What a beautiful baptism 😭

GUYS!

I totally forgot to tell you last week.... THEO GOT BAPTIZED!!! Theo, from the Dulles ward? Remember him? Yeah he finally got baptized 😭 wow so much gratitude in my heart. The baptism was Friday and it was absolutely amazing. It was so good to see all my favorite Dulles pals again. I miss them. President Huntsman baptized him, they are pretty good friends now. Haha Theo was so happy. And when he bore his testimony and expressed his love and gratitude for his family, there were many watery eyes. Theo also asked me to sing at his baptism. #classic I haven't sang at a baptism in awhile! And yes I was terrified, and yes I didn't do my best because I was so nervous. But hey, Theo said it was good so as long as he approved it all is well! Haha good thing Sis Moore sang with me or I would've struggled hard core. We sang I Need Thee Every Hour, acapella. She harmonized with me. It was really fun :) President came up to me after and said, "that was really good singing!" Haha thanks President. Thank you, I was too embarrassed because I didn't do super great but anyway... IT WAS SUCH A MIRACULOUS BAPTISM. And I am so grateful to go see one of my best pals get baptized. Go Theo! ☺️

Okay and then guess what!!! Remember, last transfer, when Me and Sis Millward street contacted a Ukrainian man who was working on a car? And then a guy named Mark came out and started talking with us? He loves Lindsey Stirling, he had us and Caleigh Hales over for hot dogs and burgers....? Yeah. Mark is GETTING BAPTIZED this Tuesday! MIRACLES UPON MIRACLES!! My heart burst with joy, Heavenly Father is so good. All the time. I got to see both Mark and Theo yesterday evening at the NARMF, which we went to with Debs! Sis Millward told me all about Mark's progression in the gospel. It's truly so beautiful and so amazing to see these people accept and live the gospel. I have felt no greater joy than that! The prophets express it best in the scriptures. They are so true talking about that. Mark came up to me and said "your coming on Tuesday right?!" Haha YOU BET I AM! I wouldn't miss that for the world. Plus, he asked me to say the opening prayer so I can't miss it :) Then I went up to Theo and said "YOUR A MORMON NOW?! How does it feel?!" Haha he was like: "I know it's so strange dude!" Or something like that. Haha Oh Man. I love all these people!

The rest of the week was a blur! We had a meeting for the trainees and trainers called Return and Report. That was really fun to see President and Sister Huntsman. I love them. Sis Gewondjan is awesome. I love serving with her. She has the BEST LAUGH EVER. We made it past transfers!! The new transfer starts tomorrow, and we will be staying together in McLean 2. We are happy to be here. I'm ready to take on these next 6 weeks and work and serve the best I can. Time is going by so quick it's kinda crazy. We experienced another huge miracle this week. We were walking to go drop off a Book of Mormon to this guy we met the day before. I felt prompted to knock on this certain door so we did. A woman yelled through the door, "who is it?!" Us: "the sister missionaries!" She opened up, we did our little introduction of who we are. Then I asked her, "what role has God played in your life?" She expressed something along the lines of "oh He is everything, everything..!... God is so good. You guys came at the perfect time.." Then she started to cry. She covered her eyes and I gave her a hug. I told her we felt prompted to knock on this door. She was so surprised that we came to her. She invited us in. She told us about what she was going through and how she was about to watch a movie about the Grace of God, and then we knocked on the door. (Like wow, God totally leads us day by day. He uses us as instruments in His hands to do His work if we follow the promptings of the Spirit. It's so incredible!) and we shared the message of the restoration. She has such strong faith in Christ. Her name is Denise and she is such a miracle.

