Family!!!!

I love the pictures of fifth grade camp!! So much fun! Eben is such a boss. I am so proud of him and how he ended his track season!! I am excited to see his XC season! He is going to do so amazing in high school!! He will rock it for sure! Danyon and Daniel look so cute! hahah Such studs! That’s so good that they had fun as counselors at camp! Kerrgayn and Kylie looked like they had lots of fun! Super cute! Lauryn sent me pics of Kerragyn shooting her bow!! That’s my girl!! Super awesome hahah. When I get home the heart will be so shot out, there won’t be any left for me! I am so jealous! I want to shoot soooo bad! Dad you will have to get a hold of that hunting guide and set something up for when i get back! I am itching to hunt!

So this week was super amazing and filled with miracles! First off, Damian is super boss! I love that kid! Last week he wasn’t able to go to church because his boss wouldn’t let him get it off and he told us all day that he felt so bad because he knew he needed to be at church. So he was determined to get work off this week. So we prayed super hard for his boss’s heart to be softened. Damian said he asked and persuaded to let his boss have it off so he could come to church.  So we went and saw him Saturday night and he said by 9 he should know if he got it off. Well, the text didn’t come and didn’t come. We still kept our faith high and prayed and when we woke up on Sunday morning we got a text from Damien saying that he got work off!! Me and Sister King leaped out of our beds and shouted for joy! We were soo happy! Prior to that on Thursday, we took Damien on a chapel tour to get him familiar with the church and Brother Riggin was there and he loved it! The minute he walked in he was so amazed. We took him around the church and showed him everything and told him what we do and what happens in the classes and he just loved it. When we got to the chapel we asked him how he felt and he said that if he was already a member he would be going around street to street telling people to come to this church because our church feels different than other churches and we have things other churches don’t. He said that he wants everyone to be a member of this church! He just bore his testimony on how he knows this church was true. He also said there is just blessings in every hallway. He kept saying, I have to get work off, I have to get work off. When we were done we asked him how his Book of Mormon reading was going and he said that it was going great and he is reading every day. I said if you have any questions just let us know and right then he pulled out his BOM and held it up and said you never question this book, ever. You never question the teachings in this book because its true and he said I may not understand everything I read but I will never question it because I know it’s true. I was like wow. Me and Sister King were smiling so big. He just has a strong testimony of the gospel. He loved church a lot! He says that at work he is hoping he gets this promotion so he can get every Sunday off! He is set for baptism on the 6th and is super excited! Another miracle that happened was he really wants his daughter to be there for his baptism but he has been having a hard time getting custody of her. We have been praying that he can and he told us that he just got a call from his baby mamma and she said that she is living on the streets and can’t take care of the baby and she wants him to take her! So hopefully he will have custody of her soon and she can be there for the baptism. Tonight we are taking him on a temple tour and are super excited!! He is amazing. 

This week we also found Jamie and Tony. They are a couple in their 40’s. We knocked on their door and asked if we could share a prayer with them. They thought it was a little strange but they said yes. They loved the prayer so much. They had a real big countenance change. We invited them to be baptized and they said that they had already been baptized in there church. So we testified of how this baptism was different and done with the proper authority. Tony was a little iffy but all of a sudden Jamie opens up and says you know what? It’s  really a miracle you came here because at first I liked our church but now there has been something happening in the church that is making me question it and don’t agree with the teachings. She said she prayed about what church she should go to or what one was right and then we showed up. She said she was so confused and wanted to go to the right church. Right then the spirit prompted me to talk about Joseph Smith. I opened my mouth to speak and all of a sudden words just started coming out. You know it’s your voice and your lips are moving but words are just coming out, like the spirit is doing the talking. That’s how it felt. Everything came out so smoothly and powerful and I know it wasn’t me. It was so powerful.  After I shared the First Vision, Jamie said we are going to your church, yup that’s it we are going to your church. And then Sister King shared a wonderful scripture and she said she wanted us to come over and teach her and her husband. so we are going to see them tomorrow. It was a super cool experience and such a blessing!! 

This week I am giving a talk in sacrament about the importance of knowing you are a child of God. We will see how that goes. It’s an interesting topic but I am excited! It will be fun! Oh my doctor’s appt is on the 29th, that’s my MRI. That should be fun...... I will tell you how that goes when I get results back. I am mailing you my blood work results too as well today. 

I almost forgot. We had a zone conference this week and it was in Hialeah!!! I was sooo happy because ever since I left that area I was praying to go back. It was so amazing to see my old area and be in the chapel and see some of the members!! They were so cute. They were all crying and saying how happy they were to see me. I loved it! So amazing. The conference was all on hurricane training and helping us prepare for one. They said they haven’t had one in 10 years and most likely there might be one this summer so we will see. Hopefully not, buuutttt it would be fun ;) 

This week I was reading in a conference Ensign from 2012 and I was reading a talk about Elder Ballard. He started his talk off by talking about bees. So in an average beehive there is 20,000-60,000 bees and in order for bees to make a pound of honey they must collectively visit millions of flowers and travel the equivalent of two times around the world. Over its short life span of 2 weeks to 4 months, a single bee’s contribution of honey to its hive is one-twelfth of one teaspoon. Though it might seem insignificant when compared to the total, each bee’s one twelfth of a teaspoon is vital to the life of the hive. The bees depend on each other. Work that would be overwhelming for a few bees becomes lighter because the bees faithfully do their part. The beehive has always been an important symbol of the church. It’s found everywhere. All this symbolism attest to the one fact. Great things come about and burdens are lightened through the efforts of many anxiously engaged in a good cause. (D and C 58:27) Imagine what LDS people could accomplish in the world if it functioned like a beehive? :) Remember no act of service, no matter how small, goes un-recognized. Each little one-twelfth makes a huge difference. :) 

   

Thanks so much for all your love and support!! I miss you all tons!!! Thanks for all you do!!! I hope you have a good week!!!!!!! Best family ever!!! :)))

Sister Heacock

Family!! :)

So, President told me he wanted to extend my mission by a month or so and I told him  if that’s what God wants. So is it okay if I come home in November?........ hehehe just kidding ;)))  I love you all so much you are the best!! I couldn’t stay away from you all too long! :)

So this week we had to drop Bianca and her family. We were super sad but they stopped answering our calls and the door but we know that one day they will be ready. Just planting seeds! This week we were super blessed to find Damian. Let me tell you this kid besides Julia is the most elect person I have taught. Sister King and I prayed specifically before knocking on doors to find a person who would accept everything and who was in their 20s or so and had a child. As we were knocking, we weren’t having much success but as were passing this house we saw a young black man (actually Jamaican) sitting on the top of his car. He looked really sad and so we asked if we could give him a card.He came over and we said we are also in the area sharing prayers with people can we share a prayer with you? And he said yes! He said you guys came at the right time! I was super frustrated. I have been going through a hard time trying to get custody of  my 16th month girl because the mom is crazy and it’s been hard because I want to be able to raise my girl up right and have her be in a loving home. He went on just telling us his life story. He said I know God is real because you could have seen or helped with anyone else on this street but he sent you to me and I know you were sent here for a reason. It was a very powerful testimony. We then asked him how old he was and he said he was 23. We then testified that we were sent here by God and that we prayed specifically to find him! We said a prayer with him and he cried during the whole thing. He felt the spirit so strong. He is the most humble and charitable person I have ever met! He doesn’t have the best living conditions by any means. It’s really sad but he is super happy all the time. He wouldn't hurt a fly! He is just so Christ-like and puts others first! It’s amazing. After the prayer we invited them to be baptized and he said yes and that he has been thinking about being baptized. We were so happy! Ever since Tuesday we have been seeing him. We taught him the restoration and he loved it and just understood everything! He reads the Book of Mormon and loves it. He can’t read very well or understand it, but he reads it because he knows its right. During the lesson we talk about it and go over it. He is so faithful. We also taught him the plan of salvation and focused in on how families can be together forever. Because he loves his daughter and wants to be with her for eternity. He loved it so much and said he wants to go to the celestial kingdom so bad. After that lesson we asked him to say the closing prayer and in the prayer he said "please bless that I can get baptized on May 30th and that my daughter can be there even though she won’t understand it I still want her there. I am so grateful that Sister King and Sister Heacock found me, they are a blessing, they have helped me so much...." It was so the most humble loving prayer ever. He talked to Heavenly Father like he was right there and that he was his best friend. The spirit was so strong it made me and Sister King cry. On Sunday he wasn’t able to come to church because he couldn’t get it off and he said he tried real hard but his boss wouldn’t let him. He said that all throughout work he kept thinking I needed to be at church, I need to be at church. He said that today he is going to ask for Sunday off right away. He said he started looking for another job so he can have Sundays off. He said he just felt so bad he couldn’t be at church. So we had to move his baptismal date to June 6^th. He is super excited and so are we! It is going to be amazing. We just have so much love for him. I wish you could meet him! He is so amazing. Specific prayers are real!

