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| A huge blow up bear in the park. |
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| Sunset. |
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| Our cute little Christmas tree. |
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| Baptism. |
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| Christmas present from the branch. |
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| CHOCOLATE! |
Monday, December 25, 2017
December 25, 2017
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
December 19, 2017
Hey! This week was really good! I've started using my extra prep time to study the Book of Mormon and find examples of strength. Which there are on literally every page! It is really uplifting and I encourage everybody to try do so when they are feeling down.
I was hit last week by how simple life is here. People have little to nothing yet they are so happy. They have little cramped houses and have to take buses everywhere because most people can't afford a car, but they have a strong faith in Christ and are so happy all of the time. They always are willing to at least talk for a few minutes even if they tell you they don't want to talk again. It's really awesome.
We were supposed to have a baptism this week but the guy didn't show up for his interview and won't answer our calls anymore. Which is a little frustrating but at the same time, I didn't really feel like he understood the importance of baptism. So hopefully we can track him down and reteach him in a way that he will be able to understand.
There are always soccer games going on here because of the world cup which makes proselyting a little hard. NOBODY is willing to talk when a game is on. But that's to be expected I guess when it is such a huge part of their culture. They get together in the big park downtown after all of the games. I don't think we're allowed down there because they are always drinking.
I think they had a branch council about my stomach growling during church last week because the Irmas fed us sooo much food. And I don't know how to say, no thank you, I'm full. So I ate a ton. But then we walk like ten miles after so I'm always hungry, haha, but we stalked up our kitchen so now I make dinner every night.
There are these huge lizards on the side of the road which I think Luke would like. I haven't gotten the courage to stop and take a picture of them yet, haha, they are really freaky.
On Sunday, the primary kids put on a primary program which was super cute. Although I understood close to nothing, but kids are always cute.
We had a choir thing in Sao Louis or some place like that and then all the missionaries met up in Porto Alegre, we hoped on a train and sang all the way there, haha, there were a lot of people giving us weird looks but when there are 35 or so of us singing, you can't really tell us to stop. It was awesome.
We take a lot of buses places. Which is nice because we get to nap while we are on them! I wanted to talk a picture of us on one today but I fell asleep. So stay tuned for that picture another week!
We had a branch Natal party. I heard it was really fun. We spent the whole time running around getting investigators to come. We had 5 there and they all came to church the next day! So cool.
We went to Porto Alegre again this weekend for a Natal party which was really fun. We spent the night Sunday with an Irma in Caxias who made this really delicious dish called Torta Fria. Definielty going to be learning how to make that when I get home. It was so so good. We went to bed really late that night.
And then had to get up at 4 to get on another bus to get to Porto Alegre. Our conference was really fun. A lot of talking with people and eating good food. There was also a talent show that some elders preformed in. There were like penetonix. I wish I would have recorded it. It was amazing. Jamie would have done her little squeal, haha. The whole mission was there so we got to see the sisters from the ctm which was really fun. We also did a secret amiga thing so we exchanged some gifts. I got a really pretty anchor necklace. And I got letters from Grandma which was by far my favorite part of the day.
We spent the night in Farroupilha with some sisters because it was way late when we finished. On the way there, I talked a ton with the elders in our zone. They are really helpful when it comes to pronouncing things in Portuguese. They will repeat themselves a million times and act things out until I understand. It is way funny and way nice of them.
We had a district meeting in Caxias this morning which was really long. And I can't say I understood a lot of it. I think when I'm tired, I understand less and less.
Also, when I'm tired or not paying attention, I speak in English and S. Sandoval is always like, "Que isso?" And it takes me a while to switch back into Portuguese. I try really hard to think in Portuguese but it's hard.
I cannot wait to see you're guys' faces next week. And I want absolutely no spoilers for When Calls the Heart (YOU HEAR ME JAMIE? NOTHING)
Eu te amo,
Sister Heiner
I was hit last week by how simple life is here. People have little to nothing yet they are so happy. They have little cramped houses and have to take buses everywhere because most people can't afford a car, but they have a strong faith in Christ and are so happy all of the time. They always are willing to at least talk for a few minutes even if they tell you they don't want to talk again. It's really awesome.
We were supposed to have a baptism this week but the guy didn't show up for his interview and won't answer our calls anymore. Which is a little frustrating but at the same time, I didn't really feel like he understood the importance of baptism. So hopefully we can track him down and reteach him in a way that he will be able to understand.
There are always soccer games going on here because of the world cup which makes proselyting a little hard. NOBODY is willing to talk when a game is on. But that's to be expected I guess when it is such a huge part of their culture. They get together in the big park downtown after all of the games. I don't think we're allowed down there because they are always drinking.
I think they had a branch council about my stomach growling during church last week because the Irmas fed us sooo much food. And I don't know how to say, no thank you, I'm full. So I ate a ton. But then we walk like ten miles after so I'm always hungry, haha, but we stalked up our kitchen so now I make dinner every night.
There are these huge lizards on the side of the road which I think Luke would like. I haven't gotten the courage to stop and take a picture of them yet, haha, they are really freaky.
On Sunday, the primary kids put on a primary program which was super cute. Although I understood close to nothing, but kids are always cute.
We had a choir thing in Sao Louis or some place like that and then all the missionaries met up in Porto Alegre, we hoped on a train and sang all the way there, haha, there were a lot of people giving us weird looks but when there are 35 or so of us singing, you can't really tell us to stop. It was awesome.
We take a lot of buses places. Which is nice because we get to nap while we are on them! I wanted to talk a picture of us on one today but I fell asleep. So stay tuned for that picture another week!
We had a branch Natal party. I heard it was really fun. We spent the whole time running around getting investigators to come. We had 5 there and they all came to church the next day! So cool.
We went to Porto Alegre again this weekend for a Natal party which was really fun. We spent the night Sunday with an Irma in Caxias who made this really delicious dish called Torta Fria. Definielty going to be learning how to make that when I get home. It was so so good. We went to bed really late that night.
