01/28/2013 Well... This could be an interesting week!

Well helloooooo people of the USA. And Argentina. And wherever you might be haha. I had another interesting week full of different stuff! Soooo I shall begin,

So here in Longavi we´ve had a big focus change in our work. I dont even know if that make sense. But basically what it means is that instead of working with investigators investigators investigators and a little bit of recent converts and menos activos, Were now working with alotttt of recent converts and menos activos and less investigators... haha. So its been interesting! But to start off, we had a noche de hogar (family night) In libeny´s house with some more recent converts... and we were going to teach a short lesson about the restauration of the gospel, then play Uno and eat some food after... Well. The food was suuuuper good, and the lesson on the restoration turned out to be realllyyyyy long... hahaha. Because Chilenos just loooooove to talk. So basically the lesson just turned out soooo long because they got into this HUGE discussion/argument about the Word of Wisdom and WHY we have the word of wisdom and HOW we have the word of wisdom and blah blah blah... haha it was VERY difficult to get them to focus... BUT. It all turned out good. So that was fun. 

On Wednesday we have a Mission Conference with President and sister Humphrey! So that was fun to see other missionaries and talk to them, to hear from president Humphrey and Sister humphrey and the assistents and other things. We learned alot and got super motivated! So thats always super good. Buttttt the conference ended up taking forever too. And by the time we got home our WHOLE day was gone haha... Super lame. We seriously got home at like 830... So we didnt get much work done on Wednesday.... Butttt

Happy Early Birthday to me!!!! Thank you so much to my parents! Because I got your packages that day! and since I knew a watch was inside.... I didnt wait this time! I just opened it all that night :) And immmm loving it. it was all fantastic!!!! woo hoooo im so excited haha. I loved all of my gifts and snacks and everything! Ive been putting them all to use and theyre fantatsic :) Thank you so much!!

So I have a funny story (with pictures) to share from Thursday. So we have this Suuuuuper long bike ride to Los Cristales everyday? Well its gotten pretty hot now! (except its been raining today... dang bipolar Chile weather) anyways so its always a killer bike ride. But so on thursday about ALMOST halfway through our bike ride.... all of a sudden this tractor that was carrying two loads of logs behind it pulled up next to us... and it was going pretty slow. But... It was going faster than us. So I just grabbed onto one of the sides of the tractor... and hitched a ride from the tractor alllll the way to Los Cristales :) hahaha. It was the best bike ride ive had in all my 5 months here in Longaví :) It was really funny and Elder Cowden and I were SO happy about it hahaha. And I was holding on to the tractor and at one point I had to switch the spot of where I was holding on, and so then there was a guy standing up next to me (you´ll see what I mean in the picture) and so I tried talking to him a bit... but he wasnt to interested in talking hahaha. But so that was a successful day just because of that haha.

And on Saturday we played a partido de baby (mini soccer game) as a branch activity at night... but not many showed up haha. But we still played and it was alot of fun! I loveeee soccer now. Im sure ive mentioned that. But Im mentioning it again haha. I cant wait to get together with all the friends and other chilean or latino missionaries after the mission and play together. Thats going to be funny hahah. 

And the last day... Sunday!! Sunday was a really fun day! First off, I forgot to mention that two weeks ago I spoke again in church. This time my talk was based off of Elder Nelson´s talk "Ask the missionaries, they can help you!". And now you know that I spoke two weeks ago... Butttt....

So how small is this world?? There is a girl here in the branch of Longaví whose girl cousin got called to Resistencia, Argentina! Mom and Dad´s mission! So this girl in the branch (Hermo is her name) told me a few weeks ago. So i knew that... but her cousin going to mom and dads mission (Laura is her name) leaves this wednesday into the MTC... But is in town this week to say bye before she goes! And she was in church yesterday and everything... So i met her and we talked a little and whatnot, and tonight were having a Noche de hogar with them and their family!!! hahaha (and some more other recent converts... Hopefully this one isnt so long haha) But how small of a world is that?? How does that even happen? hahah. So ill be sharing some photos of the family and some stories and such with them tonight. But so im really excited about that! how funny haha. We took some pictures on sunday, so Ill send one of those too. 

So that happened sunday, and also recently Ive started helping out in the primary here in the branch... Because the District Primary Leader (o como se llama?) came to help them out... but nobody had any experience with music, and had no idea what the songs they were to be singing sounded like or anything... So my "ask the missionaries, they can help!" talk has been put into use! (We´ve actually gotten alot more questions and requests for help now haha) but so they asked me for help, and now for the past 2 weeks ive been teaching Sharing and Singing time in the primary hahahaha. And its sooooo fun!! hahaha. Especially yesterday. It just felt so good to help these little primary kids out and teach them to sing and teach them these songs! hahaha Especially after i teach them the words over and over and over, and then finally we´re like "okay, were gonna sing the whole thing now!" and then we sing it... and the kids all actually sing! And it doesnt sound half bad! hahaha. I mean it sounds like any other group of primary kids singing... haha a few on key, a few off key, one or two kids just lip-syncing with everyone else, pretending to sing, all the kids decide to yell the last word of the song really loud or some other random word in the song... hahaha. It all came together! And it just made me feel really good! It felt so good to help these kids out and help out the primary here in longavi :) It was awesome. Next week Ill be doing it agian, so ill grab a picture for everyone to see haha. 

But anyway... mas que nada, that was my week! a good one! :) This potentially (and im thinking probably...) is my last week here in longavi... Cambios are next week. So itll be interesting to see what happens... Weird! Alli vemos. 

uhhhmmm but yeah! Thats all i can really think of for now... Ill send some pictures for you all to see! Im still loving everything about the mission. And I just continue to learn learn learn learn learn. haha. Thats the most amazing thing to me. How much Ive learned, how much Im still learning, and how much ill learn for foreverrrr. haha. Always progressing in life :) I love you all and miss you! Thanks for all the prayers, support, and love. Que les vaya bien! La iglesia es la iglesia verdadera de Jesucristo. Siempre tenemos la oportunidad de hablar con nuestro padre celestial por medio de la oracion. El quiere escucharnos, solo necesitamos tomar la iniciativa de hacer una oracion. Y las escrituras son las palabras de Dios, y son guias para nosotros.Que bendecidos somos para tener estas cosas en nuestras vidas. Aprovechemos de ellas!!! Les quiero mucho!!!

Con amor,
Elder Heyman

01/28/2013 Pictures!

1. My tractor ride :) hahahah best bike ride ever!!!

2. So happy haha. And that was my friend who didnt talk much haha.

3. Bienvenidos al Campo. This is a picture from on top of a bridge that crosses the freeway we took. Super cool view!

1. Theres so many presents I cant even hold them all! haha Thank you!

2. Thanks Mom and dad!

3. We always laugh about the difference in organization styles on our different sides of the rooms... hahaha

 

4. This is the hermana going to your mission mom and dad!! Hermana Laura Saalvedra or algo así?

 

5. All her family and friends that came to say bye... Super akward picture haha...

01/21/2013 Estoy sobreviviendo... No se precupen.

Welllll hello everyone! So first off, I apologize because this letter will probably be pretty dang short... But I apologize! Its a long story! But Im alive, Im loving the mission, Im learning ALOT, the work is really tough, but I´ve still got my head up and Im looking forward and continue to learn :) 

But! I at least had a few updates for you.

Right now were (trying) to teach an unmarried, co-living (why does that always happen?!) couple that seem to be really good! Well, the girl, Estefani, is really good, and Pablo, the male, is less interested in the gospel but more interested in his work and making money haha. But so theyre slowing progressing because theyre not married and still havent come to church, but it was pretty cool because the other day we showed up and estefani said "I have good news to tell you!" so we were excited and thought maybe they decided to get married hahaha. But she told us how she had had a dream and that in her dream Christ came to her and told her that she needed to go to our church and that he was happy with what she was doing! So we definitely were happy about that too :) haha and so we told her "YES. That is 110% a sign. Go to church this Sunday!" haha.... but she still failed to come :( and we dont know why. haha. BUT were working with them! 

I put my new soccer cleats to work this week and theyre awesome! I love them!! haha. I have photos. Ill make sure to send some this time! haha. 

Another super funny story from this week about Elder Cowden and bikes... hahaha

So something that I love doing on the bikes is that whenever we pass an animal, I love scaring them by swerving at them a little so they freak out haha. So the other day we were riding next to eachother, me on the left, Elder Cowden on the right, and there was a chicken on the road. Checking to see that there were no cars coming so it didnt get run over........ I swerved  at the chicken to scare it, thinking it would run even more into the road... Instead it freaks out, jumps IN FRONT OF ME so I swerve again to dodge it, but it continues running to the right... and there was innocent little Elder Cowden, happily riding his bike with no hands (which he mastered doing that the other week :) haha) and so this chicken ran at him, but he had no hands on his bike, so there was NOTHING he could do... and he just dominated the chicken and ran over it hahaha. Twice. Once with each tire hahahaha. And so we yelled and freaked out and didnt know what to do... but so we stopped and looked back and just sadly watched this chicken die. it was flopping around helpless everywhere and finally it just sadly stopped moving hahahaha. We didnt know what to do. And we felt bad. But so we went back to look at it and we think Elder Cowden must have just ran over it and broken its neck because its neck looked really weird and there wasnt too much blood anywhere else.... hahaha. oh man Elder Cowden. hahaha. So technically it was all my fault, but Elder Cowden just happened to have done the deed. hahaha

But anyway... Yeah. Thats all I can really share with everyone right now haha. I have to go now! I hope all is well, and that you know that I love you and miss you lots!!! I continue to learn SO much, and really thats my favorite part about the mission. Just how much i LEARN. haha. The church is true, the book is blue! Read it! I love you all!!

-Elder heyman

01/21/2013 Some Pictures!

1. Funny face BUT. Me playing some Futbol! haha

2. With my new cleats! Pumped haha. And yes, we play on that cement. haha. Thast behind the church

3. Pardon the angle, but this literally was the best photo we had with ema. It was really sunny haha.

4. Ema with her nephew Yino! He got to baptize her :) It was awesome!!

01/21/2013 More Pictures

1. One day we visited Libeny and it was SO hot that I just stuck my head in the freezer for a little bit hahaha

2. A bunch of Chilenos at a wedding! hahaha

3. Welcome to Chile. Dogs in the plaza... haha

4. I feel like I look a lot older in this pictre. hahaha.

01/14/2013 Hey guyssss

Well heyyyy there! Still here in longavi, just being a missionary and stuff... haha. Ill tell you what, its HOT here in longavi now. Today has actually been nice. It cooled down for a little, but besides that, it got HOTTTT. Camelbak backpack is DEFINITELY coming in handy. Wonderful idea, thank you mom!! BUT. Okay Here comes some updates about the week!

Tuesday morning we woke up and allllll the water in Longavi had been cut off haha. So that was interesting. So we just went through the day normal (minus showering, and other things that require water) because we were told it would be turned back on at 12. So we did studies, went to district class, went to lunch... and FINALLY went back home and got to shower and other things hahaha. I have no idea WHY the water was cut off.... but it was. haha. Also, I forgot to tell you all that we had been teaching this family (not anymore, but before yes) that was Catholic. and I guess when you get baptized in the catholic church you get to get godfathers as well? So anyways we invited this family to be baptized and they said "yeahhh" (thats a not very secure yes answer). but one of their dauthers that is 20 yrs old basically got really excited about the baptism, because she thought it meant she could get a new godfather (apparently her other godfather isnt doing his job too well). So then she asked if we could be her godfathers, and we explained how we dont really do that and its not necessary... but she didnt care. she REALLY wanted Elder Cowden and I to be her godfathers haha. and she never really got the idea... and the family didnt get the idea either that we dont do the godfather thing. hahaha. But so we ended up dropping that family and we dont teach them anymore... but the point is i almost somehow became an unofficial/official godfather of some chilean girl??? hahaha. Luckily we got out of that one way or another.

On Wednesday we did some more exploring way out in La Tercera... and ran into a very interesting fellow... This is a super weird story. Im sorry but its just amazing what some peoples religious beliefs are. ha. So we ran into this guy in a wheelchair at his house. and he was a vendor and sold fruits at his house. So he invited us to come talk to him by yelling at us "Hello youngens! Come here at lets talk about god! The creation, the world, and the mysteries of god!!!" So we thought "ohhhh gosh..." in our heads haha. And so he said alot of interesting things. But the most interesting thing was this: He told us how God has a special patio for certain children in heaven. And that, lets say for example, after this life, Andrea goes to god to be judged, and He asks her "how many children did you have in that life?" And andrea answers "2!" but then He says "No!!! You had 3! David! Come here!" So then david comes running to Him from the patio, and He says "David, THIS was your mother!" 

This old man then explained to us from this example that it is a special patio for children that have been aborted in this life....... and Elder Cowden and I just looked at eachother, and Elder Cowden said "uhh... thats not doctrine at all." and the old man said "yes it is!" Elder Cowden then asked him where its found in the bible. and the man said "uhh... I dont know! But the preacher from my cassette taught me it! And he was fullll of the spirit!!" So then we were just like "oooookay.... well were gonna go now! It was nice to meet you!" hahaha... I am grateful to have the knowledge and understanding about the plan of salvation that I do have... :) Some things that people believe are WHACK.

Thursday!!! On thursday morning Elder Cowden and I had a little roadtrip to Retiro!!! And this time Ema got married!!! Woo hooooo!!! At lasttt!!! A successful marriage! haha. Geez. That took way too long. But, there were about 10 of us, and we all entered into this tiny little registro, entered the room, and they were married! To be honest, it was once again super anti-climactic (sp?) but i am very very very happy for her. I just hope mas adelante her husband can receive the gospel as well and then they can get married in the temple! THAT will be awesome for them :) But so we were very excited and happy about that! So then her baptism was going to be at 4 on saturday...

But remember how i said its been REALLY hot lately? Well for SOME reason... EVERYbody was complaining that the baptism was going to be at 4... because it was going to be hot. Like we were inviting people to the baptism, and they would ask what time, and we would tell them "its at 4!" and they would ALL reply "At that hour?? Ahhh its so hotttt then!" and Elder Cowden and I were dumbfounded. Like seriously. friends and family of Ema didnt want to go, and werent going to go to the baptism, because at 4 o`clock its hot. We just couldnt believe it. Butttt so I made a mistake. At one house with one family friend of Ema, we stopped by to inform them and invite them to the baptism. And they gave us the same reply... "Its so hot at 4!" So Elder Cowden and I just looked at eachother still in amazement, and I then mistakenly asked the question "what do you guys do between 10 in the morning and 4 if its sooo hot???" and Elder Cowden and I thought it was a funny joke... haha But i accidently really offended the family :/ and they got mad and began telling us about how they work in the groves picking fruit all day in the hot sun and start really early, and we couldnt do it, especially in the hot sun, and especially with our "white skin" and "ya dont think we get home tired??" and.... yeah... :/ I felt really bad... So we just apologized a bunch and then just got out of there asap to leave them tranquilo... Oops. I felt really bad/awkward haha...

So that was friday. and then also on friday we had a really weird thing happen. So long story short, the whole mission is out of materials. Like we have lesson 1,2, and 3 pamphlets that we give to people when we meet them... and the whole mission is out of lesson 1 (the most important) and, at least in our house, we were ALSO out of lesson 3 pamphlets. Which leaves us only with lesson 2 pamphelts to give out, "The Plan of Salvation". Which we always jokingly say is for in case on our first visit we meet someone who had a death in the family... Well on friday we only had lesson 2 pamphlets... and we ran into 3 families who had had someone in the family die that day. (it just happened that they were all family members of the person that had died. Not 3 different people haha) and so we were like "wow that nevers happens..." and I said that the Lord knew that Longaví was out of lesson 1 and 3 pamphlets, and that we only had lesson 2 pamphlets... so He had to get rid of someone so we could give out the lesson 2 pamphlets... haha.... Is that a bad joke? haha at least IIII thought it was kind of funny... hahahaha.

Well on saturday we finally had our baptism of Ema!!! Woo hoo! We actually DID end up changing the hour to 8 at night... but not because of the heat haha. It turns out some of them werent going to make it back on time from work to be there at 4, so we changed it to 8! haha. But still, everyone was happy about that because "its not so hot!" So anyway, the baptism turned out great!! I gave a mini talk on baptism, and actually Yino, a recent convert of 5 or 6 months and the nephew of Ema, was able to baptize her!!! So that was way awesome! And he did it perfect!!! We were so happy and excited for all of them. it was a great experience! :) Ema seriously is amazing haha. Shes been going to church and patiently waiting to be married and baptized since 2008. But her husband never wanted to get married. But now he did and Emas prayers and faith and patience finally paid off! She even understood the importance of NOT taking the sacrament during this whole time, and I think she was even most excited to partake of the sacrament on sunday! haha. Shes an amazing example of faith and patience! haha. And it paid off and the blessings came! Woo hoo were excited for her!

