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