Week 63 Transferred to Coronel......

Oviedo! I got moved to Coronel Oviedo.. I´m right next to Caaguazú,
where I started so I´m in the same zone. My new companion is Elder
Whaley from Colorado- he´s a stud! We´ve been staying pretty busy this
week. We have a goal that we want to baptize every Saturday, and if
not, we have the plan to help 7 people get baptized this change.
Things ended well in Coronel Bogado, I feel like I left a part of me
behind there despite of how hard it was. I met a lot of great people
there. My new area is great! I love it so far here, people are A LOT
nicer and a lot more open. I´m excited to work and be here, the
members are great too. We have to move out of our house because one of
the neighbors came over with a machete and cut all the pipes for our
water.. I´ve been having to shower out of a kitchen pot with a sponge.
It´s been weird. Also, I don´t know if anyone´s heard, but Paraguay
just threw their president out of power this last week.. I don´t know
if anyone here cares or not, it´s been pretty chill lately.

I can´t help but to think about the Read family right now. That kills
me to hear the news about Shaun.. I remember him in high school and he
was always nice to me, he´s a great guy and comes from a great family.
My thoughts are drawn to the Plan of Salvation, the plan that our
Heavenly Father has created for us. I know that Shaun is in a good
place right now, a place that is much better than this world. He is
surrounded by his ancestors and other loved ones that are on the other
side. I know that in times like these, we can be comforted by our
Heavenly Father. He lives and loves us. He wants us to be happy and
wants to comfort us in our times of need. All we have to do is trust
in Him and His power. It´s hard to do at times, it´s hard to believe
in what we cannot see, but He is very real and He is ALWAYS there for
us. We can come closer to Him through prayer. I know that families can
be together forever, that´s part of the plan. God´s not going to give
us our families, then take them away from us at death. The passing on
of a loved one is just another step of this life. We existed long
before we came to this world, and there´s a lot after. We can live
with our families forever in the presence of God. We can be sealed
together forever with our families. I hope everyone can go to the
Temple someday to take part of this special blessing. What is sealed
here on earth, will be sealed in heaven. I will keep the Read´s in my
thoughts and prayers. Tell them I love them and give them a hug for
me.

I´m happy to be a missionary, I know what I teach is true.. I asked
God. And I felt the influence of the Holy Ghost. I know the Book of
Mormon is the word of God, it testifies of the truthfulness of the
Bible. They work hand-in-hand so we can have the fulness of the
teachings of Jesus Christ, so we can learn and live the Plan of
Salvation and be blessed in our families. I know the Gospel brings
true happiness, I´ve tried both.. Happiness of the world, and the
happiness that comes from living the Gospel. This happiness lasts,
that of the world does not. I know God has a prophet in the world
today to lead and guide us. God talks to him, then he talks to us..
It´s that easy. I don´t have a single doubt that Christ restored His
church. I´m blessed to be a member and representative of it. I love
the Gospel, I love Christ. He lives. God, our Heavenly Father lives.
They love us.

I hope everyone has a great week! I love you ALL!!!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner

**Side Note:  This past week in Paraguay the President was ousted out and the Vice President has taken over.  A lot of Political Unrest in Paraguay.  Google Paraguay to read more about it and pray for extra protection for our missionaries there.

Week 62~~Nacho Libre Boots!

Whats up! I can´t believe it´s pday again.. This last week went by pretty fast! That´s ok though. We find out changes tomorrow, if there are any, so who knows, maybe I´ll write next week from a new area or something! 1.  Do you have any new investigators this past week? Yep! Pedro Maidana, President Maidana´s son..   2.  How is your branch doing this past week? Uhh, I´m not really sure.. The active members are fine, but they´ve been shutting down a lot of the small branches out here in Encarnación and I guess Coronel Bogado could be up on the chopping block..   3.  Did you and Elder Bybee have to speak in church? No! This is the 2nd time I haven´t had to speak in church here, it was a nice little break! I didn´t have to teach the class either! Happy Father´s Day, Elder Heiner.. I know Elder Nielsen was thinking of me ;D   4.  What was your most favorite experience this past week? Elder Bybee and I were eating lunch and President Maidana called us and said, ¨Hey my son wants to get baptized on the 30th.. You have an appointment with him tomorrow night in my house.¨ Sweet! Thanks President! So that was pretty cool. He has a lot of doubts thanks to all the crap Discovery Chanel puts out about the Church down here.   5.  What was the craziest thing that happened? Every single day this week, we met someone who was trying to teach us Anti-Mormon stuff.. Thats the thing, people can try and cut the Church down with all this false stuff they´ve heard, but when they talk to us they don´t have any proof to back up their words so they just drop it. We ask them if they have a friend who´s LDS, they always say yes.. Then we ask if they think their friends would really do something like that.. (whatever it may be that they´re talking about.) That kinda puts things into perspective for them. Paraguayans are like 5 year olds, they believe anything they see on TV.   6.  Have you had anymore rodent problems? Yeah, we´ve seen mice, but we haven´t been able to kill them.. They´ve been staying outside. Well, I always find mouse poop in my dresser so maybe they do get in..   7.  Are you keeping warm? Heck yes I am! I bought a coat here.. I was going to when I was in Caaguazú, but I thought I would just save it for when it got cold again. I think US dollars the coat I bought was about $35. It´s pretty nice though. The place I bought it from made me feel like Nacho Libre, I had the coat in my hands, then looked behind me and saw a pair of white boots on display. They´re still there though..   8.  Did you get the package yet?  If so, did you like the stuff?  Do you have too much toothpaste and deoderant.  If you want different brands you have to let me know.  Have you heard that story that I sent you? No not yet! I feel like they´re hiding it from me.. Maybe they´ll send it because we had 3 baptisms last week. But I´m on my last tube of toothpaste from the last package, and I think I´m on my 2nd to last deoderant. I think the brands are great though! Better than the Paraguay brands.. I think they put sugar in their toothpaste here because nobody has teeth, thats IF they use toothpaste and not their Terere..   9.  What is your electronic situation for listening to music?  I want to try to send you some new music.  You could probably use some.Do you have any requests in the music area? Just send music on a pendrive.. I have a little radio that takes a pendrive, plus I can plug it in to my iPod speakers! It´s pretty nice.. Maybe some Alex Boye (the black guy from Mo Tab) And other music like that. I didn´t really like his music at first, but now its some of my favorite stuff. I only have like 4 or 5 songs from him though. Maybe some Eclipse too and Mindy Gledhill. That would suffice! What a week! I think the most exciting thing thats worth telling is about President Maidana´s son.. That was pretty awesome. But yeah! The internet place guy is kicking us out right now cuz he needs to go eat lunch.. I´m alive and well and very happy! I love you all!! Have a great week! Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 61~~Three Baptisms

This week is finally over!! This was probably one of the busiest weeks of the mission so far. TONS of traveling back and forth, getting ready for our baptisms on Saturday. Let´s just say I´m glad it´s pday today!

1. Did Felipe, Maria and Carlos get baptized? If so fill us in about their special day. Tell us your feelings!
Heck yes they did! And it was awesome! We had more people show up to the baptism than at church yesterday. After the baptism, Felipe thanked me for taking time to teach him and help him get baptized. He said surely it was a process, but really it wasn´t! We met him like 2 weeks ago! He went to this last General Conference and he still remembers how good he felt when he heard all the talks, especially from President Monson. Felipe is a stud! My district leader was praising him last night when I called in the numbers, saying the Felipe was super ready and felt really good during the interview. So it was all in all a great experience! I´m excited to have another member in our small family here in Coronel Bogado.
Carlos and Maria were happy too! They were excited to be baptized.. Now in a year they can all go to the Temple as a family and be sealed together forever. I hope they make the sacrifice to go!

2. Has President Callan and Hermana Callan left for home yet? I am sure they are going to go through some major withdrawals when they get to their home in Farmington! They will be missing Paraguay and their adopted son's and daughters they left behind.
I think they´re still here training the new mission president. I´m sure going to miss the Callan´s! They´re great. I won´t be suprised if President Callan speaks at the next General Conference..

3. What was your favorite experience this week?
I think probably the baptism! That´s just what I needed after 3 months of hard work here.

4. Did you have any comical moments this week? I'm sure you were busy getting ready for the baptism. But, knowing you something funny had to happen this week.
I´m not sure if this is really funny, but thinking back at it I´m sure my reaction was pretty funny.. I was furious though. Alright, so we went to fill up our baptismal font, and someone left us a little treat in the bottom of it. Gustavo aka el pequeño demonio dropped a deuce in there while all the young men went to play soccer at the church. So guess who had to clean it out.. Yeah, the Elders. Thanks ya little brat.

5. What are you doing for your Pday today? Are you doing any sightseeing on your few hours to yourselves?
Nothin! There´s absolutely nothing to do her on pday.. We´ll probably just end up writing letters the whole rest of the day. There´s nothing else to do. It´s gonna be fun!

So yeah, there´s our week! A lot of preparation for the baptisms on Saturday. It was a good week though, very rewarding. I realized that I complete 14 months in the mission this week.. I can´t believe how fast the time has gone by here! I feel like I´ve come a long way in my life, and this isn´t even the start. I feel like I´m gonna hit the ground running when I get back, I´ve got a good life plan and I feel good about what I wanna do. I know I´d still be confused if I stayed home- I would have missed out on a ton of things that I wouldn´t have been able to learn at home. I´m glad to be here.

I don´t really know what else to say! I´m trying to remember what happened this week, and I feel like I´ve already said all the important stuff.. I´m alive and well! What else matters right?
I´ll keep you posted on the package.. Thanks for sending it! I know I´ll love it.

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