Week #13 Letter

Feliz Navidad y Feliz Años muchachos!!!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and will have a happy new year. I
will be in my apartment starting at 6 pm my time on New Year's Eve
just like Halloween. These are the only two holidays we do this so
after Thursday, we only do it 2 more time on the mission.

Here are the daily summaries:

12-21-15
"Merry Christmas ya filthy animals...and a happy new year" Today was
preparation day and it was very different. We had to do laundry during
studies so companionship study was like 15 min. Then we went and got
haircuts from Jay for free:) and had song practice for our Christmas
devotional Christmas Eve. Played some ping pong and then went shopping
around. Came back and ate dinner then went to the church to play some
more ping pong and send off the last emails. Went to Roberts home and
had an ok lesson as there were other people there and just a big
distraction in general. But we got one of their contact info and got
them interested in learning more so we didn't go for Robert but for
that other person. They love in Connecticut so we will be sending the
info to the Connecticut missionaries. Then we went contacting by
Dunkin and ended up talking to a guy for 30 min. He is a
basher/researcher. He is like us by inviting to learn more but he only
wants you to study resources, not asking God in prayer or going on
faith. It has to be seen or read for it to be true according to him.
We got no where with him as he talked 99% of the time, not joking. I
got 15 words out basically. Then he left and we went home.
12-22-15
"Why did you say I was a marine biologist? You know I've always wanted
to say I was an architect!" I got my spinning pen today and everyone
that has seen it questions what is it and I say, "it's a spinning pen"
and then they wonder what that is until I show them. That's when they
say, "I want one". Oh, I got tricks to learn now:) anyways, today we
taught Hill. We taught half of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then we got
Halal for lunch and went to District Meeting. Went contacting by
dunkin and then went to a lesson with Daniel. He wasn't home so we
went to dinner early and went contacting by Dunkin again until we went
to a lesson with Adrian. We taught half of the Plan of Salvation and
invited him to be baptized on Feb 13. He accepted so we now have 4
people with a baptismal date!! Then we went to visit some potentials
and then went to the church to pick up our packages. I got 2 packages
today, one had the spinning pen in it and more Christmas presents, the
other was from some good friends that sent some sort of baked good. I
know it's food but not what it is.
12-23-15
"I feel it in my fingers. I feel it in my toes. Christmas is all
around me, and so the feeling grows... You know I love Christmas, I
always will. My minds made up, the way that I feel." Today was a good
day. We did not teach a lesson, we showed 1 video, and we had a lot of
changed plans, but it was just a good, fun day. We went to Christmas
singing practice for tomorrow's devotional with the mission and then
held weekly planning. Went contacting in the pouring rain, I got
soaked to the bone since I didn't have my umbrella. We tried to go to
the subway and contact, no success, then we took the train up one stop
to the Mets stadium station, in our area still, and tried to show the
video there. Only problem was that there was no people there. Came
back and ate dinner at 4 Choice, 1 Soup restaurant. Tried to go visit
a referral but the buses were messed up so we rescheduled for
tomorrow. Visited the branch president's home and went to the church
and made calls. We were heading to go contacting by Dunkin but we
stopped to help a Spanish man with a flat tire. We first helped him
get the jack in place and start cranking. The emergency brake wasn't
on so the car fell forward a little when we tried to get the tire off.
The funny part was he spoke Spanish so I was asking him if the
emergency brake was on just before elder Reese started to try to take
the tire off but because of the language barrier, I couldn't ask him
in time so the car fell forward a little. We then had to take off the
jack, loosen it again and start over, with the emergency brake on. We
finished up and showed him the video, A Savior is Born. Then went
home.
12-24-15
"And there's only one more sleep till Christmas. After all there's
only one more sleep till Christmas." Today was HOT and HUMID!!!! It
felt like Florida when I first walked out side, which felt like I was
going to Disney World:( then as the day went on, it felt like Hawaii.
I got a second Hawaii Christmas:) haha, all that was missing was a
Polynesian Santa and the beach. It was literally 70+ degrees today. We
went to the Mission Christmas Devotional and by 3 o'clock, every elder
had their suit coat off and rolled up sleeves as the building was so
hot. But it was so much fun!!! We first had breakfast and then went
into the fun zone songs every zone came up with. Then we had some
messages from President Reynolds and others. Went to lunch and after
lunch, we had a speaker that spoke on how to study Isaiah and
Revelations. It was awesome as I learned so much and can't wait to
read it on my own. We then had a video of the year in review with all
the pictures from different missionaries to see all the good times
we've had. Then Sister Reynolds gave a talk about a Christmas story,
which she read to us like we usually do back home on Christmas Eve.
Then we closed out with the new goals for 2016 and the new Mission
Vision. We tried to go visit the referral from yesterday but she
wasn't home so we went to a members home for dinner and fun. We
socialized but the funny part was that regular Christmas songs not
from MoTab or mission songs were playing like Feliz Navidad and
others. Also, they were watching Home Alone, but the songs were going
so no sound for the movie. Really funny. There is actually normal life
outside of a mission!!! Haha, Merry Christmas and Feliz Navidad!
12-25-15- Christmas Day!!
"When the lights go down in the city, and the sun shines on the bay.
Oh, I want to be there in my city, in the city by the bay!" Merry
Christmas! We did studies before we opened presents and I got a lot
more presents than I thought I would get. Thanks to the Parkins,
Ashley, Grandma Marcy, and mom and dad for all the packages. I know
there is more coming but hasn't got here yet so I will for sure give
them thanks as well. Thanks to grandma and grandpa Leary, Megan and
Mike, the Muirs, Grandma Marcy, and Kent Leary for the letters too.
You're all the best!! So after we opened presents, we went to Hermana
Valdez's home to FaceTime home but she wasn't there and there was no
male present in the home so we called home in the stair well:) we love
that stair well as we have spent like a total of 5 hours in it. But
even before I started the FaceTime, I knew saying goodbye was going to
be rough. I got really homesick real fast, even before the FaceTime
was over. Good thing I only have 3 more to go. But what helped was
that we got a call just as dad was ending the call and is was sister
Asai inviting us over to their home for food. We accepted their
invitation and went there. It was nice and we talked to brother Asai
who just got back from Utah after being there for 3 months to help
their daughter with their baby. Sister Asai even made homemade sushi
as they are Japanese. It was so good and we shared a quick message
with them and went to the apartment for a bit before we went to sister
Duncan's home. We got there and ate dinner and met her family as well.
Had dessert and then they pulled out the karaoke. Oh yeah. It is even
the exact same one as the karaoke machine we had back home before we
got our new one(the wired microphone one). They love to sing and
wondered if we did karaoke back home. I told them we did it a lot and
then they made us sing. They loved it as I sung Livin on a Prayer and
got the high score so far. After a few more, they wanted me to do
another as I was very entertaining to them. So I sung September. Then
finished off my singing with Piano Man. That was the high score of the
night with 88. Haha, oh, I felt right at home again. That karaoke was
the second best part of the day(first one being able to FaceTime
home). I love the holidays here in the mission field. Merry
Christmas!!
12-26-15
"This is not a drill. This is not a false alarm" well we have started
getting back into the mood of things again. We went and opened the
church at 9 for piano lessons and had companion study and 12 week
there. Then we had lunch and went knocking for 2 hours until we went
to Mila's home, which she wasn't there. I still haven't met her and
when I got here, she was our only progressing investigator. So she
wasn't home so we went knocking around her until dinner. There are a
lot of good fast food places around her but she is so far away in our
area we never go there so we went to Qdoba today for dinner. Then we
traveled back home and went to the church to teach Adrian. It was a
very good lessons as we finished the Plan of Salvation and answered
his questions about baptism. Then we went to Anthony's home to check
on him and maybe teach him but he wasn't home so we went contacting by
Dunkin. We went into Dunkin when we were done to try out this card we
got from someone in our apartment building. The card is good for 10
large coffees but as you all know, we don't drink coffee. So we wanted
to see if we could switch it out for hot chocolate but the worker said
he could only do it once and if someone found out, he could get in
trouble so we had to tell him we wouldn't tell anyone.... So don't
tell anyone. Haha:) then we went back to the apartment. Fun day of
going about regular business.
12-27-15
"We're bringin it, bringin it, bringin it back. We're bringin it,
bringin it, bringin it back...Fireball!" Today was church day and we
went to church, obviously. It was nice as so many people asked about
our families and how they are doing. We found out that brother
Estava's niece got her mission call to Logan Utah:) he showed us her
mission call opening and I showed them mine. They loved it. Then we
had dinner and went contacting by Dunkin for 3 hours in the rain. That
was greeeeeaaaaatttttt... Ugh. What made it awesome was Youseph gave
us free Halal once again:) but he is going on vacation this week for
like 1.5-2 months I think. He is like going to Morocco for a month and
then touring Europe. So probably no free Halal for a while:( but it
rained hard today so I'm done. I'm out. Peace.

So Christmas was awesome like I said. So much went on and the call was
super hard to hang up but the Lord knew it would be hard and provided
us with a members home to go to and celebrate Christmas with them. And
the karaoke made me feel right at home. He knows us personally and
what we need to best help Him and His cause for us. All you have to do
is trust and follow Him and He will provide the path. Thanks so much
again to those who gave me Christmas presents to open Christmas
morning!!! It made it a fun experience here on the mission.

Love you all so much and am grateful for everything you do in my life
and how much support every single one of you give to me. It really
makes going on a mission easier to handle. And I will see you in the
next email! Bu-Bye!!!

-Elder Heaton