Do You Guys Eat a Lot of Spaghetti?

Red Dot Day #$

The answer is we eat normal amounts of spaghetti. Until this week. The member feeding us on Wednesday asked us if we ate a lot of spaghetti and I said "No, just average amounts of spaghetti." We ended up having spaghetti that night, the next night, and the night after that. And yesterday for lunch because someone gave us the leftover spaghetti. Lucky me though, I seriously love spaghetti. Keep it comin!

We had exchanges this week which means we trade companions just for a day. Sister Woolsey went in to Edmonton and I stayed here in Tofield with Sister Bramwell. On Wednesday, we had a lesson with Carol. We hadn't been able to study that morning though because we had to go in to Edmonton for big worldwide missionary training and it takes a while to drive in. Needless to say, it's hard to teach a lesson when you haven't studied for it. The lesson was a little all over the place, but we finally got out of her that she's never actually prayed to know if the church is true and she's been learning for over a year. I definitely appreciate study time a little more now. Sometimes 2 hours of studying in the morning can feel like a long time, but it's totally worth it.

On Friday, Sister Woolsey and I were in the middle of planning for next week when a former investigator that had moved to a new address contacted us and said we could come over in 20 minutes. Way awesome! Slight complication. It takes 20 minutes to drive to their new house. We literally ran out the door to try and get there in time haha That lesson was a little crazy too since we didn't even know we were going to see them that day, but we got to talk a lot about the plan of salvation and what's gonna happen after this life. The wife kept saying, "I wish I could believe that." She could tell that it was good and it made sense to her, but she and her husband are both afraid to change. We need to help them see the good that comes from living this gospel.

Exchangin'

I've been thinking about that a lot lately. Heavenly Father has literally given us a perfect plan for us to be happy. We just have to kind of get over ourselves and just do it. We complicate it a lot of times and move away from the simplicity of what's going to make us happy, but we need to have faith in Christ, repent, make covenants, have the gift of the Holy Ghost and endure to the end. Those are the steps what we're promised by our loving and perfect Heavenly Father will bring us lasting happiness. We just have to do it.

This week we've been trying to update the list of all the people who live in the area and are members, but don't come to church. We've called looooots of people and most of the numbers are out of service now, but Christ doesn't just care about the 99 sheep. He wants all 100 of them to be back in the fold and is willing to go searching for the one that's lost. We spent a while trying to call all these people and had no success. Until today!! This morning one of the ladies randomly called us back and when I asked if we could come meet her she said, "Why don't I just bring my daughter and come to church this Sunday?" You know what, that is an excellent idea. So we're pumped to meet this lady on Sunday.

Have a wonderful week and make sure to you're living the happy life Heavenly Father wants you to.

Peace and Blessings
Sister Hepworth

P.S. A lady we visit was telling us how her boyfriend got an infection in his toe and ended up having to have it amputated. I asked her which toe to which she responded, "The second one. The little piggy went to the market and got caught and sent to the butcher shop."

Do They Come in Rainbow?

Ummmmm...hi.

Roni is 100% against pictures,
so we just took one with
 President Hillyer
for posterity's sake.

RONI GOT BAPTIZED. FOR REALSIES. THIS IS THE GREATEST. I AM SO HAPPY IN CASE YOU COULDN'T ALREADY TELL BY MY ALL CAPS. She had been way nervous for the actual water dunking part (understandable, if I were blind and afraid of water already I would probably be pretty nervous too), but it went great! The coolest part was her confirmation on Sunday though. She's been coming to church and studying the scriptures for so long it almost felt like she was already a member, so her baptism was just the last technicality. She took the sacrament for the first time this Sunday though and that, THAT made me so happy. I literally couldn't stop smiling all through sacrament meeting.

So obviously, Roni's baptism was the ultimate highlight of the week, but on top of that it's been a pretty awesome week. We were at the church on Saturday and we saw Brent and his family heading in to the church. We thought we would need to go unlock the door for them, but as we were walking up Brent called out, "I have a key." You better believe Brent has a key to the building. He's not only a member of the church now, but he has a KEY TO THE BUILDING. That made me way happy too.

At the end of the last lesson we had with Roni before her baptism, we all took turns saying things about the gospel that we "know for sure." (It was a non-threatening way to have everybody bear their testimony) I said I know for sure that Heavenly Father loves me and loves everybody. S Woolsey said she knew for sure that He hears and answers and prayers. Roni said she knows for sure that He's there. S Roughley (the branch relief society president) said she knows for sure that He and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith.

I know for sure that Heavenly Father is there, and that he loves us. I know for sure that he heard Joseph Smith's prayer in 1820 and answered his prayer when he appeared to him in that grove of trees. I know for SURE.

I literally can hardly even remember anything else that's happened this week. My mind is consumed with being happy for Roni and Brent haha

Let me just share with you guys that missions are stressful. You're praying and thinking about so many people and wanting them to have the gospel in their lives so bad because you know how happy it will make them, but then you're stuck in your own little 19-year-old mind that hasn't really experienced much of life yet trying to figure out how to help all these people having grown-up real life problems. Life is crazy. People have all sorts of crazy things happening in their lives all the time. And I'm supposed to somehow help them know how to sort out the crazy. Let me tell you what, I HAVE NO IDEA.

