"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:

First Real Transfer

Sister Hill is officially being transferred to Grand Prairie. It's way
sad that she's leaving, but she'll rock it up north. We have very
little time today since we have to get her all packed by tomorrow
morning, so short letter coming your way haha

It's been a good week! I mean it was Christmas. How could it not have
been? We got to spend time with Roni, and call home, and spend lots of
time with members. We caroled lots too om Christmas Eve simce not many
people would be too excited about two random girls in skirts popping
by in the middle of Christmas Eve, but everyone loves carolers.

We're still workin hard and loving it. We see as many people as we can
and try by a million others. I hope you all had an awesome Christmas
and have a happy new year! Set some good goals for yourself to be
better!

Peace and Blessings ✌🏻️
Sister Hepworth

P.S. We went and saw Roni yesterday so Sister Hill could say goodbye.
We were talking and Roni coughed a bit then was really quiet with her
hand over her face for a while. Sister Hill had been saying how she
was going to miss Roni went she went all quiet and she asked, "Roni
are you crying?" To which Roni replied, "NO! I almost threw up!" Oh
Roni.

You better believe I'm on my third red dot day.

We moved our mattresses into the living room so we could sleep by the tree on Christmas Eve. It was like having a sleepover 

Our last district meeting before transfers. (Notice my hair eh?)

We went and visited our car remains on Christmas 😂

Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes

Frosted Hair

So we've been without a car all week since they're putting a new bumper on it. Which means we walk. And walk. And walk. And walk. The other night it was -30 windchill. It's good exercise though haha Sister Hill's eyelashes and eyebrows had frozen water droplets on them and the ends of my hair were frosted. It's a good time haha

Roni is FANTASTIC. We had a lesson with her on Thursday and another Saturday and she's "Sharpied" (Roni-code for officially agreed to and finalized) January 16th for her baptism! She's seriously already asking the people she wants to speak and the likes! We're way pumped. One of us won't be here for it though. We have transfers on the 30th which means one of us will be leaving Tofield. We don't find out until the 28th who it will be, but it will probably be Sister Hill since she's been here for 6 months already.

Exchanges were this Friday and Saturday, so Sister Hill went in to the city and I stayed here in Tofield with Sister Platter. She was impressed that I knew my way around Tofield so well, but it's so small there's not much to know haha She was here with the -30 windchill so she was thankful to get back in her nice warm car on Saturday.

Snow Angel

It was a good Sunday! We had 2 new investigators come (plus Roni because she comes literally every week haha) and a less-active we've been trying to get to come for a long time. We taught the lesson in Gospel Principles and talked about all the scriptures in the Book of Mormon that prophesy of Christ coming. It turned into a great discussion about the importance of the Book of Mormon. It was cool to hear so many people bear testimony of the Book of Mormon and how important it is. It strengthened my own.

Weirdly enough, we went over to those investigators house yesterday to talk to them about church and how they liked it and they ended up dropping us. They talked about how they felt good at church, and loved the organization, and the people, and felt like the lessons were exactly what they needed to hear, but they didn't want to join our church. What?? Why on earth not?? They also said that when they prayed about the Book of Mormon, they picked it up and then dropped it so they decided it was a sign from God that it wasn't true. What?? They still love our guts though and said that we're like family to them now and to come over any time. Sometimes it takes people years to join the church. Iss ok. Someday they'll read the Book of Mormon and realize that it's so good.

Well I'll end with MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY. 3 days left to do last minute shopping and wrapping, but make sure you take a minute to think about why we do all the things we do at Christmas. Also make sure to take a minute to serve people this Christmas. For some people it's the most wonderful time of the year, but for lots of other people it's the most miserable. Do something nice for somebody. If you see a missionary on the street, give a handshake and a Merry Christmas: it's sad to not be with out families, but we know what we're doing is the GREATEST. Sometimes we just need a little lovin'.

I love you!

God loves you more.

Peace and blessings ✌🏻️

Sister Hepworth

P.S. A member in our branch has this weird water that he shoots with electrodes or something and it's supposed to kill all bacteria. Or something. It's literally just water in a spray bottle. We can't even remember what it's really called and don't think it really does anything, but we use it for EVERYTHANG. Have a zit? Spray some magic water. Have a stomach ache? Swig some magic water. Teeth need whitening? Swish some magic water. Toe hurts? Dip it in magic water. #magicwatertakescanada

P.P.S. Surprise!

Christmas Music Out the Wahzoo

We still haven't had a dump of snow yet, but it snows a little bit almost everyday. There's just enough of a layer of snow everywhere that I officially feel like I'm in Canada and it's winter time haha We
listen to Christmas music exclusively. No exceptions. We bought a Michael Buble Christmas album and we have to skip half the songs, but WORTH IT.

Compared to previous weeks, this week has been a little slow. We haven't taught as many lessons as we usually do, and people don't let us in as often as they usually do, but we're still tryin.

Roni is so great. We had a lesson with her where we went over the Articles of Faith with her and she would say "check" to every one that she agreed with. By the time we'd read them all to her, she had said "check" to all of them. We started getting way excited, but she felt like she'd been too distracted with the phone ringing a couple of times and wouldn't believe us that she'd checked them all. So we went over them all again and she checked them all again! She just has to hear back from one more son to know if the 9th is official yet, but being baptized is definitely official. SO HAPPY

Yes, we're matching.
No it wasn't on purpose.
We're just that in-sync.

We had a branch Christmas party on Saturday and have been inviting people since like mid-November. One of our investigators came!! When we talked to him the morning of, he made a bunch of excuses and said he wasn't coming, but he surprised us and came anyways! It was so good to see him there! It was a cute little party with songs and games, and of course we got a picture with Santa so double awesome.

We made these cute little invitations that we were handing out to people for the Christmas party and the night before we still had about 12 left that we hadn't handed out. We decided to spend the last few hours of our night stopping by everyone that we could think of and inviting them. We stopped by a bunch of people we try by all the timer that aren't usually home and they were ALL HOME. Craziness. None of them came, but it was cool to be working so hard to see people and finally see all of them.

President and Sister Manion 

after the Christmas Conference 😌

We had a Mission Christmas Conference yesterday. Only half the mission came because there are so many missionaries in this mission (about 300) that they have to have another one next week haha It was awesome. President Manion is always a rockstar and there were a bunch if musical numbers. Sister Hill and I and the sister in our district got to sing a song called Mary's Lullaby. Christmas songs are the best.

Have a wonderful week everybody! Christmas is close and make sure you think about why we even have Christmas while you're feeling stressed about buying the "just right" present.

Peace and blessings ✌ 🏻️
Sister Hepworth

P.S. I bought a t-shirt with a giant maple leaf and "Eh." on it. Not necessarily funny, but definitely awesome.

The Whole Enchilada

First story is last Tuesday night!! We went out to a less actives house that we usually have to text first to be able to meet with her, but we just went over. When she opened the door, she was crying and said "Did God send you?" She'd been having a really rough night and was about to ask us to come over anyways. We got to have a really cool lesson with her.

Later that night, everyone we had planned to see fell through and we still had about an hour and half of the night, so we decided to tract for a while. Literally the FIRST HOUSE that we knocked on, she let us in, we had the BEST lesson we've ever taught as a companionship, she understood everything we taught and then gave us a plate of cookies when we left. BEST TRACTING EVER. Possibly in the history of tracting. 

That's where the whole enchilada came from. We asked her why it would be important that we had the fullness of Christ's gospel and she said, "Well, it means you have, like, the original God. Ya know, it's the whole enchilada." Good. Answer. We seriously loved "the whole enchilada" we probably said it 10 more times before we left cause it really does perfectly explain why this church is so important: we have the whole enchilada. 

Our lesson with Roni this week was AWESOME. She was understanding everything we were teaching and Sister Hill straight out asked her to be baptized. We talk about baptism to Roni all the time, but it's always in a kind of round about way so she responds in a kind of round about way. When Sister Hill directly asked her to be baptized though, she sat for second and then said "Yes." A straight yes. That's literally never happened before. She still doesn't have a for sure day cause she wants her family there, but we told her that we have January 9th written in dry erase marker and that she had the week to call her family so that when we saw her again this week we could write it in Sharpie. 

We also finally met a bunch of less-actives that no one's seen in over 5 months. AND we finally met 3 potential investigators we've been trying to meet for over 5 months yesterday. We had lessons with them and they all in invited us back and said they wanted to keep learning more! 3 new investigators in one day is pretty crazy for us. That doesn't happen. We usually get about 1 a week.  

Since I don't have any other pictures
here's the picture we showed to the family
of temple square

We also went to another potential's house yesterday that we met a while ago while he was putting up his Christmas lights. We told him about Temple Square at Christmas time and he said we could come back and show him pictures. We walked over to show him the pictures and his whole family was home, but they all were so nice! They fed us pizza, gave us a bunch of cookies, and offered to take us to the Legislature building in the city to show us the lights there. We're still trying to figure out how we could do that haha, but they were seriously the nicest people. 

Guys THIS IS THE WHOLE ENCHILADA. This is usefulness of the gospel and the perfect plan that Heavenly Father has for us to find peace and happiness. I promise. And so do the prophets and apostles and a bunch of missionaries and millions of members of the church. We all promise. 

Peace and Blessings

Sister Hepworth

We had to wait 6 hours in the city for our
car to be fixed,  so we had a little
spare time for some selfies.
And I didn't take any other pictures this week,
so enjoy

P.S. Sister Hill and I had been driving around for like 10 minutes trying to find someone's house and I'd noticed the same unmarked van several times while we were driving. When we finally pulled up to the house, the unmarked van pulled up right across the street from us and the driver was looking right us. I didn't want to freak Sister Hill out too much so I just said, "Let's go somewhere new," with just a hint of urgency in my voice. She started laughing cause I was being so weird, and was facing me trying to put the car in park. When she turned back around to see what I was looking at, the driver of the van had gotten out his van and was walking towards our car. She saw him and screamed her little heart out. Even though the windows were rolled up, I guarantee he heard it or he at least noticed her look of sheer panic because he stopped in his tracks and looked really confused. He then held up the package neither of us had noticed he was holding and said, pointing the house behind us, "Do you live here?" Sister Hill was still in a state of panic and couldn't respond and I was laughing too hard to give a real answer, so I had to just kind of wave him on hoping that he'd understand from my wave that "No we don't live here. That's not our package. You scared us half to death and we are now in no state to try and communicate with you in real words."

UPDATE:

30 more minutes of P Day means one more round of pictures that we just barely took cause we just barely bought CANADIAN UMBRELLA HATS.