Merry Christmas Family and Friends!

      Ahhh I love Christmas time and the spirit in the air and for everything that lies ahead of the hastening of the work here in Forest Grove! This week was a great one maybe not in numbers but in other ways that count in the process of moving the work forward! First of all i would like to mention that it SNOWED on friday! I was in the bathroom getting ready and Sis Davis runs down the hall and says "Sister Heywood Sister Heywood its snowing its snowing!" She was really excited to say the least and so was I! It was so Beautiful on the way to our Mission-wide Conference in Kiezer which is near Salem! Everytime i go outside im like..."ok! i am bundled up enough and i will be warm!" and as soon as i walk outside i am proven wrong and so i go put more on...so its just the fact of getting used to putting so many layers on! Its quite amusing and even the Oregonians here are not used to how cold its been! So really its not just because im from Arizona..ok?! hahaha

      So this week we were able to contact some refferals that we were trying so long to contact and no answer at the door and finally some doors opened, so we have set up some cool appts that we are really excited about! This weekend was Stake Conference and like i have mentioned before John and Nevada spoke at the saturday nightsession and it was so great to hear from them and hear there testimonies! It is so refreshing to hear a converts testimony and talk about the church because its not repetitive and they dont say a lot of the same "phrases" we say and it is so pure and happy! John went before Nevada and it is kinda a joke with them that john never leaves nevada anything to say and so that was what happened but they both did a beautiful job esp for it being there first time in church! You know they are amazing converts when they will go on faith instead of fear when given assignments like that! Then as a district of missionaries and some other sisters i invited that are going on missions or recently joined the church sang with us...The Efy Medley! :) It was super great and our zone leader Elder Lee put it together and plays the piano wonderfully! President Samuelian and his wonderful wife both spoke at the sat night and then again on sunday! I love to hear them speak and how intense he is!

           This Saturday morning we got to do some service in the freazing cold..we helped put lights on trees for this thing that they have called storybook lane! So almost like the ride in disneyland minus the boats and water! You just walk through it and it has this whole set up of the different disney movies and characters..  member let us know about it and so we came to help and it was fun met and talked to a lot of cool people and talked to some guys about faith and so hopefully the spirit got through to them by the things we said but they had some pretty interesting opinions..it was a good experience all in all! 

      A family that i had been thinking about for awhile and have been trying to wait for the perfect opportunity to speak to President Richardson about them cause he is there eye doc and i knew that it was going to be through him and his family that they would listen to what we believed cause they had questions....soo we are sittin there in sat. night stake conf and he gets up at the end and starts talking about a family that he has finally found the time to go visit and catch them at a good time and invite them over for dinner with his family and to answer questions the dad of this family has had! Sis davis and i look at each other and smile...we knew exactly who he was talking about and that my questions and prayers were answered. I know that this is the key to hastening of the work is to..LOVE AND INVITE! Pres Richardson reminds me of my grandpa keeling and his brothers and it makes me laugh..."This is how you do missionary work...how do you like your burgers? or the spanish version how do you like your tamales?" -Pres Richardson! He is having all of us missionaries over for breakfast next sat morning and we are all excited for that! haha He is a goof!

       There is also another family that we have been friends with for awhile the Hansens and the lessons stopped for some family reasons but now they are all back together. I asked the mom that, (i love) if she wanted to continue meeting with us and coming to church..i have promised her many times and promised her again that it would mend her family and the struggles that they go through, that we all go through! She is such a strong mom and woman and i told her that i loved her and that even if baptism is a awhile down the road for her kids esp. that it will bless them if we continued to meet with them and if they came to church! So we will see i really want this for them and of course for everyone, but i love this family.

     Also at our mission wide conference we learned that we are 1 of the 30 missions world wide that have been chosen to do online proselyting and so we all will be trained by the end of december as a mission to carry on this great work and i am so excited to use this tool in the hastening of the work!

      I know the church is true i know that Joseph smith is a prophet of God that he saw what he said he saw and i love everything about Christs Church! I know..not just believe! I know God still speaks to his children and that the blessings far outway the cost of anything pertaining to the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

 

Love Sista Heywood