Week 59

Whats up y´all.. Another fast week down, we saw a couple miracles this week so that was nice. It was needed! Alright, I´ll get this goin.. 1.  How are you settling in with Elder Bybee?  His mom seems like a nice gal.  We have been in contact a couple of times on Facebook this past Monday. He´s a way awesome guy! I´m glad to be comps with him, we get along super well and are both car nuts! He´s been bringin back old feelings for the classics! So Dad, you better keep that old truck! We gots ourselves a project! :D Anyways, yeah Elder Bybee is a stud. I miss Elder Wilding a lot, but my new comp is awesome too. 2.  What was your most favorite experience this past week? We found some people that are ready to get baptized! 2 of them are the kids of a member. They were going to get baptized a couple years ago, but the missionaries were taken out of the little city (Artigas) so they couldn´t do it. But they´re going to get baptized on June 9th! Them and another guy who is dating the sister that teaches Seminary. His name is Felipe and he´s a golden investigator! I know he´s super ready to accept the Gospel. We´re way excited for him! 3.  Who are your ZL's?  I ask because I might know some of their mom's through our missionary mom group on fb.  Can you tell me the names of the guys in your District as well? Elder Pastul from El Salvador is one of them, and Elder Sievers from Orem is his comp. I really like them. I miss my old zone leaders though.. Elder Richards and Elder Hatch! They were awesome. My district has 6 Elders in it.. Elder Bybee and I, Elder LaFaye and Elder Schouten (the new DL), and the zone leaders. Its a good district. 4.  How was church yesterday? It was good.. We had 13 people! It was a pretty good turnout even though it rained. The speakers didn´t show up, so guess who got to speak for 14 weeks in a row... The Elders!! It was good though, its just helping my people/public speaking skills! No one here wants to look at the speaker when he´s up, they all look at the ground. So you gotta come up with ways to keep their attention. It´s kind of a challenge during Sacrament meeting because you have to be reverent! Anywheys! Jorge is getting closer and closer to baptism.. He was scared of his grandma at first, but now we have her support. Now we just gotta get his mom! She´s coming from Argentina, so we´re gonna start teaching her. The only problem is we don´t know when she´s coming.. But its all good! He´s gonna get baptized! We had a Family Home Evening with him and his family last night.. We watched the Restoration movie and made pancakes. They LOVED the pancakes because of the syrup. It was fun! Nothing else really exciting happened this week, it was just a normal week.. Sorry! That´s pretty much it. I didn´t take any pictures this week either /: But I will this week! Can you email me a couple pictures of the old Ford? I wanna show my companion. That would be awesome! Also of Clayton´s Del Sol (if he still has it..) Welp, thats pretty much all I got! I know this is the true church, I don´t have a single doubt about it. I know God lives and that He loves us and knows every one of our needs. We can be blessed, we just have to ask and we will receive. We have that promise. I love you!! Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 58~New Companion Elder Bybee

Welp, there goes another week.. I can´t believe it´s only been a week since we skyped! It´s crazy how fast the time goes.. Alright, here´s the questions and answers!

1. How were changes this week?
They were good.. Long and expensive though, but it´s almost a new month.

2. Are you still in Colonel Bogado?
Yep!

3. Do you have a new companion? Please tell us about him.
Yeah! Elder Bybee from Gilbert, Arizona.. He´s a car nut just like me! It´s been super good so far. He has an old 1965 Pontiac Catalina, it´s pretty nice, except he got t-boned in it and has to restore it again! He has 2 brothers and a sister. He´s a super good guy, it´s been good so far!

4. How has the work in your area been going?
A little slow, I won´t lie. I feel like I´m out of ideas on staying excited all the time. Any suggestions? Keep in mind, I´m in a city that´s about the size of Kuna.. and full of staunch Catholics.

5. When is your next zone conference?
We´ve still got a while.. Probably another 2 and a half months or so. The next one is gonna be with our new mission president.

6. Are you staying warm enough during the day and at night?
Yeah, it´s been pretty warm still. It´s cooled off a little but not too bad. I can still go out in my normal missionary git-up. But my lips are getting chapped and they hurt real bad! They don´t believe in chapstick here, so if I could somehow get some that would be fantastic :D

Well, we had some interesting stuff happen this week! So we know this guy, I don´t know if I´ve said anything about him or not, but he´s gonna get us little monkey hands. He already gave me a monkey tail, and he´s gonna get a couple monkey heads, just as souveniers. Did I spell that right? Anyways, we went over the other night and started repassing the message of the restoration and a couple pulled up on a motorcycle.. The guy had a briefcase lookin thing.. So everyone goes in the house and we´re left out there for like 5 minutes. All of a sudden we hear our investigator´s wife yelling and then stuff was crashing around in the house. Then the couple that came on the motocycle come running out all scared, the guys moto didn´t start so his lady started running down the street for safety. Then our investigator´s wife comes running out with a big metal chair, screaming swear words and what-not.. She proceeds over to the window on the side of the house and starts trying to break it out with the chair.. I still don´t know what was going on, but the son came out and took the chair from her, and I thought she was gonna come and start hitting us! I said to Elder Bybee, ¨Maybe if we sit still, she won´t see us...¨ Luckily she didn´t! She just went back in the house screaming, so we left. So we told our branch president the story (they´re neighbors..) and he told us that both her parents were killed and she just went crazy. I could tell, she was a little koo-koo! I was kinda scared when we were sitting there though. Luckily she didn´t start hitting us or anything. But I guess she has a bad temper and gets like that a lot.

Yesterday after church a guy called us from Yuty, it´s another little city that´s part of our branch.. And he said he has a few friends out there that are ready to get baptized! It was out of the blue, so I´m pretty excited about that! So we´re gonna go see where they´re at with the Gospel and help them get baptized! Pretty cool huh? I got to direct Sacrament meeting yesterday, so it kinda made me feel like I was back in Santa Rita! I also taught the Gospel Principles class. Are you guys learning out of the Book of Mormon this year? It´s been a long time since I taught the whole class.. Elder Wilding and I were pretty good at helping eachother out, so I was kinda stressed yesterday, but it turned out really well. President Maidana helped me out a lot yesterday too, even though he was back as part of the class, he helped everyone understand by using examples and stuff like that. I remember when I first got here, he and I did not get along.. I don´t know what it was, but we didn´t like each other. But when we did divisions with the assistants, that helped a lot! Because Elder Paladines was trained here and they worked really well together I guess. Now President Maidana and I are amigasos! I gave him a tie, and he´s gonna give me one of his cool beaner rings with a big jewel in it. Very nice!

I was just thinking about it the other day, and I realized that I have been converted. Through all my study and prayer and receiving answers and revelation, I know, without a doubt, that I represent the ONLY true church on the face of this planet. I´ve met a ton of people who read the Bible and tell me that God can´t call a prophet again. I´m always taken back by that.. Who are you to tell God what He can and can´t do? There´s a clear explanation to this in Amos 3:7. People can read the Bible all day long, but it won´t do them any good unless they understand it. I´m glad I have the Book of Mormon to help me understand the truths of the Bible. God made me feel the truth. Not my companions, not my mission president.. God did it. I know that prayer is real and has power. I´ve been humbled and stregthened and have experienced true happiness. I just wish people would listen to what we have to say!

Welp, have a great week! I love you!!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 56

Dang.. I feel like I blink my eyes and it´s already the next week. Damon´s 2! I can´t believe that! I didn´t know all those people got married! Congratulations from Paraguay.. :D So yeah, another fast week! This week is gonna go by even faster! Maybe it should go by faster so I can hang onto my hair a little longer... 1.  So, when transfers come, do you think that you will be staying in Colonel Bogado?  Or do you think Elder Wilding will go or both or do you think you will be staying?  I know it is just speculation! Shoot.. I don´t know what´ll happen. I think Elder Wilding will leave, but at the same time, I could leave. I think he´ll probably leave because he´s been here more time than I. We´re like brothers! I´ll be sad if we get split up :( 2.  Did you have good interviews with President Callan?  It's your last one with him before he heads back home right?  I'm sure you are going to really miss him and Sister Callan! Yep, that was the last one! I´m really going to miss the Callan´s. President Callan is going to be a Apostle in a few years, just wait.. That guy´s a stud! 3.  Did you find some new investigators this past week? Yeah, but I don´t know how golden they are.. They´re great people but they gotta have their desires in the right spot to change. Not just to be able to "change religions" but to be able to receive an answer through prayer. If they don´t desire it, they won´t get it. 4.  Is your area still just sooo tough? It´s not killer tough, it´s just small and everyone is Catholic. "Hey, can we talk to you about Jesus?", "NO! We´re Catholic!! Otro día!" I don´t know.. Maybe I´m just having a trial of my faith. 5.  Do you have an interesting, fun, crazy story to tell us? I´ve got a spiritual one.. Holy Moly!! We met this kid named Jorge, he´s 17 (turns 18 next Monday) and he lives with his grandma, 2 aunts, an uncle, and like 3 cousins- they´re all Catholic. Jorge met the missionaries a little over a year ago and was about to get baptized but couldn´t because the grandma wouldn´t give him permission.. So Elder Wilding and I found him again! (thank you area book..) This kid´s a stud! He was kinda scared to commit to getting baptized because one of the missionaries here didn´t fall well with the grandma; I don´t know all the details, but she said no! Solo que tenía una falta de ojos azules ;D She´s like in love with Elder Wilding and I! She calls us her kids.. Anyways! So Jorge was kinda scared.. He has a testimony, he knows its true, so we invited him to pray right there. He offered one of the most heart-felt prayers I think I´ve ever heard. After praying and begging for about 3 minutes to know if him getting baptized was the will of the Lord, he sat there with his head down burried in his hands.. After about another minute he looked up at us. We felt the Spirit for sure, and so did he, so Elder Wilding and I were kinda antsy like, "Well?!" Then Jorge said, "Estoy listo. Me voy a bautizar." So we´re gonna have a baptism! 6.  What was your favorite experience that happened this week?   ^^ :D 7.  How is the work going? Its going pretty well! There´s a couple cities close to Coronel Bogado that are part of our branch.. Artigas and San Pedro.. There´s 3 people in each city that are ready for baptism! So we´re going to have a couple more baptisms this month! We were talking to our Branch President last night and he said that if all these people get baptized, and the men receive the priesthood, we´ll have enough people to have a chapel out here! How cool is that?! So the work is starting to pick up a little bit here. So when that happens, some of the families here will be reactivated and Bogado´s gonna be a stake someday! So we´re good to go for Skype next Monday at 3:00 pm Paraguay time! I don´t know what time that is in the US.. Sorry! I just checked, the computers here have Skype, cameras, and headsets! So tell the family to be there! The internet is pretty good here in this cyber so I think we´ll have a good connection! I just lost my train of thought.. Oh! My debit card expires this month.. My debit card from CapEd. What do I do? Big gulps huh? Welp, see ya later! I love you!! See ya next week! Elder Colby Dane Heiner NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.