Little Bits of Silliness........ now from California!

Week 9

2010-06-24T22:44:00.002-06:00

So we are officially more than halfway through the transfer and I really can't believe that it is going by so quickly. This last week was so long but so short at the same time. I was pretty frustrated at the fact that we have been working so hard but our numbers aren't really showing it. I will explain...

Monday we had a really lame activity. We went to the church and played volleyball. I think the best part was that Sister Silva went to go hit the ball and she decided to kick it for some odd reason and it totally came up and smacked Elder Hammer in the face. It made his eyes tear up and left a huge red welt on his face for like 2 days. Super funny, but we all felt bad for him. We had a really awkward dinner with a newly wed couple that night and we were in and out of the house in excatly one hour. It was weird.

Tuesday we had a zone meeting which usually wouldn't have happened because we were going to have zone conference on friday, but we were all told to bring our testimonies written down and then we had to put them in a BOM and go give them out within an hour. Tuesday was Elder Lincoln's birthday so I made him a cake the night before and we all sang to him and stuff it was pretty great becuase his smile was sooo big. We went to lunch and then we went to go visit some P.I.'s and to track down a referral that we got. Okay so here is some advise...please do not send referrals to the MTC without telling the potential investigator that you are going to send the missionaries to their home. It is super awkward when they don't know why we are there and why we know their names and they don't know who would have sent the missionaries. This is excatly what happened to us. The referral was for a younger boy and his Mom was all "Why don't you use your time more wisely and go preach to people who haven't been saved." It was irritating. Anyway so later that night we had a lesson with Tammy and we are starting to really see some progress with her. We taught her about prophets and she was really intrigued with the thought that there was a prophet today on the earth. She wasn't doing so well with the whole not smoking thing so we asked her for any cigarettes that she had and of course she said she didn't have any, and we knew she was lying but we left becuase we had a Relief Society activity to go to. Dad there is a Phillipino family in the ward and she makes Lumpia. Don't know if that is how you spell it but that stuff is SOOO good! Sister De Jesus made some for the activity and we are going over there tonight so I am crossing my fingers that she will make some more! YUM! We had exchanges on Wednesday so we went home so I could get my stuff together for that.

Wednesday was interesting. Sister Carlson and I made some really good plans the night before and we were out all day! We met up with a guy that was in the area book and we had a really good talk with him and invited him to take the lessons. He said YES!! Sister Carlson was stoked because we were in her area and they have been aching for someone to teach! After that we went tracting and visited some less actives. We had dinner with a member and that was REALLY awkward because sister Carlson is really shy and she didn't say a word the whole time we were there! I was having to make all of the conversation and this family is not even in my ward. Like she could have asked them questions about how their missionary experiances are coming along but no, not one word out of her mouth. That dinner was a new record for time because we were in and out in 45 min!! After dinner we went and did something else that I can't remember because yet again I am without my planner. We got back to my apartment at like 9 and when we walked in Sister Lytle was in her pajamas. Which is weird becuase we aren't supposed to change our clothes until after we have planned. So I started asking her what they did that day and turns out that they went to go visit Tammy and got sick from the insence that she had burning. So they came home at around 12 and Sister Silva was feeling better within an hour but I guess Sister Lytle was sleeping and such until like 7:30. I was kinda frustrated because Silva wanted to go out and work and Lytle pretty much was just using excuses to stay in. Numbers were really bad for us that day. Carlson and Lytles were really good though. Sister Silva did get Tammy's cigarettes from her though!! I was SO glad, even though she lied to us!

Thursday I was feeling badly because yet again I am a failure and didn't get something in the mail for Paul. But we had a busy and very hot day! We had a lot of people that we needed to visit and we tried really hard to get some tracting done but it was just so hot outside that it was really difficult. We ended up visiting with Sister Rivera and officially inviting her husband to take the lessons. He said no, and we asked him why. He said that he just didn't want to and that he really didn't want to come to church either. LAMENESS!!! We are going to keep trying with him. We had a lesson with Tammy and it went really well. She told us that it was the first day that she went all day without really thinking about the fact that she hadn't smoked all day. We were so glad that our prayers for her are getting answered and that she is doing really well! We had dinner with Mollie and her kids that night. I just love going over there. We had a good little lesson about faith and then we had to leave because we needed to get to another lesson....that fell through. We OYMed people in the parking lot and then went to visit a guy named Desmond that lived there who we had an appointment with but he didn't show up to. I guess I really scared him because he thought that we were the cops by the way that I had knocked on the door. OOPS:) It got him to open the door though and we set up another appointment for later tonight:)

Friday was zone conference and it was AMAZING! We hosted it and had to sing a musical number that was pretty bad. Elder Hammer can play the piano pretty well and made up a song for Isreal, Isreal God is Calling and when we were parcticing Elder Hessing was like ..."Sister Perren you need to sing the third verse as a solo!" I knocked that suggestion down pretty quickly but I couldn't get out of not singing somehow so it turned into a duet. So we were all singing and such and the Elders were singing the first verse and they all stopped singing at one point because they forgot the words even though they all had books in front of them. I couldn't help but giggle, but the rest went ok I guess. We had the opportunity to practice teach later after lunch with investigators and recent converts. It was a really cool experience. We had a lady named Gayle that wanted to be a Catholic, Mormon. Sister Silva and I taught a really good lesson about the BOM and got her to kneel and pray with us:) She even said the prayer! That was really neat. After conference we had a blessing scheduled for Tammy and that was pretty neat too. She was really impressed with what the Brothers said in the blessing. She said..."how did they know to say all that stuff?" It was a perfect opportunity to teach her about how much her Heavenly Father really loves her. We had dinner that night with sister French. It was after dinner that Sister Silva forced me to call the nurse. I really didn't want to but Silva was worried about me and I guess that really the only good thing coming out of this is that the nurse called president and she told him that I shouldn't be wearing nylons ever. So no more nylons for me:) I am supposed to call and make and appointment to go see the doctor later this week and hopefully we can get this fixed. I am really, really sorry about it all. I really wish this stuff didn't happen to me. But in a way it has been an answer to prayers becuase I have been praying that it will either go away or that I will figure out a way to take care of it.

I don't have a lot of time so I am skipping Saturday which is pretty boring anyway it was just weekly planning, and moving onto Sunday. FANTASTIC DAY!! We were kicked out of our meetings early so we had some time to go tracting before church and we were sucessful! All day sunday was great we got 3 numbers for us to come back and visit and then later we went to go tracting after dinner and we ran into the Williams family! We asked Lena to take the lessons and she said YES!!! Answer to prayers!!! We have been trying so long to get in to teach her and we are finally going to be able too!! So many good things happened this week but our numbers really stunk! It's okay though we will do better this week!

So I am going to try really hard to get a letter in the mail for you Mom. Things have just been crazy lately and I have had no time to write. Thanks for the letters, I freaked out a little about Dad, but I guess if he is feeling better I won't worry so much. Dad thanks for the letter and for telling me about Brett! I am so HAPPY!!! I am looking forward to this week and I am out of time so I love you all so much and I am so grateful for your love and prayers!! Thank you!! I just love you all a lot! Do something to share the gospel this week!

Love-

Heidi

Week 8

2010-06-24T22:43:00.001-06:00

So I am thinking that the holiday messed up the mailing system a little bit because no letters last week, not that I am really expecting one, but I usually get one from Dad and nothing. So I am looking forward to this week in hopes for Dad's letter:) Mom thanks for the copy and paste job of Lareens e-mail. It totally worked, and I am super grateful!

So this past week....I am still so tired from the business of it. Sister Silva and I are working so hard and it is really starting to get really warm. Last week was in the 90's and the sun is intense! It really makes us tired from walking around in it all day. We get home and race to see who can get into be first! We have been having an absolute blast. The bishop has asked us to wait to visit all the less active members for awhile so he can go through the list first. Don't really understand why, but we are doing what he has asked which makes it a little harder to fill in time during the day with things to do.

I think I told you what happened on Monday last week so I will start with Tuesday. We had a great lesson with Tammy and taught her about Baptism and set up lessons for the rest of the two weeks before her supposed baptism date. She was doing really well with the whole quit smoking thing but hasn't actually officially quit yet. We had an appointment with Jack later that evening and taught him the first three principles in the first dicussion. He still doesn't seem to really be connecting with what we are saying so we are trying to figure out excatly what he needs to hear. We are trying really hard to get him to come to church. He wants to walk for some odd reason, but never feels good enough to do so. Its been a trick but I know that if we follow the spirit that we will be guided for what we should do.

Wednesday I think we tracted until the sun went down...not really but we were in the sun for forever!!! I am really starting to get some serious tan lines. We had dinner at the Bishop's house and that was fantastic!! He is a little crazy at times but we love him. Sister Summers is amazing! We love her and now that she is out of school for the summer she is excited to come to lessons with us. We had a lesson with our oh so lovely Andre that night and we brought Bro. Goldthorpe with us. I think we were inspired because for the first time Andre listened. Bro Goldthorpe was able to understand what he was trying to say and was able to explain things in a way that he could really understand them. I was feeling a little like why couldn't he understand it when I was saying it, but I know that sometimes the spirit just works in ways that it needs to. Bro Goldthorpe was so great and we are now debating whether or not we need to drop Andre. We are going to go see him again and ask to see if he got an answer to his prayer and we will go from there.

We have been trying really hard to get in to teach Sister Ortega for WEEKS now. She is really depressed and will not even let us talk to her. She does this some times and we just have to keep trying. Sister Lopez is her visiting teacher and is so great. She stops by all the time and doesn't take no for an answer. I am so grateful for wonderful members of the ward that see the value in people. We did some service for a potential investigator later that day. Her name is Teresa and she has a son that is 35 and disabled. He got in a motocross accident almost 10 years ago and very slowly he is making progress. Her husband divorced her after her sons accident because he didn't want to have to deal with the new lifestyle that having a disabled child brings. The missionaries have been helping her for quite some time now and we are hoping that one day she will want to take the discussions. We love her and always enjoy going over there. We are going to go help her with her laundry probably next week.

Friday was the dreaded weekly planning!! We finished about an hour before we did last week so we are making progress!! YAY! We had a lesson with Tammy later that night and we brought Sister Summers with us. We taught about the plan of salvation and I can't tell you how well the lesson went. Sister Summers is like the PERFECT fellowshipper and when she feels inspired to say something she does and it just makes the lessons go really well. We didn't have a dinner that night so Sister Summers fed us again and we couldn't have been more grateful!

Saturday we did some more service for the Jeffer's family and Bro. Jeffers took lots of pictures. I look awful in them all but oh well. We finished painting their front living room in just a couple of hours. We went tracting in the hot sun after that and by the time dinner came around I felt like I had just sweat off buckets of water! Gross:( Anyway we went to the Tluczek's for dinner and we had a wonderful time there. Sister Tluczek is so good to me. She got me some fish oil to take for the sores I get on my arms. She is really good with stuff like that and is pretty sure that it will take care of it. I guess we will know in two weeks. She also has me eating lemons everyday and drinking even more water to see if that won't help with the water in my legs. She is so good to me and I love her for it!! Tammy called us that day and told us she didn't want to get baptized but still wanted to meet with us to have "Bible Study" I wasn't about to let that happen so with a little bit of patience and a long conversation on the phone we have just postponed the baptism and we are going to continue to teach her. We brought over a boat load of clothes for her so that she would feel more comfortable coming to church so we hope that she comes!!

Sunday we went to church and got out of there in enough time to go tracting before dinner. We had dinner with Sister Ewing and we had a wonderful time there!! She is going to help us with a less active in the ward and gave us some good advise for a girl that we are trying to teach. She is so wonderful. I really can not say enough about how wonderful the members are here!

So today we are going shopping. I need more white shirts and Sister Silva wants a new skirt. We have dinner tonight with the William's and it is going to be a great day!! I really can't believe how much I have learned in the past two months and I am so grateful for all the blessings I am seeing in the lives of those we are teaching. I love this work and I am having the time of my life!! There really is nothing that I would rather be doing than this. What a wonderful thing it is to be a missionary and to really have a chance to come closer to our Heavenly Father! I love this gospel and I know that it is true! READ THE BOM!! There are blessing that come when you read that book! I am really looking forward to pictures and such for the cabin outing and Grandpas head stone! Thank you for all of the letters and such. I am able to make it through the days with the support of you all and I am so blessed to have the greatest family in the whole world!! Especially two wonderful parents who I love and miss dearly! I miss you all with all my heart and I love you all ten times more!! Bear your testimony to someone this week...try it you will see that the Lord will put someone in your path if you are willing and follow the spirit!!

SLY!!

Heidi

Week 7

2010-06-24T22:41:00.001-06:00

Okay so I know you all are probably at the cabin right now having a really great time so you probably won't get this until tuesday or whenever, but I just wanted to let you know that the library is closed today and that we won't be able to e-mail until tomorrow. Elder Bailey the AP was really kind and let me use his computer to e-mail you to tell you that so Mom wouldn't freak:) I love you Mom! Anyway, we have a lot of things to do today and I have scheduled time to e-mail you all tomorrow. I saw a fantastic e-mail from Jared and I am really excited to write him back, he is so super great! Manda tell him he is amazing for me will you? So I need to let Elder Bailey get back to work I miss you all and love you ten times more! I really hope that the cabin is coming along and I am was excited to get more pictures!! I love you all and will write a really long e-mail tomorrow!!!

Love,

Heidi

Hello Family!!!

So I have been waiting all day to write you all a fantastic e-mail! I brought my planner with me this time so I will be able to remember what happened during the week a little bit better:) First off driving the car is such a blessing! I love it, except for the getting lost part. I hope that you all had a fantastic time at the cabin! I am really excited to see the pictures and hear what all went on. Manda- Mom told me you got a new camera so I am expecting great things from you this summer! Anyway, Last monday we got transfer calls at about 9 AM. The other sisters in our zone came over to spend the night and we all waiting patiently for the call to come. Elder Brown told me at first that I was the one getting transfered and I was so confused. He told me he was just kidding and then said that Sister Lytle was being transfered to Dry Creek. So I have a wonderful new companion who is orginally from El Salvador. She speaks spanish which is going to be a big help. I can tell already that she is ment to meet people here and we are going to do great work together. Sister Silva has been out for 9 months and she is so sweet. I am not going to lie I thought that we weren't going to get along the first few days that we were together but we had a comp inventory and we are great friends now:) She makes me laugh all the time. There is another elder that got transfered into the zone and he is from Australlia, and let me tell you he is so funny! He tells Sister Silva and I jokes all the time like...I had a dream last night that I was a muffler...I woke up exhausted! We laugh and tell him that his jokes are lame and he finds more. His birthday is next week and he has aready requested cookies from me. I guess the other elders let the cat out of the bag and told him that I cook.

Tuesday was district meeting day and president interviews. Our zone got all mixed up and there are only like 5 of us that are the same from last transfer. Our zone is pretty small, 5 companionships, so we have district meetings as a zone. Our zone is hosting the next zone conference so we have to come up with a musical number and recent converts and investigators to come so that we can teach them at the conference. It will be pretty neat so I will tell you all about it not next week but the week after. I can't believe that it is already JUNE!

So Tammy our investigator that is supposed to be getting baptized on the 19th quit smoking and we are going to go see her tonight to teach her a lesson. We are thinking that we are going to have to push her baptism date back because she has been moving at a snails pace, but we will see tongiht when we go to teach her. Sister Silva and I have been doing a lot of tracting, which I LOVE, and going to meet the less actives in the ward. We are focusing on the ones that we both dont know. We are hoping that we can run into a family that our ward can put on the list of 15 that they are going to try to fellowship. There are 63 less active families in the ward that we can go visit. I counted them at lunch today. We feel like we have a lot of work to do but we are determined to see some progress in the ward. Our bishop gave us a very kind compliment the other day and told us that he is seeing the most progress in the ward in the past 3 months than he has the whole time he has been bishop. I was thrilled when he said that!

So we have and investigator named Jack that we just started to teach. We thought that it was safe for us to go and teach him without a member because he looks to be in his 70s but come to find out that he is only 59. I tell you smoking really makes people age very quickly! Jack is from Bethlahem and he says that he knows everything there is to know about Christ. We got him to pray about the BOM and that was a really neat experiance. We had to Brothers from the ward come over to his aparment to give him a blessing last week, and that was amazing as well. I am so grateful for the priesthood.

Friday we weekly planned and I hate weekly planning. It takes forever and I feel like it sucks up all of the day! We got through it though and we ended up getting a lot of other things accomplished that day. We ran into a guy that wanted us to come and teach him but we found out that he is in Elder Hammer and Hansen's zone so we had to give them the referral. I was really bummed because that guy was really looking for something in his life and it would have been amazing to teach him. I do have to admit that Elder Hansen did give us one of their referrals so It made it a little better.

We did some service for sister Jeffers on Saturday and that was both good and bad. We had a really fun time helping her, but then we found out that the paint she had picked up was the wrong color and now she is going to have to repaint her whole living room! She was really bummed, but we told her that we would come back this Saturday to help her.

Sister Silva and I had to speak on Sunday and she was really nervouse about it, and I was just freaking out. We were going to have investigators there and I wanted to make sure that whatever I said was going to be something that the Lord needed them to hear. It must have went over well becuase there were a lot of members that came up and talked to us and told us that we did a great job. I sure hope so!

Anyway, so our investigator Andrey. He has been a tough one. I don't know where to go with him anymore. We have plans to try and get a priesthood holder at our next meeting with him to see if there is something that they would be able to explain a little better than we could. We are at a standstill. I really wish that he would have started reading the BOM from the beginning and not the index! Oh well whatever needs to happen will.

Yesterday we had a really great P-Day. I was able to write a few letters and I am still working on more. Manda- thanks so much for giving Jared my e-mail address he send me a really fantastic letter and I LOVED IT!! Our zone went to the park and we played soccer with the singles ward. I was laying on the grass writing letters because I am a little behind and there were a few people that I don't think knew that I am a missionary becuase they were talking about the missionaries a lot. They were saying that they were really glad that there aren't very many sisters in the mission and were telling each other who all the cute elders were and all this stuff and I really wanted to say something but I didn't. It was really awkward and weird. We had a good time though. We had dinner with the Goldthorpes last night. I LOVE THE GOLDTHORPES!! They are a really fantastic family in the ward that is so willing to help us with whatever we need. They usually take us to In and Out but last night they wanted to try this new palce called Squeeze in. It wasn't open because of the holiday so we ended up going to Denny's. Boy did that bring back memories! We all had a really good time and then we had to rush to an appointment that ended up falling through. I sure dislike it when that happens!

Today was another great district meeting day. We talked about studying and how to improve our studies and how to help our investigators study. It was really, really good. We have plans to go tracting (YEAH) and then we are going to go teach Tammy and Jack later tonight.

I really can't believe how the time is really flying by. I love being on a mission. I am really amazing how much my testimony has grown in the past two months. I have come to more clearly understand the principles of the gospel and am so grateful for the blessings that is brings to our lives! I know that our family is so close because of the gospel and that I am truely grateful for! I can't even begin to tell you how much I love and appreciate you all. Please take an evening and go to the temple. The blessings of the temple are some of the greatest that we can recieve and they are so important to us! The work that we do there changes eternity for people! Try and share the gopel with your friends it is the greatest gift that you could ever give to them!

Mom- I sent something to Trina. Did she tell you about it? What did she say? I am still not getting the relpies from Lareen! I want to read them so badly!! I hope that this e-mail finds every one of you safe. I am really looking forward to hearing about how the weekend at the cabin went and all of the funness there. Please send me a picture of Grandpa's headstone, I really am looking forward to seeing it. I am sure that it is just amazing, and excatly what he wanted. I feel him around me sometimes you know. I miss him and love him dearly! I miss you all so much and love you ten times more!!

Love-

Heidi

Week 6

2010-05-25T23:01:00.001-06:00

So it is officially the end of my first transfer! It went by so quickly, and things are really changing around here. My companion is being transfered to the Dry Creek ward, which is in our zone so she is not going very far. She is taking Sister Kents place and Sister Kent is going North to Yuba. I am getting a new companion, Sister Silva. I guess it is a sign that my mission president trusts me because she doesn't have a license which means that I AM DRIVING!! It hardly ever happens that they let someone who has only been in the field for one transfer drive, so it is quite the compliment that I don't have to back up the car any more:) We are all pretty sad that our zone is being split up but the missionaries coming are really great too, so I sure that I will love them just as much. So last Monday our zone had fun getting together at the stake center. We ate food and played games and just relaxed, it was really pretty nice. Tie trading is a big thing around here and the sisters even get involved. Elder Jordan gave me my first tie and it is actually a really nice tie! I might even send it home so Dude can take it with him on his mission. This past week was crazy! I experienced my first exchange and served with Sister Kent for a day. SHE IS AMAZING!!! She is from Malad, Idaho and we have pretty much become best friends. We had a blast on our exchange, we did some service wednesday morning and worked all the rest of the day. I know the lord was blessing me becuase Sister Lytle is amazing, but she has had a really rough mission and it has been a serious emotional drain serving with her. Sister Kent filled me in on a little of what has happened with Sister Lytle and it helped me to understand why she is the way she is. Anyway, so the days have really run together this week and I forgot my planner again. Our new investigator, Tammy, expressed her desire to quit smoking so that she can be baptized on the 19th. We were supposed to start today but of course Satan is working extra hard on her and we are starting tomorrow instead. Tammy came to church for the first time yesterday and we are hoping that she had a wonderful experience. She was a little overwhelmed so we didn't really get a chance to gage what she was feeling. Our Bishop has asked us to speak on Sunday and poor Sister Silva is going to have to speak now. Bishop specifically gave me the subject of speaking on the importance of testimonies. There is a girl in the library that is freaking out because she didn't know she needed to reserve a computer. Anyway, our investigator Andrey was supposed to come to church with us yesterday but that didn't work out so well either. First he was going to be late, and then he called and said he was going to be later and then he called and said he wasn't going to make it. It was interesting how it all worked out in the first place becuase as I told you later week he started reading the BOM from the back starting with the index. We had to re comit him to read from the beginning. We had set up an appointment to see him on Saturday but he called and said he had read some of the book and wanted to come to church. Satan is a really bad guy, I can now see that we are going to have to work pretty hard to get our investigators to church and to keep their comitments. We were given a specific assignment to ask the Bishop for 10 names from the ward of people that we could go visit. We have a lot of work to do because we now have like 20 families to go visit and then we have the 15 families that the ward is working with and then we have all of our investigators and all the people that we are trying to get in to teach. The days never seem to have enough time to get everything done that we want.

So the notebook that Ren and his family gave me before I left has already come in handy but I realized once I got here that I was in need of a whole different notebook for what we call signing journals. The missionaries trade these journals and take up PAGES of them to put in pictures and things from the transfers that they have spent together. I got a seperate journal for that and I only have had three people sign in it but these elders took up 7 pages. The notebook the Hansen's gave me is PERFECT for the missionaries that refuse to sign journals and for the ward members and the senior couples that are serving in the mission. THANKYOU SO MUCH FOR THE JOURNAL!!! We love the senior couples here. They are so sweet and nice and they love seeing us so that makes it nice too:)

Deric, DUDE YOU ARE GRADUATING TODAY!!! I have been thinking about you all day. I am pretty bummed that I am missing such a great day in your life, but I know that you all will survive somehow without me there. Dad told me about the prank you guys came up with...that was pretty sweet!! Do you have a job yet? You are lucky and already have a car to drive so you better get to working so that you can pay for school! Nice work on the scholarship by the way!! You are going to have such a great time at school, I am really excited for you! Don't forget to call Mom often, she already can't talk to me so I am pretty sure that she was die slowly if you didn't call her all the time. I have been slaking major in the letter department due to extremely busy days and not enough time at night. I am repenting and will try my hardest to get out some letters soon!

Please tell Justin that his letter will be one of the first and that I am SOOO excited for him!! He is really amazing and I know that the people in Chile are waiting for him to bless their lives. Mom I got your letter and was devestated to hear about the Ramsey's. I am so glad that Manda was willing to help with letting Erica borrow her dress. There is a girl in our ward that went to high school with Erica and she and I had a fun conversation about home. Her Mom came up to me at church yesterday and asked if I had heard the news. It is a really small world around here. Kirk is another one on the very top of my list to write but I don't have his address so I think I am going to have to send it to the house. I have been praying my guts out for them and know that they will get through this in a safe and timely manner. If you see them anytime soon tell them I said Hello and that I am praying for them.

I feel bad because this letter is pretty darn lame. There is soooo much we have to do today. Sister Lytle has been clothes hoarding for the past six months and she is going to need a lot of help packing. This week has been extremely stressful and I am so glad that transfers will be overwith tomorrow. I can't even begin to tell you of the experiances that I have been having that have solidified my decision to come on a mission. I love it here, it is not home, but I love it here. I can't even begin to tell you how much our Heavenly Father truely does love us. As he does all of his children. It is SOO important to remember to be an example of Christ every second. People do see and watch what we do. I love the gospel and know that Jesus Christ restored his church to the earth through Joseph Smith. Never lose your testimonies and remember to share them often. People need to hear them, especially those who are not members of the church! I miss you all with all my heart and love you ten times more!! I am sorry that this letter is lame I promise to do better next week!! I LOVE YOU!!!

Love,

Heidi

Week 5

2010-05-25T23:00:00.001-06:00

HELLO FAMILY!!

WHAT A GREAT WEEK!!! I have so much to tell you all! Last P-Day our Zone was going to have a BBQ but it got canceled due to a lot of really great rain. So Sister Lytle and I ended up going to the sister's house and we played "Mormon Triva" with the other sisters. It was fun but I really stink at that game! We had a SUPER fantastic time at dinner. The Golthorpes took us to In & Out and it was just as good as I remembered it. We went and had hot chocolate after that, which is a weird thing to think of having when it is 70 degrees outside even with the rain. We ended up staying there for the rest of the night, which is how we produced the video that Sister Goldthorpe sent to you. She told me yesterday that you e-mailed her back and she found that to be very cute. Thanks for doing that:) We technically lost the NNC bet. We originally won by 2, but we extended the bet and due to a Dr.'s visit in Roseville for Sister Lylte and two major miagranes for me we lost by like 40. I had to make 4 dozen cookies for Elder Heath and Miller and they didn't even get to eat any becuase the other Elders in the apartment ate them all! They called me and asked for more because they said that they were really good and felt jipped. Too bad I won't give them any until they wash our car!! Wednesday we went and visited the less active couple that we committed to come to church with us on Sunday. We had a lesson all planned for them and were a little nervous about how it was going to go seeing as it was about forgivness. However, to our surprise Sister Thomas took it extremely well and she even told us that she would teach us how to crochet (I am prety sure that is spelled wrong) this really cute blanket:) We are super excited for that! Thursday was weekly planning day and boy do I hate weekly planning!! It takes FOREVER, but in the end it is totally worth it because it cuts down on nightly planning and it lines the week out and shows the Lord that we are willing to do the work. We went and had dinner with the Murry and Burry family that night. The Burry's are the parents of Sister Murry. Brother Burry is not a member and until about 6 years ago was very anti. He is a mason and let Sister Burry get baptised 6 years ago, and she is probably in her late 70's now. Sister Murry is one of the few siblings that are still active in the church. She only has a few of her children that are even members as well. Sister Lytle and I shared a message about families and it was so wonderful. Both of them had tears in their eyes and testified that they knew that in the end all would be well. What amazing women they are and they have set a most wonderful example of having faith. Friday was zone conference, and boy was that an experiance. First of all we have to stress out about having the car super clean. We have to check everything possible and buckle all the seat belts too! Elder Birch (the senior couple Elder over all the cars) is SUPER picky about how things are to be done and look. Of course they have awards for the cleanest cars and there is one elder who always wins. Anyway, I got to meet all the sisters who are in the southern part of the mission and they are all huggers! I don't know that I am really all that comfortable with how much hugging there is here! Anyway, the conference was amazing and it was all about recieving personal revelation, and showing investigators how they can recieve it as well. Which is weird because Dad wrote all about that in his letter to me too! At luch time they hand out awards for the cleanest car and apartments and Sister and I got first for our zone:) I will send Mom the certificate to prove it to you! Saturday was a very long day. We have started to teach this German man who speaks like 8 languages! This was our second lesson and we were prepared to be there for a while. We brought a returned missionary who speaks Russian with us. She really didn't end up helping us all that much:( We had the lesson at the ward building, which by the way is HUGE!!! It has the capacity to have 2 wards going at the same time on Sundays. It kind of looks like a pinkish colored stucko temple. Anyway, as we were teaching Andrey we realized that we have two problems. One being that he started to read the BOM from the back, starting with the index. We had a lot of explaining to do about the 3 Nephites!! He thought that we think that they are Saints like they have in the Orthodox churches. Boy was that a mountain to climb with him. The second problem we had was that he thinks that the Holy Ghost and the Priesthood are one in the same. He also thinks that the apostasy hasn't occured yet, which causes HUGE problems with trying to help him realize that the gospel has been restored. Pretty much no need for the BOM if there was never an apostasy! Sister Lytle and I have stepped into a major one, but we are determined to try and teach him!! We were teaching him for two hours again and by the time we were done we were so tired!! We had dinner that night with a less active family who we have fallen in love with. I am trying really hard to get their name on the list of 15 that the ward is going to help with trying to reactivate. Oh I almost forgot to tell you something really funny. So we are trying to get in to teach the Napli family, and Sister and I went over the other day to see if they were home. Well Rabi, the Dad who we were looking for, was not but the grandma, Bina, was. She talked to us about how there was no need for her to get baptised because she was too old. However, she REALLY wants Rabi and his family to be baptised. Well talked to her about this for awhile and promised her that we would do all we could to teach her family, but we had to go. She then started telling Sister how frail and sickly looking she looks. She was telling her all this stuff about how she needed to eat more. Then she gave me the once over and smiled and said "You, you are healthy! Look at your face, it is glowing healthy!" I laughed and said thank you, and we started towrds the car. She continued to tell me how healthy I was as we were driving away. After I rolled up the window I couldn't help but to burst out in laughter...I have NEVER been complimented for being fat and it made me laugh REALLY hard. It was great. Okay so Sunday we went to church and waited anxiously for the Thomas's to arrive. Soon enough they did and they had brought thier son with them. She gave us a hug and told us that her son didn't believe that they were actually going to church so he came to make sure it happened. The sweetest part was when Brother and Sister Thomas went to go find a seat, their son hung back a little and put his hand on my shoulder and said "Thank you, whatever you two are doing thank you, thank you." I am pretty sure that tears would have ran down my face had I not been in public. We had started a fast with Brother and Sister Thomas the night before and though she has serious type two diabetes she was willing to try. The lord gave us a miracle because Sister Thomas made it all the way to dinner time without needing anything to eat. She told us that this was the first time in 10 years that she has gone more than just a few hours without needing some sugar. How grateful Sister and I were to have had such an experiance to have the Lord confirm to Sister Thomas that she really needed to be back at church. Welp that was the week, we crammed a lot more than what I can tell you about in the week, so today is something to be grateful for to be able to relax a little. So as for the experiance well...I did forget to mention that we did commit a lady named Tammy to baptism on the first lesson but I think that the Thomas's story would be much more meaningful to share. It shows how much our Heavenly Father loves us and especially works to find his lost sheep. But advise would have to be a few things. One do all you can to be obedient even before you leave, it will help with following the rules while you are out. Two READ AND STUDY PREACH MY GOSPEL!!! Make it a huge priority in your life. Think about your testimony, especially about the BOM. And Three: One of the biggest things that I have learned on my mission so far is that of all the things that you could do in your life serving a mission is one thing that you SHOULDN'T live without experiancing. You learn how to truely love, even when people are saying the most horrible things to your face. You learn to work hard, which in this world you need to know how to do. And you have the amazing opportunity to feel the spirit with you stronger than you will ever feel at any other time. There are more prayers being said for missionaries than anyone else and you can tell. It will solidify your testimony. There is so much more I could say but I have 30 seconds so I will just say that it is just 2 years just man up and do it!!! I love you!!

GHeidi

Week 4

2010-05-05T21:09:00.002-06:00

YAY for being a missionary! What a wonderful yet very long week. I hardly know where to begin and I forgot to bring my planner so I could remember the days. I know I am a bad person for not having my planner on me. Anyway, last week was a lot of tracting to find someone to teach. The investigators that we want to teach are flaking out on us and we can't seem to track them down. We have tried multiple times to have a lesson with them and every time we are five minutes away and they call and cancel. We even had a member that was going to come to the lessons. BHAA frustrating! I think I was able to tell you about the William's family last time? Maybe? Anyway they are a family that we REALLY want to start teaching. We stopped by this last week to visit and gave them a picture of the first vision with a testimony from a family we have in the ward on the back. It was pretty neat. They are still deciding what they want to do, so we will still keep trying. There are a TON of less active families in the ward that we are working hard to reactivate. Lots of families with a couple kids that are members and then the last couple kids who aren't. Weird and both frustrating. We have some really great ward missionaries in the ward that are really starting to get some motivation to share the gospel. Sister Molina had a really awesome experiance that she was so tickled to tell me and Sister Lytle about. She had gone to a orthodontist appointment and gave the assistant a pass along card. It was the first one she had ever given out and she was so excited about it! We are so blessed to have a really great ward that sees the need for sharing the gospel.

We have been doing quite a bit of tracting lately and have had little sucess. A lot of people see our tags and think that we are JW's. Then there are the people that see our tags and immediately say that they are not religous and shut the door. We went tracting the other day in this really trashy neighborhood that gave me the willies but the street was almost done and we just wanted to finish it. A lot of the homes here have gates that you have to go through to even get to the front door and then the screen doors here are the worst ever!! They are completely metal and they have little tiny holes that make it so you can't see in but the people inside can see out. They are awful! And none of the doors have molding around them. They are super uninviting. Seriously if someone caught on to decor molding down here Woodgrain would really start making millions! So anyway, we had a really cool experiance the other day and it totally is worth all the slammed doors. So we were tracting on this long street that we had finished the one side of the week before and went to go finish it and we were walking along and nothing was happening. No one is ever home and everyone who is doesn't want to talk becuase they aren't church goers or they are busy. So we have like seven houses to go and we walk around the corner and the third house in we are walking to the doorway and this little boy opens the door before we even get all the way to the door. He was super cute and told his mom that someone was at the door and then ran away. So before I go on I should probably tell you that I have only knocked on one door and have been the one to start the conversation. I will tell you about that story next. So the Mom comes to the door and we tell her that her little boy is super cute and then words start spewing out of my mouth. I tell her that we are Missionaries from the church and that we have a message about how families can be together forever and all this other stuff and I ended with would you be interested in learning more? And the heavens opened and she said "Yeah sure." I was a little unprepared for that but it was awesome! We ended up giving her a BOM and a lesson 2 booklet. And then we scheduled an appointment to come back this saturday to start teaching her. Sister Lytle and I were so excited. We have been praying for what seems like forever for us to find someone to teach. We are so excited and are crossing our fingers that she doesn't cancel on us.

So the other story...we were tracting and up to this point sister Lytle had always been the one to start speaking at the door. I would give my two cents if the opportunity arose and if she left a gap for me to even say something. Sister Lytle's last companion HATED tracting so they never went and Sister Lytle would always do the talking. So she is just used to having to do all the work and sometimes it is frustrating becuase I have something to say but she won't stop talking so I can never say anything. Anyway, I told her that I would start the door and I am thinking that no one was going to be home, but this 19 year old girl opened the door, and it took my by surprise but I started talking and words started coming out of my mouth and I really didn't know what to say but whatever I did say must have been okay because after I said would you like to learn more she said yes. We found out that her name is Ariel and we gave her a BOM and asked her if we could stop by in a week or so to see if she had read anything and if she had questions. She told us that she was really busy so we couldn't make and appointment but she was happy to let us come over again to see her. The really unfortunate part is that if she is the only one interested in her family we would have to give her to the singles ward elders. Really stinky, but it was really neat that she was interested. We are planing on stopping by this week sometime to go see her. We also were able to share a Family Proclaimation with a guy that fixes pools. He was at his truck on the road and we were talking about the weather and he started telling us about his family. I asked if he had ever met missionaries before and if he knew what we believed about families. He was a really neat guy but he doesn't live in Antelope so we gave him our number if he had any questions and told him that we could get him in touch with the elders in his area. He reminded me a lot of Unlce Chris. Way cool guy!

Sister Lylte and I decided that we want to work on talking to more people, so we bet some elders in our zone that we could get more NNC's than they could. Really silly idea cuz these elders are on bikes and they talk to EVERYONE. Our normal weekly goal is 84 but they always get over 100 so we bet them we could get 130. They were all for it so we will see how this week goes. We are planning on tracting for 2 hours everyday.

I am starting to have slight physical signs of getting a lot of sun. The weather here is so nice. It is starting to get pretty toasty and I have learned that if nothing else skirts are a lot cooler than jeans so I am glad for that. I don't know if I told you that we have what is called suit jacket season here and it is during the winter which is when sisters have to wear long sleaves and nylons. I got here just in time for non suit jacket season so we only have to wear nylons to church, baptisms, interviews with the president, and zone conferences. So if anything I don't really need nylons but those little nylons socky things that you can't see when you are wearing shoes. I am sure Manda knows what I am talking about.

We went and played golf this morning which was pretty fun. There are two elders here that are totally hick and were playing in boots and cowboy hats. Don't worry I have pictures, it's pretty funny. I ended up not playing the last four holes becuase Sister Lytle has never golfed before and not that it is a bad thing but she was taking forever and there was like this old lady golf tournament going on so we had to pick up the pace. I ended up carying her clubs for her and taking pictures. It was really fun, but it reminded my why I love basketball! There is an Elder here that is super fantastic. Elder Owen is 6' 8'' and is going to play college basketball when he gets home...which is in like 3 weeks. He was playing in the church last Monday and he figured out that I was judging his shot. It is HORRIBLE! But somehow the ball makes it into the hoop, so I guess it doesn't really matter. We did get some funny pictures of him lifting up Elder Brown, who is pretty short, to fix the net. Quite a sight.

So I have about seven minutes left on this computer so I better start wrapping it up. I got six letters in the mail the other day and was SO VERY GRATEFUL! Thank you so much for them. I have had a chance to write back to almost all of them so be on the lookout for letters in the mail! Thank you, Thank you for sending them! I prayed a lot before my mission about helping me not to be homesick and my prayers have really been answered. I miss you all so much but I am so happy with the work here. I am really starting to see how quickly the next 17 months are going to fly by. I know that I have been prepared my whole life to do this and I am so glad that I made decisions in my life that allowed me to be able to be here. I have the most wonderful parents who taugh me, and a wonderful family who loves me and for that I am truely grateful. I know the gospel is true and that our Heavenly Father loves us. I will never forget what Grandpa said when he told us all to "Never loose your testimony, it is the only thing that is truely yours." I think about that often and am so grateful that I have a testimony that I am able to share everyday with everyone. I miss you all so much and I love you all ten times more! Please be safe in all you do!

SLY

Heidi

The First Bunch of Pictures, in backwards order

2010-04-28T16:51:00.019-06:00

Place mat, apple and book from the Greenie Breakfast
The Lonely Green Pants book Sister Davis gave to me.

I ate 6 pancakes

The Davis family, plus some friends.
My racial dork dot
My first door, no one was home :(
My Desk
Peacock
Me , President, his wife, and my comp. Sister Lytle
Awful group pictures
The Sacramento airport
From the plane
The last day of class

apple pie that reminded me of grandpa
an illegal picture of the lunch room
The famous pointing picture
Us in our room
Me and Bryant Nelson

Roseville, CA!

Will you please edit my thumb out of this one

All of us
The Elders doing High School Musical
The Abby Lane Picture
C-A-L-I
Elder Stephens and his sister
Elder Horning (Jerry Seinfeld) Sister Rogers (Elaine)

Sister Rogers in the red was our coordinating sister, her comp is the one next to me, Sister Laws

Some of the Elders in my district with us. Elder Stephens loves Topatio Sauce P.S. By the way
Practicing for the Musical number

Elder Stephens stole my camera
MDT time in class

Doodles in my journal

cool snowy picture out my bedroom window
I made it on the special diet board! 5th box down
Sister Lyons Praying
Massage circle, well line I guess

I was writing letters

Um...lets go vertical rows top down. Elder Clifford, Elder Lloyd, Elder Horning, Elder Stawinski, Elder Stephens, Me, Sister Lyons, Brother Neary, Sister Robison, Sister Heron, Sister Menasco
Me and my comp
I am a Missionary!
Left to Right...Sister Robison, Me Sister Heron, Sister Lyons, Elder Horning, Elder Clifford

Sister Heron, Sister Lyons, Me, Sister Robison
Middle Elder has an awesome name...Pimesicle
Zone Leaders Elder Wright ( on the left ) and Elder Fawcett ( on the right)
Walking to the temple on Sunday

Sister Lyons making an airborne concoction

Smooshed egg
Sister Heron stole a boiled egg from the lunch room so she could eat it later and she forgot about it. Her scriptures smelled like eggs
My seat from Boise
The plane- 3 other missionaries in the seats in front of me
Me Wyatt and Wade
Me and Wyatt

Letter #4

2010-04-28T16:20:00.000-06:00

HELLO FAMILY!!

So I finally heard from you which was really great. I sent Manda something and gave her my physical address here so that stuff will get to me faster:) I hope that she will post it on my blog or something because I don't have it right now and I can't remember it. Thanks for the letters, and the e-mail. I was needing a good letter and loved getting one from you!

So this week was pretty cool. I had my first TWO baptisms! Michael and Joeann are 11 and 9. Their Mother had been a member but has been inactive for a long time. They were being taught before I got here but Sister Lytle and I finished up the lessons and they were baptised on Saturday. It was super fantastic. They asked me to play the piano for them. I am starting to get the feeling that there are not many people here that know how to play and I have already been asked to be a substitute for the Relief Society. Anyway...So I forgot to add in my last e-mail that I am in Antelope right now. It is about 15 minutes away from Roseville. I have a feeling that I am going to be here for a while. I found out that they don't let sisters go in the Northern parts of the mission so there are only 7 areas that we can serve. Sister Lytle has been in this area for 6 months. I think that there are only 14 sisters in the mission here. Transfers are in 4 weeks and no one knows if there are more sisters coming. Elder Heath told me officially last week that I am his favorite sister ever. I am pretty sure that it is because I am from Idaho and I am pretty much the only one other than his companion that understands what he is talking about when it comes to living in the country. I don't know how he and his companion get away with it but they are ALWAYS in cowboy boots when they are tracting. I think its kinda funny. So last Monday after we e-mailed we all went to the church and most of us played hide and seek but the sisters and I went into the library and talked. I needed to get Manda some pictures so it worked out really well for me to caption them for her. I think I told you last week that we eat with a family every night. I like it but hate it at the same time. It would be nice to be able to eat dinner at home and get some more stuff done, but free food is good too. We have been doing a lot of work within the ward trying to get less active families back to church. There are a lot of part member families, and families that have a few kids that still aren't members. It has been a trick trying to catch them while they are home. The people here are so great. The bishop just intistituted a new ward mission plan yesterday. It is pretty fantastic. Each family in the ward has been asked to invite another family into thier home every month for the next three months. The point really is for them to invite a non member family, but it is a really good opportunity to invite the less active families as well. The new plan just made dinner thoughts for us REALLY easy. We went and visited a non member family the other night that is amazing. The elders tracted into Lena a while ago, and she has always wanted to invite them to dinner, but they never could because her husband works all the time! So when Sister Lytle and her last companion went to go see her they set up a time for dinner. We met her husband and they have 3 cute little kids. This family has been attending a church called Bayside, which is a anti-mormon church. It is amazing though how wonderful this family is to us. They invited us to come over for dinner again sometime. We invited them to be taught and they said that it was definately a possibility. We have been praying so much for this family to want to hear about the gospel. There are a lot of other potential investigators in our area and we are super busy with trying to track them down and tracting. It is kinda stinky though becuase a lot of them are single so if they end up wanting to hear the lessons we would have to give them to the singles ward elders. Not the most fabulous situation, but in the long run it doesn't matter as long as they want to hear the gospel. We have a family that we are going to start teaching hopefully on tuesday. Sister Lylte and Sister Brown tracted into them, but only saw them that one time so this family will be the first real investigator for me. They are super fantastic and we are so excited to teach them. We had a meeting with the mission president on friday that lasted for most of the day. It was like a you have been here for a week and we want to make sure things are going well meeting. I got to see all the elders that I came out with and it was really fun to see what they have been doing and how things are going for them. Oh before I forget...can you please send me my pink and brown beaded necklace to me? I forgot it and I would really love to have it. I am hoping that you got the box of stuff that I sent home last week. I did send a thing to Manda that has my green ring in it. It needs to be taken in because I think the green stone is loose again. Don't worry about sending it back I think it will be easier if it was at home. Supposedly it needs to be taken in every 6 months for the warranty to continue on it. Oh and Mothers day...we are going over to a members house to call on the 9th because they get free holiday calling so we are going to call around 7pm. Let me know if that is going to work. So we are going to tie dye today after we all go to the store. Elder Owen dubbed himself the P-day president and so he thinks of things for our zone to do every P-day. He is pretty fantastic. I have a few pictures that I am going to send home. I just didn't have any envelopes that were big enough to send them in. We got permission to have a sleep over with the other sisters last night. It was really fun. Sister Kent is from Malad and she and I are pretty sure that we were destined to be friends. We only lasted till about 2 am and then we were all to tired. I am actually surprised that we lasted that long. I get really tired after 10:30 now. I have this goal of tracting the whole area so we are going to get a new area map and color it up so we know excatly what streets we are allowed to tract and which ones we can in a month or two and such. We went tracting on Sunday and I had a feeling that we were going to get yelled at and that is excatly what happened. We ran into two gay couples. One of which started yelling how horrible we were and that they didn't agree on our stance on prop 8. We told them to have a really great day and left. It is really hard to want to tract when everyone is yelling at you but we do it anyway. Hey can I get Brett's home address? I don't have it in my book and I think I deleted the text that he sent to me with it in it. Hey and Dad can you tell me a little bit about Grandapa? I am learning that I know NOTHING about the Perren side of our family. There are a lot of people here that have questions about it. It seems to be a really familiar sounding name. Sister Lytle and I had a comp inventory today. I hate them, but they are a necessary evil. She is so sweet. I feel really bad because she blames herself for all the stuff that seems to go wrong. She tries to be what she calls "super trainer" and I now exctaly when she is doing it because she starts talking to me in a Primary voice. I pretty much hate it, but not as much as when she calls me her daughter. I tried really hard to not let it bother me, but I had to tell her today that it wasn't my favorite thing and it was okay to say stuff like that to the other missionaries cuz they all do it too, but to please not do it at home and to people in the ward. Don't worry Manda I used my nice words and not my mean intimidating words. I am learning that I am really not very good at all with the whole being humble thing. Working on it though. Other than that things are going really well. My feet have been eaten alive by mosquitoes, but everything really is fantastic. I love, love the weather here and I love being a missionary. I feel the spirit so strongly all the time. I know excatly what President Barlow ment by I will be able to tell the difference when I get released. My testimony is growing every day and I love the gospel. I can't seem to keep my mouth shut at doors and find myself testifying all the time! I love getting to read the scriptures every day and I am learning all the time. I love the Savior and am so grateful for the blessings in my life. Please be safe in all that you do. I miss you all so much and love you all a thousand times more!

SLY-

Heidi

P.S. I would love more things to read!...more letters please!!!!

Letter #3

2010-04-28T16:19:00.000-06:00

FAMILY!! So it's basically been a week, and what a week it has been. Good news, I get an hour to write so this is hopefully going to be good. So I told you the events leading to the airport so I will start after that. I found my district and we were waiting outside of our gate and we realized that Elder Lloyd and Stawinski weren't with us. Elder Lloyd only got to talk to his Mom for like 5 minutes due to phone problems. Elder Stawinski was having a hard time saying goodbye to his family. But we made it. The plane was super small and everyone was crammed in there. Elder Lloyd is pretty tall so he didn't really appreciate the smallness of the plane. I sat next to a member who immediately started asking me all kinds of questions. He was heading to Cali for a buisness trip. He told me all about his mission, and family. He told me that his wife had just gone into remission from stage 4 lymphoma and it was a great blessing in his life. We had a really great conversation and he left me with a scripture before we got off the plane. His wife is one of Sister Pendleton's best friends so he told me all about President Pendleton and his wife. He showed me all kinds of pictures on his laptop. He was pretty excited to be able to see them at the airport. So we got off the plane and grabbed our stuff and headed for the baggae claim. We ran into two elders going home. The AP's and President and his wife were at the bottom of the stairs and they were rapidly taking pictures. There was a sister heading home that told me that she wished that she didn't have to leave. I learned later that she was super nervous to go home because there was a boy that started writing her mushy letters that was going to be at the airport and she wasn't too excited about that one. Anyway, we all grabbed our stuff and headed for the cars. I was the only sister so the Elders were super helpful and carried most of my stuff:) Elder Lloyd and I got to ride to the Mission Office with President and we had a good time talking about Idaho. I love Sister Pendelton. She has these blue eyes that seem to look into the deepest depths of your soul. We got to the Mission Office and were given these HUGE three ring binders full of Do's and Don'ts. We then had to meet with the nurse, and then had to watch a drivers safety video. It was funny because the Brother that does all the car stuff stopped the video right after Elder Holland stopped speaking. So we pretty much signed our lives away after only watching like 3 minutes of this movie. After that we all went to the Mission Home and had lunch. It was so yummy! Everything was super fresh and it tasted sooo good after eating the stuff we did in the MTC. We had a good talk outside on the deck after that. The weather has been so, so nice. We then drove to the Mission office again where we met our Trainers. It was pretty obvious to who my trainer was when I walked into the room. Only one other sister was there. Her name Is Laura Lytle. She is 6'1''. We said a few words took some pictures and then we were off. It is sad but true that the Jr. Comp ALWAYS has to stand behind the car and direct the Senior Comp to back up the car. I feel pretty retarded, but being obedient will bless us. We went straight to our Apartment and threw my stuff down and headed for dinner. We ate at the Weaver's home and it was pretty yummy. Sister Weaver is really fun and bubbly. We had to eat quick becuase there was a Relief Society activity that we needed to get to. I have a goal of learning who everyone in the ward is in a week. So Sister Lytle introduced me to everyone at the activity. It was super fun. They had a swap where everyone brought something and it was auctioned off. Sister Smedly's (the relief society pres) husband is an auctioneer in real life so he auctioned everything off. I was super greatful to get home and get in bed at the end of the day. Wednesday morning came way too quickly. We had a district meeting, so I got to meet everyone in the district. After that we had lunch and then I got to go knock on my first door! No one was home, so we left a pass along card. We had an appointment at 3 to meet with a less active sister in the ward. We taught her a lesson on the Atonement. She had a headache when we got there but by the time we left she was feeling much better. After that we went and ate dinner at the Lisonbee's. That was really fun. She attemped to make me an all green dinner. I guess it is a tradition? We had broccolii soup, green salad, a green fruit salad, and zuchinii muffins. They have a daughter named Sara that is being potty trained, and she had an accident on her Dad's lap during dinner. It was pretty funny and made things pretty entertaining. After we left we went to go see a potential investagator,Danny. When we got there he was a little busy so we talked to him for a little while and he told us we could come back a little later. When we did he wasn't quite home yet so we went across the street and visited with a guy named Garrison. We invited him to come to church and he said he would be there. Danny came home and we found out that he has a son who is also named Danny and a girlfriend named Leanne. We talked to them for awhile and they told us that we could come back the next night to teach them the first discussion. Thursday was AMAZING! We helped the seminary teacher with her closets that she was cleaning out and I told her about the dot game we played in seminary. She loved the idea and was going to play it with her class. After that we FINALLY got to go get a few things at the store. I was so glad! I started to get a cold that day to when we went home for lunch I told Sister Lytle that I just wanted to take a 30 minute nap and to wake me up so we could go out and tract. Well she didn't becuase she felt bad for me and I slept for 2 hours! by that time we were supposed to go eat dinner. We went to the Lopez's and she BBQ for us. I jumped on the tramp with the kids in a backyard that was COVERED in dog poo! They made sure i didn't step in any. After that we went and saw the Baily family. They are less active and we helped her with some flowers that she was taking to a funeral that weekend. We tried to go teach Danny after that but ended up talking with his mother. She is actaully a member but hasn't been to church in 20 years. We are pretty excited to continue to try to teach this family. They are pretty amazing. Friday we were suppoed to do our weekly planning. The district is all supposed to go to the Stake Center to plan, but we found out that it doesn't really work. No one gets any planning done because we all enjoy talking to one another. We have dinner appointments EVERY night. I kinda don't like it but hey its free and we get to teach a lesson. That night we taught two kids who are getting baptized this weekend. Michael and Joann. They are pretty excited and they have even invited their non member friends to come. Saturday was AWESOME. We went to breakfast and Ruth Davis's house and she and her family surprised me with an all green breakfast. It was pretty amazing. I have pictures:) after that we went back home to get the weekly planning done that we didn't finish the day before. We FINALLY got done at like three and then Sister Lytle made me go take a nap. I have to admit that I was feeling pretty crappy. We went and ate dinner that night at the Welton's. That was interesting. I didn't know that their daughters bra wearing habbits were apporpriate dinner conversation in there home. That family is great, but they are pretty weird!! We were there so long that we didn't have any time to do work afterwards so we went home to go to bed. So Sunday was miserable. My cold had peaked to an all time yuck factor and the people in the ward were feeling really badly for me. I took hand sanitizer to church with me and used it every chance I had. I had a really weird experiance with the zone leader. I had thought about asking for a blessing for two days because I just want to be able to work. So I got up the courage to ask and he asked me if I was going to die if I didn't get one right then. I felt pretty stupid and embarrassed for asking and almost told him that it really wan't a big deal and to just nevermind, but he told his companion and we found a room. I really didn't think that it was inappropriate to ask, so I guess I could use a little advice on the Do's and Don'ts for asking for a blessing. Dad could you help me out a little? So that has been my week so far. I woke up today feeling much, much better. I hadn't had a chance to unpack until today, so I did that this morning. It feels good to get those bags out of the way and off of the floor! Our whole district is here at the library e-mailing and the other sisters and us are going to carpool to the store after we get done. The elders might come up with a plan for some fun for later but we will see. I haven't gotten any mail since I got here so I am feeling a little disconnected. I am hoping to hear from someone soon. I am going to go buy an SD card today so I can get the one I have in the mail for Manda today. I am going to try to print off a few pictures while I am at the store so I can send those to the house. I sent a box today with a few things in it. There are a few pictures that Sister Lyon took in the box so you can see my companion from the MTC. Everything has been pretty great. I am loving the work. I miss and love you all so much. I am looking forward to looking back on this experiance and feeling good about the work I've done and getting to see you all again! I love you all so so much!!! Please be safe in all you do! The church is true!! ( I feel like if I don't say something like that it's not an offical missionary e-mail)

SLY

Heidi

Week 2

2010-04-12T14:40:00.001-06:00

HELLO FAMILY!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUDE!!!!!! There is an elder in our district who's birthday is today too and I thought of you the whole time we were singing happy birthday to him. I have a little something coming in the mail for you:) I love you and hope that you have a fantastic day today! How is the pole vault? How is your senior project coming?

I am hardly able to belive that another week has passed. Time really goes by so weird around here. Things have been so, so good! Conference was an amazing experiance! I loved it. There is just something about being in a room with hundereds of missionaries singing hymns that really brings a different but amazing spirit. I have a fantastic district that is absolutely amazing! We have a blast in class. The relationship with the companion is having its moments, but don't worry Mom I am being a nice girl:) I can't thank you enough for all the letters. I am currently in the lead by a mile for the most letters in the district and I can't tell you all how much they mean to me! I wrote home recently about this but I had an experiace in the Referral Center that was amazing. I talked to this lady that didn't believe in God due to her children being brutally murdered. She belived that there is no life after death so she has a lot of bitter feelings towards religion. I told her about the plan of salvation and all she could say was you are so lucky to believe that but there is no way that I can. She asked me if I wore funny underware, if I was engaged or married, how old I was, and if I had been brain washed. I testified over and over again about the truthfulness of the gospel and how is has blessed my life. The conversation ended, and I hope and pray that one day she will be able to find some happiness in her life. My companion and I also taugh a lesson in the TRC and found out afterward that the lesson we taught was the best that, that particular investigator had ever had. Things have just been rolling along. We have a teaching appointment later today, and one tomorrow. We got our travel plans last week and I have to be in the travel office at 5AM. It is so weird to think that I leave here in excatly one week. Mom I think I forgot to thank you for the dryer sheets. You saved me like three dollars!! Thank you so much!! Oh so I was in the bookstore today and I met a cashier named James. He served in Payette and Weiser on his mission and asked if I knew anyone from there. I told him who my Granparents were and his face lit up! He knew Grandpa and Grandma, and said that he went to the funeral and to the football feild that day. He said that while he was there he only had a bike so he would bike all the way from Payette to Weiser. He said that he had had dinner at Grandmas and really enjoyed it. He called them the celebrities of the town. He was funny and it proves what a small world this really is! I am currently doing my laundry and am trying to figure out how one load of my laundry was washed in warm water and the other cold when I put them on the same cycles?! Irritating! My time is about out so I just wanted to say that I am so happy about the time that I have had here and am looking forward to the next week. I love this gospel and I know with all my heart is it so true! Oh Mom I need you to call Dr. Baker from Dominican and ask for a refil on my water pill perscription! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!! Please send me the families addresses!!

