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?!?!?

Week 26: November 28, 2016

Friends and Family!

Update on my wrist:  I saw a specialist and he took one look at my brace and got super mad at the people at the urgent care for giving me that one, so they gave me a regular looking one and it's already starting to get better!  I go back to the specialist in a week to be evaluated to see if I need an MRI or not and then I will most likely get a session of physical therapy and HOPEFULLY they will send me on my merry way after that.  HOPEFULLY.  There have been a few times where it hurts a TON, but that's what medicine is for right??  For example, last night it hurt so badly I was in tears, so I took my full dose (I've been taking half doses at night) and I didn't even wake up until 10 IN THE MORNING!!!  My companion was up and at it at 6:30, she showered, cleaned, wrote letters, etc, and I didn't even MOVE until 10 AM!!!  Geez, that medication is powerful. . .

On Monday we had an amazing FHE activity!  We got into two teams and did a competition to see how many cans of food we could get to donate to the food bank, each can worth a certain amount of points depending on what it was.  Well, our team won by a LOT and we ended up taking over 150 cans of food to the food bank!!  How incredible is that??

My Thanksgiving was soo good, but it wasn't NEARLY as good as my Mom's cooking, or my uncle Richard's cooking ;)  We ended up eating Thanksgiving "dinner" with three different families - lol.  The first one was about noon and we had an amazingly juicy turkey and wonderful mashed potatoes and gravy and for dessert, the Mom made a delicious fruit salad with apples, mandarin oranges, coconut, almonds, and strawberries!  So yummy!  Our next appointment was at 4 PM with the first counselor in the branch presidency in the YSA, President Hallmark, and his wife and sister - that was so much fun!!  The food was excellent, but the best part was we got to see TONS of kitties!!  Their back yard is just open terrain, so they have tons of feral cats in their yard all the time and Sister Hallmark feeds them and takes care of them - their whole backyard is a kitty paradise!  Because they're feral, they were scared of Sister Donis and I, but Sister Hallmark was playing with them and picking some of them up etc - sooo cute!  (pictures are coming)  The Hallmarks ended up giving us a bunch of leftovers, which were delicious, and we were so grateful for them and their kindness :)  Our third appointment was a bit interesting, but we were grateful nonetheless.  It was with a family who is absolutely amazing, Sister Donis and I love them so much, their kids are adorable and the Mom is hilarious (she reminds me of a mixture of you, Mom, and Aunt Roseann!).  While we were waiting for the food to be done, other Elders were there as well, one of the Elders bumped a shelf on the wall right behind me (I was on the couch) and a TON OF COCKROACHES FELL OUT FROM BEHIND IT ALL OVER MY BACKKKKK!!!!!!  AHHH!!!!!!  It was terrifying and traumatizing and just all together a very not good experience. . . .  The food was good, though and I was very grateful for the kindness, just not for the roaches - no thank you, sir.

Saturday was pretty amazing as well - we gathered all the missionaries in San Angelo ( there's 10 of us, but we're the only Sisters) and went to the senior center to help out with Bingo!  It was so much fun!  The residences absolutely LOVED the Elders (a lot of them had never been) and the people who work there were so grateful for the help!  They love the missionaries over there and they want everyone to keep coming!  Everyone had a great time and it was just so much fun!  Also, one of our recent converts, D, has been dipping again, so we had a lesson with him on Saturday and kind of confronted him about it and it ended up being an amazing lesson!  D told us that he was very mad about giving into the temptation again, but that the stress of school got to him.  We talked to him about reaching out to others rather than trying to "self-medicate" and the whole time he was so receptive and so grateful we were talking about it.  D doesn't really know how to talk about his problems, and ESPECIALLY doesn't know how to ask for help, but we were able to help with that and he now has some goals to be better!  The church is true, y'all!

I just want to bare my testimony of the repentance process.  It is so real and it is so true.  Repentance is not something to be scared of or anything like that.  It is a gift from our Heavenly Father, given to us through the Atonement and suffering of Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane!  In the past, I have been so ashamed of the need to repent, but on my mission, I have realized that it is not something to be ashamed of, but something to rejoice in.  We are all imperfect beings, that is a fact.  And because of this, we are all going to make mistakes every once in a while, but through repentance and taking the sacrament each week, we can literally be cleansed from the scarlet of the sin and be made white again in the eyes of God!  How exciting and incredible is that?!  Please don't be afraid or ashamed to repent, I can promise each of you that as you do so, you will feel free from the burdens and chains of sin that can bare you down!  Do not let the chains take hold of you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, but let yourselves be built on the foundation of Jesus Christ (Helaman 5:12)!

