Dear Family!!

            To answer your first question about P-day, what we do is we wake up at 6:00 go get food at Walmart, come back, and wash our car, get ready for the day, do studies from 8-10. At 10, we write letters, and do what other shopping we need to get done. At 12 or 1, we go email. After that, we go to the church and play sports and games with our district until 5, then we go home and get ready to go out and work at 6! It doesn’t seem quite like a free day. There is so much to do even on P-days.

So the reason I didn’t email yesterday was because this week is transfer week! Yup! We got transfer calls last night and me and sister walker are both getting transferred out of our area!! Its super crazy and I am really sad because I just love Hialeah but i am so excited to get to see more of Florida! It will be a good experience. I am excited to find the people the Lord has prepared for me!

            So this week has been crazy!!  We got to see our family who we just love! They invited us to a bbq and the pictures say it all! It was a blast! I had the best Cuban steak ever!! After, we read the Book of Mormon with them and they loved it! The next day, Sunday, they came to church! It was a miracle because her son Michael had a fever but she still felt like she needed to come so she did with her family and they loved sacrament meeting! Then Michael was given a blessing and it was a really powerful experience for them! It really helped their faith and testimony. They stayed for the rest of church. Lisandra said they knew it was important that they stayed for all three hours and it was. It was a big testimony builder for them. Sad i won’t be able to see them baptized but that’s okay :)

This is the family we are teaching. They had us over for BBQ. This is Miriam the Grandma.

Nyeslies is the daughter. She is 8 and the bomb

           

​This is the dad. JR. he is a goof ball so funny and makes amazing stea

 This week we also had a surprise baptism!! We had been teaching this lady Marina for about a week and somehow all her member friends asked her to be baptized and kind of set the whole thing up and then told us two days before! It was a bit stressful but we love the member support and enthusiasm. It’s a big change so we finished teaching her and she got baptized!! She loved and said she felt so clean and happy. She is amazing. She is 87 and loves the gospel and has such a strong testimony! :)) 

Marina's Baptism!

            This week as you saw in the pics I went to the projects with the STL’s for a day and wow, I want to serve there so bad! It’s scary but the people are amazing. They are either Cuban or from Haiti so they speak Creol. I loved it and now I am praying I get sent there. lol The people here are just amazing and I love them so much! So sad I am leaving Hialeah but it will be a new adventure!! :)

So once a month we go on exchanges with our STLS and our STLs serve in Miami beach in the projects and ghetto. They have some rich areas but not much. This time I got to go and this is where we were most of the day :) I want to serve here soo bad! the people are crazy but so humble.

Took picture inside the car because I can't let people see my camera.

               I hope you have an amazing week! Can’t wait to write to you about my new area and comp!! :)

My District

            Love you guys!! Remember to smile! Oh and I have a commitment for you. I want each of you to hand out 2 pass a long cards to people either at work, school or strangers! I have decided I am going to leave you guys with commitments each week now and follow up with you. Share your experiences okay!! :)

             Have a good week!! :)

            Love,

 Hermana Briaunna 

This is Amanda. She is a daughter of a member in our ward that feeds us every week! We are best friends!! :)

FAMILY!

I loved your packages! I got spoiled this week! I got three packages!! I got your football package!! It made me so happy. Sad I am missing football, but I made it through baseball season and I hope I can make it through football. I loved all the candy and the socks! Which I really needed. The Robinson's also sent me two bags full of homemade chocolate chip cookies! It was a good week! The other sisters were really happy ha ha.

I cannot believe you guys hit 80!! We have been having border-line hurricanes here!! In fact one is starting right now ha-ha. I thought I was in the sunshine state!?!?

So this week was amazing!! Elizabeth got baptized yesterday!! Our ward mission leader baptized her! He is so amazing!! It is so nice to have such a supportive mission leader. It makes a big difference1! It was such a good experience. The ward was so awesome and supportive of her! She came out of the water grinning from ear to ear! When we asked her how she felt she said that she felt so good and warm inside. She said she knew she made the right choice! We love her so much!!!  We were just so happy for her and the covenants she made with God.

Elizabeth's Baptism!

This week we also found this awesome family! They have a girl whom is 8 and a little boy who is 1 ½. He is such a stud and gives us knuckles. He is going to be a heart-breaker!! The family is just what we have been praying to find! They are really receptive to the spirit and love learning more! We watched the restoration video with them and they loved it!! They are so sweet and hate when we leave. They didn't come to church yesterday which was a bummer but we are excited to see them this week and teach them more. We have such a connection with them already and know they will be baptized in no time! :)

Micheal! This1 1/2 year old is the best! his mom calls us his girl friends haha He holds are hands and gives us hugs and knuckles!  love him to death! :)​​​

The girl Ricea I wrote about last week dropped us :( She said she didn't like the feeling she felt at church and said that the people in primary weren't good to her son which was such a bummer :( It was so hard when she said that she didn't like the church and that she wasn't interested in learning more. It was like a bad break up. But she said we can come and visit her anytime, so we might stop by every once in a while and see if we can help her or share a message. We know we planted a seed and that with time who knows, she might change her mind. We are crossing our fingers!! :)

This week I was reading a talk about hope and a quote I picked out that I liked was “While weak, hope leaves us at the mercy of our moods and events, brightness of hope produces illuminated individuals. Their luminosity is seen, and things are also seen by it! Such hope permits us to press forward even when the dark clouds oppress. Sometimes in the deepest darkness there is no external light only an inner light to guide and to rescue".  My focus this last week was on the light of Christ and how I can best illuminate my light. This quote helped me realize that by keeping my hope and staying positive and pressing forward can illuminate my inner light and guide and rescue those in need of the gospel of those who are in darkness. I have learned so much about hope. At the beginning of the month when I first started reading about hope, I thought that I wouldn't learn that much or find that much on or about hope but it’s been the complete opposite! I have found out that hope is what glues faith and charity together. Hope has helped me to have a lot more faith. It has helped me realize my potential and who I am and what Heavenly Father knows I can become.

I read a talk about Heavenly Fathers vision for us and a part I liked said, “How do we, amidst the challenges of our lives, gain the vision necessary to do those things that will bring us closer to the Savior?” Speaking of vision, the book of Proverbs teaches this truth: “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). If we are to prosper rather than perish, we must gain a vision of ourselves as the Savior sees us.

The Savior saw more in those humble fishermen whom He called to follow Him than they initially saw in themselves; He saw a vision of who they could become. He knew of their goodness and potential, and He acted to call them. They were not experienced at first, but as they followed, they saw His example, felt His teachings, and became His disciples. There was a time when some of His disciples departed from Him because the things that they heard were hard for them. Aware that others might also depart, Jesus inquired of the Twelve, “Will ye also go away?” (John 6:67). Peter’s response reflects how he had changed and had caught the vision of who the Savior was. “To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:68), he responded.

With that vision, these faithful and devoted disciples were able to do hard things as they traveled to preach the gospel and establish the Church after the Savior had departed. Eventually, some of them made the ultimate sacrifice for their testimonies.  We experience hard things in our lives that can sometimes diminish our vision and faith to do the things we should. We become so busy that we often feel overwhelmed and unable to do any more. While each of us is different, I humbly submit that we must focus our vision on the Savior and His teachings. What did He see in Peter, James, and John and the other Apostles that prompted Him to act to invite them to follow Him? Like His vision of them, the Savior has a great vision of who we can become. It will take the same faith and courage the first Apostles had in order for us to refocus on the things that matter most in bringing lasting happiness and great joy."

​This is a pupusa. Its Honduran and is so good! Its a thick tortilla usually with cheese and beans or cheese and garlic or cheese and meat. Then they dye the tortilla blue, red or green. super cool and fun!

Heavenly father knows what we can become. He knows us perfectly we just need to have the faith and hope in him that he can help us rise up to that potential. :))) It just brings me such comfort and also helps me remember that even though we find people that are frustrating, they are still sons and daughters of God and he has a plan for them. :)

Yesterday while we were harvesting we came across some Jehovah Witnesses and to our surprise they let us pray with them!! They were nice and thought that I was from Cuba which was super cool! Soon we got into religion and it just made me so sad about how confused they are:(( It not only strengthened my testimony but  made me realize how important my purpose is and how I want to help everyone find the truth so they don't have to be so lost and confused! Satan is really powerful. It just helped me refocus.

​This is what a Cuban bakery looks like

     Well, I hope you guys have an amazing week!! Thanks so much for all you do and the support and love you give me! I miss you guys tons!!!!!!

            LOVE YOU ALL!!

 

Herman Heacock

Dear Family!!

 Hola!! I know my goodness five months have gone by pretty fast and pretty soon I will reach my 6 month mark and have a year left! It is going by way to fast!!  

