August 27, 2018 I HOPE AMANDA HAS A GREAT BIRTHDAY NOW THAT SHE´LL BE A LEGAL ADULT SHE CAN GO TO REAL JAIL! QUE CHIQUE!

This week was awesome. I decided that I needed to change my attitude and that every time I started getting discouraged that the day wasn't going so well, I thought to myself, alright, Heavenly Father has a different plan for me today. What is it? And we started having some really cool experiences. I will share what I can today, and what I don't have time to share, well, you'll have to wait 8 more months until I get home.
So starting with Monday. It was dumping rain. Absolutely pouring. And all of our plans fell through, go figure. So we were sitting here trying to decide what it was that we wanted to do with the last hour or so that we had, and we decided to go talk to Cinara. We got there and she was in a whirlwind of problems. Because we were soaking wet, S Marino a little more than I because she doesn't have rain boots (well, now she does but she didn't in this moment), Cinara pulled out a hair dryer and S Marino started drying her feet and shoes with a hair dryer. I wish I had taken my camera because I was laughing my head off. But while she was drying herself, I started talking to Cinara and she was just full of problems. So I got to sit there and play therapist and it was actually really cool because I got this huge sense of love. I know that Heavenly Father loves that lady so much that it hurts Him that she is hurting so much. I went home with this in my head and I plan in my heart that we put into action.
S Marino and I decided that we were going to get her to agree to be baptized. So we went back a few days later, sang a hymn for her, Lead Kindly Light, and started explaining about how when we have light in our lives, the pain that we have goes away. We started reading the story about Nephi with his bow breaking and some how ended up talking about the plan of salvation which turned into talking about angels here on earth. Honestly, I don't know how it all connected but in the end, she was crying and I was crying telling her how grateful I am for her family and how much I want to see the Savior take this pain away from her. And she told us that the dad of her kids that lives with them is getting ready to move out in two weeks so guess what? BAPTISMO! I am so excited! And I am way happy because it will be before transfers so I will for sure be here. I think Ill stay here next transfer too because of S Marino but at least there is no doubt that I will be here for her baptism. I hope.
Anyways, we had everything fall though the next day as well, so I started trying to figure out where it was that Heavenly Father wanted us to go. And I had this house pop into my mind. A house that we have walked past a thousand times but it is always full of men in the front yard and I have never had the courage to stop and talk to them. But I decided it was time to pull myself together and go talk to them. So we did. And we talked to two guys who are pretty cool. I'm about 98 percent sure that they use drugs and stuff, but it was awesome that Heavenly Father put a house in my mind and we went and found people. I wish He would always put houses in my mind.
We also went and talked to an old investigator named Naiton. He agreed to meet with us another day. So we went back and he was ready with a box of chocolate and his book of mormon. We explained about church and about the book of mormon, and got up to leave. He pulled out a necklace and gave it to me. I was like, uhhhh what????  I cannot see this man going to a store to buy a necklace. He's like the typical mountain hunter guy. Like an axeman, sabe? It was really weird. I feel like I'm going to have to break a heart here because I really am not up for a "flirt to convert". He came to church though, which was surprising. And he stayed for the classes and he participated and everything. It was really cool.
Darah came to church too! I was so happy! She sat with a member and everything. Her baby is as chubby and cute as ever, I could just put her in my pocket and take her home with me.
We went to a ranch for lunch yesterday. It was the house that I can imagine dad wanted to buy when he gets old and decides to become a real farmer. Has cows and everything. We are going to go back in a few weeks and hang out with the horses.
There was a fhe with the branch on Saturday that was really funny. The best part was that at the end, one of the priests and one of the young women started shooting rubber bands at S Marino and I so we got into a rubber band war. We were hiding behind things and everything. It was one of those moments when the whole branch remembered that we´re only 19 years old so what can ya do? It made me miss Luke like crazy.
Last night there was a fhe with Elder Soares and Elder Ballard and it was awesome. They talked about the importance of prayer and family council. I really really enjoyed it. It made me think of how grateful I am that I grew up in a gospel filled home. I also enjoyed listening to Elder Ballard being translated into Portuguese because the translator man translated differently than I would have, some of the meanings switched, but it was still good! At least I understood the English!
So now I'm out of time, but pdays come so fast that before you know it, I'll be emailing again. I hope that the start of the school year is going well. I know its weird that its Amanda's last year, but that's why you have 2 more kids after her. At least it's not Luke.
I love you guys like crazy!!!
Sister Heiner

Bus stop on a hot day!

A covered bridge for mom.

Our cute clan.

S Marino and I.

Name tags with chimarrão.

The ranch house.

August 20, 2018 The sun finally came out and I have tan lines on my feet again! #didnotusesunscreen

This week was rough and I loved every minute of it! I seriously felt like I had such a good week even though I handed in my lowest report of me mission. But its fine! We worked like crazy! I feel like this was the hardest I have worked my whole mission and saw almost no results but the Lord knows that I worked my little behind off so I'm happy that I know that He´s happy.
First let me tell you a little bit about my cute little companion. This girl has no homesickness whatsoever. Which is crazy because I will have ten months on my mission this week (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH) and I still struggle with homesickness sometimes. She is really quiet but when she opens her mouth, I laugh so hard. She is so funny and has a humor just like Amanda. It cracks me up. She burns everybody in her mixed Spanish and Portuguese and every day there is at least one moment when I can't breathe because I am laughing so hard. She is still switching into Spanish a lot and I continue to be the bad guy telling her and S Medeiros that they have to speak in Portuguese and not Spanish, but she is learning really quickly and I love teaching with her. She did get sick on Wednesday and was throwing up like crazy so we had to stay home. I'm not sure why all my companions feel the need to get sick enough to stay home but I'm selfishly glad that it isn't me, hahah.
So on Tuesday, during our zone meeting, our zone leaders wanted to practice making contacts. So we went out into the street and started making contacts. There was almost nobody around, but there was a man sitting in his car with his window open on his phone. I went over to him, bent down and made a contact with him. He was so surprised to find 2 teenage girls at his window that he said yes and gave us his address. So when he gets baptized, he will always have that fun story to tell people of how the missionaries found him, haha. I laughed so hard at the look on his face with we walked away. It was like, what in the world just happened?!
We helped the other sisters with a service project this week. We went to one of their investigators houses and cleaned for them. It was disgusting. They definitely hadn't done "Grandma is coming over cleaning" in a very very long time. We spent 4 hours cleaning and didn't even make a dent. 2 kids helped us while their grandma just sat on the couch and bossed us around. It was funny. The son started quizzing me to see if I really knew how to speak English which was really actually stressful because I am forgetting an insane amount. Luckily he just asked really simple questions. He then was convinced that all of us where from the US because we all have accents. It was cute.
We were talking to Cinara and she told us that her oldest son, Erik fought with his wife and stormed out of his house and was walking down the street when he saw us walking and talking and laughing. She said that he told her that after he saw me laughing my head off, he forgot all about why he was mad. He wants us to come teach him and his wife which would be awesome except that they live in the other Sisters area. UGH. But they will teach them and it will be good.
We were making contacts while walking to a house, and I stopped this man, and he looked at me really stressed out and said, I would love to talk to you but I'm late to pick up my daughter and she is going to kill me so I'm going to have to run, and he took off again. I laughed really hard because I feel like I have made dad feel that same stressed feeling.
We were walking and this little boy was walking in front of us and dropped his balloon. It went into the middle of the highway, so his mom didn't let him go get it, obviously. He just started crying and crying and crying. So when the light switched colors and there weren't a ton of cars, I made a mad dash and grabbed it for him. (No mom, there really weren't any cars. I was safe. I promise) He started telling everybody that walked near him about how he had lost is balloon and how these ladies in skirts saved it for him. Super cute.
We went and picked up Darah to come to church with us yesterday and she actually came! I was so sosososososososososososo happy! I seriously couldn't stop smiling. She brought her little baby with her which was really cute too. She started crying in the middle like babies do, and all of the irmas looked at her and asked if they could hold her. I was really jealous. Not holding babies seriously is the worst rule of the mission. But its good! Darah liked church so the next step is getting her married and then it will all be history!
The sisters had a baptism yesterday and we had to clean the font which is just a swimming pool. S Schmidt decided to climb under it and push the water out. I laughed. This week was full of things to laugh about. It was awesome.
I have been thinking a lot about if I want to be like Nephi, Sam, or Lamon and Lemuel. I love how Sam just believes everything that Nephi, the prophet, says and is totally faithful. I love how Nephi looks trying to find his own revelations after his dad has revelation because he wants to have his own testimony. There really is nothing I love about Lamon and Lemuel but at least they did the things the Lord asked, even if they were cry babies about it the whole time. I have been thinking all week who I am being like in different moments and I am so glad that I never have thought I was being like Lamon or Lemuel.
And yeah, that was all that happened this week that was interesting! It was really really hot all week and now today is raining but luckily its pday so we get to stay home!
I love you guys like crazy!
Sister Heiner

Made cinnamon rolls!

