Hullo

Well... 

It's transfer day... *Drum Roll*............ and I'm still in Maumelle... BUT.... With ANOTHER new companion. haha... I dunno what the deal is.. Either President really likes me and keeps giving me stuff to do and people to be with because he feels I can handle it, or if he just does it to force me to suck it up and deal with it... or maybe I'M the problem... hahahaha... Either way... The fact of the matter is, that I'm training again this transfer... haha... Surprised???... Yeah.. Me too. haha. 

So I'm on my 5th transfer in Maumelle, with my 5th companion... Her name is Sis Jensen, and she's from Sandy, Utah. Another Utah girl. But so far she seems pretty normal, and I dont think I have much to worry about with her. She's ready to work. Which is awesome. 

Sis Campbell got transferred to Memphis to get some more separation between her and this Elder of hers... Which I think is funny.. Oh drama... How i despise thee... But. It looks like this transfer will be drama free!!! Lets just hope I dont speak too soon.. haha...

Well.. As for updates with me. We were able to take Ashley to a baptism last week, and afterwards we taught her and set a baptism date!!! WOOT!!!!! She's totally shooting for getting baptized in October 18th! I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!! SHE'S SO INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha... So this last Sunday at church, we weren't expecting her to be there, because she had to work, but then all of the sudden she showed up!! haha!! It was the best surprise EVER!!! She totally skipped out on work  for a couple hours just so that she could come to church. hahaha. She said that she would prolly get in trouble for it, but she said that Church is more important to her. Oh man.. Seriouly... What else could I ask for? haha. Basically she's amazing. And Sis Jensen is hopefully gonna be able to meet her today. WOOT!!!

I'm really excited for General Conference coming up. It's kinda weird to think that this is gonna be my second Conference as a missionary... Sooo weird...... But I love Conference.

I hope everything went alright with Mom and Dad's trip to Newfoundland. Are you staying home for a while after this?? Ian prolly forgot that he even has parents! haha... But he's a good kid. I'm sure he was plenty excited to see you again. :)

So that's about that for now. Good luck to me with my second time around training... haha.... I didn't even get any notice. I just found out at transfer meeting. Pres was all Sis Jensen will be trained by Sis Dyer.... followed by my... WHAT THE..... reaction.. haha.. I'm awesome. Anywho....

The Church is true y'all. Remember the Savior always.

-Sister Dyer

I survived Hurricane #2

Hey everyone. 

Seriously... this place has the MOST RANDOM WEATHER EVER!!!!!!!!!!!! The whole Hurricane Ike thing was pretty tame here. It was REALLY windy in the middle of the night, but it was totally calm by the morning, and when we walked outside it was 72 degrees... It's been perfect weather ever since.

Also, Transfers are next week. Again... Its totally up in the air what's going on with everything because we're pretty slow going in Maumelle.. President Drewes has no mercy with closing areas... Yeesh.. 

We've got one really amazing new investigator though. She's a member referral because she's dating a guy in the ward. haha. She's so amazing. We teach her without her boyfriend because she doesn't want him to be that big of an influence on her. She just wants to make her own decisions and form her own opinions. We're seeing her again on Friday and we're gonna set a baptismal date with her! Last week when we met with her she flat out asked us how she can become a part of the Church. haha. She's speed learning the gospel, which normally would make me cautious, but she just soaks up everything we teach and says that she already felt like she knew what we taught her. haha. Her perfect Church in her head is ours!! haha.. Go figure...

Also, I got a package full of Canadian candy from Darlene Marshall this week. I was pretty confused because it was sent from Montana!!! so A) where did you get Canadian candy in Montana and B) I'm just confused... But very thankful. I missed Aero bars.. haha..

Dad gave me a pretty good description of Clarkes new place. It sounds pretty sweet and I'm really excited for you!! You should take some pictures and send them to me so I can see what it looks like!!

Pretty much this week has been pretty tame.. Well... Nothing happened at all except for teaching Ashley, which was amazing, but I'm kinda sad that it was the only highlight of the week... So pretty much I've got nothing else to report.. :(

So... Have fun in Newfoundland mom and dad. Stay out of trouble and make sure you talk to Ian a lot. You're abandoning the poor kid!!! haha... And Ian... Do the dishes! :P haha.. I'm funny...

Anyways... The Church is true. Keep up the awesome.

-Sister Dyer

Sorry.. Late again...

Well...

Today we went and played baseball for a bit with the Elders and another member and his girlfriend. Then we all went to an ice skating rink and skated around for a couple hours and it was awesome. I thought a lot about Grandpa Dyer actually... Skating was his thing, so in a way, I kinda dedicated that whole skating experience to him. haha. I could almost hear him helping me remember how to ACTUALLY skate because it had been so long. He was watching out for me. It was cool.

Well... First things first. HAPPY 23rd BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dont worry. I would never forget your day mom.. You're pretty incredible, and I love you. Enjoy yourself and make Ian do all the housework for the day. :P

Also.. What's Clarke and Cecilia's new address?! It's nice to know they moved, but i need to know where they moved TO.. haha..

I'm glad the people in good ol Forest Heights ward enjoyed Dad's beard too. haha. Beards can be pretty awesome, and I never thought that Dad would ever decided it was for him. haha.. So I'm gonna need to see a picture of this nice beard with "no neck hair".. haha.. I'm also very excited for the travel log thinger that I'll be getting eventually. Woot snail mail... haha.. Oh and by the way... How's Cecilia's Dad doing???

So the exciting story of this week has to do with my bike... When it was first sent to the mission when I got here, the people put it together HORRIBLY and it's always made this abnoxious loud noise because of a loose part on the gears, but it was still safe and rideable despite how bad that sounds. I also couldn't put into a couple certain gears. So I finally got fed up with it and took it to a bike shop and got it tuned up??... is that the right term??.. haha.. Well.. I did it and now its silent and runs like a gem. Its pretty great and I'm excited to be able to ride it more and more because its not rediculously hot anymore!! WOOT!!! 

Last week we just did a lot of tracting.. Maumelle seems to be slowing down... so when we had Presidents interviews on Monday, he asked me if it's worth keeping open.. Who knows what that means.. So we'll see what happens..

Ugh... Time running short.. We have a dinner appointment in 20 minutes and I still have to get back home and change... ugh.. Sorry... Everything is going well with me though. Love you!! Keep up the awesome and the Church is True!!!

-Sister Dyer

Yes I'm alive... But I'm wet...

Hello Everyone...

So... The during the closing prayer in Sacrament meeting this Sunday, the man said please bless all the people being affected by the Hurricane... So he said Amen... And Sister Campbell and I looked at eachother and said... what Hurricane?... hahaha... Yup... I live a secluded life officially. I'd never heard ANYTHING about this hurricane Gustav??... sure... But yeah. So I know I'm pretty far inland from it all still, but it's been raining for 2 days non stop. Not just a drizzle, but full on RAIN!!!... It's actually kinda nice.. Yesterday we tracted for two hours in it and got SOAKING wet... We started giving up trying to stay dry and started jumping in the puddles. haha... I felt kinda like a 5 year old again. I had a lot of fun. And Dad, My raincoat is DEFINITELY waterproof. I didn't get a single drop of water on my shirt.. It all dripped onto my skirt and that was soaking wet. haha.. So we're supposed to get this constant rain for another 2 or 3 days apparently, and President doesn't really want us tracting in it.. He told us to try to make as many appointments as we can, but otherwise just try to be productive inside... So we're doing a lot of reading, and a lot of chillin these next couple days. haha. It's really windy too, that's it. At least it's not 100 degrees anymore!!! I'll take rain anytime!!! WOOT!!

Also..Mom.. Remember that lunchbox you sent me with all the chocolate inside... Well I finally opened the chocolate chip bag, and they actually weren't as melted as i thought they were. They were just melted together, but they were still chocolate CHIPS. So the lunchbox thing actually worked!! So I was pretty happy about that.

So with this new mission President, clearly some things change. Well... As per Sister Drewes, Sister Missionaries no longer have to wear suit jackets!!! WOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so happy about that. Sis Drewes said she doesn't even OWN a suit jacket and she's NEVER going to wear one, so why would she expect us to? haha.. So in celebration, I wore the dress mom made for me to church and I got SOOOO many compliments on it. hahaha... There's this one family in the ward that all make their own clothes... It's kinda weird... but all 6 of those kids were amazed with it and i thought it was funny. So basically... Everyone else loves the dress too.. Maybe one day I should send pictures of me wearing it... Good idea Sister Dyer...

Also... HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA DYER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It seriously feels like I'm saying happy birthday in every email these days... haha... But I love you Grandma, and I hope your day is awesome. :)

So Sis Campbell and I are like dream companions. We get along SOOOO well. We're pretty much destined to stay in touch forever. We have so much fun, but we get so much work done too. It's awesome. I love her. And so far she doesn't like any of the Elder's we're around enough to have to be transferred and I definitely dont feel like I'm babysitting. It's really awesome. We balance eachother out quite nicely, and I am SOOO greatful for it...

But yeah... Basically that's all. Things are going pretty well and I'm really happy. I've been able to teach a couple lessons off of tracting and clear up some pretty big misconceptions people have had about our Church. It's really nice leaving homes knowing that you've represented the Church and the Savior as best as you can. Seriously... the Church is True!! The Priesthood is real, and it's been restored to the earth today. I know it without a doubt.

Love y'all lots!!!

-Sister Dyer

Hello Everyone!!!

Sorry for the late email... We've had an eventful day... This morning we went with the Elders and a couple members and hiked up Pinnacle Mountain!! That's right... I went for a hike!!! haha... It was really intense though. The "easy" path .75 miles of stair climbing, except the stairs are big random rocks that look like they'll start a rock slide any minute.. Pretty scary actually.. But it was awesome. The whole hike, up and down is a mile and a half total and since none of it is flat, it took an hour and a half to do. Mind you, we spent like 20 minutes at the top taking pictures. You'll get some eventually, dont worry. I just hope you dont mind seeing me more sweaty than I've ever been in my whole life. haha... And I wore my "negativitree" shirt kind of as a tribute to my normal dislike of hiking... However... It seems like I'm getting over that and I actually kind of enjoy it now... haha... Who knew... But pretty much I'm convinced that tomorrow, my legs are gonna feel like jelly. It'll be awesome... haha...

Also... Surprising news... So on Sunday night we get a call from Pres Drewes and he needed to talk to Sister Davis. He told her that she needed to start packing up because she's getting transferred Monday morning, and that's all he could tell her... So we were TOTALLY caught off guard, and kinda thought that President was playing a trick on us because that was SOOO RANDOM!!!! But it happened!!!! Sister Davis totally got transferred and I have a new companion... But The whole story is freaking hilarious... *ahem*

SOOO.... Sis Davis took Monday morning to pack, and Sis Drewes came to be the taxi. We still didn't know where she was going and who I was getting by this time, so as soon as she pulled up and there wasn't anyone else in the car, I was confused because I thought she would have brought my new companion. NOPE.  Instead, she told me to get in the car too, because we were going to Cabot to drop Sis Davis off and get my new companion... So Cabot got reopened this past transfer apparently... I dont know if I already told you that... But anyways... I was actually pretty excited to go back to Cabot for a little bit, but I still didn't know why this was all happening... I was pretty sad to leave Sis Davis though... We had just started REALLY getting along... But we dropped her off and now she's with Sis Rothe in Cabot in the same apartment and everything. haha. And my new companion is Sis Campbell, from SLC... haha... She's totally a Utah girl... but we get along great so far. I didn't really get to find out why this transfer happened until both of us got back to Maumelle. Sis Drewes didn't even know why! Turns out... In the last week and a half she'd been in Cabot since it opened, her and one of the other Elder's also in Cabot freaking FELL IN LOVE with each other.... So that's not cool and it made an emergency transfer necessary.... hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha....... Oh man.... So lame.... I dont understand how that happens.. she said that this Elder totally professed his love for her one day and she started falling in love with him back... In a week and a half.... But whatever... I just think that's how they roll over in Utah (They're both from Utah)... Fast romances... Just not as missionaries... Which they apparently forgot.. So they're pretty much banned from all contact until he goes home in 9 months and she's got 16 more months left and he's gonna be writing her from the time he comes home until she gets back to... So my new companion is quick to fall in love with Elders apparently... She says that she's had a crush on an Elder in every area she's been in, MTC included... Oy vey....... But whatever. Missionary romances dont fly with me, so I'm pretty much not gonna let that happen with anyone in this area with her. I dont know how... But it's not gonna happen. haha... So that's my eventful story of the week... Now I have to show her the area and make sure she's more focused on the work as opposed to the Missionaries... hahaha... I think this whole ordeal is hilarious though... I figure you will all get a laugh out of it too... It all took a week and a half... hahahahahahahahaha......

Anyways... I'm starting to get Mom and Dad's postcards! So far, the Chicken, Alaska one is my favorite. I've gotten two others so far and and I dont know how many more to expect.. But I welcome them all.

Also.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY MONIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!............ I know it was this week sometime... haha... Monday maybe???... :) Dont worry... I STILL cant remember what you're birthday REALLY is... I know it was written in a letter you sent me... But I just haven't been able to go through them and check. :) 14 MONIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So... That's about that for this week... Pretty crazy week so far..  

Stay safe... especially Mom and Dad as you're heading back home. I'm sure mom is pretty excited to be coming back... haha. And I'll be anxiously awaiting that trip summary from you Dad. I'd REALLY like it if you got it done BEFORE your next conference. haha.. LOVE YOU DADDY!!!! :P

So.... The Church is true y'all!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Sister Dyer

Last stretch to the half way point...

Hello Everyone,

So I realized that yesterday was my 8 months day... That means next month will be my half way point.... Thats terrifying... haha.. I like the missionary world a lot. Thinking about God all the time is quite enjoyable. haha. 

Well... Some interesting things happened this week. First off. I totally got the package that mom sent me.. haha... I LOVE THE DRESS YOU MADE MOM!!!!!! I especially love the hearts on the hem. You're new sewing machine is apparently really fancy to be able to hem a dress with a bunch of hearts... haha... but even more than that, i love the 143 that you sewed as the tag!!!! haha!!!! oh man... so awesome... It fits too... Well... If i lost the weight I've gained, it would fit better. But its more motivation to actually exercise every morning instead of just laying in the middle of the living room floor trying to wake up. hahaha.... But I love it.

Also... When you send chocolate in an insulated lunch bag, the chocolate still melts. haha... the Smarties are fine, but the chocolate chips still arrive as a chocolate wad. haha.... Same difference though. It still tastes fine!! I love mail.... My letter drought I've been experiencing was broken by a package!! WOOT!!!!

So there's a new family that moved into the Ward here from Oregon... But before that, they came from Raymond, AB! So I was like... hmmm... I wonder if they know the Yawney's from Banff (the family I lived with for a bit)... Sure enough!!! They totally do!!! The woman's name is Jacklyn Bridge, but her maiden name is Edwards. She has a son that's 2 or so and a baby girl that's not a year old yet. So Mark and Jody, she says hi!!! It's pretty cool that I can still find connections to home (I kinda consider Banff my home too). I know I've said this before, but it's incredible how many people down here have actually been to Banff, or at least have heard of it. haha..

Also... I dunno if I've ever told you, but every friday afternoon, Sis David and I go to this assisted living place for old people and call out Bingo numbers for them for an hour or so...  Its pretty much the most awesome service that we can do!!! The old people there love us, and we have so much fun. I've pretty much adopted this man, Bruce as my grandpa. Every week he gives us a soda....errr... pop...... and makes sure that we're all set for the week. He's awesome, and he keeps us all laughing. Last week, he hadn't won a single game, and we were on our last game before leaving and he started growling at us because we weren't calling the right numbers... hahahaha... He's hilarious. Anyways.. the point of this story is that on Monday we were tracting and the whole morning had been pretty cruddy, so we weren't really in that good of spirits. So we knocked on the door to this one house and nobody was there, and there was a car parked in the driveway beside us, and we see this hand reaching up out of the passenger side door waving at us and tapping on the top of this car trying desperatly to get our attention. We thought whoever it was was either waving us off, or really wanted to see us... so we went up to the passenger side, and it was totally BRUCE!!! haha!!! He was sooooo excited to see us, and he was trying sooooo hard to get our attention so that we would come say hi. oh man... Totally made our day. I guess his daughter is a Real Estate agent and she takes him out to go driving from house to house every once and a while. It was such a tender mercy. haha.. We were placed on this street so that we could meet up with Bruce, and remember how much the Lord loves us and also to lift our spirits to help us with tracting. :) Pretty much it was awesome.

Sis Davis was pretty sick for a couple days this week though. She's a "recovering" vegetarian. haha.. she decided 6 months before her mission that if she was gonna be a missionary, she didn't wanna have people deal with making vegetarian meals just for her. It was pretty considerate though. But one day, she went overboard on the meat consumption, and it did NOT sit well with her. So she was basically out of commission until all that meat had worked its way out of her body. It took 2 days... Moral of the story.. Never stop eating meat!!! haha... So those two days were pretty uneventful. I did a lot of reading. haha..

So that's email worthy events for this week... Right after this email, we're going to go bowling!!! WOOT!!! I'm so excited. This is gonna be the p-day of awesomeness... before we go bowling, we're totally gonna go get bagels too.. soo excited... haha...

Anyways... Love you... Keep up the awesome... And I'm glad to know that Clarke and Cecilia have a condo and not a baby yet. hahaha... *whew* Travel safe Mom and Dad, and dont burn down the house Ian. :)

The Church is True!!!

-Sister Dyer

.....

Alright... Sooo....

I'm STILL in Maumelle!!! I'm actually pretty surprised. I gues the new Mission President made some major changes and somehow we avoided being a part of it. I guess they're whitewashing 9 new areas, and there's TONS of missionaries going from Arkansas to Tennessee and TONS coming from Tennessee to Arkansas. It's pretty intense. But here I remain untouched with Sister Davis. 

Pretty much though... Nothing really exciting is happening lately... Same old same old I guess. We are able to do a lot more tracting though. The weather has cooled down significantly, because it's been rainy for the past couple days, so that was nice. Instead of it being 100, it got down to 70!!! It was amazing!!! But today its sunny again, and thankfully no longer 100 degrees... WHEW!!!! I'm glad I only  have to deal with ONE summer. The Lord definitely had this all figured out and it's working out perfectly for me. Yesterday we found a new investigator though. She told us that she usually turns the missionaries away, but for some reason today she felt like she needed to let us in, so we shared the first lesson with her and it was awesome. We're gonna go see her again next week. She never really told us what it was that made her want to talk to us though. I guess we had shining countenances or something.. haha...

Louise is going on vacation for two weeks, so it's gonna be weird not having her around. She's become such a huge part of our life!! haha!! Get this!! She has this incredible desire to go to the temple, and she has no idea why. That's what she says that she's always thinking about. So hopefully she'll be able to go to Memphis shortly after coming home, and go to the temple to do baptisms... Maybe we might even be able to go with her!!! that would be incredible... She even ordered her own "preparing for the temple" pamphlet. haha. She's all gung ho about it. It's really awesome. Larry is still coming along.. Slowly... But we're trying to be patient with him. I think Louise is getting a little fed up though. She wants desprately to be sealed to him, so the longer it takes the less patient she gets. haha... He'll get there though. 

I'm glad Ian had fun at EFY. Every day last week I was trying to remember what he was gonna be doing. But I definitely thought of him a lot on Thursday, which is the Testimony day, and I remembered last year when he called me and pretty much bore his testimony to me after the day's events. That was pretty special... 

Now... What's this about this "good news" that Clarke and Cecilia have for me??... Seriously Dad... Not cool to leave me hangin like that... I dont do well with teasers..... Is Clarke gonna be a baby-daddy or something??.... I thought the agreement was to WAIT UNTIL I WAS HOME!!!!!.........

Anywho...

Sounds like Mom and Dad are doing well on their northern adventure to the Yukon and area... Such a random place to vacation in, but whatever floats their boat I guess... haha..

Remember... The Church is true!!! and I love y'all!! WOOT!!!

-Sister Dyer