Semana 76 - Looking for Someone Who Loves Jesus...or Carne Asada

Happy Memorial Day! Yesterday, I was actually thinking about us going over to grandma's grave and just thinking about how dad is such a good son for doing that every year. I kinda feel bad for the times where I didn't go with dad cuz I realize how important family is...which is REALLY important haha. I'm so slow sometimes.

I'm at the Trammells' house today doing emails--they're the senior couple up here from Idaho, I'm sure I told you about them already. We're here for a bit and then after this we're gonna go up to R and play some volleyball with the rest of our district. It's the last pday of the transfer. This wednesday is transfers and we know one of us is leaving. We're sure it's Elder Nay but we'll see tonight when we get calls. Came quick, yeah?

My tooth is ok. It doesn't hurt when I smile anymore so that's good. I haven't talked to Pres. Woodruff yet cuz I just got your email, but I'll get on that soon. Hopefully we'll get this all sorted out soon.

This past week was good. We tried really hard to get some of our investigators to church and get some new investigators but none of that really happened. Oh well, we just gotta keep pushing right? We were biking around in the HEAT of the afternoon (oh man, it's getting hot up here) and we saw some hispanics outside and decided to talk to them. To break the ice quicker I asked 'em in spanish, "Hey, we're looking for someone who loves Jesus. Can you help us out?" and the two guys that were there laughed and we were able to talk for a bit. They said they were catholic and denied our offer to learn more about the gospel, but then one guy's like, "But do you guys like carne asada? Come back in a little bit and come get something to eat." So we did just that. They were having a party cuz someone's kid graduated middle school (these folks find ANY reason to party) and we were able to sit down and talk to the adults, play around with all the cute kids and eat some dang good food. That's something I miss about being out of Atlanta, less hispanics means less delicious hispanic food. So, at least now we're friends with them. We'll see if we can sneak in a few pamphlets or lessons while we're here haha.

So like I said, we had no investigators to church. We went early sunday morning to wake up Berta and get her to church. No luck. We know that someone was awake, probably her kids but they didn't answer and Kevin was at the lake.

Sounds like you had a nice sacrament meeting listening to the Hardings. I am really excited to meet them, they sound awsome! (Did you get a chance to talk to them about me going home in November?)

Thanks for the update. It's so true that it all comes down to choices...but it's interesting how the battle starts WAY before that. I talked to my district last week about Virtue. Virtue starts within your inermost thoughts and desires. Basically, good thoughts and desires lead to good actions, and bad thoughts and desires lead to bad choices. We're all given the knowledge of good and evil so there's NO WAY that we can think on something evil or carnal and feel good about it--that just doesn't happen. We know when we think on something good. If we always keep good thoughts centered on the Savior and decide NOW that we will follow the commandments, our decision will be made long before we are faced with a situation where our actions are put to the test. Honestly, for me, I know that when we choose to follow Christ -- and really DO actually follow Him -- we have happiness and joy. Besides the path leading to God, the only other path leads to misery and pain. (There's a scripture in Alma about that...i forgot which though.) So that's the battle we all must face on a daily basis but if we do we will make better choices and be happier in life! Once again I've realized that the things that I learn on my mission are AMAZING and I couldn't have done it anywhere else in such short a time.

Everything is going good here. I love you and the whole fam! I'll send pics in a bit:)

--E. Heimuli

View of the little town from the top of the elders' apartment

Mormon Church Rd...where there is actually no Mormon church on the road whatsoever...

Maybe they could rename it Mormon Missionary Rd...

Semana 75 - Hi Mom! I Didn't Get an Email Today...

(Note from Mom: Yeah, seeing those words can jolt me out of a jet-lagged, comatose state into a guilt-ridden, "how could I forget to write" state pretty quick!)

hi mom! I didn't get an email today...so I was wondering if it failed to send or what. k, bye!

***

Hi son, It was a looong night spent in LAX. Sorry about that! Hawaii was nice. Maveu's wedding was gigantic. We stayed with Aunty Kookie because there were tons of people in Kahuku. Hems and Norms tried to make it but they couldn't get out of SLC. I'll write you more in a real letter. Did you get our box with letters? How is your mouth doing with the antibiotics? I really want to set up a root canal and I can even let President Satterfield know if you want me to get his permission. Let me know, k? Dallan came over for dinner last week to introduce us to his girlfriend. She is cute...maybe we will have another wedding this year in addition to Tama and Sifa (they are NOT marrying each other, by the way, haha). Love you son! Let me know if you need anything. Hi to Elder Nay! Are you sending me more pics, I hope?

