...Couple of Comments on the Photos you sent me....

Just a couple comments on the photos you sent me......

Bead, I like your new clothes.....the hat looks like it will fit me great

Drew and Talli are really dang cute.... I miss them, give them big hugs for me

Johnny thanks for taking my place in the picture where Brads sittin on your lap....somebody had to do it

Those pajamas look comfortable.... I hope you got me some of those for when I get home, if not.... you know what to do

The song that you sang at Christmas looks familiar, isnt that the same one we have sung for the last like 7 years? haha I bet it sounded great.

Thats all folks!

Love ya!
Elder G Heap

...Counting my blessings after the Christmas Phone call

Hey family,

First off, it was great talkin to you all. I have the best family. I felt really blessed hanging up the phone Christmas night. I had to do one of those inventory prayers with Heavenly Father and I think I had a list of 99 things to be greatful for and just a few things to ask for help. I love prayer.

Well, we talked a lot about my week on the phone, but a few more things happened. On Sunday, Brenda had her interview for her baptism. She will get baptized on the 2nd of January (startin off the year well). I hope Marsela also gets baptized that day, but we still have to get her married. It was frustrating that she didnt get baptized this week, but her husband never got home from work. Pray for them. On Sunday we also had another lesson with Rene, He is the boyfriend of a member and we put his baptismal date for the 9th of January. I hope they get married. They will be a cute eternal couple. A few members in my ward called me yesterday tellin me that Todd caught 2 touchdowns. I dont know who spilled the beans, but now a lot of people in the ward know that. I`ve been able to keep that on the DL most of the mish, but it was great to hear that he had 2 touchdowns. Keep tearin it up Todd!

I`m glad you had a good Mexican Christmas meal at grandma and grandpa`s house. All the people here ask what we do in my house for Christmas and when I tell them that every year we have a Mexican food feast they don`t believe me.

Oh another cool thing happened yesterday too. I got a phone call from Elder Boyle. (He went to Mtn View) He is in Valle de Tules, one of my old areas. He calls me and was like ``hey someone wants to talk to you`` It was Guillermina and Gustavo. They just wanted to wish me a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and wanted to let me know that they are still goin to church every week and have received a lot of blessings. It was great to talk to them. It`s been almost a year since we met. I`m glad they`re still strong. In Mexico sometimes its hard to have a lot of converts stay active. I`ve been really blessed.

Thats crazy about the Gulbrandsens´. I hope they come here that would be sick. We will have to go say hi real quick before I leave to wish them luck. I would imagine that its`pretty hard to be a mission president, but Pres. Gulbrandsen fits the mold. Thats awesome. They will do great!

Thats crazy that all my friends are home. They are probably jealous that I still have 6 months. Its crazy how things change like that.... Before the mission I thought ``Aw man, all my friends are going to have 6 months at home before I get there`` Now I`ve gotten to the point where I`m just trying to enjoy it as much as possible. Time flies....

This morning we climbed the mountain in my area. Just me and my comp. It was awesome. We woke up at 5 a.m. to get on top when the sun comes out. It was gorgeous. We kinda got lost on the way up and had to make up our route, but we got there just in time. I`ll send pictures asap, but right now I dont have much time!

Sorry this is a smaller email, but I gotta go to my meeting. I love you all! Have a great new years and drink some Martinelli`s in my honor!

LOVE YOU

Con amor,
Elder Greg Heap

...Highlight of the week going to the TEMPLE...Feliz Navidad!

Hey family,

I love this time of year. Sometimes its stressfull completing with goals and trying to find people that want to follow Christ, but during this time of the year nothing really phases me. I think I share that same feeling of love for Christmas as you do mom. Here in Mexico it`s pretty different, but singing the hymns and having my paper Christmas tree up helps me feel out home.

Life is good. Bringing people to come unto Christ is a little bit harder this time of year because a lot of people here leave out of town or spend their time getting drunk.....at least they invite us to join.....giving.....the Christmas spirit... haha

I see you got my pics. On Saturday we were looking on the internet to see how to go to the DF. While my comp was looking for dirrections, I sent the pics. Hope you liked em. Anyways, this morning (with permission from Pres.) we went to the DF to go get a birthcertificate for a lady that we are going to marry and baptize this next week. It was an interesting trip. We went by my last area in Xalostoc and we ended up going right by the famous Basilica which is where millions of people come from all over Mexico to see ``the virgen of Guadalupe`` It`s just a little apostasy from the Mexicans. IT was cool though to see the huge cathedrals and stuff. We will have to go check it out when you come get me. (Is that the plan.... let me know?)
So yea we`re back in 1 piece coming back from the big city. Now im back in San Cristobal. Its been a long day.

The week went well. Miracles happened.... like usual. We found Brenda. She is a 19 year old girl. Her grandpa is a member and she has gone to church quite a bit. The missionaries have never taught her before though. We taught her all the lessons and we are going to baptize her this week. PRobably Saturday. She is super pumped. We are also going to baptize Marsela. We just have to marry her and then everything will be set for her to get baptized. I`m excited.

We also have been doing ``family nights`` with a lot of the member families and asking them to invite their friends and neighbors to listen to our Christmas message. They have gone really well. I discovered that my comp. can also sing farely well so we have been singing at all of those. I always feel the spirit so strong singing Christmas hymns.

Oh, before I forget! I got your other package. I love the candy and treats. I´m trying to pace myself so I dont eat it all in a week or 2. I`ve been giving my comp a taste of REAL candy that doesnt have chile all over it. A lot of the stuff you can find down here, but its more expensive. THanks mom! Oh and thanks to the young men and young women of the ward. I didnt get a picture of them in my package, but send me one, one of these days. I also got a letter this week from Kylie Foster. If she is there in the ward on Sunday tell her thanks for me. I`ll probably try to send her a letter, but I`m really bad at writing letters (as you already know). I`ll try to be better at that.

By far the highlight of the week was going to the temple on Wednesday. It was sooooo awesome. I sat with Elder Romney and Elder Christensen in the temple so it was cool. Two of my best buds here in the mish. I loved the session. I got a ton out of it and I definately received answers to my prayers. After eating in the temple cafeteria we had a little Christmas devocional. It went well. I didnt sing this year. We didnt really have time to practice, but those who did did a great job. A few played the piano and Elder Jorden from our zone played the violin. You would have loved it mother. President Nancollas taught us a lot. He talked a lil more about the 4th missionary and taught us one of his ``secrets`` to success. He said that anytime we have a trial or big decision to make in our lives the best way to handle it is go to the temple fasting and praying for answers. It was a little bit more detailed and probably better explained by President Nancollas, but I got a lot out of it.

Another story. Sunday I get a call and it says its from Pres. Nancollas and I answer and it was Taylor (his son.... we`re tight now ever since he came with us on divisions) He called and was like. ``Hey Heap, your brother caught a touchdown 3 minutes into the game``. I was in the church and I was really pumped. Then he calls me a little bit later and says that Todd caught another touchdown. The second time I thought he was lying so he had Sister Nancollas read what was on his computer screen so Sister Nancollas says ``J. Flacco throws a 14 yard touchdown to T. Heap`` It was really funny. I love that family.

One more crazy story. Today I got an email from KEith Gerald Obregon. My trainer. He said that he`s in Utah and wishes me a happy birthday. Then he said that he was in the Draper temple helping with baptisms for the dead and he ran into TJ Heap. He asked him if TJ knows a Greg Heap. Small world. I guess that means that my brotha Obregon is keepin up on his English skills. Thats crazy tho huh.

Thanks for the pictures....everyone looks great! Grandpa and Grandma Heap still look like a couple teenagers runnin around. Oh and I got the video of Preston and Kyle last week. That was SO funny. I cant believe they talk so well. When I left they were just saying little things. Now they talk really really well. Times` flying. I cant believe it.

This is going to be a great week. Christmas. 2 baptisms. Talk to the family. Training meeting for all the leaders in the mission. etc. etc. etc.

IMPORTANTE: the number that im going to have is a cell phone number.... let me know if that will be a problem..... i dont think so because last year you called me when i had a cell phone. The number is..... 1-044-55-35-62-81-11 I dont know what time will be good for me yet. This whole week we are going to be running around. Ill call you from a pay phone first if you want, to let you know that all is good to call. Let me know when it is the best time for you and let me know the time difference and all that. You can write me back and ill just check the internet in the week to see what you say. If the cell phone is a bad idea let me know and you can call me downstairs with the hermanos where i live. I dont have that number with me, but ill call ya..... aaaaiight?

Thats it! Have a great week! I love you all!
Meeeeerrry Christmas
Feliz Navidad

Con amor,
Elder Greg Heap

....Becoming the "4th" Missionary

Hey family,

Life is good. Each week passes faster then the last. Time flies when you are having fun and enjoying the blessings of the Lord.

The work is going well here. We are just trying to lift the zone as much as we can. I think it is always a little bit more difficult in December with the ``day of the virgen`` the fiestas, people going out of town, etc. It`s rough, but for me it has been great. I have focused a lot more time no my personal and companionship studies and I have seen some more tender mercies in my life because of it.

Well last Monday we went to the offices and that is always fun being with the other zone leaders. Elder Romney and I were talking and we were tryin to figure out how we could be comps next change. It`s actually a possibility. I think I`ll either go with him or go to Queretaro. It`s the only part of the mission that I havent been in so either way it would be sweet. We will see what happens next change though. For now we are just trying to focus in on a lot of the investigators that we have and find more to baptize in January. The work of the Lord is the best. Christmas spirit hasn`t quite hit me so I tried playing the Josh Groban christmas cd. It was working a little bit until I got to the song about ``Ave Maria`` haha. That is a huge Catholic song down here and my companion was kinda freakin out. It was pretty funny though. I guess last year I didnt really pay attention to the words or the song. Funny stuff haha.

Anyways Monday night was fun. We all went for tacos and alambre. It was delicious. The first time in a while that I have eaten in an actual restaurant.

The consejo was awesome on Tuesday. They talked to us about our purpose and becoming the ``4th`` missionary. I guess you probably wouldnt understand those concepts unless I explained them in detail, but the 4th missionary part changed my life. It talked about the 4 kinds of missionaries. How the first 2 are dissobedient and the 3rd one is obedient and does all the work how he or she should. The 4th missionary however consecrates himself to the Lord. He does the will of the Lord at all times and doesn`t think about what he wants. He really serves with all his heart might mind and spirit. When the 3rd missionary (although he is obedient) only serves with his might and spirit. The biggest differences though are in the consequences. If you are the 3rd missionary, you go home and end up being pretty much the same having gained little or no knowledge. The 4th missionary goes home having changed his life forever, as a disciple of Jesus Christ, having gained and learned many of the mysteries of God. It was a talk of like 24 pages and I`ve been thinking a lot about that lately.

Oh another highlight of the consejo was the push up contest. A couple of us missionaries had a push-up contest as part of the meeting. Then when we had finished President Nancollas did the push-ups. He easily beat all of us. He did 105 good push ups. I did like 78. He owned us. It was crazy. Much respect for President Nancollas. He is definately a competitive guy.

Oh another crazy story that just happened this morning. I dont know if you remember mom, sending me the pancake mix from Lehi Roller Mills or something like that. I was looking for the dirreccions and I saw on the back a little thing that was like ``thank you for buying the product, it was made with the best ingredients, etc, etc. Then at the bottom it was signed by R. Sherman Robinson. I was like, hmmmm that name sounds familiar. I couldnt quite put my finger on it from where i heard that name. Anyways then I remembered that in my branch Presidency in the MTC one of them was Brother Robinson. I called Elder Christensen and I asked what Brother Robinsons name was and he couldnt remember. Then I called Elder Memmott and he was like ``yea his name was Sherman Robinson. It was so crazy. So the owner of the pancake mix and the Lehi Roller Mills company was my branch president counselor in the MTC. He is an awesome guy and I remembered a lot of spiritual experiences that we had with him. Elder MEmmott and I got to spend a lot of time with him being zone leaders in the MTC. Small world. I thought it was kinda cool.

Alright back to the week. One of the days this week I went on interchanges with Elder Acevedo. He is also from Coatla. Anyways for lunch we ate with a family that I knew from a couple weeks back. I did their baptismal interviews and they are an awesome family. They are already way strong in the gospel. I love seeing lives change. They were way happy to see me which made me feel pretty good. Elder Acevedo also mentioned that his whole family is going to move to Utah when he gets home and he is a way cool kid. We will probably hang out in Utah next year.

Other highlights....

We found a new investigator that is pretty sweet. His name is Moises. He lived in the U.S. for a little bit so he thinks he knows English. He probably knows english as much as mom knows spanish. He is a stud though. He went to church by himself and enjoyed it a lot.

We also had another girl named Brenda go to church. She has gone a lot, but has never talked to the missinaries so that was a blessing. We are going to teach her this week and baptize here comin up.

This week we taught gospel principles class at church. We taught about the restoration. It was fun being able to expound upon it more than just teaching it in a 15, 20 minute lesson.

Another highlight that is going to happen this upcoming Wednesday. We are going to the temple! I`m so excited. It has been a year since I have gone to the temple. Well done a session at least. It is going to be so awesome. Half of the mission is going Tuesday and the other half with my zone included is going on Wednesday. I`m glad that on my half Elder Romney, Elder Memmott, Elder Christensen, Elder Allen and a lot of other buddies will be going in with me. I`ll be thinking about all of you I promise!

Well thats it. Im going to go make myself some breakfast. We were thinking about doing those pancakes earlier, but we decided we are giong to make omelets. I havent had an omelet in like 2 years. I`m excited.

To answer some of your questions. Elder Christen is just moving zones. I think he is going to Atotonilco. He is getting changed in the middle of the transfer because a lot of Elders are going home 3 weeks early to be home for Christmas.

Thanks for your love and support. I love you all. God lives and loves us. Jesus is the Savior of the world. The church is true. The priesthood is real. Thomas S. Monson is a prophet. Families can be together forever.

Love you!
Con amor,
Elder G Heap

...Christmas Spirit as a Mexican

Heeeeeey fam....

Life is great. I love being a missionary. The blessings keep rolling in from everywhere. This work is true and it`s a blessing to be a part of it.

This week was interesting. Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday Elder Garcia and I worked extremely hard. I mean really really really hard. Knocking doors asking references, climbing hills talking to EVERYONE and teaching the gospel. At the end of those days we looked at each other and realized that it was already Friday. The week was almost over. It is crazy to see how fast time flies when you are 100% dedicated to the work of the Lord. Elder Garcia is helping me a ton. He is so focused on ending his mission well and having his zone be the most successful. It is fun. Before being his comp I had heard that he had been slacking now that he doesnt have much time left, but when he got here with me he was ready to work. It`s fun. I love it.

I have developed a lot as a missionary in a year and a half and it is fun to be able to use all the talents, tools and experience the Lord has blessed me with.

I think I like doing the whole ``highlights of the week`` thing because I get the most important things in the email....

First things first, Mom, I got 3 packages last week. It was AWESOME. 2 Christmas ones and 1 normal one. Thank you so much. The socks you sent have saved me because I have holes in all my other ones. The ties are pretty tight as well. I loved the pictures and the letters and just about everything. I think I`ll put up my Christmas paper tree one of these days. I send my appreciation and love to everyone. I got all of Grandma and Grandpa Heaps`letters too. Tell them thanks. I know they have been tryin to get them to me. Also the testimonies of all of you have strengthened me a ton lately. Grandpa and Grandma Riggs. Everyone. It would take me a while to name everyone who wrote me and I am so happy that I have such a strong family living the gospel.

Another highlight, Thursday night. We went to do baptismal interviews for Elder Christensen. I got to interview Arturo (the father of the family) and my comp interviewed his son. I already knew Arturo from doing divisions a couple week back and I was really happy that he got baptized. IT was a very spiritual interview. I asked him about his conversion experience and his story is awesome. His wife is amazed that he has changed so fast in so little time. He has shown his faith and has had a sincere repentance over the past few weeks. He has stopped drinking and his wife now loves him more than ever. We hope that she also enters in the baptismal waters here shortly. There was a moment when I think it clicked in Arturo and in me just how simple is the gospel. We show our faith by keeping the commandments and repent and get better daily showing a real repentance. Doing that changes lives. Doing that blesses families. Doing that brings happiness. Talking to Arturo was a real blessing. Him and I both received a powerful testimony of the gospel and the Holy Ghost was very strong. It was hard not to break down crying. Moments like those are the moments that help when trying times come and when we have trials. I`m so thankful to be able to experience them on a weekly and almost daily basis.

Saturday we were a little frustrated because despite our huge efforts in the week we still didnt have many new investigators or many people that accepted to go to church. (It`s always harder in December with people going out of town and visiting family.....not to mention the parties that they throw in the centro) We went to a couple appointments on the other side of our area and they werent there. We decided to finish knocking to the end of the street. After a few rejections and after talking to a few Jehovah`s Witness, we were pretty dissappointed. We decided to finish the street and on the second to last house we found a family of 8. All we had to say is that we are missionaries and they let us in. They were all on the couches and they brought us out to chairs so that they could all sit around us and listen. We taught the Restoration and the spirit was really strong. It`s another family Lopez (If you remember Pablo and Olga from my last area). We had a few of them go to church, but for one reason or another not all of them could go. It will be fun teaching a big family like that and we just hope that they progress. We will see what happens.

Today was fun. We played some bball in Elder Christensens area. It`s fun playing street ball with Mexicans. Especially little ones from Oaxaca. Elder Golledge and his comp Elder Beazer came. Two of the sons of the stake president came and Elder Summers and Elder Loeza came and Elder Fillerup and Elder Palomec came. We had a lil 4 on 4 tourney.

Well I hate to cut it short on ya`ll, but I gotta jet. I got to go shower and go to a meeting then head over to the offices. Tomorrow we have our zone meeting council. Those are always the best. I`m pumped. Not to mention I get to chill with a bunch of my buddies tonight. Elder Romney, Elder Arnett, Elder Francis, Elder Drake, etc. Oh and the new zone leader is Elder Koons and I love Elder Koons so that will be fun too.

This next week we have a goal as a zone to have 9 baptisms and 12 confirmations. If we reach our goal (which we should) we will be leading the mission. Pray for Ecatepec. Pray for the missionaries. Pray for missionary experiences and pray for the work of the Lord.

I love you all. Live the gospel and be happy.

Con amor,
Elder Heap