Parker & Smith's cousin (Elder McClaws...love
his duct tape tie)
Somewhere between Havre and Lewistown
Elder Heywood w/the Lloyds
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
I want to say that I hope everyone serves a mission one day. After a week like we had last week, whooooo, its dang tough sometimes and can kick ya like a heifer but, wow, the good far outweighs the bad. Its rewarding. As for the Atchleys, she sent me another letter that Im going to have to send you. Its just as good as the first. She is so funny. I have a feeling that Earl wont make it before my mission is over but Emy has to have at least another decade left.
The weekly Heywood news report: Transfer calls came. We were afraid that Elder Rice was leaving because PG (pres Gardner) has been moving around the young guys quite a bit. He doesn't like to keep them in their first area for too long. Just as we expected, the call came and Elder Rice was told that he was leaving. About an hour later, PG called and told him that he was going to be doubled in to a new area that hasn't had Elders or Sisters there for a long time. Just Old Senile Senior Sisters. Anyway, he will be going to Sidney with an older missionary and they will be the first Missionaries to be in that area for over 10 years. And..... they will be living with a non member family, in their basement, and on top of that they have 8 kids. Its a pretty stellar opportunity if you ask me. I'm proud of him. Hes gonna go make me proud. After Elder Rice got off the phone with PG it was my turn and I was cordially invited to ....... yep...... train a new one again. Another baby boy coming my way. To tell you the truth, I don't know what to think. Don't get me wrong folks, I'm excited and all...It could be really good or it could be really bad. I guess that's life. Plan of Salvation in action. I think Forrest Gump said it best, (missionary style). Training is like a box of chocolates....... You guys will get all that info next Monday. I will be in Great Falls until Thursday.
FYI there is a new tenant who moved in just below our apartment. Lets just say our apt. doesn't block out sound or smell very well. Our little tri-plex has now turned into a motel. The camel himself lives underneath us. We wake up every morning to the nice smell of smoke lingering in our apt. You wouldn't think it would be so bad but our little piece of junk place we live just isn't the most well constructed place. Its beautiful.
Like I said my greenie and I wont get back until Thursday afternoon and sister Thayne is making us a special meal. Yeppers. We're having cougar steaks. Cant wait for that.
You guys will have to go online and see if you can find anything on this band: Kyle Shobe and the Walk em boys. They all attend the Lewistown ward. + Kyle Shobe is officially the best auctioneer in Montana.
Missionary Work: We found a couple of potential investigators this past week and hopefully that goes well for next time we go back. I hope it does. There has been an older part member couple coming to church very consistently. We are working with the ward to get us in their home to teach the Husband. The only prob is that they are 40 miles out of town on a ranch. We got a couple of other referrals and things so hopefully those go well too. Lots of good little things starting to happen. We're hopin and prayin.
Lastly, I experienced something that Ive never experienced before. I think it was Saturday night and I sat pondering. I pondered like I had never pondered before. This may sound like a joke but I'm serious. Never before have I received personal revelation like I did just sitting and pondering about this missionary work in Lewistown. I think that we can understand principles of the Gospel but to FULLY understand or to "obtain my word" (DC?) we really have to go and do and experience it for ourselves. Ive always been told to SEARCH PONDER AND PRAY but I don't know if I fully understood. I have pondered and prayed and read before but I don't think I ever really whole heartily pondered something like I did a couple of nights ago. It was a pretty big growing experience for me. I will forever preach about SEARCHING PONDERING AND PRAYING. If only we could get investigators to put in the 100% percent effort to do that, thing would be so different. Our Eternal Life/Salvation isn't based of how many times we go to church or how many times we do our home teaching or how many callings we've had, or how many good things we do for someone else.... Its based off of our personal relation to the captain and author of our salvation. If we can draw close to him, then all the Church, service, etc, etc. will happen. Bottom Line. Read your scriptures. Pray. and Ponder
Have a good week you Latter-day Saints of God
Elder Pheywood
The weekly Heywood news report: Transfer calls came. We were afraid that Elder Rice was leaving because PG (pres Gardner) has been moving around the young guys quite a bit. He doesn't like to keep them in their first area for too long. Just as we expected, the call came and Elder Rice was told that he was leaving. About an hour later, PG called and told him that he was going to be doubled in to a new area that hasn't had Elders or Sisters there for a long time. Just Old Senile Senior Sisters. Anyway, he will be going to Sidney with an older missionary and they will be the first Missionaries to be in that area for over 10 years. And..... they will be living with a non member family, in their basement, and on top of that they have 8 kids. Its a pretty stellar opportunity if you ask me. I'm proud of him. Hes gonna go make me proud. After Elder Rice got off the phone with PG it was my turn and I was cordially invited to ....... yep...... train a new one again. Another baby boy coming my way. To tell you the truth, I don't know what to think. Don't get me wrong folks, I'm excited and all...It could be really good or it could be really bad. I guess that's life. Plan of Salvation in action. I think Forrest Gump said it best, (missionary style). Training is like a box of chocolates....... You guys will get all that info next Monday. I will be in Great Falls until Thursday.
