house because we had no car and it was blazing outside, not super bad but i was sweating bullets. Actually I was pretty proud of ourselves haha! Anyway, we got there and she worked on each of us for an hour or so and man. I felt like a new woman afterwards!! It felt super good! My back and neck have been tight and knotty lately so she really helped with that and gave me some tips for alignment and to help my back not be so tense. And fun fact, my right shoulder is lower than my left! Ha! Because of my side shoulder bag. So I'll be switching back and forth. Then we had dinner with the Hafley fam that night, they are stinkin fun and cute. They gave us a referral! And afterwards, we went and checked on a NI we've been trying to get ahold of. His name is Herman. He is Amazing. And so prepared!! Here's his lesson report: We were able to catch Herman!! He. Is. AWESOME. SO SO SOLID. He shared his tragic story of his daughter passing and how it's been a tough year. We shared the POS pamphlet and how we can be with our families forever. We talked about how we lived with God before coming to earth and that we came to earth to follow His plan. He said it made sense! We invited him to be baptized once he feels that it's true and that the priesthood authority has been restored and he said he would think about it. We left him with a restoration and POS pamphlet. We also talked about temples and how we can perform ordinances inside such as baptisms and sealing our families forever. He said he has seen it and it's beautiful. He also mentioned how he's read almost the whole Book of Mormon and we invited him to continue to read it. He mentioned how he has been looking for a church home to go to and he was really glad we stopped by!" Seriously I wanted to cry I was so grateful for him and the spirit that was there and just how miraculous that lesson went. I was praying and pleading God would help us know what to say and do and He was absolutely leading that lesson. I can testify of that. 


You would not even believe what happened Tuesday. It's so funny. But to begin with, we had an awesome district meeting and talked about how we can help people make and keep commitments. Elder Lucas brought his grandma's homemade cookies she sent him so that was super nice :) then we had lunch! We had a lesson with Sarah, and Sister Clark was able to come with us! Sarah was mowing the lawn so she told us to come back next Tuesday... So we said sure but we taught her a few plan of salvation principles right there anyway. Hah she said she hadn't thought about baptism because she's been so busy... SOO that was a bummer. BUT we are still workin with her. :) then we had an unplanned member lesson right down the street with a woman named Dot. Sweetest lady, lost her husband 7 years ago. We taught the plan of salvation to her right there and she agreed with a lot of what we were saying. Long story short, she is searching for truth and just doesn't realize it! Later we had dinner with Sister Donanvan who offered to come to the next lesson with Sarah!! SUWEET! The members are so amazing, I LOVE THEM! Then we had to go to urgent care for Sister Bennett's throat, no worries, nothing wrong with my leg again ;) but here's where the funny part is: on our way home, we had another run in with the cops in town. ;) AHAHA it was so funny I couldn't even handle it. Sister Bennet slammed on her brakes cuz the light turned red. There was an undercover cop right off to the side of the intersection. He got out of his car pointed at us, and pointed to pull over. His face was super stern. I was like "ya GOTTA BE KIDDIN ME," I was stressed and I wasn't even the one drivin! Haha Me and the cops lately, sheesh! Haha jk. He turned out to be super nice, she got a warning for speeding, and we were on our way. Serena came to a lesson that fell through, but we found out she wants to feed the missionaries on Thanksgiving and I SO WISH and hope and pray I will still be here! It was a fun day :)

Wednesday we had exchanges! We had a lesson before exchanges with Sister Posey and her sister who is wanting to build her faith again and come back to church! It was awesome!! Then we had lunch with our STLs, they made us lunch, they're a bunch of chefs! Seriously, they make us super good food on exchanges. I was with Sista Bray again!! :) I love HER!! She is so so funny. I am non stop laughing with her. She's the one from England! She feels like my older sister. She's like Rachael's age too, so it works out :) We had one FUNNY exchange!! To start off, Sister Bennet and I saw a car that was on fire at a gas station. Ya don't see that everyday. It was pretty scary! Then when I was with sister Bray for exchanges we did service tracting! Where ya go see if anyone needs service done! Neither one of us had done that before. It was awesome, we met a sweet lady named Teresa. We sang her a song and left her with a Book of Mormon even though she said she didn't think she'd read it. Haha That didn't stop us! We also met a kind English women named Myra, and she and Sista Bray just hit it off! They were crackin English folk jokes and I just stood there. We went to go have a lesson with one of their investigators, Kierra, but realized we were still in our service clothes... No where to change... So we changed in our car. I think that's the 4th time I've done that on my mission haha! We had dinner with the most hilarious elderly couple at an Italian pizza place. I had no idea what they were talking about the whole time, I was so lost so I just nodded and laughed. Sister Bray did the same hahaha. We went finding and right before we left to go home, we saw this lady watering her plants. In the dark nonetheless?! Turns out, she is the SWEETEST lady ever! Her name is Elizabeth. So cute and sooo CHRISTLIKE! She just beamed, she is so prepared. She told us she had a feeling she should go water her plants and so she did.. Then she met us! We talked about faith, God, temples, the Savior, eternal families.... I'm super jealous she's in the STLs area. She is amazing. Right before we went home we had to get gas, but only on one condition Sister Bray said: we have to hand out a pass along card. Pssh easy! Get out of the car, get gas, and all the meanwhile we are just chatting it up with the people in the Shell gas station! Some smiled, some gave weird looks and some were simply not interested at all haha. But we met this awesome guy from Sierra Leone and he was driving a sweet black Jaguar! Had an awesome conversation with him, then a lady and her daughter walked up to us and asked for directions. Before we all departed ways, sister bray said we should say a prayer together! WHATTA good example. So we stood in a circle. held hands. Bowed our heads. And prayed :) right there in the Shell gas station. #LivingOnAPrayeratShell Sister Bray said haha :) one of the coolest experiences ever. I love exchanges! And I love being a missionary :) 

Thursday we had interviews!! I love President Huntsman. He is so inspired. He told me very wise and uplifting things. He told me I am a strong missionary. He also helped remind me that we all have weaknesses and struggles. And that the Lord gives them to us so we maybe humble and rely on Him. We must be patient with each other and with ourselves to overcome our weakness. All the meanwhile, we should LOVE them. :) President is so wise. He also feels like a dad. Haha All the sisters just want to give him a hug! So interviews were good :) we also saw a huge brown newfoundland Ma! Oh my lands. I was gonna die it was so cute. And then that night, get this: we had a super solid and amazing lesson with Herman and two members came! It was amazing, he almost accepted the baptismal date for October 29th. He said he would think about it. He is really seeking for truth and a church home to go to! He asked how he can know which out of all these things from different churches are true. Perfect question to ask :) We shared Moroni 10:3-5... And that's all I'm going to say about that :) Haha he's going to read and pray! Pray that he will receive his answer and have the desire to be baptized. He's so close I can feel it! But after the lesson, here's the funny part. I go to get in the car and I completely roll my ankle in this random hole in the grass. I nearly fall over and Sister Bennett's face was pure worrisome! Haha then noteven a half an hour later, we are walking up to this door to knock on it and I roll the SAME ankle again and shooting numbness runs up my leg again hahah. I was like," ARE YA KIDDING ME." I am my mother's daughter. Sister Bennett was so concerned! Don't worry sista, I'm just super uncoordinated. I so WISH that we could wear go pros on our heads. That would be one funny video to watch. Hahaha.

Friday we planned all day. Planning takes so long sometimes. But it really helps the rest of the week to go better!! Then we had dinner with the Heiner family. It was so funny, one of the little 5 yr old boys was like "I get two days off of school!" And his sister said "uh no you don't Bracken..." And he's was like "yes I do, I don't go to school for TWO days!" His sister "that's the weekend." Hahaha I was laughing so hard. It was hilarious. Then they have a 2 year old who would let out a scream of pure terror whenever he saw Sister Bennett. Hahah poor Sista B!! Then we went findin the rest of the evening. Not much success, definitely a trial of my faith. But it's helping me to grow :)

