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

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

Our room

view

Campinas Temple

Elder Ireland, Elder Evans, me and Sister Wiese

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 last Friday at the Sao Paulo Temple.

The blue dot on our badges mean we haven't passed our first pday yet.
Now we have!

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

Me and Sister Wiese

Sister Strahl, Sister Wiese, me and Sister Borchert
 (we all have the same dress so we twined today!!)

Pictures from this week.

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