Last Email

Dear Family,

Surprise! One more email. I didn't think that I would get another time to write but the plans were changed. Normally the missionaries fly back to El Salvador on the Tuesday before they go home. But the airline was bought out recently and they have changed their schedule. There are no flights from Belize to El Sal on Mondays or Tuesdays. Sunday is church. So I had to fly back to El Sal on Saturday. They robbed me of my precious days left in Belize but oh well. I have just had to grin and bear it. I flew in on Saturday and went straight into culture shock. El Sal is SO far ahead and civilized compared to Belize. Its like night and day. I had almost forgotten my time in El Salvador and now the memories are flooding back. It is strange to be in a completely Spanish country again. The buses are CRAZY. There are sky scrapers, pupusas, fast food restaurants, beautifully paved roads, highways, American money, malls, a lot more danger, and no one talking Creol. Strange. It is so very different than Belize. I LOVE BELIZE! But I love the people here too. I am just struggling with culture shock. The good thing was that I got to fly back with and be companions with Sister Price for a couple days. She is one of my very best friends in the mission. We went to Belize together 9 months ago and lived together for 7.5 of those months. We were there to comfort each other. ha! We stayed at the nurses house for a day and went to church with them yesterday. Their ward is one of the richest and most active wards in all of the El Salvador. It was strange. And I didn't have investigators or anybody to help and be with. Strange. After church I was sent to Versailles for 2 days to be companions with Sister Poche. Surprise! Her companion was sent to Belize a few days ago and she won't get a new one until Wednesday so they sent me there to help her work a little bit. I think President did that on purpose because he knows we are from the same stake. Fun. I was hoping for the chance to see her before I left and now I even get to be her companion. Fun! So here I am, back in El Salvador, working a few more days as a missionary. 

So Saturday was supposed to be our investigator, Jason's, baptism. But I had to leave so we were able to move it up to Friday night. How cool! My last Hoora in my area was a baptism. A ton of people came and it was really good. He was excited and so ready.

The mission is awesome! I love this work. I love the people. It just about ripped my heart out to say goodbye. That is one of the hardest things about the mission, having to leave the people you love. It is so great to meet so many wonderful people. I am really going to miss the mission!

But of course I love you all and am happy to see you soon. Have a great week and travel safely. See you soon!

Sista Heap

20 May 2014

Dear Family,

We have had quite the crazy week. It has been up and down and all over the place like a roller coaster. But I choose to relate more of the positive and funny moments of the week:

On Tuesday we were doing some contacting because we are in desperate need of finding new people to teach. We talked to a man named Rene, who was nice and kind of positive. Then we continued up the hill and decided to contact this two story green house. A little old lay came out on the balcony to talk to us. She was super nice and invited us to come in. We only had about 15 minutes before we had to be at the church to teach English so we decided to go in and do something short and sweet. We walked in and she, Sister Figaroa, started showing us all the pictures of her family. We sate down and were about to start when she asked if we wanted something to drink. I thought about how little time we had but didn't want to offend so I said yes to her offer. She went to the kitchen and a minute later returned with two glass cups filled with a tanish liquid. I took mine and noticed that there was some kind of foam on top....weird. But my mission has taught me to just eat of drink whatever is given to me, no matter how it tastes or looks. So both Sister Hirschi and I took a sip of the strange juice. I was shocked at the taste! It have tasted some nasty drinks on the the mission but this one was, by far, the foulest one ever! My mind was working overtime to figure out what it was. Sister Hirschi must have been thinking the same thing because she asked, "What king of juice did you say this was again?" Sister Figaroa told us that it was Coke. I have drunk a lot of Coke and I was positive that it was NOT Coke. At that moment I realized that the nasty taste in my mouth was the same as the horrible smell that I smell on drunk men everyday....IT WAS BEER!!!! I had just drunk beer! What?! I started freaking out inside, trying to find a way to get rid of the rest of the beer without having to drink it. I formulated a panicked plan to ask to use the bathroom and dump the liquid down the sink or toilet. Maybe the old lady wouldn't notice. Right then someone called Sister F into the kitchen.She is in her 80s and her kids don't trust her so they have hired a lady to live with their mom to take care of her. It was this "live-in" that had called Sister F. to the kitchen. The instant she left the room, Sister Hirschi and I turned to each other and freaked out. She too had realized that it was beer and had formulated her own panicked plan to go throw it over the balcony. We were freaking out and trying to hold back our laughter when Grandma returned. "I am SO sorry. I gave you beer! WE had a mothers' day party and my children brought over beer and coke. I thought I gave you coke but it was really beer. I am so sorry!" The live-in was the one who had realized what had happened. ha! She took the drinks from us and handed us new cups with a clear liquid this time; now we were on edge and wondered if it was Vodka this time. ha! But after taking a smell, we realized it was Sprite. I guzzled it down in an attempt to get the terrible taste of beer out of my mouth. By this time all of our time was gone but we couldn't just walk out so we talked for a minute and offered to sing a song and say a prayer before leaving. We start to sing Families Can Be Together Forever but I couldn't hardly sing because I had to hold back my incredible need to laugh my guts out. Sister Hirschi basically sang a solo and offered the prayer as I concentrated on not laughing. As politely as possible we rushed out of the house. WE started walking up the hill to the church and we couldn't hold back the laughter anymore. Once we calmed down Sister Hirschi said, "Sister Heap, I think I am drunk." ha! We laughed some more. I started sucking on mints because I felt like I still stunk of beer. The whole rest of the night I could smell beer on me and was panicking. What if our investigators smelled it?! I think it was just my imagination or maybe my guilty conscience. ha! What an adventure. Neither Sister Hirschi or I had ever in our lives drunk an alcoholic beverage. We can now say that we drank more beer on our missions than ever before! I definitely had to so some repenting.

