The last 2 weeks of missionary updates :)

December 3rd, 2012

Online Chat with Elder Heath!!

Branden: Good morning mom and dad! This week my keyboard has a question mark!!! ??? ha How is everyone?

Dad: Good Morning, We are wonderful.  I will go gather mom and Trevor.  Dad

Branden:  Awesome! Sorry it took a little long for us to get to the lan house. We did a deep clean of our house this morning. President Souza is coming to our house this week!  And I am trying to start a habit of exercises so I jumped rope and did some arm workouts! 

Dad and Mom:  Mom and I are here now.  How has your week been?  Have you read our original e-mail?  Will you be able to print the essay questions or will you need to write them down?  What is the Ian House?  Do other missionaries live there?  Or is it an internet cafe type place?  Good job with the exercising.  Are you having a zone conference with Pres. Souza?  How long do you have to be on the computer?

Branden:  My morning has been awesome! Thanks a ton for the essay questions! I will be able to print them out to work on them. The questions are a little different this year with the choice of 5 characteristics  And yes I read the e mail! Sounds like Tony´s  ordination was awesome! He even blessed the sacrament! I really cant wait to see tony again and see the difference in him. It almost doesn't seem real that he is so active! I wish I could give him a huge hug! Did Cameron enjoy it? Did you tell him hi for me?

Mom:  I told Cameron that you are excited to see him when you get home.  I guess that is kind of like telling him hi!  He looks really good and seems to be happy.  He was excited to have the gluten free bread and cookies I made.  Alex was too.  They are both really doing well.

Branden:  Ya, it is a internet cafe. ha We have one hour to be on the computer, and ya, we have our Christmas conference with Pres. Souza this week! Together with a talent show that will take place!  This week will be packed! On Tuesday we are traveling to Fortaleza on the bus, then Friday we are giving the zone conference, with the trainings and everything. Then on Sunday we have district conference! It will be a busy week!

Mom:Are you participating in the talent show? It sounds like life as a zone leader is quite different for you.  Are you still going out and visiting investigators?

Branden:  I will play a song on the guitar.. or a melody of four songs. Two in Portuguese and two in English put together! Ya, Life as a zone leader is different. We work in our area still! Oh ya! But lots of times we need to put others in priority

Branden:  So we do lots of divisions to help the other areas. Our area is very strong and is ready to become a ward. We have all the men active and enough people at church, but the other areas in our zone are needing a little more to become a ward. And then we can make a STAKE here in JUAZEIRO!!!!!!!!

Dad:  Putting others first is a good lesson to be learning.  Will you get to be on a nice bus for the ride to Fortaleza or a not so nice bus?  Then will Pres. Souza come back with you to your area?  

Branden:  Oh ya, we get the luxury bus!!!! Our seats are practicably beds! and there is Air conditioning! We will come back by bus. It would be nice to come with Presidente Souza, but they fly. So we will leave before them and arrive after them! haha is everyone there?

Dad:  Sounds like you are doing great work to make the members stronger.  Do you have any baptisms coming up?  How much are you teaching or talking at these zone and district conferences?  How is the Portuguese?  Are you feeling fluent?  There was a question on the application about other languages spoken and we will need to indicate that you are proficient in Portuguese.

Dad:  Just mom and I.  Trevor wanted to get up, but he is growing and needs alot of sleep.  His alarm has gone off but he is still in bed.  Danielle was up until 3 a.m. working on English literature homework.

Dad:  I am going to let mom take over so I can go get showered and ready for work.  I love you and look forward to talking to you on Christmas.  Keep up the great work and remember even though you are busy to do the important things like praying and studying your scriptures.  We are very proud of you and the valiant missionary you are.

Branden:  We had one baptism this last week, and we have two men that will be baptized this week. we are very blessed here in our area. at the conferences we give the training to the missionaries and so it is usually two hours hat we talk. I am getting better and better in Portuguese every day, but I am fluent. That would be awesome to put that I speak two languages. 

Branden:  Thanks! Good luck at work! My time is just about out too.... 

Mom:  How awesome to be baptizing future priesthood holders.  Do you like being a leader and being up in front of everyone teaching others?  I would imagine you do like it. 

Branden:  I love it. But not because I am in front of others, but you learn so much more when you have the opportunity to teach. You really find out what you are capable of. And it is very satisfying to see others apply what you taught, and have it work! Its awesome!

Mom:  So, are we ok with "talking" to you on the computer? We aren't breaking any rules are we?

Branden:  no, I already asked Presidente. Don't worry. But my time is out! I love you all and I hope you have the best week ever!

Mom:  It sounds like you are a natural leader!  You are a lot like your dad in that way!  He has a very natural ability to know what to say and how to say it.

Branden:  Give a big hug to everyone for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are all the best! three weeks and we will talk!

Mom: I love you too!!!

December 10th, 2012 

Hello family!

First off, I am sending one of the questions that I answered for Cassie to look at. There probably are spelling errors, but its good!!!

And Sister Reynolds wants to get in contact with mom, and maybe when they go to the temple visit everyone! That is my companions family! They are really awesome and you will love them!!! He is one of my favorite companions and so I know you all will love his family!

Early this morning we got up to go on an adventure! We grabbed a trail and ran up it! It was sooooo steep it was a crazy workout. But there is a man ( Padre Cicero) That created the city juazeiro. So there is a statue of him at the top of a mountain that we visited. It is a hard hike, and people believe that if you hike up the hill, and walk around the statue three times you are cured. I don't believe that but if you walk up the mountain everyday you sure would be in good shape! There were tons of beautiful flowers and jungle on the way! I love Brazilian trees! The best thin too, is we got to the top and I bought tons of coconut water that was really cheap, and we chugged it all1!!! oh ya!!!!!!

We came back down that grabbed the best açai I have eaten in my life!!! It is made with the actual fruit, so it is really fresh!

In our branch we don't do everything but we have to teach lesson sometimes because someone forgot. Or give talks because someone forgot but it is pretty normal.

Yes we passed with flying colors our clean inspection! Our house was super clean! We are applying a Japanese organization called 5-S that works really well.

And we will spend time with members on Christmas night at a FHE. It should be really fun! We are going to a family that we re activated!!!!

This week we had a family of 6 come to church! They loved it and they got to know the members really well!!!!! We then had an awesome baptismal meeting after the meetings. Two couples were baptised and a man that is looking to get married! I love baptismal services that are big!!!! 

We had a Christmas conference that was awesome too! Presidente and Sister Souza told us lots of stories of their christmas´ and I was stuck in the thoughts of home for a bit! remembering all of the wonderful times we have had during the seasons! I love Christmas sooooo much!!!!!

So the talk of skype came up in a meeting with presidente, so skype might be possible. I will let everyone know next week! What time is best for everyone to talk? If we use skype it will be on the 24th. By phone will be 25th. So if you all could send me the best times for everyone on these two dates that would be great!

I love you all and wish you all a MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!

Elder Heath

Internet Chat

November 19th, 2012

YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That man, father, Irmao Urangy went to church with his wife and his daughter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a miracle to see him walk in those front doors! And it gets better!!!!!!!!! He was singing loud and proud in the sacrament meeting and smiling from ear to ear! After the meetings got over he found an investigator (another man) and shared his testimony about the church, and said.... It's been a while sense I have been to church but I'm coming back now. He said he would be there a hundred percent this next Sunday too!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was sooooooooooooo happy!!!!!

I also have a new companion!!!! We had transfers and I am staying as a zone leader and I have a new companion!!!! He is a stud!!!! And he is from TOPPANISH Washington! His Name is ELDER REYNOLDS! So he lives like 45 min from our house! He was our mission secretary and now I'm training him to be a zone leader! He is an awesome missionary! And dad, he plays tennis with his dad a ton! So we got ourselves a match for after the mission!!!! haha he also plays basketball really well!!!!

I wanted to tell you all about a miracle that has happened this last month. Elder Queiroz and I did a contact with a drunken man on the street...  because we felt like it was right. Weird start right? This was a Friday afternoon. We invited him to church and that first Sunday who was at church thirty min early? Wilson and Fabiana this couple!!!!!!!!!!! I could hardly believe it! They loved it and received and answer really fast about the church. We started to teach them and we made a baptismal date with them and the accepted really fast. The Saturday before their baptism we got a phone call.... Irmao WIlson fell and cut open his finger with 14 stitches!!!!!!!!!!!! So the doctor said he couldn't enter the water for 48 hours. So his baptism wouldn't work out. We made a date for the next week and we found out that they had a fight the next Saturday night and neither of them wanted to go. Wilson was actually packing his bags to leave. He was about out the door when we arrived. We talked to them and helped them resolve their problems and their fights. Then we fasted for them this week and the miracle happened. They read the book of mormon everyday, and they said they didn't have the urge to fight and that praying together has magically resolved the problems. They were baptised yesterday and it was a very special meeting. They are really converted and they are so happy together. Irmao Wilson came to play Basketball with us today and his wife fabiana came to cheer him on! HOW CUTE! She also brought cake!!!!!!!!!! woo hoo

I know this church is true. I have no doubts a bout that. I know that fasting is a tool we have to help others and is something we can turn to when we don't know what else to do. I know that Baptism brings a remission of our sins, and open the door to our salvation.

I love being a missionary!!!!!!!!!

Elder Heath

poto 

1Urangy and his family (man that returned to church)

2 Wilson fabiana, and my new comp!

3 Ana Clara We reactivated her mom in the church and she was baptised this last week too! She is ADORABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

November 26, 2012 (this was a chat between mom, dad and Branden)

Branden at 10:16 a.m (Brazil time)…..hello! Good morning! Is someone online

Dad at 5:18 a.m…. Good morning. Yes your good old dad is here. I will go get everyone up so they can talk to you. (this is when Dad woke up Mom and tried to wake up Trevor…Trevor didn’t make it up.
Branden at 10:19 a.m…. BOM DIA! Sorry everyone for waking you up. but how is everyone one this fine monday morning.. so my keyboard doesnt have a question mark button... strange....who all is there

Dad at 5:22 a.m…. Mom and Trevor will be coming shortly. We are doing terrific. How are you? We should probably give you a few minutes to read our email from last night.
Branden at 10:22 a.m… that is awesome! what time is it right now. how was thanksgiving! Ill read your e mail really fast :)

Dad at 5:27 a.m.. It is 5:27 a.m. We had a wonderful, laid back, Thanksgiving. You will read about it in our email. Did you celebrate Thanksgiving at all?

Branden at 10:38 a.m… we had planned to celebrate thanksgiving because we have four americans in our house. So first out thanksgiving lunch was at a members house that always makes delicious food! We were pumped to go there.... but that didnt really work out. We arrived and no one was there..... that thanksgiving surprise went away. So we went and got these things called little hotties. Its a plate of food ready to go. Brazillian fast food with rice, beans, and chicken. But it was good. We bought a pineapple to make it better. At night we had an interview to do in another city, so we didnt have time to make anything, but we grabbed a burger on the way home that was DELICIOUS!!!! and it was only 1.50! Burger with meat, hotdog, bacon, and an egg! It was our Thanksgiving dinner! with guava juice! haha Sounds like your thanksgiving was awesome! too!

Mom at 5:41 a.m… Cool! This is Mom...Good Morning. How are you and your new companion getting along?

Mom at 5:45 a.m… I would love to be able to give you a hug through the computer so maybe you can give yourself one from me (and your dad).

Branden at 10:50 a.m… Man, I felt that warm hug!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks! here is a hug back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am loving my new companion Elder Reynolds. He has 1 year and 4 months, just one more transfer than me. He plays basketball and tennis!!!!!!! I think we were at the Boise meet at the same time several years ago! He is a very powerful missionary and he has a huge heart for the people here. We are getting along really well! He is very clean too..... so he is helping me be a cleaner person!

Branden at 10:51 a.m… we are also planning a reunion after the mission of our two families because we live so close. So sometime you all can meet Elder Reynolds and his family :)

Mom at 5:51 a.m… It sounds like you are getting along well! That is great! Did you get the essay questions in the mail yet? We were wondering if you had been able to work on them yet?

Mom at 5:55 a.m… Dad and I are sitting on the couch here in the family room watching the computer screen...waiting for the responses to come in. Trevor wanted to get up but he didn't make it. He was up last week though. He was very anxious to hear from you too. Danielle would of loved to be up too but she was studying really late last night for a test that she had today. She knew that she wouldn't be able to make it up this morning. It is dark here right now. What is your companion doing right now?

Branden at 10:57 a.m… not yet. Because I am in Juazeiro, I only get letters every six weeks. So here in three weeks I will get letters again. It is a little far away from fortaleza. Is there a way to e mail the questions:

Mom at 5:58 a.m… We would love to meet Elder Reynolds and his family. That would be fun! Have you had any crazy experiences with bugs or wild animals lately since you are in a more country/jungle setting?

Branden at 11:00 a.m… that is a nice picture... mom and dad on the computer all snuggled up! haha My companion is writing his family by my side right now. He is freaking out because his brother is going to get married and he is super excited! How was the ordination with tony! I wish I could of been there! I am so happy for him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what month of the yeardo they want to get married in the temple: will I be home:

Mom & Dad at 6:02 a.m… We will e-mail the questions to you next week. Dad will copy them from the website and include them in the email. One of the questions wants you to describe one of your hardest experiences in your life. Another one wants you to explain why you want to transfer to BYU.

Branden at 11:02 a.m… here every sunday if you look out the window of the sacrament meeting there are monkeys in the trees which is pretty cool. There was an injured monkey on the ground the other day that was pretty cool to look at up close. There are HUGE SPIDERS AND SCORPIONS here. Bu t luckily I have only seen a couple.

Mom at 6:07 a.m… Tony will be ordained this next Saturday, Dec 1st. Mike is coming from Arizona to be here to ordain him. It will be awesome. Tony has changed a lot over the last 6 months. He is playing the piano in priesthood for his calling and has stopped riding motorcycles on Sunday. He attends church (all 3 meetings) each Sunday now. It is really wonderful. Cindy has a calling too. She helps with the relief society newsletter. They have a goal to get sealed in the temple in April of 2013 sometime. Unless that date gets moved back, you will unfortunately not be home yet.

Branden at 11:10 a.m… That is sooooo awesome! I cant wait o see Tony and Cindy again! I am going to have to hold back the tears! How is cameron: Any signs of him following in his dads footprints. I have sent him some letters but I never got responses. Its all good. As long as they get married in the temple, I dont need to be there

Mom at 6:11 a.m… I can't imagine having monkeys in the trees!! Are the monkeys afraid of people? Do you still have tons of mosquitoes there? I remember you saying that you had to use a fan at night to keep them off your face.. We have a few pesky gnats in the house that drive me crazy. That is all we have in the way of bugs bothering us. Nothing big and scary here:)

Mom at 6:14 a.m… Tony just visited Cameron about two weeks ago. It was a father/son weekend (at college). I guess it went well. Tony is setting a really good example for both of his children but I haven't heard about them changing anything yet. I am sure at some point that the good example they see in both Tony and Cindy will pay off! Tony said he had a really good time with Cameron.

Branden at 11:16 a.m… all the monkeys that I have tried to hold run away, so I believe they are afraid of humans. Ya, I use mosquito repellent and it is a rule for the missionaries have a fan on us because there are lots of missionaries getting very sick because of the mosquitos. but im all good.

Mom at 6:19 a.m… Oh wow! You look like you are keeping pretty tan. Are you used to the heat and the humidity now? It is hard to believe that you are still having really warm weather or should I say hot? It is getting colder here now...down to freezing at night. What is the temperature there in the daytime?

Branden at 11:19 a.m… That is awesome about tony. His good example definately will effect Cam. I cant wait to hang out with Cameron after the mish! But take a picture of Tonys ordination and send it to me! I want to see him! Hey, my time is running out. but is there something you guys would life form brazil for christmas:

Branden at 11:22 a.m… here its about 120 during the day, and the sun is strong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha I miss the cold weather. But I am used to the hot weather now. Im starting to carry a towel to wipe the sweat off my face in the day so my shirts dont get so dirty.

Mom at 6:22 a.m… The only thing we want from Brazil for Christmas is to hear your voice. You don't need to buy anything for us! We are really excited to get to talk to you!!!!! That will definitely be the highlight for Christmas. Cassie, Dallin and Kylie are planning on being here this time for sure! Woo Hoo!

Mom at 6:23 a.m…Do you have to change your shirt more than once a day?

Mom at 6:26 a.m… I know you are about out of time! This has been a lot of fun! This was a very special time. Please let your mission president know how much we appreciate him letting us get to talk to you through email. We will be so excited to actually talk to you on Christmas day! Keep up the good work you are doing!! We are so proud of all the good you are doing on your mission. We can really feel your strong testimony through your e-mails.

Mom at 6:26 a.m… We Love you so much!!!!!!!!hugs and kisses from both Dad and I:)

Branden at 6:29 a.m… usually one shirt a day, but it is drenched at the end of the day. I love you all and thanks a ton for getting up early and talking to me! It was awesome! I will be on next week at 10 if you want to wake up too. but you dont have to :) I love you all and have a wonderful week! HUGS AND KISSES!!!

Mom at 6:30 a.m… We will be here to talk again! Talk to you then!:)

Bottom of the 9th...

November 12th, 2012

 

Hello family!

 

Thanks for all the updates and news back on the main land. I'm going to start off just responding questions to not forget :) This week I didn't have to travel... I just stayed put in juazeiro. It was the last week of my 9th transfer!!!!!! Today is starting my 10th! In our zone we have sixteen missionaries and five sister missionaries! Its a handful... but here in juazeiro we have the best of the best! We have former zone leaders, and trainers, just powerful missionaries! We got eight new missionaries this morning at 4! Presidente it really wanting to turn this place into a stake! As far as the heat... I sweat non stop.... but it doesn't bother me to tier me.... but it sure is hot!  My all time favorite drink right now......... is called a lime rickey! It is grape juice with limes in it! It is so delicious! You should all try it! ;) I love Guarana!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is soooooo delicious!!!!!! I am cutting back the pop though. Just one glass per day. (Somedays I use bigger cups than other days ;0) I sent a picture of the zone shirt!!! It is a little hard to see... but has the baptism symbol on the front that says just o it! (nike) Then on the back has all our names and says eu faço ( I do it) An it has an addidas look. And ya, we do our own laundry on pay. But we have a machine, so its not too much trouble. Just scrub the shirt a bit then throw in oin the machine. I have been writing Dakota, but I haven't heard from Kenton in a while! Dakota is a zone leader because he is a stud!!! Yes, I got a package this week without paying for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! woo hoo! it works! I am loving the pop tarts with oreos on top smothered in peanut butter!!!!!!! thanks!!!!!!!!!! Also, next week I will be at the computer here at 10 in the morning. And I talked to presidente souza, if you guys want to get on at the same time you can. Its a little early, but maybe I can respond a little clearer with a conversation ;)

 

This week we had a miracle happen!!!!!!!!!!! We have a mother and a daughter we are helping come back to the church right now. They have other sons that served missions, even one that is in Provo studying. But their dad has been inactive for a while! He already had stake callings but something happened for him to leave the church. We have been meeting with them and we planned their daughters baptism this last week, and her parents came!!! WE also called ( with permission) To her brother in Provo to record his testimony and send it to us. The baptismal meeting was awesome! we have a musical number ( I sang with the primary) and then the baptism. After we passed her brothers testimony which was very special. I looked up at her had and he was wiping away the tears. It was very spiritual. I know they felt the spirit, I couldn't deny it. Then the dad invited us to his house, and he will make lunch for us on Wednesday!!!!!!!!!!! This is a special family!

 

I love you all soooo much

 

Do you want anything special from Brazil???

 

P.S. sorry to naggg, but could you send details about how the miskho and heath side were converted. through the missionaries.... friends.... or how it happened. I'm really interested.

 

Congrats Tony and Cindy too for everything you are doing! I'm very happy to hear all the stories!!

 

Elder Heath

Food Cravings

Hola family!

 

Thanks for the wonderful letter! I love you all soooooo much!!!!!

 

And thanks for the bolded underlined question mom! haha My shirts are still white and my pants are all in tact!!!! Can you believe it? The wrinkle free didn't last too long but everything is great! There is one thing i am craving to eat!!!!!!!! MAPLE!!!!!!!!!! If you could send me a bottle of maple extract that would be awesome! I am wanting to make lots of pancakes! And one more thing. RASPBERRIES!!!! Canned, or fresh doesn't matter raspberries!!!! haha I could also use some more ties to trade with missionaries.

 

I'm going to let you all in on a secret too... When people say that we serve missions for two years.... they really mean one year,eleven months and two weeks! So I will be coming home a little earlier. I will be returning about august 20th! So i think 3rd of September will work out!

 

Thins last week was amazing. We traveled to Fortaleza again for another training... i drank almost a liter of passion fruit that makes you sleepy and I slept like a baby! With the new signs of the second coming (age of missionaries) Our misschanging too. Instead of sixteen new investigators a week, we are going to start twenty five a week. So we can spread our message with more people. We learned about how leaders need to know the limits of their missionaries. We need to learn what they are capable of achieving, and we need to push them to pass that limit. It was very interesting. So we are making goals individually with all of our missionaries now!!! This week we also made a t shirt of the zone! It has a sweet Adidas look to it! Ill sen a picture next week!

 

I had a special experience this week at church. We were welcoming everyone at the doors of the church an all the sudden people I have never seen came in. About fifteen. We welcomed them and started to converse. They all live in the interior, about four hours away. And here in Juazeiro is the closest church to them. One lady already is a member and she found that we had church here. She didn't have enough money to come alone on the trip, and so she turned into a missionary! She started sharing with her friends about he church and got everyone excited to do a visit! She got 14 others and was able to make it to church. To hear her testimony was very powerful! The sacrifice that she made was incredible. But she said that it was all worth it, and she will be here next week too!!!

 

I know this church is the Church of Jesus Christ. I know this is a church of sacrifice to test our faith. I know that when we make sacrifices in our lives we stand shoulder to shoulder with Jesus Christ.

 

Elder Heath

 

If you could send me the story of how our ancestors became members that would be awesome!!!

A few weeks of updates

October 15th, 2012

 

Hey hey hey!

 

Thanks about the glasses. I was worried that you would all laugh at me. :) I have to admit to mom... you were right. I should of got glasses before the mission! I am loving them! And because I moved areas, everyone here thinks that I have worn glasses my entire life, and people think I look weird without them haha.

 

But yes I am very ready to start college life and hit the books after the mission. I have really learned the importance to study and how to study effectively. The only thing I am worried about is my spelling and grammar in English. as you all have seen there are lots of misspelled words...  I am actually forgetting English. But I am sure that the Lord will bless me to remember English after the mission.

 

So the bus experience almost killed me last week and we are doing it again this week! Last week we were on high class buses that pretty much turned into beds (in one of the pictures) But this week we are on school buses for 6 hours heading there and 6 hours coming back! We are going to visit some missionaries in our zone that live in a place called Trinidade. We are traveling outside of Ceara! We are headed there Wednesday and we are going to teach and help them for a day, and then we are going to head back at 4 in the morning Thursday! I'm super excited! The missionaries said that we will see lots of armadillos and vultures! In my area now... we have lots of vultures that fly in circles! They are huge! Their wing span is bigger than mine! These birds are enormous! The take dogs, cats, chickens. I will try to snap a picture close to one this week.

 

In our zone our challenge is to baptize men. We are not allowed to baptise women without men, or children without their fathers! Because here the missionaries have baptised so many that we have members sufficient to make several wards. But we don't have enough priesthood holders. So that is our focal! We are getting testimonies from all the missionaries that have baptised men and we are doing a little news paper of our zone and posting these stories to get everyone excited!

 

This week we had a miracle happen. We went to a house that we found in our area book and what happened.... the house doesn't even exist! so we kept on going and we felt that we needed to talk with a man in the street. we went to him and he turned around with a huge bottle of beer and we hesitated a little but followed the feeling. We talked to him and he invited us to his house to talk with him and his wife. We went and left a short message with them and invited the to go to church. They accepted and what do you know.... they showed up to church before us! They came thirty min early on Sunday and they loved the meeting. The wife cried the whole time and told us she had never felt so good in her entire life. And we had two babies blessed, and the husband loved that. They told us that there was nothing stopping them from coming back next week! It was very special, to see the power of an invite. It is so simple but can change lives.

 

We had two other men at church too, and one will be baptised this next Sunday!

 

I am loving Juazeiro, and I am loving being able to serve others! It is incredible, this week we spent 3 of our 6 work days in other areas helping other missionaries. And working just three days we had seven investigators and we have baptisms set up for next week! The lord is really helping us with all we need!

 

The Church is True

 

Elder Heath

 

P.S. Here in Juazeiro we only get packages and letters at transfers.... so I hope here in 4 weeks the package gets here. I will let you know ;)

 

October 23rd, 2012

 

Hey familia!

My testimony is a burning bonfire!!! and everyday that passes wood gets added to the fire!
I am loving this new area! This week was a traveling week for me too! I traveled to three different cities to do divisions! Crato, Barbalha, and Pirija. It was pretty crazy! I got to interview some amazing people and see some amazing stories. It is incredible the miricals that happen every day! There is a father of a family that drank everyday without stopping and he was smoking tons! He prayed and the urge to drink and smoke went away! We also had a mirical happen in our area. We were preparing Bruno for baptism yesterday and then we had two emergency divisions where we had to leave our area. So we had only taught the restoration and the book of mormon to him and we saw him saturday night!!!!!! We got there thinking we would have to move his baptism back a week for him to learn and apply the commandments. We taught the commandments and he was already living all of them!!! He was not even drinking coffee!!! IT is crazy! We were truly blessed in our area. I am learning a lot about sacrifice. When we sacrifice ourselves for others the Lord will always take care of us in any situation.

So we had an amazing baptism and the spirit was so strong! I love so much seeing the conversion of someone that really has changed. We had 9 men reactivated or baptized in our zone this week! These missionaries are awesome!!!!!!!!

So a little more about Zuazeiro.... I thought Fortaleza was hot.... no way!!!! Here is 120, 125 degrees easy!!!! And there is absolutely no wind!!! When we are walking to appointments after lunch we have vultures flying about us, just waiting for one of us to faint. ha There is lots of jungle, and that means spiders! Also on the telephone wires there are monkeys!!! Little foot tall monkeys! The city of Juaeiro worships a man called Padre Cicero. He is everywhere! There are lots of exotic fruits like ATA and Jaka here! Basically I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is one of my favorite areas to serve!

I love you all and I can't explain how much all of you mean to me! Thanks for everything!

Elder Heath!!!

p.s. Ask Trev bout the fish eye we ate!!! haha the last picture shows our trip.. Fortaleza to Juazeiro!!! 

October 29th, 2012

 

This week we had a special visit form President Souza! He traveled all the way to Juazeiro to talk with all of us! IT was really cool! I felt very special because Elder Queiroz and I were his tour guides here. So we got to spend the whole weekend with President and Sister Souza. I really got to know them and see a different less serious side :) We went to lunch together and President Souza was cracking jokes and everyone was laughing, It was awesome! He also shared some information with us about the growth of missionaries! One month ago, there were about six hundred missionaries applying for missions every week, and now this last month has grown to seven thousand per week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The mission field is growing!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thank you so much dad for the research that you did! My priorities are BYU and then BYU-Idaho and BYU Hawaii too. Maybe hit up some waves in between classes :) Here we are only allowed one hour a week on the computer, and so I think it would be better for you to send the questions to me and I will write them on paper. Because I don't want to miss a week of your e mails! ;) I would die! I have been practicing with Elder Queiroz, English, and so hopefully I will start picking it up faster. I have difficulties talking fast, everything is in slow mo. Thanks for the English lesson on how to spell miracle! I'm needing it!

 

I think I would like to live on campus at Provo. Where Cassie lived was on campus right? I just know I want to be close to campus and I want a kitchen!  I think that is on campus. Are the new Heritage halls nice?

 

I was thinking this week. That usually there are tons and tons of people applying for BYU Provo but with the number of people applying for missions, maybe this is the right time for me to apply! :) Don't worry... if you want to eat beans and rice everyday, I have mastered how to make delicious BEANS AND RICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You will want to eat beans and rice every day!!!!!!!! ;)

But I will definitely work while I an going to School, and so don't worry too much about beans and rice.

 

You all are looking so young in these pictures!!!!!!!!!!!! The pictures you sent and in the family letter, everyone is beautiful!!!!!!!!!!! Mom, you are the youngest looking grandma in the world! I looked at that picture you sent, and you are BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kylie is too ;) And dad, you looking awesome! You are motivating me to start push ups, because your arms are three times the size of mine! Trevor is going to be taller than me here in no time, and he looks faster than wind! And Danielle, when did you start modeling? Because your senior pictures are AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want to see the rest! You are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I showed your picture to my president and he didn't believe me that you are not modeling! and if you are, I wouldn't be surprised! Cassie too! You had a baby two months ago??? You are so fit, and so beautiful! I love seeing pictures with Cassie and Kylie, you two are sooooo adorable! I think you two should get some matching clothes or something! And Dallin.... ummmm......you are..... Ò cara! Eu estou muito feliz ver sua familia Hague. Voce è forte, amoroso, e meu Irmao! È ótimo que nos podemos falar portugues e ninguem entende!!!!!!

 

I love you all!!!!

 

Yours, Elder Heath

 

P.S. Could you tell me the story about how we became members of the church? Who was out first ancestor to be baptised? How? When?

Glasses

Hey hey hey!!!!!!

The weather is beautiful and I am surrounded by tons and tons of land! I am loving my new area where I am serving! When I imagined Brasil, where I am now is more like it!

