Down In The River

Come on Sisters let's go down, down in the river to pray."  #OhioRiver # OBrotherWhereArtThou

9-22-14

I love this area!!!!! It's the coolest area in the world! Morgantown was city-ish and I had a hard time relating to people, but I'm back here (same stake as Pikeville and Ashland) and I just-------I love these people. I feel so at home. We walk down the street and I literally WANT to talk to everyone. And I'm not like that, but I really want to just talk to everyone and get to know them. People are so amazing and have such amazing stories. We met a really cool guy who races BMX bikes the other day and a girl who has been homeless and had to eat dog food. Gosh. It's just so incredible to be part of all these people’s lives. I've met such sweet people already. We have this super cool agnostic investigator that we have SUCH good conversations with. I think he will get baptized.  Sister Maddox is a great companion! She is an awesome hard worker and we get along really well. I love her! We laugh a lot, and this is going to be an awesome transfer.

This week I finally decided to listen to Heavenly Father and accept the fact that he wants me to come home in April. So... I will probably come home in April and not February. God was kind of like, "Sister Lytle, you need to cowgirl up and stay the extra transfer." And I finally said ok.

Also, this week we had Specialized Training with President. I wish you would have been able to see the handshake we had. We walked into the meeting and everyone was saying their hellos and what not and President comes walking by, obviously going somewhere, and then he sees me, stops in his tracks and says, “Hello Sister Lytle" and looks me right in the eyes as he says, "How are you?" It felt so, so good to be able to look at him right back and smile and say, "President, I am SO good." He smiled back at me with a knowing smile. He opened his mouth like he was about to say something, and then closed it again. And he just shakes my hand for a little longer. Somehow, those wordless moments meant more than words could have. In his email to me he thanked me so much for all I did last transfer and told me that I exemplify the most precious qualities that exist in the wonderful sisters of the WVCM. It meant a lot to me.  

I got to see Sister Long at Specialized Training!  She is in Ashland now! She hasn't gotten to meet S---- yet, but promised she would ASAP. Also, Sister Boldrin is my STL now! My mom. I really do love her. More and more every time I see her.

This week I will have been out for a year.  I was thinking about where I was this time last year. I was remembering how hard leaving was. Everything in me except my heart didn't want to leave. I didn't want to leave home in the least. I knew full well that I would have to give up many of the things I thought I loved most when I entered those MTC doors. I thought I was giving up so many things that were so important to me, but it turns out that first of all, they were never really mine to begin with, and they weren't really that important. Satan has probably never worked harder on me than those months and especially that week before I left home for the WVCM. I didn't quite realize it, but I guess Satan was well aware that this experience would change me, that it would make me so happy that words can't even describe. So he got me to focus on all those things I would be leaving. And it was scary. Looking back now, I think I can safely say I've never been so scared in my life. Sometimes I wonder what really got me out here... but then I realize God had a plan and he made it happen. And I'm so glad he did. Because I am SO HAPPY here.

     http://youtu.be/zSif77IVQdY

Alison Krauss, "Down in the River"

(This is an unrelated Christian Site, but a great version of the song.) 

Just holding a snake

Welcome to Ohio

We Teach What We Are

Our Last Meeting With President and Sister Pitt

This week has been pretty intense. I feel like it's been ages since last Monday. A lot has gone on this week. Tuesday we had Specialized Training in Huntington, West Virginia. It was the last time I'll see President Pitt until I get home. It was emotional to say the least. It was actually a really intense meeting, for me at least. We talked about things that really hit home for me.

The meeting was centered around conversion---especially the conversion of the missionary. At least, that's what stood out to me. President said, "We teach what we are." We teach those principles that we live, and we can't bear testimony of those things that we don't live and that aren't part of our very being. We can say the words, but the Spirit can only bear witness of truth, and if we don't truly have a testimony of what we are teaching, then it won't be as effective. What we are essentially doing as missionaries, is reminding people who they are, and where they are going. We are reminding them that they are divine, that they have a Heavenly Father who loves them more than they can imagine, and that they are his literal children. They are made out of the stuff of eternity. They are divine. YOU are divine. We are divine. And I am divine. There's a quote that Sister Morgan gave to me, I can't remember who said it or anything exactly, but it talks about there being no such thing as a mere mortal. We have to remember that we are divine, and we have to be living in such a way that the divinity within us can shine through, because THAT is what will speak to people, not the words we say. I wish I had my notes on me so I could go into more detail of everything President taught, but it was beautiful, and it really spoke to me.

At the end of the meeting we all got in a big circle and had a last testimony meeting with President and Sister Pitt. We went around the circle and all bore a no longer than one minute testimony of the Savior. It was probably one of the most beautiful experiences of my mission. There was a senior couple there, and she talked about how she felt she was in the presence of angels with all of us missionaries. It didn't just feel like I was in the presence of angels though, I actually was. I wish you could have been there, because the feeling of love was so intense. Not only for one another, and not only of President and Sister Pitt for us, but you could literally feel God's love there that afternoon. To watch all these young men and women stand and proclaim that Christ lives, was SO powerful.

It was beautiful, as I sat across from President and Sister Pitt. They listened to each of us, hand in hand. You can feel how much they love each other, and even more, you can see it. It's been interesting, the closer President gets to the end of his mission, the more he talks about marriage. In his testimony he talked about how important our time here on our missions is. How it is one of the most important things we will ever do. But beyond that, he talked about how marrying the right person, at the right time, in the right place, is THE most important thing we will ever do. Family is central to God's plan. That line means so much more to me the more I learn. I'm also realizing how important it is that I'm here on my mission, and that I let it change me completely, because I can't go home and be the same dumb girl that I was. There are big decisions in my future, and I need to be the kind of girl that will make the right choice. Because consequences are real, and some are eternal.

Anyway, the meeting ended with the most beautiful prayer I have ever been part of. We all knelt together as President Pitt offered his final prayer with us. I've talked about this before, but when President prays, you know without a doubt that he is speaking with God, and he has never offered a prayer that I have been able to hold back my tears through. This prayer was no different. Everyone got to their knees and President began to pray. I knelt beside Sister Morgan, who has taught me more about love and kindness than anyone I've ever met, and Elder Bovee, my Zone Leader who is always looking out for us, and is always ready to be there for us if we ever need anything. I knelt with family. And it felt so good. President’s prayer felt more like a blessing. He called down blessings upon us from heaven. He asked that we would be changed by the time we spent here in the mission. He prayed that we would find that spouse, that right person, and that we would marry them at the right time, and in the right place. He blessed us with many other things, and expressed his love and gratitude so beautifully. As he closed, in the name of the Jesus Christ, and we all looked up, there was a silence, and a brief moment, that I knew with absolute certainty.... that this is exactly where I am supposed to be.

I'm so happy here in Pikeville. I'm so happy that I have this chance to be a missionary. I'm so happy to have this chance to find myself and become who I need to be. I'm so happy to be alive. I love y'all and miss you so much. Know that there are so many prayers from

Pikeville, Kentucky headed your way daily. I'm also so happy to hear you're reading the Book of Mormon together. SO happy. More happy than you can even know. I love you guys. With everything that I am.

Team Morgan and Lytle

M--------'s Graduation

This is Heaven

It's hard to know how to start this email after just reading that my beautiful sister is now engaged to one of the most incredible guys I've ever met. God has my back though, because today it's pretty snowy so the library was closed... so we had to come email at the church. That was definitely divine intervention because I would have felt so awkward crying as hard as I'm crying right now in the middle of the library!  Brynne and Jake, I just want to tell you how incredibly happy I am for you both. And welcome to the family Jake :)  This week has been incredible. Every week out here is. But this one has been especially incredible.

