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!!
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