Week 23 Busy, Busy, Busy!!

AS OF RIGHT NOW WE DON'T KNOW ANYMORE ABOUT ELDER HEINER'S HERNIA THEN WHAT YOU WILL READ.  WE DID NOT EVEN KNOW THAT HE HAD A DOCTOR'S APPT.  I THINK DERK WILL BE CALLING THE MISSION HOME TONIGHT TO GET MORE INFO IF WE CAN.  I TRIED TO E MAIL TWO WEEKS AGO BUT HEARD NOTHING BACK.    I KNOW THAT SISTER CALLAN WILL LOOK AFTER ELDER HEINER LIKE HER OWN CHILD.  I WILL KEEP YOU POSTED. 



Sorry this letters a little late than normal, we´ve been in Asuncion all day! Clear on the other side of the country from where I live! We`ve been at the doctor all day getting my hernia looked at.. Not the funnest thing in the world, as I`m sure you can imagine! Santa Rita is really small, its about 2 hours (by bus) from Ciudad del Este. My companion told me its about 15-20 minutes from the border of Brazil! It wouldnt suprise me, everyone there is from Brazil.. Its a fun area! There is only my companion and I, and 2 other missionaries and we`re workin our tails off!

Question Time!

1.  Have you gotten to see any of your MTC buddies recently?
Not really, the last time I got to see anybody from the MTC was at Zone Conference.. There I saw Elder Cleverly, Elder Bartlome, Elder Lamb, Elder White, and Elder Grisham. It was a good time! I heard that Elder Nash is in Ciudad del Este too! So maybe I`ll see him at General Conference..

 

2.  If you could give a bit of advice to all of your younger cousins reading your letters, what would you tell them especially Jake, Glen, Chase, Nathaniel, and Ben?  They are all in High School now.
Have like 25 girlfriends.. And read the Book of Mormon! Really read it, try to learn from it.. Before that, read Our Search of Happiness by M. Russell Ballard! I finished it last night and I learned a ton from it.. I didnt know that John the Baptist was Jesus` cousin!  (I thought we discussed this in one of our F.H.E.! :) mom)

 

3.  How are you adjusting to your new area and Elder Guevara?  Details please!!
He is awesome! We get along really well and we could talk for hours. He`s an awesome guy and I`ve been learning a lot from him. I`m excited to keep learning from him and to teach him English!

 

4.  Were you able to make some good contacts this last week?  Were you able to bring anyone to church?
Kind of.. This area is a little more difficult to work in than Caaguazù. Yesterday in Church, we had 24 people! 20 not counting the missionaries.. I think our purpose in this area is to reactivate the members, and after that, teach their friends!

 

5.  Did Jorge get baptized this past week?  If so, how was it?
No.. He was going to, but he has to wait a couple of weeks now :( He has a hard time staying away from the ladies.. He´s awesome though! He invites his friends over all the time so we can teach them. He has a friend that lives in the other Elders` area and he and his family are getting baptized on the same day as Jorge! October 8th. And, he always gives us Sprite and cake after we teach, so thats a plus!

 

6.  Are you guys trying to reach out to the inactives in area since there are only 14 that come to church?
Yeah, yesterday was good because we had a lot more members there.. I got to speak again in Sacrament meeting. I spoke on the Atonement-- We really need to take advantage of it.. Its kind of a big deal.

 

7.  Amri wants to know how you are doing?
I`m doing fantastic! I`m learning lots of new stuff about the Gospel and also a lot of Spanish! Being a missionary is fun! Its hard sometimes, but its really fun. :) The bad times out-number the good, but the good times out-weigh the bad, so its worth it.

What can I say about this week! Kind of tough, but I`m learning a TON! So far its been hard to find new people to teach, but maybe I just need to rely on the Lord more.. We teach Jorge every day and make sure he´s being good, I can tell he´s a solid convert, he´s not going to fall away after he gets baptized. He really wants to get married.. He´s 32 and has 5 kids with 5 different women, that he knows of.. haha. But the other day he had one of his lady friends over, I think she´s the one he wants to marry, and we made a list of things he wants his wife to have! And after everyone he looked at her, and she looked at us, then at him.. She´s really shy around him, but I think its just because she likes him. He has a SWEET set of gold fang teeth! They`re on the bottom though.. I could see Drake wearing a pair ;)

Yesterday we went to the house of one of our investigators and his pastor was there. This guy started telling us how humble he was, then he was telling us how much money he made at his church, which was obviously a lot because he had a brand new motorcycle, brand new slacks and shirt, and a big silver watch. He told us that the organization of his church was correct because there are 12 pastors.. I`m not really sure what that means, but I do know his church isn´t the Church of Christ.. Ours is! After that, our investigator´s neighbor was cleaning his house and singing a song that went like this.. (for about 20 minutes or so..) ´´Shalalalalalalalalalalalalalala shalalala shalalala shalalalalalala! Shalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala!´´ Really really fast and loud!  Right when he started, the pastor said, ´´Thats an evil spirit! I better leave!´´ and he left.. I don´t think he was confident that he could cast out a ´´demon.´´ After he left, our investigator told us that his neighbor just had something wrong in his head.. Then the neighbor was ´´singing´´ again! All our investigator said was, ´´Que calidad..´´ Which is a really relaxed way of saying ´´awesome.´´

And now here I am, emailing from the desk of Hermana Callan! We left Santa Rita last night at 6:30 so we could make it to my doctors appointment on time.. Well, we were a little early! We got to Asuncion at 4:15! That`s how it had to be because of the schedule of the busses. We got to the Mission Office at 5, and waited til 6:30 for the Office Elders to wake up so they could let us in.. Its been a crazy, hectic, tiring.. and a little bit awkward journey these past couple days! I almost passed out because the doctor was showing me pictures of the procedure, I dont know why he was showing me! But I just about went face-first into the floor..

We get to work in Asuncion tonight! I´m excited to try something different! By the way I finally got the package! THANK YOU!! Its awesome! That candy won`t last long, I´m sure of it.. Its been about 3 months since my last taste of American candy.. I´m excited to try the recipes too!

I didnt know Clayton bought a Warrior!! And now Dad has it! What about your other bike! Are you selling it? Or letting it sit in the garage til April 2013?? ;) Tell Drake to keep up the good work on going to church! It helps more than you know! I have finally realized the importance of going to church.. Like, really realized.. Its the Sacrament! Not to mention we get to learn of Eternal Truths that prepare us for the life to come.. I´ll never not go to church, unless I´m deathly sick..

I hope you all had a great week! And I hope you have a great week coming!
I love you!!! Chauuu!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 22

Crazy, crazy week.... Not what I expected but I couldnt be happier!!! Lets just say things are going to be different this change.. In a good way!

Questions and Answers!

1. Transfers?  Are you still in Caaguazu?  Do you have a new companion?  We want to hear all about him if you do have a new one.  Who is he?  Where is he from?  How long has he been out?  How many are in his family?  What has been his favorite area?

I... Am not in Caaguazu anymore! Noooo!! I didnt get to see our converts get baptized.. Im sad about it. But this change is going to be really good! Im teaching my companion English.. His name is Elder Guevara, hes from Honduras! He is freaking awesome! So, I´ll pretty much be fluent in Spanish by the end of this change.. He said hes positive I´ll be training next change! Crazy! I think he has 2 brothers and 2 sisters, one of his brothers lives in Miami and the other finishes his mission in Panama next week! He has 8 months in the mission and his favorite area was Asuncion. Im excited for this change!

 

2.  If you are in Caaguazu we want to hear all about the baptism day on Saturday?  Did all five get baptized?

(You can totally answer all these questions in the main part of your letter.)

:*(

 

3.  How is your weather?  Hot, Hot, Hot?

Yes, yes, YES! And its only going to get hotter! But its ok, Im adjusting to it.

 

4.  Have you gotten your package yet?

I´m still waiting.. I´ll let you know!

Holy cow! I thought I´d never leave Caaguazu! I loved it there! Last Monday, my District Leader called and said, ´´Elder Shaw, buy food... Elder Heiner, don´t buy food..´´ So, here I am in Ciudad del Este! Its right on the border of Brazil! I´m still trying to figure out this computer because everything is in Portuguese! My area is called Santa Rita and its super awesome.. Its pretty much a Brazilian community. They party every night in the streets, play their loud music, and have motorcycle competitions. Its pretty awesome. Everyone here is filthy rich and have nice cars.. Mustangs, big Ford and Dodge trucks, huge houses.. its awesome! Once you get out of the city part, it looks like Idaho! Lots of bit fields! Oh yeah, there´s a lot of white people here too! From Brazil and Germany. Its weird because I expect them to speak English, but they all speak Portuguese.

We have an investigator right now named Jorge, he´s getting baptized this week! My companion told me that he´s come a long ways from when they found him.. He told me about him, and yeah he has come a LONG way! He´s an awesome guy. Yesterday in church, there was 18 people, 14 not counting the missionaries! There isnt a Bishopric or Branch Presidency or anything.. The missionaries conduct everything. The Church is really new here! Its hard to work here because everyone has lots of money, or ´´happiness´´, but we´re just going to work harder. A lot of people here are inactive. I think there´s only like 60 members total, if that, and almost all are inactive. Theres a kid here that just got baptized a few months ago and his dad still doesnt know.. Hes names Reinaldo and he´s 13 years old. His dad HATES the missionaries, like we cant even go into their yard. My companion told me that the dad is Catholic, and it sounds like he´s pretty hardcore into his beliefs.. One day he´ll know the truth. Its going to be a good change! Theres only 4 missionaries here in Santa Rita and we´re workin our tails off! I´m excited to learn some Portuguese, even though its really similar to Spanish, its a really cool language. I´ve been using Preach My Gospel like crazy and I´ve been learning a ton! If you have one or have access to one, I highly encourage you to use it! It´s incredible.

I´m happy to hear everyone is doing well! It sounds like Derrek is working a lot, makin money.. Thats always good! I´m excited to hear some of Drake´s music when I get back! He was always drumming on something when we were younger.. Anything he could drum on he would! I´m excited to hear more about the new baby! And of course Damon! He sounds so funny! You better be taking videos of him! There is a song that he would LOVE! Its Danza Kuduro by Don Omar.. Also, Enrique Iglesias is really big down here, I like hearing his music in the streets.. Tell Shaunie keep up the good work in Volleyball! Thats awesome she´s on fire! I sent her letter about 3 weeks ago, so it should be there any day now.. I wrote a letter for Sydney last week with some advice and whatnot..

Yo sé que tenemos una proposito aquí en la tierra y que esta vida es un prueba de nuestra fe. Tenemos que seguir adelante y vivir las enseñanzas de Jesucristo - Él es el ejemplo perfecto para nosotros! Estoy muy ánimado aprender más de Él y Su vida! Porque yo sé que algún día yo voy a regresar a Él con mi familia todo juntos por eternidad. Sé que el Libro de Mormón es la palabra de Dios y es un herramiento en nuestras vidas. Hay que leerlo sin excuso. Lo va a bendecirles muchísimo, les prometo. Espero que tengan una buen semana con mucho éxito!

Les amo muchisimoguazu!!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 21!!

Holy cow what a week!! So many lessons! 9 investigators in church yesterday! I'm soo excited for this weekend, we have 5 baptisms and a marriage! So hopefully I'll get to stay here!

1.  How are your allergies?
They're fine, I haven't had any problems with them yet..

 

2.  So do those alvacados have good flavor?  That picture you sent last week of the alvacado was huge!
Delicious! The alvacados here are about the size of a cantaloup! Did I spell that right?

 

3.  How are your shirts and clothes holding up with all of the rain and dusty red dirt?  Do your shoes ever dry out?
They're holding up fine, the day we got splashed, that shirt is stained.. Which is the shirt I'm wearing right now haha

 

4.  When are transfers?
Wednesday! I'm kind of nervous because I don't want to leave our investigators and the people here, but I don't know, I might be leaving :(

 

5.  Do you see any hot cars down there?  We all know how you love cars!
Yes! There are so many hot cars here! This morning on my way to email, we saw a Dodge Challenger.. a few days ago we saw a Camaro, a couple weeks ago we saw a mustang.. all of them were brand new! Which means the owners either do International Business or they're drug dealers! Last night I saw my kind of car, a 1996 Toyota Celica! It was all pimped out.. It looked like a Supra. All the cars here have turbos on them too.

 

6.  Have you been able to visit with President Callan lately?  How about Sister Callan?
Just a Zone Conference for a couple minutes.. I had to call Hermana Callan the other night because I have a hernia and its been bugging me a little bit. Nothing bad! But she gave me some advice and told me to check back with her if it gets too serious. So I can't play sports anymore on P-day :\

 

7.  Was he the one that told you about the Billings, MT transfer?
Yeah, he told me at Zone Conference and told me what you just did.. Its funny!

Ok! So this week was awesome! Our investigators that are getting married and baptized this week bought a motorcycle so they can get to church! How awesome is that.. I hope no one is confused, we had a couple that was going to get married and bapitized, but she got offended by some lady in the ward and doesn't want to go anymore.. That was Rumilda and Isidro. The couple we have now are named Roberto and Nilsa, they're awesome! Roberto works with a guy who got baptized like 6 months ago, named Felipe.. His wife left him a couple weeks ago, but came back.. Then she left again. Felipe isn't turning his back on God though, he's going to him for help. Which is what we should all do when we have hard times! He's the one who is going to help us the most. The other 3 people that are getting baptized are these 2 brothers and a sister. Their mom is already a member, but is inactive, so we're reactivating her in the church too. The kids are 12, 13, and 14 years old and they're really excited for their bapitsm this week! They have another brother who is 15 that just moved back from Asuncion, I guess he was living with his grandma because he was getting into bad stuff here. I want to help him!

We met another family this last week, they go to the Catholic church and they don't know where they're going after they die.. They didn't believe that they can live together forever as a family, but they've been accepting the Gospel of Jesus Christ! They're really cool too.. They want us to come over for a Family Home Evening and I'm going to make French Toast! That's been a really big hit down here.. Nobody knows what it is but they love it when they try it! Everyone here has a little metal thing that they put charcoal in and they sit by it to stay warm.. They also cook on it! Its way cool. We went to the Rolon family last week and I made French Toast over the little stove.. Then just a few days ago, we went over and made tacos over it. They'd never had tacos before! A lot of people here haven't had tacos, its kind of weird. The food here is more European I guess, but there isn't that large of a selection. And they hate spicy stuff! Absolutely hate it.. But I like it!

Our friend, Bobby, is moving back to Taiwan today to go back to school.. So last night, we went over and had Family Home Evening with them and had a barbeque. It was awesome! Elder Shaw and I were talking to Bobby outside and all of a sudden we heard a gunshot! Everyone down here does firecrackers because of the soccer games.. Yesterday was like the biggest rival game in Paraguay, Cerro vs. Olimpia, I don't know who won, but anyways.. We look down to the street corner, which was like 50 feet away, and there was a drunk guy with a shotgun! The security guard that works that corner let some drunk dude shoot his gun in the middle of the street! Which was really stupid because there was about 15 people standing around on that corner. So we hurried home! Paraguayans get crazy over their soccer games..

I thought for sure Haley was going to have a girl! But I'm excited to have a new little nephew!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! I also got the picture of Damon with chocolate all over his face, he's so stinkin cute! He has a little girl down here that is head over heals for him.. Her name's Cecia, she's kind of a brat though. She's like 2 years old. She's the daughter of the 1st councelor in the Branch Presidency.. Just about every time we go over she asks to see my pictures of Damon! Little fart..

I'm jealous of hearing about the motorcycle ride! Its my favorite time of the year right now in the States, but its blazing hot summer here! Its only going to get hotter! Elder Patterson had a picture of his thermometer.. 120 degrees and 100% humidity! YUCK! But whatever, bring it on Paraguay!

dalé... estoy muy ánimado por este proximo cambio. va a ser muchos bendiciones y mucho exito y yo voy a encontrar muchos hijos de nuestro Padre Celestial.. Él nos ama muchisimo y quiere que seamos felices en esta vida. Podemos ser felices si seguimos al Profeta y vivir el Evangelio de Cristo. Él es nuestro Salvador y también nuestro hermano literalmente y Él va a bendicirnos si o si con su ayuda y amor si seguimos a Él. Él ya tomó nuestros pecados y dolores y todos los malos sentimientos jamas en el mundo.. vamos a participar en este don espiritual que va a ayudarnos en esta vida.. ¡nos vemos!

I hope you all have an awesome week with much success! I love you!!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner