Week 33: Jan. 23, 2017

Greetings from your FAVORITE Sister Missionary!

For a long time now, we have not been able to contact our one investigator, B.  He hasn't been coming to church and every time we call, he is either too busy to meet or doesn't answer.  But we finally had the opportunity to go by his house  last Tuesday (we have always met him either at Subway or at a park up until this point) and see if he was there.  And he was!  We were finally able to just talk to him about how busy his life has been etc, etc.  Then we set up a time to meet!  Finally!  Hope was on the horizon!

Later that night we had dinner with the Branch president and his wife who does not speak English (they're from Brazil) and we had a WONDERFUL meal of soup and rolls!  It was so incredible because even though there was a language barrier with his wife, we could still see the light in her eyes from the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we could still feel the Spirit when she bore her testimony in Portuguese!  The Gospel is true no matter what language it is spoken in!  It reminds me of the Standard of Truth which is recited by us as missionaries quite often,

"The Standard of Truth has been erected.  No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing.  Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble and columny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say, 'The work is done'."

It is so amazing to think about that wonderful promise that the work will go forward no matter what, but that I am aiding in that great effort to spread the truth of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of West Texas and East New Mexico!

I have some exciting news!  Sister Brown got her boot off of her not-so-broken-anymore foot on Wednesday!  She has switched to a brace for the next little while!  It's healing!  We're pretty excited :)

Institute started back up on Thursday - we were very happy to be back with our amazing Institute teacher and the rest of the students who attend institute :)  This next little while, we will be studying about the four Gospels at the beginning of the New Testament.  I am so excited!  We'll be learning all about Jesus Christ and His ministry!  It's going to be AWESOME!

Yesterday was such an amazing day.  Sister Brown and I have some pretty awesome talks about Jesus Christ and Enduring to the End and then church was amazing and then we had an appointment with a former investigator, T, which we were REALLY excited about.  Well, we went to the address she gave us and it turned out to be an entire apartment complex with SEVERAL buildings in it and she didn't give us an apartment number. . .  So, we pulled into the complex and the first thing that came to our minds was the talk that President Uchtdorf gave in the Women's session of this last conference, Fourth Floor, Last Door (by the way, if you haven't read/listened to it - DO IT IT'S SO GOOD!)  In the talk, he talks about two missionaries who go to proselyte at an apartment complex and they knock on every door and their efforts seemed fruitless until the last door on the fourth floor when they were finally invited inside and they eventually baptized the mother and daughter who lived there - the daughter happened to be President Uchtdorf's wife, Harriet :)  So, Sister Brown and I were prepared to go into super missionary mode for a bit, when we received a prompting to walk in a certain direction for a time and after knocking on a few apartments that didn't answer, we found a young man and his girlfriend outside one of the buildings, talking. We decided to approach them and it ended up being a miracle find!  He was so interested and we gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and set up an appointment to teach him this week!  We're so excited and the Spirit was so strong when we were there outside talking to him!

Anyway, folks, I know this amazing, wonderful church is so true!  I know my Savior Jesus Christ stands at the head of it and that because of Him, I have a chance to live with my Father in Heaven again, and also because of Him, I have the chance to tell the people here about that fact!  I love being a missionary more than anything in the world!

I hope y'all have an amazing week and I love y'all so much!

Love,

Sister Overson 

Week 32: Jan 17, 2017

Friends and Family!

Sorry I didn't send an email yesterday, the library was closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  But, man, did we have some adventures yesterday!

So, we haven't been doing a ton of missionary work because we're in a college town in a YSA branch and school has been out and everyone has been away for the holidays.  Luckily, school is starting back up soon and we'll be able to try and go find people to teach on campus!  But anyway, we haven't been doing much except for service.

