Week 36 Santa Rita Christmas Phone Call!!!!!

It was another great week here in Santa Rita, but I'm still bummed! I dont think we're going to be doing skype :,( I talked to the guy here in the internet place and he said they're going back to Brazil for the holidays. So I'm going to try to find a land line! We'll either use the member's land line (the only member with a land line) or we'll go to the phone place.. I guess its just like a big place with a bunch of phones in there. So I will be calling at 2:00 PM PARAGUAY TIME on the 24th! I think it would be about 10:00 AM for you guys, I'm not exactly sure on the time change so if you could check on that, it would be great! Just be ready for my call! Im super excited to get to talk to my family! Even though it will only be 40 minutes, it will be worth it- thats how long the calls are.. I was really excited to use skype!! But we can just save that for Mother's day and Christmas next year I guess; and I wrote down my username and password so I wont forget!

Holy cow we had a GREAT week! Its been a long time since I've seen success like this.. We worked our tails off and the Lord blessed us for it! We've got some really good people progressing towards baptism and we found a few families this week, so we're really excited! We've just been talking with everyone we see and we were able to teach a lot of lessons this week and it was soo good! We got to learn a little bit more about the Catholic religion too, so that was interesting. Overall, a good week!
We found a guy that met with the missionaries like 10 years ago! He still had his Book of Mormon that they gave him.. He said he read the whole thing! Its absolutely destroyed! So I traded him for a brand new one and I have his old one.. We're going to be working with him like crazy to get him ready for his baptism! That was one of many miracles we saw this week.. I think I've learned more this change so far than I did in my last 2 changes! My companion is a stud! He pushes me and helps me to better myself. I actually think he came pre-trained.. I feel like he's training me! He still pushes me to do the 100 pushups every day too.. But we did divisions with the zone leaders this last week and we fell behind on our pushups, so we had to do double for 3 days to get caught back up! We're back to doing just 100 again :) I'm super excited because I'm already seeing some results..

I dont really know what else to say for this week.. It was incredible, I learned a lot and had a lot of humbling experiences. I didnt think I was a prideful person before the mission, I know I wasnt completely full of pride or a monster with it.. But I definitely wasnt as humble as I should have been. I'm still probably not, but thats something I've seen a lot of improvement on this week. I just want to be stripped of all my pride, I hate it. I need to not be so quick to judge, especially when I dont know the situation. I'm excited to see and experience what this week has in store for me! I'm excited to learn more and more. I'm excited to talk to you guys on Saturday! I wanna know how the heck everyone is doing! By the way, I wrote a letter to send home.. Try not to cry reading it, it will be hard not to because I cried writing it. I'll get it in the mail today and it should be there in about a week. Sorry it will probably be late for Christmas, but we've been busy! I still need to make my video for you guys too.. It will be like a web journal or whatever you call it. I'll just tell you all how everything is going plus it will be like you get to see me! It will be on a DVD and I'll send it in a few days, I still need to make it.

Alright! I'll talk to you all on Saturday!! Think of lots of questions to ask me!
I love you and hope you all have a great week, I know I will!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner

P.s. Sorry there arent any pictures this week, the computer I'm using doesnt have USB..

8 Months!!

 

Another week down! And tomorrow I will complete 8 months in the mission! Holy cow!! It’s crazy how fast the time flies, I feel like I just got here yesterday.. In just 2 changes I will have a year already, and the changes fly by super fast! The work has been picking up here and we’ve stayed pretty busy, so that’s been nice. I think we’re going to have a baptism this Saturday! It’s one of Jorge’s friends, we’ve been meeting with her for a while now off and on, but I think she’s actually serious about getting baptized now. So we’re going to be working with her a lot this week getting her ready for Saturday! It’s going to be a little tough teaching her because Jorge said he doesn’t want to help.. There have been a lot of times where she said she’s going to come over to Jorge’s, and we’ve been waiting for her, and she didn’t show. It happened again on Saturday; at least she called and told us she had to work, which I believe it. But Jorge didn’t like it, so that’s why he doesn’t want to help her. It’s kind of dumb, but we’ll find a way!

