Well, it hasn't been very long since I was able to write but a lot has happened. I was really sad to leave Hampton, because I didn't really have anytime to say goodbye to people. But it has been pretty fun here in Des Moines. We have lots of people to teach, there are more people here. So I went with Hermana Murphy to an investigators hous that night. (This is Herhana Murphy's last transfer. She's a REALLY good missionary, super friendly and she really knows how to get poeple to trust here. I'm trying to learn a lot from here. She really, really, really reminds me of Deborah Thompson, mom. Like a lot, especially when she makes a certain face. One day I'm going to take her picture , sneak attack style, when I see her making the face.)
Thursday, we went to Iowa City to pick up our new greenie, her name is Hermana (Christine) Hancock. She's fun and really, really good at Spanish. She was a teacher before in Colorado and she taugut 2nd grade. We tried to be all secretive so she wouldn't know we were her companions so we took off our tags that say Hermana on it, cause thats Spanish. But Hermana Murphy went into a meeting for the trainers and I was standing right by her and it was super awkward because missionaries kept coming up and asking me aboutSpanish stuff.....ha ha, but I don't think that she connected the dots until later which was good. So then we came back to Des Moines and started to work. AND we don't have a car, we have BIKES. But we haven't ridden them yet. One of them is at a members house. We've been geting rides everywhere. It's been pretty fun. We've started singing hyms to them while they're driving us.
We had a funny lesson this week. We were teaching Maria, who has a 27 year old autistic son named Miguel and he really, really wanted our bottles of drinks so during the lesson he kiped one of the water bottles and started pouring it into different cups and then drinking out of them. Then he did it again later with someone elses bottle. Then at the end of the lesson during the prayer he steals Gatorade out of one of our backpacks. He's really cool, he started dancing in the kitchen.
Two of our lessons fell through one day after we had been dropped off at their house, so we knocked on a house where they were making tamales and we started making them with them, then we started teaching them and they gave us food to eat, which ended up being really good because the brand new investigators that we had just taught dropped us off at our dinner appointment (which also fell through). So we're wondering where we're going to go when all of the sudden a member drives by and tells us to get in and they'll take us to their house. It's crazy, we fly by the seat of our pants and a lot of the times it's been 8:30 and we're not really sure where we're going to get a a ride until we ask the investigators if they drive and can give us a ride or I don't know, we just have to go places and we're not sure how we're going to do it but then things just work out.
Yesterday we had a baptism. Yeah! Jose got baptized. I kinda already knew him from a day when I was a brand new greenie with Hermana Guthrie in Des Moines. At that time he was telling us how he didn't like the Book of Mormon....but now 3 months later he likes it. He showed a lot of faith by being baptized because his wife and children live in Mexico and his wife has been threatening to divorce him if he did join the church. He was really, really nervous and they had to do it 3 times because he didn't give them his full name the first 2 times. We got a text from him this morning telling us how he felt different. It's really coolI
I bought Jesus the Christ when I was at the MTC but I haven't started reading it yet because its a really intimidating book. I think the day I bought it I read the first page with all of it's big words and decided to stop. But I keep hearing about how good it is and Hermana Murphy suggested to me to just read particular chapters in it that would help me individually. I'm really excited to read more about the life of Christ because I don't feel like I know enough about Him. I wish it could all just be jammed into my brain.
I think it would be really cool to hear from everybody about things they've been studying about the scriptures or spiritual thoughts/insights, favorite scriptures. (why). Stuff like that. I'd like to hear them in a letter :)
8515 Douglas Ave. #19
Urbandale, IA 50322
Well that's how my week has been since Wednesday.
I look forward to hearing from all of you. I love you all very much.
Hermana Hepworth
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
FALL! WOW
Well this Week Hermana McGuire kinda abondoned us. She had a training in Des Moines because she has a new greenie (Hermana Dalton) So we drove down and spent the day working with Hermana Guthrie (it was fun, but a lady yelled at us a lot and the spirit definately left. Hermana Guthrie said that happens quite a bit...I'm glad I'm not there) while they were training that day and that night we drove the car back up to Hampton without Hermana McGuire (it was weird to be the one driving and I was the Senior Companion for the 3 days she wasn't with us) It was so nice to be able to spread my wings out to see if I could fly and be successful. So it was fun to be in charge of making decisions, kinda stressful. I got to know Hermana Dalton better and most of our appointments didn't fall through. Honestly, I didn't really understand most of what the investigators were saying in our lessons. I feel like I was guided as to what to say back even though I didn't really understand what they had just said, like I've said before, it's hard to understand a native speakers Spanish.
So transfers are next week and we're receiving another Hermana. Right now there are 5 Spanish speaking Sisters in the mission, 2 in Des Moines and the 3 of us in Hampton so when this Hermana comes we could have 2 trios or 3 companionships. But the thing is that this next transfer is Hermana Murphy's (Hermana Guthrie"s trainer) last one so she's only had Hermana Murphy for 1 transfer and then Hermana Guthrie or I will finish training her. I probably did a really bad job of explaining that. So I'll either stay in Hampton another transfer or go whitewash another area with Hermana Guthrie and we'll Greenbust each other. Either way I know that President Jergensen has the Lord's guidance so I'll go where ever I need to be. The reason I thought about telling you that is because in November Elder Nelson is coming to speak for this Stake Conference...big deal! So I may or may not be here for that. Also in November we're having a Sisters Conference in Nauvoo, and we get to go to the temple!!! It's exciting!
I love you all!
Hermana Hepworth
PS PLEASE WRITE TO ME!
So transfers are next week and we're receiving another Hermana. Right now there are 5 Spanish speaking Sisters in the mission, 2 in Des Moines and the 3 of us in Hampton so when this Hermana comes we could have 2 trios or 3 companionships. But the thing is that this next transfer is Hermana Murphy's (Hermana Guthrie"s trainer) last one so she's only had Hermana Murphy for 1 transfer and then Hermana Guthrie or I will finish training her. I probably did a really bad job of explaining that. So I'll either stay in Hampton another transfer or go whitewash another area with Hermana Guthrie and we'll Greenbust each other. Either way I know that President Jergensen has the Lord's guidance so I'll go where ever I need to be. The reason I thought about telling you that is because in November Elder Nelson is coming to speak for this Stake Conference...big deal! So I may or may not be here for that. Also in November we're having a Sisters Conference in Nauvoo, and we get to go to the temple!!! It's exciting!
I love you all!
Hermana Hepworth
PS PLEASE WRITE TO ME!
Iowa or Bust
These are pictures taken on the Airplane to Des Moines, Iowa and my arrival. One picture is of me and My msiion President and his wife, Brother and Sister Jergensen. Another is of me and my new companion, Sister McGuire. The third picture is of all the missionaries arriving in Iowa. Other pictures were taken on the plane.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Conference
Dear Family and Friends,
Conference was really good! I liked Elder Oaks talk on how personal and priesthood revelation work together. I think it's the first conference where there weren't any distractions or people falling asleep and I watched every single session except for Priesthood. We watched it at the chapel here in Hampton. In the Sacrement Meeting room it was in Spanish and they set it up on a TV in the RS room in English. We were the only ones who came to watch it on Saturday though. I think a lot of people didn't even know it was General Conference weekend because when we got to the chapel on Sunday there were a lot of people already there and it was about 10:15 (church usually starts at 10 and conference started at 11 and Mexicans are late to EVERYTHING) So we were wondering why they were all early. We think that they just didn't know so they thought they were late to church but really they were just early for conference. They had food in between. Lots of rice and tortillas. And then we watched the rest of conference and came home and had dinner.
Our numbers for this week aren't very good because with all of the meetings and traveling we've been doing we haven't really had much time to teach lessons and talk to people. We had a Zone Conference in Ames (about an hour south) and our usual district meeting is on Thursday but we had it on Friday this week in Mason City (about 45 minutes north)
Did you watch Conference on Saturday Too? As I was watching conference I would think about how my family was probably watching it at the exact same time and I was trying to figure out where everyone was watching it at. I thought of Teala and her family and how they must be watching it at their house in Ivins, and Wyatt and his family in their home in Mapleton,and Riley in Logan. I imagined that mom and Clarence would be watching it with Sarah and her family in Glendale.
Did you have any talks that really stuck out to you? I also really liked the one from Saturday about being a good teacher, which was really applicable to me I think, since thats what I do all day long :) I thought of what a good teacher I thought Brother Haws was (my 9th grade seminary teacher) and about what made him such a good teacher. I think it was his attitude about the gospel. He loved it so much and it spread throughout his classes.
Can you believe I've been gone for 4 months....It's crazy!!!!! Time goes by so slow but yet so fast. Days are weeks and weeks are days.
Write me. I love all of you so much and miss you.
Love Herman Jilyn Hepworth
PS
The weather here is SO weird. It'll be pretty warm on Monday and then gradually get colder and colder until it's REALLY cold on Sunday....that's how it's been for the past 3 weeks. I'm glad I have all of my winter stuff.
Conference was really good! I liked Elder Oaks talk on how personal and priesthood revelation work together. I think it's the first conference where there weren't any distractions or people falling asleep and I watched every single session except for Priesthood. We watched it at the chapel here in Hampton. In the Sacrement Meeting room it was in Spanish and they set it up on a TV in the RS room in English. We were the only ones who came to watch it on Saturday though. I think a lot of people didn't even know it was General Conference weekend because when we got to the chapel on Sunday there were a lot of people already there and it was about 10:15 (church usually starts at 10 and conference started at 11 and Mexicans are late to EVERYTHING) So we were wondering why they were all early. We think that they just didn't know so they thought they were late to church but really they were just early for conference. They had food in between. Lots of rice and tortillas. And then we watched the rest of conference and came home and had dinner.
Our numbers for this week aren't very good because with all of the meetings and traveling we've been doing we haven't really had much time to teach lessons and talk to people. We had a Zone Conference in Ames (about an hour south) and our usual district meeting is on Thursday but we had it on Friday this week in Mason City (about 45 minutes north)
Did you watch Conference on Saturday Too? As I was watching conference I would think about how my family was probably watching it at the exact same time and I was trying to figure out where everyone was watching it at. I thought of Teala and her family and how they must be watching it at their house in Ivins, and Wyatt and his family in their home in Mapleton,and Riley in Logan. I imagined that mom and Clarence would be watching it with Sarah and her family in Glendale.
Did you have any talks that really stuck out to you? I also really liked the one from Saturday about being a good teacher, which was really applicable to me I think, since thats what I do all day long :) I thought of what a good teacher I thought Brother Haws was (my 9th grade seminary teacher) and about what made him such a good teacher. I think it was his attitude about the gospel. He loved it so much and it spread throughout his classes.
Can you believe I've been gone for 4 months....It's crazy!!!!! Time goes by so slow but yet so fast. Days are weeks and weeks are days.
Write me. I love all of you so much and miss you.
Love Herman Jilyn Hepworth
PS
The weather here is SO weird. It'll be pretty warm on Monday and then gradually get colder and colder until it's REALLY cold on Sunday....that's how it's been for the past 3 weeks. I'm glad I have all of my winter stuff.
September 27th, 2010
Mom is a little slow getting this one on.
Hi Family and friends,
This week we haven't been able to do much missionary work because we have been in lots of conferences, which have been good too. We had a Mission Tour with Elder Zwick, get out your conference Ensign :) (Who also happens to be my mission mom's brother, he didn't ask for our mission to be assigned to him, he said) So we went down to Des Moines for that, it was really good! President and Sister Jergensen both talked to us and then Elder Zwick, we had lunch and he spent until 4 talking to us. Mainly his message was about bearing powerful testimony and being exactly obedient.
My Spanish has been improving a lot! I read back and forth in the Book of Mormon....like this.
And up these write the things of my soul,
y sobre estas escribo las cosas de mi aima.
and many of the scriptures which are engraven upon the plates of brass.
y muchas de las Escrituras que estan grabadas sobre las planchas de bronce.
For my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them,
Porque mi alma se deleita en las Escrituras y mi corazon las medita.
and writeth them for the learning and profit of my children.
y las excribo para la instruccion y el beneficio de mis hijos.
This is in 2 Nephi 4:15. I read it yesterday and liked it a lot..,. that whole chapter actually, you should read it. It helps a lot, I used to only be able to do short little phrases. Now I'm, starting to be able to read whole verses and understand what it's talking about. When I do it this way I think I really get a lot out of my scripture study because it makes me focus on the words that are being said. I can think about what that individual sentence means. Hermana McGuire heard somewhere from one of the apostles, she thinks Elder Holland, that if you read the whole Book of Mormon in another language that by the time you're done you'll be fluent. So that's what I'm trying to do. And 2 Nephi 6 is where I'm at. I'm also trying to memorize lots of scriptures...in
English and Spanish. I have D&C 4 almost all of the way memorized in Spanish, I've recited it a lot in our meetings and never really realized what it's saying until I was writing it down in
English on a notecard, it's cool to read it with a missionary mindset. You should read it. I've been making lots of flash cards for that purpose.When I speak in Spanish now, most of the time I don't have to think about what I'm saying, I have a thought and I just say it, and it comes out in Spanish. It's pretty cool. Hermana McGuire described it a good way when she said its kind of like I just grew a new arm...does tht make sense. Its what it really feels like, that I've got this new part of me that wasn't there before and I'm not exactly sure what to do with it. It's cool though.
My loving of animals has helped us find people, one lady we were in her house but about to leave because she was saying she wasn't interested and she had a LOT of cats and so I asked to pet them. She started talking about her cats and then we ended up talking about the church some more and in the end she set up an appointment. Another time we were out walking around and I wanted to pet this dog who had an electric fence and so I was walking to the lawn trying to pet it and the owners came out. They were really nice and we're going to go back and teach them.
Did you go to Genral Relief Society Conference? It was really good, President Jergensen told us to go to it, so we caught a ride with an English member who lives in Iowa City now because none of our members could go. :( We drove to the Stake Center in Ames and had a dinner and watched it. I loved all the talks. I feel like Conference is so different to me now. I definately never appreciated it as much as I should have or do now. We are talking to EVERYONE about it, I like to try to imagine how a nonmember or recent convert would see it.
I love all of you lots
Hermana Hepworth
Mom is a little slow getting this one on.
Hi Family and friends,
This week we haven't been able to do much missionary work because we have been in lots of conferences, which have been good too. We had a Mission Tour with Elder Zwick, get out your conference Ensign :) (Who also happens to be my mission mom's brother, he didn't ask for our mission to be assigned to him, he said) So we went down to Des Moines for that, it was really good! President and Sister Jergensen both talked to us and then Elder Zwick, we had lunch and he spent until 4 talking to us. Mainly his message was about bearing powerful testimony and being exactly obedient.
My Spanish has been improving a lot! I read back and forth in the Book of Mormon....like this.
And up these write the things of my soul,
y sobre estas escribo las cosas de mi aima.
and many of the scriptures which are engraven upon the plates of brass.
y muchas de las Escrituras que estan grabadas sobre las planchas de bronce.
For my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them,
Porque mi alma se deleita en las Escrituras y mi corazon las medita.
and writeth them for the learning and profit of my children.
y las excribo para la instruccion y el beneficio de mis hijos.
This is in 2 Nephi 4:15. I read it yesterday and liked it a lot..,. that whole chapter actually, you should read it. It helps a lot, I used to only be able to do short little phrases. Now I'm, starting to be able to read whole verses and understand what it's talking about. When I do it this way I think I really get a lot out of my scripture study because it makes me focus on the words that are being said. I can think about what that individual sentence means. Hermana McGuire heard somewhere from one of the apostles, she thinks Elder Holland, that if you read the whole Book of Mormon in another language that by the time you're done you'll be fluent. So that's what I'm trying to do. And 2 Nephi 6 is where I'm at. I'm also trying to memorize lots of scriptures...in
English and Spanish. I have D&C 4 almost all of the way memorized in Spanish, I've recited it a lot in our meetings and never really realized what it's saying until I was writing it down in
English on a notecard, it's cool to read it with a missionary mindset. You should read it. I've been making lots of flash cards for that purpose.When I speak in Spanish now, most of the time I don't have to think about what I'm saying, I have a thought and I just say it, and it comes out in Spanish. It's pretty cool. Hermana McGuire described it a good way when she said its kind of like I just grew a new arm...does tht make sense. Its what it really feels like, that I've got this new part of me that wasn't there before and I'm not exactly sure what to do with it. It's cool though.
My loving of animals has helped us find people, one lady we were in her house but about to leave because she was saying she wasn't interested and she had a LOT of cats and so I asked to pet them. She started talking about her cats and then we ended up talking about the church some more and in the end she set up an appointment. Another time we were out walking around and I wanted to pet this dog who had an electric fence and so I was walking to the lawn trying to pet it and the owners came out. They were really nice and we're going to go back and teach them.
Did you go to Genral Relief Society Conference? It was really good, President Jergensen told us to go to it, so we caught a ride with an English member who lives in Iowa City now because none of our members could go. :( We drove to the Stake Center in Ames and had a dinner and watched it. I loved all the talks. I feel like Conference is so different to me now. I definately never appreciated it as much as I should have or do now. We are talking to EVERYONE about it, I like to try to imagine how a nonmember or recent convert would see it.
I love all of you lots
Hermana Hepworth
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