FYI there is a new tenant who moved in just below our apartment. Lets just say our apt. doesn't block out sound or smell very well. Our little tri-plex has now turned into a motel. The camel himself lives underneath us. We wake up every morning to the nice smell of smoke lingering in our apt. You wouldn't think it would be so bad but our little piece of junk place we live just isn't the most well constructed place. Its beautiful.
Like I said my greenie and I wont get back until Thursday afternoon and sister Thayne is making us a special meal. Yeppers. We're having cougar steaks. Cant wait for that.
You guys will have to go online and see if you can find anything on this band: Kyle Shobe and the Walk em boys. They all attend the Lewistown ward. + Kyle Shobe is officially the best auctioneer in Montana.
Missionary Work: We found a couple of potential investigators this past week and hopefully that goes well for next time we go back. I hope it does. There has been an older part member couple coming to church very consistently. We are working with the ward to get us in their home to teach the Husband. The only prob is that they are 40 miles out of town on a ranch. We got a couple of other referrals and things so hopefully those go well too. Lots of good little things starting to happen. We're hopin and prayin.
Lastly, I experienced something that Ive never experienced before. I think it was Saturday night and I sat pondering. I pondered like I had never pondered before. This may sound like a joke but I'm serious. Never before have I received personal revelation like I did just sitting and pondering about this missionary work in Lewistown. I think that we can understand principles of the Gospel but to FULLY understand or to "obtain my word" (DC?) we really have to go and do and experience it for ourselves. Ive always been told to SEARCH PONDER AND PRAY but I don't know if I fully understood. I have pondered and prayed and read before but I don't think I ever really whole heartily pondered something like I did a couple of nights ago. It was a pretty big growing experience for me. I will forever preach about SEARCHING PONDERING AND PRAYING. If only we could get investigators to put in the 100% percent effort to do that, thing would be so different. Our Eternal Life/Salvation isn't based of how many times we go to church or how many times we do our home teaching or how many callings we've had, or how many good things we do for someone else.... Its based off of our personal relation to the captain and author of our salvation. If we can draw close to him, then all the Church, service, etc, etc. will happen. Bottom Line. Read your scriptures. Pray. and Ponder
Have a good week you Latter-day Saints of God
Elder Pheywood
Monday, May 17, 2010
I have lots to tell you guys. First thanks for the prayers. We have still been trying to find people to teach and went back through some old people and had a good conversation with them. They know all about the church and almost understand everything from past missionaries but still have some misconceptions that need to be cleared up. We asked them to read a couple of short verses in the BofM so we will see if they did and discuss them next time we go over. They are nice people and just DONT UNDERSTAND! You just cannot deny that book if you read it intently. Why will Children of God just not hearken unto their Fathers voice? He wants them back. They just look at the church as a CHURCH and not as they should. Its frustrating but testimony building.
Other than that we contacted what seemed like a billion less actives. Story one: Now, this happened with high school kid and his Grandpa, who watches movies all day without a shirt on and thinks he knows what is best for kid. We walked into the house on a weekday evening and he is usually watching a movie or show on this HUGE LCD tv which wasn't there. I asked him, without really thinking about it, just trying to be sociable, where the big TV went. He looked at me with those satanic eyes and told me in a very very scary voice that what he does in his house is his business. I felt horrible. I obviously started talking without thinking and hurt his pride very badly. After we got done talking, he told me to come sit down. I did and spent the next 15 minutes basically getting chewed out in a round about way. He kept telling me that he has guns and they are loaded and that I need to be careful what I say. He kept saying that he wasn't mad he was just trying to teach me a lesson for the future for when I would go into other homes because I could possibly get killed for stepping in on other peoples business. I felt like a million bucks after I was done. They also have this little Pomeranian that has its haircut to look like a lion. Everytime we walk in the door that thing growls and doesnt leave the grandpas side until we are done. The grandpa kept telling me that ever since I came to the house, no one else, not any of the other missionaries, just me, but when I come to the house the dog growls. What he was trying to get at was that dogs know good people from bad people. He told me to do some soul searching. Then...... he kept on telling us about how he was in the army and how, like every other disabled Veteran who thinks theyve seen it all, told us about How HE has seen it all. It was a good time.
Another Less active lady that we contacted was really nice but had just been in Montana too long. She told us this crazy story about how she thought her son was kidnapped from the hospital at birth and how the hospital and funeral home were all behind it. Its a long story but a good one. I will write it in my journal. She said that she is trying to get a book published on it to see if her "dead" son is really still out there.
Lately we have been dealing with a lot of the Medical Marijuana Problem. It is a huge thing here in Montana and is a problem with some of the members. Not active ones of course. One of the members works at a Meth Rehab facility and gave us some good insight to the problem because, frankly my dear, I dont know too much about the state laws and how they all work and everything. But, that is an issue I really havent had to face on my mission yet. I sure in the Phililppines there will be numerous issues that deal with everything you can think of. That reminds me. There are some members in the Meth Rehab place that requested us to come so we should start teaching them sometime soon. Hopefull that willl be good.
Thats about it for my week. though. Thanks for all the info on what is going on at home. Keep reading and praying. I promise that if you do problems will most likely be kept at bay.
LOVE YOU
Elder PLH
PHX and LA, Orlando and Boston?
Did you get my letter from the Atchleys? She sent another one about two days after that had a good picture of them at the temple that I will have to send. Its good to hear from investigators.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Day after Mother's Day...
It was good to call home although I admit it makes me a little homesick. But then, you go knock on someones door and they yell at you and youre good to go again.
I dont think I told you in the last email but we, Lewistown, got about 13 inches of snow. Wooo. Its May! We were snowed in the first day but dug out the car by the end of the day. Didnt get around to too much that day. Then the next couple of days we spent pretty much our whole morning shoveling snow for people. I hate snow. I am glad I live in Arizona. There was one snow drift that was about up to my shoulders on someones driveway that we got rid of. For some reason it reminded me of Groundhog day. In other parts of the country some farmers said that they got a couple of drifts that were about 9 feet high. ONCE AGAIN, I SAY, ITS MAY. Can't believe this. Have my eyes been cheated by some spell or is it snowing? ahhhh name that one?
Lets go down the list of some of our investigators/people were teaching. Once again, I say, its May. May, I say, at least in Montana, brings spring flowers (all the perennial flowers i.e. daffodils, tulips, etc are in bloom), lambs, calfs, warm weather, all new and good things. For some reason May, I say, does not bring the NEW and GOOD investigators that we would like to have (at least by this point). So, with the fingers crossed, lucky underwear on, and four leaf clovers in hand, we are out to find, teach and baptize the babes of Bethlehem.
Pleywood.
Snowing in May!
Enjoying Nature!
Lets go down the list of some of our investigators/people were teaching. Once again, I say, its May. May, I say, at least in Montana, brings spring flowers (all the perennial flowers i.e. daffodils, tulips, etc are in bloom), lambs, calfs, warm weather, all new and good things. For some reason May, I say, does not bring the NEW and GOOD investigators that we would like to have (at least by this point). So, with the fingers crossed, lucky underwear on, and four leaf clovers in hand, we are out to find, teach and baptize the babes of Bethlehem.
Pleywood.
One way to pheasant hunt...
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Pass Alongs
Note from family: Elder Heywood says they have success using these little pass along cards from Mormon.org. He sent us a package this week with some of his cards. One of them looked like someone we know...
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Hey Yaaaaaaaaaaa
Sorry we are writing so late. Our zone Conf is tomorrow and we came into Great Falls to have our Pday which was, Zone Olympics. It involved little boys and girls games that kids would play only if they were in the nursery. Weeeee I had so much fun Mommy and Daddy. One of the missionaries set up, in the cultural hall, pretty much a paintball course and then used marshmallows and PVC pipe to have a war. Because he is a Lord of the Rings fan we set up one side of the Gym with tables and different things for obstacles. There were two teams. One team stood on the stage with their marshmallow guns and tried to shoot the advancing team while hiding behind the tables and other obstacles, etc. The other team was the advancing team. We were all supposed to be hobbits and one was Frodo. We all counted as one point if we made it to the baseline but if Frodo made it then we got 5 points. So we turned out the lights (pitch dark) and tried to make it to the Volcano in Mordor (baseline) without any Orks or Goblins (missionaries) shooting us with marshmallows or Saran's Eye detecting us, which was a kid with a flashlight on the stage. Nice right? I know I had to throw that one out there to let you know a little portion of what my mission life is like. Sweet... I know. I dont think I told you this but there are, or I should say "were", missionaries in this mission who knew/know how to write and read Elvish. Yes, I know. Bonus. what an awesome missionary skill. Im sure they use it all the time.
For Lewistown. Things are slow but good. There is progression so that is good. Its just slow. We got into another little ordeal with some lovely Jdubs. Those are always so educational. The spirit always testifies to me that our church is true so, that is good. Why do people not celebrate Mothers day? I mean cmon you blinded sheep.
We are getting kicked out so I will finish up emailing before we head out tomorrow afternoon.
Mothers day call will be around 6pm. your time. I will be calling from a land line so don’t worry. If you’re not home then I will call cell phones.
Talk to you tomorrow.
Look over the last couple of weeks emails and please answer questions.
Love. Elder PLheywood.
For Lewistown. Things are slow but good. There is progression so that is good. Its just slow. We got into another little ordeal with some lovely Jdubs. Those are always so educational. The spirit always testifies to me that our church is true so, that is good. Why do people not celebrate Mothers day? I mean cmon you blinded sheep.
We are getting kicked out so I will finish up emailing before we head out tomorrow afternoon.
Mothers day call will be around 6pm. your time. I will be calling from a land line so don’t worry. If you’re not home then I will call cell phones.
Talk to you tomorrow.
Look over the last couple of weeks emails and please answer questions.
Love. Elder PLheywood.
Monday, April 26, 2010
WOW...
I cannot believe that I am in Montana.... and my brother, who is a blood relative of mine, will be serving in the freakin Phillipines. The two most opposite places in the world. That is very interesting. I wonder If Elder Rasband was sitting in on mission assignments with Elder Eyring again. Great. The Church is letting the amateurs run the show.
Well. Holy Crap. I cant believe it. Haha. That is going to be soo sweet. Riding Water Buffalo to appts. Eating worms, crickets, half baked fertilized eggs, toe jam, horse poop, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, chicken, rice rice,. Ha that is going to be sweet. I dont know much about the Philipines other than we helped an indian man email an online girlfriend who lived in the Province. Wherever that is.
Lets just to a little comparison between the two different missions. (this will just be from what I assume though) In MBM (Montana Billings Mission) we drive trucks and cars, in the PH mission you ride animals. In the MBM there are winters and lots of snow, in the PH Mission its summer all year long. IN the MBM there are lots of farmers and ranchers. wheat vs rice. Running water vs horrible plumbing. Church meetings in a Church vs. a HUT. White people vs All Brown. English vs Tagalog. Cowboys vs Savages. A few missing teeth vs. NO TEETH. the list goes on and on. HAHA. I cant wait. Maybe we can go pick Jare Bear up after his mission is done with so I can find me a Philipino wife and ride a water buffalo.
We got the news this morning that for the month of April we broke the 50 mark for baptisms. That hasnt been done in about 3 years. Its pretty exciting. We are shooting for 600 baptisms this year and 400 reactivations. A total of 1000. Im sure in Jareds mission they will have a couple times a year where they have over 1000 baptisms a month! Guarantee it. That is just crazy. This whole last week ive been slitting my wrists to know where he would go. You know what that mission is going to be? SO SICK (Pound pound x2) Cant wait now for July 14th. Keep me informed.
As for Paul McCartney and myself, I admit, its getting better, getting better all the time. We have now droppped over 8 or 9 investigators now and got told by Elder Egbert and Elder Cox that we just need to white wash the area. WEEEE. Tracting for 24/7. WEEEE. SOO fun. The best lesson we had this last week was with Karl the Prophet, who knows the bible better than I know that the Philipines is going to be a sweet mission. I took Elder Egbert over there with me and we taught a little about the restoration of the Gospel. But with steroids involved. I cant believe that after 2 years of the missionaries seeing this guy not once have they ever taught him anything. I guess they must have been too scared? It was cool to see how strong the spirit was and then Karl just blew it off like it was nothing. Karl = Goodbye aka Dropped. Along with 8 other lovely people that have just had the missionaries over to do visit teaching. Morons. Like I said; we are now working from the ground up. On the side of everything, we got to help out some families shear sheep and brand cows again. Sometimes I convince myself that I want to be a rancher but then reality hits me and I tell my conscience NO. Theres been a non member guy and his member wife coming to church, from what we've been told, the last couple months and he is getting ready to do some branding so we might go out there and help him out. He lives about 40 miles out of town though.
I was thinking the other day and I realized that Lewistown reminds me of that movie, WILD AMERICA. It is so eeriely similar. Just the people and the community. Lewistown is a little smaller than Polson but a lot nicer. Maybe because its not on an indian reservation? I dont know. That would be my guess. You know how there are just some awesome families in any ward you go to? Well, Every ward Ive served in now has a couple of families that just make the missionaries feel at home and really make the mission an awesome experience. The type of families that help out anyone with anything, especially this missionary. Well, the families that Im talking about in Lewistown are the Allens and the Days. Another one of those families that you will get to meet one day. Sister Allen is from Queen Creek. Elder Davis who is serving in Havre took her niece to Prom. Also, There is a brand new missionary who is serving in Roundup from Gilbert. His name is Elder Buckman and he went to Basha. Ive only just talked to him on the phone.
We had a nice baptism for a two sisters named Melissa and Kayla. Melissa is 11 and Kayla is 8. Their Grandparents are active but all of their parents, uncles, Mom and Dad arent. It was nice to see their family come out. For some reason, I felt the spirit a lot stronger at their baptism than I have almost at any other baptism that I can think of. It was a good Sunday. The Ward is awesome. The members are awesome. They had me go up before the talks and give a little shpeel about myself. They love the missionaries and missionary work. In almost every prayer that I heard Sunday they prayed for the missionaries and missionary work.
Thats about it for my week. We’ve got district meeting in Havre tomorrow so we are driving the 200 miles today instead of tomorrow morning.
RANDOM info: Bro Day and Bro Ricks bother served in England, Leeds mission.
I like cooking. I dont know why this is going italic. i didnt even hit the italic button.\\
Im losing weight.
Earl and Emy Atchley went through the temple.
I am emailing from the Bruruds house because the Library is closed on Mondays.
I will send you pics of my crib next week.
PHILLIPINES!!!!!!!!!! (do I spell it right?)
I havent heard much about Baja lately. Is she still alive and living at our house. I told you not to get rid of her until I got home.
Keep sending me sports updates. I like them I usually get a lot of them from Elder Davis because He is a sports nut.
VLEO,
Elder Hey
Well. Holy Crap. I cant believe it. Haha. That is going to be soo sweet. Riding Water Buffalo to appts. Eating worms, crickets, half baked fertilized eggs, toe jam, horse poop, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, chicken, rice rice,. Ha that is going to be sweet. I dont know much about the Philipines other than we helped an indian man email an online girlfriend who lived in the Province. Wherever that is.
Lets just to a little comparison between the two different missions. (this will just be from what I assume though) In MBM (Montana Billings Mission) we drive trucks and cars, in the PH mission you ride animals. In the MBM there are winters and lots of snow, in the PH Mission its summer all year long. IN the MBM there are lots of farmers and ranchers. wheat vs rice. Running water vs horrible plumbing. Church meetings in a Church vs. a HUT. White people vs All Brown. English vs Tagalog. Cowboys vs Savages. A few missing teeth vs. NO TEETH. the list goes on and on. HAHA. I cant wait. Maybe we can go pick Jare Bear up after his mission is done with so I can find me a Philipino wife and ride a water buffalo.
We got the news this morning that for the month of April we broke the 50 mark for baptisms. That hasnt been done in about 3 years. Its pretty exciting. We are shooting for 600 baptisms this year and 400 reactivations. A total of 1000. Im sure in Jareds mission they will have a couple times a year where they have over 1000 baptisms a month! Guarantee it. That is just crazy. This whole last week ive been slitting my wrists to know where he would go. You know what that mission is going to be? SO SICK (Pound pound x2) Cant wait now for July 14th. Keep me informed.
As for Paul McCartney and myself, I admit, its getting better, getting better all the time. We have now droppped over 8 or 9 investigators now and got told by Elder Egbert and Elder Cox that we just need to white wash the area. WEEEE. Tracting for 24/7. WEEEE. SOO fun. The best lesson we had this last week was with Karl the Prophet, who knows the bible better than I know that the Philipines is going to be a sweet mission. I took Elder Egbert over there with me and we taught a little about the restoration of the Gospel. But with steroids involved. I cant believe that after 2 years of the missionaries seeing this guy not once have they ever taught him anything. I guess they must have been too scared? It was cool to see how strong the spirit was and then Karl just blew it off like it was nothing. Karl = Goodbye aka Dropped. Along with 8 other lovely people that have just had the missionaries over to do visit teaching. Morons. Like I said; we are now working from the ground up. On the side of everything, we got to help out some families shear sheep and brand cows again. Sometimes I convince myself that I want to be a rancher but then reality hits me and I tell my conscience NO. Theres been a non member guy and his member wife coming to church, from what we've been told, the last couple months and he is getting ready to do some branding so we might go out there and help him out. He lives about 40 miles out of town though.
I was thinking the other day and I realized that Lewistown reminds me of that movie, WILD AMERICA. It is so eeriely similar. Just the people and the community. Lewistown is a little smaller than Polson but a lot nicer. Maybe because its not on an indian reservation? I dont know. That would be my guess. You know how there are just some awesome families in any ward you go to? Well, Every ward Ive served in now has a couple of families that just make the missionaries feel at home and really make the mission an awesome experience. The type of families that help out anyone with anything, especially this missionary. Well, the families that Im talking about in Lewistown are the Allens and the Days. Another one of those families that you will get to meet one day. Sister Allen is from Queen Creek. Elder Davis who is serving in Havre took her niece to Prom. Also, There is a brand new missionary who is serving in Roundup from Gilbert. His name is Elder Buckman and he went to Basha. Ive only just talked to him on the phone.
We had a nice baptism for a two sisters named Melissa and Kayla. Melissa is 11 and Kayla is 8. Their Grandparents are active but all of their parents, uncles, Mom and Dad arent. It was nice to see their family come out. For some reason, I felt the spirit a lot stronger at their baptism than I have almost at any other baptism that I can think of. It was a good Sunday. The Ward is awesome. The members are awesome. They had me go up before the talks and give a little shpeel about myself. They love the missionaries and missionary work. In almost every prayer that I heard Sunday they prayed for the missionaries and missionary work.
Thats about it for my week. We’ve got district meeting in Havre tomorrow so we are driving the 200 miles today instead of tomorrow morning.
RANDOM info: Bro Day and Bro Ricks bother served in England, Leeds mission.
I like cooking. I dont know why this is going italic. i didnt even hit the italic button.\\
Im losing weight.
Earl and Emy Atchley went through the temple.
I am emailing from the Bruruds house because the Library is closed on Mondays.
I will send you pics of my crib next week.
PHILLIPINES!!!!!!!!!! (do I spell it right?)
I havent heard much about Baja lately. Is she still alive and living at our house. I told you not to get rid of her until I got home.
Keep sending me sports updates. I like them I usually get a lot of them from Elder Davis because He is a sports nut.
VLEO,
Elder Hey
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