Flight plans have arrived!!!

Mom,

I do know Elder Christensen!  Are we going to be coming on the same plane?  That´ll be tight!!!  He´s from Snowflake!  So if I get home at 5:10 that´ll leave plenty of time for a good game of frisbee that night right?  jk  I´d rather be at home with my family eating some homemade pizza with squash and thick crust!  That was the first thing that popped into my mind when you asked for requests, so I went with it!  You know me!  If I have options I´m going to take forever deciding!  But if I end up wanting something else I´ll let you know!!!

I did do Eng 101 at MVT.  I´ll trust you on the Major.  And if I get too deep into the one before we realize that it´s the wrong one then I´ll just spend the rest of my life doing something completely different!  No pasa nada!  haha

I don´t want to spend that much on housing.  That´s too much!  I told Kristalyn to talk to Brittany about what Branden's plans are.  He´ll be up there too.  That just another option.  I will keep it a little lower.  It´s not worth it.

I hope Bryan does well in volleyball tryouts!  But why at 5 in the morning?  That´s insane!!!  Whatever!  Good Luck!!!  Sounds like things are going great with everybody there at home!!!  I wish you all the best week ever!  And I won´t be laying down on the playing field with the white flag up!  I am way excited to be here and Elder Adams is awesome!  We are going to tear up Chiclana!!!  

I´m just glad/hoping that the weather warms up at least a little bit in Idaho before I get up there!!!  I am not looking forward to that kind of weather!  

We had a tough time with investigators this week because we had two day transfers... Elder Adams didn´t know he was leaving until Elder Beck showed up on tuesday morning!  By then it was too late to get here!  And then we had a baptismal interview to do down in Algeciras.  That took the afternoon but it was way good!  While we were there I went to M´s house with Elder Masterson to try setting a fecha!  We stuck to the NIKE motto!  Just Do It!!!  And that´s what we did!  She is totally ready and willing and the conversation lead up perfectly to the scripture that I planned on using, D & C 39:7-8,10.  We both testified and set the fecha!  It was incredible!  I´m glad I am not District leader and was able to be there to help her set the fecha!

We are doing great and the ward is stil excited about things!  M and E weren´t able to come to the capilla yesterday and everybody was asking where they were!  They just had to work because they own a flower shop and today is Valentines day!  We had stopped by this week though and they seem to be doing great!  

About the Rod´s... the father does speak english... and will be in Utah for conference.

Well I love you all and Wish you a fantastic week!

Elder Heywood

Mom,

So, how much saffron does he want?  Does he want it in powder or the actual plant(harvested of course)?  I would be happy to bring him some!  It is really cheap here!  I don´t think it will be a problem.  With the internet, why don´t you download Google Chrome?  I like it a lot better!  And it is free!

Our investigators are doing well.  M and E keep coming to church and E got up to give her testimony on sunday!  That was quite surprising for us but it turned out really well!!!  The members are helping us a ton and keep coming up with great ideas for how to help us!  They are really receptive to those that are coming to church and that helps more than anything!

J is still lost in timbucktwo!  We can´t get a hold of him which is the same as before!  But J and M are still receptive!  We just need to help the husband in some way!  We need to at least meet him!  

Those are all of our investigators.  Not many, but the ward is going to help us out in a week or two when we have a ton of missionaries in our area so we can go on splits and find new investigators!  They have a tough time giving us names and following through, but they help us a ton with the investigators we have!  That´s one more thing than other areas have had! 

Well, Elder West is getting transfered and my new companion will be Eldre Adams.  I have met him a time or two.  I don´t know him that well but I do believe that we will be able to work well together!  I´m excited for this last little bit I´ve got left!  It´s not much but I believe that two or three families are going to get baptized in that time!!!!!!  Every other area in our zone has gone through huge baptizing periods and now it´s our turn!  Chiclana is about to burst!  There is a new family that we are going to meet on thursday that the father is inactive but the TEN children are not baptised... but all over eight!!!!!!!!!!!!  And from what the members have said they have interest and are looking to move into chiclana the city... they live right now a little far away.  I´m pumped for this!

Well, I hope that´s how my mission is going to end!!!

