When's The Baby Due?

Hey there DANC N' DANA! Heard you danced a lot. Sounds like lots of people showed up for the wedding. Whoo. I cant believe KT is married hahaha. I honestly cant believe that She is now Katie Garcia. That is plain wild. And.... of course the wedding was awesome. We're the Heywoods. Come on.


This last week was pretty good. Lots of things happened. The other night Elder Jensen and I went to go contact a referral that our Ward mission leader had given to us. She was from Polson so Bro Alsbury (who is from Polson) and I were really excited to get in contact with her. Elder Jensen and I arrive at the destined address and presume to get out of the car. We both look at the destination and say, "wow this is a big house." We are about to knock on the door when all we can see on the inside is STATE OF MONTANA certificates. It dawned on me that it wasn’t the kind of house that we were thinking about. We then knock and a nurse like looking lady answers the door.. We then walk into the facility and realize that it is a mental/handicap facility just like Randolph.. I cant tell the whole story or I would be here for days but it was the funniest visit I have ever had. We talked and Mary Jane was completely obsessed with lighthouses and about anything nautical. We sang Brightly beams our Fathers Mercy to her and read some scriptures about light. We then proceeded to talk about the Whale Oil that she said she lived on. Hilarious. After that we began to make different fog horn noises and I showed her the "tractor beam" from dumb and dumber. Mary Jane then asked me if we could watch dumb and dumber sometime. After that we raced: me on foot, Mary Jane in her wheel chair. It was great.

You guys need to look on pg. 96 of the Ensign and tell me if the guy in the middle of that page played volleyball for Westwood.

Now for the big question. WHENS THE BABY DUE? I NEED TO KNOW. I WILL SEE IF I CAN SEND SOME BABY CLOTHES. some little baby cowboy boots and a little carhardt jacket.

We get a monthly "mission" newsletter that shows a missionary directory and has some presidents messages and stories and stuff, one of which, that I would like to share with you. President Gardner wrote about this experience about 3 weeks ago at a Billings Stake Conference: "In the Billings Stake conference this last weekend, there was a special meeting, for new converts and investigators. A man by the name of John came with his member wife, Karen, who was called on last minute to lead the singing. He has been investigating the church off and on for the last 7 years. Elder Condie (who was the GA seventy that came through the mission) asked Sister Lingmann who was going home that week, to come up and in 2 minutes teach John what he needed to know, testify to him, and challenge him to be baptized. We were all surprised at the boldness of Elder Condie. Sister Lingmann did as she was invited to do and then invited John to be baptized. There was an awkward pause, Finally John said, “we'll see.” Then Pres. Getz, the stake president, stood up and said, “we have known each other a longtime John. As your friend, I testify as a second witness that what Sister Lingmann has said is true. I challenge you to be baptized before sister Lingmann goes home on Thursday.” Elder Condie then stood and said, “NO pressure here john.” There was a tension breaking chuckle from the group, but then he added that he was leaving in the morning and challenged John to be baptized before the day was out. During Conference, Elder Condie once again bore testimony from the pulpit, by saying that he was a last minute substitute for the conference. He wasn’t supposed to be in Billings, but he was here and one of the reasons he was here was to see that John was baptized. Sisters Lingmann, Denning, and Reyes called about 2:30 indicating that they had been asked to review the lessons with John and wondered if they could teach him here at the mission home. Of course we said yes, and so we did from 3:00 pm until 6:30pm John had some misconceptions that needed to be clarified, but he knew enough to be baptized. He knew that Jesus is the Christ and that the Book of Mormon is true. He believed in Joseph Smith and the restoration of the Gospel. In the end, he wanted to be baptized, not because of pressure, but because of choice. He know this is what he needed to do. The font was filled and a baptism was held at 8:00 that night. President Getz baptized him and was confirmed a member by Elder Spencer J. Condie. It took a lot of effort from a lot of people but finally John was able to feel the spirit and knew that it was time to be baptized. Thanks to Elders Tryon, Coker and Journey, Sisters Reyes Denning, and Lingmann, Sister Gardner and Sister Carter, President Getz, and Elder Condie, and I’m sure many others. It always takes lots of touches for someone to feel enough of the workings of the spirit to precipitate action. John told me that, “I learned that you just cant do it on your own.” Thanks to all who helped along the way. -Pres Gardner.

Ya. I thought that was a pretty cool story. Maybe you guys can learn from Elder Condie and be bold enough to straight up invite a family to learn the Gospel. Im still waiting for you guys to do that.

I read over and over Ann M. Dibb's talk. it was great. "it was pretty scary I tell you" "get a grip" those lines will never be forgotten.

That’s about it for the last week. We hope to have a big week this week. We have zone conference tomorrow and zone leader team ups today and tomorrow

Hunting Season...

Elder Greenie and I are just doin swell. Just tryin to help him progress and turn that Californian wildfire into a missionary. Tell that Dave that I aint stretchin or breakin no rules. Its an emergency type of situation and we need the bike or else, no missionary work. Lots has and hasn't happened this past week. Its that dang huntin season again and it seems like people think the world is going to end if they dont shoot a big Buck or Bull. Ive never seen so many people addicted to something that isn't drugs. We will be in the middle of a lesson and some dude will get a phone call and say, "gotta go" then proceed to grab his jacket, gun and keys and head out the door while we sit there left alone in their house. Weird.

We ate breakfast at a non members home this morning and sports center was on. They kept replaying the ASU and USC clip with the football flying everywhere. That looked pretty crazy.

This last sunday Rich and Scott got ordained to the priesthood. That was another sweet experience to add to the whole thing. They will both be passing the sacrament this next week.

I cant wait for zone conference for some weird reason. I think I always like to listen to President Gardner for some reason.

This week we were able to find 3 new investigators and one of those had us over for dinner. Her name is Charlanne. She is pretty cool. She has 6 cats. She really enjoys coming to church and wants to start taking the lessons. That is always probably one of the most exciting things. I always love to start teaching lessons to someone that WANTS them. I will keep you guys updated on her. We also taught two 30 year old dudes who seem to have a slight interest in the Gospel. It was pretty cool. They are both huge college football fans and we talked it up for a while before we started our lesson. It was kind of an "instant friendship" with the both of them so we will see what we can do there.

We still havent seen Anna in a while. SHe is going through Some pretty harsh Chemo therapy. I feel bad for her. It was kind of bad timing on our part. I wish we could have got to her sooner. SHe was so ready.

Have you guys exercised the challenge of going out with the missionaries to teach any lessons yet? You haven't? Well I know Grandma has. You guys should too. Dont wait for them to ask you. Ask them. Keep thinking and praying about a family you can invite over for a FHE or something simple. I think Elder Brimhall said it best. He said that when you meet someone who you want to hear the Gospel, you dont have to automatically tell them about the first vision. Hardly anyone is attracted to the Doctrines of the Gospel of the get go. He said to share important principles and activities that will attract people such as our families, inviting friends to A FHE, Mutual activties, etc, etc. Also, ask the missionaries for some of the MORMON.ORG pass-along cards and see if you can hand them out to someone. That includes you too BEAR. Katie, you and Are Bear have the perfect opportunity to do missionary work as well moving into a brand new neighborhood. JUST DO IT

Again I wish you guys could meet all the people that I get to teach and (Elder Roerdanz says hi) talk with. Theyre awesome. im not doing to good on my journal writing so I hope you save all these letters.

Katie, I hope they seal you guys good. too bad the kids dont get to go inside and see.

Love
Playwood

New Comp!

My new greenie is a good boy. He is from Ridgecrest, CA. His name is Elder David Jensen and He says he knows some Strattons from Mesa. (Chantel, Kayli, Emily, Caleb,etc?) He is as green as they come. I like him. He is willing to work hard and become a better missionary. We get along well and work hard. Thats all that matters. I feel bad because we had a horrible week this last week and felt like it was a horrible introduction to the mission.

We spent Halloween at the Binghams. We weren't allowed to be out past dark so we had dinner there and then went home. The Binghams are from Phoenix and said that they remember a STake President with the last name Heywood. I then explained. Sister Bingham went to..I forget and Bro Bingham went to Carl Hayden and Alhambra for school. They're about your ages. Donna Anderson-Bingham and Dan Bingham.

I was thinking that you should just send me some of the pictures back on a USB drive including the pics Ive already taken. That would be easiest. Im glad you liked all the pics. Whoo WHooo.

So this last week was pretty slow. I had two wait until Wed night to get Elder Greenie. Before that I spent the week with Elder Child and Elder Goff are one of my favorite companionships in history. Anyway, We went to Townsend with the new missionaries and hauled over 10 tons of logs to some community wood pile and the previous evening got to sing at the Townsend community Gospel sing. It was at the methodist Church and was great. Ya. Fantastic. BOOYAh.

I dont know why Im writing in backwards order but, even before we went out to Townsend I was with Elder Moore and Robison on Sunday after Elder Jurney left and we went and visited some people. Before I left Polson, the Burninghams gave me their Brothers address in Helena.(bro Burninghams Bro. He is less active.) time is running out but we went and visited him and he invited us in. He was about 55 years old or so and is single. He is a business man and drives a UPS truck. His house consists of a Bar, beer pictures everywhere, Beer signs, empty kegs, nice leather sofas, etc. I know Im not painting the best picture but He basically likes beer and considers himself the beer ambassador of Helena. He was actually really nice, even though im not sure he was completly sober. Overall, I was just so suprised to see such a weird guy stem off of the very sweet and very innocent Burnigham family. It was crazy.

I dont know if I ever told you but ELder Goff and Child are living with a staunch catholic couple next to their bishops house and have the most awesome relationship with them. (thats the house that I played the guitar at. I was thinking of doing it with some deer or horses in the backdrop but my choices were limited.)(anyway, nice tangent) The lady they live with is really sick and they've had the opportunity to administer to her a couple of times and what not. so its pretty cool.

I dont know if there is too much more to say. Thank you.
BYE. I will write a full letter of our investigators progress and everything else involved next week. Its hard to write about people when you hardly see anyone. this week should be good.
LOVE me do.

PS. I dont know why im craving this but send me some riddles (ask jared and luke mainly. kids like riddles) and also some magic card tricks. GREAT, im turning into Elder Weirdo.
BYE

PS. I was informed that POLSON has had 3 baptisms and that INez Brown will be baptized in December.