This week was also Sister Hirschi's 22nd birthday. We ate some really good cake and celebrated. One of the spiritual highs of the week was last night. We were teaching Ryan- a 17 year old who we have been teaching for 3 months- about the importance of prayer. At the end we finally got him to say his first vocal prayer every. And it was an AWESOME prayer! It is amazing to feel the spirit and see changes in people. I love it!

So the thing is, I really don't know what is going to happen next week. I just found out that I will be flying to El Salvador on Sunday instead of Tuesday because that is the only day that there are flights now. Crazy! So I think that this will be my last normal email home. I can't wait to see you all soon! Love you!!!

Sista Heap

13 May 2014

Dear Family,

Last Wednesday night Sister Hirschi and I were saying our companionship prayer, ready to sleep when all the sudden we hear this screaming. "Hay una serpiente!" then, fearing the we hadn't understood, Sister De Leon screamed again, "There's a snake!" Well we kept praying. I am not that spooked by a snake so we just prayed on. She screamed again and again, asking why no one was coming to her aide. So we ended our prayer in a hurry and rushed out to see what was happening. There was a snake on the porch of the house. It was outside and not doing anything to threaten us so I was ready to just shut the door and go to bed. But Sister De Leon has a serious fear of snakes and could not calm down. She said that she would have nightmares if we didn't kill it. Sister Hirschi and I looked at each other and realized that we were going to have to kill this thing. So we searched down a huge rock and Sister Hirschi chucked it at the snake with all her strength. It was a good hit and the snake started going crazy. We rushed inside, fearing that it would come after us but all it did was writhe its way off the porch, onto the grass.  We came out and Sister Hirschi threw a few more rocks at it and we thought it was dead. I started taking pictures and all of the sudden it started wiggling like crazy again because of the flash. The other two sisters and I just stood out there watching it for a minute. The next thing we know, Sister Hirschi comes out of the house with a butter knife tapped to the end of the broom stick. Ha!! She headed straight for the snake and started hacking away with all her strength. I have no idea why, of all the knives in the house, she chose the dullest one but she did. At the end of her tirade, the poor snake was still in one piece but definitely dead. She picked it up and catapulted the intruder out of our yard and into the street. The thus was the end of the snake in the night and Sister Hirschi, the Snake Slayer, was born. ha! It was hilarious! What an adventure.

Sister Hirschi -The Snake Slayer

Trust me, late night snake adventures are fun but we are still focusing most of our time on missionary work. We have been working a lot with Karim Segura. We finished teaching him the Plan of Salvation and he absolutely loves it! At the end, he couldn't stop telling us that no one, ever, had ever told him about this plan and how awesome it is. "I want to teach my sons the Plan of Salvation!" He is so prepared to hear the gospel right now! He came to church for the second time this week and this time he brought his teenage daughter. I loves church and feels so good there. We taught him the Book of Mormon last night and he is pumped to read it. Every lesson we teach him is amazing because the Spirit is so strong and he actually gets it and wants us there. It makes me love the work!

So HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY to all of you that I was not able to see on Sunday! I hope it was a great one. Mothers' Day in Central America is literally one of the biggest holidays of the year. They go to town celebrating it. ha! There was a large branch activity that included a talent show in which the missionaries were required to participate. We didn't feel like singing like we always do so we changed it up. We read the scriptures about all the the mothers of the stripling warriors had taught them and then shared some things, funny and serious, that our mothers have taught us. I would like to share my list in honor of my dear and beloved Mother.   My Mother taught me:

• the difference between a tsp and T (when you put 2 T instead of 2 tsp of salt in pizza crust, it doesn't taste good)
• that if I ignore my brother's teasing, he really will stop
• It doesn't matter how much you eat, there is always room for ice cream
• that candy will rot my teeth
• pets are like having more children, they are not worth it!
• camping in the woods is fun for about 12 hours
• shy people are intimidating
• the meaning of self-discipline
• always give everyone the benefit of the doubt
• to never stoop down to the level of others
• to be honest in ALL my doings

There are many more things but these were the first ones that came to mind. Mothers are truly amazing! Thanks Mom for all you have done, still do, and always will do for me. I love you all so much!!  Have a great week!

Sista Heap

29 April 2014

Dear Family, 

I hope that you all have enjoyed your week and the lovely chilly weather. If you have any spare time, I would ask you to look up the temperature and humidity level of San Ignacio, Belize. We have literally died this week. The unfortunate thing about San Ignacio is that it is on a large hillside. My area is at the top of the hill and everything (ATM, restaurants, stores, etc) is at the very bottom of the hill. Yesterday we ventured to the bottom of the hill and had to climb up it again at 3pm in the HOTTEST sun of my life! I nearly died. By the time we got home, we were not just wet but DRENCHED in our sweat and could not cool down. I thought I was going to die. But luckily I am still alive to tell the tale. 

 As we were downtown looking in souvenir shops, Sister Hirschi went crazy on me. We were in a little shop and she was talking to the owner, a large black rasta man with the longest dreds of my life. I was browsing. A couple of tourists came into the shop and then left. Right after they left Sister Hirschi started screaming about that man being Benadict Cumberbatch- the actor from BBC's Sherlock, and who did the voice of the dragon in The Hobbit. I have no idea who this man is but my companion was going crazy and wanted to chase after him so we did. We followed them to the next souvenir shop but Sister Hirschi chickened out and didn't say anything and they walked away. She was the definition of "star struck". And so we had to chase him down again but she didn't know what to say so she just asked him for directions to the Mayan Ruins in San Ignacio. They didn't know. They were super nice though, we talked for a minute and then went our own ways. Poor Sister Hirschi cannot stop beating herself up for not taking a picture with him. haha! It was hilarious!

So we worked SO hard this week. We taught more lessons in one week than I have in any other week of my mission. Crazy. But unfortunately none of our investigators came to church. To a missionary, that is about the worst thing that can happen. It was really frustrating. And some of our most positive investigators fell back into old habits and lied to us. We were feeling very very very frustrated. So we decided to spend all of Sunday after church contacting an area that we aren't working much in right now. It actually ended up being one of the best days all week. We talked to a lot of people. Found some more less actives to work with. and actually found some really positive new people to teach. One man, Karim, has been having some really really big health problems lately and just got out of the hospital. We just happened to stop by. There is nothing like almost dying to make someone all of the sudden a lot more interested in the plan of salvation and making good decisions. By the end of the visit, he asked us who had sent us there to visit him. We explained that we just had the feeling that we needed to stop and talk to the people in that house. Cool! The Spirit truly does direct us! That is one of the coolest feelings. 

Well another week is over. I hope you all have a great week. Love you tons!!

Sista Heap

22 April 2014

Dear Family,

I have officially survived my first week in San Ignacio. It has been kind of an adventure of a week as I have tried my best to adjust to the new area. I must say that the biggest change are the HILLS!!! When I say hills, I mean MOUNTAINS! The whole city is built on these crazy steep hillsides. It is one thing to have to walk up and down these monsters but on a bike it is just next to insane. My poor companion has had to wait for me at the bottom a lot because it just terrifies me to ride down the steep, most of the time gravel, streets. I have had enough time on a bike to experience the fear and pain of pumping hard and having the chain come off or braking hard and the chain falling off (the bike only has back brakes, none on the handle bars). It is not enjoyable. And my bike here is slightly falling apart. The chain is loose so it falls off easily, the handle bars are loose and always twist on me, the peddles wobble, and my seat is too high so I have to leap off when I want to stop. Needless to say, I don't trust it much so it has been a long week in that regard. 

Sister Hirschi has been causing me some problems this week. And these problems are something new that I have never before had to deal with and I am not sure how to handle. She is flat-out hilarious and says all of these hilarious things with a straight face in the lessons or when we are contacting people in the street. It takes all my control not to bust up laughing at very inappropriate times. ha! Its a hoot. Every day something happens that has us on the floor laughing. good times. Nevertheless, we still manage to have the spirit with us in our lessons. We are teaching these two young men right now, Ryan and Jason, who are really positive and want to make changes in their lives. They are both preparing to be baptized soon. The work is progressing. :)

We went to visit a less-active member the other day named Pancho Diaz. He is from Nicaragua and so it was fun to listen to his Spanish. Poor Sister Hirschi didn't understand much of what he said but I was surprised to realize that, without really trying, I understood about 95% of what he said. Miracles happen! But it was pretty sad to listen and learn his story. He is about 60 years old, was baptized at age 17, served a mission, and has been in leadership positions for all of his life. He was the district leader here in Cayo for 12 years, has a wealth of gospel knowledge, and has personally met Elder Richard G. Scott and other apostles. He was upset about how he was released from the district president and basically has never returned to church since. How sad. We need him in the branch but his pride was hurt and thus he has became inactive and some how has convinced himself that that is okay. What?! This experience just made me realize that you are never safe, it doesn't matter how strong you are in the church, how long you have been a member, what callings you have had, etc. The adversary is powerful and we always have to be watching our backs. We always have to be growing our testimonies, humbling ourselves, and trying to improve. ALWAYS!!

Well, I love you all! Hope you all have a great week. 

Sista Heap

New Address:

Sister Heap

PO Box 79

San Ignacio, Cayo

Belize

16 April 2014

Dear Family,

It has been quite the busy week. We had a huge blessing to see the baptism of Silvia Bacab this Sunday morning. It was a beautiful service with a lot of people there considering it was at 8 am. I can't even tell you how much I love this woman! I went through phase during my time in Orange Walk that I was just so discouraged and feeling like there really was no one out there who would appreciate the gospel like I do. I spend many a night praying with all my heart to not only find people who would listen to us, but to find someone who would soak up the gospel and love it with all there hearts like I do. I can see now that my prayers have been answered in so many ways. We have truly had some great converts lately, not just baptisms, but converts! This gospel is true! The Lord hears and answers prayers! Clara, who was baptized 6 weeks ago taught the Sunday School lesson this week and did amazingly! I love this work!

This is Silvia Bacab and her husband Marcelino, her two sons, Asiel and Misiel. I love them So much!!

This is in front of Silvia's house

So we had interviews with President last week and from that, I knew that with the transfers, either Sister Pocock or I would leave but he still hadn't decided who. It made a lot of sense to just leave me there for my last change so I figured that I would stay. We waited and waited until 3pm on Monday to finally find out the transfers........drum roll...........Yes, I have been transferred to San Ignacio! After 5 transfers and over 7 months in Orange Walk, I have finally moved! But the killer is that Sister Pocock was also transferred to a different area. Taking both of us out and having to trust all of out beloved investigators to two new sisters was HARD!!! It also made it really hard to say good bye. That was SO hard! After being there so long, I love so many people in Orange Walk, investigators, members, and less actives. I have prayed for charity so much as a missionary and can now see that I have been enabled to love people so much more than I could ever love them on my own. Oh! I couldn't hold back the tears as I said good bye to all of these people that I love. One of them told us that he just decided the night before that he wants to be baptized this Friday. That was seriously a miracle because he was super Catholic and we were working so slowly with him and his wife. Sadly, they can't get baptized this week because they still need to get married but I know that soon they will do all that. What a miracle! It was also super hard to say goodbye to the three sisters that I lived with. Sister Price and I have been together in the house for over 7 months. Good byes are seriously the worst! 

