And This Is Why?

And this is why as a Mom I am disappointed and selfish in wishing that missionaries still couldn't email anyone but immediate family. I am pretty sure that along with the week going by quickly and the writer's block that comes when you only have a certain amount of time to get everything completed, there were emails from more exciting people to answer than the family. But on a good note, if she doesn't need us we will take it to mean she is doing well.  Maybe during the letter writing phase of p-day we will hear more!

Here it is:

I'M SO SORRY I PROMISE I'M TRYING TO SEND PICTURES BUT IT WON'T LET ME!!!!! You may have to wait until I get out to California. Sorry. I really just want to slap this computer.

 

This email is going to be a little short just because this last week went by so fast that I don't really remember what happened...

 

Love you!

Hermana Myers.

A Lovely Surprise

Hermana Myers had sent Carter and the children I babysit separate letters that arrived on Monday.  I was a little disappointed not to receive a letter for Ken and me
 but after the initial disappointment I realized Friday would only be a short time before we would have another email. When I went to the mailbox today although there was a glimmer of hope in my heart to find a letter, I figured she had just run out of time to write letters and I wasn't getting one, but there it was a letter for us, and it was SO WORTH IT.

Dear Mom and Dad,

     I just wanted to thank you for all of the love and support you've given me.  And everything you've done for me.  It means a lot that you're writing and sending stuff regularly.  I love it! I feel bad asking for stuff all the time, but can you send me out my backpack and more fiber pills?  Elder Muller wasn't kidding about your fiber intake.
     So we get our travel plans sometime this next week.  Crazy, right? Me and my companions were talking today about when we go to California, it'll be weird to just have one companion.
     I also wanted to thank you for teaching me to be independent and to know there's a time and a place for everything.  I'm really starting to appreciate those traits I have that is all.

Heart Hma. Myers

PS Batman towel

And thanks for the skirts they all fit great!

Just Soaking in the Learning and Joy of the MTC!

Thank you so much for all of that! I love all my new clothes. I haven't gotten the Salvation Army skirts yet but I'm super excited! Before I forget, please remember that I can only write on Fridays, email or letters, so I have gotten all the letters you sent me, I just can only respond to them on Fridays. Tell Dad he can write me in Spanish if he likes but he's only allowed to use the usted and ustedes conjigation because that's what we use here at the MTC. No tus for us. I was going to try to write him in Spanish but it takes a really long time.

I don't know if you know this, but I can call you at the airport before I go to California. Hermana Stevenson knows of someone that bought a super cheap pay as you go phone that they just threw away when they were done with it at the airport. It's easier this way because then we don't have to wait in lines. Hermana Stevenson's mom is going to email you with more information about it.

I would love to have Sister/Elder Cropper's blog address! I can't believe there's so many of us out in the field. My friend Courtney just reported on Wednesday and Hannah reports next week. It's crazy! I love hearing how everyone is doing! I got a letter from Christiana yesterday and an email from Kyrie Baby today and it seriously made my life (not that I don't love getting emails and letters from the family, but the moral support of people going through the same thing I am is amazing).

Bragging time: Guess who spoke at devo on Tuesday. If you guessed Elder Richard G. Scott, you would be correct! It was amazing. He spoke mostly on communicating with Heavenly Father but before his talk he spoke about missionary work and how we will never regret our choice to serve and that we weren't sent here to fail. He also left us with an Apostolic blessing regarding Heavenly Father giving us the capacity to learn, we just have to fill it with faith. The best part was, as the sister was getting up to say the closing prayer, he got back up (probably scared the sister that was going to say the prayer) and spoke more about how Heavenly Father won't give us more than we can handle and how we are called by inspiration to our specific missions. It was so amazing and really helped me.

Now relief society, that's a whole 'nother can o' worms. We had the funniest relief society I think I have ever had in my life. It was hilarious! It was Mary Edmunds and she told us that if we're talking about going home to take President Uchdorf's advise and "Stop it!" Another funny thing she said was, "I bet some of you are thinking, 'what if my DL is 18 going on 12?" I don't think that about our district leader, but it was still hilarious. Then, out of everything she said, this was the one most taken to heart, "DON'T TOUCH THE ELDERS!!! It may not mean anything to you, but you don't know what it means to them. Don't touch them!..... but make a list of the ones you want to touch for after your mission." Everyone died! It was so funny!

I feel like I had lots more to tell you... but I don't remember... Maybe I'll remember when I write you my letter. We shall see.

Much love!

Hermana Myers

P.S. I may or may not have broken my camera, but it's making a slow recovery.

K. Love you. Bye

This Post Actually Precedes the Last One

Dear Family,                                           April 12, 2013

First off: the smaller shirt is for Carter, the bigger is for Dad. I hope they fit.  Also, I'm very sorry Mom, but the zipper broke on my skirt.  I got stuck in it so we had to break it a little more.  I don't know if you can fix it or what you want to do, but I thought I'd send it back because I can't wear it.

All's well in the MTC.  We hit our halfway point which is a little crazy but we're over it.   I can't believe  Elder Cropper is in the field already! I keep thinking I see him and then I remember he's gone.

It's really starting to get hard that I can only write people once a week.  There have been a few times when I'd want to tell someone something right away and then I have to remember that I have to wait until P-day or that I don't even have their address.

Dad, I really appreciated your letter and I promise I will write you back, I just have to think about it a little more.

Carter, I really hope that you do decide to go on a mission.  I've only been out a few weeks and I'm already seeing how much this decision is going to bless my life.

I think that's all for now.  I'll email later today with more.

(Heart) Hma. Myers

She is Growing in So Many Ways

Dear family and friends,

 

I survived another week of MTC food. It's good, don't get me wrong, but it's very rich. Every meal is like Sunday dinner. I totally understand how people gain so much weight here. It's crazy. Anywho. Yes, I did get Polly's letters, I just can't write until P-Days. CONGRATS ON THE TEACHING JOB POLLY!!!!! I can send pictures from the MTC, I just have to send them one at a time in separate emails. Feel free (please) to send me a card reader so I can stop using other people's. Basically what I'm saying is you probably won't see any pictures until you get me a card reader because I don't have enough time in my email time to borrow someone else's. So I guess it's up to you if you want to send me one. And a Batman towel. If you want...

 

Oh yes, I did purposefully sign my letter as Herman Myers. That's what the sisters in our district call each other. Herman. It's a good time. Until we get in trouble because we're supposed to call each other Hermanas or Sisters... but it's okay.

 

So how 'bout that conference? We all laughed in our district because pretty much all of the talks were about marriage and raising families so we were making the joke that maybe we made the wrong choice in coming on a mission. You think you get all warm and fuzzy whenever they talk about missionary work? We all bawl our eyes out. When President Monson was talking about how many missionaries there were now, me and both my companions were in tears. We sing "Called to Serve" at least once a week at one of the devotionals and we always end up crying. There was one devotional last week where the MTC President's wife had an arrangement for it. I shall tell you about it now. It started with a fanfare (because we are as the army of Helamen. Another cool story for later) and we would all sing the first verse very quietly. 3,000 missionaries singing "Called to Serve" at full voice is powerful, 3,000 missionaries singing "Called to Serve" at a whisper is life changing. Anywho, we sang the first verse at a whisper, then the chorus at a medium soft. Then inbetween the chorus and the second verse there was another fanfare then we would start singing the second verse at a regular volume and when we got to the chorus, we sang it at full voice. Then when it came time sing "called to serve our king" we stood on king. Then sang a reprise of the chorus. It. Was. Amazing. I almost started crying just thinking about it, but I'm in public so I didn't. Also, my absolute favorite thing is when we sing "We'll Bring the World His Truth" because they changed the lyrics for the MTC. Instead of singing "And we will be the Lord's missionaries" we sing "We are now the Lord's missionaries". So amazing and powerful. Again, I cry. I don't remember the other verses of the song so I don't know if they are actually changed, but they are also extremely powerful. And the best part is that was one of my favorite primary songs when I was little.

 

Other than that, there hasn't really been anything new happening from my last email. Usually when you come here, you have one teacher and an investigator, then that investigator becomes your second teacher. Because of certain circumstances, when we got here, we had one teacher and one investigator, then we got a second teacher, and we stopped teaching that investigator. Now, both our teachers are our new investigators and our first investigator is just someone that we awkardly run into sometimes and we get really confused when she speaks in English. It's pretty funny.

 

I did recieve the packages and I greatly appreciate them! Keep them coming! :). Everyone should send me a letter too. I don't really want to beg, but they do help a lot. Send me some love. I've really only heard from family (Mom, Dad, Polly, Mems and Grampy). I got a letter from Christiana last week though and it made me super happy! I also got a post card from Mary Cropper yesterday so that made me laugh because she's here at the MTC with me. We don't really get to talk that much though which is a little depressing.  

 

Sooo now I need to make a few requests.

1.  Apparently all my skirts shrunk because now they're too short for missionary attire. I don't want to get them lengthened here because they will be perfectly fine when I get back from my mission (they go down to my knees but they don't cover them) so I ask you to go thrift store shopping and buy any skirt that is my size and mid-calf length and send it my way. I would really appreciate it because I'm tired of feeling scandalous... I'm already turning into an awkward missionary because I think a skirt that doesn't go past my knees is scandalous.
2. I think I left my Columbia jacket in Kaelin's car. I don't have her email or address or anything so if someone could get a hold of her and check, I would greatly appreciate it because I miss it.
3. I would greatly appreciate to be sent one of my hoodies. My Drake or North East wrestling one would be great. Or my Colts one. I just want a hoodie.
4. I also need cue tips. My ears are dirty.(Wow, thanks for sharing that one Hermana)
5. Mom, could you give me Sister Argyle's email so I can email her personally? Thanks, that'd be great.

Thank you all for your love and support!

 

Besos( for you non spanish speakers, Kisses)

 

Hermana Myers

Every Day Feels like Christmas When We Get a Letter

Here is another hand written letter from Hermana Myers.  She must have received a letter from one of us after writing  her email so felt she needed to write again.  I have left out some of the answers she did give to things that are of no consequence or understanding to anyone else but here is the rest:

Dear fam,

Sorry this letter is super short but I just sent a lengthy, detailed email so I don't have a lot else to say except keep the love and letters coming!  I love it! And remind others!

Love you,
Herman Myers (I don't know if she intentionally left out the "a" at the end of Hermana or did it for a laugh, one never knows with Chloe)

PS. My departure date is the 7th(of May from the MTC)

An Amazing Week

Here is Hermana Myers first email and honestly we didn't have her email address so we sent her letters via Dear Elder and we are only supposed to send one a week.  lydia.myers@myldsmail.net

I would say from this letter she is comfortable with being at the MTC and with her companions and loves to feel the Spirit. As parents we couldn't ask for anything more.

Well thanks for the emails, everyone ;).

So today was the first P-Day! I finally got to email and I come to find out that I don't have any. Woot. Just kidding. So about my first week. I would divide it into one day, but they all blend together so I'm not even going to try. I'm just going to say what comes to mind. Here we go:

I don't remember when I wrote you last and what all I said so sorry if there's repeats.

My trio is pretty darn awesome, if I do say so myself. We had a pretty rough lesson our second lesson, but we bounced back and did really well. We didn't commit her to baptism but none of us felt prompted to do so so I think it was a success. There was one lesson where she just unloaded all of her family problems on us and we were just silent for a good five minutes. It was amazing. Then this last time (we're done teaching her now) she was saying that she couldn't forgive her father for everything he did to their family and then I put on my big girl pants and told her that I don't want to hear that she can't forgive her father because she can. I know she can and with the help of Jesus Christ, she will be able to forgive her father no matter what he did. It was intense but good. Then Hermana Stevenson had a really good scripture that went along with that and she just did the whole liken-the-scriptures-unto-yourself thing and the Spirit was so strong it was crazy! But then we slipped up a bit. We wanted to have her pray with us to ask Heavenly Father for help to forgive her father and we all knelt down but there was a mistranslation and we thought we were asking her who she wanted to say the pray and not to have her say the prayer. She asked Hermana Steveson to do it and we just let it go when we should've corrected the mistake and had her do it. But whatevs. In class today we're supposed to have a guest that's a new teacher but I'm pretty sure it's her. So that'll be... awkward.

Mom, I do not need all those books. I got about 10 lbs. worth of books when I got here and I really don't need any more. I do, however, would very much like some Tylonol, colored pencils, black tights and anything else (sweets) you feel (sweets) might make me happy (sweets and more sweets). It's funny, so much stuff has happened this week but now that I'm here at a computer, I'm having a hard time thinking of what to say. Easter was so amazing. Talk about spiritual overload. We had Missionary Conference in the morning and Bishop Causse spoke and that was awesome. Then we had Sherri Dew at devo that night which was thuper awesome and then we watched Character of Christ by David A. Bednar which was funny and amazing. My mind was blown. So good. I did join the choir, not in time to be in Conference though but no big deal.  It's fun. The choir director is really funny and actually reminds me of what I would imagine Elder Cropper will be like at that age. Speaking of the Croppers, I see Elder Cropper all the time. We're on the same schedule for the most part as far as food goes so I always see him. I don't see Sister Cropper much, if at all which makes me sad because I miss her lots. The most I've gotten to talk to her is about five minutes in passing but that's okay. I've also seen a good friend of mine, Elder Clawson, from my acting class and The Poor of New York. It was really funny because we were in the cafeteria and Hermana Hartling went to go get cereal before I saw him but when I did I ran up to him to go talk to him and Hermana Hartling was surprised because I guess they were having a little chat by the cereal dispenser. I've also seen Elder Cleveland who was an electrician with me at school and we got a picture together. I got one with Elder Cropper too. I still need to get one with Sister Cropper but all is well. Speaking of pictures, I have a lot I want to send you but my cord doesn't really work with the computers here and I don't have a card reader so at some point I'm going to use Hermana Hartling's. Right now it's down in the laundry room (hopefully) with Hermana Bates and Hermana Edwards or I would use it. Feel free to send me one of those too, if you want.

P.S. I absolutely love my district! The Hermanas are all so funny and we have a good time. Hermana Edwards is adorable. And she's like me where she has the funniest little comments to say about things. Hermana Bates is probably the quietest out of all of us and I feel bad for her sometimes when we're getting ready for bed and we all can't stop laughing but she's actually doing well at it. Hermana Hartling is great. Between her, Hermana Steveson and me, we always are smiling for something stupid/awkward that one of us did. Hermana Stevenson is great. She always has these little gems of comedy when she says something that she doesn't mean to be funny but ends up being one of the funniest things that any of us has ever heard. We're starting to make a quote book for the little funny things everyone says. We have so much fun. But we're still focused, don't worry. The Elders are great! We have Elder Hafoka who is hilarious! He's Hawaiian so he goes up to all the of the people that look remotely Samoan and just starts a conversation with them and it's like they're best friends. He also has the funniest little sound effects that he makes. Elder Twitchell tries to play jokes on everyone but he's a horrible liar so he never really succeeds but it's funny. Elder Burbidge is the youngster. He's only 18 and we give him a hard time sometimes, all in good humor, of course. Then there's Elder Serdar. He's our district leader and at first we all thought he was this quiet, perfect kid but he is probably one of the most sarcastic persons I have ever met. He is so funny!

Also, we didn't get moved up to intermediate Spanish and I am so happy about that one. That is all.

Well that's been my life for the last week. I hope you find it entertaining because I sure do.

Much love,

Hermana Myers

She is Where She Wants to Be!!!!!

