Week One

Buenos Dias!

I have officially survived my first week of the mission and the MTC. I hear that it is one of the hardest weeks in the MTC and I hope that it true! It has been very hard but very good too. I have been so blessed with wonderful companions: Hermana Miller and Hermana Edwards. We are all on the same page and are here for the same reason. Thus far we have never argued...what a blessing! Being in a trio is interesting but I like it so far. It is amazing how quickly you can come to love people even when you haven't spent much time with them. I have been sick with a fever, chest congestion, and a cough since Monday and they have been so nice, accomadating, and understanding of my sickness. There are two other companionships in my district- one duo and one trio: Elder Shipp and Elder Harper-Smith and the trio is Elder Read, Elder Guthrie, and Elder Olenslager. They are nice but not really interested in us hermanas. But I think that we will eventually become more united as a district. Elder Shipp is 18. December 19th was the first day that 18 and 19 year old missionaries entered that MTC. According to rumor, the floods are coming starting in January. My stay here could be quite interesting and historic. :)

We have hours and hours each day to study and very little of it is supervised. After so long, it is easy to get tired and just start talking about other things. My district is really bad about this right now! Most of the time it is started by the Elders but I am always interested in their conversations so it is hard to tune them out and keep working. Elder Guthrie is from Florida and has an awesome southern accent. That accent, his facial expressions, and body language are hilarious to me! I have a hard time looking at him and not laughing! It is god to get some laughter in to brighten my day but there are times when it is inappropriate to laugh and that is when I struggle. :)

I feel like we have actually had very little Spanish instruction for how much they expect of us. We have already taught our "investigator" Enrique three times and also Ezekial once. Since we know so little Spanish we have to look up tons of words and have the lessons totally scripted out. That is all fine and dandy but every time you get to the lesson you have to understand what he is saying and asking. Trying to follow the spirit while teaching the lesson is very hard because we have so much that we want to say but we don't know how to say it. My companions don't get too nervous about our lessons because they know that Enrique is just acting but I worry a lot more. We barely finished translating our 2nd lesson in time and I was so stressed about it. As we started out and got into the meat of our pathetically short, simple lesson, all of the sudden I felt calm. I wasn't worried about looking like a fool. I was only worried about teaching Enrique what he needed to hear. I felt this love and concern for him so much that I just wanted to answer his questions and get to know him better. This amazed me! This was only the second time that I had ever even seen Enrique! I know that I could not have cultivated this love for him so quickly on my own. My Heavenly Father is here with me every day, helping me, teaching me and reminding me of his love for me. With God on my side, what can go wrong?!

I have received tender mercies every day! Some of them are as simple as walking into the cafeteria for dinner to find that Papa Johns pizza is for dinner. That completely made my day!! Food has been a struggle for me here. Nothing ever sounds good. And especially now that I am sick, nothing ever tastes good. My wonderful friends at the bookstore have given my many sweets but sweets don't sound good at all ever. I guess that part is a blessing. Ha! Elder Guthrie always gets packages and last night he got some beef jerky and shared it with me. It was the best tasting thing I have had all week! Oh the joys of the MTC.

Thank you everyone for your letters. I love to hear from you! I love and miss you all!

Hermana Heap

ps: I brought the wrong excercise pants. Mom do you think you could send me the black and gray capri pants in my bottom drawer please? I have ran out of time today but hopefully soon I will try to figure out the picture thing.

Feliz Navidad!

Hermana Heap's 1st Mission email:

 

Hello everyone! I am still alive and chugging alone on this Christmas day. My p-day is not until Thursday so I will write you the full time then. This is a special privilege to spend 20 minutes on the computer today. We didn't know that we would be able to email family until this morning. What a blessing. My Christmas has been good so far. It honestly hasn't felt too much like Christmas this past week because we are so busy with everything else here. The only thing that feels like Christmas is singing the songs. Yesterday we had a fireside that was basically a re-enactment of the Christmas story. It was wonderful. There are so many talented people here so the special numbers are often and amazing. After the fireside we got to watch A Christmas Carol and eat popcorn. It sounds simple but to a missionary here, it means the world! ha! Our schedule has been relaxed today. This morning Elder Russel M. Nelson came to speak to us. My seats weren't very close but it wasn't worth the fight. :) His wife spoke too and it was her talk that stood out to me more. She talked about gifts of the spirit and encouraged us to identify a weakness in ourself and then pray for a spiritual gift that would help us overcome it. There is such a great spirit here! Today's lunch was turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravey, and candied yams. It tasted so wonderful! I am so grateful for all the people that are here today, working, for our benefit. We couldn't make it without them.

I have gotten several Christmas cards from the Hunts, Curtis's, Uncle Eric, the seminary, and Michelle Crosby. They decorate my desk quite nicely. Thank you Mel and Wendi for your lettlers. Letters or mail in general is just wonderful. We have been told to tell you that at least for now in the MTC it is best to use DearElder.com. That way I can read them at my leisure during the week instead of having to use my precious little time online to read them. Yes, Wendi, I got your letter on DearElder. Thanks!

This morning in my spare time I opened my presents, which consisted of the Gifts of the Heart form Holly's family (they were wonderful!!), opening a letter from a friend on her mission, and opening the Christmas card for the seminary. What great presents! It is kind of nice to have a simplified Christmas. The MTC presidency also asked us to read all these scriptures about the Christmas story and about the Expiacion de Jesucristo. I have never read so many scriptures directly on Christ on Christmas Day before and it has been great to center on the true meaning of the holiday. Needless to say, this week has only increase my knowledge of how much I need the Atonement of Christ. I could not do this on my own!!

I love you all and hope that you have had a great Christmas Day as well. If you get this today, I hope it reminds you of the true reason for the season. I love you all and keep you in my prayers!

Hermana Heap

ps: for the rest of the day we have a musical talent show, a fireside by Greg Olsen, and get to watch ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE!!!! That is my all time favorite Christmas movie so I am stocked! Nothing makes it feel more like Christmas time than watching good Christmas movies that inspire you to be better and singing songs of Christ. I must admit that I am going through piano withdrawls and miss my Forgotten Carol. Esta Bien!

Names

I have a tendency to get sucked into things pretty easily. Most of the time this happens with books, movies, or TV shows but this time it was genealogy. I have been interested in family history for a while but is seems to come in stages. Because of this interest, I have always wanted to name my children after my ancestors. It has been easy for me to find boys' names that I like but the first four generations of girls' names are a little abnormal so finding ones that I like has been a challenge. My Mom found a way to print up nine generations of a pedigree onto one sheet; it is called a fan chart:

She printed up one for her awhile ago and put it on the kitchen wall. Almost every time I pass it I stop to look at it for a second. The other day I asked my Dad if he had his printed up yet. He had, so I borrowed it and a copy of my Mom's as well so I could sit down and look at them. Well I kind of got sucked in at that point and no longer was it enough to just look at all the cool names. Pretty soon I started writing a list of all the girls' names, a list of all the boys' names, and a list of all the last names. My Mom thinks I am crazy but it was fascinating so I thought that I would share a few of the fun facts with you, my readers, since most of you have the same ancestors as I do.

• The most popular female name was Mary. Between both lines there were 69 women with the first name of Mary! The second most used female name was Elizabeth, which was used 52 times. 
• The top male name was John, which was used 58 times. William came in second, being used 45 times.
• Around 54% of all the names were from the Bible. Wow! I think that says a lot about their priorities.
• My Dad's grandma and grandpa were fourth cousins, making him is own sixth cousin. 
• My great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandma's name was Running Deer. I think that that is the only non-Anglo part of the family.
• Many of the ancestral last names are the same on both sides of the family. Some examples are: Ward, Clark, Lowe, Brooks, Williams, Stoddard, Scott, Lewis, Gray, Harrison, Thompson, and Butler. 
• I must be related to John Wayne because my Dad's line ties into the McClintock line ;) My Mom's line also ties into the Redfords so I am thinking that Robert Redford must be our distant cousin. jk!
• I found two different lines with the last name of Lathrop on the ninth generation. After researching a little more I found that the line does indeed tie into the Reverend John Lathrop line. He is a well known Reformist who lived in England around 1600 who was imprisoned for being at the heart of the Puritan's reform. After two terrible years in prison they let him out on the condition that he move to New England and never return to England. I first learned about him in my Church History class because he was the great great grandfather of Joseph Smith. In my research I found out that there are millions of his descendants alive today. Through this line I am distantly related to Joseph Smith, Wilford Woodruff, Joseph F. Smith, George Albert Smith, Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, Oliver Cowdery, Parley P. and Orson Pratt, N. Eldon Tanner, M. Russell Ballard, Quentin L. Cook, Ulysses S. Grant, Franklin D. Roosevelt, George Bush, Sarah Palin, and even Mitt Romney. Who knew!

