Semana 11 - Welcome to Atlanta, Where the Elders Pray, And They Knock On Them Doors Like Everyday...

(Note:  Above, is Elder Heimuli's first letter home.  Apparently, Sis. Satterfield has each greenie write to their moms as soon as they arrive at the mission home -- God bless that wonderful lady!  The email below was written on Elder H's first P-day in the field...)

Sister Satterfield, Elder Heimuli, President Satterfield

Hola famila!

So, first off i don't have a lot of time to write today...we're at the library and i can only get 30 minutes out of this session cuz i don't have proof of residence!

Anyways, so i'm finally here in Georgia! It's great here and so far the weather has been kind. I am told that it's not gonna be that way for long. It's so beautiful here and green...well, kinda, in the spring it's gonna be a lot greener. Kinda like me (hahaha that was a stupid joke, sorry)! First of all, and i don't think i would ever think i'd say this, but i wish that i was driving back home. People here are the WORST drivers! It makes the drivers back home seem like professionals. The speed limit here is 55 on the freeway, and everyone is goin 80! Hahahaha and it's nearly impossible to find a white person out here…very very different from good ol' sheltered home. I was worried that i wouldn't pick up Spanish very well here because it's not a Spanish speaking country, but i am so wrong. A ton of areas down here are entirely Spanish speaking! I feel like i'm in the Heffe (Mexico City).

My trainer is Elder Jones and he is from Stansbury Park. He is a really good dad! He takes care of me and talks to everyone and i just stand there kinda stupidly...but i try! I just feel like a monkey, hangin around him and just smiling when someone rambles on to me in Spanish, then i turn to him cuz i have no idea what they’re saying--it's great!

The Spanish isn't that bad actually. It is shocking to realize that you learn nothing in the MTC. Well, you do learn alot and i was one of the better elders at Spanish there, but it's nothing compared to real native speakers. I thought i was ready...i was so wrong haha! It's ok, cuz i know with the Holy Ghost i can be guided with what to say and when to say it! I have felt him help me so much already and it's only been one week! So, the only thing i can do is just speak in faith and hope that it comes out ok!

Now about my week. It's been a really busy week and it's gone by super fast! The area here is really ghetto. We teach in huge areas of trailer parks and super run down complexes. There are just huge groups of Spanish speakers everywhere here! A lot of our work here in the past week has just been trying to re-activate some members of the branch. They're so disorganized here that they don't have a system of home teachers or anything, so that's where we step in. It's pretty crazy but it's fun. We just reactivated this part member family, the wife Emili is a member with her 15, 7, and 4 year old daughters, and her husband Juan is who we are trying to teach. He is progressing and hopefully something comes of it! He seems to like church (he came yesterday) so that's awsome!

We went contacting one day and we ran into this crazy guy! He kept telling us that Jesus was this pole and that Jesus was in a plane. He kept asking us why we weren't in the plane with Christ and we just told him, "Umm, cuz we're here and we didn't buy a ticket." He was obviously drunk but me and Elder Jones had a good laugh.

We met a couple from Guatemala on saturday (Luis Ernesto and Celia) and taught them. We taught the first lesson and commited them to baptism. Their date is set for 12th of March! Yay! I taught the first vision part all in Spanish and that was fun! They had a friend who was a member in Guatemala and they saw how much happier he was, and they wanted that.

Yesterday night we went tracting and had no luck for about an hour. On the last complex we tried we got invited in by a family! It was a husband, a wife, and their two young sons. We taught them about eternal families and how there is one true church which Christ established and how they can find that out. The husban seemed accepting and at the end of the lesson he even prayed. We're teaching them again tomorrow. I know the Spirit guides us to where we need to go and what we need to say. I love being able to feel the guidance of the Spirit and having the faith to act. If we all do this we will all be happier and live closer to Christ!

I hope everyone is doin good over there! I pray for each of you and i know that God is blessing our family.

My house address is:

2111 Garrison Plantation Dr.

Marrieta, GA 30060

Please forward:)

Love you all!

--Elder Heimuli