Word. Up. Yo.

Hey everyone!!!! 

How's it goin eh?? haha... So not too much is going on here this week...
It's transfers but everyone in my district is staying put so transfers
doesn't affect anyone I'm immediately associated with.

The beginning of this week has been brutal though!!!!! it was so
frustrating!!!!!!!!! Well... pretty much every appointment we've had set
up for the last 2 weeks has been cancelled, and all of our investigators
aren't doing what we're asking them to, and that's not fun. When
investigators dont keep commitments, it makes me feel like they're not
taking me seriously and i really dont like that.. ugh.. So we went
through this "drought" if you will and its finally starting to turn
around.

Story time!!!!!!

So. About a month ago, we were over at a member's house for dinner. The
member's name is Vicky and basically she's amazing. In the middle of
dinner her doorbell rings and its this friend of her's that needed to
talk to her. After they talked, Sis Blake and I got to talk to her a
bit, and we ended up talking about the priesthood and how amazing it is.
Vicky has a daughter that got into a head on collision last year, and
wasn't expected to live, but the ward fasted for her, and the bishop
gave her a blessing, and she lived and has no side effects from the
accident. So Vicky's friend, her name is Rose, was at the hospital when
Vicky's daughter got the blessing and saw how the blessing healed her,
and has pretty much been fascinated about the Priesthood ever since. So
that was that for that night. haha.. Then a couple weeks later Sis Blake
and I were out tracting, and we were gonna stop, but decided to just
finish to the end of the street because there were only 3 more houses.
The last door we knocked on was Rose's house!! So she opened the door
and was like... WHAT THE?!?!?!?!?! She knew that we didn't know where
she lived and we totally realized that we were inspired that day. haha.
We didn't teach her anything when we tracted into her that day, but we
talked a lot and really got a good friendship going. Rose is so funny.
She's probably in her 40's and has a 14 year old son, and she's raising
him on her own. Oddly enough, her mom joined the church a few years ago,
but has since gone inactive. Anyways... So we went over to Vicky's again
a couple weeks later, and Rose was there because she was doing the
cooking! SO COOL!!! So I gave a spiritual thought on 3 Nephi 22. "For a
little while have I forsaken thee, but with everlasting kindness will i
gather thee." Yes Randi, totally got the idea from the song. haha. But
yeah. Gave the thought, and Rose's jaw dropped. Apparently I said
something that hit her close to home, and pretty much she told us to
start teaching her. So we taught her the first lesson last night!!
WOOT!!!!! It was sooooooooooo good. Normally she's all loud and
expressive, but by the end of the lesson, her countenance totally
changed. She was calm and happy and it was awesome. Man. I love
missionary work. She's so excited!!!She begs Vicky to tell her things
about the Church everyday!! haha!!! Vicky is convinced she's getting
baptized. haha. But Rose and Vicky are BEST friends. So what better
fellowshipper can you have?! MAN!!!!!!!!!!!! Vicky is going to go read
the Book of Mormon with her this afternoon so she doesn't lose the
spirit she felt yesterday when we were teaching her. SOOOOO
EXCITING!!!!!!

Basically... I love missionary work. And it's funny, because of last
night with Rose, I kinda just forgot about all the cancelled
appointments and the endless hours of unsuccessful tracting, because of
this one success, no matter how small it is. funny how that works eh??
haha...

Yeah... So that's so far been the highlight of my mission and I'm
excited to keep you updated with what's going on with Rose. Pray for
her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also... Sis Blake and I have taken to singing the hymns when we're
tracting. haha. It's like we're carolling but not, and the songs are
better anyways! Haha!!!!!

Yeah... I'm sorry i dont really have much else to say.... But like i was
telling you before... this week has been nothing but tracting. We didn't
even get to have a conversation with anyone. People were mean this
week... lots of slammed doors... which is kinda funny when you think
about it. People are stubborn.

uhhh... Oh. Dad. I got your letter too. So you're attention starved eh??
Well. I'm devoting this next paragraph all to you. DAD!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!
haha!!! When we teach the first lesson to someone, we tell them about
how the Gospel blesses families, and how we need to pray. So to help
them grasp the concept of talking to Heavenly Father, I tell them about
how i get to talk to you every week, and how i know how much you LOVE to
hear from me. It's the same way with Heavenly Father. He LOVES to hear
from us too, because he's our spiritual Father. Then I tell them how I'm
totally a Daddy's girl so i think about things i need to tell you a lot.
Yeah. So Dad... I'm totally a Daddy's girl and i talk about you to our
investigators too. haha. 

And mom!!! I dont want you to feel left out. I think of you a lot too.
Mostly this past week because we made cookies to give to our
investigators. Turns out they dont have Chipits here and the Hershey's
milk chocolate chips just aren't anywhere near as enjoyable. so if you
ever decide to send me a package.... chipits would be a wonderful
inclusion. haha. but yeah. Its funny how much a cookie make me think of
you. haha. Oh and also. Remember that picture i have of you when you
were holding Clarke when he was a baby? yeah, so when people ask me what
you and dad look like, I whip out that picture and the normal response
is... That's your MOM?! Are you sure this isn't YOU?! haha... So yeah.
From what people tell me, I'm the spitting image of you, and I like it.
Mom.. You're a babe. haha. No Jokes!! Ask Dad!!!!

And Clarke!!! WRITE ME A LETTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 I know you're busy
with school and stuff, but i wanna know how its going!!! SO DEAL WITH IT
AND WRITE TO ME!!!! haha!!

Also Ian.. I wrote you an email last week and I'm still waiting for a
response.. So get with it eh?

Grandma Dyer.. I got your letter again too. Thank you!!! I've been
telling Sister Blake a lot about you lately too. haha. Not even anything
in particular, but you talk about what you're thinking so i suppose
that's a good thing. haha..

Yeah.. That's all for my shout outs today. Tell everyone else that I
love them. Keep up the good work and always remember that The Church is
True!!!

-Sister Dyer

I'm still me

Hi. 

So. Basically this has been the most random, but most awesome week yet.
Mostly because I'm starting to realize that I can still be Alison, while
being a missionary too. It's great. So because I'm being more myself,
I'm having more fun!! WOOT!!!! And mostly i did the thumbs up in the
Valentine's Day picture for mom. I know she loves it. haha...

And you're seriously considering taking the Triplet's camping?!?! ARE
YOU CRAZY?!?!?!?!?!?! haha!!!! well... good luck with that... I'm sure
they'd appreciate it. I love those kids. Make sure they still know I'm
alive eh? I printed some pictures of them and i have them in my photo
album. I showed a picture of Gavin to an 8 year old girl in the ward,
and she totally blushed. Gavin's a babe. It's official. An 8 year old
named Lillie confirmed it!!

As for the randomness of my week... lets start with tracting
experiences... Yesterday we tracted for 3 hours.... These are the people
we talked to...

1. A deaf Jehovah's witness. She made sure to give us a pamplet thinger,
but wouldnt take a pass-along card... go figure. our conversation was
all written. it was funny.
2. an english lady... her accent really threw me off... it sounds a tad
bit more sophisticated than a southern accent.
3. a spanish lady who knew absolutely no english, and looked at us like
we were idiots... and i felt like one... not being able to communicate
is frustrating. The fact that I've been sent on an English speaking
mission is evidence of the Lord's love for me. haha.
4. A witch.. yup.. a witch. It was a guy who said that he wasn't
Christian, so Sis Blake was like.... You dont believe in God?!?!?!?!
haha... she sounded so distraught... it was awesome. but this guy said
he and his wife were Wikkens.... which i thought only existed in Buffy
the Vampire Slayer and Angel land.... but apparently not.... And it
creeped me out because they're dealing with really sketchy powers...
Needless to say they gave me the no feeling and we promptly left that
doorstep.. then after that a cat started following us.... i dunno what
that was all about, but it freaked me out. and i hate cats....

yeah.... and this was all yesterday... haha.. interesting day.

Then on monday we heart attacked a couple people and got busted each
time. haha. The first one we did, the people drove into their drive way
when we were putting up the last two hearts, and then the second people
we did it to, went out their back door and started videotaping us
without us knowing... hahaha... so our efforts on being sneaky entirely
failed, but it was incredibly fun. haha..

oh. and i got to hold a 4 day old baby girl named Quincy. hehe... sooooo
adorable. 

ummm yeah... so transfers are next week eh? President Batchelor told Sis
Blake that we're staying put for another transfer. Sis Blake is going
home in May so next transfer will most likely be her last, but I'm
pretty much staying put in Cabot for a few months. There's only 12 or so
sister missionaries in this mission so we dont get transferred around
very much, which is kinda nice because packing sucks... I'm thinking
I'll be in Cabot for 6 months. then maybe I'll get transferred to the
other side of the river.

