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.
