Dear Family!! :))

This week was a great week! It had its ups and downs but I was able to learn a lot. Elizabeth had her interview for baptism on Wednesday and confessed to a Law of Chasity problem, so we are helping her with that and hopefully soon she will be able to get this fixed and be baptized. We really love her and are so excited for her! Other than that we haven't gotten a new investigators this week which was the downside, but we know that there are people out there that Heavenly Father is preparing for us right now to find this week :)

This week i really learned about enduring to the end. In 1 Cor. 9:24-27 it talks about a race and how life is a race. This reminded me of an EFY councilor who told us we need to sprint to the finish line. If we have a goal in mind we are unstoppable and can make it to the end. We need to constantly train ourselves so we can finish our strongest. We are all qualified for this work but sometimes we let ourselves get in the way.

I read a story about this swimmer. She was really famous and has swam 20-40 miles before. She was training for the English Channel race, which was 21 miles. Easy, she has swam that many miles lots of times. As she was racing, the it became foggy and she couldn't see in front of her. After some time, she called it quits only to find out she was 4 miles from the finish line she was angry and decided to try again the next year. She did but she called it quits early again only to find out she was only 2 miles away from the finish line. Many people asked her what happened. She had swam 20 miles before. What was different? She said when she trained she is used to having her dad right beside her cheering her on and telling her how many miles she had left to but when she was racing she didn't have that so she had a hard time enduring to the end.

            I can totally relate to this because when I first came out here, it was so hard because I was so used to having you guys cheering me on, telling me where to go what I needed to do and how far I was from the finish line, but being out here on my own it was foggy and sometimes calling it quits didn't seem like a bad idea. Then I would remember our missionary purpose which is to help others endure to the end. I never realized how important those four words were. Enduring to the end.  Enduring helps you obtain hope and feel closer to your Heavenly Father. You allow yourself to grow and to change. It’s amazing. Enduring to the end isn't easy but it makes our blessing that we receive after a long trial worth it :)

I wish I had crazy stories to tell you, but nothing to crazy has happened lately. The only one i can think of is the other night while I was sleeping, I heard this rattle noise like something was in our window. I woke up and just laid in my bed frozen. I kept hearing something move around in our window which is just above our beds. I laid awake for an hour and finally when the alarm went off I hurried and switched on the light and right next to my bed was a HUGE cockroach!!! It was so gross I screamed and threw my pillow at my companion and woke her up. She wasn't too happy until I showed her the cockroach. She screamed and got the poison and we squirted him with it until he was dead. After that we were wide awake and ready for the day. It was crazy. But that's it really. My Spanish is getting a lot better! It’s such a nice feeling now that I can understand people :) Not much is happening in Florida. It’s still hot and rainy and tropical! Thanks so much for all your prayers!!

I hope you guys have an amazing week!!! i love and miss you guys so much!! 

Herman Heacock 

Me and Sister Walker. Blue and green!! haha you can tell what are favorite colors are

Mi Familia!!

  Sister Walker is from Idaho and we were both born in Rexburg a couple months a part. Her parents also went to Ricks. She is so sweet and loves serving other and is really positive. Our first night together we stayed up until midnight just talking and laughing. We clicked so fast it’s like she is my older sister. :) She is the middle of five and has a cute sister Danyon might like hahah jk, but anyways she is awesome and I hope I get to stay with her longer then a transfer. :) 

My 4"11 companion, Sister Walker

            This last week was crazy. We had to bike the last four days of the month and don't tell mom, buuuttt I got burnt pretty bad this time. I forgot to put sunscreen on my back and so my back got scorched. I got a 2nd degree burn and it blistered bad, but luckily my comp had lavender oil and put that on my back as well as apple cider vinegar to take out the heat. So it’s healed, just still hurts. I couldn't sleep for a long time but now my neck is black. It’s pretty cool but don't worry I will remember next time about the sunscreen lol.

My back after getting scorched....... you can kinda see the blisters :(

My watch Tan Line

           

This week we have continued to teach Elizabeth. I don't know if I told you guys about her but she is from Nicaragua and lived with sister missionaries for a year and has had all the lessons and has tons of friends who are Mormon. She is basically Mormon but is afraid of committing to baptism so we have been re-teaching her  the lessons and she told us the other day that she wants to be baptized. So this week we have her already for baptism! It’s amazing. I love her so much. She has such a strong testimony and light up every time she talks about it :)) That was a big blessing this week as we are still struggling for investigators

As I have been studying about hope I learned that having a positive attitude plays a big role in gaining hope. Research shows that people who are hopeful preserver when barriers arise, are successful in finding benefits from adversity. Hope is more than an attitude, it is an orientation of the spirit toward God. M Russell Ballard said regardless of how desperate things seem or how desperate they may yet become, you can always hope, always. A way to cultivate that hope is to trust in God. Trusting in God is to have assurance that Gods furious winds can and will always blow us towards the Promised Land. Rather than ask why we are faced with trials, we generally experience better outcomes when we concentrate our efforts to study God’s plan for our happiness. Align our lives with His will and repent as necessary and follow his footsteps.

In D&C 121:45 it says let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly. One way we can garnish our thoughts is by counting our blessings and accentuating the positive. As we do this our confidence will wax strong in the presence of God. A quote I found that I like is "Hope is a precious principle by which to live. Hope grows out of faith and meaning and purpose to all that we do. It can even give us peaceful assurance we need to live happily in a world that is ripe with iniquity, calamity and in justices. The Savior, towards the end of his ministry, offered this reassuring hope to his disciples, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

  I love hope more and more as I learn and study about it. I have learned in this time to be humble to trust in the lord and his own timetable and just to talk to everyone. God does have a plan for his children and for me. I have a strong testimony about just trusting in him and taking that leap of faith. I have seen the blessings of a strong unity in our companionship and I am happy. When you trust in Heavenly Father this huge burden is lifted from you!! It’s such a great feeling. :)

            Sorry I didn't email on Monday, since it was Labor Day they made it a working Monday.  Thanks so much for the stories about my great grandparents!! Their stories are so amazing!! I love that I have a grandpa named Alma Helamen! So awesome. Anyways I hope you guys have an amazing week!! I love and miss you all so much!!! Thanks for all your prayer and support!!!

            I love you all!!!!

Cuban Food!

Herman Heacock

​Qe went out for Sister Walker's bday with the other sisters that live with us to a Cuban breakfast buffet so much fun and sooo good!! :) 

 

 

Mi Familia,

So this week was super crazy! For starters I got a new companion!! I love her so much! Her name is Sister Walker, she is 5’2” and full of energy! There is never a dull moment. We are always laughing and having fun! She was born in Rexburg too and we have a lot in common! She is really good about helping me with my Spanish and is always positive which is a good thing, because this week was super hard. We started off the week with no one to teach except recent converts and then we would knock doors all day.

We did find this girl Mara who was super cool and really open to learning more about the church. We taught her the plan of salvation and she loved it. At the end of the lesson we invited her to the adult session of stake conference and she said yes. We were so excited but right as we got to the meeting she dropped us. It was frustrating.

All week I was praying to Heavenly Father, pleading with him on how and what we need to do to find new investigators. In my personal study I was reading in D and C section 11 and I got my answer. It was amazing. I swear this section was written for me. It started in verse 6 until the end and I learned how important it is to be patient. You have faith and trust in our Father in Heaven and to be obedient, and to serve with all my might, mind, and strength. I also learned from this section that our time table isn't the same as the Lord’s time table. I was praying for people who we could teach now. I wanted new investigators now. I realized that wasn't the way. He has a plan for all of his children and he is probably still preparing the hearts of his children to be ready to receive our message. It’s so important to just be patient and trust in his timing.

 President Uchtdorf said something in a conference talk that I really liked. He said "It’s not your responsibility to convert anyone or everyone. That is the work of the Holy Ghost. Your task is to share your beliefs and not be afraid". I was really humbled by this. I realized I needed to stop trying to do the Holy Ghosts job and convert everyone right when I meet them. I just need to share what I believe and not doubt in the Holy Ghost’s power that he will help them progress and want to learn more about this gospel.

            I can testify this is true because today this morning we had a miracle. It was so amazing. Yesterday we were harvesting and we saw this guy who was outside with his family and he kept looking at us, and us being two girls were a little scared to go to him but my comp said I have a feeling we need to talk to him. So we did and we said a prayer with him and invited him to be baptized. He said he wanted to because he has never been baptized before and he wanted to know more. We scheduled an appointment with him to share a message with him this morning. We went at 9:00 this morning to meet with him and as we were just getting to know him, his mom joins us and says that she is going to go to our church on Sunday. We were a little surprised, because when we said a prayer with her son, whose name is Ayroni, yesterday, she wasn't very interested. She then asked if we met on any other days and we were like only on Sundays but we have chapel tours we give that we could do sometime this week. Right away she said lets go right now. Me and my comp looked at each other with wide eyes. We went right away to the chapel and gave them a tour. They both loved it. Then we showed them were we take the sacrament. The spirit was so strong in the chapel. They both started crying and his mom said that she didn't like the Catholic Church because it was so corrupt and she loved this church and she and her son were for sure coming on Sunday. It was amazing. She already wants to pay tithing too. They both are super elect and we are so excited to teach them more!! Heavenly father really answered  our prayers. We couldn't stop smiling afterword.

            So this transfer I decided that I wanted to learn more about hope, and how hope and faith tie together. This is what I have learned. Hope helps you conquer discouragement. Hope is the anchor of our souls. The unfailing source of our hope is that we are sons and daughters of God and His son Jesus Christ saved us from death. An Irish proverb I like says “Hope is the physician of each misery”.

            In Moroni 7:41 it says “Ye shall hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection to be raised in life eternal”. This is what we should ultimately hope for. In Moroni 8:26 it says that if we are meek and lowly in heart we can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost that will fill us with hope. In D&C 98:3 it says also that hope is sustained in us not because things turn out how we wish but because we know all things will work out. Thomas S Monson said "At times there appears to be no light at the tunnels end, no dawn to break the night’s darkness. We feel surrounded by the pain of broken hearts, the disappointment of shattered dreams and despair of vanished hopes. If you find yourself in such situation I plead with you to turn to your Heavenly Father in faith. He will lift you and guide you. He will not always take your afflictions from you but he will comfort you and lead you with love through whatever storm you face."

            I love hope. It’s so important we keep that positive attitude and always look on the bright side of things and be willing to take any challenge given to us with enthusiasm.

   Hope you guys have a good week!! Miss you and love you guys tons!!! :)))

   Hermana Heacock