18 December 2013

Happy ONE YEAR to me! Well, tomorrow it will be one year. Crazy!! It has been a very full and interesting year. It has passed so quickly but slowly. I don't think that I have every sweated so much in one year than I have in this one. ha! There have been a lot of great things, interesting things, funny things, sad things, frustrating things, and spiritual things. The Lord is definitely knocking down walls, pulling up flooring, and moving stuff around to make me what He wants me to be. That's okay though because He knows my true potential way better than I do.

Yesterday was the mission's Christmas party in Belize. We went to Belize City, ate a big meal, had a spiritual thought, enjoyed a talent show, played games, and got all of our Christmas packages. It was quite fun. And we got to wear jeans for all of it. That was quite weird! But the good thing is that my one pair of jeans that I have with me still fit :) I thought that the talent show was going to be really short and boring, maybe filled with several people singing songs but it was actually great. It is amazing how talented and creative the missionaries are here. There were a lot of mission jokes. My district threw together an act in the last two days. After the changes last week we realized that every one of us is gringo or white.So we rewrote the words to "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" to be "Orange Walk is having a white Christmas" and all the words are about our adventures here in Orange Walk. It is pretty darn funny if I do say so myself. And....shocker.....I sang a solo! Me and Elder Hales took turns singing solos. I have decided that on my mission would be a great place to get over my fear of singing solos in public. I have been given a lot of practice lately. ha! Maybe someday you all will get a chance to see a video that we took. ha!

We have found a few positive people lately. We got this family to go to church that has eight kids. We just have to get the husband to stop drinking and get these people married and baptized and they would make a great addition to the Orange Walk branch. We are crossing our fingers and praying hard that it all happens.

Well I can't think of much more to say. I hope everyone has a great Christmas! Travel safely! And I can't wait to talk to you next week!

Sista Heap

11 December 2013

So once again I am writing on a Wednesday because this week was transfers and I spent all day yesterday in Belize City dropping off Hermana Rodriguez and picking up my new companion......Sister Pocock! She is from Ohio, just came straight from El Salvador, and has 8 months in the mission. This will be my first opportunity to have a companion that was originally from the El Salvador San Salvador mission before a new mission was created. It should be interesting. The poor thing did not want to come to Belize at all and to top it off, her camera with all of her memory cards were stolen on the plane yesterday. Needless to say, it has been a rough first day for her here. I am hoping that it gets better. In this transfer, we were made into a new zone. Before we were in the Belize Zone that had Belize City, Corozal, and Orange Walk. Now we are in the new Corozal Zone. We still have to travel in a bus each week for a little over an hour but now it is north and not south. We are a pretty small zone of 12 missionaries, six elders and six sisters. But it is cool to see the progress of Belize. There is so much potential here!

Well I know that this email is extremely short. Sorry about that but I honestly can't think of much to say. I was up late last night searching for my companion's camera so the only thing in my mind is how much I want to sleep right now. :) Oh, we have been told that we can call home on the 24th or the 25th. I was thinking that the 25th would be better. I think I am going to be able to do skype but that means that Mom and Dad need to get a skpe account. :) Well I love you all and hope you don't die from the cold weather!

Hermana Heap

4 December 2013

This week has actually been kind of crazy. The investigator that I mentioned last week, Gina, well her dad died last Tuesday. Yikes! So we spent a lot of time with the family, making sandwiches, and going to the funeral. But luckily she still decided to get baptized last Saturday. But the morning of the baptism we called them found out that she had had a fever all night long and was feeling really sick. She and her mother felt it best that we didn't get baptized in cold water that day. They had also not been able to find the beautiful white dress that Gina wanted to get baptized in. So here I was thinking that we would have to postpone the baptism and that everything had fallen through. But we prayed for a miracle, called the elders to give her a blessing, sent the other two sisters to search for a dress and we went to talk to her about it. Right after the blessing, the sisters showed up with the perfect dress. Those two things changed the mind of Gina and she decided to get baptized. And it was a wonderful baptism! We truly witnessed many miracles this week. Satan tried hard to keep her from getting baptized but it didn't work. I know that the Lord helped us so much!

Thanksgiving day started out like a normal day. Well not really because it started out with the funeral of Gina's dad. But I forgot it was even thanksgiving until about 11 am when someone reminded me. ha! We were invited to eat at a member's house that night. He feeds us once a week so it was just normal. We ate a very Belizean meal of beans, tortillas, chicken, and tomatoes. While we were finishing the meal another member called us (Lindsey: it was Elder Santoya) and invited us to eat thanksgiving over at his house in 20 minutes. Well we were already full but had to go eat again. Ugh. There was turkey, ham, gravy, rolls, stuffing, and upside  down pineapple cake. I couldn't really enjoy it because I was just so very full. But it was nice of them to think of us and to have something Thanksgivingy to eat. It was also cold too. A cold front came in this last week and we all had to bust out our sweaters. I only have one so I was cold. We asked a member what the temperature was and guess what it was.....74 degrees! Wow! I have definitely gotten used to the hot weather here is 74 degrees has me bundling up. haha! I am just glad that I will not be getting home during the winter. ha!

This Monday, for p-day, we got permission to go to Los Cerros. It is a Mayan ruin. But we got permission to go there on boat, because  it is on an island. It was WAY cool!! I loved the ocean and the boat ride much more than the ruin. 

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

Sista Heap

26 November 2013

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Enjoy it! It feel a little weird down here that no one is thinking about gratitude right now. It is just ingrained into me that that is what November is for. :) This past Friday we had our Thanksgiving celebration as missionaries in Belize. We had a luncheon in the Radisson (sp?) Hotel in Belize City. We were supposed to be in a tent outside but it was raining so much that we ended up eating in the bar. haha! I was pretty excited for the food, thinking it was to be Thanksgiving. I was a little disappointed but ended up enjoying it anyway. We ate rice and beans, weird stuffing, really dry turkey, a delicious pineapple ham, potato salad, and cheese cake. I just kept looking for your rolls and the pickles, Mom. It really didn't compare. But it wasn't too bad. I really enjoyed the cheese cake. We played games afterwards that were pretty fun as well. Then we went back to Orange Walk. Luckily we didn't have to take the bus, we went with the senior couple in their car. But the combination of the horrible roads in Belize and the driving of Elder Galvez made me car sick so that was fun. haha. Everything is an adventure.

This Sunday was District Conference. We all got on a bus as a branch and rode down together. Our district includes Corozal, Orange Walk, Belize, and San Pedro. There are 2000 members. And we have 24 missionaries working in the district. Wow! Can you imagine if there were 24 missionaries working in the Eagar Stake? Crazy!

The other sister missionaries that we live with had a wedding and baptism this last weekend. The couple got married on Sunday and baptized on Monday. (that happens a lot here because no one is already married before talking to the missionaries). We spent a lot of time decorating, cleaning the church, serving food, and whatever else they needed. I even got to play the piano for the wedding. Fun! But in the end, when they were baptized, it was so great! The spirit was strong and you could just see how much they wanted to change their lives. We were able to bring one of our investigators, Gina, to the baptism. Gina is supposed to get baptized this Saturday so it was good for her to see how it all goes. Pray that everything will go well so Gina will be able to get baptized this Saturday.

Well I hope all is well. Please travel safely for the holidays and enjoy all the food for me. Especially the pickles. There just aren't any pickles here :( Well I love you all! Have a great week full of gratitude!

 

Hermana Heap

 

My only picture of the Thanksgiving activity that somewhat turned out. My camera is having problems. But it is a picture of us missionaries in orange walk.

 

19 November 2013

Dear Family,
I want to share the exciting news that I finally found some good food here in Belize. We went to eat a place called Carls' Pizza. He is Italian and the pizza was SO good! The bad news is that we went to eat there on the last day it was open. What a bummer! We tried another pizza place but the crust was like all air, leaving us very hungry after eating a very expensive pizza.

We finally had a few sunny days this week. It helps so very much to dry out the mud because all the rain has made the roads incredibly muddy! The other night I tried to ride through the mud but got stuck so I had to stop and get off and walk. I looked behind me to see Sister Rodriguez completely stuck and falling, in slow motion, sideways into a huge muddy puddle. HAHAHAHA! After assuring myself that she wasn't hurt, I laughed so hard!! Luckily she had on her huge rain poncho and rain boots so only a bit of her skirt got muddy. Oh the things that happen on the mission.

On more of a spiritual note, I have been reading in 3 Nephi lately. I have a goal to finish reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish before I turn one year old in the mission. My time is running out quickly so I am in crunch time. But I have really enjoyed reading about Christ coming to the Americas. Every time I read chapters 9 or 11 I just feel the spirit so strongly. I think that it is even better in Spanish. The spirit always confirms in my heart that the Book of Mormon is true! I love that book!

