Working Hard for Baptisms! ha ha

Hola Familia, 1/26/09

First off, Happy Birthday to the twins!  Tell Preston and Kyle that i love them and miss them.  Hopefully they still remember me! (They turned 3!)This week was alright, some ups, some downs.  Its actually normal every week to have ups and downs, but when we baptize (which we have been doing every weekend) it makes all the week worth it.  Unfortunately we didnt have a baptism this week.  We had a couple people that we couldve baptized, but we felt like they needed another week to prepare.  So dont worry, baptism pics will be coming in a week.  Lets see what else, we are baptizing the mom of Gustavo this next week.  She is way pumped about it and from the first day we met her i never thought she would get baptized!  The first day when she contacted us she said, here is my son he needs to find Jesus.  Religion doesnt interst me.  And now that she has seen the changes in  her son she wants to follow his example (FYI, Gustavo passed the sacrament yesterday and came with a white shirt and felt bad that he didnt have a tie, so i sprinted up the mountain to our house to grab him a tie and he was way excited to pass the sacrament, future missionary for sure!) Lets see we have worked a lot with familys that are less active, trying to establish the church, and there are some great families in our ward that just have a lil problem here and there and for that havent gone to church.  But 2 of those families came to chruch yesterday and they were excited to be back in the Truth.  It is crazy how poor people here are.  For example, there is a family that gives us food like 3 nights a week and this Sunday they didnt come to church so we were like, uh what happened?  We went to their house and the mom Marisol was crying.  They didn't go to church because her 2 littlest sons dont have shoes and she was embarrassed.  She was crying because she felt like she let down the Lord cause they didn't go to church.  We are going to figure out a way to help them out.  Find shoes somewhere or visit members that might have extras.  We are praying for them.  I love Mexicans, they are so humble and yet they sacrifice everything for the church.  How good did i have it growing up?  Im pretty sure i'd get all upset sometimes if you didnt iron my shirt mom.  (of course when i was like 7 or 8 haha)  I have learned so many lessons out here and one of them is just that.  The gospel and my family is the most important thing for me in this life.  More important than cars, money, shoes, or any other material thing.  I have gotten to know people that really give up everything to show up at church on Sunday.  Walk miles, tape up their broken shoes, carry their 2 littlest kids, and they show up with a smile.  I feel really extremely blessed and where much is given, much is required.  That's why I work my butt off every week to find and bring more people unto Christ so that they too can be happy like I am.

In response to your question about the package, (el pato, peanut butter) Don't worry, there is a Walmart in my zone so

I can go there every Monday if I want to get that kind of stuff. You can find anything in Walmart. My area isn't rural at all

You probably were thinking that because we took pictures with those donkeys on the only dirt road in our area. haha We

are actually in a huuuge city with tons of cars ( i have had to dive out of the way of some trucks, they dont like white

people) Huge freeways and everything, pretty tight. I took a picture last night on a (puente-who knows what that word is

in english, look it up)( it must be a bridge) overlooking a huge freeway.

About the Dear Elders from the other Elders, i dont really have time to read them. Im sure it would be great to hear about

their missions, but i dont know if ill have time to read them.

Mother, as much as i love hearing about our inventory of food supply, maybe you can keep that to you and Dad. I mean

i know that food supply is important and all that ( The Prophet said it) but i dont necessarily need to know how many cans of

apples, beans (I laughed hard at that one) etc. that you need. haha sorry! Love you mom!

That's cool about the football banquet and the pics look great. Bead, you are a stud. Keep it up! (theres really not a

whole lot of advice i can give ya Bead, you are pretty much my example) Just that attitude is everything. sometimes in the

mish, i feel a little bit alone, i feel a lot of rejection, but if you have a good attitude about everything (school, playing time, moms

rules) everything turns out great! Oh and mom if you make a highlight film of Bead, please send it! I dont know if its against

the rules, but you have always taught me, family first! :) (Now Greg)

Dad, i miss ya man, how is life. I hope you get well quick. I was sad to hear that you've felt under the weather. Dont worry

ill be praying for ya a bunch and i know you will be healthy before i write next week. If mom tells you to go to the doctor, dont

be stubborn, just go! haha One thing about the mission that ive liked Dad is that there is a ton of time to just think. There are

lots of times when i think back to our long talks in high school til 3 in the morning and i dont know if i have ever been humble

enough to thank you. Thank you very much for your example Dad. I love you!

