well this sure is a momentous occasion... i never thought i'd ever see the day when my mother would say woot.... but... that is pretty rediculously awesome. First my dad refers to events as gong shows, then mom says woot... what else could i ask for?! haha!!
While I'm at it... I might as well write my everyone email eh?? haha... well... First off. I was really excited to get the letter from dad telling me how the Elder Nelson Sunday went. That was really cool. It's funny that there's so much opposition though. It never really occurred to me that people would actually try to personally talk to an Apostle or give them home made self help programs and what not.. haha. That's kinda lame. But whatevs. If anyone could deal with those sort of people, it would definitly be the Apostles. Sis Zarbock was really interested in hearing about it too. haha.
Oh.. And also. Dad... The "pretty and green" here is still beautiful. I couldn't help but notice an overwhelming sense of spite when you told me to enjoy my "pretty and green" while you go and suffer through your cold and still snowing. haha.. This week has been especially beautiful because it was NOT hot at all. It was totally Canada spring weather. It's been awesome. I also printed out a pretty green tree picture to send to y'all. haha. That's right. I said it... I'm embracing the "y'all". Still working on fixin to though...
So. Today both Sis Zarbock and I got a haircut!!! WOOT!!!!! I've kinda decided to temporarily give up with the "i want long hair" bit... It was really driving me nuts. But that seems to be the story of my life. I tell myself that i want long pretty hair, but it gets to be semi long and i hate it and all i wanna do is chop it off. haha... So it's not necessarily chopped, but its back to the length it was when i left. but this time i actually think it looks better. It's kinda punk rock but still missionary appropriate. haha!! WIN WIN WIN!!!
also.. this weekend the ward here had a youth fundraiser. It was so fun. They had a ward auction, so the things they auctioned off were cakes, desserts and services. haha. So we were just gonna go for the free spaghetti dinner, but turns out that this member of the ward who's living in Paris temporarily, but is super loaded, donated $50 to each missionary to use to bid for things that night!! It was so awesome!!!! Now. You have to understand what kind of a ward this is... Basically it's full of doctors, lawyers, and rich folk... for the most part, all of the wives are stay at home moms and spend their days baking things they see in magazines. haha. so you can only imagine the type of things we had to bid on. hahaha. By the end of the night we'd won this huge pan full of icing covered, delicious homemade (but not as good as mom's) cinnamon... *monie.... ahem... HER SKIN IS CINNAMON.. HER SKIN IS CINNAMON..* rolls. Not cinnamon BUNS... cinnamon ROLLS... haha.. so yeah. But the ward members didn't know that we had money to use at the beginning, so people were buying these cakes and getting their kids to come up to us and give the whole thing to us. hahaha.... so by the end of the day we were going home with a brownie smothered in icing and snickers bar chunks, a plate of cookies, two free carwashes and a yoga class. haha.... it was awesome. The members in this ward are amazing. have i ever mentioned how much i love Maumelle?... because i really do.
So basically that was the fun highlight. But even better than that. Robin, the one who just got baptized is totally soaking up the gospel. Its so amazing. man. She's already getting her new member lessons, she has solid home teachers, and she's just GLOWING!!! It's amazing to see how the gospel can make people physically appear different because they're so incredibly happy and at peace. Man.. Robin is so wonderful.
Oh. and have i mentioned how much i love my new haircut. haha.. I just ran my fingers through my hair and remembered it was new. haha... random...
also... hahaha... i have a slight favor to ask... okay... so A) do you think there would be any way for you to send me my runners??... They're actual runners that i bought at home, but they're the one thing that i forgot, and i'm finding more instances where it would be better to have them... yeah... so there's no rush... but if you could get those to me at some point within the next year... preferrably before that... it would be great.. also... I'm running out of pomade, and i cant seem to find the stuff i love the most here in the States... its kinda sad... So if when you decide to send me my runners... do you think you could send my some new pomade too???... haha.. you can get it at Shoppers and it's Sheer Blonde brand... it comes in a little tin can, and it has a picture of a girl with short hair on it... it says something like it enhances blonde highlights or whatever. That's not really why i love it... it just seems to be the only thing that I've ever really loved to use in my hair. haha.. yeah... so it's pomade.. styling wax... something of the sorts... and the package is prolly only a cm thick-ish... yeah... hahaha... That's all the favors i need at this point... so thank you in advance..
one more experience.. So. Yesterday we were tracting and we talked to this man who was pretty mean... He was trying to get us to give him logical explanations for everything and was being lame and trying to catch us in our words. So Sis Zarbock is trying to come up with things and she was really doing a good job, but the guy just wouldn't give up... blech. So we were talking about prayer and Moroni's promise, and he's trying to make us sound like idiots, but i was so done with that. So i totally maybe slightly raised my voice... a lot... and more firmly than i ever have before in my whole life, bore my testimony with power. It was an incredible moment. The spirit was filling my mouth with words, and everything came out perfectly. I think that's what it's like to experience the gift of tongues... but the point is that after i bore my testimony, he calmed down, smiled at us, said thank you and that he might check out mormon.org and that was that. He was done fighting. It was incredible. It's so true what PMG says. "nobody can deny a heartfelt testimony." its so true. And I wish i could express how amazing it was to see this guy change from wanting to make us look like fools to actually respecting us. Seriously... The Church is true.
That's all for today everyone. I love you so much. Remember to thank Heavenly Father for all your blessings and try everyday to recognize the Lord's hand in your life. Its an amazing testimony strengthener. Continue to be awesome y'all. :P hahaha....
Sister Dyer
-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Dyer <fivedyers@shaw.ca>
To: Alison Dyer <alison.j.dyer@myLDSmail.net>
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:07:13 -0600
Subject: WOOT!!!
Hi there honey,
Just to let you know that we got you letter and pictures. WE LOVE
PICTURES!!! You are looking especially beautiful ... and happy. And I
would have run as far away as I could if someone dumped a tableful of
bugs in front of me to eat.
Love you lots! Looking forward to hearing from you live in a couple
of weeks!
Mom
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Hello!!
HELLO!!!!
Okay... So mom sent me the picture of our back yard covered in a foot of
snow as of yesterday... HAHAHAHA!!!!! Oh man... It's totally starting to
get disgustingly hot here.... So not fun... Also... Dad... The Bishop's
wife drove us around Little Rock this morning so we could go shopping
for summer clothes... So there's gonna be a credit card bill coming at
the end of the month for that.. hahaha... It was fun. I had my first
experience ever at Target!! WOOT!!! Oh man... I just bought a bunch of
t-shirts... blech... humidity+heat=HORRIBLE!!!!!!! but it IS really
pretty and green here... as long as im inside an air conditioned car
looking outside at all the prettiness its fine!!! I actually would
prefer the foot of snow though... whatevs...
Also... Sis Zarbock and i were talking and we concluded that if we were
to meet in real life... like... not as missionaries... we'd prolly only
be friends if we were in a class together. hahaha... you know?? like
there's only people you talk to because their SPECIFICALLY class
friends, but outside of school, you totally forget about them?? haha...
yeah that's us. We thought it was funny...
