Week 102~~Two more Mondays or 17 Days Left!!

I think I`m out of ideas on what to say in the subject box.. Sorry! Well, another week down! It went by super fast, as usual. Right now I`m sitting next to a Brazilian kid that`s talking on skype, so I think I`m gonna try to talk to him when he ends his call! See how rusty my Portuguese is..

I haven´t heard about emailing friends! Well, even if we`re allowed to email friends I`m sure my mission still wont be able to. And I guess it doesn´t really matter for me because I`ll only email 2 more times after today! :P

QUESTIONS:

1. How is the young couple that you and Elder Puma met with last Monday?

They`re pretty awesome.. Still waiting on the divorce, but Leticia came to church yesterday.

2. How is Aida and her husband doing?

I think they`re doing well! We weren`t able to meet with them last week so we`re kinda bummed about that. We´re gonna make it out this week though.

3. How are your other investigators?

They`re good. I think we`re gonna drop Raul because he hasn`t kept any commitments. He´s always super sincere in the lessons but he never follows through. We`re in the looking process too.

4. What can you tell me about Yeimi?

She`s a stud.. She`s got a lot of problems in her family but she handles it really well. She`s a great example of a faithful member. Her husband isnt a member and they live separate lives.. He pretty much just sleeps at their house and doesn´t really do anything else. So she takes care of the 6 kids and tries to keep them on the right track. She`s incredible.

5. What do you think you will miss the most about Paraguay?

The friends I`ve made here. I`m excited to use everything I`ve learned here in the mission in my regular life, I`m excited to be home, work, study, play.. But I wish I could take everything here with me. Well, except the heat and side affects of drinking the water.. But I`ll really just miss the friends I`ve made here. Some of them I`ll see at school, and all the rest will be in heaven. That would be a positive side of serving in your own country, is being able to go back and visit where you served.

6. Is there anything you are looking forward to before heading home besides the baptisms on the 30th?

Not really.. We have a few other people that could possibly get baptized before I head out, but I`m not sure. If they`re ready, I`ll be more than happy to do it. Elder Althoff and I want to have a huge ward night in the chapel on our last Monday here. So that will be fun. I`d say this has been my funnest area. The members here are awesome, even though there`s a lot of gossip.

7. Anything that you have been wanting to do but haven't been able to do yet?

I dont know.. I`ve already been to the "sites" here in Ypane.  The ZL's promised me a zone activity going golfing before I left. I could care less about the golfing, I just think it would be cool to have at least 1 zone activity before I end the mission. But for some reason we can`t have zone activities.. Only 1 district activity a transfer, and we`re having ours today. Guess what we`re doing! The same thing I`ve done for the last 15 changes!! SOCCER!!! Woohoo bring on some more of that rice! I haven`t had enough.

8. Are you worried about being able to get all your stuff home? Have you taken inventory of what you are going to leave behind?

Not really. Appearently the members take all the stuff you`re not taking home. Just about all my pants are trashed, and my shirts.. I think the only thing I`ll be taking home are my garments, the clothes on my back, and the few souveniers I`ve got. I haven`t been able to buy that many souveniers. I`ve always been in areas that are outside of shopping places and markets and stuff, so I haven`t been allowed to go in to buy stuff, because it`s been out of my area. And with the looks of it, I don`t think we`re gonna have any time to buy souveniers our last day.

9. Do you have a picture of you and Elder Puma?

Not yet.. Sorry! The humidity kills the battery on my camera super fast, like in 2 days after charging it, without taking any pictures. But I`ll get some! I`ll take one like you want, the one like Elder Cleverly has.

10. This question is for Ashlyn Cowger...What kind of mosquito net should she get square or round for the frame part? Does it matter?

Just something to cover her bed. All her companions will be jealous because they`ll have mosquito bites all over their ankles and she won`t. Elder Wilding had one and it was pretty sweet.

11. Is there some place you would love to go eat at after we pick you up from the airport?

Just take me ANYWHERE that doesn`t serve oily noodles, greasy fried tortillas, mandioca, mondongo, or other cow intestines.

I`m glad I came here on a mission, it`s something I`ll never regret. It`s given me not only a great start in life, but it`s given me a great direction. I don`t have everything all figured out, I don`t know everything I want to do, but I know I can figure it out and get it done. I`ve had a great time here. I`ve given, literally, blood, sweat and tears to Paraguay and to the Lord. It`s been the best, worst 2 years of my life full of pains and struggles, but it`s brought me so much happiness. I know that this is the Lord`s work. No other organization on the face of this planet can ever come close to doing the things that we do. You can`t understand it unless you do it. This is not a church of any man, it is THE church of the Lord, Jesus Christ. He directs it through His prophet. Revelation and prophesy exist, they are very real. Only when there is unbelief it is non existent.

