Buenas! Week 32 Santa Rita

Another week down! I cant believe how fast the time is going here!! We´re in the last week of the change too so we are waiting for whats going to happen.. It was a good week though, the work has been a little slow since our last baptism and a couple of our investigators are falling through. Kind of a tough week, but thats how it goes sometimes! I talked to my district leader and he said I have 2 packages in Asunción right now :) I just have to send in like 40 Paraguay dollars to get them! I'm excited!

Questions!

1.  Now did you have Zone Conference last week or is it this week?
Yeah this week, we have ours this Wednesday in Ciudad del Este.. President Callan is just going to speak to us in this one so it will be really good!

 

2.  What was your most favorite experience this past week?
I think doing service for Jorge was my favorite.. It was really good because he helps us a lot with finding and teaching new people and it was a good way to say thank you. I think that and just the things I studied this week and how I've applied them in my life and how its strengthened my testimony.

 

3.  How are your Shoes holding up?  How are your shirts and garments etc?

(If you need more garments don't they have a distribution center in Asuncion by the temple?)

How are your towels and sheets?
My shoes are gangster. I havent had any problems with them, or any of my clothes or sheets.. A couple of my shirts have stains on them from the red mud here, but they've been fading out pretty good. I wash my clothes with dish soap with lime, so they turn out really clean!

 

4.  Is it still raining there?
Saturday was the hottest day ever.. Thats the day we did service for Jorge- we planted sod in his front yard. I look like neopolitan ice cream with my new sunburn. My neck and my arms are super burnt, then my chest is pasty white, and my forearms are really tan. Youll see in the picture I'm sending today, but you cant laugh because I look like a little kid!
Yesterday was really cloudy with lots of wind.. And today is raining like crazy! The streets are all flooded and I'm pretty sure water is getting into the cars that are parked on the side of the road. Its bad!

I'm glad to hear Dad took my car out for a drive!! He can only race Clayton if they do it for pink slips and Dad wins... Does my sound system still work good? I'm not too worried about the paint fading.. Its just spray paint! There's a lot of nice cars here that we dont have in the States.. Like the Toyota Hilux or the Toyota Surf. Its kind of the same, but they look a little different, and they have turbos here. Pretty much every car here has a turbo, I'm kind of jealous. I think Toyota has a new Land Cruiser.. It looks really nice! Also the VW Amarok. Thats all I remember right now.. Its weird how I dont think about cars as much as I used to.. Like before, I never would have gotten excited about reading the scriptures or bearing my testimony or saying my prayers all the time. But now those are the things that get me the most excited! I love learning from the scriptures and teaching people and praying. My favorite part of the day is when we get home and I can just lay in my bed and read for like an hour. Then say my prayers! Its awesome! I didnt think something so small as these two things could make me feel so happy. And its easy! Before, I thought I didnt have any time to read the scriptures or anything like that.. But now on the mission, I have even LESS time for that stuff, and its still easy to fit it in at the end of my day. So if youre not reading your scriptures and praying, DO IT. I promise there is enough time to do it... Satan is just telling you there isnt. Afterall, he IS the father of all wickedness..

A few days ago we ate lunch with Amadeu and Sonia and I ate something I've never had before.. But the people here love it! Pig tail. It kind of grossed me out at first because Amadeu just put the whole thing in his mouth and sucked the meat right off the bone! And there's still hair on the tail.. Bleh! But it didnt taste bad, just a little different. Then yesterday we ate lunch with the Ugarte family- they're getting ready to go the the Temple.. We had a big ol' steak with them and it was super good! They dont do steak the same here.. Like there isnt T-Bone or Serloin or any of that.. They just cut the cow up into huge chunks and ask, "How much do you want?" hahaha. Its still really good though. And Paraguayans believe if you mix watermelon with milk or ice cream, you die..

I'm going to put together a little package to send home for Christmas! I'll but in a bunch of pictures labeled(? I dont know if I spelled that right..) and some letters and I think even a DVD of me saying hi! So thats kind of what I'll be doing today!
I'm just sending a few pictures in this email of me here in Santa Rita! A couple of the church that we're in and a picture of the visitor I had under my closet!

I gotta go now, I still need to write my letter to President Callan!
I hope you all have a great week! I love you and miss you and pray lots for you!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner

 

 

Seven Months!

Holy Moly the time is FLYING by!! I cant believe I´ve been out for 7 months already.. This is ridiculous but I love it! Thank you for all writing me a part in the email, I always love hearing from everyone. Tell Drake him and I will have to come back to get the monkey! You can buy one here for 100,000 Paraguay dollars.. Or in other words, $20 US:)
That makes me sad hearing about Dean :,( I remember seeing him in the MTC right before he left for the field and he was SO hyped! The Lord has something planned for him there though. He could probably do something in the Temple or go out with the missionaries or something.. If you see him, tell him I hope he´s feeling alright!

Questions!

1.  What was the greatest experience that you have had this week?
  Last night! We went to the house of one of our investigators, Amadeu and Sonia, and a guy stopped us in the street trying to tell us that our church was wrong! He was even on his way to his church! In 1 Corinthians chapter 11 he was teaching us that the women in our church dont use the ´´vale´´ so our church is wrong.. He read verses 2-14, but not 15 because it talks about the vale being hair! He said he had to stop us and tell us because it breaks his heart that we´re ´´living in the wrong´´. He just wanted to bash with us.. James 1:26..
  Then we got to our appointment with Amadeu and Sonia and Sonia started telling us that her neighbor was talking bad about the church also! Its crazy how much the church is persecuted.. I say this is my favorite experience this week because it secured my testimony that I KNOW I am in Christ´s church. There is no other. We´re not out here to bash with the people or destroy their beliefs, we´re here to help them find the true church of Christ. All they have to do is ask Him in a sincere prayer if all that we´re teaching is true.. And He doesn´t lie.

 

2.  Do you have anyone that has committed to baptism right now?
We did, but they fell through! I don´t know what happened. We had 2 but they quit answering their phones and accepting our visits.. So we´re spending a lot of time right now finding new people to teach!

 

3.  Ipod question?  If I sent you a flash drive with Christmas music on it can you download that somehow to your  Itunes?  Does your apartment have a CD player?  I'm just trying to  think of ways to help get you some new music if you are interested!
Yeah send it!! We have a radio with a flash drive option, that would be awesome! You´ve gotta find some Eclipse or Inside Out- they´re pretty awesome. Also, Mindy Gledhill is a really good singer. Its crazy how my style of music has changed! I dont know, maybe its just because we cant listen to anything else..

 

4.  How are your memory cards and flash drives holding up?  Do you transfer your pictures off of your camera SD card to your flash drive?
They´re good! Everything has been working great. I have tons of memory for all my pictures and stuff. I dont think I´ll run out! But yeah, whenever I have pictures from the week before, I put them on my flash drive. I just havent really taken very many pictures the last couple weeks.

 

5.  How is Jorge?  How is Manuel?  How was attendence at Church Sunday?
Jorge is going to be a prophet.. We have the Stake Conference in December and he´s going to get the priesthood! He´s super excited to get it. He´s awesome! Manuel is in another city for a couple weeks working. But he´s been dating this stupid girl thats trying to pull him out of the church.. I dont know what her problem is. Yesterday at church, was Jorge and Mabel, and the Ugarte family.. And the 4 missionaries. So, 10 people! It´s been raining like crazy here the past few days so nobody does anything. The whole city shuts down when it rains.. Nobody wants to let us in their house because we´re all wet and have clay all over our shoes and pants, so we just end up walking around looking for people in the streets. The rain is crazy here! I dont know if you saw the video I sent last week, but when it rains, it POURS! The streets flood and turn into rivers and there´s just water everywhere. I´ve never seen anything like it.

We have Zone Conference next week! I´m super excited! President Callan is going to talk the whole time.. President Arnold from the 70 came to the last one, I think he´s from Idaho.. But his teachings were awesome and his testimony hit me hard. It was all in Spanish then he switched to English and said, "I know that Jesus Christ lives.. I KNOW Him..." The whole room was filled with the Spirit, I almost couldnt breathe with how powerful it was when he said that. But I´m excited to just hear from President Callan and what he has prepared to teach us. I love that guy! When I stayed in their house after my surgery, I felt like I was at home.. In between the Conference sessions we were talking about our favorite parts of the talks, then he asked how the mission was going for me so far, then he started telling me stories abou his mission.. He´s got some awesome stories! It was a fun time. They love all the missionaries like their own kids and you can see it. President Callan wrote me an email today saying that another elder had an emergency apendecitis and said he´s glad I had my hernia! He said the elder wouldnt have made it to the States, and that Dr. Escobar was the perfect find. So I thought that was kind of cool.

Can I get my Line of Authority? I dont know it off the top of my head and I dont know if there´s a way I can get it.. I want it because I started writing in my other journal (no the first one isnt full yet..) and there´s a spot to put all my stuff, like when I was ordained into the office of a deacon, teacher, priest, etc.. When I was baptized and confirmed, when I was blessed in the church and all that stuff. I dont know all of it.. So that would be sweet if I could get it somehow! I have my big journal to put in the experiences and pictures from my mission, and the other one is for my personal stuff, like what I´ve learned, my testimonies and thoughts and stuff like that.

This week in my studies, I´ve been focused in the great apostacy and prophets and how important the prophets are. Prophets are like a watchman on a tower, protecting a city from robbers.. He´s there to warn the people of the dangers of the world, and we would be in the darkness without one. But today, there are so many people that are choosing to live in the darkness because they dont want to listen to the words of the prophet.. They´re turning down true happiness for the things of the world. What happens to the things of the world when we die? They stay in the world. If we build our treasures up in the things of the world, we will be the poorest people in all the Kingdoms of Heaven. There are so many people here that have absolutely nothing, but they have the gospel and they live it and are truly happy.. They´re going to be the rich ones. They´ve built their treasures up in the things of the Lord, and that´s what they´ll carry with them when they die. This life is just a grain of sand in the eternities, yet what we do here will effect what happens to us when we die. Because this life isnt all, and it surely isnt the beginning. I´m happy to know my Heavenly Father is content with me and I´m happy to know that I´m doing the things that He wants.

Elder Guevara says, "Hello everyone!" But right now I gotta go.. Its been a good week and I´ve learned a lot! I hope you all have a fantastic week this week!
I love you!!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 30 Santa Rita

I swear I just wrote yesterday... This week flew by SO fast! We only have about 2 and a half weeks left in this change, and lots of success! It was a great week. I'm excited for what this week has to bring!

Questions!

1.  How did your talk in church go on Sunday?
I didnt speak yesterday because it was fast and testimony meeting.. But I did bear my testimony! Only about 16 people came to church yesterday because it rained.

 

2.  Did you and Elder Guevara find the guy who came to church with his wife last week?
We havent been able to find him! He told us where he lives, but the people here are terrible at giving directions! They'll say, "Oh I live by the car wash and my house doesnt have paint on it.. its really easy to find..." Good luck! But we're still looking!

 

3.  Have you been back to teach Ercilio?
Yeah but we couldnt really teach him because he was building a new shed for his chickens.. He said someone has been stealing them. But I think we're going back tomorrow!

 

4.  Did mabel get baptized?
Yes! It was awesome! We use a river that is on someone's property, and there were people swimming and partying and stuff. But they were respectful of the baptisms so that was good. There was a guy in a speedo cutting down weeds with a machete! Hahahaha it was SO funny- I've never seen anything like it before in my life. Also, there was a little kid, like 7 years old, drinking beer! He was pounding it.. I dont know how people can let their kids do that.

 

5.  How are you feeling?  How is your hernia area doing?  Do you feel like you are back to normal?
I'm good to go! I can run and walk and everything. Its a little sore this morning for some reason though. But other than that I feel great. So dont worry!

 

6.  I don't know if I've asked you this since you have been in Santa Rita, Do you do your own laundry and cooking or do you guys have someone who does your laundry?  I know you said you were going to the store to buy groceries so I am assuming that you do your own cooking.

Are you getting enough to eat everyday and keeping your strength up?
We just started washing our own laundry.. We have a little wash basin to do it in with a washboard. Its kind of fun! Then we use our chairs and the broom and mop as rods to hang our clothes out to dry. One of the sisters in the branch was washing our clothes, but its not worth it to have her do it. She would charge us 25 Paraguay dollars to do it, then another 20 for the soap.. But the soap she uses is only 10 Paraguay dollars in the store.. Plus when we would get our laundry back, it smelled bad- like old water and dirt.. Like a gross musky smell. So, we each pay 10 Paraguay dollars for our soap and wash our own laundry and its about 20 Paraguay dollars every month to clean our laundry now! Plus is smells way better and its nice and clean. I think the sister would wash her family's clothes first then use what was left for our laundry.
We dont have any luch appointments, so we do our own cooking too! Every morning, I have eggs and sausage with cheese. Its really good! Then for lunch I'll do ramen noodles with hamburger, eggs, and vegitables. And for dinner, I'll do something light like ramen noodles or cereal.. But I feel like I've been more healthy since I've been eating like that.

 

7.  Heat?  How are you coping with the Heat?  What is the temperature there during the days? Are you able to sleep at night?
Its hot and humid! Luckily we have an A/C unit in our room to keep us cool at night. Our apartment is really nice.. Like nicer than my apartments in Rexburg.

 

8.  What was your most favorite experience this past week?
I think sharing my testimony in church yesterday.. I feel like I've grown a lot closer to my Heavenly Father this last week. My prayers have been so much more sincere and my studies have been really really focused. I've recieved a ton of help from the Lord because of my faith and for doing my part. Just by sharing these things yesterday confirmed it even more that our Heavenly Father lives and loves us as a whole and individually. I know He loves me and cares about me. He wants to help me and I know I have to do my part to receive the blessings.. We cant just pray and expect it, we have to do all we can to achieve what we want, and He takes care of the rest.

 

9.  Do you think you will have a different companion before Christmas or do you think you and Elder Guevara will get to stay together?
I'm not sure.. I think I'll probably have a different companion. But I could be mistaken! Maybe the Lord has something here for us both to do here still..

 

10.  Are you doing good at your journal writing?  I hope so!  I know I've never been a journal writer and I wish I would have been.  I hope that you will always keep a journal!
Its been up and down.. But lately, I've been writing every day, or at least every-other day. So I'm staying up-to-date!

I think Dad asked me in his email what the best and worst thing I ate this week.. The best thing, BBQ at Jorge's house! With grilled pineapple and cinnamon.. (I have to Americanize it otherwise you wont understand!) They do their BBQ's a little different here.. It was sooo good! We had a huge piece of a cow and another of pig. We had that and Mandioca and then the pineapple. Mandioca is a root that they eat here with pretty much every meal. I used to have to choke it down when I first started because I thought it was so gross, but now I kinda like it. Its really good with the meat. I guess its like a really thick steak. They make it over a type of charcoal, but they call it carbon, and they dont use any seasonings, just the fat. Its SO good. Then the pineapple with cinnamon.. Delicious!  I havent really eaten anything bad since I've been here in Santa Rita. Its really civilized here, its like the opposite of Caaguazu!

So yeah, this week was awesome! The other elders had a baptism too! Elder Hugie baptized their investigator.. He was almost like Alma in the book of Mosiah, I thought he was going in too! Hahaha. It was good though. I got to confirm Mabel yesterday in Sacrament meeting and that was really cool. We started teaching one of our old investigators again. His name is Ala'a from Brazil, he's 24, married and has a little girl. He's an architect and has his own business here in Santa Rita. He's Musslim! Its cool learning about their beliefs from him.. I need to study more Portugese so I can understand better! But we felt like we should try to find him again and start teaching him, which is good because he really needs our help. His marriage is starting to fall apart and he doesnt know what else to do, so we're going to help him! I'll keep you updated because right now, I'm out of time! I gotta go :(

I hope you all have an incredible week this week! You'll be in my prayers daily!
I love you!!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner