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

Hello...

So... Another week... another email...

This is the last week of transfers eh??... Each transfer the likelyhood
of me leaving is getting greater and greater, yet I have NOOO idea whats
going to happen... I hate packing.. That's all I'm thinking about
transfers.. haha...

Anyways... So the fishing has been kinda lame... We haven't caught
ANYTHING.. Which I'm actually kind of okay with, because I'm pretty sure
I'd actually pee myself if we caught anything... Its amazing how
friendly people are when you're fishing though. haha. People talk to us
instead of us talking to them. WOOT!!! We're smart.

So... I've got a bunch of stuff to say to individual people first off..

1. Clarke... When you're in Banff, say hi to the Yawney's (Branch Pres
and his family), the Lee's (he was the Branch Pres when I was there, and
he sent in my papers), the Mooney's (she was my VT comp and he worked at
the Hotel with me), and MaRee Wilson (she was my VT-er)... Basically...
say hi to everyone for me... 14 Banff... Also... You're the Sunday
School Pres eh??.. That's pretty sweet. Dream job!! haha..

2. Mom... That's totally fine with giving my quilt to Grandma Thom...
She clearly needs it more than I do. Give her a hug for me okay??..

3. Dad... Read Moroni 8:3. That's my scripture for you. And also... With
the whole fishing license thing... I dunno!!! We're not gonna keep
anything so I figure we're fine. We're not even catching anything
anyways.. haha..

4. Ian... You're performing an English project?!?!?!!?! Dude!!! You're
the coolest kid ever!!! haha!! Good luck with that. I'm pretty impressed
with your writing skills too. I cant write a song for the life of me!!

That's all the individual shout outs for today.. But... I'M SO EXCITED
FOR SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ashley is all ready and she is sooooo
excited. Her bf's father is doing the actual baptism and her cousin, who
is her only family that's a member of the church is doing her
confirmation. She's so excited and the whole ward loves her. Man... The
gospel is sooo true.. I love being able to witness people gain a
testimony of it.. Such an incredible thing to see and also to be a part
of. Look forward to pictures. Baptism pictures are the best ones
EVER!!!!

Also.. Tonight we're having a ward Halloween party!! WOOT!!! Sis Jensen
and I are totally dressing up like eachother... pretty much just
switching name tags... But she has curly hair, so she curled my hair
this morning... which took an hour and a half and also a half a can of
hairspray.. haha.. I love curly hair actually... It's pretty sweet. On
actual Halloween, we're not allowed to be out after dinner, so we're
having a dinner and a lesson at a part member's home, then we are gonna
head back. Which is kinda sad, but I totally understand. Sorry Ian... I
cant track instead of trick or treat... and believe me.. I'm upset about
it too........ haha... 

I got the package that mom sent me yesterday! WOOT!!! The gummie bears
are AWESOME and I LOVED the shirt. I've been sad I didn't have an
Edmonton shirt, but now I do!! WOOT!!! Pretty much... 14 mail.. haha...

This has been a pretty busy week though. We're spending a lot of time
teaching members how to be better member missionaries, which has been a
mission wide thing. And so far, in the whole mission, because of this
member missionary teaching program, there are 11 baptismal dates set up
as a result!! WOOT!!!! The work here is going incredibly!!! The South is
beginning to rise. hahaha... I'm funny...

Anywho.. That's about that... Love y'all SOOOO MUCH!!!! Remember the
Savior and that the Church is true!!!!

-Sister Dyer

FAMILY!!!!

So... this is how I feel right now physically...

asljkdvhnkasdufyqiuweytbngbldskfjvbpaidf8vyhadfuigbasndbgqlekjrth;'SDgjh
a;kjdbvajbnsdghlvzdifuyg.kjrgh/adfiygpadior[g[qrjkghn.akdnmbvhadgfjkdbfa
................

hahaha... Dont worry I'm fine. We decided last night that since we dont
have the car this week and we wanted to go to the super walmart and get
fishing rods, that the only way we could get them is if we rode our
bikes... So we went on a 10 mile bike ride to the super walmart to get
fishing rods... haha... But while we were there we ate at mcdonalds
because it was the only place we could have eaten at and we were
starving... So... 10 mile bike ride... Mcdonalds for lunch.... clearly a
bad combination... Hence the feeling like BLECH... Okay... So maybe I'm
exagerating a tad... But it was still quite the ordeal.. especially
riding back with a backpack full of groceries and a pole sticking out of
it... haha... Yes... the mental picture you have is prolly very
acurate.. hahahaha... It was fun..

So we bought fishing poles. We decided that since there are always
people fishing at the lakes near us, that we were going to join the club
and contact the people around us. It sounds smart to us, and our
District leader actually gave us the idea. hahaha... oh man.. I dont
think I've ever had as much fun doing missionary work as I've been
having this transfer. hahaha... I'll let you know how the fishing goes.
I'm actually pretty excited... Minus the actually unhooking the caught
catfish... barf... But I'll deal with that when it happens... hahaha...
I've never been fishing before!!!

