Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Hi hi hi! 
  
   Well to start off...i cant believe its been 6 weeks and Sis Chappell and i are super happy about transfers that occurred this past Saturday because we are staying in Brownsville...together! haha We new each other in the pre-existence...its fine! 

  This week was great kinda slow but still good!! Went to the Portland Temple visitors center with Shawna and Bro Carr brought his granddaughter Felicia who is not a member! It was so fun! You know that feeling when you go to the temple and you NEVER want to leave. Especially when we don't get to go as much as you normally would off of a mission! bah.i love it! It was really good for Shawna the spirit was really strong and the visitor center sisters were super wonderful! Made me think of my good friend Sister Summer Allen in the St. George VC. They are so good at what they do there! :) 

   ZTM was this week! {Zone training meeting} it was pretty great it was on valentines day and i got my package from my Grandma Julie right on V-day for some reason our Zone leaders had our mail and had been holding on to it for a long time! haha Well a long time in a missionaries mind but i forgot half the time. Anyway...it was perfect cause i got it on the perfect day! haha Thank you Grandma Julie and Uncle Timmy! ;) Ztm was really long we sat there for 4 hours straight without any break! Longer than a church day..it was really funny to look back on it and realize how long we sat there for but i didnt want to get up and miss anything because it was really good and exactly what we needed to hear as a zone! We have some inspired ZL's..one who went home today (elder tandy-trammell) and Elder Mcmullin who's dad actually went to Hs with my dad! We reported to the mtc at the same time! Its cool to see that he has the opportunity to serve as a zone leader! 

  Sunday..yesterday was soo good! Since it didn't happen last week because of the snow, it was good to be back! I just love the members here!(and missionaries need church!) They are all so sweet! They have been signing up for the 40 day fast that starts this tues.! And our bml= branch mission leader is so great! He is so pumped about the work and is really helping the work move forward in this area. His enthusiasm is inspiring and his wife is the sweetest they take good care of us making sure we are never going without!..we feel like there kids!!:) 

    Not a ton of teaching this week but not every week is perfect! We were just at the Isaksens (bml) doing laundry and he had us read this long story that the stake president emailed him and asked us to read it and it was super inspiring and gave us some very good pointers of things we can be doing better and things we can add to the already great things we are doing! So i am excited to be here another transfer and to be part of this work! I am so happy to be here and it is what i am doing that makes me so happy. I love the Gospel..its better than finding a 100 dollar bill on the ground! way. 

  Love you all! Love Sister Heywood! :) xoxo
Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

    Its been a winter wonderland here in Oregon..you know what happens when it snows!? Alll the Oregonians go crazy and cancel church and school! But that hasen't stopped these two missionaries! We have been walking everywhere since thursday! It is super nice i love getting my warm clothes on and cute scarfs that i havent really worn and do the Lords work! :) While we walk around, I for some reason love to break the icicles off of everything...i just love it, idk why! haha We had some pretty great things happen this week. Some interesting things also. Only in Oregon. :)

    Leah and Bonnie! We went over to there home for a visit and they had us for dinner too, it was such an amazing time. We sat and visited with Bonnie while Leah finished dinner, she wouldn't let us help. She just said to make ourselves feel at home. After awhile Leah came in and sat down with us and I found out she moved to Mesa az for her senior year and went to the old Mesa high. She was the last graduating class before the fire. I asked if she remembered my grandpa who was the track coach and drivers ed teacher but she didn't recall. We talked about different places in Mesa..like about red mtn, superstition springs inn?, main st. She lived not to far from the temple.She then had us come see her room and upstairs it was her sanctuary she had her library and everything was decorated so beautifully and quaint I didn't know how to describe it...even the bathroom. I was Drooling over it and that says something cause it was JUST the bathroom..the rest of the house was wonderful! I was taking pictures in my brain so I can remember the colors and style to decorate my own home someday! Haha She then had us play on her piano I guess I should have said this early but her and Bonnie are Episcopalian and she plays the piano in her church she is AMAZING she has arranged and adds in her own spice into other songs! And they sing together. So first I played brightly beams our fathers mercy and totally butchered it haha sis Chappell can play a lot better then me so she played some hymns we were being silly and played stuff like "Joseph's smith first prayer"  while they were in the other room. But then we played some hymns we both know and as I was singing  Leah came in and started to sing with me and as she sang harmony because I only sing soprano...it was wonderful and I really love music! Then dinner was ready and we sat down to eat I said the prayer and she had made this wonderful soup for us and cornbread biscuits. We had such a fun time conversing I think...I can't remember everything said but I will tell about the few I thought were really significant:
  
    First of, my Grandpa Heywood passed away a year ago on Feb.5th (im putting this all together now) And we were at Leah & Bonnies the night before on the 4th! I dont think just happened, it was for a reason:) i love my Grandpa Heywood and miss him dearly! For my family who is reading this we have him to thank for the tradition of FHE and how close we all are! My favorite memory of him was when he would say the prayer at family nights and it was as if he was speaking right to Heavenly Father in the room or park or wherever we were. The cousins and i would always giggle but it was an example to me of how to speak to our Father in heaven. He is our friend and He would much rather have us speak to him like that then in a repetative way. I miss giving him kisses and hugs! I feel my grandparents out here on the mission and it helps me to keep going at times:)

   Leah and Bonnie were so nice and said that we are always welcome and that we are like daughters to them. Which meant a lot and we talked a lot about the difference betweeen our churches and the association she had with members growing up...some of them not so good! It made sis Chappell and i think about how different it would be for leah if she had better association with members of the church. It makes me think how important it is to be an example and to be Christlike to everyone around us because you never know what it will affect. We were able to clear up a lot of things for her and explain the Restoration of Gospel and even though she is happy to be where she is at, she expressed how she is not oppossed to furthering her knowledge. It was interesting how as she talked about the things that her church is lacking at this time. We talked about what our church is doing at this time when the world is going down hill. Esp. with the youth and the "Come Follow Me" program. I have heard of some statistics that the church had come up with im not sure of the details but essentially it talks about how many people would get baptized if they knew the full blessings of the Gospel and what the church provides....right?! What if they knew. Thats why it is our job collectively. The Holy Ghost was there that night and thats always the best feeling.

   It started to snow Wed night and we were at Sis Robins and we made some cookies from scratch!! ;) She wanted us to do this with her cause she wanted to be part of the work in her own way, which was awesome! So we were able to take some yummmy cookies and it was an easier way of getting into doors haha! It is also good to be oer there cause her daughter who is la lives next door to her...we have been able to meet there family and she said she would pay me to come cut her boys hair and of course i said yes but that it would be a service! Im excited to get in the homes of those who have lost the way a little bit with my hair cutting skills :)

    Thursday we had our district meeting and it was really snowwy but it was powder so it was pretty safe! We had an appt. at Les Schwab for our alignment and so the sweet home sisters picked us up and drove us to the church! We had awesome tech training meeting from our ZL and the Tech elders for our ipads..it was much needed. After we go to pick up our car and we pull into the lot and our car is in the same spot and had snow and icicles all over it and we walk in and our keys were in the same spot they were when we left not only that but right on the front desk where anyone can pick them up and take our car haha Cant miss them....huge Oregon duck lanyard! haha We were able to get some things done in the mean time and when we got back to B-ville we did some service for a potential. And then we had dinner with Shawna and Skip! And then a lesson! Then we were able to go see Gina a LA who loves to have us over....i love her! Anyways you all are probably bored...i feel like im rambling.

  We were able to finally get into another La Kathy Norris! She is so sweet and has been through so much. We brought her some cookies and the cool thing about it was that we walked all the way there! She addressed some concerns...which was really cool. She talked about how she wasnt sure if it was fair to the members that she was going to church and didnt have a strong testimony of everything! And of course we explained to her that she is not the only one...not only that! There isn't one person that doesnt have to always be strengething there testimony of each aspect of the Gospel. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a Gospel of change. I told her that Heavenly Father is happy she is there and that is what its about, not the members. She also expressed that she loves the people.This moment is the highlight of my week. It was perfect and the Lords hand was definitley in it! We asked her if she wanted to have the lessons and that we could help her learn more of the basics and she agreed :) I love her. 
 
   Elliot and Olivia are not progressing too much but i told them that i would quit these 3 things if they quit smoking (weening ourselves off) 1. Eating chocolate everyday 2. Popping my knuckles and everthing i pop in my body haha 3. Picking at my face. And they thought that was really cool. So i have been working on it,,,it hasen't been easy! But Im excited to do this with them! I got the idea from my dad when he quit drinking pepsi with his mom quiting smoking! 
  
    Since church was canceld, as a district we had our own little meeting via conference call! haha it was fun..i said the prayer, there were talks and i bore my testimony, its wierd how you can have the Holy Ghost testify to you during a conf,.call. It was awesome. I love my district.

    There are many other wonderful things that happened this week but dont have time to talk about it all! haha but i love you all! Im so happy to have a knowledge of the restored gospel. Im so blessed. I love life and im thankful for all the members in this branch. They have been so sweet and thoughtful during this snowy time and making sure that we are taken care of! "All is well, All is well!"

Love love love Siesta Heywood! Happy 7 months to me! haha The sweet home sisters just reminded me!
 
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p.s. I also scheduled our mission prez to speak to the branch Easter Sunday, April 20th! i hope i am here for it! Transfers are this saturday, We think we are both staying! :) Cross your fingers!
Hollllla Amiga's and amigos!
  I'm going to try my best and tell you what happen this week but
this morning seems like 2 days ago and yesterday was like 5 days ok.
That's what a missionary mind is like its super funny cause you will
start to tell someone something and your like the other day...and then
later realize what you were talking about was only last night or this
morning! It's great, let me tell ya!
  We got our iPads :) that's what I'm emailing of right now....it's
pretty fun! Oh my goodness they have been so so so helpful! Blessings
have come from them. It has taken me a bit to warm up to them cause I
thought I would just love it at first. I love studying " preach my
gospel" and the scriptures that's when I started to warm up to it but
at the same time still marking up and using my scriptures! The meeting
in Tuesday was about a 5 hour long training on how to use them and get
them set up! President Samuelian was Soo funny, I have some pretty
funny quotes from him that day! We do all our planning in the iPads
and are trying to transfer all the area book info into them it's a
process but we are loving it more and more! The work is....hastening!
  Ok so about the weather is been so so beautiful Oregon has been
having a drought it's one of the driest seasons they have had and so
like no rain which I'm ok with but the farms need it! But the sun is
out and it has been so beautiful and sunny and the clouds have been
amazing! The sunsets are to die for!! We keep taking a billion pics
that we will probably delete half of later hahah!
  We went on exchange this week and that was quite the adventure i
wasn't feeling that great so my brain was like dnfiskfbsksodhfbnsks
...yep...like that exactly. It was a good day I stayed in Brownsville
and siesta Chappell went to Salem ysa! Sister baker came to b-ville
and we got up and were to shawna and skips by 8 to help feed the cows
that was interesting...esp. That early! I was thankful for sis Forrest
who brought boots for us to walk through the mud! Then we went and
helped clean the church! Did some normal missionary stuff throughout
the day, lots of service! Until I decided to drive out to shedd this
small town without a GPS to find a la and the sun was going
down...turns out we ended up driving around for an hr trying to find
this house....it was soooo lame hahah so sis baker told me about her
"8 boyfriends" instead of us talking about how we were going to make
it back to Brownsville in time for our dinner appt.! Don't worry we
made it! It was quite the adventure! I did learned a lot from sis
baker that day though she is a visa waiter for Brazil! She is great, I
love her and she can rap so it's cool. We got to our appt at the Meyrs
who I have never eaten at before but have met and they had there
friend over mike rossiter who is a potential and an amazing guy and
apparently famous he is the only guy in the world that has TAZED AN
ELK....and so if you have ever heard or read his story on the
news....we are pretty special and got the full story which was
hilarious and probably the best part of our day cause we also got to
share a message with him! He gave us his card at the end and said to
call us if we ever needed anything....were all mike I don't  think
your realized what you just did, you gave missionaries your info hahah
we are calling him soon!
 We are still working on a day to set up with our landlord and his
family! They have been busy but I know it will happen and we are so
ready for it we are just being patient and not too pushy...he texted
us the other day and said that he talked to his wife and they want to
do it and will let us know a day soon! I know they will feel the
spirit here.
 Today was eventful we did a quilt class for an hr not much time but
I'm starting my own quilt and there is a la named Brenda who is
teaching us! She is super talented and then we spent the day with our
branch mission leader and his sweet wife (isaksen)...we followed them
to Albany to get our to front tires replaced cause before i got here
Olivia the excommunicated member backed into the car haha :/ then we
did some shopping and I got to go to target for the first time since
I've been on a mission and use a gift card I got from a lady I did
hair for at cosmos...finally I was so excited! Haha then they took us
to DQ it was the bomb! haha they are the sweetest and love us so much
and we love them! They have a pretty dang cute story!
   Something I love this week is that we got to teach the young women
yesterday here in the branch and it was so amazing...I told my story.
It has been a year and I have learned a lot from telling this story.
Every time I tell this story esp. To my companions I realize how not
normal it is but how much it affects, teaches and is an example to
people. I know not all of will know what I'm talking about but just
know everything happens for a reason and The Lord has a plan for each
and everyone of us! It's so great. Be grateful for adversity and
recognize that you need him to get throughout those times! Alma
13:28-29
   Also I love when members invite la or friends to dinner when we
come, it works wonders! Try that in each of the Areas you are
in....members and missionaries together that is how The Lord would
have it!

Love love love sister heywood!!!