Week 20

Holy cow the time flies! I got my scripture cases today!! They look awesome! I´ll have to take pictures to send in my email next week.. The guy that made them is a really good artist. I´m still waiting on my case for my hymn book! Ok, question and answer time.. By the way, I feel like I can´t spell in English anymore. ;P

1.  What was your most favorite experience this week?
Zone Conference! It was really fun.. President Arnold from the Seventy came and spoke to us. It was AWESOME!

2.  Has the weather warmed up?   Last Monday you were freezing when you were typing.
It is SO hot! And humid! Like, you sweat just sitting here and it doesnt leave..

3.  How was Zone Conference?
It was awesome! I got to see like 6 of the guys from my MTC group, it was really fun to catch up with them and hear their crazy stories! And.. I didnt know this, but President Callan got a letter from the missionary department saying I was being transferred to Billings, Montana! But he told them that I´m staying here.. Good thing!

4.  Did you eat any interesting food this week?
Paraguayo churrizo and Paraguayo tortilla with bits of churrizo in it.. Bleh! Its really really greasy and no matter how little or much you eat, you feel like dying.

What a week! A really hard week, not much success, but I still learned a lot.. Bernarda came back to Felipe (the story from last week) and their friends, Roberto and Nilsa bought a scooter so they can get to church! I think its next week, but they´re getting married and baptized! I´m really excited for them. This last Sunday we brought with us to church a family of 6 people! It was fun walking to church with them because everyone was staring at us, these two 6´3 white boys walking to church with a lady and her 5 kids.. We´re still working with the lady and her husband to stop smoking, they still havent come to church, but they will! I heard of a Paraguayo remedy to help you stop smoking, so we´re going to try it with them! We´re also helping a guy stop drinking so he can join his family and they can live together forever. Its hard to teach him because he doesnt speak a lot of Spanish, mostly Guaraní.

I had to speak in church yesterday! My first time.. It was fun, the Branch President told me I only had to speak for 7 minutes, but when they called me up, there was still 15 minutes to fill! I was a little nervous! But I did it, and I bore my testimony in Guaraní at the end. Everyone came up to me after that, thinking I was fluent in Guaraní! They told me I did really well and it was a nice message. I spoke on Charity and shared scriptures from Mosiah 2 and Moroni 7. So if you get the chance, read those chapters!

Last P-day we made tacos and all the fixins! Paraguayo avacado´s are huge! I made guacamole :) Bobby came and helped us, he´s the one teaching us Guaraní. His real name is Elias Martinez, but everyone calls him Bobby.. So if he adds you on facebook, add him! He´s awesome and he has really funny stories. Today, he drove us to a Brazilian restaurant that is in our area, but its like 30 miles down the road! Its way better than Tucanos and way cheaper! Plus its authentic.. We didnt do a whole lot today, its too hot to play soccer, so we´ve just been hanging out.

I´m kind of excited for the preparation part of P-day to be over because we get to go teach people! And it cools down a little bit. Its going to be a great week this week and I´m really excited for it! My Spanish is getting a lot better, I could have probably written this letter in Spanish, but it wouldnt do any good because you wouldnt be able to understand it.

Tell Colton and Josh congrats! Tell Blake to enjoy the MTC food while he can! He´ll be eating his own cooking for the next 2 years...

Last week, I wrote Shaunie a letter.. It took me about 3 hours to complete it because I tried to put some good advice in there, so hopefully she´ll get it sometime this week! :)

I love you all and hope you´re doing great! Have an awesome week!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 19 WHAT A WEEK!

Its freezing cold right now so its hard to type! I wish this weather would make up its mind.. This week was another great week! Lots of great experiences and learning! Che ro´y! Guaraní for ¨I´m cold!¨

1.  What was your favorite teaching experience this past week?
I was able to share with Hermano Rolón a couple verses from the Book of Mormon and bear my testimony to him in Guaraní! It definitely helped strenghen my testimony! Mosiah 24:14-15

 

2.  What was your furthest appt.(walking wise) that you had this week?
Just to Hermano Rolón.. Its about 2 miles out of town, but we went there a lot this week!

