April 22, 2013

Heyyy family and friends and whoever reads these letter things. How
are you? Im good thanks. Okay. Here`s my letter:

So Im trying to get back into the habit of writing things in my agenda
that are interesting and whatnot so that on mondays I can remember
them and share them with the family. So here they come from the past
week...

So first off, I SURVIVED MY FIRST EARTHQUAKE!!! woo hooo!!! hahaa. Oh
man. It was crazy. Monday night we were sleeping, and we woke up at
like 3 in the morning, and the house was shaking like CRAZY. Oh man it
was crazy. Ive never experienced anything like that in my life. But so
I woke up and my bed was just like jumping around, and the other beds
as well, and there was lots of noise and the craziest thing was the
loud, deep noise that the EARTH was making! hahaha. Oh man it was
wack. I had no idea what to do so I just sat up and looked over at
Elder Arancibia (the chileno, who was also sitting up) and in my head
thought "oh my gosh. I have no idea what to do. Do we need to run?
Hide? What do I do... Elder Arancibia is Chileno, he`ll know what to
do so I`ll just follow him..." hahahaha. But after like... 30 seconds?
its calmed down and finally came to a stop. So we all just sat there
and repeatedly said "ohhhh que loooco." and immediately went right
back to bed. hahaha. Sleep is precious... Anyway. So I survived an
earthquake. Also, turns out it was even an earthquake just un
temblor... Aftershock? I think its called in english haha. But it was
crazy. I cant even imagine a real earthquake.

Then on Wednesday we had the chance to give 2 members blessings! They
called us up and asked for our help so we went over and did that. I
love being able to do that. It makes me feel great being able to
exercise the priesthood to help others out. Anyway one interesting
experience was that one woman asked for a blessing of salud because
she said she felt sick and had alot of pain and etc... and so I gave
the actual blessing to her. And it was interesting because I noticed
as I closed the blessing... that I hadnt really mentioned much about
her health in the blessing... Just alot of counsels and reminders
and... not much about her health. So I just thought "ehhh whatever.
Asi serà"  But so after we did the blessing she said "You know Elders,
can I tell you something?" And then she began to explain what was
going on in that time and how her bad health was actually coming from
very stressful situations and bad things that were happening in her
life and everything... And it was awesome to kind of listen to her
tell us all of that, and realize that the blessing I had given really
was inspired and directed exactly to her needs! Because
teeeechnically... she wasnt super sick. but just really stressed out
and needed help. And thats exactly what the spirit inspired me to say
in the blessing! To give her inspired counsels and suggestions of
things to do to help her out instead of really being focused on her
health... haha. And yeah it was just awesome to make that connection
after the blessing as she told us what was going on and really be able
to see the Lord working through me!

The other thing I wanted to point out is it has been crazy during my
time out here to REALLY see the scriptures come to life... Before I
kind of thought about how the scriptures always said "following after
the foolish traditions of their fathers" and people doing things to
praise God and really just doing it for show and to be prideful... and
honestly I guess I just kind of thought of those things as common
catchy phrases in the scriptures. But being here and 1. Strengthening
my testimony of the gospel and 2. Talking to so many people and trying
to help them get on the right path... Its just been amazing to see
that even nowadays... The foolish traditions of the fathers and doing
things to be seen is real and its going strong... Its the most
frustrating thing to teach people and have them tell us "This all
makes sense. I completely agree with all of this... I think you guys
are right... But my parents were Catholic, I was born Catholic, I am
Catholic, and I will die Catholic and nothing is going to change me!"
And its so frustrating for people to tell us how they dont think its
right that the members of their church live pretty humbly and are
quite poor, but through their "tithing" that they pay to their pastor,
their pastors are living the high life... But they dont want to do
anything about it or accept the truth!!! Ahhhh. Its sad.
The church is true. And the scriptures are still true nowadays. The
foolish traditions of fathers and the prideful people still live on...
and theyre going strong. Its crazy to see how much the scriptures have
come to life here in Chile! Were super blessed to have the truth!

Shoot I had alot of stories from the week sorry haha. Probably the
FUNNIEST moment from the week was our lunch we had on saturday. We
went to a family where just the parents were home, so we ate with
them, and the father is a menos activo, but he speaks spanish pretty
dang fast... So anyway. We had some corn on the cob as part of our
lunch... And for some reason they thought we didnt know how to apply
butter onto corn on the cob... ha. So Elder Adamson went first to put
butter on his corn, and we were just going to use a butter knife to do
it... So the whole time the Hermano was explaining how to do it. But
hes a fast talker and he`s got alot of animo in life... So he`s like
yell-talking to Elder Adamson how to do it, but Elder Adamson couldnt
understand the Hermano too well...and so the Hermano was trying to
explain how to do the spreading motion with the knife, and he was
saying over and over "Get the knife, and then with the hand do this"
and showing the action of how to spread butter hahaha. But Elder
Adamson couldnt understand, and was getting really flustered and felt
pressured and confused and everything... and it turns out the only
thing he could understand from the Hermano was "Con la mano! con la
mano!" So Elder Adamson just gets super flustered, drops the knife,
and slaps his hand onto his corn and starts spreading his butter with
his fingers hahahahahahahahahahaha. I started DYING laughing hahahaha.
Because the Hermano yelled "NO!" And ripped Elder Adamson`s hand off
the corn and al tiro grabs a napkin and wipes off his fingers and oh
man it was just the funniest moment ever. And we were all dying
laughing hahaha. And you have to remember this all happened within
like 7-8 seconds hahaha it was happening so fast and aw man we all
just died laughing. hahhaha. So i talked to elder adamson about it
after and he said he just thought "huh! weird! Maybe its just a
cultural thing they do here!" So he just started spreading the butter
with his hand hahaha. It was really funny hahaha.

And the LAST story/interesting fact from the week is that we have
another gringo in our ward now... Who is NOT a missionary. But WAS a
missionary. One of the sisters in our ward will be getting married in
a couple months... Once she gets her visa to go to the USA... and
meanwhile the gringo is going to be living here for a few months while
they wait for the visa... So long story short is they served a mission
at the same time in the same mission and HE was HER district leader
and now he`s coming back to come get her to get married... They claim
there was nothing during the mission but SKETCHYYYYYY. Anyway. So
thats something weird. REALLY weird.

Oh and also the bishop called us at 9:45 sunday morning (church starts
at 10) asking a HUGE favor that I could give a ten minute talk in
church that day hahaha. So I put a little somethin somethin together!
And it turned out really well! I got lots of compliments on it
afterwards! So thats good. I talked about Mosiah 2:41 (Thanks Chris!
haha) and about having the faith to keep the commandments. Para que
sepan.

Other news for the week! We`ll have a baptism this week! Fransisco is
going to get baptized this week on saturday! Fransisco is the 12 yr
old who we randomly entered their house one day and his mom asked us
which baptism she had received was correct. So now their back in
church and Fransisco is going to get baptized on Saturday! Sweet! So
were way pumped for him because out of nowhere they changed ALOT in
their lives... and now they really like church and everything. We went
to Fransisco`s house on Sunday morning to make sure they were up and
on their way to church, and Fransisco was way pumped to go to
sacrament meeting. haha. But he says he doesnt like the classes
afterwards... Weird report from a 12 yr old. Usually its the other way
around haha. But so were excited for him! Hopefully my camara works by
then for pictures! If not ill snag some from Elder Adamson`s camara!

Buttttt thats basically the update for the week... I think this is the
longest letter ive written in awhile. Enjoy haha. I love you all and
miss you lots! I hope all is well over there in the US of A. Or
Argentina. Or whereever you may be in the world. La iglesia es mas que
verdadera. El evangelio bendice las vidas de las personas MUCHO. Solo
necesitamos VIVIRLO. Sino, no hay promesas de recibir las bendiciones
que estan esperandonos. y no queremos perder estas bendiciones. Porque
el Señor nos puede bendecir mas que nosotros podemos imaginarnos.
Entonces VIVAN EL EVANGELIO! Les quiero! Les echo de menos. Que les
vaya bien. Chauito!

-Elder Heyman

April 15, 2013 I need a Haircut

My hair is starting to curl. I need a haircut. haha. Super random but
it was the first thought that came to my head.

Well we had a fun week this week! Once again not much to update on.
But here it comes.

So first thing is that this past friday night we had a ward activity
put together by La Obra Misional... US! The missionaries haha. And it
was WAY fun! We did "Un Minuto para Ganar!" A "minute to win it" type
of activity/game night! And it turned out awesome! It was alot of fun
haha. We came up with some good games that were way fun and the ward
loved it. In total we had an attendance of about 30-35 people? Which
was good. We were happy with it haha. So we did that and it was
awesome. BUT the most fun part for me/us the misioneros was that at
the end of the activity each companionship did a special musical
number hahaha. But they were like funny things. So Elder Arancibia and
Elder Arèvalo did some rap to some famous spanish song. But they
obviously changed the words and made it missionary work centered. and
they all loved it haha. And then Elder Adamson and I sang 2 songs.
Both in spanish. The first one was a famous song called "Yo tengo tu
amor" But we changed the words a little bit and called it "No Tengo tu
Amor." and they all loved it and thought it was hilarious... At the
end of the first song we were "Crying" because no tenìamos su amor and
everyone was cracking up laughing. But then we did another one that we
like to call "Nosotros somos dos gringos" hahaha. And we sang to the
tune of "Baila Bamba" (I think its called?) And we sang about how were
two gringo missionaries in chile and it was really funny and everyone
was laughing alot during that song too haha. It turned out really
good! But... of course my camera doesnt work in this moment... So I
dont have a video of it. But there were people grabbing video of it
when we did it so were gonna search down who has it and get them to
pass it to us! So hopefully we get it soon! Oh and I played the guitar
for us to sing to in the songs! So of course I loved doing that :D It
was a fun successful activity!!!

anddd... thats about the only interesting that happened this week with
which I will update you haha. Soooo investigator update.

Fransisco- He`s still progressing! Slowly, but surely. We`ve gained
confidence/trust with him and so he`s opened up ALOT to us. But he`s
still somewhat difficult. haha. But we`ve come to realize that theres
a REALLY bad relationship between him and the parents... and whenever
he´s with the parents... he doesnt want anything to do with church or
us or anything with life... ha. But if his parents arent there and its
just us or if he`s with his friends or something, he`s alot better! So
thats good... but also difficult. Because he`s 12 years old. So we
cant work with him or progress with him without the help and support
of his mom as well... So its still an interesting situation that were
working with haha. But we`re sure its gonna come through. We got the
faith it will! So we`re gonna work to make it happen.

And another person is a reference that a joven from the ward gave us.
The member named Felipe just got baptized like... amost 6 months ago.
And he`s awesome! Always comes to church on his own and participates
and everything. And really really wants his friends to join him in the
church! And so he found one of his best friends named Daniela whos
really interested in the church and wants to get baptized! So she`s
come to church and is progressing. She has permission from her parents
to go to church and to be baptized and everything. So were going to
teach the family sometime to try and get them involved. But if not we
have permission to work with her towards baptism as well! So thats our
other person in this moment haha.

But other than that...... Were still on the search. But the attitudes
been a little better and the stress/frustration lower haha. So that is
good. But were still working pushing forward!

And thats about all. haha. Perdì las ganas de escribir mas... Perdon.
But! I love you all and miss you. Oh and Elder Adamson is still doing
really good! We`re now at the point where he`s kind of starting to
take over and slowly transition into "Compañero Mayor" and he`s doing
well! Like most new missionaries, his biggest challenge is the
language and simplifying his teachings! But he`s rocking it. He`s
doing real well. And were even doing a little training on the soccer
skills as well ;) hahaha. After his first 12 weeks he`s gonna be a
real chileno missionary! haha. Yeah anyway. Voy a seguir.... I love
you all and miss you lots! The lord loves you and knows you! I love
the scriptures. And the profet is called of God! He truly receives
revaltion to guide us and teach us! We`re super blessed to have a
profet.

Les amo y les extraño! Tengan una buena semana! Nos Vemos!

-Elder Heyman

April 8, 2013 General Conference Weekend

Hello hello...

Well I finally found a picture reader thing... I just bought one here.
Theyre super cheap so we`re all good. it was like 2 mil pesos which is
like 4 bucks and it works really well so... were all good! haha. So I
sent a billion pictures. Not really. Like 8. But theyre there! And now
you can see! haha.

Well this past week was an interesting week... Especially with General
Conference Weekend.

But shoot now that Im thinking about it... theres really not much to
tell haha. I basically told it all with the pictures haha.

We`re doing good... Elder Adamson is a really hard worker and its
good! He`s also really motivated to get those Estandardes de
Conocimiento done, and so we`ve set some goals and he`s progressing
really well with that and at this rate might even beat me out at how
fast/soon I got them done! Like father like son right? ;) haha.
jokesss. But yeah he`s doing really well and has opened up alot and is
doing alot better at getting involved with everything. The only thing
now is we just gotta make sure he`s getting involved and
speaking/teaching more in actual lessons! He`s still kind of quiet
during lessons haha. So i gotta make sure I get him more chances to
speak and really teach. But he`s progressing really well!

Were still struggling with investigators and finding someone new to
teach and such... And it just continues getting more and more
frustrating... But were being (somewhat patient!) We`reeee still
searching haha. Dad I`ll be following your advice real soon. thank you
very much.

But as of right now... Were teaching this 12 year old kid. HERE`S an
interesting story for you haha.
The other day we contacted a house, out came some guy and said oh i
dont want to listen to you guys but my wife wanted to talk to you! So
out comes running the wife and she said "Oh yay i wanted to talk to
you guys!!" So we said "uhhh okay how can we help?"
She then explained to us how she was baptized in the catholic church
as a baby and then baptized again when she was 14 into our church...
she then said "So i really wanted to talk to you because I dont know
which one was right and I wanted to know which baptism was the right
baptism!" so we kind of laughed and said "uhhh well when you were
baptized into our church obviously." and then gave a short explanation
and she said "oh good! Well that makes sense! Cuz ive really gotten
inactive from the church and I need help. and I want to baptize my
son." So we said well por su puesto we can help with that! So that was
a miracle! and a great blessing. Its just gonna be reallyyyy hard...
because the son has desires to be baptized but is just the
least-interested person in the world... and hes a troublemaker and
very rebellious and lies to his mom a bunch... I shall explain that in
a second... But it will also be hard because the mom is now
conviviendo with a VERY Evangelico man. and they have no desires to
get married but dont want to seperate either... So we have to work
with her :/
and the son (Fransisco) just seems like the saddest person alive :/ I
think he`s looked us in the eyes sola una vez and doesnt say anything.
Luckily he told us and explained that he does have desires to be
baptized, so we can work with him. But he just wants to BE BAPTIZED.
As in he just wants the baptism and has almost 0 interest in hearing
the messages we have to share... He just wants to be baptized... And
soooo we got them to come to the last session of general conference
with us. And after like 15 minutes of listening he said something to
his mom, got up, and left.... and so i had a strong feeling we needed
to follow him. So Elder Adamson and I left and we saw that he went
outside and was just leaving the church building to go who knows
where... and so longggg story short we following him FOREVER and were
just talking to him, having a conversation, and finally persuaded him
to come back...
*and for mom and dad, those parks with the exercise machines in the
middle of them? They have those here too. We were at one of those for
like 25 minutes while he did exercises before we got him to come back
with us...*
But so he had lied to his mom cuz he got bored and said he was going
to the bathroom and just left the church to go who knows where... but
we got him back. And thats not the first time he`s done something like
that... sooo... its gonna be rough. But it`s all we got right now...
Pray for us pleaseeeeeeeeeeeee. please please please pleaseeeeee. We
need it. Alot.

So yeah. Theres my story. Thats how the mission is going right now...
You can judge for yourself. And to be completely honest  I`m pretty
frustrated in this point. Its rough. Were going through a tough trial
right now. Were being obedient and it seems like were putting in our
best effort... but just very few results seem to be coming from it...
we keep analyzing, adjusting, and trying to mejorar... but we just got
nothin... So... we just have to keep pushing forward and wait. Thats
all we can really do. So thats what were doing.

But yes im still happy! yes i still love the work. Worry not. Its just
rough. haha. But i continue learning, doing my best, being obedient,
and trying to make everyone proud! And p.s. cambios were today and so
si o si Elder Adamson and I will be together another 6 weeks! haha.
Yay.

Welllll theres my letter for today. That shall be all. I love you and
miss you all alot. I hope all is well. I hope everybody is happy and
doing good things!! Me encanta el evangelio, la iglesia es verdadera,
y me siento feliz y bendecido porque tengo este conocimiento en mi
vida. Les quiero y les echo de menos! Que les vaya bien!! hasta la
proxima semana.

-Elder Heyman

April 1, 2013

Hey peeps! How goes it?  I am well. I hope you`re all good too. 

We had a good week this past week! We had 2 confirmations of Patricia and Cristian! So our baptisms were officially finalized haha. So were happy and excited about that. AND we even got them there 15-20 minutes early, and Cristian had a white shirt, pants and a tie! It was a special meeting for them :) So we were happy about that! 

This week we were ALSO supposed to receive 4 mini missionaries in our house! That means I would have been with some young joven, and that Elder Adamson, Arancibia, and Arèvalo were all going to have their own little jovens to leave with as well. BUT, super long story short, two of them didn´t show up... so only Elder Arancibia and Arèvalo had mini-misioneros. haha. So we were a little sad because when we received that news we were excited because it was going to be fun and we thought it would really help out our sector... But maybe it was better that way because Elder Adamson DID feel a little more secure without some latin to guide around since he`s so new haha. Oh well. He couldve done it! :P So anyway, two kids 16 and 17 years of age came and were with us from friday to sunday. It was interesting. They were a little molestoso.... But we survived! 

Funny/interesting story from the week... The house we live in here in Lautaro straight up is just pretty crappy. haha. Its a junker. But... its alright. BUT the problem with it is just its so dirtyyyyyy. Like Elder Adamson and I do really well keeping all our stuff clean and organized. All of our stuff is way good... And im not judging but I just have this feeling, living in Chile and living with 2 latins and all.... That latinos are just naturally dirtier/less organized people.... Because their parts of the house and their stuff is just ridiculously dirty... haha. So basically like friday or saturday morning... I ended up getting really mad at them. And I yelled at them haha... And its a long story... But basically Elder Adamson and I just have our own bowls and spoons and stuff we use for eating and blah blah blah.... And after actually washing them we just guardarlos on our own little food shelves (is this making sense?...) and usually Elder Arancibia and Arèvalo dont use them because they realize theyre for US because were actually taking care of them. Well the other morning EVERYTHING was used and dirty, except for the stuff that Elder Adamson and I use. So Elder Arancbia just started using all my stuff. And so I asked him "Why are you using all my stuff??" And he said "Cuz theres nothing else..." and so I got just a tiny mad and said "Dont use my stuff..." and went to go find something else to use. But then entered the kitchen and saw the TERRIBLE and 110% dirty state of the kitchen and all the stuff. So then I told him "Maybe if you guys freaking washed your stuff there would be something to use! Wash that bowl when youre done and let me use it after you..." and then went back upstairs. So at this point I was just frustrated... But after I had gone back up stairs, the 2 other Elders and the 2 mini missionaries said something to eachother, and in the little english Elder Arancibia knows, swore at me and called me a Gringo with some other adjectives attached to it... and THATS when I got mad. So then I walked back downstairs and basically yelled and them and shared a few thoughts. So first off, THAT was a new experience for me. Being very mad and yelling at someone in spanish. hahaha. It was interesting. Ive never been mad and yelled at someone in spanish before haha. But the thoughts were clear and I didnt stumble on the words so were all good. I didnt sound stupid. haha. Secondly, they shut up. and thirdly, a little later Elder Arancibia and I had an ACTUAL talk instead of me just saying words loudly in their faces and we cleared things up. So him and I are all good, the kitchen and house is alot cleaner, and we all learned valuable lessons from this experience. haha. Andddd thats the story... haha. 

We had a good Easter! It was nothing different from any other day, but the day before Elder Arancibia had bought some little mini chocolate eggs and we hid them aruond the house and went to find them hahaha. It was really funny and fun. So that was the only thing especially special about the day, besides it being a wonderful time to remember the savior`s resurrección of course! :) haha. 

Anddd... the other thing is that we`ve started going service for the members here! and its been cool :) This past week I learned alot of random stuff about gardening as we cut someones lawn.... with scissors. hahaha. They  dont really have lawnmowers here and they just all cut their lawns with really large scissors haha. That was fun! But like really we actually learned alot of stuff about gardening that was pretty cool ahha. I never knew gardening was something so dang complicated. I always just thought it was "Oh hey the grass and bushes are getting too long. Lets go cut them." haha. I have a greater respect for all your gardening now, Mom! :D haha. 

But more than that... Nothing really new! Thats about it. The interesting things that happened this week. Elder Adamson is really improving and progressing alot. Hes an awesome missionary and hes going to do way good in the mission! Im loving the time here and all that im doing! We had a much more successful week the past week, so were looking forward to keeping that going! haha. Bueno. Voy a seguir ahora... Todovia no he encontrado una manera para enviar mis fotos..... estoy buscando perdonnn :( Lo voy a encontrar, les prometo!!! Les quiero mucho y les echo de menos! Espero que todo este bien y que disfruten de su semana! Que les vaya bien!!!

I love the work! Im doing well. Ive been in the mission 9 months! Que loco. I keep growing more and more each week! haha. Love you all. Que este bien! 

-Elder Heyman

We finally had a baptism! (Two!!) March 25, 2013

Hola!!! Como estan todos? Estamos bien aqui! Seguimos aprendiendo... siempre... gahhh. Dejenme compartir un poco de lo que pasò esta semana...

So I just want to start straight off with a funny story. This week Elder Adamson and I were doing more contacts... and he`s tearing it up in contacts already! haha. He does them all by himself now :P So anyway, but it was his turn, and out of the door came an old lady with a knife in her hand because she was cutting onions... But so we were standing outside of a gate that she has, so we were a distance away. But so Elder Adamson started to talk to her, and to get her to ACTUALLY come out of the house he asked her if we could greet her (by shaking hands) and to do that, we say "¿Podemos saludarle?" Well... it was super funny because Elder Adamson struggled a little on the word "saludar" and instead asked her "¿Podemos saltarle?" which basically is translated to "Can we jump you?" As in literally attack and mug a person. hahahaha. So this ladies eyes got all big, and she got a little scared, and her grip on the knife got a little tighter and she kinda raised it up a little more to show she HAD a knife... haha. So i was like "oh shoot!" and started yelling "Saludar! Saludar! Queremos SALUDARle!" hahahah. So anyway... she shook our hands and we had a nice conversation, but we didnt share our message with her... hahaha. But so I explained to Elder Adamson after what he said and what happened hahaha. Its little stuff like that that always makes the day a little lighter haha. It was funny. But realy Elder Adamson has already progressed a ton! haha. Hes an awesome missionary. 

But! Besides that story, I dont have too much to share from this week... but we did have 2 baptisms!!! Woo hoo!!! This week Patricia and her son Cristian got baptized!!! And it was a fight until the end! haha. Im still learning... 

Super long story short, we were freaking out because (another long story...) we do baptisms here on sunday after church, and then the confirmations the NEXT sunday... So anyway, it was the day of their baptism, and Patricia and Cristian almost didnt show up for Sacrament meeting... Gah. But after a million phone calls, getting a taxi to pick them up, and stuff like that, they showed up in time to enjoy a small part of the sacrament meeting... But it was kind of embarrasing on our part... that our investigator was gonig to get baptized that day but wasnt even showing up for sacrament meeting... So we learned THAT lesson... 

And the other hectic thing was that we had the baptismal clothing for patricia, and after sacrament meeting she went to go try it on... and it was way to small. And like nearly no one else had baptism clothes in the other wards. So we were frantically searching around EVERYWHERE to find baptism clothes that would fit her and everything.... and we finally found it. But ohhhh it was a hectic day... haha. But in the end it all turned out! But so yeah we learned that lesson with the baptismal clothing as well... Next time we will be searching it a lot sooning and bringing it to them so they can try it on a lot sooner... gahhh. BUT.... it all turned out. So i feel bad... but in the end im happy! :D

It was an awesome experience as i got to baptize patricia and elder Arancibia baptized cristian! It was also awesome to listen to Patricia after the baptisms get up and give her testimony of her experience and how much being baptized meant to her and stuff. She shared an awesome testimony!! So i was really happy for that and to finally participate in that ordinance once again! Now comes the challenge of finding more people to do the same! haha.

Other cool thing. On sunday in sacrament meeting I did a musical number with one of the jovenes of the ward and we played a duet of nearer my god to thee, me on piano, and him on the flute! It was awesome! I do believe the ward liked it lots! I think ill be donig more here. Because they only have an electric piano, but its actually like a good electric piano that sounds good haha. So i want to do more. Yayyyy.

Well.... I cant think of too much more to share in this moment :/ Were just chuggin along here. Were having trouble finding good people to teach... So thats the challenge for the next while. We gotta kick it in gear! haha. I love you all and miss you lots! I hope all is well. Keep it real people. The church is true and the true gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored. I learned a few new interesting things about that this week... Random side note haha. I love studying and learning. Its the best. Anyway I love you all! I gotta go now... Pictures will be coming soon I promise :( haha. Im sorry. I will repent and get pictures sent out! Que esten bien a todos. Chauuu!!

-Elder Heyman

I Got My Gringo! March 18, 2013

hola hola mis amigos y fansitos!

Well I finished up my first week of training! I love it! its way fun haha. But it was quite the interesting week to be honest!

So on monday night I went to Chillan so I could be in Concepcion on time the next day to get a little capacitacion on training and then recieve my new comp! So I slept there, and showed up in Conce the next day. So i honestly couldnt explain it to you and have no idea why, but it turns out that 1 elder and 3 hermanas showed up that day haha. So we all showed up to train, got the little capacitacion, and found out that their plane got super delayed and they werent going to get here til 6... So I spent a few hours in concepcion with 2 other elders doing some work haha. But anyway, so they finally showed up, we all got our assignments, and right away sent us all of since it was so late! Well we live in curico, and (depending how you do it) it takes 6-8 hours to get there... so it turns out we then had to spend the night in Talca, and then the next day finally show up to our sector...

So I didnt get home again until Wednesday in the late morning haha! So much traveling. And we travel by bus... So that was superrrr fun..... haha but we made it! 

So my companion is Elder Adamson! He`s 6`4 (suuuuper alto) super blancito, he`s from Cedar Hills, Utah, is 18 yrs old, knows some spanish, but not too much, and was in the MTC for 12 DAYS!! I dont even know if thats possible! hahaha. We have no idea why he was there so short or why they showed up in the middle of the cambio or anything. Were so confused why he`s here! But obviously it was just an answer to my prayers! hahah. So im completely content with it. He`s awesome Im way excited to be with him and to train him! haha. I THINK i have a way to send pictures this week... So hopefully they get to you! Oh and just so you all know he DID know/study some spanish beforehand in high school and stuff... So its not like he came out here COMPLETELY blank after 12 days in the MTC haha. 

So anyway, we just went to work! and i love it. I love training him and helping him out and showing him the ropes and pushing him haha. Its always super funny because he`s kind of a shy guy and obviously being new he naturally gets nervous when its his time to talk or do something, but throughout the day we always set little mini goals to push him more haha. For example, after showing him how a few contacts were done, i explained it a little bit, and then said "alright your turn!". So he went to the door, the person came out, and the conversation went like this:

Elder: Hola! como esta?

Otro: Bien gracias! Digame!

Elder: (turning to me) Uhh... I dont know what to say... 

and then i picked up the contact from there. hahaha. So we kept it up and that happened 1 or 2 more times, so then we set a goal that I wasnt going to talk at all at LEAST until he said something more than "Hola como esta". haha. So the next contact... he did it! And he talked alot more. and we keep going from there. haha. But thats why its fun! Its just fun to help him out, set little goals with him and teach him and help him reach his potential little by little! haha its way fun im loving it. 

But so we`ve been doing cool stuff like thattt.... and then another cool thing is that we have some "travelling assistants" in the mission right now, and so on saturday they came to our sector and I did a mini cambio with one of them! And it was awesome. Theyre really good missionaries and i learned alot from them! So im pumped to apply the things I learned and be an even better missionary so I can have even more success! yeahhh! Y para ellos que sepan los terminos de la mision con entrenadores y "familias" y todo... El elder con quien yo hice el mini cambio es mi "abuelo". El entrenò a mi entrenador. ENTONCES, mi "hijo" conociò a su "vis abuelo"! haha. el cual es algo super raro en la mision. y ahora saben.

Uhhh so theres that story.... and finallyyy, this sunday we`ll have 2 baptisms!! Woo hoo at last! haha. This weekend Patricia and her son Cristian will be baptized! Theyre super cool and really excited to get baptized. They were a reference from a family here in the ward, and the family has been a HUGE help with them! But so were super excited because theyre awesome! And theyre even so good we ended up moving their baptismal date to a week sooner! haha :P So were pumped! Pray for them so that everything goes well this week! The final week right before baptism is always the hardest week because it seems thats when Satan fights the hardest to keep these people from doing such a good thing in their lives! So things always go crazy and get stressful the last week... haha. 

oh and last thing, on saturday night the bishop decided i was going to talk in church the next day for 15 minutes about the plan of salvation... and that was during the mini cambio and we had 6 elders in our little house, so to be completely honest, i forgot about it really fast. So i showed up to church and quickly remembered i had to do that.... So mas que nada i basically gave my first talk on the fly in spanish... I hope it went well :/ :P haha. I think it did... I hope. But so that was an interesting experience haha.

but for the most part.... that was my week! There are billions of other things I could tell you... but thats all for now haha. Im loving the work, I love being a missionary, i love learning! Im looking forward to having lots of success here.... So here goes nothing haha.

I love you  all and miss you!! La iglesia si o si es verdadera. Las experiencias que he tenido aqui en la mision y las cosas que he aprendido han ayudado mi testimonio MUCHO. No tengo duda de que esta es la iglesia verdadera de jesucristo. No hay otra aqui en la tierra que tenga la autoridad de dios. Somos muy bendecidos porque tenemos todas de estas bendiciones en nuestras vidas!  Les echo de menos mucho y les quiero mucho! Que les vaya bien! Chau!

-Elder Heyman