28 January 2014

Dear Family,

Well, as I mentioned last week, Elder Quentin L Cook came to speak to us on the 23rd. Well, he came to El Salvador to speak to the missionaries so all of us here in Belize saw it through broadcast. It was pretty awesome! And way too short. He spoke about a lot of things but a few things really stood out to me. He talked about when he was called to be an apostle and how inadequate he felt. He didn't feel like he could do it. But all he could do was accept the call of the Lord and do his best each day. I frequently feel very inadequate to be a missionary so I understood where he was coming from. But really, all I can do is accept my calling and do it to my best ability each day. Who knew that even apostles felt that way?! He also reaffirmed that we are where we should be, doing exactly what we should be doing. That was also a needed confirmation. It was just so cool to have an apostle come speak especially to us. It would have been cool to have been there in real life but I think I am glad that I wasn't. Even through the broadcast we could see a lot of the missionaries and mission presidents from the other missions. It was weird to see and listen to President Cordon again and see some of the missionaries that were left behind in the other mission. WEIRD. It brought back some sentimental feelings though.

So the other day Sister Pocock was having some bike troubles while we were running some errands. Eventually she ended up with a popped tire. Luckily we were in town, near the man who expertly fixed my tire a few weeks ago. We walked our bikes down to his shop only to find that it was closed. There is no other bike repair shop anywhere near that part of town and we didn't have time to walk a few miles to the next shop. So we were in a pickle. We asked the men on the street near by what we should do. They saw our dilemma and decided to lend us a hand. The three of them didn't know anything about fixing bikes but they had the tools, we bought a new tube, and they went to work. It quickly became apparent that they had been drinking. They were all over the place, getting so confused and frustrated, yelling at each other, until they finally got the tube in. Now they just had to put the bike back together. They fumbled and bumbled their way through until the only thing let to do was to screw the kick stand back on. But they just could not figure out how it was supposed to go. After about five minutes of trying and failing, I finally stepped in and showed them where to put it (it should be pointing down, not up!). They finally finished and would not accept any payment for their labor. We did our best during it all to not crack up but as we rode away the laughter burst out. It think we laughed for a good five minutes straight. That is honestly, one of the funniest things that I have seen on my mission!

This Saturday we had a Relief Society activity in the branch. It was planned by the one American sister in the branch who only lives in Belize for part of the year. Because of her, the food for the activity was amazing! A nice cashew chicken salad croissant, three bean salad, a fruit kabob, with very real, very delicious, home-made cheese cake. Like I said, it was AMAZING!!!! I love normal food! haha!

Well I better go. I love you all and hope that you all have a great week! Oh, and if any of you feel like it, I would love a few recipes of simple, easy to make food. Thanks!

Sister Heap

22 January 2014

Dear Family,

This last week has been pretty crazy with zone meetings and everything and this week so far has been crazy too with transfers and Elder Cook (the apostle) is in El Salvador right now and will be speaking to all the missionaries there tomorrow. AWESOME!! We get to enjoy it by satellite but it will still be great! I will tell you what happens next week. :)

So Sister Pocock and I did not have transfers but the other sister in the house, Sister Condie, ended her mission yesterday. It has been hard to see her go because she was one of the first sisters in the field that I met and we were both somewhat new and figuring things out together. We also have gotten to live together for 4.5 months now which has been awesome. She is like the role model missionary and always makes me want to be better. Now she is done and we will all miss her very much. It also leaves me as the oldest sister in the house; the other three are 19 and 20. I also am "supposedly" the most experienced in the mission as well. I still feel like a clueless greenie though. Because of Sister Condie leaving, we worked super hard this week to reach the goal of 150 people in church for her last week. Everyone worked so hard that 160 people ended up coming to church. It was a MIRACLE!!!! In the last six months the attendance of sacrament meeting has increased by 100 people. And almost all of it is because we are working so hard with all the less active members. There are 600 people baptized here in Orange Walk so we still have a lot more lost sheep to go find and bring back to the fold. Right now Sister Pocock and I are working with some families that stopped going to church over 20 years ago. They always let us in and listen to us so we know that there is hope. These people just need to feel a little love and remember their testimony. It has been truly incredible to see Orange Walk grow. There has never ever, in the history of the church, been 160 people at church. That is more than how many we had in my ward in El Salvador and this is a branch! The church is growing and only going up. The Lord has been blessing us with so many tender mercies. And there is so much more work to do. I love the members! There is a recent convert named Carlos that when we got here he never went to church because he was always passed out drunk. Now he has the priesthood, a calling, never drinks, and was reading preach my gospel the other day, preparing to work with us that evening. I love see the growth and changes of these people. I love the investigators that we have right now. The all have challenges but they are progressing and learning more each day. This work is truly amazing! 

I love you all and hope that you are all praying for missionary experiences. They are awesome!!

Sista Heap

PS: to explain the pictures: one is of the homemade face mask that Sister Pocock made the other day (it is made with yogurt); the other is of Sister Price and I with our matching clothes and helmets. We are also the only ones that ever get asked if we are Mennonites. We had fun taking twiners Mennonite pics so I thought I would share one :)

15 January 2014

Dear Family,

So I feel like this week has been pretty crazy but when I stop and think about it, only the last three days have been crazy. On Monday we went to tour some ruins nearby, Altun Ha.

My favorite part was getting to hold a baby crocodile and take pictures. These guys were just walking around asking for donations from who ever wanted to hold the crocodile...COOL!!

The ruin was nice too. It is the biggest one that I have seen so far but is still small compared to those in Cayo. I just don't really get into the ruins as much as a should. How many missionaries have the chance to tour ancient Mayan ruins on p-day?! They also had some pretty cool gift shops there. That really does excite me! :)

Yesterday we had to go to Belize City super early for the multizone. After the multizone we had to stick around to get our interviews with President Hintze. It was 8pm before we got home. Then today we had to go back to Belize City for immigration stuff. I feel like I have been living on buses lately. Fun fun.

This week we had some powerful and awesome lessons. We have been teaching Franklin still. He has a super rough past but is interested in the church. We got some great members to come and share their testimonies with him. The spirit was SO strong!! Those are probably some of the most powerful lessons that I have been in my whole mission. And the Lord keeps answering Franklin's prayers and he can recognize it too. There are just some changes that he doesn't want to make in his life. We are trying so hard with him. I sure hope that he will accept the gospel.

Well , dear family, I hope all is well. I love you all!! Have a great week!

Sista Heap

8 January 2014

Dear Family,

Has it been cold lately up there? Because we have sure had some CHILLY days down here lately. I have gotten so used to the heat that the littlest drop in temperature gets me shivering. It also helps that I have no warm clothes. One cardigan and a few towels are about all that I have. Oh and thank you so much Wendi for sending the long socks in my Christmas package. They have been a life saver! I am really trying to enjoy the cold though because I know it won't last long and before I know it the scorching heat will be back.

 The work here is going well. We have several progressing investigators that are trying to overcome addictions to alcohol. We are praying hard that they will be able to do it. We have also seen a lot of less actives who are coming back to church lately. That just makes me so very very happy! Oh speaking of that, I don't know is you all remember the Magana Family from Sensunapan but Sister Magana writes me weekly. She has told me lately that she just got a new calling.....to be the primary president!! That is so awesome! Just six months ago she was completely inactive and hadn't gone to church in

almost 20 years. I am so very happy for her.

We are rapidly approaching transfers again. I wasn't thinking anything about that until one of our super good friends in the branch, Mormon Santoya, started asking me about them and if I think I will be leaving Orange Walk. Whoa! Hold on! Slow down! I hadn't thought anything about that. I feel like I just got here but then again, it has almost been 4.5 months. I spent 7 months in my last area so 4.5 months doesn't feel like very long. But most of the time people have changes after that much time. That one little comment from Mormon has now planted a seed of thought in my mind and has me worrying. The anticipation before transfers is just a killer. We know that there will be at least one new sister in Orange Walk because Sister Condie is ending her mission this transfer. But who knows what other changes will happen. What a stomach ache. But we got some news today: Elder Quentin L Cook will be coming to El Salvador and will be speaking to all of the missionaries there. It is a big bummer that we will only get to enjoy his visit through satellite but that is still pretty cool.

Well I am out of things to say. I hope all is well. Tell Nathan congratulations for his baptism! I love you all!!

Sista Heap

31 December 2013

Dear Family,

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas. I really enjoyed seeing and talking to the ones that were home. And to those of you who weren't home, I missed you a lot and was thinking of you!

My Christmas was very full of eating. Almost every house that we went to, we ate something. And that lasted from the 24th to the 27th. Sometimes it was a full on plate of rice and beans, but other times it was just cake and soda. Our fridge was full of about three big cakes, cupcakes, and 5 individual slices of cake. I am caked out! But the people were very nice and generous. I always thought that Christmas time would be a great time to share the gospel as a missionary but now I know a little better. Maybe the beginning of December was a good time but once Christmas actually arrived I am pretty sure that 80% of Belize passed the holiday drunk. Okay, that might be an exaggeration but it sure seemed like everyone and their dog was drunk. So we ended up spending most of our time with members and did very little tracting in the streets. Also a big part of Christmas here are the "palomitas" or fire crackers. Everyone from 4 years old to 60 years old was setting off fire crackers in the street all day and all night for about four days straight. Everyone stays up until midnight Christmas Eve so that they can welcome in Christmas day. When the clock strikes 12 they set off a ton of fire crackers. I was peacefully sleeping and instead of hearing Santa's sleigh, I was jerked awake from the loud BOOM of fire crackers. I was slightly annoyed and went back to sleep. ha! But that was about my Christmas. It was a little more exciting than last year's Christmas in the MTC. :)

Well I hope you all have a great new year! I can't believe it is already 2014. But 2014 is going to be great! Love you all!

Sista Heap

23 December 2013

Dear Family,

Merry Christmas!!!! I am not really sure what to write because I will be talking with you in a few days. If I write too much I will not have anything to say on Skype. haha. Maybe I will just explain the pictures that I am sending. Last night we were visiting Gina and her family and we started talking about "plats" or corn rows in hair. The next thing I know, me and my companion are leaving the house with our hair platted. I didn't think it would work on white girl hair but it did. ha! The one who did our hair is in the picture. She is Gina's sister Naomi.

 

I hit my one year mark this week. And I didn't really do anything to celebrate it. The week was crazy and I was so tired that I lived through the day. My companion put up a paper sign for me. And so I just had to take a picture of it.

Oh and good news, I have a cold and have lost my voice. I am having flashbacks of last year's Christmas and having bronchitis and being without a voice for 8 days. Christmases on the mission just seem to take my voice away. ha! I hope that it comes back before Wednesday or else you are all going to have to lip read very well. hahaha!

Well I love you all and wish you a very happy Christmas!

Sista Heap

This is our Orange Walk district after doing our act in the Christmas talent show!

These are all the sisters in the Corozal Zone.

 

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