Well, Sunday sounded SUPER busy for ya. But congrats again to Harry for his ordination and for making it another year ;) And oh geez I swear you can't catch a break. Thank you for providing for me as well though, I know it's not easy with everything going on but I appreciate everything you and dad have done for me out here and at home :) I love you two a lot.
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| Sister Breck wanted to mail Elder Heimuli off to Ireland but he wouldn't fit in the box |
So this week was a little slower, and we have kind of lost contact with a lot of investigators :( so it's a bit of a struggle but we are still pushing. Here are some highlights of the week!
We had a couple of lessons with LJ this week. The first one we taught about the Book of Mormon and how it applied to our lives. We challenged him to read it and later that night he had already finished the first chapter! Amazing! But after the lesson we discussed his baptismal date and he decided to wait a week so most of his family can attend. I totally understand. His new date is May 6th. We had another lesson with him about the Plan of Salvation. His mom was also there. She is an awesome lady. During the lesson I could tell she felt the spirit. By the end when we started talking about prayer, she said something that most of are thinking but usually not honest or brave enough to say. She shared with us that she hasn't prayed in a long time because she feels like she doesn't want to pray to God only when something wrong happens. I admired her honesty. She doesn't want to be selfish and just pray when she wants something. But I recalled the Bible Dictionary definition of Prayer. It talks about how prayer is a way to secure blessings from God, who is willing to give blessing freely, but only on the condition that we ASK for them. When we choose to pray, and ask in faith, we show our reliance on God. So it's actually not being selfish to ask for help. I know that if we can bridge our DESIRE to pray, it will develop into FAITH. And I think she seemed to understand because she committed to pray. LJ understood the lesson, too, and he seemed interested in the kingdoms and the afterlife. It's really an amazing message that honestly testifies of how much our Father in Heaven loves us. How much He wants us to return to Him, that He sent Jesus Christ to become a pillar in the plan and in the gospel.
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| Heimuli & Quick |
We also had a lot of service opportunities this week!
One of the best ones was going to Grandma Banks' farm and cutting down A LOT of trees. Grandma is an amazing woman who when we were cutting down trees she was out picking up wood and twigs all by herself. If we ran over to help she would tell us to "Stop wasting time, and cut down more trees!" haha! But it was fun. We also helped a young man with his Eagle Project. I remember what a relief it was to get mine done, so we were happy to help him with his. I told you the week before we moved sheds? This time we helped move some canoe racks over. They were heavy, but we have an Elder Taka and an Elder Quick so it's no problem for us :) haha. Then the kid's family took us out to a place called Taku. It's similar to Benihana so we got to enjoy some dude throwing knives and food up in the air everywhere.
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| At the Eagle Project moving canoe racks |
When Sunday rolled around, Elder Quick had to give a talk and I had to teach the lesson in Elders Quorum. Quick spoke on prayer, and he hit it out of the park! I always learn a lot from him. No, he didn't really say anything new or unique. But it's like when you really pay attention, you notice that what general authorities say in general conference isn't new either. It's the essentials every time but it also resonates differently every time. There are times where we really listen to one message and ignore the others, then in a later conference we listen to the other messages and ignore the one we focused on before. The point is, just because someone says something that's already been said a thousand times, the spirit will always help us understand the message differently according to our needs. Quick's message wasn't new, but everyone could feel his own personal witness of prayer, and how it helped him in his own life. After that amazing talk I gave the lesson in priesthood. It went well. We all discussed the Book of Mormon and how it is the keystone of our religion.
So those are some highlights from this week. This week we have zone conference, interviews, and some projects coming up so the next letter might not be as long ;) haha.
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| Elder Heimuli's parents got this letter in the mail today! |
But anyways thanks for everything mom! Love you all!
Ofa Lahi Atu
Elder Heimuli
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Wanna start off with the good news!! So Heimuli and I were with LJ talking about the Book of Mormon, it was a very powerful lesson we had with him. We read the first chapter and introduced what it entailed. At the end of the lesson, I wish you could hear LJ pray! His prayers are so sincere and so meaningful. You can feel the spirit flood into the room! We then left to go play basketball with him and others. We committed him to read the rest of the chapter, by the time we had gotten to the Church to meet back up with him he already had read the entire chapter and understood it and told us all about it. We came back the next day to talk a little about the plan of salvation, the spirit was so prevalent, you could feel it, it was like the air was thick -- that is the best way I can describe it. As we went through the lesson, Linda (Grandma) and Ana (Mom) were able to support big time, and able to be there for him if he needs anything. To be honest, it is such a blessing to be able to feel of all their love and camaraderie they have for each other. By the end of the lesson Ana really opened up about prayer and how it is hard. We were able to talk about prayer and how we pray, what we do and why we pray. LJ even bore his testimony and offered to pray at night with her.
Speaking of prayer, I was asked to give a talk at church this Sunday, it was a great experience for me. They asked me to speak on James 1:5. We quote this and talk about this scripture all day long. So it's easy, right? Well not really. I thought about the different ways I could go and the things I could say about it. But it came to me one night as I was just laying in bed. I couldn't sleep, and I was just thinking and thinking about this scripture and so about 1 a.m. I got out of bed and sat with the door open and watched the thunderstorm and the sheets of rain coming down. I pondered the words of James and knew what I was supposed to talk on. Short summary is James 1:5, the order of prayer, basically how we pray. Why we pray. Pray vocally. Joseph Smith, the first time he prayed vocally a miracle happened. On that day he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. That experience changed the world! And with our experiences with prayer, we can change our world, which will change the world of others. Elder Bednar told us to Pray, Listen, and Pray again. The answer may come right then or in a little while, but after you get the answer, say another prayer to give thanks and ask what more you need to know about that answer. Elder Dolandson said "How much time does Heavenly Father spend listening to us? And how much time do we spend listening to Him?" I really appreciated giving that talk on Sunday. It really helped me a lot.
I had the chance to go see Pepi this week, she was in the hospital in Indy. We visited and talked with her about the different things she was going through and how much we loved her and cared for her. It was really neat to talk with her after being gone. We ended up giving her a blessing. She was pretty sick. I appreciated the time I was able to spend with her and just talk about how when we apply the Gospel it changes us. But we have to choose it.
Have a great week everyone:)
Elder Quick
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