Week 87

What´s up y´all! I can´t believe it´s pday again! The weeks are going by super fast! We find out changes tomorrow, I´ve already been in this area for 6 months.. So.. Change? Please? :D
It was good to hear about Damon and Rafe!! I can´t wait to see them! I can´t believe Damon is talking.. When I left he was only like 10 months old! Crazy.. And I can´t believe that Rafe is gonna be a year old next month!
So you got my travel plans, huh? Haha. I´ve loved my mission, and I´ve learned and grown a ton.. But I´m excited to start my life and use the stuff I´ve learned here. I´m super glad I came on a mission and learned all the stuff that I have. It´s like D&C says, the more we learn in this life, the more it benefits us in the next..

QUESTIONS:

1. How are Cesar and Silvia?
Cesar´s dad is in the hospital and is about to die.. So we haven´t been able to meet with them lately. But as far as we know, they´re doing well.

2. Has church attendance held steady?
Kind of.. We had 24 people at church yesterday. It wasn´t terrible, but it´s a pretty big drop from last week. I don´t know what happened.

3. With increased attendance have you received any member referrals?
Nope.. Still working on that one..

4. Is there any of the members that are coming to church right now that seem like they could be good leaders? Take responsibility? More committed?
Still workin on that one too haha. There are members that could take on leadership, but there´s no leadership training here.. The only church leaders in this city are the district president and his 4 branch presidents.... I´ve seen some weird politics in the church here. Things have been done that shouldn´t have been done. I´ll tell you all about it in a few months when we´re all sittin around in the living room :D

5. Do you know how your Branch President is feeling about the interviews he has been having with the members?
I think he´s felt good about them.  They postponed the temple trip until February. Maybe that will give them enough time to get everything done they need to.

6. When do the youth in your Branch get to go to the temple?
They all go with the adults. I think while the adults are doing their temple work, the youth go and do the baptisms.

7. What experience have you had this past week that was the most memorable?
I´ve been teaching the priesthood class for the last few months and I try to share as much stuff from the Book of Mormon as I can. Yesterday I taught from Alma 48. It talks about the preparation of the Nephites and the Lamanites when Captain Moroni was in charge of the Nephites. Amalicki (is that his name? In Spanish its Amalikíah..) was in charge of the Lamanites. It talks about how the 2 captains prepare their people for war. Nephites are the members of the Church and the Lamanites are the wicked.. Amalikíah is Satan and Moroni could be like the prophet or something.. Anyways, its a good chapter!

We had a good week.. We´re ready to see what changes are coming. We both think that I´m going because I´ve already been here for 6 months. And I guess there are some big changes coming to Oviedo on Friday, so we´ll see what happens. Other than that it was a pretty normal week.

Shaunie asked where I´m going to school when I get back.. It looks like BYU-I-Do for now. I´ve been thinking about BYU also. I heard there´s not that many people there so they´re just letting everyone in.. Maybe I´ll transfer over! I heard it´s a more prestigeous school or something..

Well, I´ll let you know next week if there were any changes! I feel like my areas have gotten progressively harder, so I´m hoping my next area will at least be self-reliant.. That would be nice.
Until next week!

I love you!!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 86

This is so weird to me! I feel like the weeks are days.. Sometimes the days feel like weeks.. Daw!

I got the email about school.. I`m pretty dang excited to use all the skills I`ve gained here on the mission.. It`s funny you say Drake may need my skills around the area there, I`ve been thinking a lot about that these past couple weeks and I`ve been feeling like it would be a good choice. I feel better about staying there for the summer, rather than leaving the state. So if Drake`s down, I`ve got a couple buddies who would love to join it too!  There`s 3 guys that speak Spanish and know how to talk to strangers!

I can`t believe Jeff`s already almost done!! It doesn`t seem real. I remember always thinking about time when I first started the mission and I thought it would never end.. But the time winds down quick!

Happy Birthday to Haley! I thought about her on Saturday. I wish I could have been there! I loved that story you told me about Damon putting Shaunie on time out!!

QUESTIONS:

1. Picture explanation from last week please. Feet picture? Cute little boy? and One legged rooster?
I emailed one back, but my feet are fine, they just got all dirty from my shoes.. The little boy is Moises, president`s son. He just turned 2. And yes, thats a one legged rooster! You should see him try to walk around.. I`ll have to get a video of it.

2. So 31 people at church....that does seem like a good turn out for a branch. How was it this week?
We had 35 yesterday.. That`s the most I`ve had since I left Caaguazú, but the branch still needs a lot of help. We still need people to take over the classes and be trained on how to do it.

3. Did your investigator family come to church yesterday? What about the young couple that are living together and advancement there?
No, they`re not progressing so we`re gonna leave them for a while. But Cesar and Silvia went to church yesterday! We were supposed to have a FHE with them, but he said he didn`t want to anymore, so we thought we were dropped.. Then they came to church yesterday and we have a FHE with them tomorrow!

4. Do you have any exciting stories for us this week? Funny? Happy? Sad? Uplifting? Spiritual?
One of the brothers in the branch just makes up weird doctrine.. For example, "At baptism, we renew the covenant we made in the pre-earth life!" No!! Listen.. "Baptism: Our first covenant..." We just accepted God´s plan in the pre-earth life! It`s sad because I don`t think any of the other members know any better.

5. Did you save your Christmas decorations from last year and the Christmas lights? I was hoping that you would so you could have them this year too. If not that is okay.
Yeah I have them! Except the lights.. Those blew out when I plugged them in last year. But I have everything else!

This week, Roberto taught us from Alma 48.. Woah.. I thought it was just a boring war chapter, but after he explained everything to us, I realized that the war chapters have purpose too! Just think about it.. Amalikíah and Moroni: wickedness and righteousness.. What Amalikíah did to his people, what Moroni did to his people, how we can prepare ourselves.. It was pretty sweet! I love the scriptures!

We have changes next week.. I`m ready for some change. I feel exhausted all the time here. When I get home, can I just sleep for like 2 weeks? Recharge my batteries.. But if I leave this change, I`ll be off to my last area! That`s so crazy to me.. I only have 3 changes left. "No Elder don`t think about the time! It`s poison!" Sorry, gotta keep it real.

I`m gonna write Shaunie a little email..

I hope you all have a great week!! I love you! Thanks for everything!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Sorry, I didnt take any cool pictures this week. I`ll have some for next week!

Week 85~~~Great Week!

Well, another week has flown by! That was a good letter! I´m glad to
hear that everyone had a good thanksgiving. You know what I ate?
Ramen noodles! Mmmm..
Derrek looks like he needs to join the Oakridge Boys! Jump on the
banjo. I respect that beard, no matter how nasty it looks.

QUESTIONS:

1. Have you and Elder Gull found any new investigators?
Yeah, we have a new investigator who´s gonna get baptized next week!
If everything goes smoothly.. He´s dating a member, and they live
together.. So they´re gonna get married! His name´s Cesar and his
girlfriend´s name is Silvia. They´re pretty awesome! They live in a
tiny wood shack with a dirt floor, but they´re happy together!

2. How is Elder Gull? You haven't hardly mentioned him the last few
letters.  How is he feeling about the area?Has he been in one this tough?
He´s good!   He said this is his hardest area too.. But I feel like we´re getting the
ball rollin a little bit now. The members seemto be warming up a little more. There
were 31 people in church yesterday! We´ve been in the low 30´s for a few weeks now, but that´s
more than when I got here!

3. How are your older investigators? Did you walk to church with them?
I don´t know.. We might start dropping people here soon. We had a
family lined up to go to church, no problems, then yesterday morning
we got the text message.. "my son is coming to visit, so we have to
stay home so I can make the food..." Because it takes all morning to
make noodles with meat.. We´ll see how things go this week with them.
We´re gonna take President Sanabria with us over there on Tuesday.

4. Are your shoes and suits still holding up?
Like champs! My Hush Puppies were fabricated in Chuck Norris´ garage.
Everythings fine.. My socks don´t even have holes in them. All my
shirts are still nice and white; it´s the "new technology in the
fabric.."

5. Are you still okay with us putting money in your account for
Christmas instead of packages. I haven't sent you anything just
thinking that I would just put money in like we had talked.
Yeah, I like that idea.. If not, you could just save the money from
Christmas and my birthday and buy me and iPhone 5 when I get back ;D
I´d be ok with that too....

6. Final question....What was your most memorable experience this past week?
We did divisions with the asistents! It was suprisingly fun!
They´re really down to earth and asked us what our main struggles are
here in Oviedo.. Well, the one that went with me got an ear full! It
was his first time outside Asunción..

So yeah, it was a good week! I feel good about it. It sounds like a
lot of youth are going to the Temple in December. Can you believe its
almost December?! It´s almost been 2 years since I got my call..
Woah..
What´s the deal with my track system at BYU-I? Do I have to start on
April 22nd, or can I wait til the fall track? I´d rather start in the
fall, that way I can make a little pirá piré for school.. Can I
qualify for grants and stuff? I wanna know the deets..

We had a fun experience on Friday! A group of Catholic youth invited
us to sit down as we were passing by in the street.. They learned a
lot in that little visit. They learned that Christ is JEHOVA and that
He, Heavenly Father, and the Holy Ghost are 3 separate beings.. They
learned that John was NOT the last prophet, they learned about
scripture from the Americas (I think we all know what I´m talking
about...), 3 glories of Heaven, and many, many other things. And we
used THEIR Bible! Yeah, the Catholic Bible! It turns out they only
change some of the verses, but we didn´t touch any of those. It made
me grateful for the Gift of the Holy Ghost that I received after I was
baptized by my dad, who has the Priesthood of God, which was restored
to the earth.. So I could have learned all these things! And so I can
discern the truth from the lies. It´s unreal how much I´ve learned in
just a short time, and it´s not because I´m some genius- we all know
how good my grades were in school.. It´s because the Holy Ghost is the
teacher! I´m guided in my morning studies. I´m guided throughout the
day- it´s because I have the GIFT of the Holy Ghost. He´s always with
me.

I love the scriptures, I love this church. I love prayer- I know that
God lives and loves me :D

I hope you all have a great week! I love you!!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner

I have pictures in another email comin in hot!!

**Here are some pictures that Elder Heiner sent this week.  There are no captions.
I don't know about the feet picture.  I hesitated putting it in.  I think he may have done
something to that left toe.  Look's kind of gross!

Elder Heiner & Elder Gull

This is for Aunt Katauna!

One Legged Rooster

 

Cutest Little Paraguayan Boy Ever!