Hey there everyone,
It is awesome to hear good things from everyone. except that the volleyball team lost. Come on. Does my year have to do everything? Anyway, it snowed/rained the last couple of days, has been cloudy, and windy. The high today is supposed to be 42. dang!
So your girlfriend Kris is coming up huh? Well I wouldn’t mind her bringing up my blanket. Also, I forgot to put it in my last letter but if you could get me one of those Neck-Stretcher-top-button shirt things. I’ve been looking for one everywhere around here. My shirts are starting to get tighter and tighter! good thing we have been running in the mornings. I can't button my top dang button. gosh its only been a month and a half.
Keep me updated on Jolene and that blasted dog. how big is it?
Well, overall the work here has been picking up. It makes me happy. All of our obedience and long tracting hours have been paying off even though we are not close to what needs to happen. So many j-dubs around here. Half the time we are just trying to tell people that there is no such thing about 144,000 people that get into heaven. Im getting to be quite the Bible scholar and religion guru You should see all the churches. its funny to see the LDS church right next to a masonic lodge and the catholic church. All three are next door neighbors.
There are some funny stories that I need to write you guys but haven’t had time yet. Last night we went to dinner with the Lowdermilks. They knew some family in Gilbert so it was fun. she was texting the family in the middle of dinner to try and see if their were any relations. anyway, Brother Lowdermilk was baptized about 11 years ago and was telling us about all his stories when he was the GRAND DRAGON of California in the "K"KKK (Knights of the Ku Klux Klan). He explained everything. he said that the real KKK is actually four K's. and everyone who says they are in the KKK isn’t really in it and is in one of the split-off groups who are the racist haters etc. I was really surprised by what the whole Klan's motives actually are. but thats a whole other story. He said we could go over sometime and see his robe. im excited. he told us some funny stuff.
Oh, almost forgot. We met a less active guy named Wally Wakkinen yesterday who went to the Leeds, England mission. I told him about you dad. but I didn’t have any names of people. I told him I would get back to him on the names.
Now that all of that is out of the way, I have to tell you about this awesome family we met and are going to start teaching tomorrow night. They are awesome. We have been praying to find a family and found a good potential. We tracted them out in one of the most junky trailer parks I’ve ever seen. Drunk natives and white trash everywhere. (this was down in Pablo) They have just been saving up their money to move out of that trailer park and have finally gotten there. We will get to teach them and help them move and everything. The Dad has a really rough background but is doing awesome. they have four kids and one of the daughters is from his ex wife who was actually given an infant blessing in our church. He really wanted to find a family-oriented church and know about our church so he could answer a lot of his daughters questions when she got older. So.. we will see how everything goes. It is very exciting.
I will probably not be back on the computer today so see you in a week.
PS sorry I will try to get some pics to you. and it seems like we see a new animal everyday. Tell grandpa I enjoyed his email and that he isn’t supposed to send them but its ok. I just wont be able to send back or the Lord won’t bless me.
Elder PH
If you could also keep a lady named Crystal Deberry in your prayers thanks
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Excerpts from a letter to Grandma and Grandpa Heywood on April 14th
Thank you for all your letters. I enjoyed getting that article on our new Mission President. I am very excited to see what he brings to our mission.
Right now me and my companion/trainer are waiting for some other Elders in Elmo so that we can carpool together up to Kalispell for Zone Conference tomorrow morning.
So far, the mission has been awesome! We have just been trying to meet and find people. It's slow right now but with our diligence things are starting to pickup. We have asked and prayed (as our Mission President directed) to find, teach, and baptize a family. We have lots of potential families but nothing happening yet. It is kind of interesting and exciting to get out and just go tractings. There is such a variety of people here. Lots of Indians and lots of lazy, lazy, people who live in trailer park areas who throw their trash out in front of their trailers and seem to always be drinking and smoking. These people are hard to deal with sometimes. Sometimes they are so drunk that you get some interesting stories.
All together, the mission and area I'm in is all good. The Lake here is beautiful and the weather has been sunny and in the mid 60's the last week and a half. It is amazing to be working i9n such a nice area and getting to meet all the weirdest people in the world. We actually (I forgot to mention) have a couple of investigators who have been reading the Book of Mormon and are starting to see its truths. These are still really questionable and haven't been progressing like things should and like we would want them to; but we keep setting up appointments and they accept so we will see.
