Hey Family!!

Thanks so much dad for what you shared with me about faith and your mission! It gives me great comfort to know that you felt like you didn’t have enough faith either. At the start that’s how i felt and it makes me feel good that you had those struggles and overcame them. It gives me hope. Thanks so much for being an example to me! I love all your stories about your mission so much! I tear up too so its okay you are not the only one. I print out your letters and put it in my letter binder so i can re-read them :)

 I love how you guys have the missionaries over! And help them out! I never realized how dependent missionaries are on the members. We really need their help! I am so blessed to be in a ward where the members are so kind and always fight over who gets to feed us every week.

So I want to share a little more about what I learned about faith this week and some awesome experiences i had.  I read this awesome story I wanted to share. The pioneers were facing a drought and crops were going to die so the bishop asked them to pray and fast. On a particular Sunday the Bishop asked them to come together in the afternoon for a final prayer that rain might come. As one family prepared to leave home a little five year old girl said wait dad I forgot something. She ran back inside and came out with a bag. All the saints gathered together in a courtyard and exercised their faith as they said the prayer. Before the "amen" rain began to fall and soon it came down in bucketfulls. Everyone ran for cover. But the five year old girl and the Bishop stayed. The little girl opened her bag and said “Bishop, would you like to share my umbrella?” She was the only one who brought an umbrella. This five year old girl had total faith that it would rain. In Hebrews 11:1 its talks about how you can’t see it beforehand you just have to believe in the feeling you are getting. I love this story of this little girl and it really inspired me on how important it is to have the faith of a little child. I realized that I want to be an excellent missionary. A missionary that the Lord would be able to say "that is my missionary through and through". At times though we missionaries can get discouraged but it is important that we keep increasing our faith until it is almost impossible to get discouraged.

In the past weeks I have been asking in my prayers for experiences to exercise my faith but this week I decided to change that and ask Heavenly Father to increase my faith. So with that in mind we were harvesting a couple days ago and came across these teenage boys playing basketball. Their aunt was outside and we asked if we could pray with her. She said yes and went to go get some chairs for us. While she was doing that Siater Calvo said to the boys, “Hey, we are going to pray with your aunt do you want to pray with us?” and being teenage boys they were like uhhh, so then sister Calvo out of nowhere was like “okay, if my companion makes this shot you have to pray with us.” I was taken by surprise. I was like what?!? You want me to shoot a basket? I don’t even play basketball! I was scared but she just sat there and smiled and the boys were like okay. I was about to be like no, but then I remembered that I had prayed for Heavnly Father to increase my faith so I agreed. I went to the spot they told me to shoot from which was a good distance away from the hoop, I said a quick prayer and shot the ball and SWISH! I made it! It was amazing. So they prayed with us! It was a great experience and they really enjoyed it.  After that my faith was increased a bunch.  I think when i come back I will be an NBA star haha. I learned that when asked Heavenly Father will help you. I know that He is watching over me and is helping me. I don’t have to do this alone. I have such a strong faith in my Savior that is getting stronger every day and i love it! He is truly amazing and probably one of the best missionaries ever!

I was reading in 3 Nephi 11:18-22 and I love how he has just appeared to the Nephites and he right away is giving the authority to baptize. He didn’t waste any time because he knew how important baptism was. It’s the first step on the road to salvation. And we as missionaries should be just as urgent helping our investigators realize the importance of baptism. I mean, eternal life is at stake here! We shouldn’t be lazy. We need to go out and work to find those people who Heavenly Father has prepared for us so they can live with him again.

Which leads me into my next experience this week. Yesterday before church we did our usual round up where we go and see if those who committed to come to church is still coming and if they are ready. Well, it was quite a disappointing round up. The investigators that committed to church couldn’t come. So we said okay, let’s just go to the church. We said a quick prayer and left. It was about 20 min till church started and all of a sudden 3 our investigators who hadn’t even committed to coming, came! It was a miracle!! Roni, a son of a member who is 26 came, Antonio who we only taught once came, and Dyanna who is the single mom I told you about last week came with her son! Sister Calvo and I both hugged each other we couldn’t believe it! After church we invited all 3 of them to be baptized and guess what?!? They all three agreed to a date!! It was a miracle Sunday! Because we hadn’t had investigators at church in a while or a date for baptism and now we had three!! The lord really blessed us. And we know it was because of our faith and our hard work. We tried so hard this week to be focused so we could reach our goals and we did. So amazing!! 

Sarah

  This week too we got blessed with these awesome Cubans. We were harvesting on onside of the street and all of a sudden we hear, "Hey you guys religious? You guys read the bible?" Me and my comp turned around and was like yes.... then she said  "Come here!" So we went over there and she was like "do you want my number, my address? I need Jesus! My life is crazy and I need Jesus! Can I have one of those Jesus cards? Let’s pray!" She said this all in one breath and I was like, wait what? So we prayed with Sarah and her friend Lazador who is awesome and they said they wanted us to come back. We did and have been teaching them they are so funny and super cool. They were political prisoners in Cuba for 20 years. They are super nice and crazy and always feed us guava pastries which i don’t have a problem with.

