Semana 82 - Going, Going, Opening, Training

Hey mom!!!

I am doing great! I got your package and I want to thank you all! It was great to hear from all of you guys. Thank you for the little boost cuz I needed it.

This week was pretty jam packed with good stuff so I'll try and type fast!

First off, I went to Rome. There's no Vatican or anything like that, but there is a cool gryphon statue.

I was on exchanges with the spanish missionaries up there and I met one of their investigators, Dale. He has had a hard life of drugs and alcohol and a BUNCH of other just-not-good things. He has tried to kill himself twice and is only 24. He has one son who he never sees, and a daughter (with him and his mom) that has cerebral palsy. She is the cutest, prettiest little girl I've seen. She is 4 or 5 but can't talk but has the brightest smile ever! Dale has really made a lot of progress since the first time he met the missionaries. He still has a LOT of things to work through but it was so cool to see how much they loved the missionaries cuz of what they have done for Dale.

I actually went up to Rome tuesday and then returned back to Cedartown Independence Day afternoon. It rained HARD that day. When the weather finally cleared up it was about 6pm (which was when we had to be inside) so we didn't do anything really productive. In Rome I bought 3 pairs of pants for 4 bucks!! Score! I figured it was about time to get rid of my grey pants. I have sowed those things up 7 times and they still had holes, and they were faded big time. Out of repect I thought they deserved to be retired.

President and Sister Snow are here and they are just amazing! On Saturday we had the chance to meet them at one of our Zone meetings. President Snow talked to us for 2 hours and it was so good!

I don't know if this is weird to say, but since I've gotten here in this mission I've felt like the odd one out (me and a handful of missionaries). I felt like I'm not a conventional missionary cuz everyone was always so...missionary like. I've prided myself in being able to be me AND a missionary. Those two should never be seperate. When I'm done with my mission I'm NOT done being a missionary so why should I act any different? If I'm me out here then I'll be me when I go home. Being a missionary shouldn't be something I just take off (like clothing) when I'm finished. I've made "Helam" become a missionary, I didn't just put on a "Elder Heimuli" mask to wear for two years.

Anyways, Pres. Snow talked about how we need build the faith of the people we teach (of members, investigators, etc) cuz that's our calling. Just blowing through lessons and baptizing people won't necessarily build their faith. If we build their faith first, the outward results will naturally follow. Only real people that experience real change can help other real people exprience real change (w the help of the spirit of course). This all makes sense to me.

Yay! I'm glad K is doing good. I've been talking to him now and then. He's perfectly fine. K is actually my hero cuz it takes a lot of courage to do what he did. Even though he lives in Utah where there are quite the population of judgmental people, he chose to do what he needed to do. That's a real man. I'm gonna get Prince his tie this week, so yeah!

The Satterfields were awsome. Don't do anything too straining on your time or resources; I'm sure they appreciated getting your letter! But, another thing is that they just love you Mom! They always let me know when they heard from you and how impressed they are with such a great mom that I have :) I'm sure a visit face to face from you won't be a bad idea either! Use your best judgement :)

As for transfers, we're doing them a little differently. We actually know who is leaving and where they are going and everything Monday morning. I got a call from Pres. Snow this morning (dunh dunh dunh dunh). I am being transfered from C-town and I am very sad about that. 

Also, I am going english, going zone leader, opening a new zone in ATL and training a new greenie. Yeah. Weird. Honestly, I don't like being in leadership and it freaks me out to be the "example" over so many missionaries, but it's ok. God wants me there so I'll do it happily!

Love you mom! Hope you guys have a great week!

--E. Heimuli

July 2, 2012 - Thank You to the Satterfields

[Note: We sent a long-overdue thank you to the Satterfields. Knowing this wonderful couple would be busy getting back to regular life, we told them there was no need to reply...we just needed to express our gratitude.  Imagine our surprise to hear back from each of them that very same evening.]


Brother and Sister Heimuli,

Thank you so much for your wonderful letter.  It means so very much to us!  We love your son and have really seen him grow spiritually and in self discipline - especially over the past few months!  Sister Satterfield and I are sitting in a motel just outside Kansas City Missouri - we are driving home.  This is our second day being released.  We are driving home -taking our time- to just try and get used to the idea of regular life again. 

Your wonderful letter is so helpful to us to help us in that change.  Thank you again.

With love,

President and Sister Satterfield

***

Dear Bro. & Sis. Heimuli:


     Your email came in just the moment we needed it!  We are currently driving home from the mission, and the first couple of days were really hard--especially for me.  I have such a mothering heart that I suffered terribly upon leaving "my" missionaries.  I worried that they wouldn't be taken care of as well, and I kept bursting into tears.  It was like when I was raising my children and president would try to take me on a vacation, and I couldn't quite relax in my heart because I was worrying about the kids.  He finally had to say, "If you bring those kids up one more time, we're going to turn around and go home!"  Well, I saw a similar look on his face this time and knew I'd better pull it together!  I also remembered that the missionaries have a Savior, and it's not ME!  I gathered my trust and faith, and prayed instead of wringing my hands!  I'm doing better, now.


     Getting your email brought such warmth to our hearts.  Thank you.  We soooo love Elder Heimuli and have rejoiced in the growth we have watched him make.  It is obvious that he has wonderful parents whose influence will be felt for generations.  We are appreciative of your support and love.  It has been our pleasure to work with your son.


     Blessings to you both.


     Sister Satterfield

Semana 81 - Endure to the End

Dear mother,

I thought i would start off this letter on a good note:  I got my bike back saturday! We took it up to Rome on tuesday to get it fixed and we finally got it back!  E. Newman's blisters were screaming with joy!  Working yesterday was great! No one opened their doors to us...but we got to more doors in less time!

Lets see...this past week we saw some record high heat for the summer. Everyday was at least 104 degrees. Last night we were talking with Kevin and how it felt kinda chilly around 8 pm. He started laughing and said, "you know it's hot when you think running around in 95 feels cold." The heat really isn't TERRIBLE but it definately isn't comfortable. Another down side is my body's tendency to sweat profusely at ANY sign of above warm weather. I carry a towel around cuz I feel like there's a constant waterfall cascading from my forhead while we're proselyting (which seems to repel any human form of life). Gross, i know. It hit about 108 saturday and people sitting on their porches kept asking us if we were crazy...or on drugs...cuz no one in their right minds would be walking around in this heat.

Last monday the Trammells the senior couple took us around for pday. We took a break from the heat and went up to a place called Cave Spring. It's a fresh water spring--and a cave! Who knew?

Anyways, we climbed around in there and then later fed some ducks. I think I'm getting old because I LIKE FEEDING DUCKS!

Work wise, it was slow this week, to say the least. Apart from walking, it was just hard to find people at home. We struggled to teach this week. There were a few people home scattered throughout the week: Adelia (our investigator who actually goes to another church) we saw a few times. She even made us stay and eat dinner one time.

Fun family. Then there were some less actives we saw.

Saturday we had this branch bbq and I actually suggested this idea a while back because they wanted to do something to help include the spanish people. We were to do a bbq and have sports going on (soccer, of course) and we advertised this thing for 3 weeks! Everyone was invited: actives, LAs, investigators, missionaries, etc. We had a lot of hispanics say they would come. Saturday came and...0 of them showed up! Yeah, that was pretty -- REALLY -- disheartening. Really the whole point of the activity was for the hispanics and no one came. It was a good bbq though.

Church on sunday was sad, too. Attendance was poor.  Attendance of the spanish was almost nonexistant. There was one member, Maribel, who is as legit as they come. She is there faithfully every single week. The only other ones were Bro and Sis Bernal, who aren't even from this branch. They live in Acworth (about a 1 hour drive away) and were called here to help by the stake. They shared a very sad testimony about how they pray for Cedartown. They pray for the spanish members to be open and to return to church, for the investigators to be open, and for the missionaries that they can always have support despite rejection or failures. 

The Work here is hard for everyone. It is taking a toll on us spanish missionaries and i can feel it. Since I started my mission, and since i've gotten here to C-town, it's been a uphill struggle, even after my "hump day" hahaha. Hasn't gotten any easier. 

After feeling overwhelmed a few times this week I finally sat down, prayed forever, and read my scriptures, searching for some guidance. I read in 3 Ne. 15:9 which says,

"Behold, I am the ^alaw, and the ^blight. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall ^clive; for unto him that ^dendureth to the end will I give eternal life."

I talked about eternal perspective a while ago and this just kicked me in the butt again. Obviously I'm still working at gaining my own "eternal perspective." Like it says in the scripture, we are to look towards Christ and endure to the end. Not look downward ("nothing is turning out right" or "this is too hard" blah blah blah) nor inward ("I can't do this" or "I don't want to do this anymore"), but upward and outward! 

I know there are examples of "looking towards Christ" all around us (like Uncle Tini and Aunty Momi. Please tell them I am so grateful for them!). If we look to those examples, and try to be those examples, they will lift us up. I can endure. I'm asked to endure...with faith obviously :)

We meet Pres. Snow this wednesday and I'll be in Rome for the 4th of July. Yay! For the package, I keep forgetting things I need haha. Oh well. I guess nothing! We're doing great here and I love you all so much!

Love you mom!

--E. Heimuli

Semana 80 - You Don't Know What You Have 'Til You Lose It

Hey mom!

You would probably be very proud (and surprised) that I have definately grown a better appreciation for things that I have. These past 2 weeks I found that the frase "you don't know what you have 'til you lose it," rings very true when I battled constant flat tires and finally this past tuesday I was on exchanges in Rome and the missionary who came down to C-town broke the axel on my back tire. Since then we've walked miles upon miles everyday and at one point my feet were just two giant blisters. E. Newman is getting the REAL missionary experience haha. It also makes sense that this past week was the hottest it's been this summer...and getting hotter. It's ok though, cuz the branch generously offered to help us fix the bike so we'll be up and running soon!

Because of the bike situation we were a lot slower at working this week. We couldn't reach a lot of our appointments on time so that was really frustrating but things happen for a reason. One reason I believe is because of a lady named Barbara. We met her while she was sitting on the porch enjoying the shade. We said hello and she asked why we were walking in heat like this and shouldn't we be home somewhere haha. Long story short, we talked to her about the plan of salvation and if she would be interested in learning more and Barbara agreed. The spanish work has been keeping us busy so we handed her over to the sisters. Fast forward to Sunday and Barbara was there with the sisters! Sister Johnson told me later that Barbara had an awsome experience! That made me happy!

For us, we had no investigators to church but we had a few more LAs there so that was great! We're actually helping one of them, Gisele, set up the baptism for her 8 yr. old daughter, Synthia. We have to do it before they leave for Mexico July 14th.

The new president has not come yet, that's on the 1st of July. A big bit of information that I forgot to tell you: President Harding will be delayed in coming. He had surgery (a tumor removed the size of a football) so there is another guy filling in 'til he gets better--Elder Snow of the Seventy...formerly from the Seventy. So, I'm sad that Pres. Harding won't be here for a while, but it's also exciting to have Pres. Snow here for a bit.

I just wanted to share something I read this week. It was the talk by Elder Donald L. Hallstrom titled, "Converted to His Gospel through His Church." He said some very powerful statements like, "It is possible to be active in the Chruch and less active in the gospel." He also quoted a scripture that I liked--Mosiah 5:13:

"For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?"

He then invites us to "couple prayer with constant study and humble pondering to continually build unshakable faith in Jesus Christ." As we do this, E. Hallstrom points out that "a sustained knowledge of and love for the 3 members of the Godhead are indispensible" and can help us build our foundation on the gospel. There is much more than that in the talk but I really enjoyed what he said there. We won't be sufficiently strong if we are not built on the gospel.

Well, it's been a long week and I can't remember everything that happened, but I'll let you know if i remember anything awsome!

Love you guys!

--E. Heimuli

Semana 79 - The Best ME

Oh man, I'm doing great! and so is Newman. There has been a lot of things goin on this week but it's over now haha. Too fast.

So, yeah I went to Dr. Bristol's and got the root canal. They're awsome over there. Oh and Debbie told me the message that my mom loves me! Thanks! The root canal was supposed to be really quick cuz the tooth only had one root...but you know how I roll! instead of a 40 minute thing, it was about 2 hours. In Bristol's own words: "Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong, " but no worries, it's all good! I feel awsome!

Missionaries in Alabama for a weenie roast (above: Elder Newman; below: Sisters Bushman & Johnson)

Linda isn't Newman's mom. She is a member out here. We went to her house in 'Bama for a weinie roast. I didn't ask Sister Bushman if she's related to Garrett, or to the super tall Elder in Hema's mission, but i definately will--she said her brothers are super tall!

This week my tire went flat three times, so I got really sick of that and just decided that we were gonna walk. Because of the loss of time we didn't teach as much as we were planning to but hey! God has a purpose in all things. While walking we found two potential investigators who were formers that we would have missed if we had biked. My mission has defiantely made me have more of a broader view on life and definately grow some patience haha.

It's amazing what you find when you walk instead of ride

Our father's day was good. Thought of my own dad a lot. We had some good talks on fathers and families. No investigators there to hear 'em but it's all good! We try and that's all that matters. It's a matter of free agency. We were invited into YM to talk about missionary work and why we went on missions. There are some really awsome youth here and they are iffy about going on missions, so we're trying to help. IDK if constant nagging is the way to do it ...I know that's not why I went.

With Alec, a YM in the ward who is thinking of going on a mission

Personally, every one needs to find the reason why a mission is for them. Of course, there's a doctrinal principle that goes along with this. There are 3 motivators for keeping the commandments: first and lowest is Fear. Fear (of disappointing parents, or tragedy) can motivate someone quickly, but fades just as quickly. 

Duty is the next one. Duty is an inward sense that you need to do something (because everybody else is doing it); it can motivate but it fades just the same. 

The last one and best motivator is Love. It's interesting that Love would be the best motivator because it is looking OUTWARD. Fear and Duty are all inward but Love is selfless. Because of love, God made the plan of happiness for us. Because of love, Jesus Christ carried out the Atonement for us. Because I love my family now (and my future family) and they deserve the best of me -- the best ME -- I had to go on a mission.

Elder Heimuli

All i can really do is share my testimony of what i've experienced on my mission and i know that it's AWSOME! Hema would agree, and almost any RM would say that. So, it's not ever about making someone do something, but rather about helping them understand WHY they need to do it. And then it all comes down to their free agency again.  There's a cool quote in PMG (Preach My Gospel) that says, "True doctrine understood changes behavior better than the study of behavior changes behavior." ...or something like that.

Anyways, I gotta run but I love you and i can't think of anything I need right now! Love you Mom! 

Semana 78 - The Secret

I feel so happy even though the weather here is cloudy and kinda depressing haha. There's not really any reason why, I just feel so blessed to be a missionary and for having this opporitunity to grow and gain more of an eternal perspective on life. I have been thinking the past few weeks about how I've changed during the course of my mission.

This week has been good. We found a new investigator, Desaray, who just recently got our of juvi and really wants to change her life. We had some really great lessons with her this past week and she was so excited to come to church, but then sunday she couldn't come. Meh, that's how it is. We'll just keep working with her. Other than that we are still trying to revive the spanish end here. It's tough, especially cuz I have to translate and church just isn't the same experience when it's put through a mediocre translation, but we'll find a way.

It's kinda hard to think of what happened this past week haha. We just had a lot of meetings and I've been really busy trying to plan like a million things at once. We did go to a meeting with the stake presidency and they told us their take on how we could improve missionary work. The secret: the members. The whole CHURCH is starting to turn and move toward member missionary work. Members really do have a great impact on missionary work and we are all urged to reach out, speak up and show by example how we are blessed to have the gospel in our lives.

So I just went and got xrays today at the dentist. I have an appointment next wednesday @ 10 am to get a root canal in S. Um, the lady said I need to bring my insurance card and stuff, so maybe you could email me a copy of my card or you can fax the info to them or something. Just let me know what you want to do. It's not with Dr. Binns but a member that Dr. Farrar referred me to.

So all our investigators have kids. They are so awsome and we always have fun with them. Needless to say I am much more of a kids person now than when I was at home haha.

Here are some random pics of me and E. Nay and the S-G family...who kinda remind me of my Soliai cousins when we were younger hahaha.

We helped B with her laundry at the laundromat one day and then played around with her kids Jr. and Jennifer.  (Note from Mom: Notice how resourceful Jr and Elder Heimuli are.  No need to bring your own weapons to the laundromat when you can just use the video game guns.  This was probably a "draw" -- Jr has the bigger gun, but Elder H has two handguns.)

Then with A and her kids, they showed us a baby chicken they had. Poor chick -- those kids almost killed it several times hahahaha. They're awsome.

I did get the package from you guys and it was awsome. Newman loves the chocolate!

Sorry but I'm short winded this week. Everything is great here! I'll send pics!

--E. Heimuli

Semana 77 - Officially-the-Oldest-Spanish-Elder-in-the-Mission Gets Another Son

Hey mom!

I don't think I can say it enough, but time just keeps on moving. True, there are days where things don't go as planned and the time seems to drag cuz I've been in the sun too long, but most days I can't believe how much I've done. I'm officially the oldest spanish elder in the mission (time wise) and it's weird. Everyone thinks I have all this wisdom and stuff...but I still feel just the same as I did a year ago.

I'm still in Cedartown and training a new greenie. His name is Elder Newman from Tremonton, UT. He's pretty funny but really quiet.

I just don't have enough energy to be the one talking all the time and trying to keep conversation alive, so the apartment is a lot quieter now haha. I'm also trying to help him with his spanish so the members here made me promise that I'd talk to him ONLY in spanish. that may sound kinda mean but he needs to learn!!! Oh, and Elder Nay got transferred to Chamblee!! Lucky dog! Not gonna lie, I'm kinda jealous cuz he's gonna get hooked up down there! I miss my chamblee-family!

The work up here is still as difficult as ever! We are working even harder to try and lift the spanish work and I think we're starting to make some headway. We're still working with the less active families that were offended in church or are just too lazy to come. It all begins with their testimonies. We're starting to do FHE's over here to try and strengthen them and also see if they will invite some of their friends to join us. Already wer'e seeing change in how they talk of the gospel and it's awsome!

Church was good. I fasted for aunty and prayed for her all day. There weren't any investigators to church but we did have the Cordero family there (less actives) so that was awsome!! They remind me so much of our family!

After church we were visiting with a less active family and I stepped outside to talk on the phone. While I was talking this girl walked by and asked if I was from "the church" I said yeah and then we started talking about some girl I didn't know. She then asked, "well aren't you gonna invite me to your church?" Of course I said yes! She just got out of jail wednesday and didn't like it much. She is trying to turn her life around and who better to help than the missionaries? So we'll be seeing her this week and getting her to church.

So many crazy things happen in life that make us lose hope or feel sad but whenever I feel that way I read Helaman 5:12 to remind me that as long as I'm doing what I need to to establish my foundation on Christ (hint: read scripts, pray, go to church) I can never be dragged down to "the gulf of misery and endless woe." We shared that with some LAs yesterday.

"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

Helaman 5:12

I'm glad coach johnson is back!! Tell that guys whats up! And tell everyone in california hi as well!

I am seeing a dentist and stuff wednesday so I'll let ya'll know how it goes. (I have been using "ya'll" a lot more since I got to C-town...I need to get outta here!!!)

Love you Mom! Love the fam too!

--Elder Heimuli