Here comes the next letter, I almost cried as Carter read it to us:

Dear family,                                       29 March 2013

Thank you Mom for including Elder Barton's note.  It was really nice! Also, I forgot to mention in my first letter that I need a new pair of black tights, please!  And I realized that while we do have half a P-day tomorrow, I won't be able to email because it's only half a day.

Well, Dad, you should be proud.  My Spanish teacher, Hermano Lebron wanted me and Hermana Harthing to take the Spanish level test again and the two of us got recommended to be moved to intermediate.  That was yesterday but Hermano Lebron said that if we hadn't heard about it by now (we haven't) then we're probably not going to be transferred.  I was a little disappointed at first but I've thought about it and I believe that Hermana Stevenson needs me and Hermana Harthing and we need her.  Hermana Stevenson is just like me where she has to hear Spanish over and over to understand so her listening to me and Hermana Harthing talk and having us there to help explain has helped her so much.  Plus, Hermana Harthing and I are learning Spanish better because we're helping teach Hermana Stevenson and the rest of  our district so we're getting a more in depth understanding of how Spanish works.

The Elders in our district are great.  They've grown so much, even in two days and it is amazing.  Our district leader is Elder Serdar and he takes that calling so seriously but he's not condescending about it and is very humble.  He's great!

We got to teach our first investigator this morning and it went so well(for our first lesson, at least)!  We mostly focused on God's love for her  (our investigator's name is Irasema) and prayer and making sure to build a two-way relationship with him.  Tomorrow we'll just follow up on that and then go over the Plan of Salvation.  I was actually presently (I think she meant pleasantly) surprised at how much Spanish I remembered.  I knew it would all come back, but it seriously all hit me when we were teaching Irasema.  I know it's just the Spirit loosening my tongue!

While I am extremely exhausted I do love it here at the MTC.  I love my companions and all of our district.  I love the people in my zone that I've gotten to meet.  I love my teacher. I'm very happy with my choice to come here.

Well I think that's all, I'm going to try to write a lot, but if I don't, understand that I really don't have a whole lot of time.

Love you all!
Seester Myers

PS.  I think in Spanish sometimes and talk with an accent in a not-quoting-Nacho-Libre way.  There's also a sister in my zone Hermana Dean that we anaconda squeeze each other every night.  Preetty epic.

It Came, It Came

Hermana Myers sent us a written letter on Thursday the day after she arrived at the MTC explaining her first day.  At 10:00 am when Carter went to the mail today he came back with the letter and announced there was one.  It being April 1st I thought he may be kidding but he wasn't.  He also admonished me that we should not open it until Ken got home at 5. Ugh!  But we made it and here it is:

 Hola Parental Units,

Real quick before I forget, my p-days(preparation days when they do laundry, write home and such) are on Friday so I don't get to go to the temple until next Friday but I do have a half p-day on Saturday so I can email then.

So the first day was awesome!  I saw Elder Cropper within 30 seconds of walking away from the car and then later at dinner so that was fun.  I'm in a trio companionship with Hermana Stevenson who's from Utah and Hermana Hartling who's from Colorado.  The other hermanas in our room are Hermana Bates and Edwards.  We all get along really well so we are off to a great start.

The Elders in our district are awesome.  There's one kid from Hawaii.  Pretty awesome.  oh yeah, we're all going to Riverside except for two of the elders and they're going to Oakland so we're all future Californians.  We also out number the elders so woot woot!  There were 751 missionaries entering the MTC yesterday.  I drew a smiley face on my dork dot ( new missionaries get a sticker on their nametag).

It's funny I make jokes around my companions and the other hermanas and no one laughs.  so  not much has changed in that department.  Yesterday as a group of about 50 we taught some "non members" and it was really interesting because I could tell if they were teaching the wrong thing for said investigator but I myself didn't know what to teach.  I'll just have to try next time.  Well that's all for now I think.  We're about to go workout.

Love you!
Jermana Myers :)
(spelled wrong for her dad's sake)