Welcome Home Elder Heaton

Elder Heaton, WELCOME HOME!

Elder Heaton Picture Update.

New photos from Elder Heaton

Elder Heaton has been transferred to Downtown Bacolod City after being in Kabankalan for 6 months.  These pictures are a mix of the old area and the new.  He is still ZL and is loving his mission! (...in case you can't tell!)

Elder Heaton.

Elder Heaton has been in the same area for 6 months now.  He loves it and never wants to leave!  He is also a zone leader right now.  He loves his mission!

New photos from Elder Heaton

Elder Heaton's newest investigator... and a few more recent pictures.

Never hurts to practice your door approach...

 

...At least he kept an open mind...

Charcoal faces at the Sinulog Festival...

Merry Christmas from Elder Heaton

I love you all and wish you all a Very Merry Christmas. Let us all remember the spirit of Christmas isn't about gifts. But about our Savior, Jesus Christ. Remember, he was born on a "silent night" in the most humble of situations. I love you all!!
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-Elder Heaton

Philippines Bacolod Mission

Elder Heaton's Year Mark!

Elder Heaton has been a missionary for 1 year officially!

Elder Heaton's New Friends... ;) ...and a few updates...

(The Real Friends...)

Yeah my mission president is an amazing man. I love him. He's just called me to be a district leader and trainer so I get a greenie fresh from the states! haha but it will be interesting. so elder stokes {companion} is transferring. elder nasis and headman are also leaving so I'll be getting 3 new elders in the house. so we will see what will happen. im excited. a bit nervous for the new leadership but i know with the Lord's help I can do it. I'm loving the work.

The work is going well I am really learning to make and acheive goals. Goals are way important. it helps give us direction in life. in the things we are doing. I wonder if that's why some of us don't progress to our full potential. We find excuses instead of ways. I once told my companion. A good missionary finds ways not excuses. So effective goals and planning for goals is extremely important. Without them we don't receive revelation for ourselves our work or anything else. Goals are what the Lord has given us to help us find what we want in life. It is in the setting and achieving of goals that we progress to happiness, wealth, health, success, and even godly perfection. I have strong testimony that goals help us to move along with life and not get stuck into a plateau. God's plan is a plan of progressing. Being better than you were yesterday. I know thats true.

Being a representative of the Lord is even better but like all things it bring lots of responsibility. if I don't do what im supposed to do or what Christ would do how on earth can I get them to hear this message of truth? How can I show them that what I'm teaching are the words of Christ? Like in spider man, "with great power comes great responsibility" how true it is. We have seen some amazing things here and I don't think that they will stop. I'm loving this work and loving all I'm doing.

Elder Heaton in Week 38 of his mission.

Well I've been here for quite some time and now I understand the poem Brother Leslie shared with us at the mtc. "To some there comes a call to love a land, a race, a nation, not their own.." This place really is home now. I love it so much. There is nothing like this work it truly grabs a hold of you and takes you away. You get lost in it. It's like I'm out working Wednesday, then the next morning, I'm emailing all of you. The time is zooming by just as I said it has and predicted that it would go faster. 

I realize the importance of loving the people everyday. Because these aren't just a bunch of filipinos. They are my brothers and sisters. In the plan of Heavenly Father, we are his family he wants us all to be with him. How can it happen if there isn't any missionary work? Temple work? Or a restored gospel? How can the Lord be merciful if everyone doesn't have an opportunity to hear the gospel? That is why we are here. "to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end" 

I love this work so much. It has brought me so much joy there is nothing like it. There is nothing like it because this work is not of human its God's work here on earth. Think; Christ was a carpenter when he lived here. Isn't there divine symbolism there? He is building his masterpiece here on earth and we are his tool box. But tools don't mean a thing if they are broken. Therefore we must be our best and do our best. Strive for perfection and doing what the Lord wants. Not just as missionaries but as sons and daughters of God. I love you all and hope you take a moment and ponder what the Savior has done for you. How much he loves you and cares for you.

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-Elder Heaton

Philippines Bacolod Mission

Food and Fun in the Philippines...