And I forgot to tell you, Dad, that I got the email you sent with the
picture and your conversion story. I get all the emails you send me, but
i usually just forget to tell you... but yes. Harrison Hot Springs
definitely looked snowy. i got your postcard from there too. THANKS!!!!
I LOVE MAIL!!!!!!!!

As for the humidity... I still totally love it. haha. I still have to
use lotion though. Go figure. Its not THAT humid i guess. But one day
last week, we were tracting in the rain, and i had an umbrella and
everything, but my hair totally went out of control, and by the time i
got home, it just looked like i never did my hair in the first place. i
coulda saved myself 10 whole minutes getting ready in the morning!!!

This morning, one of the members showed up at our apartment when we were
studying, and told us she was taking us to do pliates at the community
center. haha. So we went and did that, and it was sooo fun!!! haha!!! I
loved it!!!! And its a good thing I went... Dinners are starting to
catch up with me!!! UGH!!!!!!! However... Sis Blake says that it gets so
hot in the summer anyways, you just sweat off all the weight you gained
during the winter. So if I'm exercising more and all that, I'll have no
problem.  Also... Enchilada's are a popular dinner meal these days. We
had them twice last week and taco's another night. Mexican food is big.
I'm just starting to realize this.

Oh hey.. speaking of food. Apparently the Bishop has a "fish farm" and
he breeds?? grows??? i dunno... basically he farms crawfish...So next
month when they start coming out we're supposed to go over and eat a
bunch of crawfish from his farm and then I'll truly have become a
southerner... hahaha.... i'm afraid...

There's been no tornado warnings this week and the weather's been
realitively steady. it made me happy. i think its funny that you keep
track of the weather in my area. but i'm not surprised at all. haha..

So yeah... not much happened with investigators this week.... they're
all really good at cancelling... its frustrating.... but at the same
time... we're still doing all we can do, and we cant let silly things
like cancelled appointments get in our way... no matter how frustrating
it is... haha..

and dude... I've officially be out for 2 months!! It's actually flown
by!!! I'm suspecting the rest of my mission will go by equally as fast
so it's kinda making me work even harder, because really... 16 months
isn't actually  THAT long... holy moly.... 16 months..... yeesh...

Anways... yeah.... that's basically all... This has been a fun week.
LOTS of tracting and lots of fun. Keep on doing great!!

oh!!! ALSO!!!! CLARKE!!!! how's the student teaching going?!?!?!! Harry
Ainley.... hehehe......

haha... Basically that's it... This shall be my last email as a
greenie!!! WOOT!!!!!!

Love you all VERY VERY VERY much!!!!! 

The Church is True!!!!

-Sister Dyer

HI.

Hello everyone!!

So... I've decided I really really dislike weather. Especially the days that are warm and perfect, because that means the next day there's just going to be a tornado or some crazy storm. So boo urns to the warm days because they just trick you!!! haha!

Yesterday we had Mission Tour, which is where a General Authority comes to speak to all the missionaries. The Elder that came to talk to us is Elder Madsen. He's in the First Quorum of the Seventy, and he was amazing!!! He gave us a pretty terrifying "fire and brimstone" talk, but made us all feel better by reading 1 Nephi 22 and told us to highlight every time it says "the righteous". It worked. I felt better. haha. He talked to us for like 2 hours. So then he transitioned into the Atonement, and how everything is made possible through it. He asked us how many of us could define what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is... It's actually kind of a difficult question when you first hear it, but the answer he gave us was along the lines of "The Gospel of Jesus Christ IS the Atonement." You cant have one without the other. Because of the Atonement, we HAVE the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Its more simple than I realized. So he went on from there about how since the Atonement is central to the gospel, that we are able to repent, to be baptized, to complete other ordinances like the endowment and temple marriage, and on and on. Everything he taught us all came back to the Atonement. It was pretty cool, and totally helped us all understand how incredibly important the Atonement it. It was really humbling truthfully.

So that was yesterday. Oh yeah. We also met up with a former investigator, that was getting taught in 2006, and for some reason after a transfer, the next sisters that came to Cabot never kept in touch with her. That was silly. So since we have a teaching record for every investigator that's every been taught here, we whipped out the former investigator pile and started calling everyone to see if they'd like to give us another chance, and of all the calls, only one of them said yes. We were really excited, and she's really awesome. Her name is Jessica, and she has 3 kids. She's really open, and that's essential. In the teaching record it says that she never kept a committment, but we'll change that. haha. The missionaries already became her friends, and i think they got too close which made Jessica feel like the things that were being asked of her weren't as serious as they actually were. So we're still gonna be her friend, but always bring it back to the gospel, and we're pretty confident that it'll work.

