....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