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