Pet Chickens and Miniature Swimming Pools

Hola Amigos!

Just practicing my Spanish. I'm a pro!

This week was a tough week, but it was so good! Nothing really great comes easy right? We just continue to laugh and make up songs about our day to keep our spirits up.

So, one day we woke up and there was a giant puddle in the middle of the kitchen floor. Literally just in the middle of the floor. We were so confused! How the heck did it get there? We cleaned it up and went on with our day. It happened the next two days too! It rained a lot this week so we thought that maybe the ceiling was leaking. Nope. The ceiling wasn't wet or damaged. Ok...so the walls? Maybe a pipe is broken? Nope. That's not it. The fridge? No. How the heck would the water end up on the other side of the kitchen? We came to the conclusion that one of was sleep walking and dumping water on the floor in the middle of the night. It wasn't me. It wasn't Sister Sherrow either. How do we know that? Well, when we came home from lunch, there was water on the floor again...ok...so someone is hiding in our attic and dumping water on the floor. No lie, we really considered that an option.

We went to the office for our complex and talked to them about it. They sent some people in. It was the fridge. Our floor must not be level, so the water was collecting in one spot and the trails would dry that came from the fridge. We got a new fridge this morning. It's only a year old, so it's super nice. Our other one was like a million years old.

We have pet chickens now. We made them, correction, I made them out of towels and their names are Fraiser and Tabitha. They scare Sister Sherrow when we come home. She wants me to take them down. Why won't I? Because they scare her! That's awesome! Why would I take them down? Anyway, I sent my parents a picture. They'll have to put it up for you to see. *hint hint* Mom and dad, you have another job to do :) LOVE YOU! :)

Now let me tell you about my p-day last week. Boy was that an interesting day! We lost our phone and were late to Sister Sherrow's doctors appointment because Michigan traffic decided it wanted to be like California traffic and it was raining super hard. We missed our dinner appointment, but didn't get to call them until 5:30 (when we were going to eat) because we couldn't get to a phone until then. Some lady in a parking lot gave us boxes and bags of new baby boys clothes and baby toys that are still sitting in our apartment because no one wants to take them from us. It was a long and stressful day, so I won't continue and bring you down. We listened to the talk "Come What May and Love It" by Joseph B. Wirthlin about a million times. Here's the link for it so you can watch and listen to it:

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/come-what-may-and-love-it?lang=eng.

It is an awesome talk. Sister Sherrow and I have really taken it to heart. We laugh about everything that goes wrong. It makes life really wonderful!
I went on exchanges last Friday with Sister Mecham. She is so awesome. We did a lot of tracting! We met Kevin who was awesome! He was so amazed to hear that Christ came to the Americas and that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ. He is interested and we hope to teach him! He asked "Why are Mormons the only ones who read the Book of Mormon?" Well...maybe because when you read the Book of Mormon and find out that it's true you become a Mormon haha :) He was so cool!

Another lady named Jody (I think) was so funny. We said "Hello, we're missionaries!" and she goes "MISSIONARIES!!!!!!!!!!!" She was so excited to see us, so naturally we were confused. I asked if she was a member and she said no, but she wanted to make a donation, which we couldn't take, which she thought was weird. Anyway, she was leaving for a car show with her family which was also very nice and very excited to see us, so we will go back there too. :)

It was a really great day!

Ok, so did anyone do the reading I assigned? No? Slackers. Just kidding. That's cool I guess. I decided to break up 1 Nephi into little sections instead of doing the whole book, so this week is chapters 1-7.

I have read these chapters about 50 times this week. Nephi always talks about the land of promise. For him that was America. For us that can be eternal life and salvation. In 1 Nephi 2:20-24 God tells Nephi the blessings for being faithful and the consequences for not being faithful. If we are faithful we will obtain the land of promise and have power over our brethren. If we are not faithful, we will be cut off from the presence of God and our brethren will have power over us.

I thought a lot about what it means to have power over our brethren. When we are faithful and obedient, we are blessed. We know what will get us to the Celestial kingdom and into the presence of God. We will be better off than those who are not faithful.

This leads me to the next thing I wanted to talk about in these chapters. When we choose the Lord, He chooses us. Sister Mecham said this when we studied 1 Nephi 1:20. Funny thing about that verse is that my dad talked about it in the letter that he sent me :)

1 Nephi 1:20 talks about the tender mercies of the Lord. Elder Bednar gives a great talk about this verse. That can be viewed here:

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2005/04/the-tender-mercies-of-the-lord?lang=eng

We can receive the tender mercies of the Lord only if we are faithful.

Nephi was incredibly faithful. I am so amazed by his faith. I am trying to be like Nephi. Nephi knew that the Lord does not command us to do anything without providing a way for us to be successful in keeping that commandment (1 Nephi 3:7, 15-16 & 1 Nephi 4:10-18).

Nephi's brothers, Laman and Lemuel, on the other hand, were not faithful. They complained. They never trust in God. They believe in God and His power only when they see a miracle, but they don't have real faith. If they had real faith they would only need one miracle, and really shouldn't need any.

In the story of getting the brass plates (chapters 3-5) there are 3 different people. There is Nephi who is always faithful no matter what. There is Laman and Lemuel who see miracles, but fall into the pride cycle over and over. Everyone knows those people, but the third in this story is someone that I don't think people ever notice, Sariah. Sariah is faithful until something goes wrong. Instead of turning to the Lord in times of trial, she blames God in times of trial.

Who am I most like? I've thought a lot about that this week. Am I faithful at all times, in all things and in all places? Or do I fall into the pride cycle when things go great or after I've seen a miracle? Or do I turn away from the Lord when things go wrong?

Who are you most like? Think about it.

How can we be like Nephi? I have an answer for that. Just be like Nephi! Read these chapters over and over. Study them. Channel your inner Nephi!

One more thing I want to point out are the words firm, steadfast, and immovable. Have you ever noticed that we never see one of those three words alone in the scriptures? There’s always at least two of those in the same place together.  I looked up these words in the dictionary and thesaurus.

-Relatively solid, compact or unyielding to pressure or touch; strong and sure; steadfast and constant
-Not capable of moving or being moved
-Not changing or moving; firm in purpose; true; loyal

Synonyms

-solid, rigid, inflexable, stiff, unchanging, constant

Antonyms

-unstable, insecure, weak, limp, soft.

When I see God I don't want Him to tell me that I was unstable, insecure, weak, limp or soft. Imagine God telling you "You were too limp. You weren't firm enough." Not that He would say that, but still. I don't want to be any of those words. I want to be solid, constant, firm, steadfast and immovable.

Now why don't you see firm, steadfast or immovable alone? To emphasize how important is to be those things.

Be faithful. Be obedient. Be EXACTLY obedient. Follow every little rule.

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Heywood

PS next week will be 1 Nephi 8-12

 

PPS HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY COUSIN DWIGHT!!!