Love,

Heidi

March 30th, 2010

2010-03-31T11:53:00.000-06:00

FAMILY!!! I am so glad I finally get to write to you a very long detailed letter! What an experiance this whole week has been! Please excuse any mis-spellings or transposed letters, I am trying to type as fast as I can and I can not promise perfection! Let me start from the beginning. After I waved goodbye I went right to the gate and got onto the plane. There were three other missionaries on my flight which was pretty neat. There was a lady sitting kitty corner to me that had hair that looked like that red headed guy off of the incredibles. It was pretty funny! I sucessfully got off the plane and went to find my luggage and bumped right into Grandma and Lareen. We had a fantastic time while we were together. Grandma had tears in her eyes even before she hugged me. I love her! We had a fun time eating lunch with Chad and he was super nice and gave me a few tips. He is so great! After Mom called we hurried to Wal-mart got a few things and then rushed off to the MTC. There were some great elders waiting to help me with my things. They were nice and waited for Lareen and Gma to get a few pictures. I love you Mom. It was really hard to say Goodbye to you. I can hardly wait for mothers day! The rest of the day was go, go, go. I have four elders in my district and they are all going to Roseville with me. My companion, Sister Robison, is going to the Arcadia, California mission. And the two other sisters are going to san bernardino. We seem to think that we have the best district. We also have some pretty amazing teachers. They have really taught us to open up. We love them. We have gotten to go to the gym pretty much every day for almost and hour. Not very convient though at times when gym is scheduled in the middle of the day requiring us to shower twice a day! 30 is really tough for me to get completely ready so I have had to be creative with when I wash my hair. We have gotten to go to the referral center and make calls to people who have requested videos, BOM's and things like that. I only got answering machines which was bummer. We had a fantastic Mission Conference on sunday! Lots of great speakers and wonderful messages. Sacrament was after that and it's funny that I am the only one in our zone that can play the piano! Thanks for paying for my lessons! The president said his prayers had been answered when he found out I could play. We got to go for a walk to the temple on sunday and spend some time there. That was so nice to get out and get some fresh air! Since today is P-Day we get to go to the temple at 8. We had a WONDERFUL time there and we are all looking forward to going back! I spent the rest of the day writing letters to friends and doing laundry. I have to use my sheets that I brought because none of the fitted sheets here fit my mattress. Needless to say I had 1 extra load than the other sisters. I have been having the most wonderful time, and I know that this is excatly where the Lord wanted me to be! I was so excited to hear of the new baby! I even told all the sisters in my room! Thank you so much for all the letters! The elders in my district are pretty jealous of me, I am in the lead for most letters:) My companion thanks you for the chocolate, but had to enjoy looking at it becuase she is allergic to pretty much everything. She gave it a good glance and gave it to our teacher as an easter treat! I have heard a few times from Manda and I really appreciate her letters! PLEASE tell the family to use dearelder, it is really the best part of our days when Elder LLoyd goes and gets the mail! I am about out of time so I just want to tell you all how much I love and appreciate you! I have come to understand so many things about myself and the gospel that would have never been possible had I stayed home. I am so grateful for the gospel in our lives and for the blessings that have come to us because of it! I have felt a spirit here that is unlike any other that I have felt anywhere else. I have thought a few times about Grandpa and have hoped that those random thoughts ment that he was near. I miss him. Please know that I love you all. Deric, I need you to text my friends about my box number! Please and Thank you! Mom I love you! Thanks for the letters and for the note in my bag. I was a fun surprise! Dad I love you too! Thanks for getting my package in the mail. Manda and Jack I love you both so much! Thanks for the letters! I hope that you got mine:) I have been praying for you! I miss you all so dearly and hope you hear from you so soon! I love you!

Love,

Heidi

Hardly news from the MTC

2010-03-26T17:15:00.002-06:00

From what we understand, Heidi made it to the MTC. Our parents dropped her off at the airport. My Aunt Lareen and Grandma picked her up in Salt Lake. Apparently they had to make a pit stop to the store because in all of the excitement, Heidi did her makeup, and then left it on the counter. From the rumors I hear, this made her late for her check in. As they pulled up a man with a radio "*phssssh* Sister Perren has arrived...again, Sister Perren has arrived *phssh, beep*" Then about 40 Elders helped her get all her stuff out of the car.

We then got a very small "I am not dead" email that stated her box # 136

Her address at the MTC:

Sister Heidi Perren

California, Roseville Misson

Provo Missionary Training Center Box #136

2005 N 900 E

Provo, UT 84604

I wish I had more to update, but in due time I will too receive an update of some kind :)

For Ashley...

2009-05-02T11:44:00.003-06:00

I know, its now officially May and it has been what seven months since I have posted anything. I know I am lame, but I have made a commitment to write much more often. However, this one is going to be short because I have pictures and things I need to get on here so I am going to have to find time somewhere inbetween homework and all the other random stuff I want/need to do. So thanks Ashley for telling me that you actually read this. Have I ever told you that you are the bestest ever? Well people, she is.

Together Forever

2008-10-08T16:20:00.002-06:00

It's been a month, which has given more than sufficient time to gather my thoughts and finally write them down. I'll start from the beginning...
My Grandfather has always been a person in my life that I have enjoyed spending time with. I can remember as a child standing on my bed at night, looking out my window waiting for my Grandparents to "finally" arrive at my house. As I have grown older I have come to realize what a blessed person I am for having such wonderful Grandparents, especially my Grandfather, and for the memories of him that will last forever.
Labor Day weekend my family caravaned down to Highland, Utah to meet my Grandparents along with my mother. They had traveled there a few days before in hopes that my Grandpa could get some medical help at the University hospital. Within a few short days, the liver disease that was taking over my Grandpa's body, had finally taken it's toll. When we arrived in Utah, it was a bitter sweet sight to see my family gather around my sick Grandfather and tell him we loved him. He was able to share his experiences that he has had the past few days being in such a close position to the veil. He said that he had seen and talked with our Heavenly Father, and that he had a new assignment if he was ready to go. He gave us each a hug and whispered " I Love You," in our ears. He was not able to see very well, and it was so cute that he would touch our cheeks with his hand to feel our faces. He said many times that one of the most important things we have in this life is our testimony, and that we should hold tight to it. He said never lose it, Satan is trying so hard to take it away, never let him. What a wonderful opportunity we had to hear the testimony of such a wonderful, spiritual man. It's moments like those that we live for.
Within the next few days my Grandpa's health slowly declined, and as I sat as his bedside holding his hands, I thought how grateful I am for the gospel in my life. To know that I will see this great man again one day, was the greatest blessing I could ever have. My Grandfather, Larry Barnes Hansen, passed away September 4th 2008, and what a sad, but yet very happy day that was, for I know that even though he left his family here on earth, he was greeted and is with family in heaven.
As I have pondered the last month I have remembered the "achin- for it's," the whiskerings, the loud boisterous laugh, the firm, strong hugs, and the kind, gentle, vibrant blue eyes. I can remember the smell of his jackets and the touch of his hands. I remember his good advice, and the way that my friends adored him. I will never forget the encouragement he gave after many hard basketball games. He was my biggest fan. I remember the rides on the tractors, and the times he lead us around on the horse. I remember the neon pink swim trunks at camp, and the the skit night that he and Grandma actually had a skit. I remember the pats on the back, and the words, "I'm proud of you Heidi, you did good." I remember his boots, and the characteristic walk that lead them around. I remember his smile and his just fingers wave. But most of all I will never forget the way he lit up when his family was together.
I am so grateful to know that there is a plan set for us all, and that we as a family are together forever. And so it is now that I feel again like a child, but this time staring into the night sky waiting to "finally" see my Grandpa once again.

The Worst Job Ever!!

2008-08-30T20:54:00.002-06:00

Last week I finally found a job, however, it is defintely the worst job ever! I work for a seed company as a conditioning operator, which bascially means that I run seeds through mills. Currently, we are running onion seeds, which stink like crazy. I have to go straight home and hop in the shower so the smell doesn't stick to me. There are two upsides to this job, one is that I get off work at 3:30, and two is that I am now officially fork lift certified! I even have a spiffy certificate and card to prove it. I only missed one question on my 74 question test, so basically I am amazing! The other day I sat on a five gallon bucket for five hours picking junk off watermelon seeds one seed at a time. Each seed is worth $0.25, so they can't have anything on them when they leave the conditioning building. At least watermelon seeds don't stink, but they do turn your hands brown. I am pretty sure that if by next summer I am not able to make good money working at a hospital, that I will look elsewhere for a job besides my current employment. I am loving being at home, and am dreading the day that I have to move back to Rexburg. I would take working rather than moving back, which is saying a lot.

Green Envelopes

2008-08-08T22:38:00.005-06:00

Skunked again!! It has officially been a month and a half since I have seen a green envelope in the mailbox. It's not that it's really the color that matters, it's really more about where it comes from. Unfortunatly I realized the other day that this prized green letter may in fact be on it's way back to the Phillippines. You see, when I moved home I neglected to fill out a fowarding address form, so that small green envelope with a red and blue striped border and butterfly and bird stamps may be well on it way on the ten day journey back to Angeles, Phillippines. This news of course was hard for me to swollow, however I still have a small ounce of hope left in that the sender was smarter than I and sent it to my current address. So until monday I will cross my fingers and wish real hard that the next time I walk across the street and open that forest green mailbox, that there will be a seafoam green envelope with a read and blue striped border, and bird and butterfly stamps laying on the bottom of the mailbox waiting for me to open it.

Deciding to Conform

2008-08-01T00:58:00.005-06:00

I have officially decided to conform to the vast majority of college students and start my own blog. I find it funny that I hadn't thought of using a blog for a "journal" before, however public it may be. I think that my excuse for not starting it earlier was that I thought that it would take up way too much of my time, although I hadn't thought that actually writing a journal would probably take just as much of my precious time as this would. Besides, this page is much more cute than any lined paper would be. So to all of those who find this page, please don't judge...and hopefully you may find some humor in my daily life happenings!