I got called to give a talk in church at 9:30 Saturday night. I honestly haven't had to speak much in church on my mission so I was grateful for the chance. That is a clear sign that some part of me has changed while on the mission. Before the mission I avoided speaking in church at all costs. Sometimes it is hard to see but I really am changing. I couldn't resist the opportunity so I spoke on gratitude. I love thanksgiving but no one here celebrates it so I decided to share a little bit of the spirit of the season. I shared lots of stories about bottom eyelids and being a picky eater. Now one of the branch members that feeds us each week calls me picky. But to prove him wrong, I ate the Conch soup that he gave us. Conch is a type of snail. That was definitely the toughest meat I have ever eaten. But in the end it wasn't too bad. haha.

Well that about sums up the week. I hope all is well. I love you all!!

Hermana Heap


This is my full cupboard. I just went shopping so it looks so full and yummy! :)

12 November 2013

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD (yesterday)!!!!!! I hope it was a good one! I was telling the senior missionaries about your birthday. Elder Galvez assured me that you are still young and have many years ahead of you. (He is 70) haha!!

This has been a kind of tough week. My companion got a horrible head flu that just wiped her out. She couldn't hardly speak for days without coughing up a lung. On top of that it has rained cats and dogs this week. I know I say that every week but this week it was even more. I couldn't take Sister Rodriguez out it the rain but none of the members wanted to do divisions with me because of the rain. We were able to work a few days but my companion could not talk so I got to teach all of the lessons and make all of the decisions. I have felt pretty alone all week. It is not Sister R's fault either, it is just bad luck. Or maybe my Heavenly Father is trying to teach me to have more confidence in myself. I am back to the "Fake it til you make it" mentality. But thankfully my companion is back to normal, just in time to do divisions with the sister leaders this week. Once the divisions are over I am going to be so happy to just be able to work normally again!

But this week on Sunday it rained literally all day! I thought that no one was going to go to church but we still had 70. One of our investigators, Gina, who we have not been able to get to go to church, finally went, in the rain and all! That was a tender mercy. She is super positive and wants to be baptized. She is 18 years old and the only member of her family that is not a member. Everyone was baptized a long time ago but went inactive. We found her mom and brought her back to teach. Meanwhile we have been teaching Gina. I just love to bring people back to church and see the light that comes back into their lives! And this helps so much with the missionary work because they now have a renewed testimony of the gospel that they can share with others. The sister in Sensunapan that we brought back to church and baptized her husband, Ana Magana, emails me every week. She sent me pictures this week of the baptism of her neighbor that she invited to church. AWESOME!!! Things like that make it all worth it! I love this gospel and I know it is true. I want others to feel this love and have all the wonderful blessing that come from living the gospel. I want others to taste incredible flavor of the Book of Mormon and that I do. So for all of you who read my silly email each week: Don't waste of take for granted what you have in your hands. Use it. Experience it. Love it. and Share it!

I love you all so much and hope all is well in the real world!

Hermana Heap

5 November 2013

Dear Family,

Well, I honestly feel like I just wrote yesterday and that there really isn't much to say. We have worked like normal this week. We are really struggling right now to find new people to teach, especially families and priesthood. We want to help Orange Walk to grow so we need more priesthood. It is a real challenge though because even so many of the men who are members still have a challenge with drinking alcohol. Alcohol is honestly EVERYWHERE here. You see kids in the street drinking. Weed is smoked on the school play grounds. It is just sad. The men have more of a problem with. It is one of the biggest things holding back the church from growing here. It is crazy for me to think that before my mission I had never seen a drunk person.....now I have seen WAY too many. I thought that El Salvador was bad but Belize is just sad! But we are going to keep fighting against it!

 So teaching the songs in primary is going okay. We have started to sing some fun songs to get the wiggles out. But I think I am getting too old to sing Do As I'm Doing jumping up and down. It just about kills me every time. ha! We have now started working on Christmas songs. It just all feels so wrong to be because everything is still green, hot, and humid. How can it be getting close to Christmas? I love how green it is here but I miss the seasons. We are supposedly getting to the end of the rainy season and it is supposedly cooling off. Everything just feels hot and humid always.

 

This was one of the roads in my area this week. Each day that is rained it just got worse and worse! And we have to use this street every day!

Well sorry that this email is so short and lame. Hopefully something exciting happens this next week. I love hearing from all of you. I hope your week goes well. I love you all!!

Hermana Heap