The Michigan Left

Well, hello there! It's me, Sister Heywood. Just livin' the life as a missionary in the Michigan Detroit Mission!

Oh my gosh, I love it here! It is so beautiful and green! I've never seen anything so green! And the Michiganders are so nice! Yup, they are called Michiganders. I love it! :) Seriously, they are so nice. When we knock on doors and they answer they always nicely turn us down. There have been a few rude people, but mostly nice! I'm so surprised!

I am in Ann Arbor, so there are a lot of students here!

Kay, so let me tell you about my first day out here in the field. First off, let me start with the plane ride. I woke up at 2:15 am to catch the bus at 3:30 am and got on the plane at some time that I don't remember haha, but we got into Michigan around 1 (that's 10 California time and 11 Utah time). The mission president and his wife greeted us. Brother and Sister Holmes are the sweetest. We then went to the mission home and had cheeseburgers that Sister Holmes grilled. I want to be like her! There were either 29 or 31 of us that arrived that day and I think 18 were sisters. That's the most they've had and they are expecting more next time! CRAZY! So we ate and met with the mission president (I need to say thank you to Bishop Cunningham, President Lindberg and my parents for saying such nice things about me! You made me look really good ;)), and then we went out proselyting! Yup! Right away! They threw us into the work! It was awesome. I went with 4 other sisters. Only one of us wasn't new, Sister Evans. Sister Evans is from Australia and has two transfers left. She's awesome. We split up 3 and 2 and went tracting. We found 1 new investigator! I'm not in that area so I don't know if she's progressing but it was really exciting! We also found a potential. I love missionary work!

I don't know what area we were in. It's a new area.

After that we went to bed and set our alarms for 6:30 and got rested for the transfer meeting at 8 the next day. Now, here is where it gets interesting. We didn't wake up at 6:30. We woke up at 8.

Yup. That happened. Sister Evans, at 8, said "Sisters, it's 8. None of the alarms went off." Our brains took a few seconds to process that and then, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! We all jumped up like crazy people screaming and running around trying to get ready!!! How this happened, I don't know, but I sure would have enjoyed watching us freak out. It would have been really funny. We let Sister Holmes know what happened, got ready and jumped in the car. Lucky we only missed breakfast which started at 8. We were in time to grab a muffin, take pictures and go to the transfer meeting. SUCCESS!

I got my companion and my area. I got two companions actually. Another trio! Sister Jory Miller, who arrived with me but is here waiting for her visa to go to Brazil, and Sister Farnsworth. We were put in the Ann Arbor 1 ward. Pretty sweet! We had a new apartment and kind of a new area. So, let me explain. Ann Arbor 1 split into 2 areas and so the ward has 2 sets of missionaries. A set of elders and a set of sisters. We met Laura who is a potential investigator and I have a really good feeling about her! I think she was prepared for us. We met a guy who laughed at us when we talked about Joseph Smith. He just stood there and laughed, but we shut him up when we said what we know is true. I have good feelings about him too. He's Laura's neighbor haha. We also met our neighbor Portia. She is the cutest little old black lady and she is also a potential investigator! Sister Jory Miller and I had a strong feeling to talk to a lady at the library. Don't know why, but we did. We acted on that and went to talk to her. She turned us down, but we know we did what the Lord wanted us to do. Darn agency. That's going to drive me nuts out here! 

I met the bishop and ward mission leader. I started training and got all settled in. Well, guess what. SUPRISE!!! I'm not in Ann Arbor 1 anymore! 

President called Thursday morning and made a change. I got transferred to Ann Arbor 2 with Sister Sherrow. We made the switch in 2-3 hours. It was so fast. That was a long day.

 I love Sister Sherrow! We have had so much success! They had a goal to teach 6 lessons in a week and usually only get 1 or 2. We got more than 6 in two days. There is a reason for me being here. Sister Sherrow and I work so well together and keep trying new things which really seem to be working! It's awesome. AND NOW I'M IN A DUO!

A little about Sister Sherrow. She is 20. She's from Utah. She comes from a family of 13! They are all adopted. And she cooks scrambled eggs in the microwave. I love her to death!

Yesterday was my first Sunday! I love the ward. They are great!

Our first dinner that we had with a family was with the Miller family. I love them! They are so great! Guess what we ate! (Mom, you're going to get a kick out of this). FISH! I hate fish, so obviously I was super excited. We had the choice between salmon and mahimahi (Spelling?). I chose the mahimahi because they said it was more mild than the salmon. I choked it down and pretended I liked it. They gave us the leftovers which are currently in the fridge and will probably not get eaten because I won't eat it and Sister Sherrow doesn't like to use the stove (fish gets rubbery if you put it in the microwave). I feel so bad!

Our second meal was better. We had it last night with the Wright family. We had nachos! I LOVE NACHOS! They have the cutest kids! One is Abby's age, which really made me miss Abby, and she has the same name as one of my cousins, so that's pretty cool. I'm best friends with their youngest and we even have a secret hand shake. :)

Sister Sherrow and I met this guy named Stu who is a potential investigator. We went to check up on a referral and the guy we were looking for wasn't there, but Stu was. Stu was just sitting outside of the house so we talked to him. He has an incredible story! He's had several near death experiences which brought him close to God. He was a hard core atheist before his accidents. We talked to him and gave him our card. He's going on vacation and said that he'd call when he gets back. I sure hope he does! That was such an incredible experience with him. I have been so worried about listening to the spirit and having it tell me what to say. I always plan what to say while the person is speaking when I should listen to them and let the spirit fill my mouth when I open it. I had 3 experiences that day where I was able to do that. It feels so amazing to be used as a mouthpiece and to feel the power of God and the Holy Ghost flowing through me. It is unbelievable. D&C 100:3-8. I love missionary work!

So, just a couple other things. 

1. I found Hogwarts. It's not in England. It's at the University of Michigan. No lie. I'll try to get a picture of it for you guys. 

2. There is this weird thing here called a Michigan left. Look it up because I can't explain it. All I can say is that whoever developed the roads here was mentally insane and so were the people who agreed with him. I have no idea what they were thinking.

3. The Dollar Tree here is amazing. They have everything! Even frozen and refrigerated foods. It puts me in poor girl heaven!

4. We are going to try to plan a fireside that we will invite investigators and non-members to. I'm super stoked. :)

Well! I think that is it! I miss you all! I love being a missionary. I love serving the Lord. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, and it is the only true church. It was restored through Joseph Smith, who is a true prophet of God. The Book of Mormon is true and Joseph Smith translated it. The Holy Bible is true. I know it. If you don't know these things to be true then I challenge you to study them out and pray to God and ask if they are true. He will tell you if these things are true and if they weren't then He would tell you they aren't, but they are. Again, I KNOW IT! I know it with every fiber of my being. 

Love you all!

Until next week!

Sister Emma Heywood

PS

My mailing address is:
2511 Brecken Ridge Dr.
Ann Arbor, MI 48103

You can still send things to the mission home, but this address just send stuff right to me  :)

PPS

The stake here is teaching everyone how to use technology in spreading the word of the gospel.  It’s kind of funny, but super awesome.  They are going around and actually teaching people how to do everything and encouraging them all to use Facebook and twitter.  And there is a possibility that I will be able to use Facebook as well.  Not sure yet, but I will let you know.