Week 29 Santa Rita

I seriously cant believe its P-day again! This week flew by so fast!! Thank you for all writing me, that made me feel really good! Tell Drake he better send me an email or somethin! I havent heard from him in a long time.. How is everyone?? Great I hope! I love the pictures Haley sent me of Damon in his little monkey suit! He does make a good little monkey! It made me think of the monkey that lives in the trees just a few blocks down from our apartment, I cant only imagine Damon jumping around and making his little yelps! :) It sounds like Shaunie had a fun time on her first date.. That blows my mind she's 16 already. Who was her date? I feel like I just turned 16 and had my first date! I remember I went out with Dannie Saurey- it was a lot of fun!

We were walking down the street yesterday and I saw a guy rigging up a fishing pole and it made me think of when Derrek and I went fishing! It made me a little trunky but I'm ok.. And I always see this black Mercedez-Benz that has the Kompressor engine, and it makes me think of driving back from New York with Drake. So even though I'm 10,000 miles away from home, theres things here that remind me of my family!

Yesterday I conducted the church meetings, so that was fun.. I'm speaking next week and I think I'm going to talk about the Book of Mormon and how it helps us day to day. I hope it will turn out good! We contacted a guy last week and invited him to come to church, but we thought he was drunk and wouldnt remember.. Plus I've never had someone in the street that I've talked to come to church.. But this guy came! And he brought his wife! They showed up like 30 minutes early too.. And before church, the other elders had a baptism, so this guy and his wife got to see that too. They wanted us to come teach them yesterday but we couldnt find their house, so we're going to look for the guy in his work (where we contacted him) to be able to teach him and his wife. I think it will turn out really well!

Yesterday afternoon we went out to visit with a guy who we taught only one time.. I'm not sure why we havent gone back to teach him, but we felt like we should go back out yesterday.. His name is Ercilio, he has 4 kids, and his wife died about a year ago from cancer. We started teaching him about how families can be together forever.. He started telling us he doesnt know where she is right now, Heaven or Hell, or if there's some other place. But he told us he wants to know where she is so he can find her again. It makes me sad because there are so many people who dont know what happens after death. Some people just think we're done, others think its Heaven or Hell. But we know exactly what happens after death, where we go, and what happens from there. Thats why family is so important, we're not with them for only this life; we were together before as one big family, and after we'll be together with our families.. IF we do what our Heavenly Father wants. With that said, I KNOW where I'm going after I die and I know I'll be alright. Well, I'll be more than alright!

A couple weeks ago we went out to a family's house to visit them. They got baptized about a year ago, but havent gone to church because they sold their car when they heard the Prophet say, "Get out of debt!" Since then, they've been having a Sunday school class in their home with their kids and they have Family Home Evening every Monday night. They are awesome! Just because they cant go to church right now, doesnt make them inactive members of the church.. They still do these things and read and pray, and they'll be ok because our Heavenly Father knows their situation and they're still being blessed. We got to eat lunch with them and it was something I've never had before.. But it was SO good! It was ARMADILLO! They made it in a huge saucer thing over a fire.. Ahh it was so good! I would go there every Sunday if we could, but its like 45 minutes by car.. Which we dont have :(

We have another baptism this week! Her name is Mabel, she's one of Jorge's friends.. She's 21 and from Argentina. She's really excited to get baptized and follow in the Church. She told us already that she wants to get married in the Temple! How cool is that! Jorge has helped us a lot with teaching people.. He's always calling his friends to come over and have us teach. I think I'll be here for another change so I'll get to keep workin with him!

Its about that time.. I gotsta go! I got a letter from Sydney today, tell her to read me letter again and to do what I told her! She didnt mention anything about it.. Tell Sister Delores Hoagland thanks for the letter! Its always nice to hear whats going on in good ol' Melba.

I love you! I hope you all have a great week! You'll be in my prayers!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner

 

Week 28 Santa Rita

Wassup!! This week has been a really good week- and it FLEW by! I can´t believe I´m already emailing again.. Big news! I did pushups today! Finally! I´m tired of not being able to exercise, I´ve been getting really skinny.. I´m weighing in at about 173 pounds! Dira jori qué pasó.. When I got here I was knockin on the door of 190! But, today I´ll be buying lots of good stuff to eat and I´ll start my exercising tomorrow, so hopefully I won´t look anorexic!

1.  How was Sunday?  Are you having a bit bigger turn out at church?  Are you giving lots of talks and prayers and leading music?  Who are your district leaders and zone leaders right now.  Isn't Elder Richards one of them?  I am facebook friends with his mother.  I've read his blog and he speaks highly of your companionship and that he is glad you are back.  He says you four missionaries are studs that you are working hard.  He knows it's a hard area but you guys are doing awesome!

Sunday was really good! I gave a talk on eternal families and how we need to be happy with our families in this life because we´re going to be with them forever! (If we do what our Heavenly Father wants..) And how its never too late to fix a broken relationship between family members.
Elder Richards is one of my zone leaders, he´s a super nice guy. He´s from Washington. He companion is Elder Roberts from Idaho! He went to West Side High School. They´re always encouraging us to work harder and to teach more. This has been the hardest area for a lot of missionaries that have served here, but we´ve been very blessed! Jorge has been helping us a lot, we teach people at his house every day, and they all have baptismal dates! We´ve got a few for the 5th of November so that will be really good :) And my district leader is Elder Nelson from San Jorge (St. George), Utah!

 

2.  How did your guys baptism go on Saturday?  I hope all went smoothly.  Did you have the baptism in the River again?  What is the name of the River from two Saturday's ago?  Was the water cold or luke warm, warm?

They fell through because they missed church last week :( they have to go to church 3 weeks in a row to make sure they enjoy it and everything, also so they dont just get baptized then go inactive. I think the name of the River is Ytapuá or Itapy or something like that.. Its Guaraní.. I think its Ytapuá but I dont remember exactly. But that water was luke warm, it felt really nice though! It was really hot and humid the day of the baptism and it was hard not to go for a swim! Its ok though, I was obedient :)

 

3.  Does your Branch throw a baptism party with refreshments?  I ask this because Elder Cleverly makes some mean cake and the people love it!  I'm just sayin....!   Must be a secret family recipe!  Anyway, it just made me wonder if you have done anything like that.  Food is always a great icebreaker!

Yeah, we´ve had cake and stuff like that.. For the next one, we´ve been talking about doing kabob´s or something. Jorge loves cake! He said he wants to get baptized every week because there´s always cake after hahaha. The lady that got baptized a couple weeks ago has a bakery and she makes really good cakes! So she´s been supplying them. Her daughter got baptized this last Saturday, they were investigators of Elder Nelson and Elder Hugie (the other 2 elders in our district) and they´re still working with the dad to get baptized and to join his family! So for the 5th I think we´re going to do something a little bigger, nothing crazy, but something to bring everyone closer and to involve the members more and get them excited that the branch is growing.

So yesterday we had 29 people in church! Thats a big number for Santa Rita! The last week we had 32, and the week before that... 8! It rained that Sunday.. The people that go to church are really strong here, well except for when it rains, but still. We´re looking for a bigger place to have church in because more and more people are coming. Right now we´re in a 2-room salon, its like the size of a 2 car garage. We don´t have air conditioning in there either, so its SUPER hot during the meetings and the kids get really loud and everyone wants to leave because of the heat. But the stake president has a unit that he´s going to bring to us to put in our little chapel! I´m really excited for that.

Jorge has been a huge help to us! I stinkin love that guy! He always sets appointments for us with his friends to come teach them at his house, then he gets super excited, which excites them, for baptism! He took a bunch of people in his truck to the baptism that was on Saturday, and it wasnt even one of our investigators, it was an investigator of the other elders. He always talks about how before his life was all about money and girls and going to the club and stuff like that.. But now, because he is living the commandments and reading the scriptures and praying and putting God first in his life, he said he´s never been more happy. He talks about how the happiness with money and girls and all that stuff doesnt last, and how he was always wanting more and more, but could never be satisfied. Now, he´s preparing to go to the Temple.. He wants to go do baptisms and take his wife there one day, when he finds her. We taught him that who you are is what you´ll get. So we made a list of things that he wants in his future wife, quality things- not just physical attributes, and taught him that if thats what he wants, he has to strive to be it first.. Then to do all he can to find her and the Lord will put her in his path. His change has been incredible! He´s got such a strong belief, whereas before he had never opened the Bible before in his life.. Now here he is a couple months later, teaching his friends and helping them better their lives! Its the same with Manuel.. The only difference is Jorge is 33 and Manuel is 17. Manuel wants to go on a mission! We´re gonna help him get there. He´s gonna be such a great missionary! I´m glad I´ve been able to be a small part of their conversion. Their change has helped change me. I´m going to be better because of their example.

This week was incredible, and this week is going to be even better! I´m excited to get out there and do it!! Nothing can stop me now.. I did pushups today! For the first time in over a month! That means I´m healed up and ready to go!

Happy Birthday Shaunie!!! I cant believe youre going to be 16 already.. I still think of you as the little baby trying to fall asleep while your hand is on your toy piano (like from the home video..) And tell them boys to watch it! I dont wanna have to crack any skulls..

I hope you all have an awesome week and lots of success! I´ll be praying for you!
I love you!!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 27 Back In Santa Rita

Its been a good week! The work has been a little slow here, but its been productive! Lots of pictures to send, so I might have to send 2 emails..  :D

1.  What instructions did the doctor give you last Monday of what you can and can't do?
¨No fuerza..¨ I cant really use much of my strength wich kinda stinks, but its ok. I´m starting to get a little belly from not being able to use my stomach muscles :´(
But I feel really really good now, I can start getting back to physical activity in 2 weeks - like running and push ups and stuff like that. But I dont think I´ll be doing any running, I´m too lazy for that right now! But in like 6 months I´ll be back to normal normal, like I could lift weights and stuff.

 

2.  Will you have anymore check ups?
Nope! I´ll be in my area for a while!

 

3.  When can you get back to normal activity?  Is there a long time period that you can't do heavy lifting or things like that?  Is it the average 6 weeks?
Yeah, like I´ll be back to normal stuff in like 2 weeks because I had the surgery like 3 weeks ago.. But like working out hard lifting weights and working on cars will be in about 6 months, but I still wont do any of that because I´m in Paraguay and that stuff´s at home!

 

4.  Does it feel like you are able to pick up where you left off?
Kind of.. The work has been slow this week, but the work we´ve been able to do was productive.

 

5.  How long will it take you to regain your momentum?
Like walking? I´m back to normal with that.. My muscles in my stomach are still healing and everything, but theyre getting stronger.

 

6.  This has to do with the Holiday's.  I'm going to be trying to put your packages in the mail by Nov. 1st.

Is there any special things you would like or need besides dum dum suckers and deoderant?  I will try to be creative but you know that is not my strong suit!  I can probably get an incidental package like toothpaste, deoderant, floss picks etc sent this week if you would like me to.  Then I can send your Christmas packages by Nov. 1st.  I think it will take about a month to get them to the mission home.  They might be there  sooner. I want to make sure they get to you before Christmas.
-- I love candy! They dont have good candy here, it all tastes like cardboard.. So like skittles, sweedish fish, sour patch kids, dum dums, and stuff like that would be awesome! Same with the deodorant and toothpaste. If this is for my Christmas package, if I may request.. A leatherbound Jesus the Christ and a split-set of microprint scriptures, not the quad.. and I like the black leather :) and of course letters from my family! That would be awesome!

Ok! We had an awesome weekend! We (Elder Guevara and I) had 2 baptisms and the other 2 elders in our district had 3! We had it in a river and it was really cool.. I´ll never forget this weekend. I baptized Manuel Ferreita Gonzalez, he´s 17.. Last night we taught another one of our investigators with him and Jorge. Manuel told me that his girlfriend is giving him problems so he broke up with her.. He wanted to marry her but he said, ¨I think its a sign from God.. I feel like I need to go on a mission!¨ How awesome is that!! So I told him how great the mission has been for me and everything. So he´s really excited and he´s seriously thinking about going on a mission! I told him that the missionaries will help him get there. He´s awesome! So is Jorge! He said all he wants to do is be the Lord´s servant, he changed a lot in the past couple months! They´re both incredible and they´re excited to be members and to help us. I don´t know much about the others that got baptized because they live in the other elders´ area, but they seem really awesome.

Sorry this letter is really short this week! Thats about all thats happened! When I was in Asunción I read Preach My Gospel in 3 days and got almost half-way through the Book of Mormon, so that was really good!

By the way, I got the picture of Dad riding Blacky! That is such an awesome picture! It was soo good to see those mountains in the background! I´ve missed those! I hope all the pictures go through.. theres a lot from this week! You cant touch the shower heads here.. You´ll get shocked! I´m sending a couple pictures of our apartment, a pic of one of my gauz pads, pics from the baptism and stuff like that! We have another baptism planned for this saturday so we´ll be working hard getting her prepared! Elder Guevara is trying to convince me that he´s leaving to open a new area, but I told him I already know he´s joking becuase I got the call from our district leader! We´re all staying here for anther change! He wanted me to ask if they make microprint scriptures in Spanish.. They don´t have them in the Latin countries, only the normal sized ones. He wanted me to ask if there was a way he could get a set if there are microprint scriptures in Spanish.. He said he could send money if there are.. Anyways! I gotta go! I´m out of time :(

I hope you all have a great week! I love you!!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 26 This Change Is Over

Holy cow this change flew by! I cant believe I`ve been in the office for almost 2 weeks recovering.. Its been good though!

Questions and Answers!

1.  Are you going back in today to have more stitches removed?

Yeah, here its 8:20 am and I think I go in at like 10:30. I`m ready to get them out, they`re really itchy!

 

2.  How are you feeling?

I feel great! I don`t hardly have pain anymore and I can sit up normal, like when I get out of bed I don`t really have to use my arms..

 

3.  What plans do they have for you?

President Callan said we`ll see where I`m at when I get my other stitches out, so I still don`t know if I`ll be staying til the end of the change or going back to Santa Rita today.. I get to be with Elder Guevara for another change!

 

4.  What have you been doing this past week?  Do they have you out proselyting at all during the day or evening?  Or are you pretty much just taking easy healing?

All during the day I study and read and stuff.. The past few days I´ve been going out to help the Office Elders work in their areas and its been nice getting out! I read Preach My Gospel in 3 days, and I`m almost half-way through the Book of Mormon! Its been pretty sweet!

 

5.  Are you still on Pain medication or do you feel like you are strong enough to go without any now?

No, I only took pain medication for like the first 3 or 4 days, but I`ve only taken like 5 I think.. I haven`t really needed them which is good!

 

6.  Who has your companion been while at the mission office?

He went back to Santa Rita with a local missionary to work.. But something happened and the local missionary went back to his house, so Elder Guevara is with the other 2 elders in our district. I called him the other night and he said he`s ready to Do Work when I get back.. So am I!

 

**7.  Dad sent you a few pictures through e mail....were you able to download them?  Can we send you occasional pictures like that or do we need to send them through the mail?

I didn`t get them.. You could send them through snail mail and I´ll get them for sure. I Haley sent me 3 pictures of Damon and I cannot believe how big he`s getting! I almost don`t even recognize him! I can`t imagine what it will be like in another year and a half! He just looks so big and old for his age.. But he`s so stinkin cute! I need to get more pictures of him so I`m not in shock the next time I see him!

If you send a package... Candy is always good! The investigators love Dum Dums, Elder Nash gave me a bag before we left the MTC and all the people that I gave those suckers to fell in love with them! Skittles are always delicious. You`ll have to send me some of the emails from like Jeff and Jake and Dallin.. Has anyone else left on their missions? I heard something about Ty getting his call to Mexico, and Andy gave his farewell? What about Aaron? I wanna hear how all my friends are doing! Maybe you can send me some good deodorant.. The stuff here doesn`t last as long as it says..

Tell Sister Hoagland thanks for the package! I think Delores sent it.. But it was awesome! She sent a bag of jerky, a snickers, sweedish fish, and of course.. caramel! I shared with the Office Elders and they loved it too.

So yeah, not a lot has happened this week with me, I´ve just been staying close to the office. My investigator, Jorge, didn´t get baptized on Saturday because it rained.. So that means I get to be there when he does get baptized! We`re going to have the baptism in a river so that will be really cool! He`s getting baptized this Saturday with his cousin. We taught him the day before I came to Asunción and I guess Elder Guevara has been going over there with the other elders every day since. So it will be really good that they can have each other´s support in their baptismal day! The elders here had a baptism on Saturday, but the rest of us went out and worked.. It was President Callan´s revelation, and we saw miracles! I went out to work with Elder Curtis, the old secretary, and we were just talking to everyone we could.. Then we were walking down this street and we saw a girl finishing up jogging and ran into the house we were getting ready to go to because Elder Curtis left a Book of Mormon there a couple weeks before.. We were going to see if the guy had been reading it. We walked up and the door was still open, and the girl that was jogging came right back out and started talking to us.. Then she sat right down and we asked if the guy was there (The guy is her boss and she lives there with him and his wife..). She said no then asked why, kind of in an angry tone, so we thought she was going to be mean.. Elder Curtis explained that he`d left a blue book there and wanted to see if the guy had been reading it. She said, ¨No, I have the book.. I started reading it because I saw it sitting there and no one has touched it.. I take it everywhere with me and read it all the time, its really helped me.¨ Whoa! Then she told us she´s been having a really tough time lately, she doesn`t have any family and she`s getting ready to change jobs to leave Asunción. So we asked if we could come back and teach her and she said yes. We left and Elder Curtis said, ¨We should have invited her to church tomorrow!¨ So we called her and invited her, she said she would come- which hardly ever happens in situations like this- and we finished our night.. She was at church yesterday! There is a member family that lives like 2 blocks away from her and they went an picked her up. She actually came to church! Thats the Golden Investigator, if we would have gone to the baptism, we wouldn`t have found her. She´ll get baptized.. Then yesterday after church, we found a family that speaks English! Like, really well.. It was really cool! And they think its just as cool when a white person can speak Guaraní! They love it..

Well, thats about all I have for this week.. Sorry there aren`t any pictures still, my adaptor is still in Santa Rita so I´ll send them next week! I´m gonna sign off now..

I love you all! I hope you have an awesome week!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 25 Despues de la Sirguria

Hey!

So I just got back to the office.. My weekend was incredible! President and Sister Callan took such good care of me, always making sure I was doing ok and taking my medicine and making sure I was comfortable. Not to mention all the good food Sister Callan made for me :) I dont hardly feel any pain.. Yeah, its a little sore, but I´m sure thats normal for after a surgery. Elder Guevara kept crackin jokes and just being himself, so of course I was laughing the whole time we were in the hospital. He´s back in Santa Rita with a local missionary, then I go back at the end of the change! I´m so excited. The doctor came in right before I was going to bed to see how I was doing after the surgery. We talked for like an hour! He´s a way awesome guy.. He showed me the pictures of my surgery and he said I was really funny. He told me that when I return to the United States, I need to develop my new language of Guaranínglish! There is a picture of me laying half-way off the operating table right after they gave me the epaderal... or however the heck you spell that! The shot in your spine that they give to pregnant women! It was fun.. So yes, I am doing great! I go in on Thursday to get a few of the stitches out and to get the drain out, so hopefully everything will keep going smoothly after that!

Conference was awesome! I dont think I´ve ever been able to watch an entire 5 sessions before! I always end up falling asleep or something! But I learned a ton, I got a ton of revelation of things I can do to better myself and bring myself closer to my Heavenly Father. President Uchtdorf´s talks were awesome, as usual.. I liked all the talks! There wasnt a talk I didnt like, or one that I didnt learn from. I have 15 pages of notes, and front-to-back, so 30 in total if you wanna get technical :) It was an awesome experience getting to watch all of the conference sessions with my mission president and his wife. After every session we would talk for a few minutes about what we liked and learned. Other than that, I´ve just been reading, studying, and learning like crazy! I´ve been able to put a lot of time into reading the Book of Mormon and learning from it. I love its second witness that it gives to the Bible, because a lot of times for me the Bible is hard to understand and the Book of Mormon helps make everything clear. I dont remember who said it yesterday, it was in the last session.. But he said, ¨If we all (all the churches) interpreted the Bible the same, all of us would be from the same church..¨ Its true! But we dont all interpret the Bible the same.. And only one church has a Prophet that is call of God. Not to mention the Book of Mormon sets one, single solid direction with the Bible that points down the right path.. The path that Christ taught. And so many people ask why religion is so important.. why does it matter if we go to church or live the commandments or anything like that. Why does any of that matter? We all need to realize the importance of this life.. There IS a purpose as to why we are here. So many people are taught, and believe that we were created at birth, and after death, its Heaven or Hell. We were created millions of years ago as Spirit Children of our Heavenly Father, and He gave us a plan to come to Earth for this experience to learn, progress, and gain physical bodies.. In this life we are tested a lot! Everything we go through, whether it be good or bad, is a test of our faith. We always need to keep in mind that God is always with us whether we believe it or not, or whether we can feel His spirit or not. When we fall, He´s right there to pick us up and dust us off, IF we let him. So let Him! Do all you can to grow closer to our Heavenly Father everyday, He will make our lives easier! And what we do in this life is our choice and will determine what happens to us after this life. We have the opportunity to live in the presence of God forever in a state of interminable happiness, if we want to (Mosiah 2:41). We just need to prove it in this life.

Welp, thats about all I´ve got for this week! Sorry its not much, there werent a lot of things that happened.. Just a couple big things! So ask lots of questions next week!

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! I´ll be thinking about you!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Oh yeah, I was going to send pictures, but I forgot my plug for my memory card in Santa Rita! So there will be lots next week!

Finished Surgery Photo Others a bit too graphic