HAPPY HALLOWEEN FOLKS!! Welp we just saw the strangest thing. We are driving to our Halloween zone activity, and we just saw a guy running with super short black shorts and a red cape. Hahah Happy Halloween? Hahaha so funny.
Monday we got our hair cute, washed our car for Zone conference, bought lots of delish food (one of my favorite things about p day hahah), wrote emails and letters and had a fine dining with the Lodges! We had good ol papa johns and salad and cookies. Then we stopped by Julia's when we were supposed to have a lesson but she had to move it. Dropped off trunk or treats, then did a lot of work in the area book. Okay, our area is seriously so dark at night. It starts to get dark at 6:30-7ish. There are a gazillion trees which makes it even more eerie! It's like so scary at night. And have y'all heard about the clowns going all over the nation trying to scare people? Yeah well, we've heard from plenty of folks and I DO NOT LIKE CLOWNS! So every time its night all I think about are clowns poppin out of the forest! HM MM NO THANKS.
Tuesday was a hoot!! We had one sweet zone conference. We talked a lot about finding and talked about our 300 baptisms by the end of the year goal! We only have 69 baptisms till 300. President also said that in a few weeks, we will have passed our last year baptisms NUMBER. We are all pumped to get out and find those prepared people! The field is WHITE and READY to harvest! Then the rest of the day and evening, we helped set up for the trunk or treat and oh my lands, it was so amazing. Sister Lodge and sister brown are rockstars. The trunk or treat and carnival was so fun!! Our little ward mission group (consisting of us, sister lodge and sister brown, and brother hale) was able to pull it off. It wasn't us of course. God definitely blessed us with one fun and successful event! It was so fun. Sister B and I dressed up as Santa's helpers. I was the elf Haha. We just found stuff around the house to use! It was such a grand time.
Wednesday we went to go see a woman named Naomi, who the sisters have stopped by a few times and had lessons with her. She wasn't really progressing. But I hadn't met her yet so we decided to go! We had an AMAZING LESSON! She is so prepared you guys! Holy Macrell. Here's her lesson report: Naomi is so prepared. She doesn't even know it! We stopped by and started talking. She is religious! Has strong testimony of Jesus Christ and God. She shared with us that she tries really hard to do what's right and she seeks for truth. She wants to overcome her habits and we shared a Ether 12:27 and she said that the verse is so true! We talked about if we rely on Christ and ask for Gods help, he can help us overcome our bad habits. We shared how we believe Christ's same gospel and church is on the earth today and how God has called a prophet to lead us and learn the gospel. We taught how the priesthood is given to prophets and apostles and is on the earth today. Talked about Thomas S Monson. We shared the first vision and Naomi has had similar experiences where she has asked God questions and received answers. We testified that Jospeh Smith did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and he was called to be the next prophet. The church and gospel, and priesthood authority was restored through him. We testified of the Book of Mormon and how she can know if the message is true through the power of the Holy Ghost and if she reads and prays and desires to know if it's true. We invited her to be baptized when she feels it's true and she nodded and shake "yeah if it comes to that, all in Gods timing." We invited her to reread the restoration pamphlet and read Alma 5 about repentance. She said she listened to a preacher talk about repentance and it was really good so we invited her to read Alma 5. Invited her to pray to know if it's true. I just love her! She is seriously so amazing. A cute little Asian woman! We had lunch Then did some more finding. Our lesson with Marshall and Jess fell through so we went knocking on their neighbors doors.
One house had this cute little puppy running around their big ol yard. No one answered the door, and we were just loving the puppy and playing with him for a few minutes. We started to leave and the dog just kept following us. Even past the shock collar gate or whatever it is! We were like uh... stay dog! Haha seriously we were there for like 20 min trying to get the dog to stay. It was hilarious. I should've video taped the whole thing I was laughing so hard. Sister B chucked an acorn and ran for her life and the dog didn't fall for that! Also when I picked up the dog to take a picture it totally licked the inside of my ear BLEH haha puppy kisses. That puppy was definitely a tender mercy. I named him Poppy. :) we had dinner with the hale family and their two yr old little girl asked if our cat sassy was violent. It was so funny. Then we had a quick member present lesson with Herman! The browns came, they are for real rockstars. Love them. And Herman is just my old BFF! We are always cracking jokes with one another, he was sick so we had a quick discussion. But he is awesome and he has been reading!! MIRACLES! I fasted for him last week and the Lord totally answered my prayers. It's so amazing. I just love herman and really want him to get baptized. We tried stopping by James in the dark forest and it was straight scary. It's SO DARK AMD EERIE. bleh. All I imagine are clowns in the forest. AGH. then we saw the benders and they have a cute new kitten! Look, two baby animals in one day. TENDER MERCIES GALORE!!! Then that night I got mail from the Mia Maids of Yellow Sage and a package from sweet cam!! He sent me Ukraine chocolate and goodies! And the chocolate bar he sent is AMAZING. It literally pops in your mouth like pop rocks!! "It's a party in your mouth!" As sister B would say :)
Thursday we went and tried seeing Alverna, but her husband Rob answered instead. We have talked to him a few times, he is hilarious. He's an old big black guy. We asked him how faith has helped him in his life and he said he hopes it's helped him become a better man, husband and father. By the end of our short conversation he said he would come down and visit with us when we come to see Alverna next week. Wahoo!! Hah he's so funny, as we were walking away he yelled at us and said to go put some coats on and "be good now!" Such a good man with a good heart. Then we met Candy and her husband Mick who was working down on his chunk of land front yard. haha I had a nice conversation with him as we yelled back and forth. We were super far away from each other but that doesn't stop me! Haha nice guy. We also found some bamboo plants in someone's front yard, all amongst the oak and pine trees. Haha so different?! Kung fu fighting anybody? ;) we had sister Lodge come to a lesson we had set with our NI Wayne, but he wasn't home. His father, Charles was though! He is a kind elderly fellow who LOVES TO TALK. We talked about the gospel, plan of salvation and Book of Mormon. He wasn't one bit interested in what we had to share or what we believe but he loved to tell stories! Haha. It was fun to talk with him. I feel like he could be so solid, someday. We went dining and I felt like we should knock on a certain door. We go up, knock, a kind man named Armin answered the door. We started to introduce ourselves when out of nowhere a loud voice of a woman yelled, "Y'all from the Mormon church?!" And I said "YES! You heard of them?" Then she comes stomping around the corner to the door ferociously yelling, "Well I'm a defunked member of the Mormon church and I'm gonna keep it that way!! BA BYE!" We just stood there. I was trying not to laugh I thought it was kind of funny! hahaha. Wasn't expecting that. I haven't had that happen to me on my mission yet. Good times good times! Ate homemade pizzas and Halloween candy with the Buongiovanni family for dinner and then did some more dining. Had a rcla lesson with Destiny. It was so dark and foggy that night, so creepy!
Friday we had to head up to the mission office to get a new phone because ours was dropping calls and messages and shutting off so that was fun to be able to see all the cute senior couples! I seriously LOVE THEM. I would love workin in the mission office for a day just to hang out with them! Cutest ever. Then we planned and guess what we actually finished this time! Wahoo! We finished in less time than we usually do haha 😂 we had a super good dinner with the rodericks and they totally remind me of my family. I'm just so proud to be a HYMAS! Haha I just love you fam! Anyway, They treat each other just like we treat each other it's so funny. Sister Roderick made this super good Apple something cake.. my lands. It was heaven! We met a really sweet lady named Wanda who told us her life story and how God has blessed her with so many wonderful opportunities. She talked for a long time and we both just couldn't cut in and turn the conversation around. Once she was done, we shared parts of the restoration. While we were talking I just felt so strongly to testify of the Book of Mormon. She had said something that made it sound like she wasn't interested in reading the Book of Mormon and then the spirit just filled my whole heart and body and I opened my mouth and not gonna lie. I just PREACHED IT! The spirit was just pouring the words out of my mouth as I testified of the Book of Mormon being another testament of Christ and how we can know this message we share is true. She kind looked a little taken back and nodded yes the whole time. I told her we wanted to give her the book and she said "okay yes I've never read it before, but I will look at it." I hadn't ever felt like I've testified with such power about the Book of Mormon. At least not that powerfully. I totally know that it was ALL the spirit. It was such a cool experience. You can definitely tell when your testifying with Gods power compared to when your not. Later, we met Brandon again, when going to try and see a recent convert LeAsia, who is less active now. Brandon is her brother. Lemme tell you, it wasn't a coincidence that we felt that we should go check on LeAsia. It wasn't a coincidence we ran into Brandon twice. As we simply taught a few principle of the Restoration, I felt that Brandon was prepared to hear the gospel. I felt that God loves him so much. I was about to invite him to be baptized when of course, someone came outside and grabbed him and told him to come take care of his crying baby. He kindly said, "sorry you guys have a good night" and shut the door. My heart just felt so heavy and sorrowful after that! I pondered for a bit why I felt that way. I realized that God allowed me to see a part of the situation he is living in right now and that he is so prepared to hear the gospel even if he doesn't know it. I know God loves him and wants him back. I know He feels that way about each and every one of us. I love the gospel and know that this is Christ's restored original church on the earthy today. I know his atonement is real and we can apply the power of the atonement in our lives daily. I know He lives and deeply loves and cares for us. I know He loves Brandon and needs us to go back and help bring him home.
Saturday we went finding in the good ol amazon forest! Love that place! We knocked on this cute yellow house that had garbage dumped all over the front porch. This African American lady with half of her hair in curlers opened the door and said in distress, "sorry ladies as y'all can tell I'm in a rush! And I am so sorry for the mess, we got a raccoon round here, I call Em bandit and he is something else MMMHMM!" Hahah she was so funny, we had a discussion with her and she went on to tell us this after I invited he to be baptized, she said "Oh hunny I was a soldier." And I said "oh you were a soldier?! Thank--" (I was about to thank her for her service when she said) "IN the gospel!!" Hahah. Anyway she became a new investigator! Miracles!! Going back next Saturday! Then we met a sweet lady named Kathy, who also became a new investigator! She was real sweet. She started tearing up when she mentioned she got baptized with her oldest daughter. She said it was a sweet experience and she just started tearing up and then it made me want to cry!!... it was a miraculous morning in the amazon Virginia rainforest! We had a BLITZ in prince Williams area that afternoon where we contacted some Spanish people (always my fave), met a real interesting fellow named Floyd! Haha we knocked on his door and he opened it, smoking a cigar, and said "oh y'all going round doing your Jesus thing mhm okay yeah Praise the lord Jesus and praise Obama!" Then proceeded to go back inside haha. People are so interesting. Then God gave us a HUGE miracle. We knocked on this one door. A sweet older African American lady opened the door, she was Warm and welcoming. She said she didn't know There were sister missionaries and we started talking from there. We think she wouldn't have talked to us if we weren't sisters. Sorry Elders. ;) haha jk. Anyway long story short, we taught the whole restoration, 3 kingdoms of glory, prophets, priesthood authority, read part of 3 Nephi 11 and holy cow I've never felt the spirit so present when reading the Book of Mormon out loud to someone, and invited her to be baptized. She thought it was so interesting we showed up because she had been praying about specific things and she said that maybe God was giving her an answer when we showed up... (it always happens that way! God knows us. He knows who is prepared to hear the gospel.) So pretty much she is SO SOLID AND SO PREPARED and the CUTEST lady EVER and I am SOO JEALOUS the elders get to teach her. Not even fair haha. Then we had dinner with the Bastians again at a Thai food place. It was the first time I've ever tried squid! Ain't half bad!! Did ya gets pics from Sister Bastian? :) had a lesson with a former investigator named Julia and she is going to start reading the scriptures again and we are going back to read with her!! YAY!! :) we also had a visit with sister Benge. She is a rockstar. I cannot even express my feelings of how much God loves us. And of how incredibly GOOD He is. I can't even put it into words, but I know that He loves His children. Nephi says it best in 1 Nephi 11:17- "And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things." AMEN.
Sunday was so great. It was beautiful weather! I love taking the sacrament. It is my favorite thing. I look forward to church so much throughout the week! The Sabbath is seriously such a blessing, if we treat it the way God has commanded us to: if we keep it Holy. I love this Ward to pieces, I'm going to bawl the day I get called out of here. I had a really amazing personal study that day too. I studied a lot about faith. First I am in Alma 43, where Captain Moroni is just a straight spiritual stud and just dominates! He is so awesome. #bookofmormoncrush then I was studying in Matthew reading over all the miracles Christ performed while he was on earth. He healed, served, forgave, and loved people unconditionally. Those people were only able to be healed through their faith they had in Christ. We too can be not only healed, but uplifted, strengthened and led by the faith we have in Jesus Christ. I love the scriptures. People, they are the word of God! I know they are the word of God and that they are true. STUDY THEM DAILY. If we prayerfully STUDY them, we can find and receive answers to our questions and our testimonies of the Savior and His gospel can be strengthened. We had a wonderful dinner with the brown family and talked a lot about mowing the lawn! Have y'all ever heard of a lawn boy? I haven't, but apparently they are indestructible lawn mowers! Haha. The weather was kind of creepy too. What a perfect Halloween eve! :)
Guys, I have learned that we can be happy and positive no matter what we go through, if we rely on the Savior and strive to become more like Him and our Father in a heaven. I love the gospel! The gospel makes me so happy. There are often times throughout my mission where I just feel so grateful to be a missionary. The spirit overwhelms my heart and tears just fill my eyes because of the joy that missionary work brings! This work is truly God's work. He stands at the head and leads us daily. He wants His children back and the only way we can return to Him is through His son, Jesus Christ and by living the principles of the restored gospel and receiving those ordinances of salvation, through the priesthood authority. I am so grateful to have this opportunity to serve Him. I know this work and Gospel is true. Have a blessed week, and a happy Halloween!! :)
Love each and every one of you SO MUCH,
XOXOXOX,
Sister Hymas
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