I love you all!

Elder Austin Heywood

Mom,

I like that comparison with the Rock!  I´m gonna have to use that in a lesson!

Sister Law from the stake YW taught part of the lesson today. She brought out a large rock, handed it to a yw, and asked what it was. "Are you sure it is a rock?" "How can you tell?" Once it was clearly defined as a rock, she suggested that perhaps Morgan thought it was a hot air balloon. Does her opinion change fact? No. Kacie might think it is a flower. Does that change the fact that it is a rock? No. It is a rock. It is solid, hard, and heavy.

"But I have special circumstances. Gravity doesn't apply to me." "I understand that it works for most people, but I need to try this on my own ~ Gravity isn't for me." etc. Those opinions don't change fact. Gospel doctrine is fact. The Prophet's words are truth. Opinions, regardless of how many and how strong they are, cannot change fact.

As far as investigators... We now have a fecha!!!  I don´t know exactly how it went because we were on exchanges when they set it.  He is the man who stopped to talk to us a month and a half ago.  Jess is his name.  I´ve only talked with him once!  We´ll have some stronger ones with the others soon!  M, E, J, M and their two little brothers all came to the stake activity the other day.  It was a fight to get J´s family there but they went!  And they liked it!  I´ve never had to do so much convincing to get someone to a party before!

It´s not the right picture but I did think this week about a cd I have from Sister Mellor that has all of the 2009 photos on it.  I´m hoping it´s on there!

Anything you can do for me?  I don´t know.  Nothing really too specific.  Just pray that I can finish strong and focussed in the mission!  It´s tough sometimes.  But with it all winding down so fast I can´t help it.  Is there anything specific that anybody wants me to bring other than what you´ve already mentioned?  I´ll do my best!

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

Elder Heywood

Mom,

I am doing well this week!  We had a few days out of the area but it´s been good!  I got to meet some people from Algeciras that I met 8 months ago.  We also had a zone meeting and interviews with the President.

As far as investigators... We did have three in church this week.  The mom and daughter that came last week came this week with the boyfriend of the the daughter.  They have more potencial than we thaught at first!... and they came again!!!  That was a huge surprise for us!  And it kind of threw for a spin when I got up to give a talk in Sacrament meeting.  I had planned to tell the parents that they need to take control with their kids in Sacrament meeting!  Last week was the loudest and most ridiculous week of church ever in my  life, and every time I thought about what to talk about it was that.  Only because I´ve lost investigators because of that and I don´t want it to happen again!  Well, we weren´t expecting the investigators this week and they showed up... that told me that I had to change the talk at least a little bit.  Then as the choir sang the prelude hymn people actually stopped to listen.  That was strange.  Then they stayed absolutely silent after it was over.  I started to feel bad about the talk I had prepared and started to worry about the talk I was going to give.  WHAT DO I DOOOOO???  I gave a sketchy, scrambled talk.  I don´t understand, because it was almost 100% Silent!  THE ENTIRE HOUR!!!  WOW!!!

The other family of investigators didn´t come this week because the husband is a trucker and was home this weekend!  But they are still great!  We were able to visit them once this last week and we hope that the daughter will become really good friends with B and go to the Gala Dance this weekend!  That would be optimal!!!

You say the Bible is important!... I was debating today whether to give my Bible to that new convert that is doing great!  You see, her family is all JW.  And she has a JW Bible... We want her to have the LDS version which came out last year in spanish!  I guess I´ll keep mine and buy her a cheep new one! haha  You never know why you write some things huh?

We are doing well and I am trying my best to finish well!  I had Sister Rodriguez count for me yesterday how many more times I´ll be able to go to their house to eat! (10-12) haha

I´m doing better and better and we´re gonna fight to the end!

Love you Mom!... and anybody else that might be reading this!!!

Elder Heywood

ps. A girl in the ward is wanting to know the name of one of the hermanas that was suposedly here one year ago when I visited.  If you could look up the picture(s) of Zone conference in San fernando when I was comps with Elder Jensen.  It would have been about November of 2009!  Send me the group pictures please!!!