Yesterday was our P-day (Preparation Day) and for a while we've been listening to talks on my USB because Sister Brown's USB with all the awesome missionary appropriate music has been missing.  Well, we finally tore apart the apartment looking for the darn thing and still didn't find it.  By this time it was early evening and we realized that it might have gotten picked up with some trash in our apartment and thrown away and that I had taken out the garbage late that morning to the giant dumpster!  So, we asked the apartment manager if anyone might have found in it in the parking lot and turned it in, but they said nothing had been turned in like that.  So, we kept looking in the car, in our purses, in the apartment (for the thousand bajillionth time) and still didn't find it.  Well, reality set it and we pretty much figured it was in that trash bag that I had put in that giant nasty dumpster.  Not only did this USB have music on it, but also pictures from Sister Brown's entire mission that were not anywhere else.  I finally told her that I would be willing to jump in the dumpster and find our trash bag so I could look through the trash to see if we did accidentally throw it away.  So, that night after a final look through the apartment, I put on the clothes that I cared about the least (some jogging sweat pants and a t-shirt) and put on my work gloves and we went out to the dumpster in the dark with a flashlight and I jumped in.  Sister Brown was holding the flashlight and helping me while I dug through the trash like a hooligan.  Our trash bag was in the back far corner, but I didn't find it right away, so I was looking up towards the front.  I cam across a big pile of leaves and branches from the landscapers cleaning up the parking lot and threw it in there.  I was digging to the bottom to see if our trash bag was under there when Sister Brown said, "I think that's my flashdrive!!"  Sure enough, it was right there mixed in with the leaves and twigs!!!  Seriously, that is NOT a coincidence that we found that little teeny two inch flash drive in that huge gigantic dumpster.  Now, I'm not saying that God will bless you with finding your lost items every single time, but I am saying everything happens for a reason.  And this is the reason why we found that flash drive in the dumpster.

I turns out I was not very quiet when I was digging through there, so a couple people saw me dumpster diving and one person in particular, when I was running up to the apartment to grab my camera to take the picture you see below, asked Sister Brown if we were looking for pot. . . . . .   We told him no, and what we were actually looking for was a flashdrive, but we were able to talk to him more and found out he just moved to San Angelo looking for a change in his life.  He had access to all kinds of drugs where he used to live and he wanted to quit and clean up his life a bit.  Well, because God knows and love us all, he decided to have Sister Brown lose her flashdrive so that I would go dumpster diving for it and when we found it, we would just happen to run into this young fellow who is looking for a change in his life!!  We're planning on going by his apartment soon and teaching him about the gospel!  MIRACLES.  That is what they look like, folks.

I am happy to report that I am so grateful for everything that has happened to me!  Everything happens for a reason, and we may not know what that reason is or why God does what He does when He does it, but I know that it is all for our good!  God loves us and because of that, He will always do what is best for us at that time!  God is real and He loves YOU!

I hope y'all have an amazing week and don't have to go dumpster diving for lost items any time soon :)

Love,

Sister Overson

This is how much more unhealthy Whataburger is than Chick-Fil-A.  Just sayin'

Super sketchy place we almost met a former investigator at, but the spirit said "NOOOOOOOOOOO!"  So we didn't :)

Sister Brown cut my hair!  She has no experience cutting hair (well, now she does) but I just wanted a trim and she knows how to cut a straight line :)

Me, Dumpster Diving - Aren't you proud, Mom?!

Week 31: Jan. 3, 2017

Friends and Family!!

I started my physical therapy this week!  I've only been to one appointment so far, but I have been doing my exercises and it is getting so much better!

This week has been pretty mellow compared to the past couple of weeks, but we still had some awesome lessons!