We met a man from India this week who we talked to about the temples. He asked if he could go inside and we explained how it works... right before we left he said, "yes I would like to visit here one day and maybe Jesus will give me permission to go inside!" Hahaha or something like that. He was a cool dude. I said "yeah, get baptized then ya can!" I love people. Everyone is so different, it's awesome. Honestly I could go on and on about the experiences I have daily, but never would I ever have enough time to share all of them. It is the most incredible blessing to be the Lord's missionary. My heart is filled with joy doing His work. I know He lives. I know He loves us. I know the blessings of the restored gospel made possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ are for all who would accept it. I love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I have been shown time and time again of the love and mercy they have for us. They truly desire us to be so happy. As I look for the miracles and blessings in each day, I can see God's hand in my life. I know this gospel is true. I wish every one would accept it.

Xoxoxo,

Sister Hymas

3 Nephi 5:13

Today has been a roller coaster.

My ipad made me change my password, and in the mission we are all supposed to have the same passcode to get into our ipads. You have to change the passcode multiple times before you can use the same password again. Well, that's what I was doing and then we had to plan and study, so after we were done with that I went back to go change my passcode again and guess what.

I forgot the code. 

UGH.

I COULDN'T REMEMBER IT FOR THE LIFE OF ME. That's my own fault.

The ipad would only let you guess the password 9 times. After that, it would shut down and restart to factory settings. Which means, it would erase EVERYTHING off your ipad. I tried every code I could remember and none of them worked. SO... when my ipad restarted, everything was erased. To say I was frustrated would be an understatement.  so there will be no pics this week because I lost the pictures from this week and everything else on my ipad. haha I'm not bitter anymore. HA Im so grateful for my ipad and that most of my pics are on my USB! WHEW thank goodness.

But anyway...

I also got my hair cut again! haha I wanted it shorter. and now its definitely short! Mom, I literally look like you. The kind Vietnamese man named Michael cut my hair basically just like yours! After he was finished he said in his accent, "Nice and short!" as he flipped my hair. haha he was super nice! So I will send a picture next week. or maybe today. we will see. 

This week flew by! We had exchanges with our hermana STLs and I was with Hermana Garcia. She is straight hilarious. We ate at this cute little Hispanic restaurant. We had Saltenas, which were SO DELISH! I love Spanish food. Haha every time I try to speak Spanish i sound like such a gringa. Oh well. Also, this sweet Spanish lady gave us Dunkin Donuts after we contacted her. Like who does that? She was so nice! I wish I could speak more Spanish. haha.

MIRACLE! SO we had dropped Fred last week because we hadn't been able to have contact with him. Saturday was car fast day, where we rely on members for rides or walk everywhere. We were walking that morning and we saw Fred's work van in one of the complexes parking lot. He had told us before the complex he lived in but we never got his address. We decided to head over there and look around. We said a prayer that Heavenly Father would guide us to one of His elect children in the area. I looked up after the prayer and felt prompted to knock on two certain doors. the first one we knocked on, we met a man named Chuhnui. He doesn't have much of a religious background and doesn't really believe in God either. AS we were talking, the Spirit was totally working on him. He stepped out and continued to talk with as we discussed how the principles found in the scriptures help us live better lives and feel peace, etc. His family members kept popping their heads out to tell him to come in for lunch, but he continued to talk with us. Long story short, he became a new investigator and we are going back this week. It was such a miracle. 

After we were done talking with Chuhnui, we went and knocked on the second door. Guess who opened the door...? FRED! he was kind of shocked to see us I think, but we had a great conversation and set up a return appointment. He is really busy with work right now, so it was hard to get in contact with him. we also got to meet this wife, who we shared a Book of Mormon with! and now we are going to teach her too. God truly does lead this work. I know it wasn't a coincidence He led us right to Fred again.

Our Turkish friend, Khor, fed us turkish/indian food one night! She texted us and said, come and make food for you! or something like that? I cant member. anyway,m we had just eaten dinner and you could say "I was gonna roll outta there!" I was super full. haha it was delicious food though! WE gave her a Turkish Book of Mormon and she was so excited like you would not believe! She was so grateful for it and that it was written in her language.

