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 :)