We had a pretty lazy New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.  We slept :)  But that's okay, I'll have plenty of opportunities to "party it up" (AKA try to stay up with my Mom and my cat, but end up falling asleep) when I get off my mission :)

We've been working with a couple of less actives and one in particular has the most sincere desire to do better!  Due to his current living situations and other factors, he has started up some old habits (he was baptized when he was 16) and has been feeling very guilty about that.  He just moved to San Angelo recently and immediately reached out to the missionaries!  When we met with him and discussed some goals he has, he said he "just had to do it on his own" and we said "No way, Jose!!" (Disclaimer: Jose is not actually his name)  So, we have been going over quite frequently to read the Book of Mormon with him and help him learn things from it through the Spirit.  He is very good at recognizing the Spirit when it speaks to him, just not so good on acting on those promptings.  And, you know, sometimes, it gets really hard to know HOW we need to act on those promptings.  Some of them, the Spirit is just testifying of truth, like when you read the Book of Mormon or you hear an inspirational talk in General Conference, or when you pray.  But how do you act on those feelings?  Well, faith is defined in the Bible dictionary as a principle of ACTION.  And in James 2:17, James tells us that faith without works is dead.  Whenever we have those feelings from the Holy Ghost, it is so important that we share those experiences with others to spark the same feelings in them, we need to spread the light given to us.  It's selfish to keep it to ourselves!  My invitation to y'all this week is to reflect on spiritual experiences you have had in the past and share it with someone this week!  If you haven't had one that you can remember, read the Book of Mormon and pray about it and I promise you, the Holy Ghost will testify of it's truthfulness!  Then go share that with someone ;)  The coolest thing about sharing light, is that it's not like sharing a sandwich.  Sharing a sandwich, you get shorted half a sandwich (depending how much you share. . .)  But when you share the light of the gospel, it brings more light into your own life as well!  It grows your testimony!  It exercises your faith!  It sounds too good to be true, but it IS true!  It is so true!

Well, I hope you all have an amazing week this week!  Good luck with all the New Year's Resolutions, and God be with you till we meet again!

I love y'all!

Love,

Sister Overson

Week 30: Dec. 27, 2016

Hey y'all!

This week has been so awesome!  Full of blessings and miracles!

On Monday, a nonmember that all the missionaries do service for took us all out to iHop for dinner!  I got banana nutella crepes with eggs, sausage, and hashbrowns - so yummy!!  Normally, this nonmember likes to have us over at her house for dinner, but she told us she didn't have time to cook, so she wanted to take us somewhere and one of the Elders suggested iHop because he wanted breakfast for dinner, so there ya go ;)

Tuesday was the JINGLE JAM!!  It's the missionary Christmas Party!  Because the mission is so ginormously huge, they have to split us into a North and South half - we were in the South half this year.  What this meeting consists of is a talent show for the missionaries to show off whatever odd/hilarious talents in the gym on stage for the first part, then we had lunch provided by the Midland Moms with missionaries out in the field!  Then we moved to the chapel for more serious/spiritual talents and ended the party by watching the Saratov Approach!  It was so much fun!!  Not only was it awesome to get to watch a movie, but it was awesome to watch a movie about missionaries while being an actual missionary and having the Spirit teach me things about how to be a better disciple of Jesus Christ :)  We not only had an awesome time at Jingle Jam, but we got a brand new car there as well!!  It's a brand spankin' new 2017 Chevrolet Malibu!!  It's equipped with OnStar, so it has a little fin, and it's a dark blue color, so we named it Jawshua :) (Sister Brown has an obsession with sharks - Danny, she likes alligators and space, too ;) )  We got back from the Jingle Jam that night at found a little tiny Christmas tree and stockings full of candy etc. from the Simons!  We didn't have a Christmas tree until they gave us that one!  They are so kind :)

So, I think I mentioned this a while ago, but in Odessa, there is a place where the missionaries can eat for free called WingStop and it's because a member manages it.  Well, they just opened a brand new WingStop here in San Angelo and it's being managed by a member and the missionaries get to eat there for free!!!  Hashtag blessings!!  We may or may not have been eating there at least twice a week :)

Thursday and Friday, we had exchanges with the STL's in Abilene and I got to be with Sister Bruneel! I knew her when she was in training in Odessa!  Another miracle about her being my STL is that when she was in Odessa, her companion and her got in a car accident, so we were able to talk about our experiences and she was able to help me a lot.   I also got to meet so many cool people in Abilene!

