Week 20

Holy cow the time flies! I got my scripture cases today!! They look awesome! I´ll have to take pictures to send in my email next week.. The guy that made them is a really good artist. I´m still waiting on my case for my hymn book! Ok, question and answer time.. By the way, I feel like I can´t spell in English anymore. ;P

1.  What was your most favorite experience this week?
Zone Conference! It was really fun.. President Arnold from the Seventy came and spoke to us. It was AWESOME!

2.  Has the weather warmed up?   Last Monday you were freezing when you were typing.
It is SO hot! And humid! Like, you sweat just sitting here and it doesnt leave..

3.  How was Zone Conference?
It was awesome! I got to see like 6 of the guys from my MTC group, it was really fun to catch up with them and hear their crazy stories! And.. I didnt know this, but President Callan got a letter from the missionary department saying I was being transferred to Billings, Montana! But he told them that I´m staying here.. Good thing!

4.  Did you eat any interesting food this week?
Paraguayo churrizo and Paraguayo tortilla with bits of churrizo in it.. Bleh! Its really really greasy and no matter how little or much you eat, you feel like dying.

What a week! A really hard week, not much success, but I still learned a lot.. Bernarda came back to Felipe (the story from last week) and their friends, Roberto and Nilsa bought a scooter so they can get to church! I think its next week, but they´re getting married and baptized! I´m really excited for them. This last Sunday we brought with us to church a family of 6 people! It was fun walking to church with them because everyone was staring at us, these two 6´3 white boys walking to church with a lady and her 5 kids.. We´re still working with the lady and her husband to stop smoking, they still havent come to church, but they will! I heard of a Paraguayo remedy to help you stop smoking, so we´re going to try it with them! We´re also helping a guy stop drinking so he can join his family and they can live together forever. Its hard to teach him because he doesnt speak a lot of Spanish, mostly Guaraní.

I had to speak in church yesterday! My first time.. It was fun, the Branch President told me I only had to speak for 7 minutes, but when they called me up, there was still 15 minutes to fill! I was a little nervous! But I did it, and I bore my testimony in Guaraní at the end. Everyone came up to me after that, thinking I was fluent in Guaraní! They told me I did really well and it was a nice message. I spoke on Charity and shared scriptures from Mosiah 2 and Moroni 7. So if you get the chance, read those chapters!

Last P-day we made tacos and all the fixins! Paraguayo avacado´s are huge! I made guacamole :) Bobby came and helped us, he´s the one teaching us Guaraní. His real name is Elias Martinez, but everyone calls him Bobby.. So if he adds you on facebook, add him! He´s awesome and he has really funny stories. Today, he drove us to a Brazilian restaurant that is in our area, but its like 30 miles down the road! Its way better than Tucanos and way cheaper! Plus its authentic.. We didnt do a whole lot today, its too hot to play soccer, so we´ve just been hanging out.

I´m kind of excited for the preparation part of P-day to be over because we get to go teach people! And it cools down a little bit. Its going to be a great week this week and I´m really excited for it! My Spanish is getting a lot better, I could have probably written this letter in Spanish, but it wouldnt do any good because you wouldnt be able to understand it.

Tell Colton and Josh congrats! Tell Blake to enjoy the MTC food while he can! He´ll be eating his own cooking for the next 2 years...

Last week, I wrote Shaunie a letter.. It took me about 3 hours to complete it because I tried to put some good advice in there, so hopefully she´ll get it sometime this week! :)

I love you all and hope you´re doing great! Have an awesome week!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 19 WHAT A WEEK!

Its freezing cold right now so its hard to type! I wish this weather would make up its mind.. This week was another great week! Lots of great experiences and learning! Che ro´y! Guaraní for ¨I´m cold!¨

1.  What was your favorite teaching experience this past week?
I was able to share with Hermano Rolón a couple verses from the Book of Mormon and bear my testimony to him in Guaraní! It definitely helped strenghen my testimony! Mosiah 24:14-15

 

2.  What was your furthest appt.(walking wise) that you had this week?
Just to Hermano Rolón.. Its about 2 miles out of town, but we went there a lot this week!

 

3.  Have you had to give any talks in church since you have been in Paraguay?
Nope! I think the Branch Presidency thinks I cant speak Spanish..

 

4.  Have you been buying the stuff you need to keep your weight/energy up?
Lots of eggs! We have a thing that grills sandwiches and I put eggs in it! I call it the Majic Man.

 

5.  Are you sleeping good, getting plenty of rest?
8 hours every night! Just what I need, but I wouldnt complain if they let us sleep in...

 

6.  What do you do on your P day's after you write your letters to your parents and your mission president?  Do you guys do any sightseeing?  Play Soccer?
We study for 2 hours in the morning, then email, then play soccer, buy groceries, and hang out until we gotta hit the doors at 6! Except here, we dont knock, we clap! Its really cool.

 

7.  Did all of your investigators from last week stick with you?  Any more baptism dates set?
Yes! Last week was really successful, a lot of people are progressing! We have a couple that are going to get married! They came to church about a month ago with some members and we´ve been teaching them ever since.. So they´re getting married and baptized soon! The lady doesnt have her papers though, so we´re helping track them down.

Our investigators that are getting close to baptism are named Roberto and Nilsa. They came to church about a month ago with some members, Felipe and Bernarda. Felipe and Bernarda have 3 kids and they live about 16 kilometers out of town, it takes an hour and a half to walk there! We only walked there once though, to teach Roberto y Nilsa.
Last Monday at 5 am, Bernarda called us asking for money because her mom was sick.. But as missionaries we cant give money to people so we asked if we could do something else for her.. A couple days later we called her back to see if we could come teach Roberto and Nilsa, and she said yes and told us what time they would be at her house and everything. So we were going to go out on Saturday to go teach them. On our way home Friday night we were walking passed the church and saw our Branch President´s car so we went and talked to him.. Then we asked if he could take us out to Felipe and Bernarda´s house so we could teach Roberto and Nilsa. President told us that Felipe called him on Monday and said that Bernarda left! She took the phone, all the money, and their oldest child.. What the heck! Thats definitely not what we were expecting.. So Felipe and Bernarda, the examples of our new investigators, Roberto and Nilsa, just had this huge event happen! Of course it scared Roberto and Nilsa about marriage and everything they´re changing their lives for.. I have a TON of respect for Felipe. He´s a convert of 4 months. It could be so easy for him to turn back to drinking and his old ways, but and probably one of the lowest points of his life, he turns to our Heavenly Father.. He helped Roberto and Nilsa keep their faith as well.. He put himself aside to help bring 2 of our Heavenly Father´s children draw themselvs closer to him. Felipe is awesome! I hope everything works out well for him.
I´m really excited to see what this week brings! We have a lot of new investigators, a few of them are families so that will be good! I learn more and more every day! I love it.. I started reading in the Pearl of Great Price yesterday in the book of Moses. That´s a powerful book! We can´t even comprehend how many worlds God has made, but he knows them all, he knows us all. To us, his creations are uncountable.. But He knows every single one of them individually. Wow!

Che aikuaa Ñandejara ñande haihuha ha´e oguéreko peteí plan ñandéve guára. Avei aikuaa Hesukrísto ha´eha ñande salvador ha´e omanó ñande rehehape. Che aikuaa Libro de Mormón ha´e añetegua, ha´e Ñandejara ñe´e. Che aikuaa ñande ikatú familia ñande kuéra ndi para siempre. Ko´á mba´e ha´e Hesukrísto rerápe, Amen.

¡Hay un poco Guaraní para ustedes! Espero que tengan un buen semana, ¡sé yo voy a tener un super bién semana! Pero, tengo que irme ya.. ¡Les extraño muchisimo!

¡Les Amo!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 18- 4 Months down!

How the heck does that happen! It feels like yesterday I entered into the MTC.. I remember a couple years ago reading Colton Woodruff´s email and him saying the same thing! About when he was on his mission for 4 months already.. The time really does fly by, especially when you stay busy! In 2 months, my mission will be one-fourth of the way over.. Yikes! This week was really awesome though! We have 22 new investigators total, and 4 that have baptismal dates and are preparing for the waters! Good stories from this week as well :) good ol´ Paraguay!

 

Questions and Answers!

1.   What was your best and most favorite experience this week?

There were a few.. We´re helping a couple stop smoking so the husband can get baptized, the wife´s already a member. We´re seeing the changes in people´s lives when they keep their commitments and live the Gospel.

2.    Is it baking hot there yet?

You have NO idea! And appearently its not even hot yet.. It rains a ton here too!

3.   Have you had any baptism committments?

Yep! 4.. Now we just need them to stick!

4.   How is the Days of our Lives saga with your young couple? 

She doesnt want to go to church because there was a Primary activity on Saturday, and her friends went to it with her.. Her friends had babies too and none of the babies got toys because they´re too small.. She´s a drama queen. And Isidro doesnt want to go to church either because he likes partying too much.

5.   Is there anything we can be doing from home?  Are you wanting handwritten letters? Dear Elder Letters?

I would love that! I can get Dear Elders every week! Letters are a little slow, so its up to you! I would love some pictures of my family! Whether through email or snail mail..

6.   Are you and Elder Shaw getting along?

Great! I´m learning a ton! I feel like I know enough to where I can lead.. Like with the knowledge of the Gospel and the Spanish! We speak a lot of Spanish and he actually lets me speak in the lessons! I like it a lot.

 

What a week! We´ve got a different couple that want to get baptized! They´re going to talk about marriage, so we´ll see how it goes! They´re really good friends with one of the families in our branch, so that helps a lot! Last week we walked like 6 or 7 miles so we could teach them, then the 6 or 7 miles back! It took a long time.. But it was worth it! When it rains here, it pours! I thought it rained a lot in the South.. not even close! After it rains for a good 10 seconds, you might as well go jump in a pool. It rained really hard yesterday so there was lots of water in the streets.. My companion an I were walking along, minding our own business, and I was soaking wet before I knew it! Someone drove by in a car and splashed us! They swerved so they could get us! Punks! I just laughed it off because I probably would have done the same thing.. So we got some pictures of it!

 

Before that, we had church.. and I witnessed my first scooter crash! People drive like idiots here.. There´s absolutely no law here. I felt bad about the wreck though because on one of the scooters was a lady in our ward, and her 2 daughters.. they were turning into the parking area and this guy tried to hurry around and pass them.. Idiot..

 

A few days before that, we were walking down the street to an appointment, and there were 3 guys that shook my hand. Pretty normal right? The last guy.. there was something different about him when I shook his hand, I look down.. oh! He didnt have any fingers!! Just thumbs and nubbs! I think he put a curse on me though, because later that day, yes it happens, I pooped my pants.. not bad, but still, it happened! They do voodoo here and I think he cursed me.. He had a crazy look in his eyes. But now, I´m officially a missionary! I guess you´re not as real missionary til you poop your pants..

 

Last Monday after P-day ended, we went to the Rolón family, the ones that live like 2 miles out of town.. On our way back it started to rain. By the time we got home, we were walking in water up to the middle of our shins! Its a good 40 minute walk from our house to the Rolón family´s house. But now, its just hot and humid! It gets up to 120 here! It hasnt since I´ve been here yet, but it will.. That´s the only part I´m not looking forward to..

 

We taught 39 lessons this week! We taught a lot of the Restoration.. That and the Plan of Salvation are my favorite to teach. And I love teaching families! Families can be together forever, but we need to take the path that Christ put. There´s so many churches that just think you get to Heaven through your faith and being ¨saved.¨ How does that work? Faith is great, and necessary, but faith without works is dead.. You can sit ALL day long and do nothing and say, I have faith, I´ll be taken care of. But nothing will happen unless you do something about it! For example: There´s 2 boys, one is a beggar, and the other is a shoe-shiner. They both pray to our Heavenly Father to be blessed with money, which one is more likely to get it? The shoe-shiner.. He´s the one working and trying to find a way to get the money. But the beggar isnt working for it, just relying on his ¨faith¨alone. So if we act on our faith, we´ll be blessed!

 

That´s about it for this week! I loved it! I´m glad to hear everyone is doing well, I hope you all have an awesome week this week!

I love you!!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 17

This week was a little slower than the others, but it still flew by! What a week! I´m glad you got to go meet Hermana Callan, she´s awesome! So is President.. This week had its ups and downs, but still a great week! They should make Days of Our Lives, Paraguay addition..

1.  What was your best experience this week?
Exercising the Power of the Priesthood!! Its crazy how it works, its the same Priesthood Christ used when he was on the Earth.. I have a story for later in the letter!

2.  What new things have you learned of your new companion?
Patience.. He´s a great guy! I was having a pretty tough week but he gave me some really good advice, it helped a lot. I speak Spanish now! FINALLY! We speak a lot of Spanish and I´m teaching a lot in lessons.