We were asked to come share our testimonies about missionary work yesterday in Deacons Quorum. I had felt prompted to share 3 Ne 5:13. I asked one of the deacons to read it. "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life."

As he read, my heart was so touched by the Spirit. My eyes burned a little bit.The Spirit really touched my heart in that moment and reminded me the sacred calling I have. I am so blessed to serve as the Lords missionary. Its such a blessing. Such a privilege. And often time i think we as missionaries take it for granted. I was reminded of the great privilege it is to be here. I am so grateful everyday to be able to share the restored gospel with people.WHAT A BLESSING. It may sound cliche, but it truly has changed my life, and I'm forever grateful for it.

Have a blessed week.

-and don't forget your pass codes to your ipads and phones. Ya don't want to experience that. Can't say I didn't warn ya. ;)

xoxox,

Sister Hymas

Hope and Humility

Alohaaa!

It is a beautiful sunny warm day here in the VA! I hope you all are enjoying your Memorial Day. We  ate a lot of brownies and watermelon today. And a lot of food in general. I am so not hungry right now haha.

We had interviews this week! I loved it as usual. President still is a rockstar. And so wise. And a crack up. I shared the scripture 2 Nephi 4:34-35 with him for the Christlike attribute "Hope" that we are all working on this transfer. We talked about how we need to always be relying and trusting in the Lord. Putting our trust in "the arm of flesh" is not okay. As I've pondered this transfer so far, I have learned the importance of putting my trust all in the Lord because He has control over all things. Whitewashing, training, having no idea what is going on... I really needed God's help. As I trusted Him and prayed and asked Him questions, He has led us and blessed us with miracles. It has truly been incredible to see. I'm just in aweeveryday at how incredibly good Heavenly Father is. We must have Hope in Him and be humble to follow His guidance.

The Ward mission leader's wife, sister Corey, dropped off all these ingredients one day to make a roast! She has done it with the elders in the past. She told us how to make it and throw it all in the crock pot and set it on low for 8 hours and VOILA! A delish roast! It was so good, wow we downed it. I think I want a crock pot. It was so easy! I'm learning how to cook more things MA, aren't you proud?! ;) 

Did I tell you all about George? George is a member referral from Brother Ayers. Brother Ayers is a convert and has a really cool story and conversion. George watched Brother Ayers completely change and become so happy. George wanted to become like that so he asked to come to church with him. Brother Ayers asked him to meet with us. And now we are here! We met with George a few times this week. George is an older guy and has the most humble heart. I have never met or seen anyone so ready to change, so willing to do anything and everything it takes to experience the joy of repentance and feeling his burdens lift. He is so meek. I have learned so much from his humble example. Because he lives out of our area, we have to pass him. He is so amazing. It was a complete miracle and blessing to have the chance to teach and meet George. We will see him again someday and have a grand ol' reunion!

The area and Ward is amazing. I love it here. I love sweet sister Gewondjan! She is so funny. She has a laugh like Dad's sisters. It cracks me up. We have a good time. Being a missionary has made me so happy. Teaching and testifying of Jesus Christ these last 14 months has truly brought me so much joy; joy that I can't really describe. I think often times it's so easy to get caught up in life, worldly things, technology, and forget to pay attention to what really matters. Being a missionary has allowed me to realize what truly matters. It's so simple. Following God, and His son, Jesus Christ, and living the gospel is what will bring us lasting peace. Eternal joy. How incredibly blessed are we to have the restored gospel. What a blessing.

Have a happy, blessed week. I know the gospel is true. And God loves YOU! :)

Xoxo,Sister Hymas

McLean Day and Brick Layin

Wow what a week!!!

