Week 71 - Thank Him Immediately

Hi Mom!!! Things are going great here in the Land of Indiana Indianapolis. But things at home seem to be going good too. Wow those babies are getting big. They are so adorable haha! Hendrix has hair growing now (Got that from Norma) and Kiegan is so pretty!!! (Got that from Alyssa). I'm so happy to get those pics thank you so much mom! Also we heard about Annie, we are keeping her entire family in our prayers. A lot of missionaries here are from Davis County so they know the Schmidt family. May God bless them in the trial they are currently facing. 

What everyone told you about mission prep was right. Handling rejection is a big thing to know how to manage. Missionary work can get depressing sometimes because we expect things to always go our way just because we are missionaries. In fact there is a video called "Missionary Work and the Atonement" it's about 9 min long. I invite you to watch it. It's way good and talks about why missionary work isn't easy, and how the Atonement can help carry us through. Teaching from the Book of Mormon is another great topic because contains the fulness of the gospel within its pages. It's proof that Joseph Smith is a prophet. It's proof that we have the fully restored gospel. It is the keystone of our religion. The Book of Mormon also contains the answers to the questions of the soul. If we truly ponder and read, our sincerest questions will be answered. It says in PMG chapter 5 that questions can be resolved through the BOM. That's why we have this wonderful book brought forth in these latter days -- to provide light and understanding to the world!

Well this week has been fantastic!!! Here is how it went!

Monday- We had a lesson with a referral we received months ago and he finally texted us back! Miracle #1, so we taught him about our beliefs and he was intrigued because he has been studying multiple religions lately. He is also Muslim and he agrees with most of our beliefs. We were supposed to have a lesson tomorrow but we had to re schedule :/ But it was awesome that we got a new investigator!!! So after that we just did office work then headed to FHE that night. 

Tuesday- This day was just full of miracles. Before Elder Redmond and I went proselyting we discussed that we needed more faith. So we prayed for faith and went out with vigor and faith to see miracles. And boy did we see miracles!!!  We talked to EVERYONE and picked up 2 new investigators. Of course we also got rejected alot and we were walking around for hours!! We decided to sit down for a second when we received a phone call from President. He told us he received a referral for a Nigerian guy who was in his 20's and needed missionaries to come by. We asked why and he said he didn't know why, he just needed us to contact him. We called the referral and it was a guy named E. E told us that he wanted us to help him get closer to God, I just looked at Redmond and smiled. We set up a time to meet and we got his address. Right after that miracle we looked up and a member named Nina (she is awesome!) saw us and came over to give us some food!! That was a tender mercy from God. Then right as we were about to get up and start contacting again, one of Nina's friends came over. We starting talking to Nina's friend. She knew a lot about the Bible and she was genuinly interested. She had a lot of questions. After a 2 hr discussion, we set up a time for the next day to have a lesson! Yet another miracle we witnessed. God pretty much handed us people to teach that day. We knew God had blessed us that day and we thanked him after each and every lesson. For when God blesses you, thank Him immediately. I've come to learn that as I show gratitude for the blessings God gives me, he provides more. The more humble we are, the more we recognize God's hand in the things we do, and the more we see God's hand! It was such a great day. 

Wednesday- We had a lesson with E. Oh my goodness, God truly prepared this man. He has never met missionaries before and the reason why he called us was because he was searching on the internet "How to get closer to God."

No joke. He googled how to grow closer to God and our website popped up. So when we taught him he was open and willing to learn how to get closer to God. We talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how it gives us direction and how the gospel is the way for us to come closer to God. He understood and he was willing to keep praying and to keep asking God if this was the way for him. After leaving E's we felt like we needed to stop by H (another referral from a member). We stopped by her house with no lesson plan. We just decided to trust the spirit. When we knocked she greeted us warmly. It was great to see her because she hasn't been answering our texts or calls so we were so happy when she answered her door haha! We talked with her and we felt prompted not to teach her... Weird right? Well after our conversation she asked us, "Well, do you want to have a lesson tomorrow at the church?" 

We were astonished. She pretty much set up a lesson for herself. We set up a time and then left again just thanking God for the miracle He provided. But right after seeing her we had a lesson with Nina's friend. The lesson was rough. She had a lot of questions which were all anti or rumors she had heard. But it was funny because the last question she asked the day before was "How can I tell if Joseph Smith is a prophet?" 

And when we were trying to answer all of her questions that one question kept popping into my and Redmond's minds. Then we remembered the Book of Mormon we brought for her. Again, this was the key to all of her questions. We gave her the Book of Mormon and told her flat out that all these questions and rumors could be answered by reading the Book of Mormon -- proof of whether or not Joseph Smith was a prohet. We told her to read and pray because that's how she's going to find her answer. We can't force people to believe, but they certainly can choose to believe. She stopped asking questions and accepted the Book of Mormon. She hasn't texted us back yet but it was a miracle again that we were able to meet with her and that we were able to resolve the whole situation through the Book of Mormon. 

After that lesson we went Personal contacting and saw more miracles. We were walking out of the lesson with Nina's friend when a girl yelled out, "ELDERS!!!" We looked and saw a girl with neon green hair. We both looked at each other and thought, "Do you know her?" Haha she came over and told us she was a convert but hadn't been to church in a while. We talked with her and told her we would love to meet up with her the next day. What a miracle!! After talking with her a bit more we went to PC. At one point we were walking when Redmond was walking behind me and I could hear him mumble something. I kept asking him what he was saying when he finally yelled "Right there!!!" Immediately I swung around and stuck my hand out and shook the hand of a random person who I didn't even see haha! We talked. She was interested in how we have modern day prophets and wanted to learn more. So we got her number and then set up another time to meet. Miracle again. And it didn't stop there. As we were going to a lesson with another Less Active on campus we needed to talk to one more person. Some girl was walking by and she had a bunch of sour patches. I just said the first thing that popped in my head "Hey can I have some?" BAHAHA!!! She looked at me then said "Sure!" Needless to say Redmond and I got sour patches and a new investigator. She was really nice and her story was amazing. She has been searching for a church to join because she grew up agnostic and she was wondering where to go. We told her we could help her along her path to establishing a relationship with God and find a church she knew was right. We got her information but we weren't able to set up a time to meet :(  But it was a miracle nonetheless. We went to the lesson with the less active then found another Less Active convert, who yelled at us earlier and came up to us with one of her friends. Her friend was "Catholic" but she was interested in our message. So again we got her information and now we are going to try to work with her as well. SO MANY MIRACLES!!!! At the end of the day we were just so grateful for what God did for us. We went home exhausted too, haha!

Thursday- We were supposed to have a lesson with H but she got in an accident so now we have just been working on setting up another time to meet. But when she cancelled we knew that meant God just needed us to be somewhere else. So we went contacting again and found 2 new investigators out of 100 people we talked to that day haha! However we were getting a little tired and discouraged because 7 hrs of contacting is a lot on campus. We decided to take a break and then decide what to do next. Well remember the sour patch girl we met? We randomly texted her to see if she would like to meet up again. And she did! We had a restoration lesson with her and gave her a soft invitation to baptism. She said if she prayed and found that it was true, she would be baptized. That was all we could ask! It's amazing how many miracles you can experience if you have faith. That really lifted our spirits. After contacting all day we headed to Terre Haute for an exchange with the zone leaders. 

Friday- We went on exchanges to Indiana State University with the Zone Leaders there. I went with an Elder G Wright who played for Logan and was friends with Elder Freeman (man I miss that guy). It was a great exchange and we saw more miracles again! We also went to a ward Halloween party down there where I met yet another "Are you related to THE Lakei Heimuli?" fan haha! He talked to me for 2 hrs about how great dad was!!!! It's always a tender mercy for me to hear my dad's name out here. It's like a little comfort from home!

Saturday- It was the mission temple day where all the recent converts go and do baptisms. Because President Carlson has been gone to a mission presidents seminar the whole week, Elder Redmond and I had to keep the mission from falling apart before President got back ;) Jk Nah the missionaries are great so it was easy! After the temple event we had a lesson with E. We brought a recent convert who was also from Nigeria to the lesson. The spirit was so strong and the lesson went great!! In fact E is on date for November 19th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so excited!!! His only problem is that he works a lot so please keep praying he can find some time to get off of work on Sunday :) God has provided us with so many miracles this week!

Sunday- We had church and meetings. But the miracles came when we were planning for the week. One potential investigator told us she wanted to meet this week and we were all for it! Then the one girl that Redmond yelled at me to talk to, answered our call. Now campus is interesting. If someone answers your call AND remembers the time the lesson is scheduled for, they are solid. And she did both!!!! So this week we have a lot of good investigators to work with. Please keep praying for us mom! Thank you for all your prayers and thank the family for all their prayers as well. God is definitely providing for us and we can feel His love and guidance every day!

So that was our week. Miracle packed and busy. But I am so grateful to be on this journey and to be of service to our God. Give my love to all the family!!!

Ofa Lahi Atu

Elder Heimuli

Pics!

Week 70 - Be a Friend

[Note from Mom: We were in Hawaii for Grandpa Murray's 80th birthday. 

The time difference really threw me off and before I realized what time it was in Indiana, I had a letter in my inbox from Elder Heimuli :(  ]

Hi Mom! I didn't get a letter from you yet but this week was great!! Here's kind of what happened!

Mon- We went up to Lafayette and blitzed with the Purdue campus zone leaders. After the blitz we stayed there and had P-Day with their zone. We are trying to spend time with other areas and zones as much as we can. But it was funny, on the way up there they gave us the wrong address so instead of going to Lafayette we ended up in Marion...which is WAYYYYY out of our mission!!!! We didn't realize it until we pulled into Marion. So we hurried to get back into our mission boundaries and finally got to Lafayette! Haha!

Playing the uke while blitzing campus

Following pday in Lafayette Elder Redmond and I contacted Less Actives and experienced another miracle. We knocked on a door. This guy came out and was kind of like, "Why are you on our doorstep?" We asked if he was Javan or knew anyone by that name and he said no. "Oh no, he must have moved," we thought. 

While we were there we proceeded to talk with him. During the conversation he really loosened up and was a lot more open with us. Afterwards he took our number and said he wanted to take us out to lunch and talk more about what we believe. So that was a miracle, but another miracle followed when we realized we had the wrong! So we eventually found the right door and met the Less Active member. Turns out he lives with an Active member who served a mission in Georgia from 2008-2010.

Lord of the Rings sword belonging to a member who served in Georgia

We contacted that LA and are going to try to help him get back to church and activities. So we had 2 pretty awesome miracles!!! Other than that we just had dinner with a member and went to FHE with the Indy YSA. It was a good day!

Tue- We went to the office and finished any business that needed to be done. After that we headed out to the field and PC'd for awhile. We found lots of potentials, but again none really showed a sincere interest yet. After that we went out and went Less Active hunting. We went everywhere trying to find less actives. And none of them answered!!! Haha I laugh because they probably saw us coming and hid, but it was kind of frustrating because we had no success finding any of the LA's. Well after trying to do that we visited a family Elder Redmond used to teach who are on date for baptism. They are awesome and we had a great time teaching them and it was a great lesson. After that we just went back to the office to finish up any lasting things.

Wed- We had lunch with a member who was good friends with the family Wimmer and I visited in the hospital. Turned out he was a good friend of Elder Redmond! He took us out to lunch and we just chatted and then went back to our area. We PC'd that day and we talked to a lot of people! However, not many people wanted to meet up with us again :/ But hey, that's how it goes on campus. After PCing a bit we had a lesson with a Recent Convert. We had a lesson on Fear and Faith. I think we sometimes think that once fear passes we can have faith. But faith is the means of overcoming fear. For there is opposition in all things, and fear opposes faith. Faith is the POWER to overcome fear. 

After that we went to Institute and a cool thing happened. We were trying to figure out who to visit when a member, who we have been working with to get less actives in their neighborhood to come back, suddenly turned and almost out of nowhere said they might have someone for us to teach! She gave us a referral for a friend of hers who used to investigate the church but then she fell away. We were ecstatic! We also got another person to visit who is less active.

Thur- It was very cold and dreary (yes, i used the word dreary) and we were really tired the whole day. We had to wait around for some new cars to come into the mission, for about 6 hrs when we got a phone call and SLC said the cars weren't coming anymore :/ We decided we had wasted too much time waiting there so we went out and tried contacting people. Well it wasn't successful and we felt like we had wasted our whole day waiting for cars to come, it was cold, and no one wanted to talk to us. We broke for lunch and I laid down to take a short nap because I was so tired. At that moment God blessed us with a miracle. Earlier that day I had texted the referral the member gave me at Institute. And she called us back!!! We talked to her and she said she wanted to meet up with us in 30min! We were 45min away, so I immediately jumped up and we sped to go meet with her. When we got to her house we sat outside and talked. She expressed how the church was so good to her when she needed help and how the members were awesome. She mentioned she had felt like she was pressured into baptism and didn't feel the same way about church as everyone else around her did. This made her feel guilty because she felt she was just wasting everyone's time, but she still loved the church so much that she was willing to meet with us. After talking for a long time we decided that we weren't going to push her to be baptized but to do the best missionary work technique ever... BE A FRIEND. We underestimate the value a good friend has on people. This girls literally loved the church and the friends she found there. They helped her to feel good at church, and still help her through her troubles and hard times. For no one really cares what you know, but they will listen when they know that you care. So we decided to just help her and be her friend. I firmly believe though that as she continues to meet with us, and with members, and come to activities, the spirit will be there. The spirit will help remind her of who she is and can be. We are excited to work with her some more. After the lesson we had dinner with Bro Toney.

Elder Heimuli the hunter...nah

He is an awesome guy and I love him. Have you ever heard from his son in Utah? Elder Toney? Anyways, we had a great time!!!

Fri- We just had zone meeting and went PCing. Because it's Friday campus is pretty dead so we didn't find much success. But we did have a lesson with a Less Active who's on campus. During the lesson we talked a lot about prioritizing and putting God first. We can't expect to find time for God if He's not the first thing on the list  She really understood that she needed to change and she was willing to come to church. So we are expecting to see her this Sunday. It was a great lesson and after the lesson a member took us to PF Changs!!!! Oh my goodness it was so good:) so that was our day Friday.

Now we are just emailing and we are about to head out into a random area in the mission and try to help out the missionaries there:) So I'm excited for today!

Hope all is well mom!!

Ofa Lahi Atu!

Elder Heimuli

Week 69 - Must Not Look Back

Hi Mom,

Sorry for not responding yesterday. Things were busy as usual. But I was glad to see Dad survived the flag bearing duties ;) haha 

Lakei and Harrison getting ready to run out the flag at the BYU game

Those videos of Dad and Manase Tonga were really good. Thank you for sending them to me! Good to see the pics of my beautiful family :) And Bo, too! haha. Seems like things are going good. Congratulations to Sifa and Pua on their baby daughter, that's amazing!!!! Our family is just growing bigger and bigger. Speaking of family, maybe Ben can come out here and give me a hair cut ;) I need it, haha! He made Harry's hair look amazing! Tell Hevynn good luck from me at the fireside tonight :) If you can somehow record that I would love to hear it!

So this week has been really busy but here's the low down :)

Monday-  Elder Wimmer and I just got all preparations for Transfers done in the morning. After that we left straight for the airport to pick up the new missionaries coming in. There were about 6 coming in.

After picking them up we took them to the temple and showed them the beauty of the Indiana Indianapolis temple. It's funny how no matter how many times I go to the temple, it looks more majestic every time. After that we took them to the mission home and had a devotional with the new missionaries. Wow, they are more prepared than I ever was. Truly the missionaries coming out are being prepared by the Lord, and these missionaries will do great things. Following the meeting, Elder Wimmer and I went and picked up the new assistant.

Elder Redmond, Heimuli & Wimmer

Yup, I have a new companion. His name is Elder Redmond and he is from Dublin, Ireland. Pretty cool, right? I always get the awesome foreign companions! 

Tuesday- Transfer day. We showed Elder Redmond the ropes on transfers. He did really good! I'm excited to be his companion.

Elder Wimmer was released and went to Greencastle in a trio for his last transfer. He is a stud and I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to serve with him. So after transfers Elder Redmond and I met Jason Fanaika. He is Brandon Fanaika's brother who served a mission here in Indiana.

Elders Heimuli, Taka & Redmond with the San Francisco's 49ers' Jason Fanaika

We went out to lunch with him then we took the departing missionaries to the temple. Again I had a really great experience in the temple. I recently had been thinking about choices. People often wonder "What if I had done this, or how would this have changed if I had done something else?" 

And I started thinking the same kind of thing. What if i did this or that, would things be better for me? If I would have stayed home, would my life be that different? 

I had this same thought run through my mind while in the temple but suddenly, the spirit told me to stop. Then a talk by Jeffrey R Holland popped into my mind. Remember Lot's Wife. In his talk Elder Holland talked about looking back on the past, not just a glance back, not just reminiscing, but looking back with longing. I think about the choices I have made and I sometimes long for things I used to do. But I know I must not look back. I made choices to grow and develop. I'm here now because of the choices I have made and there is no reason to look back. I truly believe I'm meant to be here because of the choices I made. I am meant to be HERE, not meant to be where I was. So when I was pondering about what my life could've been like, I know none of that matters. I have the gospel and I'm so grateful. I have learned and grown from choices and it's about time I forget the past and not long for it. Another thing I'm so grateful for is the knowledge that the temple will always bring clarity and always bring answers when we search for them!

Leaving the temple

Wednesday- Elder Redmond and I dropped off the departing missionaries early in the morning. Following that we went back to the apartment to finish studies and other stuff, and then we proceeded to the office to do Transfer Fires. I have said this before, I hate Transfer Fire Day haha! So the whole day was devoted to that, then we just talked about our goals as companions for both our assigned area and for the mission. 

Thursday-  On Thursday we ended up giving a lot of blessings. At the beginning of the day we went on to campus and PC'd. We found some potentials again, but had yet to find someone solid. After talking to people for about 4 hours we got a call about a family whose baby almost died and needed a blessing. We went to the hospital and found this huge family there. I swear there were 30 people in this little waiting area. Only a couple of them were members. The spirit told us to give a blessing to the couple whose baby almost died. They were a part member family, and as we gave each parent a blessing the whole family bowed their head and listened. At the conclusion of both blessings the spirit just filled the room and everyone felt it. The doctor allowed us to administer to the baby and again the spirit permeated the room. And we weren't done yet. 

We remembered that Dr. Fruean (Samoan member) had a wife (non member) who was really sick. Their family is the one that Wimmer and i had gotten very close with. We decided to go and see how she was doing. To our surprise, there was their family. Again only one of them was a member. He asked us to bless his wife, so we did. At the end of the night Elder Redmond and I were just drained physically and mentally. However, I know it's truly a blessing to be worthy of the priesthood. In Mosiah 8:18 it tells us,

"Thus God has provided a means that man, through faith, might work mighty miracles; therefore he becometh a great benefit to his fellow beings."

I know that as priesthood holders we must remain faithful and worthy. If we do, we are promised we will see miracles.

Friday- President had interviews all week. On Friday we decided that we would go to the interviews because it was at the chapel right by IUPUI campus. 

We did, and we got to see Elder Wimmer. So after interviews  we took them out to lunch at a place where the burgers were just HUGE!!!! 

Look at this burgers! Probably why I ripped my pants ;)

After that we went and PC'd campus and again picked up some potentials but nothing super solid yet. Then we took a Pday because on Saturday we planned to be blitzing Columbus with Elder Pauu and Elder Woolsey. So we went and bought suits because both of mine had holes in them!!!

Saturday- We had exchanges in Columbus. Elder Redmond and I decided that we would go blitz areas instead of taking a full Pday so we could help get this mission going. We saw a lot of miracles. Due to nasty traffic we only had a little bit of time to be in Columbus. I decided that I would take Elder Woolsey to visit former investigators I had taught, and try to get them set up again. We went by Tessa's family's place. I first found them when I went tracting with Elder Cocker on exchanges a long time ago. Tessa opened the door and yelled, "Heimuli!!!!!" She then told me how they are all doing and how she was thinking about me just the other day. After having a conversation with her she agreed to meet with Elder Woolsey and Elder Pauu. After that lesson I wanted to visit Michelle, one of my recent converts. When we got to her place she wasn't there but her little brother was. I used to teach him. After talking with him he told me how he was just having some weird feeling that he needed to join a church. Since I left Columbus he's been church hopping. But now he is going to meet with the missionaries :) I was so happy!!! After that I showed Woolsey all the people they needed to visit. Oh and I also got to see my favorite family the Hydens :) I love them so much.

With Elders (L to R) Woolsey, Redmond, Pauu at the Hydens

We got to hang with them then talk about their families and stuff. It was good to catch up and help blitz that area :)

So my week was busy but great. Elder Redmond is an awesome companion and we are still working hard! Love you mom!

Ofa Lahi Atu!

Elder Heimuli

Week 68 - God Never Gives Us What We Want

Hi Mom!

Things this week were even busier than last week! 

But you seem busy as well as dad. Two days straight not being home? Lots of meetings? Poor guy:( But you got to see Hendrix on Tuesday and Kiegan on Saturday which is always a blessing! BTW those photos you sent me were so adorable!!! Oh my goodness those babies are just getting bigger and bigger, what a couple of cuties. Hey Bountiful won a game!!! Especially on the night of Coach Wall's recognition. What a legendary man and coach. I am so grateful to have been coached by him, I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for him. I know Helam feels the same way and so do hundreds of other lives he has affected. Grandpas 80th birthday coming up in a couple weeks and Hev's bday tomorrow :) Looks like you're going to continue to be busy mom;) 

So here is what has been happening this week!!! 

Mon- We had an early morning football game as a workout with the surrounding missionaries:) It was a bunch of fun! After that we went and did office work for awhile and went yet again to another football game the missionaries in our zone were doing!!!! So we had loads of exercise that day.

Service + workout at the same time

After that we had dinner with the Jameson family and it was good. They are awesome, In fact they went to Stanford to check out the campus and bought me some Stanford socks! So now I have the full wardrobe of Stanford gear:) After that we took some missionaries to a meeting with President and helped out there. 

Tue- Craziest day ever. Just a lot of different situations we had to figure out and a lot of downs throughout the day. But you know what? It's funny because Elder Wimmer and I always find the biggest miracles come after the greatest challenges. So we just kept grinding and kept working. It's a good habit to have because the hardest things in life will always bring the greatest rewards. So keep going, keep trucking, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel:) We also had dinner with Gus Toney and it was good to be with him again. We had a great time.

With Elijah Toney

Wed- We visited a LA member on his campus. We had a great lesson on gratitude because he came and watched a bit of conference with us! Gratitude was the biggest thing that stuck out to him and it should be. God gives us so many things to be grateful for, but more often than not we take them for granted. When a parent gives a child candy and the child doesn't say thank you do you think the parent would want to give the child another piece of candy if they ask for it? NO! But if we are grateful we will receive more blessings openly. When the ten lepers were healed by Christ, only one of them came back and thanked Him for what He did for him. How blessed is he who understands the blessing given to him from God? Are we truly grateful for what we are given? This week I have challenged myself to be more grateful for what I have in my daily prayers. I invite you to do the same:) So after the lesson he took us around his campus and we got to see where he studied and practiced because he plays on the basketball team here:) 

After that we attended some district meetings and spent time with the missionaries there. That way we get to know the missionaries and better understand how to serve them. Following that we went and visited some of Elder Wimmers RC's in White River and gave them some pretty awesome gifts, and like we were talking about I noticed those kids who were truly grateful for the gifts we brought and it made me want to bring more for them. After that we just went back to the office and did more work.

Elder Wimmer and I found this statue of Mary on campus

Thur- We went on exchanges with the Franklin Zone Leaders. It was great! There was a pretty cool miracle. We were tracting when we saw a guy just working on his car. We thought he was really busy and we didn't really want to bother him. Well we just went up and started talking to him and it went well. He had a tattoo that said faith on it but he said he was struggling with his own faith. We told him it just so happens that we have a message to share with you to increase your faith :) After having a lesson with him he said he would be willing to meet up with us again but he said that today was his only day off of work and we caught him at the best time. Coincidence? There are no coincidences in the Gospel :) So now they will be meeting with him later! 

Now another cool thing during a first contact at the door was a scripture Elder Morgan shared. He talked about Moroni's promise about reading the Book of Mormon and how we can know it's true through the holy spirit. The person we were teaching was very knowledgable (at least they thought they were) when it came to scripture. Well she asked, "How do I know if 'your spirit' will tell me it's true?"

Typically I reply that it's a warm feeling that will tell you. But in Galatians 5 it talks about what the spirit promotes and what it is. So think about it, after you read or ponder and ask if it's true, the scriptures teach us that if ANY of these things are what you feel in your heart when you read or receive a certain answer then you know it's true. As the scriptures say "by their fruits ye shall know them." The lady was taken back by it and the spirit just filled our conversation. Afterwards she wanted to meet again and learn more about the scriptures and what we believe :) So it was an awesome lesson! After that we had a couple lessons with some RCs back in the YSA and then continued running around grabbing things for the mission :)

Typical day in the truck all over the mission.

Fri- We had our transfer meeting with president for awhile. That's the time we discuss where and with whom the missionaries will serve. Following that meeting we did some service for a LA in Crossroads. After helping them out we had dinner with the Christensen family and talked about prayer and receiving answers. We just shared experiences and ways we can recognize how God answers prayers. 

Had dinner and lesson with the Christensens and their sons

Because it's never exactly what you think it will be. Because God never gives us what we want. But He gives us exactly what we need at the right time and place if we will patiently wait on Him. And He does so in many different ways. So what do we do? How are we going to be prepared to receive answers when we don't know in what kind of form they are going to come?

Well 1) we must commit to act on any prompting or answer we receive. Because God won't give us an answer we won't need to act on. 2) remember not our will, but His will be done; if we willingly accept God's will we won't have any problem recognizing His answers; when we are completely willing to rely on God and have faith, the answers will come. Just like in James 1:5 God is willing to give us answers. So that was a great spiritual lesson.

Sat- We did a lot of service and made all of the transfer calls :)

That's about it for my week. I hope and pray that everyone's week at home goes fantastic :) Love you mom! Give everyone my love.

Ofa Lahi Atu,

Elder Heimuli

Week 67 - Sound Familiar Mom?

Hi Mom!

I bet you were wondering where I went huh? haha Well I'm so sorry. Because of conference and some crazy things that happened I only had time to email today. But yeah I am still alive :)

You're one busy grandma! You are always babysitting the grandkids and I know you, Dad and Harry love it :) Lucky you. I wish I could babysit them haha!!! Hendrix is growing some nice looking curly hair tho! He looks so cute, but he also looks way too energetic ;) Kiegan is also looking pretty dang adorable. Haha I died at the picture of her moody face staring at Bo, just like her dad (always staring at Bo lol). But hopefully all the Heimuli fam are doing well. How are my sisters doing? I miss them all :) Congrats to Harry and his team finishing the season in the semis! He is a stud :) 

Thanks for the packages mom :)

This is what folks here call "making dumplings," but it's making wontons to me...and it's not even new year's :)

Things this week have been pretty crazy tho! Super super busy.

But I really just wanted to talk about a couple of talks that hit me pretty hard during General Conference. Elder Nattress's talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ was really good. He spoke about a time when he was a child and that he hated when his mom made him read the Book of Mormon together (Sound Familiar Mom?).  When he told his mom that he wouldn't listen, she told him why they read the Book of Mormon together as a family. She went to a talk given by Marion G Romney where he promised that if they read the Book of Mormon together as family that no one would be lost. She then looked straight at her son and said, "I will not lose you." 

Oh my goodness that made me and half the congregation cry. I thought about you. I thought about home. I thought back to whenever you would make us kids read. I didn't think it was fun at all. Neither did Hema, Helam or Hevynn I bet. Then one by one Hema left on a mission, then Helam, then Hevynn and it was just Harry and me. I thought about how much I would complain and murmur. Now it's just you, Dad and Harry, and I know when Dad has to work you still read with Harry. When I look back at it I know now that you just didn't want to lose us. And it's worked so far. Hema, Helam, Hevynn, all of them have served honorable missions and have also married great spouses. By their fruits you know if something is good and true. Well I see the fruits and I know that this is true. When we center our lives on His gospel, we have His promise of safety. The Book of Mormon is the evidence or fruit of the gospel. It outlines what we need to do to center our lives on Christ. So thank you mom :) Thank you for helping us keep our lives centered on Christ. 

I wanted to mention how happy I was to hear Bo went with Dad to Priesthood Session. I know Dad loves to go with his sons and it's a challenge with so much going on at work and in life. Another talk that hit me pretty hard was actually in Priesthood Session, the talk by Elder Holland on Home Teaching, but to me his talk was more about strengthening others and becoming true emissaries of Christ. He talked about living a higher law and not concentrating on the strictness of the law. As home teachers we think that our duty is to make our monthly visit, teach a gospel principle, and just check it off the checklist of different duties we have yet to do. No, a home teacher is an emissary of Christ. So is a ward missionary and stake young women president. We are ALL emissaries. As emissaries we need to have compassion and an unfeigned love towards those we serve. I liked Elder Holland's quote:

As for what “counts” as home teaching, every good thing you do “counts,” so report it all! Indeed, the report that matters most is how you have blessed and cared for those within your stewardship, which has virtually nothing to do with a specific calendar or a particular location. What matters is that you love your people and are fulfilling the commandment to “watch over the Church always.”

So are we "counting" or are we loving? Am I counting people who are baptized, or am I loving those who are baptized. Are we becoming those emissaries of Christ and lifting others up? These are questions we need to think about as we are going throughout our duties as home teachers, neighbors, family members and missionaries. 

There were soooooo many great talks I wish I could write about, but unfortunately I'm a little strapped for time. However I am so grateful for the direction we received at General Conference. May we all continue to seek revelation through the prophets for "surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets."

Have a great week!

Ofa Lahi Atu!

Elder Heimuli