Sick Again

So strep throat hit me pretty hard this week. It started Tuesday morning but it was really weak so we went to work. At 4 when we got to our food appointment, I just couldn´t eat. So my comp ate all my food and we left. We went back to the house and I sleeeeept. I can´t tell you how bad I felt. Wednesday came around and I felt worse ALL day long. I was instructed to see a doctor if I felt worse on Thursday. All night Wednesday I was shivering with convulsions and hallucinating. I said at one point, "Why did you take my ham?". I don´t remember that but Elder Sanchez STILL cracks up about it. Woohoo laugh at the sick boy..... Haha. I felt a lot better on Thursday. I still have a little sting in the back of my throat but the meds I got from Presidente Rex have been a great help!!

My companion is AWESOME!!! He massaged my feet while I was sick and didn´t sleep cuz he kept putting cold wet towers on my head to keep my fever down. He just keeps teaching amazing stuff about how to be a better person and an amazing servant of the Lord.  He just rocks.  We teach really well together.  Our understandings are a lot alike and we just teach and learn and testify non-stop. We have really been doing what we were taught in the MTC and that is to teach to the needs of the person. We apply the lessons in every lesson and that is what is so great!!  We are able to do much together and I just feel really good about our lessons and about our companionship.

I received a question about our newest investigator and the answer for her is simple.  She will be out of town until the 15th. We have an appointment with her then so I should have more information next week. We are still looking but with some problems with one of our Obispos and the members.  Loreto isn´t doing too well.  We are expecting changes in the Obispado soon because of all the problems. I´m praying.

We have had this one investigator for a long time now. Her name is Ivonne Molina. She is really great! She has just had a ton of fear because of her mom. We have successfully helped her find more faith than fear and she will be baptized on the 29th.  SO EXCITED!!!  She is really really great!!  And she owns a little food place and we eat free.  Haha.

Well I learned a lot about sickness and the part that it plays in taking us to the pits of humility. We have a choice to be bitter or to turn to the Lord and seek His help. This is a HUGE chance to show our faith and see miracles actively in our lives.  But sickness is not the only time.  2Nephi 4:15-35.  Read.  Learn.

15. This verse tells us so much about the use of scripture in our lives. We can´t just look at the scriptures as a passing fancy.  They should be something that fill our hearts with joy and understanding.  We should meditate on those things that we learned throughout the day and apply them to our lives.  We should constantly teach and share with others all that we have in this gospel.  If you have kids, share your testimony with them.  Make sure that they know without a doubt that you know that these things are true and that they can grow and live with the Spirit in their lives and YOU as their example and loving parent.  Do the same with your friends so that they can´t have a doubt in their minds that you are a disciple of Christ and will stand for Him in all times and in all places.

I love you all and I´m hoping that you are enjoying life as much as I am!!!!

Elder Heath

"I don't think so."

This is a very interesting phrase. A lot of people say this when you ask if any of their friends or family might be interested in our message.  But here´s a story:

So we were eating at the house of a member and we asked if she had any friends that would be interested in the gospel. She said she had a friend but that she leaves all the time, is hard to find and she probably woudn´t listen. We asked for the address anyway and stopped by right after. She was there. She accepted a cita (in spanish cuz I can´t remember the word in english) and we kept it. She loved it and completely bashed her church. It was really funny. The point is that she was interested is is now our newest investigator.

Someone might say "no" once or even a couple of times. But that doesn´t mean we should give up. Christ is always knocking so what gives us the right to say when to stop? Never rule someone out because of a moment and never rule yourself out. Just keep going. It´s rough. Trust me. I know rejection. Haha. But if you stop then all that happens is nothing. With that in mind, keep living because of what you know and feel, not because of what happened or what MIGHT happen.

Love yall!!! Thanks for reading!!!

Elder Heath

Mind Wash

I have no idea what I want to write. I am so full of so much emotion. Good and bad. I was so sure that I was going to another area. I packed a few of my clothes saturday night. I was positive. I had my plans. New companion. New area. New start. Well.... I was wrong. New companion. Same area. New start. How is it a new start? I don´t know yet.

Elder Sanchez is great!!! He and I are alike in a lot of ways. We get along, he speaks almost fluent English and he wants to work. He has his past that everyone felt the need to tell me. One elder actually warned me to be careful with him. I ignored that elder because I really don´t care what he says about anything, frankly. When I met Elder Sanchez, he straight up said, "I want to do better. Ready to work?" "Sketch YES!!!!" (No I did not say that exactly but you get the point)

What if we said that to the Holy Ghost? "I want to do better. Ready to work?" What do you think He would say? His words would probably be more collected but I imagine the feeling would be "Sketch YES!!!!" So let´s get to work. Stop reading and do something. Do something fantastic. You can do something good. You can do something better. But only when you have the Spirit can you do something truly fantastic. That is His mission. That is the Work of Christ. It is Marvelous. Meet the challenge and be that Work. Be Marvelous. Be fantastic. Be a missionary for the Lord and do better. Are you ready?

I´m glad you didn´t ACTUALLY stop reading when I said that. That would have be pointless for me to have written the rest of that. :P

I love you all!!! Lose your life so that He can give you His.

Elder Heath

LOVE

So this week has basically been a bust. We have worked hard to tell the truth, but the only thing that we have to show for it is the pain in our backs. But that´s the interesting thing about it. We had NO success despite our efforts, but because I did all that I could, I don´t feel bad about it. Elder Montero and I talked about this feeling of success without literal success. We succeeded for ourselves. We did all that we could and turned to the Lord every day for help and guidance. I don´t know what the Lord has planned for us or for this area, but we know that we did what we could. Just because life doesn´t go the way that you planned it or it´s harder than you thought it would be, that doesn´t mean that you are a bad person in some aspect in your life. You just don´t comprehend all the blessings and plans that God has for you.

So Sunday was a great day. I was sitting in our second ward, Maravillas, and a youth was talking about the importance of scripture. I felt a powerful urge to look around at all the people in the ward. As I did, I was filled with an amazing sense of love. My eyes filled with tears. My breath caught in my lungs. I put my head down and thanked my Heavenly Father for this wonderful blessing of love that I have for these people. In that moment more than ever before, I could not look at anyone as a different race or culture. All I saw were my brothers and my sisters of an eternal Father and I could do nothing but weep with joy at there attendance in our Father´s house of worship. The chapel was almost full but my heart was overflowing. I couldn´t possibly describe the emotion with mere words, but it was the ultimate feeling to have for another person. I touched a small portion of the love that God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost have for each one of us. Oh loved ones, I pray to feel that every day. I want that love and spirit with me every moment.

Have you ever seen a sunrise where the clouds are thick and rolling so that on the bottom you see the grades of red and pink stretching towards you across the entire sky of the east? Because I felt like the sun in that moment. Everything that I had inside of me was rolling out and touching every one in that sacrament meeting. I feel kind of like a broken record describing this again and again, but such is the power of love. Once you have felt it so deep in your heart, all you can do is try to share it with others. I can´t share it with you in any other way than these words so I have written many. Sadly, it is still not enough. So I have something better. I want you all to feel that too - to love every person not in spite of their faults, but with their faults, to see them as a son and daughter of the most high. To become so over come with the power of love that you weep with pure joy. That is my invitation to you. I hope that you will meet this invitation with prayer and sincerity of heart. Love is every action of God. Have that love and BE an action of God.

I love you. I don´t forget you because of the work that I have here. I love you more because of it. The distance is great but even greater is the spirit that connects us across the world.

Elder Heath