Miracles Happen in Missionary Work!

Hello all! Can't believe it's been another week and that I've been in Albany for almost a month. Time is FLYING!

Miracle Moment! Last week my companion and I decided to plan for somebody that we would meet...we created a person with a made-up life and planned what we would teach them. We role played what we would say and planned scriptures to help us teach them. We decided we would find a single lady who was struggling with her faith because of the trials she was facing. She would ask us that if there was a God, why he would let bad things happen to good people....after we planned and practiced for this make-believe person, we set out for some tracting. As we were walking down the street, we found a woman just sitting in her truck. When we walked up to her and asked how she was doing she burst into tears. My companion and I just looked at each other. This lady was exactly who we planned on meeting. We asked if she believed in God and she said: "Not anymore. Let me ask you a question...If He really is up there, why would he let this world be so terrible?" My jaw dropped and I had to do my best to hide my amazement. Everything she said was something we'd prepared and planned for. The Lord had prepared us for this woman! She is so ready for the gospel! Miracles are the best!

We have a few other people we are teaching, but we spend a lot of time working with less-actives in the branch--trying to get them back to church and prepare them to go to the temple as a family. There are great people here...they are just struggling with their faith because of the trials in their lives...They just need help remembering that the remedy for trials is the gospel!

I hope each of you know how much you are loved by me! I wouldn't be able to be out here without the love and support that each of you give to me!

Here's a quote for the week:

"One day at an imperfect trial, an innocent man was found guilty...so that one day at a perfect trial, a guilty man will be found innocent."

Love, Sister Hyer

A Couple Pictures for the Week:

The other day I ate a Dove chocolate and the wrapper said: "Think of something that makes you smile." I instantly thought of each one of these people...later in the week I decided to make a wall of smiles! :) If you're up here, know you're loved...if you're not, it's only because I don't have a picture of you, so you should send me one! :)

Just makin friends with an iguana!

Oh the Missionary Adventures

(Sorry no Email Last week. Things were Busy)

My dearest family and friends! Hello once again from the middle of nowhere! :) Things up here in Albany are going great. It’s a whole new world up here, let me tell ya! The country life is very different…don’t be surprised if I come converted to the ways of a country gal! :)

 People here have very different struggles. A lot of times by the end of the night, I’m extremely exhausted, feeling like I’ve spent my day in one big therapy session. And in some ways, I have.  People have lost the light that Christ brings into their lives. They feel hopeless and are desperate for peace and someone to talk to. So when they see the tag on our shirt, somehow they trust us from the very beginning and want to tell us everything. I am learning a lot about listening and loving!

So, Adventures as a missionary are inevitable. I’ve learned to expect the unexpected. And I definitely didn’t expect to end up in the emergency room last week! I woke up one morning with a bug bite on my leg. I wasn’t too worried about it—I’ve had my share of them, and I’ve been warned time and time again that the bugs out here are pretty bad. So I went on throughout my day, not thinking much about it. But as the day went on, it started to get worse. My leg started to swell and as people saw it I was told to go get it checked out. I still didn’t care too much about it, until the 3^rd or 4^th person mentioned how bad it looked…I started to think, ‘oh. Maybe it really is worse than I think.’ Haha. So I called the mission nurse, thinking she would tell me to get to the Dr. on Monday after the weekend was over. But I was told to go into the Emergency Room right away. Oh what an adventure! The weather had been dark and gloomy all day and the moment we got into the car to go, it started to downpour. Another detail to our adventure. By the time we got to the ER, we were dripping wet. I expected them to look at the bite, tell me I was fine, and send me home with a cream, pill, or some sort of home remedy. Boy was I wrong! They took a few vials of blood and hooked me up to an IV to get some antibiotics into my bloodstream.  I was there for over 2 hours and was sent home with the IV still in my arm and was asked to come back for the next 2 days to finish the IV antibiotics. So I went to church with and IV stickin out of my arm and have to go back to visit my friends in the ER one more time. What I thought was a small bug bite turned out to be a dramatic missionary adventure! Haha. Oh the life of a missionary! :)

Well, I love you all!

Sister Hyer

Picture Overload:

Picture of my Nasty Bite. And IV's are No Bueno!!

The IV that had to stay in for 3 days!!

We may have played with some of the equipment when the nurses left the room....oops!

A Few other Pictures:

The elders locked their keys in their car...it took 20 elders forever to get it unlocked haha

We went laser tagging with the elders! We are the only sisters in our zone, so it gets a little crazy sometimes. haha 

Me and my companion, sister Grange 

Some of the sisters on transfer day

My cute little friend who would come sit by me in church in my last ward

Me and sister Call just bein weirdos like always :)

Me and sister Zito

Harry Truman was born in Independence, so there's lots of Truman stuff around town

More Truman stuff

The New Adventure- ALBANY

Well my dear friends and family, I'm beginning a new adventure out here! Welcome to Albany, Missouri. Population: 1,700 and probably more dogs than people. It's just south of nowhereville and a little bit west of hick town. haha jk....but seriously. :) Life is so different out here! I am loving it. I went from serving in the heart of Independence to a little tiny branch in the middle of the country. I used to ride a bike in a skirt all day and now I have a full-time car. I used to sleep in the kitchen at my last apartment and now I'm living in a beautiful 3 bedroom/2 bathroom basement apartment, complete with a kitchen AND a living room. Talk about spoiled!

The people here live in very humble circumstances. They are all country folk who have grown up on farms or in the small surrounding towns. Everyone knows everyone...and most of them are related. The town (or the square) consists of about 2 blocks of stores and if you live a a mile or 2 away, it's considered living out of town. I really feel like I'm in a whole new world! And wanna know what's great? I love it! I am so excited to serve here, and can't wait to share more of my adventures with each of you!

Well, I'll share more and send some pictures next week! Love you all! Keep the faith, and keep on keepin on!

Sister Hyer