Missions Are Full of Contradictions and Water

So Detroit flooded.

Transfers were cancelled because of it.
I think we hit record breaking rain fall or something.

That's appropriate I guess since we had record breaking snow fall too. :)
I still need a shirt that says:
"I survived the Polar Vortex 2013"

Well, we've got a lot of good things happening and a lot of bad things happening.

That's how missions go.

We can't get a hold of investigators, but the ones we can are doing great!

Mike is going to quit smoking.

Michel is going to get baptized on September 7th :)

We have a less active who's been progressing so well.

She loves the gospel.

Her husband hasn't been so sure that he likes the church.

This week, he officially decided that he wants nothing to do with the church.

Robyn decided to support her husband 100% and walk away from the church with him.

I don't know that I have ever been so heartbroken.

I love them both so much.

It pains me to see them make this decision, but I've done all I can and now they need the chance to use their agency.

Being a missionary really stinks, but it's the BEST TIME OF MY LIFE!
I've never been so tired but have had so much energy.

I've never been so sad, but so incredibly full of joy.

I've never been in so much pain or felt so much healing.

I've never cried harder, and I've never smiled more.

I've never so badly wanted to scream.

I've never so badly wanted to laugh.

I've never wanted to hug so many people.

I've never wanted to punch so many people.

I want to sit, but I want to run.

I want to curse and I want to sing praises.

I want to yell at God and I want to thank Him.

This is the hardest thing I've ever done, but I've never done anything better.

I want time to go quickly, but I want to hang onto every second.

I'm almost finished, but I'm still in the middle of my mission.

Life is ugly and and oh so beautiful.

I want to quit, but I want to finish (and don't worry, I will finish).

Missions are full of beautiful contradictions.

It's a miracle that God lets us come out here.

All us missionaries are still a bunch of snot nosed kids, but we're representatives of Jesus Christ.

That is a miracle :)

I love you all.

Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Heywood

Where Am I Going This Transfer?

Are you all ready to hear what's happening to me this transfer?
*Drum roll*

I'M STAYING IN GRAND BLANC!!!!!!!

Yes, the Sister who never spent more than 2 transfers in one area before Grand Blanc, is staying in an area for 4 transfers.

I'm so happy!
I love Grand Blanc!

We've had some pretty great miracles!
Here's my favorite:
So in April, when I first got to good old GB, Sister Watko and I met Jaelyn.

We committed her to read the Restoration pamphlet and call us about what she learned about the priesthood.

Well, we never got a call. :(
I was bummed because I really thought she would call us.

Well, this week, we were walking by her house and she was outside.

She was so excited to see us!
She had been reading the pamphlet and kept trying to call us, but the number didn't work for some reason.

The next day, we were able to teach her and commit her to baptism on September 19 :)

She is so prepared!
I'm so glad God put her in our path.
God is so good!!! :)

I love you all so much!

Don't forget how much your Heavenly Father loves you!

Love,

Sister Heywood

Baptisms and Blondies

So let me explain the second half of this title....I did something stupid.

Last P-day, I decided to color my hair.

I grabbed a blonde.

My hair turned out to be a gross caramel color.

I didn't like it, so an hour later, we went back and bought another color.

Platinum blonde.

I was so excited and then it looked so awful.

It looked like a fake gold wig.

Feel free to laugh at the following picture.

I did.

 ​

​This is a fake smile by the way.

On the inside I was crying.

Sister Lundgren didn't think it looked that bad.

I hated it.

The next day we bought another color so that we could fix it.

We bought a dark brown.

My hair is almost back to normal now.

It's kinda redish actually with some blonde kind of.

I really like it. :)
I'm happy and Sister Lundgren is happy that she doesn't have to hear me complain any more.

Here's my new hair :)

This picture doesn't show it that well, but it's the best one I got.

I am actually happy here believe it or not.

I just always look like I'm high in pictures.

So annoying haha.

Oh well.

That's my hair story.

Moral: Don't let me go blonde again.

So besides that, WE HAD A BAPTISM!!!!

The sound of the font being filled was so beautiful!

Gavin was so happy!

I'm so proud of him and I know that God is even more!
God is doing a little jig up there because one of his dear children has made the decision to come closer to Him :)

John 3:5

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true.

I know it with all my heart because I have asked God and He has told me yes.

I know that Jesus Christ stands at the head of this church and that He has called a prophet today to do His work.

I know that I can talk to my Father in Heaven through prayer and that I can feel His love at church and through the scriptures and the Spirit.

I pray that you will all come to this same knowledge.

I know that I have been called by a prophet of God to share this message to the people here in Michigan, and I'm so happy to do it!

I love you all!
Have a great week.

​

Love,
Sister Heywood​

Summer in Michigan

Michigan is hot and humid, but this summer has been really nice!
Almost every day has been perfect.

Although, we get like a million thunder storms and we've even had some tornado warnings, like last night.

It limits our work sometimes, which is annoying, but oh well.

I can't control the weather.

This week was pretty good.

We were waiting for Gavin to get home from vacation.

He gets baptized this Saturday, so we've got a lot to do.

He was supposed to get home 3 days ago....now he won't be home until today.

I was frustrated at first and we even thought about pushing the baptism back a week.

Sister Lundgren and I didn't feel very good about that idea.

We decided to push forward with the baptism.

We prayed about the decision we made and felt good about it.

I have to remember that this isn't my baptism.

It's Gavin's.

It's God's reunion with Gavin, and I need to remind myself of that.

Gavin isn't a number, and I know that this is the right time for him :)

I am so grateful for this gospel.

I know that following Christ is the only way to true happiness.

I wish that some of the really special people in my life knew that.

All I can do is be an example and pray for them that they will embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

To all of you, my brothers and sisters, do NOT forget your Father in Heaven.

He loves you more than you can know.

He wants to bless you so badly.

He wants you home with him, so do all you can to get there.

I love you all!
Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Heywood

Last Weeks Letter

Well this transfer should be named Speed Racer because it's going so fast.

Let's see, what happened this week?
We had interviews with President Gerber.

I love that guy!

My interview went really well.

I wanted to know what kind of missionary he thinks I am.

I didn't even ask him, he just told me!
It helped me feel better about my work.

He talked about how he's been grateful to have me because he's been able to put me in tough situations.

He said he always knows I can handle it.

He also asked me if they've been running me into the ground.

I just kinda chuckled because I thought he was joking.

He was totally serious.

He asked if I need a break.

I didn't know how to answer that.

He wanted me to honest and I just said, it would be nice, but if he needs me somewhere I'll do it.

I will do whatever the Lord needs me to do.

We got a new ward mission leader.

He's awesome!

Um....what else.

Oh.

Remember Brandon?
Yeah, he dropped us.

BUT he says we're still besties.

Our church just isn't what he's used to he says, so he wants something else.

I'm not worried though.

I actually feel really good about dropping him.

It has to happen sometimes.

When we got home the night he dropped us, we had a text from him saying:
"Maybe I'll still come and visit you at church here and there so I can check up on you :)"

Haha, he loves us to much to let go of us :)

A lot of change is happening.

We've got to let go of a lot of people, but that just means we can find new ones :)

Gavin's baptism is coming up in 2 weeks!
I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's a cool scripture for you all!

Moroni 1:1-3

 1 Now I, Moroni, after having made an end of abridging the account of the people of Jared, I had supposed not to have written more, but I have not as yet perished; and I make not myself known to the Lamanites lest they should destroy me.

 2 For behold, their wars are exceedingly fierce among themselves; and because of their hatred they put to death every Nephite that will not deny the Christ.

 3 And I, Moroni, will not deny the Christ; wherefore, I wander whithersoever I can for the safety of mine own life.

I love you all so much!
Love,

Sister Heywood

You Need To Be At Church

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Daddy and my cousin Dwight :)
LOVE YOU BOTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, just so you know, getting people to church is really hard.

Like super hard.

I've struggled with it my whole mission.

People just don't come!

Gavin, who set a date for baptism would come with his family and leave early.

This week we told him boldly and lovingly that he needs to come to church.

We taught him how important it is and suggested coming solo if his family is going to leave early.

Well guess what kids!
HE CAME!
All by himself!
And he stayed the whole time!
He also got to go to a baptism on Saturday which was really good for him. :)

Brandon also made it to church.

When we sat down he says "I had a rough night."
By the way he said it I knew he'd been out drinking.

He confirmed that when I asked him why.

But he made it to sacrament meeting!
YAY!!!!

Pat, a less-active made it too!
He hasn't been able to drive his car and last week he was too prideful to let us find him a ride.

This week he let us get him a ride and he was so happy to be at church :)

People don't understand how vital church attendance is to our spiritual nourishment.

Lots of people say "oh well, I should spend more time studying and doing good instead of sitting for 3 hours learning about how we need to study and do good."

Let me just tell you, it is so much more than that.

I'm about to get real intense.

Some of you may not like it.

Please choose to NOT be offended, because this isn't meant to offend.

Ready?

You need to humble yourself and go to church.

God has actually commanded us to go to church.

If we don't go, He can't bless us.

Church arms us with the tools we need to be able to do all that we need to do and want to do.

With out it, our spirits suffer.

It's like forgetting to eat breakfast.

You do not know everything that God knows.

You never will in this life, BUT you can gain more knowledge through church attendance.

If you think you know it all and have no need for church, repent.

Church allows us to receive answers from our Heavenly Father.
Church helps us tune into the Holy Ghost.

Church helps us remember our Savior and use His Atonement.

Do not take church for granted.

If you struggle with going to church, any church, try going in with a question.

As you're getting ready to go to church ponder, or think, about a question.

Let it be ingrained in your heart.

Then, pray and ask God your question.

Keep the question in your mind as you listen to the speakers and partake of the sacrament.

Listen to the Spirit and pay attention to what you feel and think while others teach you.

I promise you that as you do so, you will understand the importance of church attendance.

I know it because I had a question once and it was answered by going through this process.

Well, that was fun :)

Here's a miracle for you :)

We went to Walmart and we were printing out pictures.

I had this quote from a General Authority:

"Above all never loose faith in your Father in Heaven who loves you more than you can comprehend." 

-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland-

He said, I agree!

Anyway, we were talking and he talked to Sister Lundgren about missionary work.

He told us about how he devoted his life to the Lord 2 years ago.

We talked about his experiences and stuff.

He asked if he could pray for us.

We said of course!
So, we prayed at the photo center in Walmart :)
Awesome huh?!

I love you all!
Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Heywood

Wait!!!!

I forgot to tell you about the sweetest experience I had!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We had to take our car to get an oil change.
Afterward, I really wanted some chocolate.
We ran to Walgreens real quick and got some.
 
Here's my experience with my cashier:
Cashier: Hi. How are you?
Me: Good. How are you?
C: Good.
Me: How has your day been going?
C: *looks at me with a surprised look on her face* No one has ever asked me that before.
Me: Really?
C: No. 
Me: Well, they should!

I made her day!!
She was so grateful and it made me feel so good that I could make her happy :)

A Change of Fate (June 30th) & Transfer 10! (July 7th)

June 30th

So, you know how I normally stay in an area for 2 transfers?
Well I'm staying in Grand Blanc for 3!!!!!!!!!!
Weird!
I'm excited though!
I love this area.
What's happening here feels right :)
 
This week was busy!
 
We've got an investigator who got bad news about his house payments.
It was so sad to see him crying like that.
He just keeps getting hit with one brick after another.
BUT he calls us his angles and he says we always come right on time. :)

Our other investigator told us he has an addiction, which would explain why he was being so weird the last few weeks.
Seriously!
He hasn't been himself lately and now we know it's because of the addiction.
But he's back to himself again and is grateful for God, Jesus Christ, us and the Book of Mormon to help him with his addiction.

We had another investigator who went on a business trip to Milwaukee.

He's been progressing and changing so much!
But he went on this trip, forgot his Book of Mormon, probably didn't pray, and partied with his co workers.

There was a huge change in him when we saw him.

Lately he's been so happy and using less cuss words and he would only smoke like 1 or 2 cigarettes.

When we saw him after his trip, he smoked like 5 or 6 cigarettes, he would have clogged a toilet with his potty mouth and he looked so tired!

By the end of our meeting he perked up a little bit.

It was kind of cool to see how his life was affected when the gospel wasn't as present in his life.

I love you all!
I pray you will all be well and have a great week!
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!

Love,

Sister Heywood

July 7th

So, I've only got 4 transfers left!
I thought I had 3, but it's 4.

CRAZY!!!!!And I'll be home for Christmas :)

I want to thank you all for your support!
I love you all!

So, I've got exciting news!

Gavin and Mike both set baptismal dates this week.

Brandon is going to quit smoking!
We haven't even taught him the Word of Wisdom yet.

My new companion is Sister Lundgren, my other MTC companion!
SO FUN!
I'm excited!

I feel like there's more, but my brain is mush right now and I can't remember.

I love this gospel.

It is the ONLY way to true happiness.

Don't believe me?
Try it.

It won't hurt you to try it :)

I love you all so much.

I pray that you will all treasure the Book of Mormon and the true teachings of Jesus Christ.

I testify that Jesus is the Christ.

Joseph Smith is a prophet of God.

The Book of Mormon is true and it can bring us closer to God than any other book.

I URGE YOU TO read the Book of Mormon and pray to know that these things are true. 

I promise you that by doing so that you will receive a witness for yourself that these things are true.

You WILL find true happiness.

I promise you these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Love,
Sister Heywood