 

3.  Have you had to give any talks in church since you have been in Paraguay?
Nope! I think the Branch Presidency thinks I cant speak Spanish..

 

4.  Have you been buying the stuff you need to keep your weight/energy up?
Lots of eggs! We have a thing that grills sandwiches and I put eggs in it! I call it the Majic Man.

 

5.  Are you sleeping good, getting plenty of rest?
8 hours every night! Just what I need, but I wouldnt complain if they let us sleep in...

 

6.  What do you do on your P day's after you write your letters to your parents and your mission president?  Do you guys do any sightseeing?  Play Soccer?
We study for 2 hours in the morning, then email, then play soccer, buy groceries, and hang out until we gotta hit the doors at 6! Except here, we dont knock, we clap! Its really cool.

 

7.  Did all of your investigators from last week stick with you?  Any more baptism dates set?
Yes! Last week was really successful, a lot of people are progressing! We have a couple that are going to get married! They came to church about a month ago with some members and we´ve been teaching them ever since.. So they´re getting married and baptized soon! The lady doesnt have her papers though, so we´re helping track them down.

Our investigators that are getting close to baptism are named Roberto and Nilsa. They came to church about a month ago with some members, Felipe and Bernarda. Felipe and Bernarda have 3 kids and they live about 16 kilometers out of town, it takes an hour and a half to walk there! We only walked there once though, to teach Roberto y Nilsa.
Last Monday at 5 am, Bernarda called us asking for money because her mom was sick.. But as missionaries we cant give money to people so we asked if we could do something else for her.. A couple days later we called her back to see if we could come teach Roberto and Nilsa, and she said yes and told us what time they would be at her house and everything. So we were going to go out on Saturday to go teach them. On our way home Friday night we were walking passed the church and saw our Branch President´s car so we went and talked to him.. Then we asked if he could take us out to Felipe and Bernarda´s house so we could teach Roberto and Nilsa. President told us that Felipe called him on Monday and said that Bernarda left! She took the phone, all the money, and their oldest child.. What the heck! Thats definitely not what we were expecting.. So Felipe and Bernarda, the examples of our new investigators, Roberto and Nilsa, just had this huge event happen! Of course it scared Roberto and Nilsa about marriage and everything they´re changing their lives for.. I have a TON of respect for Felipe. He´s a convert of 4 months. It could be so easy for him to turn back to drinking and his old ways, but and probably one of the lowest points of his life, he turns to our Heavenly Father.. He helped Roberto and Nilsa keep their faith as well.. He put himself aside to help bring 2 of our Heavenly Father´s children draw themselvs closer to him. Felipe is awesome! I hope everything works out well for him.
I´m really excited to see what this week brings! We have a lot of new investigators, a few of them are families so that will be good! I learn more and more every day! I love it.. I started reading in the Pearl of Great Price yesterday in the book of Moses. That´s a powerful book! We can´t even comprehend how many worlds God has made, but he knows them all, he knows us all. To us, his creations are uncountable.. But He knows every single one of them individually. Wow!

Che aikuaa Ñandejara ñande haihuha ha´e oguéreko peteí plan ñandéve guára. Avei aikuaa Hesukrísto ha´eha ñande salvador ha´e omanó ñande rehehape. Che aikuaa Libro de Mormón ha´e añetegua, ha´e Ñandejara ñe´e. Che aikuaa ñande ikatú familia ñande kuéra ndi para siempre. Ko´á mba´e ha´e Hesukrísto rerápe, Amen.

¡Hay un poco Guaraní para ustedes! Espero que tengan un buen semana, ¡sé yo voy a tener un super bién semana! Pero, tengo que irme ya.. ¡Les extraño muchisimo!

¡Les Amo!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 18- 4 Months down!

How the heck does that happen! It feels like yesterday I entered into the MTC.. I remember a couple years ago reading Colton Woodruff´s email and him saying the same thing! About when he was on his mission for 4 months already.. The time really does fly by, especially when you stay busy! In 2 months, my mission will be one-fourth of the way over.. Yikes! This week was really awesome though! We have 22 new investigators total, and 4 that have baptismal dates and are preparing for the waters! Good stories from this week as well :) good ol´ Paraguay!

