15 July 2013

Hello again dear family! I feel like I just barely wrote so I am wracking my brain for something to write. This week we had three investigators in sacrament meeting which is a lot more than we normally have. One of them was this crazy guy that goes by the name Chepito. We found him this week and he barely let us talk at all. He was preaching to us for twenty minutes before Hermana Mendoza interrupted and told him to humble himself and listen to us for a minute. ha! I did not want to return to this house but he told us he wanted to visit the church so we passed by for him Sunday morning. We had other people with us too so I sat with them and left Hermana Mendoza to sit with Chepito. Pobresita! When we got to the church he knelt down in the pew and started praying outloud with a lot of Alleluias! (I don´t know how to spell it). hahaha! And during the meeting he was arguing with Hermana Medoza about the sacrament and baptism. Then when she had to give a talk, he slept. In the end of the meeting they were confirming the daughter of the bishop and he just stood up and walked out in the middle of it. I imagine that he just couldn't handle feeling the spirit. but wow......hahahahah! What an experience! Almost everyone goes to church here. There are about a billion different chuches in my area. So we encounter quite a few super super devoted people here like Chepito but never have be brought one to church before.

So finally I have a bruise that can compare to all the bruises that Wendi had on her mission. Unfortunately I cannot send a picture of this one because it is on my rump but it is a good one! The stairs in our house are super crazy and dangerous. We sleep upstairs so the other morning I was carrying the fan and the cd player down the stairs, so I was going down the stairs without a free hand to support myself. It resulted in a grand KABAM!! Ouch!! Needless to say, I learned my lesson and will never do that again. ha!

Well hope all is well. How cool that your fast in Eagar brought the rain!! Faith and sacrifice brings blessings! Love you all.

 

Hermana Heap

This was the result of our quarentine in the house for Hermana Mendoza`s strepp. Needless to say we went a little crazy!

 

Bruise-causing stairs! yikes!

 

10 July 2013

Surprise! I am writing on a Wednesday, not Monday because we spent all day Monday in San Salvador at doctors appointments. Poor Hermana Mendoza has strepp throat. She had been battling an aweful fever for days before we finally got to go see Hermana Bryce. We got her some antibiotics but had to stay in the house all day yesterday because she was still super contagious. Luckily I am still fine and healthy but we are sure sick of being in the house. We didn´t get to buy food on Monday either so there wasn´t much in the house to eat. I caved in and ordered Pizza Hut. The first truly American pizza that I have eaten in five months!! And it was wonderful!

Sunday night we were in the house. Hermana Mendoza had a fever so she was laying down upstairs. I was in the bathroom doing my business when all of the sudden everything started to shake. I thought that it was just some running by the house or something but it started to grow stronger and stronger. I realized that it was an earthquake at that point and quickly pulled up my pants while Hermana Mendoza ran down that stair as fast as posible. We ran for cover, under the door ways in the house. Honestly I can´t remember exactly what to do in an earthquake but my companion said the doorways so that is what we did. Ha! It stopped really quickly because it was only a little tremor. Wow! I have now experienced an earthquake for the first time ever! And of all the places to be during an earthquake, I had to be in the bathroom doing my business....ha!! I told Hermana Mendoza that that is probably where I will be when Christ comes again too. hahaha!

We have now officially met President and Sister Hintze. We had a conference last week to meet them. We quickly ran into problems when we started to go over the rules of the mission. President Cordon and President Glacier (of the other mission in El Salvador) are very different hence the culture of the two missions are very different as well. People started asking questions and bickering over different rules. Poor President Hintze. I could just see the burden grow on his shoulders. I can only imagine being in his shoes...how aweful! But with time all will be well. The good news is that I can now sleep in to 6:30am, I have a little more time to write each week, I am allowed to drink coca cola (doesn´t really affect me much), and pday lasts until 6pm instead of 5pm. Today the Hintzes came to Sononate to do interviews with all of the missionaries here so I got to spend some one on one time with them this morning. They are both super super nice! It is kind of a relief to be able to talk to someone who speaks English and understands my culture better. President told me that I need to prepare myself to train because a lot of sisters are coming to the mission in the next few months. I thought that he was just telling all sisters in general this but when I asked Hermana Mendoza she said that he only told her to help prepare me to train. yikes Yikes YIKES!! This transfer, due to the changes in the mission, is going to last 10 weeks or until the beginning of August. I have heard that I will probably be sent to San Salvador to help mix up the mission. We´ll see what happens. But I am going to need all the help that I can get.

