Sounds like Thanksgiving was a blast :) It was good here as well. But what a great game to play -- a game to remember everything you're grateful for :) I love it! And I am grateful that you all thought of me. It really means a lot to me. That scripture you read is a great scripture. I'm going to go home and write it down because just as you're grateful for a father who is Christlike, I'm grateful for my family, who are all Christlike. I'm not lying when I say that I truly believe I'm the most selfish one in the family. Even now on my mission, I know you are always praying for me, thinking of me, working hard, helping neighbors and friends, balancing church callings, etc. Yet you all find time for me and take time to express your appreciation to God and to everyone around you. I'm grateful for my parents and grandparents who have led the way for all of us children :)
Well, here's what happened this week.
Mon- We did some more transfer prep then headed off to pick up the new greenies.
It's always fun to see their faces when they first come into Indiana! They are so happy and they are ready to work :) It's all of that greenie fire haha! This is the 6th set of missionaries I've picked up and I'm still uplifted by their determination. So we just spent the day with them, then had a meeting with President about transfers which were happening the next day. Oh and a side note, one new sister is from Bountiful and she graduated the class after me! We talked about alot of the same people from home so it was fun. After meeting the new missionaries we headed back to the office to finish any last minute changes.
Tuesday- Transfer Day. The longest day of my life haha! We woke up around 5 am and got ready, then we headed over to the mission home and made breakfast for the greenies.
After that we took them to the chapel and had them meet with the various office and medical staff. Then Elder Redmond and I pretty much gathered all the missionaries together and made the necessary switches. We ran around, moved cars and gave cars to certain missionaries, collected keys and stuff for areas we were closing down, made sure everyone knew who their companions were and where they were supposed to go. We resolved any issues with luggage and new stuff. So that took about 3-4 hrs. After that we took all departing missionaries home and we had a little testimony meeting altogether.
Elder Wimmer was in this last group that just left. It was sad :( It's so weird seeing all of my companions go home. Elder Redmond leaves in 3 months which will be weird, too! Anyways following the testimony meeting we went to the temple for an endowment session. Following that we all headed back to the mission home to chill.
We ate dinner with President then we all just kind of talked and chilled. It's fun also to see the reaction missionaries have at the end, and in the temple. You can really tell where their heart lies. I noticed one elder who was just weeping in the corner near the back. He was nodding his head as if to say, "I tried. I did my very best." That's all God truly asks of us -- just for our devotion and time. Not all of our Ability, but all of our Availability. After all of that, we slept.
Wed.- We woke up at 330 am to go to the airport to drop off all of the departing missionaries. This group was awesome, especially since one of my friends was leaving too. Elder Wimmer was and is a great missionary, and I learned alot from him. I hope that I can be like him as a missionary. After that we handled all of the transfer fires. There weren't many fires to put out, but there were questions about everything. Following the fires we went to Presidents and discussed what we needed to do for the upcoming Recent Convert Temple Trip on Saturday. So even though transfers ended on Wednesday, we still had a big event on Saturday. We finished the meeting and helped with any other minor issues, then went home and finished our studies, then went to bed. So it wasn't super exciting but it was busy haha!
Thur.- THANKSGIVING! Well, we started off with a turkey bowl of course :) I was sooooo happy! I think Elder Redmond was a little annoyed with me because I starting bothering him early in the morning to get up so we could be the first ones there. Needless to say it was a blast and we got to see alot of other misssionaries. Well, right after the turkey bowl Aunty Tua called and told us to come over to her place for Thanksgiving lunch. Well we had nothing else planned so we did :) It was at Pastor Manu's house. He is a really nice guy. We ate ALOT of food. Like ALOT ALOT. Haha we still had another dinner to get to as well, but we got to catch up with Aunty Tua and her family, and we got to spend time with all the nonmembers there. Then she told us about Dr Fruean's wife's funeral celebration they were having the next day. We said we would come and she insisted we bring Elder Taka too. After all of that delicious food we went over to Sister Banks' house. She is a single old woman who loves missionaries. She is the kindest, sweetest, but also most stubborn and opinionated person :) She is so much fun to be around! She fed us EVEN MORE!!! Trust me, I'm still trying to work off all that food!! haha. But the entire day of eating, I was really grateful for all of the loving people who were more than willing to have missionaries with them on Thanksgiving. Literally mom, everyday, a member asks if we have a place to eat. Members really take care of us out here. It's pretty humbling to have other people help me. I am not humble in that regard. I am one who doesn't like to accept help from others. I'm pretty prideful that way. But I am grateful for the humbling experience of not only helping others on my mission, but also to receive help from others. To learn to appreciate what people do for me because the greatest appreciation we can show is to accept a gift. It's like the Atonement. It's a gift God has provided, paid by the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ.. We must learn to be humble and learn to accept this gift, and to use it. That's how we can show God our love and appreciation, by not being scared of the Atonement but by embracing it. That's what I'm thankful for :)
Fri- So the day after Thanksgiving we were in a food coma. That day we walked outside and we saw a bunch of people moving in and out in the apartment below us. We walked up and asked them if they needed help with anything and they said they were okay. They were actually helping their grandma move in,. We asked "Where is she from?" and they replied "Salt Lake City, Utah."
Haha! I was shocked. It looked like a nonmember escaped Utah unscathed and unconverted ;) haha, well I told them I was from Utah and only like 10 min north of Salt Lake City. The movers told us they had toured Temple Square and would love to go back to see it again. I told them there was a temple right here in Carmel Indiana and they did not know that. We offered to take them on a tour if they ever had the time. Next was the celebration for Pat Fruean. Instead of a funeral service it was all music and traditional dances. It was good. Reminded me a lot of home.
The performances were great and we really enjoyed it. Then we got to talk to a lot of people afterwards. It was funny, Elder Redmond introduced me to a member named SIster Afiaka (?). As I talked with her she told me she lived in Hawaii and then in Orem. I asked her if she knew the Pili's and she said, "Yes, Ifo is my cousin." I told her I'm related to the Pilis :) She asked me who my grandma was and I said Norma Murray. She rolled her eyes and said that this thing happens at every Poly function! Haha so I guess I met a distant cousin at the celebration ;)
Again, just a little tender mercy God gave me that day :) After all of that food, talking, and cleaning up we headed back to the office and finished some more work, then we went to bed.
Haha! I was shocked. It looked like a nonmember escaped Utah unscathed and unconverted ;) haha, well I told them I was from Utah and only like 10 min north of Salt Lake City. The movers told us they had toured Temple Square and would love to go back to see it again. I told them there was a temple right here in Carmel Indiana and they did not know that. We offered to take them on a tour if they ever had the time. Next was the celebration for Pat Fruean. Instead of a funeral service it was all music and traditional dances. It was good. Reminded me a lot of home.
Sat- So we had the Recent Convert Temple Day today and it was a success! Not many people came, but it was great :) I actually got to talk to a recent convert who told me a cool story about how he was found. He goes to Purdue University. I asked him what made him interested and he told me the Plan of Salvation resonated with him. It just made sense that God would do that. God wouldnt just desert anyone. He told me how his father died and he felt like his dad deserved a second chance. Again, another gift God has given us that we can use. Anyways it was just really cool to see how much we have to offer people. How much truth we have readily available for others to partake of. It's really just an issue of doing it.
So my week was just a little boring but very busy :) I hope to write more about investigators next week since we weren't able to see any of them this week ;/
Love you mom, and tell the family I love them as well!!!
Ofa Lahi Atu
Elder Heimuli
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