I'm so grateful to be a missionary. It's so fun!

> I LOVE Brownsville Oregon! I love the people. I love being sister
> heywood. I love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ with all my heart.
> They are so great to me! I love being their daughter and sister. How blessed
am I! How blessed are we!
> Okay so I don't have much time cause it's been a very eventful pday!
> We had the elders and sweet home sisters come to Brownsville so we can show
them around cause no one ever gets to see how cool B-ville is!!
> It was really fun! We went to the awesome park and played "horse" we walked
all up and down main st., went to dart mart aka "dairy fart"
> .....took some cool pictures and got good exercise walking around! Our
> district is fun.
>  This week was awesome had lots of great things happen! It didn't
> really show up in our numbres and that's not what it's about so it's
> fine! We have a lot going on this week lots of cool appts and we find
> out about transfers this Saturday...we are figuring sister Chappell will leave
cause she has been here for 6 months...but you never know!
> I trust the lord so it's all good.

> Sunday was branch conference and it was the BOMB DOT COM! Sis Chappell and I
sang in the choir and we sounded really good not gunna lie! It was so fun! We
had lots of people that haven't been to church in awhile and that makes
missionaries so happy! Ahhh:) it makes my day! Ahhhh so many more things
happened but no time...we went with Gina to get her patriarchal blessing and it
was such a cool experience! She is la and the blessing talked a lot about temple
work and genealogy but she is just so interesting and will need some time to
understand the importance of it all! We love her so much haha she makes me laugh
so hard! It's just so fun to follow the spirit and
> visit certain people and things happen and esp. cause it's a small
> town...it's not always easy..right? Duh. We are persistent but we
> don't want to bug people too much haha anyways the mission is great
> and I'm so happy.
> Love love love sister heywood! I love you all! Life's good!

Hey Hey Hello! 

     This week has been miraculous! Full of wonderful miracles...results from the faith and sacrifice of the members and there participation in the 40 day fast! Its oh so wonderful. 

     Something that the Stake YW president has asked Sis Chappell and I to do is go around to each ward with them for there Ward Conferences and talk to the YW with them! It has been a cool expereince, we have done it 3 times now! They love us and i just LOVE the youth of this church especially the ones that have caught the vision of being the "Hasteners of the work of salvation" They are so prepared and have no fear. During these ward conference i have heard the stake president, Pres. Carlile talk about and again during this weekends stake conference is "Things will get better as we do missionary work" and "The way to save ourselves is to hasten the works of salvation" and i really love that and testify that it is true because i have seen it through the families in this area! 

      Particularly Olivia and Elliot they have signed up multiple times for the 40 day fast and they met someone last week named Taylor! They have taken him in and know that he is an answer to there prayers and what they had been fasting for! We were able to teach him last night randomly we didnt know he was going to be over at there house. We were able to teach about the restoration of the Gospel...we kinda snuck it in there, if you will! haha And for the first time on my mission i was able to recite the first vision. The spirit was really strong. There family is perfect for Taylor and you know whats even cooler is that its helping there family at the same time!! There is just something about each of them being able to testify even though Olivia is excommunicated and Elliot is not baptized. They are just so powerful and also Olivia's kids Chandlyer, Julian, and Audry I know that through this experience they will remain stronger! Taylor commited to reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it and coming to church, he said the closing prayer and....it...was...so...GREAT! 

       We finally had a lesson with a LA name Jerry that we have had the hardest time setting up with cause of him and his girlfriends schedules! Bro and Sis Haskins are there nieghbors and set it up and we had it there home! Other peoples schedules is such a barrier! haha I had met Monica his girlfriend about 3 different times..the other day we stopped by and she was home! #muracle She works night and sleeps days and never knows when her day off is! beh! She was putting away groceries and she has this cute little puppy and we offered to take it on a walk haha!! Sidenote: i have this even greater love for animals now because we are asked not to hold kids or babies! Its so hard! haha So i hold kittens and puppies! And then i have dreams that im holding a precious baby, wake up and realize its not real!! haha Its so lame! Maybe its because all my friends are having babies haha Im so excited to be a mom someday...keyword: someday! Ok so that was a crazy tangent!  As we took this dog for a walk around the block there was this lady sitting inside her house and came all the way out to us and was obsessing over the dog and saying how cute it was! haha She was super nice! We told her who we were and what we were doing haha soo random and then we talked a couple seconds longer and she rushed in. I was going to ask her if they went to a church, but didn't! So after the lesson sunday night (with jerry) we walked over there even though sister chappell was trying to talk me out of it, cause she doesnt like the "old way" of missionary work! She likes when i push her to do these things after the fact but not during! haha Anyway i said dont worry i will talk! She opened the door and said "Oh the people from the other day walking the dog!!" haha It was funny! And i apologized for walking away the other day and asked if they went to a church and then if we could share a message with there family sometime! She said weekends worked best! She also said that our message may not be well received by her son! Its worth a try! 

       Also after a couple legit pmg teaching appts sis chappell gave me such the nicest compliment! I had been telling her that i'm not a very good teacher and after she said "Who told you your not a good teacher!?" and i said.."umm noone! haha" and she said "Okay stop telling yourself that! You are a great teacher! You were better then me in there!" (which i did not agree with) It was so sweet and made me feel a lot better about myself! haha Im happy to know this! One of my love languages is definitely "words of affirmation"  

       Ok so there is this awesome member family named the Meyrs! Oh there so cool! And the other week during an exchange we had dinner with them and his name is Mike Rossiter i told y'all about him and his Elk Tazing story! Anyway he lives in Sweet Home and i felt prompted to text the meyrs to tell mike that we have been trying to get a hold of him and ask if they could send the Sweet home sistas! And he said YES and they have been over there a couple times and invited him to stake conference yesterday and committed him to reading the Book of Mormon and Brother Meyr was there at the lesson! So sweeeeet! I feel part of it even though we arent teaching! 

       Also last week i forgot to tell you all that a lady in my last area, Dorothe Jangala! Remember her?! She was baptized!!! She tagged me in her post about it on Facebook! You could tell that she was finally so ready and that it was the right time for her! It was her birthday too! Its funny all the sisters that she tagged in it that have taught her, i think she was missing a lot too! There was even a sister that was really close to her from New Zealand! 

        Stake Conference happened this weekend! It was so so so awesome! Our mission president and his wife spoke and they were amazing! I'm so grateful for stake conf. and the topics on missonary work and family history work! The work of Salvation for the living and the dead! I'm so grateful to be a member of the restored gospel!  Whoo whoo! Sorry this is super long, i love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Love Sister Heywood! xoxo  

Hello family and friends!!! :)

       This week was wonderfully eventful! Last p-day sis Chappell asked if i wanted to go to the mall in Albany and i started to scream and jump and down and said yes yes yes!!! haha It was my first time since I've been to one on my mission, which is crazy esp. for me! haha (It made my day) And just NOW i realized ive been out 8 months today! Say what?! There is no way. 

       So there is a family that we have been having dinner with a lot this past couple transfers and by a lot i mean like 4-6 times and one coming this week! The mom is a recent convert and she is AWESOME she has the funniest stories and is really good at telling them! I want to be like her when i grow up. She is married and her husband is not a member (super supportive) and works in california which is where they will be moving to soon! They have 3 daughters and only the oldest Mariah is baptized! The other day we text her and asked about her other two (Amy and Erica) and she responded and said that her and her husband have been talking about it and that when things calm down in a month they are planning to have the girls take the lessons and gain a testimony to what they would be committing to and decide for themselves. I love it and i love that her and her husband talked about it. We told her she is so blessed to have such a supportive husband. When Andronica (mom) and Mariah joined the church no one invited them....they had lots of mormon friends and had been deciding and talking one day..."Ya we should probably go to church.".. "where do our friends go?" and they asked them if they could come. Never an invitation. I believe that there are people all around like this that the Lord is preparing, we just need to ask..right? Its not always going to happen the way the Armstrongs did. 

  

        *A paragraph from my comps email about zone conference;  On Wednesday this week we found out that we would be having a zone conference that would take up the entire day the next day (annoying since we had almost the whole day scheduled...but what do ya do?). The conference ended up being totally emotionally and spiritually exhausting, but so so awesome. One of the AP's even got up and told us that it was a waste of time to go tracting, and suggested several other methods we should be trying. It was kind of validation for me, a confirmation of what I've been thinking and feeling for a while now. Plus it made me super happy when Heywood said that even helped change her opinion on tracting (she's been really sad being unable to tract- crazy right?). It was one of the most interesting conferences I've been in though, because President chimed in with his comments about halfway through his wife's talk, and reprimanded the whole group for being "lukewarm". He went on then and later about how the "lukewarm" members and missionaries will inherit the Terrestrial Kingdom. The Lord wants to be strong and committed 100%, not wishy-washy! He said that the Lord had revealed to him that there were missionaries among us who were lukewarm at best, and there were some who were even questioning the existence of a God.

  

      Yep it was intense as President always is and i love every bit of it. I have scheduled with him to speak to the branch on Easter Sunday which im so excited about. I learned so much from ZC and im so grateful for the revelation to those who spoke to us that day! It was bomb. 

   

   Exchanges happened this week and i was with Sister baker who is a "visa haver" get it? Like no longer waiting haha anyway she leaves at the end of this transfer! So happy for her. She does these awesome raps right on the spot too. Anyway we were in takena and had nothing planned but felt completely calm that the Lord would provide and we would be guided if we seeked for his guidance and revelation of where we should be. Ok so funny we went tracting...even though i dont hate it i have been out of the "practice" of it! haha But i ended up handing out the Book of Mormon and it was to a super nice dad and father that had relatives that were members and he said that he had read some of it yada yada! I read him Moronis promise and i mean.... i at least felt the spirit and then i felt prompted to ask him "if this book was from god wouldn't you want it?" So we talked about it some more and then said "so if i give this to you will you read it again and take moronis promise? cause if not i dont want to give it to you".... and he said that he would so he got the book! haha You never know. Then the family we had dinner with was super cute and really mormon haha you know what i mean!? You might even be one of them ;) Heck i am. Anyway the mom basically asked how do we do missionary work?? Ohh man. Good question momma! We basically bombed them with missionary magical amazingness and haha no really it was cool! It was like this adult conversation to this young couple of 4 youngins and little london was telling them how its done. Easier said then done though, right? wrong! Ill explain in a little bit so these kids were throwing there dinner all over the place and it was this really yummy Tai food and they kept coming to the table for more grapes so they just ate up the grapes haha but i would say ok are you eating your soup?? You cant have anymore grapes if you dont eat your soup! haha It was so cute. It was a crazy household, i love it (miss it). Sis Baker showed me this cd of this girl named Diana and she is this public speaker who has been on a mission and her family growing up was super missionary minded and basically this cd has changed my life and so i am sending it home to my family, so look out! And i had the idea of having a fireside for anyone who wants to come and listen to it cause i am that passionate about it (esp. youth)!! A family was telling me that firesides never happen and it would be cool if it was us putting it on instead of the branch because it would be received very well! Cause were cool. Its fine. The branch loves us! There has been a lot of talk of this area being shut down (not recently) but just through time but sis chappell and i think otherwise!

 

    Church was the Bomb, always is! It was exactly what the branch needed to be hearing. It was a lot about enduring to the end and then releif society was about faith and repentance and she shared that new bulling mormon message and it stopped working half way through and so she started to teach and explain the rest of it and cried and it was so sweet. I thought it was very effective that way even though she was probably bummed that it stopped. Something that i have learned in this transfer is that even though the branch is very tight knit there is still a lot of gossip and bullying (as known for small towns)  and esp. among the adults and the teacher made that evident. It was a call to repentance. The Atonement encompasses everyone and everything. "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast the stone at her." John 8:2-11

Love forever and always Sister Heywood!  

https://www.lds.org/church/news/new-mormon-message-on-bullying-resonates-with-global-audience?lang=eng&query=judging+others

   

Hello!! Happy Monday to everyone!