Saturday we served Serena by helping her make sticky buns and rolls for a dinner she was attending that evening. We helped move some things in her house too! Funnest service ever! Then we had lunch with her and Jim and had a really good lesson with them. Jim is opening up more and elaborates on his answers. It's so cool to see his progress! I know the Lord is working on Him. I know he will get there :) I just love those people so much, they are so funny and humble and kind. We had to do some more planning and we had a solid night! We went finding and talked with a few girls. We found a door mat that said "go away." Aww, so kind! haha. Welp, that didn't stop us from knocking! It just made me knock louder hahah. We stopped by and dropped off a thank you note to a member and did lesson reports. We also contacted a super sweet and nice referral! So kind, but not really interested right now.We also made Sister Bennett's first time ever handshake! Can you believe that? She's never made a handshake. WHAAATTT. So we had to of course :) and we filmed it. No worries :) 

Sunday was just glorious! One: I curled my hair and I haven't done that in ages! So that was fun. I think I've only curled my hair 3 times on my mish. When we got to the church and got wifi I saw THE EMAIL. THE ONE I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR, FOR AGES. MY sista got engaged!?! 😭😱😍 OH I WAS SO HAPPY! I was freaking out I couldn't even handle it haha, ask Sister Bennett, she witnessed it haha. I AM SOOOO HAPPY for Rach and Eric!! Still kinda bummed I won't be there for the wedding buuut.... Whatevs. I already knew that before I left so nothin new there :) love you two love birds! Well, church was really good! Some members that don't get to come as often due to health restrictions were able to come! That was a huge miracle. In sacrament meeting, a returned sister missionary spoke and shared stories from her mission and how grateful she was for her mission. It made me have even greater gratitude for the sacred calling I have as a missionary and how much it has truly blessed my life. I cannot believe I will have been out for 6 months in a few weeks. That blows my mind! I remember the first day in the field like it was yesterday. CRAZY!! It's true that missions really do fly. I am not quite sure how that happens. Still trying to figure that one out...! Haha, but they are seriously amazing. I am changed forever because of the millions of things I've learned and the changes God has allowed me to go through in this short amount of time. God works miracles, it's true :) we also got 3 referrals from a member and were able to contact 3 referrals all in one evening! Wahoo!! :)

Week after week, the Holy Ghost reaffirms to me that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are real. They are there! I know they live and we can return to them someday. I know they love us with an infinite love. I know they are cheering us on each day. What better cheerleaders could we ever ask for? :) I love you all so stinkin much. Stay happy and keep on servin' yourhearts away! And as I like to say, "GO KILL IT OUT THERE!" Have a FAB WEEK! :)

XOXOXO

Sister Hymas :)


2 Nephi 25:26- Preach it Folks!! Share your testimonies of Christ! We all need Christ. :)


Some random pics from Sydney for the week:

"Scooby Doo"

So Sydney

Not sure about this one...

Funeral Birthday Party? 😬

FUNNIEST. THING. EVER. Happened last Monday. And throughout the whole week!! HAHA everyday is an adventure. And if it's not, you're doing something wrong. Haha jk, there is just always something new each day! :) make your own adventures, right? ;)

On Monday, we went to Aldi and at Aldi they have no grocery bags so you have to bring your own carrying bags or boxes. Well, we just grabbed one of the boxes that they use to ship stuff and we packed all our groceries in it. We were carrying it through the parking lot, it was super busy, cars everywhere, and we were halfway to our car when the bottom of the box fell out and all our groceries went all over the parking lot!! HAHAHAH it was super funny. Then a sweet member from the Lakeridge Ward comes over a few minutes later with a ton of grocery bags. Hahah what a sweetheart! It was pretty hilarious.

Then we went to a members surprise birthday party! She turned 65. Her husband asked everyone to wear black, symbolizing her leaving her youth years. Her cake was a coffin that said "here lies youth." Haha anyway, so we heard we were supposed to dress up all decked in black, and we get there and there is only two other people who were wearing black. HAHA it was so funny and embarrassing. But we rocked it. It was super fun! The party reminded me of our family parties. Felt like home :) the members here are awesome! I love them a lot. I'm super grateful for everything they do for us. They treat Us like their own daughters. THEN we had a solid night of finding, contacting, found two new potentials, and met a lady named Shelli. She wasn't interested in the gospel, but she got two new sheep dog puppies and she let us in her home to see them!! We were like: UH OKAY!! Miracles right there! :) it was a big tender mercy. Plus those puppies were huge and the cutest fluffiest things I've ever seen! Also our small and simple goal for Monday was to write your five fave things about Virginia! So here ya go...in no specific order:

