Martin Carrera - La Rata

Okay I am going to start with a fun fact... Hermana Heywood is terrified TERRIFIED of rats and do you know what?  She has been living with one since Monday!!!!! 

  

   Yes it is true although I have become a lot tougher on my mission when it comes to bugs, spiders and cockroaches; I can kill them easily... but a RAT!  Not gonna lie it was a stressful week but definitely memorable! For starts we saw the rat a couple times more and it wouldn't die... I had no idea how smart rats were! IT WOULDNT DIE! So Monday it ate all of the venom and there was a trail of venom to the shower drain so we thought oh good it went back to where it came from... but  NO! We put a bucket full of water over the shower drain and what do you know?  We heard the rat all night in our kitchen and we didn't know what to do because when ever we would turn on the light or something it would hide because it is freaking smart. So on Tuesday after district class we got permission from Pres to have the ZL come over and dedicate the house and tambien to try to kill the rat... well they couldn't find it. But our landlady, America asked can they dedicate my house too? so we went up and dedicated her house too and it was really cool... she has never let the missionaries enter her house before.. we always just talk to her out in the court yard. So that was cool and then after the prayer she was crying and it was cool the spirit was really strong and she said she wants to go to the CV with us!!!!! yayyyy 

Rata Killers

Then later that day (Tuesday) hna Mortenson got really sick after we ate so we stayed at the hna´s house who feed us until hna Mortenson felt like she could walk and hna Anaya was like ahh hnas go to the hospital... so we went and she is sick with gastritis and colitis! We were there till about 11:30 pm and pres picked up and took us home... but then that night we couldn't get back to sleep because we could hear the rat and ahhh yeah! then luckily Thursday and Friday we could work! 

Angeles is doing really really well!!!! She is super pumped for her baptism and said she is gonna fast so she can get back together with her husband! She honestly is awesome and she is only 22 with three kids! I just love her so much! Also Naomi is doing awesome and LOVED her baptism and when we showed up she had given us jello and she made drawings for us to say thank you for helping her get baptized... honestly she is so cute! she got confirmed this Sunday but we couldn't go to church... I will explain in a bit! Also Orfe well... ahhh she doesn't want to get baptized still so we are trying to figure out what is holing her back because she is awesome... I think she feels guilty for committing sin because her and her ex weren't married and they have two kids... she was crying about that the other lesson we had and we told her her kids are a blessing and that we have repentance in order to take away guilt! But we are still working with her.....

Then we were still having problems with the rat... we set up three different traps and it escaped two of them and one it wouldn't enter because its smart... but then Friday night we didn't hear anything so we thought maybe it finally died from all of the poison it ate because it ate A TON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But...still living... so we took like everything out of the house... ready to kill it with the staff of the broom and we couldn't find it... we think it crawled behind the oven and is living in the the part between the oven and the counter.... but the oven is glued to the wall so yeah...now what?  I guess the poison dries it out ... they were saying it petrifies it and I am just like oh my gosh petrifies... like harry potter and the basilisk.. hahah so yeah we still haven't found the rat... but we are pretty sure it is petrified in the part of the oven and wall hahah! 

Then Saturday we didn't sleep because hna mortenson was throwing up all night and couldn't stop so we went to the mish doc and got her even more meds and then ... when we were trying to catch a taxi out side of the CV (that is where the DR is) she fainted so back to the DRs we went and they put her on bed rest for two days and we were not able to go to church but pres came and gave us the sacrament BUT he got in a car accidente on the way! LITERALLY THIS WEEK WAS CRAZY! But we are just happy its done and to be able to work with our people again.... 

In all honesty I am so grateful for the mish and I know every second of my mish is helping me be a better person and I know that my Savior lives!!!! And the Lord deff works in mysterious ways.  It was a blessing I guess that hna mortenson was sick because we hadn't been able to sleep for 5 days with the rat and got some rest and then America letting the missionaries in her house, So yes Heavenly Father listens and hears our prayers but sorry really don't have many pics this week.  I will see if I can send some to you all but love you all!!!!! Have a good week and I will write next week... oh madre with mothers day idk yet we will ask around and see where we can call you!!! love you all 

hna heywood 

Martin Carrera - Best Week Ever

Dear fam... so guess what happened this week! 

Okay honestly I don't know where to even begin... we have seen SO MANY DANG MIRACLES! 

First of all I'M STILL IN MARTIN CARRERA!!! YAY cambios were today but we got to say together and this is now the longest i have ever been in an area! 

Also after I logged off last week, we went to go look for Orfe because she had gotten an answer that baptism isn't for her and so we taught her about the bom and told her to pray again ahah. Anyways Monday, she was like, "Hnas guess what yesterday I was washing my clothes and I heard a voice say... bautizate buatizate ... (get baptized get baptized)"  She said  it was so peaceful and we were like YESSS! and then she said, "But ahh hnas I don't want to what if I don't live up to my promise with heavenly father?"  We all talked about it and yay, She is  doing good and feels more comfortable about her answer so she should be getting baptized pretty soon here! She has almost all her asistinces. THEN Angles who wasn't going to church asked when she could get baptized and she didn't smoke on Wednesday!! so yeah some good things going on here! 

Also Naomi got baptized yesterday and it was so good and she was so happy and luckily she doesn't like hot water because the boiler wasn't working so she didn't have hot water it was more like swimming pool cold but not ice cold. But it was good and her family all came even her dad who is major alcoholic. And all these people showed up to church on Sunday so it was great! Carlos our convert of two weeks brought his mom!!!! WE are gonna go to the CV this week with them. 

Also the best part of it all Elder Oaks came and we all got to shake his hand! He is a funny guy and just super happy! Luckily I got to sing in the choir we sang Battle Hymn of the Republic and oíd el toquen del clarin a spanish hymn.  He shared a really good message with us about the importance of wisdom and how it is different then knowledge and how we have wisdom when we ACT AND APPLY the knowledge that we have. It was cool and he also talked about equality is a tool of the devil because in the plan of Satan he wanted equality ... super interesting. And Elder Piper the area pres here came too and gave a super cool talk about using the godly talent we have. In the last Oct conference, elder Holland talked about elder Pipers daughter Dora in the temple de mex city dedication. Anyways they brought Dora with them and it was the first time she had ever come to something like that. Elder Piper brought her up for his talk and told us how when they were in Russia as mission presidents Dora was one of the best missionaries because she would stand at the door of the church and greet everyone with a hug... but Dora cant talk. He was telling us how she used her godly talents to the best of her ability and I just loved that! Then elder oaks did a question answer and it was just really cool and he is such a humble servant of the Lord. And when he shared his testimony... WOW when he said I KNOW you could feel the spirit so strongly and I truly know that Christ talks with his servants!!!! And that we are so lucky to have a living profeta and apostelas. 

But yeah it was super cool and also fun to see all the old comps. It was especially fun to see hna woodford who is in moctezuma proud to see what an amazing missionary she has become!!! haha motherly love

Also wanna hear something funny that happened this week... this morning we were cleaning and a HUGE RAT ran our of our shower and into the kitchen and it ran over hna motensons foot and we freaked out! so then America our land lady came down in her sports bra and was like hnas what happened and we were like its a RAT... hahah so we were all freaked out and there is America helping us look for a rat in her sports bra and then she brings us poison and she is just a funny lady we love her and we are gonna convert her! Yeah all good things all good things! It was a killer week and we are so blessed to be here in Carrera.  I am glad I have another month here to help these people who I love so much!!!!  THE CHURCH IS TRUE! love you all so much! 

Eating with hna graciela 

My main home girl Hna Magda

con amor, 

hna heywood

Martin Carrera - Perks of Being a White Girl

Hey there fam bam! How are things in AZ?  Man oh man is my weather today really what it is in AZ?  Because its so hot here... haha I am going to die when I get home but that's all good. Life has been crazy, busy, stressful, but AMAZING all in one.. I guess that is just how you describe a mish. So guess what happened this week... so there was this lady that came up to us in the street and was like hey guera... (white girl) when are you coming to visit me and we were like um we would love to visit you, when is better to pass by?.,.. Where do you live? ... things like that. Well then when we had our cita she told us she had talked to the elders before and she had gone to church with her daughters and then she started telling us about movie how the U.S. kills mexis at the border and we were like GREAT SHE HATES WHITE PEOPLE... but then she told us she likes some ahah but anyways that night we were looking in the area book and on her registro is says.... QUIEREN PECAR CON LOS ELDERS CUIDADO! haha which means they want to sin with the elders be careful and we were like oh crap... but her younger daughter was really interested so we will see how that goes... her name is Chelo... and her daughter is Yaqueline ... yes with a y! So that is fun

Also we had FHE this week and we played minute to win it games and what other fast games we could think of. We have this super cool new investigador that is the nephew of one of my fav people in Izcalli and long story short he went to General Conference and she was there visiting an elder and she was like AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH mi sobrino... and she was super excited and she was like hnas you better take care of him!  He is cool, his name is Eder and he is a police man... retired profesh soccer player or something like that. But he went to the casa abierta and basically said so when can I get baptized #blessings 

Carlos is doing awesome... he is now gonna prepare to get the priesthood and he is so happy! and his family wants to listen now #YESSS   He got confirmed and is happy and will be a great member and of course we will keep on visiting him we teach all the lessons after baptism too! 

Also madre got the shoes SHOUTOUT TO YOU! for being the best and now I am prepared for rainy season... haha everyone was making fun of my shoe situation... but we are all good now! 

Also guess who I get to shake hands with Saturday... ELDER DALLIN H OAKS! Me and han mortenson are in the mish choir and we are singing Battle Hymn of the Republic and a spanish hymn that doesn't exist in English! But we had choir practice on sat and it was fun because most of the white hnas are there so that was fun to see all of them! 

We also went to the visitor center with Iker and his abuela and it was super good for them... and he cried.. no bawled when we had to leave... he loved it so much! But man there is a TON OF WORK HERE IN CARRERA! Also the other day the zone leaders were telling us that they are gonna change all the ward boundaries and that we will be able to change to a chapel closer! WE have stake conference in three weeks and in a week is cambios so hopefully I am still here with hermanita Mortenson ... I would be super sad if I left!  Life is way good and I just love every sec of being here. The mish as changed my life for sure and I have gained such a strong testimony through serving others and forgetting myself! But yeah love you guys... also parks and laur congrats on the house and starting your lil fam... also are you naming the child Lake or was that just decor? Welp love ya all have a fab week!!!!

We had family home evening together and this is Genesis.. cutest little girl!
She is Aris´s little girl (the YW leader)

FHE - making a pyramid for the win!

love hna heywood

Martin Carrera - Hijole

Hey there fam! 

  This week was ... AMAZING! Would you like to know why? 

   Because we had conference and it was so so so so so GOOD! We got to watch it live in Spanish and man all the talks were fab! I think my conference highlights included....

• Jeff Hollands talk... that man delivered ... it was the type of talk were he could have dropped the mic at the end.... THATS HOW GOOD IT WAS! I really loved it and today we downloaded it so we could listen to it in english!
• the picture in Hollands talk... every missionary was dying laughing from that... but when the pic showed it was only in English so that is why the missionarys thought it was funny! #BRAVOJEFF 
• Niel L Andersons talk really hit home with me idk why but I just loved it so much maybe because I have really grown to love working with the youth here in Mexi and man it really helped with some life decisions!
• Also loved Eyrings talk... that man is so in tune with the spirit and I loved learning from him!
• And okay... MO-TAB killed it with Come Thou Fount... I was crying like a baby I have no idea why and everyone was crying and people in the choir were crying and man oh man I have always loved that version of the song but I just loved it even more. and yes I am becoming a softy! 

But I loved conference! LOVED LOVED LOVED IT! I mean after watching and listening there is no possible way to say that the profeta and lideres of the church aren't called of God! I also thought it was interesting how much they talked about the priesthood and the proper way to receive it and such! But yes I shall stop my conference rant haha! We had Georgina go with us to conference and we have only been teaching her for like a week now but we just LOVE HER! and she really enjoyed it and you could tell she felt the spirit. Also Luis came and he now has been to church twice but is like impossible to find him in his house to teach him... haha but he has been teaching us a little bit of italian. Also Naomi was there with her mom and Naomi of course was a little bored as a nine year old girl but we were glad her mom was able to come... she been less active for like a year. Also guess what?

 CARLOS GOT BAPTIZED! I am so so happy for him and his bapstimal service went really well and the sprit was really strong and he had a lot of good support from his family there! Even his super catholic novia came YAY!  We are very happy for him. 

Hna Graciela who always feeds us good food.

Funny story... that morning we showed up to empty the font at the stake center because it was nasty and luckily the elders helped us... but we had to empty it with trashcans and we found this massive grey trashcan outside that had wheels so we used that to empty the font! We promised the elders cake for helping us... haha! always something here in Mexico... oh we emptied it by hand because the thing was broken to empty the water! and the water from before was a couple weeks old. 

Draining the font.

Life is so so good and Elder Oaks comes in two weeks so we are #BLESSED But I would just like to end with this.... I am so blessed to have been able to serve a mission for my Lord and Savior... I know that this is his work and he is with us in every moment! I love the lord, and I know I KNOW that I am a child of God, daughter of a king that has a plan for me and through church leaders and scriptures, prayer and the sacrament; I am not alone in the path.... ALL YOU FRIENDS OF MINE THAT ARE MEMBERS or not... PLEASE TAKE THIS INVITATION... just read the Book of Mormon and ask God if this is really true because I know he will give you an answer and he wants you in his fold! 

Yes family I love you all... Lauren have fun at your baby shower... Chris keep winning in volleyball... Mom keep ice skating like a champ.. Parker get ready to be a dad... Jared good luck with all your life decisions... Dad keep being the example that you are... Luke.. write me haha and good luck in school... Aaron good luck finishing school... Katie keep sending me cute pics of mis sobrinos! Love you all so so much!

con muchísimo amor,

Hermanita Heywood

ONE YEAR

Burning a shirt!

Cute little bowl for chile

Hna Mortensen made me a cake!