Well yall thats about it for this week. I pray for each and every on of you and i thank you all for your thoughts and prayers!

Have a great week!

Con amor,

Elder Greg Heap

Baptism of Gustavo..hand of the Lord in all things

Hola Familia,
First to answer a couple questions. My exact location is the city of Tultitlan, by Cuatitlan Izcalli. I don’t have any idea if you will be able to find it on the map, but yea, that’s where im at. My stake is called Valle Dorado (that is also a city) and my ward is Valle de Tules. So yea, lets see…..
We had another baptism this week Gustavo, and when I got here to the internet café he was in here. I don’t remember if I told you his story or not, but we were walking around looking for this members house at like 9 oclock at night and we couldn’t find it, but then Gustavo and his mom passed us and yelled at us. His mom told us that he is a problem child and hangs out with the wrong kinds of kids so we told him that we would take him to mutual the next day. He knew a couple of the kids at mutual and we played soccer and basketball and I owned all the lil Mexican kids. Haha But Gustavo liked it and has gone to every mutual and every Sunday since then. Every move we make as missionaries (when we are doing what we are supposed to) is directed by the Lord. I know that Gustavo and his mother were put in our path that night. He got baptized on Saturday and got confirmed and received the priesthood yesterday. His mom went to church and now she wants to get baptized, we don’t know if we can baptize her this week, but we are going to see. We should have at least 1 more baptism this week. So things continue to go great in this area and we are the only companionship that has baptized in our district since December. Our zone leaders continue to be pretty happy with us.
In fact, tomorrow, all of the district leaders in the whole mission have a meeting with President Nancollas and I got a special invitation to go even though im not a district leader. That means ill probably be the only one there that doesn’t have the title of district leader. My zone leader called me last night and told me, I was pretty excited about it.
That’s all the big news from the mish for this week really, we are continuing to work hard and we had 7 investigadors in church which is more than the other 3 companionships in our district combined. I think this letter sounds a lil prideful, but when you work as hard as Elder Torralba and I, I think its allowed. Haha It looks like Humility is still on my list of attributes to acquire (sp) on the mish.
Oh, we had zone conference on Friday and it went pretty well. The same as always actually, but the good thing was that I received a ton of letters. (mostly Christmas cards from family and friends and familys from the ward. Here is a lil thank you shout out to all of them! Thank you to the following people and/or families! E. Bradley Mortensen, The Petersons, Sandstroms, Kitchens, Fieldings, Shermans, Forrests, Stan and Mary Ellen Porter, The Kerrs, Kate Kerr (she sent me a personalized hand written note haha), Uncle Matt and Aunt Dawna, The Allens, Uncle David and Aunt Donna, The Woods, Ted and Mona Larson (I was so tempted to eat all of the caramels myself, but I shared with a family that gives us food almost every night, they loved the caramels, they were exceptionally delicious THANK YOU) Todd and Ashley, and of course you mother! I really enjoyed the Christmas card that you sent out this year mom, good work!
Thank you everyone! I loved all of the pictures and notes! They are all hanging up in my little 3 by 5 foot room wall.
Lets see, I have mixed feelings about the Ravens loss, of course I would have hoped that they would go to the superbowl, but its cool ifyou wait to more years so I can go right Todd.
Oh mom, speaking of my blog, will you send me it. I think you sent it to me once, but I don’t remember it! Thanks!
Well life is great and im still loving the work of the Lord. I feel the blessings of your prayers each day and I know it is helping me out here in the field. The Hand of the Lord is in ALL things and I am firm believer that everything happens for a reason. The Plan of God, the Plan of Happiness never ceases to amaze me, it is perfect in every way. I know this church is true and I know that the power of faith and prayer is unbelievably real. I know Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. I know that this church as well as this Mexico city north mission is directed by men called of God. I am so thankful to know that My Savior Jesus Christ not only payed for my sins, but for everytime when I feel sad or alone as well. He knows how we feel and he knows how to cure us if only we come unto Him.
I love you all! Have a Great week!
Con amor,
Elder Greg Heap

