May 18, 2011

How are you two doing? I bet you, mom, were kind of freaking out with not getting an email from me on Monday. :) Sorry we had our Temple day today so our P-day changes from Monday to the day of our Temple date. Something I didnt know until last week after we already had P-day. So for future reference, if I have a temple day my Pday will be on that day instead of Monday :) But it was great, And the celestial room was GORGEOUS!!! You will both love it, the stain glass with the sun coming in looks amazing, I didnt presonally see it but I can imagine it.

So we went to Deseret Book on Monday to get scriptures for a family, a ward member gave us money but we were there and I was thinking about a lady we were teaching. We bought her a few things for her baptism but then all of a sudden it hit me-Dad makes those Living Christ pitures for people so I was wondering if you, Dad, could make like :$ maybe 5 or something like that for me. There are a few families that I would like to give them to. Sister Sprouse said she would pay for one.

This past friday we had a Greenie day. Who's bright idea that was i dont know. They decided to put all of us new sisters (Sister Spencer, Walker, and I) together for the day because the Trainers (Sprouse, Laluia, Dixon) had a training meeting. So I got to drive the car!!! It was fun though I had no idea what I was doing because we had so much time with nothing planned. It was kind of scary at first but it was good once we went along. We made visits to the Less actives in the Singles ward so it was good. And I got to drive!! :) it made me so happy finally after like 11 weeks without driving. We did service last week at DI in the Humanitarian Aid center, this lady came up to me and we started talking and she told me about these Hugs that they make and donate to hospitals. She said they donate them to the cancer center hospital here, so we got to talking about that. She said that they will probably give me a tour if I go down and ask them, she gave me the address and everything. So when I get to come back to visit I want to go there as well, because I think its out of the mission boundaries.

Oh I forgot to tell you about the temple, it was beautiful. Sister Lords took us she is so sweet, I love her. She bought us a loaf of bread at Great Harvest. But when we were in the Temple one of the ladies told us that Marie Osmond works there on Wednesday! That is pretty amazing, we were hoping to run into her but we didnt but now that we know she works on Wednesdays in the morning probably there is a chance of running into her when we go :) Oh also the Elders told us yesterday that they were walking down the street and some guy pulled up next to them and asked them if they had one of those Book Of Mormon's he can have they said yes. They said he looked familiar and that they knew him some how and then they figured it out, it was Donnie Osmond!! Pretty great!

 It has been weird weather here lately it rained off and on today which is not normal, and it has been kind of chilly. I am not complaining my sweatshirt is getting used though so thank you. I was worried I wouldn't be able to wear it until winter time but I wore it today :) I know I will be staying next transfer but there are 8 more sisters that will come into the mission over the next couple of months so they will be opening up new areas. I am hoping for a California area for the sisters to be in, I really want to serve there :) But I am afraid I may train next transfer but we will see. Oh so we were super close to the strip the other night pretty awesome, dont worry we didnt break any rules. But we were coming back from one of the apartment complexes we visited and we drove past BLACK BEAR DINER!!!! So when you come to visit we can go there, its on Tropicana I believe just west of the strip. I freaked out!

The picture of us in the back yard was our service day at the Goodnoughs, :) we are going to do more service for them hopefully next week. The next time you see the lady at the temple, tell her I said Hi and thank you. That is way cool that you see her all the time and get to talk to her. She's like your temple friend that you made by just attending the temple. The people you meet and the friendships you make they are priceless. I keep telling Sis. Sprouse that she is going to get transferred next transfer but we will see. I just hope I dont train. So we saw this lady today at Sunflower (grocery store) and she was SO excited to see us she was almost crying and almost hyperventilating it was great. She served in Ohio and she LOVES sister missionaries, it was awesome she made my day. But she went to BYU-Idaho and got married last month but it was so funny, I wish you could have seen it.