So we've been working a lot with members lately kinda training them how
to be better missionaries. So we're doing it with this one family, the
Crandall's. Sis Crandall cuts my hair actually... but yeah. So last
night we went over and we role played with them.. SOOO FUNNY!!!!!!! We
gave them both situations where one would be the member and the other
would be the person they were talking to. So the one situation was they
were at the park with their kids. So right away Bro Crandall starts
acting like he's pushing a swing and Sis Crandall goes with it.. So they
start doing their thing, then their 3 yr old Daughter Lilly walks in the
room and goes up to her dad and says What are you doing??? And he
doesn't answer because he's in the middle of this role play and he was
way into it... but Lilly was mad that he didn't answer so she's like
WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?! hahahahahahaha... he didn't
answer her again and continued with the role play and we all busted out
laughing and Lilly got over it and went back to playing... SOOO FUNNY!!!
Maybe you kinda had to be there... but i thought it was awesome... this
is the same girl that screamed when we were saying a closing prayer and
the phone started ringing... ANSWER THE PHONE!!!!!!! I AM A CHILD OF
GOD!!!! ANSWER THE PHONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahaha... that girl's got an
attitude... but its hilarious...

haha... Yeah... So much fun...

Also... I got your travelouge Dad. WOOT!!! I loved it. ESPECIALLY that a
picture of mom was in it. That made me happy!!! I have pictures of my
whole family now. WOOT!!!!

So yeah... That's pretty much the highlights of my week. hahaha... Oh
good times... The Church is true y'all!!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





PART 2!!!!!!!!!!!

haha... woops... I forgot... So I went to the Air show eh?? Oh man... it
was sooooooo awesome. There were a lot of members there too. I didn't
know any of them, but they always stopped us and said Hi Sisters!!! It
made me feel loved. So it was ACTUALLY the Blue ANGELS that were there.
They're part of the Navy... which is weird because they're planes.. but
whatev's... I got a LOT of pictures and videos. But I think my favorite
was the F-16. A) because it was the most impressive. It went straight up
from 300ft to 15000ft in less than a minute. and b) because it was
SOOOOO loud!!!!!!!!! Like... louder than a concert!!! hahaha... All the
poor kids there though, they were all having a cow. they were pretty
freaked out but all the parents were laughing so hard at them because
the planes were freaking them out too. hahaha... yeah... So it was a lot
of fun...

Also.. Dad.. Cabot is said like Rabbit. Seriously... I dont think French
exists in Arkansas... hahaha...

We're having our last lesson with Ashley tonight too!! So exciting!!!!
She's getting baptized next Saturday!!! So next week we're just gonna
prepare final details and review things with her. I'm so excited!! She's
totally golden. She's never had a problem with any commitment, and she
was reading the Book of Mormon nightly before we even asked her too!!!
What's better is that she does it with her boyfriend.. haha.. sooo
cute...

Yeah... So things are awesome... like I'm sure I've already expressed.
haha..

Okay thats all for real!!!

LOVE YOU!!!!

-Sister Dyer

Happy Thanksgiving...

So whenever I told people that it was Thanksgiving on Monday, they gave
me the most wierd look ever.. I'm like... HELLO?!?!?! I'm from
CANADA!!!!!! hahaha... It was still a good day though. We didn't get
turkey... But no worries. On American thanksgiving we're getting fed 3
or 4 times.... my poor body... it's gonna hate me...

I heard that Hockey season started too. haha... You're gonna have to
keep me updated on that one. Woot hockey!!

And guess what we get to do on Saturday?? Well let me tell you. We get
to go to the Little Rock Air Force Base with Louise and watch the Air
Show!!! WOOT!!! I'm so excited!!! We get to see the blue eagles???
haha.. is that what their called?? haha... Well I know what they look
like at least. I'm excited. But because Louise is one the the Chamber of
Commerse people, she gets to represent Maumelle at things like this, so
theres gonna be a Maumelle tent at the air show and we get to go with
her to represent. WOOT!!! President was all for us going. I'm sure him
being a 3 star General in the air force had nothing to do with it too.
hahaha... I'm sooo excited. Saturday's gonna be a blast!!

Also... I ate salmon on Saturday night... And I actually really liked
it... But dont expect me to all the sudden become a salmon lover because
I think this was just a fluke and the person who cooked it is amazing.
Sorry mom... but your salmon stinks up the house. Hers didn't. haha...

And this is really cool. *Yawney's.. pay attention. :P* So we have this
new Senior couple in our District, the Stotts. They're from Texas and
doing a CES mission. Elder Stotts was telling us that his first mission
was in New York. So I wondered if by chance he knew Pres Lee (my Branch
Pres in Banff).. Turns out he does!! Elder Stotts said that he did
remember "Elder Blaine Lee" because they were in the same district
together in Long Island! HOW RANDOM IS THAT!!! Seriously... the world is
so small... So Bro Yawney... Tell Pres Lee that Richard Stotts says hi..
and me too. How cool is that though eh?

Also... We have another person getting baptized in two weeks hopefully.
Sherri McKinney. She's the non member of a part member family, and I
guess she called the bishop to make an appointment with him, and they
ended up talking for almost 3 hours, and by the end of it, Bishop told
her that she needed to be baptized... in two weeks.. so bishop talked to
us and told us all about it and said that we just have to re teach her
all the lessons and she's good to go. So random... she's been around
missionaries constantly for the past 3 years. Its pretty cool that I get
to be at the tail end of this for her though. I'm excited!! Two baptisms
in one transfer!!! WOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

So things are picking up... with no other explanation than it being a
miracle. haha. The Church is most definitely true and the work is
rewarding. I love it.

- Sister Dyer