Change of plans to make things awesome

This week was a little slow in the number of lessons, but we still had some amazing things happen with our time. This week we have been trying to contact as many “formers” (those who have previously met with the missionaries and taken some of the lessons but for various reasons stopped before finishing all the lessons/baptism) as we could in an attempt to find some new investigators. When we were doing this on Saturday we found one mom who was interested but said she was really busy right now with summer and watching the kids. So, she invited us to come back in about a month to check up on her because she really appreciated us thinking of her :).

Then on Sunday we had a last minute change of plans because we had originally planned on having dinner with an investigator and a member family, but at the last minute we were able to set up a dinner appointment with a less active member that we haven't been able to get in touch with in forever. So, we changed our plans to have a lesson with our investigator then have dinner with the less active family and things worked out even better than we could have hoped for. Especially with our investigator getting more interested in the gospel and starting to read the Book of Mormon and the less active family having family night each Monday now! It is so great to see people acting on their faith.

One more random note is something I've discovered during the week. I've taken a new interest in studying hymns and I've found that you can read the hymn book like you can the scriptures. So, I've started with the introduction and I am going through different hymns, making notes, highlighting lines, and making cross references. Just different things you can do with your scriptures, but with a hymn book :). I've really been enjoying it and I look forward to finding new favorites.

I hope all is going well with everyone!

Sincerely, Sister Tyler

Funny Coincidence

This week went by so fast!

The biggest thing we've done is reorganize the list of our former investigators in one of our cities. We had a ton but we did it and we have planned to visit everyone on the list :). So far we have visited a few people, but something funny happened with one of them. The other day the elders in our area gave us a referral for someone who asked to meet with the missionaries. Since they lived in our side of the area they referred them to us. We didn't realize it at first, but after going through the list of our former investigators we found the referral was one of our former investigators! So, we went to see them and we set up a return appointment :).

Then later in the week we got to go to a member's house for dinner with one of our investigators. It was so much fun to be able to spend some time with members and get to know our investigator a little bit more before talking to her about baptism. She said not yet but she really enjoyed learning more about it.

This week has been great and I'm looking forward to another great week :)

Sincerely, Sister Tyler

ITLs Skittles

Every missionary has to have one of these pics ;)

It has been a good week :). We got to have dinner with some of our investigators on Wednesday. It was fun cause we got to be with all three of them because they hangout together and two of them live in the same building. It is great teaching them lessons because it is like teaching a small class about the gospel each week :).

We've also had some small changes in the regular mission stuff. We are now trying to get what we call ITLs (like skittles without the sk) and that stands for Inviting To Learn. President Stoker wants us to invite more people in an effort to find those who are truly ready to learn. And we need more investigators so this will help :). And the fun part about these is we are having a competition. Whatever district gets the most ITLs will win a lunch with President Stoker. So far we are doing pretty well with over 100 ITLs in just a few days :).

We also got to have a last minute exchange with the sister training leaders this weekend. It was fun cause I got to go to their area and experience a new area for the first time! It was amazing to me how small the towns there are! I am so grateful to be in Burlington! haha. But, it was a wonderful experience to see a new area and learn what the majority of our mission is like. :)

Wrapping up, I was just so grateful for the package I got from my Papa Tyler. He included an inspirational letter and some lesson outlines that he put together. I don't have a ton of time to read them but I enjoy reading a bit at night about Faith and how to better develop it.

I hope all is going well with the rest of the world, cause things are pretty awesome here in Vermont :).

Sincerely, Sister Tyler

Our Sister Training Leader's area (1)

Our Sister Training Leader's area (2)

A New Transfer – A New Investigator

First week of a new transfer and we've already done a lot of walking haha. We started out the week by doing the regular things. Did service at the library, read the Book of Mormon with an investigator, and reorganized plans after some schedule changes. Then on Thursday we got to meet the new members of our district. We got a new Elder in the St Albans area (just north of us) and a new Zone leader. It was cool getting to know them, but we went out to eat for lunch after district meeting so it was harder to talk. :/ But luckily we will see them again this upcoming Thursday when we can get to know their mission stories more.

This weekend we had some exciting things happen. We contacted a member of our ward who is going out with a nonmember and asked if he knew if she, the nonmember, would like to learn more abo

ut the church. After he asked and talked to her for a bit, she said she would! So, we had our first lesson with her on Sunday and it was so good. We taught her about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and her boyfriend was very supportive in everything we talked about. He kept bearing his testimony and supporting her in saying he would help her keep all of the commitments we extended (like reading the Book of Mormon and seeing her again next week). It was such a wonderful experience to have a member there that was so supportive and into the lesson. It's situations like that that make things so much easier for everyone.

Overall it has been a good but quick week :)

Sincerely,

Sister Tyler

[This was a fun drawing she sent for David's birthday. She knows how busy our life has been recently... We love the little details--like the "Meow." ;) ]

One Transfer Done!

I can't believe I'm already one transfer into my mission! I still want to tell people I've only been out for a couple of weeks haha.

Sister Tyler in Vermont June 2014

The work is progressing so much! Our numbers have nearly quadrupled since my first week here :D. We got another new investigator this week, too! It was really cool, we were at a bus stop just waiting for the bus to come when a lady came and stood by us. After we rode together (didn't say anything to one another yet) and got off, she mentioned to us how she saw our commercials on TV. So, we asked if she wanted to learn more and she said yes! We had our first appointment with her yesterday and we are excited to give her a church tour and bring her to church soon :). Our other investigators have been really good, too. We had a lesson with one of our investigators (who has been investigating for a good amount of time) and we focused on baptism for this lesson. We had a member with us and she just explained her conversion and testimony to our investigator and it was amazing! It was exactly what the investigator needed to hear. I am so grateful for members who are so willing to help us in inviting people to come unto Christ. I've learned from that experience how important members are in missionary work.

We also had the opportunity to have the 3rd hour lesson during church focus on missionary work yesterday. Our ward mission leader taught the entire lesson instead of us missionaries though because he wanted to emphasize how it is the ward's job to find people for us to teach instead of the ward just taking over when we get someone converted (we have to work together throughout a person's conversion process). The lesson focused on mormon.org and how easy it is to be a member missionary using that website. I'm so grateful we all have the opportunity to invite everyone we know to come unto Christ and find joy and happiness in this life and forever. I know that the gospel can change someone's life, and all we need to do is introduce them to it.

Missionary work is great! (D&C 4)

Sincerely,

Sister Tyler

[We (her mom and dad) decided to share this picture she sent because of the GREAT message it has!]  Sister Tyler made a cover for her daily planner using some pictures from an old church magazine.