Happy American Thanksgiving

Hullo y'all...

haha... So. It's thanksgiving tomorrow eh? That means I'm gonna eat... and eat... and eat... I dunno how I feel about that. All I know is that we're eating at a members home, and the father is a doctor... I dont know what to expect other than a lot of everything. haha... I'll let you know how that goes.

So my companion is healing, and we've finally been able to get out and do some tracting. This place is like no other place I've been in my life. People actually LISTEN to us when we tract. It's incredible. I dont necessarily know how serious they are, but we'll find out when we show up for our return appointment. Here's hoping they're there!!! haha.. Also... I found a Dyer Street... I was really really excited. It's in Malvern, which is about 15 miles from here, but its still in our area, so we spent all day Saturday there, visiting the members. And yes. I got a picture. Sis Harmon thought I was a little TOO excited about Dyer street... but can you blame me?? haha..

Also. Dad asked about the size of the Ward here. Well.. Its actually pretty big. The ward list has about 500 or so members on it... However... only 150 or so actually come... That's prolly a reflection on the 15% home and visiting teaching rate this ward has... Yeah... So there's a lot of work to do within and without the ward. But... President keeps on telling me that my "positive attitude" will make the difference. Here's hoping! haha..

Guess what I found out... I got a letter from Sis Jensen, saying that Larry (in Maumelle) is getting BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!! That's so random and out of NOWHERE, but that's so awesome!!!!! I guess the Sister that took my place there, laid down the law, and told him he needed to pray about making a covenant with God on Dec 6... so he said yes... If I only knew it would have been that easy!!!! I dunno if Dec 6 will actually be the day, but no matter when it is, I'm there!!! President knows how much Larry means to me, so he'll be able to let me head over to Little Rock for the baptism. I'm so excited!!! Larry and Louise can get sealed in a year!!!! WOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sis Harmon and I have discovered something interesting... We're POLAR opposites. Everything that she likes, I dont... Except for 4 things. We both use Crest toothpaste, we both HATE Spongebob, we both dont like pickles on our burgers, and we both have a testimony. hahahaha... Thats about all we can get right now. I think its kinda funny, and its not a bad thing at all. Because I think together, we're totally complete. Even with things with our testimony. There's some things that I'm super passionate about, and things that she is, so when we teach a lesson, we both get really excited about different things, and we work well together. But when it comes to decision making, thats where we butt heads. haha... But we're working on that one.

So that's what's been going on with me this last week. Things are going well. I'm getting to know the members, and I think I can see them starting to warm up to us too. That's very encouraging. The area still has a long way to go, but I think I'm at least making some sort of a positive change. I love doing missionary work. Its the hardest, but most rewarding, and the most miserable, but the most joy filled experience of my life. The Church is true!!!

Love you!!!

-Sister Dyer

Happy 11 months.....

Dear Everyone...

THIS IS SOOOOO WEIRD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm at my 11 month mark
today!!!!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That means that next month will be my year
mark... That's jacked..... ugh..... I think I'll not focus on that and
just enjoy the happy world known as the mission field. No worries other
than helping people learn about God. I like this world... A LOT... It's
stressful but not in a bad way. I love being a missionary....

So... This week has been pretty tame... With my companion being gimped
and all... There's not much we can do... What we HAVE been doing is
getting to know the members though. I guess the Sisters that have been
in this area previously haven't been top quality, therefore the members
seem to trust the Elders more than us... So we're trying to even out the
scales and get into the members homes and let them know that we're
people, but that we're serious about doing missionary work. So we're
preparing lessons to teach them from Preach My Gospel, and so far that's
working out pretty well... We're gonna be able to get to all the members
in our area this week and next, so that will help me out with knowing
the members, but it will also help the rate of member missionary work go
up too. I'm pretty sure that as we share our testimonies of how
incredible the gospel is, that it ignites something within them that
reminds them that sharing the gospel is important. So even though what
we're doing isn't bringing immediate results, in time, the results will
be incredible. Member missionary work is being sooooo stressed
throughout the whole Church because it's important to the Prophet. So
we're trying to get that message across and also we're mending the
Sister's reputation a bit. So... This is quite the project that we have
going on, but it's keeping our minds on top of things, and we're
constantly thinking about how we can help the members here gain their
own testimony of their ability to be missionaries as well..

whew... that was kinda long.... haha... but I'm passionate about it!!!!
MEMBERS ARE SOOOO IMPORTANT TO EVERYTHING MISSIONARIES
DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways.... We got the Conference Ensign yesterday.. So when I was
looking through it, I stopped on page 82 and I was like... wait a
second..... I KNOW HER!!!!! hahaha... It's totally a temple square
missionary from Edmonton. I sang in Institute Choir with her once, and I
saw her on Temple Square the day before I went to the MTC. So that was
pretty cool. Her name is Catherine Kruger. She's pretty cool. So that
was exciting...

We're getting fed a lot here.... It's pretty rediculous... The people
here like to serve us, and I think they think it's a missionary trait
where they have bottomless stomachs.... Well... I dont... haha.. So
trying to eat less... Not going so well for me... Oh man... No wonder
why Clarke came back fat... haha...