It flew by so quick. We had exchanges with our STLs this week! We have Hermanas as ourSister Training Leaders so you know what that means.... I WAS AN HERMANA FOR A DAY. haha jk not really because I don't know a lick of Spanish. But I try. Haha during all the Spanish contacts and lessons I just sat there in awe watching Hermana Miller teach the gospel in Spanish. It was pretty cool to experience that! The Spanish people are so full of love. Seriously. I love em! Ive decided my line of work..... BRICK MASON. haha we got to help Brother Chandler lay bricks on his wall this week! Okay I was kidding about being a brick mason because it's hard! Especially when it's hot outside! Haha and I do not have the patience to do that. But it was a great experience, now I know how to lay bricks! :)

Our whole zone had the cool opportunity to volunteer at what's called "McLean Day" which is basically a huge fair, like Herriman Days. The missionaries were scattered about helping with different things. It was a long day, we were there from 6:30 am to 7:30 pm. PHEW we were all beat! Me and Sister Gewondjan were Survey Takers, so we got to go out among the crowd and say "take a survey about McLean Day and get a free t-shirt! Wanna a free t-shirt?! Take the survey!!...." la di da etc. haha I felt like a business woman. We didn't do too shabby either. ;) we had some cool opportunities to share what we do as missionaries with people! Plus they gave us food tickets so we got to eat for free at some super good food trucks like "Crepe Love" ... yeah it was super good.

Last night we had a cool lesson with a huge family full of girls! Me and Hermana Miller met them on exchanges. They were referred by their neighbor so we tried them and they told us that they had been reading the Book of Mormon the night before and then we knocked on their door the next day. Talk about not a coincidence!! So we taught part of the restoration to 6 sisters last night, ages ranging from 5-24, and answered many of their questions. They were all so sweet and are eager for us to come back. They seem interested yet are pretty solid in their faith, so we will see what happens! It was such a blessing and miracle to meet them. 

God is so good every day, all the time. Sometimes we are just blinded to see that. I truly do know that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. And if someone sincerely wants to know that, if they read it, one they will come to see that it testifies of Him all throughout the Book. And two, if they pray about it with real intent they will receive an answer by the power of the Holy Ghost of its truth. It confirms the testimony of the Bible. It is true. I know the gospel has been restored and that there are so many blessings available for those who live and accept it. I love it all so much and am so grateful everyday for it. I know Jesus Christ lives and loves us. Have a beautiful wonderful week. Make it the best week EVER!

Xoxox,

Sister Hymas

It's All So Beautiful To Me

I CHOPPED MY HAIR!! I cut 5 inches off. I don't look my best right now so I won't be sending a picture till next week ahah. So sorry! I loved skyping y'all yesterday! AHG I just love you so much! I'm so so so grateful families can be together forever. I love you guys
dearly.

This week seemed like it was forever, yet it flew by! We had Zone Conference, we moved out of the grungy old elders apt into a much nicer new elders apt! We like it much more. We had some amazing miracle lessons!

We had a few lessons in the Doll's home with Fred. (p.s. The Dolls are so amazing. Sister Doll is so great, she has the cutest southern accent and she loves the missionaries. She is an awesome missionary herself!) Fred is truly searching for the truth. He has many deep questions. The first lesson, we taught the restoration and the spirit was so strong. He understood that the full and only gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith. It was really cool to see him make that connection. It justclicked, it was awesome. TOTALLY the spirit. I was choked up as I recited the first vision. The spirit just filled every bit of that room. He accepted the baptismal invite if he came to know the message was true. The second lesson, we invited him to prepare to be baptizedon July 1st, and after originally saying no, then pondering and thinking over how we set goals to work towards... we testified that we felt that God would answer his prayers by then and he could have an answer before July 1st. Fred accepted July 1st as a goal and date towork towards. COMPLETE MIRACLE. My heart was filled with so much gratitude that night I can't even put it into words. Alma 26 came to my mind that night as I was thinking over all the miracles God had blessed us with. So I read it that night and verses 1-12 just completely explained everything I was feeling! It described our whitewashing experience to a T. Thank you for the perfect description Ammon. Haha :)

I know that this gospel is true. This opportunity to serve the Lord for 18 months has been the greatest adventure of my life. I have truly grown in ways I can't explain. I hope to continue to grow and become better day by day. I have learned So much about myself... I thought Iknew myself before my mission. HA yeah not really. I truly know now what the Restoration of the gospel really means and why it's so important. I know now much better what charity is and why it is so important to have. I have come to learn that we are all loved by God, no matter who we are or what faith or religion we belong to. We are all children of our Heavenly Father and He wants us to return back to Him. I am eternally grateful for the plan He has provided, to allow us to return back to Him, All made possible through the Atonement of HisSon, Jesus Christ. It's all so beautiful to me; I just love it so much.

I hope y'all enjoy the sunshine! And know how much God loves you. And SMILE! :)

Xoxox,Sister Hymas

Johnny Depp, Cindy Loo-Hoo, and Sista Gewondjan!

Okay, first, we were driving over to the leasing office and I had to buckle my seatbelt and drive at the same time so the car veered to the left a little bit. I was going like 5mph and this car was about to pass us so I hurried and turned the wheel to the right. Well when the car passed us there were two little old ladies that literally glared me down. hahahah It was kind of frightening. Second, I carved a ham today. yep first time ever. It was awesome. haha ANYWAY....

Tuesday was transfers and I met my sweet sista! Sister Gweondjan. She is the sweetest human I have ever met on the planet. I love her. She is from Cali and her last name is Armenian. I struggled for a long while trying to say it. I messed it up so many times and yet she just said "its okay sister!" She is so humble and hard working. She has such a happy and peaceful spirit and she has grown so much in just 6 days! Training is the best and I hope every missionary gets to do it.

Whitewashing has been SO FUN! You literally just have no idea what you're doing. The first few days we ran around like chickens with our heads cut off haha jk but really. It's not as scary as I thought it would be. We reached out to ward members and Debbie, who was the progressing investigator in the area book, and were able to meet several people within the first few days. OKAY... we have seen SO MANY miracles this week holy cow. I can't even tell you how many miracles we have seen. Side note: we serve in Mclean 2nd ward. Mclean is a pretty rich area. The people have been very kind and respectful. We have tracted into some pretty ginormous houses. In fact, yesterday after we visited Bishop Iverson and his family, we went to dinner then headed back to bishop's neighborhood to check on a few referrals and went tracting. We knocked on this super pretty house. This guy opened the door and legit I thought it was Johnny Depp. He was super not interested but I almost asked him if he was Johny Depp. They looked that similar. haha Later on, We knocked on another house where a woman answered and she looked like Cindy Loo Hoo. She was super sweet. I was just so in awe at how similar they both looked to those movie stars! Haha

We met the cutest couple ever this week. Mr and Mrs Samson. They are an old couple, baptist, and love God. Mr. Samson has great faith and claims everyday is a beautiful day. He told me during one of our lessons this week, as he watched me flip through the Book of Mormon to scriptures, that it was very impressive and "that takes a lot of study." Haha they are the cutest. They were such a miracle to find. Their old cute home is tucked back behind two bigger newer homes. I just love them. 

Fred, was a pass form the hermanas on the first day we got to our area. We called him and set up a time to meet. We have had a few lessons with him this last week! He is really searching for answers and has been searching for them for a long time. The members are awesome and came to his lesson and bore such powerful testimony. I just feel so blessed to have met these amazing people this week, and many more. So many things happened this week I cant even think of what happened! Haha I have just loved it so far. 

I was pretty nervous to come into an area where I had no idea where anything was, who anyone was, having no investigators except a few, not knowing the members, and then had to train on top of that.. but Heavenly Father sure showed me up. He truly took the reigns this week, and guided us as we put our trust in Him. I learned a lot about just trusting God. He is in control of all things and I have truly seen His hand so evident in my life this week. He is so good. All the time. He blesses us with miracles as we strive to do our best to follow Him. Trust in Him, He has a perfect, much greater plan and knows much more than we do.
I love you all SO MUCH! I can wait to skype next Sunday!

xoxoxo,
Sister Hymas

I'm gonna miss ya Fort Belvoir. ✌️️

You aren't gonna believe what news I received this week!! Subject line gave it away. Oops. Read on to find out ;) 

Mark came to church this Sunday!! That was super cool. He said it was different than the Catholic services he grew up going to. brother Hales was such a good friend to him and picked up and helped him at church! Mark even commented in second hour when we were all combined. There were a ton of people. GO MARK!

I went on exchanges with Sista Jensen this week! She is such a cutie. She is filled with joy I'm not even kidding. She loves everyone and the work. She has never had a bad day on her mission. She just chooses to be happy! I was amazed by her example. We rode bikes part of the exchange... and THAT was fun :) I wore a better skirt this time so it wasn't flying up all over the place like the first time I rode on bike. Did I ever tell you about that? HAHA let me know if I didn't because it was quite the experience.

We had a double dinner night this week! Wow. I was stuffed. First we ate at the Sawtelles and Rita is from Brazil. She makes GOOD food. And she makes ya eat too! Then this sweet family in our ward invited us over for dinner. They are less active and from Pakistan. They are the SWEETEST people ever. Martha, the mom, knows only a little English. She really wanted to feed us and we couldn't say no so... we got super stuffed that night haha. She made this patty stuff, and rice and dip and bread, and you get the bread and eat everything else using the bread/tortilla thing. I can't remember the names of it all but it was super good! And spicy! I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to eat such diverse foods here. I love it!

            

 

SOO.. it's been 6 weeks here in the Fort. Time for transfers! Sis Millward and I didn't know what to expect. President called Friday night and asked to speak to me. (OH MAN I SAID. Haha jk I was excited). He told me, "sister hymas, I have four sisters coming in this next transfer. As I've thought about trainers, you always came to mind. I need you to train.... but not in Fort Belvoir.... I need you to whitewash train. ...." HA at that point I zoned out on accident and was like "WHA?!" It kind of shocked me for a moment. I was like I just got here?! Haha When I found out I was coming back to Ft Belvoir last transfer I could feel that I wasn't going to stay long. I'm so humbled and grateful for this upcoming adventure! I'm STOKED!! I literally have zero idea how to train or whitewash so I can feel a plethora of lessons that Heavenly Father is going to teach me all comin my way! Saturday night we found out I'm going to McLean 2. Never been there but it should be good! For anyone who has ever whitewashed, tips would be very much appreciated. Thank you!

I've loved serving here in Fort Belvoir. It was a ginormous blessing and tender mercy to come back. It was very much needed. Being here has felt like home. And sister Millward is a complete angel and has taught me so much about loving and serving others. She is an amazing teacher and bold testifier. I love her, she is a rockstar. I'm gonna miss this place.

I truly know this is Gods work. He calls "the weak and the simple" to preach His gospel "unto the ends of the world" (D&C 1:23). As we are humble, we can be led by the Holy Ghost to know the things which we should do. God has taught me so much about humility. Jesus Christ is the perfect example of being humble and submitting to His Fathers will. I know Jesus Christ's gospel has been restored onto the earth through a prophet of God, whose name was Joseph Smith. Joseph sought to know truth so he offered a humble prayer to God. It amazes me that the Restoration of Christ's gospel all started because a young boy sincerely wanted to know the truth. If you "lack wisdom" (James 1:5) ask God in faith for answers. I know he truly hears us.

Yesterday in fast and testimony meeting, Sister Taggart said "He may not immediately answer us, but He immediately hears us." I can testify that is true. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Love y'all! So much. Pray that all goes well this week. Starting tomorrow. Haha. AGH!

Xoxoxo

Sister Hymas :)