Coming Home

Coming home was the hardest thing for me to do. It is deferent for every missionary. Some come home so excited and some not so much. I thought I would be the one who couldn't wait to see my family again. I started my mission really missing home. I missed my family, my boyfriend, even school work! But slowly I started to realize that the mission was exactly where I was supposed to be. My heart went from being in America, to slowly half in Australia and Half in America. I didnt want to give it my all because I truly did love everyone at home.. but by my 6 month mark. Home wasnt America any more. My home was my mission. I loved every second of it. My whole heart was into the work. I loved the people. They were my friends, my family, my everything. I never wanted to come home. There was nothing I would have rather been doing, no where I would rather be, than on a mission. I wanted to be the one that would rush down that escalator at the airport and hug my family with joy. But instead I was the last one down. Trying to hold back the tears. I sat upstairs for 20 minutes before I could compose myself to see my family again. I thought the mission would be the hardest thing I would ever have to do, but leaving it was truly the hardest. 

Tire, sickness but still true

hello familia!
So this week was slower than most. One of my comps got sick so we had to stay in and we had zone conference.
Oh and ran over a nail and punctured our tire, changed it to the spare, and realised that too was flat.. all on a sunday! so we had to have the elders steal another spare from some other elders and then out jack got stuck on the car so we had to break the jack to get it off!
Sister Leota is being transferred): I am going to miss her heaps. I really love her so much and she has been literally my bestest friend. Our joined trio, Sister Hemi, will be staying with me here in Eltham.
I truly do believe this church to be true and I believe it for many reasons. The gospel has helped me sooo so much in my life and I know it can help others. The gospel is the best thing i have to give to somebody. I just pray we will be able to find someone that is ready for such a gift.
Love, sister kruyer

Moving to the mainland

Faith has a short shelf life.... Hard work is good for the soul.

I has been an amazing week! I have been transfered to Eltham on the mainland, just east of Melbourne. My companion is Sister Foster. She is from Adalaide and we get along really well.

Everyone thinks that we are twins because we are both tall and blonde(: actually, she makes me look short haha(:

Eltham is a really nice area, pretty wealthy and people here are very straight to the point.. heaps different than Tassie! haha. But I love talking to people on the train, people are more willing to talk because they can't go anywhere.. wahaha (;

We were doubled into the area so we are starting from square one. Our only investigator at the moment is someone the elders where teaching before but he doesn't speak like any English ):

I am so excited to learn from my companion this transfer. She knows a lot, this is her last transfer. I don't know why but President keeps giving me the best sisters in the mission! My trainers were both sister training leaders and Sister Foster was a sister training leader for like half of her mission!

We trained little mini missionaries this week(: They were able to be our companions for 3 days.

I was companions with Tiffany, a recent convert who was baptised last month. She is super cute, doesn't speak much English haha she is from china but we had a lot of fun together. I love singing and dancing in the car to hymns.. doesnt sound normal... because its not haha but it is fun as!

I have met a couple General Authorities in my life, and I always feel like i have nothing to say to them because they are just so spiritual and i feel like i will say the wrong thing. My goal this transfer is to truly engage into my scriptures and become the best missionary I can be.

Elder Dudfield from the 70 and area authority for southern australia is in our ward. He wants us over for tea(dinner) next month and I am excited to learn from him and to truly grow in this area. The people here are very knowledgeable.

Something that Sister Maxwell talked about the other day to the mini missionaries was that "work is good for the soul" often times I would feel like I have just worked too hard and I just wish for a day to be able to sleep all day and just not have anything to worry about and just have fun. I even would love to just sit and read my scriptures all day long, but I have learned a lot about diligence this week. In Words of Mormon 1:18 it talks about King Benjamin and how he was a wonderful example of diligence. I love it how it shows that the out come of work, is peace. We often think of peace as rest and relaxation, but really it is found when we are diligently serving the lord. President Maxwell talked about how strong faith has short shelf life. That is so true. I imagine even the Apostles feel this way. We all need to be diligent and always work to strengthen our testimonies.
Love you all heaps!
Sister Kruyer

Location:Eltham, Australia

Australia and swearing!

So this week has been really great! 

P.F. was baptized on Friday night. His was a private baptism. I felt so bad because we told him we would do everything we could to get the water warm. We boiled water and everything and he goes in and i swear i didn't know if he would actually be baptized because he yelled "dang nabbit!" bahaha
But he was baptised! It was like titanic cold because the water over flowed and it was all cold water at that point.. lets just say there was a little miss comunication as to who was coming back to turn the water off haha.

Sharon and Leonie were baptized Saturday morning! Amazing!

The highlight of the week was Jerome. Jerome is Hayley's partner. We have been teaching Hayley for a while and she is so ready to be baptised but they have to get married. Well, Jerome pretty much told us that he knows it is true because he has seen Hayley change so much and she is so at peace.
We thought it would take ages for him to come to church because he said he wants to wait till he is completely ready and knows it is true. He used to go to another church but felt like he was a different person throughout the week and then was a hypocrite at church.
But Sunday morning-- during our 2nd official lesson with him-- he told us that he got an answer to his prayer. He told the Lord that he has decided to come to church this week and if it is not right, to give him a bad feeling. And then everything just started to push him to come.
It was so amazing because every talk, every lesson was directed to him. I just sat there with my jaw wide open because literally they could have all been talking straight to him. It really showed me how much our Heavenly Father cares for each and every single one of his children. Someone even shared the exact same experience about feeling like a hypocrite --so this man went less active but then he testified of the atonement and how he came back and changed for the better! It was amazing!
I am so excited for their family. I always feel the spirit so strongly in there lessons it is so cool(:

On a random side-note. I am officially starting to get used to the Aussie's here.

Damn and Hell are not swear words here and everyone finds it hilarious to see the American missionaries cringe at it. EVEN the bishop! haha

Its is a little weird when we go to trainings or have stake conference and people are saying damn and hell over the pulpit. Also everyone here says "as" after every adj. and so it caught me off guard when people would say "sweet as" or "fat as". It just doesn't sound right. but it is nice to have a culture that does not use swear words like at all.

I am a little scared I am going to come home for my homecoming talk and swear and everyone think that I am a terrible person bahaha -- oh the aussies!

Love you all heaps!
Sister Tynica Elyse Kruyer

Motivations

This week has been an interesting one. My companion had to have her wrist re-broken under xray so we spent an entire day at the hospital, she finally saw a doctor at the end of the day, and we spent the night in the hospital.




We have been staying at a members home the past couple days so that she can recover. Today is our last day here I believe but we might have to stay longer if she is not feeling well enough. This next coming week is not going to be filled with much missionary work sadly. But I know that helping my companion is just as important as the work!

I was able to attend Will's baptism while my comp was in the hospital. It was scary to run the show when this was my first baptism as a missionary and it was also Bishop Rogers first baptism as a bishop. But somehow everything worked out! If we didn't do something right no one was there to tell us so wahahah! Jk jk as long as he went all the way under we are good!
Woohoo!






He got food poisoning though on Sunday so he will be confirmed next week.

Maddi was baptised on saturday! I am so proud of her. She was so scared to go under water and for her to face that fear and be baptised is so amazing.




She knew that the Lord had commanded us to be baptized in this way and so she put her trust in the Lord and knew that he would make it possible for her! and He did! I have learned so much from her it is incredible.

(inserted by me the mom/editter.  Maddi sent me a note on FB that had me crying with joy!

Hi Annalee, thought i would just message you and let you know that Sister Kruyer along with

Sister Baker (Deloraine) sang beautifully at my Baptism tonight. Sister Kruyer was so strong 

and brave

Those who know Sister Kruyer know that her singing in public again is a huge moment!  I know that she truly loves Maddi!  This moment made the whole mission worth it!)














Something that I have lately been really interested in are things that motivate others to do things. For me it is "lists" I thought back to all of the spontaneous things that I have done and it is because I put them on a list!

I want to do as much as I can with my life so I can say that I have done everything! There is a down side to this because in the past I have struggled with wanting to try things that the Lord does not want us to do. Wanting to try everything, isn't always a good thing. Often our motivations to do good are similar to the motivations that lead us to sin.. or at least want to sin. 

Another down side is that after I have done something for a little bit, I quit.  I never give myself enough time to get good at it because I am on to the next thing. But the good thing about it is that I have done heaps with my life and I love life! 

Something that stood out to me in sacrament yesterday was a talk on "to do lists" vs. "to be lists".  The man said "A to do list would be like.. to take my wife on a date. But a to be list would be like.. to be a good husband" This intrigued me because now I want to make a to be list. This list is something i cannot just check off.  But I am already inspired to do and be better just thinking about it! I am hoping this will help my weaknesses.

But what is your motivation? What are the ups and downs from it? I talked with my companion about this and it helped me to know her so much better. I will be expecting heaps of responses(;


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Location:Tasmania

Valentines Day Postcard

So I'll admit it, Im starting to get lazy! I have not been in the mood to send any super cute packages anymore! Thank goodness I leave for my mission in 2 weeks because then I actually have an excuse for not sending packages to my missionary anymore haha. Just Kidding I am sure he is just as grateful for my letters as the packages :) Anyways! for Valentines Day I just did this and I sent it as a postcard. It is a lot easier than I thought it would be. I always thought that you had to get them specially made, but I just wrote a little message on the left and his address on the right and a stamp on the top right corner and then your good! Woohoo! haha easy enough right?! told ya I'm getting lazy ;)

Australia Sister Missionary

I leave for the Provo MTC in less than a month (Feb 26th) and I am so excited I can't wait to leave! I know that it is impossible to completely prepare for what is about to come, but I hope I will be ok. These are some of the things that I have felt have helped me some what prepare for a mission..

Mission Prep Class

Going to BYU-I

Working in the temple as an ordinance worker

Reading the Book of Mormon from front to back(almost there! Im in Ether)

Reading through Preach my Gospel

Practice teaching lessons from PMG (i did that in Mission Prep)

and writing all my friends who are already in the field

I feel like all of these things have helped me a ton. Maybe not for my actual mission, but more to make me see my own potential and making me realize that if I rely on the Lord, I will be blessed but when I do not, I can do nothing. Working in the temple has helped me understand the importance of the temple. That baptism should not be the goal, but if we look at things in an eternal perspective it changes everything. Preach my gospel is awesome and I really need to study from it more often because it is that awesome(: I can't wait to serve the people of Melbourne Australia!