Well, I'm still learning and growing (only been here for 2 weeks) and trying to become a better teacher. Once again, it is very eye-opening to be a missionary and really see the difference between the word of the Lord and the work of the adversary in the world. But we know that the truth of God will go forth, boldly, nobly and independent.
Love your Grandson,
Elder Parker Heywood
Right now me and my companion/trainer are waiting for some other Elders in Elmo so that we can carpool together up to Kalispell for Zone Conference tomorrow morning.
So far, the mission has been awesome! We have just been trying to meet and find people. It's slow right now but with our diligence things are starting to pickup. We have asked and prayed (as our Mission President directed) to find, teach, and baptize a family. We have lots of potential families but nothing happening yet. It is kind of interesting and exciting to get out and just go tractings. There is such a variety of people here. Lots of Indians and lots of lazy, lazy, people who live in trailer park areas who throw their trash out in front of their trailers and seem to always be drinking and smoking. These people are hard to deal with sometimes. Sometimes they are so drunk that you get some interesting stories.
All together, the mission and area I'm in is all good. The Lake here is beautiful and the weather has been sunny and in the mid 60's the last week and a half. It is amazing to be working i9n such a nice area and getting to meet all the weirdest people in the world. We actually (I forgot to mention) have a couple of investigators who have been reading the Book of Mormon and are starting to see its truths. These are still really questionable and haven't been progressing like things should and like we would want them to; but we keep setting up appointments and they accept so we will see.
Well, I'm still learning and growing (only been here for 2 weeks) and trying to become a better teacher. Once again, it is very eye-opening to be a missionary and really see the difference between the word of the Lord and the work of the adversary in the world. But we know that the truth of God will go forth, boldly, nobly and independent.
Love your Grandson,
Elder Parker Heywood
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Finally...he sent a tidbit...
Hey guys. Its is exciting to hear all about home and what not. I have been meaning to write a little bit of a letter to everyone but we are just so dang busy. I have lots of good news and funny stories.
Well, so far my day has gone as follows: We had team-ups yesterday with the zone leaders here in Polson. That went well. we are in a finding mode and they helped us get some finding done. apart from that, this morning we woke up ate breakfast and then went and helped Wal-mart clean their own adopted highway portion of the 93. the lady that told us about is a less active but had us over for dinner. she is really nice and we are slowly starting to get to her. Her parents are in the ward and they are active members and are just trying to get all their kids active again. On that note, this place is like sweet home alabama. Everyone has either been here their whole lives or is married to someoned who has been here their whole life. Everyone is also married to their sisters or brothers best friend or somebody's ex wife/husband or cousin orhighschoool sweet heart etc etc etc. Its goofy and all the connections are just weird. its all together just really funny.
after wal-mart highway clean up for earth day we went and got haircuts and enjoyed some delicious brownies. after that we decided to come down here to the Polson Library and write emails. Now, here I am.
Also, the tanners that you mentioned in your letter who come up for the summer were at sacrament meeting. Elder tanner and I spoke and I mentioned something about football and being from gilbert. So he comes up afterwards and says, "was that team you guys beat Mt view?" I asked how he would know that and he said he was from Mesa visiting. They were just up for the weekend but said they would invite us over for dinner when they came back in the summer.
all about elder tanner: he went to BYU for a year and is majoring in computer science. he comes from a family with 10 kids. he is from orangeville utah and has a slight accent. say mill instead of meal and always looking for a good "burger joint" etc. has a lot of sayings that remind me of dad. Not super athletic but athletic enough to play high school baseball and a pick up game of basket ball. his dad is an attorney. his mom is a mortician. he got a 35 on his ACT. He is not very smart though, just knowledgeable. he is the type (and this is what he told me) that can just sit down and knows how to study and pass a test. he knows the sciptures cover to cover. He is very obedient. I like that. he is awkward when talking to people and getting into their homes but gets the job done. He is a very nice kid overall. He is awesome and i like him even though our personalities clash sometimes. its great.
There are too many things to talk about. I dont know what I should share next. I have some good stories but they are long and I will just try to write them to you. too long to email. Tell aaron I have some could stories about talking to Jehovah Witness People. There are sooo many different religions in this area. I cant believe it. I am really getting to love talking about the Bible with People and am slowly becoming a sripture King. I thought I knew alot before I ca other than that, can you send me tim and shanas address along with the Elgs? Ive been needing those. Also, I was thinking about sam hatch and would just like to know if you could maybe get his address for me too and anyone else who was away to college when I left. That would be great. also, ben =barazotos and scott williams. but I dont know if he is still in the MTC.
Tell jared ben Arnett wrote me and told me about his "getting stuck" story. and that he called the house at 1230. that made me laugh pretty hard.
I will try to send pics. I can print them out at wal mart for pretty cheap and have just been lazy. And I also forget my usb cord everytime I email. I think I can just send pics to you by doing that.
P.S. I have seen lots of deer, elk, and even bears. that was cool
Well, so far my day has gone as follows: We had team-ups yesterday with the zone leaders here in Polson. That went well. we are in a finding mode and they helped us get some finding done. apart from that, this morning we woke up ate breakfast and then went and helped Wal-mart clean their own adopted highway portion of the 93. the lady that told us about is a less active but had us over for dinner. she is really nice and we are slowly starting to get to her. Her parents are in the ward and they are active members and are just trying to get all their kids active again. On that note, this place is like sweet home alabama. Everyone has either been here their whole lives or is married to someoned who has been here their whole life. Everyone is also married to their sisters or brothers best friend or somebody's ex wife/husband or cousin orhighschoool sweet heart etc etc etc. Its goofy and all the connections are just weird. its all together just really funny.
after wal-mart highway clean up for earth day we went and got haircuts and enjoyed some delicious brownies. after that we decided to come down here to the Polson Library and write emails. Now, here I am.
Also, the tanners that you mentioned in your letter who come up for the summer were at sacrament meeting. Elder tanner and I spoke and I mentioned something about football and being from gilbert. So he comes up afterwards and says, "was that team you guys beat Mt view?" I asked how he would know that and he said he was from Mesa visiting. They were just up for the weekend but said they would invite us over for dinner when they came back in the summer.
all about elder tanner: he went to BYU for a year and is majoring in computer science. he comes from a family with 10 kids. he is from orangeville utah and has a slight accent. say mill instead of meal and always looking for a good "burger joint" etc. has a lot of sayings that remind me of dad. Not super athletic but athletic enough to play high school baseball and a pick up game of basket ball. his dad is an attorney. his mom is a mortician. he got a 35 on his ACT. He is not very smart though, just knowledgeable. he is the type (and this is what he told me) that can just sit down and knows how to study and pass a test. he knows the sciptures cover to cover. He is very obedient. I like that. he is awkward when talking to people and getting into their homes but gets the job done. He is a very nice kid overall. He is awesome and i like him even though our personalities clash sometimes. its great.
There are too many things to talk about. I dont know what I should share next. I have some good stories but they are long and I will just try to write them to you. too long to email. Tell aaron I have some could stories about talking to Jehovah Witness People. There are sooo many different religions in this area. I cant believe it. I am really getting to love talking about the Bible with People and am slowly becoming a sripture King. I thought I knew alot before I ca other than that, can you send me tim and shanas address along with the Elgs? Ive been needing those. Also, I was thinking about sam hatch and would just like to know if you could maybe get his address for me too and anyone else who was away to college when I left. That would be great. also, ben =barazotos and scott williams. but I dont know if he is still in the MTC.
Tell jared ben Arnett wrote me and told me about his "getting stuck" story. and that he called the house at 1230. that made me laugh pretty hard.
I will try to send pics. I can print them out at wal mart for pretty cheap and have just been lazy. And I also forget my usb cord everytime I email. I think I can just send pics to you by doing that.
P.S. I have seen lots of deer, elk, and even bears. that was cool
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
The Heywood family is not happy....read on....
I am writing today because we have zone conference tomorrow... I am sorry but a lady deleted my nearly finished email. I got up to do something and she was on my computer when I got back. sorry. thats all for the week.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
1st Week in Polsen
Hello again. It is p day and we are in kalispell playing basketball and writing email here in the family history center. (its a part of the stake center up here.
wow there is too much to talk about. first off.. zone conference is next wednesday. our zone has been learning the haka with a little twist on it and is doing IT for zone conference. Elder Unga (tongan) from mesa and elder Quiocho (samoan) from nevada are leading us. cant wait for president fisher to see that.
Once again I dont know where to start. I just got the package with the program and your letter in it today. awesome, but, nice highland? my address has been changed though. The same lady who was housing the sister missionaries before we got here has been getting the mail because thats where we originally were going to stay. But, we got swithched to brother Heskiels house. We both live in a 15 by 10 foot room with a desk and a closet. its not bad. we just go out into the family room to study etc. Brother Heskiel is a single Iraqi/Assyrian man in his 50s. I will send a picture. He is very funny. he speaks Aramic, Arabic and English. He reminds me of an Iraqi George Castanza/Danny Devito/Uncle fester(I hope you can get the picture). his address is:
#9 Regatta Lane #41
Polson, MT 59860
(exactly like that)
well so far here in Polson it has been slow. We got "doubled in" which means that two new missionaries were transferred to this area instead of one new one to an existing elder/sister. So... We are still trying to find our way around, getting to meet people, etc. It is very very slow and we do a lot of planning and tracting. Its tough but we are starting to see resullts from our diligence and obedience from our own efforts. sidenote: I completely understood elder perrys talk sunday about ward missionaries and how they should be doing the work and letting the missionaries do the teaching. That way is so much more effective. I think that our family should seriously consider making some goals of finding some families etc. and refer them to the missionaries or have them over for dinner. something like that. just being out here for a week i was thinking to myself about how many opportunities I had to do missionary work in high shcool. it is sad and even depressing. Our family has been blessed with some really good friendships through school sports etc. I just think that you guys should take advantage of it and use the missionaries as a resource. Re read Elder Perry's talk
Other than that, Polson right now has a population of about 5,000 and in the summer was told that it gets up to a whopping 9,000. We are right on the lake and it is awesome. The high today is around 65 i think and is beautiful.
Me and my companion only have one ward but the area is huge. we cover Polson, Pablo and almost all the way up to Lakeside and Bigfork on either side of the Flathead Lake. Youshould see how big this lake is and how beautiful it is. I have big plans to come here and get out on a boat after i am done with the mission. Like jenny lake times 10. beauty and size wise.
There are too many good stories to tell about dinner with the members and tracting and potential investigators and talking so I will just tell a few. just some background. Everyone here is either really poor, really wealthy, redneck, indian, or just straight up hick. I thought the town was pretty normal my first day until we actually "got out". Oh my, there are some very weird people. We went to a dinner appt with the Allens who were pretty normal. Just a nice small family. We started asking about people in the ward and some investigators etc. We asked about this one man and the wife started Laughing. what we didnt know was that Bro allen is a city prosecutor and had sent half of the people to jail that we had talked of. He said, "ya... you might not get to get to him these days. He hasnt been around town too much anymore." it was quite humorous.
We went to another dinner appt and that family had self painted cougars and bears on their walls. They had over 43 pets including dogs, cats, rabbits, lizards, gerbils, doves, other misc. birds, guinea pigs, and were deciding whether or not to feed us bear meat for dinner. we ended up having chili. I walked out of that house with hair all over.
welp... gotta go. lots more to tell but no time.
love y'all
Elder P. Heywood
wow there is too much to talk about. first off.. zone conference is next wednesday. our zone has been learning the haka with a little twist on it and is doing IT for zone conference. Elder Unga (tongan) from mesa and elder Quiocho (samoan) from nevada are leading us. cant wait for president fisher to see that.
Once again I dont know where to start. I just got the package with the program and your letter in it today. awesome, but, nice highland? my address has been changed though. The same lady who was housing the sister missionaries before we got here has been getting the mail because thats where we originally were going to stay. But, we got swithched to brother Heskiels house. We both live in a 15 by 10 foot room with a desk and a closet. its not bad. we just go out into the family room to study etc. Brother Heskiel is a single Iraqi/Assyrian man in his 50s. I will send a picture. He is very funny. he speaks Aramic, Arabic and English. He reminds me of an Iraqi George Castanza/Danny Devito/Uncle fester(I hope you can get the picture). his address is:
#9 Regatta Lane #41
Polson, MT 59860
(exactly like that)
well so far here in Polson it has been slow. We got "doubled in" which means that two new missionaries were transferred to this area instead of one new one to an existing elder/sister. So... We are still trying to find our way around, getting to meet people, etc. It is very very slow and we do a lot of planning and tracting. Its tough but we are starting to see resullts from our diligence and obedience from our own efforts. sidenote: I completely understood elder perrys talk sunday about ward missionaries and how they should be doing the work and letting the missionaries do the teaching. That way is so much more effective. I think that our family should seriously consider making some goals of finding some families etc. and refer them to the missionaries or have them over for dinner. something like that. just being out here for a week i was thinking to myself about how many opportunities I had to do missionary work in high shcool. it is sad and even depressing. Our family has been blessed with some really good friendships through school sports etc. I just think that you guys should take advantage of it and use the missionaries as a resource. Re read Elder Perry's talk
Other than that, Polson right now has a population of about 5,000 and in the summer was told that it gets up to a whopping 9,000. We are right on the lake and it is awesome. The high today is around 65 i think and is beautiful.
Me and my companion only have one ward but the area is huge. we cover Polson, Pablo and almost all the way up to Lakeside and Bigfork on either side of the Flathead Lake. Youshould see how big this lake is and how beautiful it is. I have big plans to come here and get out on a boat after i am done with the mission. Like jenny lake times 10. beauty and size wise.
There are too many good stories to tell about dinner with the members and tracting and potential investigators and talking so I will just tell a few. just some background. Everyone here is either really poor, really wealthy, redneck, indian, or just straight up hick. I thought the town was pretty normal my first day until we actually "got out". Oh my, there are some very weird people. We went to a dinner appt with the Allens who were pretty normal. Just a nice small family. We started asking about people in the ward and some investigators etc. We asked about this one man and the wife started Laughing. what we didnt know was that Bro allen is a city prosecutor and had sent half of the people to jail that we had talked of. He said, "ya... you might not get to get to him these days. He hasnt been around town too much anymore." it was quite humorous.
We went to another dinner appt and that family had self painted cougars and bears on their walls. They had over 43 pets including dogs, cats, rabbits, lizards, gerbils, doves, other misc. birds, guinea pigs, and were deciding whether or not to feed us bear meat for dinner. we ended up having chili. I walked out of that house with hair all over.
welp... gotta go. lots more to tell but no time.
love y'all
Elder P. Heywood
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
1st Stop: Kalispell (Check out Polson Chamber of Commerce in our Favorites)
Hello. I am in the mission office right now at 11:00 am getting ready to be shipped out to Kalispell. A city called Poulson right at the bottom of flathead lake. It is a about a 15 hour bus ride from the mission home here in Billings. Elder Thomas is headed to great falls. It told hime to look for the Ladukes. ( i dont know if they are still there) My trainer is named elder Tanner. Everyone ive talked to so far who know him call him Nephi.
You probably talked to sister fisher last night. President fisher said that she gave you a call the night before. Last night was awesome with the Fishers. we had ate lunch, went to the temple. went through some orientation stuff had dinner and an awesome testimony meeting. (by the way. all they could say about sister maryn florence was how awesome she was) We went to bed, woke up, had a transfer/ greenie breakfast at the stake center and are just kind of waiting around right now to leave.
anyway, I wont get to Kalispell until Thursday afternoon they tell me so. I will write you next week. My address is: 36167 Violet Lane Polson, MT 59860. I just wanted to finish by saying that when i got off the plane and just went through the whole day yesterday and what not... I had just the most overwhelming feeling of this is where I needed to be and that this had to be the most awesome mission in the world. Love you all
Elder P. Heywood
ps an elder showed me a picture this morning of a picture he took. it was a full sized bull elk running down the highway with 3 dogs chasing it.
You probably talked to sister fisher last night. President fisher said that she gave you a call the night before. Last night was awesome with the Fishers. we had ate lunch, went to the temple. went through some orientation stuff had dinner and an awesome testimony meeting. (by the way. all they could say about sister maryn florence was how awesome she was) We went to bed, woke up, had a transfer/ greenie breakfast at the stake center and are just kind of waiting around right now to leave.
anyway, I wont get to Kalispell until Thursday afternoon they tell me so. I will write you next week. My address is: 36167 Violet Lane Polson, MT 59860. I just wanted to finish by saying that when i got off the plane and just went through the whole day yesterday and what not... I had just the most overwhelming feeling of this is where I needed to be and that this had to be the most awesome mission in the world. Love you all
Elder P. Heywood
ps an elder showed me a picture this morning of a picture he took. it was a full sized bull elk running down the highway with 3 dogs chasing it.
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