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

Best Birthday Ever!

So, yes I am going to Chiclana de la Frontera!  And yes that is Elder Fetzer´s first area!  However, there is one piece of information that you have not connected yet... That is the ward that the Rodriguez family live in!!!   It was more than a year ago that Juan Rodriguez and his family moved from Aljarafe to Chiclana and he told me to tell President to let me finish my mission in Chiclana!  I did tell Pres. Mellor because I knew he would be long gone and would have nothing to do with transfers then!  I said nothing of this to Pres. Clegg!  Well, we got the call on the way to district meeting this friday telling me I´m headed to Chiclana!  I told other missionaries that I either wanted to finish the mission in Sevilla or Chiclana!  I´m going to Chiclana!!!

My new companion is Elder West.  I´ve heard lots of good things about him and I´m excited!  The only downer to all this... I think that I´m sent to the run down pisos to fix ´em up.  haha  It is a pretty bad piso but from what I hear, the missionary leaving there is a clean missionary!    I don´t have his mom´s email yet but I do have the address to the new piso. 

This week was an amazing week to end on!  We hit the mission goal of 20 lessons in the week! It´s probably the first time that Alcazar has hit it in a long time!  And to top off the record breaking numbers we had two baptisms!  They went really well!  The spirit was way strong as they came out of the water!  This was the first baptism I wasn´t really worried/stressed/nervous for.  I was way calm!  I loved it!  Afterwards, the Branch President told us to leave the water in the font with the hope and faith that the other two sisters would decide to get baptised next weekend!!!  That would just be AWESOME!!!

The Chicken noodle soup turned out a little more like the soup that you make!(thanks to the large pot that Ana lent to us)  It´s usually more like a stew for us!  They all... well almost all... loved it!  The gluten free noodles worked too! (That was for the mom).  The only ones that didn´t like it were those that don´t like vegetables!  We did have left overs and gave some to the Cleggs from Ciudad Real.  They had been traveling all week and hadn´t eaten much for the past two days and came straight to the baptism!  We sent them with some soup!  They were way grateful for that!

I had a great birthday!  I received the letter that you sent on friday and loved the many compliments that were sent my way!  Thank You!!!  We had a Christmas activity and Ana made me brownies!  I got a present from the missionaries/me... a new watch!!!  But it´s not a digital watch and not an analog watch.  It´s a binary watch with led lights!!!  It´s SOOOOO SWEET!!!!!!  Check out the picture!  Then of course I found out (the day before) that I´m going back to be with the Rod´s in Chiclana!  

It is a binary watch.

My sweet birthday watch!

I am happy to be here in the mission!  I am sad to not have a car anymore!  But I am happy to be going where I am going!  I hope the warmer weather heals me!  I´ve had a cold for the past two weeks now!  I have gone through about 3 rolls of toilet paper now and it seems like it will never stop!!!  Any suggestions in case I continue ill next week?

I´m glad to hear that Amber is doing fine!  So what are you supposed to do on ice?  turn into the slide (wheels in the dirrection you want to go?) and let off the gas and not push on the brake?  I think that´s what I remember but I´m not sure!  Luckily I´m not in too great a danger of that happening here!  Especially with the weather like it´s been this past week!  It´s strangely warm!

As far as those ideas for Christmas... and life... (inserted below from Meridian Magazine) I am going to keep those in mind and try to keep them in action!  I love you all and wish you all the best!

He Loves Us One at a Time

As I turned to Heavenly Father in prayer, I felt His counsel to me through His Son. I began to understand that Christ doesn’t atone for all of us at once, en masse. He atones for us one person at a time; He cleanses us one heart at a time, and He loves us one at a time as choice and unique individuals. 

What Part of “Always” Do I not Understand?

I choose Him every hour, consciously, deliberately.  I touch bases with Him and ask what He would have me do this hour. I “listen” to the answering thought or impression, trusting that if I ask of Him bread, He will not give me a stone or allow Satan to, either.  If I ask of Him the truth, He will not lie to me.

And in this act of doing exactly what the Sacrament prayer tells us to do—to always remember Him—I find the gift of guidance and wisdom so far beyond my own that I am constantly astounded at His generosity.

Con Amor,

Elder Heywood

Activity coming up

Our Christmas tree with my birthday gift. 

Well, this week we went to the family´s house in Tomelloso (the one that has 7 kids) and had the best lesson ever with them!  Two of the kids said they had prayed and want to be baptised!  They will be baptised on the 12th and we are hoping that the other two children will also pray and receive their answer!  That would be the answer to many prayers!  The lesson I´ve learned is that it requires everything that the missionaries have in order to see miracles.  We are going to see many great things here!

This Saturday we have a branch activity and I think it´s going to be a great thing for the investigators!  I will also be spending a bit of time on saturday cooking an extra big chicken noodle soup for the baptism.  They live a half hour away so they are staying after church and the whole family and some members and some investigators will probably be at president´s house and I told them I was cooking!   It might turn into a bigger thing than I thought!  what´s done is done!  To the kitchen!

The transfers are on the 16th of December!... Next week!  I will be letting you know about when to call by next monday... hopefully!  The number won´t be available until the week of Christmas!  Let me know when the family can be gathered together so that I can talk with you all!  I don´t know if I´ll be transfered or not anymore!  Pres. Clegg pulled me aside after a meeting and asked me what I thought about transfers.  I gave him an indifferent answer.  I also have no clue what´s going on because there are so many Elders that are supposed to be coming in that don´t have their visas yet.  So that could really throw the mission for a spin.  So it´s all up in the air.

Thank you for putting E on the prayer roll!  She has improved a TON since two weeks ago!!!  We are doing what we can to distract her from her depression and focussing on the happy things in life!  The most interesting thing that she did was thank us for not getting mad when she called us and we ran over there last week!  She just needs more people that can help her smile!

I´m glad to hear that Jared is doing well with his health!  I hope he continues to improve!  And how are he and Jill doing?  Any other updates from friends?  I can´t remember if I told you or not but Elder Hafen is getting married!  Do you know anything about Kam?

Well, I love you all and wish you the best during the holiday season!  

Elder Austin Heywood

My tie is back!

Don´t worry, Mom, all missions split up travel funds and living funds!  I don´t have to go without anything in order to have a car!... except the bus and train!  It was an expensive trip down to Fuengirola!  And it was a long one too!!!  I was sick the entire time and didn´t really get much out of the meetings.  I didn´t even go to a few of the meetings.  I stayed in bed all day thursday and took nothing in except 2 glasses of water at the very end of the day!  I think that in the whole week I ate about the same amount of food as I would in one normal day! I tried weighing myself at the end of sunday but it wouldn´t let me.  I´m not sure if it didn´t register that someone was on it or that it was just out of batteries. haha

I´m eating a little bit now and I´m getting a bit better. 

Elder Fetzer is still having stomach pains here and there. But we´re able to work now!

Elder S and the reunion... He was an Elder that was in my room in the MTC... for a week!  He went home for a while.  This is his first transfer back in the mission!!!  When he left the MTC (a year and a half ago) we traded ties and I told him, "I want this tie back."  He was told that he could probably go back to the same mission and he´s now here!    That´s what that happy face was about!  I´m going to get my tie back! (but that means a whole lot more than the tie itself!)  The Cleggs are cousins and yes, she was in the general primary presidency!  They are way awesome!!!

Meet the Cleggs              

                                       and the Cleggs!

I did hear something good from our branch president yesterday!  He takes the family that we're teaching to and from church every week and has a chance to talk to the parents more than we do on weeks like this!  He told us last night that we will probably have 4 baptisms in December!  That would be the four kids... we´re going to get the whole family!  That means a marriage!!! :)  We´re going to do it!!!

26 hungry missionaries can down a lot of food!

s

Lots to learn at our specialized training.

You say that Sean H is home... There seems to be a lot of people having to go home to recover from their missions!  It´s a sad thing!  I hope he gets better!!!  We´ve also had almost our entire district sick lately. five of the six of us have been ill.  I´m pretty sure that the adversary is working pretty hard on us in a physical way... maybe because he´s been defeated spiritually!!!  Upward and Onward!!!

Have a great week and enjoy the groundbreaking of the temple!!!

Elder Austin Heywood

ps. I do want more burts bees in the next package! 

Pictures

I just found this set of pictures saved as a draft from May ~ also another post from September 20 that I just published today. Not sure what happened with them. Sometimes I get so sidetracked and this is proof.

Austin sent a card full of pictures, but no notations. If you happen to know any of these people or places, please let me know.

Happy Halloween!

Ok, So I didn´t catch that phrase a few months ago.  Now that I have had a few sources tell me that she´s married I think I´ll start believing it. haha jk

It is true.  Heavenly Father knows each of us and one of the most sure ways he communicates to us is through priesthood blessings.  They do come straight from him!

Elders Heywood, Bader, Fetzer (companion) and Moss

I may have been in a hurry when I wrote that.  The Rodriguez family helped as much as this family.  I don´t know that I could say one does better than the other!  They are both amazing!  And speaking of this new family... They found out that we are driving down to the mission home this week and they offered to let us borrow their GPS for the week!  We are going road tripping to the mission home for a special training meeting!  It´s going to be fun!!!  And tiring!  Driving wears me out!  I´ve been driving all weekend long!   And now I get to drive some more!  I just filled up the tank in the car too... € 71.01. ($99!)  UGHH  And I put air in the tires.  It doesn´t pull to the right anymore!   It´s not all slugginsh either!  I now just need to get the radio working (not to listen to the radio... just CD´s).  The Cleggs questioned that when we asked them about the radio.

I have the essays written for my application but they happen to not be with me at the present moment so I will get those typed up and sent to you next week!  Pres. Clegg passed me on the endorsement!  and other than that it´s all up to you right?

 Lunch time after a district meeting. Kabobs for all!

Halloween is celebrated here.  Everybody just goes as the gross, gory, and "scarry" people.  It´s not that old here in Spain!  They do the same type of thing as we do there, but it´s on a way smaller scale!... especially smaller than our new neighborhood it sounds like!  And we´re actually lucky to even be writing today.  All Saint´s Day also gets celebrated in one of the most catholic countries and everything is closed! 

We´re doing well Here in Alcazar.  I did get a package and I hope I got everything that was in it.  Usually they will leave a package slip if you aren´t home and you have to go to the office to get it the following day... they left the package... and our friendly neighbors thought it would be so kind to do us a favor and open it for me.  Just to make sure they didn´t take anything valuable... you sent 3 garment bottoms, 10 quarters, seasoned salt, skittles, big hunks, crunchy marshmallows, and Joseph Smith pamphlets, and altoids.  I hope there wasn´t anything else important.  I did go to the package office and tell them our building situation so there shouldn´t be any other issues with that but remember that mail always gets left so don´t make the envelopes fancy!

Well, L is doing well and understands a lot of the important stuff! but she is headed back to the Dominican Republic today and will come back in a month!  It´s out of our hands for a while but not out of our prayers!

I hope you all have a fantastic week and we´ll talk to you in a bit!  Love you all!

Elder Heywood

Cosecha

It looks like a good house! I´m going to mis the old one and all the work we did to fix it up... I won´t miss the work but the feeling of accomplishment! I´m glad to hear that Bryan is playing volleyball! If you truely work hard at it and listen to what the coach says you´ll progress a lot! The coach at highland is way good! Work to become a starter but don´t be a jock! Hold your head high but keep your nose at a friendly angle! Just have fun! Bytheway, what coach said is a good thing! Basically he said that he never learned and so he didn´t learn a bad way! Bryan´s going to be able to learn the right way from the begining! And as with every skill, when it doesn´t seem like it´s working go back to the basics!

Granada Zone specialized training ~ getting back t the basics!

I hope we´ll still have those baptisms because we haven´t been able to see them for 2 weeks now. We have a ton of new investigators though!

On saturday this week we had a "cosecha"(harvest). We had 6 missionaries in our pueblo doing contacts to sac references. we ended up with 16 references in 2-1/2 hours!!! We weren´t able to go by and visit any yet but that´s a good thing because we were teaching other people and got two new investigators yesterday!

I´m in the liahona... not the ensign but the liahona! There is a seccion for area news and I´m in there from when I was in Jaén! They took a picture of the branch after they got a new branch presidency! :) I ripped out the page and it´s coming home with me!!!

Elders Heywood, Kusseling, Becerra & Ward

The other day it rained. We caught a bus out to a pueblo and about a minute before we got there it started sprinkling! We didn´t have umbrellas. We did have a cita though! so we walked across the city in the rain and... she didn´t let us in. She had to leave! (GRRRRRRRRRR face) Our other cita also fel through so we went to some other investigators and taught them. They are harvesting grapes right now so they can´t come to church or meet with us... ever! But they were home because it was raining!!!

I got to visit Jaen!!! :D I miss that place! They had a lot more going for them than I ever let myself believe! It was fun talking to Elder Beck. Then we had a mission meeting the next day! I was able to stay awake!... I don´t know how!

My pen broke the other day! I have a request. I was thinking this morning about coins and how when missionaries come home we bring a seleccion of coins from where we serve. Why couldn´t I give friends here coins from the US? I was thinking about having you send some AZ quarters to give to a few people. (not many, maybe about 10).

So that´s been the week! A lot better than last week! I just am still looking forward to next monday! (transfers are on monday instead of wednesday because there´s a transportation strike on wednesday). We´ll do better than we have been lately.

I love you all and hops you all have a great week!

Elder 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.

Jaén Pictures

Well???

I´M GOING!!!

I´m going to be in with an Elder from my group. (Please email me - his mom - for his new address. He'd love to hear from you!) His name is Elder Pitts. I will be in the coldest part of the mission. It will be a long day! I leave the airport here at 10:30am, I have a 4 hour lay over in Madrid and then I arrive in Malaga at 6:40pm. Then I hop a bus to Jaén and that takes about 2-2:30 hours. I´m not really looking forward to this travel... unless I´m able to go tour Madrid. haha JOKE!!! Elder Bytheway is getting Elder Namelka. They´re from the same group and will be going home in April. I have called both my transfers so far... well this one I changed my guess once I realized that I only got the amount of money you receive when you are in the peninsula. Before I had guessed somewhere in the islands.

We do not have a fecha with L yet. :( But she did come to church and enjoyed it a lot. She is way awesome. We will be meeting with her this tuesday so I hope to set the date then. I gave my testimony in church as a leaving missionary. Before church I told my land lady that I was leaving and she didn´t believe me. Then I got up and gave my testimony and she started crying. After sacrament meeting I was talking to her and she was just crying her little heart out. Do missionaries give their testimonies when they arrive and leave a ward there? I can´t remember.

So mom, you did not miss anything by not being at the computer, because I completely forgot about that. I had it written down and everything but we got a little occupied. I feel so bad about that, because I told you I would be out there and I wasn´t.

So now we´ve got a green truck again? I feel like I´m going to come home to a completely different family... well, as far as what we own. New cars, new house, new nephew, new brother. All I ask that you keep is my sailboat. I´ve been so trunky for that lately... walking passed the ocean every day and seeing sailboats out on the water. Oh well, I am leaving that distraction as well.

H and P are doing well and they are looking forward to the temple visit in a year to be sealed. :) We also found a new investigator this week... well, she used to live here and she was receiving the lessons and had a fecha but moved back to Africa about a year and a half ago. Then this week we found her on the bus with her mom who got baptised back then and she came to church. She wants us to basically pass by whenever we can and wants to get baptised. she speaks pretty good portañol (portugués and español). :) Elder Bytheway is excited because he loves portugués.

You had a good lesson in RS. I received the same one this week, but mine was learned the hard way. :/ I´ve been doing so well in temperance for so long...years... and I randomly blew up over something so small. The other lesson that I´m glad I had learned back a while ago was quick to repentance. It makes such a difference. Waiting and not repenting out of shame just is not worth it. Thanks for helping me learn these things!

It wasn´t a very fun filled week. I did realize, however, how judging the members are of the missionaries here. I´m kind of curious what they think of me. But after what I got told by some of them on sunday I know that I should not listen to their opinions. They have a distorted view on what a missionary is supposed to be and if you don´t conform to their ideas then you are a horrible missionary.

Well I don´t have much more time or things to say so... I´ll catch you all on Monday... unless you want me to go out to the webcam again... and this time I´ll go! I will be out there at 4:40-4:50 on tuesday afternoon. I know that´s probably going to be tough for some of you but someone can get on and save the picture off the internet. Sorry once again!!!

I love you all,

Elder Heywood

I saved the pictures - Click on them a picture to make it bigger - then you can see the handsome elders. . . at least a little. . .

Do you really think they knew when the update would happen, or were they being crazy the whole 10 minutes???

Some Sweet Pictures

A very pretty Canarian dog


The very same spot my brother stood 5 years earlier


Beautiful sunset off the coast of Los Cristianos, Tenerife


3 days earlier from the middle of the ocean (on a boat ride to zone conference)


WAIT WAIT WAIT!!! Hermana Mellor's camera first!


What can I say?