June 25, 2018

A ton happened this week and I´m not sure how to feel about it. First of all, I have been here for 8 months. Which is crazy because now I´m almost half way done with my mission! How did that happen? Also it was transfers. I can't believe I´ve been in Taquara for 6 weeks already. Time seriously isn't real here.
Anywhos.... We had a conference in Porto Alegre to say goodbye to President Campos and Sister Campos. It was a weird day of sad to see them for the last time but happy to see everybody else. S Pompeu was there and it sounds like Carlos Barbosa is a disaster right now, so that was fun to hear. But she brought me a rose and chocolate from Adolino!! Which was really sweet of her. Irmao Dilson was there as well, which was weird to see him. He called his family on skype so I could say hi to everybody. Their son got his mission call and he waited to open it until we were all there. He´s going to Japan! I thought it was cool that he wanted to open it with all the missionaries. I think if I was him, I would have wanted to do the same thing. But on the other hand, how he waited for 4 days to open it, I have no idea. The whole conference was focused on marriage. They gave us all sorts of advice on how to find the person we are supposed to marry and how to strengthen our marriage and all that jazz. I was a little surprised that that was the main topic of the conference but at the same time, if their advice wants to last for eternity, its gotta be eternal advice. At the end, they hugged us all goodbye. I have wanted to hug President Campos from the first minute I walked in the airport, so I was happy they let us do that.
I got the LIAHONA!! Which I am so grateful for! I have been trying to find one  in Portuguese since General Conference, but I haven't been able to find one.
We went to visit Eduarda and her family, and when we got there, one of their friends was really really sick. She ended up passing out while we were there and they were all freaking out so S Leite woke her up. Then we said a prayer for her, carried her to a car, and some man took her to the hospital. Kinda scary because it took a solid 2 minutes to get her back awake, but shes alive. We went back on Saturday and ate lunch with Eduarda and her family. It was fun, and we learned a lot about that family that I don't think we would have learned just showing up ready to give a lesson. It turns out that Edaurda was married for a year and a half. Keep in mind that this girl is 17. She got married when she was 15. And her mom was cool with it. I was sitting there like, uuuhhhhhh........ I liked a guy when I was 15 and my mom wasn't cool with it, haha. But that's just one more thing that is different here. People get married or start living together way young. There's a girl here who is 14, pregnant, and living with her boyfriend who is 15 in a house their parents bought for them. I don't think I will ever understand that.
Cinaras husband is deaf and mute, so we have never been able to teach him. But this week, he started asking her questions about life after death, so Cinara has been signing to him what we say. It's really cool but we have to be a little careful because sometimes she signs things that we didn't say, so we have to go back and reexplain again.
We went to talk to Rogerio, and he told us that he told God that if he won his court case about his divorcement, he would be baptized. So our lesson that day was on how we have to exercise our faith before our Heavenly Father will give us the blessings. At the end, he just nodded and said, Okay, so my baptism will be in two Sundays. We were like, wow, that actually made sense/worked? It was really really cool.
We also had this really really awesome lesson with a woman named Luanna. I don't really know how to explain what happened. I don't feel like we said anything any differently than we said to any of our other investigators, but the spirit was so much stronger there, and she just sat there and cried the whole time telling us that this is exactly what she has been needing right now. She's just got a small problem of talking to her boyfriend about getting married but I have so much faith. She is such a special woman, I know that Heavenly Father has just been waiting for us to find her and help her.
There is this woman at Cinaras work that always sees us talking to her. She told Cinara that she wishes that there would be people that would come and talk to her. So S Leite and I made a cute little card about how much Heavenly Father loves her, bought a chocolate thingy and took it to her. She was so surprised. Cinara said that she read that note over and over again during the day. I want to talk to her and teach her, but Cinara asked us to wait for a little so she could try and talk to her. I think it would be really cool if Cinara was able to share her testimony with her.
There is a thing here called São João, which I think is just an excuse to dress up like cowboys and eat a ton of cornbread, but I love it! They had a little party in the branch and there was line dancing and lots of cornbread. It was awesome.
Today is transfers. I´m staying here, but S Leite is leaving. We both just sat there and cried when they called. I know that this other area needs her right now, but I want to be selfish and keep her here. UGH. It is seriously like saying goodbye to Amanda all over again... But it's good! It will all be good.
Alright, so that was my week. I love you guys!!
Sister Heiner

View from our mudroom.

S Pompeu

S Leite

S Leite and S Pompeu

S Sandoval

Adolinos Present

S Campos gave all the sisters this.

Fabiana and Bernardo

June 18, 2018

So in one sentence of how our week went... On Monday it was 30 degrees and yesterday it was 2 degrees. It was way bipolar and weird. But good!
We started with our pday with Cinara and it was really fun. We just sat around her house and talked and listened to BYU music and stuff. It was really fun and I really just wanted to stay there all day and not have to go back to the house and do productive things that we don't have time to do during the week.
On Tuesday, we had splits which was way easy because we live with our sister leaders so all that happened is that we go to the other half of Taquara. I was working with S Borchert, and I learned a lot with her. We were walking down the street and we walked past a house and within two steps, I heard her mutter, sim, eu sei... and turned around and knocked that door. It was really cool to see how she instantly saw what the spirit was saying and then did it without hesitating. I thought a lot about how when we really are in tune with the spirit, we have no problem instantly turning around and knocking a door that we walked past at first.
We also went and talked to this sweet old man named Luis Carlos. The first thing that he asked S Borchert and I was how he could live with his wife again now that she passed away. We taught the plan of Salvation and at the end, he told us about how he met his wife. He just sat there and talked while looking at a picture of her. I want that. I want somebody to love me with all of their heart so when they look at a picture you can see that love.
I spent all week studying Jeffrey R Holland quotes. My planner has one on every page I think. I have prayed thanking the Lord for inspiring him so many times this week. I feel like when I read his talks, he is talking right to me. And I can hear his voice telling me exactly what the Lord is trying to tell me. I seriously am loving all this personal revelation I am learning how to recognize.
On Thursday, I was freaking out a little bit because we had only found one new person to teach. So we said a prayer, looked at a map, and said a prayer telling the Lord what streets we thought we should knock. We knocked every house on one of the streets and found literally nobody. Nobody answered the doors. So we headed to the next street and the first house we knocked, a young woman walked out and told us that she has been needing us, so please come in. We talked with Eduarda for maybe 3 minutes before she left and told her brother and sister in law to come talk to us too. So we talked to the whole family. They are awesome. We´re going back tomorrow. When we were getting ready to leave, her mom Fabiana called out, DON'T ABANDON US, COME BACK. It made me smile so big.
We also found a man named Jorge the same day and he told us that he already knew all this is true because he has a coworker that already told him. So yes he will be baptized in two weeks. HA I LOVE THE LORD SO MUCH!
We finally moved apartments which is why we are writing later today. We spent a ton of time moving all of our stuff and the elders in Canela had to come today and use their pday helping us move all the bulky stuff. I´ll send a picture of it all next week because it really is a pretty apartment.
I spent the whole week saying my prayers and baring my testimony because of dads email last week. I have been amazed at the spirit it has brought to me and how much happier and more confident I feel about the gospel each time I pray.
We can't leave the house during world cup games which is kind of sad but it gives us a lot of time to do things we don't do during the week but need to do.
I don't have any more time to write more details which is annoying. I love you guys like crazy and miss you guys even more!
Sister Heiner

ONE MORE THING!!!
I am making a journal full of conversion stories. I don't know how many people actually read the blog, but if you could ask people to send me the first time they can remember knowing that the church was true, I would be really thankful!
I love you! Have a good day!!

Made mac and cheese!!  Thank you mom!!!

Seeing S Campos at a conference this week!

Stuffed animals.

When you don't know who to cheer for during
the world cup because your blanket says one thing
but your flag on your desk says another....

Huge sign we found in our house. 