 I want you to imagine a cabin, way up on the top of a mountain. There is only one long dirt road that will take you there. The cabin faces the west, a big porch hanging over the side of the mountain facing the setting sun. The porch overlooks the most beautiful valley Virginia has to offer. I stood on that porch, looking over that view, as the sun set over my Virginia mountains this week. And I didn't stand there alone. I stood beside a young girl and her mother, who have searched--who came to Virginia searching--for a new life, a better life, and they found that within the gospel. I feel that I am them. I came to Virginia for the same reasons. Because I wanted something better, I wanted to be something better, and I wanted others to have something better as well. And I found something better. I'm still finding it. I know where to look now. That night standing on the porch, watching the sun set, breathing in the deep spring air of those Virginia mountains with people I have grown to love, those moments will be forever seared into my very soul. There's something about this place, about these experiences that I'm having out here. They are so exact. So deliberate. God has a plan for me, and I finally feel that I am living it, because I can feel it. I felt it that night so strong. I stood looking out at the valley, the quiet song of wind chimes set the tone of the sunset. I looked over to watch the chimes as they blew lightly in the spring breeze. Hanging from the middle, was a little metal circle, and cut into that circle. . . . . . . was a butterfly.

God has a plan. He is so aware of us.

We taught a great lesson to M---- and B---- that night. We have had to push M----'s baptismal date back to the 29th, but she is going to make it. She is so amazing. Watching people give up addictions like smoking, with nothing but faith, it's incredible. I don't know how you could ever think that this gospel wasn't true after watching someone use it to give up an addiction that they believe they so desperately need.

 This week we also had a Specialized Training where Lynchburg Zone and Buena Vista Zone (my home zone, although Sister Tripp and I cover Lynchburg as well) all came together for training.  President and Sister Pitt taught, as well as all the zone leaders, and of course, the Sister Training Leader companionship. It was a really great conference.  Everything was focused around the Book of Mormon, and the power of it. There is such power!  Sister Tripp and I have been using it like crazy lately, and I've gained such a testimony. Even just the book itself, without even opening the pages, has such power.

#TheChurchIsTrue  #TheBookIsBlue

Anyway, they did the teaching in rotations, so the Lynchburg Zone Leaders, the Buena Vista Zone Leaders, and  Sister Tripp and I each got put in a different room and we had to teach our 45-minute portion to a small group 4 different times. So I got to teach for 3 solid hours that day. Yay.  All I can say, is that a mission really stretches you. I think I'm the last person on earth that would want to be standing in front of people teaching, but of course, God with his sense of humor, had me doing that very thing for HOURS this week.

My favorite story from this week happened on Saturday. It was a

GORGEOUS day. It hit almost 70 degrees for the first time in months. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, either. We got a call while we were eating at M--- and R---'s (Our deaf investigator. They are having trouble progressing but we still see them a lot. I know how to say a lot of things in sign language now though, which is way sweet! Mostly words like “God” and “Jesus” and “Bible” and “Blessings” and stuff like that. I love them so much!) But anyway, we get a call from our District Leader, Elder Moffett, inviting us to come to a district service project down at a lady in our ward's ranch, Sister H----.

Let me give you a little background on Sister H----. She is INCREDIBLE. She has just been through a REALLY rough divorce. She does real estate and she had a company that she owned with her ex. Well, when they divorced, he took everything. And they had been REALLY well off. She worked her way from having nothing but her girls and her car, to now living on a multi-million dollar property.

Sister H---- gave Sister Tripp and me a little tour of her property,

including her house, the barn, the two guest cottages, and everything,

while the Elders worked on clearing out the stalls in her barn.  (That’s fair, right?) Sister H---- was excited to have sisters over finally because she lives in the Elder's area. First she took us all over to the barn to get the Elders started, and then she smiles at me and Sister Tripp and says, I have something I want to show ya'll. She turns around and climbs up a ladder that leads up to the loft of the barn. I follow behind her until we reach the loft. She keeps the grin on her face and beckons us over to a door on the wall. "Check this out" she said. As she opened that little loft door, it opened up to show the beautiful expanse of Glasgow Valley. I can't forget her smile as she said, "Isn't it gorgeous?" And it was. In fact, It was the most beautiful scene I had ever beheld. I stood there in that loft, with the voices and laughter of the Elders, who have come to be my family, drifting up from below.  The sun was shining over that valley, and I was in heaven.  This mission, and these good people I have been so blessed to know:  This is Heaven. 

Sister H----'s Property

#ElderPranks
We let the Elders stash a burrito in our fridge while we were gone,
and guess where our pillows ended up?

Fun times at the Food Pantry with B----