But I know Heavenly Father does.

I know he knows perfectly. And I know he loves all these people enough to help me help them figure it out. I pray all the time that I'll know what to do to help people accept the gospel. All I know is that living the gospel, obeying the commandments, doing our best, and repenting when we don't do our best (which is basically all the time) is what's gonna make it all work.

Peace and Blessings

Sister Hepworth

 P.S. When Roni came out of the changing room with the baptismal jumpsuit-thing on, that she has previously referred to as a "parachute," she said, "Ya know what? I ROCK this. I think I should get one for myself. Does it come in rainbow?" We'll check for ya Roni, but my first guess is probs not.

A sister in my district had a portable table tennis thing, so for district lunch we played some hard-core table tennis. We didn't have enough paddles, so we just used hymn books haha
​

I bet not very many other missionaries get to take pictures with a giant sausage statue.

Probably one of my top 5 favorite pictures ever taken on my mission. Just look at that giant sausage. Just look at it. If you're not laughing, you should get your humor checked.

It's Legit Snowing and We're Drinking Smoothies

Who's pumped about Roni? I'M PUMPED ABOUT RONI. Her interview is tonight and her baptism is this Saturday!! We get to see her everyday this week because it's ideal to have daily contact with people the week before they get baptized. I seriously could hang out with Roni all day everyday so it's sweet to have a reason to go see her everyday haha

Let me tell you about our Saturday. It was weird. Just a big 'ol heaping bucket of weird. The weirdest of the weirds though was when we tried to contact a former investigator named Bernie. We walked up to his house and rang the doorbell (side note, lots of people's doorbells don't work in Canada). Apparently his doorbell didn't work because as we were standing there waiting for someone to answer, a guy walked out of the house and was pretty surprised to see us standing on the porch. When he noticed we were missionaries, he started running, literally running, down the steps and down the sidewalk. As he was running he said, "I don't live here! You can knock on the door and one of the girls will answer!" Ok. Weird. Whatever. We knocked and a girl answered. I asked if Bernie was home (he wasn't) and she asked if we were "J dubs" (Jehovah Witnesses). We said no, and explained who we were and she said, "Ok, so do you have a pamphlet or something for me?" I gave her our card and we set up an appointment for next week since Bernie wasn't home.

As we were walking back to our car, a guy wished us a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. He was on my side of the car across the street, so I started chatting with him. Meanwhile, a car pulled up behind us that 2 guys got out of and started talking to S Woolsey. Turns out one of them was Bernie and he asked her if we were "J dubs" then asked if he could have a hug. By the time I could get my homeboy to stop talking to go over with S Woolsey, Bernie was hugging her haha He saw me and I immediately stuck out my hand for a handshake to clearly indicate I did not want a hug. After introductions he asked if we wanted to come inside and listen to some of his poetry. I said we had an appointment next Wednesday and maybe we could then. I wish I knew how to accurately describe Bernie. Kinda crazy. Like jumped from one subject to the next on a whim, but waaaaay chill. We asked someone about him later and they said his nickname in town is "burnt-out Bernie" cause he's burnt his brain on all the drugs he's done. They said he really does write way good poetry though and he's been published several times, so I'll let you know about Bernie the poet next week.

Later that same day, we were waiting in line at a car wash and the car in front of us backed into our car!! Our newly fixed car!! Luckily there was literally no damage, but just pile on the weird for the weirdest day of my mission so far.

Two of our investigators said they were coming to church on Sunday (and Roni because she literally comes every week), but neither ended up coming. We had a ride lined up for one, but he called a couple hours before and said he wasn't coming and didn't give a reason. Our other investigator Carol had brought up at our last lesson that she wanted to come to all three hours of church. We didn't bring it up. She did. We were positive she was gonna come and had told the people teaching the lessons that investigators were going to be there. A less-active randomly came though so that was way awesome. And it's always awesome that Roni's there of course.

This week has honestly been a bit of a struggle. Appointments we set up fall through and the people we stop by don't want to let us in. The people who do let us in, don't really want to be taught/change so it makes it hard to teach them and help them change. That's probably the hardest part about being a missionary for me. I know how much this gospel will bless people's lives and they don't let it. Everybody gets to choose though. That's how it works. And like President Hinckley said, "it will all work out." And I know it will. I'm still loving being here and am seriously the happiest I've probably ever been.

We talked a lot about the Savior in church. Seriously almost the whole time. I love talking about Christ. I seriously love him so much and know that he loves me so much, that it makes everything seem better. And he's why I know it will all work out. That's the whole plan. In the end, it will all work out because of Jesus Christ.