Lazador

My interview with the president went amazing!! I just love him so much! I ran cross country and track so we talked about that which was awesome. He is so inspired. One minute we would be laughing and laughing and the next we would both be crying because of the stories he shared about his mission. He served in Brazil and has some pretty cool stories. I know I was called for him. He and his wife are the best. 

Thanks so much fort that scripture on faith! Loved it!! And so glad you guys are loving the letters! I love writing them! I love you guys so much and glad you guys are doing amazing!! :)) 

Love,

Hermana Heacock

Dear Family! 

Hola! It’s crazy that it is so hot there! It hasn't been like that here, well sorta, lots and lots of rain. I brought Washington with me, go figure but that's okay I love it! My favorite thing to do is at the end of the day we usually walk and I love the walk home when it is cool and there is lightning. The lightning storms are awesome. It is a great way to end the day.

I am getting more comfortable speaking Spanish in lessons. Speaking in front of big groups of people makes me nervous still but I will warm up soon. When we Skype I should be able to answer every question in Spanish. That's my goal.

The president is awesome! I love him more and more. We get to have an interview with him this Friday and I am so excited! He is the best and reminds we a lot of grandpa Carter so he feels like family to me.  Oh, this week I got a package from the Robinson’s and it was great! I got a bunch of junk food! And two things of fruit snacks. They all wrote letters and it was really cute. Caison is adorable let me tell ya. I miss all my little cousins so much!

Kathy and her mission call opening

  So this week! One of my favorite things that happened was one of the Young Women who goes out with us a lot got her mission call! She invited us to come and it was crazy! All the people here make a party out of everything! There was a bunch of people and food, it was crazy but she is going so Barcelona Spain!!! It reminded me of my mission call opening and when I invited the sisters to come! Who knew I would be one of the sisters at one of the yw mission call opening as well! It was a great experience and I was so happy for her! It was crazy it seems like just yesterday I opened my mission call.

    We found some great new investigators this week! One is named Esteban. We found him harvesting and wanted to more and was really interested. We came back the next day and introduced him to the Book or Mormon. He said he was going to read it all the way through. He was so excited! We are going to see him again today and see how it is going. We are so excited for him!

Another was Mina and Dyanna. Mina is 50 and lives alone. Her husband was murdered in Honduras 14 years ago. She makes the best baliatas. Which you guys should make sometime! They are just homemade tortillas, refried beans, Mexican crème and Mexican cheese. Sooo good! I can’t get enough of this Honduran food. Anyways she is reading the Book of Mormon but has a hard time praying so we are working with her on that. But she is so nice and loves learning. Dyanna just moved here from Cuba with her son who is 2. She is a single mom and very humble she has very little but always offers us what she has to eat. She is reading the Book of Mormon and loves learning about the gospel she is so elect. We love her.

Another cool experience this week. We were harvesting and knocked on this door. This wonderful lady about 60 answered the door and invited us in to pray with her. After she told us that her mom lives with her and that she is 100 years old! She came out to see us and is so healthy and talks and hears great! She is awesome. While we were talking to them it started raining so hard! They wouldn't let us leave because we were riding bikes and they didn't want us to get wet. So after an hour of being there the rain died down and we left. The streets were flooded and our bikes and helmets were soaked but we didn't care. We started on our way and got so soaked but we were laughing the whole entire way to our next appointment which was Daisy’s house. When she opened the door her mom freaked out because we were so wet and gave us a towel and blankets and fed us a warm meal of rice and pork. It was such a blessing that we knocked on that families door because they were so nice to let us stay and wait till the rain stopped because it could of been a lot worse and we were so thankful for Daisy’s family. It was a fun blessed experience.

  This week in district training we learned about having gratitude and humility. Having gratitude and humility is having an eye of faith for the future. In Doctrine and Covenants 78:19 it talks about if we give thanks we will be blessed. Some of the ways we can show gratitude is by smiling, identifying miracles, and not being lazy. In 1 Nephi 18:16-19 is an example of how to be grateful. Nephi at the time was tied up on the ship and his circumstances were terrible and it seems like he didn't have anything to be grateful for but he still gave thanks to the Lord. We need to be thankful in our circumstances. In Mathew 26:38-39 it talks about humility. Humility coupled with gratitude brings great success. 

 In my personal study I have been studying a lot about faith and what faith is and how I can have better faith. I learned that to have faith in Christ we must have a hope in Christ. Which leads to an assurance in Christ. Elder Bednar said that assurance and hope make it possible for us to walk to the edge of the darkness expecting and trusting that the light to make and illuminate the way. An example of that is in 1 Nephi 4:6-7. Having that hope and assurance leads to action which leads to evidence which leads to a stronger hope and assurance in Christ and Heavenly Father. Faith is an action word and is something we must act instead of being acted upon. We need to exercise that agency we have. Instead of waiting for someone to teach us the gospel we should study for ourselves. Joseph Smith said the best way to obtain truth and wisdom is not to ask it from books but to go to God in prayer and obtain divine teaching. This is called learning by faith. When Moses was parting the Red Sea, the people didn't just wait on the shore for the sea to part the started walking into the sea. They got their feet wet first before the sea parted and they walked on dry ground. We need to act and get our feet wet first. This shows Heavenly Father that we have faith in Him and then he will give us the evidence we need. When we learn and act in faith we need to have an open heat and mind and put of the natural man when we do this we become teach able and are willing to do whatever Heavenly Father wants us to do and he gives us miracles.