Saturday (aka Christmas Eve), we started off the day by playing Flag Football (okay, I didn't play, but Sister Brown did with her broken foot, sprained knee and bad back) and got to meet some awesome potential investigators that way!  Then we went over to a member's house and made tamales with them!  That was really hard.  I had a scraper thing that I was using to scrape the maza onto the corn husks and it was so hard!!  I got to be okay at it, but it was still fun trying ;)  There was supposedly going to be a YSA activity for those who were going to stay in town for Christmas Eve, it was to be on base and the Senior missionary couple were in charge of it.  Well, it ended up being just us and the Simons!  But it was so much fun!!  We ate food, did a narative with singing hymns, and then played a really fun game of apples to apples!  SO much fun!

Christmas was absolutely wonderful :)  We got to go to two different houses on Christmas (along with going to church of course) and both houses not only fed us and allowed us to Skype our families, but they gave us Christmas presents as well!  Sister Brown and I both had packages in the mail, but they were being held hostage by the manager's office which was closed until yesterday, so we were able to get the packages yesterday and open them, but I still haven't gotten the one from my family.  I was feeling very sad about that, when Sister Brown told me there were things for me from her family in that package as well!  They got me an awesome cowboy boot stocking full of candy, socks, and toys!  I love them so much!  It was such a tender mercy and it really brightened my day :)

Well, I hope this next week will be amazing for all of you and I wish you a happy holidays, merry Christmas, and a happy new year!  As a new year's resolution, I challenge each of you to start reading the Book of Mormon every day.  Not only will it give you the Spirit each day when you read, but it can and will change your life for the better!  Nothing but good comes out of that book and it testifies of Jesus Christ on every single page!  I can promise all of you that as you read what is contained in it's pages, it will improve the quality of your life and you will be able to feel God's love more fully in your life!

I love you all and I hope you have an amazing week!

Love,

Sister Heather Overson

 Sister Brown and I being weirdos

Jingle Jam :) Sweet Home Texas Lubbock

 I got to see Sister Kynaston!!

 the Simons got us a Christmas tree and stockings!

Merry Christmas

Sister Brown and I went to see the light show by the river :)

Exchanges!

This is how hot it was on Christmas day.  Thanks Texas.

Week 29: Dec 19, 2016

Merry Christmas y'all!!

This week has been a little slow due to a companionship that is recovering from a car accident, but it has been so amazing at the same time!

We have a new investigator!!  He is so amazing and is totally solid!  I think what is so incredible to me is that when I meet people who become investigators of the church, they seem to have been prepared their whole life to receive the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they just need someone like us to do our part in teaching them!

B just recently lost his Mom on Thanksgiving and that has been hard for the whole family.  He is only in his 20's and he's already a retired Marine, but he is struggling financially right now.  He just got a job and starts today, which was a total miracle for him!  Because of his financial plight, the branch here has totally stepped up to the plate and has been absolutely amazing in getting him rides to church and other YSA activities!  He hasn't missed a single church service or activity since he started getting involved even though he doesn't have a car!  I love the members here!  Anyway, we taught him a couple times this week and Sister Brown extended a baptismal invitation on the second lesson and he accepted!!  He told us he would be baptized when he gets his answer that this is the true church!  Both lessons we had with him were super super spiritual and we both knew that he was feeling the Spirit telling him that this IS the true church, but of course, we told him to ask God about it first :)

Anyway, I don't have a ton of time to email today, but I want y'all to know that I know this church is true and I know that the Book of Mormon is true!  I love this Christmas season because everyone is thinking about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, but I especially love it because I get to talk about Him with EVERYONE I SEE!!  I love being on my mission and I wouldn't rather be doing anything else with anybody else!  I love my new compa, Sister Brown and she is such a blessing for me!  She inspires me to be better and I'm so grateful she is here with me in San Angelo so that we can bring others closer to Christ together!