Anywho... I was reading about the Calgary temple in the Ensign, and how
it was going to be built on property right by a building on the
northwest side of town... I cant figure out if that's the West Stake
center or not... So... I'm just curious as to where it's gonna be.
Because I'm slightly excited for it... :)

So that's about all for today. I love y'all sooooo much. Thank you for
all your prayers and love. The church is STILL true. Dont worry!!!
haha...

-Sister Dyer

Greetings from Hot Springs

Hello everyone... 

Welcome to my gong show of a week email... haha... Hot Springs is...
different... haha... Like... really different. Take everything that I've
told you about Maumelle, and think opposite. That's what you've got in
Hot Springs. haha. At least it keeps things interesting!

So I got all settled in last week and that was good. Then Sis Harmon
told me that every Wednesday night we play basketball at the Church with
our investigators and less actives, which is awesome. We get there and
start playing, and Sis Harmon was tearing it up!! She was playing really
hard, which I though was just how she was... Turns out (I found this out
later) that she was really upset about the transfer, not necessarily
that I was her companion, but more so that she lost her old companion
who trained her. So I'm her second companion in the field, and she
apparently had some aggression she needed to get out through some ball..
And did she ever... Unfortunately, she fell pretty hard on her knee and
messed it up... So throughout the week we've spent a lot of time at the
Hospital. She had to get an MRI on Monday, and luckily just found out
that nothing super serious happened, but she did strain her ACL pretty
good, so she's on crutches and is slowly trying to work her way off of
them... Which the doctor said will take about 2ish weeks... So that puts
tracting out the door... Which means we've been very limited in what
we're able to do. So we've had a lot of study time, and thankfully, Sis
Harmon has started warming up to me. haha.. We've visited a lot of our
investigators and some members, which is good... So that's been the
biggest event of the week...

Anyways... So here's what I know about the area. Its kinda set up like
Cabot, in that the city is divided into two areas, East of Central for
the Sisters and West for the Elders. So there's us 4 missionaries here,
and we're pretty independent of each other, except that we go to church
and dinner appointments when we have them. As far as I know, this area
has been open to Sisters for at least a year.  I didn't bring my fishing
pole with me, so we haven't gone fishing, but I haven't seen anywhere
we'd be able to do it. There's a couple lakes by our apartment, but
they're empty... like... no water... haha... We have the car for 3 weeks
then we have one walk week. Thankfully we just started our 3 weeks with
the car on Monday. We.. well I... drive a brand new Chevy Malibu, which
is pretty nice. Better than the Ford Fusion (we named it Moj by the way)
that we had in Maumelle. Also.. Hot Springs is the biggest Sisters area
in the Mission. We drive a lot.. Which is fine, but again... Completely
opposite from what I'm used to. I keep on reminding myself that change
is good. haha... Also.. There's this spring downtown that people take
empty water jugs to and fill it up with spring water... Apparently it's
completely pure and doesn't need any treatment. So the water here is
pretty top quality, because the tap water comes from the same source...
But they still treat the tap water.. I dont know why, if they dont have
too.. But whatever.. Today we're gonna check out the "Gangster Museum"
and learn about the history of this place. It seems pretty interesting.
Lots of Al Capone law breaking stuff. haha. 

Also. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad. Dont worry. I wouldn't forget that.
Love you... And thanks for getting married. It worked out rather well
for me.. haha...

Sorry about last week's lame email too.. I've learned from the event and
saved my email before I send them to avoid that happening again. I think
its interesting though. Ashley said the day after she got baptized, she
wrote this big huge thing all about it on her myspace page, and as soon
as she went to post it, her computer froze and it erased everything she
had just spent the last hour typing... Then I write all about it in my
email and that gets lost too.. I think that's pretty interesting.. I
think it just goes to show how incredible she is, because someone didn't
want any records of it to exist. Hooray for journals though. 

So that's about that... Love y'all a lot. The Church is true... Change
is... inevitable... haha... But the gospel never changes and that helps
a lot.

-Sister Dyer

Uggghhhh

Oh man.. okay... so I was able to get another computer for 10 minutes...
losing a huge email is sooo frustrating... but here's the summary...

So I've been transferred to Hot Springs, AR and my companion is Sis
Harmon. She's from Utah, but lived in Michigan for a while. Shes been
out for 3 months. This town is pretty cool and very different from the
Suburbia's of Cabot and Maumelle. There are all sorts of different
people here, so I'm excited.

Here's my mailing address

200 Lakeland #E6
Hot Springs, AR 71913

This week has been interesting, but very incredible. Ashley's baptism
was wonderful. The spirit was sooo powerful during the whole thing, and
it was special because her cousin drove up from Louisiana for it. He is
her only family member that's a member of the Church. He joined when he
was 13 and has served a mission and was married in the temple. He also
did Ashley's confirmation. That was very special for both of them. He
kept on thanking us over and over again for teaching her and helping her
gain a testimony. But really... She already had one. She just needed to
know where her testimony was from. haha..

So here I am in Hot Springs, and I'm sure it's gonna be amazing. It's
very diverse and I'm excited to see how receptive the people are.

Sorry for the short email... This is just as frustrating for me as it is
for you... But the Church is still true. Technology just sucks
sometimes...

-Sister Dyer