And then had to get up at 4 to get on another bus to get to Porto Alegre. Our conference was really fun. A lot of talking with people and eating good food. There was also a talent show that some elders preformed in. There were like penetonix. I wish I would have recorded it. It was amazing. Jamie would have done her little squeal, haha. The whole mission was there so we got to see the sisters from the ctm which was really fun. We also did a secret amiga thing so we exchanged some gifts. I got a really pretty anchor necklace. And I got letters from Grandma which was by far my favorite part of the day.
We spent the night in Farroupilha with some sisters because it was way late when we finished. On the way there, I talked a ton with the elders in our zone. They are really helpful when it comes to pronouncing things in Portuguese. They will repeat themselves a million times and act things out until I understand. It is way funny and way nice of them.
We had a district meeting in Caxias this morning which was really long. And I can't say I understood a lot of it. I think when I'm tired, I understand less and less.
Also, when I'm tired or not paying attention, I speak in English and S. Sandoval is always like, "Que isso?" And it takes me a while to switch back into Portuguese. I try really hard to think in Portuguese but it's hard.
I cannot wait to see you're guys' faces next week. And I want absolutely no spoilers for When Calls the Heart (YOU HEAR ME JAMIE? NOTHING)
Eu te amo,
Sister Heiner
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| This hill is literally called the hill of the devil. It is like Princess in Oregon but three times as long and it's the last thing we walk up every night. |
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| What I wake up to every morning. |
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| A huge nativity. |
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| Pictures from the Natal party last night. |
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| CTM sisters! |
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| Part of our zone at the dinner. |
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| Making dinner. |
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| This little house is made of all wood and made me think of dad. |
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| There are lemon trees everywhere here. |
Monday, December 11, 2017
December 11, 2017
We got to Porto Alegre later that expected because we had to make an emergency landing to switch planes because the windshield was starting to crack. So that was an adventure.
President Campos is really awesome. I like him a lot. He reminds me a lot of dad. His two daughters were there and the way he interacted with them seriously reminded me so much of being home. It was a little bitter sweet to watch. I love you guys a ton which makes it hard to be here some times but I know I need to be here.
My trainer´s name is Sister Sandoval. She is from Santa Cruz Bolivia so she spoke Spanish. She has been here 7 months and sounds super fluent. She is really helpful but by the end of the day I can tell she´s done with me and my nonablitly to speak Portuguese. But I know it´ll get easier.
I am currently serving in two towns named Carlos Barbosa and Garibaldi. They are both huge cities and we are the only missionaries so it is a lot of walking and taking bus rides. But they both have a pretty small town feel to them because they have brick roads and cute little shops. It´s great, I love it here already.
Mornings,. We don´t do a ton besides studying and never leave the house before like 2 so I sit there watching the clock tick and get kind of discouraged but as soon as we leave the house, time flies and it´s fun.
Brazil loves Christmas! There are fireworks and parades and huge nativities set up. I love it. It doesn't feel like Christmas yet though. I asked my comp about skyping you guys and she knows where we are going but doesn't know what time, so hopefully I can let you know next week. We went back to Porto Alegre on Thursday to be part of a Christmas choir which was really cool.
The first contact we had was with an older man named Domingo. I think we taught about the Restoration but it was day one and they were talking really fast so I just bore my testimony. I guess that was probably my first lesson too. I understood the next lesson though and it was definitely about the Restoration. I got to talk a little more, but I can barely say a single thing. My companion likes to take over too so I don´t get the chance to speak even if I knew how. Hopefully that will change as time goes by.
We teach a man named João Batista which literally means John Baptist which is cool. He has been taught by three sets of missionaries. We´re the fourth. He committed to a baptism date with us last week though! That was way cool. We´ll see if he keeps it though.
We eat lunch with members and never eat dinner. We also fast once a week. So any thought I had about gaining weight is gone. That won´t be happening.
Our branch is pretty small. There are about 30 people who regularly attend. They all seem really nice. I mean, from what I could understand of what they were saying which really wasn´t a lot. They would ask if I was a Brazilian really excitedly and then when I´d say no, they´d kind of get disappointed. I was like, sorry... Can´t do anything about it. But I look a lot more Brazilian than my companion does.
We get catcalled a lot. The first time it happened I laughed so hard. They do the generic whistle and then like hiss at you. Oh man, it´s so funny. My first day here, we had a car full of boys pull over and tell us we are beautiful. I was totally oblivious until Sister Sandoval was like, Sister. Walk faster. I seriously had no idea they were trying to talk to us. But that was the only time boys have tried to talk to us, generally they just whistle, hiss, or honk their horn.
I really wish I knew how to speak this language! There are really frustrating times when people will start to talk to me and I understand bits and pieces, or the whole thing, and then there are other times when I can understand nothing. UGH. But I´ll learn. I know I will. Something that comes to my mind everytime I start to get frustrated is from an Elder Holland talk. He said that he honestly believes missions cannot be easy and that we have to feel every second of it because it was NEVER easy for the Savior and the Savior had to feel every second of it.
I love you guys!!
Sister Heiner
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| Us with our Philippines roommates. |
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| Sister Wiese and I in jeans. |
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| Cake celebrating making it through the CTM! |
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| All of us at the airport. |
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| Sister Sandoval and I. |
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| My first day in the field. |
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| Our apartment. |
Friday, December 1, 2017
December 1, 2017
HEY! Elder Whatcott ate 15 pieces of cake for breakfast!
This week was really good! We got to go proselyting on Saturday which is actually my favorite thing we do here. We got a contact and he was really nice and helped us with our Portuguese. Who knows if anything will happen, but I´m glad we got the chance to talk to him.
Two of the elders in our week are from New Zealand so they taught all of our elders how to do the Haka and then they preformed it for us, which was seriously sooo cool. And kind of scary because they are all nice kids but their faces during it look like they could commit a serious crime.
We got a list of 32 new rules of the MTC. We went through them and marked which ones we´ve broken. There are a lot. My favorite new rule is that elders can´t give sisters candy. But sisters can give elders candy...
I don´t have a lot of things to tell you this week, but I wrote a list in my journal of things I´ve learned or observed while I was here, so I think I´ll share that with you guys!
- Portuguese, obviously. I don´t know a ton, but I know enough to put together simple sentences and bare my testimony. So that is really good for how long we´ve been here.
- You don´t have to speak perfect Portuguese to have the spirit in your lessons. As long as you share your testimony, He will be present.
- The Lord works in ways I will never understand. He puts people in our paths for a reason at times that might seem random, but He sees everything in an eternal perspective. He helps change feelings and mindsets that aren´t what He wants from us or needs from us at that moment.
- Missionaries love to sing! Absolutely everywhere. In the hallways, during class, playing volleyball, out the windows at night, I can´t even take a shower without a sing-a-long starting.
- There are a billion and one ways to smile. If I don´t understand what people are saying, I just smile and they know that I still care.
- I´ve taken my family for granted. I´ve taken it for granted that when I was sad, I could sit on dad´s lap, that mom always asked for a hug goodnight, that Amanda would come talk to me at night, that Jamie and I would jam while brushing our teeth, that Luke always wanted somebody to play with. Because a lot of people here don´t have that. So thank you for always being there.
- The Savior really does know each of us completely and perfectly. Every time I think of Him bleeding for me, BECAUSE of me, it blows me away. I want to be better for Him.
- Just because things are hard in practically every way doesn´t mean I don´t love every second of it.
- I´ve turned into a scapbooking mom. I keep everything so then at night I can put it in my journal. I can´t wait to show you guys the cool things I´ve found.
- Patience is key. There are days I have to remind myself that I would not look good in prison stripes. Our elders are sweethearts but they are also like 6 more little brothers. So they have their moments.
- The best way to teach is simply. There is no reason to try and teach Kolob in the first lesson. Simplicity brings the Spirit and is easier to understand. (Not to mention say in Portuguese)
- When we teach with love, with the sole purpose of showing our investigators the love of Christ, we can understand them better, their Portuguese and what they need and what the Lord needs us to say to them.
- Boys spill things a lot. I am the only one in my district who has not had to use my tide stick yet.
- Perseption changes really quickly. It only took a few days for it not to be weird to be with a companion all of the time or to only wear church clothes (although I miss my jeans) or that 15 girls brush their teeth at the same time. Or that we spend all day teaching our teachers who are pretending to know nothing about the gospel. Or the fact that the things I thought I wanted or thought were so important before the mission, aren´t so important or really what I want anymore. And it´s only been 6 weeks, so I can´t imagine how much that will have changed by the time I get home.
- The gift of tongues is REAL. There is no faking having sentences pop into your head in Portuguese that you have never said before in your life.
- Proselyting is terrifying but also the most fun thing we have done here. Knowing they are real people makes it so much more satisfying when they want to talk to you.
- Your relationship with your companion makes all of the difference. Because you´re with them constantly. If you show them love, then things generally are okay in the end.
I love you guys! The next time we talk, I´ll be in the field!
Sister Heiner
This week was really good! We got to go proselyting on Saturday which is actually my favorite thing we do here. We got a contact and he was really nice and helped us with our Portuguese. Who knows if anything will happen, but I´m glad we got the chance to talk to him.
Two of the elders in our week are from New Zealand so they taught all of our elders how to do the Haka and then they preformed it for us, which was seriously sooo cool. And kind of scary because they are all nice kids but their faces during it look like they could commit a serious crime.
We got a list of 32 new rules of the MTC. We went through them and marked which ones we´ve broken. There are a lot. My favorite new rule is that elders can´t give sisters candy. But sisters can give elders candy...
I don´t have a lot of things to tell you this week, but I wrote a list in my journal of things I´ve learned or observed while I was here, so I think I´ll share that with you guys!
- Portuguese, obviously. I don´t know a ton, but I know enough to put together simple sentences and bare my testimony. So that is really good for how long we´ve been here.
- You don´t have to speak perfect Portuguese to have the spirit in your lessons. As long as you share your testimony, He will be present.
- The Lord works in ways I will never understand. He puts people in our paths for a reason at times that might seem random, but He sees everything in an eternal perspective. He helps change feelings and mindsets that aren´t what He wants from us or needs from us at that moment.
- Missionaries love to sing! Absolutely everywhere. In the hallways, during class, playing volleyball, out the windows at night, I can´t even take a shower without a sing-a-long starting.
- There are a billion and one ways to smile. If I don´t understand what people are saying, I just smile and they know that I still care.
- I´ve taken my family for granted. I´ve taken it for granted that when I was sad, I could sit on dad´s lap, that mom always asked for a hug goodnight, that Amanda would come talk to me at night, that Jamie and I would jam while brushing our teeth, that Luke always wanted somebody to play with. Because a lot of people here don´t have that. So thank you for always being there.
- The Savior really does know each of us completely and perfectly. Every time I think of Him bleeding for me, BECAUSE of me, it blows me away. I want to be better for Him.
- Just because things are hard in practically every way doesn´t mean I don´t love every second of it.
- I´ve turned into a scapbooking mom. I keep everything so then at night I can put it in my journal. I can´t wait to show you guys the cool things I´ve found.
- Patience is key. There are days I have to remind myself that I would not look good in prison stripes. Our elders are sweethearts but they are also like 6 more little brothers. So they have their moments.
- The best way to teach is simply. There is no reason to try and teach Kolob in the first lesson. Simplicity brings the Spirit and is easier to understand. (Not to mention say in Portuguese)
- When we teach with love, with the sole purpose of showing our investigators the love of Christ, we can understand them better, their Portuguese and what they need and what the Lord needs us to say to them.
- Boys spill things a lot. I am the only one in my district who has not had to use my tide stick yet.
- Perseption changes really quickly. It only took a few days for it not to be weird to be with a companion all of the time or to only wear church clothes (although I miss my jeans) or that 15 girls brush their teeth at the same time. Or that we spend all day teaching our teachers who are pretending to know nothing about the gospel. Or the fact that the things I thought I wanted or thought were so important before the mission, aren´t so important or really what I want anymore. And it´s only been 6 weeks, so I can´t imagine how much that will have changed by the time I get home.
- The gift of tongues is REAL. There is no faking having sentences pop into your head in Portuguese that you have never said before in your life.
- Proselyting is terrifying but also the most fun thing we have done here. Knowing they are real people makes it so much more satisfying when they want to talk to you.
- Your relationship with your companion makes all of the difference. Because you´re with them constantly. If you show them love, then things generally are okay in the end.
I love you guys! The next time we talk, I´ll be in the field!
Sister Heiner
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| The little redhead is Irma Diniz. |
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| Sister Wiese and I tried to be thugs, haha. Didn´t work. |
Monday, November 27, 2017
November24, 2017
HEY! We hit our month mark today!!! So crazy yet it feels like an eternity!
This week was really good. It started pouring rain on pday but that didn´t stop us from getting our umbrellas and totally getting drenched. Elder Whatcott started screaming like a little girl when the rain started coming down sideways so we made a shield with the umbrellas and ran back to the ctm together. Super funny.
Elder Ireland and Elder Evans left this week which I didn´t think was going to be sad. But that´s okay, they are both going to be great missionaries and I can´t wait to hear about it.
Our district made a goal to eat a bag of these watermelon candies a day this week and we did it! Probably not the best goal to have but it was really fun. And we kept all the wrappers in a drawer so at some point I will have to take a picture and send it to you. It is a lot of candy.... thank goodness for toothbrushes.
They already have all of their Christmas decorations up here. And they have for like three weeks, I just keep forgetting to mention it. But yeah, it´s really pretty. We sing Christmas songs all the time and it makes me a little homesick but I´m excited that we will be out in the field by the time it´s Christmas!!!
Thanksgiving yesterday was AWESOME. They gave us a Thanksgiving lunch with turkey and mashed potatoes and rolls and it was soooo good. And they set up a self serve ice cream bar with American ice cream... oh man. It was heavenly. And then at dinner, they had PUMPKIN PIE. Which I don´t love, but it was cool that they cared enough to give us a holiday that isn´t real here. We also got to watch a devotional with Elder Bednar that was so good. He talked about the Book of Mormon a lot and gave us the challenge to get two paperback books and go through them with one specific topic in mind and write down what we learned in the back. So I got two at the temple today.
Everybody in our district is sick except Elder Walker and I. I don´t think I´ve drank more water and washed my hands more in my life. I DO NOT want to get sick.
To answer mom´s questions from last week about to ctm. The bottom floor is circled around a courtyard and all the floors look into it. The bottom floor is the admin offices, the cafeteria and the big laundry room for bedding and stuff. The first floor is just classrooms and the autotorium. The second floor is computer labs and classrooms on one half, and girls dorms on the other half. The third floor is half girls dorms and half older couple dorms. The fourth, fifth, and sixth floors are all boy dorms. Our room is on the third floor. There were six of us in our room, two Brazilians, two Philippians, and us. But the Brazilians left this week. I sent you a picture of the view from our room and our room last week. Our floors are very much segregated, we are at the mtc afterall. Our floor has a big room full of showers, not sure how the boys floors are set up. The other girls floor has their own showers in their room but they have to clean them by themselves so not sure which is better. Our classroom is set up like a U around the whiteboard and the TV and overlooks the courtyard. The morning class with Irma Alonso feels more like an institute/college class but our afternoon classes feel very high schooly which is unfortunate.
So Ben never emails me so I need somebody to ask him a question for me. One of my friends, Elder Harrison, has a brother who served in Sweden the same time Ben did. His name is Spencer Harrison, currently lives in Logan Ut with a wife named Amelia who´s maiden name was Williams. So uh, yeah. If you could ask that for me, that would be great.
I had a really hard day on Tuesday so I wrote down a game plan of how I can stay more focused and had just made the decision that I needed to study the Atonement more when Sister Wiese showed me this quote from the Infinite Atonement, which I would love a copy of by the way, that said, one cannot help wondering how many of those drops of precious blood each of us are responsible for. That hit me so hard!! This week I have written down and studied 242 scriptures about the Savior, and each time I read one, it blows me away that somebody loves us so much that they would feel every little feeling we feel just so that we are truly never alone. I can´t comprehend that kind of love yet, and I´m sure mom and dad know how that feels, but I don´t so it has been on my mind a lot these last few days.
You guys look like you´re all doing great! I miss you guys but there really is nowhere else on the planet that I would rather be than right here right now. I can´t believe how happy I am and how at peace and confident I feel even though I don´t know this language very well. I know Bishop was a hundred percent correct when he said this mission would be a healing process that I need. I love teaching in Portuguese, it´s really fun to have to flip through dictionaries and struggle to find the right words but it is a stuggle I enjoy having.
Tell everybody that I love them and give everybody a huge hug for me!
Love,
Sister Heiner
This week was really good. It started pouring rain on pday but that didn´t stop us from getting our umbrellas and totally getting drenched. Elder Whatcott started screaming like a little girl when the rain started coming down sideways so we made a shield with the umbrellas and ran back to the ctm together. Super funny.
Elder Ireland and Elder Evans left this week which I didn´t think was going to be sad. But that´s okay, they are both going to be great missionaries and I can´t wait to hear about it.
Our district made a goal to eat a bag of these watermelon candies a day this week and we did it! Probably not the best goal to have but it was really fun. And we kept all the wrappers in a drawer so at some point I will have to take a picture and send it to you. It is a lot of candy.... thank goodness for toothbrushes.
They already have all of their Christmas decorations up here. And they have for like three weeks, I just keep forgetting to mention it. But yeah, it´s really pretty. We sing Christmas songs all the time and it makes me a little homesick but I´m excited that we will be out in the field by the time it´s Christmas!!!
Thanksgiving yesterday was AWESOME. They gave us a Thanksgiving lunch with turkey and mashed potatoes and rolls and it was soooo good. And they set up a self serve ice cream bar with American ice cream... oh man. It was heavenly. And then at dinner, they had PUMPKIN PIE. Which I don´t love, but it was cool that they cared enough to give us a holiday that isn´t real here. We also got to watch a devotional with Elder Bednar that was so good. He talked about the Book of Mormon a lot and gave us the challenge to get two paperback books and go through them with one specific topic in mind and write down what we learned in the back. So I got two at the temple today.
Everybody in our district is sick except Elder Walker and I. I don´t think I´ve drank more water and washed my hands more in my life. I DO NOT want to get sick.
To answer mom´s questions from last week about to ctm. The bottom floor is circled around a courtyard and all the floors look into it. The bottom floor is the admin offices, the cafeteria and the big laundry room for bedding and stuff. The first floor is just classrooms and the autotorium. The second floor is computer labs and classrooms on one half, and girls dorms on the other half. The third floor is half girls dorms and half older couple dorms. The fourth, fifth, and sixth floors are all boy dorms. Our room is on the third floor. There were six of us in our room, two Brazilians, two Philippians, and us. But the Brazilians left this week. I sent you a picture of the view from our room and our room last week. Our floors are very much segregated, we are at the mtc afterall. Our floor has a big room full of showers, not sure how the boys floors are set up. The other girls floor has their own showers in their room but they have to clean them by themselves so not sure which is better. Our classroom is set up like a U around the whiteboard and the TV and overlooks the courtyard. The morning class with Irma Alonso feels more like an institute/college class but our afternoon classes feel very high schooly which is unfortunate.
So Ben never emails me so I need somebody to ask him a question for me. One of my friends, Elder Harrison, has a brother who served in Sweden the same time Ben did. His name is Spencer Harrison, currently lives in Logan Ut with a wife named Amelia who´s maiden name was Williams. So uh, yeah. If you could ask that for me, that would be great.
I had a really hard day on Tuesday so I wrote down a game plan of how I can stay more focused and had just made the decision that I needed to study the Atonement more when Sister Wiese showed me this quote from the Infinite Atonement, which I would love a copy of by the way, that said, one cannot help wondering how many of those drops of precious blood each of us are responsible for. That hit me so hard!! This week I have written down and studied 242 scriptures about the Savior, and each time I read one, it blows me away that somebody loves us so much that they would feel every little feeling we feel just so that we are truly never alone. I can´t comprehend that kind of love yet, and I´m sure mom and dad know how that feels, but I don´t so it has been on my mind a lot these last few days.
You guys look like you´re all doing great! I miss you guys but there really is nowhere else on the planet that I would rather be than right here right now. I can´t believe how happy I am and how at peace and confident I feel even though I don´t know this language very well. I know Bishop was a hundred percent correct when he said this mission would be a healing process that I need. I love teaching in Portuguese, it´s really fun to have to flip through dictionaries and struggle to find the right words but it is a stuggle I enjoy having.
Tell everybody that I love them and give everybody a huge hug for me!
Love,
Sister Heiner
Friday, November 17, 2017
November 17, 2017
This week has been so long and so short. I get a feeling that that will be how my mission is going to be the whole time.
Last pday, we went and found an ice cream store. It wasn't like American ice cream but it was still really really good.
Saturday was so amazingly busy. We went proselyting (AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH) which was terrifying but also really awesome. It was so good to actually feel like I was doing some missionary work. We got a contact! Sister Wiese and I stopped this guy and asked him if he would help us with our Portuguese. He laughed so hard and then we talked about the gospel. It was good. Then we had splits, which are just with other missionaries in the mtc that are native speakers. I actually understood what was going on this time which was a really nice feeling. Then we had TRC so we taught one of the teachers pretending to be an investigator. Stressful because they film you.
I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting on Sunday. In Portuguese. Totally. And they asked me 5 minutes before the meeting started. It was an experience. The Lord was for sure helping me out on that one. I love knowing He is always on my side.
The power also went out for like 5 hours on Sunday. So we went outside to do a scripture sutdy and when it got too dark, we went into our classroom and talked about horror films. Apparently when my hair is flipped over my face, it's really freaky. I only know this because the Elders insisted that I show them hahah
Our district has decided to do English fasts three times a week, where we cannot speak English and if we do, you and your companion get a strike and after 5 strikes, you have to memorize a scripture in Portuguese and say it to the class. Sister Wiese and I are the only companionship who have not gotten any strikes yet!
I know our investigators are just our teachers but we had a lot of success this week! I haven't been using my notes which is really cool. And one of them committed to a baptism date! And the other one prayed for us! She hasn't prayed for any of the elders so we were really excited.
We had a really good devotional on Christlike qualities. We talk about that a lot and I really really love it.
We sang this song for our devotional called "O Milagre" by Shawn B Edwards and I have no idea what the words are, but it brought the Spirit so fast.
We've spent a lot of time with Elder Evans and Elder Ireland. They leave on Tuesday which is really sad. I'll try and send you the picture we took with them today.
We got to go to the Campinas (Spelling?) temple this morning!! It was huge compared to the Sao Paulo temple. It was kind weird thinking that I was in the same mission as Nathan for a few hours. Wish I could have said hi but also a good thing that we couldn't say hi.
I love you guys!! I'll send more pictures if I get the chance! Sorry this email is shorter.. Next week will be longer, I promise.
Sister Heiner
Last pday, we went and found an ice cream store. It wasn't like American ice cream but it was still really really good.
Saturday was so amazingly busy. We went proselyting (AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH) which was terrifying but also really awesome. It was so good to actually feel like I was doing some missionary work. We got a contact! Sister Wiese and I stopped this guy and asked him if he would help us with our Portuguese. He laughed so hard and then we talked about the gospel. It was good. Then we had splits, which are just with other missionaries in the mtc that are native speakers. I actually understood what was going on this time which was a really nice feeling. Then we had TRC so we taught one of the teachers pretending to be an investigator. Stressful because they film you.
I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting on Sunday. In Portuguese. Totally. And they asked me 5 minutes before the meeting started. It was an experience. The Lord was for sure helping me out on that one. I love knowing He is always on my side.
The power also went out for like 5 hours on Sunday. So we went outside to do a scripture sutdy and when it got too dark, we went into our classroom and talked about horror films. Apparently when my hair is flipped over my face, it's really freaky. I only know this because the Elders insisted that I show them hahah
Our district has decided to do English fasts three times a week, where we cannot speak English and if we do, you and your companion get a strike and after 5 strikes, you have to memorize a scripture in Portuguese and say it to the class. Sister Wiese and I are the only companionship who have not gotten any strikes yet!
I know our investigators are just our teachers but we had a lot of success this week! I haven't been using my notes which is really cool. And one of them committed to a baptism date! And the other one prayed for us! She hasn't prayed for any of the elders so we were really excited.
We had a really good devotional on Christlike qualities. We talk about that a lot and I really really love it.