Welp, until next week!

Love you all

Elder Colby Dane Heiner

P.s. I`m in the infected cyber, so no pictures this week.. Sorry! I don`t want any more viruses.

Week 101

What´s up?! Well, once again, I just had the fastest week of my life.. They keep going by faster and faster. I remember at my year and a half mark, I had to fill out a sheet and put the airport closest to my house.. This week I have to get another form ready for my final interview! Jeez! They also sent me the travel plans! How do they expect us to stay focused?! haha

We had a pretty good week this last week. It definitly ended better than it started!

QUESTIONS:

1. How is Aida doing? Were you able to go teach her?

She´s great! She brought her husband to church yesterday and they loved it! It looks like they´re gonna get baptized on the 30th! That´s the plan! Yeimi said that she can come help us with them whenever we need! She´s so awesome.. So they´re doing well, we visited them yesterday and watched a couple clips from "Together Forever" and talked about the importance of families.

2. How are your 4 investigators that you and Elder Puma had to church last week? Did they come back this week?

Yeah they came back! I love when people progress :D That means that what we teach them sticks and they feel the Spirit.

3. Have you had anymore power outages?

No, luckily. Its like pulling teeth trying to get the power company out to fix our problems.

4. What has happened with the guy that stopped Elder Althoff in the street that is a member and his girlfriend that wants to get baptized?

They´re doing well, we´re going to visit them tonight. There´s a small bump though.. He needs a divorce, then they need to get married. A divorce here is super expensive and it takes a huge process to get it all worked out. But we´re gonna help them still :D

5. What has been your most memorable experience from this past week?

Probably getting my iguana skin shoes ;D Just kidding.. Well, I was super excited to get them. A guy next to the church hand made them, and they turned out pretty good so I´m happy! Yesterday was pretty good.. We called a meeting for all the leaders in the ward and showed them how to have a Ward Council. The church is a LOT different down here.. No one does training meetings, interviews, visits, councils, or even prepare for their class during the week.. They kinda just shoot it from the hip. Well, we found out why its like that.. NO ONE READS THEIR MANUALS! Bahh.. Not gonna lie, I didnt even know there were manuals until I got to Coronel Oviedo.. All I know is if I have a calling in the church, I´m gonna know the manual front to back. So now the leaders are excited to work, exept the bishop (his term ends next month..) or his councelors.. But everyone else is excited! Its gonna be sweet..

Also, haha.. You know those RVCA shirts I love?! But its pronounced "ruca".. Well, I guess down here that means prostitute.. So thats nice, every time I´ve worn that shirt its just like I´ve got prostitute written across my chest! Needless to say I´ve been wearing other shirts for service.

Well, I dont really know what else to say.. I´m happy! I love the mission! I love sharing the Gospel. Tell the missionaries gringos that I´ll be more than happy to go do visits with them. There´s Spanish speaking Elders in Boise right? Just because my mission is coming to an end doesn´t mean that sharing the Gospel with others comes to and end too.. It´s been a great experience here, I´m glad I came, I´m thankful for all the friends I´ve made here.. Missionaries, members, and others! The mission saved my life I honestly don´t know where I would be if I didnt come. No one really knows this, but I wasn´t exactly happy before the mission. But it doesn´t matter now, I´m a different person and I´ve come to know and understand the reality of my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know He´s real and that He can really help us in our trials. Our Heavenly Father loves us, just as our own parents do, but more. I havent seen it, but I´ve felt it. I know they love us, I know that the Holy Ghost can guide us to better places and teach us the TRUTH. The Book of Mormon is the word of God, so is the Bible and they work hand in hand to teach us the path back to our Heavenly Father. I know God calls prophets today, end of story. Revelation still exists.

I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Colby Dane Heiner

Week 100~~PICTURES

Well.. Time keeps flying. It´s kinda scary! I feel like I`ll be sitting in the Spirit World before I know it. We had a sweet week this week! I´ll tell you more about it after the questions :D

QUESTIONS:

1. How is Elder Puma? Can you tell us about him?
He´s great! He´s a really good teacher and we get along really well. He calls me freaking gringo and I call him freaking Perucho and it`s funny. I like that we can poke fun at each other and no one gets mad. The 4 of us are really good friends! It`s been good these last couple months :D

2. How many are in his family?
Just him and his mom! They live with his grandparents in Lima, Peru with a few of his aunts and uncles too. I think they`re all converts too. He got baptized like 7 years ago.