Also... We had a baptism on Saturday!!!! It was for Robin. I think i
told you about her last week. But it was so funny. The day before, we
went with her to the church to get interviewed. Then after the
interview, she took us to this hair store. She's black, so apparently
their hair care is TOTALLY opposite of what we have to deal with. We
wash our hair to get oil out, but they have to put oil in.. that kinda
thing. Anyways... We went to this hair supply store specifically for
black people. its actually exactly the same kind of store Randi goes to
to get her hair for braids. But yeah. Robin, we found out wears wigs so
she doesn't have to deal with her hair at all! haha!! It's so genious!!
She was trying on wigs, and Sis Zarbock and I asked if we could try them
on too, so we did... HAHAHAHAHA!!!! I found out i DO NOT look good with
long black hair. hahahahaha... oh man... so fun... wigs... who knew..
Anyways.. her baptism was really funny. She got all dressed up, she wore
her wig and everything. So we went with her while she was heading to the
font, and we asked her if she wanted to take her wig off, but she said
she'd just keep it on. So when she went under the water, her wig totally
came off!!! So we were watching from the door in the bathroom, and we
were like... uhhhhhh... what do we do?! So before Robin figured out what
happened, Sis Zarbock started reaching for the wig floating in the
water... hahaha.... gong show... it was so funny. Robin was so
embarassed, but she laughed pretty hard.. hahaha...
Yeah... how was Sunday with Elder Nelson by the way?!
OH!! Another funny story!!!
Oh Friday we were tracting, and we were walking up this hill, then from
the other side of this hill, a big blue truck drives up and stops at the
stop sign at the top of this hill, and all we can hear is "THE WAY YOU
MAKE ME FEEL"... the truck was totally blasting Michael Jackson!!! So we
see this truck stopped at the top of this hill blasting MJ and out of
each window is an arm from each passenger snapping their fingers to the
beat of the song!!! So we're standing there laughing our heads off at
this, and then this truck drives by and its got 4 young guys in it all
wearing sunglasses acting like their on top of the world.. hahahaha...
maybe you had to be there... but it was hilarious...
Anways... That's all I've got for this week... its been pretty amazing.
Spiritually uplifting. I'm really happy. Minus the heat... but I'm
loving it here. The work is progressing and its so humbling to know how
much trust the Lord has put in me to help people change their lives...
THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love you all sooooo much!!!
-Sister Dyer
Okay... So mom sent me the picture of our back yard covered in a foot of
snow as of yesterday... HAHAHAHA!!!!! Oh man... It's totally starting to
get disgustingly hot here.... So not fun... Also... Dad... The Bishop's
wife drove us around Little Rock this morning so we could go shopping
for summer clothes... So there's gonna be a credit card bill coming at
the end of the month for that.. hahaha... It was fun. I had my first
experience ever at Target!! WOOT!!! Oh man... I just bought a bunch of
t-shirts... blech... humidity+heat=HORRIBLE!!!!!!! but it IS really
pretty and green here... as long as im inside an air conditioned car
looking outside at all the prettiness its fine!!! I actually would
prefer the foot of snow though... whatevs...
Also... Sis Zarbock and i were talking and we concluded that if we were
to meet in real life... like... not as missionaries... we'd prolly only
be friends if we were in a class together. hahaha... you know?? like
there's only people you talk to because their SPECIFICALLY class
friends, but outside of school, you totally forget about them?? haha...
yeah that's us. We thought it was funny...
Also... We had a baptism on Saturday!!!! It was for Robin. I think i
told you about her last week. But it was so funny. The day before, we
went with her to the church to get interviewed. Then after the
interview, she took us to this hair store. She's black, so apparently
their hair care is TOTALLY opposite of what we have to deal with. We
wash our hair to get oil out, but they have to put oil in.. that kinda
thing. Anyways... We went to this hair supply store specifically for
black people. its actually exactly the same kind of store Randi goes to
to get her hair for braids. But yeah. Robin, we found out wears wigs so
she doesn't have to deal with her hair at all! haha!! It's so genious!!
She was trying on wigs, and Sis Zarbock and I asked if we could try them
on too, so we did... HAHAHAHAHA!!!! I found out i DO NOT look good with
long black hair. hahahahaha... oh man... so fun... wigs... who knew..
Anyways.. her baptism was really funny. She got all dressed up, she wore
her wig and everything. So we went with her while she was heading to the
font, and we asked her if she wanted to take her wig off, but she said
she'd just keep it on. So when she went under the water, her wig totally
came off!!! So we were watching from the door in the bathroom, and we
were like... uhhhhhh... what do we do?! So before Robin figured out what
happened, Sis Zarbock started reaching for the wig floating in the
water... hahaha.... gong show... it was so funny. Robin was so
embarassed, but she laughed pretty hard.. hahaha...
Yeah... how was Sunday with Elder Nelson by the way?!
OH!! Another funny story!!!
Oh Friday we were tracting, and we were walking up this hill, then from
the other side of this hill, a big blue truck drives up and stops at the
stop sign at the top of this hill, and all we can hear is "THE WAY YOU
MAKE ME FEEL"... the truck was totally blasting Michael Jackson!!! So we
see this truck stopped at the top of this hill blasting MJ and out of
each window is an arm from each passenger snapping their fingers to the
beat of the song!!! So we're standing there laughing our heads off at
this, and then this truck drives by and its got 4 young guys in it all
wearing sunglasses acting like their on top of the world.. hahahaha...
maybe you had to be there... but it was hilarious...
Anways... That's all I've got for this week... its been pretty amazing.
Spiritually uplifting. I'm really happy. Minus the heat... but I'm
loving it here. The work is progressing and its so humbling to know how
much trust the Lord has put in me to help people change their lives...
THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love you all sooooo much!!!
-Sister Dyer
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Hello... Sorry I'm late..
Hello Everyone.
Okay so this morning there was this adult seminary class that we took a 70 year old investigator to. haha!!! Her name is Helga and she's from Germany and she's amazing. Her son joined the Church a really long time ago and she's been pretty anti until just recently. We're pretty sure its her time!! I LOVE MAUMELLE!!!!!! THERE'S ACTUALLY PEOPLE TO TEACH!!!!!! There's also Larry and Louise. They're prolly in their late 50's and they have a kid that joined the Church a long time ago too, so now they have a granson serving a mission who is best friends with my Zone Leader. So this grandson emailed my ZL and told him to find his grandparents, and Sis Zarbock tracted into them before my ZL could find them! Talk about divine guideance eh? haha.. So they're interesting. Larry is pretty much athiest, but we're working with him on that one, and Louise is pretty open to it. She sees the good the gospel has done for her grandson who's on a mission. They came to the cottage meeting we had on Sunday, which is an hour and a half long testimony meeting at the President's house. They both loved it. Larry was impressed at the devotion everyone who bore their testimony had. He said that you could go to the Yankee stadium and still not find a single soul as devoted to that team than we are to our religion. It was a good experience. There's also a baptism this weekend on Saturday!!! Her name is Robin, and she's been being taught for quite some time. Lucky me, I get here just after she's committed to an actual date. haha! But since I've really had nothing to do with teaching her, I'm not really counting it as one of mine. She's 21, and has the most adorable 18 month old son, Jordell. haha. She's black and totally has the ghetto accent. haha!! It's awesome. I love that Maumelle has cultural diversity. I think there's more black people here than white. It's awesome.
Sis Bluemel, the Temple Square sister that was with us for a week has left too. She was wonderful, and I have a new appreciation for what those Sisters do. I'm quite impressed by them. So now it's just back to me and Sis Zarbock. But we get along great and its awesome.
Also. I'm excited for Elder Nelson coming to good ol Forest Heights ward this Sunday. Shake his hand for me eh? Also good luck to Ian in the whole choir thing. Who knew... Ian... a choir boy...
I had crawfish again... haha... On Saturday there was this community kite flying thing, so as missionaries, you go where the people go, and there ended up being this ginormous family reunion type thing based around a HUGE crawfish boil. They had 2 truck fulls of the things. haha!! So we went to go check out what was going on and we totally got invited in. haha! They fed us A LOT too. They were total strangers totally inviting us to eat their food!!! That was my first Southern Hospitality experience. I was pleased, and the crawfish were better this time.
Also... We went over to a millionaire members home for dinner on Sunday... They fed us well... And they lived in a huge mansion house... and we drank out of these crystal "goblets" that were $175 EACH!!!! Sis Zarbock and I were terrified of touching them, so we asked for straws and got them. haha. We drank out of these goblets with a straw. how ironically awesome...
I really dont have time for much else, but I just wanted to let you all know, that its all good here, and I'm definitely getting use out of my bike... On top of running a mile and a half each day... *no jokes... we're actually running every morning around lake valencia.. two laps.. blech!!* But yes. I'm in the process of losing what i gained in Cabot. WOOT!!!
Love you all!!! Miss you!!! The Church is TRUE!!!!!
Okay so this morning there was this adult seminary class that we took a 70 year old investigator to. haha!!! Her name is Helga and she's from Germany and she's amazing. Her son joined the Church a really long time ago and she's been pretty anti until just recently. We're pretty sure its her time!! I LOVE MAUMELLE!!!!!! THERE'S ACTUALLY PEOPLE TO TEACH!!!!!! There's also Larry and Louise. They're prolly in their late 50's and they have a kid that joined the Church a long time ago too, so now they have a granson serving a mission who is best friends with my Zone Leader. So this grandson emailed my ZL and told him to find his grandparents, and Sis Zarbock tracted into them before my ZL could find them! Talk about divine guideance eh? haha.. So they're interesting. Larry is pretty much athiest, but we're working with him on that one, and Louise is pretty open to it. She sees the good the gospel has done for her grandson who's on a mission. They came to the cottage meeting we had on Sunday, which is an hour and a half long testimony meeting at the President's house. They both loved it. Larry was impressed at the devotion everyone who bore their testimony had. He said that you could go to the Yankee stadium and still not find a single soul as devoted to that team than we are to our religion. It was a good experience. There's also a baptism this weekend on Saturday!!! Her name is Robin, and she's been being taught for quite some time. Lucky me, I get here just after she's committed to an actual date. haha! But since I've really had nothing to do with teaching her, I'm not really counting it as one of mine. She's 21, and has the most adorable 18 month old son, Jordell. haha. She's black and totally has the ghetto accent. haha!! It's awesome. I love that Maumelle has cultural diversity. I think there's more black people here than white. It's awesome.
Sis Bluemel, the Temple Square sister that was with us for a week has left too. She was wonderful, and I have a new appreciation for what those Sisters do. I'm quite impressed by them. So now it's just back to me and Sis Zarbock. But we get along great and its awesome.
Also. I'm excited for Elder Nelson coming to good ol Forest Heights ward this Sunday. Shake his hand for me eh? Also good luck to Ian in the whole choir thing. Who knew... Ian... a choir boy...
I had crawfish again... haha... On Saturday there was this community kite flying thing, so as missionaries, you go where the people go, and there ended up being this ginormous family reunion type thing based around a HUGE crawfish boil. They had 2 truck fulls of the things. haha!! So we went to go check out what was going on and we totally got invited in. haha! They fed us A LOT too. They were total strangers totally inviting us to eat their food!!! That was my first Southern Hospitality experience. I was pleased, and the crawfish were better this time.
Also... We went over to a millionaire members home for dinner on Sunday... They fed us well... And they lived in a huge mansion house... and we drank out of these crystal "goblets" that were $175 EACH!!!! Sis Zarbock and I were terrified of touching them, so we asked for straws and got them. haha. We drank out of these goblets with a straw. how ironically awesome...
I really dont have time for much else, but I just wanted to let you all know, that its all good here, and I'm definitely getting use out of my bike... On top of running a mile and a half each day... *no jokes... we're actually running every morning around lake valencia.. two laps.. blech!!* But yes. I'm in the process of losing what i gained in Cabot. WOOT!!!
Love you all!!! Miss you!!! The Church is TRUE!!!!!
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
I'M HERE!!!!
Drum roll please...
*suspense filled dramatic moment...*
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
.
okay that's enough suspense..
I'm in MAUMELLE, AR!!!!!!!!!!! It's a Sherwood Park equivelant to
Edmonton. So I live in a suburb that is part of Little Rock. WOOT!!!! I
LIVE IN A LEGIT CITY NOW!!!!!!!! NO MORE LITTLE TOWN!!!!!!!!!!!! haha...
I think I'm entirely too excited about that.... but really... I'm a city
girl, and will always be, so city anything excites me. haha...
My new companion is Sister Zarbock. haha... She's from Sandy, UT and I'm
totally an inch taller than her!!! WOOT!!!! This is her last transfer
too.. So this is gonna be an interesting transfer. It's her last, and my
third!!! This is the prediction that's being made about Maumelle though.
So. We're still hurting for Sister missionaries, and next transfer three
more are going home and i dont think there's any planned to come here..
so we're thinking that after Sister Zarbock goes home, Maumelle might be
closed and I'll be moving again. But who knows. We might end up finding
so many new people this transfer that they cant close us!! Haha!!!
And just so you know... Sis Zarbock is totally a Utah girl.. Her name
sounds all foreign and stuff, but she's about as Utah as Utah girls can
get. Clarke would understand. She's awesome though. She started her
mission in Cabot, then came to Maumelle. She's only had 2 areas her
whole mission... haha.... That's kinda funny... I realized that I'm
following her. I started in Cabot, now to Maumelle, except I'm just not
staying in these places as long as she did..
OH!! MAILING ADDRESS!!!!
Sister Alison Dyer (haha.. no duh.)
200 Millwood Circle #525
Maumelle, AR 72113
Yeah. So I'm potentially here for a short amount of time... who knows.
Send me stuff there, but in about 5 weeks it would prolly be smart to
send stuff to the mission home after that.
On a completely different subject...
I'M SO EXCITED THAT I GRADUATED FROM
INSTITUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh yeah.. by the way, Mom
said i got a letter from the Edmonton institute saying that I'm eligible
for graduation this year. THAT'S SO AWESOME!!! I'm very pleased with
myself for that. haha.. It's also very cool that they knew I'm serving a
mission and wrote in the card that they knew I couldn't attend the
ceremony thinger. I'm happy that they took the time to let me know
anyways. haha. So. Randi. David. Sean. You have to tell the institute
teachers that I said thank you. I heart Institute... a lot....
Sis Zarbock says that everything in Maumelle is close. Within walking
distance, and she can ride a bike!!! So I'm actually gonna be able to
use my bike this transfer!!! WOOT!!!!! And just a forewarning Dad... She
says there's a lot of places to shop... So a credit card bill might
potentially be heading your way. haha...
Uhh... yeah... Dad wanted a play by play of my crawfish experience...
Well.. It all started out at lunch time. I knew we were going to be
eating crawfish that night, so i made a huge lunch so i wouldn't really
be that hungry by dinner time... I'd still have room to eat, but
wouldn't be hungry if i didn't really like them. haha.. So yeah. Huge
lunch. Then dinner time, we went there and Bishop Park (by the way... he
owns a fish farm and breeds his own crawfish and goldfish and sells them
to places around the world. it's pretty cool. He's got an endless supply
of crawfish..) Anyways..Bishop Park has a cooler full of live crawfish
and makes the Elders stick their hands into it, so they all got nicely
pinched.. Crawfish are UGLY suckers!!! They're mini lobsters with gross
beady eyes... ugh.. anyways... So he had this pot of water over this
burner outside that was boiling and full of cyan?? (KY-YAN) pepper so it
was spicy. Then he dumps all these live crawfish into it. Seriously!!!
Cooking sea food is so cruel!!! So they boil for a while and its all
fine and dandy.. so by the end of all this cooking, we have 40 pounds of
crawfish for 6 people to eat... it was rediculous... He put corn on the
cob, and potatos and mushrooms in the boil too, and they soak up the
flavor, so they were incredibly spicy. I didn't attemt eating it. It was
enough that I was willing to eat sea rodent, let alone die from over
seasoned vegetables.. hahaha... anyways... So 40 pounds of cooked
crawfish all got dumped out onto this picnic table in their back yard
and we just went to town. It was so horrible though!! In order to eat
these things you have to twist it's tail off and mutilate the poor
thing!!! Yeesh!!! Bishop said of the whole crawfish, there's prolly
only 17% of it that's actually meat.. yeah. He told the Elders that they
haven't eaten crawfish until they've "sucked the head"... yeah... what
it is, is after they've taken the tail off of it, they suck on the body
of the crawfish that doesn't have any meat in it.. but still!! GROSS!!!!
There's nothing in it other than the crazy spicy water it was boiled
in... So when they do it, they get this mouthful of burning spicy water.
They're supposed to suck so hard the eyes get sucked in too... It was
funny watching the Elders try so hard though. But surprise surprise.. I
didn't try it. haha... I was just trying to deal with mutilating these
poor animals... I'm fine eating meat, as long as i dont have to see it
when it was alive. These poor things i saw from start to finish... They
didn't taste horrible, but i didn't like them either.. It's an
experience i'd be okay with never repeating. haha..
Yeah... So that's that. I'm moved in sort of.. Oh!!! And this apartment
has queen size beds!!! haha!! We each get our own ginormous bed!!
WOOT!!!
Also... Apparently there's a temple square missionary here, and she's
going to spend the next week with us, so we'll be a threesome. I guess
she's getting here tomorrow, and she's only with us till she goes back
to temple square.
Yeah. okay. I gotta go. The computers here have a timer on it, so i
ACTUALLY only have an hour to say everything to everyone.
Monie... I have an Central Arkansas Li-berry card now... I just thought
you should know. My collection is growing! haha!!
Okay. Love you all!!!! I'll let you know next week how the people here
are!! I'm excited to meet our investigators here!! THEY ACTUALLY HAVE
THEM HERE!!!! haha!!!
Miss you!!!! Love you!!! THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Sister Alison Dyer
*suspense filled dramatic moment...*
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
.
okay that's enough suspense..
I'm in MAUMELLE, AR!!!!!!!!!!! It's a Sherwood Park equivelant to
Edmonton. So I live in a suburb that is part of Little Rock. WOOT!!!! I
LIVE IN A LEGIT CITY NOW!!!!!!!! NO MORE LITTLE TOWN!!!!!!!!!!!! haha...
I think I'm entirely too excited about that.... but really... I'm a city
girl, and will always be, so city anything excites me. haha...
My new companion is Sister Zarbock. haha... She's from Sandy, UT and I'm
totally an inch taller than her!!! WOOT!!!! This is her last transfer
too.. So this is gonna be an interesting transfer. It's her last, and my
third!!! This is the prediction that's being made about Maumelle though.
So. We're still hurting for Sister missionaries, and next transfer three
more are going home and i dont think there's any planned to come here..
so we're thinking that after Sister Zarbock goes home, Maumelle might be
closed and I'll be moving again. But who knows. We might end up finding
so many new people this transfer that they cant close us!! Haha!!!
And just so you know... Sis Zarbock is totally a Utah girl.. Her name
sounds all foreign and stuff, but she's about as Utah as Utah girls can
get. Clarke would understand. She's awesome though. She started her
mission in Cabot, then came to Maumelle. She's only had 2 areas her
whole mission... haha.... That's kinda funny... I realized that I'm
following her. I started in Cabot, now to Maumelle, except I'm just not
staying in these places as long as she did..
OH!! MAILING ADDRESS!!!!
Sister Alison Dyer (haha.. no duh.)
200 Millwood Circle #525
Maumelle, AR 72113
Yeah. So I'm potentially here for a short amount of time... who knows.
Send me stuff there, but in about 5 weeks it would prolly be smart to
send stuff to the mission home after that.
On a completely different subject...
I'M SO EXCITED THAT I GRADUATED FROM
INSTITUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh yeah.. by the way, Mom
said i got a letter from the Edmonton institute saying that I'm eligible
for graduation this year. THAT'S SO AWESOME!!! I'm very pleased with
myself for that. haha.. It's also very cool that they knew I'm serving a
mission and wrote in the card that they knew I couldn't attend the
ceremony thinger. I'm happy that they took the time to let me know
anyways. haha. So. Randi. David. Sean. You have to tell the institute
teachers that I said thank you. I heart Institute... a lot....
Sis Zarbock says that everything in Maumelle is close. Within walking
distance, and she can ride a bike!!! So I'm actually gonna be able to
use my bike this transfer!!! WOOT!!!!! And just a forewarning Dad... She
says there's a lot of places to shop... So a credit card bill might
potentially be heading your way. haha...
Uhh... yeah... Dad wanted a play by play of my crawfish experience...
Well.. It all started out at lunch time. I knew we were going to be
eating crawfish that night, so i made a huge lunch so i wouldn't really
be that hungry by dinner time... I'd still have room to eat, but
wouldn't be hungry if i didn't really like them. haha.. So yeah. Huge
lunch. Then dinner time, we went there and Bishop Park (by the way... he
owns a fish farm and breeds his own crawfish and goldfish and sells them
to places around the world. it's pretty cool. He's got an endless supply
of crawfish..) Anyways..Bishop Park has a cooler full of live crawfish
and makes the Elders stick their hands into it, so they all got nicely
pinched.. Crawfish are UGLY suckers!!! They're mini lobsters with gross
beady eyes... ugh.. anyways... So he had this pot of water over this
burner outside that was boiling and full of cyan?? (KY-YAN) pepper so it
was spicy. Then he dumps all these live crawfish into it. Seriously!!!
Cooking sea food is so cruel!!! So they boil for a while and its all
fine and dandy.. so by the end of all this cooking, we have 40 pounds of
crawfish for 6 people to eat... it was rediculous... He put corn on the
cob, and potatos and mushrooms in the boil too, and they soak up the
flavor, so they were incredibly spicy. I didn't attemt eating it. It was
enough that I was willing to eat sea rodent, let alone die from over
seasoned vegetables.. hahaha... anyways... So 40 pounds of cooked
crawfish all got dumped out onto this picnic table in their back yard
and we just went to town. It was so horrible though!! In order to eat
these things you have to twist it's tail off and mutilate the poor
thing!!! Yeesh!!! Bishop said of the whole crawfish, there's prolly
only 17% of it that's actually meat.. yeah. He told the Elders that they
haven't eaten crawfish until they've "sucked the head"... yeah... what
it is, is after they've taken the tail off of it, they suck on the body
of the crawfish that doesn't have any meat in it.. but still!! GROSS!!!!
There's nothing in it other than the crazy spicy water it was boiled
in... So when they do it, they get this mouthful of burning spicy water.
They're supposed to suck so hard the eyes get sucked in too... It was
funny watching the Elders try so hard though. But surprise surprise.. I
didn't try it. haha... I was just trying to deal with mutilating these
poor animals... I'm fine eating meat, as long as i dont have to see it
when it was alive. These poor things i saw from start to finish... They
didn't taste horrible, but i didn't like them either.. It's an
experience i'd be okay with never repeating. haha..
Yeah... So that's that. I'm moved in sort of.. Oh!!! And this apartment
has queen size beds!!! haha!! We each get our own ginormous bed!!
WOOT!!!
Also... Apparently there's a temple square missionary here, and she's
going to spend the next week with us, so we'll be a threesome. I guess
she's getting here tomorrow, and she's only with us till she goes back
to temple square.
Yeah. okay. I gotta go. The computers here have a timer on it, so i
ACTUALLY only have an hour to say everything to everyone.
Monie... I have an Central Arkansas Li-berry card now... I just thought
you should know. My collection is growing! haha!!
Okay. Love you all!!!! I'll let you know next week how the people here
are!! I'm excited to meet our investigators here!! THEY ACTUALLY HAVE
THEM HERE!!!! haha!!!
Miss you!!!! Love you!!! THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Sister Alison Dyer
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
SUPRISE!!!!! I didn't even know it was a p-day!!!
HAHA!!!
Okay... So funny story... Pretty much these past three weeks, Sis Blake
and I have gotten our hearts set on the idea that Cabot will be closed
for the Sisters, so we'll both leave this transfer. But then we've
realized that it's not actually a fact yet, so we had to remind
ourselves that we still could potentially both be staying in Cabot for
another week.. Well... Transfer day is tomorrow, and everyone finds out
Monday night if they're transferred. So just after 9:00pm last night,
President calls Sis Blake and I and tells us that Cabot is ACTUALLY
being closed and we're BOTH getting transferred on Wednesday!!!
WOOT!!!!!!! I mean... it's kinda sad... but not at the same time. A) we
had nobody to teach so its not like we're abandoning any investigators
and B) we're both ready to leave.. and besides.. There's still gonna be
a set of Elders in the ward here, so it's not like they're losing the
missionaries all together. It'll just show them that they didn't do
enough member missionary work to keep us both.
So i dont actually know where i'm going to be transferred to, but
President said we're both staying in Arkansas. That means I'll be going
to either Hot Spring, Conway or Maumelle. I'll take bets. haha. I get to
email tomorrow too, I'll be able to tell you where i am and that i got
there safely. I'm feeling Conway personally... But who knows. I really
dont know what any of them are like.. but either way. I'm really
excited... except for the packing and cleaning... that part sucks..
haha...
Also... I SURVIVED A TORNADO!!!!!!!! Apparently three came right THROUGH
Cabot on Thursday night.. Ian's birthday will forever be the anniversary
of my first tornado. haha... So around 10:00pm last Thursday, there was
an INCREDIBLE lightning storm, so i opened the front door of our
apartment, and sat there taking videos of it with my camera. After 10
minutes of that, President calls us and is like... "soo... there's a
tornado that's heading your way... it'll be there in about 10 minutes...
so do what you need to for that... bye"... WHAT?!?!?!?!!?!!! Then the
tornado warning siren started going off.. then it started POURING... not
raining... POURING!!!! Then the ZL's called us and told us to prepare
and get pillows and blankets in the bathroom. then our downstairs
neighbors called us and told us to get IN the tub, so Sis Blake and I
had a cuddle party in the bathtub. Then the power went out, and all we
could hear was creepy tornado wind and whistling and rain and
scariness.... apparently one of the 3 tornados was about as close to our
apartment as McNally high school is from my home in Edmonton... Yeah...
I was within walking distance of a freaking tornado.... The power didn't
get restored for another day and a half... it was brutal. it was almost
like camping.... boo urns!!! Saturday morning, we had to go over to the
Elders apartment to shower because they had power, so they sat in their
car and studied until we were done. haha... that was kinda awkward...
but yeah.. the day after it happened, we helped clean stuff up and it
was crazy!!! There were ginormous trees that had been uprooted, there
was tin roofing scattered everywhere. hanging off of electrical cords
even... there was even a trampoline that got wrapped around a telephone
pole!!! that was actually pretty hilarious. I took some pretty awesome
pictures of it all so i'll send those home eventually. haha...
So yeah... Basically that's been the highlight of the week. That and I'm
getting transferred!! WOOT!!! I'm excited to find out who my companion
is. I pretty much know all the sisters here, and i like them all, so I'm
excited!!! YAY!!! Win win win situation!!! hahaha....
Yeah... I dont have much time today... we've still gotta finish packing
and cleaning... I'll hopefully be able to email you tomorrow to let you
know where i end up!!!!
LOVE YOU!!!!!! I'm safe!!!!! Tornado's are TERRIFYING!!!! And the Church
is True!!! oh and also, Conference was amazing. And Thomas s. Monson is
DEFINITELY the prophet. I felt all connected with everyone at home when
we were sustaining him in the solemn assembly. I sustained him at the
same time as my mom. It kinda made me weepy... haha... Yeah... love you
so much. and also congrats Katie for your call to South Korea!!!! SOOO
COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Sister Alison Dyer
Okay... So funny story... Pretty much these past three weeks, Sis Blake
and I have gotten our hearts set on the idea that Cabot will be closed
for the Sisters, so we'll both leave this transfer. But then we've
realized that it's not actually a fact yet, so we had to remind
ourselves that we still could potentially both be staying in Cabot for
another week.. Well... Transfer day is tomorrow, and everyone finds out
Monday night if they're transferred. So just after 9:00pm last night,
President calls Sis Blake and I and tells us that Cabot is ACTUALLY
being closed and we're BOTH getting transferred on Wednesday!!!