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

Love,

Sister Heather Overson

PS - watch the amazing Christmas initiative video, "Light the World", on lds.org or mormon.org and start doing the "25 ways in 25 days" challenge!

Ring I made for Sister Donis

KITTIES!!!

KITTIES EVERYWHERE!!!!

Week 25: Nov 21, 2016

Friends and family!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

I'm so so sorry for the short emails lately, my hand just won't allow for it!

Update on that:  I was going to meet with an orthopedic specialist last Wednesday, but my hand was greatly improving so we decided to cancel the appointment.  Well, something happened, we don't exactly know what, but my thumb and my fingers (especially my middle finger) has been hurting VERY badly since Tuesday night.  So, we rescheduled the appointment for today at 12:15.  But, until then, I have no idea what's going on other than a seriously bad sprain!

My goodness, this week has been interesting!  I ended up having to take my companion to the ER early Tuesday morning!  She had a severe allergic, hives reaction to something (we still don't know what) and she woke me up at midnight telling me she had hives all over her body and she couldn't breathe, so I took her to the hospital (while calling all the San Angelo missionaries and finally President Heap picked up while we were pulling into the parking lot) and they helped the reaction go away, but we didn't end up going home until about 3:45 AM, so we got special permission to sleep in :)  Everything is okay now, but we have been through quite the string of injuries and illnesses and infirmities of every kind!  Including sister Donis making a swag sign to one of the other missionaries and she POKED HERSELF IN THE EYE!  Lol!  That one was pretty funny, in the pictures, you can see her eye swelled up because of it!

I think the most incredible thing is that even though my companion and I are kind of broken right now, miracles still happened this week.  We were able to meet with people missionaries haven't been able to meet with in a long time and we had some less active members of the YSA branch come to church yesterday!  One of them hasn't been to church since she was 12 years old!  So many people came yesterday and it really was a tender mercy from the Lord, especially with everything that's going on right now.

Life is good, but it's getting better :)  I love being a missionary and I wouldn't rather be anywhere else with anybody else doing any other thing in the world right now!!  I love my sweet, sweet Sister Donis and I love San Angelo so much!  I'm so grateful we can continue to bring people unto Christ even though we have physical ailments.  There is something we as missionaries recite a lot in the mission.  It's called the Standard of Truth :)

"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, but the truth of God will go forth bodly, nobly, and independent, 'till it has penetrated every continent, swept every country, and sounded in every ear and the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say, 'The work is done.'"

I love you all so much and I hope y'all have an amazing week this week!  Happy Thanksgiving!  Don' forget to show your gratitude and eat lots and lots of Turkey! ;)

Love,

Sister Heather Overson

Sister Donis' hives (this wasn't even the worst of it!)

 For a YSA activity, I dug out gummy bears out of a bowl of whipped cream :)

 Sister Donis doing her "SWAG" sign in the hospital bed that later caused picture #7

Getting pills and an epipen for Sister Donis

 I found a baby leopard gecko!!

Our relief society president and our mission leader (they're siblings) cleaned the entire church by themselves!

 Sister Donis' poor swollen eye :(

Week 24: Nov. 14, 2016

Top o' the mornin' to ya!

This will not be a very long email because I sprained my right wrist (yes, I am right handed - it's been fun) playing volleyball with the YSA and the missionaries :)  Someone spiked the ball and my hand happened to be in the way and the ball bent my hand back to my arm.  After lots of ibuprofen and a visit to the doctor, I found out it is pretty badly sprained (not broken) and I might need surgery to fix broken muscles/tendons/stuff in my arm.

Anyway, the miracle about this is that even though we had to stay inside for about three and a half days because I couldn't drive and we couldn't get rides, we got to talk to so many people this week and we don't even know how it happened!  It's incredible!  I got to meet so many new people and we helped a lot of people, too!

If I have a testimony in anything this week it is in God's timing.  I don't understand why this happened, but I do know that because it did, I am going to have to rely on Him a lot more now.  I trust in Him and I know that He will provide a way for the work to continue to progress!

I'm so sorry this is so short, but know that I love you all and I hope you have an amazing week!

Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me"!

Love,

Sister Heather Overson