What´s up everyone! It was a busy week and we have changes tomorrow.. The time has been flying by super fast lately! It's been good though.
We had Zone Conference this week and it was really good! We worked on becoming better teachers, and I've seen improvement since then. I didn't get to see any of my MTC buddies though :( But that's alright.
That's awesome Haley and Dan got to bless the baby! I wish I could have been there to be part of it. I had the opportunity to confirm Nilsa a member of the Church yesterday because she got baptized on Saturday!! I have a ton of pictures, but I can't send them this week because my computer doesn't have a USB spot! So there will be lots of pictures next week.
We had a miracle today, I don't know how it happened, but it did! So we were waiting for the computers and someone called us on the cell phone.. I didn't recognize the number, but I recognized the voice! It was our old buddy, Neomar! He's been in Brazil for like 3 weeks and we haven't been able to find him.. I wrote our number down on a little piece of paper the last time we saw him, then he just disappeared! So it was a pleasent suprise to get his call today! We're going to visit him tomorrow then he's getting baptized! It's gonna be great!
I dont't really know what else to write.. A lot of our week was eaten up from the Zone Conference and weekly planning and district meeting. So we didn't get to see too many miracles! Tell Amber and Tim congratulations for me! That's so exciting!! Sorry I can't be there for it..
So this week I started writing out the vision for my life.. Making plans for what I want to do with myself and what I've gotta do to become an adult. It's coming along pretty well so far; it's still in the making, so I'll have to tell you about it when it's all done :D I think I might try BYU out when I get back.. I don't know though. I can do anything I want! There's so many options!
I think I'm gonna wrap this up.. I don't know what else to write. I got my Guarani and Portuguese name tags today! I was pretty excited about that.. That's pretty much it though.
Thanks for everything! I'm super happy to be here. There's nowhere else I'd rather be.. I love Paraguay.
I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner
Monday, February 20, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
10 Month Mark-43 Weeks Santa Rita-Baptism
That sure creeped up! I can't believe I've been on a mission for 10 months.. I feel like just last month I was in Caaguazu writing, saying I just completed 4 months!
QUESTIONS:
1. How are Nilsa and Berla? How are your investigators doing?
They're great!! They're getting baptized this Saturday! The other investigators are doing great too! I'll write more about them down below..
2. Are you excited for Zone Conference?
YES! It's going to be different from the rest because we have to go in front of everyone to do practices.. We have to be able to teach whatever lesson and any given time in the conference.. It's going to be interesting, but I feel like I'm ready! Especially the message of the Restoration by using the Book of Mormon. I didn't think it was possible, but Elder Richards (my zone leader) showed us how in our district meeting last week. He and Elder Hatch came out to do divisions.
3. What was your most wonderful experience this past week?
The baptism of Miguel on Saturday! I'll write more below..
4. How is Elder Nielson doing?
I think he's doing well.. We had a good companionship inventory this week, so everything is great now! He's a stud!
5. Is there anything we could be doing as your parents to help you in Paraguay?
Just keep praying for me! I don't need a whole lot of help with material stuff, I've got clothes and my scriptures and food to eat.. That's about all I need! I'm doing well and I'm really happy. Even when I'm tired and have had a long day, I'm still more happy than I've ever been in my life.
Alright! We had a great week this week! We have a young couple who just got married 2 months ago.. They're Brazilians, so we get to use lots of Portuguese! My companion loves it because he spoke Portuguese before the mission. I'm learning a lot too.. Anyways, Their names are Jonas and Daniela- ages 21 and 19. We're teaching her parents too, they live all super close to their family, kinda like the Christensen's do. Jonas and Daniela are progressing really well, and they keep their commitments! Which is refreshing.. We went over and they made us dinner the other night and I think it was the best thing I've eaten in Paraguay! Jonas said he's ready to get baptized, but Daniela said she's scared to pray because she's scared of the answer she might get.. So we watched Together Forever with them and told them we want them to get baptized because we want them to be able to go to the temple and get sealed forever. So we have another appointment with them tomorrow and we're going to invite them to get baptized the 25th!
So Elder Hugie and Elder Lorenzen had a baptism on Saturday.. The guy's name is Miguel, he's an accountant and he's 20. He's also a stud! He got baptized in a little river right next to Bernardo's house. I have pictures, don't worry :) More investigators went than members.. From us we had Jonas and Daniela and her mom and sister, and Bernardo and 2 of his kids- Reinaldo and Mirian. Then the other Elders had Xavier, one of their investigators, there also. It was a way cool experience! All those people got to see the Priesthood in action and definitely felt the Spirit! It was great.
It was a great week, we got to teach a lot and we had lots of people in church yesterday.. 24 people came! That's great!! Last week only 12 came, 8 not counting the missionaries! We're getting the work rolling here in Santa Rita! We're seeing progress and growth. Not only in the church, but within ourselves. I started reading the Book of Mormon again, and I'm working on Doctrine and Covenants too. I love the scriptures! I wish I could just sit and read all day! Well, on Mondays I can because it's P-day.. But I just love the scriptures! I've learned so much from them! I love the Bible, Book of Mormon, D&C, and the PGP. All those books complete the teachings of Christ- we have everything! On top of that, we have a living-day prophet to lead and guide us. A prophet who is actually called of God and not from his studies. Studies do not give you the authority to teach the Gospel! One has to be called of God.. Articles of Faith 1:5. I love being a missionary! I know God called me, not some random guy, not the Church or the US government. I'm not part of some youth program that gives me a chunk of money when I get back. I'm here by my own choice on the Lord's errand.
Well, it's about that time.. It's been good reading the emails and writing back! Thank you for writing me :D
I hope you all have a great week! I know I will! You'll be in my prayers.
I love you!!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner
QUESTIONS:
1. How are Nilsa and Berla? How are your investigators doing?
They're great!! They're getting baptized this Saturday! The other investigators are doing great too! I'll write more about them down below..
2. Are you excited for Zone Conference?
YES! It's going to be different from the rest because we have to go in front of everyone to do practices.. We have to be able to teach whatever lesson and any given time in the conference.. It's going to be interesting, but I feel like I'm ready! Especially the message of the Restoration by using the Book of Mormon. I didn't think it was possible, but Elder Richards (my zone leader) showed us how in our district meeting last week. He and Elder Hatch came out to do divisions.
3. What was your most wonderful experience this past week?
The baptism of Miguel on Saturday! I'll write more below..
4. How is Elder Nielson doing?
I think he's doing well.. We had a good companionship inventory this week, so everything is great now! He's a stud!
5. Is there anything we could be doing as your parents to help you in Paraguay?
Just keep praying for me! I don't need a whole lot of help with material stuff, I've got clothes and my scriptures and food to eat.. That's about all I need! I'm doing well and I'm really happy. Even when I'm tired and have had a long day, I'm still more happy than I've ever been in my life.
Alright! We had a great week this week! We have a young couple who just got married 2 months ago.. They're Brazilians, so we get to use lots of Portuguese! My companion loves it because he spoke Portuguese before the mission. I'm learning a lot too.. Anyways, Their names are Jonas and Daniela- ages 21 and 19. We're teaching her parents too, they live all super close to their family, kinda like the Christensen's do. Jonas and Daniela are progressing really well, and they keep their commitments! Which is refreshing.. We went over and they made us dinner the other night and I think it was the best thing I've eaten in Paraguay! Jonas said he's ready to get baptized, but Daniela said she's scared to pray because she's scared of the answer she might get.. So we watched Together Forever with them and told them we want them to get baptized because we want them to be able to go to the temple and get sealed forever. So we have another appointment with them tomorrow and we're going to invite them to get baptized the 25th!
So Elder Hugie and Elder Lorenzen had a baptism on Saturday.. The guy's name is Miguel, he's an accountant and he's 20. He's also a stud! He got baptized in a little river right next to Bernardo's house. I have pictures, don't worry :) More investigators went than members.. From us we had Jonas and Daniela and her mom and sister, and Bernardo and 2 of his kids- Reinaldo and Mirian. Then the other Elders had Xavier, one of their investigators, there also. It was a way cool experience! All those people got to see the Priesthood in action and definitely felt the Spirit! It was great.
It was a great week, we got to teach a lot and we had lots of people in church yesterday.. 24 people came! That's great!! Last week only 12 came, 8 not counting the missionaries! We're getting the work rolling here in Santa Rita! We're seeing progress and growth. Not only in the church, but within ourselves. I started reading the Book of Mormon again, and I'm working on Doctrine and Covenants too. I love the scriptures! I wish I could just sit and read all day! Well, on Mondays I can because it's P-day.. But I just love the scriptures! I've learned so much from them! I love the Bible, Book of Mormon, D&C, and the PGP. All those books complete the teachings of Christ- we have everything! On top of that, we have a living-day prophet to lead and guide us. A prophet who is actually called of God and not from his studies. Studies do not give you the authority to teach the Gospel! One has to be called of God.. Articles of Faith 1:5. I love being a missionary! I know God called me, not some random guy, not the Church or the US government. I'm not part of some youth program that gives me a chunk of money when I get back. I'm here by my own choice on the Lord's errand.
Well, it's about that time.. It's been good reading the emails and writing back! Thank you for writing me :D
I hope you all have a great week! I know I will! You'll be in my prayers.
I love you!!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner
Monday, February 6, 2012
Week 42 Santa Rita
What a fast week! I can´t believe it´s P-day already!
Alright.. Let´s do these questions!
Alright.. Let´s do these questions!
1.How is your district doing, is everyone seeing similar success with teaching and church attendance as you and your companion?
We´re doing great! We just had interviews with President Callan and he said he was very impressed with the work we´re doing and with the spirit he felt here in Santa Rita. He said he wants to move here! I think he´s crazy..,haha!
We´re doing great! We just had interviews with President Callan and he said he was very impressed with the work we´re doing and with the spirit he felt here in Santa Rita. He said he wants to move here! I think he´s crazy..,haha!
2.How about your zone? Are your Zone leaders helpful and encouraging?
When we´re doing well, yes. We have our ups and downs just like they do though. For the most part they´re pretty good! They want to do divisions again tomorrow. It will be good.
3.Do you regularly go on splits with your elders and Zone Leaders? I always felt like splits were helpful and helped me keep in good touch with the Elders I was called to lead. Plus it provides a little variety to the work.
Yeah we´ve done a lot of splits these last couple changes.. I´ve done them with the Elders in my district and they´re fun. I just hate traveling so far to do them.. Like to go to Ciudad del Este, we have to take a bus ride for an hour and a half, 3 hours round-trip and 40 Paraguay dollars plus food and all that jazz.
When we´re doing well, yes. We have our ups and downs just like they do though. For the most part they´re pretty good! They want to do divisions again tomorrow. It will be good.
3.Do you regularly go on splits with your elders and Zone Leaders? I always felt like splits were helpful and helped me keep in good touch with the Elders I was called to lead. Plus it provides a little variety to the work.
Yeah we´ve done a lot of splits these last couple changes.. I´ve done them with the Elders in my district and they´re fun. I just hate traveling so far to do them.. Like to go to Ciudad del Este, we have to take a bus ride for an hour and a half, 3 hours round-trip and 40 Paraguay dollars plus food and all that jazz.
4.How have your public video shows turned out so far, do you feel like they have been productive?
It was awesome! We had about 35 people there on Saturday. President Insaurralde came from Minga Guazú (just outside Ciudad del Este) with his projector and screen and we watched the Testaments! I love that movie! There were little kids there when we got there, and when we started the movie, the little kids ran home and brought their families. So we got some good references from that activity! We had 6 of our investigators there and they said they really liked it.
It was awesome! We had about 35 people there on Saturday. President Insaurralde came from Minga Guazú (just outside Ciudad del Este) with his projector and screen and we watched the Testaments! I love that movie! There were little kids there when we got there, and when we started the movie, the little kids ran home and brought their families. So we got some good references from that activity! We had 6 of our investigators there and they said they really liked it.
5.How is Bernado? Are you still having success with him? How about his family?
He´s doing well. He left for Brazil this morning to go do some work painting a house there with his son.. But they´re doing really well. He said he keeps praying to see if he needs to join "our ministry" haha. He really wants to be a missionary. He told us he hates painting, he just wants to give it up and go preach! Welp.. Join the Church and you can! He has a little river that runs by his house; he said we can do our baptisms there if we wanted.. So we´re going to this Saturday! Elder Hugie and Elder Lorenzen have an investigator who´s getting baptized this Saturday. So we´re going to do it there next to Bernardo´s house. This will be the second time he´s seen the Priesthood in action! He saw a confirmation a couple weeks ago when he went to church.
Next week, on the 13th, I will complete 10 months in the mission! On the 15th we have Zone Conference in Ciudad del Este, then on the 22nd we find out changes! So these next couple weeks are going to fly by! I have no idea what´s going to happen when the changes come.. I´ve been in Santa Rita for 4 changes already and that´s a REALLY LONG TIME! I´ve been here for almost a quarter of my mission..
Dad, nice work on getting 310!! That´s awesome! Hopefully I´ll be there someday.. I´ve put on 5 pounds since my surgery! I´ve seen some pretty good results from doing pushups everyday. I took before and after pictures and you can see a difference! Which reminds me... Aunt Shelly (Uncle Paul´s wife) sent me a shutterfly book! It has all the pictures from the 4th of July. It was SO good to see those pictures! There´s a picture of Mom holding Damon and Dad is standing next to them.. My comp thought Dad was one of my brothers.. So how´s that for a compliment? :)
We had a pretty cool experience last week.. Jorge brought a couple of his friends over to be taught by us. Their names are Nilsa and Berla, they are sisters Berla is 18 and Nilsa is 22. We taught them the Restoration last Saturday and invited them to get baptized.. They said no because they were baptized when they were babies... They went to church on Sunday, then we taught them again that night at Jorge´s house. We asked them what they thought of church and they said it was weird.. I thought, "Dang, we´re strikin' out here!" So we taught them the Doctrine of Christ, Faith, Repentence, Baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End.. Throughout the lesson, we were asking them questions, like if they saw the importance of those things.. Then it was like a switch went off! Before, they would not even think about it.. But after the lesson, all the truth was coming out! They just opened up and we were talking about what we had just taught. Then there was a few seconds of silence, then Berla said, "So what time is our baptism on the 18th?" OH MY GOSH! It was incredible.. So we´re helping them prepare for their baptism.. It´s not going to be the 18th anymore because they didn´t go to church yesterday.. But it´s ok! The 25th will be just as good! So yeah, the Holy Ghost testifies of the truth.. I´m not a perfect teacher by any means, my Spanish is good but it´s not perfect, I definitely have my flaws.. The Holy Ghost does everything.
Well, it´s about that time.. Thank you to everyone who has been sending me stuff! Paul, Shelly and family, Mark, Andrea and family.. Megan Bradshaw has sent me a couple little packages.. Who else.. I can´t remember off the top of my head, but thank you to everyone who has sent me something! I loved it! Everything!
I hope I get lots of pictures in my birthday package! I´m talking mountains of pictures.. Our investigators love seeing our pictures of our families! I only have 3 pictures of my new little nephew, that needs to change.. :) Even if you have to email me pictures, that´s ok- there are places here where I can get them printed off. I want pictures of all my family together! Derrek, Drake, Nicole and Grace, Dan, Haley, Damon and Rafe, and little miss Shaunie! hagalo por favor..
I hope everyone has a great week this week! I know I will!
I love you!!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner
He´s doing well. He left for Brazil this morning to go do some work painting a house there with his son.. But they´re doing really well. He said he keeps praying to see if he needs to join "our ministry" haha. He really wants to be a missionary. He told us he hates painting, he just wants to give it up and go preach! Welp.. Join the Church and you can! He has a little river that runs by his house; he said we can do our baptisms there if we wanted.. So we´re going to this Saturday! Elder Hugie and Elder Lorenzen have an investigator who´s getting baptized this Saturday. So we´re going to do it there next to Bernardo´s house. This will be the second time he´s seen the Priesthood in action! He saw a confirmation a couple weeks ago when he went to church.
Next week, on the 13th, I will complete 10 months in the mission! On the 15th we have Zone Conference in Ciudad del Este, then on the 22nd we find out changes! So these next couple weeks are going to fly by! I have no idea what´s going to happen when the changes come.. I´ve been in Santa Rita for 4 changes already and that´s a REALLY LONG TIME! I´ve been here for almost a quarter of my mission..
Dad, nice work on getting 310!! That´s awesome! Hopefully I´ll be there someday.. I´ve put on 5 pounds since my surgery! I´ve seen some pretty good results from doing pushups everyday. I took before and after pictures and you can see a difference! Which reminds me... Aunt Shelly (Uncle Paul´s wife) sent me a shutterfly book! It has all the pictures from the 4th of July. It was SO good to see those pictures! There´s a picture of Mom holding Damon and Dad is standing next to them.. My comp thought Dad was one of my brothers.. So how´s that for a compliment? :)
We had a pretty cool experience last week.. Jorge brought a couple of his friends over to be taught by us. Their names are Nilsa and Berla, they are sisters Berla is 18 and Nilsa is 22. We taught them the Restoration last Saturday and invited them to get baptized.. They said no because they were baptized when they were babies... They went to church on Sunday, then we taught them again that night at Jorge´s house. We asked them what they thought of church and they said it was weird.. I thought, "Dang, we´re strikin' out here!" So we taught them the Doctrine of Christ, Faith, Repentence, Baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End.. Throughout the lesson, we were asking them questions, like if they saw the importance of those things.. Then it was like a switch went off! Before, they would not even think about it.. But after the lesson, all the truth was coming out! They just opened up and we were talking about what we had just taught. Then there was a few seconds of silence, then Berla said, "So what time is our baptism on the 18th?" OH MY GOSH! It was incredible.. So we´re helping them prepare for their baptism.. It´s not going to be the 18th anymore because they didn´t go to church yesterday.. But it´s ok! The 25th will be just as good! So yeah, the Holy Ghost testifies of the truth.. I´m not a perfect teacher by any means, my Spanish is good but it´s not perfect, I definitely have my flaws.. The Holy Ghost does everything.
Well, it´s about that time.. Thank you to everyone who has been sending me stuff! Paul, Shelly and family, Mark, Andrea and family.. Megan Bradshaw has sent me a couple little packages.. Who else.. I can´t remember off the top of my head, but thank you to everyone who has sent me something! I loved it! Everything!
I hope I get lots of pictures in my birthday package! I´m talking mountains of pictures.. Our investigators love seeing our pictures of our families! I only have 3 pictures of my new little nephew, that needs to change.. :) Even if you have to email me pictures, that´s ok- there are places here where I can get them printed off. I want pictures of all my family together! Derrek, Drake, Nicole and Grace, Dan, Haley, Damon and Rafe, and little miss Shaunie! hagalo por favor..
I hope everyone has a great week this week! I know I will!
I love you!!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner
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