That missionary story was awesome!! I am so proud of you and Eben!! Eben way to be a missionary!!! I am sure Donavan was so happy that you decided to come and that you shared some of your testimony and just became his friend. I am sure that the sister missionaries really appreciated it!!  It’s so hard to find good members sometimes to help with investigators and find members who are willing to help too so it makes me so happy that you guys went and helped and became friends with them!!! I am sure the dad was so happy as well.

You guys may not know this, but we as missionaries, every time we find a new investigator we pray about what member would work best with the investigator and so I know they prayed and I know that Heavenly Father told them that you two would be the best members for them. That was such an awesome idea for an activity dad!!!! It sounded like so much fun!! That is awesome that Donavan and his dad came and he brought a friend! You will have to keep me updated on them!! Keep helping them and sharing your testimony and most important being there friends! That’s what investigators really need is friends. Sometimes we forget how scary or don't know how scary coming to church the first time can be and how weird and out of place they might feel. But I am so happy and proud of you and Eben!!! Thanks for being missionaries!!! :)))))

         So this week we got a new mission leader!!! Yay!! He and his wife are awesome! They are recently married and are the best! He really tries to help us and has such a love for missionary work and his wife is so sweet!!! She loves coming out with us!! We are so excited for this change and the new energy that we have now in our ward!

This week we met with Elizabeth and followed up to see if she had talked with her boyfriend about the law of chastity and she said that she did and that he agreed with her and said he would support her which is amazing!! So we talked a little bit about the law of chastity and how it will really bless her life. We then asked her how she felt about baptism and she said that she wants to be baptized and that she is ready!! She set herself with a date!! She will be getting baptized on the 21!! We were so happy! She even said her boyfriend wants to come and be at the baptism! :) So the next day to celebrate, she invited us over to her house for a Nicaraguan breakfast which was amazing! I will send pics of that. Then we cleaned her house for her. She wasn't happy because she invited us over to eat and not clean but we did it anyways because we really wanted to serve her. It was so much fun! We love her to death!! We are so excited for her and what Heavenly Father has in store for her. :)

The next cool experience that happened this week was while we were harvesting. We found this lady named Ricea. She is married and has a four year old. She immediately invited us in and we said a prayer with her and her husband. Her husband left afterward but she was started crying and said she felt the spirit so strong!! She also wanted to know about the church. The next day we came back and taught the restoration and it was the most powerful restoration lesson ever!! We watched the restoration video with her and the spirit was pretty strong. We then showed her and gave her a Book of Mormon. She was a little bit hesitant about it and we could feel the spirit slipping as we tried our best to explain that we believe in the Book of Mormon and the bible. It was hard because we had a hard time understanding each other’s Spanish. As I felt like this lesson wasn't going to end well, I felt the prompting that I needed to bear my testimony of the Book of Mormon. I kind of ignored it because my companion was in the middle of talking but it became really strong to where I got butterflies. So I spoke up and asked if I could share my testimony with her on the Book of Mormon. My tired companion looked at me, relieved that I was going to talk now. I said maybe two words and I started crying. The spirit overwhelmed me as I told her how much love I had for the Book of Mormon and how I knew it was true and how she is a child of God. By the end she was crying too. She said that she couldn't really understand me but she felt my testimony really strong that whatever I was saying must be true. She then told us that she knew we were angles sent there to help her. She said her and her husband have been having a lot of problems lately but ever since we came, her and her husband aren't fighting anymore and that she feels peace in her house. She then said that she would read the Book of Mormon for sure. We walked out of that lesson on air. And then it gets better. On Sunday she came to church! She said she liked it! It was great! We are excited to teach her more this week!! Ricea is such a blessing!

So some funny stuff that happened this week. When we were harvesting, I was asking in Spanish to this lady that we just prayed with if we could come back and share a short message with her. Well the word in Spanish for short or small is chaquita (not sure how to spell it but that's close) and the Spanish people apparently thought it would be funny to make the word for fat which is gortita. Sounds the same as small so as I was asking this lady if we could come back and share a small message with her about Jesus Christ I accidently said, could we come back and share a fat message with you about Jesus Christ. My comp dies laughing and the lady was confused. It took me a second to realize what I said. It was embarrassing. So now me and my comp joke around about that all the time. "Hi I am Sister Heacock. Can I share a fat message with you about Jesus Christ?" Super good right? haha

Well I hope you guys have an amazing week. Remember to smile!!

            Love,

Hermana Heacock!!