MY NEW AREA IS SUCH A SHOW TOWN!

Ladies and gentleman, a warm welcome from Branson Missouri! THIS IS SUCH A SHOW TOWN! I LOVE IT! haha There are so many show people here and people who work for show people it is ridiculous. Our branch mission leader in YSA is Bryden Brett (his family has a show and he is up to his ears in the show biz), one of the counselors in the branch presidency is Tom Brett, and last night we had dinner with the Hughes'. The Hughes brothers have a show in Branson too. We had a baptism on Saturday and we got to talk casually with one of The Six. They are a family of brothers that have a show as well. Pretty crazy awesome! I don't even know where to start! Well, I guess I will start by telling you that me and Sister Moreno (my new companion) are shotgunning Elders (meaning we both just got transferred into the area, and there were Elders in the area before us). So we are both clueless as to what's going on. This has definitely taught me the importance of keeping the area book updated! Despite the fact that we are both new and kind of freaking out though, me and Sister Moreno have been having a blast together! She is so much fun and we have been laughing at everything from getting lost and driving for almost an hour to get somewhere that should have only been 15 minutes away, to finding six jars of peanut butter in the kitchen. It has all just been pretty cra cra in the brain brain. From what we can find there isn't much going on the areas right now. We don't have any investigators at all in YSA and we only have one or two in West ward which we haven't been able to get in contact with yet. So we are going to be doing a lot of finding! It's gonna be good. It's been pretty crazy covering two areas at a time too! You have to keep track of what lesson was for what ward or branch and how many investigators for each etc, and it's crazy! My planner has gone on steroids! Any way, it's gonna be fun :) It is so strange to be in a family ward! There are so many old people and little people! haha It's a whole different world. And it's a lot harder to remember names I feel like, because there are a lot more names to remember! I have been praying for Heavenly Father to help me remember everyone. I am excited for the new challenge that a family ward will bring though. At the same time, I am very grateful to Heavenly Father for bringing me into it gently! I work well with YSA and I love it and He knows that. Thank goodness! :) Back tracing a little bit, we got to go up to the Kansas City temple on Wednesday with the Nothums and Jessee :D That was SO AWESOME! It was Jessee's first time at the temple and I am so glad that I was able to go with him before I left. It was such a blessing to see him in the temple doing baptisms. And honestly it was a blast to be with the Nothums almost all day! They are so great :) I think that's pretty much all my news. I hope y'all are having an awesome Monday! Have an amazing week! I know I will :D Love, Sister Cryer

THE FIELD IS WHITE ALREADY TO HARVEST

Letter Dated March 16, 2015 Dear Family, OK so in my email I left off on Wednesday I think. Wednesday was beautiful. Probably about 70-75 degrees and hardly a cloud in the sky. We did some tracting and were able to find three potentials. Audrey, Matt, and Nick. We are planning to meet with Nick on Tuesday and help him with his family history. So that's a little miracle. We also got to go to a BBQ with the YSA's and Bishop brought us (me and Sister Ratto) a rabbit to rottisserize. It was pretty sweet. Thursday was a really awesome day. We had MCM with Bishop in the morning over some Chinese food and then we had a super good lesson with John about the law of tithing. It was so cool! We talked to him about sacrifice and obedience and consecration and the spirit was there. And I learned something about tithing that I hadn't noticed before. You know the scripture in Malachi 3:10 where it says, "bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse and prove me now herewith sayeth the Lord of Hosts if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing." Well it doesn't say what the blessing is going to be. In D&C 130:20-21 it talks about how we receive specific blessings according to our obedience to specific commandments. So I realized that with a lot of the commandments we know what the blessing will be if we are obedient. With tithing we don't have that. We are simply obedient (which can take a ton of faith) and as we are obedient God promises us that he will bless us. With what we don't know. All we know is that God will bless us. I thought that was so cool because it's almost like tithing is a wild card. You do it and then Heavenly Father will bless you with WHATEVER you stand in need of. Anyway, so that was a good lesson. We got a new investigator on Thursday as well. His name is Mike. He is friends with Thomas who is a YSA that goes to our ward. We met Mike at volley ball after hearing about him from Thomas. So last Monday (at volley ball) we asked him if he would be interested in learning more and he said yes. So we set up our Thursday appointment. On Thursday we taught him the restoration and he loved it. I got to share the part about Joseph Smith and the first vision and I felt the spirit so strongly! It was so cool. I know Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted. Then on Saturday we taught him the first part of the plan of salvation and then invited him to be baptized on April 18 and he said yes! This kid is so golden! He has a testimony of the Book of Mormon already just by reading the introduction page and testimonies. And he is so excited to be baptized! We love Mike! We had our Zone Conference on Friday. It was just what I needed to get recharged and refocused....... Oh my goodness! I am such a slacker for not finishing this and sending it last Monday. Well you will just get two letters this week hopefully! Oh, so on Saturday (the 14th) we had a Stake Zone Conference. That was so cool! Everyone in the stake was invited, investigators were invited, and it was just a really cool missionary meeting about being a disciple of Jesus Christ. President and Sister Shumway were down for it and the spirit was super strong. My favorite part was when we had enough people that we had to open the overflow. That was like a little miracle from Heavenly Father and all of us missionaries were so excited! On Sunday we got a new investigator! His name is Hayden. He is a friend of one of our members, Joe. He's great! He is going to be baptized here real quick I think. He doesn't have a date yet, but we'll fix that this week. So, that is that letter! Now, I'm gonna write you a second one. Love Sister Cryer Letter Dated March 23, 2015 Dear Family, So last Monday the reason I didn't finish my letter is because we went to Bass Pro. It's so cool! We wandered around checking out the fish tanks and the archery museum and the gun museum. They have a ton of the original guns used in a bunch of old John Wayne movies. Pretty sweet! We had a lesson with Hayden Monday night which went really good. He said he really likes our church because it's calm. He said it just feels a lot more calm and peaceful. That was cool. I guess the church he has been going to is more like a rock concert or an interactive talk show type deal. I can't even imagine church being like that! So anyway he likes that we're more reverent. OK there is a place in Springfield right across from campus on National called Potters House. Have I told you about that place before? It's way cool! It's just this little old house that has been converted into a cozy little coffee shop with tables and comfy chairs all over the place. I got to go there again (finally) on Wednesday and we did a couple lessons downstairs sippin' on hot chocolate. Let me tell you, that is the way to do a lesson! It was fun. We also had a lesson with Charles at Rice House and he bought us lunch. Charles cracks me up! He is just the funniest kid. I've decided I really like teaching black people. OK so embarrassing but funny story from Wednesday. We were getting a ride to the institute from Angela. Sister Ratto was in front. I was in back along with on of the biggest, heaviest mirrors I have ever seen or sat under in my life. Yeah, I was sitting under one corner of it. That was the only way I could fit into the back seat with the thing. So we get to the institute and I attempt to get out from under this stupid mirror. It's a bit rough though because the thing is so heavy. So I grab on to the handle thing on the roof of the car above the door. Those things are supposed to support your weight aren't they?! Well, this one didn't. Instead it decided to pop out of the car with a snap leaving me high and dry with the mirror still on my lap, Sister Ratto laughing her head off, and a rather ruffled Angela looking at me from outside in front of the car. I felt so bad!....That didn't stop me from laughing though, unfortunately. The whole situation was just so funny! I did feel pretty bad though. I apologized quite a bit. And then once Angela left we had another good laugh about everything. I think I told you pretty much everything else about the week in my email and I don't want to not send this so I'll wrap it up by telling you about a miracle that I just remembered happened on Sunday. So, a few weeks ago we OTM'd a girl named Amanda. I don't remember if I told you about her or not, but we started teaching her and she was golden! Then she went on spring break. We didn't see her for a week or so. When she got back she informed us that she didn't want to meet anymore and when we asked why she responded that it was because her dad had told her not to. We were so sad! She had been so prepared to hear the gospel and now she couldn't. We told her to let us know if she ever wanted to continue learning and then told her that she was always welcome at activities and church. Well, who should we find sitting in church when we got out of ward council? AMANDA! She had come on her own, just showed up, and she told us that she had decided to continue learning anyway. That she felt this was the right path for her and that she wants to keep meeting with us. Not only that, but she studied about the church and temples and the Book of Mormon over spring break and told us she had been learning how to study the Book of Mormon effectively and had found "something called scripture mastery"! She is so awesome! So that was an awesome miracle that we received! Have a wonderful week y'all! Love Sister Cryer

FIRST TRANSFER COMIN' UP!

I'M GETTING TRANSFERED!!!!!!!!! On Thursday I will be headed to Branson to serve in Branson West and Branson YSA wards. It's two areas combined, so I get to serve in both the family ward and the YSA branch. I am so glad that I still get to work with YSA's! I am sure going to miss everyone here though. Bishop had me get up in sacrament meeting and bear my testimony. Let's just say that "Cryer" went out with a bang. ...some tears might have been shed. Any way, so now I have to pack. That's really what I'm crying about! I do not want to pack! Haha! Oh well. It'll be O.K. So on Saturday Charles and Kaylynn got baptized!!! That was so cool! I was a little stressed out and things didn't totally go according to plan (speakers thought they were speaking on things that they weren't so there was some improv going on) but everything ended up working out really well. The spirit was there. They were both confirmed on Sunday and Charles received the Aaronic Priesthood as well. SO COOL! I might be leaving, but I am leaving on a high note! Jessee got the Aaronic Priesthood on Sunday as well, and the cool thing about that was that right after he got it, he was able to stand in the circle to give Charles the priesthood. And Jon Atwell was in the cirlce too. Oh my goodness it was the coolest thing ever! Sunday was a good day :) Let's see, what else happened this week? On Tuesday we had a lesson with Justin. That kid is...I don't even know. It was one of the funniest lessons ever just because he was not on the same wave length as us in any way shape or form. We were trying to teach about prayer, and he was determined that the lesson would be about scripture study. We would ask him a question like, "How has prayer helped you in your life?" to which he would respond by telling us how he never used to read the scriptures very much because when he was young his step mom used reading the Bible as a punishment, etc., etc. It was ridiculous! Hmm, what else? On Thursday we got a GOLDEN investigator! Her name is Courtney. A member in Willard referred her to us and she is amazing! We taught her the restoration and everything she said was so perfect that it is almost too good to be true. We asked her what she thought about everything and if she thought it could be true, and she said, "Well, how could it not be? There isn't a doubt in my mind that God led me here." HALLELUJA! (Angels singing in the background as a glow fills the room and me and Sister Ratto float off our chairs). Yeah. She is pretty much perfect. Friday was good. Nothing too special. It was weekly planning day. Saturday was our baptism day so that was the highlight there, and I already told y'all about Sunday so....yeah :) That was my week :D You will have two letters this week, I promise! I am so sorry about last week! O.K., I am super excited to hear Sam's news! Is she moving to Utah or something? Well, I'd better work on finding my favorite scripture, and getting a picture for my plaque! I didn't think I was going to have a plaque! That's exciting :D Have an amazing week! Love you all! Sister Cryer Sister Ratto and I at the Bass Pro Shop.

SPRING BREAK

I want that Fred Astair cut out. Just sayin'. That is TOTALLY cool! I did get to have pie on pi day! :) I didn't think I would be able to but then, just in the nick of time (and I am pretty sure a tender mercy) we were able to go to the store with one of our members on the way back to our apartment because they needed to get some things, so I got to buy an apple pie :) It wasn't near as good as a pie from home, but it was pie, and that's all that matters! It was awesome :) So yeah, lets rejoice together that we were united as a family in our pie eating on pie day :D Thanks for extra cash to do that :) It was the best!!! Ok, so about the week. It was a little dead because it was spring break. I never thought the day would come that I would be happy for spring break to be over, but that day sure came! I am so excited for school to be back in and the students to be back out on the streets and in Springfield where we can talk to them! So lets see here, what news can I tell y'all about... We went bowling on Wednesday as a district. That was fun :) We did the PSU family history booth on campus on Tuesday. That was so boring! There weren't that many students because of spring break. We were able to see a miracle that day though! As we were sitting at the booth twittling our thumbs, a former investigator named Dominic walked past our table. I shot up real fast, no boredom now, and called out his name. He came back to the table and we were able to talk to him for about 10 minutes, get his phone number, invite him to activities and just get back in contact with him in general. Woohoo! That was so cool! Wednesday, we had some gorgeous weather! Which was awesome because all of our appointments cancelled! Haha So we did a lot of tracting and were able to find some potententials :) Something we have been doing as a zone this transfer is a finding hour from 4 to 5 every day. It's been really awesome! Basically we just go out as a zone in our seperate areas and focus all of our attention and efforts on finding. We have been able to see a lot of miracles in our finding hour :)Here is a picture of my zone. I am on the front row third from the left. Ok, sorry this is a really short email, but we only have one computer today so I need to let Sister Ratto on so she can email her fam. I will write a letter though! :D Love you all! Hope you have had an awesome Monday! Sister Cryer PS The Bishop in Emma's ward sent these two pics over the weekend. Thought I would add them to the blog.

"COME ON HEAVENLY FATHER, LET US FIND SOMEONE!"

Hello my peeps! So this week has been good. We got to go to volley ball on Monday and meet some potential investigators that members brought. I don't remember what happened on Tuesday and I don't have my planner so... Wednesday was good. We had our district meeting and did a TON of role plays. I am getting pretty good at those things! I still don't go crazy for them, but they're O.K. now :) We had a lesson with Jon on Wednesday as well and he was able to get a beautiful blessing from Bishop. He came to church this Sunday as well, and we have high hopes for him! He wants to change so badly! Something that I have really been able to notice is the charity that I have been able to develop for the people here! Even the ones that I started out not even wanting to teach because they got on my nerves so much! I LOVE them now! It's so great :) I am going to be so sad when I leave though. Thursday we went to a super boring meeting at MSU where all the campus ministry people got together to talk about stuff. Super Boring. We got lunch afterwards though so that was cool. Then we got to do the family history booth in the PSU. That was super successful this time around! We got so many potentials, and one girl, her name is Erika, is super golden. She not only wants to learn about family history but she wants to learn about the church! She was telling us that she had seen a Book of Mormon one time and had wanted to take it, but she didn't want to just steal someone else's holy book. We asked her if she wanted a copy and she said she would love one. Woohoo! We are going to meet with her after spring break. We taught Charles on Thursday as well. He is getting baptized on the 21st :) SO EXCITED FOR HIM. Friday was weekly planning day. Not much to say there. Saturday was so pretty! The weather in Missouri is so strange. We had snow earlier in the week and by the weekend it was sunny and around 65 degrees. Luckily Saturday was the day that we had nothing planned and had to be outside almost all day :) So we got to enjoy some sun. Sunday was the best day of the week though. It started out not so hot. We were late for ward council because no one told us it was daylight savings time. That was actually pretty funny though and we had a good laugh about it. Then we somehow didn't have any investigators at church (which never happens). That meant that a ton of our lessons after church fell through and we didn't have anything to do. So we went tracting with Bishop, called some potentials had lunch. By this time I was feeling a bit discouraged about life in general. Why wasn't anything working out? Plus, we didn't have any new investigators for the week. We need at least two. "Come on Heavenly Father, let us find SOMEONE." That's pretty much what I was thinking. We had a lesson with Antwain and then went to go see Linda with the Elders to pass her off to them. But when we got to her house she came to the door and told us that there had been a death in the family and she couldn't meet today. That broke my heart! I love Linda so much and it made me so sad to see her so sad. The good thing about it though was that it opened up an hour before our 8 o'clock appointment. So we went tracting. Sister Ratto had received an impression of where we needed to go, so we headed off in that direction and the first door we knocked on we found a golden investigator! His name is Donald. We talked to him for about 30 minutes about God and about the Book of Mormon and he loved everything we told him! :) After Donald we started walking back towards the institute but stopped to tract another apartment building. First door we knocked on there we didn't have any luck. The lady there was not only not interested but she was trying to hold on to a very hyper active dog. So it was just a really bad time and slightly awkward. Any way, the next door we knocked on was a little Indian family; mother and two daughters (YSA age). They invited us in and we got to talk to them and teach them a little bit and we are going back again on Sunday. That's FOUR new investigators! Me and Sister Ratto were so happy! We left their house and then the second we heard the door close we just turned to each other, grinning ear to ear and then started laughing and running and jumping and heel clicking and all the rest of it! We were downright slap happy! It was the best and such an amazing miracle! Heavenly Father really does bless us for our faith! Well, that's about all I have for ya :) Got to go and do some bowling with the district now :) Love you all like crazy! Sister Cryer

KIDS!!

Ok, so I don't have a whole ton of time, but I thought I would shoot off a quick email any way. I should hopefully have time later today to write you a letter and make up for the lameness that will be this email, but if that doesn't happen, just know that I will repent tonight and I will do better next week :) So, this week has been good :) Wednesday to Thursday I was on an exchange with Sister Powell in Springfield 2nd. Lots of kids there. Let me tell you, I was never really good with kids, and now my almost 7 months in a YSA area has just lessened my ability to handle the little bedlumites even more! The car ride in the mini van to our dinner appointment was filled with screams and laughs and cries, my camera has some interesting pictures on it, and half my mints have disappeared. The actual meal once we got to the house was spent trying to eat around the little faces that kept moving closer and closer to mine blocking the track of the spoon to the mouth, playing "what's in your milk," and drying off my skirt after getting some sort of liquid in a cup spilled all over it. That was funny because Flynn (the little guy who dumped his beverage in my lap) was demonstrating how he had almost knocked his cup over and spilled stuff on me. In the demo the cup got a little bit out of control and the demo became a little bit too real as his water or apple juice of whatever it was splashed into my lap. So, careful when you do demonstrations. You never know what could happen. Church was cancelled yesterday because of weather conditions. We have had a lot of snow lately. Any way, so we spent most of the day shoveling drive ways with Bishop. That was a ton of fun and on the last drive way we ended up having a pretty intense snow ball fight (meaning we got shovel loads of snow and chucked them at each other). I got bishop in the face :) Haha! He got me back for it a little later. We all had a lot of fun. Well, that's all I have time for. Love you! Enjoy your Monday! Love, Sister Cryer