Love lots,
Mom Xoxoxoxo

***

Haha it's ok, I was just wondering if you wanted to know something specific about my week. I'm glad you guys made it all home safely! Man, I remember those days of flying around wondering if we're gonna make a flight or not. Good times! Our branch president actually works for Delta too! He is a mechanic here in Atlanta. We had dinner at their house yesterday and we were talking about traveling and it was really cool.

I did get the package and it was great! Thanks a ton! It's so great to hear from everyone and I'm glad they all got my letters--since they're so few and far between. My mouth is doing well and the antiboitics are working. I think it would be good to schedule an appointment. I have someone who can take me to Marietta if we need to. It'll probably be good to let President know so maybe they have some things they can do from there. But yeah, I can smile now so that's a relief:) I looked super weird just walking around with a fat upper lip and not showing any emotion on my face. haha

This week was normal. Well, Wednesday was when the tooth pain was the worst. It hurt so bad I couldn't think! I tried to study that morning but at about 830 I just gave up and went and layed down. At around 12 I woke up cuz we had some appointments that we couldn't miss in the afternoon. We went ahead and biked out and did those. It was funny cuz I really didn't talk or show emotion during our lessons cuz my mouth hurt so much. Then I came back during dinner and died haha. It was a long day! I decided early in my mission that I wouldn't stop anything stop me from working--so that's what's up.

We had some successes and some...not so successes ha. With one of our investigators, our neighbor Kevin, we had a church tour where we just went in the chapel and showed him around, explaining things as we went. We really are trying to get him to go to church and I think he'll be there shortly. As for Spanish-speaking investigators, we have one, Berta, who wants to go to church this next sunday she just needs to be woken up in the mornings so we're excited about that. We'll get her there!

This past week we had a zone conference and it was the last one of Pres. and Sis. Satterfield. I know I say this a lot, but this one was SO GOOD!!! I learned so many things.

Elder Helam K. Heimuli & President Steven H. Satterfield

One thing was just that I felt that the Satterfields really love each and every one of the missionaries serving here like they would their own kids. Pres wanted to leave us with some knowledge so he gave us all the "returning missionary" speech haha. He gave us advice about college, finances and dating!!! Can you say TRUNKY??!!! hahahaha I learned some really good stuff and all the things they talked about tied into gospel principles. EVERYTHING good in this world ties to gospel principles! Among those were the principle of DILIGENCE, INTELLIGENCE, DISCIPLINE. Super good things that I'm always trying to improve on. Also in the conference they had us each write a letter to Pres. and Sis. Harding to welcome them and tell them a bit about ourselves and then they are gonna take them and send all the letters bunch by bunch. I thought that was a cool idea. They said the president before them did that and they loved it!

I don't have any other pics. I'm slacking on taking 'em. Sorry. I'll try and get some good ones this next week, ok? Darn, sounds like I'm missing all the weddings. There's gonna be no one to hang out with when I get home! haha Love you mom! Tell everyone I said hi!

--E. Heimuli

Surprise Email...Ouch!

(Note from Mom: Now that we're on our 2nd missionary, I've learned that "no news" REALLY IS "good news." I used to stress out when I didn't get a weekly email from Hema in Ecuador. I was such a rookie. This time, I received a surprise email from Elder H mid-week entitled "please"...which means "bad news." And here's how that brief conversation went:)

Subject: please

Hey mom I was wondering if you could get me a prescription for like antibiotics? I have absessed tooth and it's killing me, but I can't get a dentist organized for a little while. So i just need the pain and swelling to stop...If you could, there's a CVS over here on Main St.

--love e. heimuli

***

Ok, I called and talked to Jen at Dr. P's office. She is going to call in your prescription to CVS Pharmacy over there. You should be able to swing by there in a couple of hours to pick it up. I don't know how much it will cost but I called CVS and faxed your insurance information over to them so hopefully it won't break your budget this week.

She also said the antibiotics will help with the pain for a little while but as long as you continue to eat/drink, it will eventually be a problem again. She said you have needed a root canal since they saw you over a year ago! Why didn't you tell me? If you weren't there on a mission I'd be mad.

She referred your case to a root canal specialist in Roswell. I would like to call his office and set up an appointment for you. The problem is I don't know how far away Roswell is from you and it would be at least 2 appointments -- 1 for consultation, and the other for the actual root canal (and for your teeth, who knows?). Let me know if that works for you.

Love lots,
MOM
xoxoxoxoxo

***

Yeah, sorry I didn't tell ya. Wow, time flies by!!!! When we were in Dunwoody almost a year ago we didn't have a car to drive anywhere and since it was a newly opened area we had to work and didn't have time to slow down...so we didn't hahaha. Thanks so much!

Yeah, Roswell is pretty far...especially for us bikers ha. It's right next to Marietta about and hour and a half south from here. I'm sure we can work something out for a ride but it'll be kinda tricky setting it all up... But thank you so much! I knew you could help me out! Sorry, hope I didn't put you out too much!

Love you!

PS. So did you guys go to the funeral? Just wondering...oh yeah, I wrote Bro. Ho Ching too
(Note from Mom: Helam met Elder Ho Ching in the MTC and they became fast friends. Sadly, Elder Ho Ching's mom suddenly passed away last week.)

--E. Heimuli

Semana 74 - The Best Kids In the World

Hey mom!

Yeah, Mother's Day was pretty great! I'm so glad it went so well for you! Pretty sure you've got the best kids in the world hahaha!!!

Anyways, here's how my day went. Church was good. It was pretty small attendance because of Mother's Day (i'm guessing). We had no investigators to church and the less active families that were coming back didn't show up either. BUT E, a less active youth came back today for the first time in a while, so that was cool!! The rest of church was about the same. After that, the senior couple here, the Trammells invited us and the sisters to dinner at their house so I made otai and we had sloppy joes and chips and stuff. It was good and was just great to spend time with them. We have some cool people here in C-town hahaha.

Then I called you guys and that was awsome!!! But that is pretty much it. Hope you have a great week and I'll talk to ya soon!!!!

--Elder Heimuli

(Note from Mom: FINALLY! More pix!)

Elder H didn't provide the usual caption/commentary, so I'm just gonna take a stab here...

After a long, hot day of biking, Elder Heimuli & Elder Nay look pretty worn out:

I don't think they're brushing up on the Electric Slide. I don't know WHAT the heck is happening here? He used to be such a good dancer...

Amazing how these cute little gals gave Elder H "antlers" and put that huge stick through his head. Looks like Nay is feeling the pain much more than Elder H, haha.

I'm guessing this little guy is now Elder H's best bud. What a cutie!

Semana 73 - It's a Blessing to Be Humbled

Hey mom!

It's been a good week here in C-town and a fast one as well! E. Nay and I are working hard and biking even harder! We've made some pretty good progress with the english investigators that we have this past week. The spanish work is still moving along pretty slowly. I talked to Pres. Satterfield this week and he wants us to focus on the spanish big time so that is what we've been trying to do. We were really working (and continuing to do so) on strengthening the spanish members here so that they can help us strengthen the investigators. There are a lot of less actives. It's really sad to see so many people just fall away like that and the english side can't help very much cuz they don't speak spanish.

At church this sunday we had 8 less actives there!!! I was so excited! It was also a really great fast and testimony meeting. I did translate and I'm improving every week haha.

It's a blessing to be humbled like that so I always strive to become better. Hema is definately right, though. Translation is a very great way to improve your spanish! I've gotten a lot better in these past 2 weeks.

The weather here has been SO HOT!!! This summer is definatley gonna be a lot worse than the last one! It's been really great though! Bike is really helping me drop some weight. Blessings!

Alright, so I don't think I'll be able to call you for Mother's Day in the morning. We have meetings starting at 8 and church goes to 1 in the afternoon. When would be best? At night? Um...sorry, I don't really know.

Well, I'm excited to talk to ya'll!!!! There's not much else to say and I'm doing great out here!

--Love, Elder Heimuli