The fourth of July, sadly but truly, does not exist down here. The day came and went. Luckily we had zone meetings that day so I could be with a few people who were celebrating the day as well. I sang the national anthem, Elder Knight wore his American Flag tie and that was about the whole of the celebration. ha! What a different world.

I hope all is well home on the range. I love you all!!

Food Poisoning #2

I have officially experienced food poisoning number two. Luckily I let myself go home before throwing up in a lesson. We still had appointments to do so we had to do divisions. This is Hermana Martinez. She got to hang out with the sickie. She slept while I laid there in misery running to the bathroom every few minutes. Que FEO! But luckily it passed and I survived. The mission nurse, Hermana Bryce, prescribed me coca cola to drink to kill whatever was in my stomach. It is a mission rule not to drink coca cola so I got to break the rules. ha!

The best part about this experience was that the zone leaders came to give me a blessing. I only asked for a blessing of health but Elder Burrahm gave me one of health and comfort. In the blessing he told me that the Lord is pleased with my efforts and work. This is something that I have been beating myself up over for weeks now, constantly feeling like I am not doing well enough. What a tender mercy!

This week we had our last meetings and interviews with President Cordon this week and now we officially have a new President...President Hintze. We get to go meet him tomorrow so next week I will have more to say about that. But I am officially part of the El Salvador San Salvador Oeste Belize mission. How cool! This is my new address:

Dirección para envío de correspondencia:

- Misión El Salvador San Salvador Oeste/Belize
  Apartado Postal #81 Correos Multiplaza
  San Salvador, El Salvador

 I am super happy for the two neices that are en camino! Congrats! I hope every one enjoys the Fourth of July! Love you all!

Hermana Heap

24 June 2013

Dear Family,

Did you all watch the conference yesterday?! I sure hope so because it was AWESOME! And we as missionaries need all the help that we can get from the members. We will never take the gospel to all the world if we as missionaries have to do it all. Times are changing and Heavenly Father is hastening the work....by engaging the help of everyone, not just more full time missionaries! What a cool time! We are kind of in a limbo right now because in a few days we will officially be a new mission with a new mission president. Tomorrow is our last multizone meeting with President Cordon. It will be interesting to see what changes come and how we will mix with the missionaries from the other mission. Today we went to Santa Ana for the last time and had lunch with President Cordon and his family. Kind of strange to think that I will never go to Santa Ana again. I honestly am not too attached to the Cordons because my area is so far away so I am not super sad about having someone new. Interesting, interesting.

Happy Birthday Affie! Six years old and wiser too! I turned six months old on the mission on the exact same day that she turned six years old. ha! I now only have a year left. Weird.

I am struggling to have much to say lately, sorry. But Holly asked me a few random questions so I will answer them for you. I sleep on a mattress on the floor. I eat a ton, I mean a TON, of beans! Mostly the people here eat red beans but they are good so it doesnt bug me much. Eggs, rice, and tortillas are very common as well. Every now and then we buy these tortas, or sandwiches from this inactive member on the street. They are super good and guess what, they too have bean on them. ha! I love the fried platanos the best with a little bit of cream. Also I eat a lot of soups, like vegatable soups. Sometimes they have meat in them but I dont really like eating meat down here. Soups is where they put things like chicken feet. I have luckily avoided that so far. But after watching how they sell meat down here, with flies all over it, and watching all the chickens in the street eating the garbage....needless to say, meat is not my favorite things down here. There are tons and tons of mangos and they eat them with chili and alguashte (the inner part of pumpkin seeds). It is interesting but I prefer the fruit alone.

I hope all is well. I hear that you are enjoying part of the heat that I get to bask in every day :) I keep praying for the rain to go to you guys but I dont think that it is working. ha! Love you all!

Hermana Heap

17 June 2013

Happy Fathers Day to all of you fathers!

This letter is going to be short because I honestly cant think of much to say. It has been raining more this week. On Friday we got caught in the rain with only one little umbrella for the both of us. We ended up soaked to the core and had to go home and change into something dry. I have never been more grateful for umbrellas and warm dry clothes in my life.

The missionary work has been a little depressing this last week but we are trying to keep smiling. Some weeks are just better than others. I received a mountain of dearelders this week. I hadnt gotten any for three weeks and then they all came at once. Thank you for all the letters! I am glad to hear that Cort is doing better. I hope all is well. I will pray to send some of this rain to you guys. Love you all!

Hermana Heap

10 June 2013

Family!

Feliz cumpleaños a Hermana Mendoza hoy! Ahora ella tiene 21 años. Time to celebrate. We a going to have a piñata and all tonight with Rafael and Enma. I wish I could think of other cool things to do but my mind is blank. What an aweful companion I am. The good news is that I have enough spanish now that I can almost always understand her. That helps SO much in a companionship!

The work is progressing down here. Like every week, we have experienced some good and bad things. One of our investigators, Alejandra, was going to get married and baptized this month. We worked a lot with her and her boyfriend all this week only for her to change her mind. She no longer wants to get married and is not doing her commitments. This was a hard blow to swallow because we really do love these people but when they are not progressing we have to drop them. I hope that they will someday come around and realize how important the gospel is.

We found a new investigator last Sunday named Alfonzo. He is 45 and single, with no children or wife. Do you realize how rare that is here?! But we started teaching him about the restoration and the book of mormon. We left him with a chapter to read. When we came back a few days later he had actually read the chapter and understood it!!! MIRACLE! He has lots of questions too, and really thinks about things. I dont think I have seen a person more prepared to hear the gospel than him. He said that he would come the stake conference that was yesterday. But we couldnt pass by for him because he was going to be at his moms house for the weekend. We had to trust him, but he had already done his other commitments so we were praying with all our hearts that he would. We waited and waited but the meetings started so we went in. We were pretty discouraged because all of the people who said that were going to come, didnt come. President Cordon and his wife were speaking in the conference as well so we went to one of the overflow rooms, not wanting to face them without investigators. After the meeting ended, we saw Alfonzo in the hall, leaving the sacrament meeting. We were so happy that we could have screamed but we controlled ourselves enough to ask him what he thought of the meeting. He said that he felt like he was with family, the talks were excellent, and that he felt peace. HURRAY! The only problem is that he is a super loyal guy and he was baptized in another church a few years ago but has stopped going. He is struggling to let go and wants to be sure about being baptized. He commited to read the Book of Mormon every day and pray about being baptized every day and to go to church with us this Sunday. I am way pumped because I know that he is going to find his answer and when he does, he is never going to leave the church or go inactive like so many people do!

So on a different note, the other morning I was making a limeade slushy in the blender to help me cool down from the heat. I turned on the blender to mix up the ingredients before putting the ice in and I saw something fall off the counter onto the floor. I looked down to find a tail of a gecho still writhing on the floor. We have gechos in the house all the time that climb all over the walls so I wasnt too shocked. But I couldnt find where the rest of the gecho was so I called to Hermana Mendoza to come over and look with me. She lifted up the blender only to find blood coming out the bottom of the motor. The gecho had crawled up into the motor right when I had turned it on to make my slush. And what does Hermana Mendoza do? She turns the blender on full blast to finish the job! ha! I couldnt bring myself to finish making my slushy but Hermana Mendoza was nice enough to finish for me. We laughed and laughed and laughed. And Hermana Mendoza accused me of sinning and killing. ha! Oh the random but crazy experiences.

Well my time is officially over. Hope you all are starting to enjoy the warm weather that I get to enjoy every day. :) Love you all!

Hermana Heap

3 June 2013

This week was tough, having to say goodbye to my best friend in the world and teach someone new about my area. But I have been blessed with an awesome companion....Hermana Mendoza from Honduras.

She entered the CCM the same day that I entered the mission field so we are have about the same time here in El Salvador....newbies we are. She is tiny...95 pounds! She appears to be shy but in the house she tells me all kinds of stories that make me laugh and laugh and laugh. I definitely and getting more practice with my Spanish now too, having to explain all the situations with all the people here. Oh what fun.

This week we found these people that were super nice. We taught them about the restoration and invited them to be baptized. They actually responded pretty positively. Okay okay so maybe the husband was covered in tatoos and told us he had just gotten out of jail like 2 years ago. But everyone can change right? Well we talked to their neighbors, who are members, and found out this guy is the boss of one of the big gangs here. OOPS! Needless to say, our zone leaders wont let us go back to teach them. HA! Like always, I am still just so naive. Dont worry, we were never alone with these people. ha what an experience. I am almost a little sad that we have to drop them because they were nice. :)

The change meeting this time was really intense because these changes determined which mission we are all going to be in. When we left to return to our Sonsonate, it was like leaving for another mission. Technically we are still the same mission for the month of the June but we will never see the other missionaries again. Crazy! I was bummed because some of my gringo buddies that were in my zone left to be in the other mission. Sad. Such is the life of a missionary I guess.

Well I better go. Love you all. And CONGTRATS to JAKE and KAREN! I am pumped!

Hermana Heap