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

Week 24 Hellooooo Family

Elder Heiner will be having hernia surgery this week.  He will be moving to Asuncion from what we know.  We do not have an official surgery date.  The Mission President is hoping for Thursday.

Here is what President Callan sent to us last week:

 

A quick update....We are looking at the end of next week (perhaps Thursday) as the possible time for the surgery. Our mission nurse is working with hospital to work out the payment arrangements before we have the surgery. Elder Heiner is back in his area with instuctions on what he physically can and can't do. When we have an exact date for the surgery, we will let you know and bring Elder Heiner and his companion in to Asuncion. He will most likely have him here during conference weekend after the surgery so our schedules are much lighter. Thanks for your support. President Callan NOW FROM ELDER HEINER!

 

This week has FLOWN by! I cant believe its already Monday and Im emailing you again! I dont really know what to say, not much has happened since we got back from Asuncion.. We worked there all week waiting to hear when we could come back to Santa Rita- it was fun working with the office Elders and meeting their investigators and members! It was a fun experience there in Asuncion.. We taught a lot of lessons, I got to do an annointing for a blessing for an investigator, and I didnt get to shave or brush my teeth for 5 days! Im sure glad I got gum in that package! By the way I made French Toast for my companion with home made syrup and it was amazing! I put a little cinnamon in there too so I felt like I was back at home :) My companion is doing well with everything, hes not complaning- just workin! Im not sure if we'll have a special change or what, but thats what Im assuming will happen. This morning I was starting to get a little scared for my surgery, just really uncomfortable, but after I read your emails I felt a lot better! I know I'll be alright, everything will go well and how its supposed to. It will probably take the doctor like 20 mins to fix it haha, but I'm not worried. Its like Dad told me on the phone, Just another adventure in Paraguay! I'll be sure to have pictures taken before and after to send home :) After knowing this doctor, he'll probably take pictures of every step of the way! Yikes! I'm not worried thought, I'll just go in, he'll give me the "cocktail" and I'll be outta there before I know it! I was thinking about how awesome it would be to go home to get the surgery.. I would get to be with my family and have fun! I think it would have been really hard to say goodbye again though. So for that, I'm glad I'm getting the surgery here!

I've almost been on my mission for 6 months!! Oh my goodness! In like a week and a half, I will have been on my mission for 6 months. Almost a fourth of the way through.. I was just thinking about what I've learned, how much I've learned, and how fast I've learned it! I've learned a new language in 6 months, I've learned more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ in 6 months than I have in my entire life, I have study skills- and the desire learn! Its incredible what this is doing to me.. I know, without a doubt, that I'm learning all of these things through the Spirit of the Lord. Because I'm here doing his work, He is blessing me with all these things... Not to mention how happy I am! I've seen and felt a change within my being, my heart has been softened and opened to the promptings of the Spirit.. Watching and helping people change their lives for the better is an incredible feeling. I've gained my own testimony through all of this and my Heavenly Father is setting a foundation for the rest of my life. It makes me so happy to feel this way! And I've only learned a little, I've got a looonng ways to go! I'm so excited for whats ahead.. It really is true that the sky is the limit.. And the sky leads into the Eternities.. I've got a lot to do!

How's everyone doing? It was so good to hear from all my brothers and sisters! I got a little choked up when I read your emails.. My comp had to ask if I was alright! claro que si! Umm.. My mind just went blank. My thought process is in Spanish so its hard to translate things haha..

Quick story! The other night when we were doing our contacts, there were 3 guys (like in their 40's) standing there smoking so we went and started talking to them.. The one I was standing by looked at me and said, "vos sos lindo.." which means something like, "youre beautiful" hahaha I just looked at him and said, "whaat??" (but in Spanish of course).. He thought I didnt speak Spanish, I dont know if he was hitting on me, or drunk, or what.. I just laughed and we walked away. I know its not the coolest story, but I thought it was funny.. Also, people here think that we're spies and that we're here to steal their "majic water" and kill their families. Others think that we get paid $100 for each person that goes to church with us.. And then after, the US government pays us like $50,000 or something like that. hahahaha! There was a guy that started lecturing us about that.. He told us we were sent by the US government and that we're here to brainwash the people in Paraguay because theyre not as educated as us and blah blah blah.. My companion and I were just standing there smiling at him, then he stopped after about 5 minutes of talking at us.. We looked at eachother, then at him, and my comp said, "I'm from Honduras.." and I said, "We're sent by Jesus Christ and we're here to share His teachings with everyone.. No one is obligated to anything, its by their own choice.." Then my companion started talking to him and shared a really brief summary of the Restoration.. After that the guy started saying how great it was that we're doing this and blah blah blah for another 5 minutes, then he invited us to his house haha. So I've learned that when people are mad, you just wait til theyre done, collect yourself, and use your mind and the truth when you speak.. And you'll end up in a good situation!

Thats about all I have for this week :) President said that I'll be calling home before I go in for surgery and that he'll give me a blessing! And again after the surgery I'll call. I hope you all have a great week! I love you!! Don't worry about me, everything is fine! I'm in the Lord's time..

I love you!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner