Week 48 Colonel Bogado

Mba´e la porte?! Mbe´eichapa?! Oiponátereiporáma!
This is like, What´s up? How are you? I´m SUPER good! There´s a little Guaraní for y´all..
This week flew by super fast! I can´t believe I´m emailing again.. So yeah! Welp, here´s the question and answer time!

Porandu kuera:

1. Have you spoken in your new Branch yet? How is your Branch doing?
Yeah, I´ve spoken a few times.. We teach the Sunday school class, we´re in the Book of Mormon (Mormón Kuatañe´e)
The Branch is... Getting a little better! Little by little. We had 14 there yesterday. There´s some problems between some of the members and stuff like that.

2. What was one of your favorite experiences this week.
Probably walking out to Camba Rugua with my companion to go teach some of the recent converts. We get along really well! I love it. It´s a long walk out there- there´s no bus that goes out and no one here wants to pick up a couple strange American guys walking down the highway..

3. How is the food? What are you eating these days? Are you finding any food that you absolutely love? Hate? Have a hard time gagging down?
The food´s alright.. I was just thinking about that last night actually.. It´s like Gary Stark said before I left, the food doesn´t really have that much flavor! I´ve eaten a lot of really weird/sketchy stuff to where now, I think I could eat just about anything.. Hey, is Fear Factor still running? I think I wanna take a stab at that $50,000..
I eat a lot of rice here. I thought it would be like Mexican food here, but Paraguay kinda has it´s own style. They throw what they want in a huge pot with half a bottle of oil and cook it all up! Sometimes there´s noodles with something that you hope looks like chicken meat, but it could be from part of the dead cat you saw in front of their house.. Not to metion the Mandioca. It´s a big white root that they eat with EVERYTHING here. Empenada? How about some Mandioca with that.. Noodles? Hey, here´s some Mandioca! ...Is that Mandioca you´re eating? Here, have some Mandioca with your Mandioca! Then wash it down with some Chipa.. That´s a whole other story..

Basically there´s 5 food groups here.. Mandioca, Rice, Noodles, Empenadas, and Chipa. You can take the ingredients from any one of these things and mix it together and make one of the other things..

4. So after your birthday package got to you, will you have enough warm clothes to get you through the cold season? Did you like the sweater, gloves, long johns? Is that deodorant ok?
I'm sure you sweat so much that you can hardly tell you used it. At least you smell good while you sweat! Hahaha Do we need to be sending anything else for the cold season or can you buy what you might need there? Are your clothes and shoes holding up ok? I know I just asked that a couple of months ago but I just want to keep up on things you might possibly need that you can't get in Paraguay.
That was such an awesome package! Thank you!! The deodorant works great, I can wear the same clothes for like 4 days strait and they still smell good! All my stuff is holding up pretty well, I´m suprised! I see some of the Elders´ stuff here and it´s destroyed! Their shoes are falling apart, their shirts have holes in them.. I´ve been trying to take care of my stuff and it´s been holding up great.

5. What is the furthest distance you have traveled this week?
Every week we have to go to Encarnación on a colectivo (bus) for an hour for our District Meetings.. We pass this spot where you can see Argentina. I think I sent a picture of it last week..
Walking distance.. We walked about 20 miles yesterday. Normally we walk like 10 miles.

6. Are you still keeping up with your push ups?
I´ve been slackin! We want to start doing them again but it´s going to be hard to get back in the habit. By the way, nice work on getting 320 Dad!! I didn´t know that! The last I heard he had just benched 310! What´s Clayton at nowadays? And John?

7. Have you tried teaching your companion any Guarani?
A little bit.. I don´t even know that much, just some frases and words. But I try to use it as much as I can with people because they open up more when they hear us speak their language.

Sweet! So yeah, this last week we did divisions with the zone leaders and today we´re having the asistants over for a week! In the mission now here there are 4 asistants, 2 travel and 2 stay in their area.. Then halfway through the change they switch. It´s going to be a good week! We´re going to get a lot done. I heard in the last area they were in (Natalio Diez) they had 5 baptisms. That was just this last Saturday.. One of the asistants thats coming here today used to serve in this area, so he knows a lot of people already! Elder Paladines.. I don´t remeber where he´s from, but when Elder Patterson was moved out of Caaguazú he went with Elder Paladines. So he´s gonna be here for a week with his companion, Elder Love.

President Callan wrote me an email today.. He said my progress has been great so far. He said now he wants me to ¨fine tune¨ my focus. So tomorrow in my personal study I´m going to make a list of things that are making my focus not fine tuned. I want to put away anything that will make me distracted. It´s easier said than done! This is going to be a challenge but I´m willing to take it on. I feel like something is holding me back a little still from being 100% consecrated to the Lord. I just don´t know what it is. President Callan is an inspired man, so maybe it´s my focus. I´ll make that my goal to achieve for my year mark.. Entregarme el corazón cien porciento al Señor.

I know I just talked about being more focused, and this is going to contradict what I just said, but it´s for a good purpose! There´s a kid here in the Branch that is in LOVE with cars, just like me :D and I wanted to get him some pictures of some cool cars, but I can´t google them myself.. Next week could I get a few pictures of some cars to give to him? Maybe a few of my car.. He really likes my car.. I was thinking a Subaru STI, a Mitsubishi EVO X and others like that. If I could get that, it would be awesome!

I want my siblings to write me, dang it! It´s been a while since I´ve heard from any of them.. un email sería suficiente..

It´s about that time.. I gotta write President!
I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 47 3rd Week in Colonel Bogado 3-12-12

Dang I just got some great emails from my family.. :D I´m so happy to hear everyone is doing well! This last week was a long week, but a good one! We´re doin´ work on Coronel Bogado! Alright..

Preguntas y Respuestas

1. How was your temple day? How long did it take you to get to Asuncion from where you live now?
The Temple was awesome!! I remember the first time I went down here.. I didn´t understand anything! But it was a great time with my trainer- a time I´ll never forget! The lomitos gave me chivivi!! It was great. Thanks Cale :D
This time I understood everything! It was sweet to do everything in Spanish. We did baptisms and confirmations and then we did a session so it was really cool! I bought a couple a´o po´ii temple ties.. They´re hand- woven ties from PARAGUAY! They´re super cool..

2. Did you catch your rat? Yuk! I think mice are bad!! Rats with those long tails! Gross!
Haha.. funny story about that! I went out on the balcony this morning and the rat was dead! We threw some rat poisoning out there a couple days ago. I forgot to take pictures of my apartment, shoot! Sorry.. Next week!

3. How are the four families that are ready for baptism?
We still gotta find them, Paraguayans are terrible with giving directions.. We´re gonna get them this week!

4. What are your plans for your area? Are you going to do more movies in the park? Ward Parties? What? Tell us!!!
We´re trying to fix the branch here.. It´s a train wreck. We´re going to find all the inactives and reactivate them. The Sunday meetings are a mess, honestly I´m embarrassed to bring investigators to church right now. So we´re going to have FHE with everyone every week.. We´re going to have it at one member´s house one week, and rotate through all the members every week after that. That will show everyone how it´s done, then they can break off and have FHE within their own families after that. Then we´re going to do English classes every Wednesday, we need to organize that better, but it will be great! Then every other Saturday we´re going to have activities in the church and stuff for the branch. It´s going to be booming here in a couple of weeks!

5. How is your companion doing? Have you swapped waterskiing stories? How long has he been out? How well does he know the language?
He´s a stud! I love this guy! We get along great.. I feel like I´ve known him forever. We story swap all the time. He´s just a stud! He´s been out for 7 months and he knows the language really well. We´re a good companionship, President Callan knew what he was doing when he put us together!

So yesterday we had District Conference (it´s like Stake Conference- Paraguay style!) and President Callan came out and spoke. The whole chapel was filled! I forgot what it was like to be in a full house! I was so excited! I wanted to get up and bear my testimony or speak or something! I would KILL to serve in a ward like that! I hope the Elders in my home ward are working like crazy with the members! That´s when you see miracles, that´s when people get baptized.. The members are GOLD, everyone I´ve baptized has been a close friend of a member. Plus the members know who are ready to receive to Gospel! DO IT!! Elder Wilding and I have about 4 members we can really work with right now; there are Elders with HUNDREDS of members and they don´t work with them! They´re crazy! We are all missionaries, plaquita negra or not, viejito or jovencito.. EVERYONE! It´s so cool! Alright tranquilo..

Like I said, it was a long week.. We had to prepare everything for our trip to Encarnación yesterday for the District Conference. My companion and I are the first and second councelors here and the Branch President gives us all his responsability. I´m learning a ton! It´s great! We´ve been talking with the members to see what we can do to strengthen the branch and to bring back the inactives. We´ve got a TON of work to do! We´re gonna be busy for a while.. We have a ton of references we need to go find and teach, they´re people that are ready to hear the Gospel and ready to be freed from their sins. It´s going to be great to find them and help them!
We have divisions with the Zone Leaders tomorrow and then again with the Asistants later this week.. I don´t know what day yet though.. So I think this week is going to go by really fast because our days are going to be jam-packed! It´s going to be good though because I´ll learn a lot, that will help me for now in the mission and also for the rest of my life. Sweet!

This week I was kind of having a test of my faith.. I was thinking about why I was here.. Why I´m giving up 2 years of my life while I could be working or going to school.. Then I started asking myself if I REALLY knew if God existed. How can I really be sure? I´ve never seen God, I´ve never heard His voice.. Then 3 days ago in my personal study, I didn´t know what to do. I was kind of shuffling throught stuff on my desk and looking at what book I could read.. I picked up my Triple and started thumbing the pages not really paying attention, then it was like my book just fell open. Both sides are unmarked, except for one verse. And the verse itself was unmarked, I had just put a star by the verse number, and I don´t even remember it. I´ll always remember this day.. The scripture is Alma 30:44 (this was in my Spanish set by the way..) ¨But Alma said unto him: Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy bretheren, and also all the holy prophets? The sriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even all the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.¨ It was like, DUH Elder Heiner! Of course God exists.. I know He knows me personally and He knows every one of my needs. When I humble myself and turn to Him, He helps me. He takes my burdens and troubles away and replaces them with happiness and joy. I love my Heavenly Father! Now that I think back on that experience more, I wasn´t being humble- I was relying on my own strengths and talents. Yo sé que nada soy... Alma 26:12.

I hope you all have a great week! I love you so much!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Scenery picture, Asuncion Temple, Elder Heiner and Elder Wilding, Temperature

Week 2 Colonel Bogado

Mba'e la porte che sociokuera?! Esta semana pasada fue un poco diferente, pero mi compañero y yo tenemos una visión por nuestra area acá en Coronel Bogado :D Bueno...

HEY! What´s up y´all! This week was legit! We´re gonna whip this place around and make it BOOM! I´m so excited!

Está bien.. Voy a contestar las preguntas!

What Zone number are you in?
I am now in Zone 11! It´s pretty awesome. Sometimes I miss my old Zone 9 though.. and 8. But it´s good!

What is your apartment like?
It´s kinda ghetto.. I think it might be my favorite one so far though. I´ll have to take pictures and send them in the email next week!

Tell us more about your companero.  His family, we found his Facebook page.  Is he the oldest?  Are you two getting along okay?
He´s a stud! I love Elder Wilding! He reminds me of Derrek a lot, just his mannerisms and stuff like that. We get along great. I feel like I´ve known him for ever. And yeah he´s the oldest in his family..

Do you miss Santa Rita?
I do.. I miss my converts there and the investigators and members. That was a cool apartment too... Other than that, not really!

 How are you liking your new area?
I love it! It has a lot of city.. Well, we´re over like 4 cities that all touch. This area is HUGE! The members are great! They really want to help us with the work. Yesterday we had 21 in church! So it´s gonna grow!

How many are in your district?  How many in your zone?  Do you know any of the Elders or sisters?
There are 6 in my district.. and I don´t know about the zone still.. It´s one of the bigger ones in the mission though. There´s 3 districts and I think the other 2 have 8 missionaries.. I´ll find out tomorrow when we go to the TEMPLE!!

Can you see Argentina?
In some parts yeah! I´ll have to take a picture next week on our way to district meeting. We have to take an hour bus ride every week to get to our district meetings.. It´s fun!

Have you gotten your package yet?
I got it today!!! Thank you so much! It´s great! We just had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. It was SOO good! Even though the bread here goes bad 10 minutes after you open it..

WELLLL, we had a pretty good week this week. We still don´t have any investigators, but that´s just because satan is having a little power over them.. God is more powerful than satan! Satan is a poop head! I would fist fight him if I could.. He doesn´t have a body so I can´t really do anything.. He got away from me this time! I´ll just shove it in his face and keep doing what God wants me to do. HAH! Take that satan..

Alright. We got tons of great references this last week. We´re going to start teaching them, but we gotta fix the organization in the branch here first.. I´m not going to lie, it´s a disaster! Not for much longer though. I´m excited to get this place turned around and have the 100 inactive members come back to church! And from the sound of it, it won´t be too hard to get them back. We gotta show them what the Church is all about. They´ll come back. And they´ll bring their friends! :D

The other night I heard Elder Wilding scream.. He was back in the room and I was in the front room getting ready for bed.. He yelled, ¨Elder Heiner! Get in here fast!¨ So I ran in and he was like, ¨There´s a huge rat that just jumped out of the air conditioner onto my bed! Now he´s under your bed!¨ Bahh! So I ran and got the broom to smash the rat.. But we never found it.. It was funny though because there was a bunch of dust bunnies from the A/C on my comps bed. Plus we´ve been finding lots of rat poop in the apartment.. We´re gonna buy rat poison and kill that stupid thing. Plus theres a lot of cucarachas (I forgot how to spell that in English.. It´s easier in Spanish cuz it´s just like it sounds..) and we gotta kill them too.

So yeah, I think I was in Santa Rita for 6 months for a reason.. To help me to know what to do here! Seriously, there are so many things I learned in Santa Rita that make this place seem like a piece of cake. We´re gonna tear this place up! We´ve got like 4 families that are ready for baptism! It´s going to be great! Plus we´re going to the Temple tomorrow!! We´re going to receive lots of revelation for our area tomorrow! And we´re going to follow it. YEEAAAAHHHHHHH!! Bring it ON!!

Alright.. I gotta go write President! I love you ALL and hope you have a fantastic week! Thanks for everything!
LES AMO TANTO!!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner
aka HEINSTEIN

ººIn the pictures- birthday ties and OLIMPIA jerseys! SOY OLIMPEEERO SOY OLIMPIIISTA!!

**I had technical difficulties trying to get Colby's pictures to download from my IPad. It seems I can only do it from a Windows computer. Sorry No Pictures!**