Peace and Blessings
Sister Hepworth

P.S. There was a mix-up about who was doing what at Roni's baptism. She asked a member to speak on the Holy Ghost and another member to do what he claims she said as "the Holy Ghost part." Roni understood that she asked the first to speak at her baptism and the second to perform the priesthood ordinance of receiving the Holy Ghost. We got it all straightened out, but we asked Roni later how everybody got so mixed up. She said she asked the first member to speak and didn't understand how the second member could have been confused because she had asked him to do the "Priesthood Part 2!" Part 1 being the actual baptism haha Roni's seriously the funniest. I don't know if this story makes sense, but it was one of the greatest moments. Literally reading it back it doesn't even sound funny, but it was SO FUNNY.

We really did go get smoothies

"I Ate A Fork"

My last picture with Sister Hill :(

My first picture
with Sister Woolsey :)

The subject title this week comes from my new companion Sister Woolsey!! Sister Hill's up in Grand Prairie which is like 6 hours north, and Sister Woolsey and I are here in Tofield workin our tooshies off. CRAZY SMALL WORLD CONINCIDENCE. Sister Woolsey is from Milford, UT and went to high school with my roommate and homies from BYU (shout out to Jenn, Jess, and Alayna)! Like, crazy! I was randomly placed with my roommate and now I'm placed with Sister Woolsey and it's just CRAZY. She was looking through some of my pictures and I had pictures with Jenn and Jess and she said, "Hey! I know them!" She didn't purposely eat a fork,
but we were at supper and they had plastic forks and hers unfortunately broke and one of the little pieces ended up in her throat haha

ANOTHER COOL COINCIDENCE STORY. Last week, Sister Hill and I knocked on a lady's door that said she would have let us in, but she had just put her son down for a nap. She took our card and I figured I'd go back over with my new companion. Well we went over yesterday and her son and his dad answered the door. They were in the middle of re-doing their floor, so we still have to go back over later haha Coincidence part! The little kid's name is Zane and I remember thinking at the door that he looked familiar and I realized later that night that I'D MET THAT LITTLE KID BEFORE. It took me a while to figure out from where, but I realized that Sister Hill and I couple weeks ago visited a former investigator and she was babysitting this kid! I met his mom when she picked him up! SO CRAZY. They're way nice and I'm pretty pumped to teach them ASAP.

We can't ice skate,
so he pushed us around
on the ice for
 missionary-approved fun👍

I'm the driver now since I know the area, and it's been crazy remembering where everybody lives and how to get there. I'm definitely getting some heavenly support on that one. We've yet to get lost! *virtually patting myself on the back*

Roni update: SHE'S FOR REALSIES GONNA GET BAPTIZED. She has an interview set up, we're figuring out the program, she's asked President Hillyer to baptize her, and she said "I'm spiritually ready." She said it!! That's seriously so huge!! Since I've been here she's always felt like she's nowhere near ready and now we're giving her "virtual" tours of the baptismal font! I seriously love Roni. Whenever we go over, she has hot chocolate waiting for us, she has us over for supper, she sits and listens to the Mormon channel all day, she comes to church every week, she's just such a rock-star.

So we visit an old lady who's less-active, but only because she physically can't get to church. I love her to bits! She's the happiest little lady and is always, ALWAYS, smiling. We read the talk "Finding Joy in the Journey" with her and it talks about making time for the important things in our life and I asked her what she thought the important things are. She said, "my knowledge of the gospel, going to the temple, and telling my family I love them." Home slices she's 100% right. Appreciate the knowledge you have of Jesus Christ and God, be a part of their holy house and TELL YOUR FAMILY YOU LOVE THEM. Wise words from the sweetest lady.

I love you guys.

Stay strong. Pray all time.

Peace and blessings ✌

Sister Hepworth

P.S. We were leaving a member's house and their 2 year old son Emmitt ran up and gave us hugs (way cute). We put on our boots and were heading out the door when Emmitt decided we needed goodbye kisses too. Well folks, I'm a missionary. I've kind of sworn off kissing for a while haha But he's 2, so I was trying too get him to just kiss me on the cheek. Emmitt however found this unacceptable and was grabbing my face trying to turn my head to get to my lips. I would just turn to the other cheek, but Emmitt wouldn't give up. It was probably a solid 30 seconds of Emmitt trying to chase my lips down haha I finally made him settle on blowing a kiss

P.P.S. So we email from a little room in the church that has a computer, but it's locked all the time and very few have the key to access it. We were in the midst of emailing today when we decided to take a bathroom break. Unfortunately we forgot to prop open the door behind us when we left. When we were walking back and I saw that the door was closed, with our keys, our phone, our ipads, our purses, and our coats inside, I literally dropped to the floor and laid on my stomach laughing hysterically. It's freezing outside (we're in Canada so we couldn't run to someone's house to let us in) and we didn't have anyone's number (the phone was inside locked room). We finally found a phone book and called people from the church phone.

The first 10ish people we called didn't answer, but we got ahold of the branch president and he headed our way from the next town over. We had about 20 minutes to sit and wait for him to come so we raided the supply closet and found

Hockey scootch

things that we stood on each foot, hockey sticks, and little play bouncy balls that are usually in the giant bins in Walmart that we passed back and forth. We invented what we now call "hockey scootch." It's probably gonna be in the next Olympics. Watch for it.

Our p-day excitement from last week: