MTC Hump Day

On Wed, Sep 24, 2014 at 10:15 AM, Jessica Heywood <jessica.heywood@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Hey there min vakker familie! :)

It was so great to hear from you all.  I loved seeing the pictures of the kids in the cultural event!! I bet that was so fun to watch.  Here at the MTC we got so see the first session of the dedication and it was SO great!  I actually saw President Skinner sitting in the Celestial room right with the prophet! So you can tell him I saw him there! :)

I am SOOOO happy to hear about Kasey and her decision to be baptized!!!! I am so proud of her! 

That's a bummer about Grakum going to the hospital too! I'm glad she only had to spend one night there, and tell her not to worry, we don't get coke here at the MTC either ;) haha!

Yesterday was MTC HUMP DAY!!!!!!!  So great! Three weeks down, and three to go until I can hop on the plane to NORGE!!!! I'm so excited!!! Sister Petersen got a package with some Martinellis from her mom so we could all celebrate properly :) We decided that our goal as a district once we get over there is to work hard enough to get a third stake in Norway. (That way, they can be considered for a temple) Can you just imagine how cool it would be to get to have a temple there?? or even have one announced by the time I leave?  

Classes are going great here.  To answer your question mom, gospel and language class is the same thing.  The gospel class is taught in Norsk.  We have two new investigators that we have been teaching: Pralad, and Linn.  Pralad is a refugee from Napal, and his family and he are Hindu.  So he's a fun one to teach! :)  Linn is really interested in the sciences and is studying health at a university in Oslo, so I got to relate to her in that way!  She is so great.  She wants to learn more about Joseph Smith and our church and she really likes reading from Mormons Bok.  The only thing is, she has no desire to believe in a God.... which is kinda important in this gospel... but she is a great learner and very open, so we shall see :)

OOH!! Cool thing!! Yesterday at Tuesday Devotional, we got to hear from M. Russell Ballard!  He is so awesome!! He talked a lot about how to be the most effective missionary we can possibly be! It was so great! The choir sang Joseph Smiths first prayer, and as we sang it the spirit was so thick in the air, I'm pretty sure you could touch it! haha!!

Last Wednesday after we emailed, we went to the temple.  Sister Williams and I did a session and afterwards we were sitting in the Celestial room.  I had had a really specific thing on my mind, and was praying for an answer to my question.  As a looked up after my prayer, I made eye contact with a lady from across the room who was just smiling at me... I just thought, "hmm... tat's weird," and didn't worry about it.  Later, in the changing rooms, she came up to ma and said, "You probably think I'm crazy, but I kept getting the feeling that I needed to tell you something."  Then she told me the exact answer to the question I had asked Heavenly Father.  And you know me family.... I started bawling.  I know that God really does answer prayers, and sometimes, He uses other people to do it.  I never EVER want to forget that experience, it was just so great!!

Brother Williams told me that Brede had messaged him on Facebook. That is SO cool!!!  All of our teachers here are SO amazing!! I love them all so much!  There's Brother Smith, who is just so inspired to teach us exactly what we need to hear for the day.  He tells us mission stories and gets us excited to go experience those things for ourselves.  Sister Landry is so understanding and great with making sure that we understand her before we move on.  She is so funny and didn't get off her mission too long ago.  There's Brother Bartholomew, who we like to call the battery.  He is SO full of energy and a class is never complete without him jumping around the room in excitement.  He's one of those people who makes you want to take a nap after talking to them :) haha! Then of course Brother Williams who just brings a spirit into the classroom like none other!  Man! I just love them all!!

I love Sister Williams! She is such a great teacher and SO in tune with the spirit!  I learn so much from her everyday.  It's not to hard having a companion all the time, except for when I'm grumpy because I usually like to be alone for that, and I can't :) haha!! but luckily, I'm not really ever grumpy!  Being a missionary just has its perks like that I guess ;)

Well family, my time is almost up, I love you all SOOOOO much!  Jeg vet at Jesu Kristi Kirke av Siste Dagers Hellige er sann.  Jeg vet at Jesus Kristus og himmelske Fader elsker oss.  Vi er hans barn.  Jeg vet dette!

Ha det bra!!

Soster Heywood!

OH! and pppppp.sssssss. The MTC Choir does get to sing.... in the Priesthood session.... So..... Just the Elders! Lame huh? Oh well! That's still so cool!! So tell Hayden and dad that they can see the elders from my district! :) haha!

1st MTC Email

Hello!!!!!

So my P day here at the MTC is Wednesday, and I'll usually do my emailing in the morning.  Mom, I am unit #83, but I did get your DearElder letter!  Those are SO GREAT!!! Tell everyone to write me them! ;)  Sister Williams is great!  we balance each other out perfectly!  

Our investigator is technically a fake one, but we treat him completely as if he were real.  His name is Lars, and he is so fantastic.  He came here from Norway to study Engelsk at BYU.  His fiance is LDS so he wanted to find out more about our church, and what his fiance believes in.  Right now, his biggest struggle is just trying to figure out what the gospel could do for him.  He doesn't see any reason to change the life he has now, but he does want to learn. We are really trying right now to help him feel the Holy Ghost in our lessons.  So keep Lars in your prayers!! :)

You'll have to tell me about Stake Conference.  I bet President Tibbitts and President Glover kept ya laughing right?  Those two are fantastic, and I just love President Skinner too.  I want to see pictures of Heather and Tamy in their dresses!!!! I bet they'll just look AMAZING!!! I''m so glad to hear that Tamy is more interested!! Continue to tell her about our church!  Missionary work is CONTAGIOUS!! 

The language is coming along really well for me.  I may not have finished my Norwegian CD course, but I have been able to do really well with pronunciation because I have heard it spoken so much, so thats GREAT!!! OOH! Side note, Make sure Eline has my email, so I can email her as well :) 

Our district is HUGE!!! We have the biggest district they have ever had in the MTC.  They usually cut of around twelve, then if there is more, they split them into two districts.  But in our case, we only have one Norske teacher, so we can't exactly split... Our district has 15 Elders and Sisters! (4 Elders, 11 Sisters).  We are all learning the language at different speeds and some of the members of the district are really getting discouraged. (Including Sister Williams, so keep her in your prayers please. Our teacher, Brother Smith saw that she was struggling, and took her out of class for a bit, and then didn't come back for about 45 minutes. Long story short, we got excused from the rest of our class for the day, so I could help her as much as I could. so keep her in your prayers) Takk! we actually have an Elder in our district (the DL) who lived in Sweden for 7 years of his life, and since those two languages are close, he really helps us with the Norwegian! Like A LOT!!!

I love you all SOOO much! The church is true, and God is SO REAL!!!

Love,

Soster Heywood!!!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAYLI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you had a fantastic day and got pampered by Steve and the Kids! I'm waiting for those coloring pictures from Rachel ;) Haha!

Soster Heywood the morning she left for the MTC!

2nd MTC Email

Hallo!!

Oh my goodness, this week has been INSANE!!! I have so much to tell you and just not enough time! My hands just aren't fast enough!!! Things are going GREAT here in the MTC.  We got to hear from Richard G. Scott yesterday for our Tuesday Devotional.  He is so spectacular!!!  I'm in the MTC Choir, and we got to sing Be Still My Soul for him! (You can tell Mr. Mills how much I LOVE being in an actual choir again)  Our director is SO FUNNY!  Everytime we go to choir, he has an awesome messageto go along with whatever song we are singing.  this time, he gave us some statistics of how big the universe really is, blowing our minds of course.  Then he told us that all that is controlled by God, and our souls have no reason to not be still.  We can do ANYTHING when our will matches that of the Father's.  We are unstoppable!

So, really cool story:  One of our teachers, Bror Williams (also played Lars, our first investigator),  served his mission in Norway. Actually all four of our teachers did.  I was talking to him and asked which areas he had served in, and one of the areas was Sandvika.  I asked him if he knew Eline Solberg, and he said, "Is her dad's name Brede?" I was like YES!! Apparently, Brede helped them with some car stuff, and Bror Williams even taught them a couple times I think... It was all in Norwegian, so thats what I gathered, but YEAH!! Cool stuff! I started freaking out. connections are awesome!

Our new investigator for this week is Linn.  we've only had one lesson with her,so we don't know much, but I was able to connect with her because she is going to school studying health just like I was.  Very cool!  Her parents divorced when she was ten, and she lost her faith because she had prayed to keep her family together, and it didn't happen.  So she's had a rough time, but I know that this gospel can make her so happy! More than she realizes now :)

To answer everyone's questions: Yes, I have gotten the DearElder letters, and I LOVE them!! we get mail delivered twice a day and it's always so awesome to hear from home! I didn't get dad's as you know, but I got his email, and yes dad..... You made me BAWL! But luckily for me, my companion gives good hugs :) haha!

I loved seeing the homecoming pictures! The girls looked simply GORGEOUS!!!!! I'm so glad they had fun, and had awesome rides!  I don't know if I ever told Heather about the police escort I got for my Junior year homecoming.... haha! but yeah!  I'm glad they got to ride in style!

We are all SO EXCITED for the temple dedication on Sunday.  And the bookstore has plenty of white handkerchiefs for then.  They've got to with all us missionaries! OOH!!!! That reminds me along with the choir I mentioned earlier, WE MIGHT GET TO SING IN GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!!! Might... just might... we'll know for sure by next Sunday! so I'll let ya know!

The language is coming great!  It's really great that I was exposed to some Norwegian before I came here so I can pick up on most of the pronunciation.  It is SUCH a fun language! I find myself even dreaming in Norwegian now... haha!!! The food is fantastic, but having to climb 5 stories to class three times a day is keeping off the weight, so that's good ;) haha!!

I heard from Miranda that Rachel got her glasses!!!!! I want to see a picture! I bet she just looks GORGEOUS!!! :) Man I miss those kids.  Give them BIG HUGS from Aunt Jess for me!

Welp!! That's about all I can think to tell ya this time, but I love you all SOOOO MUCH, and I can't wait to get to Norway! LESS THAN A MONTH LEFT!!

Jeg er glad i deg,

Soster Heywood

Jessica said this was "Bee-Day".  These three sisters all showed up  in yellow and black to class one morning.












This is Jessica's District.  They are all the missionaries going to Norway who entered the MTC  Sept. 3.  There are 11 Sisters and 4 Elders.