June 11,2018

This week was way good and a little hard. Starting with my favorite thing that happened this week, we switched our pday on Monday so on Tuesday we could GO TO THE TEMPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so good to be back there. I have missed it so much and I seriously regret not going more when it was so close to our house. But when we were there, I decided to read my Patriarchal Blessing to see if I could get some clarity on some things that have been weighing on my mind. And I got a ton of answers! One that I really really didn´t want but knew I was going to get, and others that helped me see my purpose here a little better. I am so grateful for personal revelation. It is so amazing that we have a Father in Heaven that is willing to guide us towards something better if we will just open up and ask him with real intent. I feel like I sometimes have to blindly follow Him but it always turns out so much better than what I could have planned. Anywhos... E Dos Santos from my first district was there too and we got to talk a ton which was fun. It was awesome to see the progress he´s making and how happy he is with his new area. And true to form, the first thing he said to me was, Eu falo ingles! We also got to go to the mission office because we got a new phone. Because SOMEONE (coughcoughsisterleite) dropped our other one and we haven't had a phone the last three weeks. Oops. But this one is a lot fancier than our other one. Lets be real, anything was a lot fancier than our other one, haha. And I got letters! One from mom and three from Grandma!!!
The Sister Leaders had a meeting all day Wednesday and when they got home, they brought me A PACKAGE FROM MOM!!!! I was seriously so happy, I about cried. I opened it right away and was so excited about every thing. Sister Borchert was sitting there watching me and said, Why doesn't my mom love me? She never even sends me letters... Which made me feel a little bad, so I gave her some of the Hershey Kisses. But made me realize how lucky I am to have such an amazing mom who emails me every week, sends me real letters, sends me surprise packages, prays for me constantly, tells me not to talk to creepy people.. ect. I am so glad that this mission has taught me the importance of my family and how much I need to be more grateful for them every day.
We were talking to Iago and Cinara and Cinara was telling us that they saw the other sisters this week and Iago said that while he loves them, he doesn't love them like he loves us because we are his irmas. I thought that was so cute. This family really makes me feel like I have a place here. We are heading to their house when we are done with our random things and spending pday with Cinara. I am really, really excited.
I have been thinking a lot about a quote mom sent me a few transfers ago that says If it was right when you prayed about it, it´s right now. That has helped me a lot as I´ve started changing some things in my life right now. I really really want to be in line with what our Heavenly Father wants for my life.
Also, was reading the Infinite Atonement (which I finished this week) and one of the scriptures he used was in Deuteronomy 9:7 that says, Remember and forget not. I put that in my planner to remind myself that I know why I'm here, I know what I´m supposed to be doing, I know that promises that my Heavenly Father has made with me, I just need to keep my head up and not forget.
We were walking in the dark this week, because the sun goes down at like 5:30 which is ridiculous, and we had this guy come up behind us and tell us he was waiting for us to come to his house. We were like, ....yeah? And where do you live? He told us that we have been teaching his sister and he sees us there a lot but we never talk to him. So we went to his house and taught him the first lesson and he was seriously so receptive. He´s got some problems he´s gotta work out, but other than that, I think he will make some really good progress. It makes me wonder what other people see us when we are teaching and want us to come talk to them too but we never do. I want to be more careful this week to talk to everybody we come in contact with and everybody that is near the people we come in contact with.
We also talked to this man named Jose. The only reason we knocked his door was because his house is totally painted green! But when we started asking questions about his kids, he just started crying and telling us how much he loves them. As I started to explain that our Heavenly Father feels a billion more times this love for us, S Leite wrote in her planner, Weak Point: Children. Which made me laugh.
We had to clean out the baptismal font, but because it is like a fancy swimming pool it was really difficult. We had to tip it over without it coming undone and I wish we would have had somebody to take a picture of us falling because we both fell, haha, luckily there wasn't a ton of water in it still...
I am starting Personal Progress over again. It has been really cool to try and do it in Portuguese. It has really helped my testimony of the gift of tongues because I couldn't understand the scriptures very well in Portuguese but I have been reading them this week without a problem!
We also found this guy to teach named Naito. He is really funny. He is 37 and likes to tell us that he is almost double our age. He wanted to know if when he joined the church it would be easier for him to get a vista to live in the US. I told him that, sadly, it doesn't work that way. When we were getting ready to leave, it was starting the thunder and lightning, so he told us that when if it started to rain, we needed to call him so he could give us a ride home. It was really nice of him even though we can't get in his car alone.
I just want to say that when I get home there will be no strawberries for any of you to try because we don't eat strawberries here so I will be eating them all :)
I think thats all I have to tell you guys today, I hope you´ve had a good week. I´ve been thinking and praying for you guys a lot. You really do make such a difference in my life.
Sister Heiner

These look like lettuce but they are really flowers.

Package!

A cute pond.

Bus stop picture.

This Week...

