Letters & Packages:
Oregon Salem Mission Office
700 Deborah Rd Suite 260
Newberg,  Oregon 97132

London's blog & pictures:
Sisterlondonheywood.blogspot.com

Hey Ya'll!

 

This week was adventurous and interesting! Last monday i did some hair that was fun and turned out great! Including members and sis sigom:) I miss it, so I'm glad i can do it as a service! Also this week I found out more of my purpose in this area and ward...there is a reason each missionary is put in their areas and companions and even down to the time! (i knew my purpose but its even more clear to me) So excited about it!!! :)

We had our lesson with John and Nevada and they are just soo great, have i said that before, the lesson went really well and again they are so prepared. They want us to pick the time on Nov 9th but we are so excited!!!! Isnt it exciting?..i think i will cry. No, i know i will. Our mission president wants to be there also and i told them that and they're like "so there are going to be people there that we dont even know"..and i said "yep people who love and care about you and you dont even know it!" haha i feel like thats how most convert baptism are cause they are really so special! 

Made some contact with some less actives families which is really great...according to ward members cause they wont give the time of day to anyone else in the past..and it just so happens that the mothers of these families are cosmetologist..so needless to say we had a lot to talk about! It was awesome! :)

Friday Sis Sigmon started to get really sick and is still really sick and will be seeing a doctor today (outside of our mission) shhh! Dont tell! ;) Its the closest doc and its approved if its for those purposes! We had to cancel our dinner so i made some for us and we weren't able to go out..it was kinda weird cause we felt bad and wanted to do work but pretty sure people would not like us in their homes when Sis sigmon sounds like a dying whale! haha A couple times sigmon would get up and say ok lets go do this and i would have to be like "noo sis sigmon go lay down" (great practice for when I'm a mother) haha Saturday it hit her pretty bad and so we didnt do much except help the spanish sisters meet with some hispanic people that are in our area to help them get the spanish branch started which is very exciting! We were able to make it to church we sat in the back, far from everyone but then all the ysa started sitting by us. It was the primary program and was expectingly cute!! haha I helped Elder Lee our zone leader teach combined relief society and preisthood while sis sigmon was asked to play piano in the Forest Grove 2nd R.S. Poor girl..i feel so bad! We had a meeting for ysa after church which was awesome and our plans to find the less actives and spread the gospel and the activities coming up! Its great that I have 3 yrs of ysa experience..i kinda know how it works;)

Every friday we have our district meetings and our district leader picks people randomly to teach whether its companionships, split companionships or Sister and Elder! So guess who taught twice in a row.. elder sutton picked me to teach with him, it actually went really well! It was fun and funny our District is pretty close we have a lot of fun even with our senior couple Elder and Sister Scott, we love them!

Well I'm just trying to nurture sister sigmon back to health so we can get back to work! As the Christmas season approaches, as a mission, President Samuelian is having us read the four gospels and Jesus the Christ so we can come to know our Savior better, the one that we serve. I invite all of you to do the same! I'm excited for the chance to get to know my Savior better and become more like him so that i may be more successful in life and sharing the light!

Love Sista Heywood!

 

P.s. Sis sigmon got her driving privileges taken away for 90 days cause of "tiwi" shes had a few glitches and lets just say the mission office got to Sigmon before she could get to them so i have been driving which has been pretty cooool. We went and did some contacting out in the country which is beautiful/huge and we didn't know our area went out that far..so we went down and then back up this pretty steep hill it was really fun/scary and we were laughing so hard once we got up it cause we weren't sure if we would! dont worry we got this!

Brother Heywood,

I just wanted to tell you how sweet your daughter is. I wasn't expecting anything for my birthday and she made sure I had fun and knew people were thinking about me yesterday. She got up at 3 in the morning and heart attacked our room with happy birthday hearts. Then we get a know at the door at 10 and it is a family that we are really close to in the ward and she had been texting the mom for 3 days setting up a surprise birthday breakfast for me. She is awesome and such a great missionary, she doesn't think she knows her stuff but she really does. I hope you guys are proud of her. She has grown in just the 3 months that I have know her. Thank you for raising her righously so that she could serve a mission and touch the lives of those here in Oregon.

