Sister Overson was called to the Texas Lubbock mission, from June 1, 2016 to Dec 1 2017, to serve as a Full-time LDS missionary for the period of 18 months.
WOW. Of all the crazy weeks on my mission, THIS has been the craziest so far.
First of all, I'm not in Midland anymore, even though there is still one more week until the next transfer! (We have transfers every 6 weeks, which means I'll have a total of 13 transfers on the mish) So, there were two Sisters serving in Andrews, TX: Sister Kynaston and Sister L. Sister L hated Sister Kynaston and told her this often. She was very depressed and very sick (she had all kinds of stomach issues that were unexplainable) and they really were not able to get much work done here because they had to stay inside all day. Sister Kynaston was handling it like a champ and loved Sister L even though she was so terrible to her. The cool thing is that Sister L didn't know if she really needed to go home, so she and Sister Kynaston did a fast while we were on exchanges in Midland to try and get an answer about that. Well, she did get an answer and it was that she needed to go home. Also, in the mission, they have been trying something new. Instead of having Junior and Senior companions, we are taking turns each week to drive the cars, lead planning session, lead lessons, and basically just being the "Senior" companion every other week. These Sisters kind of took it the wrong way and completely started getting on each other's nerves every time one of them would try to lead out on their week. It was just a huge mess, so since my two companions in Midland are the Sister Training Leaders over these other Sisters, we all made a trek to Andrews and did a little exchange with them to assess the situation. Long story short, Sister L went home yesterday and we were all very happy for her because she was just so miserable in the mission and now she can be at home with her family and her regular doctors so they can hopefully get this figured out. So, we were thinking Sister Kynaston would just join us in Midland for the last week of the transfer and we would have two companionships in Midland, because we needed the help. But on our way back to Midland, we got a call from President Heap, asking for some counsel on what should be done about this situation from my companions. We were in a store called Porter's (the only grocery store in Andrews) and I was looking at Jesus shirts when my companions drop their mouths and looked at me with wide eyes. So, I was wondering what was going on and they told me that President wanted me to go to Andrews and that he was very confident in my ability to get the work moving again and to help Sister Kynaston and he actually said that I was a hard worker and that he knew it would be so good for the area! I just started crying because I thought I was doing a terrible job! It was an amazing witness to me that I am supposed to be here at this time so I can do certain things that the Lord needs me to do, right now it's come to Andrews and help Sister Kynaston get the work moving! So, I'm in Andrews! A little teeny town with three major stores: Porter's, Shopko, and Beals (pronounced Bells, it's a clothing store). If we want to go to Walmart, we need to go to Odessa, so there's that! Anyway, I'm so happy to be here in Andrews and I'm really excited because I already met a family earlier this week and the husband got called to be the new Branch President! They are the Mcarthurs and they are AMAZING!! They made all five of us (when we came on exchanges) their famous Avocado Milk Shakes and they had Soy Milk for me!! I was seriously so happy. I'm getting the recipe for it because it is so good!! I love you all very very much! Keep being amazing and I would love to hear any mission experiences y'all have in Utah!! Thank you! Love, Sister Heather Overson PS - My address is 101 Teakwood Dr. Apt H Andrews, TX 79714 And they can forward all the mail I get in Midland, so it won't be a big deal if there was anything send to the other address! :)
Hello My Good Family and Friends! This week has been. . . a week. We do this thing called “Exchanges” where the Sister Training Leaders for our area have us over for kind of a sleepover, during one week out of the transfer, for 24 hours. We usually go finding (knocking on doors), to appointments set with investigators, and do service with the Sister Training Leaders. It really gives us the opportunity to get away from our companion for a minute or two and talk about what's going on in our area, what's going on in the companionship, and just to kind of ask our Sister Training Leaders questions about how we can become better missionaries/companions. That's all fine and dandy, but guess what?? My wonderful, beautiful, amazing companions ARE the Sister Training Leaders!! So, we have Sisters come to OUR apartment and stay overnight, and we had BACK TO BACK exchanges this week. It was kind of insane. We had exchanges with the Andrews, Texas Sisters Tuesday to Wednesday, and the Monahans, Texas Sisters Wednesday to Thursday. And to be honest, by the end of it, we were all EXHAUSTED. But it was really, really good. Even though I'm not a Sister Training Leader, I was able to help some of the Sisters work through their problems and help strengthen them. It was altogether a very stressful, but super duper fun experience. Because my companions are Sister Training Leaders for four different sets of missionaries, we get to have Sisters over for exchanges all the time! Something kind of extraordinary happened this week. On Friday, we randomly got a call from a lady named Sydney [last name withheld to protect the innocent ;) ]. She talked to Sister Missionaries over a YEAR ago, still had the number for our phone, and called us to see if we would be willing to come and