Questions!

1.  How are you and Elder Nielson getting along?

We get along really well! I´ve been pretty happy with things have been going so far. 

 

2.  Have you found any new investigators?

Yeah!! We found a couple families.. I dont wanna say to much right now because we don´t know whats going to happen. We´ve only met with them once, like with each family.

 

3.  What was your favorite experience this past week?

I just love it when my prayers get answered! It blows my mind every time it happens.. And it doesnt even have to be anything big, just the fact that I know my Heavenly Father is ALWAYS listening to me and answers my prayers is good enough for me.

 

4.  Is it still raining quite a bit?

Its let up the past couple days, but it will probably rain this Saturday because we have a baptism planned.. It seems like that always happens.

 

5.  How is church attendance?

There were 17 yesterday.. Its been up and down lately, we just need everyone to go! I keep hearing that a bunch of the people are inactive because they dont wanna pray in church! Theyre scared theyll get called on to pray...

 

6.  How do you feel you are doing as a trainer?  How is the training going?  Is Elder Nielson doing ok ?  Is he homesick?

I feel like I´m doing a good job.. Its kind of hard, but overall its good. We´re working harder than Elder Guevara and I were working and its paying off! We´re having lots of success right now. So keep praying for us! We need to help these people open up the door of their salvation! But no, my companion isnt homesick, he´s doing really well.

So my companion and I have been doing 100 pushups every night when we get home! He was already doing it, so it’s easy for him now, but I’m going to see how different I look in 8 weeks! I’m really excited.. I can already feel a difference, but I’m excited to SEE the difference! Sunday is our rest day, so I’m not nearly as sore as I have been so that’s good. And today we’re going to buy lots of food with good protein and we’re going to bulk up a little bit from that and our workouts. I took a before picture, and in 8 weeks I’ll take an after picture! It will be easy to stay on top of the workouts because my companion is already used to doing it, it’s part of his routine.. We were talking last night and he was telling me about some of the stuff he used to do back home. He played hockey (I think I said that in my last letter) and he was the number 1 goalie on the east coast! He played on an all star team and he traveled all over the east coast doing tournaments and stuff. He’s a stud! It was cool to hear his stories like that.

We found a newly-wed couple this last week, they’re super nice and they seem pretty receptive to the Gospel.. The first time we talked, it was just the wife and we found her doing door contacts. Her name is Francis and we talked to her for like 5 minutes and put an appointment for another day for when her husband would be home..  We also got her phone number so we can set future appointments. So the other day I called them to set up the appointment and a guy answered, so I just thought it was her husband.. I said, “Yeah we talked to your wife, Francis, the other night and she said we could come buy and share our message with you guys..” Then he said, “No, my name is Francis.. Who are you guys again? Like what church are you from?” (of course all this is in Spanish..) Then I told him we’re with the Church of Jesus Christ, and he cut me off and said, “ahh los Mormones.. entonces usted habla Inglés, no?” (ahh the Mormons.. So you speak English right?) And I said (in Spanish), “Yeah I speak English..” Then he replied, in English, and said, “Me too bro, I’m American.. I’m from Colorado and I’m a missionary from the Biblical Church. I don’t know how you got my number, and I hope we never see each other face-to-face, but read John 3:16 and meditate on that..” I don’t know what the chances are of talking to a lady named Francis, then trying to set up an appointment with her and her husband to teach them the Gospel of Jesus Christ by calling their number, but putting it in the phone one number off, and talking to a guy named Francis from the US who is a missionary from a different church, in Paraguay.. It was probably one of the weirdest things that has happened to me so far. It was super weird.. Other than that, my week was pretty normal. We found a ton of new people to teach! I’m excited to see how our work last week turns out this week, like who all is going to progress.. It’s exciting!

I’ve been thinking about my personal progression a lot lately, and I have come a LONG way! I can literally feel a difference in my life. I’ve become a different, better person just by doing the simple things like daily scripture reading and prayer. I can feel my Savior’s love, I know that ANY bad I’ve done in my life is washed away. He has made it to where I don’t remember the old me. Of course I can still think about it and remember what I was like, but I know that now I’m a different person. Who I was doesn’t affect me now. Just feeling that I’m a new person, makes me want to give myself to the Lord in His work 110% in all I do and say. I can’t really describe how I feel, other than I am truly happy. And I want to share this happiness with everyone, and everyone can experience this happiness to if they’ll just let go and let it take over their lives. Happiness never was a bad thing, right?

I’m whoopin’ the Book of Mormon! I’m reading in Alma 43 now.. I love how every chapter in the Book of Mormon testifies of Christ. I love reading the stories of how he helped the people overcome their weaknesses and strengthen them individually and as a whole. The same applies to us today, we can be strengthened in our families, communities, and individually if we rely on the Lord. Yeah there’s some things you might have to cut out of your life that you enjoy doing, but it’s against what Christ has taught.. But it’s worth it, I can testify that any sacrifice we make to become more as one with the Lord, we will be blessed and we will be happy. And this happiness overpowers any other happiness in the world. I know it, and I have experienced it and I don’t want to change it.

The Madsen´s sent me a Dear Elder and the kids wanted to know my favorite story from the Book of Mormon.. I just read the story of King Lamoni´s conversion. I really like it because Ammon was protected by the Lord.. The part where King Lamoni and his wife, and all the servents fall to the ground because of the strength of the Spirit, and one of the shepard guys wanted to kill Ammon because he thought he was evil.. Then when the guy went to kill Ammon, he just fell dead because Ammon was protected by the Lord.. I think this story is in Alma chapter 16.

Well, I gotta go! I hope you all have a great week!

I love you!!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 34....I'm still in Santa Rita! New Companion

 

And I´m training! Holy cow I feel like I just got here and just finished getting trained!! My new companion is a WORK HORSE! We talk to absolutely everyone we see and we´ve just been going into neighborhoods, starting at the first house, and clapping every door. We´re doing some serious finding! Its been sweet and we´ve seen some miracles. So now we´re just teaching and getting people to progress! Its still a little slow because we´re pretty much starting over, when Elder Guevara left we didnt really have any "investigators of gold." But we´re looking like crazy! And we´re finding some people that seem to be interested.. Pray for Santa Rita!!

Questions!

1.  How were transfers?  Did you stay?  Do you have a new companero?  All the usual questions and details that would go along with that?

As stated above, I do have a new companion..

 

2.  Please tell us about your new companion if you have one.

Elder Matthew Nielsen from Springfield, Virginia. He lived in Brazil for 3 years when he was younger because his dad worked in the American Embassy, so he speaks some Portuguese! He got his pilot´s license when he was 17, and he went to West Point for 2 years before the mission. He´s part of the Army and he´s got some really cool pictures from that. He also played hockey when he was in high school and he was into lifting weights. He´s a way cool guy! I´m glad to have him as a companion. We push eachother to work harder, which is good because he´s only been in Paraguay for 5 days!

 

3.  One other big question is our Christmas call.  We have heard that the missionaries will be calling on the 24th because Christmas is on Sunday.   Will you tell us about when we get to talk to you?  We will set you up a Skype account and then we will send you the username and password.  Then we will set ours up.  I will go ahead and have the requesting done on both accts so we don't have to waste time doing that on our calling time.  Does that sound like a good plan?  So over the next week or two you will have to let us know when and IF Skype is the way to go.

I will look for an internet place that has a good setup for Skype! The one we normally use is like a LAN House, so theres always teenagers playing videogames and yelling and stuff. There´s a lot of internet places here, so I´ll keep you posted!

 

4.  Have you gotten your packages yet?  I so, what do you think of what I packed in there?  What do you think of my packing job?

I got them!! The packing was awesome! We got everything set up in the apartment now and it looks really good.. We´re going to have a mini-Christmas this year! I´m really excited! Even though when I see the little tree set up with our presents underneath, I get a little trunky, its ok. I love the pictures!! Those were definitley my favorite part of the packages. I love my family SO MUCH!

This morning we got up at the normal 6:30 and we cleaned our ENTIRE apartment! We finished cleaning at like 11:00. Its soo clean! So we can walk around barefoot now and it doesnt smell like two 19 year old boys live in there. It smells nice and fresh! We also changed the room around, how we had it before was really crammed and we could hardly get around in there.. But now there´s a little more room to move! I feel like I can actually breathe in there! We put up one string of the Christmas lights in our bedroom and we´re gonna do the stickers on the windows after we clean them.

So yeah, we´ve been working our tails off! We saw a miracle on Saturday, it was pretty awesome. I dont think its luck or coincidence either.. We were working in one of the neighborhoods here, clapping houses and what-not, and we were getting ready to leave this neighborhood and go to a different one. From Las Carmelitas (The Candies) to San Ramón.. My companion said, "I feel like we should talk to the people in this house.." And he pointed to the house, right.. We were just going to leave and go work in San Ramón.. So we went and started talking to the people and it turned out that they were just visiting their sister. Then her sister came out and started telling us she was a professor and everything.. Then came out another girl named Rosana.. Then I started thinking, "Jorge gave us a reference to a girl named Rosana (because she said she had wanted us to teach her..) who lived with her professor.. OH!" So we finally found her after about 2 weeks of looking! Jorge didnt give us very good directions. But we found her! If my companion wouldnt have been following the Spirit, we would have just walked right by. I certainly would have walked right by because I had a million other things on my mind like where we were going and what the heck am I going to teach my new companion.. So that was a really cool experience!

We had a nice bus ride from Asunción to Santa Rita! I had to leave here 6:00 Tuesday night to get to the bus terminal in Asunción at 5 the next morning. One of the elders that works in the office called me and asked if I could round up all the trainers in the terminal to bring them to the office, but it wasnt hard, there were only 17 of us. And it was nice because I got to see MY TRAINER Elder Patterson!! He´s home now :,( and I got to see a bunch of the elders from my MTC district like Elder Salinas!! Elder Lamb is training too. I got to see Elder White and Elder Cleverly and Elder Grisham.. I didnt get to see Elder Bartlome though or Elder Lorenzen. I saw Elder Nash yesterday at the Stake Conference and that was cool! Because I just saw him at Zone Conference..

Speaking of Stake Conference.. We had to take a bus to Ciudad del Este because thats our Stake.. But we had to find one of the presidents so he could pay for it(he called us the day before and told us he would), so we were asking around if anyone had seen him.. One of the Latin elders that was there, I dont know where he´s from but he came to the mission in Elder Guevara´s group, and we asked him if he had seen president. He asked why and we told him.. Then he said, "It doesnt matter, you guys are rich gringo´s and you can pay for it.." So yeah, there´s even racism between missionaries I guess. I had to bite my tongue so hard to not say anything back to him.. It would have ended ugly I think.

I´m just happy to be on the mission! There´s no other place I´d rather be. I love learning about the Gospel and of Christ and what he wants us to do in this life. I know I am representing His true church and that makes me happy! I´ve noticed something about the Gospel.. The TRUE Gospel (which is found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).. It´s logic. Not only that, but it´s easy enough for a child to understand, and the Holy Ghost will just seal the deal. I wish people would humble themselves just enough to get on their knees and ask God if it true, and then FOLLOW it! I´m glad I asked God for myself. I think if I wasnt raised in this Church, I would be paying all my money to some guy in his church because I´d be letting him fool me like, sadly, majority of the people in the world today. Yes I was raised in this Church, but I am a convert as well. I had to ask God to find out for myself just like everyone else. And now I KNOW, and nobody can change that.

I gotta go now.. I love you all so much! I hope you have a fantastic week! You´ll be in my prayers!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner

P.s. Tell Sister Delores Hoagland thank you for the letter! I love hearing about Melba! She asked about one of my pictures in front of a field here in November.. I think they plant year round because it doesnt get cold here. There´s always something in the field!