My Dear Wonderful Family!!!

Thanksgiving was good here! We had two thanksgiving dinners. The first one was really good. The family who made it tried to make it as homey and traditional as possible. We had the turkey, homemade cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and stuffing and green beans and pumpkin pie. It was really good! We are on bikes too which we thought would be a good idea, but it was the worst ever. By the time we got done with the first one we had 24 min to bike from one corner of our area to the next so we biked as fast as we could. When we got to our 2nd appt we were so sick. 

Thanksgiving Dinner #1

Thanksgiving Dinner #2

The second one was good. It was a mix of Cuban and traditional. So we had rice and beans and all that fun stuff but it was super nice. We ate so much food!! It was crazy but we loved it. The members are so nice here.

Today we went to the zoo again! It was lots of fun! Even a second time! The members are so nice to us and let us use there seasonal pass. 

Zoo Round 2

            Thanks for sharing that story about your companion Dad. I really liked it. Me and my comp are doing better. Not perfect but she is teaching me how to be humble and patient. All things I need to learn so I am grateful ha-ha. I love her though.  

What you think we do on thanksgiving......

...What we actually do on Thanksgiving

This week we were on bikes but we saw lots of miracles and found lots of cool people. We also had lots of adventures. Biking in Miami is crazy and even crazier at night. From getting chased by dogs to almost getting hit by cars, you know the usual ha-ha.  We found this really cute 70 year old woman from Honduras her name is Inez. We found her knocking doors. It was a really rainy day and we were on bikes and we hadn’t had much luck but we felt that we needed to try one more house. We knocked on her door and she opened it and invited us right in. We shared a prayer with her and she said she wanted us to come back so she could learn more about our church. We did and we taught her the restoration. After the lesson she said can I please have a Book of Mormon and so we gave her a BOM and she was so happy. She came to church on Sunday and loved it! We set her with a date for 2 weeks from now. She is so humble and has an amazing testimony and loves reading the Book of Mormon. She is excited to learn more about the gospel. Such a miracle!!

We also found this awesome family of four. After having to drop our family of 7 we were kind of sad but Heavenly Father blessed us. We were knocking doors and we saw this puppy and it came running up to us and was so cute.  Then the mom comes up calling his name and she said, “ sorry he usually doesn’t run away.” We said “well that must be a sign that God wanted us to share a special prayer with you.” So she invited us in and had her two sons join in the prayer. They are both in high school. She was really impressed and asked us questions about our mission and what is the difference between Catholics and Mormons. It was a good conversation and she said that she would come to church! We are excited to see her this week on Sunday.

Frank, who got baptized last week, got confirmed. It was such a powerful experience. He loved it. He was so excited to get the Holy Ghost. We are going to take him on a temple tour this week and help him prepare for the priesthood. He found out this week that he is getting kicked out of his house and he has no money so he might be homeless which is sad but he said that he is happy and has seen so many miracles after his baptism. He said he loves HIS church and knows that everything will be okay. Just an amazing positive man. Love him.

Franks Baptism!

 This week we got to see Manny finally!!! He says he wants to get baptized but hasn't gotten that answer yet. He says that he has been praying to see if he should join this church and just hasn't gotten an answer so we invited him to fast next week when he comes to church and we will fast with him. He liked that idea and is excited to test the power of the fast! We are excited for him. It has been a long process but God has his own timing and plan for his children. We know that he will receive an answer and he will get baptized. Every time we see him we just picture him and his family going to the temple and getting sealed together for eternity! I am excited for what Heavenly Father has in store for him. The gospel will really bless his life!!! We had lots of miracles this week with finding elect people and working together. Companion unity is a beautiful thing.

How we feel about riding bikes in the rain!

This week I have been thinking a lot about the sacrament and what it means and how I can make it a more spiritual experience. What I learned and realized was that the sacrament is the only ordinance that we take for ourselves more than one time. WE are only baptized for ourselves one time, we go to the temple for ourselves one time but the sacrament we take it every week for ourselves. As I was pondering on why we take the sacrament, I came to the conclusion that we take it so we can reconcile with God but most importantly so we can reconcile with each other. Our fellow men. In D and C 64:7-11 it talks about how God forgives who he wants to forgive but we must forgive everyone. The lord wants us to, in the words of the movie Frozen, to let it go. Whatever hate or anger or jealousy we have we need to let it go because we can’t take the sacrament with those bad feelings. We need to let those things go in order to have the most spiritual experience we can while taking the sacrament and so we can be focused on the Savior. Satan replaces righteousness with blame. It’s so easy to play the blame game but is it really worth it? Is it really worth is to blame people for things that don’t matter? We shouldn’t focus on who’s right and who’s wrong but on what’s right and what’s wrong. We must not let offenses justify our behavior. We must forgive. The sacrament is so powerful because I never really realized that it’s a chance to a new start to let things go with our fellow men. I hope that makes sense. It makes more sense in my head but this week as you take the sacrament remember to also take the time to forgive and to spiritually prepare in every way possible so that you can focus on the Savior and get the most out of the sacrament. 

 

My brother in the mission.

 In my personal study, I read Enduring Well, by Elder J Christopeher Lansing. I will attach the talk. It’s super good! It is about how we can endure trials in our lives. My favorite part out of the whole things was when the author quoted Finding Nemo, "just keep swimming" that’s it. it’s that simple, just keep swimming!! Something that is hard to do at times but if we just keeping swimming we will be blessed for enduring our trials well. A scripture that I found this week that I liked and gave me strength is in Alma 26:27. I found it after I read Enduring Well. Super good. Love it!! I learned a lot this week.

   They said that we should be getting mini iPad’s in February. So hopefully soon!! I love you all so much!! Thanks for everything! I can’t believe its December!!! Crazy how time flies!!! I hope you have a good week!!!

Hermana Heacock