Week #16 Pictures

Week #16 Letter

Daily Summaries:

1-11-16
"Somebody once asked could you spare some change for gas so I could
get away from this place? I said, yep. What a concept. I could a
little fuel my self and we can all use a little change." Preparation
day!!! It was a different one from what I am used to but still
awesome. We had studies and then cleaned the apartment a little while
we waited for the superintendent to come unclog our toilet... It has
been clogged for the past 2 days... We were a little busy yesterday
and we have no plunger. Yeah... Then we did laundry and went to New
World mall and ate lunch. Went shopping and I got a sweet sweatshirt
and shirt from Adidas for really cheap. Best sweatshirt I ever bought.
I'm going to wear it to bed perhaps. Haha:) then we went shopping for
food and now I have a bag of rice to eat all my food with. I got fried
rice, sesame chicken and rice, chicken and rice and lots of other
stuff to make now that I have rice again. Went and dropped it all off
and went to the church and emailed and played ping pong. I'm getting
pretty good with top spin and back spin now. Then we were going to go
to Roberts for a lesson but he rescheduled so we ate dinner and then
contacted by the library and Dunkin. It was so cold I only handed out
2 cards. Then we went to Anthony's. Talked about the importance of
reading the Book of Mormon. Fun day and I'm excited about the
sweatshirt and shirt:) haha
1-12-16
"Boom boom boom, muffins!" Let me start off by saying I slept in my
sweatshirt. It was so soft. Also, it snowed, barely snowed, today. I
wasn't in the nest of moods then but I guess it was going to come
eventually. Funny part is it didn't even stick to the ground. It just
was cold enough for it to snow but not stay. Well today was average,
we had studies and planning before lunch. We then had district meeting
and did some look ups around. Tried visiting Daniel but he didn't
answer. Then had dinner and a lesson with Adrian and then a lesson
with Albert. Both were really good lessons and Adrian still doesn't
have a baptismal date confirmed yet. I guess it won't ever be
confirmed until the day of.
1-13-16
"In between the line there's a line of obscurity. I'm not inclined to
resign to maturity. If it all right, then you're all gone. Right now,
I'm singing the same song. Grab and run when you can't run. I know,
that you know, that I'm not telling the truth. I know, that you know,
that they just don't have any proof." Well today was a pretty ok day.
It was good how we taught Hill and John. But we went to do some
knocking around Fresh Meadows and look ups. No one answered except one
who wasn't interested. Sad for 3 hours. But hey, we got a baptismal
date out of John!! He is around Feb 20 now. Hopefully I will be here
next transfer as well!!!! That's all for today. Not a whole lot but a
pretty good day with that baptismal date!
1-14-16
"Full acceleration."
"Engine damaged."
"What's not damaged?"
"Air conditioner is fully operational."
Today was awesome. We had the meeting with Lee Donaldson and Brother
Watson. To give some background, Lee Donaldson and brother Watson are
from the missionary department and brother Donaldson was the mission
president for district 2 videos. For those of you that don't know
these videos, go to gospel library app, missionary, then 3 folders
over is district 2. These are example videos for new missionaries to
watch on how to be a missionary. Then brother Watson has been with the
missionary department for 30 years and works very closely with 3 of
the apostles over missionary work. He's high up there. And they made
some big changes. First off, exchanges, we are flipping them entirely.
We used to have the leaders stay and their companions go to the other
pool for the day. Now, the leaders stay and have the younger
missionaries come to their pool, both of them. So zone leaders go to
the assistants pool for the day and watch them. District leaders go to
zone leaders pool and regular missionaries go to district leaders
pool. All 4 or 5 missionaries are then spending the night at that
apartment and do work outs and studies there as a group. The younger
ones watch the older ones plan and make notes on how to improve. Then
during the day, the senior companions go together and the junior
companions go together to proselyte. It will be very interesting with
sleeping arrangements and work outs as our apartment is so tiny. And
for our district, it is just the 4 of us, so it is literally a
district sleep over:) Heavenly Father does bless us for following the
rules. Next big change is weekly planning and daily planning. They
outlined a new format the quorum of the 12 apostles have received
revelation for. We are to take each individual investigator and less
active and 1. Pray, 2. Review progress, 3. Set goals, 4. Make plan, 5.
Pray. Repeating this process for each individual person until we have
a solid plan and vision of where we want them to be this week and how
are we going to get them there. They said this could take a couple
hours too. The next change is a little more exciting. They talked
about how they filmed a district in Arizona with online proselyting.
Just like district 1 and 2 with training missionaries, that is what
this will do but to train them on how to proselyte online. We got a
new app today as well, named Oovoo. Not Facebook. But we have been
told that is coming with in February but not for sure on that. Oovoo
is skype but it can have multiple people join in to teach lessons to
investigators over it and have members present from the comforts of
their own home. So cool and we are now authorized to use it today.
This will really help so we can have members present 100% of the time.
I am so excited for this opportunity we have to use these devices for
the hastening of the work. I get to use the device to the fullest and
help others come into Christ. It is a double win here. The meeting was
truly inspirational and I took a ton of notes on it. Let me know if
you want to see them and I will send them to you. Too many to include
in the daily summaries. But after the meeting, we had dinner and
taught Adrian and Robert. Both really good lessons and already I was
trying to find ways of incorporating our devices to use a member
present with Oovoo or iMessage. I'm excited for this work which is
about to come forth.
1-15-16
"It's a shilling to tie up your boat."
...
"And I shall need your name"
"How about we make it 5 shillings, and we forget the name?"
"Welcome to Port Royal Mr. Smith."
"Thank you"
*shake* *cling cling*
Today was a pretty good day. We had a lesson with Hill this morning
and we finished the commandments. Then we had lunch and went into our
weekly planning. The new format took us an hour to plan for Adrian but
then it wasn't so long with the others but we ran out of time so we
have to come back to it later. And yeah, we went from lunch to dinner
and ran out of time. We went to Pizza Hut for dinner and tried a new
pizza, Mediterranean specialty. Pretty good. Then went to the church
and had a lesson with Adrian and then coordination. Or correlation. I
don't know what it is called anymore. But we had that and then we were
going to go visit a referral but didn't have time so we contacted at
Dunkin. We actually taught a lesson after 3 min of being there and
that took up our time so we were on our way home when we talked to a
man sitting on some step and got talking and ended up teaching him as
well. Have both of them Book of Mormons and got their contact info so
we taught 4 lessons in total today!!! My most ever I think. So pretty
good day and we celebrated by getting Yogo Vera drinks. Elder Mitchell
loves them now.
1-16-16
"I was able to better myself through learning at a place called,
'shool" Today was very inspiring at Zone Training Meeting. We had
workshops given on how to plant seeds in people, how to work with ward
leaders, and how to be a consecrated missionary. It was overall
inspiring. But the rest of the day wasn't. We had a lesson with Hill
before it which was good. But after the meeting, we traveled places
only to have the person cancel at the last second on us. It happened
twice and a third time we tried to visit a referral but they weren't
home. So just a lot of time wasted it felt like but we did plant 4
really solid seeds today which is better than what we have done
before.
1-17-16
Cause baby tonight! The dj got us fallin in love, again." Today was
church day. We contacted after studies and then went to go pick up
Anthony but he had to go to work so then we went to church. Adrian and
Hill came today so they are like regulars now and they even
participated in the lesson during second hour! During church, it
started snowing a lot and after, we saw it covered all the cars and is
still there tonight. So now the snow comes. My luck ran out. After, we
went contacting in the snow until we went to a members home for
dinner. They fed us empanadas which are really good:) then went to the
church for a lesson with the Korean sisters but the person didn't show
up. That is the 8th time a handoff lesson has fallen through. They say
I am the only one this happens to. No other lessons fall through that
are handoffs but every time I participate in it, it falls through. So
funny. So we went contacting more in the snow. Fun times in Flushing.

So Lee Donaldson was awesome and very inspirational. I learned a lot
and want to use the tools we are given to the fullest extent to hasten
the work after that meeting.

Love you all and have a great week. I will see you in the next email, bu-bye!

-Elder Heaton

Week #15 Pictures

New Companion Elder Mitchell

Week #15 Letter

Hello everyone!

I got a new companion this week and I'm sure you're wondering who it
is. His name is elder Mitchell and he is from Washington!

Here are the summaries:

1-4-16
"Its been a long day, without you my friend. Oh, I'll tell you all
about it when I see you again." Transfer calls were today and I'm
staying, elder Reese is leaving. He is excited to leave but I feel bad
he won't see the fruit of his labors be harvested. He is missing the
baptisms we have worked so hard for. I feel bad but 7.5 months in one
area is a long time. Well today we had personal study and then
transfer calls via conference call of all the missionaries. We found
out who was staying and who was leaving. We have Elders Wixom,
Hendrickson, Chung, and Reese leaving. The rest are staying. Then we
had companion study and laundry. Elder Reese had a doctors appointment
that we went to and then we ate at Hunan Kitchen. I just let Elder
Reese do everything he wanted to do as it was his last day here. Then
we went to the apartment and he started packing. I watched "On the
Lords Errand, Life of Thomas S. Monson" while he packed until we went
to the church to email home. We played some ping pong for a bit and
then left early to go to the Asai's home for dinner. They fed us
Japanese Raman noodles. So good. Then we went to a lesson with Adrian
and taught him about keeping the sabbath day holy. Finally, we went to
Anthony's to have a second dinner with him and his family for the last
time. Took lots of pictures today as elder Reese wants to remember all
of them.
1-5-16
"Welcome to the jungle! We got fun and games!" Today was interesting.
We had studies and then elder Reese finished packing and we went to
donate some clothes he didn't want anymore. Then we came back, had
lunch and went to the church to wait for Jay. Jay came, we loaded up
the car and went to Rego Park. We got there and immediately exchanged
companions. My new companion is...Elder Mitchell! We waited around
though as we had leadership meeting as he is District Leader. But
everyone else went to their areas and that was transfer exchange. Not
much to it now. We went to leadership meeting and then went to
flushing. Got his luggage from the church and went back to the
apartment and he unpacked while I made dinner. Went to a lesson with
Eric and Katalin. It was an awesome lesson with the spirit so strong
there. We are going to be good companions, I can tell. Went to a
lesson with Adrian and had a good lesson with him too. We just teach
really well together with and Elder Mitchell has only been her for 6
hours now.
1-6-16
"I never feared death or dyin. I only feared never tryin. I am what I
am." Today was great. We went to the church to call some referrals
after studies and update the emails, iMessage, and area book for elder
Mitchell. Then had once and went shopping. Elder Mitchell bought
everything he wanted and I bought what I wanted. We didn't split the
cost like elder Reese and I did. It was weird but something new. I
bought food to last me like 3 weeks. But elder Mitchell went all out
as he loves cooking apparently so he got so much food I didn't even
want to say how much he spent. (Hint...it's more than half of what we
get every month). But carrying all that food back... We were sweating
so much and right now as I am typing this up, my arms still hurt. So
much food to carry. Then we went to district meeting and that was
interesting. Such a different format than elder wixoms district
meetings. Not bad but different. Kinda cool. Then we went to visit a
referral and drop off a bible. Went to Halal for dinner and went to
Robert's. He cancelled on us on the way there so we ended up knocking
around there until we left to go teach Albert. We went to Anthony's
home and Anthony was home but Albert was late by 1/2 hour. So while
waiting, we talked with Anthony and elder Mitchell got to know him a
little bit. It was hard as Fast and Furious 6 was playing in the
background. But after a couple minutes of that, I remembered something
my mom said. She said the movies are just someone else's story and it
is to get away from our story. But I am living one of the greatest
stories ever right now doing the Lord's work. I didn't care about the
movie after that. Besides, it is the same as I remember it and will be
the same when I get back. So Albert got there and we were able to
answer his questions he had and made another appointment. Sweet.
1-7-16
"All right everyone, stand clear. Listen to me, that little witch is
messing with your mind. You got to fight it. You're stronger than her,
you're smarter than her, you're Bruce Banner!"
"Aaaarrrrgggghhhh"
"Right, right, right, don't mention puny Banner"
Today was more of an average day. We had studies, went and made our
new pass along cards, had lunch and we had a lesson with the Korean
Sisters where they would hand off an investigator to us but that fell
through. So we spent the time help Elder Mitchell get familiar with
the branch and investigators in where the live and then went straight
into weekly planning. Had some dinner afterwards, then went to Roberts
and taught him family history. Went to the church and taught Adrian on
Tithing. Adrian's baptism is now Feb 6 as he has other things going on
on Jan 23 and 30. Hopefully he can do Feb 6!
1-8-16
"What's with the talking raccoon?"
"Raccoon? What's a raccoon?"
"It's what you are, stupid"
"I am Groot"
"Yeah you said that. What's wrong with the giving tree?"
Today was a rough day. I was so tired today I didn't want to do
anything but I pushed through it. We had a lesson with Hill and it was
at the Library. We showed up early to find a table but didn't find one
by the time she got there so I was half tempted to give up and
reschedule but we went to Dunkin down the street and found a place to
sit. We taught her about obedience, pray everyday and read the
scriptures everyday. First 3 parts of the commandments. Then we had
lunch a can went to do some look ups in Jamaica Estates at the
farthest part of our area. We had 2 referrals down there and a less
active we tried visiting but we left a pamphlet at one of the
referrals homes and the other two had someone else living there and
they said the person we were looking for wasn't there anymore.
Perfect:( but oh well. Then we went to Pizza Hut for dinner. Went to
correlation and taught Adrain about Law of Chastity. Fun fun right? It
wasn't that bad as he is an older gentleman.
1-9-16
"If I got locked away, and we lost it all today, tell me honestly,
would you still love me the same? If I showed you my flaws and
couldn't be strong, tell me honestly, would you still love me the
same?" Today was a miracle day. Elder Mitchell told me something that
Elder Burningham, one of the assistants to the president, said which
is, "the green days are the miracle days" meaning the finding days are
the miracle days. So true. So today we had a lot of finding events. We
first called a lot of our investigators this morning and set up 2
appointments. We went knocking in the afternoon and a mom invited us
in. So I'll tell the story now.
We were visiting a less active member but there was no one home so we
did some 2-2-5 around them meaning you knock the 2 houses to the right
and left and the 5 across the street. We knocked on this one house and
they answer and we introduce our selves. This dog is going crazy and
the mom opens the door to let it out. I'm like, "why are you opening
the door? This dog is going to pounce on me!". Which it did pounce on
me. It jumped up and just was pushing me on its hind legs and leaning
on me while I'm trying to talk to this lady. I get the dog off me and
the mom lets us inside and she yells/strongly demands her kids to
pause their show and "listen to the priests"... What ever, so we were
shocked we got in and thrown into the spotlight so abruptly. We just
started off with small talk and getting their background. Their oldest
son is like 12 and he says he goes to church every Sunday to go do
service else where. Like he listed probably everything I did as a Boy
Scout. Then their daughter said how she goes to Sunday school. So we
shared the video, "our true identity" since we were teaching kids. We
asked what they thought and they liked it. I then started talking to
the mom about church and the Book of Mormon. Elder Mitchell continued
talking to the kids. We asked if we could come back and they said we
could come tomorrow... Sweet.
So that was the crazy story of getting into this house. Hopefully
something comes out of it!! Afterwards, we visited a less active named
Albert, and got his update for us. Invited him to church tomorrow.
Then went back to Flushing and had dinner, then went and did some look
ups and contacting around flushing. Finally, taught Adrain again but
this time we focused on answers to prayer and how we can use the Book
of Mormon to answer our prayers. That was a really good lesson as well
with Adrian.
1-10-16
"I wanna party, I wanna samba. I wanna party, and live my life. I
wanna party, party! And fly!" Today was interesting. I dot have 12
week anymore so we actually have time to do something in the morning
besides study and go to church. So we went to visit a less active to
invite them to church. Nothing and so we went back and had lunch but
got a call from the Spanish elders saying the branch wants us at PEC
to set the unit goals. The branch set their baptisms for this year at
12... I say the branch set them because the missionaries don't agree
with it. We were pushing for like 6 or 8. They want one a month when
last year, they barely had 3. Whatever. Then we had church and Hill,
Adrian, and Katalin came. After church, we went to visit Vincent in
the hospital. He is not feeling good but should be out this week he
said. So we went and gave him the sacrament and a blessing. Then we
went straight to a lesson with a new investigator named John. Pretty
good one but we mostly talked about his questions. Then we came back
to Flushing and at this point it was 8:30 and we still didn't have
dinner yet. So we ate and the. Elder Mitchell had to go to the church
to get online for the district calls so he could fill out a form and
send it off tonight. That took 45 min and then we got back and had
daily planning quickly then to bed.

So it has been a crazy week as well adjusting to different schedules
and minor things as well. But it has been good over all. Elder
Mitchell is excellent and I have plenty to learn from him.

Let me know if you have any questions or if you just want to say hi.
Just send me an email:)

Love you all and I will see you in the next email!! Bu-bye!!

-Elder Heaton

Week #14 Pictures

Week #14- Letter

Hello all!
Hope everyone had a Happy New Year's party. We sure had fun but it had
some disappointments. Oh well, what can you do? You'll read about it
in the daily summary.

Daily summaries:
12-28-15
"What? Pacman got invited to the party! That cherry-chasin,
dot-muncher isn't even a part of this game!" Preparation day! Today we
did studies, laundry, and went shopping. Then we went to the mission
office so elder Reese could meet with the mission nurse. Nothing
major. Afterwards, we took all the packages from there to Flushing for
our zone and went to the church to drop them off and play ping pong/
email home. Then we went to ship my black shoes home as they have a
rip in the toe so they will take them back to get new ones. Then we
went back to the church to finish emails and then we had a lesson with
Adrian. We taught him the first half of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It
was a good lesson and he is making progress, we can tell. And then we
went to Anthony's and discussed New Years resolutions, and how he
should make a goal to read and pray everyday. We even had him write it
down so he won't forget it. So today, the family was on their way to
Temecula, CA for New Years. I am jealous a step hey are going to
Seaworld and visiting with our friends there. That was so much fun
last year when we went and I can't wait to do it again. 2 years!
12-29-15
"I will talk to him, he's my son. Oh my! Look at you! Look how big you've grown!
"That's so sweet."
"You wouldn't hurt anyone, no."
*Chomp*
"AAAAHHHH"
"Oh my gosh!"
"Someone annihilate this stupid thing!"
Today was pretty busy. We had district meeting after studies and
lunch. That was our last one as a district probably, next week we
might have a new district leader or just new missionaries. So we had a
mini testimony meeting of something we learned this transfer.
Afterwards, we went to visit a doctors office for elder Reese to set
up an appointment, then went contacting by Dunkin with no success at
all. Went to our lesson with Hill but there was no room at the library
so we rescheduled to tomorrow. Went to visit Daniel instead and he
wasn't home. Went to dinner and then the Katalin and Eric's to teach
them about the Great Apostasy but ended up answering questions for the
entire time. Had to go as we had a lesson with Adrian and taught him
the rest of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and set up an appointment with
him tomorrow. We are really plowing through these lessons with him.
Thinking of moving his baptismal date forward. But we'll see.
12-30-15
"You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses would you?"
*clunk*
"You hit a guy...with glasses. Very well played."
Today was more relaxing than anything. We had two lessons with the
Korean sisters fall through and so we did our back up plan of actually
eating lunch, we were going to skip it, and deep cleaning today. We
did teach Hill and Adrian today. We taught Hill the rest of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ and Adrian, we went into the commandments lesson on
obedience, pray often, and study the scriptures daily. We have now met
with Adrian or come to church 5 days in a row. We are really moving
along now. Today for dinner, we tried to make pigs in a blanket. We
first started off with dough that expired May 2015... We took a
chance. Then the oven doesn't open all the way due to a heater in the
way. The oven also turned off twice while the food was in it so we
turned it on all the way to make sure it stays on and we ended up
burning the bottom of the food. Then when we took it out, the fire
alarm went off. Oh well. We tried. Tasted decent anyways. Just a
struggle to get there.
12-31-15
"I'm bad, and that's good. I'll never be good, and that's not bad..."
Well Happy New Years everyone! We had a pretty boring day today but we
did teach Jay and helped him understand Matthew 18. Then we had weekly
planning and tried to go visit a less active name Albert but he was
too tired to meet us so we knocked around his home. We then went to
our apartment as we have to be in by 6 so we are spending the night in
our room. We weren't allowed to go to the Chinese elders apartment as
President Reynolds wanted us in our own apartments. So we tried to
order pizza but they didn't answer so we ordered some Chinese food
from Hunan Kitchen. Then we played dominos, war, and another card game
elder Reese knew. Pretty fun but we were looking forward to risk with
the Chinese elders. Oh well. Happy New Year!!!
1-1-16
That was weird to type. But happy new year! "So I got that going for
me" Today we had studies but no lunch yet. We went contacting straight
after studies and found no one as all the English speakers were
probably still sleeping/hung over from last night. So that was
unsuccessful. Then we went to the Carpintero's for lunch and when we
were about to have a quick message with them, the Spanish elders came
and the family got side tracked feeding them and providing them with
all the food they prepared so we were there for 2 hours by the time we
got to share a message with them. Then we went to visit an
investigator up in college point and they weren't home so we went to
have exchanges with the Spanish elders. I am with Elder Householder
from St. George UT. He's a lot of fun. We went to dinner, then back to
the church to have correlation. Went to visit a Spanish investigator
but no answer so we went contacting in the freezing cold. It's cold
now. It was 38 degrees with a wind chill to like 30. Not fun to
contact in. Went to the church after an hour as we couldn't feel our
hands or toes and no one was wanting to stop to talk to us. Ugh. But
yeah. We then had some pillow talk at night when it is past 10:30 and
you're laying in bed just talking. No idea how long we talked this
time as when I was with the Zone leaders with elder finch, we talked
for 2 hours. Not that long with elder householder.
1-2-16
"Did I do good?"
"No, no you did not do good"
Well today felt like I accomplished so much, but when I looked back
and reflected on the day, I accomplished like nothing. Elder
householder and I had personal study and then went to Rego Park for
trainer meeting. I wasn't able to sit in on it but stayed out in the
common area with the other missionaries. We sat there for 2 hours
talking and sitting on our iPads. It's amazing how much I can
entertain my self on the Maps app. I sat on it for 1 of the 2 hours
there. Then we went back to Flushing and went to eat at New World Mall
but we took it to go to go to the church. We got to the church at 1:45
and ate it really fast as we had a lesson at 2. The lesson was
actually supposed to be a handoff lesson from the Korean Sisters to
the Spanish elders but it didn't happen. He never showed up even
though he said he was on his way. We had the same thing happen at 3
with a different person. We called and they said they were coming but
never showed up. Bummer. Went to the Spanish elder's apartment to
change as I was wearing one of elder householder's suits for Rego
Park. Changed and went back to the church for exchange reviews. Then
exchanged and went to Pizza Hut for dinner. Went and taught Adrian for
the 4th time this week. Already like half way through the commandments
lesson. Even talked about moving his baptismal date forward to Jan 23.
He said he would check his schedule. Then we made calls the rest of
the night as it was freezing cold out side and all the missionaries
can testify that no one stops to talk in the cold. But it was good, we
got in contact with 3 people we previously lost contact with for the
past month and were able to invite them to church. So we should have a
decent amount of investigators come to church. Yay! But like I said,
it felt like I accomplished what I needed to today but looking back on
it, I don't know how I feel like I accomplished anything as it was a
whole lot of sitting around. But hey, I did as much as I could, and
Heavenly Father did the rest.
1-3-16
"I have something big planned!... Wait, wait! I haven't told you what
it is yet....Dave, listen up please!" Well today was a little crazy.
We did studies and had 12 week at the church so we could finish a
video we had to watch but we couldn't download it. Then we went back
to the apartment to get something for church and ended up getting a
call from an investigator named Kaize. He was at the church an hour
early and so we gave him a tour and taught him 1/2 the restoration as
time was running short. He says he wants to come to church every week
now. Then we had church and we had Adrian, Hill, and Kaize there!
First time for all of them except Adrain, it was his second. Then we
mingled with them and other members as Elder Reese is probably leaving
so he was saying his goodbyes. Then we went to the Carpintero's for
dinner. It was good. Really crazy day though, just felt rushed with so
much and trying to figure out a lot. Just hectic. I don't like that
feeling. Not one bit.

Well, we got transfer calls this morning.
I'm.........................................................................................................................staying.
Elder Reese is leaving so I will be getting a new companion tomorrow
at the transfer exchanges. There is no more transfer meetings now as
the First Presidency has come out with a statement saying no more
transfer meetings. So we will see how this works out. I have so many
questions so I assume all of you do to. I'll explain in tomorrow's
summary so you can read it next week.

Love you all and miss you! And I will see you in the next email! Bu-bye!!

-Elder Heaton