WOOT!!!!!!! I mean... it's kinda sad... but not at the same time. A) we
had nobody to teach so its not like we're abandoning any investigators
and B) we're both ready to leave.. and besides.. There's still gonna be
a set of Elders in the ward here, so it's not like they're losing the
missionaries all together. It'll just show them that they didn't do
enough member missionary work to keep us both.
So i dont actually know where i'm going to be transferred to, but
President said we're both staying in Arkansas. That means I'll be going
to either Hot Spring, Conway or Maumelle. I'll take bets. haha. I get to
email tomorrow too, I'll be able to tell you where i am and that i got
there safely. I'm feeling Conway personally... But who knows. I really
dont know what any of them are like.. but either way. I'm really
excited... except for the packing and cleaning... that part sucks..
haha...
Also... I SURVIVED A TORNADO!!!!!!!! Apparently three came right THROUGH
Cabot on Thursday night.. Ian's birthday will forever be the anniversary
of my first tornado. haha... So around 10:00pm last Thursday, there was
an INCREDIBLE lightning storm, so i opened the front door of our
apartment, and sat there taking videos of it with my camera. After 10
minutes of that, President calls us and is like... "soo... there's a
tornado that's heading your way... it'll be there in about 10 minutes...
so do what you need to for that... bye"... WHAT?!?!?!?!!?!!! Then the
tornado warning siren started going off.. then it started POURING... not
raining... POURING!!!! Then the ZL's called us and told us to prepare
and get pillows and blankets in the bathroom. then our downstairs
neighbors called us and told us to get IN the tub, so Sis Blake and I
had a cuddle party in the bathtub. Then the power went out, and all we
could hear was creepy tornado wind and whistling and rain and
scariness.... apparently one of the 3 tornados was about as close to our
apartment as McNally high school is from my home in Edmonton... Yeah...
I was within walking distance of a freaking tornado.... The power didn't
get restored for another day and a half... it was brutal. it was almost
like camping.... boo urns!!! Saturday morning, we had to go over to the
Elders apartment to shower because they had power, so they sat in their
car and studied until we were done. haha... that was kinda awkward...
but yeah.. the day after it happened, we helped clean stuff up and it
was crazy!!! There were ginormous trees that had been uprooted, there
was tin roofing scattered everywhere. hanging off of electrical cords
even... there was even a trampoline that got wrapped around a telephone
pole!!! that was actually pretty hilarious. I took some pretty awesome
pictures of it all so i'll send those home eventually. haha...
So yeah... Basically that's been the highlight of the week. That and I'm
getting transferred!! WOOT!!! I'm excited to find out who my companion
is. I pretty much know all the sisters here, and i like them all, so I'm
excited!!! YAY!!! Win win win situation!!! hahaha....
Yeah... I dont have much time today... we've still gotta finish packing
and cleaning... I'll hopefully be able to email you tomorrow to let you
know where i end up!!!!
LOVE YOU!!!!!! I'm safe!!!!! Tornado's are TERRIFYING!!!! And the Church
is True!!! oh and also, Conference was amazing. And Thomas s. Monson is
DEFINITELY the prophet. I felt all connected with everyone at home when
we were sustaining him in the solemn assembly. I sustained him at the
same time as my mom. It kinda made me weepy... haha... Yeah... love you
so much. and also congrats Katie for your call to South Korea!!!! SOOO
COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Sister Alison Dyer
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Happy last week of transfer TWO!!!!
Hello!!!
So I'm almost done my second transfer!!!! I'm kinda hoping for a
transfer... This is why.
A) We've dropped all of our investigators. None of them were keeping
appointments, let alone commitments, and as per President, if we call
someone 3 times, and they dont call us back, move on. This last week has
been brutal as a result. Not brutal in a bad way, but brutal in a
physical way.
B) WE DID 20 HOURS OF TRACTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The mission's
minimum is 10 hours... So since we had nobody to teach we tracted... and
tracted.... oh... and we tracted some more. hahahaha.... It was actually
really fun. I'm learning to love tracting more and more.
Unfortunately... This area has been tracted SOOOO much that people
really dont like talking to us and we're kinda annoying to them...haha.
Seriously.. I've been in Cabot for 3 months and we've already tracted
every street in our area. haha... So this is what I'm thinking... Maybe
the reason we're not having any success finding people to teach, is
because the Ward list has 600 people on it, but MAYBE 250 of them show
up to sacrament meeting. So if the Ward has so many inactives, then
maybe they need to focus on getting them back to church before they can
get new members... i dunno.. just a thought. Again... The importance of
Visting Teaching and Home Teaching is manifested...
C) It's kinda mean... but since the Ward has two sets of missionaries
and one of them has nobody to teach... If they took away one set, it
would kinda show the ward that they weren't really doing enough to keep
us both.. it makes sense though. If you were in a ward that had 4
missionaries and all the sudden, two of them leave, it would kinda make
you wonder what went wrong right??
But really... If i end up staying here, i wouldn't mind. The ward
members are really awesome. They just need to be a bit more missionary
minded. I've realized how much i appreciate it when members ask us how
the work is going. Not many people do it, but when they do, it shows
that they're actually doing their part, and are the really strong member
missionaries. So... Moral of the story.... Ask the missionaries how the
work is going before you ask them if they're hungry!!
This week i kept track of the things i wanted to tell everyone. So.
Prepare yourself. I have quite the list...
1. hahaha... I love lists...
2. When it rains here, it POURS!!!! Its like the kind of rain where if
you stand outside for 2 minutes you're soaking wet... like DRIPPING wet.
haha. its awesome. And i totally did it. Monday night it rained hard!!!
SO i put my awesome new raincoat to test and stood out in the pouring
rain for 5 minutes. I stayed dry, except for the parts that weren't
covered by the coat. So the jacket works!!! Thanks dad!! My skirt was
soaking wet, but only from my thighs down. haha..... So i took a
picture. I'll send it home eventually. haha.. i love rain!!! And its not
just rain, its like cracking thunder and blinding lightning too!! ITS SO
AWESOME!!!!! but only when there's no tornado warning attached.
Otherwise its terrifying. haha... Conclusion... I LOVE RAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
but the humidity does disastrous things to my hair..
2. I'm trying to come up with a less high maintenance hair style,
because without fail everyday, my hair looks like i just rolled out of
bed at the end of the day. haha. Also. My hair is more poofy than i
realized... seriously... humidity... not my friend. So. I've started to
just not straighten it. And apparently, it doenst' look as bad as i
always thought!! My hair has grown a good 3 inches too, so its kinda
long enough to put in a pony tail so that will come in handy when it
starts to get unbearably hot. Yeah. So i haven't used my straightener
since SUNDAY!!! Go me!!! I'm starting to be able to get ready in 30
minutes now. This is a big feat for me. So. Be proud.
3. The rain also = flowers. Things are getting really green and
colorful. Its pretty.
