Last email! Hooray for Israel! Hooray to the OSM!

It started to hit me last night as we were in the Hayden's home one last time for dinner and as i shared a spiritual thought and expressed my love and thanks for them, it was the first time it really even hit me, i broke down in tears and couldn't stop crying. They were asking me more questions, some details and i couldn't answer there for awhile but i got it together after awhile.

  Tami entered the waters of baptism Saturday night!! She was beyond excited and her face hurt from smiling sooo much!! The spirit was very strong. As she walked out of the font she just stood there and cried. This woman is amazing and is so ready to serve...she already has a calling as of yesterday!! Her excitement and testimony has and will continue to help the ward here. They need her.

  Along with Elder Boren i am surprised that this will be my last email...its not believable yet! Just feels like my amazing missionary life. I cannot adequately describe what the mission has done for me and the part that i have played in helping souls come closer Christ. It is the most happy and (real) fun that I've ever had thus far in my life....It brings the greatest purest JOY. I'm excited to continue in this work in a different way in Az. If you didn't know already my fav part of this work is including the members and i have a strong testimony of the difference they make as they work with us and the missionaries around the world. I have seen this time and time again on my mission and i have seen the amazing miracles that it brings. I will forever be grateful for this time. Thank you for the love and support that you all have given me during this time as i have made one of the most important decision of my life. 

  I know that that Jesus Christ lives that he knows exactly how we feel when we are sad about things that matter to us and that Heavenly Father cares about the things that we care and pray about. I love the people here and the fullness they have brought to my life and the things that they have taught me. I know that the church is the Lords Kingdom on the eartth today and im so joyful to have the knowledge it is everything. Excited to come home and experience more of this wonderful life that God has given us to show our love to Him, through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

            Love Sister Heywood. 

Hey Everybody! 

  This week has been a roller coaster...in a good and bad way! The mission is a roller coaster...haha It was bad and then everything turned way better. Even though it wasn't anything too crazy...we are dealing with peoples salvation here...kinda a big deal. But during it all i was kept calm knowing it would all work out the way Heavenly Father intended it to. 

   

  We met with Ashley this week and she came to church it was awesome she opened up about things that she wouldn't have if Elders were teaching her. Something that i really loved about this week is that we had our investigators in the members home for dinner and it has been so fun and so effective. It really has changed things for them...and has further there conversion. If it didnt happen things would have been fine but not as a amzing as they are now. Members play a key role in this work. It is a great example of how i want to be part of the work when i get home. Yep in like...soon. 

   Its super bittersweet and it has not hit me yet. Going home is messin up my groove! jk haha but really. I have loved serving in all my areas but especially Redmond maybe its just because i am here right now but i just love the people and its the busiest ive ever been. After attending PEC on sunday cause our WML was out of town the 2nd counselor in the bishopric Bro Morrison asked if i would speak today if someone didnt show up or if they went short and they did go short so they called me up there and got to speak and bare testimony of my mission. I cried. and the spirit was strong...shared my favorite poem that i shared at my farewell talk. 

  Tami was at church also and she is getting baptized this saturday. She is super excited. Like way excited. She wants a calling already. She is one of a kind. I love the Gospel. And i hope that i will email next week. So this not my last email im not ready to let go hahah I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Love Sister Heywood! 

Hey Everybody!
     I'm so grateful for this week and the exciting experiences!! For this year
our Centennial Park ward is starting at 1:30 and as you all know it was fast
Sunday. It was a really good experience and i know that there is a power in
fasting. It was a much needed and spiritual Sunday!
     We go to go on on exchange with our Stls (sister training leaders)
comparable to zone and district leaders, but just for sisters! :) I was in Bend
with Sis Rosado and Sis Sullivan and Sis Mower were in Redmond. There are a lot
of really nice huge mansions in Bend and we had the opportunity to teach Lilly
who has been investigating for awhile and (taught her on my last exchange in
Bend) and her friend Devon that is from Bend but living in Nashville she is
working on becoming a singer song writer. We watched Joseph Smith the Prophet of
the Restoration in the Lovejoy's huge mansion, super nice and apparently Will
Ferrell has a house in that neighborhood. The Lovejoy's own a grocery store
there in Bend. Never been in a house like that my whole life but it was legit to
watch that movie and feel the spirit very strongly in there home and watch the
most beautiful sunset out there huge windows.
     Then we didn't have a dinner but we asked Sis Rollie who there really close
to and she is a Cosmetologist!! And her co worker and instructor Randle who was
at her house (who she used to date) not a member of the church but knows about
the church from Sis Rollie and other friends in life. We got to teach him about
the plan of happiness and salvation over grilled cheese, apple sauce and hot
chocolate. Basically it was my dream lesson....i have always wanted to teach
someone high up in the hair industry and he has traveled all over to work for
the salon he works for, including phoenix for 5 years. Right now he is living in
Santa Monica, he is in town to do some work and by the end of the exchange sis
Rollie texted us and said that he was wanting the first lesson that i had
mentioned and said "its what makes us different and what the plan of salvation
comes from" and he wanted to know what he was missing out on.
     On new years eve night we had dinner with the Ridings...one of my many
favorite famalies here (Bro Riding is a cop). We had to be in by 7 to set goals
for the new year. Before we left we set of paper lanterns and watched them fly
into the clear dark sky, it was beautiful and a fun way to start of the new
year! It was Kate's idea for #HeistheGift and sharing that light for others to
look to! :)
     We have a couple more people on date! Kristina and Lena. Pray for them, they
need more of a desire. The adversary works very hard on there families. We love
them and are getting the ward more involved with there families!
      I'll talk to you all next week! I hope that you and i have some great new
years goals to stick to! Im excited to see what 2015 has in store. I love this
Gospel, it just makes sense! The Lord knows your hopes, He knows your fears and
he wants to help, Talk to him! Love you ALL!

Love Sister Heywood!

Hey everybody! 

     This week was vital to my life...i learned a lot. All very simple but very important. It was simply wonderful to talk to my family on Christmas day....I'm so so very blessed to spend the rest of eternity with them, they are delightful and fun and loving. I enjoyed very much talking to my dad about the missionary work happening there and here and the things that both areas are working on. My dad shared some insightful things that i LOVED and have shared already about 4 times with different members here in Redmond. The bishops wife Sis Sheldon quoted me in her talk yesterday in church. It was work related thing that my dad related to the gospel of course! "If we cant take care of Heavenly Fathers "clients" that we already have, how are we supposed to take care of new ones?" Doing missionary work you definitely need to go out of your comfort zone right?..ya im right, because i would know haha So the moral of that sentence is that there is all sorts of ways to do missionary work and you should start where you are most comfortable because reaching out to the ones that we already have and the ones that are less active are just as important as finding the new person "because both need conversion" -The Power of Everyday Missionaries. Just because someone shows up at church every Sunday to church doesn't mean they don't need a extra hand extended towards them, smile, hug, "come sit by us today." We all struggle during the week and we all need each other, if you find missionary work to be hard start with your home and visiting teaching start with reaching out to the people that are all around you, don't just assume! Take care...of the ones we already have. 

     We had a zone training meeting this week..i twas the shortest one that i have ever been too and I'm so thankful for that! I'm glad our zone leaders acknowledge that and are trying to change the culture of them, it was probably like 2 hours shorter, to the point and the spirit was super strong. We all learned a lot. The elders are very inspired and spirit lead. They focused on obedience and pride. They had, as always a testimony meeting at the end and i had the opportunity to bare my testimony and a lot of the missionaries did. The spirit was very strong and the part when i felt the spirit the  strongest is when the elder who walked in with service clothes on not in his suit and has struggled his whole mission and was sitting in the back stood up and bore his testimony and tears just fell from my eyes and i was not the only one. I can not tell you how amazing it was to hear from him and that he does know. watching missionaries struggle is hard to watch cause you cant really do anything esp. if they struggle really bad from any kind of depression.
     Funny story so we have been working with this guy named Art Mcallister and he was La for a very long time...I've talked about him before and we now teaching Tami his friend who is getting baptized soon. Anyways so sister Sullivan and i were sitting in front of them at church yesterday and after the first verse of the hymn that we were singing he leaned forward and said "Amen Brotha" and we just start cracking up... and this is something we say to each other "Amen Sista, Amen Brotha" whenever the opportunity comes...and so we are trying so hard not to laugh and then when the hymn is over he goes "Amen to that" Lol and i turn around trying to hold in my laugh and say "stop it" and then turn back around and start cracking up. Oh man it was one of those moments when laughing feels so good!
     On Christmas day that we spent at the Bishop Sheldons we asked him to think about and pray about some people that are in need of spiritual uplifting. He gave us a long list of names the next couple days and so we went to visit one of them and they were not home...kinda feeling poopy that night...idk what it was. But as we looked up the next one we felt we should visit on the GPS we ended being on that same exact street already and very close to the exact house. It is a part member/less active/recent convert home and we met Ashley who is not baptized and took the lessons about 2 years ago from elders and didn't connect. I know that we were set here for her. We met there little brother Garret who has mental retardation and he is the cutest thing ever..i have never met anyone like him before he was so different and made me so happy. Ashley thought we already knew him by how we talking with him because he knows Bro. Herrin and i said "no i just like to talk to people like i have known them for a long time" and he walks up to me really close to my face and says "I bet you don't know my social security number?!" another moment of laughter and made my day. We are teaching Ashley this week! ;)
     I love the being here, even though we have hard moments. We learn from them and grow. I love when i look at all the pictures of the Savior around our apartment and church, He seems so familiar to me. I look at Him and i see Him as my Brother. I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Love Sister Heywood!