 Sister Sigmon

Hi Friends!

   This week has been a really great week...lots of happy things! Last munday after pday was over we had dinner with the madsens and we just really enjoy our time with them, they had invited over a friend to eat with us it was someone that bro. madsen goes to school with and they didnt tell us robert was coming but he was so nice and asked us a lot of questions and it was a really fun and funny! We shared a message and as we were walking out the door ..bro madsen goes "alright start praying for him to get baptized!" haha he was teasing him but it was quite funny. Sorry your missin out had to be there. We also checked out a bird book at the library for a recent convert armando cause we asked if we could do anything for him and so he said ive never been to the library here could you get a bird book for me haha so the next day we saw him riding down the sidewalk on his electric wheelchair and i busted out of the car and gave it to him..bet he didnt see that one coming! We love him sweetest old guy!

  We had our lesson with John and Nevada on wed and had the baldwins (that we love) there with us they both have been on missions! We talked about the plan of happiness and it went great...they literally are so prepared and i cant explain to you how happy it makes me to see them sitting together in church and how happy they look! They set there baptism date for NOVEMBER 9TH and they are preparing for that! They are just wonderful people..ya know?! After every lesson they basically say they have always thought of it like that and when we extend commitments they are so humble and willing! We know they will make a great addition to the church, so solid!

 Thurs we volunteered at a elementary school for there harvest festival it was really fun and we talked to a lot of people! Friday was a busy busy day! We had our district meeting and the vegas came in (who have also been on missions) to talk about the international night we are having in november and talked about the spanish branch being formed and Sis sigmon and i ended up teaching our DL elder Sutton never tells us whos going to teach and so that way we all prepare and good thing we did i had a funny feeling haha it went really good! After we ended up going on splits with the senior couple in our district, so we had sis scott with us and the people we visited and her being there was exactly what they needed esp Sue she is a wonderful lady who has been meetin with the missionaries for 5+ years and comes to church but is not baptized (we think its fear) but having sis Scott there with us was EXACTLY what sue needed to hear and the spirit was strong and she is one step closer to the descion of being baptized...she knows it true...She already asked her grandson to baptize her before he leaves in his mission. Right?! so awesome. She will be the breaking point of her son also being baptized and a friend of hers we are working with. We also had a lesson with Wiley, Beanies Friend on campus it was so awesome and she came to church sunday! We hope she continues to realize that the things we have been teaching her, are for her and not just for her world religions paper..dont worry ill tell her!

  I dont know if i mentioned in last weeks email but sis sigmon are part of history along with our zone leader! There is a Y.young S.single A.adult group starting here in the forest grove stake and we had 12 people there yesterday...which is a lot! But they are wanting 50 by January so they can start a branch but its cool cause we are able to go to there FHEs and Institute as long as we dont have a lesson cause those are first priority of course!! So they had Sacrament with the Forest Grove 2nd ward then have there seperate sunday school and relief society/preisthood and since it was the first sunday noone was really called to teach so sis sig and i had 10 min notice to teach the plan of salvation which went really well and it was good since wiley was there! I love being a missionary. We are getting a lot of refferals from the ward lately so things are going well and we had the ward chili cook of saturday night and had a lot of investigators there ohhh it was so fun! They had donut on a string and it reminded me of our Heywood Family nights during halloween! haha Speakin of i got the package from my Fav red Syd! I love you alll so much and LOVED everything i got in my package!!! So sweeet! I felt like i was part of a Heywood family night reading through all the letters and looking at the wonderful artistic drawings! and The sour patch kids that i wont have to spend all my money on!! ;) (that one is for shae and britt) so hopefully they read these! Sis Sigmon was pretty wierded out by how i was acting haha cause I felt like i was part of the "idiots" haha hadent felt that way in awhile! Your letters remind me of who i am just like attending those family nights always did..im eternally happy we have that tradition! 

  Sis sigmons bday was yesterday and she turned 20! Her Golden Bday! I like surprises so i heart attacked the room and her bathroom (yes we have our own bathrooms,were spoiled) in the middle of the night and planned a surprise breakfast for her with Sis Collins who we love dearly and they might be staying in the ward! We also had dinner with the sorensons and it was there son lukes bday also so they celebrated both It was a funn good sunday! Full of Treats and sugar and chocolate...so im kinda candied out and halloween isnt even here yet! haha Im going on a sugar boycott. Oh also i have a lot of clientle here haha (not really) but im doing like 4 peoples hairs today! I love the Happiness the Gospel brings me and others..you can literally see it! My cheeks hurt from smiling!

 Love Sista Heywood!

Hello hello!

This sister missionary will be staying another transfer in beautiful Forest
Grove, and is so very happy about it all! Along with my comp and trustie Sis
Sigmon! We totally called it.
This week was a very good one. not many lessons but productive days! Last pday
we took crazy pics around town and carved pumpkins with our lovely spanish
sisters. We love them.
We had interviews with President Samuelian and his wife on tues. They are so
great, i feel like im talking to my very good friends whenever we get the
chance. they are very popular around here. They are loved by many.

This week sis sig and i have been doing this thing that we call "invite to
invite" and so we go around to the members giving them invitations to the Ward
Chili Cook off that the primary made and invite them to invite someone to the
ward activity and if they dont already have someone in mind, we assign them to
less actives or investigators we are working with, that they know. we ask them to
prayerfully think of someone as a family! It is quite fun, the members love it!
Who doesn't want to go to a party where there is going to be chili and cornbread
and desserts!?
On Thurs. we also locked Sis rice out of her house on accident...haha we were
leaving and locked the door out of habit and she was in the garage getting
something out of her car and we say "byee Sis rice!". then later we get a call
during dinner from the murrays our next door neighbors and I'm like huh? they
never calll us but i had a feeling that it was important but didn't answer...so
we leave, listen to the voicemail and its sis rice saying "hello, you guys
locked me out of my house!" haha We raced back home and we felt so bad!! we all
were laughing!
We also had a lesson with John and Nevada this day and we recapped on the
restoration cause it had been a couple weeks and it was awesome! We invited them
to pray about a baptism date and they said they would and they were explaining
to us how they wanted to make sure that "when they get their answer that they
want to be baptized, that they are committed and so we can be awesome mormons"
hahah I loved that they said this with all my heart and then John said the
closing prayer and it was awesome, i love to hear people pray! So fast forward
to last night we get a text from them saying that "Wendesday works (for our
lesson) and would like to be baptized into the church and would like to discuss
scheduling that as well"
Needless to say our throats hurt from screaming...later we went to mission prep
to find the Vosses (they teach it) and show them the text, their faces were
priceless and then they read it to the class. We all couldnt stop smiling! haha

This week we are meeting with someone on pacific university who our friend
Beanie has been talking to and is doing a project on mormonism apparently...but
is wanting to learn more and meet with us, She is from Hawaii...totally excited
about this. hah!
A lot of great things happening! I love seeing people change and myself change
it is mind blowing how wonderful the opportunity we have to learn and grow on
this earth life! I love the Gospel and I love my Heavenly Father and brother
Jesus Christ! Without them I am nothing.

  -Love Always Sista Heywood! a.k.a.
Defender of Truth.

P.S. President Samuelian talked about having a "white christmas" for every area
in our mission and then it was committed to us at conference! I have a feeling
that John and Nevavda are not going to be the only ones.

Remember Elder Ballards commitment also; to be praying for missionary
opportunities and praying for the missionaries in your area by name and their
investigators by name! Ask the missionarys in your area who they are working
with. Be part of the Joy! :)

Letters & Packages:
Oregon Salem Mission Office
700 Deborah Rd Suite 260
Newberg,  Oregon 97132

Dear family and friends!

 

This week has been a good one! Last pday we helped the Collins move their home into some moving pods, started around 1:30. then a lot of ward families came around 5 and then we didnt stop till 8:30. It was very fun I learned a lot about packing. We miss the Collins family but still see jake at early morning seminary when we work-out at the stake center with the spanish sisters. its fun cause we get a game going of knockout before they all need to be in class.

That night we drove to newberg for exchanges. it was the 2nd one we have done but my first time being out of our little bubble of forest grove., so i was with sis Renslow who trained my comp, so in misson geneology she is considered my "grandma". it was fun to be in newberg and learn different things. we had a lot of fun had some good/funny experiences tracking. We met a guy named pete. he doesnt believe in going to church and has a lot of his own beliefs..."oh what do you believe in?" and pete says "I don't know" we love to get these responses! He was a really nice older guy but thinks church is "one big fashion show". he's one of those that likes to go on and on..you know one of those?! We also went to visit this lady who is getting baptized soon in their area and lets just say it took the sisters and some of her own good experiences to gain a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. When we stopped by she was actually having a book of mormon reading with her brother and his wife and so we joined them and it was super sweet to see cause she wants to be halfway through before her day and you can just see how happy she was and mentioned that she wants her kids to have this and they dont want it. Then her brother said "i know exactly how you feel"..meaning he had been waiting patiently for her to have this happiness of this knowledge and to find it for herself. It does take a lot of patience. It was a great exchange. I was glad to be back in forest grove!

Update on our people: Not meeting with the brothers anymore. they are not ready at this time to accept the book of mormon. great nice people and we still love them! they know our testimonies. 

 

Meeting with John and Nevada this week. they have been reading the book of mormon and watched conference with some members on sunday, Jack was ill (p.s. gave us tmi on his sickness) and so we are meeting with him this week and he did try and come to church but conference was happening..we didn't tell him cause he was sick but glad he tried to go to church. Our bad. 

Been meeting with a lot of less actives and loving it. We are getting more info on the college students which we are really excited about! We had members inviting the people we are working with over for conference. Love the ward here, feel like I've known them all my life.

Conference was simply amazing..we spent it at the Campbell's. they are in charge of the "singles" in our ward and they are so fun and funny! We also helped them paint some of there house earlier this week, it was tons of fun. We are trying to find the pure in heart that are wanting to take on the name of Christ more fully in their lives even if they dont know it! I am learning a lot out here! I love teaching. its one of my favorite parts. 

This weekend is transfers so we will see what happens, anything could happen....ahhhh :) 

"Talk to more people" and i will too! I hope ya'll have a great week!!!

Love always Sista Heywood!

Oregon Salem Mission Office

700 Deborah Rd Suite 260

Newberg, Oregon 97132 

 

Hey Sista Heywood here!

 

So my umbrella holding/opening skills are really sore...just saying this is NOT az..i repeat not! Its great but definitely something to get used to! This week was alright, "the bug" is going around and basically everyone we talk to is sick but it hasn't hit me yet, which I'm very thankful for! We had a few canceled appts and quite a bit less active lessons which i love, like the Beldens, but a lot set up for this week..so it was a little slow! But still affective. Im going to talk about things that make me laugh cause i like to laugh.

Well first our district was able to go to the temple and do a session which was super rad and was very much enjoyed! Sis Collins was able to drive us! Sis Sigmon's temple recommend actually didnt go through so we went a session later cause we missed ours but then ended up with the coast district which was fun to get to see them! Love the temple!

Last pday Sis sigmon got stung by a bee/wasp and it was pretty bad. she claimed that she is allergic but we put baking soda and water on it and she was fine! But it really hurt i could tell and she drove cause we were leaving the spanish sis. apt and i offered trying to be funny but she said no :( haha i didnt want her to faint or anything! ;) Then later in the week we were tracking in the beautiful rainy weather and she knocks on a door and i see a wasp thing on her head and i look at her really seriously and say "Dont Move!" and take the book of mormon and wack it on her head to hit it away and it didnt come off so she put her hand on it and it stung her...i cant help but laugh and im going to get it one of these days!

Then the other day i was getting out of the car and the phone had been on my lap and i forgot it was there and yes you guessed it, it fell out of my lap into the running water but i caught it soon enough that it didnt go down the sewer drain and fast enough that it is Aok now...! We bought rice just in case! haha

Yesterday in church during fast and testimony meeting there were amazing testimonies given, mostly by converts which was great to hear. i can listen to it all day and so it was already 5 after the hr and the family we usually sit by, their little girl Leah walks up very slowly to the pulpit cause she wanted to say her testimony so bad..she gets up there and its finally her turn and the bishopric waves her over telling her that its her turn. So she stands up there and immediately flings her hand in the air and says "i just cant do this" and runs all the way back and so i ask her "if i go up there with you will you do it?" and she said yes and so we do and right before the stairs she stops so i encourage her some more and then she says "ok but you have to go up with me" of course and then she changed her mind and goes back to her seat and so i get up there haha say what i had been planning to say all along (cause i do that) haha but its funny cause sis sigmon and i weren't planning on going up cause a lot of others were, but i still new i would get up there i just didnt know it was going to be that way! haha 

 

Sis Siggy and i taught gospel principles on sacrifice it was good, just a little rushed and i am really hard on myself but thats a whole other story! Early this week Bishop Dean had asked us if he could use us in his lesson in primary, this was my favorite part. He had us stand in front of all the kids and had them ask us any questions they wanted about our missions and then he had us talk about our decision to serve a mission and then he had them open to D&C 4 and he was about to read it and then looks at us and we were already walking back up cause we knew he was going to have us recite it! So we recited it to the primary and they were all "wow!" We say it every morning plus a few other things. i love it. 

One day Sis Sigmon and i were eating lunch and Sis Rice joined us which doesn't always happen..we got to talking and found out that her husbands brothers wife is sisters with Jeriann Keeling! She said "I knew some people from az i think they were from mesa?! I can't remember her name...she was really sweet and her husband is a jewler." .....Duh Jeriann and Ren!  hahah it was soo funny! I said "Sis Rice we're related!!!" hahah ;)

A little update on Jon...so he ended up moving back to Pennsylvania where he is from! So hopefully if he still desires he will find the missionaries there and continue to progress in life and the Gospel! Things got a little complicated but all is well!

So a couple things i forgot to talk about last week...we met this girl named Beanie she is 18 and going to Pacific University and lives on campus! She is in the ward and came to us with questions because she has been working with some of her roomates and someone who asked for a Book Of Mormon! Sidenote: we are not allowed to proselyte on campus! So basically she is our secret weapon cause we have to be invited into the campus! We were so excited about this! She is bomb and goes to mission prep even though she is not sure about going on a mission yet but knows that will help her, anyways which i think everyone should do. No Joke.

 

A couple sundays ago this girl named Jessica gave her farewell talk, she is serving in the Phx Az mission spanish speaking and she would come to lessons with us! She talked about how excited she was to serve in Arizona and it made me cry. I felt the spirit so strongly in missionary work. There was just something about me being called to serve in forest grove oregon and her being called to where i was from that was special! And that we crossed paths! Her brother is also going to cali in about a month ASL which i am so jealous of! 

We also did a lot of service this week on sat. in banks there was an Oregon Marathon and with our district we helped take everything down in the pouring rain! It was fun and we laughed a lot! I love serving and i may or may not have been really excited to get the free tshirts that we got! And then we attended the Relief Society Broadcast! Took dinner and dessert to a family we are teaching.

Anyways Life's good. The church is so true, its insane. Makes me so happy. I love being a missionary! Love always Sista heywood!  

 

Funny moment: We take our shoes off everytime before stepping onto sister rices carpet and so sunday i was super drained from church and started to take off my skirt and sis sigmon is all "what are you doing?!" and i was like "what?...umm i meant to take off my shoes..im really tired..."

Oregon Salem Mission Office

700 Deborah Rd Suite 260

Newberg, Oregon 97132