That is awesome dad! You ran that FAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is crazy! I am glad that you had a good race! I think that it is a miracle how you can run solo far! I tell everyone here that my dad runs marathons! Now when I tell them your time they are going to be even more impressed! That is one of my goals when I get home from the mission. I will complete a marathon in the first year when I am home. I also want to complete an Iron man in the next couple years... we can train together! :)

But the 11 hour bus ride on Sunday was just the start this week! We gave training to our zone on Tuesday and then we went to work! I got to know my area a little bit.... We took a bus for an hour and we didn’t even cover half of our area! IT IS HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! While we were coming back.... our bus broke down..... We got back to our next appointment after 6! haha Then Wednesday night Elder Queiroz and I get on another bus to head back to Fortaleza! 11 hours again!!!!! We have a Zone meeting with Presidente Souza! We arrived at 7 in the morning had the meeting at 8. We had an awesome meeting and I learned a ton! Then that night we jumped on the 11 hour bus ride again! And we got here in our area and we were dead! But that didn’t phase us. We took a shower ate lunch and went to work! We had to do a division to help some other missionaries and so I jumped on a bus and for 2 hours to go to a city called Barbalha. Came home the next day and to my relief...... General Conference! I loved every word that was said at conference! It helped my relieve some stress too!  I loved the talks by Elder Eyring and Elder Holland! And Elder Bednar... and The Prophet... :) I am loving being a Zone leader, and having the opportunity to serve the other missionaries here. My vision has opened up a lot just this week!

Sorry, I am trying to send pictures of my glasses, companion, and new beautiful area but this dumb machine isn’t working... Oh well, maybe next week!

I love you all and I want you to know that I know this is the true Church of Jesus Christ. I know that he lives. I know that the Prophet Joseph Smith restored the keys to our salvation almost two hundred years ago. I know that the power of our Heavenly Father is here on the earth again.

Elder Heath

ZL

September 24, 2012

Hola familia! 

 

Thank you so much for the wonderful updates and the wonderful news! Dad, Thank you as well for the research that you did for me. I am thinking a lot about college and my future work. I'm am not one hundred percent with anything, just looking at the options. I would love to continue at one of the byu schools. If you could fill out the requirements and send to me what I need to do, the essays, that would be awesome! I really feel like I should go to Byu. To major in what field is another question. I was thinking about Anatomy this week, because I really enjoyed anatomy in highschool. I am hoping that being a returned missionary will help me get in, I will also get a recommendation from President Souza to help :) I think the special forces might be the correct route for me.... I could live a little in hawaii ;) But I just need to find a branch where I will not be forced to stay in the special forces for years and years. Keep me updated on what I can do to get into BYU :)

That is awesome that you marked the Book of Mormon and gave it to your patient. I am very proud of you! That is awesome! Now remember to follow up here this week. With her questions and how she felt! I'm sure you probably have already done that. But that is awesome that you are getting that missionary fire in your bones!

This week we had a really really amazing thing happen. We have been searching for members of the church that have fallen away from the church a little. We found a familia that has not been to church for fourteen years! Some had been a couple times but never created the routine going to church. We had a family home evening with them and we taught them the lessons again, including the son that had never been baptized. We prepared him for baptism and he was baptised and confirmed this last weeked! We were able to reactivate his entire family as well! I will send a picture of him and his family!!! Our sacrament meeting was a little more full this week! ;)

This is the last week of the transfers and I think that I will be transferred because I have six months here in this area. But I don't want to leave, I have my family here and I don't want to leave Elder Young. But we will see... maybe next e mail I will be in a different area! 

I love you all so much! And I know that the church is true. I know that Joseph Smith was the prophet of the restoration and that the book of mormon is one of the most treasurable gifts that we have. 

 

Elder Heath

I also went and had an eye test this week and my vision has gotten a little worse because of the sun here! The doctor explained that the sun rays  are so strong that, walking in the sun all day I need something... So I might be getting glasses.... :) And I will send my new vision to maybe get some new contacts. :) 

I also took the x rays for Bishop Packard. They are simple x rays but I will be sending them next week.

October 1st, 2012

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I cant believe that your birthday has already come around the corner! How was the party? I was a little nervous when I heard that you passed out on the floor...... But I loved the part that you wrote to me. I actually understood about the renovations at the temple! I was thinking here, I have never entered the Boise temple. That is definitely on my to do list! What did everyone do for the birthday party? Was there chocolate? Send pictures if you can!

 

Danielle, how was the dance? You are the most beautiful young woman on this planet!!! Your dress looks exactly like a princess dress! Did you have fun? What was the theme of the dance?

 

How did the follow up with the book of mormon go dad? We had a training this last week about what to do when an investigator doesn't read what they said they would. You have to make a sad face, and show them that they are really missing out. (Preach my Gospel) But I'm sure she read it. You are always such an example to me, keep it up!

 

So I have some news....... I am no longer in Fortaleza..... I jumped on a bus last night at seven o'clock and I arrived in my new area at six this morning!!!! I am at the very bottom of Ceará now. A place called Juazeiro. We took a pretty sweet bus to Juazeiro that reclines and It is sooooooooooo different here! I am in the middle of nowhere! It is just desert here, and jungle! My new area is a branch, because the church here is just starting! The church here has the same time as I do on the mission! I am very excited to be here, to help the church grow!

 

Also I arrived at the bus stop and i meet my new companheiro.... Elder Queroz! But I meet him.. then I thought..... last time that I saw Elder Queroz he was a zone leader.... And now he is my companion.... Then he gave me the surprise that I am now a zone leader! t is his fourth transfer as a zone leader here and will be my first! Elder Queroz is from Sau Paulo and he has been here one more transfer than me. He is a surfer and he plays guitar too! We are going to have a blast! In our zone we have twenty missionaries and a couple areas that are out of the state! We will have to travel 4 more hours to get to them! I am very very excited to be a zone leader and to serve the missionaries here in Juazeiro. I have heard that the Catholic religion is super strong here, and there is a saint (padre cicero) that everyone here adores. We entered the market and we saw him, the bank, there was  a statue, a restaurant there he was, in a members house here he was again! Missionary work will be very different here but I am ready for a god challenge.

 

This week I also bought glasses! I decided I didn't want to have my eyes get worse and worse so I got glasses! You should see all the things that I can see now!!!! haha They also turn dark in the sun so my eyes will be protected. Sorry if you don't believe it but I actually like glasses ;) Ill send a picture next week!

 

Elder Heath

 

What a wonderful Missionary

September 17th, 2012

Hello everyone!

Thanks you so much for the letter!!!! It is the best thing in the world reading your letters! Some weeks that is what keeps me going, Knowing that I have a family letter coming, and e mail, and family letters from siblings and the whole family! Thank you so much!

Danielle, what are you going to do to answer your homecoming date? That is going to be so much fun! what is the homecoming theme?

This week was amazing! I have been studying the introduction of the Book of Mormon and the very beginning of Preach my Gospel and I read over and over and over about meditating about what we learn, and to stop and think about what we read. I had a really interesting experience. I read about this and I started thinking about my mission. Way at the start, and I was thinking of all the blessings that President Meyer gave me when I was set apart. There is one blessing that I always think about, which is that I will not overlook anyone.... And I was thinking... have I been completing that? And I realized that many of the people that I have helped with baptism were because of that. Many times it took two or three weeks for the people go to church and the baptisms were a little slow but...without even noticing I stuck with them and every single person that took time like that to become a member is firm in the Church. It was a really rewarding feeling. Another testimony that when we do our part... when we work as hard as we can the Lord will always help us with what we need to do. I was thinking about a man that was baptized about four months ago. He didn't want to go to church... didn't want to read the pamphlets, didn't want a Book of Mormon, and always forgot to say his prayers. And now that I think about it.... why did we keep going back there when all this was happening? But one day a miracle happened and he turned everything around and was baptized. He has not missed a Sunday since. It is a huge comfort to me to know that we have the guidance of the Lord in our work.

I know this is the true church of Christ and I know that the scriptures are for us to read... and better our lives. We need to read and analyze them in our busy schedule, and never miss a day.

Elder Heath

P.S. I have been thinking a lot about College this week and I think I am wanting to apply to BYU Provo, Utah State... and I was wondering if someone could do some research for me on colleges that have a good physical therapy program. Do you know when I need to apply for them? If you could let me know that would be awesome.

I am also going to get an x ray this week of my chin. I will send a copy to you to give to Bishop Packard, to see if my tumor went away and healed up well.

Over Halfway!!!

September 10th, 2012

Thank you so much for the E mail! 

I love hearing about everyone every week! Sounds like you all had a blast going to Spokane and getting out of the house a bit. Was it the big shopping trip? How is Dad doing? I will definitely pray for him everyday to get better. You have to tell him to stay away from that kryptonite. It doesn't help with superman. :)

I got Danielle's letter this last week! I jumped for joy when I got the letter! Danielle has a talent writing letters! Every word that she writes, I can imagine her saying. I got it together with moms letter!

But this week was awesome! We had a couple changes here in our mission. We had some missionaries transferred out of an area and so now we are looking over two areas! This last Sunday was crazy!!! And it just so happens that the church meeting are at the same time! So our Sunday was full of running back and forth, directing people to their classes, getting everyone a member friend. But we were very surprised this week. We helped an old woman carry her sacks to her house on night and we shared a litte message with her. She listened and we said bye. We returned to talk with her more later in the week and invited her to go to church.(2 weeks ago) We waited Sunday... she didn't show. So we went to see what happened. We arrived and she came to us begging forgiveness.. but Saturday night she fell and broke her arm and was in the hospital Sunday. But we continued ti teach her this week and while we were walking to church on Sunday we found her on our way. All ready with the pamphlets that we gave to her. She had the biggest smile on her face! She loved the church and She reminds me a lot of Grandma Miskho. Because she is the happiest person alive. With her broken arm and all, she couldn't be happier. 

I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints is the true church. I know that Joseph Smith and Emma Smith did so much to establish the church that we have today. I know that The Holy Ghost is Heavenly Fathers messenger to testify and teach us what we should do. I know that Faith can save lives, and make miracles.

Elder Heath

p.s. Danielle or Trevor can you get on my facebook and accept everyone?

September 3rd, 2012

Hello Everyone!

That is awesome that everyone got home safe and that dad took care of everyone! Even cooking!!! That is something I have been practicing a lot of. I see lots of husbands that pretty much starve to death here because they have to wait for their wives to make something. I think that is ridiculous! So Elder Young and I are learning to make lots of Brazilian food! I cant blame you mom.... just looking at the pictures of Kylie.... I wouldn't want to leave either! She is SO Adorable! The pictures you sent me of her smiling!!!!!! oh man!!! It is super Cute!!

Sounds like everyone is doing great! Danielle as the big Senior, taking fun classes, and Trevor running track. P.S. Danielle did you get my letter yet? I want to make sure it didn't get lost. :)

This week was very very special! We meet a woman named Fran three weeks ago. We have been teaching here and I don't think I have ever taught someone that has received so many answers to her prayers and so many dreams! We had been praying about when her baptism should be and we felt really good about the 1st of September. We asked her to pray to see if she should be baptised on the 1st of September and she went and prayed that night, and the next day she said.... My baptism will be on the 1st of September! It was a very spiritual meeting. I played a special musical number on the guitar, with one other member and another member sang as well. IT is a BEAUTIFUL SONG! Num Queto Bosque. You should look it up. But everyone was crying in the meeting and the spirit was very strong. Fran told us thanks for changing her life in just three weeks. She said she would never forget what we had done and how she felt. I love when things like that happen. The next day was fast Sunday and so we had testimony meeting as well! I leaned over to ask Elder Young when he wanted to bare his testimony..... we looked up and we saw Fran walking up to the pulpit!!!!!!!!! She went up just ten min after being confirmed a member of the church and gave her Testimony in front to everyone! It was very very special! A very pure testimony! Things like this make our work, and sacrifice worth it.

I know that this church is true and I know that Conversion really happens when we open our hearts and let the Hold Ghost into our hearts.

Also this week I grabbed a bunch of Conference talks from lds.org and I have been listening to them everyday, while getting ready and it has really lifted my week as well! I love the words of the prophet and his apostles.

Elder Heath 

August 27th, 2012

Ola minha familia!!!!!

It is awesome to hear how good everyone is doing! Sounds like Kylie is still the most beautiful thing on the earth and that she is getting lots of love! It is good that she is getting to hear dads Bolivian song too! I don't know if I ever said anything but one day I started singing that famous song that dad always sang for one of my companions. I don't know how many time you sang that to me day but 20 years later I still remember it! Vive me patria Bolivia!!!!!!!!! It is good I know that so I can sing it to my kids one day, because I think the national anthem of Brasil is more of a wake up song! haha

This week was very very special. We were able to see a miracle happen here in Brasil. Over the last couple of weeks I have been talking about a family that we have been working with. Where the parents were sealed in the temple but they fell away form the church fifteen years ago. This last Saturday we were able to see the father, who is now worthy, baptize his two children. They were then confirmed on Sunday by the father and we were able to participate in the confirmation. But we went to their house after and this is when the touching part happened. The Mother of this family (Sandra) she said the closing prayer and she Told our Heavenly Father how she was so grateful for the two angels that were sitting at her side. And that because of them her family is saved. I couldn't help but to cry. It is crazy what miracles happen here on the mission. She then told us that she would never ever forget Elder Young and Elder Heath ha It is such a blessing to be Our Heavenly Fathers hands here on earth and to have the opportunity to find all of the people that are lost, and bring them the fullness of the Gospel. 

I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church, e eu sei que Joseph Smith restarou a Igreja juntos com o Sacerdocio do Pai Celectial. I know that Families can be sealed for eternity, and that we will be together with Our Savior again. Eu sei que a obra do missionario é muito importante ajudar todos os Filhos do Pai Celectial.

Eu Amo voces muito!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Heath

Glad to be an uncle. :)

August 13th, 2012

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIELLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you like the pictures :) I wanted to get a little creative to show how much I love you two!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And Cassie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is the week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have the whole mission praying for you.... I sent a e mail for all the missionaries pray for you! So you have another 183 missionaries praying for Kylie!!!!!!!!!!!! and Presidente Souza You will do great!!!! Just take a deep breath...................and HIKE!!!!!!!! :) haha But really I am really excited for you! Everything will be awesome.

Kylee is serving a mission?!?!?!? Really? Do you have her address so I can write her a letter?

This week was awesome! We are helping lots of people here in Cecilia and Elder Young is learning so much! I am loving having a companion that likes to work and that knows how to teach. Elder Young and I found a familia of 6 people this week. The parents are members nut none of the kids are members. The parents stopped going to church 7 years ago and sense then never stepped a church. We helped them come back to church and it was really touching to see the whole family together at church again. When things like this happen I remember why I am here on my mission for two years. It is the best and most meaningful happiness one can have.

I love you all and I am looking forward to pictures next week.

Fotos

 

Happy fathers day

 

 

Happy B day Danielle

 

 

Talent show, we sang Para nossa alegria and Halleluha ;)

 

 

August 20th, 2012

 

HI KYLIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

She is the most beautiful precious baby I have ever seen in my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good work Dallin and Cassie! You two sure have been doing something right to receive such an adorable baby! She is so tiny! I knew that baby borns are small but when she was being held by Dallin she looked sooooooo little! I am so proud of you all! Sounds like mom was living the dream with the baby! I can only imagine! I love the family picture that you all took! The amazing Hague family!!!! And Cassie it doesn't even look like you had a baby! You look super skinny in the picture? Are you at the gym already? But really... I am really grateful to have an amazing older sister like you Cassie! You are going to be the best mother in the world! You have a good teacher (mom) to help as well. And I am grateful for Dallin as well for being such a great example to me, and being a worthy priesthood holder. and good job changing some diapers! haha Did dad... or Trev or Danielle have that experience as well? haha

This week was awesome here! Elder Young and I are starting another Transfer together! It is crazy to think that a month and a half has already passed!!! We had an amazing week this week! I had some of the most spiritual lessons of my mission this week. We have been teaching a woman for one week and she has so much faith, she is a great example. She has been catholic her entire life and she has never even thought about another religion.....until we showed up haha She had tons and tons of questions about our church and about the bible.... then she saw the Book of Mormon and then she had even more questions. I love it when people have questions, so we know what they need. But we left her with the Book of Mormon and with the invite to read the first chapter and to think about what she read... then to pray directly if it was true. She said she would.... we came back the next day, and we planned to read some scriptures about answers to prayers and then ask her if she received an answer. We asked her.... and she started to cry. She said that she had never felt as good in her life but when she was reading the Book of Mormon. She said that she did not expect to receive an answer like how she did. We marked to go there the next day as well. We arrived there and we read another part in Alma 32 about Faith and she started to cry again. She said that everything that we read that night was a direct answer to her prayers. In that very lesson we were closing with the final prayer and while I was explaining a little more about prayer a TARANTULA came crawling down the wall.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The size of a basketball!!!!!!!!! Elder Young and I saw it but the two ladies didn't see it because it was behind them!!!! We tried to tell them calmly but that didn't really work. The spider cam charging down the wall at us!!!!!!!! It is a good thing that Elder Young is a man and killed it because I was on top of a chair!!! haha Elder Young kicked it, the spider got back up and charged again and Elder Young smashed it! CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love being a missionary and I love all of you so much!!!

Elder Heath

 

Branden sure has a sweet tooth...

August 6th 2012

Thank you so much for the package!!!! I know it seems expensive sending the package and having to pay again.... but just the taste of those Reece's cookies, peanut butter, American BROWNIES!!!!!!!!!! SWEEDISH FISH!!!!!!!!!! It is worth all the money in the world!!!!! I have been making pancakes everyday with peanut butter!!!! :) I found another way to not have to pay for the packages. The reason I have to pay is because the price of everything inside. it was about 75 this last time.... But what missionaries are starting to do is.... the family can split the package into two. Because if the packages are separated, individually it costs 35 dollars and it should pass. Anytime you want to test it... feel free ;)

I loved the guitar music as well. Now when we sing hymns I am playing along too! I think I will play a special musical number at a baptism this week too!!! :) Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like everything is going awesomely at our house! With the baby on her way, that has gotta be crazy exciting! We have a member in our ward that has a date for the 22nd of August! It is so crazy to think we will have another family member!!!

This week was an awesome week! I have two highlights that I would like to share with you!!!

1. We found a family just doing a contact in the street. A family that has stopped going to church for almost five years. We started teaching them and the dad served a mission and the parents were sealed in the temple. But the four children never were baptized. We taught them the restoration and we had a really cool experience. We really tried to involve the father in the lesson to get his missionary fire back. Until we started to read James 1:5 and the father quoted it. Then explained the whole vision and story of the restoration to his children. It was a really emotional lesson to see this father teach his children about what he knows to be true! They all went to church for the first time in five years too!!!

2 I finished my study of the Book of Mormon in Portuguese this week. I finished the last chapter of Moroni and I had this strong feeling to go to my bed and say a prayer about the Book of Mormon. I stopped and thought... why do I need to pray about it if I already know that it is true? But I decided why not :) SO I went and said a prayer. I felt this strong desire to pray... but when I knelt down I did not feel a thing.... I sat on my bed and thought.... why would I have such a strong desire to pray and then not even feel anything during my prayer. But then I remembered that Our heavenly father responds our prayers in his time. So I went back to studying, then we went to comp study. After that Elder Carreira (lives with us) came in and gave me a piece of paper. He said that he felt inspired to write this paper to me. The whole paper was about answers to prayers. This note that he gave to me was my answer to my prayer. It was incredible. I felt so good reading the letter he wrote me. I know without a doubt in my heart that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. And that through him we have the fullness of the gospel. I know that our Heavenly Father always answers our prayers, we just need to listen and be patient to receive the answer.

Elder Heath

Quote of the week. ``when the time to decide arrives, the time to prepare already passed`` President Monson

Finally got his birthday package!!

Wow!
Now it sounds like you all had a crazy week! Full of EFY Family visits, baby stories, scout camp, ward callings, taking care of cousins! I hope that you all took lots of pictures to send! I love getting the family letter every month and hearing form all the family, and to also see how old everyone is getting... (in a good way :) ) We have such a beautiful family!

This last week just flew by! Elder Young and I had to do some divisions this last week with our district to help some missionary situations, and we had interviews with President Souza and I also......... GOT MY PACKAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANKS YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Finally ehhh? But the swedish fish, brownies, cookies are all delicious! I have been sharing with some good member families and now everyone is asking for more! haha The process to get me package was pretty fun! We learned this last week that for us to grow and become missionaries/men better we need to ask for tests in our life and so we can use our faith and learn a lesson. ha So I did exactly that... and the very next day my prayer was answered! ha The day of the interviews I got a letter saying that my package was here! woo hoo!!! I looked at the date that the package got here in Brazil.. the 7th... and the date it was leaving... the 26th!!!!!!!!!!!!! the same day I got the list! So we went running to the post office to tell them to keep the package! Its a good this Elder young is a good sport! haha We got there and they said.... its a good thing you got here now, because your package was going home in aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa2 hours!!!! ha so I gave them the note and they said I would have to pay a little money to take the package. I asked how much and he said......180 reals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RIDICULOUS! (like 90 American dollars!) I obviously didn't have the money with me so I asked them to extend the date. they said ok.I went to the bank and took out money the next day... so I took 90 dollars out of my account if you can put more in please :) I got the money and went back to pick up the package. I got there, paid for it, they had the package in front of me.... then said oooops we need your CPF for you to take your package out............. !!!!!!!!!!!!!! (CPF is like social security number) But I'm obviously not Brazilian and so I don't have one. They said without the number I cant take the package. We conversed for a while until I was ready to just grab the package and head for the door! Elder Young and I were planning  haha All in all they gave me my package :) haha and now I am happy! When we were walking home Elder young looked at me and said... you asked for a trial last night right? haha we busted up laughing.  but thank you!

We also had a baptism that was really special last Saturday! A young man (27) that we have been teaching for a long while! It was really interesting to see the conversion of Giliarde. He was really excited and during the week he even asked us if we could move his baptism to Friday so he didn't have to wait any longer. There was a church dance Friday so he had to wait... ha But it was really special! I asked him how he was feeling after the baptism and he started crying, saying that he felt so different and so good. I couldn't help it and the tears came. It is so awesome knowing that all our work is really changing and helping others. There is not a better feeling in the world!

