Plowers may rage, snowballs may combine...

Our missionaries are going forth to different nations. The Standard of Truth has been erected. No unhallowed snowflake can stop the work from progressing. Plowers may rage, snowballs may combine....


Bam! This Thanksgiving was by far the most ornate and lavish ever, if I ever saw one.  "Pertinear" Bill Gates status. Let me describe - (I wish I had taken a picture) Decorations: The house has been photographed in the past for magazines. That should give you some idea. There is a whole room in the basement, close to the size of our house, dedicated for decorations. Because there are so many Christmas decorations, the Thanksgiving decorations are intermingled with the Christams ones so that there will be enough of an early start to put up all the Christams decorations. Im talkin life size santas and nutcrackers in the front entrance way along with baby jesus in swaddling clothes. There were 8 of us all together and the food had to have been made by Martha Stewart. Talk about deck the halls...this house was decked out. 46' x 22' indoor swimming pool. Perfect for takin a dip in the middle of winter. Endless. I wish I could even describe the tree. It was awesome.

Overall, Thanksgiving was good. We had Tgiving dinner 2 Sundays ago because that was the only time the family we ate with would have had the chance to do it. Thursday, we had our normal Tgiving and Saturday night had another full on feast because of family coming in late. Lots of food.
We had lots of snow. Its almost to the point of Un-driveable. I am so glad I live in a place where it doesnt snow.

This week is going to be a long one. Tonight we go to Bozeman and spend Tuesday in Belgrade with the ZLs there. Wed = Butte. Thurs = Missoula. Fri = Great Falls. Sat = GLENDIVE and Sunday morning for Church too. The next week after this one: Zone Conferences - Tues = Lovell. Wed = Billlings. Thurs = Helena. Fri = Kalispell. Sat = T ups in Big Fork. The week after that, Wed. = a new assistant. Fri = Transfer calls/transfer hodge podge. Sat = Elder King, Unga go home. The following week: Get the new greenies and start all over again.

This morning we spent about 4 hours doing snow removal. After our snow removal, we went to the County Courts Building to support K with her hearing/sentencing.(?)(I never want to be an attorney. lame) What will happen with K, depending on what her sentence is, is she will write a letter to the First Presidency along with PG to recieve baptism permission. We think it will go through if she only gets house arrest and probation. If she gets incarcerated, probably a big NO. When we got to the court building, we found out that the sentencing never happened so, that was a big waste of time. Now, I am here typing.  K is doing really well though. She has now been smoke free for about 2 weeks. She is doing awesome.

We saw R a couple-three days ago. We kind of stopped in on her. She has lots of problems and she isnt letting anybody help her out. She's in a rut and she wont allow the only one that can help her get out of that rut assist her.

Elder House got cut open again yesterday because he was swelling up inside and they had to let him drain out. He and Elder Goff have six baptismal dates online and the big concern for them is if they are able to attend to their investigators like we they need to. PG doesnt know quite yet what to do.

The only other thing that we did last week, which I can think of, is froze. 24/7 It was awesome. I look forward now to days like today where it will be a high of 25. It feels really nice.

Elder P. HEYWOOD

Dearest family, apologies need to be extended. I apologize for the very very late response and weekly email. Right now we are driving to Cody, WY to spend the day (11/24/10) with Elder Conway and Elder Child. We just got done doing teamups with Elder Goff and Elder House in Worland, WY. NOTE: This is the first time I have crossed the MT/WY border in the 20 months that I have been out. Its frozen solid so, I cant quite make a solid and complete decision on the proposition of Wyo being a “good area.” All I see is white, my mind is auto playing White Christmas by Crosby.


Elder House is missionary who entered the mission field about 6 weeks after me. You may ask yourself why I am writing about this missionary. Let me tell you. Last Wednesday Elder House had some very severe pain in the lower right part of his abdomen. Yep. Appendectomy. While scoping the appendix, the doctors noticed a very oversized colon. They stopped the scope, cut him open down the middle and spread him wide open to find that his colon was three times the size it should be that he had some infected pieces of intestine as well as a messed up colon. The results aren’t back, but the initial diagnosis was khrons. He said that all this would explain losing 45 pounds since being out on a mission along with consistent and constant diahreah. He is doing well. Our main purpose for this recent trip was to check up on him and his 35 staples in his stomach but, also to work with some of the zone leaders in WY. So far, success. I was very impressed by the pictures of the surgery, his whole digestive system exposed and partially extracted. I hope things like that never happen to me.

The last week in Billings was good. There is a lady named R who was referred to the missionaries by a member about a week before I got to Billings. I was able to teach her in her home about a week ago. 

We taught a lady named K  for the first time last Wednesday.   She is very smart, biblically and is understanding and applying the principles of the Gospel. 

Thats about it for now. We are speaking in church on GRATITUDE this Sunday even though the last two weeks have been on gratitude and Thanksgiving will be long gone. Whatever.

The last couple of days have been in the 0 degree range and I am not used to it.

 Best news ever for this week-


There is a sister missionary from Temple Square serving in our mission. Her name is Sister Terasevich. I never knew about this news because when she first came in she was serving up near Kalispell but, she is serving here in Billings and I have now been privileged to know that she is related to someone whom we all love. I dont know his "on-screen" name but, his real name is Daniel Terasevich. Daniel was a part of an LDS film production where big name mormon movie stars such as: Kirby Heyborne and Will Swenson were involved as well. The movie tells a tale of 3 men who are searching for glory, fame and spiritual gratification by sharing Gospel messages through their muscial talents. Everclean, cleaner than listerine.

Daniel Terasevich was the lead singer of Everclean. Is that crazy or what? She personally, hates the movie. She told me that they grabbed him just because he could sing well. Cool story Hanzel.

1st week in Billings...

The week has been really weird. I got the call Wed. Nov. 3rd and left for Billings the next morning. Elder Snyder picked up Elder Colf and took him straight back to Glendive to show him around for about 4 days until HE left for home. So, there are two new Elders in Glendive right now harvesting all the seeds that have been sown. Good for them. DS is going to stop by on his way home for Thanksgiving so that will ease the pain. At this point, I am thankful for facebook again. My connections to Glendive aren't completely severed. Blessing.


Back to the past week. I came in Thursday afternoon and we spent that day finishing up transfers. The next morning, all the calls were made out to the mission and all the planning that goes with transfers. Calls have to be made. A schedule of who is going where, at what time, on what day, is made. Plans for all the departing an incoming missionaries are made, etc. We have to figure out, out of all the options we have, to see what routes will work for the transfer van, and if they don't, what tickets need to be ordered for buses. The list is a long one. The weekend was alright. Sunday night was the worst (7th) staying up until 1am to deal with all of the incoming numbers for the mission and then wake up to be at the mission office by 7 to meet with PG. I don't feel like a missionary anymore. I could give you all of the responsibilities etc but it would be blab. I think the best part of it all was picking up the new missionaries from the airport. We picked up 14 new missionaries. It was fun. They are more than excited and more nervous than anyone could describe. They asked Elder King and I over 2 billion questions before we even got to the mission home. It was a good time. We have a Sister Stephanie Reed from Mesa. Mesa High School. says she hangs out with Alicia Hatch and Todd Aillon. We got an Elder Trevor Owens from Mesa as well. He went to Westwood and graduated in 09. On top of that we got An Elder Palacios from Gilbert who went to Mesquite High School. I almost forgot, Elder Jacob Hamblin. I really like him. He was pretty surprised to see me. I think it was good. He seemed a little bummed not being in his mission yet and not knowing any of the other missionaries because he had been in a different district during his time at the MTC. He hung out with me for quite a bit of the time they were here in Billings. He is serving with a really good missionary. His companion's name is Elder Hughes and they are serving on the Crow Indian Reservation in Hardin, about an hour away from Billings. He should do good.

After all the Greenies got off to their different areas we spent Wednesday (10th) making dinner and getting things ready for all the departing missionaries. (Elder Holt, Elder Brooks, Elder Snyder and their group) That was a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be. In the morning we then got to say goodbye again by dropping them off at the airport. It was good.

Elder King: I think I told you quite a bit about him but he is very dedicated and very motivated. From Peoria, AZ. Centennial High School. He is very smart and can play the piano better than you could imagine. seriously. We actually get along really well.

Tomorrow we leave for Helena to have our West Side Leadership meeting and then come back to Billings to do our East Side meeting. After that, we plan for our zone conferences. Everything that I love: Preparing for lots of talks and Planning...not!

A little more on the last week after we got everything taken care of: We finished off the week pretty well. I am getting to meet some of the members and investigators little by little. Our Ward Mission Leader is an awesome guy who was only baptized last March. Guess who taught him? Elder Tanner when he was in Billings. Our WML is the Athletic director for MSU (Billings campus) He is an awesome guy and is very on top of things. Pretty impressive to be a ward mission leader for only being baptized for 8 months huh?

We closed out the week(yesterday, Sunday night) with a Musical Fireside which I was thrown into at the last second because I just got here. I helped with singing 2 songs and gave a little 3 minute talk. It was well. We had lots of non members show up. I think there was an estimated 3-4 hundred people. Sister Barbi McClaws was in charge of the whole thing. She did a really good job organizing it and then sang a solo for the closing song. Does her name ring any bells? I didn't think so. She is Marianne Smith's sister and they look almost identical. kind of. I don't think Sister Smith sings though. Overall, it was very good. An exciting busy week. I will have to tell you about my hospital visit next email.

Elder Heywood

Have we mentioned Parker doesn't like change....

Good day to you, Dave, Jill, Aaron, KT, Luke, Dana, Chris. How are you doing today?

I'm not doing good. They took me out of Glendive. Not cool. I am in Billings now with Elder King. He is a piano genius. He is from Peoria. Back to the piano thing, I wish I could properly and fully explain how good this little tyke is at playing that musical instrument. There isnt a word in the English dictionary that describes his skills on the Piano. Einstein is to Math and Physics as Elder King is to tappin the ivory with his fingers. WOW. If you look up William Joseph (a piano player) he can play all of his songs.

Like I said, I am very upset about leaving Glendive. I didnt even get time to see everyone I wanted to. Billings is alright though. There are too many normal and average people in my new ward. No one runs up to the missionaries like they did in G-Dive.No more on the subject of Glendive and Billings.
 
I dont even know what to write about today. The weather is nice.

Elder Jacob of Hamblin of Gilbert Highland, AZ is coming into our mission tomorrow. He is headed to Brazil but will be a Visa Waiter here for a while. That will be pretty exciting. We have another greenie coming from Gilbert. His name is Andrew Palacios. I have no idea who he is but he is from Gilbert. I got to talk to Max Elmer the other day. That was good. He is doing good and had a good time with Elder Thomas being his companion. 

Glendive was doing really well before I left. D was still on date. J and C were going to set a date pretty soon. D was on his way to becoming. J D is progressing. Went down to Ekalaka and met CH. The Gospel is going forth. Soon, every ear will hear, every tongue will confess. Its getting closer and closer.

Sorry for the short letter. Thats about all I have to say today. I dont have anything else on my mind. I didnt even get to say goodbye to Vaughan.

To answer a few question you guys had: The package was good. It had no candy. Thank you for that. Elder Snyder loved it. We almost bought apple juice at the store THAT DAY.

We DID teach d this last week. Yesterday actually. I will get to that later. H will be interviewed by the district leader when we get a chance to set it all up. AND NOW, FACEBOOK: Its a pilot program for a reason. There are still lots of controversy and other questions that are raised on a daily basis. We are told that we can be friends with family and friends back home but its not meant to communicate with them on a daily basis. Some might abuse that but, we promised not to. And. Our whole mission isnt involved with this. Just about 35 of us. I cant control a lot of whats said. I just think that friends who arent supposed to dont read the BIO. Whatev. I dont think its a big deal. One of the things I notice that you guys said was that you saw the facebook page and the blog but not the mormon.org profile. That is the most important one. I guess I will have to do a little bit of strategizing. I mean, even you guys missed that one. I'll be glad to keep answering questions. I just might not have the answer to all of them. I will tell you of a few good things that have happened with online pros. For the first little while I was upset and ready to call it quits. I thought it was a waste of time and it made me feel like a mom. I didnt want to feel like a mom. But, I was becoming one. Anyway, at the beginning of this week we invited a lady to be our friend on facebook. We had been trying to get in with this lady from the first day I got here. (funny thing: the lady im talking about called me right in the middle of this email.) We added her, like I said, and had a lesson with her online. Crazy huh? Another story - Theres a guy in Beach, ND that we've also been trying to get to read the Book of Mormon and set up a time to meet with him. But, he lives in Beach and he goes to school and work 24/7 aka Busy Dude. He told us that he is always on the internet(facebook) and wouldnt care if we sent him stuff. So, this past week. I have been sending him piece by piece of the Book of Mormon. AND.... he's reading it. BAM. I am now converted to facebook. Only for missionary purposes though. I also had a good chat with Anthony D. It was good. I will admit though, the first 10 minutes we talked about football. He's playing at SCC and wondered if I was playing when I got back.


Wow, we almost need to go and I havent even gotten to our investigators. I will tell you about the Halloween party that we had. It was really good. too good. The best trunk or treat turnout that I've ever seen. over 200 people there and 1/3 of them I didnt know. Either Less active or non-member. Too bad all those people didnt show up for church the next day. We still got a lot of new people to meet and even some appts. Thanks mostly to all the families that live in Beach. They invited all of their employees and such.

DS: Crusin his way to some covenant making. We are making dinner for him and D tonight. J and C: We had dinner and a lesson at the D's house with them. We talked openly about getting baptized. He just has to quit smoking which he is very willing to do. J is the most helpful guy. He was helping take down and set up chairs at the party and all that good stuff. They are pretty much a part of the ward. D: Went well. will get baptized before I leave. Jl: doing good reading the BofM.

Thats it for this week.

Eldr Heywood.

one last thing. The big overcoat that I have from Pomeroys. I need a hood for that. The one I have i think is meant for going over a bike helmet or something. I can put it over my head and it goes down to the bottom of my neck. Can you check to see if they have any human sized ones? Thanks a bunch of bunches.

Easy as 1, 2, 3

I could write for hours about our last week's experiences.
First off, your questions:

Did you get my box? If not you will probably get it Tues or Wed.

No.

Didn't you have a General Authority this past week? How was that?

Yes. I thought Jesus was teaching us in the temple.

Did you buy winter stuff this week, if not what do you still need?

No. Don't worry about it. Actually, If you can find some gloves that would be nice.

Did you even have a chance to see your investigators this week with all your travels?

Yes. 3 new ones too.

Like I said, I could write forever on the notes that I took at our meetings.

We didn't get any snow but its almost getting to that point. It will get really cold in the mornings then warm up to about 60 during the day. No snow though.

Lets start from the Beginning. Monday. Got a ride into Billings with the Jackson's. (Sister Jackson's Parents actually live across from GHS. The Halls. I'm assuming they would be in the Burrs ward) Stayed the night and left at about 9 for Helena the next day to meet with Allan F. Packer. As a ZLC we basically had a large planning session for the next day's conferences. Everything that we planned for was discussed in the zone conferences. Quite a spectacular man. Many things could have been written as scripture the several days that he was in Montana. too many things to comment on. Wed. Back in Billings to work with Elders there and wait for OUR conference which was to be held Thursday. Thursday. We had our meeting with Elder Packer. Glendive, Wyoming and Billings zones in attendance. Wow. The main topic of discussion was the spirit and how he works (the spirit) a couple interesting things said: He told us of how there is a culture of the spirit. He then used lots of examples of different cultures to help demonstrate how the spirit works in the same way. He is a genius. I cant even really describe to you how it was all said because he used the spirit to teach. That's what made him such a good teacher. I really recognized that he teaches the way that Preach My Gospel asks us to teach. He uses the same teaching format the we are supposed to use with investigators. He did  not vocalize that point, it was just something I picked up on. He also talked about investigators who progress and are baptized compared to those who investigate for eternity. I am proud to announce that we have found (just in the Friday, Saturday and Sunday that we were in our area) 3 new investigators who fall into the "seeking" category of Investigation. J and C: J showed up to church last Sunday and said that he had been looking into the church where he had come from. (Mountain Home, Idaho) He was only supposed to be here for about a month or two and head back. He has changed his mind. So, now his wife is here and they are looking for a house and full-time employment. They are here to stay. They are here to get baptized. Technically we didn't FIND them but we initiated the lessons and Gospel invitation. They are awesome. I'm sure lots more will be emailed home about them. JD: we knocked on his door one day, about 2 months ago, and haven't caught him home since. His ex-wife is a member of the church and he is seeking. He has needs that can be met and will be met by the Gospel. He is a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. He has been sober for about 4 months and said that he is looking for something that will give him a foundation. Something that will keep him sober. BAM! the Gospel. 3 new SEEKING Investigators. We feel very fortunate. Also, a boyfriend of a member has been coming to church for the last 7 months. His name is D. We called him up last night and asked him if he wanted to learn more. He said yes. You were right Michael Jackson. Easy as 1, 2, 3. All you gotta do is ask. That statement goes out to all of you guilty non sharing gospel believers. That was harsh but true. The wicked take the truth to be hard. That's why the church is moving efforts to facebook because no one can share the Gospel face to face. Jk but seriously.

FACEBOOK: Its getting there. I have my blog up and my facebook to almost 100% You guys need to check them out. WE are having a RS/Priesthood meeting on the whole deal this coming Sunday.

I will keep you update on our missionary effort this coming week. We finally got hold of the H family in Ekalaka. Supposedly, Sister H is all ready to get baptized. All she has to do his get interviewed. I know I mention names and then don't mention them for sometime and you get confused so ask questions if you need to. I will be happy to respond.

Elder Heywood.

Hunting Season has approached. uh oh.

We scraped ice off of our car windows this morning. That is actually pretty good considering that there was snow on the ground in Helena this time last year.

Wow. We have had some really neat things happening to us in the last couple of weeks. Some really special spiritual experiences. It seems like the Lord always allows us missionaries to have some tender mercies and special blessings when there is great opposition ahead or someone is getting transferred or someone is going home, etc, etc.

Our Schedule this Week: We go to Billings tonight and head for Helena Tuesday morning to meet with the Big Dog. After, we go back to Billings and spend all day Wednesday in Billings. Thursday we have our zone conference with the BIG DOG and head home Thursday evening. So, in the last 2 weeks we will have spent only about 4 days total (working/proselyting days) in Glendive. Frustrating is the word.

Friday afternoon we went to Billings to have splits/teams ups and it was a drag your feet type of trip.(lots of details in this story. I hope I dont confuse you) Typically a team up would last a full day working in another companionship's area. The Stake was having their temple day so we were able to get a ride. But, with getting a ride comes some restrictions. We had to go off of the members schedules so that we could get a ride there and back. So the whole trip wasnt even worth it considering that we were going to have to come back to Glendive for Sunday and leave back for Billings the next day. After our very ineffective teams ups, our members picked us up and we started heading back to Billings. After a couple of errands we finally stopped in at Cabelas and looked around. It was packed. We ended up talking to a man in the camping section who was an ex member. After talking with him for some time it caused a curious worker to come over and see what was happening. After some time talking to the other employee, we found out that he had been investigating the church for about 2 years and hadnt made the decision to get baptized yet. We shared some encouraging words with him and went on our way. It was a good experience. Then, after 2 hours, we stopped in miles city for dinner and groceries. We couldnt decide on what to eat then someone said, "What about Wendy's?" We went to Wendy's and as we walked in a Mexican lady came up to us and asked us if we could speak with her 4 year-old nephew. She was there with her mom and 2 nephews and told us that her grandson was just telling them that Jesus Hated him. haha kind of funny but anyway, we had an articles of faith card on us and gave it to him after the lady had payed for our dinner. We started talking about the church and she ended up telling us that she had been baptized quite some time ago but was now attending another church.(reasons that I dont know) We then started talking to her mother who was living in Colstrip at the time who was having problems with her pastor/church. She, the mother, described to us that she didnt know what she was going to do, she felt betrayed by her church and was at "cross roads." After all was said and done we got both Ladies contact info and shared our Wendy's-appropriate testimonies. It was good and we felt that the Lord kind of had a hand in our trip back home that night. Think about everything that led up to the conversations with the 2 ladies in Wendys. If we had spent just a little more time here or there THAT would not have happened. It was good.

We had our lesson with D on Thursdays but instead of teaching him we taught his non member friend that he had been talking to. Another baseball player. Another investigator. Im tellin you. These boys are awesome. I did I get so lucky to be in Glendive. And..... I get another transfer of great and glorious miracles with them. The new investigators name is A. Stay tuned.

In Billings I had the privilege to witness another spirit filled baptismal service for an 18 year old kid in the student ward. I had/have/will never see(n) a person so excited to be baptized as this kid was. I have also never been so happy for someone before. It was so weird. I didnt even know the kid but something in me was so happy. Afterwards, he said the only thing he could describe what had just happened was, "complete and absolute joy" It was weird but special.

Also, we had one of the most spiritual PEC meetings Ive ever had. Details are confidential but I dont know what Im going to do when I get home. There are only experiences that I can have in the mission field that are specific to my calling that I cant have at home. I dont want to stop.

B came to church this Sunday too. He hasnt been in 2 years and came. I dont think Ive talked about the Ds much but we do our laundry every monday at their house. They are a favorite. Cherry and Grape.

If you could relay a THANK YOU to Bishop Lines and Sister Florence for me that would be great. They both sent me some encouraging letters to me the other week. Hopefully the THANKYOUS from you will suffice.
Please, no candy.

FACEBOOK: You can only access it if you have a face book. You could probably look at the main page but nothing else. I still dont have a blog set up but that will be coming soon. You can also check out my mormon.org profile if you go to mormon.org and click on "meet mormons"

Elder Heywood.

Question/comments (section): Did Dana go to some Dance Excellence thing in CA in April or March? Do we know any Olsens that went to Highland? There is another Less active kid that we met at the college whos cousins (Olsens) went to Highland.