4. The Elders baptized a woman on Sunday. Sandra. It was cool. She's
kinda loopy, but she's really funny and I'm super happy for her. Woot
baptisms!! Now its up to the ward to make sure she's home taught and
stays active!!! But i think she's pretty solid, and will make sure she
gets to church and stuff.. She's been to church every week for the past
2 and a half months.
5. We tracted yesterday. We had the car, so we parked on the side of
the road and kinda pulled up on the curb onto the grass so that there
would be room for the people to drive by. The roads are rediculously
small here. So yes. We tracted around the block, and when we got to the
side we started at, this woman was out infront of her house and yelled
to us from the other corner asking us if that was our car. We parked
around the corner from her house infront of a fence, but she wasn't okay
with that and yelled at us to move it... woops... so we did... Then we
finished tracting and were debating whether or not to knock on her door.
We decided we would, but just to apologize, and we wouldnt try to teach
her. Scariest moment of my life waiting for her to answer the door. I
was totally expecting a rebuke and more yelling... haha.. She came to
the door, we apologized, then SHE apologized for yelling at us and being
mean!! HAHA!! Then she asked us what we were doing and what made our
message different from everyone else!!! GO FIGURE!!! She was so nice!!!
She asked us to come back later when her kids weren't home so we could
just teach her. She said she doesn't wanna confuse her kids, which is
understandable. We'll see where that goes, but it was really funny and
pretty humbling. haha..
6. Okay.. This is actually a big deal... Yesterday I ate asparagus AND
broccoli!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!! i definitley still do
NOT like either of them, but look what being a missionary does to me!!!
I ate disgusting vegetables!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There wasn't even cheese sauce
or anything to put on it to mask the taste... seriously.. and you think
Banff changed me... oh... speaking of banff.. We tracted into a woman
that asked me where i was from, and i said Canada, and she said that
she's been to Calgary and Banff.. haha... you dont understand... it made
me so happy when she said she's been to Banff... I love that place...
and i didn't realize it until i left it.
7. I got the Easter package that mom sent me, and we promptly made
wonderful cookies with the right chocolate chips. People dont understand
what they're missing out on here. Those cookies were amazing. And I
really appreciate that Mom sent me those two CD's. I really wanted them.
Yeah... So thank you Mom. I really really enjoyed it.
8. Yesterday tracting... a hispanic guy in his car rolled down his
window in his car when he drove by and said "hello mamacita's"....
haha... yeah... awkward..
9. Oh. Clarke and Cecilia. I got the letter you sent me in the hello
kitty envelope... hahaha... i was totally expecting it to be from Jessie
by the way. hahaha... Also... The dear elder letter you sent me with the
Matt Good easter thing... oh man... i forgot how much i loved Matt
Good... I miss him... haha.... It would be cool if you kept sending me
stuff he writes eh? WOOT!!
10. holy moly... i'm barely even half way through the list....
11. HAPPY BIRTHDAY IAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I
can't believe you're going to be freaking 17 years old... that weirds me
out... you're growing up... yeesh.... Monie sent me a the picture she
took of us in the back of her parents van after the stars concert..
haha... I love that picture.. we seriously look like twins. its
rediculous. but i love it.
12. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRIPLETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dude... it's
like the birth WEEK. haha... THE TRIPLETS ARE TEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's so weird!!!! But
awesome!!! They're a whole 2 digits old now! WOOT!!! Did you guys have
any sort of big party??? Also.. How is the diving/wrestling/karate
going??
13. speaking of wresting... our downstairs neighbors... They're prolly
in their 70's. They totally watch WWE as a couple every week.. haha!!!
They LOVE IT!!! and they call it wrAStling. hahaha!!!
14. Grandma.... The crawfish dinner is coming on Monday.... I'm
terrified....
15. On Sunday we went to a member's house for dinner. It was fun. We had
chili, and they made A LOT of it. So just to be funny, Elder Taylor,
after being told to take some more, said okay and put a ladel full of
chili into his companion, Elder Marshall's bowl. haha.. it was funny
because Elder Marshall had already eaten a lot and was full, but he kept
on eating what Elder Taylor dished him. it was rediculous.. Then the
family brought out this big cake because it was their son's 18th
birthday. So their oldest son, who just got back from his mission to
Japan, ate his piece in 2 bites and was asking for seconds before i even
got my slice. And just because the family is super laid back i tried to
eat my cake in 2 bites but i made it in 3. haha.. then Elder Taylor
tried to do it in one and succeeded.. haha. it was messy. but very
funny. Then we got sister Blake to do it in one bite which was
HILARIOUS, then they got me to do it. hahahaha... i had a lot of cake
that night. The whole time the oldest son was recording us eating the
cake in one bite and he said he's gonna email the videos to us.. So I'm
still undecided if that's a part of me i want you to see.... hahaha...
but the point is that it was fun. hahahaha... Yes... Dinner appointments
with members can get slightly out of hand like that... but it was so
much fun.. ahha...
16.hey.... thats all... haha... I thought i had more than that... but
really... this is prolly the longest email to date. haha... So yeah.
That's basically been my week... Rain, tracting... and tracting
eating... tracting.. haha.. Next week, I'll let you know what's going on
with transfers. Its also Sis Blake's very last transfer!! She's going
home in 6 weeks!!! CRAZY!!!
So i love you all!!!! The Church is true!!! Do your member missionary
work and home and visiting teaching!!!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!!!
-Sister Alison Dyer
So I'm almost done my second transfer!!!! I'm kinda hoping for a
transfer... This is why.
A) We've dropped all of our investigators. None of them were keeping
appointments, let alone commitments, and as per President, if we call
someone 3 times, and they dont call us back, move on. This last week has
been brutal as a result. Not brutal in a bad way, but brutal in a
physical way.
B) WE DID 20 HOURS OF TRACTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The mission's
minimum is 10 hours... So since we had nobody to teach we tracted... and
tracted.... oh... and we tracted some more. hahahaha.... It was actually
really fun. I'm learning to love tracting more and more.
Unfortunately... This area has been tracted SOOOO much that people
really dont like talking to us and we're kinda annoying to them...haha.
Seriously.. I've been in Cabot for 3 months and we've already tracted
every street in our area. haha... So this is what I'm thinking... Maybe
the reason we're not having any success finding people to teach, is
because the Ward list has 600 people on it, but MAYBE 250 of them show
up to sacrament meeting. So if the Ward has so many inactives, then
maybe they need to focus on getting them back to church before they can
get new members... i dunno.. just a thought. Again... The importance of
Visting Teaching and Home Teaching is manifested...
C) It's kinda mean... but since the Ward has two sets of missionaries
and one of them has nobody to teach... If they took away one set, it
would kinda show the ward that they weren't really doing enough to keep
us both.. it makes sense though. If you were in a ward that had 4
missionaries and all the sudden, two of them leave, it would kinda make
you wonder what went wrong right??
But really... If i end up staying here, i wouldn't mind. The ward
members are really awesome. They just need to be a bit more missionary
minded. I've realized how much i appreciate it when members ask us how
the work is going. Not many people do it, but when they do, it shows
that they're actually doing their part, and are the really strong member
missionaries. So... Moral of the story.... Ask the missionaries how the
work is going before you ask them if they're hungry!!