We sang this song for our devotional called "O Milagre" by Shawn B Edwards and I have no idea what the words are, but it brought the Spirit so fast.
We've spent a lot of time with Elder Evans and Elder Ireland. They leave on Tuesday which is really sad. I'll try and send you the picture we took with them today.
We got to go to the Campinas (Spelling?) temple this morning!! It was huge compared to the Sao Paulo temple. It was kind weird thinking that I was in the same mission as Nathan for a few hours. Wish I could have said hi but also a good thing that we couldn't say hi.
I love you guys!! I'll send more pictures if I get the chance! Sorry this email is shorter.. Next week will be longer, I promise.
Sister Heiner
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| Our room |
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| view |
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| Campinas Temple |
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| Elder Ireland, Elder Evans, me and Sister Wiese |
Friday, November 10, 2017
November 10, 2017
Hey!!! This week has been really good! But also stressful...
Pday was really nice, after we emailed, we went and walked the streets around the mtc. Did you guys get the pictures we sent? One of the elders said that his parents didn´t and then you didn´t say anything about them... So I might just send them to myself this week and forward them to you next week.
This week we have started to do splits with the Brazilian missionaries which is super stressful!! But it is also good. It shows us what it will really be like when we are out in the field. They talk soooo fast and I can´t understand a lot of what they are saying, but the spirit is there which is the important part. Also, they said that they understand exactly what I am saying when I talk, so that was a nice thing to hear.
We have two teachers, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Irma Alonso is in the morning and she is super sweet. She served her mission in Las Vegas and can speak perfect English. I don´t think I told you guys this last week but our district is an experiment district. We get all the instructions in English and then do all our class in Portuguese. They think the American missionaries are so stressed here and don´t feel the spirit as much because they are worried about the language. Which I kind of agree with. Anyways, Irma Alonso jokes around with us and makes fun of us and makes our classes not seem like a high school class. Irma Dinz is in the afternoon and she is waaay INTENSE but she makes us learn a lot and really really fast. Which is good. The elders don´t like her but she gives me hugs, so I´m a fan.
On Wednesday, Sister Wiese and I walked into our lesson with no notes and just asked what questions our investigator had which was really cool. It was hard! But it made me realize how much more I know that I think I do.
AMANDA! KEVIN LEQUIN SHOWED UP! I was like, what?, because he told me he was going to the Provo MTC. And you will be proud to know that I actually talked to him instead of awkwardly avoiding him the rest of the time here, haha.
We got to go to the police station yesterday and register as actually living here. Which was weird because we live here but we don´t live here. But it was good. It was huge!
Fast Sundays here are nice. We start our fast at lunch on Saturday and end it at lunch on Sunday. Our elders were super cranky, but it´s whatever. We also got two nap times which was amazing.
We have to read the white bible everyday and the elders hate it, so they have started rapping it. Which is really funny. We read it serious once a week and then they rap it the other 5 times we have to read it. The other district has started coming in to listen because they dislike reading it so much too.
The elders also sang America´s national anthem out the window on Tuesday night. I thought they were going to get yelled at, but nobody even mentioned it.
Sister Wiese is from Sandy Utah. She´s coming to Porto Alegre North too. So are Sister Strahl, Sister Borchert, and Elder Westmen. So that´ll be fun!
The laundry room isn´t bad at all. The elders must just be mean. If there is stuff left in the washing machines, the sisters just move it over to the dryers and if it´s in the dryers, I´ve seen girls folding it for other sisters haha so awesome.
I´ve made some friends with some other elder companionships this week. Elder Ireland and Elder Evans are two weeks ahead of us, but they are in the room right next door, so they come and talk to Sister Wiese and I. They were both at the Provo MTC and then got transferred here last Tuesday. Elder Ireland is a little crazy. Our classrooms are on the second floor and he climbed through their window. Also, Elder Lund and Elder Medikini. They came with us but are in the other English district. Elder Medikini is from New Zealand and is going to teach our elders how to do the haaka which will be super entertaining. Elder Lund has a girlfriend that he´s been dating for two and a half years and she is leaving on her mission next month. He was showing me pictures of them and seriously, it is couple goals.
Elder Walker told me he could read more of the book of Alma than I could yesterday so I told him to bring it on. I read 26 chapters in three hours and wasn´t even rushing it. It was kind of a cool way to study, I´ve never read so much in such a short space of time.
Also, one of our elders ate 13 pieces of cake on Wednesday which was really funny. Because he was just like, that was my tenth piece, so all of the elders started telling him to eat more. He was pretty sick afterwards though.
Sister Santos is a girl that is in our room with us, and she asked me if I had an American dollar she could have because that´s a big deal here, so I gave her one of the handful I brought and she asked me to sign it. It was really cute!
And I bought a nicer set of Portuguese scriptures today because the ones they give us here don´t hold up well. So if that comes up on my card, that´s why.
We watched a Mormon message from an old Elder Holland talk that was about John 21:17 and how the Savior asks if Peter loves Him, and that hit me really hard for some reason. I do love the Lord which is why I´m out here. I really truly believe everything that I´m going to be teaching the people of Brazil.
I love you guys!!
Sister Heiner
PS this email isn´t any shorter but mom said to not make them short so, haha, sorry..
Pictures from this week.
Pday was really nice, after we emailed, we went and walked the streets around the mtc. Did you guys get the pictures we sent? One of the elders said that his parents didn´t and then you didn´t say anything about them... So I might just send them to myself this week and forward them to you next week.
This week we have started to do splits with the Brazilian missionaries which is super stressful!! But it is also good. It shows us what it will really be like when we are out in the field. They talk soooo fast and I can´t understand a lot of what they are saying, but the spirit is there which is the important part. Also, they said that they understand exactly what I am saying when I talk, so that was a nice thing to hear.
We have two teachers, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Irma Alonso is in the morning and she is super sweet. She served her mission in Las Vegas and can speak perfect English. I don´t think I told you guys this last week but our district is an experiment district. We get all the instructions in English and then do all our class in Portuguese. They think the American missionaries are so stressed here and don´t feel the spirit as much because they are worried about the language. Which I kind of agree with. Anyways, Irma Alonso jokes around with us and makes fun of us and makes our classes not seem like a high school class. Irma Dinz is in the afternoon and she is waaay INTENSE but she makes us learn a lot and really really fast. Which is good. The elders don´t like her but she gives me hugs, so I´m a fan.
On Wednesday, Sister Wiese and I walked into our lesson with no notes and just asked what questions our investigator had which was really cool. It was hard! But it made me realize how much more I know that I think I do.
AMANDA! KEVIN LEQUIN SHOWED UP! I was like, what?, because he told me he was going to the Provo MTC. And you will be proud to know that I actually talked to him instead of awkwardly avoiding him the rest of the time here, haha.
We got to go to the police station yesterday and register as actually living here. Which was weird because we live here but we don´t live here. But it was good. It was huge!
Fast Sundays here are nice. We start our fast at lunch on Saturday and end it at lunch on Sunday. Our elders were super cranky, but it´s whatever. We also got two nap times which was amazing.
We have to read the white bible everyday and the elders hate it, so they have started rapping it. Which is really funny. We read it serious once a week and then they rap it the other 5 times we have to read it. The other district has started coming in to listen because they dislike reading it so much too.
The elders also sang America´s national anthem out the window on Tuesday night. I thought they were going to get yelled at, but nobody even mentioned it.
Sister Wiese is from Sandy Utah. She´s coming to Porto Alegre North too. So are Sister Strahl, Sister Borchert, and Elder Westmen. So that´ll be fun!
The laundry room isn´t bad at all. The elders must just be mean. If there is stuff left in the washing machines, the sisters just move it over to the dryers and if it´s in the dryers, I´ve seen girls folding it for other sisters haha so awesome.
I´ve made some friends with some other elder companionships this week. Elder Ireland and Elder Evans are two weeks ahead of us, but they are in the room right next door, so they come and talk to Sister Wiese and I. They were both at the Provo MTC and then got transferred here last Tuesday. Elder Ireland is a little crazy. Our classrooms are on the second floor and he climbed through their window. Also, Elder Lund and Elder Medikini. They came with us but are in the other English district. Elder Medikini is from New Zealand and is going to teach our elders how to do the haaka which will be super entertaining. Elder Lund has a girlfriend that he´s been dating for two and a half years and she is leaving on her mission next month. He was showing me pictures of them and seriously, it is couple goals.
Elder Walker told me he could read more of the book of Alma than I could yesterday so I told him to bring it on. I read 26 chapters in three hours and wasn´t even rushing it. It was kind of a cool way to study, I´ve never read so much in such a short space of time.
Also, one of our elders ate 13 pieces of cake on Wednesday which was really funny. Because he was just like, that was my tenth piece, so all of the elders started telling him to eat more. He was pretty sick afterwards though.
Sister Santos is a girl that is in our room with us, and she asked me if I had an American dollar she could have because that´s a big deal here, so I gave her one of the handful I brought and she asked me to sign it. It was really cute!
And I bought a nicer set of Portuguese scriptures today because the ones they give us here don´t hold up well. So if that comes up on my card, that´s why.
We watched a Mormon message from an old Elder Holland talk that was about John 21:17 and how the Savior asks if Peter loves Him, and that hit me really hard for some reason. I do love the Lord which is why I´m out here. I really truly believe everything that I´m going to be teaching the people of Brazil.
I love you guys!!
Sister Heiner
PS this email isn´t any shorter but mom said to not make them short so, haha, sorry..
Pictures from last Friday at the Sao Paulo Temple.
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| The blue dot on our badges mean we haven't passed our first pday yet. Now we have! |
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| I don't have a really good picture of our district but it's Sister Wiese, me, Elders Walker, Eliason, Welling, Wilkings, Oldham, and Whatcott |
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| Me and Sister Wiese |
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| Sister Strahl, Sister Wiese, me and Sister Borchert (we all have the same dress so we twined today!!) |
Pictures from this week.
Friday, November 3, 2017
November 3, 2017
Hey!! This has been the longest and shortest two weeks of my life. The first week here felt like a year, but this last week only felt like a few hours. So it's crazy to think that Tuesday is our one third done here mark. If my mission keeps going this fast, I'll be home in a month!
Everyday is roughly the same. Get up at 630, get ready, and meet the elders in our classroom. For breakfast, we always have ham and cheese sandwiches and hot chocolate. Their hot chocolate is HEAVENLY. They use real coco and sweetened condensed milk. I think I'm in love.
Then we have an hour of personal study which I just use to get ready for our investigators that day. After that we have language class, right now we are learning how to conjugate verbs. So thrilling.
Our first "investigator" right now is pretty easy. She doesn't talk a whole lot and we need to teach her how to pray tomorrow. But that should be relatively easy.
Lunch is always rice and beans and some kind of meat. I thought I would get sick of rice and beans but that is honestly what I look forward to most when it's meal time. Sister Wiese and I checked to see if we had gained any weight because we eat all of the time. The answer is no. Apparently rice and beans does not mean weight. Haha, oh well.
Afternoon classes are centered on teaching in Portugugese. Which means I know how to pray and bare my testimony without reading but I can't structure a simple sentence. I know it'll come though.
Our second "investigator" is before dinner. I was really scared of her because she chewed two of the elders out but I had a really cool experience with her yesterday that I'll share with you a little later.
Dinner is the same as lunch.
After dinner, we don't have an instructor, we just study lessons and the Book of Mormon on our own.
Everynight we play volleyball, get ready for bed, work on our lessons, and sleep.
Our district is something. Elder Walker is the Distirct Leader and he does a pretty good job. His companion is elder Welling. He tells super bad dad jokes all of the time. Elder Eliason is our freestyle rapper whenever there is even a second of a break. His companion is elder Oldham who looks just like Syndrome from Incredibles. Elder Whatcott looks like he could be 14 but he's a sweetheart. His companion is elder Wilkings who is super obsessed with crossfit. They all act like 18 year old boys and sometimes I feel bad telling them to shush so we can focus. But when they focus, they are super in tune with the spirit.
Sister Wiese is awesome, I love her a lot. She is the youngest of three and the only girl so when I braided her hair last night she was confused on how I knew how to do other people's hair. She's super patient and in tune with the Spirit.
Sister Strahl and Sister Borchert are in the other district but we spend a lot of time with them.
Yesterday was super awesome. We did this activity where we wrote down a question, prayed about it, and then studied the scriptures. I asked why I'm in Brazil and not somewhere where I speak the language. I started reading in 2 Nephi and nothing was really coming and then I heard a voice in my head say, "I need you". I sat there for a minute and realized that it didn't sound like the Holy Ghost but instead it sounded like somebody actually saying it to me, that THEY need me. Super cool.
That afternoon, we had our lesson with our scary investigator and I was legit nervous. So I prayed just to feel love for her and to help her feel His love. And when we got in there, she asked my how I knew God loves me! So I put my notes down and just spoke. IN PORUGUESE WITHOUT NOTES!! Granted it was nothing fancy, but still!! It was really awesome.
We just got out of the temple. It was really cool. We took some pictures and one of the sisters on our floor told us about this place we can send pictures from so I think we might try that. You'll have to let me know if it works. There will be one of me and sister Wiese, me and elder Barnum, Sister Strahl, sister Wiese, me and Sister Borchert (we all have the same dress so we twined!!), and I don't have a really good picture of our district but it's sister Wiese, me, elders Walker, Eliason, Welling, Wilkings, Oldham, and Whatcott. The blue dot on our badges mean we haven't passed our first pday yet.
I love you guys!! I wrote this out before reading your emails so I'll reply next week, promise! Sorry for the novel, they won't all be this long. I'm not sure how the boys always wrote so little though, haha.
Love,
Sister Heiner
Everyday is roughly the same. Get up at 630, get ready, and meet the elders in our classroom. For breakfast, we always have ham and cheese sandwiches and hot chocolate. Their hot chocolate is HEAVENLY. They use real coco and sweetened condensed milk. I think I'm in love.
Then we have an hour of personal study which I just use to get ready for our investigators that day. After that we have language class, right now we are learning how to conjugate verbs. So thrilling.
Our first "investigator" right now is pretty easy. She doesn't talk a whole lot and we need to teach her how to pray tomorrow. But that should be relatively easy.
Lunch is always rice and beans and some kind of meat. I thought I would get sick of rice and beans but that is honestly what I look forward to most when it's meal time. Sister Wiese and I checked to see if we had gained any weight because we eat all of the time. The answer is no. Apparently rice and beans does not mean weight. Haha, oh well.
Afternoon classes are centered on teaching in Portugugese. Which means I know how to pray and bare my testimony without reading but I can't structure a simple sentence. I know it'll come though.
Our second "investigator" is before dinner. I was really scared of her because she chewed two of the elders out but I had a really cool experience with her yesterday that I'll share with you a little later.
Dinner is the same as lunch.
After dinner, we don't have an instructor, we just study lessons and the Book of Mormon on our own.
Everynight we play volleyball, get ready for bed, work on our lessons, and sleep.
Our district is something. Elder Walker is the Distirct Leader and he does a pretty good job. His companion is elder Welling. He tells super bad dad jokes all of the time. Elder Eliason is our freestyle rapper whenever there is even a second of a break. His companion is elder Oldham who looks just like Syndrome from Incredibles. Elder Whatcott looks like he could be 14 but he's a sweetheart. His companion is elder Wilkings who is super obsessed with crossfit. They all act like 18 year old boys and sometimes I feel bad telling them to shush so we can focus. But when they focus, they are super in tune with the spirit.
Sister Wiese is awesome, I love her a lot. She is the youngest of three and the only girl so when I braided her hair last night she was confused on how I knew how to do other people's hair. She's super patient and in tune with the Spirit.
Sister Strahl and Sister Borchert are in the other district but we spend a lot of time with them.
Yesterday was super awesome. We did this activity where we wrote down a question, prayed about it, and then studied the scriptures. I asked why I'm in Brazil and not somewhere where I speak the language. I started reading in 2 Nephi and nothing was really coming and then I heard a voice in my head say, "I need you". I sat there for a minute and realized that it didn't sound like the Holy Ghost but instead it sounded like somebody actually saying it to me, that THEY need me. Super cool.
That afternoon, we had our lesson with our scary investigator and I was legit nervous. So I prayed just to feel love for her and to help her feel His love. And when we got in there, she asked my how I knew God loves me! So I put my notes down and just spoke. IN PORUGUESE WITHOUT NOTES!! Granted it was nothing fancy, but still!! It was really awesome.
We just got out of the temple. It was really cool. We took some pictures and one of the sisters on our floor told us about this place we can send pictures from so I think we might try that. You'll have to let me know if it works. There will be one of me and sister Wiese, me and elder Barnum, Sister Strahl, sister Wiese, me and Sister Borchert (we all have the same dress so we twined!!), and I don't have a really good picture of our district but it's sister Wiese, me, elders Walker, Eliason, Welling, Wilkings, Oldham, and Whatcott. The blue dot on our badges mean we haven't passed our first pday yet.
I love you guys!! I wrote this out before reading your emails so I'll reply next week, promise! Sorry for the novel, they won't all be this long. I'm not sure how the boys always wrote so little though, haha.
Love,
Sister Heiner
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
October 24, 2017
Hey!! We made it this morning! There were eleven of us on the flight to Atlanta and then about 30 of us on the flight to Brazil. 5 girls, the rest guys. On my flight to Atlanta, I sat next to this couple heading to Africa for a senior mission!! On the flight to Brazil, I sat next to this guy who had a cat with him in a carrier that would not stop crying. It was super loud, so no, I didn´t get a whole lot of sleep. But we get the rest of today to rest. My campanion´s name is Sister Wiese and she is super awesome. Our pdays will be on Friday, but because we get to email you today, we won´t email again until next week. Also, we won´t be able to send pictures while we are in the MTC because it messes up the internet. So I´ll take a bunch and send them to you when I get to my first area! I met Sister Ryttings grandson, Elder Barnum, he is super nice and we talked for a while. There are some cute elders, but none of them had name tags on, so I do not remember their names haha sorry, Amanda.
This doesn´t feel real yet, and I´m waiting for it to kick in that I´m in Brazil.
I love you guys!
Sister Heiner
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