God answers prayers....no joke

Hola Familia, January 5, 2009
This week was by far without a doubt the best week of my mission so far. My new companion Elder Torralba is tight he is from somewhere around the border so i told him id help him get across the border someday, but he is way tight. He had a lot of problems before and was very disobedient so he got put as menor (the opposite of senior comp) with me. He didnt have any baptisms in this area in December and only 3 in November so i told him that we were going to change all of that and baptize a bunch. I got pretty excited to work hard and we worked our hearts out. We found 21 new investigadores. It was so awesome! Then Saturday night i started my fast (which im going to start every week) and i fasted for Ashley and her family and also that we would have at least 10 invest. in church on Sunday. I knew that if i fasted and prayed for that, Heavenly Father would put in the rest and get the people to church.
So on Sunday we woke up early to go for our new people and only 3 of them were in their houses. Soooo frustrating. But i knew that God would bless us with the other 7 at church so we went with our 3 kind of sad cause we had worked so hard. Then after sacrament meeting we went to our principios del evangelio class (sorry, gospel principles) and another 8 of our investigadores showed up. So we had 11 at church. I really know that God answers our prayers and that if we fast and pray we can see miracles daily. 11 was the most in all of our zone and i was pretty pumped because it was my first week as senior comp. I feel really good about 9 of them and they all should get baptized. I am so excited about this cambio with Elder T. We do the funniest door contacts and we get in a TON of houses. We are pretty much dying laughing all day eveyrday! haha Hes a cool kid. All i have to do is keep him focused and not let him do anything stupid. (like leave the mission or go to the movie theatres or sleep over at memberrs houses,,,, all of which he has aleady done)
The good thing about him is that he is really funny and he doesnt know ANY english so my spanish is going to get even better, i have already noticed it getting way better. Im returning back to where i was with Elder Obregon where i would think in Spanish and dream in spanish and all that. With Elder STirland it was hard to do that. I guess all i have to do is find the good things in each companion and find ways to get them to wok hard.
Oh, we didnt really do anything for New Years we just ate at a members house and then went on top of our roof to watch lame fireworks. It was pretty cool tho. We live like half way up a mountain so we had a good view. Ill send pics that i took from on top of our apartment complex.
Im also sending pics of burning my tie on 6 months and some pics with my new comp.
Bead, im sorry that a one armed kid owned you in bball, that probably means that i can still dominate you. Todd won his game, thats tight! Go Ravens! Give him good luck for me and ill be praying for him as i do for all of you!
Love you all! Have the greatest week and enjoy every minute of what life has to offer.
Con amor,
Elder Greg Heap

..Ghetto on a Mountain

Well ive arrived in my new area with my new companion. Yes mayor means senior comp. I couldnt think of that word in English....Sorry! My new companion is Elder Torralba, he is as big as me, but im pretty sure i could still take him. He apparently is not very obedient. Apparently President is going to give me all companions like that to whip them into shape. haha But im excited! I will send pics of him and my area next week! I live in a jungle......of cement box houses! Its ridiculous! Im going to love it and ill probably get in really good shape cause we have 3 mountains in our area and my comp says we are always walking up or down a mountain so its good exercise. He has 15 months in the mission, but i think ill be able to get him to work hard! We will see! Im pretty much pumped tho! My district leader is a kid from my generation (meaning we entered the MTC the same day) So i will be reporting my numbers to him, thats pretty sweet! Life in the city is going to be way different! Its like the complete opposite from Atotonilco! REmember those pics of the mountains and greenery and amazing desert skies. WEll now i am in a beautiful ghetto on a mountain (Brad, explain to mom what is a ghetto) haha
WEll dont have much time! Love you all! Have a great new years!
Con amor
Elder Heap December 29, 2008

...Prayers of Thankfulness

Hola Familia, December 15, 2008
Well, a pretty normal week here in Atotonilco. A lot of walking, a lot of knocking doors and a lot of rejection. I think it’s the rejections that toughens up us missionaries. Fortunately for me, I get to taste a lot of success as well. I really feel like the harder we work the more we get blessed so I have personally taken the responsibility to kick my companion out of bed every morning so we can get out the doors on time. (It’s a trial for me, cause you all know how much I love sleeping in!) We have really seen the results though and I think my companion appreciates it. (hopefully)
Baptism updates: we had 3 baptisms planned for this upcoming week, but NONE of them went to church. It was frustrating, we even went to pick them up, but they must have been hiding or left early or something. Now we have to postpone them another week cause they have to go to church 3 times before they get baptized. Hopefully they can feel the importance of going to church every single week. We just gotta keep teaching with the Spirit and let Him do the rest. We will see how it turns out!
This is going to be a pretty short email I think because I cant think of anything else cool that happened this week. However, I did remember to bring my camera so I will be sending pictures today I promise.
That’s a bummer about Todds game, The ravens always find a way to lose it at the last second. Hopefully things are still looking good for the playoffs.
We put up our Christmas tree and put our presents under it. My companion told me to tell you thanks for his present and candy. I think all the candy will be gone before Christmas! OH mom, very important! Send more of that alfredo stuff. Its reeeeeally good and a great change-up from rice beans and tortillas! Thanks!
Ive decided that because it is impossible to eat healthy down here Im going to do 1000 push ups every week until I get home. Ive also been waking up every morning and doing jump ropes on top of our house every morning. So don’t worry Im trying to stay in shape. If you have any other suggestions, let me know!?
Im glad you are all getting in the Christmas Spirit! I have been trying to, but Christmas isn’t quite as big down here. I mean I am sure it would be bigger if the people had the money to decorate their houses and all that, but they don’t. Its going to be a really humble Christmas of giving this year, but im pretty excited about it. Also the chance to get to talk to all of you! Im thinking I will call around 5 your time, if that’s cool. Let me know next week! Ok? Oh I have also been giving out the little rings that you sent me mom, the kids LOVE them. This little girl in one of my wards asks me for another one everytime I see her. Good work mom!
Well, in this Christmas season I hope everyone gets a chance to kneel down and thank Our Heavenly Father for all of the many blessings that We have been blessed with. I have been saying my nightly prayers every night only giving thanks for the blessings that I have and the successes that we have each day and I have really felt a difference in my spiritual level. I know as we give thanks to Our Heavenly Father, we feel a greater appreciation for Him and our Savior.
I hope you all have a great week! Keep ballin Bead! I love you all!
Con amor,
Elder Greg Heap

...another week of miracles!

Hola Familia, December 8, 2009
I don’t have that much time to answer your emails so Ill just try to do it really quick. I wanna get to that amazing happenings of this week…It truly was a week of miracles!
First of all, I got all your packages! I think 2 or 3 from you mom, 1 from Grandma Heap, and 1 from Ali! I was so pumped! I opened some of the stuff and put up our ghetto paper Christmas tree, but don’t worry I left some presents for Christmas. I forgot to take a picture, but look forward to it next week!
A little bit frustrating to hear about Mountain View and Brophy, but I guess I couldn’t have expected anything less from good old Coach Joe. Send all the boys my love and tell them to shake it off. In a year or 2 they will all be out serving the Lord and it wont matter what happened with High School Football. I mean, in the moment, it feels like it was everything, but at the same time, there is a lot more to life and a lot more to happiness than winning a state football championship. Give Bead a good luck from me in Basketball! I know he will tear it up!
It was great to hear updates about the ward. Tell everyone to do that Christmas activity where they give Christmas to a Mexican family in Mesa that has nothing….WHY? Because Mexicans are the best! And, because its Christmas time and it’s a time for giving! (even though I have already received a lot! haha)
Also great to hear about Brooklyn Preston and Kyle! Send them my love!
So like I said, This week was amaaaaazing! It is amazing how many blessings come when you just work hard and try to be as obedient as possible. Well last Tuesday we started the week of pretty great with 2 baptisms. It was awesome. We baptized to kids. Roberto (13) and Franscisco (8). They are tight. Im sending pics don’t worry. We have been teaching them and their mom since I got here in Atotonilco and the 2 boys got baptized. It was awesome! The mom also wants to get baptized, but I don’t think we will be able to because she isn’t married and they are moving to Veracruz next week. Hopefully a couple of my buddies in Veracruz (from the MTC) can find her and baptize her there. She (their mom) is awesome as well.
The rest of the week we spent knocking doors and asking members for referencias which in this area, is TOUGH! Its ridiculous. Every door we knock says sorry we are catholics and we have already talked to your companions like 23 years ago. It’s a joke. It gets really frustrating and I have to pray a lot to not get too hyped up. And then, when people actually let us in to their house, they just go off on how amazing the Virgin Mary is and how great there Catholic priest is and blah blah blah. I use everything that I got to restrain me from yelling. ¡You have to trust in Jesus Christ, He is the one that is your Savior, He is the one that payed for your signs, stop praying to the virgin Mary! I usually have to calm down and remember who I am representing. So we spent Wed through almost all of Saturday only finding 4 new investigadors. (That is way low for these parts…. We average like 15)
So Saturday we woke up studied showered and all that and prayed before we left the house that we can find at least 5 people that want to hear us. We started out knocking doors and it wasn’t doing anything. Still no success, so we decided that we were going to knock doors in our other ward boundaries (Cerrito), ( I don’t know I told you that I have 2 wards, one is called Atotonilco and the other is Cerrito) So we were waiting for the taxi to go to Cerrito and as the taxi finally pulled up I got an overwhelming feeling to go knock in an area where we have already knocked in Atotonilco. My companion was like (alright man whatever you want) and so we ditched the taxi and started walking towards the streets that I had in mind. After the first street we found nothing…. After the second street we found nothing….. then halfway down the 3rd street a member drove past us, slammed on his breaks and said (Elderes Ven!) (Elders come here) I walked over to his truck and he was smiling real big. He asked us questions about the work and then he smiled real big. He said, Elderes mi hija quiere bautizarse. We were pumped, so we hopped in his truck and drove to his house. There awaited his daughter (shes like 30) Her name is Lilian. We started teaching her the restoration and all that and she just kept asking us how she can get baptized and how long is the preparation to get baptized. We said, (well, all you need is faith in Christ and the desire to change and repent, and you have to go to church at least 3 times, and we have to teach you all the lessons) She said, well can I get baptized tomorrow? We just looked at each other and my companion was smiling real big. We then took the next 3 hours teaching all of the lessons. She already knew what the Law of Chastity was, The word of Wisdom, and Tithing (she is way excited to pay her tithing actually) She took in all of our words and didn’t have problems with anything! It was awesome! She was so excited to get baptized. She said, yea Ive been to church the last 4 weeks, but I think everyone just assumed I was already a member, but I really want to get baptized. We told her to bring her sandals and extra clothes interior for her baptism tomorrow just in case we can get everything ready, but if not we will do it next week. After the lesson with Lilian her brother came to my companion and I and asked if we can give him a blessing. He has a health problem and sometimes all of the sudden he cant breath and his dad has to rub his chest and give him a shot so that he stops his seizures (sp). My companion accepted to do it and told him that I would be giving the blessing. I kinda started freaking out a lil bit inside cause I have never given a blessing in Spanish before. I was pretty nervous for a second until I put my hands on his head. Then I got the most calm feeling and I gave him the blessing. My companion was pretty impressed because I knew all of the words to do a blessing in Spanish. I was impressed myself a lil cause only one time in my short time here in mexico have I even heard a blessing in Spanish. I know that my Father in Heaven helped me out to know what to say and the words seemed to come so easily! It was awesome! What was even more amazing was that halfway through the blessing he started shaking again. I just put my hands on his head more firm and said (Te Bendecimos con salud)….. and then I paused (We bless you with health). He stopped shaking and I finished the blessing. It truly was a miracle. His dad told me after that usually when he starts shaking he has to have a shot or else he wont stop. I know that the power of the Priesthood is real and that Heavenly Father gave His authority and power to man to bless all of His children. We left there house feeling really overwhelmingly blessed to know having felt the Spirit so strong.
So, the next day (yesterday) we talked to our Bishop and he was surprised that she wasn’t a member, so he gave us the ok to have the baptism and fill up the font. We called our zone leaders to come and do the interview and everything went so smoothly. She passed the interview with flying colors and we baptized her! It was incredible! She was so happy! She asked me right beforehand if I could baptize her, which was an awesome honor (we thought she would ask her dad or one of her brothers, so we brought 2 medium overalls) Then when she asked if I could do it I accepted and forgot that we only had the 2 medium sized overalls haha. I squeezed into it and baptized her. (3 times cause her hair didn’t go all the way under water the first 2 times) It was amazing! The feeling of lifting her out of the water was so amazing even tho the water was freeeeezing! (we didn’t have time to fill it up with hot water) When she walked out of the font she just couldn’t stop saying thank you. She even tried to give me a hug, but I gave her the stiff handshake (cause we cant hug) and I explained to her that we cant give hugs as missionaries. Haha It was pretty funny!
So, I learned a few valuable lessons this week. Even tho we only found 5 nuevos this week, we found a baptism. This really is the work of the Lord. I know that the Spirit guided us to that street, not because there was someone living there ready to hear the gospel, but because the Lord knew that that Hermano was searching for us and He knew that He was going to be driving down that street that day! I am so thankful for the hand of the Lord in my life. It doesn’t matter how many down times we have, how many games we lose, how many investigators we don’t find, but it does matter to always be obedient so that we can have the Spirit with us to lead and guide us. This last week was definitely a trial with not finding very many people and not having a lot of success, but God does answer our prayers. Sometimes, He doesn’t answer our prayers in the way that we would like (ex: when we asked for 5 new investigadores) but He does answer them and knows whats best for us! And I know if we live worthily he will bless us beyond our expectations (ex: unexpected baptism)
I am so thankful for all of the blessings that my Heavenly Father has given me. The opportunity that I have to be out here serving these humble people is a chance of a lifetime and I know it isn’t coincidence that I was called to this part of the Lords vineyard. I know this is the True Church of Christ here on the earth today. We are so blessed to have the knowledge that we do. Our families can be together forever! How amazingly cool is that! All we have to do is cumplir with the things that the Lord asks of us and all that he has is ours. That is infinitely better than any Christmas gift or earthly gift that we can receive here in this life. I am so thankful for my Savior, that through his sacrifice we can obtain this eternal glory.
I love this gospel, I love the mission, I love my family, I love everything! I hope all of you have the most amazing week!
Con amor,
Elder Greg Heap

...Finding Carlos

Hola Familia, December 2, 2009
Well, it sounds like you all had a great week with all the fam. Hopefully you didn’t miss me too much. Sounds like you had a sweet Thanksgiving fiesta at the house, Im jealous that I didn’t get to make it. Keep me updated when Tanner gets his call, hopefully he will get the opportunity to go the best mission in the world (Mexico City North). Im also jealous that I missed the zoo activity with my lil nieces and nephews! In case you were wondering, Dora the Explorer is a pretty big deal down here too! Haha Hopefully they all remember me, keep reminding them who their favorite uncle is alright? I haven’t looked at the pictures yet, but im excited to see the pictures that you sent from this last week. I have a couple pictures to send, but ill wait til next week when I can send some baptism pics along with it.
We had a pretty exciting week, I completed 5 months and my companion completed a year. Its crazy how fast time flies when you work hard and are having fun. We didn’t do too many cool things out of the ordinary to celebrate, but we had some fun. My companion burned a white shirt (apparently it’s a tradition) and we made a ton of pancakes Thanksgiving morning. Haha They were actually really good, my chef skills are definitely improving. Basically we just worked like normal and it payed off. We had 7 investigadores in Sacrament Meeting. Our zone leader (who was in our area last transfer) was flipping out cause the most they ever had was 2. It was kinda nice to prove to him that you can baptize and bring invest. To church here in Atotonilco. Tomorrow we are going to have 2 baptisms. Two kids 8 years old and 12 years old. We are working with their mom to get baptized too, but we still have to get her married or separated from her boyfriend. There names are Roberto and Fransisco. Ill send pictures of their baptism next week! So with those 2 baptisms we are starting off December pretty good. That’s already twice as many as the last companionship that was here did in 6 weeks. My Spanish is improving daily and the work gets more and more fun when I can communicate better.
Another cool story, we were on our way to comida with an hermana and we decided to knock one more street before we did. It was such a blessing, we found this guy named Carlos. He is like 65 years old, but apparently the missionaries taught him over 25 years ago. Apparently one day the missionaries just didn’t return (im assuming their were cambios). Carlos was really sad that they didn’t return because he wanted to get baptized like 25 years ago and the missionaries never came back. So we showed up to this guys house and he has already read the book of Mormon a couple times and he went to the open house of the temple by himself. He wanted to write his name down at the temple as a reference, but he cant read or write very well so he didn’t know how to do it. Anyways, he went to church last week and he is excited to get baptized this 14th of Diciembre. Hopefully everything works out for him, he is a stud!
It was good to hear about Todds induction to the Mesa Hall of Fame. That’s pretty sweet and it was even better to hear that the Ravens are 8-4 and Todd caught a TD. That’s tight! How are the Ravens doing in the standings…. Looking good for the playoffs?
Lets see, lIt was also good to hear that Brad got asked to Winter Formal. Ive been praying for Brad a lot so that SOMEONE would ask him. Haha jk Bead. That’s sweet how you answered brotha, very original. I would also like to tell you Bead that although you can dunk it (and I probably cant anymore) I can still own you in basketball. I hope you always remember that. Oh and im pretty dang sure I beat you in Horse like 5 times before I left! Oh and good luck in your semi game this week….. I still don’t know who you play cause no one has told me, but good luck!
Well that’s about it for this week. Not a whole lot of exciting stuff going on, but I am working hard and enjoying everything about Mexico. Im glad you all had a great week with the fam. I love you and miss you all! And although I didn’t have much of a Thanksgiving dinner, I definitely counted all of my blessings and gave thanks to my Heavenly Father for all of the many things that I have been blessed with through out my life. I love you all…. Have a great week!
Con amor,
Elder Greg Hea

.....Feeling the Gift of Tongues

Hola Familia, 11/24/08
Well, Im probably going to try to make this letter short. But, ill try to get all the major happenings of the week.
First off, my new companion Elder Stirland is pretty cool. He is going to have 1 year this friday in the field so hes pretty excited for that. We will probably have a lil mexican fiesta or something. He will also be my companion for Feliz Navidad and so you might get to say hi to him haha. Ill send you a picture. Its not a very good one, but ill send more in the upcoming weeks, dont worry.
As for my new area, its gorgeous. I think its a lil bit more rural than Apaxco. I took a cool picture looking over my area (well like half of it) and its pretty sweet, hope you like it.
The members are pretty nice and willing to help. Not as cool as the members of the Apaxco rama, but im sure ill just have to get to know them more. Good thing is we get free laundry and free haircuts cause there are 2 members that hook us up.
Lets see, apparently this area is (too hard to baptize) which from the looks of it, its kinda true. However, we are going to work really hard getting referencias from the members and our goal for December is to have 7 baptisms. (Thats more baptisms then the zone leaders have had in this area in the 3 months since ive been here) But we are going to do it, no doubt. We just got to be obedient, pray really hard for guidance and follow the spirit. Its definately do-able.
So, life with 2 gringo americanos here in Mexico is way different then when i had Elder Obregon. We get a lot more cuss words on the street and its actually quite comical. Lets just say Ive learned a lot more mexican swear words this last week. haha.
Well, I think that gift of tongues promise is kicking in pretty good for me. I can teach all the lessons with examples, answering questions and all that good stuff pretty easily now. When members ask us how long we have had in the mission usually we ask how much they think we have. Its kinda funny, usually they think I have more time than my companion and that i have like a year and a half. Its awesome and it makes me feel good knowing my studying every morning has been paying off. (a lot of missionaries slack when it comes to studying spanish cause you can kinda learn everything in the street) I set a goal to study every morning a least a half hour and apparently its paying off. I cant wait for Christmas to talk to Kurt and Johnny and Brad Copple in Spanish (hopefully they will all be there) haha.

Also, shout outs of love to Suzanne and the Essleys! Tell them hi for me.
Oh, and mother, i live above a tienda that sells food and sells xbox games. Its kinda a hangout place where they let highschool kids play xbox. Dont worry i cant play! haha.
Im glad you got to talk a lil bit with Curtis! I gave him that note for ya, i had like 2 seconds to write it, but i thought he would be the fastest mail service! I wish i wouldve known i was going to see him or else i wouldve written you a longer one! Oh and my handwriting is a lot better than that i promise haha

Well, thats about it for this week.
Dont worry mother, im healthy and happy, and just maybe a lil bit sunburnt.
I know this is the work of the Lord. I know that he guides me and helps us as a companionship each day to find the people ready to listen to this great plan of happiness. I know that God lives and loves us and knows us personally. I know if we pray to him, he will answer us. I know that Christ is my Savior and through his atonement, we can return and live together in happiness as a family with God. I am so thankful for the knowledge I have of these truths. In one of your emails dad you mentioned that you hope my testimony grows to be undeniable. I can easily say with all my strength and power that this is the only true Church of Jesus Christ here on the earth. And i could never deny it. In fact, I get pretty fired up when people tell me otherwise. As missionaries we get hundreds of opportunities to talk to people about the truth of the restoration of the gospel, and each day my testimony strengthenes and I know that I am a representative of Jesus Christ.
Well fam, I hope everyone has a great week. Eat lots of turkey for me!
Feliz Dia de las Gracias!
I love you all! Say your prayers, read your scriptures, and be better today than you were the day before.