Hello Everyone..
Holy moly.. Arkansas weather is REDICULOUS!!!!!!!! So i survived a tornado warning LAST week, and THIS week... like yesterday... THERE WAS A FREAKING TORNADO AN HOUR AND A HALF AWAY FROM WHERE WE LIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Man... So the Bishop came by our house last night to give us some dinner his wife made for us, so we're standing outside talking to him for a while, and behind him there was non-stop lightning. and just casually he says how its tornado season and "oh dont worry. you'll be safe. tornado's are only really bad in a concentrated area. just stay in your bathtub and everything alright. and dont freak out if it sounds like a train is going through your living room. thats normal." SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?!?! SERIOUSLY!!!!!!! So last night the lightning eventually made it over to our area and there was this CRAZY storm for probably 45 minutes of continuous rain and lightning, and no tornados any closer than an hour and a half. yeesh... Arkansas is nuts.
Other than that... All of our appointments from last week fell through except for one.. frustrating... so we did an insane amount of tracting and following up with potential investigators and nothing really went anywhere with that. But this week started pretty good. We finally had appointments that went through and were really powerful. And today we just started teaching a woman who's a friend with a member so thats already really awesome. I like it when we get referrals. They're more effective than tracting. But we do meet a lot of interesting people when we go tracting. Alot of them say something like.. "oh i'm not interested at all in your message. I'm a devout Baptist. But who's this Joe Smith man I've heard about?". hahahaha....
As for what i've been eating... A LOT OF HAM. haha. It never really occurred to me that ham is really big in the south, but it is. Nothing's really different here... its just like if i was at home and mom decided to have a fancy meal every night. you know?? so when we go over to a member's home for dinner they basically make their best dish, which is always really good, but not always too healthy... at least they take the courtesy of giving us a salad to start with. haha... but then we get sent home with a cake or something like that. haha. lots of cake... but i continue to work out in the mornings. i can do 20 push ups in a row! woot!!
also... Happy Birthday in two days Dad. I already emailed Uncle Dave giving him trouble about turning 50. haha....
Clarke wanted me to tell him about the people i've been teaching.. The people that we're teaching are mostly people who were found a looooong time ago. Like this one family... the Kassners. They have been every religion under the sun, and they've kinda become jaded, so they dont really take us seriously when we say "this is it. this is the church you've been searching for." Its the same with this other lady, Magdalena. Both instances, they say that everytime they joined another church, they were SURE it was right, but they were always eventually let down, which lead to a search for a new church. They've pretty much been taught everything, so they have a huge knowledge of the doctrine, but dont really wanna be spiritually or emotionally connected in any way. its frustrating... but everytime we visit, we continue to testify, and ask them to read something from the Book of Mormon, or pray about something specifically, and whether they do it or not, we cant help, but at least we're helping them along the way. Even if there's the slightest progress it's pretty rewarding for us as missionaries.
Also... Mom and Dad... I use your conversion stories a lot... i hope you dont mind... but i dont really know much about it other than mom going to seminary in high school and joining the church years later, and Dad joining the church kinda for mom, but mostly for himself. So... Question... How would you feel about taking some time to write out your conversion stories and sending them to me so i can use them in lessons???..... The missionary in me need to make you commit to it... *ahem*... WILL YOU write down your conversion stories and send them to me? I promise you that as you do so, somebody here will be touched and have a desire to change because of it. And if anything, it'll give me even more motivation to keep on going because i can see how i have been blessed by the efforts of two missionaries from over 20 years ago. :) Thanks. :)
And i have another question... Are you still sending my emails to all my friends?? I had another request to have my emails sent to Katie Burgess... She's the one from Langley thats putting in her papers soon.. Her email is burgess.katie@yahoo.ca. THANKS!!! So. If you could do that and also continue sending my emails to David, Randi, Monie and Sean, that would continue to be wonderful. Pretty much i dont mind if you send it to anyone else. Just make sure you at least get those 5 in. :) thank you again.
oh yeah!!! I GOT THE BLANKET!!!! haha!!! I got it on Thursday!! ITs the most ugly but awesome blanket ever!!! its very me, so i appreciate it and i'm definitely warm at night though. And thank you for the CDs. If you ever happen to come across anymore church CDs, like the ones i've burned myself, send them my way. I heart music. So yeah. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SENDING ME THE BLANKET!!!! and the matching pillowcase too. haha... that was awesome. Actually... last Wednesday, I came home and checked the mail, and there were 6 letters for me. haha. My friends DO love me!! I was getting worried there for a bit. I didn't get anything my first two weeks here, but they all came together all at once! i AM loved!!!! I love getting mail... so exciting... (Grandma, your letter was in that pile of 6 too. So i wrote you one back. look forward to that!!)
Also, we got to go see the broadcast of President Hinckley's funeral. It was pretty good. I loved how Bishop Burton said to all the younger people in the Church that President Hinckley was THEIR prophet. That's totally how I felt. He was the one i really started paying attention to, and he's had the most impact on me and my testimony. I'm happy for him though. Even though its sad that he's no longer with us, he's with his wife who he loved SOOOO much. They're definitely VERY happy right now. I'm excited to see what President Monson has in store. And i'm REALLY excited for Elder Uchtdorf!! well... President Uchtdorf now. haha. I love how organized the Church is. Seriously... yet another testiment that it's true.
I think thats all for now... I'm still doing really well.. Everything since this last sunday has really started to pick up. I feel more like a missionary this week because i'm starting to see it working even in the slightest ways. I'm truly starting to love the people, and its helping me do better. I think i needed last week of everything not working out to make me see that its not always so peachy. it makes the good times even better.
Love you all soooooo much. Thank you for your prayers and support and love. I wish i could express my gratitude enough. Continue being awesome. :)
- Sister Alison J. Dyer