It's funny cause you know how people usually don't like Mondays...well
missionaries love them! Mondays are a positive thing to us...not that
the rest of the weeks not, but it's preparation day...kinda self
explanatory! Haha
This week was really awesome! I was sick ish at the beginning and so
sister Chappell gave me some NyQuil and I don't take medicine...ever.
So I was out for awhile Tuesday morning and we still went out that
afternoon and night...it was funny cause we did a lot of things we
wouldn't usually do and we did while I was sick sis Chappell kinda
drug me around hah but I was ok with it! I had a horrible headache and
I don't get those either! Missionary beds are super comfy let me tell
yaa....;)
I have told you all about the 40 day fast...it is so wonderful and
the members have been having wonderful experiences with fasting and
taking really seriously. They are having missionary opportunities and
inviting there friends! It's fun sis Chappell and I explain it kinda
like were coaching people how to do missionary work...I love it and
the members are catching on to the hastening of the work! It's really
something that needs to be caught and understood! Yesterday at
testimony meeting we asked some of the members previously to bare
testimony if they were comfortable, with the experiences they have had
this week and they did and it was RAD! All of our branch missionaries
got up and many more almost every testimony was about the 40 day fast
and the effect it is having on them!
Remember the success is in the invite, that is what our Father in
heaven is asking of us! I'm so grateful to be out here on a mission
and to be growing in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and learning of my
savior!
Something really cool about these iPads is we can send each other
referrals as missionaries and so we got one from sis Matheny and
thelin. It was a lady name rose that they met in there area when they
were over at her sisters house and so we went to visit her turns out
she is a member and has a son named hunter and she is SUPER nice and
let's us in and we invited her to take the lessons and she said a kind
no but said she would come to church! They have been wanting to branch
out and meet new people and so what better way then to go to church
and get her son into scouts! I know they will reactivate! She
expressed to us that she feels like she is down here _ and her friends
are up here - and I told her that if she knew the support that the
church would be for her and the blessing it would be to her and hunter
she wouldn't feel that way! It was a pretty cool promise..she really
seemed to understand that.
Sunday morning as I was doing my morning studies I had a overwhelming
feeling of gratefulness to be apart of the restored gospel and that I
have a eternal perspective of knowledge that gets me through the not
so easy times! And to be so very thankful to be part of it in the
wonderful times! I'm so thankful for a living prophet and that we
don't have to question things of the world cause we have someone
leading and guiding us under the direction of our loving Heavenly
Father!

Love sister heywood..forever and always! Xoxo

~LONDONS COMPANION~

 

Sundays seem to be the gauge of how the work is going in each individual ward. Fast Sundays it's even easier to tell. Yesterday was a huge tender mercy, and evidence to me that the work is really going well here in Brownsville. Ever since I got here on day one, I've had the strong feeling that we need to focus less on "traditional missionary work" with it's lots of walking and knocking on doors, and instead try to follow the prophets council to come together with the members, and help THEM do THEIR missionary work. Not gunna lie, I've had a hard time trusting that doing service and visiting with members so much was really going to help. Yesterday in Fast and Testimony Sacrament meeting, several members got up and bore testimonies of how fasting for missionary experiences has greatly enriched their lives. One in particular had Sister Heywood and I crying. The branch president's wife is supermom to the max. She does everything and then some. Everyone we talk to just loves her, and thinks she has no flaws. Since we're over there almost every week, she has opened up to us about how she often feels inadequate and like a bad mom. She has also told us more than once about how doing missionary work is really scary for her (though she does it anyway). One time in particular, we encouraged her to reach out to someone she knew and that we had met and felt was ready to be invited. Sister Heywood told her about how the success of missionary work is all in the invitation. Later that night, she called us all excited, and left a voicemail about how she had invited, and that it wasn't scary at all, but that the spirit had been with her and made her feel good about what she had said and done. She also mentioned in that message that Sister Heywood's encouragement to her earlier that day just made her feel so much better and more confident. We encouraged her to share that experience in testimony meeting, and it was so beautiful!!!!! For me, it was like the same level of excitement you get when somebody you've been teaching says that they just prayed about Joseph Smith and they know he was a prophet! Big Deal! For me, it was such a sweet reminder that the Lord is in charge, and that he sees the big picture. 

Olivia and Elliot are...about the same. They've recommitted to doing more family scripture study and family home evenings, so that's good. Olivia's trying to find a job (she's only submitted one application...kinda silly if you ask me). With them, I've been so grateful for the help of the branch. Their problems are so much more than missionaries could take on. The branch President has been so awesome. Bah! I'm just so grateful to be a part of such an awesome church!!!!!

We've received the green light to go back to teach Shawna, with the caution of, watch what you say. . .To me that sounds super fishy...so...we're still trying to seek guidance from the Lord and our leaders as to whether we should even go back. :( It's hard, because we love Shawna so much, (and Skip too, for the most part) But when both of dread going over there because an occasional friendly teasing has turned into a hurtful harassing at least once a visit...mmmmm kinda don't wanna go! 

Other cool things from this week...We invited several people to take the lessons...most just did the polite no, but left it open for another invitation in the near future. tee hee ;)

Sister Heywood got sick this week...She woke up on Tuesday and was like, "Sister Chappell, I feel terrible and I didn't get much sleep." So I sent her back to bed with NyQuil. Six hours later she woke up and we went out to work! Ahhhh missionary life is the best.

I finished the New Testament this morning! :) I love the Bible. The more I read it, the more I love it. I feel so blessed, The lord really has expanded my mind so much! The knowledge I've gained and depth of understanding has probably been one of the biggest blessings I've received since coming out here. LOVE IT!