Oh yeah, and on sunday I did the confirmation in church too! That was a good experience too. I prepared for that alot different than I have before... And i saw a big difference. It was an awesome experience for me. and I hope it was for ema too haha.

Butttt more than that... Weve been playing soccer alot and I LOVE it. My old shoes are wrecked and DESTROYED now... so actually today I went and bought a pair of shoes to play soccer with haha. Theyre actually soccer cleat-like shoes haha. Hard to explain. I dont have any other shoes though so I might have to get a different regular pair. But Im loving soccer! its way fun. 

Theres been some contentions in our house lately...  Its rough. and awkward haha. Theres alot of pride sometimes and some not so straight thinking or great decision making... haha so its made it somewhat awkward sometimes between the 4 of us.

But! Dont worry, I loveeee being companions with Elder Cowden. Hes reallyyyyy funny and we get along great! The contention isnt between us 2 :P haha. 

Uhhh but more than that... I cant really think of much!! Im loving it here! But my time is running out... Ill probably be leaving from Longaví anytime now... haha like any cambio. THAT will be weird! Im super old here now in Longavi haha. ive been here for almost 6 months! haha. But I love it. Were making lots of changes and different focuses and stuff... Idk hard to explain. But I loveeeee being a missionary! Im still learning SOOOO much new stuff everyday. And I cant wait for what the future holds! I love my mission!!! haha.

I know the church is true, that God loves us, so he gave us a Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ! And that through a prophet called of God, Christ restored his gospel and church here on the earth once again, so that we can be eternally happy, and live with our Heavenly Father again! The church is true!!!!

Love you all and miss you lots!!

-Elder Heyman

01/07/2013 Happy New Year!!!

Happy Birthday to  Kyle!! I hope the Beethoven party came through and went well! Too hilarious hahaha

Welllll Im gonna try and make this a shorter letter because I dont feel too much like typing haha. But! This was a longer week! 

Basically the thing is that we had a two day mini cambio, and I was working in the other side of Longavì, and boyyyyy am i happy to be on my side of longavi hahaha. It was not a fun bike ride out there. Really bumpy and long and other things haha. And also there isnt too much success over there.... haha. so anyways. It was a longgg two days. 

 But it was funny because when Elder cowden and I had gotten back together finally, we both had a rough time during the mini cambios, and we were both like "I missed you!!! Youre the best comp ever!!!" hahaha. Idk it was funny.

New years Eve wasnt bad at all! The worst thing out of all of it was that our neighbor like 5 houses down was blasting music the whole night. But we could only here the bass a tiny bit, so it was bad at all! I actually fell asleep before 12, but then was reawoken because at 12 they turned on the "city alarm". Its basically this really loud horn thing (it sounds like a tornado warning thing... you know what im talking about?) that the fireman here have that goes off everyday at noon. So the whole city knows its noon haha. So anyway i just woke up for a second, thought "heyyyy its 12!" and then fell right back asleep. No problems! I bet you people back home experienced worse than me hahaha.

We played quite a bit of soccer this week for different acitivities and such... and my shoes are torn apart. I have to buy new ones now haha. My left shoe is currently being held together by tape haha. So ill be doing that soon.

We're going to stop the english classes because now that everyone is on summer vacation no one comes! haha. So were stopping that. And also were still having trouble getting anyone to come to the music class... but its good for me to take 30 minutes to at least practice the songs a little bit so i can actually play them the next day haha. So were gonna work on getting SOMEONE to come... 

And the last thing from the past week is that Elder Cowden and I have been having trouble finding new people to teach lately... So we decided to go even FURTHER in La Tercera. So now to contact and teach people were biking for a good striaght 30-35 minutes to get there. haha. But its an AWESOME place! Its really pretty, and theres seems to be lots of families, and its never really been contacted much before since its so far out! and we found a few people in the last part of the week. and people that seem pretty good too! So were really excited. Cuz theres been rumors of putting 2 more missionaries in longavi in the near-ish future. So if it works out here... Hopefully that will help the work along, and more missionaries can arrive in Longavì to help out! :)

So that was the last week! And what were really looking forward to in the upcoming week is the marriage and baptism of Ema!!! Were really excited for her because shes such a good person. She basically IS a member of the church haha. Like shes not even baptized but she knows alot more and participates alot more and everything than cualquier otro miembro. So were really excited for that!! Woohoo!!

Butttttt.... more than that.... nothing really! haha. Im still loving my lax sticks. Its fantastic haha. Anddd... yeah. Idk. Nothing much more from this past week! I love you and miss you all LOTS! Im still continuing to study lots and learn ALOT and work hard and everything. This church is an amazing thing. Iiiii love it. ANd Im loving the work!!

I love you and miss you all! Thank you for the prayers and support! ¡Que este bien! ¡Chau!

Con amor,

Elder Heyman

12/31/12 Christmas, New years... What a crazy week!

Wellllll I had a good week! But a very frustrating difficult week... But it was a good week! So basically here´s what went down.

Skyping with the family!!! It was so awesome to skype with everyone :) You all looked fantastic and it was so fun to talk and see everyone. Holy smokes the grandkids/nieces and nephews are HUGE. So old. I didnt even recognize some of them. And im talking about the ones I've met :P haha But yeah it was so great and awesome to talk to everyone. And to speak spanish with mom and dad and a little bit with Chris! I had an awesome time. Im glad all is well and we had the chance to do that!!