help her pack up boxes so she could move out of her house. It was kind of insane, first of all, that she had our number still, and second, because she was willing to have us in her home, helping her out! She told us that the other Sisters said they knew how to pack boxes and put pants on, so she remembered that and decided to give us a call. We were all super excited to go talk to this lady! . . . Then we went to her house and found out she was a hoarder. Which is totally okay! But, we do wish she would have given us a fair warning so we could specifically pray for help getting all that stuff out of her house. What was mind boggling for me, is that she told us she had already filled up TWO 40 foot long storage units full of stuff and her house was still piled with stuff!! Ahh!! Anyway, we set to work and started with the garage. She seriously had a hard time throwing anything away. She did have a sort of garage sale for some of her stuff so she got rid of some of it and was willing to take a lot of it to Goodwill, but she really had a hard time throwing anything in the garbage - even just straight trash! Sydney was seriously the nicest lady, though. She was willing to feed us lunch AND dinner while we were there helping! She also wanted to pay us, but we weren't about to let that happen ;) For lunch, she bought us all Firehouse Subs - I had a delicious tuna sandwich - and we sat in her front yard and talked while we ate. We asked her about her religious background and said she was going to the Second Baptist church here in Midland, but that she was afraid of finding a new "church home" in where she was moving to (a lot of people here call their churches "church homes", just meaning the church they go to in that area because there are very VERY few that are the exact same thing wherever you go in the world - it's almost like our church is true or something, weird!) So we decided to tell her about some of the things that we believe, and she was very intrigued to hear our [own individual families] are happy families and that our parents aren't divorced, and that the church was so strongly centered on the Family. It really made me very grateful for my family and how close we all are, and I am so SO grateful for you, Mom and Dad, for sticking together when things get rough and that, even though you aren't perfect, you still love each other and you still support each other! You are such a good example to me, and to Danny and Emily! Anyway, we worked at Sydney's house from 10 AM to about 4:30 PM and we were so done. It was really frustrating trying to sort through things and she wasn't letting us throw anything away (She TOTALLY had a Nintendo 64 game console and. . . Satan was really working hard on me, but I prevailed! ;) ) But the thing that stood out to me the most is how completely VOID her house was of the Holy Ghost. As soon as we stepped inside, the Spirit was GONE. In D&C 97:15, Jesus Christ is telling us this, "And inasmuch as my people build a house unto me in the name of the Lord, and do not suffer any unclean thing to come into it, that it be not defiled, my glory shall rest upon it" and in verse 16, "Yea, and my presence shall be there, for I will come into it, and all the pure in heart that shall come into it shall see God." Now, I'm not saying that we need to keep our homes spotless all the time 24/7, because that is literally impossible, especially with young kids, and a busy life, but I am saying that keeping the house clean and cleaning it every once in awhile is a good thing. Not hoarding things and keeping your living quarters de-cluttered can really invite the Spirit of God into your house! We have felt that here in Midland, Texas! After the double exchanges, our apartment was a MESS and we didn't get a chance to clean it until this morning, but we all feel so much better when we step into the clean apartment. We can all focus better and most of all, we can better receive answers to questions we have asked God because the Holy Ghost can dwell there! It's incredible how something that seems so worldly can affect your spirituality so much! I'm honestly so SO grateful to be on a mission right now. I'm so grateful that I get to see the blessings from taking this time away from my life to completely serve my Father in Heaven and bring others closer to our Redeemer and Savior, Jesus Christ. I couldn't be in a better place right now and I am so blessed to be helping other people and to be able to actually SEE the help I'm providing! It's amazing to see how people can change when they are living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They begin to be happy again, they begin to laugh again, they smile all the time! The relationships they have with their family grow stronger and they grow closer to each other as they grow closer to God. Life is so much better with the Gospel and I am so grateful for being able to be one who shows people how to gain that for themselves. I love this Gospel so much! And I love you all so much! I say these things in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen! Love, Sister Heather Overson PS - it was Gummy Bear day last Friday, so I thought I would include some pictures of the most delectable gummy bears EVER - they're called Albinese (Albanese) gummy bears, I think? And they are not like normal gummy bears at all, they're so much better and you all should eat some ;) Also, the picture of the three humans with me on the bottom is a "three generation" picture because the top human, Sister Hughes, trained Sister Slater and Sister Slater is training me! So, we thought that was cool ;)
Heather's Mom: I had to look this hashtag up - it's supposedly from a movie called Friday - not a sponsor ;) - anyway, it's a quote when an annoying neighbor asks to borrow too much stuff. ???
We went to Texas Road Houseon Wednesdayand did the Wild WestWednesdaything - TEXAS ROAD HOUSE IN TEXAS HOW AWESOME IS THAT!! Anyway, we had steak and it was exceedingly delicious and here are some pictures :)
So, a miracle happened this week. I was starting to run out of my prescription medications and needed to order refills for them, but I totally forgot last Tuesday while emailing and started to freak out. But them we remembered that one of my companions, Sister Udall had to go back to the library to to something called MyPlan for departing missionaries so they don't get home and be a bump on a log. So, I emailed the prescription lady and then prayed so hard that it would go through quickly and that there would be no problems, but of course, I didn't have prescription numbers for two out of the three I needed to refill. I was also worried about them having to send the package to Texas instead of Sandy, UT. We had to go to the library the day after that as well because Sister Udall was way behind in her MyPlan. The entire way to the library, my heart was pounding and I was just about to have an anxiety attack, but we got to the library and lo and behold, the lady emailed me back, told me it was just fine to send them to Texas, and that because I had all the other right numbers, I didn't need the Rx numbers for the other two and that my Mom had paid for them and they were on their way!! I screamed internally, screamed externally, and then immediately said a prayer of gratitude to my Heavenly Father! It was incredible. I needed to email them about it a week previously and was quickly running out and it just would have been a huge mess without them and it was just a miracle that whole thing happened. It made me think of Philippians4:13- "I can do all things through Christ which strentheneth me." That is so true! If there is ever a time where you think you can't do something, think again because no matter how tough you think the trials ahead of you are, think instead of the power behind you.
Apparently grass doesn't exist in Texas! Okay, that's a lie, but it's very VERY rare that you see a lawn with actual, green, healthy, grass. It's either just full of weeds, or full of crab grass, but since people can't get regular grass to grow, they feed and nourish the crab grass :/
Yes, those two beautiful young ladies are my companions :) The one with the straight dark brown hair is Sister Udall. She is from Las Vegas, but moved to Moapa Valley (still in Nevada) and has lived there for many years before coming on a mission. She is almost done with her mission! This is her last transfer and then she's going home! She is really sad/nervous about it. She didn't do any college before coming and she just applied at BYU and recently received revelation about going into Photo Journalism as a major. So, she's not as nervous anymore, but still sad to go. The other one with the amazingly beautiful curly hair is Sister Slater. She does an amazing impersonation of Jimmy Stewart and we joke about it all the time! She is also obsessed with the Grinch with Jim Carey and we quote it exceedingly. Especially in the morning, "But what would I wear?!" and "That's it, I'm not going!" and then during daily planning, "5 o'clock, solve world hunger - TELL NO ONE. Six o'clock, dinner with me - I can't cancel that again!! 7 o'clock, stare into the abyss. . . I'M BOOKED!" She is from Lindon, UT and my mom is SO meeting her when I get back!! She is also 9 months into her mission; so we are the birth, the mid-life crisis, and death! They are both hilarious and we have many shenanigans together. All day. Everyday. They seriously keep me going.
I miss my kitties, but we actually have a couple houses that have kitties that like to play with me and let me love them! Jennifer and Randy are investigators we have had for a while and Jennifer works at PetSmart as the person who lets the dogs out into the little run around area inside to get their wiggles out if people don't come and walk them (we do that occasionally) and giving them all food etc. So, they have several dogs and two kitties, one is a white Siamese named Casper - he loves to come up to me and just rub against my legs, play with my bag etc! The other one is a girl, a calico, but mostly white and I forgot her name, but she is super duper playful. She loves to chew on my pencils and pens and get in my bag and lay in it - they make me really happy :) The other person who has kitties is a woman named Crystal Lloyd. Her husband has always been a member, she is a convert of 7 years and is just a little younger than you. They have three children, Caitlyn (12) who is ready to be baptized, Tristan (6), and Logan (4). Last time we saw them, Tristan had that minecraft shirt on that is exactly like Danny's! The grey one with the grass - yeah, it was cool. Anyway, their inside cat's name is Sheba and she has serious bipolar issues. One second she will be totally lovey and the next she'll hiss and swipe at you - she's super old and kind of reminds me of Cricket except she's not afraid to hurt you. Their outside kitten is Luna - she's all black and is super teeny and skinny! I think she might have worms, but she looks pretty healthy besides the weight issues. I think she might be as old as our kitten, Link (9 months old)
Have a blessed week, y'all! (That's my attempt at speaking like a Texan)
I am seriously loving it here in Texas. Everyone is so nice and courteous! And, the best part about it is that everyone wants to talk about Jesus, so we can go up to random strangers and say, "Hey, do you want a picture of Jesus?" and give them a pass-along card ;) It's great!
So, I'm sorry, in advance for anything that I might repeat in this email because I can't really remember what I put in the last one, but that's okay because all the things I want to include will definitely be things that should be heard twice anyway!
First of all, I LOVE my mission president and his wife! They are absolutely amazing! It makes me really sad that they will be leaving the mission in a year and that they won't be sending me home, but I know there will be someone even better than they are that replaces them (if that's even possible). I guess they only serve for three years as a mission president, and that time is up! Also, one of my companions, Sister Udall, is going home soon and she is really having a hard time with that. I really sincerely hope that will be my attitude when I come up on 18 months.
So, I'm not sure if I talked about them at all, but there are these amazing people named Adrian (husband) and Dakota (wife) and their brand new one month old baby, Luna. A couple transfers ago, the sisters knocked on their door and started teaching them and they were baptized last Saturday!!! The amazing thing is, that they are so converted, it's insane! There are so many people within the church that don't have a love for attending church and a love for the gospel in the same way as they do. The baptism was so beautiful! It was pretty funny, because Adrian has a huge tattoo on his right arm and he was very VERY self conscious about it when he put on his jumpsuit. But, no one stared at it. No one whispered about it behind his back. No one said anything to him about it. All the people who came to the baptism were just so excited for the both of them to be joining the church and that they would be clean of all their sins. It's really sad that it's not like that in the church everywhere you go, just because we're all human and we're not perfect. I wish it could be like that everywhere, and that's how it should be! I am just astounded at the love everyone has for everyone here in Texas. There are exceptions, as there are everywhere, but it's so nice!
The next day, Sunday, Adrian and Dakota were a little late to sacrament meeting, which worried us all a little, but they were confirmed as the newest members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost! THAT was amazing. Since it was fast and testimony meeting, Adrian got up and bore his testimony and sang a song at the end (he is a classically trained opera singer!) called "A Poor Wayfaring Stranger" - you all need to look that song up right now and listen to it because it is amazing. In one version, Ed Sheeran sings it and one of my companions actually had it on her USB, so we listened to that after church and it was just as amazing as when Adrian sang it!
Last P-day was so stressful because we had to do so many things and then it just stretched out into the rest of the week last week. We were just hitting the pillow any time we were home, but it was the best week I have had in a long, long time. So many incredible things happened, I witnessed so many miracles, and I got to spend some serious quality time with my companions and we got to know each other really well! On Tuesday, we saw a woman named Angela, who was a referral from someone in the ward. She is middle-aged and she has two kids, one son in college, and one son who is going into 5th grade. We had never seen her before this, but when we got there, she had a plate of cookies waiting for us to take home! Also, before that, we went to Pizza Hut for lunch and had tons of pizza in the car. And THEN we went to dinner with the Beckstrom family in the ward and they gave us all the leftover food to take home! So, on the way to a less active family in the ward, we gave away a bunch of food to some homeless people standing on the side of the freeway and such. It was really funny because we were all so excited to give them food and they were kind of taken back by that!
Wednesday was Zone Conference and Pres. and Sister Heap came and both them and other leaders in the Zone instructed us on different topics. Two words: mind. blown. President Heap is so good at instructing and he had us all crying at the end because we felt the Spirit so strongly! After that, we started what are called "exchanges". Since my two companions are the Sister Training Leaders for a couple different zones, every week (just about) we do exchanges with another companionship in the zone. This week, Sisters Crosby and Matheson came to our apartment and stayed with us for one night and then went back to their zone. The purpose is so my companions can see if there are any problems with the companionship etc. I was really worried about it at first (I have no idea why), but I soon got to love it!
On Thursday, we walked dogs for PetSmart. It really worked out to be on exchanges because Sister Slater is allergic to cats and dogs and it would have been bad, but she was with Sister Crosby doing a different service opportunity! The dog I had was named Kenzie and she was INSANE. Once we got outside, she was better, and it was very very hot that day so she got tired pretty quickly. Also, I got to hold a two month old calico kitten! She had worms really badly just a few weeks ago, so she really was very tiny and everyone on the staff thought she was going to die, but she pulled through and now she's just working on gaining a little weight (it totally reminded me of little ReyRey!)
After that, we were able to mow an investigator's lawn for him for his birthday! That was really fun.
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY YESTERDAY!! We had so much fun. We were running around like chickens with their heads cut off, but it was so great! At the end of the day, we went to do some service for a 4th of July event put on by the Chamber of Commerce in Midland. We helped to prepare for it earlier last week, but this was the actual event. They gave us a golf cart, free t-shirts, and some garbage bags and we were just supposed to ride around and check the trash cans and replace them when they needed to be replaced! So, we didn't do that for very long when it started to rain. Hard. We got completely soaked!! The t-shirts we were wearing were bright, neon green and because of the rain, it totally stained my bra and my garments!! They're in the wash right now, so I'm hopeful, but I guess we'll see! On our way home, the streets flooded and we had to find different routes home because it had rained so hard and Texas doesn't have drainage systems. But we rolled the windows down after it stopped raining and it was so warm and wonderful! Yeah, yesterday was pretty much the best day ever.
Anyway, I hope you all have a great week and please, if you have any awesome missionary stories, I would love to hear them! Even if you didn't serve a mission, you have mission stories. Also, it might be better to mail them to me since I have a limited amount of time to email and read emails. My Mom has the address of my apartment. Thank you so much! I love you all!
I seriously can't even believe how amazing this place is!
I was assigned to the Midland area (anyone have any relatives/people they know in Midland, TX?) I have two companions in this transfer, which is actually quite amazing and I love them both so much! Their names are Sister Slater and Sister Udall. The funny thing is that I am just starting my mission, Sister Slater just hit 9 months on Wednesday, and this is Sister Udall's last transfer!
The members and the people here are amazing! Every time we go to a different member's house to eat dinner, it always ends up being amazingly delicious food (we had TWO dinners last night actually) and the members are just good people and are so willing to help us out with anything! It really gets amazing when we're able to share a spiritual message with them at the very end, because the Spirit is so strong and we are able to strengthen the family and fulfill our purpose as a missionary!
I was really dumb today and read and responded to the 19+ emails I got first and THEN decided to write my weekly email, so I don't have a ton of time to write right now, but just know that I finally got a really strong confirmation from God last night at an investigator's house that I am supposed to be on a mission. The amazing thing is that at the same time, the investigators, Adrian and Dakota (they're married and just had a baby at the beginning of this month), got a really really strong confirmation they are supposed to be baptized! It was just altogether the most amazing experience I have EVER had in my entire life.
I am more grateful than anyone will ever know for this opportunity to be here in Texas on my mission. I have had so many great experiences and I am so thankful for this gospel and the chance I have to share it with the world!!
I love you all and I hope you have a great week! I promise I'll be better next time and write this thing first, THEN respond to emails :) Then I can have pictures etc. for everyone!
Heather (Left) her Mission President and his wife, Pres. and Sister Heap, along with the new missionaries. Lubbock Texas, June 20, 2016
She has landed in Lubbock! Heather's flight to Texas landed June 20, at noon. Her mission mom was kind enough to send us a photo of her along with all of the new missionaries for the area.
She called us at 6 am that morning and sounded delighted, excited, and so very confident. Her first words were, "I'm serious when I say that I didn't truly understand the gospel until I went to the MTC." This made me wonder what I missed in teaching her, and then I wondered if there was something that I myself was missing in my understanding of the gospel! But I think her knowledge was expanded while she was learning, 12 hours a day, 6 days a week for the past 3 weeks!
We were able to talk for almost an hour. She told us a little about the missionaries who are heading to Texas with her. One that stood out to me was a young man who is a convert, and his parents are completely against his being on a mission. They do not support him in any way. They did write to him a couple of times, but that's it. It has been so difficult for Heather to leave home and commit her time to serving the Lord for a year and a half. I can't imagine how much harder that would be if we did not support her, financially, spiritually, mentally. It made my heart ache.
She is definitely in "The Mission Zone" - a state of mind in which everything is focused on the gospel. I tried to talk to her about some of the things going on here, and she was interested, but not completely into the conversation, because she is focused. The phone call made me realize that there truly is a mantle that is placed upon these missionaries, if they are doing it right, and that she is being given extra gifts of the Spirit.
People keep asking me if I'm okay with Heather not being here. Of course I'm okay!!! She is exactly where she needs to be, where she wants to be, and most importantly, where the Lord wants her to be! I am more than okay! Heather has had many friends go through some serious challenges in their lives because of the choices that they have made: one friend even committed suicide after being bullied to the point of pulling a trigger. Heather is serving the Lord; has put everything on hold so that the good people of the Texas Lubbock Mission. can know who they are and what God has planned for them. Yes, I am definitely okay.
I do miss her. I think about her multiple times a day. I thank God each time I think of her for allowing her to be my daughter!
She is in Texas, finally! And so begins, Heather's adventures in Lubbock!!!!