So today we went to Sister Cooks home to work on our musical number for the baptism on Saturday. They got me to warm up and get higher on Soprano. I almost died though!! My abs were getting a nice work out and my heart rate was getting up there, I had to take off my over shirt becasue of it. But it was good they said I had a good voice, but we will see how Saturaday goes. I am really excited for her baptism. She is so so excited as well, she will be my first official baptism it is going to be so cool to see. This past Saturday was my first unofficial one, we were the first to teach Ben about the gospel so it was awesome to see him get baptized. We got pictures so dont worry. We have been super busy and its about darn time. I have been so tired and exhausted from it all. We have had a lot of cancellations but we are still working really hard which I love. I even go to bed on time and wake up on time and I am still tired. But its great I know that I am doing something right if I am tired all the time. We had like 16 lessons scheduled but we will see how the rest of the week plays out. We were so packed that we couldnt fit anyone else in if we tired but we have had cancellations so we are trying to fit some people in we will see how it goes. One of these weeks we are going to get 20 lessons I know it. We had a great lesson with our investigator last night. We went over to her place after we left the Garrett's home for dinner (they had her over too) and we watched The Restoration The Joseph Smith video. She Loved it and when we were at the Distribution Center Monday I bought her a copy of the D&C 4 disc DVD, and we gave it to her. She loved it, it was so cool to see her light up when we told her that. We forgot it because we were running out of time but we went back home and got it for her and we watched the Strength Beyond My Own video of the temples and she pretty much LOVED it too. the Spirit was so strong and tender it was way awesome to see. It is such a great experience out here, I couldnt ask for anything better. We got to get to our dinner apt so I will close and I will write to you on monday (Pday). I love you and miss you bunches.

Love Heather Baby Little One

Heather's 1st Transfer!

Hello Family and Friends,
How are you all doing? I am doing good. It was sooo good to talk to you both, mom and dad. I felt like I have been talking to you guys every other day but its been like 7 weeks since I really talked to you both. A mission keeps you busy and there is so much going on and things to do, its great. Yes mom your email was a lot better thank you. I haven't received any other emails besides you two so I have a lot more time to read and respond back to you both. We went shopping today I got new shoes finally!!! I also got two shirts.

We got a total of 73 lessons last transfer! That is pretty darn good if you ask me, I guess our district leader only got 20 which means they only had an average of 3 lessons a week, that's horrible. Thank you for the address dad, I will try to write to the ward this week, hopefully. Thank you for buying me the flag, we finally found this store one of the Elders have been telling us about today. So sister Sprouse got a flag, but I am looking forward to the one you got me! So Saturday we had a lesson with a lady we have been teaching and it went well we are finishing up the lessons with her. She is super excited about getting baptized next Saturday May 21, so that will be my official first baptism. But we are having a baptism this weekend with a guy we had to pass him off to the Elders in Red Rock Zone. So his baptism will be at 6 this Saturday, and we get to have BBQ meaning Tri-tip! This past Saturday we had a Car Show the Monte Cristo Ward put on. We asked if we could do a booth for missionary stuff and they said yes. So it was fun we got one guy who is really interested in learning more about the Church hopefully he will feel the truth and join. I guess he has come to the Monte Cristo Ward (the ward that meets before our ward in the same building) but the Elders haven't talked to him or given him the lessons at all. When we talked to him he was really really interested in learning more and this guy came to their ward a couple of times and they still arent teaching him. I just dont understand why they haven't been teaching him. 

 

On Friday we had a lesson with the lady that will be baptized on May 21, it was really good. We talked about Following the Prophet, tithing, fasting, and the Word of Wisdom. It was great and it is amazing that she hasn't had a drink of coffee in two weeks. I am so amazed by her willingness and strength to do what the Lord asks of her. I know that she is going to be a great individual and she is going to touch the lives of many people in the Church. Her strength now is so amazing and her faith is astounding, I cant wait for her to receive the Holy Ghost she is going to be so unbelievably amazing, I cant even tell you but she is going to do so much in building the kingdom of God. So that afternoon (Friday) we had lunch with a lady who is from India she is Muslim I think but she was telling us about her beliefs and all that stuff, and I learned so much from her. They have the holy scriptures they call it the writ or something I am not for sure on the name but I found out that it is the bible just in their language. They have the book of Genesis, they have the story of Noah and Moses, and she was telling us the names for them in her language it was amazing. It was so cool to see the different beliefs, I really want to take a World Religion Class now when I get back to school. We have met so many catholics and some baptists, but I still don't know all that they believe in. Oh one day (don't know if I told you this b=efore) but one day we were at the Hospital and there were these ladies that were walking up behind us and they said hey sisters. So we turned around and said hi and they were all excited when we turned around and they got closer and they looked at our name tag and said oh you are Mormon sisters. After they saw that they hurried up and left, they said that they were Jehovah's Witnesses. It was so funny to see because it was like they wanted nothing to do with us after that. But I got a good laugh out of it, some people. I have come to see that they only believe in Christ's death, not many religions focus on his Resurrection like we do. It's so sad that they focus on the bad and sad things, they should focus more on the happier things in life. 

 

I hope the family is doing good. I will still need the addresses, so don't forget to send those to me please. :) I have a nice stack of BOMs on the table that I will take a picture of for you both. Oh so we have been teaching a man who is less active. He's actually on Dialysis, he has bad kidneys and a really bad cough. But they have to go and clean out his blood every week or something. But we have been going over to their house almost every week, he reminds me of Grandpa and Jeff a lot, but he finally came to church this past Sunday.

Oh so we have had a lunch appointment every day this week which is such a blessing. But we had lunch with someone who is a friend of one of the members in the Ward, and her niece. It was so fun, we went to Applebees on Rainbow and Spring Mountain next to Walmart. We found out that there is an Applebees closer to us on Charleston right where we live it was hilarious. So now we know next time that there is an Applebees close to us. But her niece lives in New York, the Queens area. She reminded me so much of Aunt Jeanie it was great. Have you talked to Uncle Eric lately? They were telling us about what they have been doing while she was in town, and I got more places to visit when I come back. Oh one more thing about the a family in the ward, we did service for them on Thursday for about 2 and 1/2 hours it was great we got all the Elders in our district to come and help.

 

It is amazing all the things I learn from so many people. I read this scripture and shared it at one of our dinner appointments this past week 2 Nephi 4:24, it is referenced in I Need Thee Every Hour. I will try to call Holli again this week and see if I can meet her. I am so happy to hear that Dad and Jeff got some gloves, its about darn time! I am excited to come back and play catch with them. I hope you got a glove for me too :) I am really happy that things are going good, and to hear that you all are being blessed its great to hear that. So tonight we have a lesson with one of the daughter's of a family in the ward. They wanted us to come teach her the lessons again she just got out of jail, so they believe this will help her. Sister Sprouse is freaking out about it, but I know that it will be okay because God will bless us if we just have faith in him. And its not like we are going to die from it either. 

 

It has been challenging with Sister Sprouse, and I do miss Sister Walker but I know that I am learning and growing so much more from it. So its been interesting but good, and I am coming to understand what I can learn from her. I have come to see that a marriage needs tons of communication and that they need to talk about things and pray about things. But its been good, she likes to try to say she can beat me up so I tell her that I will hurt her. Its fun, but hard but I know I will grow so much more from it all. And time has gone by so fast I can just see how fast it will be by the time I am leaving. We decorated a couple of doors these past two days (Sister Black, the mission president's wife and the Deckers) we just put paper that said we love you on it. 

 

Oh before I forget we had 5 sisters in our apartment. We thought Sister walker was going to leave that Monday night but we found out that Sister Walker was staying until Tuesday morning so we had Sister Woznow ("woz know"), Sister Dixon (she talks so much drove me insane so happy to have peace and quiet after they left), Sister Walker, and then Sister Sprouse and I. It was packed and noisy and we had a dinner appointment that night with the Oswalds so they had five sisters at their home, it was awesome. Over half the sisters in the mission are in Las Vegas. Oh and they are upping the numbers to 18 sisters probably already told you that but oh well. 

Well that is all for now I will talk to you next week. I love you and miss you bunches! It was so good to see you all and talk to you. LOVE YOU!!!

 

Love Heather Baby Little One

Heather's 6th week in Vegas!

I am doing good. We got transfer calls this past Saturday, it drove me INSANE!!! I couldnt even focus on anything because I kept thinking about transfer calls. We got a call in the morning and Sister Walker was like "Transfer Calls!" I didnt even think about it before that but once she said that thats all I could think about the whole day! But we didnt get our call until 8 oclock that night. But I am..................................Staying! I am gald I am staying because that means I get to go to the Temple and I will be here for a baptism of someone we have been teaching. So its good, Sister Walker is being transfered to Meadows Stake, the sisters are replacing the Elders up there. Sister Sprouse is staying as well. I am thinking I will probably take over Canyon Gate, I will probably be here for the next couple of transfers. I am glad to stay down here a little bit longer, and I know that there are more things I need to learn from down here. It will be good. Still didnt make our 20 lessons Sister Walker got sick so we had to cancel a couple of appointments. But we have 14 lessons already scheduled so we need to find some more and maybe some back ups just in case we have some cancel on us. We have another investigator who is getting baptized on May 21, and I am really excited about that!

That is so cute to hear about Ayden, he is so big. Miss that little guy. Thank you for sharing those stories, they really help me get through the rest of the week, its like a boost. I love Mondays because I get to hear from everyone. I have been hearing about a lot of the storms that have been happening in the Midwest. I heard there has been about 130 tornadoes that hit the United States. Have you had any near you all? Oh that picture of Jeremy and Crystals baby is SO Cute! Thank you, she is so adorabe! She was premature right, but I am glad they are doing well.

 

Thank you for giving Bishop the letter, I haven't written another letter to the ward yet. I am still trying to finish one that I started a couple of days ago. But hopefully soon. Dad that is a good idea to write short emails and long letters to me. That will work out better because I can read them whenever I have time and then I will make notes on them to tell you in the next email. We are probably going shopping tomorrow because sister Walker has to pack today so she can leave for her new area. Its going to be so weird without her. I love being in a trio its so much fun, and you have more people to laugh with. 

 

So is the reason why you are going up North because of the funeral for Aunt Dorinne? I hope you all have a good trip up there. I wish I could go with but I will be thinking about everyone and praying for the family. I think I was having some bad feelings on that day she passed away, pretty crazy. But I kind of knew something happened, but she is with family now.

 

So I have been able to see how palm trees grow its pretty interesting. I never knew how they actually grew before, its funny how it has taken me about 20 years to figure it out. But it goes to show I have some time in the car to look at all of them here and see. Oh they have a short water supply here and I figured out a way for you both to have a nice looking yard without having to cut grass or water plants so you wont have to worry about mom killing them. There are a couple of houses that have fake grass, like turf and they also have fake flowers. Problem solved basically. I have heard that its been one of the coldest springs they have had in years so, we are still in the 70s which is way nice. Hopefully the 100s won't come until July. I was thinking about that, it would be pretty neat to stay here for 4th of July. I was going to talk to President Black about requesting to go up North and serve in Fallon my last few transfers here.

We had a district lunch on Saturday and we all went out to In-N-Out. I had a double for you both again. there was a lady there that paid for our food again it was so nice of her. The day before we went to the Elders house because the members have a tennis court right next to them. So we went out and played catch. I played catch with a recent convert who played softball for about 8 years so it was amazing to play with her. I threw pretty hard it was so nice, and I was sore the next day. 

 

Well there are more things to write about but I cant remember them at all. I am going to go get new shoes tomorrow and a piano book as well. But that is all that I can think of right now. I will have to make notes of stories that I want to tell you both that happen during the week. Oh before I forget we are going to Sister Lords on Sunday, and we are going to do skype over there. Make sure to be home by 8:30pm on Sunday because I will call you then. We will probably have sister Lords call you as well to tell you, but that is the time. well I love you and miss you bunches. I will talk to you all on Sunday. (Make sure Jeff and Michelle are there too, I really want to see Ayden). I LOVE YOU!!! And talk to you then!

 

Love Heather Baby Little One