I also would just like to announce to whoever reads this that I got two mini lacrosse sticks for Christmas from my mom and dad. And IIIIIIIII am pumped. hahaha. Ive now included wall ball drills (we have a wall in our house that is sufficient for that) as part of my morning exercises hahaha. and ive played every day. My stick skills and left hand are gonna be awesome when I get back! :P haha jk i shouldnt speak too soon... But so im VERY excited about that. I also got the other stuff with my american snacks, the family: a proclamation to the world to give away (very excited about that too) and the tie(s) and everything else. It was a good turn out for christmas! haha. Thank you to those that made that possible :)

But besides that... honestly the rest of the week has been a blur haha. I cant remember much. buttt now I can update you a little about our investigators and who were working with and why it was such a frustrating week....

So Ive told you about Julian, and Anny and Enrique, and I dont think Ive mentioned Ema... But ill explain when I get there.

Long stories short... Julian wanted to get baptized on Christmas REALLY bad. So Elder Cowden and I were fighting real hard to get everything done and taken care of so it could happen on Christmas. And it wouldve been sweet to have a baptism on christmas too! haha. But... He lives with his Grandma, and has NEVER lived with his mom... But his Mom is still the LEGAL gaurdian of him... So we were trying to get signed permission from his mom (because thats necessary) and SUPER long story short... We have no idea where in the world his mom is, with 0 ways of getting a hold of her... :/ And long story short... He wasnt baptized on Christmas... AND it turns out that out of nowhere he now is going to be leaving to go live with his mom for the first time in his life :/ So hes leaving. And we cant help him anymore :( and there was just alot of trouble and confusion and everything... So that was really frustrating that nothing went through with that... 

Lesson Learned: Figure out ALL the facts, and ALL the CORRECT facts. I allllways need to verify with people.

Anny and Enrique... also fell through :( And unless some miracle comes along in the next week or two... It looks like they wont be getting married or baptized either... Its also a super long story that I wont go into detail, but basically there were just problems between them, and THEY are moving all of a sudden as well... So we cant really help them much anymore either :/ So until they move were just going to be working with them to make sure they keep coming to church and reading the scriptures and praying and everything... But hopefully everything works out between them...

Lesson Learned: This is a quote from Elder Packer: "True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will change behavior." Its an awesome quote that I really really like now. And will be applying to my missionary life haha.

Ema. Ema is a "gold" investigator. She was seriously a miracle. And she is one of those investigators where we found her and then afterwards I just kept thinking/asking "what did we do to deserve an investigator as good as her???" Well... Thats the first time its happened for me. But I imagine im not the first person thats happened TO :P So anyway. Ema is older, and unmarried, but co-living. She basically came and found US, and after talking to her, found out that she's attended church super faithfully since 2008, knows, understands, and lives all the commandments, and has been waiting for years to get baptized, but the only thing stopping her (and she knows this clearly) is that shes not married. And she REALLY wants to be baptized. Well we ran into her and it turns out her and her husband have been planning to get married in the next few weeks for a little while... Like seriously you guys dont understand how amazing this whole thing has been with her. Its been 1000% OBVIOUS the lord was working hard with her and had His hand in sending her to us right when she was ready. Its amazing.

So anyway. We've been helping THEM get their marriage ready too... haha. so many weddings. So were helping them, and we went THIS MORNING to a different city to go get them married in the Registro Civil!... and it didnt go through. We had talked with different Elders from that city and had asked them to verify with the registro for us about different stuff... and once again, we were told the wronggg info... So we showed up, with their witnesses and everything... and it didnt happen :((( So Elder Cowden and I were reallyyyy frustrated... and very disappointed... and feeling defeated. Ah. BUT. We talked to the workers there and "si o si" on thursday the 10th of january... Were going back and they will be married, and Ema will get baptized that same saturday. Ughhh.

Lesson Learned: Once again, get all the info, and all the RIGHT info... and be veeery careful.

Sooooo we had a longgg week of defeat and failure and frustration. Ugh. But! as you can see I learned the lessons. So Im just happy I learned them early in the mission so I can fix it in the future when it comes again. And then I will have MUCHO ÉXITO!!!! But yeah... It was pretty frustrating. And we felt/still kinda feel really bad... But. Así es la vida. We learned and we'll fix it! We won't do it again! Thats why the gospel is so cool! Because we can do that! We can mess up, but then fix it and not do it again and were still allll good. Hurray for repentance and the atonement of Christ! Woo hoooo! haha. The church is true.

So yeah. It was a tough week. But! It was still a fun week. I have my lacrosse sticks, in church I switched the keyboard sound to an organ and played the prelude with like a soft organ sound and it sounds awesome and actually like literally helped bring in more reverance before the meeting started. At least I think. I hope. haha. Im gonna keep doing it. Reminds me of the wards back home, and actually more than anything it reminded me of the organs in the temple :P Which is awesome. So yeah Im gonna keep doing it haha. The new elder in the house from Paraguay, Elder Conti has Phase 10 cards, so on mondays we've been playing phase 10 and its wayyy fun haha. And sometimes families just bring lunch to our house and us 4 elders eat alone in our house, so sometimes we'll play during lunch while we eat too hahah. Oh! We also had interviews with President Humphrey this week! And that went very well. He says hi to all the family and especially mom and dad :P haha. And all I know is that my time in Longaví is running up :P :/ I dont know how long or when exactly... But it seems like I wont be here too much longer haha... We will see! 

Butttt... Now we get to try and work through the new year!!! I cant believe this past year already went by. Crazy. A year ago I was just getting home from Argentina :P haha. But yeah. I ran out of writing juice haha.

I hope everybody has an AWESOME new year! Stay out of trouble! I will be sleeping at midnight! haha. Oh well. Im loving the mission. Its alotttt of fun. I hope you all have a good week and know that I love and miss you all! The church is true and its the coolest thing ever. Que este bien! Chau!!

