Happy Pioneer Day!

Dear Family,

Yes we did make another trip down to Malaga! :P But it was once again worth the trip! There is a cool story that goes along with the busses though! Normally we buy our tickets with a machine but this time it wasn´t working. So we went to the window and bought them the old fashioned way... You know, where you actually have to talk to someone! ;) The lady there sold us the tickets in a wierd way though, but everything was fine... or so we thought! She gave us tickets to Granada and then to Jaen. My tickets came out all right. But Elder Pratt´s were all messed up. We got on the bus to Granada and got there fine! Those tickets were correct. But then we tried to get on the bus to Jaen... they stopped us because Elder Pratt´s ticket was for the 5:00 bus and not the 8:00 bus. the Lady had given us two separate tickets and now we were in between a wall and a hard spot! They aren´t allowed to let you on is you don´t have the correct ticket... well, I tried to explain that the lady messed up and that we had nothing to do with it. I asked if we needed to go change it but he just told us to wait a little bit. He came back and decided that since there were so few people on that bus that he would let us on and just not tell anyone! He was way kind to do that for us because I´ve seen, quite a few times, when they go and get security and make them go buy another ticket! On the bus I took a pass-along card, wrote a little thank you note, and invited him to call for a Finding Faith in Christ DVD. I may never know in this life where that goes but I felt good about it!

The ties were an idea the ZL´s came up with. A lot of times companionships will get matching ties to wear to zone conference or to interviews and they decided to take it up one notch! so we went to a gift shop where they sell fake stuff... and a ton of sweet ties and baught us some matching ties! They sell all their ties for 4€ and I´ve now bought about 6 ties there! They are pretty decent ties and they look nice as well so, why not?

Last monday we taught for the first time who might be our next baptism. She stopped us the previous friday and asked if we were JW´s. We kindly respinded that we are from a different religion and started explaining a bit. She is a Catholic and is living with a JW at the moment. She goes to their meetings occasionally because she enjoys their meetings. We invted her to our church but she said she wants us to come by and talk with her at her house first... we were totally fine with that. When we got there on Monday there was need for us to even know what we were doing. She led the lesson almost and everything went perfectly. We left her with the Book of Mormon and set citas for every monday, wednesday, and friday and the commitment to come to church this next week. (She already had family birthday plans for yesterday). We have another lesson with her in 45 minutes and plan to set a fecha with her today. She truly is golden!

We spent this morning in hospitals... we were not the patients!!! ;) There were a few people that wanted us to visit so we had a member take us around to the different hospitals to visit them. We got a couple potentially great investigators from it. It took forever to find people but we finally found them all! The youth are at EFY this week! We have two strong members, two inactive members, and two non-members attending! I hope they all enjoy it and come to learn that... there really are other youth in the church. Here in Jaen they are kind of sparse! haha EFY here is a church-sponsored, week-long youth camp. They will enjoy it I´m sure!

Apart from that the week has been normal! haha It was a great week! We are working hard and sweating tons! It´s way hot out here but I still think it´s hotter in Mesa! :P It is a tiny bit more humid here though!

Well, I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

Elder Austin Heywood

New missionaries arrive!

Elders Talbot, Stowell, Pratt, and Masterson finally arrive in Fuengirola after visa waiting, distant travels, and an inadvertent layover in Malaga.

Dear Family,

I am well aware that I did not remember to write in the address. He wasn´t sure at the moment so I was going to get back to it and then didn´t... And now there´s not going to be time to do so. I am already back in Jaén! HOME SWEET HOME!!! The misionaries got here a little sooner than expected. So we caught a bus to Jaén on thursday and arrived after a looooonnnnnngggggg bus ride that stopped in every single little town along the way. I now know not to catch the 3:00 bus from Malaga to Jaen! Elder PRATT is from American Fork, Utah, is 19, will be a great missionary and understands quite a bit for coming straight from the Provo MTC. Where in the world did you get the idea of this other Elder? I hate to tell you that if he is a real person coming to this mission... he´s still not here! Sorry!

We just made up a missionary and lots of things about him, "guessing" that was Austin's new companion. haha

Elders Heywood, Langston, Bullen, and Wiehe are at the mission home for a training meeting and to find out who their new companions will be.

We didn´t find out who our companions were going to be until wednesday night when we were all in the mission home together. That´s a new interesting routine that the mission is doing. It was fun! It was just a long walk back to the different stations and to get home because his suit cases are dying! that was fun!!! :P I´m glad I got the luggage I got... but I will need new wheels on the largest one when I get home because I just packed everything into it for the Algeciras adventure and it weighed a little bit... 66 lbs. :S They´ll last for the rest of the mission but I´ll be replacing them when I get home.

I never did get down to Gibraltar because I was going to do that today... well, that isn´t really possible anymore... Maybe I´ll get sent there after Jaen. You never know! But I also wouldn´t mind going to one of the new areas of the mission!

Anyway, Santy and President Castro are the ones that ended up going to the investigators´ houses. They actually only made it to A´s house because they were busy on wedensday and couldn´t make it to A and P´s house. A came to church this week!!! :) Now she only has to come the next two weeks in a row to get cookies! They did well it seemed like! They were looking forward to their visit this week too!

Elder Pratt´s mom´s email address is... should I give it to you this time? ;) ... He is doing great! He will probably progress faster than I did at the begining just because he is willing to talk a lot more than I was! He does great and it´s now that I really realize that I have relaxed on a few tiny things! He follows the rules and I´m going to do my best not to corrupt him! We´re getting along great! I am happy to be training and glad that we do well together.

We were told in the training meeting that we should be discontent... not the worldly search for "more" but a divine discontent. Always striving to be better... missionaries, people, companions, speakers of spanish, etc. There are many skills that we should acquire and we are supposed to be "divinely discontent!"

Even though the missionaries can't get in the pool, they want their picture taken next to it. This is at a New Missionary training meeting, with the 7 missionaries that have come to the mission in the past 2 weeks and the 4 trainers coming to pick up their greenies. The 5 others? Pres and Sis Clegg, and perhaps the office elders or APs??

No, Elders, don't do it!! Whew. . . they landed on the deck, not in the pool!

I think the funnest thing this week was getting together with a lot of the missionaries that were in the mission home and just enjoying time with them. The worst part was the two busses that were indirect (stop everywhere) and then lugging the broken bags around! The best part was the lesson we had with A! She is doing great! I hope her mom gets a little more accepting of the church!

I think that the biggest problem between me and Elder Pratt is that he LOVES cheese! Which really isn´t a huge problem! :) Well, This week has been great and I look forward to a great time with him here!

How did the move go? It sounds like everything went well!

The move hasn't gone, and I think he's just fishing. . .

Jacob, You are just amazing at making Kayla smile! :D Keep that up and keep working on the recuperation so we can play a little basketball when I get home!!! I look forward to it. Happy Birthday!!!

Grammy, I am way happy that you have taught me the ways of pie making! I find it quite useful here in the misison! You have been a great example of prioritizing! You always were busy doing things and cooking or cleaning up after us ;) but you still took the time to create good memories with the kids! Thank You!!! Happy Birthday!!!

Jay, I have always looked up to you! You love learning and then sharing that knowledge in a way that makes people want to follow you! You´re a great leader! Keep it up man! Happy Birthday!!!

Brady, GGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGG... that translates to... You are a cute little munchkin and if you want there are about 4 people here in jaen that want me to arrange a marriage for you and their little daughters! haha I won´t sign anything!!! Happy Birthday!!!

Well, it´s about time to go shopping and cooking! Good ole lonesome jaen p-days!!! :D

Have a great week!

Con Mucho Amor,
Elder Austin Heywood

ps. remember that when you actually move I just want a letter with pictures from the new house!!! ;)

Yep, proof that he was just fishing.

Spain Wins!!!!!

Dear Family,

ESPAÑA!!!!!!!!!!!!! OLÉ OLÉ OLÉ OLÉ OLÉEEEE OLÉEEEE OOLÉ!!!
ASDF
Yes we did watch the game and it was incredible!!! I know you all may think that I am a horrible person for doing so but just take a minute and think about it. I am in Spain and everybody loves soccer here! Spain is playing in the World Cup Final for the first time in history (94 years). There is nobody on the streets unless they are in a town square watching it... and drunk. Everybody inside is watching the game and there´s no chance you are going to teach them. We could go home and study, but we´ve already done that for a couple hours today. We are not missing out on history! It was a cultural experience anyway; the white handbook tells us to experience and learn about the culture!

Haha ~ terrible person. . . whatever. On the mission blog, I learned that the 12 most recently returned missionaries had their choice of what to do after dinner at the mission home the night before departure. You got it; they watched the semi-finals.

So about the game... it was one of the dirtiest games I´ve seen (on the Holand side). The goal was amazing! I can´t belive it took until the end of overtime for anybody to score. I have to say, Casillas is an amazing goalie!!!!!!!! The people here were insane after the game! We didn´t get to bed until about 1:30 because of all the noise and excitement! It was great to be here to experience the winning of the World Cup!

