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