- Elder Heyman

p.s. Happy reBirthday to Chris!!! Hope you had a good one brotha! And happy birthday to Kyle! Im not sure if it falls during this week or next... haha but I know its soon! I love you both! Que este bien!!

12/31/12 Fotos!

1. Christmas morning with my presents! I was tired haha.

2. Opening my first present (yes i still have that heater with me everywhere. Its my best friend haha.

3. I GOT LACROSSE STICKS!!! woo hoo!!!

4. This was me while I was yelling "LAXXXXXXX!!!!!" hahaha

12/31/12 Mas Fotos!

1. FRUITSNACKSSSSS!!!!! haha Im very excited about that. Thank you all.

2. Stocking too?!?

3. Muchas Gracias!!!

4. Los Misioneros on christmas Morning!!

12/24/12 ¡Feliz Navidad!

Well! Ill just keep this quick and to the point... Because tomorrow we'll be skyping!!!

So basically we had a good and bad week! Good week because it was fun and had a good time during the week, bad because it ended up that Julian nor Anny and Enrique were baptized :/ Long story, but, Julian WILL be baptized this week! And Anny and Enrique are still so close to taking that final step... But we got the faith it will happen this week :) We're working hard for it! 

The weather has been crazy, and raining alot and cold. But some days it has been completely sunny and hot without a cloud in the sky... Haha. Bipolar weather!

Uhhhhm it doesnt feel like christmas at all!!! haha. But im super excited to be skyping with the fam tomorrow!!! Woo hooooooo!!!!!!!! Its such a weird feeling. It doesnt feel real! haha

So here's how it will happen:

We have to borrow laptops of some of the members to occupy for tomorrow, then one hermano en la iglesia has an office that actually has good internet (haha) So he is going to pick us up from our house, take us to this office, and explain how things work, and then we can skype! So it sounds like 2 oclock my time would work best for you. So we'll try and get it as close to there as possible! But so obviously I would recommend having skype open and ready casi todo el dia and with the volumen up all the way so when I call it can be heard haha. Just to avoid any possible or potencial problems. But Iiiiiiiiim really excited. Idk. I dont have any certain requests for it.... I just kind of want to see everyone (obviously) and just talk and be happy and have a good time of it! haha. I get an hour of skyping. And Im really excited. Its going to be super weird. The thing im most nervous for is speaking spanish with mom and dad and chris. hahaha. THAT will be extremely weird. Dont judge my spanish. hahaha. Like literally thats what im most nervous for. But it will be fine :) 

anddddddd last but not least... I got my package!!!!!!!!! Woooo hoooo!!!! A few days ago the Zone leaders in linares called to tell us they had mine and Elder Cowden's package at their house. So today for P-day we made a special trip out to linares to go get our packages from their houses hahahaha. And Jen I DIED laughing at the package. At first I was so confused why there were Virgin Mary stickers and crosses on the package. It took me a full 2 and a half minutes to figure it out. hahahaha. But worry not! The package came in perfect condition! I doubt it was even touched! Made it safe and sound. Looks like the pictures worked :P But thank you!!! We have a mini Christmas tree in our house and so we put all our stuff under it... Unfortunately and sadly Elder Klepinger and Elder Conti's packages (Elder Vargas left? Did I mention that? Im officially the missionary thats been around the longest in Longavì. Weird haha) anyway their packages didnt arrive on time :/ So after email elder cowden and I are gonna go buy some little stuffs so they can have tomorrow haha. 

But Yeah! Mas que eso... Nada! I'm just really excited to talk with everyone tomorrow!! Its not even real to me. haha. 

But... I will end this Christmas letter with my Christmas testimony! haha. Christmas is a very special time of the year. And especially passing my first Christmas as a missionary, I understand the importance of Christmas, and the importance of keeping and focusing our thoughts on Christ during this time! Christ, the Son of God, was born here on this earth to complete the will of the Father. He lived his life perfectly, and was and is the perfect example for us to follow. He always helped others, thought of others, and did whatever He could, always for others. But most of all, He gave the greatest Christmas gift of all! Through his ministry here on the earth, through his suffering, and through his sacrifice on the cross, He gave us our chance at salvation. So that the joy we feel here on the earth, can be made even greater, and we can continue to have it throughout eternity! That`s why we celebrate Christmas. That`s why its such a happy and great time of year! Because the spirit of CHRISTmas is all around! Bring that spirit of CHRISTmas with you at all times throughout the year, and you can always be that happy! I promise you. Always remember that!

anyway. I love you all and miss you very very much. I cant wait to Skype with the fam tomorrow! Its going to be awesome!!!! I love you all! Have a merry christmas, and a happy new year! 

-Elder Heyman

Dec. 17, 2012 One Picture

1. Super cute little new dog. Probably the only dog in Chile I like. haha 

Dec.17, 2012 Hola Hola from Longavi!

Alooooooha family and friends!

Well. Para que sepan. today was cambios again in the mission, and it looks like I will be here in Longavi for another 2 months minimum! :) hahaha. ALSO. THIS THURSDAY I WILL HAVE COMPLETED 6 MONTHS/ONE QUARTER OF MY MISSION. and THATS really weird. and makes me freak out. hahah. weirdddd.  But that was just an fyi.

Soooo Let me think of things that happened this week.... Nothing too grand and exciting. I finally had a nearly normal week here in the mission! haha :)

So I dont really have any stories... so I´ll just do some updates! 

This past week we had our Christmas half-mission Conference! It was a good spiritually uplifting experience and alot of fun too actually! haha. Each year theyve put together an end of year/christmas video for the whole mission with pictures and different things that we got to watch that was alot of fun haha. We talked about the christmas spirit and how we can help others here focus on the real christmas spirit and the birth and life of Christ. It was awesome! I really liked it.

We also got to watch all of the First Presidency´s Christmas Devocional! and actually we watched President Monson's talk 3 times haha. But it was always in spanish! BUT! I understood it pretty much all of it and so i really enjoyed it :) I still am missing lots of words from my vocabulary... So i can at least understand and catch everything people say to me, but now I just dont know words, so THATS when I dont understand things! haha So that was awesome and I enjoyed that too!

We have one for sure baptism this week, but we have the hope and faith for 3 this week ;) haha this little kid Julian will be getting baptized this week! Hes 10 and always comes to church with this one family and loves the church and knows and understands everything, but his family arent members so hes never been baptized! (Enter missionaries to fix that problem) So Julian is getting baptized this week! Hes the one that was running with my bike in that picture I sent last week! Alsooooo..... we´re still working with Anny and Enrique... And were running into complications! haaaa.... but were working hard and were gonna find a solution to help them reach their baptism! We talked to them... and basically they want to get baptized, but do not want to be seperated at all (goooood thing) but dont feel ready to be married already... they want to wait longer before getting married (Badddddd thing) so were working hard with them this week to get them married. Because if we keep pushing things back.... and back and back and back... its never going to happen and were going to lose them :( So were praying and working hard for them!!! I want them to get married and baptized so baddddd. Theyre so awesomeeee. And their little kid Damián is HILARIOUS too. Every time we show up to their house he comes running to the gate yelling "Hola mis amigos!" hahaha. And he only refers to us as his amigos. "Amigo mira! Mira mira mira! Mira amigo!" (google translate it) Its suuuuuper cute. and hes suuuuuper funny! I want them to get married and baptized so badddd!!! Their lives will be so much betterrrrr!!! Ah. Were working on it... haha. 

Boris WAS going to get the priesthood this past sunday..... but something came up that his girlfriend who lives in Chillan was sick and nobody was there to take her to the hospital so he couldnt come and etc..... so NEXT week he´ll get the priesthood. Shoot. haha.  That made me a little upset. But I cant wait for him to do that too! It will be an awesome feeling and hes super excited to receive the priesthood!

I finally had Music Class again this week! anddddd..... No one came. ha. Soooo Im going to find something to do to get people to come. Because that made me upset too. But! Long story short iiiii was able to learn alot about the hymns and all that stuff! haha. The back of the hymnbook is interesting. You should all look into that sometime. You´ll learn alot. hahaha.

ALSOOOOO. I found out my Christmas day communication rules. So I have an hour to skype! Woo hoo! but I have to get it finished by 5 my time... because we´ll still be going to work at night! haha :) so We were thinking that it would be best to skype around 2 or 3 our time here. and I think were 3 hours ahead?... BUT! Im super excited to do that!! I think its going to be SOOOO weird speaking spanish between me, dad, mom, and chris! ahhhh hahaha. WEIRD. We are a spanish speaking/portuguese speaking/south american family! Weird. But awesome. haha. 

My soccer skills are increasing exponentially here haha. I played alot of soccer today. haha. I love it! its alot of fun. 

anddd the last thing is a received an "assignment" this week! haha. I will now be teaching the sunday school classes to the jovenes on sunday in church! :) hahaha. Since my calling is a missionary, I cant have another calling... so i recieved the assignment to be the sunday school teacher :) hahaha Im really excited to do that! it will be fun :) I start next week!

Welllllll mas que eso.... I cant think of anything! Im loving my time here. Its so much fun. And I get another 7 weeks here in Longavi :) Im excited! Elder Cowden and I are going to have ALOT of success! We already know it and are really excited!!! :D haha.

Well, Ill just finish with sharing that I know that This is the only true church here on the earth today! The more people I meet, the more scriptures I read, the more I pray, the more I do the lords work, my testimony just continues to grow and grow and strengthen and strengthen. Theres NOTHING wrong with this church! It is the perfect Church of Jesus Christ (of latter-day saints. haha) and especially in this Christmas season I am super thankful for Christ and our Heavenly Father and alllll that they did, do, and will do for us. Christ came to the earth and died for us so we can become like him and live in happiness forever! IIIIIm so happy to be doing what Im doing. Its fun. haha. I love it! I hope youre all doing well and have an aweeeeesome christmas and month of December! I love you all and miss you all! Que este bien! Merry Christmas!

-Elder Heyman

December 10, 2012 Yes, I am having alot of fun on my mission.

Well IIIIII had another interesting/weird week... 

So every Tuesday we have District Class in Linares. And so this past Tuesday during District Class I was FINALLY able to OFFICIALLY pass off those scriptures that I've kept telling you about! I WAS SO HAPPY. and I felt so accomplished. And I feel bad for my district leader. hahaha. Because he just has to sit there and listen to me recite them all for him to make sure I've got them and then pass them off... So he got to sit there for about 40 minutes and listen to me recite scriptures to him in spanish hahaha. BUT! I did it! officially. And I am soooo happy. Also (sidenote) my district leader finishes his mission this week and is going home :( Weird. I really like him alot he is super cool. Were alllll going to miss him. Heeee was an awesome example! I learned alot from him! haha.

Anyway. Tuesday I also started to get a little sick... my throat was sore, but not that bad. But I didnt do anything, thought I would get over it. But by Thursday... I woke up, and I felt like DEATH. I felt TERRIBLE. I had the worst headache, and my nose was completely stuffed, and my throat killed, and my chest hurt, and even weirder, my skin was suuuuper sensitive and all my bones just like ached! It was weird! but I felt terrible. And so super long story short but it was so bad that we ended up not going out to work in the afternoon because I didnt get much better :/ I ended up changing out of my clothes back into pajamas and resting the whole day... but I didnt get a blessing or pass by the doctor that day... 

But so finally on Friday I woke up and felt alot better... But still pretty sick. But so we went to work anyways haha and just thought I was getting better so didnt do anything about it. The day turned out fine and....

Finally on Saturday, I woke up feeling still even better, but still sick. The other Elders in the house had a mini cambio with the District Leader and his companion, so they were coming to the house in the morning to switch back, so I finally asked the DL "Hey when you guys get here, can you give me a blessing?" so he obviously accepted, and during the blessing mentioned something about "when you go to the doctors...." and then when he was done he said "okay so are you guys gonna finally go to the doctor now??" and we said "yeahhhh. We'll goooo..." so fiiiinally after lunch we passed by La Urgencia... and this is what happened:

I walked in, and checked in. Beforehand, Elder Cowden had mentioned to me how his elbow still hurts really bad from his accident last week, to the point he cant use it/move it much, and wondered if he should get it check out, so I told him yes, so HE checked in to get it looked at as well. So we both entered into the doctor rooms at the same time, and the doctor asked me what was wrong. I told him I was sick with a cold or something, he asked me if he could inject me, i said yeah sure, I got another shot in the butt (took it like a champ this time. I swear its their solution to everything...) and then gave me a prescription to make me better. Seriously took like all of 4 minutes. But elder cowden was the problem... 

They wanted to give him a shot in the butt too (because his elbow hurt? I SWEAR its the answer to everything... haha) but he was super stubborn and was doing everything to get around it and was like yelling in the room and everything haha. But he finally gave in and got HIS first Chilean injection. And then they said they wanted him to get an x-ray on his arm just in case to check it out, but needed to know if we had insurance... So then we spent FOREVER calling allll around the mission and the office figuring out what we should do if they wanted to get him an x-ray (and yes, president humphrey now officially knows about Elder Cowden´s accident. He didnt get around that one hahaha) So finally we had permission to yes, get an x-ray... but the x-ray was in the hospital in Linares. So then we had to go to Linares. BUT, they gave us a free ride in the back of an ambulance hahaha.

My first ambulance ride in my life!!!

So then it was just Elder Cowden and I chillin in the back of an ambulance by ourselves, basically completely healthy, (which was really funny and fun. We took advantage of that time. I have good pictures of it) and went out to linares, spent FOREVER in Linares getting an xray, only to then have to go straight back to Longaví to tell them that there was nothing wrong with his elbow, just pain, to which they replied "oh okay. Youre good then! Have a good day!" And they gave him no medicine or anything. Just a shot in the butt. He was SO mad hahaha. and it was jst really funny. Because technically we went to the doctor for ME, but spent the WHOLE day running around making phone calls getting an x ray and allll this stuff for Elder Cowden, and I was done and good in like 4 minutes. hahaha. Idk. Maybe you had to be there. But hey I got good pictures from it haha. So we ended up leaving to work a lottttt later that day than we had planned too haha... 

Lets see... the other thing is Sunday we had a cool experience with the Branch! Since its offically now the month of Christmas, the branch presidents wants all the hymns and everything in church as christmas hymns, and wants to make sacrament meetings a little more special... starting with a musical number by the missionaries!! And it turned out REALLY well! It was super simple but everybody loved it. We sang the 1st two verses of silent night to them, accapella, in english! haha. And then like they always do in the states, we asked them ALL to join us in singing the last verse (in spanish obviously) and it turned out realllllyyyyy well! And everybody loved it and we could feel the spirit really strong and everything. It was awesome when we were done to see people smiling and cheerful, some people were holding themselves back from clapping, some people did do little cheers because they liked it so much, and even a few people had tears! haha. And its just funny and was such an awesome experience because this is just a little tiny branch here in the middle of Chile. And its veryyyyy rare they get to experience stuff like that. Almost none of them have ever heard of MoTab before, who knows when the last time they had somebody play piano to accompany them, and like I mentioned before, they dont know the hymns at all!  But just that little musical number we did and had them all join in and really feel the spirit, and just to do something like that was so awesome. I dont know if any of this is making sense right now sorry haha. I feel like its not, but it was just such a cool experience and I was so happy for the people. That they could experience feeling the spirit and the happiness through the hymns! Because we all know I love music and all that stuff, so it makes me sad these people dont really get to experience even just the hymns to their full potential. Because its really easy for me to feel the spirit through music. So yeah. Thats another reason im really wanting to do this music class. So that can continue to happen! Idk it was just a cool experience. Take advantage of how strong the church is in the US! Its a huge blessing in disguise. Even just the hymns. Even when you have to sing all 7 verses in the Pleasant 1st Ward :) hahahaha. At least we know theres 7 verses to the songs! :P (Is that sister still the chorister? I cant remember their names now! :/ )

Well anyway, I just ran out of typing energy. I dont feel like typing alot more haha. So ill just let you know that Anny and Enrique are progressing REALLY well... and next week I imagine I will be reporting that they are officially going to get married! Were really excited and are super happy for them!!! We have our christmas conference this week in the mission, so I imagine Ill learn about skyping rules for Christmas there... as of now I still dont know anything haha. But yeah besides that, Idk!!! Im just loving loving loving it here in Longavi. We have a short cambio this week because otherwise cambios would fall on the day OF christmas, so this cambio is 5 weeks and the cambio after is 7 weeks! and then the cambio after that with all the age changes is 3 weeks. haha idk its weird stuff. ANyway. Thats all though. I love you all and am still working hard and loving doing it! Im having alot of fun. I hope all is well ith you! And hope you have an awesome month of december! Remember Christ during this month! The savior died for us, yet he lives! and We will receive the same great blessing. Im so thankful for the savior and for his great work he did here on the earth. I love the gospel and iiii love this church! and I love you all! I miss you! Be good!

-Elder Heyman