  Another cool experience that happened this week was with this less active Lui. He recently started drinking again and was having a really hard time as we were visiting him a talk came to my mind. It was from that new guy in our ward who I thought looked kind of like Ryan Carter. He gave a talk about a guy when he was on his mission who had a smoking problem and they promised him that whenever he felt like smoking that if he just held on tight to the Book of Mormon he wouldn't have the desire to smoke anymore. I had a strong impression I needed to make that same promise to Lui and so I did. The next day he called us and said that he was holding on tight to the Book of Mormon but needed help so we prayed with him and now he sleeps with the Book of Mormon and reads it and his drinking problem is getting better. It was so cool. I felt the spirit so strong as I made this promise to him. So grateful for the Spirit.

My Pic Wall

    I hope you guys have an amazing week! I pray for you guys every day! Thanks so much for all your support!! I love you guys like crazy! wish you could be here with me! Oh and another cool food I tried is seviche!  Tell everyone hi for me!! you guys are the best! :)

Love,

 Briaunna :) 

Dear Family!! Hola!

Dad thanks so much for sharing with me experiences from your mission! It really helps! I never really asked about your mission before I left and I should have so I am so glad that you are sharing them with me! They are really inspiring. I look at the picture of you and grandma standing at the Provo MTC a lot and it makes me smile and gives me hope that if you could do it and finish strong I can do the same too!

Speaking of grandma, while harvesting this week we met an old guy 83 of age and his wife just got cancer and she was living with his daughter because she could take care of her better, so he was living all alone and he started crying as he told us that she couldn't leave him because she was his sweet heart and right when he said that it made me cry because it reminded me of grandma and grandpa Heacock and how much I miss them and how much I wish I could write them. But I know that they are watching over me and are proud of me. So that was hard.

I really love the scripture in Alma! Alma has become one of my most favorite book in the Book of Mormon here on my mission. Right now I am reading about the Stripling Warriors. One of my favorites! I really like the scripture in Alma 56:47-48 where it talks about how strong they were because of their mothers and their teachings but this can be applied for both mothers and fathers. Thanks so much for everything that you guys have taught me about the gospel and about life as well even if I was a little stubborn at times I really am thankful for it :) Because of you guys I am happy to say that I am a part of the stripling warriors, ready to serve the Lord and cannot deny him :)

While reading about the stripling warriors I have been studying a lot about faith as well. I decided I wanted to master faith in Jesus Christ and go a little bit deeper into what faith really is and I have learned that although faith is things hoped for and not seen, faith is a gift, something that we have to work for. Faith needs to be centered on Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. Faith doesn't bring miracles but rather miracles come to confirm ones faith. The stripling worriers had so much faith as they marched off to war knowing that Heavenly Father was on their side and would deliver them out of the hands of the enemy. When we have a strong faith, that's when dreams, visions, and healings can happen.

It has rarely been hot because of all the tropical storms. None of them has reached full hurricane but they have gotten close. No damage really has happened except really flooded streets.

Young Women took Daisy out for ice cream

This week the Young Women took Daisy out for ice cream and we came along and it was really fun! She loves the Young Women’s program and church. It’s just getting baptized that she isn't sure about but it will happen.

We found this awesome guy named Sam who is 17 but so mature for his age and loves religion. He came to church on Sunday and loved it so baptism might be in his future. He such a great young man. We also have Sara, that as we were going to church a couple weeks ago found just sitting outside her house so we stopped and invited her and she came this week and loves the lessons. She is 82 but has a coffee problem so we are working on that with her.

This week we started our English classes that we are teaching at the church every Wednesday in order to find new investigators and help current members. It was a good turn out and really fun everyone liked it! This week someone asked me if I was Cuban so that's a good sign that I am improving on my Spanish. When I told him I was a gringo he laughed and was surprised

Me and my comp have become so much more unified and are working together so much better! The first month I couldn't wait till training ended but now I don't want it to end so we can be companions for forever. She is awesome and has taught be a lot. She is really OCD and it has kind of rubbed off on me so yay! We have a new greenie in the house and its fun to help her and share experiences with her. She is fun and is going to do great here in Florida.

Sister Calvo

Oh this week we went on exchanges with the STLS, sister training leaders, and I had to take over the area while Sister Calvo went to Pines and I was so scared. The STL that I was with spoke good Spanish thank goodness but still was scary. But as the day went on I loved it and it was to be in charge and take the lead. It was a good day and I learned a lot!

  I hope you guys have a good week!! I miss you guys and pray for you guys every night! Keep smiling and staying positive! :))) Thanks for everything:)

 Love,

 Hermana Heacock :)