This place just feels like home. :)

Man I love Ft Belvoir. I've missed this place!! Its been a grand reunion. Today, we went to Ross and tried on African dresses. Never would I find African dresses in any Ross except here haha ya don't find that in Utah! We also went to Aldi... man I missed that place too! Cheap yet super good groceries. Makes my bank account happy! ;) 

Transfers was bittersweet. I will miss Dulles and all the amazing people I met there. They will forever be my YSA buds. But it has been one HOOT back in the Fort! Reuniting with so many members and even investigators has been a huge tender mercy. I feel like I'm back home. Im so grateful to be here! Sister Millward is AWESOME! I served with her in my last zone, and now we are companions! She is so charitable and loving. She made me a delish breakfast my first morning here! She so kindly rubs out the huge knots in my back. She is hilarious and we are constantly laughing. She is such a great friend. She is from Meridian Idaho! She goes home in 2 transfers with Sister Hyer.

I have forgotten how amazing the people are here and how much diversity there is! I have missed that! A few days ago we met a guy named Craig. Craig was super cool. He was a drug dealer and went to prison for 22 years, then found Christ and turned his life around. I am constantly humbled by the people we meet each day. They come from all walks of life, yet God loves us all the same. I'm so grateful to be reminded of that daily.

The women's general broadcast was so good! We took our investigator Janice. Sister Liechty (wow I MISSED HER!) took us to the broadcast at the stake center! Janice is awesome and hilarious. At the end of the broadcast, CHANTE came up to me! Chante was someone me and Sis Lang taught. She isn't baptized (yet) but hopefully soon she will be :) She is going through some things but I have full hope and confidence that she will choose to be baptized soon. It was so good to see her! I just wanted to cry.

WOW, I went to the "Enduring to the End" meeting this week. It's the meeting you go to when you have less than 6 months left. Crazy. Basically the hope is that it pumps you up for the rest of your mission, and makes you want to finish strong. Well at least I felt that way! I want to give my all each day. I know time flies and time is short and I don't want to look back with any regrets. I've set a goal to try to center my thoughts on Christ and His work and not get distracted with things going on after the mission and such. 

I know that this is God's work. I know He lives. I know Jesus is His Son and loves us infinitely. I know we are God's children. He knows us. As we live the gospel, repent, and strive to follow the Savior, we become more like Him. We change. We are able to see others how God sees them. That is something I cherish and love so much about my mission; its truly allowed me to do that. Its such a beautiful thing.

It has been so cool to be back in this area. I have often reflected on how much progress I've made as an individual as I have gone throughout my mission. Sometimes I can't tell if I have changed at all. But being in this area, where I first started almost a year ago, has helped me see how much I truly have grown. It has been quite the blessing and an answer to a question that I never even prayed about. I am just so grateful to be the Lord's missionary. This work is true. I love it so much.

Happy General Conference weekend! 

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! :)

xoxoxo,
Sister Hymas

Transfers: Y'all Aren't Gonna Believe This...! 😱

Wow. It's been a roller coaster of a week!! But I'm alive and well :) and loving every moment of this mission. I'm so grateful to be a missionary. Seriously, so grateful.

Funniest story ever: we pulled into the church parking lot one day, and was there for a few minutes when all of a sudden, a fellow pulled up with his dad and got out of the car. He started taking pictures of the chapel. We were like: "uhh... what's going on?" Ya don't see that every day. So we got out and started talking to him! "Hi!! We are the missionaries!!" He said "you are the missionries? Is this your chapel? I love it! It's magnificent!!" Raj lives across the street from the chapel and just thought it was so amazing! We kept talking and turns out he came back from Salt Lake City a few weeks ago and when we told him we were from there... oh my lands it was so great he was like "YOU ARE FROM THERE?! Ohh I LOVE Salt Lake City! I love it! What a place- whatta place!" Hahaha and then his dad came out of the car and started talking to us and as we were talking Raj went back and started taking pictures of the church. His dad was like "he's very good at photography." Next thing I know, Raj is snapping pictures of ME and Sister Moore and then just ME and I was like uhh what's going on and THEN he started snap chat videoing us hahah I just waved it washilarious and I had no idea what was happening. Meeting Raj was quite the hoot. He was quite the character! Plus, he agreed to a church tour AND the missionaries made it onto snapchat! Way to use social media right?! ;)

Miracle story! I don't remember if I wrote home about this but... when I was in Bristow, Sister Bennett and I street contacted a lady named Darlene, who turned out to be a less active member whose records hadn't been moved into the ward yet! We also met her non member husband, LG, who was so kind and awesome. We tried to work with Darlene but they were really busy. Well, a few weeks ago, I found out that her husband LG, was getting baptized!! I reared up so hard core. My heart was just so happy and I was so grateful for the opportunity I had to meet them! There were times in Bristow where I felt like I didn't do much to contribute; I didn't see many fruits of our labors. BUT DON'T LET THAT FOOL YOU. That's Satan. Sometimes, we don't see the fruits of our labors till we pass on from this life. It was quite the tender mercy to have heard about that. God does use us as instruments in His hands to do His work- even if we don't realize it in the moment. Happy to say that LG got baptized on Saturday. (At least that I know of)

We got to visit Nina this week!! :) Nina is the woman me and sister Moore found the fist day we were together. She is a miracle! She is still working towards baptism in April. We got to meet her two new babies! They are adorable and it took every ounce of energy in me notto grab them and hold them. The struggle is real. Haha. I love Nina SO MUCH. I love these people I meet on my mission! They are amazing and I am in awe by each of them.

So here's some news... we found out about transfers on Saturday night. Sister Moore and I didn't think anything of it because I hadn't felt nervous or any feelings like I was leaving or anything. Well... we were in the church bathroom when transfer doctrine came out. And I didn't see my picture under DULLES YSA next to Sister Moore. I quickly scrolled down scanning the pictures till I found mine... I let out a scream (oops) in the church bathroom when I found my picture and name under the ward: FORT BELVOIR. SAY WHATTT!!! I'm going back to the Fort! Where I was trained! Except Fort Belvoir is back to a sister trained leader area so I will still be STL! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I am PUMPED!! I literally arrived there last year in April. Almost a year ago!! I'M GOING BACK. I was so in shock and still am! I have loved serving in the Dulles YSA Ward. I love all these people so so much. They have taught me loads of things that I couldn't be more grateful for. I have grown much serving here and I am humbled by the opportunity I had to meet such Christlike individuals who have taught me what it means to be charitable and loving. I love these people. They will forever be my buds. I've loved serving with sis Moore. She is a sweetheart. She is so awesome and a rockstar and I'm so grateful she's here, God has worked miracles through her here already and I'm looking forward to seeing what else happens. :) 

Now going back to the Fort will be quite the adventure and I will let ya know how it goes next Monday! :) my comp is Sister Millward! She rocks I love her. Yesterday was bittersweet saying bye to everyone. Tears came to my eyes and sadness in my heart. Kennedy was not very happy but that's okay because I will see her in Utah when she serves on temple square. She doesn't have her call yet but I'm pretty sure she's going there, I can feel it! Haha yesterday was also the NARMF! And Johnny, recent convert in the ward, spoke at it. He rocked it. Go Johnny. He's been a hoot to teach and be around. A big group from the ward came out to support! I love all these members so much.

Carlos took us to lunch today at tropical smoothie for one last hoorah. Carlos is doing well!!. He is studying, praying, teaching and preaching. I'm so grateful for the chance I had to see him grow and progress from not believing in Joseph Smith to gaining a testimony of him and being baptized, to receiving the priesthood and going to the temple, to passing the sacrament and getting a calling... it makes me so grateful and happy for him. :') it makes me proud. Gotta love Carlos. He rocks. I'm so grateful for his humble example and love for God and Jesus Christ. It has truly strengthened me. 

We got to go out with Holly to Panera today for a treat!! She will get to meet with the sisters soon too! :) What a miracle! What a miracle she is too. Holly literally is so prepared. She is counting down the days and months till July 22nd. She is an angel and has such passion for the gospel. I want to be BFFs with her forever she rocks! I'm looking forward to coming back for her baptism :) 

I love this gospel. I've learned especially this week what it means to truly have love and charity for someone. I know God desires us to love one another. He commands us to love one another. I know by praying for charity and love, and for the strength to act on that, that we will be able to lift and strengthen each other. We all need a little love in our lives. We all need God's love. So share that love with each other. :)

I love you all so much. Thank you millions for your constant prayers and support. I truly do feel it everyday. HERE I COME FORT B!

Xoxox,Sister Hymas :)

You are a Child of God. :)

Hey y'all!! :)

Last p day we went to Hamcats area and had a picnic adventure! They live on a farm so we pet the horses too. :)  it would be fun to live on a farm for a week and see what it's like. That night we street contacted this guy named Rock. And he invited us into his girlfriend's apartment immediately and we had a restoration lesson! It was amazing! He was so sincere and open minded. His girlfriend wasn't really about it but she was kind. He accepted the invite to be baptized if he felt it was true. It was so cool. Such a miracle! And at the end he offered to pray. So there we were. All sitting around his table holding hands. And one of the lines he said just really touched my heart. He said, "...please bless them throughout the rest of their lives until the day You call them home Father." I was really touched. We passed him to another set of sisters (life of a YSA missionary haha) but it was quite the blessing to meet him!

Natasha

Holly is doing good, but we have to take a break teaching her because her mom wanted her too. She is still so strong and just tells us "we just have to keep on praying and everything will be okay." AWWW MY HEART. I LOVE HER!! We had exchanges with the Leesburg sistas on Tuesday!! I was with Sister Trembath. She rocks. One, she sings like an angel and I made her sing for me a lot. Two, she is the happiest missionary you will ever meet and I am so grateful for her example. We had a blast! We went and visited Natasha, the woman from Croatia. LOVE HER. She is an angel. The Leesburg sisters will be teaching her. That night, we had to pick up dinner. It was breakfast from the Brassaninins! Oh yeah. We didn't have the keys to the other so we went to the church and used the syrup in the fridge. Haha see pic. 

Church Pancakes

We had zone Training and it was all about believing! Because all things are possible to those that believe :) "Believe in God, believe that He is and created all things...". "Be not afraid, only believe" Mark 5:36. The zone leaders sang an African rap it was cool. Coolerthan our training haha. That night we met this guy named Jared. Jared was quite the character. He's a salesman. We talked about the Book of Mormon and repentance. At the end he told us that we did a really great job at "selling" the product and so he would read it. Wow I had never gotten that compliment before so that was cool! Haha then Sunday night was when we were supposed to meet with him again. So we drove all the way out to his house. Kennedy came too. She had gotten there before us and the house looked pretty dark with only a few lights on. It was a HUGE beautiful house too! She called us and was like "guys this is kinda creepy are you almost here?!" When we got there both me and sis Moore felt kind of weird and nervous. We got out of the car and knocked on the door. No one answered. We hesitated to ring the door bell but then did anyway. No one answered... and usually I'm all about knocking 3 times until we leave but we just felt weird so we ran outta there! Who knows what would've happened, all I know is that I am SO GRATEFUL for the gift of the Holy Ghost and for Him warning us.

We had interviews this week! I love president. He is amazing. We had a good chat and he told me I might stay another transfer... but shh who knows it's not set in stone. Ya never know with President! ;) I always leave talking to President feeling so much better about myself, the work, life in general! Haha. He just makes ya happy. I am grateful to serve under his direction. We tracted into a lady named Michelle. She was A MIRACLE!! She had driven by the church multiple times and had just started thinking bout the need to get out more, then we knocked on her door. She kept telling us "this is good. This was supposed to happen... this was supposed to happen!" I was amazed. I sure know it was supposed tohappen! She is amazing!! We are having church tour with her soon. God truly does lead you to the prepared individuals. He shows me again and again that this is His work. Not mine. And He does things in His own timing.

Waffle Balls

I discovered a new treat to make this week! Hahah. You take a cake pop maker (because who doesn't have one of those?! Haha WE DO! The things you find in missionary apartments.) and make pancake mix.... and BOOM VOILA. I called them waffle balls. They were super good. See pic. We had a double blitz on Saturday!! We were in hamcat and me and sister Woolston discovered a house that looked like it was from pride and prejudice. SO COOL. Of course I had to pose in front of it. Also, me and sis Jackman blitzed in the nighttime and froze but kind people let us in for a few min here and there to offer water. This one man, Subhan, from Pakistan I think? He was so sweet and talked with us about prayer. He wanted to feed us food too he was so kind. I love people.

Last night we met a guy who had just walked out onto his porch. His name is Wilson. He was about to start smoking I guess, when we walked up. Later on he told us that he has been praying to God to quit smoking but he hasn't been able to! And then we walked up to him! I said "well I don't think it was a coincidence!" And he said "maybe not!" Haha he was a hoot. I offered to throw away his cigar and he said he would throw it away haha. We left him with a few pamphlets including the word of wisdom. There He goes again, God leading us to those that need Him. So amazed.


Carlos had a gem of a quote this week!! He said in our lesson "when you don't read the scriptures, you feel like a part of the world. When you do read them, you feel like a child of God." AMEN CARLOS AMEN. So remember that. Read the scripture daily. It will remind you of who you really are, A child of God. :)

Well I love you all so much. I can't even tell ya enough. Thank you for your constant prayers and love and encouragement. My heart is filled every time I read your letters, emails. I feel your prayers. Have a blessed and beautiful week! VA is about to get hit with a bad snow storm so I guess spring wasn't here permanently. :/ NEVERTHELESS THE GOSPEL IS TRUE AND I LOVE YOU!

Love,XoxoxoSister Hymas :)

Horse Whisperer, Underwear Guy, and Just BELIEVE.

We went on an adventure with the Ham cat sisters today!! We went on a picnic and they live on a farm so we went and pet their horses!! And this one horse just kept lovin up on me haha. I really just have a desire to live on a farm. Maybe one day who knows. Haha "old Sista Sydney had a farm, ee I ee I OO!" Haha.

So one morning, we were exercising in our apartment. I must've been getting into it real good because next thing I know, my head hits the low dining room hanging light (which BTW who puts a light that low?) and the glass shell falls out, hits the ground, and shatters everywhere. All at 6:40 am. HA. HA HAA. wow. Nice Sister Hymas.

We had exchanges with Goose Creek this week! I was with cute Sista Coon! We had a blast. Talked to so many neat people!! We ordered Dominoes pizza. MM MM GOOD. Everyone kept telling us it was going to storm super bad and it was really windy and kept saying we should go inside. Well, we just grabbed rain boots and kept working. Then... it never stormed at all. And finding in rain boots is a struggle. I don't recommend it. But such a great time! That same night when we went to drop off the sisters at their apt, me and sister Moore were driving back to our apt. And then it hit me- I DIDN'T HAVE OUR PHONE. Sister Coon had it. And they live in lock out apartments. And we had no way to contact them. So we turn around, drive all the way back to their apt. By this time, it's like 9:20. We were pacing outside their apt trying to get ahold of them using some random persons phone. Nothin was working! Then we finally said a prayer. (Which we should've done way earlier) not even kidding, within 30 seconds a resident fellow that lived there came walking across the street. Turns out he was the sisters neighbor. So he gladly opened the door for us and we were able to go get our phone. It was a long day haha.

We had MLC the next day! And it was all about believing. Mark 5:36- "be not afraid, only believe." Believing that we can reach the goals we set. That we can raise the bar as a mission. Because we believe in Jesus Christ and that this is His work, we can so achieve these goals. With God, all things are possible. It was a super good meeting. I LOVEPRESIDENT AND SISTER HUNSTMAN. They amaze me. Love em love em love em.

MIRACLE MOMENT: Sterling park elders passed us a guy named Michael. Michael walked into their church last Sunday after receiving an invite in his mail. He had friends that attended college in Utah so he was familiar with our faith. He is from China and has been here for 7 years. He is a super smart guy. We met with him Friday night and had the most perfect and amazing Restoration lesson. His Heart and mind were so open!! He was so willing to read the Book of Mormon. He understood the role of prophets and the importance of the priesthood. He understood being baptized by that authority. And he accepted a datefor March 25th. 😱 I was amazed. So amazed. My jaw dropped the whole lesson. And his prayer at the end of the lesson was so heartfelt and beautifully said. He had never prayed before, so he followed the steps in the pamphlet. Michael is literally a miracle. We are praying he will continue to progress to March 25th! Please pray for him!

We had another car fast on Saturday, where our whole mission doesn't use our cars. We walk, use members, etc... and it was freezing lemme tell ya! Haha but it was super fun and good exercise! We had a blitz with the Brambleton sisters! Me and sis Ketch had some funny experiences... we met a guy from India. He spoke zero English. And whatever language he spoke, he spoke so fast and sounded like gibberish. I had not idea what he was saying and neither did she. But he was very sweet! It's so cool to meet people from all over the world. Such a huge blessing! We knocked on a door. Dude answers door. We start teaching Restoration. He stops us and says "uh imma gonna go put some pants on!" Hahah uh what?! Well apparently what he was wearing was camouflage thermal underwear or something but they looked like pants. It was completely awkward and super hilarious and I couldn't stop laughing.

Yesterday was an amazing fast Sunday. So good. I LOVE THIS WARD!! I feel like I could be best friends with all these members even after the mission. They are so great and very missionary minded. They are fellowshipping beasts too! I also bore my testimony yesterday, and I know what you're thinking... "did ya completely sob like a baby?!" Actually, I didn't! Haha it was crazy. I talked about the Book of Mormon. I know that Book is true. It's so true. I feel closer to God and Jesus Christ as I read it and apply the principles in my life. I am so thankful I get to study each day. I have learned so much from the scriptures. The words inside are so beautiful and TRUE. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and I know that this is Christ's church on the earth today.

I am so grateful to be the Lord's missionary. I have learned so much about the gospel, people, and myself. It's crazy that in exactly 6 months, I'll be flying home. Better live and love every moment because time just keeps on going whether you want it to or not.

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! :)
XoxoxoSister Hymas