Dear Family!!

Transfers!! Sister Calvo is leaving and training again so I will be a big sister and I am staying and taking over the area with a new companion. I have a lot of mixed feelings but I know with this I will grow and learn even more! I will miss Sister Calvo but we will be forever friends! :)

We weren't able to go on the tour with Roni because the temple is closed on Sundays, so we will go another time. I hope I get to go through another session before I leave!! That would be amazing!! :) I miss the temple.
       

So this week was a long hard week. It seemed like it would never end. Maybe because we were excited for transfers but either way we had to climb some mountains this week.

A highlight though was Roni getting confirmed. He came to church in his nice white shirt and tie, and dress pants. He looked like a Mormon! His blessing was awesome and he said he felt the spirit so strong! In the past 3 weeks Roni has changed so much. When we first met him he was shy and didn't talk much but now he talks a lot and jokes around with us. It’s awesome and we love him so much. He is going to be a strong member in the church. He is already starting to prepare to get the priesthood.

Coldstone!! Thanks Mom and Dad!!

Sadly though this was the only highlight of the week. This week we had a hard time finding new people to teach and getting our investigators now to progress. Dyana wasn't able to come to church or to eat with us at a members house because her son was sick so we went over to her house and took her some food and cleaned her house and did the dishes for her. After, we played a bit with her son while she made dinner. It was so great to her help her. She really appreciated it. Service is the best and made us feel a lot better.

At Dyanna's house with her son. So cute

This week in  my personal study I learned a lot about service is and what kind of people we need to be when we serve. I was reading in Doctrine and Covenants, section 4:2 and as I was reading I saw that there was a foot note for service of God. I went down to the foot note and it said “children of light.” I was a bit confused so I decided to look up a couple scriptures to help be better understand what children of light meant. In Matthew 5:16 I found my answer. When we are serving God and others we need to radiate a light of Christ. We need to let our light shine so others can be touched by it. We need to be children of light and serve with all out mind, might, and strength. It’s important to remember that even if we wear a badge or not we are representatives of Jesus Christ and we need to stand out and be different. Let your light shine first so others can shine too.

This week we also found a girl Elizabeth. She was a referral from the church. She has lived here for a year and before she lived in Nicaragua. She lived there with sister missionaries who were renting out a room from her. She has had all the lessons and is practically Mormon and keeps all the commandments. She is just scared to get baptized. We were so excited to get her ready for baptism this week but she is going out of town this week so we were kind of bummed but we know soon a miracle will happen and she will be baptized.

Our Cuban grandparents hahah They are Daisy's grandparents and we love them! They left to go back to Cuba on Monday and they wanted to take us with them. They want me to come visit them so I can marry a Cuban. Not going to happen but they are so sweet!

We also found this really sweet girl Ashley who has lived such a hard life. She was abused as a child and her husband now smokes a lot and doesn't do much while she works. She is so humble. She accepted a book of Mormon so we are crossing our fingers that we get to teach her this week.

This week was difficult, but through this I have become so much closer to my Heavenly 

Father and Jesus Christ. Maybe that's what he wanted me to do through these trials. While reading during personal study today I couldn’t help but feel like, yes that is exactly what he wanted me to do. I was reading in Moroni 10:30-33 and these verses reminded me of my new favorite song “Come unto Christ”. Part in the song says "come unto Christ, come unto Him, and by his grace be made holy again. He is waiting for you with arms opened wide. Come unto Christ". I love my Savior and Heavenly Father so much. even though this week was full of ups and downs I have never felt my Heavenly Father’s love so strong. Thomas S Monson said,  “Our most significant opportunities will be found in times of greatest difficulty”. I know that miracles are coming because just like in Ether 12:6. We don't receive a witness until after the trial of our faith. I have a strong testimony that Heavenly Father is walking right beside us and carries us when we face challenges in our life just like my favorite poem, Footprints in the Sand. :)

​After the small hurricane, the streets were so flooded. This is a good street. We drive on streets where are our car became a boat.

Thanks so much for the package! I loved the shirt! it fits perfectly!! I love you guys all soo much!! I hope you have a safe week.

   Hermana Heacock

Hey Family!! :)

 

            So this week, this week was so crazy! So much happened. We finally found a family!! We haven't taught a family in forever and finally found a super cool family from Venezuela. They have two kids, a boy and a girl. Diego and Sophia. So cute!! We love them and they are so elect. They love reading the book of Mormon. Diego especially. When he reads it’s so powerful and he is only 10.

            Dyana, the single mom who has been coming to church is going with us next Sunday on a temple tour!!! We are so excited!! She is amazing and progressing so much! I love her. She loves church!!

            Roni, they guy with three kids and who is getting divorced and is coming to church got baptized yesterday!! We finally had a baptism and it was amazing!! It’s a really cool story. When we woke up that morning we didn't even think we would baptize, it just wasn't in our plans because the day before. Saturday we were going to have his interview for baptism but we couldn't meet with him. So we set up the interview for after church and we will have the baptism next Sunday. We waited for forever after church so the district leader could do his interview. When he came out from his interview he was smiling and we asked him what happened. He said that he was getting baptized, and we were like awesome! And he was like no, like today I am getting baptized and we said what?!?! Our district leader said it was the most powerful spiritual interview he ever had. He said that Roni said he wanted to wait to get baptized until after his divorce and our DL said OK. He shared a couple scriptures and bore testimony and said, “You know we don't get baptized until after our trials are over, we get baptized in our trials to help us overcome them.”  Then there was a pause..... and our DL said, “Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized?” Roni said,  “Yes I will!”  Our DL was like we can baptize you today and Roni was like, really?!?! Can we!?!  So long story short, an hour and a half after the interview he was baptized and it was so amazing!! It was such a spiritual high because this was my first investigator to get baptized that me and my companion found together. We love him so much!! 

Roni's Baptism!

It was the highlight of our week because this week was so hard. We didn't find any new investigators and we had to drop people but Heavenly Father blessed us with a miracle!! It was awesome that me and Sister Calvo got to baptize one more time together before transfers which is next week.

            This week I have been learning a lot about faith, hope and charity. In Ether 12 it talks and describes faith hope and charity so well. Some verses to read are 4,6,8,9,12,17,18,27,28,32, and 34. I learned that our faith in Jesus Christ must be active and not passive. Hope is a wish and it’s with an expectation of fulfillment. Charity is the pure love of Christ, it’s an attribute and not something you do for someone. All the time growing up that's what I thought charity was, service, but it’s so much more than that. It needs to be developed. All of these are very different but they all need each other.

            Take faith and hope for example. In a car you have the battery and the engine right and there is a band that connects the two. You need to battery to start the car but you need the engine to run the car. Totally different things but one without the other the car cannot work. That’s how faith and hope are. One thing one of the elders in our district said once was faith is in Jesus Christ, hope is in his atonement, and charity is what he did. So powerful!

Sunset

            Thanks so much for the quotes!! I really needed them. Yes there are times I feel like I can’t do this that I am failing because i can’t grasp everything quickly. I get frustrated because it takes me so long to learn and pick things up but I know that in time it will all work out! Heavenly Father sent me here for a reason and he won’t let me fail.

            Thanks guys! I miss you and love you all so much!!!! :) 

Hermana Heacock

Little Piece of Florida

Hi Mi Familia!! :))

Mina our investigator showed us how to make homemade tortillas so now me and my comp and make balliadas at home. I might be addicted. They are so good you can put eggs in them, meat, just about anything.

That's weird that it has been hot over there. It rains here every day. We have been having a lot of tropical storms lately. The last two days of the month we had to bike because we ran out of miles so in one day I go super tan and then later that day I got supper soaked. We just left Daisy’s house, our investigator, and we were going to bike to the church which wasn't that far to teach English class and it started to pour like crazy! We got to the church, taught the class soaked then road back home in the rain to take a warm shower. It was crazy and miserable so thankful for our car!!  

This is Mina and Dyanna. Mina is Honduran. Mina is doing awesome and we were so glad we finally got her to church!! She loved church and we know she will get baptized this week!! :) Dyanna loves loves church and knows it will help her family

This week we got a new investigator Alina who is super awesome! We were teaching her the restoration. It was the first lesson with her and as my companion was reading the first vision she started crying. The spirit was so strong and powerful. At that moment I felt that I needed to invite her to be baptized but I was scared because we hadn't even invited her to church yet so I was like, no, I will just invite her to church.  That's what I started to do but I realized I cannot ignore the spirit so I stopped and invited her to be baptized. And the cool part was the words just flowed from my mouth. My comp said I used perfect Spanish but I don't even remember what I said all I remember was what she said, and she said yes. It was an amazing moment and I and my comp after were filled with tears and our testimonies grew. I have never felt the spirit so strong during a restoration lesson and I know without a doubt that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God and he did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know he translated the Book of Mormon and I know that because of the sacrifices he made, we were are able to have gospel today. I love and am so grateful for him and the love he had for Heavenly Father and the Savior.

This is Roni! Roni is the son of a recent convert. He just got divorced and came to church last week. He is super awesome! Those are his kids. He loves church and knows it will help him in his life. He wants to do better to be a good example for his girls 

​Day 1 after riding bike. Now a beautiful tan

A scripture I read this week is in Mormon 9:31 and it talks about how we need to learn from the Nephites and Lamanites and be stronger than them. It’s crazy to think that we need to be stronger then these amazing Book of Mormon heroes and prophets who were so strong and powerful! but as I ponder on how I could become stronger, a thought came to mind. Heavenly Father saved us for these latter days. He knows and has prepared us so we can be strong. He knows our potential and he knows that we can do it. He knows we are strong enough to withstand Satan that's why we were saved for this time. I know that with faith in the Savior and Heavenly Father we can stop Satan, he has no power over us. We can win this war and help this work continue. I love that thought. It brings me such peace and happiness.

Thanks for feeding the missionaries there. I know they really appreciate it!! it’s so nice to have a good meal. I am so thankful for that! And I know they are too!! :)

Look what we received in a package?

​Made cookies this week!! We made the peanut butter ones.  Made me miss home. They were so good!! Thank you so much!

This Sunday we had a good testimony meeting too!! Me and my comp bore our testimonies which was a good experience and everyone who bore there testimony did a good job too which is amazing because in this ward it’s like ours they can get a little crazy. Lol

 Love you guys!!! 

  Hermana Heacock