3.  Has the young couple gotten married?  Do we need to help pay for the license for them to      marry?  (Sister Callan talked to us about how many people just don't marry because it's so expensive to get divorced!). Not that we want to make it a habit every week but I think we could help this time.  Do what you need to.  Make sure it is what they want and that you feel good about their commitment.
This is why they should have Days of Our Lives here... Oh the drama between Rumilda and Isidro! I love them to death.. They broke up last week, but were back together the next day. I don´t know why because she said she is CERTAIN she´s not marrying him, but she doesnt want her daughters to grow up without a dad. So I don´t know whats going to happen with them :´(

4.  How many 1st discussions did you teach this week?
Like 20! Serously.. We teach that lesson the most, but its the most important one of all. Thats why the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is so unique, its Christ´s Church.. The same EXACT one that he established when he was on the Earth. Its been fully restored. If you don´t believe it, pray about it. And FOLLOW it!

5.  How many members come to your ward?  Do you serve in more then one ward?
We serve in a branch, its about a mile away from our apartment. There´s about 75 members and they´re really tight with each other. Its an awesome place!

6.  How much interaction do you have with the ward mission leader?
A lot! Yesterday after we had lunch with him (every Sunday) we walked about 4 miles to teach our new investigators.. We´ve been teaching them at the church. But he´s awesome! He always calls me Cochino or Kururusha.. He´s really funny! He´s 36 and he has 10 kids, so I fit in great because I come from a big family! Cochino means pig, like a slob; and Kururusha means ugly like a frog. Choncho means pig, so the little fat kid on Nacho Libre, yeah they´re calling him pig. Kururusha is Guaraní.. Anyways!

Great week! We only had like 33 lessons, but they were really good. Evelio (the parylized guy) is SO close to getting baptized! 2 of his kids are getting baptized. He said he´s been looking into different churches for the past couple years, and one day, two 19 year old young men come and start teaching him.. he said he´s never doubted his religion until now.. He´s 48 years old. He says he wants to get baptized, but doesnt want to set a date.. Its frustrating at times!
I remember my first couple days here, there was an inactive member that we went to, and she was starting to get sick.. 2 months later, my new companion and I go visit her and she looked absolutely terrible. She could hardly talk, or even get out of bed. She said she had been sick for the past 3 months, so we gave her a Priesthood blessing. We didnt really think anything of it until we went back a couple days later.. She was outside, she had music playing, she was working and cleaning her place up! Back to normal, good as new.. She looked like she was about to die when we went and visited her the first time. I don´t know how Priesthood blessings work, but they do!
We´ve been trying to find new investigators, but its been really hard for some reason.. But we´re not giving up! This is people´s salvation we´re talking about here! Thats a big deal! Help the missionaries! Go help them with their investigators! Treat them how you would want your missionary to be treated.
This week, 5 out of 7 days, I had the same thing for lunch. The Paraguay menu isnt very big. There´s a lot of rice, meat, and noodles. And parasites... There´s a lot of emenada´s here too and those are really good! Easy to make too. I thought Paraguay food would be like Mexico.. Nope! They hate spicy stuff, a lot of the food here doesnt have a whole lot of flavor, but it does its job. I´ve lost weight! Yikes! I´m not sure how much I weigh, but I´m swimming in my shirts and my suit jackets! And its really, really... REALLY hot here! So I´ll be losing more weight I´m sure.. :(
There´s a lot of really good people here.. I love them. They really would give you the very last of their food, just because you´re their guest. They give up their chairs for you, even if you´ve never met them before. They´re really kind people. I love it here! I´ll be walking down the road and EVERYONE is playing their music super loud, then you get to the next house and its a different song. They listen to Reggeton and Hip Hop, its really cool. They listen to a lot of Enrique Iglesies and Pitbull, so Mom, you would love it here!
I got a gift from a guy who is inactive.. He lives about 2 miles out of town with his wife and 2 kids. We´re having Family Home Evening with them tonight. He gave me a dagger! Haha! A Paraguayo dagger with a leather sheith! Its super cool.. es puréte! Tonight for FHE with them, I´m making french toast and we´re watching the Restoration DVD. They´ve never even heard of french toast! Ahh! I love french toast.. Anyways, its going to be another great week with my new companion! I asked him if he knows the Curtis´ but he said he didnt.. I guess Eagle is a really big place.. He said he knows Jake and Brock though! Welp, I gotta write President for the weekly report now!
I love you all and I hope you have and awesome week!!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 16

Another week down! WOW! It sounds like everything is going awesome back at the home front. SO good to hear that!!
Question time!

1.  How did your transfer go?
It went well! I learned a lot about the Gospel and lots of Spanish! And Guaraní!

 

2.  How do you like you companion?
He´s cool, definitely not a weirdo so thats good!

 

3.  How long has he been out?  Where is he from?   Give us some details about him!!
He´s from... Eagle, Idaho! We both graduated last year, but he´s been in Paraguay for 8 months! He went to BYU-I before the mission too and he knows a few of the same people I do.

 

4.  Are you still the Junior Companion?
Yes.. I think I´ll be junior companion for a while, not sure how long though!

 

5.  How is the weather?  Are you staying warm?

It was HOT! But now its cold again.. But I´m staying warm, I didn´t buy a new coat because the one I have is working fine.

 

6.  What kinds of food do you buy at the store?
I can pretty much buy anything at the store, except for the food I´m used to.. Like peanut butter, normal bread, normal milk and other dairy products.. but they sell meats and stuff like that. Its really different here though, it doesnt taste the same. The store we buy from is like a Paraguayo Paul´s.

 

7.  Besides eating lunch with members,   Do you and your companion cook at all?
We make breakfast, like eggs and french toast and stuff.. OH! I need Mapoline for syrup.. They only sell vanilla extract here..

 

8.  Do you have enough money for what you need?
Yeah I do. I had to use my personal card a few times, so I dont know how much is on it.

 

9.  Is it true that in Paraguay "Elder" means like old man?  When I send your package today do I write "Elder" or "E" on it?
Anciano means old man, or elderly person, but Elder means missionary, kind of. Its not a Spanish word so they dont really understand the meaning of it.. Everyone knows who we are! I love it.

I was looking through my pictures the other day and I realized that I olny have 1 picture with Elder Patterson! Poop. But I´ll be sure to take more with Elder Shaw! We´re playing soccer today with the other Elders in our district. Its rainy and muddy outside right now, and kind of cold.. Its yucky.

Lets see.. This week we WORKED! I thought Elder Patterson and I worked a lot, but not even close to how hard we work now.. I´ve already learned a ton from Elder Shaw and he´s only been my companion for a week! I´ve been teaching a lot more in our lessons so its been really good. Rumilda said she doesnt want to get married anymore, but she is. Like, she wants to, but doesnt want to go through the process.. which isnt even that hard here. Isidro wants to get married still. I asked him if he wants his daughters to come back and visit after they move out, he obviously said yes.. I taught him how its the same with our Heavenly Father, but he doesnt want us to come back alone, he wants us to come back with our families. Thats another reason why Temples are so important!! I would go to the Temple every day if I could! So go do work for those who cant dang it! Familes are soooo important. Friends come and go, but you´re with your family forever.. theyre the most important people in our lives. So follow Christ´s teachings with your families so you can be with them forever! That just came into my mind, I didnt say that to Isidro.. We also started teaching Rumilda´s aunt and her husband, who live right next door to them, and they really liked the Restoration.. thats what we taught. So they´re excited for us to come back! I´m excited to go back and teach them! We have a lot of new investigators we´ve been teaching. We were teaching a lady and her nephew, but they refused to go to church.. they want to get baptized and follow Christ and say they have faith, but theyre not doing anything about it. Faith without works is dead. We´re not blessed through our faith alone.. we need to ACT on our faith to recieve the blessings!
We´ve gone back to the Casco family (the people with the monkey) and they said to come back during the day so we can see him better and feed him and what not. They´re an inactive family.. I think they´re inactive because someone offended them. To not go to church, it should be because of something God did to offend you.. Not because of someone else. Anyways, I´ll have more pictures of Moni! the monkey.. You can buy monkeys here for 100 mil guaranís. Thats like $25!  I havent really had any crazy stories this week.. We had a couple people try to tell us that our church is just like everyone else´s.. Thats the thing though, its not our church.. we just worship in it. Its the Church of JESUS CHRIST, his church. Its the same today as it was when he first established it. Its been restored to its fulness through Joseph Smith, a Prophet of God.. Thats the difference between this church and everyone else´s.
Hermana Callan is awesome! Go see her if you can! I got to talk to her for like 30 minutes a few weeks ago while we were doing interviews. You will love her if you go meet her! I love the Callans! I wish President was going too, but he´s kind of a big deal here..
I´ll try and write letters today! Even P-Days are busy.. I have pictures to send too! And if you send anything, it doesnt matter how big or small.. If its a package, just put a picture of the Virgin Mary on it.. you could probably get those from a Mexican restaurant or something.
I love you all so much! I hope you have an awesome week!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 15

My first change is over! Holy Cow! This is flying by!! Tell Ty felicidades para su llamamiento a México!! He´s gonna love learning Spanish!
Ok, so to answer the questions..I like this idea by the way!

Does Elder ? Patterson have a first name?
Cale Wallace Patterson

 

How many siblings does he have?  Are his parents living?  (You know some Elder's and Sister's don't all have both parents in their lives for one reason or another.)
Yes, both his parents are living.. His dad works for a department of transprotation for trucking and his mom teaches 3rd grade.

 

What has been his favorite area?  What was his worst area?  Like weather, climate, living conditions etc.
Caaguazú is his favorite area so far.. Nicest people and pention. I dont remember his least favorite area.. I think he liked them all.

 

Does he know Jay and Laurie Jenks in Logan?  Jay is my cousin.
He said he doesnt know them.. 

 

How much longer does he have on his mission?  He sure looks like a nice guy from the photo you sent.
He finishes his mission December 1st.

 

How is your tummy/intestinal tract doing? Is it getting better?  Do you feel like you have a parasite?  If so, what do they tell you to do for it?  Should you be drinking a Coke a day to get rid of it?
We´re not allowed to drink Coke in our mission :( But yeah, at times I feel fine, but there's definitely food that uh.. you know. Like Rumilda's empenadas from last night... I dont know if I have a parasite yet, I cant tell. I dont think so because I havent lost my appetite, but I have lost a little weight, just from walking and the heat.

 

I'm sorry that I haven't sent you any packages yet.  I'm just worried you are not going to get them.  The gals said to send small packages and the mission office will take the small packages with regular mail that comes through weekly.
Packages are great! I love them! You can send pretty much anything here, just put a picture of the Virgin Mary on the box and no one will mess with it.. Latins are really superstitious like that. If you do send a package, POR FAVOR send skittles and other sweet American candy like that :D

 

How long do you think that you will be where you are now with Elder Patterson?
Its funny you ask this question... It was anticipated that E' Patterson and I were going to be working together for 12 weeks, so we should have another 6 weeks together. Well, this morning during study, President Callan called, and he's moving E' Patterson to Pilar to be a zone leader :( Pilar is in the middle of nowhere. So I get a new companion on Wednesday! I know nothing about him, but he looks like a pretty nice guy. I'm going to miss E' Patterson!

This week was another good week! Paraguay played Uraguay for some huge cup.. I guess its like the Super Bowl of South America, so the whole country was pretty much shut down for like 3 hours.. So we studied! People would pass us in the streets and say, "Paraguay, right?" If we say no, I think we get shot.. I dont know how they roll with that here.
We found like 8 new investigators this last week! It was awesome. Lots of families, so hopefully our branch will be growing here in the next few weeks! We found an older lady that has a lot of her grandkids that live close and a son that lives with her.. We taught the son for the first time, 2 days ago. He's 29, has 3 kids, and is separated. I'm not sure why, but we taught a lot about families and how the Gospel of Jesus Christ blesses us when we live it. He said he enjoyed the message and wants us to come back. So its going to be fun teaching him!
We were doing our contacts the other night, and I started talking to these 2 guys.. about 5 seconds of talking to them, I realized they were gay! Fun for me right? Well, Juan Carlos was looking for a good time, so he asked me if I wanted to go for a ride on his motorcycle. Of course I said no, and I invited them to church and walked away. I never thought that would happen to me in my life.. A gay dude asking me to go on a ride on his motorcycle.. YUCK! I guess anything is possible in Paraguay.
We got Rumilda's papers yesterday!! Her and Isidro are getting married! She was super excited, so I think we're going to make it happen on the 30th. But yeah, we've just been doin the missionary do, finding and teaching! Then the conversion! I'm excited to see how this next change turns out with a new companion.
I made a video a couple weeks ago that I thought you might like.. but I cant send it because its too big to send through this missionary email site, and its the only one I can use.. So I saved a couple frames out of the video, I hope you like them! I put the video on my flash drive, so dont worry, it will be seen!
I dont really know what else to put right now.. Its getting little warmer here, not unbearable yet, but I can tell its going to get HOT!
I miss you all, a lot! I'm glad to hear you're all doing well!! I pray for you several times daily!
I love you!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 14

Another week has flown by here in Paraguay! I feel better too, I never got puky sick or anything, but I was just really week and tired all the time.. It must be the parasites or something. I´ve lost weight since I´ve been here, I don´t know how much though. My collars are getting pretty loose on my neck now! But other than that, I´m good! I can´t really complain.. I had my first Paraguayo pineapple yesterday! I don´t know what I´m going to do without them! So I´ll enjoy them while I can. This week wasn´t as busy, but it was really good.. We have 8 new investigators and we´re getting our investigator, Evelio, ready for baptism! He´s the one that´s parylized from the shoulders down. He´s really awesome! He said it would be easiest if I grabbed his feet, and my companion grabbed his arms, and we threw him in to get baptized! hahaha! He always cracks jokes when we go over there. We baptized the girl that takes care of him last week.. We had the missionaries across our boundaries go start teaching Evelio´s family and that helped him get more excited about being baptized and converted!
We´re getting the papers for Rumilda tomorrow! We had a member go to Ciudad del Éste last week, but he couldn´t get her papers, but he´s going back today so hopefully things will be turning up with that. Rumilda is still really excited for her baptism and to raise her daughters in the Church.
I´m learning Guaraní now! I started last night.. There´s another member here who is a returned missionary who speaks English, and he´s teaching my companion and me Guaraní! Its a crazy language and its SUPER hard to remember the words! Not to mention the conjugation and word order.. Ugh.. But it will be fun to speak in Guaraní once I get it down! After that, I´m going to take on Portuguese :)
We got to give another blessing this week.. Rumilda´s baby just got her vaccinations and they were making her sick and she wouldnt stop crying, she was crying for a good 15 minutes before we gave her the blessing. Rumilda was trying to feed her and give her medicine, but nothing was working. As soon as we laid our hands on her little head and give the blessing, she stopped crying. When we opened our eyes, she was asleep. I have never experienced anything like that in my life.. Like how fast it worked and how strong the Spirit was there. That strengthened not only my testimony, but our investigators as well. I know that the power of the Priesthood is real, its the same power that Christ had when he was on the Earth. All we need for it to work is faith- and to be worthy, of course. It was and awesome experience! This really is the TRUE Church of Jesus Christ.. Its HIS church, and as long as we do what he asks, we´ll be blessed. ´´I the Lord am bound when you do what I say, but when you do not what I say, you have no promise.´´
I´m glad to hear everyone is doing well! It was sooo good to see that picture of Damon and his fat little cheeks! I´m excited to see what his new little sister will look like! (I hope its a girl..) I miss you all and I keep you in my prayers! I hope you all have a great week!
I love you!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 13

I´ve been in Paraguay for a month! How the heck did that happen.. This week was another good week! We were busy doing divisions and baptismal interviews and what not this week, so we didnt get to meet with our investigators as much as we normally do. :( It was a good week still! I learned a lot. It seems like I get homesick every Sunday morning and I´m sad because its the day I´m always with my family. I got sick yesterday, nothing serious, but I´m still a little sick today. I think it should be gone within the next couple of days.

The food here is different, REALLY different. I definitely miss my mama´s cookin! But we have lunch appointments every day with members, mostly the Martinez family. They´re like the Heiner family of Caaguazú! The grandparents feed us every Wednesday, and their kids feed us every other day of the week, so its really nice to not have to worry about lunch. We have a lady that lives around the corner from us that does our laundry and she´s really nice! She´s reserved, doesnt say much, but she´s still really sweet. My apartment is the nicest one I´ve seen out of all the others I´ve been to when we do divisions, so I feel pretty lucky! We stay nice and warm at night because we have a heater/AC unit on our wall by the ceiling. They look different here than in the States, obviously.. We only have hot water for the shower, which I´m greatful for! Its the one where you can have the choice of hot water, or pressure. I take the hot water :) And if you touch the top, it shocks you.. Needless to say I´m hunched over quite a bit every morning so that doesnt happen to my head. So lifes pretty dang good here in Caaguazú!

My companion tried telling me I´m starting to go bald.. He´s a liar! I´ll never lose my hair.. I hope. He´s been cooking breakfast for like the past week and its been really good food! I think I´ll do dishes if he cooks.. which reminds me, Mom- can you send me some recipes? Like for breakfast and dinner stuff? That would be awesome! We ran out of skittles today :( thats the last of our American candy..

We had a baptism on Saturday! Vacilia Acosta Ramirez, she´s 24 and she´s awesome! She´s the one that bore her testimony last week, it was all in Guaraní.. But it was still good! The Spirit was definitely there.. She takes care of another one of our investigators named Evelio. I love that guy! He´s super funny and he always asks us how to say things in English. He was in an accident 14 years ago and he´s parylized from the shoulders down. We teach him like every day, and he´s really close to baptism as well! As for the marriage of the other investigators.. We´re still working on that! We still are trying to get Rumilda´s birth papers so they can get married. She´s still excited to get baptized, but was really bummed that it wasn´t this last Saturday because it was announced in church the week before. But we´re not giving up! We found another family to teach!! We taught the son and daughter twice, and the mom once (one time with the daughter). I´m really excited for them! The son´s name is Juan Carlos and he works for Grandma and Grandpa Martinez in their store. He said that his family has gone to church a few times, so hopefully they´ll be going a lot more in the future!

Last night we were on our way out to the Ralón family to teach them (they live about 2 miles out of town).. And my companion stopped walking. He said, ´´We need to go see Hermana Celestina.´´ Well, we went.. We got there and she started telling us how here head and eyes have been hurting her lately and she cant sleep. She went to the doctor and she has high blood pressure and some other things. Well, right before we got there she had just told her husband that she needed a blessing.. Its crazy how the Spirit works! So I gave her the blessing, my first one and it was in Spanish. It was kind of hard, but I did it.. Afterwards, she just looked really happy and was greatful we came by. What an awesome experience!

I think about you all a lot! I was really sad on the 4th because I knew that everyone was together.. I wish I could have been there! I´m glad I got to hear about all the games and food and fun though. I´m glad everyone had a good time! I´m having a great time here. Some days are really hard, other days are harder, and the rest make up for those days. I´m learning a ton here! I love it.. Whenever someone told me the mission was hard, I honestly didnt believe them.. Its the hardest thing I´ve ever done in my life! But the good that is coming from it, makes it totally worth it. Its hard to forget abut yourself and all the fun things you did back home, but the more you focus on your purpose on the mission and the people in it, the more you forget about yourself and serve others. And the days fly by! The weeks go by even faster.. I´m excited for whats ahead! Bring it on Paraguay!

Mi propósito como misionero es invitar a las personas a venir a Cristo.. Ayudarles ser feliz y traer esperanza en sus vidas. Estoy aquí para mi familia también y por los bendiciones para ellos. Se que este Evangelio es el Evangelio de Jesucristo.. Él vive y nos ama. Él quiere que encontremos felicidad y propósito en esta vida que nos ha dado. Tenemos la oportunidad de cambiar nuestras vidas por la mejor. Dios quiere que regresemos a Él después nuestro vida terrenal y podemos mediante nuestra fe en Él y Jesucristo.

I hope you all have a good week! I know I will!

I love you!!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 12

I seriously feel like I just wrote home yesterday... I´m not complaining! I´m really missing home right now because all of my family is there! Bah! Its ok though, I´m here with my brothers and sisters from other mothers and misters teaching the Gospel! Its been great! Ahh I love Caaguazú! The Spanish is coming along pretty well..I´m still not fluent but I´m getting there. I´m starting to study Guaraní, the native language- its insane.. I´ll be learning a little Portuguese also! I guess theres German colonies here as well, so we´ll see how that goes. This has been an awesome experience so far! Tell Blake that I´m so excited for him to get to the field!! Even the first couple of weeks are going to change his life. He can email me and what not. Well, everyone can! I just cant write everyone back :( I miss you all SO much! My first thought this morning is that everyone is going to be together today, getting ready for the parade.. I´ll be with you soon though!
My apartment is pretty chuchi.. I have a couch, tile floors, and warm water in the shower. I have a bunch of pictures I want to send, but I cant find any computers that I can plug my card into. So I´ll just mail them through snail mail I guess! My living conditions are really fancy compared to a lot of other Elders though I guess.. The yogurt here comes in bags, and its like liquid. I like it better than the yogurt in the States! Other than that, the food is decent. Everything is deep fried, and they have a root here called Mandioca and its kinda gross. So there´s not much in the States that I cant eat now.. I´ve lost a little bit of weight, the members have noticed. I have no idea how because all the food is deep fried and the Mandioca makes you gain weight supposedly. We have lunch with a member everyday so thats really nice! I dont have to buy lunch supplies, and they feed us a lot of food. The people here are awesome. We had to go to Asunción on Tuesday and Wednesday for training meetings, then we had to tract. It was terrible tracting there! No one is out in the streets, and if we clapped there house, they were either Athiest or didnt wanna talk to us. So I really like the Campo (field or ´´hood´´).
Our young couple bumped back their marriage for this Saturday so everything can go more smoothly. The girl told us she was 18, but we had to make a copy of her license, and she just barely turned 17! Ahh! So we either have to get the mom to sign the papers, wich she doesnt want to, or have the judge approve it because theyve been living together for like a year and a half and have 2 kids. So Saturday is the day! Another one of our investigators is getting baptized on Saturday also! She bore her testimony yesterday in church and it was incredible.. even though it was in Guaraní.. the Spirit was really strong! So this is going to be an insanely busy week.
The drunk guys here still make me laugh.. they just do the weirdest things! We have to be careful where we tract at night, especially on the weekends so we dont get nabbed up by the transvestite hookers. YUCK! We had a close call the other night.. I´ve never felt so violated in my life. We didnt get touched or anything, but their eyes were allll over us xP
We have a full week this week between all our studies and lessons and baptisms and all that! I´m really excited for it though. We found a family that will hopefully accept the Gospel.. the dad had just gotten in a motorcycle accident and they´ve been going to a lot of different churhes trying to find the truth. I went on a division with our Zone Leaders a couple days ago. I learned a lot from him! He´s way cool too. Elder Eddy from New Mexico. He drove a fully restored (that he and his dad did) 69 Ford Mustang Fastback.. dang. But I learned to really focus on the investigator and to keep things simple. You lose their focus when you go too deep into the doctrine, like all the technical things down to every detail. Also, to use simple objects when explaining things- they like that. I´ve been on my mission for almost 3 months! I cant believe it.. Like, last year, Nick and Sam were up at the house with me. It seems like that was only a week or 2 ago!
I miss you all and I´m glad to hear you´re all doing well! Thank you so much for the messages, they made my week! Thanks for your support and love.
Este Evangelio es la unica manera podemos ser feliz cada día con la felizidad verdadera. Nuestro Padre Celestial nos ama y quiere nosotros regresamos a Él. Esta vida es nuestro tiempo preparar para conocer Dios. Las familias pueden vivir juntos para siempre, pero Jesucristo es la unica manera posible. Él es nuestro Salvador y necesitamos fe en Él y sus enseñanzas.. Seguimos a Jesucristo, no hay otra manera.
I love you all! Have a great 4th of July!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 11

Didnt I just write home yesterday?! Jeez this is flying by already.. the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days! I love it! I had my first Paraguay rain the other day... They really need to learn how to make drainage systems here! After it rained it got really cold, and its still cold 3 days later. But its ok, I have my thermals! I might have to buy a coat down here that will keep me warm. My first week, I went into the shower and there was a cockroach in the bathroom! So I stepped on it and washed it down the drain. The next day there was a huge moth flying around so I killed that one too.. I guess some moths here are poisonous. The food here is good.. not my mommys cooking though! I´m definitely not home anymore! The important thing is that I´m still alive and well and I can teach! This week we´ve just been teaching our investigators, getting a couple of them ready for their baptisms. Its incredible to hear what their lives were like before they were being taught the Gospel. We have an investigator named Vacilia, who is getting baptized on Saturday. Rumilda and Isidro are getting married on Saturday and we have to be the witnesses for it. We´re trying to figure out how to get everything worked out between the wedding stuff and the baptisms. We´ve been working with a less active member named Ramón Ralón.. he´s an awesome guy! He and his wife and 2 kids live in a shack 2 miles out of town. We taught them last night and they were really happy we came even though it was so cold out. His wife made panqueques over the fire, and they were actually really good. Theyre a lot like a scone. We were all huddled around this little tiny fire pit in their living room (which is actually their whole house.. pretty much all the houses here just have one room) trying to keep warm. We shared a couple scriptures with them and asked how they were doing too.

I now know why they dont want us to walk around barefoot here! There´s a little girl in our ward that has an infection on her foot because of the piqué bug.. its kind of like a chigger.. and then she went in the water and now her foots all infected! She´s a cute little girl though, she reminds me a lot of Amri.. Just her mannerisms and little things she does. Shes really funny too, and she looks like Amri! Just a couple years younger.. and Latin.

My companion is from Logan, Utah, and I actually think we could be brothers.. We both lifted before the mission, broke up with girls before the mission (and had an awkward encounter shortly after), did a lot of the same things in high school.. We were both high jumpers, he´s 6´2, I´m 6´3, blonde hair.. We both like sports cars, we have the same humor, he´s also a lover.. not a fighter. We both had girls dump us on our 16th birthday (Jessica Schireman).. but had guy nights and dudefests, both had a group of friends who took on the names of ninja turtles, used code words that had to do with food. We´re both wearing Levi´s today.. our favorite color is blue, we like Brazilian women, we both ate our neighbors dog food when we were kids (his was also 2 houses down!), we both brought billabong hoodies to the mission, same aftershave, both brought hair clippers, both had a ton of shoes before the mission, we have good cologne, which I guess is a rarity.. we just discovered another one! We both one the 4th grade spelling bee! Things like that! And I´m sure there will be more next week! So, we get along great! He´s an awesome guy.. he always has advice for me, which is nice.

We have a friend in our ward that went to Ciudad del Este last week.. he bought me some brass knuckles! They´re pretty awesome.. Probably the most legit pair I´ve seen! So I have a nice souvenir already. I´m ordering my leather scripture cases for my Spanish scriptures today. My companion has some really cool ones, so I´m getting them from the same guy. I can get on it whatever I want, and his work is really good! My companion has a lot of stuff from him. He´s got good prices too and he´s reliable. I´m having a lot of great experiences here! I know this is where I´m supposed to be right now. I´ve learned a TON since I´ve been here. I´m writing a letter home today with some pictures in it, so be watching for it in the next couple weeks! Today is my first real Pday! But I have to go for now :( I love you all and miss you! Youre in my prayers!

 

Chao!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 10- First week in Paraguay!

What a first week! Here´s the rundown of what went on.. I met my mission president and his wife, theyre super nice! I like them. They´re really loving and they care about us a lot. The first night I stayed in a small hotel with some other guys, I only knew one of them from the MTC. We woke up at 4:30 the next morning so we could "sign in" to the country and meet our companions and what not. So I slept on the bus ride to the place! There´s a lot of cool guys here, Paraguay is definitely the place to be right now. My companion is awesome! His name is Elder Patterson from Utah. He´s been out a year and a half, so he knows what he´s doing! Everyone I talk to tells me how lucky I am to have him for a companion and to be in the area I´m in. My area is named Caaguazú, its Guarani for "lots of herbs." The members are awesome and so are the rest of the people. Everyone is so nice here! We had 4 of our investigators come to church on Sunday, which is really good. All our investigators are progressing! We´re having a baptismal service on July 2nd for 3 of our investigators. One of our investigators name is Rumilda, she´s 18 and has 2 kids. She has a boyfriend thats 17, and he was baptized when he was 13. They´re awesome! My companion met them when he was first put into this area 7 weeks ago and said they weren´t progressing at all. They´re getting married on July 2nd and Rumilda is getting baptized! The gospel has changed their lives, even though they´re still so young. We´re also teaching a Baptist family here, and I was kind of nervous to teach them at first.. but unlike North American Baptists, these people are really nice to us and they ENJOY learning from us and how the Gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives.. How families can be together for eternity and be happy without all the nonsense from the world. The people here are just awesome! I love them!

The food is pretty good here..not my mamas cooking, but its good. My area is a 4 hour bus ride from Asunción, but I´m in Asunción right now because we went to the Temple! It was so awesome! And Elder Cleverly is in my Zone! I understood everything even though it was in Castillano (Spanish not from Spain). We had to wake up at 4:15 this morning to catch the bus to make it to the Temple in time. Today is our P Day this week because of the Temple trip.. Every other week its on Monday, FYI. I write in my journal every night! Don´t worry, Mom.. I´ve been taking pics too! There´s a recent convert family that have a monkey named Salomon (like from the scriptures...) and he´s super funny! He´s a head banger, especially when you get him food. We give him oranges from their tree, and suckers and starbursts. I have a bunch of pictures to send home, but I cant because this internet café doesnt have the stuff to plug in the memory card. So I might just mail them! Which reminds me, Latin people are EXTREMELY supersticious, so you can send pretty much anything in the mail and not worry about it getting stolen as long as it has a Virgin Mary picture taped to it.

When I first heard people speak down here I thought it was really fast! But I understand a lot now.. The Spanish is coming really well I feel like. My area has a lot of Guarani too, so I know a few words.. Its probably the hardest language you can learn..I´d even put it up against Cantonese. Everything has to be perfect, and every word in their entire language ends with a syllable.

So we´ve been averaging about 7 lessons a day here.. Thats a lot! I´ve learned a ton from my companion. The milk here is kinda gross.. but the yogurt is good! REALLY good! There´s not much food here that keeps you solid, if you know what I mean.. So thats one thing I´m looking forward to when I get back into the States..

Last night, we were doing street contacts, and we talked to a group of 4 guys that were all drunk.. One of them kissed me and my companion hahaha. Like the greeting thing that European people do.. I guess they do that here too, except guys arent supposed to do it to eachother. So that was super funny. I don´t know what it was about yesterday, but it was crazy. We had dogs chasing us and girls hissing at us and drunk guys kissing us.. The girls hiss at you when they wanna get your attention. But overall, this area is really awesome! I love it. I come home every night dead tired, and its really hard to get out of bed the next morning.. Especially when I could just take the easy way out and come home and not have to grow up really. But the people I meet and teach, makes all the hardships worth it. I´m excited to be here! I just hope the next 22 months don´t fly by as fast as this last week did.. Anyways, thats about all I have for this week! I love you all and hope you´re having a great week!

 

I love you!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner

 

My Address is:

Misión Paraguay Asunción

2881 Del Maestro c/Caballero

Barrio Herrera

Asunción PY

 

Week 9

We just got to Paraguay about an hour ago.. I think I´m in love! Everyone is really nice! We just ate dinner, I dont know what it was, but it was pretty good. Sorry this email has to be kind of short, theres 24 of us in here that have to email and I´m one of the first! I start bright and early tomorrow! On the plane ride from Brazil, I sat by a guy that is the DEA of the American Embassy that has lived here for a little over a year. He said to let him know if I need anything, so I thought that was nice. I didnt get to teach him much, but it was nice to talk to him and have him tell me about it here. I´ll have to write more about the first experiences when I have more time!

 

I Love You!!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 8

Not much to report this week.. WE GOT OUR TRAVEL PLANS ON THURSDAY!! Its gonna be awesome! I have a letter I'm sending home today with more info about it and also a tape for y'alls! So, I leave for Paraguay next Monday! We're flying through Brazil and after a month of being in Paraguay, we have to fly to Argentina to get our visas! Iguasu Falls is in my mission.. So I might serve in a small village over there. Yesterday was my last Fast and Testimony meeting in the U.S. so I got up! I bore my testimony in Spanish, so it was fun. This week is just getting everything ready to go! So be expecting a phone call home from me on Monday, probably around 9 or so. Where should I call? The house phone, Mom's phone, Dad's, Shaunies..? It would be awesome if I could get a calling card! Elder Nash got his in a gas station.. Umm.. I cant really think of anything else to say.. I miss you! This week is going to fly by! So are the next 22 months! :\{() I dont know how I feel about that.. Write back today if you get this! I still have 10 mins left on my email so I can do another one today probably!

I love you and I miss you!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 7

Hellooo!!

  Another week down in the compound! I've only got 2 weeks left! I should be getting my travel plans this week, we're all super excited!! It was an excellent week! Where to start.. Well, the beginning of the week kind of sucked, I wont lie. One of my teachers pulled me into a room after he found out I was called district leader and started tearing me apart. He was telling me how I've wasted my time here and I need to do better and be a leader.. I was SO mad! I didnt say anything back to him, I just kind of took it. After that, he came in and started chastizing the rest of my district and it made us all really upset because we've been working our tails off! So for my next class, my other teacher kept me after and she asked me what was wrong.. so I told her what he said, which he was trying to make it sound like her feelings were the same. In reality her feelings were the exact opposite and she told me she didnt agree with him on any of that. I think she called him or something because he talked to me the next day and apologized, and I told him how I felt about the whole situation. I told him that he was wrong and that we've all been working really hard.. I told him that I'm not here to impress him, I'm here to do the Lord's work. (my teacher is a psychology major by the way...) So, its been good since then. Before that, he would just lecture us on how big of a wake up call its going to be when we get to the field. I think back about it and I haven't learned much from him.. Like about the Gospel or Spanish. I told him I'm just gonna keep doing what I'm doing, and improve myself, and just put in the time til i leave for Paraguay!

  So then like 10 minutes after I talked to my teacher, my District President came into our class and said, "is there and Elder Heiner in here?" I just thought, oh great.. what now.. So we started walking down the hallway and he didn't say much, so I thought I was in trouble or something. We turn the corner to go down the stairs and DRAKE was standing there! I asked him how he got in, and he just shrugged his shoulders! Then I asked the old guy, "how did he get in here?!" He just looked and me and shrugged his shoulders! I started crying like a little girl when Drake hugged me.. He could only stay for like 5 minutes but it was really good to see him. And just to answer your question, no I'm not homesick! After that, it only made me more excited to get to Paraguay and get workin! When I got back into my classroom everyone thought I was going home or something because my eyes and my face were all red because I had been crying. But they were all freaking out because I got to see my brother! That made my week..

  After that, up til Sunday, I just worked my butt off learning new words and phrases and teaching lessons and what-not. I gave a 30 minute lesson in my District Meeting on the Power of Prayer. It went awesome! That showed me how the Spirit works because I only had about 10 minutes to plan! Everyone in my District was giving me props because the lesson went so well. I was able to get everyone involved, even one of the Branch Presidency! Normally, the lessons are super dry and boring, but mine was awesome! Before the lesson, we made some goals for the week. So we're only speaking Spanish and memorizing scriptures in Spanish.. I have D&C 4 down and James 1:5, but not in English! We have another goal to teach 70 lessons in 1 week as a District.. We're at 54 and it ends tomorrow. We've got it! So after District Meeting, we had lunch, then sacrament. Every week we have to plan a 5 minute talk in Spanish because our Branch President chooses someone randomly.. Well yesterday, one of the MTC Presidency was in our meeting yesterday, and I'm guessing you can see where this is going.. I got called to give my talk! The MTC President had some of his family in there and so did my Branch President.. So it was a full house yesterday! My talk went awesome and my Spanish was great. Everyone was telling me how well I did, and my Branch President (who also served in Paraguay!) was really impressed with how well I did. So I felt really good yesterday! Thats basically what happened this week.. Sorry its so long! I'm probably boring you..

  I think I'm going to make a recording on the tapes Teresa got me and send one home.. so be ready! I'll have some Spanish in there! I hope everyone is having an awesome week!! Yo les extraño y les amo!

  Tell Haley I'm still waiting on pictures of my nephew! Thanks for the ties Mom! I of course love the one with the shoes on it! I appreciate the goods! You can send caramel popcorn through the mail, just so you know.. like in a package.. :) I got everyones hopes up because I thought I was gonna have some of it.. Anyways, I'll go now. I miss you and love you all! (I guess I already said it, but in Spanish..)

 

Con Amor,

Elder Colby Dane Heiner

aka Elder Heinstein

Week 6

Another week down!! I only have like 2 and a half weeks left..maybe 3.. but, yesterday I was called in to meet with my branc presidency.... guess who's district leader! So I guess I need to step it up and be the best example I can be for the rest of the Elders in my district. I'm now in a trio, Elder DiPiero's companion left this morning for Kentucky! So its pretty cool that he's in mine and Elder Nash's companionship. Elder DiPiero had knee surgery a couple months ago so we just got back from his physical therapy appointment. It was SO nice to leave the MTC gates for a couple hours! The Spanish is still coming along.. I feel like I'm as ready as I'll ever be when I get to Paraguay, this meaning I know enough to get around.. I think I'm going to use that tape recorder that Aunt Teresa got me and send home a little voice message :)

Thanks for all the Dear Elders last week! Those are always nice to get. Jerry and Hellen send me a package with delicious orange rolls and pictures from my farewell. I have my old set of scriptures to send home in a box, so hopefully I can get them sent home this week. Also in that box is a little somethin-somethin for Dad and Clayton.. I'll write a letter in the box with them.

I'm running out of things to say.. My weeks are all the same in here haha. But they'll be better in the field for sure! I'm excited to get my suitcase with goodies in it! So, thank you Mom! I'm pretty stoked to see the ties.. Speaking of those.. the MTC has treated me real well in the D.I. tie trades. The one you called out to be my favorite, the white and brown one (I love), is on its way to Georgia with Elder Cram (the one who played basketball for Dixie State).. And in return from him, in my closet I have a tie from the Donald Trump Signature Collection.. Its real classy!

I'm really excited to see what these next 22 months will bring me! I cant wait to teach my brothers and sisters in Paraguay, and to bring to them the greatest gift of all.

 

Yo se que esta trabaja es verdad y real.. y tambien que todas las cosas en el Evangelio Restaurado son un don de Dios para nuestros felicidades. Yo se que Dios me ama y que somos hijos de Dios.. Jesucristo es mi hermano y salvador quien morio en la cruz por nuestros todos sentimientos.. por nuestros pecados, felicidad, gozo, infermos, etc.. Yo se que Jose Smith es un profeta y tambien Thomas S. Monson es llamaba de Dios. El recibio direccion para nuestras vidas. Esta Evangelio es el don mayor siempre. Lo a traves, podemos regresar a Dios con nuestras familias. Yo se que estas cosas son verdadero, esta es mi testimonio.

 

I love you all! Have a great week!

 

Elder Colby Dane Heiner