TRANSFER WEEK......
Monday we had the great blessing of going to DC with mama lodge!! She so kindly agreed to drive us into DC and that is a nightmare lemme tell ya! Well especially for sister Lodge. It is super scary driving in DC. It was so hilarious though, she is the funniest southern lady you'll ever meet! There were many instances where she was yelling different things and hyperventilating and claiming she peed her pants a little, not gonna lie I was laughing my head off the whole time haha. We went to the American History museum and that was super fun. It's sister Bennett's fave. We ate lunch and took some pics, and then headed home, went grocery shopping, quickly wrote a few emails and then went to dinner at the sweet Croker's home! Cutest family and such great examples. Then we contacted a referral who wasn't interested, and tried to contact some less active members, and did areabook work. Then... that night after nightly planning... we waited for the phone call. The phone call before you find out about transfers the next night. We assumed and just felt that sister B would be called and assigned as a STL and would leave Bristow. Well all of a sudden we get RING RING from President. He said he needed to speak to BOTH of us and he spoke to sister B first. Well, I overheard him tell her she would TRAIN in Bristow! SO automatically I was like okay. IM OUTTA HERE! Sad day but I could sense I was leaving even if I didn't want to accept it. I love Bristow and the people here. They are amazing. Hey ya never know.. maybe I'll come back?! ;) Well then president needed to speak with me. He said "Hello Sister Hymas, I want you to serve as an STL this next transfer. You have grown into a wonderful missionary and we need to show your example to the other missionaries" or something like that. He gave me some really kind compliments that made my heart want to cry. I LOVE PRESIDENT!! So here goes nothin. I ain't got a clue of what I'm doing, but then again ya never know what you're doing on your mission. You just go with it! Haha
Tuesday we had one last district meeting with my crazy fellow missionaries. We played headbands and catch phrase. And ate crazy foods. It was so fun though!! We packed and had dinner with sister Donovan. We stopped by sister lodges and the benders. 9:00 pm came around and we found out that I was being sent to... SHENANDOAH YSA WARD!! WOOP WOOP!! Partyin with the young single adults haha I was sooo pumped! My companion is sister Hyer and is the cutest Sista! We cover the whole Stake it's a big chunk of land. It will be a grand ol time. I read a quote in the mission newsletter they send out each week and the sister who wrote this weeks article said "transfers are comin up! Elders and sisters, wherever you may go, bloom where you are planted." AMEN! So even though I'm leaving beautiful Bristow and the people I love so much, I will try to bloom in Shenandoah. "I'll go where you want me to go" :)
Wednesday we did a lot of packing and cleaning and I mowed the lawn one last time!! Sad day. It was super fun. We had a great visit with Brother Kearney and brother Hafley and sister Brown came. Brother Kearney is the one who spoke last Sunday and has had a really rough life. Anyway it was awesome and he shared part of his conversion story and bore testimony of Joseph smith and how his life was parallel to his. He was searching just like Joseph was and when the darkness came upon Joseph when he was praying, brother kearney had a dark life too... but in both lives, the light overcame the dark and God showed Himself to them. God led brother Kearney to the gospel and that light overcame all the dark in his life. I was tearing up the whole lesson, it was so good. I also really loved one thing brother Hafley said at one point, he said "The only difference between the righteous and the sinners is daily repentance." Loved that!
Thursday was a longgg day. Transfers makes you tired! Sis Lodge picked us up, we went to sis Bennett trainers meeting, went to transfers and met sister Hyer! She is cute, bubbly, hardworking, and an awesome missionary. We met our zone and did some finding! Had dinner with a recent convert named Sarah who is super awesome. We had a solid lesson with a guy named Ariel, he just GETS the gospel!! We then went to institute, and can I just say I love YSA WARDS ALREADY! We met Luis, a recent convert there because it was his first time.
Friday rocked socks. I love this area!! The people are so willing to talk with you. Sister Hyer is a rockstar missionary, teacher, companion, friend, she is hilarious and makes me laugh so hard all the time. We had PLANNING and some awesome lessons. One was a church tour with a man named Greg who we have to pass to the elders because he's old and has a family but he is so solid. I have never felt the spirit so strong. He just gets the gospel and is prepared. We invited him to be baptized dec 31st and he said he would pray about that date and read the Book of Mormon and try to come to church on Sunday! Wow. Miracles. I can't remember the other lesson or lessons that happened.... there seriously was so much that happened it was overflow on my brain and I can't remember. Struggles! Ha! But it's so good. It's so good to be busy! I LOVE IT!!!
Saturday we got to go to the temple with Sarah who is a recent convert!! It was her first time and she brought names to do and it was seriously so awesome. It was a ward temple trip too so a lot of members came! Sarah said at the end of it all "that was SO amazing!" It made me tear up watching her do the baptisms for her great grandmothers. It was such a rewarding experience! Also, cool thing happened! Members were asking me where I was from while we waited in the lobby of the temple. This girl heard and she came over and was like: "I served with some elders who were from Herriman!" And then she told me she knew Al Johnson and Logan Bingham... all these people I went to school with! Haha such a small world!! ALSOOO.. there is a member in my ward here that totally served in the Yellow Sage Ward! Remember Elder Tagg? He's blonde. Yeah he totally lives here and is in the Shenandoah Ward hahaha. So funny. We were talking and I said you look so familiar... we found out he totally served in our ward before I left on my mission. Small world!!
Sunday was great! We had ward correlation and Ward council. Then oh my lands... SUCH AN EMBARRASSING MOMENT! Brother Berrett had asked me to give the opening prayer in sacrament, okay no big deal. So sacrament comes along and he announced from the pulpit "we want to welcome sister hymas our new sister serving in the ward, and I won't ask her to stand because she will be coming up to give the opening prayer..." OKAY. WELL, I thought he said "we want to welcome sister hymas our new sister serving in the ward, and I WILL ASK HER TO STAND EVEN THOUGH SHE WILL BE GIVING THE OPENING PRAYER" hahahah. SO of course I stand up and I kinda look around and everyone looks at me like "uhh... why is she standing up" and I quickly realize I probably wasn't supposed to stand. Then sister Hyer told me what he actually said. Yeah so embarrassing. Hahah total sister hymas moment the very first Sunday in my YSA Ward. Whatevs. Then we had a munch and mingle after church! YSA wards are so fun!! Haha it's so different, but the people are such rockstars I love it.
SOO, It has been a long week! Not in a bad way, but just new everything makes for a long, tiring week. Nevertheless, I love the Shenandoah YSA Ward! I'm so grateful to be serving with sister Hyer! Everyone calls us Sister Hy-Hy haha. Or something like that. She is a rockstar missionary and I look up to her a ton. Being an STL is kinda stressful but I'm super excited and grateful to serve as one. You learn so much from the people you serve. I'm so grateful to be the Lords missionary. This has truly been the greatest 7 and half months for my life. Thanksgiving is coming up and that calls for attitude of gratitude! (You should always have one but especially now haha) I am so grateful for the gospel. It is what makes me so happy. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father, and the Holy Ghost. They only want what's best for us. I am so grateful for my amazing crazy family that is so loving and supportive and sends the funniest emails and letters to brighten my day. I'm so grateful for chocolate. It's the simple things in life right? Haha. I'm so grateful for the Atonement and the knowledge we have that even if we mess up, we can repent, and keep trying. I'm so grateful for this beautiful life God has blessed me with. We really are so blessed to live here on earth and to have all these experiences. We don't really recognize it sometimes, but everything we go through is helping us to become more like our Father in Heaven. Sometimes we just have to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Once you do, you realize what's really important: family, keeping the commandments.. etc... doing all God has asked us to do in order to return and live with Him again someday. I am so grateful for that.
I LOVE YOU ALL WITH MY WHOLE SOUL!!! Have a blessed, gratitude-filled week. Count your blessings everyday. List what you're grateful for. I promise when you do that, you will feel great joy in your life. :)
LOVEEE, XOXOXO
SISTER HYMAS :)
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| Sis. Frei! |
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| Sis. Langford |
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| One last mow |
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| My former home |
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