Finding him reminded me of this poem "In heaven we were the best of friends. We did everything together. One day a grand council was called in heaven. We knew it was an important event. Everyone was there, Moses Noah and Jesus Christ. Father presented a plan and we voted for Christ to be our savior. After the council we ran to get in line to receive our life package. In the bustle we got separated. I received my package and ran to you. You were sitting under a tree. We opened our packages, mine said I would be born at a time when the gospel was restored on the earth. It said that I would have good parents and the fullness of the gospel in my home. I jumped for joy and we hugged each other. You were so happy for me. Then you read yours. I saw the tears in your eyes and I asked what’s wrong? You said that you would also be born when the gospel was restored but you would be born in a different place and the gospel would not be in your home. You looked at me straight in the eye and said friend find me, no matter what it takes or the trials you have to endure, find me! And bring me the gospel!" 

Some other exciting events this week, While we were going to knock the other day we parked in the grass and when I opened the door there was a storm drain right there. When I got up, the phone that I forgot was on my lap, fell onto the ground. As I went to go pick it up it slipped right into the storm drain and went "ker plop" Yup right into the water filled drain. I went white. Sister King was on the other side of the car and I went around to her and said "ummm Sister...." and she was like "what?!" "Ummm the phone is in the storm drain" and she was like "shut up!!!" We both burst out laughing, like roll on the floor laughing, because it was just so ridiculous and that it would happen to us. But we had to get the phone out so we looked into the storm drain and the phone was lit up so we got palm fronds and sticks and string and tried to make a shirt shovel to get the phone out. It was 7 when we started and we had to work fast because it would soon be getting dark. Well after a half hour we weren’t having any luck and it was starting to become dusk so we decided we needed to ask someone for help. Right across the street was a nice man who offered right away to help us. He lifted up the storm drain and started racking things out and getting all the water out and finally an hour later at 8 we found the phone and all the pieces. Yay!! But after being in rice overnight our little phone didn’t survive and we got a new one. Yay for adventures!! It was a great time.

Thank you so much for the vitamins! They are great! Huge but great! :) Also glad you got the pic from Sister Blake a family in our ward who is amazing. She is just so sweet! She doesn’t have anyone on a mission right now. She has two teenage daughters who are awesome but she always makes sure that we have what we need and it was so cute she started getting emotional as she took the pic of us. It was so cute we love her so much! 

So about Sister Boga that amazing less active! We went and saw her and her husband last night and she made flan cheesecake! It was good! Not as good as dads of course. Dad should try and make one!! It would be amazing! She is always making sure we are doing well and that we are fed. She feeds us so much! We found out her husband is super into 80s music so we bonded over that. It was so much fun. They have a concert to go every month of the year. It’s funny. 

This week in personal study, I was reading in D & C section 138:55-56 and I love it because it talks about how we have already been taught how to be missionaries! We were taught in heaven by the greatest teacher, our loving Heavenly Father. We just have to put off the natural man and trust in him that he taught us well enough and trust ourselves as well because we know this! We know how to teach! We were pre-ordained!  Just always remember our potential. It’s super powerful and just boosted me up!

I hope you have a great week!!! I love and miss you all!!! xoxoxoxoxo :)))))  

Briaunna

Family!!!! 

It was so nice to see all of your faces!! You guys are a sight for sore eyes hahah you all just crack me up so much!! :))) thanks so much for all your support and love!! Couldn’t do this without you all! Why is my family so funny we should start a comedian show! :) 

That book about the Pioneer handcart companies sounds super cool dad! I can’t wait to read it!! This week I have been trying to learn the pioneer child song As They Walked in Spanish and as I was thinking about its crazy how they were going through all that walking without shoes and they still sang! They were happy and positive! Its true superheroes don’t have capes they have handcarts! :) It would be so much fun to go to Martin’s Cove! 

So this week!! We had to drop Lynn because, well we don’t know what happened, one day she was super solid and then the next she wouldn’t answer our calls or the door. We were super sad because she was so amazing! But that is okay. Planting seeds. But we were blessed again with Bianca and her family. They are the Bolivian family. We were tracting and we decided to try one more door before going home. So we went to this door that we both felt prompted about and right next to the door was a sign that said families are eternal! We were like no way! We knocked on the door and she let us right in. She has a daughter Alison who is 12 and a son who is six and her husband is in the Marines. Super cool! Bianca is a little slow, she just has a hard time understanding the priesthood and why we need to be baptized again. But her husband gets it. He knows that to get to the celestial kingdom he has to get baptized and be sealed to his family in the temple. We are going to take them on a temple tour this week. It will be super fun!! 

Miami Skyline

 Yesterday while knocking doors, we had this cool experience. wW were knocking in this very Latin area and went to give this lady a card and she didn’t speak Spanish. She said that she was just here to pick up her god daughter from her grandparents and she was like, “do you speak Spanish?”  I said yes. She was super happy. She asked if I could translate for her. So I got to translate for her and it was super cool. She was so grateful. She said I don’t know what I would have done without you guys. It was a cool experience.

  

This week we went and visited Sister Boga and her husband was there. He is really into guns and when he found out I liked them and did archery, he got out all his guns and showed them to me. He has a nine mil like dads, and a couple of action powered shot guns. Beautiful rifles and these are like crazy expensive ones. He loved it because none of his kids are really into it. It was so great to get to know him better. Dad would of loved all his guns and him!! Haha

Look what we found on our porch!!

This week I was reading in 1 Nephi 20:10 and it says, “For behold I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of thy afflictions.” It made me think of a piece of coal and how we are like that coal and even though we are a piece of imperfect coal he knows our potential and what we can become. So to help us he gives us that heat and pressure which is like trials, scripture study, the atonement, prayer and church to help us become that beautiful diamond that he knows we can be! It was a great analogy. It was also amazing as I was reading in Moroni as well and it talked about how Moroni could of stopped writing the Book of Mormon after he finished Ether but he says I am not dead yet so I am going to keep writing. It was so powerful because he went the extra mile. If he didn’t we wouldn’t have the rest of the book. It’s so important we go the extra mile because we don’t know who we are going to affect. It makes me think of in Hercules when he sings "I can go the distance.... I know every mile will be worth my while..." it’s true every extra mile we go will be worth it. 

I love you all soooo much!!! Thanks sooo much for all you do!! So happy I got to see you guys yesterday. Have a great a week!