Mi Familia!!

            I will get to the big news now.  Transfer meeting came on Wednesday. I was so sad to be leaving Sister Walker because I love her so much and to be leaving my Cuban family but i knew Heavenly Father had a plan for me. Little did I know what that actually was. As transfer meeting went on and they announced where everyone was going, everyone seemed to be getting called except for me! I was getting stir crazy!! We finally got to the last area and they read my name "Serving in Killian West Sister Heacock and Sister Burdett" I freaked. So you know how when Sister Calvo got transferred, she trained so I had a "sister" Well Sister Calvo got transferred this transfer which is really weird because you are usually with your greenie for 2 months. Well, she went STL and I got called to finish training my "sister" in the mission, Sister Burdett!!! It was a big surprise because usually during transfer calls they tell you if you are training or finishing a training and they forgot to tell me that I was finishing so I was like a deer in the headlights!!  All of a sudden I felt inadequate because there are lots of sisters older than me in the mission that still haven’t trained yet so I was scared, especially in a new area. But Sister Burdett is amazing!!!! We get along so well and I love her. She is fun and wild and crazy but her testimony is sooo strong! She loves talking to people. She is from Missouri. 

My new companion Sister Burdett

On the way to conference

I am serving in Killian West or in other words, Kendall. I went from the one of the poorest areas to one of the richest!! The houses here are huge and the people are great but it’s hard because they are not as humble. This area is a zebra area which means it’s both English and Spanish. Most of the people here are English which is a bummer :(( I am trying to study hard so I don’t forget my Spanish. The ward is great and so are the members!! Super good!! :) 

Huge homes in new area

It’s weird being senor comp but it’s fun. It’s weird because i have only been out 6 months and she has only been out 2. There isn’t that much a difference but I like it. We have fun and she makes being a senor comp easy :) 

We had lots of miracles! First, we started teaching this members dad named Karl. His son is the only member in his family and finally got his dad to agree to take the lessons. We taught him for the first time this week. We taught him the restoration and he loved it. We did an object lesson and he asked a lot of good questions. He loved how simple and easy it all was. It was the first time I and Sister Burdett taught together and it was good! We were really united. After, we gave him a reading assignment and planned to come back this coming week. His son also texted us the other day and said his dad watched conference and said "these old men are really smart!!"  He loved it! It was super good!! :)

 This week we also found this guy named Derek. He is 27 or so and has 2 little kids. He is separated from his wife and is just kind of down. We found him harvesting and he accepted baptism and for us to come back. So we came back the next day and taught the plan of salvation. We really emphasized on families and he loved it! He said his kids and family are everything to him. We are excited to continue teaching him! Super cool guy and we have set for a baptism date for the 19th.

This week we got to teach Sharon. the other night, I think it was Saturday, we were having a tough night. We had tried to see like 6 people but no one was home or had time so we were a little down. Sister Burdett was like "I just remembered someone we can go see!" So we went to see Sharon and it was totally inspiration because she was home and let us in! We talked for a bit and got to know her better. She is in her 70s and is a super nice lady. She lives by herself so she liked to talk a lot but she loves God. She is from a Jewish background but doesn’t practice it very often. After we visited with her she said we could come back.  We did the next day which was yesterday and planned to teach the plan of salvation but all her questions were about the restoration so we taught her about the restoration and prophets and we ended quoting most of conference! Super glad they were all about prophets!  It was an awesome lesson and she agreed to read the Book of Mormon. We have another day planned for this week to teach her and I am super excited!! :) Lots of blessings!! :) This area is awesome!!  

Our address is 7380 SW 107th Ave Miami Florida 33173 Apt 1205.  I love being in more of downtown Miami. It’s fun. We live in apartments and they are super nice!  I will send you pics. The best part is no cockroaches!!!!!!!!!!! So happy! I can kneel on the floor now and sleep with ease. And our house is actually cold!! So I had to buy a sweatshirt because it gets chilly. 

New apartment. So beautiful!

Bedroom in new place. No cockroaches!!

This transfer I want to study about the light of Christ. I have been studying about it and this is what i have found out: The light of Christ is a spiritual influence, is given to all men, its enlightenment, knowledge, and an uplifting, enabling persevering influence that comes upon mankind because of Jesus Christ. It’s not the Holy Ghost, the light of Christ fills the immensity of space and the means by which Christ is able to be in all things and through all things and around about all things. The light of Christ quickens man’s understanding. 

Another cool thing that happened this week. Branden’s mom sent me a package, which was a fun surprise! Mission life is super awesome and I love it!! It’s going by super-fast!!! Keep praying for me and I love you guys so much! Thanks for everything and all you do to help me!!!    I hope you guys have a great week!!! :) love you!!! :))) 

Love,

Hermana Heacock 

Peacock we spotted while harvesting

Halloween!

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