Knock Knock Knock

Sister Watko and I are staying in Grand Blanc one more transfer!
YAY!

We get to see Elder Holland tomorrow.

YAY!!!!!

This week was rough, or so we thought.

We did a lot of knocking.

Like, a lot.

One day, that's all we did.

We went out at the beginning of the day and knocked until lunch.

There was a house that we didn't knock, but I felt like we should and it bugged me all through lunch.

SO 20 minutes into lunch, we went and knocked on the door.

They weren't interested.

We knocked the rest of the street and then went home and finished lunch.

Then we went back out after lunch and knocked until dinner.

It was 4 straight hours of knocking doors and it was raining.

We taught 2 lessons.

No return appointments.

Then we went and had dinner.

After dinner, we visited Brother Gleason and he boosted our spirits :)

I love him :)

After that, we did some more knocking.

We knocked for 2 hours.

Taught two lessons.

4 lessons in 1 day.

I've been able to teach 4 lessons in 1 hour before.

This was Saturday.

A lot of people were home.

We got a lot of slammed doors, but we kept chugging along.

I wanted to cry, but I didn't.

I squared my shoulders and lifted up my head and kept knocking.

I didn't want to, but I needed to.

Yesterday, we had a lot of appointments with members set up.

We even committed one family to take the lessons like my family did, so that they can be better prepared for missionary opportunities. :)
I'm super excited.

Our one teaching appointment we had set up with an investigator fell through, so guess what we had to do.

Knock.

We went to a street where some potentials live.

I started to have a better attitude and was actually really excited :)
We had a goal to find 5 new investigators and were even challenged by our zone leaders to do so, and we only had one, so I was pumped to find 4.

I knew we could do it.

My companion was pretty down though.

We pulled over to talk and to rest since we hadn't had a chance because we were running from appointment to appointment all day.

As we were sitting there, a member pulled up next to us and said,

"Hey Sisters! Nap time?!"
We laughed because we were actually planning on taking a 5-10 minute nap.

He said "we're having cake if you want some."
Well, we had already eaten cake, but I'm not one to turn down cake, so we gladly accepted the invitation.

We could use a little boost :)

The family asked us about our week and we told them about Saturday:
Them:"How was your week?"
Us: "It was rough. Especially yesterday."
"What happened yesterday?"
"Well, we knocked all day and taught 4 investigators"

(We said that kind of timidly because we were disappointed and embarrassed. AND both the mom and dad had served missions. We expected an "it's ok" or an "oh")
Them: "Oh my gosh! That's awesome! That's way cool!"
They were so excited for us and we were confused.

Us: "Oh really? That's good?"
Them:"That's really good!"

It gave us the confidence we needed and reminded us that we are doing a great work and every effort is important and every little thing is a miracle.

After that, we got a new investigator and we didn't even need to find him.

The Elders found him for us :)

I love you all.

Have a blessed week :)

Love,
Sister Heywood

Pure Exhaustion!

I'm tired.

Really tired.

BUT GOOD TIRED!

I've been having to work really hard to feel the Spirit and it wears me out!
But I love the feeling :)
Being warn out by the Spirit is awesome!
That guy and I are like best buds!

It's been kind of hard for me to feel and recognize the Spirit lately though.

I don't know why.

It's annoying, but I'm working on it.

We had a really cool specialized training this week teaching us about finding and strengthening families!
Super cool!
I'm so excited to put what I learned into action! :)

This week we saw Ronnie with a member who used to be his neighbor!
It was awesome!
The Spirit was there and I was worn out from it for 3 days.

The member we brought was perfect.

She was bold and loving.

I really hope we can help Ronnie.

He is really depressed from his wife's death.
I don't blame him, but it's so sad to see how obsessed he is and how much it's ruining him.

He doesn't fully understand the gospel yet and how he can find peace with his wife in the eternities.

I'm so grateful for the knowledge of the gospel that gives me peace in times like that.

It's ok to be sad, but it's happy to know that families are forever :)

I love that guy :)

We had a really cool experience where we found 3 investigators.

We went to check up on a potential and her cousins were over.

The potential didn't listen, but the cousins did.

We started to teach them the Restoration with the pamphlet and it was way rough and awkward.

Part way through we said "Hang on, Let us get something."
We have these cups that we teach the Restoration with sometimes and we happened to have them in the car.

So, we taught the girls with the cups and they loved and understood it.

They are super excited to read the Book of Mormon!
We get to see them again this week and hopefully with their parents :)

The amazing part, is that we had a goal to find 3 investigators that day.

We didn't have much time to find because of the training and weekly planning, but the Lord blessed us and we found those 3 girls and one more :)

God is so good! :)

I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so glad I got to talk to my family!
I miss them so much, but I know I'm where I need to be :)

Have a blessed week!

Love,

Sister Heywood

Michigan Only Believes in Sidewalks Sometimes

Well, it was the end of the month, and we were low on miles, so we rode bikes.

YAY!
My muscles and butt were sore, which is always fun.

So we went on exchanges on Tuesday and that's the day we rode bikes.

For the first part of the day I was with one of my old companions, SISTER TAYLOR!!!
I love her!
We rode bikes for a week when we were together, so this Tuesday was like old times :)

First we rode down to visit an investigator.

Now, you have to know that I was on an Elder's bike.

It was too big.

I had to either stand or use my tippy toes to ride it.

So, we rode down to the investigators house.

We got lost, couldn't find it and I was on a bike that was too big for me in the rain and then the humidity once it stopped raining.

We decided to knock the street we were by.

We couldn't find a place to lock our bikes, then Sister Taylor's bag broke and I made a makeshift bag with the plastic bags we happened to have in our pockets.

We knocked and had a good time.

Taught some good lessons.

Found some good potentials.

Then we rode home on a bike that was too big and with a broken bag.

BUT we made it home after I rode through a big puddle and got covered in mud.

It was fun!

So, later, a member said she had bikes we could borrow.

We only had two and there were 4 of us, so two more meant we could all ride bikes.

Remember when I said I was on a bike that was too big.

Well, then I borrowed a kid's bike from the member.

It was little and pink and even had a little white basket.

At least people think I'm a child, so I didn't look like an adult on a tiny bike.

IT WAS FUN!

On Wednesday, we found Ronnie!
His wife just died in January.

We told him that he could be with her for eternity and he let us in.

We taught him the Plan of Salvation.

On Saturday, we went back and taught the Restoration.

AND he came to church on Sunday, AND he knows some of the members in our ward :)
He's so cool.

He wanted us to anoint him with the priesthood the first lesson, so he's got a lot to learn, but he's cool :)

Thursday we got to go to the temple and boy did I need it!
I love the temple!

Let's see did I forget anything?
Oh yeah.

I locked us out of our apartment last night.

Yup. That happened.

I left the keys in the apartment and then we locked the door and closed it.

We were stuck in our hallway for 2 1/2 hours.

The Elders even tried to help us break in.

So, yeah.

Fun times.

It's always an adventure when you're with Sister Heywood.

Well, I love you all!

THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Sister Heywood

Did You Hear They Changed the Missionary Age to 14?!

So....yah they didn't really do that, but everyone here in Grand Blanc thinks I'm 14.

I know, I just turned 20.

I haven't had this issue in other areas haha

Actually I've gotten 15 a couple times, so I'm growing up :)

Yay!

Well, this week was pretty good.

We did a lot of knocking.

No one was interested this week.

We got 0 new investigators.

Actually, we found a few potentials, so that's good!:)

Our investigators John and Lisa are finally keeping commitments!
It's been so hard to get them to do that and they finally did!
They wouldn't read the Book of Mormon on their own.

They just wanted us to read it with them.

We told them that it's great for them to study with us so we can help them better learn the stories and stuff, but that they need to read on their own so they can have their own experiences and gain their own testimonies.

We will still study with them, but only if they've read the chapter on their own before hand.

We had to do a lot of establishing our purpose in this lesson.

Sometimes as missionaries we fail to establish our purpose right from the beginning.
I think fear gets in the way.

So, that didn't happen with John and Lisa at the beginning.

Not saying that the missionaries who started teaching them failed or anything.

They didn't!
But, now that we have done this, John and Lisa will be able to progress better and faster. :)
We invited them to pray to know that the Book of Mormon is true.

We asked them to do that last week, but they said they didn't even think about it.

SO we committed them this week and they said they will.

We also invited them to be baptized once they know that the Book of Mormon is true.

We talked about acting on our answers, so they agreed to be baptized.

We didn't set a date with them, but now they know that baptism by the proper authority is our goal and desire for them.

We also saw Brandon this week.

(The one who came to church!)
We taught him the Restoration on Monday and the Plan of Salvation on Friday.

He's an interesting guy.

He's had a rough run, been in and out of jail, things like that, but he's awesome.

Lessons are funny with him.

He's like an annoying big brother.

But lessons with him are good and he's going to convert, he just doesn't know it yet :)

He's so cool!

Well, not much else to tell :)
I love you all and I know the church is true!

Here's a cool video by one of my favorite people :)
http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=1289877050001

Love,

Sister Heywood