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

27 May 2013

What a crazy but AWESOME week! I really feel like I have had an ensign experience. It really started at the beginning of the this change. Our zone it just awesome and we have worked hard to really be united. We have kept each other pumped up, trying to accomplish our goal of 30 baptisms in our zone in the month of May. This last Wednesday in our zone meeting we had 19 total potential baptisms. There were people who were possibitities to be baptized this month but still weren´t committed. We decided to fast together specifically for these 6 people. During that fast four people accepted dates to be baptized this weekend! One of them had to get married but her husband was leaving in 24 hours to Panama. We had to put together a wedding in like 12 hours. Even though it wasn´t in our area, almost all the zone helped to make it happen. This weekend every one of the nine areas in our zone baptized at least one person. We baptized Alejandra Moscoth on Saturday and it was so great. It was pouring rain outside so we had to send a taxi to go get her. But it was so cool to have it raining, it smelled great, and Hermana Bryce and I sang I Like to Look for Rainbows. Perfect! It was awesome to see her progress. There was one point and time when I honestly thought that there was no way that she would be baptized. But the Lord works in mysterious ways. Sometimes our blessing come in forms of trials. Her boyfriend who she was living with just up and left her for another woman. She was devasted. But because of that, she was able to prepare herself to be baptized.

This is Alejandra and her family

Sunday we had a mega baptism for almost all of the people in our zone, all together. Hermana Bryce and I were running around like crazy making sure there was clothes for everyone, doing all the things that the elders often don´t think about :).

 

There were 9 people that were supposed to be baptized in this one service. Once the baptisms started there were two people that had been a little unsure about getting baptized. There baptisms were supposed to be on Tuesday. But after seeing all of these people getting baptized, they wanted to be baptized right then and there so we scrambled to get clothes for them. By the end of the day 14 people in our zone had been baptized, making 21 total for the month of May. Last month the zone of Sonsonate only baptized 8 people so this was awesome! I really feel like I have experienced miracles here. It has been an awesome change, one that I will never forget. We found out that a ton of the elders are leaving with changes this week so I am bummed. But I feel so blessed to have experienced this. Like Ether 12 says, the miracles only come after our faith. That is what our zone had....faith!!

The rains have started. It has rained almost every day this week. It rains a lot at night and I love it! Well I hope all is well. Love you all!

Hermana Heap

20 May 2013

Well here I am again writing only after a few days so I don´t have too much to say. But we learned on Thursday that I will be getting another new companion in at the end of this change, 29 de Mayo. I have to admit that I am way bummed about this because I just love Hermana Bryce. But I guess all I can do is accept the Lord´s will.

Yesterday in Sacrament Meeting Kevin, the guy who was baptized on the 4th of May, blessed the Sacrament. AWESOME! I almost shed a few tears. ha! It is just so cool to see the progress of somebody. And when we were teaching him on Saturday we started spilling out all of these stories. He is a pretty quite guy but he shared experience after experience of when people had offered him marajuana, beer, coffee, and more in the last few weeks since his baptism. And he turned them all down!!! I wanted to shout for joy! What a cool kid! This gospel is so true!

Well I honestly don´t have much more to say. I am drawing a blank. But I hope all is well at home. I told Mom and Dad on the phone but just to make sure, Holly and Bonnie, I got your package and it was AWESOME! Thank you so much dear family for always supporting me with your packages, letters, emails, and prayers. I love you all so much!

Hermana Heap

16 May 2013

 

This is my area

Surprise! I didnt get to have my normal p day on Monday so I couldnt write. We went to the temple today so our p day was changed to Thursday this week. I felt like I was going to die without a p day for so long but I survived :) Mothers Day was great! I loved seeing everyone. It is weird to think that life just keeps going on like normal for you all. Much to the surprise of my companion, I did not feel the need to cry while talking to you all. But I have to admit that my mind has been on home more lately. Okay okay, so maybe a few tears came out afterwards but all is well.

Yesterday I got to experience the real life as companion to the mission nurse. Right now there are two nurses so Hermana Bryce is just in charge of everyone in Belice and the 2 zones here. This means that her life as nurse is pretty calm; just a few more phone calls than usual. But yesterday morning one of the phone calls was pretty serious. This poor elder in my zone was throwing up blood so we got to take a taxi to San Salvador hospital. There are hospitals here in Sonsonate but they are a little iffy so to San Salvador it was. We were in the hospital figuring everything out for most of the day. Luckily the elder is fine, just SUPER dehydrated so they put an iv in. I had to leave the room. I told Hermana Bryce that I passed out watching a cat scan. We are bothing wondering if being the companion of the mission nurse was a good idea for me. ha! But everything was taken care of and we got back to our area at about 6pm, leaving just a few short hours of work before sleeping, and waking up early just to drive to San Salvador again for the temple this morning. But the temple was GREAT!

 

It felt like it had been forever since I have been through a session. This time was my first time in Spanish and I actually understood almost all of it. Maybe that is because I already know what is being said a each part. ha! The last part was a little nerve racking but all went well. Can I just say that the San Salvador temple is GOREGOUS!! I have only been inside a few temples but this one is one of the prettiest I have seen. As I was sitting in the temple thinking, I started picturing all of the people that I am teaching right now that have baptismal dates, standing all in white in the temple. YES! That is the goal. I am not here only to fill the churches on Sunday. I am here to help people start taking the steps to get to the temple. It is so easy to get sucked into thinking about the day to day things. But when we are looking at the whole picture we realize how important the small but righteous decisions are. If you make your goals while only looking at the small picture, you are never going to accomplish the most important goal of this life. I have to remind myself of this often. I am not here in El Salvador just to knock doors everyday. I am here to help people prepare for eternity. They dont know what they need to do to have a good eternity. How important it is to share this with everyone! Like Jacob says in 2 Nephi 2:8 Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things (speaking of the atonement) known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah..... This is the work of missionaries. This is the work of every member of the church! We have a duty to share this vision with everyone. I have been thinking a lot about what I am going to be like when I get home. As a missionary, you see the functions of the ward so differently. I cannot go home just to be the same as I was before, only thinking about my own salvation. If I do, I will have wasted 18 months of my life. But that is the great blessing that we have, we can change and progress. And we can only do this because of the atonement of Jesus Christ. I am SO grateful! Every day I learn a little more about this atonement and every day I am even more humbled to realize that He did that all for me, for you, for everyone. I know that my Savior lives! Because of Him, we can have hope in this life. There is light in the midst of darkness. Use it! Dont just toss aside.

I love you all!

Hermana Heap

Last week for zone conference Hermana Bryce and I made french toast for everyone. This was only about half of what we made