1. The GORGEOUS scenery! And the RAIN.
2. The genuine, respectful, and kind people
3. Aldi (good cheap groceries)
4. The diversity! So many different kinds of people!
5. The history :)

Tuesday we had an awesome zone training! I am so blessed to serve in the Woodbridge zone. They are super awesome and we are incredibly blessed to serve in some amazing areas! We set a goal to have 108 people on date by the end of the transfer. That's 2 people on date per companionship per week!! WOOT WOOT! I was so pumped, I always get so pumped after each district, zone, any meeting! Then we cleaned out sister Tucker's fridge and baseboards in her kitchen. We were having a blast! Like lil Cinderellas ;) we went contacting and met some really kind people. None were interested but all were very respectful and supportive! Huge tender mercy right there. Then we had dinner with the SWEETEST family, the Crokers. They have 6 kids and she is like a super mom. They are all homeschooled and so well behaved! And loving too! I'm debating on whether I should homeschool my kids too! Haha no joke, it sounds awesome. Then we had an AMAZING lesson with Jim. We read 1 Nephi 1 and watched the two minute restoration video. Serena bore her testimony and got all choked up. It made me teary! Oh it was wonderful. Then we planned a time to go to the TVC for Saturday!! Jim will get to baptism one day. He will, I can feel it. He is progressing and learning and growing so much. I just love him! He is awesome. I want them to get sealed so bad 🙏😭😩

Wednesday we went finding in the morning! Worked real hard and talked to some lawn mower men! We checked on a NI named Matt. Funny story: He always has this gate between the porch stairs and his front door so you can't get to the door without stepping over the gate. Well sister Bennett and I never know if we are allowed to step over that gate or what... We always thought that was another way of saying "please do not disturb" haha. So, we did it Brazilian style. Where ya clap outside their gate? Anyone ever heard of that? So I.... CLAP CLAP CLAPPED!! In Brazil, usually they hear and come out but Matt never came out. FAIL. I just stepped over the gate and knocked on the door. Ain't nobody got time for that clapping clap.

Other funny things that happened... Ran into a bazillion spiderwebs, tracting in the Suburbs to the straight Amazon rainforest, Virginian style. We ran through the rain at the Hales. Came across a terrifying house that looked like a straight death mansion. Super scary. Didn't knock that one. Haha oh! And helped Serena sort things in her house in preparation for gifts of the heart! I got a free wooly sweater and cute skirt from her! :) actually I asked if I could have them and she was so kind to give them to me :) love her!!

We had an awesome Thursday! We helped Serena again sort things for gifts of the heart. We also fasted all day to help reach our companion, district and zone goals. Our zone does this thing where there is always one companionship fasting each day of the transfer. I love fasting. It feels really good spiritually and physically. We had an awesome lesson with a less active, Sister Posey. Sister Posey is wonderful! We talked about her family and she brought up her sister, who is a member but hasn't been active for a really long time. She lives up the street from her. The sister wants to get back into the church so she's coming over next Friday to Sister Posey's home and we're going to have a lesson together! I had a soft thought come into my head while talking with her that we should share the mountains to climb video. Turns out it was exactly what she needed to hear. The spirit was really strong throughout the whole video and conversation after. She was really touched. She told us "what are the chances you would choose that video for today. It could've been any other one, but you chose that one." We were going to share the restoration... But it turns out the Spirit had other plans :) 

Then we had sweet Brenna, a 16 year old from the Ward come out with us. We went tracting, and then for dinner.... We had the coolest dinner. We went to sister bastions for a relief society activity, which was making pizzas!!! She has a legit brick pizza oven. IT WAS SO GOOD. Just like a home Italian restaurant :) so cool!! We were talking with people saying bye and everything and I was eating a cookie. Part of the cookie fell down my shirt while were talking (super awkward!) and Brother Clark was like "can save that for later!" Hahah. I just love these people. They feel like my family, they treat us so well. And Sister Bennett and I were talking in the car on our way to a lesson about how being on a mission has taught us so much about eating healthy and taking care of ourselves... etc. which then came down to other things spiritual and such... which led me to: being on a mission has taught me how to live the way God wants me to! And I just am so grateful. I love being a missionary.

Friday was simply UH-MAZINNGG!! We planned all day, and I got to wear this super cute old skirt Serena gave me! Always a plus right? :) Then that night we had a really cool lesson with Jim and Serena. Jim opened up about his religious beliefs and what he likes and doesn't like. We read 1 Nephi 2 and talked a lot about prayer and how we can pray to know truth. We asked if he had prayed to know if what he has learned over the course of the last few years as sisters have come by and taught, if he's prayed to know if any of it is true. He said he has a few times. We invited him to pray when he has that desire to know. We also talked about hymns and singing in different churches and then we sang America the Beautiful together!! SO FUN! I loved it :) We are gonna make that a regular thing. Then after that lesson, we both had the impression to go check on a potential investigator we had met last week, named Geneva. She let us in!!! And we taught the restoration. She was quiet, content, and agreeable throughout the whole lesson. She has a strong faith and belief in God. When I recited the first vision it was hard to hold back tears. We looked each other right in the eye and I know she felt the spirit. She showed a soft grin afterwards. And I bore my testimony of how I know Joseph Smith had that vision. It was such a powerful lesson!! And guess what. SHE BECAME A NEW INVESTIGATOR!!! It was a complete miracle. I had been praying we would find a new investigator and God blessed us with one. I am so grateful!! I just wanted to sing my heart out!!

We helped out with Gifts of the heart on Saturday, which we helped fold clothes and things like that. We also got to go shopping to! Gifts of the heart is when everyone brings their stuff to the stake center they don't want anymore and then you can shop for stuff you want or need! So I got some nice ooollddd dresses haha but hey I'm on a mission so I don't really care what I wear! Haha

Later, we went to the temple visitors center with Jim and Serena!! Cutest people. I LOVE THEM. it felt like we were goin on a road trip with our grandparents!  Haha! They would occasionally yell at each other like a cute old married couple. Serena is so stinking cute, she has a hard time reading things because of her eyes. She wears glasses but she also uses a magnifying glass and her glasses to read things. It is the funniest and cutest thing ever! I tried to get a picture but never could catch one. One day one day, no worries :) the TVC is always awesome! We watched the Testaments, which Jim and Serena had ever seen. It made me bawl and Serena too. That movie is SO GOOD, I love the ending where Christ comes and helps Helam. GAH and calls him by name! I KNOW that He knows each of us by name. I know He can heal us. Jim said his favorite part of the whole day was watching the "long movie" haha. Totally made my day to hear that! They spoiled us and took us to Red Lobster afterwards. Which a miracle happened! First we got to talk with a cute couple while waiting for our food and gave them a pass along card, and then on our way out, one of the waitresses asked what church we were from. We told her and she said she was looking for a church to go to! WHAAATTT. That never happens. Like MIRACLEESS! Gave her a pamphlet and a card. But I completely spaced on grabbing her number and address.. Complete fail on my part. Plus she was in the middle of working but.... we are praying really hard that she calls us!! 😰

Sunday we had Ward Council and Serena spoke in sacrament meeting! She did so awesome, she is seriously so funny. What a cutie!! It was a wonderful sabbath day. We had dinner/lunch... "Linner" at the Bastions home! It was upper good. Rice, gravy, steak and chicken and veggies. And my fave... PUMPKIN PIE!! From... COSTCO WAHOO!! :) haha then we went finding that night. We had to drop a new investigator but guess what. Heavenly Father blessed us with two separate new investigators! And they have FAMILIES!! We are so blessed and excited to go back and teach them! It was a huge miracle to receive those new investigators. I was feeling discouraged these last few days! I was trying my best to do everything we are asked to do as missionaries, working hard and trying to be better each day... And wasn't seeing very many results or the work wasn't progressing. BUT I was supposed to learn patience. And learn to trust the Lord, because he's got it all under control. Heavenly Father also knew we were trying to do our best, and he definitely led us to those two NI. I AM SO GRATEFUL. I was so so SO happy. I couldn't even keep it inside! I love the ups and downs of missionary work. It allows us to grow and become better. "Trials allow us to become more like our Father in Heaven." It is the BEST work I have ever done. I love it so much. 