Well, no spouse...yet!!! haha  Thank you for working school out for me.  I did have a thought this week about whether my major is bio-medical or bio-mechanical... Elder Bytheway´s brother (in-law?) is in the same thing.  If you were to talk to Bytheway´s mom you could find out which one!

 

Thank you for that email, Dad.  I will make that list and start working on it.  I have had a better week thanks to a comment made by one of the sisters in my district.  We were talking about success in hte mission and making a list of how to recognize tat we are successful she said, "We know we are successful missionaries when it hurts as we can´t fullfil our purpose."  That struck me because that´s where it all started going down hill and I allowed myself to get depressed and lost the desire to work.  I found where the problem started and I am taking care of it.

 

Dad, I love you and thank you for your support!

 

This week I´ve still had a tough time crawling out of bed onto the cold floor, but I´ve been a lot more happy about working!  We also have helped a recent convert come back to church on sundays.  She got baptised right before Christmas and then had a ton of things come up during the holidays and stopped coming and reading the Book of Mormon.  We had a lesson with her and in everything it came out that this is the step that members take right before inactivation.  She realized that and started coming to church and reading again!  The second week that she came... yesterday... she brought 2 families with her!  One of them, the daughter might actually have interest!!!  The other family is from Ecuador!!!  They are just simply amazing!!!  And just before church started I was talking to one of the ward missionaries and told her that we just need new investigators!  That the work is hard without!  After church (with 4 investigators.. 3 of them new) I was talking to her again and she said something to the effect of "And you say you need new investigators!" haha  We do receive blessings!  And they are a great one!

 

Apart from that, I haven´t had much go on this week!  Just a great big surprise at the end of the week! 

 

I love you Mom!

 

Thanks for your prayers!!!  I can feel my testimony come back!  It got hidden for a little bit!  I know what I´m here for!

 

Elder Heywood

Chiclana!

Alright, first thiings first!!!  I will be spending Christmas at home away from home!!! Yup, with the Rodriguez family!!!!!!!!!!  That will be our pday so you won´t get an email from me the following monday... or the one following new years day.  New years day will also be a pday so you can´t wait till sunday to write!  So, I will be in the Rod´s house and they will have their son calling home as well.  They are going to find out what time they will be calling around 7 tonight so I will somehow get you an email during the week saying what time to call!  It will be easier for you to call me because I´ve never bought a calling card here and neither has my companion so I don´t know where to get one!  

So Kike(Elder Rodriguez) will be calling around 12:00 noon here. That means that you can call me at 10:00am your time! (that´s 6:00pm my time)  Then we will have one hour to talk so have some questions!  This will be the last time you get to call me on the mission!!! 

The other day a member took us home and said that Maricarmen came up to her and started going off about how she knows me and how good of a missionary I am and how excited she is to have  me here!  But... now they all have huge expectations from me!!!   I´ll be finishing well, I guess! haha

We have a great ward!!!  There´re between 80 and 120 people that attend regularly... depending on the time of year!  We have regular meetings and great leadership!  I´m way stoked to be here!  And my health is getting better!  The only thing I will be missing is the fun part of Christmas!  The package from richard did arrive on tuesday and I picked it up.  However, your package arrived on thursday... in Alcazar.  I will get it on the 8th of January... just in time for el día de los reyes magos!  So I will be a little spaniard and celebrate 3 kings day instead of Christmas this year!

That was a way cool story!  I love when lessons turn into a powerful testimony meeting!  That´s the kind of thing that really keeps/brings people in the church!  N will never forget the spirit and love that she felt there!  Personal invitations are key in creating relationships!  That´s why we make invitations to give to people whenever we have a baptism!

As far as baptisms go... They did not end up baptising the two sisters... yet!!!  They´ll come around soon!!!  And we might have a baptism soon with the roommate of a recent convert!!!  She is a single mom of a 5 year-old and has tonnns of potential!  We´re just waiting for after Christmas when she can come to our church.  She is kind of committed to go to the evangelist church because her daughter is part of their Christmas program.  She will come soon!!!

Well I gotta go!  I just want questions from you all on Christmas!!!  And I want Richard to guess who this is!... 

hint: lanzy

Con Amor,

Elder Heywood