Hey Family!! :))

It was so good to see you all of you guys on Christmas!! It was the best Christmas present ever to see all of your beautiful faces!! You all have grown up so much!! I can’t believe it! Not the little kids I left in April! Amazing how time flies.

Our little Christmas tree

So since I am in a Latin area, my Christmas was different. In the Latin culture they celebrate "Christmas" on Christmas Eve. So Christmas Eve we had two food appointments. They were on different ends of the spectrum. The first was a really humble Christmas dinner. It was tamales and they were super good! It was a nice little family dinner with the elders. But since there wasn't a male in the house, the elders had to sit outside and eat. The family didn't have air conditioning, nothing but a small kitchen, living room and Christmas tree. It was still really fun. We laughed and sang Christmas songs in Spanish.

Home of our 1st dinner appt

Me and Sister Torralba at 1st appt

Elder's eating on porch since there were no males in the home

The next one was with a more wealthier family, with more traditional food. It was really fun and by the end we were stuffed!! So much food. But such a strong spirit as we got to get to know the members better. Loved it.

2nd dinner appt

Christmas day we got up early and opened presents, and then went to Ihop for breakfast. Afterwards, we came home and did our normal studies and then went out to work. We thought that during our knocking doors that we would have a lot of success since its Christmas and people are more "loving and centered around Christ". Well it was the exact opposite. People were angry with us and said "why are you just doing this on Christmas" and all this crazy nonsense. We basically spent an hour telling people our purpose and that we are on an 18 month mission and that we do this all day every day for that period of time. It was hard but as we struggled we remembered that it wasn't easy for the Savior so why should it be easy for us? It really helped us humble ourselves. And during that time we heard three gun shots. Yay for Christmas in the ghetto. Then we visited some members and then went to Skype you all!

Opening Gifts, cinnamon rolls!

Our necklace of Ft Lauderdale Temple

         

Our stockings matched!

I loved all the presents you sent! They were all just what I needed!! And yes I got the book and I love it so much!! Jeffery R Holland is the best! I have learned so much from his talks already! Thanks for all the hand sanitizer! I love them! Thanks for the cinnamon rolls! They were so good! That night we made them! So yummy

book by Jeffrey R Holland, my favorite!!

 Sister Torrabla likes running. She just started running on her mission so we go out and run every day. So happy! She is my first companion that likes to run! We run about 2 miles a day and then do abs. I have been trying super hard to stay in shape just in case I decide to run for Everett again or some other school.

  

  After Skyping I for sure thought that I would cry or be sad but actually, after I said goodbye, I felt so much peace. After Skyping, it reminded me of how happy I am being with my family  and how I want other families to feel as happy as I do. It was a motivator and a reminder of why I am here and what my purpose is. I want the people here to receive the blessings and happiness that comes from an eternal family. 

This week we got to teach Jenny and Juan Carlos, and their son Harold. This is a family the sisters before us had been teaching. They are a Cuban family and are atheist but have that desire and really want to believe in God. After meeting with them for the first time we just got to know them and just see what questions they had and if they remembered what they had been taught before. From the time we first entered and when we left they had a countenance change for sure. They were smiling and laughing and we know they felt the spirit but we tried to help them recognize it. They just kept denying it but we know they felt it. They did have a lot of questions about the plan of salvation so we left them with a reading assignment and had them pray. Then we left telling them when we came back the next day we would answer some of their questions. When we came back the next day, they were excited to see us. We knew that this lesson was going to be powerful! As we taught about the plan of salvation the spirit was so strong as we testified of families and of the temple and the happiness that they can feel. We could see in their eyes that wanted the same thing. They loved the lesson and felt the spirit. They were still a little iffy but they are starting to have more of a belief in God and we are going to try and take them to the temple. We love them so much and are so excited to continue teaching them! We also used the plan of salvation kit that dad sent me and it helped so much. So good! Visuals are the best so thank you!!

Sunday we had a miracle! It was one of those Sundays where no investigators showed up to church and we were sad but kept our hopes up. Just as Gospel Principles started, in walks Margarita from Peru. She is this little old lady who just moved here and is living with a member in our ward. She has been to church once a long time ago but has always been interested in our church and wanting to learn more. She loved sacrament meeting and the other classes a lot. She agrees with a lot of things we believe. We scheduled to go and see her Tuesday so we are excited about that because we have been struggling on finding people. So this was a big blessing!

We ran out of miles so we are on bikes for a couple days which is so much fun L ha-ha. Our area is huge so we have been biking about 30 miles or more a day. It’s fun though and is helping us get to know our area better and become better navigator’s haha.

Only in the hood would cars look like this

A funny thing happened the other night. We had an hour left before we needed to be home so we decide to knock some doors. We locked our bikes up on a stop sign and went and knocked doors. After we were done, we started walking back and saw a bunch of people around our bikes. We were like oh great! So we rush over there and ask the people what’s going on. They asked if those were our bikes and we said yes and they were like okay good! We asked what the problem was. They said a couple days ago, a lot of the neighborhood got robbed and the robber had parked his car right where we parked our bikes so they thought we were robbers. So they called the cops. Yup.  Shortly after our arrival, cops came and we had to show that, yes they were our bikes and then the cop said "people, robbers don't use bike locks" duh. It was a funny experience and the police left and the people said sorry and we returned home. Ghetto areas right

  

Like my ghetto rolling pin?

Making cinnamon rolls!!

   So excited to see what the Lord has in store for us this week! It is going to be great!! I love you all so much!!! Thanks for all your love and support. I miss you all like crazy!!! Thanks for all you do!! I hope your week is good!! :))

  

Hermana Heacock

Family!! :)

            I don't have lots of time to write, but I got white washed into an area! Fresh new start!! Wahoo!! I am serving in Hollywood Hills West or in others words Hollywood because it’s so ghetto. There is all African American people and some Latin areas as well. I am in a Latin ward again!

I missed my Latinos but this area is scary! Our house is in a very sketchy part of town. We hear gun shots all the time and see cop cars every day and drug dealings. We went to Target to get some things and I was the only white person there. They had a police watch tower in the middle of the Target parking lot! It’s scary. We actually have a street that's called Hood Street. It’s crazy.

Watch tower at Target. Must be some serious shoplifting going on

My companions name is Sister Torralba. She is my twin! She lives in Portland Oregon but she is of Mexican descent. We have so much in common it’s scary. ha-ha. I love her to death and so excited I get to spend the next 7 weeks with her!

Me and Sister Torralba

Listen to this our house is so gross! It’s terrible. It is a ghetto box. It is so old. The bathroom has black mold everywhere!! Like everywhere! Mom, how do i get rid of it!!  It’s making my allergies go crazy. We only have one closet in our room and it’s so small. We only have one dresser for both of our stuff and two beds. We don't have a vacuum cleaner. There is no heat so its freezing. Thanks for the sweater and scarf! Came in handy!! It is just gross. I will send you pics. It is in a scary part of town. It was a big change coming from a really nice apartment. But we are smiling through it and making the best of it. Ha-ha. Our area is huge and covers half the stake so we do have really rich parts in our area but they all speak English. So we have to teach in the ghetto to find Spanish people. I really do love it here though. It’s a great change! We both are new to this area so we are just trying to figure things out and get in the groove of things

Black mold in bathroom

Teeny kitchen. Remember there are 4 of us in this apartment

Living room

Bedroom

Me outside our scary place

Our ward is amazing. I love them all. They aren't so excited about missionary work so that's our goal is to give them more of a pump up! The ward is super small. It’s like a branch almost but it’s nice and homey. This week, we went to go see a less active. She is an older women in her 70’s or so. Her name is Maria Allen and she is the sweetest little thing ever! She just told us her whole life story and showed us pics of her family. She is amazing and reminds me so much of Grandma Hale. Love her. 

Nicer part of our area

We had a miracle this week as well. We were harvesting in a pretty good area and the first door we knocked on we found Sawhani. Sawhani is a 40 year old single man who is amazing. He was so excited to see us. He said he had been looking for a church to go to. He let us say a prayer with him and he asked when our church was and where. He said he would be there for sure. Me and my companion both felt impressed to tell him about a Christmas party that was going on at the church and he said okay I will come! So lo and behold, he came to the Christmas party and he loved it! The members were awesome and fellowshipped him and he had lots of fun.  The next day he came to church! He was just eating everything up. It was so cool! He only speaks English though so we have to pass him but we know that he is going to get baptized for sure! He was a great miracle even if he isn't our investigator.

This week I learned how important it is that we serve with our heart, might, mind and strength. We need to give all our hearts (3 Nephi 9:20). We need to have a broken heart and contrite spirit. We need to be humble! Being humble is not a sign of weakness. It shows that we want to be closer to God. It shows we are willing to ask for help. D and C 67:10. When we are humble he will reveal His spirit unto us. Never get to the point when you think you can do it by yourself. Work with all your might doing all you can. Give it your all! D and C 123:12-14. We stand in the way of people receiving eternal life. We need to wear out our lives for this work. Don’t compare your best to anyone else.  Alma 26:12, 29-30. Ammon suffered everything and his attitude was, I am going to suffer and save some. He suffered a lot and he baptized a lot. If we know that this is God’s work and our work we will work miracles. We can do all things. We already beat Satan once and he doesn't want us to beat him  again. He remembers us and doesn't want us to succeed. Satan knows the people we will convert, who will be baptized and he will do anything to stop us and all he has to do is distract us.

Like I said I love my companion. She is amazing and I am so happy. She is teaching me a lot. We both have been out the same time so we go home together too. She says her dad works in Seattle! Other than the scary ghetto house that I swear is haunted haha. I love it here and I love my mission!! I should of asked for Comet for my birthday lol. But don't worry too much, I am safe. Can’t wait to see all you guys on Thursday!! :))

  I love you all so much! Remember to smile!! Have a good week!! So excited to see you all!!

Hermana Heacock

Everglades