We dont really have many other serious investigators... So we're trying our hardest to get member referrals and see what they can come up with. The Bishop is amazing though. We always go to ward council and the bishop this last council meeting was telling all the leaders how they're supposed to get their auxileries all excited for missionary work and to give us people to teach. He told them how we tract, but the members we get from tracting are statistically never as solid as the converts we get from referrals. Amen. When we go over to members homes, we read them Jacob 4:4 and tell them that the reason the Book of Mormon was written was so that they know that we knew they had a testimony of Christ. They knew that we would know of their testimonies because they wrote them down. So we've gotta let other people know!! Then we give them a Book of Mormon and tell them to write their testimonies on the cover and pray for someone to give it to or to pray to know a street for us to tract on, and once they give us that street, we HAVE to give that Book of Mormon with that family's testimony inside it to someone on that street. Pretty cool eh? 

So today we got to go with the Elders in our district and we went BOWLING!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE BOWLING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Elders decided Sis Blake's bowling name should be "coconut" because she's from Tonga, and I got to be "the kinook"... haha.. Because I'm from Canada.. haha... 14 Canada... We only played one game though... Missionaries are cheap and don't wanna play 5 games... sigh... so i never really found my "groove" and only got 104. However... it used to be a huge feat for me to break 100 so i guess i didn't do that bad.. Man... Have I mentioned how much i love bowling? haha...

I tried to teach Sis Blake how to ride a bike this morning. haha... I realized that teaching someone how to ride a bike is difficult.... I cant figure out how to explain to someone how its done! It was funny to watch her try to figure it out though. This week we dont have the car, so we have to walk everywhere, and since there's no sidewalks here and maybe a foot on each side of the road, the whole riding a bike thing freaks her out. I dont blame her. Seriously!!! I dont understand what the people here have against sidewalks!!!!

I really can't keep track of what happens each week... It's hard to keep the days straight, because it seems like we do so much, which i supposeis a good thing. We are definitely keeping busy, mostly with tracting, and getting to know all the members.

We actually are trying to mostly get to know the part-member families. When we set up appointments with them, we always ask for the non-member to be there so we can teach them. Usually the non-member ends up not showing up, because i think they see our intentions.. haha. I feel kindasneaky going to a person's house with the intention of teaching thenon-member specifically.. I think it's funny but at the same time it feels kinda weird... you know what i mean?

Yeah.. So its a good thing i'm keeping a journal. Speaking of which... Monie.. The pink skull journal you gave me is almost full. haha. I can remember what happened in a day, but i can't seem to recap a whole week at once. So I'll just have to go through my journal with everyone when i come home.... in 16 months... haha... Hey!!! HOLY MOLY!!!! I"VE ALREADY BEEN GONE FOR TWO MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously... Time is flying!!!!

Yeesh... anyways... That shall be all for today. Thank you so much for your support and love. I think of everyone a lot, and i definitely pray for you often. Love you lots!!!!!

-Sister Alison J. Dyer

Oh and also.... The Church is True. :)

I'm ALIVE!!!!

Hello Everyone..

Holy moly.. Arkansas weather is REDICULOUS!!!!!!!! So i survived a tornado warning LAST week, and THIS week... like yesterday... THERE WAS A FREAKING TORNADO AN HOUR AND A HALF AWAY FROM WHERE WE LIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Man... So the Bishop came by our house last night to give us some dinner his wife made for us, so we're standing outside talking to him for a while, and behind him there was non-stop lightning. and just casually he says how its tornado season and "oh dont worry. you'll be safe. tornado's are only really bad in a concentrated area. just stay in your bathtub and everything alright. and dont freak out if it sounds like a train is going through your living room. thats normal." SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?!?! SERIOUSLY!!!!!!! So last night the lightning eventually made it over to our area and there was this CRAZY storm for probably 45 minutes of continuous rain and lightning, and no tornados any closer than an hour and a half. yeesh... Arkansas is nuts.

Other than that... All of our appointments from last week fell through except for one.. frustrating... so we did an insane amount of tracting and following up with potential investigators and nothing really went anywhere with that. But this week started pretty good. We finally had appointments that went through and were really powerful. And today we just started teaching a woman who's a friend with a member so thats already really awesome. I like it when we get referrals. They're more effective than tracting. But we do meet a lot of interesting people when we go tracting. Alot of them say something like.. "oh i'm not interested at all in your message. I'm a devout Baptist. But who's this Joe Smith man I've heard about?". hahahaha....

As for what i've been eating... A LOT OF HAM. haha. It never really occurred to me that ham is really big in the south, but it is. Nothing's really different here... its just like if i was at home and mom decided to have a fancy meal every night. you know?? so when we go over to a member's home for dinner they basically make their best dish, which is always really good, but not always too healthy... at least they take the courtesy of giving us a salad to start with. haha... but then we get sent home with a cake or something like that. haha. lots of cake... but i continue to work out in the mornings. i can do 20 push ups in a row! woot!!

also... Happy Birthday in two days Dad. I already emailed Uncle Dave giving him trouble about turning 50. haha....

Clarke wanted me to tell him about the people i've been teaching.. The people that we're teaching are mostly people who were found a looooong time ago. Like this one family... the Kassners. They have been every religion under the sun, and they've kinda become jaded, so they dont really take us seriously when we say "this is it. this is the church you've been searching for." Its the same with this other lady, Magdalena. Both instances, they say that everytime they joined another church, they were SURE it was right, but they were always eventually let down, which lead to a search for a new church. They've pretty much been taught everything, so they have a huge knowledge of the doctrine, but dont really wanna be spiritually or emotionally connected in any way. its frustrating... but everytime we visit, we continue to testify, and ask them to read something from the Book of Mormon, or pray about something specifically, and whether they do it or not, we cant help, but at least we're helping them along the way. Even if there's the slightest progress it's pretty rewarding for us as missionaries.

Also... Mom and Dad... I use your conversion stories a lot... i hope you dont mind... but i dont really know much about it other than mom going to seminary in high school and joining the church years later, and Dad joining the church kinda for mom, but mostly for himself. So... Question... How would you feel about taking some time to write out your conversion stories and sending them to me so i can use them in lessons???..... The missionary in me need to make you commit to it... *ahem*... WILL YOU write down your conversion stories and send them to me? I promise you that as you do so, somebody here will be touched and have a desire to change because of it. And if anything, it'll give me even more motivation to keep on going because i can see how i have been blessed by the efforts of two missionaries from over 20 years ago. :) Thanks. :)

And i have another question... Are you still sending my emails to all my friends?? I had another request to have my emails sent to Katie Burgess... She's the one from Langley thats putting in her papers soon.. Her email is  burgess.katie@yahoo.ca. THANKS!!! So. If you could do that and also continue sending my emails to David, Randi, Monie and Sean, that would continue to be wonderful. Pretty much i dont mind if you send it to anyone else. Just make sure you at least get those 5 in. :) thank you again.

oh yeah!!! I GOT THE BLANKET!!!! haha!!! I got it on Thursday!! ITs the most ugly but awesome blanket ever!!! its very me, so i appreciate it and i'm definitely warm at night though. And thank you for the CDs. If you ever happen to come across anymore church CDs, like the ones i've burned myself, send them my way. I heart music. So yeah. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SENDING ME THE BLANKET!!!! and the matching pillowcase too. haha... that was awesome. Actually... last Wednesday, I came home and checked the mail, and there were 6 letters for me. haha. My friends DO love me!! I was getting worried there for a bit. I didn't get anything my first two weeks here, but they all came together all at once! i AM loved!!!! I love getting mail... so exciting... (Grandma, your letter was in that pile of 6 too. So i wrote you one back. look forward to that!!)

Also, we got to go see the broadcast of President Hinckley's funeral. It was pretty good. I loved how Bishop Burton said to all the younger people in the Church that President Hinckley was THEIR prophet. That's totally how I felt. He was the one i really  started paying attention to, and he's had the most impact on me and my testimony. I'm happy for him though. Even though its sad that he's no longer with us, he's with his wife who he loved SOOOO much. They're definitely VERY happy right now. I'm excited to see what President Monson has in store. And i'm REALLY excited for Elder Uchtdorf!! well... President Uchtdorf now. haha. I love how organized the Church is. Seriously... yet another testiment that it's true.

I think thats all for now... I'm still doing really well.. Everything since this last sunday has really started to pick up. I feel more like a missionary this week because i'm starting to see it working even in the slightest ways. I'm truly starting to love the people, and its helping me do better. I think i needed last week of everything not working out to make me see that its not always so peachy. it makes the good times even better.

Love you all soooooo much. Thank you for your prayers and support and love. I wish i could express my gratitude enough. Continue being awesome. :)

- Sister Alison J. Dyer