I hope your days are filled with smiles, happiness and lots of laughs. I try to do each of those things every day. The cool thing is, that when I'm trying my best to follow the Savior, those three things come naturally. I love this gospel and I know it's true. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!

I send my love all the way from Northern Virginia :)

XOXOXOXOXXOOOOXXXOXO

Sister Hymas :)

Servin' in the Sticks and Sunsets Galore! 😎🌞

'Ello mates! :) Happy Labor Day!! I hope you all enjoyed this beautiful day off from school and work!! :) We had a super busy p day today... And a few super embarrassing/funny things happened.... I'll tell ya bout it next time! :)

Monday was super fun!! We hung out with the Woodbridge 2nd sisters. Even though they live with us, it was still fun. :) We went grocery shopping, and went to Panera for lunch! We emailed and watched the Testaments on our nice complimentary tv here in this beautiful home! It was just like watching a movie at home :) Then we went finding/checked on people. We had a lesson with one of our investigators named Jim. He doesn't really know he's an investigator though. haha His wife is a member, he's about 70 years old. Super cute old man. We talked about the Holy Ghost with him. He is slowly progressing Sister Bennett says!! We met a nice gent who was willing to listen and talk for a few minutes, I really appreciate and am so grateful for kind people. I really love it here in Bristow! It's hard, different, but such a big blessing. There are really good people here.

Tuesday was really awesome. HAPPY 5 MONTHS TO MEEE!! Wow. We had our first district meeting! Well my first in Bristow. Super fun. We set some awesome goals! And I'm so pumped. Right after that we had the most amazing lesson with a NI named Sarah. Neither of us really knew her, but we went and found out she read the Book of Mormon in a month, she already agreed with it, we taught the restoration, and invited her to baptism!! She said she needs to work through some things first. She is so GOLDEN! It was the most amazing lesson! God is SO GOOD!!! He has prepared her, and led us to her. (Sarah's Lesson report: The lesson with Sarah was AMAZINGG!! She is so prepared. She shared with us that she had read the whole Book of Mormon! And she agreed with it. We invited her to pray about it to know if it's true. We then shared the message of the restoration with her and invited her to be baptized and she said she would! But she expressed that she had her own ideas of baptism: that you get baptized towards the end of your life so you can be washed clean before you die. We shared with her Alma 7:14-15 and she said she might be wrong about her idea of baptism. We invited her to be baptized on September 23rd and she got kinda choked up and told us that date had significance to her. She said she needed to work out some things first, but she thinks it was a sign that we asked her to be baptized on September 23rd. She said she would ponder and pray about the things we shared with her. She said she won't be able to make it to church because she will be out of town. We left her with POS pamphlet to read.) Then we had lunch, went and talked with amazing people all day long, received a member referral, met a few new potential investigators, witnessed miracles after miracles. It was an awesome day. Miraculous day! I loved it so much!! Man I just LOVE being a missionary. Oh p.s. We had tim tam slams at district meeting!! Say WHAA?! Just like you Rach! ;) Except in DC not London :)

Wednesday we did a ton of service! It was awesome. First, we mowed our lawn! Technically, it's the Eng's lawn, and their lawn is HUMONGOUS. AND hilly. Also, it was the first time I've ever mowed a lawn!! Ha! And I loved it! It was so fun! We only mowed part of it and the other sisters did the rest. Then we helped clean a recent converts house because she's moving to Maine. We scrubbed one of her bathrooms for like 2 hours and made it super sparkly clean! I scrubbed the shower the whole time, in between the grout and tiles, etc. I was super tired afterward! Then we vacuumed her basement. I was beat that day! It felt good. I love manual labor. Haha Then we had dinner with the Pacheco fam. They are the cutest little Spanish family from El Salvador!! And she's about to have a baby in October! We went and checked on potentials the rest of the night, contacted some people we've been trying to for awhile, saw the cutest kitty ever, (seriously it was a pretty cat) and received two refferals! WOOP WOOP! It was an awesome day. Very productive and many miracles :) I love Heavenly Father. I know I'm His daughter. And I LOVE Sister Bennett! She is a crack up.

Thursday was JUST WONDERFUL!! It was such an eventful, productive day. We are doing this super cool thing in the Bristow Ward, the  sisters started a few transfers ago, it's called "Catch the Wave." It's basically this whole thing to get the members in the Ward more involved and proactive about doing member missionary work. Because "every member a missionary" right?! So it's been super awesome and we planned for some of those things Thursday morning. Then we went and saw sweet Sister Wilson! She is an elderly woman, who is the cutest most sweetest lady you'll ever meet. She is a convert of 5 years. She reminds me of my resident back home :') She can't come to church because of health issues, but we're going to visit her weekly :) I LOVE IT! We shared the message of the restoration video with her. I love that two minute video. It never gets old. It gets me every time when L Tom recites the first vision! I love it so much. I know it's true. I know it happened. AGH I love it! We helped Sister Lodge with some Ward mission things, and this Ward is so involved in the work it's amazing, I love these people. They are so serviceful and kind. Very Christlike. They are such good examples to me! Then we had dinner with the Beefelt fam bam, and we helped cook dinner! It was super fun! I felt like a chef!

Then we had an awesome lesson with our investigator Jim. His wife is Serina and she's a member. And he is slowly coming around! :) We read the intro to the BoM and the testimonies of the witnesses and Joseph Smith. I could tell he was truly thinking about it as we were reading. Man it was such a good lesson. I love reading the scriptures with people it really helps me learn. And then she let us shop for vegetables in her kitchen!! They have a ton!! They are the cutest!! Oh and Heavenly Father led us to two potentials! One named Philip from the Philippines, and Geneva the woman walking her dog. Both in front of Jim's home :) COMPLETE MIRACLES SENT FROM ABOVE!

Friday we helped Serina do some organizing and sorting and moving things for the gifts of the heart activity. We planned all day! Had a super good dinner with the Kelly fam. Bacon covered steak. Ohh yeah. :) Then we made a small and simple video for our Ward! We're going to make them every few weeks to help the Ward be involved in missionary work and keep the whole catch the wave thing goin. Then we saw Sister O'haras daughter, Destiny, and Sister Benge, to RCLAs. LOVE EM!!! Then we came home :) it was an awesome day, I love being a missionary.

Saturday we had to get our oil changed in our car, so that was fun! I also felt really sick that day too. I had like a stomach bug or something. It's been going on the last few days. We had to finish planning, and then we went out and contacted a few people. Sister Bennett and I had a really sweet bonding experience too that made us both cry! I just love her guts. She has so much inner strength. I look up to her a lot.

Sunday!! OH SUNDAY. I like cried on every testimony that was borne. Or however you say it? Haha. My heart was so joyful I just wanted to burst at the seams! Especially when we drove out to dinner... which was out in Nokesville. AKA THE BOONIES. THE STICKS. MY FAVVVEE!! It was literally like living straight down in the south. I'll send pics I LOVED IT SO MUCH. I will move there. I felt like I was home. Haha Then we went findin! We met a kind elderly man named Corbin. I love the elderly!!We stopped at the church to sync our iPads and went to the bathroom. We found out the men didn't take out the garbage.. The diaper garbage.. So it smelled super bad. SOO I took out the garbage. Haha it was an awesome sabbath day!! I love fasting! I feel so good when doing so. I just love the gospel.

I really am just so grateful for my Savior. My studies lately end up focusing on the Atonement. The more I study about Him, the more I come to understand that He really did suffer for us. He really did give his life. He so humbly and willingly obeyed the Fathers will, even when He experienced the most excruciating pain. Each day that passes, I ponder about Him. My love for Him grows. I know He lives. I know more than anything, that His love is real. Because of Him, I am so incredibly happy.
God loves YOU so much. GO SHARE THE LOVE!!! :)

SO MUCH LOVE ❤️❤️❤️

SISTER HYMAS :)