This week i kept track of the things i wanted to tell everyone. So.
Prepare yourself. I have quite the list...
1. hahaha... I love lists...
2. When it rains here, it POURS!!!! Its like the kind of rain where if
you stand outside for 2 minutes you're soaking wet... like DRIPPING wet.
haha. its awesome. And i totally did it. Monday night it rained hard!!!
SO i put my awesome new raincoat to test and stood out in the pouring
rain for 5 minutes. I stayed dry, except for the parts that weren't
covered by the coat. So the jacket works!!! Thanks dad!! My skirt was
soaking wet, but only from my thighs down. haha..... So i took a
picture. I'll send it home eventually. haha.. i love rain!!! And its not
just rain, its like cracking thunder and blinding lightning too!! ITS SO
AWESOME!!!!! but only when there's no tornado warning attached.
Otherwise its terrifying. haha... Conclusion... I LOVE RAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
but the humidity does disastrous things to my hair..
2. I'm trying to come up with a less high maintenance hair style,
because without fail everyday, my hair looks like i just rolled out of
bed at the end of the day. haha. Also. My hair is more poofy than i
realized... seriously... humidity... not my friend. So. I've started to
just not straighten it. And apparently, it doenst' look as bad as i
always thought!! My hair has grown a good 3 inches too, so its kinda
long enough to put in a pony tail so that will come in handy when it
starts to get unbearably hot. Yeah. So i haven't used my straightener
since SUNDAY!!! Go me!!! I'm starting to be able to get ready in 30
minutes now. This is a big feat for me. So. Be proud.
3. The rain also = flowers. Things are getting really green and
colorful. Its pretty.
4. The Elders baptized a woman on Sunday. Sandra. It was cool. She's
kinda loopy, but she's really funny and I'm super happy for her. Woot
baptisms!! Now its up to the ward to make sure she's home taught and
stays active!!! But i think she's pretty solid, and will make sure she
gets to church and stuff.. She's been to church every week for the past
2 and a half months.
5. We tracted yesterday. We had the car, so we parked on the side of
the road and kinda pulled up on the curb onto the grass so that there
would be room for the people to drive by. The roads are rediculously
small here. So yes. We tracted around the block, and when we got to the
side we started at, this woman was out infront of her house and yelled
to us from the other corner asking us if that was our car. We parked
around the corner from her house infront of a fence, but she wasn't okay
with that and yelled at us to move it... woops... so we did... Then we
finished tracting and were debating whether or not to knock on her door.
We decided we would, but just to apologize, and we wouldnt try to teach
her. Scariest moment of my life waiting for her to answer the door. I
was totally expecting a rebuke and more yelling... haha.. She came to
the door, we apologized, then SHE apologized for yelling at us and being
mean!! HAHA!! Then she asked us what we were doing and what made our
message different from everyone else!!! GO FIGURE!!! She was so nice!!!
She asked us to come back later when her kids weren't home so we could
just teach her. She said she doesn't wanna confuse her kids, which is
understandable. We'll see where that goes, but it was really funny and
pretty humbling. haha..
6. Okay.. This is actually a big deal... Yesterday I ate asparagus AND
broccoli!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!! i definitley still do
NOT like either of them, but look what being a missionary does to me!!!
I ate disgusting vegetables!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There wasn't even cheese sauce
or anything to put on it to mask the taste... seriously.. and you think
Banff changed me... oh... speaking of banff.. We tracted into a woman
that asked me where i was from, and i said Canada, and she said that
she's been to Calgary and Banff.. haha... you dont understand... it made
me so happy when she said she's been to Banff... I love that place...
and i didn't realize it until i left it.
7. I got the Easter package that mom sent me, and we promptly made
wonderful cookies with the right chocolate chips. People dont understand
what they're missing out on here. Those cookies were amazing. And I
really appreciate that Mom sent me those two CD's. I really wanted them.
Yeah... So thank you Mom. I really really enjoyed it.
8. Yesterday tracting... a hispanic guy in his car rolled down his
window in his car when he drove by and said "hello mamacita's"....
haha... yeah... awkward..
9. Oh. Clarke and Cecilia. I got the letter you sent me in the hello
kitty envelope... hahaha... i was totally expecting it to be from Jessie
by the way. hahaha... Also... The dear elder letter you sent me with the
Matt Good easter thing... oh man... i forgot how much i loved Matt
Good... I miss him... haha.... It would be cool if you kept sending me
stuff he writes eh? WOOT!!
10. holy moly... i'm barely even half way through the list....
11. HAPPY BIRTHDAY IAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I
can't believe you're going to be freaking 17 years old... that weirds me
out... you're growing up... yeesh.... Monie sent me a the picture she
took of us in the back of her parents van after the stars concert..
haha... I love that picture.. we seriously look like twins. its
rediculous. but i love it.
12. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRIPLETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dude... it's
like the birth WEEK. haha... THE TRIPLETS ARE TEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's so weird!!!! But
awesome!!! They're a whole 2 digits old now! WOOT!!! Did you guys have
any sort of big party??? Also.. How is the diving/wrestling/karate
going??
13. speaking of wresting... our downstairs neighbors... They're prolly
in their 70's. They totally watch WWE as a couple every week.. haha!!!
They LOVE IT!!! and they call it wrAStling. hahaha!!!
14. Grandma.... The crawfish dinner is coming on Monday.... I'm
terrified....
15. On Sunday we went to a member's house for dinner. It was fun. We had
chili, and they made A LOT of it. So just to be funny, Elder Taylor,
after being told to take some more, said okay and put a ladel full of
chili into his companion, Elder Marshall's bowl. haha.. it was funny
because Elder Marshall had already eaten a lot and was full, but he kept
on eating what Elder Taylor dished him. it was rediculous.. Then the
family brought out this big cake because it was their son's 18th
birthday. So their oldest son, who just got back from his mission to
Japan, ate his piece in 2 bites and was asking for seconds before i even
got my slice. And just because the family is super laid back i tried to
eat my cake in 2 bites but i made it in 3. haha.. then Elder Taylor
tried to do it in one and succeeded.. haha. it was messy. but very
funny. Then we got sister Blake to do it in one bite which was
HILARIOUS, then they got me to do it. hahahaha... i had a lot of cake
that night. The whole time the oldest son was recording us eating the
cake in one bite and he said he's gonna email the videos to us.. So I'm
still undecided if that's a part of me i want you to see.... hahaha...
but the point is that it was fun. hahahaha... Yes... Dinner appointments
with members can get slightly out of hand like that... but it was so
much fun.. ahha...
16.hey.... thats all... haha... I thought i had more than that... but
really... this is prolly the longest email to date. haha... So yeah.
That's basically been my week... Rain, tracting... and tracting
eating... tracting.. haha.. Next week, I'll let you know what's going on
with transfers. Its also Sis Blake's very last transfer!! She's going
home in 6 weeks!!! CRAZY!!!
So i love you all!!!! The Church is true!!! Do your member missionary
work and home and visiting teaching!!!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!!!
-Sister Alison Dyer
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)