Sometime this week, I invite each of you to read the story of the birth of Jesus Christ in any of the four gospels, but my favorite is in Luke 2 :)  It will not only bring the Spirit into your homes and into your lives, but it will also testify of Him being the son of God who came to this Earth to atone for all of our sins, who suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane so that each of us could not only have the opportunity to gain eternal life with our Father in Heaven, but so that each of us is never alone in our trials.  Never forget that He is always there to comfort you in the hard times!  All you have to do is ask and He will bare you up so you can endure your trials together with Him, for His yoke is easy and His burden is light!

I hope y'all have an amazing Christmas on Sunday with all your family and friends!  I love y'all!

Love,

Sister Heather Overson

Week 28: Dec 12, 2017

Happy Holidays friends and family!

Many of you have heard about it already, but my brand new companion, Sister Brown, and I were in a serious car accident on Tuesday.  We had just dropped off groceries at the apartment and went back out to do some service for a nonmember.  I was waiting to turn left out of our apartments onto the busy road of Knickerbocker when I saw someone waiting to go behind me.  I still don't know why I did this, but when I saw them, I went, without paying attention to the traffic.  The next thing I saw was a red jeep coming at us on my side at about 40 - 50 mph.  I remember the impact, but I lost consciousness for a few seconds and the next thing I remember is rolling backwards into the parking lot of the shops across the street.  The impact had turned the car 180 degrees around and pushed us backwards.  My ears were ringing and my heart beat was going a million miles an hour, but I heard Sister Brown telling me that we had been in a car accident and that the phone was at her feet and I needed to cal 911.  I reached with difficulty down to the phone and started calling, but soon witnesses had arrived and told us that they were already on their way, so I hung up.  Sister Brown then told me to call President Heap, so I did and through hyperventilating and tears, I told him what happened and he promised to send us help.  During the phone call, two ladies (one of which was the driver behind me when I went out into traffic) grabbed Sister Browns hands and started to pray with her.

Soon the paramedics arrived and had to take Sister Brown out of the car on a gurney due to her hitting her head on the window next to her.  My head was jostled and my nose was bleeding due to the left side airbag hitting me.  I climbed out the passenger's side because my door was jammed shut, and found myself in the arms of the senior missionary couple who lived in the building just next to us.  The paramedics then escorted me to the ambulance and we went to the hospital.  There I received a ct scan and several x-rays.  Due to the grace of God, my companion and I escaped without any concussions or broken bones!

That night, Sister Cayton (the supplies coordinator for the mission) stayed in our apartment with us while Elder Cayton (the vehicle coordinator) got a hotel.  The next day President and Sister Heap took us to the Court House to pay my citation for failure to yield and I paid the citation of almost $700.  I couldn't even believe I was able to pay the fine because I was worried my bank account wouldn't let me transfer that many funds, but they did!

The biggest miracle in my eyes was that the driver of the other car was completely fine and didn't have any lasting effects from the crash!  There were so many miracles that I witnessed from this incidence, but I am so grateful she was not hurt.

In other news, this Saturday I got to meet Elder Rasband of the quorum of the 12 apostles! he gave an amazing instruction to all the missionaries of the Texas Lubbock Mission and I learned so much from him!  It was so needed in a time like this!

Brothers and Sisters, I can truly testify that this church is true without a doubt in my head.  I know that Jesus is the Christ and that we can all become like our Heavenly Father and be with them again through Him and His sacrifice!  I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that it can help anyone in any circumstance of their life to lead them to happiness.  I know the work I am doing out here is a good one and I wouldn't rather be anywhere else!  I love this church and I love my mission!

I love y'all and I hope y'all have Happy Holidays!

Love,

Sister Heather Overson

Week 27: Dec 5, 2016

It's officially Christmas time and I haven't seen ANY SNOW YET!!  Of course, I am in San Angelo, and it's pretty South in the mission.  The members have been telling me I probably won't see snow this Christmas! :(  Oh well, I get freezing rain instead - MUCH more fun to drive in ;)

As of this past Thursday, I have been out on my mission for 6 MONTHS already!!  I can't even believe I'm already a third of the way through!  Next thing I know it, I'll be at the half way mark, then the year mark, and it's all downhill from there ;)  At least that's what all the missionaries are telling me that have reached that point!

This week has just been full of miracles!  In the San Angelo YSA, we hold a Sports Night every Tuesday night (and P-day sports with the Elders on Mondays) and it has been so successful! (yes, this is the sports night where I destroyed my hand) We have so many less active members and non-members come and it's awesome!  Everyone has so much fun and it's been a good outlet and stress reliever for a lot of us.  I mean, obviously I can't participate anymore, but I just sit on the stage and play the music for everyone else :)  Anyway, there is one person in particular, B, who has been coming for a while now, but he comes on and off.  Just recently he came back after a long string of absences.  That night, after the spiritual thought at the end, we say a prayer to end the activity and everyone goes home.  Just before the prayer was offered, B spoke up and asked the person about to pray to pray for his mother's soul because she had passed away on Thanksgiving!  We were all heartbroken, but one of our recent converts offered a beautiful prayer after that and the night was finished.  B later reached out to us and asked if we could find him a ride to Sports Night from now on and we happily agreed, a different recent convert is taking care of that now and they are pretty much best friends!  A couple days after this happened, we asked B if he wanted to meet with us so we could share the Christmas initiative with him and he agreed!  We met him at a local park and found out he is really struggling right now, but we shared our message and touched on the Plan of Salvation at the end, asking if we could talk more about it when we met again, then we invited him to church and he not only said he would love to come, but he CAME!!  AND HE LOVED IT!!  I'm so glad he is finding happiness again, but I'm especially grateful that he is finding the everlasting spring of happiness in the Gospel of Jesus Christ :)  I'm really excited to teach him and get to know him more!

Well, Sister Donis' mission is coming to a close and she goes back to her home town of San Jose California on Tuesday!  I'm so sad to see her go, she has been an awesome companion, but I'm also very excited for her to see her family again, especially her Mom :)  I do have to say, being the last companion for someone does make you miss home, but it also teaches you persistence and I think the biggest thing I have learned is how I want to go home.  I have watched a lot of missionaries go home for various reasons and I know exactly the kind of missionary I want to be when I go home!

Since Sister Donis is leaving, we've been spending a lot of time saying goodbye to different people.  One person in particular is not a member, but we've been doing TONS of service for her around her house.  She has a lot of health problems and can't do a ton by herself, so we like to go over and keep her company and do things for her.  Anyway, we wanted to stop by and say goodbye, but she wasn't answering her phone, so we just decided to stop by anyway after a while and it ended up being an awesome encounter!  She was outside with a couple of her friends loading tables into a car and we came and were not only able to help with the table, but we also told both of her friends that we could come and do service for them as well.  One of them told us thank you, but she lives in Brownwood, and we got all excited and told her there are Sisters there, too!  So, we texted the Sisters and by the time we left, the friend was already on the phone with the sisters in Brownwood!  The other friend got our number and said she would love some help and company!  I guess she was just recently divorced and more than happy for us to come and help :)  THE CHURCH IS TRUE Y'ALL!!

Well, today is going to be super busy and tomorrow is going to be even more so!  Tomorrow I will be getting my new companion, Sister Brown!!  I'm super excited :)  She has been out on her mission for a while now and has already braved a Christmas on her mission, so I won't be completely clueless when that happens ;)  Thank you so much for all your love and support!  I will definitely keep everyone updated on my dumb hand - I'm going to see the specialist again and do some PT.  Praying this will work out!

I love y'all so much!

Love,

Sister Heather Overson

District Pictures - we're all being goofballs :)

A cockroach I found at the church

THIS GUY (Joseph Fielding Smith) LOOKS LIKE BENJAMIN LINUS FROM LOST  (NOTE FROM MOM:  I am sorry if this offends anyone :0

This was outside a Senior Center right next to a bench - lol!

A VERY recent RM took us to Twisted Root - our favorite place in San Angelo!

 A sign at a Baptist church :)

SANTA FREAKING PULLED ME ON HIS LAP?!?!?