I never believe that it is already Monday. And then when I look back on things to tell you guys, the things that happened at the start of the week feel like forever ago.
First things first before I forget. We were on an onibus this week and there are big signs talking about Oktuber fest. Made me think of Redmon.
On Monday, we felt like fries and cake so we bought a huge bag of french fries and things to make a cake and we celebrated Grandma Noreen´s birthday. We fried the french fries and made a birthday cake and even sang happy birthday. It was really fun and made me feel like I was still part of all the things that are going on back home.
We went to a really far away bairro Monday night and visited a reference of one of the Irmas. His name is Diego and he is kind of a strange duck. But something I have learned here is that we all are kind of a strange duck. Some are just a little stranger than the other ducks. But its good. He talked to us a lot and understood everything really well. He was really excited about what we were saying and asked us to come back the next day. And then he wanted us to come back again. And again. The only problem is that he lives alone, is only home at night, and we saw a huge pile of beer cans outside his house. And I´m starting to see people more as how they are and less as how I want them to be so I´m thinking we will only go back if there is a member with us because it really is dark there, haha.
We had a really cool Sister Training meeting for our zone on Tuesday where our Sister Training Leaders tried to get us pumped to work hard this week. They planned a scavenger hunt with scriptures and had us write why we are here on Brazil flags and had us write cute notes to each other, ya know, VERY Girls Campish but it was really fun. And it worked. S Leite and I got home and were like, Olha we want to baptize somebody this week so who´s it gonna be? So we made a list of people that could possible be baptized, said a prayer and went and talked to them. The two that we decided to focus on were Rogerio and Iago.
We went and talked to Rogerio first. We got there and the first thing he told us is that he doesn't want to go to church every Sunday. I generally let S Leite take the lead with him because he listens to her better but I just had this strong feeling that it had to be me talking this time. So I asked him who he loves most in the world. He started talking about his granddaughter and just started crying. It got really quiet and we just kind of sat there and then I asked him if when his granddaughter is grown up, if he wants to see her again. He obviously said yes. Then I asked him if he would be sad if he asked her to come on a specific day and she didn't show up. He said yes again. So I started talking about how the Lord feels the same way about us. And it got quiet again and then he said that he would come to church but that he was already baptized. So I explained the Priesthood for the billionth time for him. He agreed to be baptized. The Elders came to talk to him and E Schade said that he answered everything right but that E Schade felt like he just wasn't quite ready yet and he wasn't sure why he was feeling that way. We aren't sure either but we followed his council and marked his baptism for next week.
Iago was our second person that we thought could be baptized this week but because he is 12 we needed to talk to his mom first. Cinara is awesome and seriously needs to be baptized too but we´ve got somethings to work out with her first. We asked her how she would feel if we asked Iago if he wanted to be baptized this weekend and she just smiled and said, lets find out! And called him into the room. He instantly said yes, and the elders found no problem with him so we planned a baptism! He was baptized Sunday before church so that he could be confirmed during sacrament meeting. The water was freezing cold and he was shaking so bad poor kid, but he was smiley and happy and wanted to give a talk afterwards.
S Santos hit her one year mark this week, and the Irma that we had lunch with that day made her a cake and we sang and it was fun. Made us all stop and think for a minute about how fast yet slow time is moving. It's hard to believe that it´s been 7 months here but when I think about how next transfer I will turn 9 months, it´s even scarier. I feel like I'm still a new kid on the block.
We talked to this man named Tales this week. He is weirder than Diego and after yesterday, we won't be going back. He told us that he could read us just by looking into our eyes for 5 seconds but then he wouldn't tell us what he saw. And then he came to church yesterday and wrote S Leite a note saying that he is passionate for her. So we decided that we wouldn't be going back there. Because the way he was looking at her was like he was seriously contemplating kidnapping her. All four of us Sisters and Cinara and a recent convert all noticed and we made this little shield around S Leite and booked it. And then we were walking around at like 7 that night and it was already dark and we saw him and we turned and booked it again. So the rest of the night we were way jumpy, haha. Needless to say, we will never go near his house again.
I was singing I Know that My Redeemer Lives while laying on my bed waiting for S Leite to get ready to leave, and my eyes were closed. When I opened them, she was standing in our doorway just crying. I was like, WHAT HAPPENED?! And she told me to sing again. So I did. And she kept crying and I still don't understand what happened.
S Borchert and S Santos went on splits, so we bought marshmallows and made hot chocolate, it was really fun and made me think of home for some reason.
I love you guys and hope you had a good week!
Sister Heiner

Grandmas birthday cake.

The line for the gas when a truck showed up.

A big stick that reminded me of that Daniel Radcliffe
meme that Amanda and I always laughed at.

S Leite and I.

Rainboots!!!

S Borchert with our Brazil flags.

Waiting for an onibus.

Our Church.

Iagos baptism!!