Letter 5 - It Gets Better and Better Each Time

Hi Mom!

Well again, I won't give a play by play (because they take forever and lately I've had no time haha!) but I will give the highlights of the week!

My tokos

So we had dinner at Riley and Raegan's house. They were very grateful for the wedding gift you sent and they really appreciated it. I believe they are sending something back to you as a thank you. Anyways we had dinner with them and Raegan's nephew LJ is on date for April 28th and he is ready for baptism. We all had dinner together and we just talked about the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how it applied to our lives. No matter how many times I share that message it gets better and better each time. The part about the boy Joseph Smith resonated with LJ since he is 14 as well. The lesson was awesome. Afterwards we went to sports night and played bball with LJ and tons of other people. So that was awesome. 

Next we went and watched Evan's baseball games. Evan is Kim's nephew and he is a stud. In fact I love his whole family, they are all soooooo awesome. Quick and I could tell it meant a lot to their family to have our support there. Not like they were lacking on people coming to the games but the more the merrier. But I have learned that missionary work, TRUE missionary work, just means you care. We didn't spout a lesson or invite him to baptism, but we just showed up and cared about his passion. We spent time with that family then went back to proselyting that night. It was fun and a great experience. And it's really been a busy, busy week for me and Quick.

Gave some service, moved a shed and got a workout at the same time

Easter Sunday was fantastic, too. So again those 3 families who are on date couldn't make it again :( We were disappointed.... but guess who did come? LJ, and Evan's family! We sat with all of them and then enjoyed the rest of the meetings with them. It was our Easter grace for the day. I know that church is a place where they can feel the spirit. It truly touches people, but even more so on Easter Sunday where we get to remember the sacrifice Christ made on our behalf. Soooo grateful for His sacrifice, and grateful for the pattern He outlined for us, so that we can return to our Father in Heaven and realize the blessings that come from obedience to His commandments. Christ was baptized, He obeyed the commandments of His Father, He submitted Himself to His father's will, and was raised from the dead, breaking the bands of death. And along that pattern, He is a pillar to which we can look when we are in pain, when we are struggling with trials, and when we think we can't move forward. Because Jesus Christ has felt it all. He is our Savior and our Gracious Redeemer. He has provided for us the way back to our Father in Heaven. 

This week was a pretty good one. And we are looking forward to the next couple of weeks. I'm a little disappointed I couldn't make to this year's family Easter egg hunt ;) haha but I'll make the next one. Love you mom and give the family my love!

Ofa Lahi Atu!

Elder Heimuli

***

Mama Heimuli,

Some of the highlights for this week is we had a lesson with LJ, at Riley's and Raegan's home. They invited LJ over for dinner, and we all had dinner and shared the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He basically taught us the lesson. We got to the point where we asked him what this specific picture meant. He told us "That is Jesus Christ giving Peter the authority." LJ understands everything really well. During the lesson I could feel the spirit just flooding the room. Riley and Raegan bore testimony and it was very powerful. We had LJ read the First Vision and you could just see in his eyes that the message touched him. It was neat. Afterwards we went and hooped up and were all able to create some bonding time playing basketball. Linda is his Grandma, and she told us something very neat - that she was appreciative of us, that the first time we were there was a day full of "firsts," that it was LJ's first prayer out loud. And when we asked him why he wanted to be baptized he said, "Because of my mom." She truly set the example by being baptized. We had a chance to spend time with the Huckabee family and go to baseball games. It was fun to watch Evan play ball. Missionary work is done in different ways all over. It was neat to see the passion of the boys playing baseball. It reminded me of my old days playing football and how much we loved it.

Easter weekend was great. We got to spend it at the Shoaf's home. They have a farm, so we got to spend time on their farm relaxing, eating tons of food, games and hanging with the family. It was very great.

Friday is the day we recognize as the day Christ was crucified. On that day I woke up and was just sitting there when the spirit hit me. I read all the accounts of when Jesus was crucified. How grateful I am for how much He loves me, to go through all the pain and sorrow He endured for all of us. I hope you all had a great Easter week. Love you :)

Elder Quick