But, after going through all of that, I am finally here in San Ignacio with my new companion Sister Hirschi. She also started her mission in Sensunapan so we have a lot to talk about. She is from Seattle Washington and is 21 years old. She is seriously great so I am pumped to be together.

Sister Hirschi (pronounced as Hershey)

 I got another shock, I am now what they call a Sister Training Leader for the 6 Sisters here in the Cayo area. I was sure that I had escaped because I only have one change left but apparently there is more that the Lord wants me to learn before I go home. I am pretty unsure about all that I have to do but this is just day one so I am sure it will get better. 

Well I better go. I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!

Sister Heap

8 April 2014

Dear Family,

How has your week been? Mine has been very HOT! and HUMID! oh what fun! We had a correlation meeting one day this week and we were late leaving our area to go. The chapel is not in our area so it is a bit of a bike ride to get there. We were trying to get there as fast as possible so we were flying down the road with all the pot holes and speed bumps. There was this annoying motorcycle that just followed us for about a minute and would not pass. We needed to turn so we slowed down to wait for the dumb motorcycle to get out of the way. Finally he started to pull up along side us. Of course it was a man that we know. His name is Wayne. He is from the states but lives in Belize during the cold season. He literally talks and looks like Steve Urkle (sp?). He is not a member but comes to church often because he likes one of the members. Such a strange man. So he pulled up along side us and in his Steve Urkle accent says, "Man, I booked you gals and you were going over 20 mph down that road. You all must be in shape!" haha! We quickly/awkwardly thanked him and explained that we were late and had to go. We then laughed the rest of the way to the church! But its kinda cool to know how fast we were going. haha!

This week we had two food adventures. They always come from the same member family too. ha! Saturday for lunch they fed us a Garifuna delicacy called Hudut. It is whole cooked fish served with a yellow cilantro-y soup with balls made of ripe and unripe plantains. Interesting but not bad.

Hudut

 Sunday for lunch they fed us cow-foot soup. It consisted of vegetables, slimy okra, cow feet, and cow intestinal lining. That one was a lot harder to get down than the Hudut. The feet are just like eating pure jello-y fat. Yuck! The intestinal lining was only a little bit better. The okra wasn't my favorite but after eating the nasty meat, it seemed quite normal. The broth and other vegetables were great though. I feel like I can now eat anything that is put before me. Mom, you should be very proud. :)

Cow Foot Soup

I was so excited for conference this week. It was like the only thing that kept me going the whole week. Saturday morning finally came and somehow we were once again leaving the house late to get to the church. We started flying down the streets again and my chain fell off. Normally I can easily put it back on but this time there was a strangely long screw in the way and so I had to walk to rest of the way to the church. We were literally running the whole way so that we could get there on time. We walked in during the song after the opening prayer to find that we already had four of our investigators there waiting for us. Ahhhh! What a blessing! One of them, Silvia, went to all 4 of the sessions. Now THAT is faith! Most members won't even do that. She is preparing to be baptized this week and we are working hard to get the rest of her family ready for baptism as well. I loved conference though. I really enjoyed the Saturday morning session. I liked Sister Reeves talk about pornography and proactively protecting your family. She said that it doesn't matter if the house is a wreck, the dishes are unwashed, the laundry undone, etc., just as long as we have family prayer and scripture study daily and family home evening weekly. Henry B. Eyring also talked about how we should have Christ as the leader of our home. If we do, we are promised that "all things will work out". I love that! It was said so many times that all we need to do is pray, study scriptures, and go to church and we will all be okay. It all really is so very very simple but we always make it so complicated. If we just do these three things, everything will all work out. I know it to be true because I have seen it in my life and in the life of so many others! I love you all and hope that you all strive to do at least these three things daily and weekly. Take care and have a great week!

Sister Heap

PS: HAPPY BIRTHDAY Melanie and Bonnie!