Conference Week!

Another week flown by! Autumn is here in Missouri, and It's beautiful! I will boast that unlike Utah, we are snow free, enjoying brisk mornings, and days that warm up to a perfect 65-70 degrees. :)

I am super short on time, once again...but what's new right? haha. I thought I would share a quote with you. There was a lot of focus last conference on missionary work. In president Monson's talk about missions and preparing to serve, he said:
"A mission is a family affair. Though the expanse of continents or oceans may separate, hearts are as one."

I love all of you so much! I may be far away, but I consider each and every one of you a huge part of this mission I have the blessing to serve. We really are one...united in our efforts to invite others to come unto Christ. Thank you for your love, support, encouragement, and prayers!

Hope life is wonderful for all of you! Listen closely to conference...it's the BEST time of year!!! :D

Sister Hyer

BAPTISM- Jane

My dearest family and friends! Time is short this week, but It has been a week of miracles here in Albany!

Best news/biggest miracle of all. WE HAD A BAPTISM! In mission life, that's a big deal anyway...but here in Albany it's an even bigger deal because it's been about 3 years since the branch has had a convert baptism!!! It was such a miracle. Her name is Jane, and she's great! We have been teaching her for about 3 months. Things have been really rocky through this whole process. We found her through a former investigator, and when we first met her, she was...well...kind of a mess. She had recently faced some really hard trials and had completely lost every ounce of faith she'd ever had. She had no desire to pray and didn't believe that she was loved by anyone, let alone Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We did our best to visit her often, but she wasn't putting any effort forth whatsoever. She would miss appointments, avoid our calls, and never respond to our texts. We were just about to give her a break for a while when we got a text one night. "I need to talk to you. when can you come see me?" Of course, we got there as fast as we could. She said she'd had some really spiritual experiences and that she knew everything was right and that she'd do whatever it would take to be baptized. So we told her we'd be by every day the for following two weeks, took her cigarettes so she could quit smoking, and said a grateful prayer that everything was going to work out. Perfect, right? Wrong.

Later that day she texted us and said: "Can't make it to our appointment or church. Had a change in beliefs." My heart was shattered. How could things have gone so perfectly earlier that morning, just to have everything fall apart that exact same day? then the answer came into my head: Satan. That sly monster! How dare he mess with these missionaries. So we called her and asked her if we could at least come talk things out. She hesitantly agreed. The next morning we went to see her. She expressed her concerns and we talked her through everything. My companion and I don't remember a single thing that we said...which is when you know that it was truly led by the spirit! We left her feeling peaceful, once again, about being baptized.

The few weeks following that experience were all equally as rocky as the beginning. But things took a turn for the best and all of a sudden we were planning her baptism! The day of the baptism came...we set everything up, including cleaning all the spiders and cobwebs out of the font...(yes, it has been that long since It's been used). It was such a great baptism. Right after she was baptized, we went into the dressing room with her and asked her how she felt. She said, with tears in her eyes: "...like I did the right thing..."

I love being a missionary. Things may be rocky at times, but there are always good things to come!

Love, Sister Hyer

Just Sportin our TAGS!

my sweet new shoes! Adidas liquid rides! :)

Tennis with the Elders!

We are like...Way good at this :)

excuse the awful pedicure....but this is what happens after wearing the same shoes every single day for an entire summer. :)

Just bein way happy missionaries! :)

Just US

Me and Jane

Sister Doolittle's First baptism, and Albany's first baptism in almost 3 years!

ATTITUDE is EVERYTHING

Heeeeey! Hope life finds each of y'all happy and well!

It's been a good week here in Albany. We have been struggling lately with things...investigators, members, finding...you name it. It has been so discouraging to work so hard and not see the fruits of our labor. I have had a hard time staying positive, hopeful, and faithful. I just wanted to give up. But because I love the Lord, I haven't. I just keep going. I wake up and say: "OK, it's another day. Let's go give it all we've got." And then we do....but I have a confession: I haven't had the best attitude for the past couple of weeks. All my thoughts have been really negative and I've found myself making negative comments about our investigators, members, and the area we are serving in. I didn't realize how much it was affecting me until I really took a step back and looked at things. When I realized what my attitude was doing, it was like a slap in the face. I realized that those negative thoughts were from Satan...he knew that having a bad attitude would bring me down more than anything else. And he was right.

So one morning, my companion and I talked about how we could be better and be more positive about the work we are doing. We decided that we would not only stop the negative, but we would replace it with positive. Every time we said something negative, we would make ourselves say something positive, that we were grateful for, or something nice about someone else. The first day that we tried this, I cannot even begin to tell you the difference we had in our work. We got home and felt more accomplished than we had in weeks...and the crazy thing was that nothing had really changed--except our attitudes. It was a lot easier to face the discouragement when we were filled with more faith and gratitude! Attitude is everything! in fact, if you add up the letters of attitude...

A=1 T=20 T=20 I=9 T=20 U=21 D=4 E=5...= 100%

Attitude is so much of how our lives turn out. It is 100% if what we make it. We may not be able to control what happens to us, but we CAN control what we do with what happens to us. The only thing that is greater than Attitude is:

L=12 O=15 V=22 E=5        O=15 F=6         G=7 O= 15 D=4    = 101%

The love of God is everything! It can help us overcome anything we face. Combined with a positive attitude, it is the most powerful tool we have in overcoming the adversary!

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Hyer :)

Mission Funnies!

Hey all! It's me...sister Hyer! :)

I was thinking about what to write this week and decided that it's about time I share a few mission 'funnies.' Some of them are probably only funny to me, but hopefully a few of them can at least make you smile!

-In my last area, we were on bikes. My companion and I struggled sometimes trying to ride in a skirt and had many mishaps of skirts getting stuck in the spokes, getting stuck under the wheel, on the pedals,ect. But then again, sometimes we just crashed. One day my companion was riding in front of me when all of a sudden, she was riding too close to the curb and lost control of the wheel. She tipped over sideways before she had time to catch herself and face planted it in the grass. Since I knew she was alive and well, I couldn't stop laughing. I ended up on the grass right by her, tears rolling down my face from laughing so hard. There was a couple that was walking by and probably thought that we were insane and that I was the meanest person alive for not asking if she was ok or helping her up. But don't worry, Karma came around....later that exact same day I was riding close to the grass in front of her. Someone honked as they passed so I looked back over my shoulder to see who it was. When I looked back ahead, I swerved onto the grass where there was a 'for sale' sign right in front of me...needless to say, I swerved to miss it and ended up crashing too. Lesson learned: don't laugh at your companion when she falls off her bike or you'll get your just desserts.

-I have had very few bad meals on my mission. But one of them will haunt me forever. The family that we were eating with were your typical health nuts...times 100...They basically don't eat anything. Part of our meal was a funny looking salad and as I go to eat it the wife says: "My husband got all of those greens from our backyard." So I said: "Oh cool, you have a garden?" And she was like, "no, they're all just the wild greens that grow in the yard. You can eat just about anything that grows out there. We would have put dandelions in if they were in season." Hahaha. I literally ate weeds for dinner. Without salad dressing. And the member made sure to show us which stuff he had picked when we were leaving. It was totally a weed! The ones you see growing in the ugliest yards. Haha. As you can tell, I'm not quite over it all yet. I'll get there. It will just take time. Lesson 2: always carry ranch dressing with you just in case you have another serving of weeds for dinner.

-Tracting gets pretty mundane sometimes. Door after door goes unopened and pretty soon you don't even realize what you are doing. For instance....one day we had been tracting forever. it was SO hot. I was tired. and thirsty. and hungry. I wasn't paying attention to anything. So as I opened up the glass storm door at this particular house to knock on the door, I didn't notice that a cat had made its way between the 2 doors. As I let the storm door close, I heard this loud 'MEOW!' and my companion say (through hysterical laughter) look out for the cat!" I smashed this poor little kitty in the door! Luckily It wasn't seriously harmed, otherwise my door approach about the Restoration and The Book of Mormon would have resulted in a very awkward conversation about having just killed their cat. Lesson 3: while tracting, watch for roaming pets before closing doors

-I have run into a lot of people with Word of Wisdom issues. Mostly just...everyone. One day we were walking around town, when a man approached us at an apartment complex. This is the same man that seems to have been drunk 98% of the other times we've seen him in the past...the same one that drives his John Deer riding lawn mower everywhere he goes (with a beer in his hand) because he got his license taken away for having multiple DUIs. It was apparent he'd had a few Beers...not only because he had one open in his hands, but because he could barely walk without tripping over his own feet. He asked if he could talk to us. After a brief discussion about the Gospel, he says (in drunken slurred words) "I'm really glad you girls came to see me...I really am. I just love you both so much." Then he stumbled forward to give us both a hug. (a huge no-no for a missionary) I stepped back just enough to dodge his drunken hug, causing him to almost fall to the ground. We gave him a handshake instead, handed him a copy of The Book of Mormon, and told him we'd be back the following week to help him kick his Drinking habit. haha. Lesson 4: don't stand too close to drunken men or they will try to hug you.

Life as a missionary is as fun as you make it. And as I always say, if you're not laughing, you're crying. So I've made sure to find and create the 'funnies' amid all the hard work.

I hope you are all laughing and smiling every day! It will help you get through the tough times. 2 Nephi 9:29 says: ".....Spiritually Minded Is Life Eternal."

Spiritually Minded Is Life Eternal

Don't forget to - S.M.I.L.E :D

Much Love to you all!

Sister Hyer

To my Loved ones

Hello to all my family and friends!

Time is short today....but I've been thinking a lot about all of you. There are days when I'm just going about doing what missionaries do, and I remember all the loved ones I left at home. My heart feels warm and happy and I feel a new sense of dedication to the work. Each of you reading this has played a part in me getting here. I am so grateful for each and every one of you. Thank you for the love, support, letters, and prayers. There are times when I ask myself "am I being the missionary my family and friends would proud of?" and I think of each of you. I am striving my hardest to be the best missionary I can be. Thank you for the continuous outpouring of love! I love you all!

Sister Hyer