3. How long has he been serving?
He came in the same group with Elder Nielsen, the Elder I trained. So he´s been out for about a year and a half.

4. How was your Zone meeting last week?
It was pretty good. I still miss President Callan, but President Agazzani is really good too. There`s 12 zones in the mission now instead of 11. Caaguazú is its own zone now and so is Coronel Oviedo. And after June of July, I dont remember, Encarnación is gonna be part of the Argentina Posadas mission. So there´s lots of changes in the mission!
We did a couple activities of how we have an end goal, and we´re given lots of tools to make our goals, but sometimes we don´t need all the tools that are given.

5. What has been your most memorable experience this past week with Elder Puma?
We had 4 investigators show up to church! Out of no where.. It was pretty sweet. Between the 4 of us missionaries, we had 11 investigators! And there were 102 people in total! Pretty flippin sweet.

Elder Althoff called me the other day when Elder Puma and I were cutting down a tree and said that a guy stopped them in the street.. The guy said, "Hey I`m a member.. This is my girlfriend, she´s an investigator. We just moved here and she wants to get baptized." And they went to church and everything, and they live in our area! Sweet! The only problem is that he needs to get divorced from his first wife.. He got married when he was 18, now he´s 22. Crazy! But he´s a stud member. They used to live in the north mission and from what it sounds like, the members there are all studs. Everyone fulfills their callings! He came from a branch with 300 members.. Ypané has on average 70! And it´s claimed to be a ward!

Questions from Dad:

1. So how has your week been?
It was good! It rained a couple days so it cooled things down quite a bit, which is always nice for the work. Our power lines keep blowing up, so we went 3 days without power, AGAIN! We slept out in the living room of the house because its bigger, so it stays cool at night. But we called the power place and they came out and fixed it.
I feel like whenever we have a good week here as missionaries, Dad does well and so do all his agents.. Kinda weird how that works out.

2. Have you been able to get anyone to make the committment to live a better life? Last letter you mentioned that your guys had been hard to find, are they avoiding you or are they just busy? I hope they aren't blowing you off!! But I guess it wouldn't be the first time a missionary had his investigators get scared and disappear, huh??
Som people are blowing us off, but I don´t think they do it intentionally.. I think its just their culture. I remember teaching a lady a few weeks back, I don´t remember if it was with Elder Ashton or Elder Ortellado, but it was a hard lesson to teach! The neighbors were blasting their music, her brother that was their with us was drunk, then started smoking, and her kids were all yelling and crying and stuff.. But we still invited her to read the Book of Mormon, pray, and if she were to come to know it was true, to get baptized.. She didn´t really give us a strait answer, but I don´t blame her because of the situation, so we didn´t really make it a priority to get back to visit her. She was one of the people that came to church yesterday! She came up to me and said, "Do you remember me?" And I answered, "Of course! Your name is Aida! Its good to see you here!" Then she said, "I remember you asking me if I wanted to get baptized.. And its something I want to do. What do I need to do to be baptized?" And right there was the teacher of Gospel Principles/Ward Mission Leader, so I introduced them and told her to go into the class. Sweet! So we´re gonna go by her house tomorrow with Gustavo to teach her. It takes a lot of guts for a lady in her situation to go to church alone.. She lives in one of the rougher parts of our area, its far from the chapel, and she brought her 3 kids with her. She didnt know any of the members either, but she went anyway! I feel bad that we didn´t go back sooner. So we´ll make up for it tomorrow and make sure we can have a good environment for the Holy Ghost to be there.

3. Are you getting along well with your new companion? How is it speaking spanish all day everyday? It's probably second nature to you now, but for me to imagine that is difficult!
Yeah, he´s a stud! I like speaking Spanish all day. Being with him makes me realize how much work my Spanish needs. Its been good for the practice, with pronunciation, grammar, and flow. I know I´ll never be able to speak as well as Latins do, and I´ll probably always sound like a gringo, but I´m going to keep practicing! At least I can get my point across though, and that´s good enough for now.

Well, that´s pretty much what´s going down in Ypané. Not to mention I´m on a compter that just gave my pen drive a virus.. But I´ll send some pictures anyways.. There´s another cyber that cleans viruses close by. I still havent sent pictures from our trip to the river! But if it doesn´t work, I`ve only got 4 pdays left after this one ;P

Love you all! Have a great week!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner