...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