Onibus selfies, haha.

Name tags!

Sister Mariño.

Cleaning the pia after the sisters baptism.

A bunch of extra food that a bakery
was going to throw away!! 

Me with dwarfs :)

August 13, 2018

This week was really really stressful, haha. I forgot how exhausting training is. I thought it would be easier now that I know what I'm doing kind of because with S Pompeu I was completely lost but it turns out I am still completely lost. In some aspects it is a lot easier this time around but in other aspects it is not any easier this time around. 
Starting with S Mariño. She is from Ecuador so she speaks Spanish. I never thought I would be grateful for those 2 1/2 years of high school Spanish class but yes, yes I am. I have no problem understanding her which is really nice, but about everybody else has a hard time understanding what she´s saying because she switches from Spanish into Portuguese and back into Spanish. But its okay, shes gotten a lot better as the week has gone on. It doesn't help that S Medeiros lived in Spain for 7 years so is fluent in Spanish though because S Mariño tries to speak in Spanish with her and I have to be the bad guy and say she needs to try in Portuguese first. But I put posters up all around the house with the names of things in Portuguese and in Spanish so she can see everything labeled. I sent a picture of the person I drew to help her learn the body parts. And as we walk around town everyday in between lessons, we say our purpose and practice the baptismal invite. The other day, I asked her to count all the white cars to learn her numbers and we say the colors to houses that we pass. It makes my head hurt from having to worry about language so much, but at the same time, it is all things that I wish S Sandoval would have helped me with when I was learning as well. I'm just waiting for her to tell me that its annoying though, hahah, love it.
So Tuesday, I stayed in Gramado with S Gibson doing contacts waiting to head to Porto Alegre. We went Tuesday night and stayed in the sisters house there. Wednesday we went to a small training and looking around I was really confused as to why I was there. Because there are 4 new sisters and 16 new elders. And all of the trainers were Sister Leaders, Leaders da Zona, Liders do Distrito, and the Presidents assistent who has been in the mission office since I got to the mission, he's training too. So I'm not really sure why the Lord thought that S Mariño needed a normal person to train her, but I'm trying really hard not to compare her training to the rest of her group. It'll be good. I have faith.
Except that this week was a disaster. Everything fell through, it was a miracle we got as many new people as we did, and she marked her first baptismal date. But nobody came to church yesterday. I was trying so hard to stay excited so that she would stay excited about being on a mission, because how horrible would it be if she saw that everything was falling through and decided she made a mistake coming on a mission. But on the other hand, she found out way fast that a mission isn't just perfect all the time and that there are rough weeks. I was just hoping she would learn that lesson a little later in the transfer.
We went to a house that I visited my first transfer here in Taquara and Darah has a new baby! Which shouldn't have surprised me as much as it did because she was extremely pregnant when we visited her the last time. But now she is ready to hear the gospel and all that. She told us that she was really sad that we had stopped visiting her and that she´s glad that we decided to come back. Miracle for the week, haha.
Yesterday was Father's Day in Brazil, so happy fathers day, Dad! I hope it was a great day even though you didn't even know it was your day. I was wondering all day why is mother's day international but fathers day is different? If anybody could answer that, I would be happy.
We have a new Sister Leader who lives with us named S Schmidt. She is hilarious. I think Amanda and her would laugh their heads off together. I am so happy that the people we live with aren't annoying. I always had that fear, that if we lived with other sisters, it would be really annoying. But we just spend the time in the house laughing really hard, and singing. They all try to sing in English like the motab, and it cracks me up. I remember singing like the motab in sacrament meeting with Amanda.
So yeah, that's really all that happened this week. Yesterday, the three less active members that we have been working with came to church which made me really happy. Part of me thinks that the only reason I came on a mission was to help less active members because that's what I did in Barbosa as well.
I love you guys like crazy and hope that the start of the school year is going to be awesome. I want Amanda and Jamie to learn a ton in this foods class so they can make food for me when I get home. Weird thought, I get home the end of your second trimester...
I love you guys!!
Sister Heiner

Onibus going back from picking up S Mariño. 

My water bottle that I finally go rid of
after 9 months of using, haha.

S Mariño, S Schmidt, S Medeiros, and I.

Selfie.

S Mariño.

Language study!

Selfie with a cow.

August 6, 2018

So its already transfers again? Can somebody be a doll and tell me how the heck that happened? I swear six weeks is super duper fast. But I have a feeling this next six weeks won't be...
Starting with this week. On Tuesday, we didn't have lunch plans, so we stayed in Gramado and made lunch with the Elders and the sisters in Parobe. It was really fun. We planned on making sloppy joes, but it turned out to be kind of expensive, so we just made some hot dogs and called it a day, haha. Poor missionary problems. While we were waiting, we played uno and just talked and it was actually super fun. Elder Peterson gave me this stone that he said looked like the sorcerers stone from Harry Potter. I don't know that it really looks like it, but I thought it was sweet that he remembered that I like Harry Potter, so I didn't say anything, hahaha.
S Silva had one more bad day of headaches so we just laid on the floor together and talked for hours because she couldn't sleep anymore. She's only been sleeping more than 12 hours every day, so her body wasn't even a little tired. But after that, the headaches were at least bearable so we could leave the house and work more or less normal. Sister  Jones called to see how she was doing while we were in the grocery store, so I started speaking English and the man standing in front of me looked at me like I was an alien. Made me laugh really hard afterwards. Also, it took me a long time to remember how to say 50 in English. Sister Jones just laughed at me, haha.
S Silva is trying to learn how to sing in English, so we spent the whole week singing When You Believe from BYU Noteworthy. I really like that song and I didn't even know it existed until she asked me to sing it for her. So we had to find a member and listen to it a few times so I could know how to teach it to her.
It was super sunny this week. It felt so good after the cold and cloudy thing we´ve got going on right now. After lunch, we went and sat in a park for a little bit and it felt so good. It reminded me of when the sun came out in Oregon and I would run outside and just sit in the sun. Love it.
We had a family home evening with Iago and Cinara this week. I taught them how to make pancakes. I wished I had maple syrup to have them try as well, but I did the best I could with what I had available here. They loved them. Everybody was eating them with their hands and I was using a fork like a normal person and Eduardo told me that I was more sophisticated than them because I'm from the US. Made me laugh. He called me a princess. I always wanted to be one of those.
We started teaching Rogerio´s 14 year old daughter, Gabi. She never wanted to talk to us before but she asked us if we could come and talk to her, so we obviously said yes. Then the day that we had planned to go there, Rogerio called and said that she had to leave, so she wanted us to come earlier. Which made me really happy because it showed that she actually wanted us to come talk to her.  We went and taught her and it was really cool! Except at the end, Rogerio was a bum and said in front of her that he knows she´ll never decide to read the Book of Mormon. I got kind of mad and she got kind of quiet and then she asked us for a copy and she put it in her bag to read while she´s on her bus ride. I thought that was awesome, showed that she wanted to prove her dad wrong, which I understand (sorry dad) but at least it is a good thing!
We were making contacts and one of the ladies we stopped told us that we transmit such a good feeling of peace so we can certainly go to her house. That was the first time I had heard that just during a 30 second contact, so it was really cool for me.
S Leite sent me a package through our sister leaders. It was full of candy and letters and all that fun stuff. It was really sweet of her, and made me miss her a ton. But she is doing well, and shes happy in her new area which is all that I could hope for her.
We went on splits again this week which was kind of fun. S Santos and I went and talked to a bunch of people and ended up making a contact with a man sitting on some stairs. He asked us to sit with him for a minute and talk about what we believe, and he ended up being a really strange dude. He started preaching to us and all that but at the end, he gave us his address.
So transfers came last night. I knew that I would be getting transferred or that something would be happening so I had our cellphone in my pocket all day just waiting. I started to feel like things might stay the same when 800 came around and there was no phone call. But then 830 hit and President Jones called. I will be staying in Taquara another transfer and will be training again. AGAIN. I don't have any negative feelings about this situation but I can't say I have any positive feelings either, haha just kind of going with it at this point. That might change next week. We will have to see. And S Silva went back to Passo Fundo where she was before this transfer to be a sister leader. Crazy things are happening in this house. But it'll be good. I have a lot of faith.
Alright, I've got to go. I love you guys like crazy and I love the pictures. I'm glad everybody is doing so well! Tell Nathan I would love to hear from him if hes got a moment!
Love,
Sister Heiner

Blowing bubbles waiting for our bus in the rodoviaria.

E Peterson made us planners, super cute.

S Silva sleeping on the floor with another migraine.

The sorcerers stone. 

SUN!!!!

I got more mail! Have I mentioned how much I love mail??

Iago with our pancakes.

S Silva and I bought matching rings.

Tchau S Silva...