 It was really fun to look through all the names! And I also now have a list of boys' and girls' names that I like for my future children. Now I just have to hope that my future husband likes them too :)

On a side note, on the family search site I was able to follow on of John Lathrop's lines all the way back to Adam!! Holy Cow! I didn't even know that that was possible at this point. I am just so grateful to all those before me who contributed to recording my family history. Because of their hard work I can sit and sift through hundreds of names at my leisure without having to do any work!

IT'S AUTUMN TIME! IT'S AUTUMN TIME!

I happen to think that autumn is the ABSOLUTE best time of year, hands down! I keep thinking of all the reasons why it is the best, so now I am going to write them down mostly for my own benefit, and hope that some of you agree with me.

• The colors are AWESOME! There is still green on the earth and then the leaves change and create a beautiful contrast.
• The weather is perfect. It is warm but not too hot and sometimes there is a little chill in the air that feels great.
• The lighting in my home is so cool. The sun has just started to shift to the south, shining into all the south windows of the house. It is so direct and warm that Mom pulls the sheer curtain in the living room to save the couch from sun damage. Walking in the front door with the curtains pulled with sun still shining in on the Halloween decorations is just perfect!
• It is harvest season. You work all summer long planting, watering, weeding, irrigating, and whatever else it takes and you are finally rewarded in autumn with all the fruits of your labors. I know that it is a lot of work to pick everything and preserve it all but there is such a feeling of satisfaction to it!
• School starts just before autumn so autumn has a fresh-new-year-of-school feel. You haven't gotten bogged down by months and months of classes yet.
• It is football season. I know, I know, cliche but it is true. I love the excitement of homecoming and Friday nights in the dome watching the games. Even though I don't watch much football anymore, it is still associated with warm fuzzy feelings.
• It is soccer season. It is still warm enough to spend hours and hours outside playing (or watching my nieces play) the sport that I absolutely love! 
• Raking leaves! This is one chore that I really enjoy. I love having a big cottonwood in the front yard that has given me opportunity to rake. I also did some raking in Utah and it is associated with such wonderful memories.
• It is the beginning of the holiday seasons. I loved when my Mom would decorate the house for the holidays. 
• Change. I don't know why I can see the earth changing so much more in this season than the others but I do. Watching the change makes me reflect on my life every year and think about all of my good memories and the things that I have accomplished. Very rarely do life's disappointments pop up during these reflections. 
• It's my birthday! I am sure that this carries quite a bit of wait in forming my opinion about the season, but I hope that after you have read this list you can see that it isn't the only reason.

I absolutely LOVE this time of year!!

Me and My To-Do Lists

I have always loved making To-Do lists. It is just SO satisfying to physically cross things off when they are done! I love it! I have discovered that I gain a good chunk of my self-esteem from being productive. Crossing things off of my To-Do list makes me feel very productive. Therefore, I love them! I have noticed some funny things about my To-Do lists lately though. 

College To-Do List:

• Write five-page paper
• Read chapters 15-17 in history book
• Cleaning check- THIS morning!
• Work meeting at 10 am
• Read p. 335-400 in adult development book
• Journal entry for D&C
• Ward activity at 6pm- bring cookies
• SFL assignment- DUE 12am!
• Grocery shopping
• Laundry

Current To-Do List:

• Wake up when alarm goes off
• Family scriptures
• Make bed
• Exercise
• Shower
• Do hair
• Eat vegetables!
• Personal scripture study
• Eat lunch
• Do lunch dishes
• Read novel
• Eat dinner
• Watch movie with Dad

Hmm.....funny how my current To-Do list is longer than my college one. It is also funny how almost all of the things on the second list have to be done in college too but some how never make it on the list. Okay, so maybe I am a little desperate in my need to feel productive! I have even noticed that sometimes I do good things that weren't on my To-Do list originally. That just won't do. After I finish them, I will write them on the list only to promptly cross them off. Maybe I am a little more than a little desperate!

I am hereby called to....

This post is a little long in coming but it is now finally here. On August 8th I got my mission call to the EL SALVADOR SANTA ANA/BELIZE mission. I will be speaking Espanol and entering the Provo MTC on December 19........FOREVER away!!! In the mean time, I have moved home for the semester to enjoy my family and to have some time to prepare to leave. Now that I am here I love it!......but I have a lot of time on my hands. So with some of this time I decided to do a little research on the area of the world in which I will be living for the next year and a half (this research is only coming over a month late.....shhh!). My mission contains about a third of El Salvador and all of Belize so sit back and enjoy some of the fun facts that I found.

EL SALVADOR

Actual Name: Republic of El Salvador

Religion: 57.1% Roman Catholic,............0.7% Mormon (I guess I am needed)

Life Expectancy: 73.69

       Male: 70.41

       Female: 77.12

Fertility Rate: 2.04 children per woman

Major Infectious Diseases: rate of risk= HIGH  (gulp!)

Area: slightly smaller than Massachusetts

Terrain: mostly mountains with narrow coastal belt and central plateau 

Natural Hazards: it is known as the Land of Volcanoes; frequent and sometimes destructive earthquakes and volcanic activity; extremely susceptible to hurricanes.  (double gulp!)

Randoms Facts:

- El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America and the only one without a Caribbean coastline.

- It is home to 65 airports: 5 paved runways, 60 unpaved runways. (oh dear!)

-The national anthem of El Salvador is one of the world’s longest.

BELIZE

Name: Belize; used to be British Honduras, renamed in 1973

Official Language: English but 50% speak Spanish and 75% speak Kriol

Independence: Granted by Britain in 1981 but Guatemala tried to claim them as a territory. Ever since there has been tension between the two countries.

Terrain: 60% over Belize is forested but some in coastal plains while some is mountainous.

Elevation: 0-3688 ft (that's going to be a change!)

Natural Hazards: hurricanes, hurricanes, and HURRICANES!! After the capital was destroyed twice by hurricanes in thirty years, they decided to move the capital to another city. (Smart!)

Crime: homicide rate in the capitol is the sixth highest in the world (another gulp!)

Fertility Rate: 3.6 children per woman

Religion: 40% Roman Catholic...15.6% proclaim to be irreligious (Mormon didn't even make it on the list!)

Random Facts:

-Area is only slightly larger than El Salvador.

-Only country in Central America with British colonial heritage; they are a parliamentary democracy but  don' t drive on the left side of the road.

-The economy of Belize is based on agriculture and tourism.

I am sure that this might have been a bore to read but I definitely learned a lot! Hopefully when I return in the summer of 2014 I be able to give a much more spiced up and personal account of these countries! 

*I would like to thank wikipedia and the CIA website for this information

Tie-dying with the Guys

The last time that I attempted to tie-dye a shirt it was a disaster. The only colors left were pink and brown and there wasn't really much of them left either so the shirt ended up mostly white. I have been wanting to successfully tie-dye a shirt for a while now and finally found some willing comrades with which to do it: Taylor and Tyson! (We invited Amanda too but she didn't come.)

We went to Wally World to get our supplies. You would think that girls take more time and are picker about clothes shopping but I beg to differ. We were in the men's t-shirt section forever trying to find shirts that were long enough but not too wide for both Taylor and Tyson. Ha! Who knew that men's clothes are so complicated?!

Once we made our purchases we drove back to the "Brown House" to start creating our master pieces. We had each tie-dyed a shirt once previously so we had an equal amount of experience. I went for the safe/typical tie-dye shirt pattern but both of the boys were being more creative. I got done quickly and was very entertained watching their creativity flow. :) 

 

We finally all finished:

 

Tyson's and my gloves had holes in them so we ended up with very colorful hands. I had concluded that I would just have to go to work the next day with a green hand but Tyson was not pleased with his colorful fingers. He came up with the idea to use rubbing alcohol to get it off. It worked so I joined him in color-removing. We eventually found out that bleach works even better but you have to wash your hands pretty quickly afterward or else it starts to burn.

We finished cleaning and then parted ways for the night. We left the shirts with Taylor (who doesn't have to pay for laundry) to wash and dry the next day. Thank you Taylor! For the sake of the blog I forced them to get together the next day and model our finished products:

I thought that they were all pieces of art but both of the boys refused to leave the house wearing their lovely new shirt. What a shame! 

I am so glad that I have some friends from home going to school with me up here. Seeing a familiar face is so refreshing sometimes! Thanks Taylor and Tyson for helping me accomplish my goal of producing a good tie-dyed shirt and having fun with me in the process!