Update From the Ark

Beautiful Jaguariuna

Well...it poured almost every day this week. If it weren’t for the fact that the scriptures say that God promised never to flood the whole Earth again, I would start building an ark. The best day was when we got home to find that the sisters left the front room window open and the whole study room was filled with about 2 inches of water. That was fun to clean up. Baptism forms and pass along cards were literally floating.... 

Apart from the rain, this week was AWESOME! Easily one of the best weeks on my mission. Which is funny because nothing super extraordinary or adventurous happened. We just....WORKED a ton. And actually had results! 

Friday night the other pair of Sisters organized two members to take them and a family who are investigating the church to the temple. After everything fell into place to take them, their investigator cancelled. They asked us if maybe we wanted to take the rides and invite one of our investigators to go see the temple. We of course accepted and started calling around. We thought in P and M, our family who we have been teaching. But she didn’t answer. Nobody was answering the phone. Finally we did what we always do....fell on our knees and said a prayer. Sister M said that the first person we call and answers will be who goes. We finished the prayer and called P again. AND SHE ANSWERED! Better than that....it only took her about 2 seconds to accept our invite! So on Saturday we split into 2 cars and took their whole family (mom, dad, and two sons) to the temple.

At the Temple

It was an amazing experience. The spirit was so strong the whole time and the temple was of course BEAUTIFUL. There is a little room inside the temple that is a waiting room open for everyone. We went inside and sat there for a while enjoying the peace. A temple missionary who happened to be an older American gentleman came in and in the cutest Portuguese explained about how families can be forever and that the temple is the house of the Lord where we can make everlasting covenants that stay with us even when we die. It was really sweet and the spirit was just so strong. It was interesting because H (10) and I (2.5) were super quiet and respectful the whole time. They listened very attentively and weren’t even bored even though we sat for quite awhile inside. After he finished sharing with them a little bit about the temple he invited H to come back and eat a big mac with him sometime. It was pretty cute. P and M were just glowing.

We took some pictures in the front and then stood talking for a while in front because P said she didn’t want to leave yet....Sister M asked I (2.5) what his favorite part was. He left us all a little teary when he immediately answered very sincerely and reverently "to go inside". It was incredible. We could tell P and M were really touched. He could have said running in the grass or sticking his hands in the fountain that is in front....but for him the most special and memorable moment as a little 2 year old was to go inside and sit on the couch quietly in the temple. On the way home I rode with P. We talked for a good hour about testimony and about eternal families. She told me in the end that she has always felt she was the only person on the planet who felt that a woman’s purpose is to be a mother and stay home and raise her kids in the word of God. She said that she has always felt strange or even alienated for this belief. And then she said that she felt this way....until she met us. And now she sees that she is not alone in her beliefs. That this way of life is not dead. She was so impressed. And she told me that she is just loving getting to know about the church. It was one of the first times that she didn’t bring up her church and compare hers with ours. It was the first time that she really had a spiritual moment and I believe a testifying moment....that this church is not just a church. And that maybe...just maybe it could be for her. 

The next day their whole family went to church with us. They loved it. She told us she has tons of questions and is so happy and curious and agreed with everything she heard. She wants us to come before our normal time on Sat. So we will go tomorrow. We are so excited because SHE is so excited. We know that she is very involved at her church and is very stubborn. But we have a lot of faith and hope that she will find what she is looking for within the walls of the gospel and that she will have the courage to enter in. Please remember her and her family in your prayers. 

Celebrating the halfway mark...9 months.

I don’t know if I have mentioned Pa before but she is our "eternal investigator". We have been teaching her for weeks. And she was taught by the Elders before us too. She had a date to be baptized but then the elders left (or I should say...THE elder left....-_-) and she got confused. She hasn’t been talking to us for about a week. As a last attempt we bought her M&Ms and wrote her a cute little letter expressing our love and concern with a list of inspiring scriptures about going back to church and not giving up. (My favorite being 1 Thessalonians 1:8...which was really true considering how determined we are to help her) We then put it in her mail box because she wasn’t home. The next day she called! And asked to meet with us. We thought she was going to tell us to beat it and leave her alone. But instead she made us a huge dinner and then asked if she could be baptized! 0.0 It was crazy!!! We set up her interview for this Saturday and then she will return to church and be baptized next saturday. It will be our last week here and we can finish it off with a very special and very spiritual baptism. We are STOKED. To say the least. We are going to go to the temple with her before her interview and then come back in time for the zone leaders to get here and interview her. She is so happy. She cried with us. Her dream is to find her true love and be married in the temple for time and all eternity. This one little dream is leading her to make the best decision of her life. (And as a side note I invited her to my wedding (in the future) and to come hang out with me at BYU Idaho. She is 22. And we love all the same movies and books. Found my Brasilian best friend.) <3 Please pray for her too. She needs it. As she said herself…every time she wants to get baptized something bad happens that keeps her from going through with it. But we are determined to see it through. She is just too special to give up on her. 

Hiding under Sister B's bed to surprise her for her b-day!

Anyways....that was my week. Two events that may seem little but for us....it was like a huge Christmas present. I am so happy. :) And as a cherry on top...Elder Nelson asked me to lead the music at our multizone meeting with Elder Costa (Area President) on Wednesday. I love leading the music. So I’m stoked. Again. :) I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!! 

Alright, well I’ll stop bugging you guys and finish this up. I love you all and I am so grateful for your love and support. Have a great week! 

Sister Heyer

Ps- A wonderful friend of mine sent me a link to a video that I loved and thought I would share with you. :) Enjoy. 

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=911129092001

4 But as we were ^aallowed of God to be ^bput in ^ctrust with the gospel, even so we ^dspeak; not as ^epleasing men, but God, which^ftrieth our hearts.

9 For ye remember, brethren, our labour and ^atravail: for^blabouring night and day, because we would not be ^cchargeableunto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. - Thessalonians 2

Carnival, Desire, Tape and Gauze

Good grief. Probably the best way to describe this week. For those of you who don’t really follow useless Brasilian holidays (so...everyone) this week was carnival. The country´s excuse to not work for 4 days, drink until they drop, and do other horrible and disgraceful things in public. Needless to say I am not a fan. The only neat thing about Carnival is the competitive samba parade which is really quite neat seeing a ton of talented dancers doing themed Samba routines in the street around huge coordinating floats that make the Macy´s day parade look like grocery store brand cookies next to real Oreos. It would be ten times neater though if the dancers actually wore clothing. It is a mess of a holiday and even the people say so. But they still participate. It comes as no surprise to anyone that Brasil´s largest birth rate month is 9 months after carnival. Needless to say Mardi Gras is totally lame to me now and I have never been so glad  that we have a 9:00 curfew. :)

It rained a lot this week.  Not happy...

Apart from some unproductive contacts this week and lots of noise we had a few really great (and sober) lessons with some new investigators! We started teaching a new girl. She is 14 and she is so sweet. She has been to church twice and to seminary and then she asked her friend if she could meet with the missionaries. So we came and taught her the first lesson. When we shared about the first vision she cried. When we gave her a Book of Mormon she cried again. She was so grateful to hear that the truth exists and that she has purpose and most important of all that God loves her and won’t abandon her. Her story is very sad. Her dad left her and her mom and sister when she was little. Her mom has been dealing with schizophrenia and depression for years and so L has been the one who cooks and cleans and takes care of the family. She is very quiet and shy but very funny when she opens up. Her mom wants us to teach her too. We are very excited. When we teach L, the spirit is so strong it moves all of us to tears. We know that she is very, very special to our Heavenly Father. She agreed to be baptized in the first lesson. We just need to teach her mom too or she can’t be baptized for another 3 months of going to church because of the area rules about baptizing kids under 15. We are anxious to teach her mom this week. 

We have continued teaching P and M. It is very interesting because they literally believe in all the usually difficult things for people to believe in....prophets, Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon....etc. But they also believe in a whole stream of other things that are a bit conflicting. When we bore our testimonies this last time though the spirit was so strong it was almost tangible. M expressed that he believes and that where he is now in his church is not sufficient to him. He wants to make the change. She, however, is way more reluctant. We can see it on her face that she feels it’s true...but we also see the major conflict she feels about making a big change from something that she has been a part of for years. I can understand that must be difficult. 

Sorry Em, I am not bronzing those shoes! -Mom

This week Sister M and I were talking about how it is very interesting to find people who are looking for answers but when they find them....they don’t follow them because they still insist their church is enough. For me, if you are looking and praying to know about other religions then where you are is not sufficient for you. A person who truly feels they have all they need doesn’t look for more. Then it made me think back on my life growing up in the gospel and how not even once, did I have a desire to explore other religions. Not even out of curiosity have I been to another church or had a desire to hear from other missionaries. Thinking back I realize that its not because I am intolerant and don’t respect other religions. Or even that I am afraid to hear because I want to stay in my own little mormon bubble. But that in all honesty....it is completely unnecessary to me. I have no desire because I don’t feel anything is missing. I have what I need. My religion is more than sufficient and to me is completely unquestionable. I have no doubts. 

Sister M talked about how people who have a desire to look else where and find answers have it because God planted this desire to find the truth in our hearts. In every one of us we have a desire, be it big or small, to discover the truth of all things...to find direction...to find answers. This little seed of searching is what drives each one of us to read, to learn, to talk with others, to pray, to find, to think, and finally to know. What a beautiful gift. Imagine how much more difficult missionary work would be if God didn’t plant this natural desire in the human heart?  

Apart from this, my week was rather the same as usual. My friend Sister W almost cut my finger off with her razor and I almost had to get stitches but....seeing as how I made a vow never to set foot in a Brasil hospital I used tape and gauze and prayed. hahaha. (I joked how I have been wanting to loose weight but not really through blood loss and taking chunks out of me! ;P hehe) Also I got my two packages from Christmas! So we had a little christmas on Thursday afternoon. It was awesome. :) (Thanks mom!) <3 

I hope all of you are well. I love you all and am so happy to hear from you! <3 Have a great week! 

Sister Heyer

God's Plan IS Families

A pool....don't even get me started...

Well this week was interesting. We had a number of run ins with people only interesting in fighting. Which.....like I said won’t happen. But it did inspire me to do an intense bible study this week and find lots of scriptures to support every gospel topic. There is just so much to learn! I love scripture study though. It is my favorite part of the day.

We found a new family. They are an adorable family. They are currently only interested in learning everything we believe and seeing all the evidence that supports what we say. It is hard to teach people who don’t want to walk by faith....but insist on hard proof. Sometimes the answer is how you feel and what the spirit testifies to you. It will be interesting teaching them. They come from a religion that really doesn’t like our church but they are very respectful and truly want to learn what we know to be true. I am excited. It may be a bit of a challenge but they are very intelligent and very willing to learn. We really love visiting them.

Every missionary encounters a dog...

The bishop told us some exciting numbers this week. When we got here the number of members every week at church was around 80. Since we have been here we now have a frequency of 130. We have reactivated over 5 whole families just by visiting with them. Not one did we go in and try to convince them to go to church. We just talk. And share a little scripture or sing a hymn. And then leave. It is amazing to see what a difference it makes in their lives just to show them someone cares and remembers them. Sometimes all they need is a little love. 

Future Missionaries!

This week was our meeting with Elder Evans and his wife Mary Evans (who I swear I have seen before...). He is the president of....all the missions in the whole world. He is the mission board president. He talked the whole time about eternal marriage and having kids. At first we (MISSIONARIES) were very confused.....and then it all made sense to me. We are here to help build families. We need to understand this importance and have this desire to build our own families one day to really be able to help others. Gods plan IS families. And that is our job right now....help and build families in the gospel. It was beautiful and I doubt there was one dry eye in the whole room. Even President and his wife were teared up. It was a very neat and unforgettable conference and I am so grateful we got to hear from him. 

I hope everyone is doing alright. Thank you for all the love and support from home. <3 You all have no idea how much it helps me. I love you all and wish you a wonderful week. <3

Sister Heyer

It's raining, it's pouring, but missionaries are never snoring

Helloooo. :)

This one will be short! sorry.  

This week we marked two more baptisms with B and V. They are children of some inactive members who want to go back to church now. They are 15 and 16. They are awesome. They are reading the Book of Mormon and they go to church every week alone because their parents are still working on getting back to church. They are the ones helping their parents find their testimonies again and come to church. It is really neat to see. We love visiting with their family every week. 

This week we have a multizone meeting (again) but this time it is with the area president of Brasil Elder Costa. So....basically we are in major lock down right now because its kinda huge he is coming to talk to us. Hence why everyone got their hair cut today (even me) and half the sisters are buying new clothes (except me because I don’t want to). haha. That should be exciting. :) 

One of the assistants to the President was released and called to be our zone leader. That has been interesting. He is really helping keep our zone stay on track though so that’s a bonus. The new assistant is a different American now, Elder...well forgot his name and you wouldn’t know him anyways. I don’t know him yet. haha. But I’m sure he will be great. 

It is pouring rain these past few days like Noah´s days....which has been a blessing for Brasil because they were entering into a major water crisis. Butttt....as for missionaries made for a tough (and very wet) week.

One of our lost investigators came back!!! P wants to hear the lessons again. We had so much fun getting to know her this week. I love her. haha. She is very perky and happy. We will (hopefully if President lets us) be going to the temple with her on Tuesday evening. :)

 Read a great talk this week! 

http://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/08/in-his-own-time-in-his-own-way?lang=eng

Well thats about it from me. Sorry its boring. I love you all and I hope you are all doing alright. <3 

Emily

How is it that thou canst weep?

Well...prayers are answered because tomorrow is transfers and....I WASN’T transferred! Nobody in my house was. So....we are just carrying on. The members are super happy. Which made us feel really good. haha. THEY ACTUALLY LIKE US! 

The woman that thinks women are not capable of serving missions....got up and bore her testimony last week about how she was wrong and she loves the sisters. She apologized to everyone for judging the sisters before getting to know us. Then she went on a division with us this week and afterwards bought us all pastels and took us to her house and gave us a TON of new skirts and dresses that dont fit her anymore. It was a great day. Another proof that miracles happen.

V wasn’t baptized. She isn’t talking to us anymore. It was really heart breaking. But we won’t give up on her. I at least want to get a hold of her one more time so she can explain what happened and why she doesn’t answer the phone or is never home anymore. Or maybe we just need to let her go....find someone else. I just....struggle with dropping investigators. They are not just lessons and baptisms. They are people. And we love them. 

The hottest day of the year happened this week. That wasn’t the best day. 109 degrees.

Our week wasn’t very exciting. Just the normal stressed week before transfers....just to find out nothing will change so just keep going. :P Sorry that its so lame. 

Before I close I would just like to share a little spiritual thought that I received that fit perfectly with everything that I had been studying this week. Hopefully she won’t mind if I share her message but it was just so perfect and inspired that I had to include it. 

"It was a very good week for studying the scriptures.  I found a new favorite in Moses 7:28-47. [I will include some of the best verses of this scripture for you all. :)]

28 And it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the^aresidue of the people, and he wept; and Enoch bore record of it, saying: How is it that the heavens weep, and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the mountains? 

 29 And Enoch said unto the Lord: How is it that thou canst ^aweep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?

32 The Lord said unto Enoch: Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own ^ahands, and I gave unto them their^bknowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his ^cagency;

33 And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should ^alove one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they ^bhate their own blood;

 40 Wherefore, for this shall the heavens weep, yea, and all the workmanship of mine hands.

48 And it came to pass that Enoch looked upon the ^aearth; and he heard a voice from the bowels thereof, saying: Wo, wo is me, the mother of men; I am ^bpained, I am weary, because of the wickedness of my children. When shall I ^crest, and be ^dcleansedfrom the ^efilthiness which is gone forth out of me? When will my Creator sanctify me, that I may rest, and righteousness for a season abide upon my face?

This is so touching to know how much our Heavenly Father loves each of us.  When I was teaching this in Sunday School, I asked the class to go home and read it again and ponder about when He could have been weeping for us and the challenges we are going through.  As the world gets more and more wicked and is getting to the same places of evil that existed before the flood, I'm sure He weeps for us.  This makes it so much easier to try to ease burdens of those around me and to try to encourage others.  This really helps me to be more kind and loving.  We just have no idea what others are going through.  We just need to be better at being "our brother's keeper" and care for one another."

I too was reading this chapter this week and I made a personal vow to do all I can not to make my Heavenly Father weep out of disappointment and sadness over me....but out of happiness and relief that I am trying my best and that I made it home to Him some day. After reading this thought from someone I love dearly I realized that part of my little vow should also include that I will do all I can to help my brothers and sisters also witness the tears of joy on God´s face that they conquered the fight and made it home. 

I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week. <3 

Sister Heyer

Miracles are Real

Hello friends and family! Hope all is well. :) 

There was really only one thing this week that I can remember because of how incredible it was. So this email may be small but the miracle that happened was not small for Sister M and me. 

This week ALL of our appointments fell. We had about 15 marked and ready to go through out the whole week...and all of them fell through. We made 200 contacts just walking around trying to get into houses. So needless to say by Saturday we were a bit depressed. We went to the church to use the phone in the Bishops office (yes we have permission ;P hehe) and after we had all of our appointments for Saturday also say they can’t anymore we just sat there wondering what to do, a bit defeated. Sister M spoke up and told me a story about when President Costa (who is the area president of Brasil) was president of one of the missions here, an elder went in for an interview and started to complain about how he couldn’t find any work to do. President Costa asked him if they were being obedient, making contacts, getting member references, fasting, praying....the elder answered yes to all of the above. The President Costa asked...."Well who do you want to find?" The Elder looked confused and answered "investigators". President Costa proceeded with a number of questions: 

Who? 

Elder: A Family

 How many members of the family? 

Elder: A mom, a dad, with two little kids

What age? 

Elder: The parents are 25-30 and one kid is in primary the other is a youth.

What do they look like? 

Elder: White shirt, jeans, she has a flowered dress....etc.

Where will you find this family? 

Elder: In the neighborhood____. 

What street? What day and time will you find them? 

Elder: Street ____ Wednesday at 5:30 pm. 

And finally after the Elder had gone through and created everything about this family he wanted to find and teach....President Costa said: "Okay Elder. Pray for that. And good luck." He was instructed clearly that he and his companion needed to get there EXACTLY at 5:30 pm like he said. If they got there too early Satan will put people in his way that seem like the ones....but will just make them miss the real family. If they get there late they will lose the opportunity. The Elder, probably thinking President Costa was a little nuts....knelt with his companion and they did just that. And at 5:30 on Wednesday they went to the street and found a family....EXACTLY what they had described. The family was baptized. 

It was a neat story. A crazy story. But....missionaries in general are a bit crazy, so when Sister M finished the story I looked at her and said, "Well...lets pray!"

Telephone booth?  What's that?

We knelt in the Bishops office at 6:30. We prayed to find a recently and LEGALLY married couple of 21-26 years old who have a baby who is 0-1 years old. The husband would be wearing shorts and a white shirt and she would be wearing a pink shirt and jean shorts. We would find them at the park which is just a little bit down the street from the church at 6:45 on the dot. They will be looking for something different in their lives and they will be receptive. 

We closed our prayer and carefully started on our way to the park. We had 15 minutes to spare so we took the long way, being very very careful not to be stopped by crazy people or get run over by a car or something horrible. haha. Finally we got to the park entrance at 6:44. We waited in the entrance for one minute so that we would enter exactly at 6:45. Finally my watch struck 6:45 and we walked in....slowly...searching for our miracle. I think we were both full of faith but also emotionally preparing ourselves for disappointment. We looked and looked and nothing fitting the description was there. And then... a car pulled up to the park....and we held our breath as a woman, in a pink shirt and jean shorts, and her husband, in a white shirt, and shorts helped a little 1 or so year old baby toddle out of the car and walk into the park. Sister M and I just stood there staring, shaking, and completely dumbfounded as our MIRACLE walked onto the playground and sat on a park bench just a few feet away from us. Finally after gulping in some air and back some tears we went to talk to them. A and L (ages 24 and 25) are a new couple legally married who don’t really frequent any religion and have a 1 year old baby boy. They were receptive and kind and we talked to them for a long time. They live close by and they had heard of the church before. We tried not to cry as we told them about how their beautiful little family could be together forever into the eternities and have everlasting happiness. 

Never ever in my whole life have I experienced such a clear and VISIBLE miracle and answer to a very sincere and desperate prayer. Miracles are real. God is real. And better yet....He loves us enough to answer our prayers. When I got home I opened up my scriptures and found these beautiful and clear verses found in Mormon 9:15-19:

15 And now, O all ye that have imagined up unto yourselves a god who can do ^ano miracles, I would ask of you, have all these things passed, of which I have spoken? Has the end come yet? Behold I say unto you, Nay; and God has not ceased to be a God of miracles.

 16 Behold, are not the things that God hath wrought marvelous in our eyes? Yea, and who can comprehend the marvelous ^aworks of God?

 17 Who shall say that it was not a miracle that by his ^aword the heaven and the earth should be; and by the power of his word man was ^bcreated of the ^cdust of the earth; and by the power of his word have miracles been wrought?

 18 And who shall say that Jesus Christ did not do many mighty ^amiracles? And there were many ^bmighty miracles wrought by the hands of the apostles.

 19 And if there were ^amiracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he ^bchangeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles.

A very large lizard Emily almost stepped on!

My invitation to all who are reading this is to look for the little (and big) miracles in your every day life. Every little thing that our loving Heavenly Father gives us. And then when you find them (as I know you will), fall on your knees and thank God for sharing His little miracles with you so that you can find just a little more happiness that day. That´s my personal goal for not just the rest of my mission, but for my life. 

Thank you for all of your love and support. And for the advice on how to cook the Talapia that we were given last week! Dinner will be fancy tonight. ;) As always, you are all in my prayers! I hope you all have a wonderful week! <3 

Sister Heyer 

These aren't Lessons. They are People.

Hello from the land down south where it is about 2 degrees away from being able to bake a cake on the sidewalk. 

Currently it is raining....but the skies are bright blue with puffy white clouds. Rain is falling from a perfect sky. Is that one of the signs of the second coming? Brasil is sometimes a very strange place.  

This week....was hot. And fast. Longest days but shortest weeks= a mission. This week we marked a baptism date with V for February 8th (please pray for her). We also made 435 contacts in one day (not a joke...it was awesome). I taught a man on a park bench all by myself the entire first lesson including the first vision while my companion taught someone else close by. That was a first. I have never taught a whole lesson somewhere that is not inside their house. We were given a huge carton of Talapia (the fish) from an investigator...no one really knows how to cook it so its in the freezer. Went on my first division with one of the young women. It was so much fun. And we had 4 progressing investigators, and 3 inactive families at church on Sunday. It was a GREAT week. 

Saturday we did an activity with our ward in the center of the city where there are tons of people. We set up big posters of Christ, Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, a girl praying....all with scriptures on the bottom. We had two tables full of pamphlets, O Livro de Mormons, The Family Proclamation, pamphlets on the temple, and a TON of pass along cards. The members came and passed out cards and talked with TONS of people. We all were able to get more than 50 addresses of people who are interested in learning more. Even the primary kids had fun giving out Liahonas (oops the Ensign) and invites to church and candy for the kids. It was so neat. The members really did an amazing job. Various taught about the gospel to people sitting around the center and they were so excited. Especially the Young Women. One of the women in our ward who thinks that girls shouldn’t serve missions was actually there....looking a lot like a sister missionary. And she taught multiple principles of the gospel and got us some great new families to teach. She seemed super happy but when we caught her eye she got super embarrassed and huffy about it. It was....well no offense but it was funny and gratifying to watch her realize that missionary work is for EVERYONE. :) It was an awesome activity and our ward will now do it once every month. 

We had a multizone meeting that basically changed my whole mission. It was so....inspiring. And we did some amazing practices that were SO hard but we really walked away from it learning something. I realized that I can teach a lot better than I give myself credit and I need to stop being such a baby about feeling insecure. We did one practice and I actually nailed it for the first time ever. And I felt so good. I think what made it all work out was that I just said what I felt and was confident about it. One thing President talked a lot about is how we need to teach with confidence because we know it is true. We have no reason to fear or doubt what we are saying because we know it is true. Just speak the truth. If they don’t agree or accept move on. But you can leave knowing you spoke the truth and you did your part. He encouraged us to be more creative as well. Not to fall into habits of saying the same thing like its a rehearsed play. These aren’t lessons. They are people. It was overall a wonderful meeting and I walked away from it with a new vision and a new determination to enjoy these last 9 months. 

Yep....9 months left. I am just a few weeks away from being technically half way done. But since I will be coming home a week or two early because of transfers....I am already half way done. The strangest part....well besides the whole "I cant believe how fast it went" part....is that now I am missing home less and starting to miss my mission. And I’m still here! But even just imagining leaving makes me sad. The future is full of so many questions. Here is just....work, serve, do your best, be obedient, and draw closer to the Lord. Everything is planned and....although it is not easy....it is a bit easier in a way than real life because you loose yourself so much in good things. It’s really just....the work of the Lord. No big life decisions. It’s funny how when you leave home a mission seems like such a sacrifice, then for the first half it becomes a challenge, the last half it is a blessing and then as you finish….it's almost a sacrifice to leave it all. I love my mission. Took me half of my mission to realize it. :P haha. 

Anyways enough sappiness and reflecting. Thank you for all of your emails. I love you all and I wish you a great and cold week while I sit here and cook (my new nickname here is Sister Pimenta....Sister Pepper). ;P Tchau! 

Sister Heyer