Week 87 - Goodbyes & Hellos

Hey Mom:)

It's been a week full of goodbyes and hellos to a lot of very special people.

But first off CONGRATS to Ben and Ofa!!!! That's spectacular!! I can tell from your email that it was a very special occasion. Something I know you won't soon forget and they won't forget either. I'm so happy for them and so grateful for their decision to be sealed as a forever family, strengthening our eternal family at the same time. How awesome is the temple.

Yeah with Elder Redmond leaving, two new APs coming in to be trained, a big group of missionaries going home and another big group coming in, I have been pretty tired this week, but not as tired as you all back home. I have it easy compared to you all.  Again things are going well out here, just keep grinding and movin :)

Here is the Low Down of the Week :)

Mon- Thanks for the wonderful Valentines day package mom:) 

Valentine's Day delivery from home

Me and the rest of the whole office enjoyed the chocolate berries, haha! Tell Katie and Ryan thank you for the wonderful package as well :) I appreciate them always thinking of me. I'll be sure to send them a letter later this week as well when things calm down! 

Elder Redmond wanted to do something extra special for his last Monday as a missionary so we went to campus and handed out 40 BOMs. It was amazing. 

Headed to campus for Redmond's last day

We talked and testified about how no other book will bring them closer to God and Christ. Elder Quick and Elder Walton helped us out as well and we got a good amount of people who were very interested. I felt the spirit so strong during that time and i think I'm going to start handing out 40 BOMs more often ;) But again it was a great way to end Elder Redmond's last day as a missionary.

Departing missionaries add a heart to the "With Full Purpose of Heart" Mission Quilt. Redmond's in front. Heimuli's at far right cuz he's not going anywhere yet.

After that we picked up the new greenies!!!!! There were about 15 of them and we needed them here! I got to meet Sister Alapa, she is awesome and is going to be a great missionary. 

Elder Heimuli (in blue) greeting new missionaries at the airport

Sister Carlson (at left) and Elder Heimuli (right)

Welcoming the new sister missionaries

After picking up the new arrivals we went back to the mission home and had a little meeting with them. 

Following the meeting we went back to White River so that Elder Redmond could go to his last FHE with the branch. They love him, and it was good for him say his goodbyes to all of them (because he has A LOT of people he will need to say bye to in the coming week). 

Redmond & Heimuli at one of their last meetings together

We finished the night there then headed back to our apartment to get any of Redmond's last minute things packed. 

Tue- Transfers. I got my two new companions, Elder Gillman from Heber City UT, and Elder Shaw from Mesa AZ.

L to R: Elder Jesse Gillman (from Heber City, UT) and Elder Michael Shaw (from Mesa, AZ) are training to be the new Assistants to President Carlson!

These two missionaries are great and they will be outstanding in leading the mission I have no doubt. They are both Spanish missionaries as well. So during the transfers I just showed them the ropes and got them all situated with what they were going to have to start doing as APs when I leave. 

During transfers I also had the wonderful opportunity to meet Elder Redmond's parents. They came all the way from Ireland! They are such wonderful people and I'm sorry I wasn't able to snag a pic with them but I did get to talk to them and be with them for a bit and feel of their love. Sister Redmond also gave me a really cool Irish tie that I will definitely sport as much as I can :) After the meeting we went back to the mission home and had the departure meeting for all those people going home. 

We said goodbye to about 15 really good missionaries. About half of them were in our MLC so we had to call a lot of new leadership. 

Departing missionary dinner

Following dinner we went to the temple and again Mom I am so grateful to have this wonderful opportunity to be able to go to the temple and receive those ordinances for the dead. Also to receive such comfort and peace like never before. I love it! After the temple we spent the night with the missionaries. Elder Redmond left with this parents to get released and then go visit families around indiana. I was a little sad for me but really happy for him. What a great man and missionary. I have learned so much from him.

Wed- We woke up at 2:30am (yes you read that right) and took the missionaries to the airport. I told my new comps that they would get used to this schedule because it happens a lot. After dropping the departing missionaries all off at the airport we went back to our apartments and got situated by cleaning, unpacking, cleaning, cleaning, and cleaning.... (did I mention cleaning?) Following that we went to campus and started proselyting. Having 3 people in a companionship is hard but I've done it before and it is also always fun and interesting. We found a couple of people who were kind of interested but nothing super solid. After campus we went to institute and my new comps were able to meet part of the branch that was there. That was pretty much the whole day.

Thur- We had a lesson with Grace in the morning. We taught her about the true church, God's one and only church, as mentioned in Ephesians 4:5 "One faith, one Lord and one baptism." Elder Gillman asked her a really good question during the lesson about the feeling the spirit. He wondered if she had ever felt it before. She said no. Which shocked me because i thought she had felt it the whole time, but Elder Gillman's question provided a great opportunity. When we explained it to her, she recognized it and said that did feel what we were explaining to her, but she just didn't register it in her head. We invited her for baptism, and she was a little bit iffy again but we are still working with her. She told us that her missionary friend from the other church wanted to come this Sunday and see what this church was all about. So this will be interesting! We are excited! After that we just PC'd until we had a meeting with President. With President, we discussed a lot about the needs of the mission but especially what our roles were as APs. We talked about all the conferences coming up and then we left to go back to campus to PC some more. We have 3 solid people we are working with so we have been trying hard to increase our teaching pool. 

Fri- We were in the office almost ALL DAY!!!! Haha it was really boring, but it had to be done. I had forgotten how much there was to learn as a new AP. My learning time as a new AP seems so long ago. When we finished up in the office, it was late and campus was almost closed. We decided that we would go anyways and find someone. And we did! I met a guy names C.S. who was from Germany. He told us he was a Protestant but didn't really attend a church around here. However he wasn't really too keen on our religion either. Then i asked him a question about what happens after this life? He said he didn't know and I gave him a bold claim and a promise. I told him that we have the fullness of the gospel and the answer. I told him we could answer your questions because honestly if the BOM is true then that means the fullness of the gospel was restored. And if that's true then that means we have the answers about everything pertaining to His gospel. He suddenly seemed interested and said he'd come to church next week :) So please pray for him, and all of our investigators? :) Prayers help out a lot and they are our connection with the Father in Heaven. So pray often.

Sat- Mission temple day!

There were about 20 RC's there so it was really good. Elder Gillman and Elder Shaw are doing such a great job that I could leave now and they wouldn't even miss a beat. After that we went and cooked food for the cultural celebration YSA activity. I made spam musubi, haha many people don't like spam, I don't understand it lol! The activity was great too. Lots of good food haha! I'm going to come home 10 lbs heavier because of that.

Ofa Lahi Atu

Elder Heimuli