Week 33 Santa Rita-Zone Conference with President Callan

Holy cow this week flew by!! I think its just because we´ve been anticipating the changes, which we find out today! We tried to wait to email so we could know the changes to tell you, but supposedly the zone leaders dont even know them. They always get the changes Sunday night.  So we´ll see what happens.

Questions!

1.  How was Zone Conference?  Did you see any of your MTC buddies?  Any pictures for us this week?
I got to see Elder Nash! Thats it though.. And yes, I got a picture with him. He slimmed down a lot too!

2.  What was your most favorite experience this week?
Zone Conference for sure was my favorite experience this week.. It was really different than the last one, but President Callan had a lot of really good things to teach us. My favorite part of the conference is when President talked about what our missionary name tag means.. It was really powerful for me and made me realize how far I´ve come.

3.  Can you tell us more about what you do on "P" Day?  Do you ever get to go sightseeing?  Will you get to go to that famous Falls?
We dont do anything on Pday.. There isnt much to do here! We cant go to Yguazú Falls because of things that have happened in the past I guess. In Encarnación there is a zoo but we cant go to it either. I guess with the mission president before President Callan let the missionaries do pretty much whatever they wanted, and for that, nothing really got done and there are a lot of inactive members. And that President Callan was called to fix the mission. This is what I´ve heard anyways.. And that now the Paraguay Asunción Mission is the most disciplined mission in South America. I believe it!

4.  Are Transfers coming up?
This Wednesday! We find out today who gets to buy food and who doesnt! Then we find out where everyone goes tomorrow in the district meeting.. I have a feeling that if I go, I´ll be going to Asunción, and if I stay I train.. Thats what I´m feeling. We´ll see!

Thanks for sending me my Line of Authority! Its so cool to see how I got the Priesthood and how it has been given through my line! And Mom, I am SO happy for you! It sounds like youre working hard and its paying off.. I´m excited to see you in a year and 5 months from now! It sounds like everyone had a good time this Thanksgiving, I didnt really notice it here because its not a holiday here. It doesnt even feel like its Christmas time either with how hot it is! Lets just say this year is gonna be a little different than what I´m used to! For my Thanksgiving, I made my famous pasta.. Well, its not so famous but its delicious! I call it The Tubes.. I do the noodle tubes with hamburger and pizza sauce, then I put cheese in too and it all melts together and its sooo good! So that was my Thanksgiving dinner..
Well we got the encomienda (mail pouch) today! But we got the one for Ciudad del Este, and they have ours.. So my packages are in Ciudad del Este still. I hope they dont get stolen! I dont even know who they´re from, I assume they´re from my family.. It might come in a few days, but if I leave this area.. Who knows where they´ll end up! I hope I get them.

Alright! Yeah, Zone Conference was awesome! It was a smaller group than the last one but it was still really good. I got to see Elder Eddy, who finishes his mission on Wednesday, and it was good to see and talk to him. President asked him to bare his testimony at the end and it was super good, it made me want to work harder and not lose a single moment of my time here. President talked about the missionary name tag and what it represents.. He said there´s two different representations, the first one is when you put it on, you just do the mission just to do it.. and when you take it off an night, you´re done being a missionary for the day. The second representation is when you look at it, you think of the progress you´ve made; you´re a different person. I never thought of what it ment to me, so I looked down at it, and when I read it I started to cry. For me, my missionary name tag represents the person I have become. I realized how far I´ve come and how much of a difference I´ve seen in myself and my desires to do good. I dont care what other people think- I care what the Lord thinks. I dont care what other people want me to do, I care about what the Lord wants me to do. I want to do the things He´s asked and to solve my problems with His help.. Not by the help of the world, that just brings more problems.
This week in my studies, I´ve been applying the Christlike Attributes in my life from Preach My Gospel chapter 6. I´ve always felt like I´ve had a lot of patience but I know its something I can improve. I´ve also been working on being more charitable. When I have these things, I´m more happy and I gain the desires to do even more good things. I understand more who Christ is and how I can become more like Him.. I look at the organizations of the Church and I know that He made them- they´re perfect. There is NO other church in the world like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I firmly believe this. He only runs one church, not two, not twenty or even a thousand. ONE. I represent that church.
Its crazy to me that when people most need help in their lives, they turn away from God.. He´s the only person that can really help them. We´ve had 3 investigators fall that are perfect examples of this. They´ve felt that He hasnt done anything to help them, that He´s left them in the dark and wont help them. I dont know if anyone reading this letter has felt this way too.. I assume so, I know I have.. But have you called the Lord through prayer for His help? Have you put in your part? I´ve felt like that before, and now I know its because I didnt call on Him or ask for His help. How is He going to help us if we dont ask? Prayer is the perfect way to show our faith in the Lord, then to do our part- doing our best to get the things we need, and when we fall short, He helps us the rest of the way and makes sure we´re alright.
Thats a little of what I´ve learned this week! But now, its about that time.. I gotta go! Until next week..

I love you all and hope you have an awesome week!!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Oh yeah, in the pictures this week! Elder Eddy and I, another one with Elder Nash, Me holding 2 bullfrogs, the pin that Shaunie gave me (yes its still on my backpack!), a visit with the Tengant family (where we ate armadillo), and waiting for the bus at 4 in the morning with Elder Guevara!

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