 

Questions and Answers!

1.   What was your best and most favorite experience this week?

There were a few.. We´re helping a couple stop smoking so the husband can get baptized, the wife´s already a member. We´re seeing the changes in people´s lives when they keep their commitments and live the Gospel.

2.    Is it baking hot there yet?

You have NO idea! And appearently its not even hot yet.. It rains a ton here too!

3.   Have you had any baptism committments?

Yep! 4.. Now we just need them to stick!

4.   How is the Days of our Lives saga with your young couple? 

She doesnt want to go to church because there was a Primary activity on Saturday, and her friends went to it with her.. Her friends had babies too and none of the babies got toys because they´re too small.. She´s a drama queen. And Isidro doesnt want to go to church either because he likes partying too much.

5.   Is there anything we can be doing from home?  Are you wanting handwritten letters? Dear Elder Letters?

I would love that! I can get Dear Elders every week! Letters are a little slow, so its up to you! I would love some pictures of my family! Whether through email or snail mail..

6.   Are you and Elder Shaw getting along?

Great! I´m learning a ton! I feel like I know enough to where I can lead.. Like with the knowledge of the Gospel and the Spanish! We speak a lot of Spanish and he actually lets me speak in the lessons! I like it a lot.

 

What a week! We´ve got a different couple that want to get baptized! They´re going to talk about marriage, so we´ll see how it goes! They´re really good friends with one of the families in our branch, so that helps a lot! Last week we walked like 6 or 7 miles so we could teach them, then the 6 or 7 miles back! It took a long time.. But it was worth it! When it rains here, it pours! I thought it rained a lot in the South.. not even close! After it rains for a good 10 seconds, you might as well go jump in a pool. It rained really hard yesterday so there was lots of water in the streets.. My companion an I were walking along, minding our own business, and I was soaking wet before I knew it! Someone drove by in a car and splashed us! They swerved so they could get us! Punks! I just laughed it off because I probably would have done the same thing.. So we got some pictures of it!

 

Before that, we had church.. and I witnessed my first scooter crash! People drive like idiots here.. There´s absolutely no law here. I felt bad about the wreck though because on one of the scooters was a lady in our ward, and her 2 daughters.. they were turning into the parking area and this guy tried to hurry around and pass them.. Idiot..

 

A few days before that, we were walking down the street to an appointment, and there were 3 guys that shook my hand. Pretty normal right? The last guy.. there was something different about him when I shook his hand, I look down.. oh! He didnt have any fingers!! Just thumbs and nubbs! I think he put a curse on me though, because later that day, yes it happens, I pooped my pants.. not bad, but still, it happened! They do voodoo here and I think he cursed me.. He had a crazy look in his eyes. But now, I´m officially a missionary! I guess you´re not as real missionary til you poop your pants..

 

Last Monday after P-day ended, we went to the Rolón family, the ones that live like 2 miles out of town.. On our way back it started to rain. By the time we got home, we were walking in water up to the middle of our shins! Its a good 40 minute walk from our house to the Rolón family´s house. But now, its just hot and humid! It gets up to 120 here! It hasnt since I´ve been here yet, but it will.. That´s the only part I´m not looking forward to..

 

We taught 39 lessons this week! We taught a lot of the Restoration.. That and the Plan of Salvation are my favorite to teach. And I love teaching families! Families can be together forever, but we need to take the path that Christ put. There´s so many churches that just think you get to Heaven through your faith and being ¨saved.¨ How does that work? Faith is great, and necessary, but faith without works is dead.. You can sit ALL day long and do nothing and say, I have faith, I´ll be taken care of. But nothing will happen unless you do something about it! For example: There´s 2 boys, one is a beggar, and the other is a shoe-shiner. They both pray to our Heavenly Father to be blessed with money, which one is more likely to get it? The shoe-shiner.. He´s the one working and trying to find a way to get the money. But the beggar isnt working for it, just relying on his ¨faith¨alone. So if we act on our faith, we´ll be blessed!

 

That´s about it for this week! I loved it! I´m glad to hear everyone is doing well, I hope you all have an awesome week this week!

I love you!!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner