July 30, 2018

This week was a little rough but in a different way than I have experienced before. S Silva got her first migraine, so we couldn't really leave the house. 
It started last week just as a bad headache, but she could still work without any problem. It was just really annoying for her. Then on Wednesday, we had to come home because her eyes were really hurting and the back of her neck. On Thursday, we went to the doctor, and he just said it was a migraine, gave her an IV and some medicine to take, and she went back to bed. We did work for about 2 hours, until she about fainted in the middle of the street and then threw up in our investigators house. She got a blessing from our branch president and one of his councilors. I called Sister Jones and got to try and speak English. It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. But it was easier to explain what was going on in English than if I had tried to talk in Portuguese. After talking to her every day in English, this morning was really easy to talk in English. I guess I just needed some practice. Anywhos, on Friday, she was still throwing up and couldn't see without sunglasses, so the sisters were very kind and we did splits for a few hours so I could at least see how our people were doing. I spent the whole day just worrying about S Silva, so it really wasn't very productive. Saturday, we got up, and she told me she was feeling a ton better. So we started doing things like normal. Then we left for lunch and she had to put sunglasses on because her eyes were causing problems. She told me that they had been hurting all day. I was really ticked off that she had been lying to me, because I had told Sister Jones that she was doing well. So Sister Jones told our Brazil doctor that she was doing well. She told me she wanted to try and keep working, so I told her we could try one visit and see how she was doing. At the end, we had to ask for a ride home because she couldn't even really walk. Then Sunday, we barely made it though church without her getting sick again. So we stayed at home all day yesterday as well. She feels a lot better today, is talking normal, doesn't need sunglasses to see, so I'm praying that her body is finally getting better.
So, this week was a lot of staying home, coloring (I think I colored about half of the book Allison gave to me), studying, I made two cakes and then ate said two cakes, writing in my journal about random things, and when I ran out of things to do, I ended up just sitting there wondering what I was supposed to do with my life. I seriously repented for all those times I wished that I could have another day of pday to do all those things that I need to do.  I just felt really useless all week. And S Silva was annoyed with me all week because when Sister Jones called asking how she was doing, I wasn't willing to lie. Sorry, not really super sorry.
I spent some time studying the life of President Ezra Taft Benson. I'm not sure why I picked his book out of all the books about prophets we have in the house, but I think it is because I remember mom talking about him. I think it is really cool that he worked for the US President. I think it is so awesome that all of the prophets have such an amazing life story before they became apostles and prophets. It made me just sit there and think about my life a little bit. There are so many things I want to be able to say I accomplished at the end of my time here on earth. I think the biggest thing I wonder about is my family. I want so bad for my future family to be how my Patriarchal Blessings talks about. I know that if I am faithful and work hard I have that as a promise, but I just wonder some times if I am capable of having that, ya know? And then I think of how dad always comments about my grandchildren and I wonder how I am going to raise kids to raise kids like that. It´s been an interesting thing to think about.
I also was able to study a little bit about miracles. I would love to know how come in the Book of Mormon, and the Bible but I was reading the Book of Mormon, there are always so many miracles. People are raised from the dead, they see angels, they hear God´s voice, ect ect ect, but in our day, the miracles we see are so different. We have every day miracles every day, something I am so grateful for, but I wouldn't mind seeing an angel or hearing God´s voice. I asked S Medeiros why she thought this was, and she told me that she thinks we don't have miracles like that because these really are the last days and Heavenly Father is seeing who will really walk by faith and who will wait to see something before they believe. I liked that a lot. There is a scripture in the Bible that I love using with investigators that says we need to walk by faith, not sight. I try to do that, but it is a lot harder than I always hope it is going to be, haha.
Talking of miracles, we had one miracle this week that I was super excited about. (other than S Silva not passing out in the rua and dying) We were walking home, it was about 8:45pm, and we decided to knock a few doors in our apartment building. The first family that opened the door invited us in. It is a family of 4, and the parents are legally married. I almost cried when they told us that. They are super duper duper Catholic, but I don't know that that is going to be too big of a problem. We weren't able to go back and talk to them this week, but I have faith that we will this week.
So I think that's all for now, folks. I love you guys like crazy!
Sister Heiner

So I don't really have any pictures from this week because we just stayed at home, so I will send some older ones from this transfer :) 

Lunch at the Gramado chocolate factory for hot chocolate.

In President Jones car because we´re fancy
 and Sister Jones gave us a ride home from our zone conference.

Two pictures of our zone.

S Santos took a selfie.

Lunch with a recent convert of S Santos.

S Silva

Comp t-shirts that say "my life is uh oh after uh oh".
Hahaha, love it.

Me with a snow white dress.

S Silva this week on the couch, with sunglasses, knitting.

July 23, 2018 9 Months Later........

So tomorrow I turn 9 months old. I just want you all to think about that for a second. 
This week was a mix of emotions. Started out good, ended up with a crying session, haha. But ya know, that's just life at this point.
We started with a really good lesson with Marcos. The rich man. At first he told us that he didn't have any time to talk, so we marked another day to go and see him. But when we got up to leave, his secretary asked if we believe in life after death. And when we said yes, he told us to have a seat and explain. Suddenly, he had two hours for us. And we never even got to the end about life after death! They had a ton of questions for us about our purpose here and such. They asked us to go to lunch with them the next day, which we obviously did. While we were at lunch, we just talked about normal life stuff. Their daughter who is 6 was there and she was dancing around and doing magic tricks and such. It was really cute. When we left, he asked us to come to a store with him. Which we did, and when we got there, he told us to pick any pair of shoes we wanted. We were like .............what......... because this was a fancy store. Like the cheapest pair of shoes was 70 realis. But he kept insisting, so we let the rich man buy us some shoes. I sent a video of me explaining it but its in Portuguese. I thought you guys might like to hear it still.
All of our plans fell through so we decided to go to our apartment building and make contacts with everybody there. An hour later, we had a ton of lessons marked and a ton of people thinking we were absolutely crazy. But that's really not new!
For language study this week, we learned "A Child's Prayer" in English and Portuguese, which involved a lot of singing in the street, but it was really fun because by the end of the week, we were singing to everybody we talked to, and it was an awesome way to teach about the power of prayer.
We had a zone conference in Gramado. The whole time President Jones was talking, he was just watching S Silva and I. Which wouldn't be a problem except that he talked for over an hour just watching us. It got to the point where we were positive he was going to say something to us during our interviews. But he didn't. He just told us that he loves us as a dupla and that we have a super sweet spirit in our companionship. He did my interview in English which was a struggle. It turns out I have no problem writing in English and reading English but when it comes to talking, I just mix Portuguese with English. But it made me feel better that he was doing the same thing, haha. The zone leaders did this really cool training where they talked about Captain Moroni and made a banner for all of us with our wards and our families. It was a really cute reminder that we aren't here for us.
AND I GOT A TON OF MAIL. I got 5 letters from Grandma, 1 from Grandpa, 1 from Whitney, 1 from one of my friends from the CTM and 1 from dad. It took me over an hour to read all of them, it was awesome. On this note, I just want to remind everybody that my birthday is in September and all I want is letters, please and thank you :)
On Friday, we went to lunch, and Irmao Nedir made us barbecue. And because it was just S Silva and I (the other sisters were on splits) we ate a ton. And I mean a ton. I don't know what it is about barbecue here but it is so much better than in the US. I wish it was the same because I am going to miss it like crazy. Elder Peterson said he was going to try and learn how to make it so he can  make it when he goes home, and I told him I would be coming up to BYUI just to eat it. I think he thinks I'm joking. But I'm not.
We also found this cute little milkshake place this week. It is only 4 pela for a milkshake, so we have started going there every few days. Unhealthy? Probably. Will I stop? Probably not, haha.
So we had a really hard day yesterday. It started out good, church and all that jazz. But we decided to go visit Luana, and she ended up telling us that she doesn't want to hear anymore right now. She just sat there crying telling us that she knows shes making the wrong choice, but that she has decided to wait until her husband decides that he wants to know about the church. I had to try so hard not to cry. She asked us to come back this week and just visit with her and we had to tell her that we can't just sit and chat, that we have a purpose here. The rest of the night was really hard. I just cried when the elders called to get our weekly report. I felt bad for Elder Peterson because I just cried and he had no idea what to say. It seriously was harder than breaking up with a boyfriend. Because with a boyfriend, you cry, eat some ice cream, rant to your best friend, try and date him again, break up again, cry some more, and call it a day. But with her, its her salvation on the line and she´s just throwing it away. So that hurt.
I had a really good study session this week. I was reading a talk that Grandma sent about a woman who was able to forgive her mom and I started thinking about how I want to be as a mom. So I pulled out my patriarchal blessing and started to read about my family. It talks about how my home will be somewhere the spirit wants to dwell, so I started studying about that. Which turns out to be harder than I thought without the internet to look up on LDS tools. But it has made my study time interesting.
And that was more or less my week. I love you guys like crazy! I cant believe I´ll be home in 9 months.
I hope you guys have a good trip to see Jake and Caitlin, give them a hug for me!
Mom, could you send me a cinnamon roll recipe?
I love you guys!!!
Sister Heiner

Cereal!

With S Santos.

With S Silva and our shoes.

Banner from our zone conference.

Churrasco.

July 16, 2018 This Week...

We started this week with Sister Silvas birthday!!! She is a whole 20 now. We went to subway to celebrate and I made this thing called bis stroganoff which is seriously just a bunch of sugar, hah. But there is no better way to spend a birthday. Luckily it fell on a pday and not on a random other day when it is hard to do things like that.
We had a fun little visit. Elder Marques from my first zone was in the mission passing through all his old areas and one of them happens to be ours. So he walked around with us Tuesday and gave us some really awesome references. One of them was this really rich family. When we went there the next day, they had cake and tea and a billion and five questions waiting for us. It was a really fun time. I think it was one of my favorite lessons this week. But that could just be because they had cake, haha.
He also helped us with one of the youth in our branch. His grandparents are members but he never wants to talk to us. The day after Gabriel left, we went there and he told us he was ready to hear what we had to say because Gabriel said it would help him with what he was dealing with. I about cried. We have been working so hard to get this kid to open up to us. And now he told us any day we come there, he´ll be waiting to talk.
We had a really really awesome experience on Wednesday. All of our plans fell through. All of them. We had back up plans to our back up plans fall through. And it was only 7:30. So we sat in a park and I handed my comp a map and said, pick a street. And she started praying out loud. And instead of praying that we would know where to go. she started praying that I would think of the person we need to visit. I was like, psh. Why me? But then I had Luanas name pop into my head. I told her that I wanted to visit Luana and she told me that she should have prayed for me to think of somebody that lived a little closer because she was a 40 minute walk away. But we booked it because it was late and got there in 20. When she opened the door and saw us, she just stared and said that she couldn't believe that we were there. So we started talking about the plan of salvation and she had a ton of questions. But the more we talked to her, the more she started to understand. She told us that she has always wondered why she couldn't just be a good person at home, why she needed to go to church. She told us that the kingdoms of glory really helped her understand that. She told us that she has been feeling alone all week and has been needed somebody that isn't her husband to talk to. So we talked about all the things shes been feeling and we told her how she wasn't part of our plans that day but that we felt like she needed us so we ran to her house. And she just cried. And we just cried, and the Spirit was so strong and you could just tell that she was feeling that Heavenly Father really does love her and hear her prayers. It was awesome.
And typing this all out I started thinking about another experience I had that was really, really cool this week. We decided to try one of the names in our area book and when we knocked the door, Jennifer just started laughing. We walked inside and her and her husband were sitting there with one of the missionary pamphlets and told us that they had just been talking about the young women that used to come to their house and share messages about Jesus Christ. When we knocked the door, Cleomar said, Ah, They've arrived. I thought that was so awesome.
We have started working on a list of members less active. It's like a scavenger hunt because the addresses are all wrong and the some of the streets don't exist but it has actually been really fun. We just walk down the street asking people if they have ever met these people and they look at us like we're crazy. I have been studying a lot about the worth of souls. It has been really helpful as I look at people through that lens. I love how the scriptures say that we are more precious than gold and only a little less than angels. I think that is so cool. Just imagine how we could see the world as better than gold and only a little less than angels, we would all be so much happier.
Alright, my time is up. I swear I use more than half my time typing and I never finish what I want to say. It is a good thing I have a really complete journal because I have a lot more to tell you guys.
I love you like crazy!
Sister Heiner

July 9, 2018

This week was really fast. Part of me cannot believe I am already emailing you guys again, haha. But I am always so grateful for the internet and the chance I have to hear from you every week and not have to wait months and months hoping letters will get here. Although, I would love some real letters ;)
We had lunch on Monday with one of the other sisters Recent Converts. Because he lives alone, we had to go there with them so they could enter. Which when they told us, we were like, hey free lunch. What they didn't tell us is that we had to make the lunch for him. And that he lives really far away. So we ended up eating at like 3 and then leaving at 4 so we could be back at the house by 5 and have a few minutes of pday. Which was okay, but it didn't really feel like pday. And then it was dumping rain. But we went and talked to Rogerio and ended our day there, which is always fun.
We were talking with a reference from a member, who seemed normal at the start. But the more we talked to her, the weirder this lady got. When she said the closing prayer, I had to hold back a ton of laughter. She started thanking Heavenly Father that she was the Resurrection and the love of God and all these things. I thought it was just a recited prayer at first, but the more she talked, the more you could tell she actually believed what she was saying and that she was just having a conversation with God. Strange, but she wants us to come back, so we will have to see what she has in store for us this week.
We went and talked to this teenager named Hilton. He's 16, really a smart kid, he knows a ton about the Bible and loves to learn more about different religions. We were talking to him and he had all these really complicated questions that I am certain do not have answers, so we just read in Corinthians with him about walking by faith not sight. He told us that he has some feelings he has to get rid of before he feels like he can step into a church. We were like,uuhhh what did you do? Kill a man? But we told him how church helps us be healed. Then when we tried calling and visiting him later during the week, his mom told us that he was busy so I think we found our problem...
For the fourth of July, S Silva and I dressed in Red White and Blue. The elders came to do an interview, and E Peterson was in Red White and Blue as well. So we took pictures to prove that we remembered the independence of our country. The Brazilians thought we were crazy but ya know´MERCA
When E Peterson was here, he did an interview with Rogerio. One of the lights in his house is one of those lights that you can clap or make a sound and it turns on. The elders had a ton of fun with that, it was actually really entertaining to watch them. It was like 2 litle 7 year olds, haha.
We got to meet President Jones, Sister Jones, and two of their daughters. They seem really really nice. Sister Jones didn't speak a ton, but I'm not sure if that's her personality or if she just needs to learn more Portuguese. I understand that feeling.  It was fun to hear them switch back and forth from English to Portuguese when they were talking with each other. And I love that they aren't afraid to ask the Americans how to say different words when they don't know. It gave me a little more confidence that I could ask for help as well.
We had a baptism!! Rogerio!!! There really isn't very much to tell. He cried at the end which I thought was cute. I wished S Leite could have been here, she would have loved it.
We talked with Luana about eternal marriage. She asked all sorts of questions about the power to seal people. I was really grateful that Grandpa has explained to me how that all works and such so I could help her understand better. It was really cute, because at the end, she told us that she will never marry a man if he doesn't want to be sealed to her. I loved that she saw how important that is and how much families need to be sealed together forever.
We had a fun second lunch yesterday. We were teaching this man named Naiton and he asked us if he could make lunch, and we were like, uh yes. We love to eat. And then S Silva said, This lunch will mean baptism. And at the end, he told us he wanted to be baptized. Love it!
So that is about all the exciting stuff I have to tell you! If I had more time, Id tell you all the boring stuff, but I don't haha.
I love you!
Sister Heiner

Selfie.

With Snow White in the Background.

Big shoe with small S Silva.

Standing above the river.

4th of July with E Peterson.

Santa Clause.

The world I want to live in.

S Wiese.

Penguin.

Cute bear, I'm sure he was not smiling inside that suit, haha.

Weird sock plants.

Rogerios Baptism!! 

July 2, 2018 First week of a new transfer

This week has been good! I think I am finally getting used to moving companions. Sister Silva is really awesome. She is in my group that got to Porto Alegre the same time. She is from Maceió, another comp from the northwest. That makes 3 out of my 4 companions so I think Heavenly Father is trying to tell me something.
Anywhos, after we emailed you guys last week, we ran back to the house to get the suitcases. And it was DUMPING RAIN. And our new house is FAAAAAR from the rodoviaria. So we ran in the dumping rain to the rodoviaria. I wish I would have been brave enough to pull my camera out because it was really funny and there was water dripping down our faces. But I didn't want to ruin my camera, so you will just have to imagine it. I spent the day with Sister Santos, and it was good because we just stayed in the house and ate popcorn. One of my favorite pdays so far.
S Santos´ comp is named Sister Medeiros. The only way I know how to describe her is that she would fit in perfectly with Aunt Corinne and Aunt Monica. Even the facial expressions are the same.
I have been focusing on the scripture Luke 1:37 this week, For with God, nothing is impossible. I think that is really important to remember. There are lots of days that it is raining and we dont want to leave our house or a members house because the days that it is raining are the hardest days to find people. But S Silva and I have been repeating this scripture to one another every time that one of us gets discouraged. Because there is nothing we cannot do if we have God on our side. Its going to take effort and we are going to have to work hard, but he will always help us with what we need.
We went to talk to Rogerio because his baptism was supposed to be this week but he had to go to Porto Alegre because he is having heart problems. So this man needs to be baptized now before his heart stops! But at least he told us that he knows it isn't helping that he started drinking coffee again. I'm glad he is aware that he is hurting himself. If we could all pray that he lives until this Sunday, I would appreciate that a ton.
We had lunch with our Branch President and his wife. He´s 23 which makes me think of Jacob every time even though Jake is 24 now. But he was telling mission stories and he swore in English, and at first, I thought he wasn't aware of what he said, but then he looked at me really sheepishly and I just looked at him like,   uuuuhhhhhhuuuhhhh you kiss your mother with that mouth? But he was forgiven when he offered to come to our apartment and put our beds together. We have been sleeping on the ground for a week because 1. we didn't know how to put them together and 2. we never had time to try and figure it out.
We were really close to Luanna´s house on Thursday and decided to go say hellos. As soon as we got to her street, she pulled up in her car. We started talking to her and she told us that she has been studying all that she can and that she loves it all so much. She told us that she talked to Irmao Jesus about when she could be baptized and he told her that she had to marry the boyfriend she was living with first. We told her that yeah, that was true. She started asking us questions about temple marriage and such. She told us that they aren't planning on getting married until 12/12 because then they will have been living together for 10 years. We were like, dang, you are 22 so that means you started living with him when you were 12. That's crazy. But now we are working on not convincing but totally convincing her to get married faster so she can be baptized faster. She told us that she told her boyfriend that she refuses to have kids until they are sealed together in the temple because she wants to have her kids in the covenant. We were like, then why are you waiting 6 more months to be baptized?! I will never understand people.
We had an investigator tell us that we should be on top model. Remember that this is while we were both soaking wet in the rain ahahaha but it was sweet of him to lie to us.
Presidente Campos and Sister Campos went home this week. We called President Campos the night before and he told us to call him again the next morning to say goodbye again. So we did. And then about an hour later, we called and President Jones answered. It was really weird to have to change their names in our phone. We get to meet President and Sister Jones on Thursday. I'm really excited, they seem like great people.
Sister Silva got really sick after church yesterday and was throwing up a ton, so she slept and I got to sit on our balcony and finish the letter I was writing to you guys.
Also because all three of the sisters that are living in our house are really small, they have started calling me Snow White and they are the 7 dwarfs. It makes me laugh really hard. Especially when they all stand behind me and start singing the dwarf work song.
So yeah, that was more or less my week! I hope you guys are doing well!
I love you!!
Sister Heiner

Me and my dwarfs.

S Leite leaving.

In the elevator with the old comps.

And with the new comps.

S Santos with bubbles.

Us on the street.

Mirror selfie with the skirt from my birthday package
that I didn't wait to open.

Banana bread with chocolate!!