Anyway, enough about the game. I am down here in muggy Algeciras with Elder Bullen and we are enjoying it thoroughly! (The time with Elder Bullen not the muggy weather). It´s just way wierd being gone for two weeks and then returning. The only desire I have is to work but not get attatched to anybody. It´s wierd. Well it will be over soon enough. I´m just happy to be with a good man like Elder Bullen. He´s from Kingman, AZ. He´s a pilot. He´s Guapo! haha and He´s just awesome! What more can I say. Oh yeah, his mom´s email address is

The branch is way small here. However, we did have to go find more bread and water to bless for the sacrament! That doesn´t happen too often. I hope we get some more good ideas from each other on how to do missionary work and how to train a kid. President told us that they would be 2 weeks... I think but am not sure that they came in to the CCM last week and are going to be there just to learn a bit more spanish. If not then I could be here longer than expected. That shouldn´t happen though.

Thanks for the information about Tara. It´s nice to know about the mortal state of my friends. So they found it because of her headaches? I remember her always having a lot of headaches. Well, I will continue to pray for her and the family. Thank you!

I have included the link to Tara's blog if you are interested. Tara is an incredibly optimistic, beautiful (inside and out) young lady that had a cancerous brain tumor removed, and is now undergoing treatment. This is her story.

That´s a cool little memorial they had! They did it in the park? That is awesome! I bet it was an interesting funeral. What religion was in charge of it? Robert "Dizzy" Disbrow has been a Mesa icon for the past 14 years. If you lived here, you knew who he was. If you had visited here, you had likely "met" him. Here is a link that quickly tells you a bit about him. And a short video if you'd like to see him in action.

You are right when you say that people argue just for the sake of arguing... and it is probably one of my biggest pet peaves!!! I absolutely hate it! I will do my best to handle it well though. I got a little advice from Pres. Clegg and we´ll see where it gets me.

Anyway, this whole thing is just like two-week long exchanges. I don´t really know what else to write. Any ideas? hahaha

Con Amor,

Elder Heywood

New President, Companion and area (temporarily)

I am glad to hear that Elder Swenson is doing well.

I did get the package and I am enjoying it a lot! I haven´t opened the peanut butter yet because I... well you´ll understand later in the letter. Sometimes I think you might be a litte too protective of my trunkiness... No pictures of the sailboat or my room! haha The altoids were definitely a huge bonus! And I love the ocean spray!!! Thanks for the books of music! I think I might just start using those for a while to play in sacrament meeting! An oven 5 feet wide?!?!?!?!?!? That´s AMAAZING!!! Can I have one? ;) you know what? I just want the plans to their house and I´ll build one of my own!!! hahaha

So how is Tara Schlappi doing? That was a hard letter to read, but it was so amazing at the same time! She has a strong testimony! I want to hear any important updates! ok?

Santy and Igor did end up at the temple! They had an amazing time there! Santy was able to be baptised for his grandpa and great-grandpa! It was great for them to be there! They also shared great testimonies yesterday in church! We now have one less less-active member!!! We are so excited for them both!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We met the new president, President Clegg and his wife! They are way awesome! This is going to be a great 9 months with them! He greated Elder Hafen and there were a couple comments made to inform Pres. Clegg that he´s going home in less than a week... Pres. Clegg said, "Then I don´t know what you´re doing in a week!" Then he turned to me and said, "But I do know what you are doing in a week." We had the little meeting with everybody and then he told me and Elder Solari he needed to talk to us. He talked to Solari to tell him who his new companion is. Then he called me in...

He said that he thinks I need to train, but... My new companion (whoever it will be) is waiting for his visa. I will be waiting for him in Algeciras with Elder Bullen, who is in the same boat. He´s killing off his companion right nw and waiting for a new kid. Elder Bullen is one transfer older than me. And you can find out what he look likes by looking at my aljarafe pictures! He was born in the same district as me. I am looking forward to this soooooo much!!!

It´s going to be wierd leaving an area for two weeks and then returning! We have our branch missionaries committed to pass by and visit our investigators and read from the Book of Mormon with them. Those missionaries are Santy and Igor! :D

We have what seems like a whole evangelical congregation trying to beat us down and claim that everything we preach is a lie! We´ve now talked to 5 people in 2 days. :P They make me so mad!... speaking of love! haha I just hate when they tell me I´m wrong and won´t alow me to defend myself. whatever! Just one more trial I guess!

Well, I kinda would like a picture of that memorial for Robert. I was probably one of the few people that knew his name back in the day. The guys at the shop knew him from way back and called him by his real name! I don´t think I was still there when he made it public that he wanted to be Robert again. Robert "Dizzy" Disbrow has been a Mesa icon for many years. You can read just a little about him here He also has nearly 5000 facebook friends ~ Diz-Z is his name there.

Anyway, I look forward to these two weeks and the fresh bottle of Peanut Butter... AND PECANS when I get back to Jaén!!!

Thank you so much for everything!!! I just remembered hte one thing I can´t forget... the FRISBEE!!! AND THE MUSIC!!! I will enjoy that stuff very much!!!

There is a mission blog that Hermana Clegg has up. Check it out!

Love you all!
Elder Austin Heywood