Eu sei que o autoridade de Deus fui resturado na terra quando Joseph Smith fui chamado um profeta. Eu sei que o Dom de linguas existe. Eu sei que o poder de um testimunho é um das coisas mais poderosas que temos. Tambem eu sei que Thomas Spencer Monson é nosso profeta que esta aqui para nos guiar e ajudar em nossa dia a dia.

Elder Heath

Branden. The New Trainer!

Hey ya'll! This is Cassie. I want to apologize for the lack of posting that has happened over the last month! Branden is doing great and loving the mission, I just have been a little bit of a slacker posting his letters. So here are all the letters from July, and a few from June. Sorry for the overload! 

July 23rd, 2012

Dear Baby shower/wedding crew,

Parabens TONY AND CINDY!!! FELIZ CASAMENTO!!!! I cant wait to see all the pictures of the wedding! Sounds like there was a lot of work put in and sounds like it was quite the Romantic wedding! Must of been special to have everyone together for the occasion also. And I want to hear more about the baby shower and what happened! What exactly happens at a baby shower? ha When you have Kylie,Cassie, you have to put on all the baby clothes and send me tons and tons of pictures of your angel! I am planning on making another photo album of just her! ha 

The life of a trainer is the BEST! And it is so much easier when my comp is a super stud! He already knows everything and he is already ready to handle this area solo! ha He is picking up Portuguese pretty fast and the only hard part is understanding people here in Ceará. Because everyone talks sooooooooooo Fast and everyone talks incorrectly. That makes it a little hard sometimes but he is picking up really fast! 

No, after we threw the eggs we just threw them away. Our floor in our house isn't always the cleanest place on earth haha My clothes are surviving! ha I am learning how to sew and how to scrub out stains! It is amazing how many stains get on white shirts. But they are all great! And ya, I am eating tons of fruits! there is a juice called acerola that I have been making almost everyday! 

We have a big group that we are teaching and we had a miracle happen this week! We have been teaching a man (37 years old) for about two months. He is super intelligent and he has been going to church and loving it. But when we spoke about baptism he always closed up. So this week Elder Young and I started praying on how we could help him. The next day we went to teach him and in the middle of the lesson the answer came. We were teaching about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and when we hit the part about baptism we felt that we needed to invite him to be baptized. My first thought was.... but he will just reject it..... but we went for it and he accepted! He said that he was hoping that we would invite him to be baptized this week, because he said he couldn't reject the way that he was feeling. So we had an awesome baptism this last Saturday and his whole family(who are all members) went and it was a really special meeting. That night after the baptism we went home and Elder Young and I practiced confirmations, how confirm someone in Portuguese, and Elder Young confirmed Henriki on Sunday! It was awesome! Then the other miracle that happened was another one of our investigators came up to us after church and said he wanted to talk. So we went to talk and he said that he has a really strong desire to be baptized, and that he had been rejecting his feeling for a while as well. But he wants to be baptized this next week! 

Eu sei que essa é a Igreja de Cristo. Eu sei que deus, ele responderá todos de nossos oraçoes quando pedimos com fé. TAmbem eu sei que o espirito Santo trabalha em nosso coraçao, e ele está aqui para nós guiar em nossas vidas. Eu sei que familias poderao ser eternas tambem, e que atravez nossos exemplos e açoes que nos podemos levar outras familias para morar com deus. Eu amo sendo um missionario de deus!

I love you  all!!!!!!!!  Elder Heath

P.S. I learned something that has been really helping my prayers. We always teach that we should thank for our blessing, we should ask for what we need. But this week I have been shoring my testimony in my prayers, and sharing what I have learned that day through my testimony. It has really helped my prayers. :) You all should try it :)

Photos

1 making cement to make a wall

2 baptism

3 baptism

4 Paisley tie day!

July 16th, 2012

What a SEMANA!

Thanks you Mike, Betsy, Mylo, for the Birthday wishes. And everyone last week as well! I had an awesome birthday this year! So there is a Brazilian tradition called eggs on the head!!! And basically it is exactly what it sounds like! You throw eggs on the head of the birthday boy. Ha And because I turned 20 this year.... guess how many raw eggs...20! I had seen other missionaries do it, and it looked fun so I thought why not.... right? It was nasty!!!!!!!!!!!!!! By the tenth egg I had egg down my back, on my face... but it was pretty funny. :) I think I will bring this tradition home with me... so look out!!!!!

The big news.....(Drumroll....) I m a FATHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My New Greenie is Elder Young!!!! I definitely got the best missionary of the group. We had a training before we got our comps.... and Presidente Souza pulled me aside and said, your companion will be a leader in the mission, so train him well! That kinda put a little pressure haha But Elder Young is from Pleasant Grove UTAH!!! I don't know if anyone has been to sammys there (super perto de Provo) but he lives close to sammys there! He is an awesome missionary and he is on FIRE!!!! Fogo nos ossos!!!! (not fire in the bears ;) He is a wrestler, and he says that he is shy but he is opening up a lot haha His Portuguese is coming along very well and we are already teaching together! He is Fearless! He goes and talks to everyone in the street, if they understand him or not he always has a big smile on. ha He does something really funny... when he doesn't understand what someone says... he laughs, puts on a huge grin and looks to me. But he really is picking up the language really really fast! ill send a picture of him for everyone to see. It was also really cool, because when we got our comps, my trainer is training now with me as well. So we got to share the good old stories, and he is training one of Elder Youngs good buds from the MTC. We also had Elder Youngs Greenie dinner at a members house! I am trying to start this tradition in Brazil too. We had lots of salad, green rice, grapes, sprite and it was awesome! When we walked in everyone was hiding to make a surprise and Elder Young was a little scared haha It was awesome!

This week with Elder Young and I closed a wedding too! We have a family of 6 people that we have been working with that are going to get married at the end of august!!! I am so excited to help another family enter the church! This week we are also doing tons and tons of study getting Elder Young all ready! It seems like yesterday that I was in his position all stressed about lessons. When I was being trained I made a list of all the things that I liked about my trainer and things that I would of liked hoping that one day I would be able to train someone. That is helping a ton with our training!

Eu sei que a Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos santos dos Ultimos dias é a Igreja veirdadeira na terra. Eu Sei que familias poderao ser eternas e que nos temos todo o poder de escolher e seguir o caminho certo em nossas vidas. Eu sei que eu amo minha familia mais de qualquer outra coisa no mundo!

Elder Heath

Photos
1 batismo!

2 Elder Young (meu filho),Elder Heath,Eçder Matos(meu pai),Elder Coons(meu Irmao)

3 Greenie dinner with Elder Loureiro and Elder Carreira!

 ps Congrats Danielle going out for soccer and making that penalty goal!!! I cant wait to tell my Brazilians buds about you!!! Good job trev too reading and getting it done at scout camp! ps.... my record was 9 with 5 required!!!! muahahaha 

July 9th, 2012

WOW!

Now it is a fact! I HAVE THE BEST FAMILY ON THE EARTH!

Thanks you everyone that sent me Birthday wishes! It was really nice hearing from everyone! I sure do miss every single one of you, but the harder I work here the faster the time passes and the faster I will see all of you again! Even with a couple new members of the family!

This last week has been full of lots of excitement! I have been lost in the work that I just remembered yesterday that my Birthday is in 2 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CRAZY! There are some pretty funny traditions that people do for birthdays.... if we do some this week I will let you all know :) I am waiting for the package still but I got some early presents this last week!!! First of all we had three baptisms on Sunday that were really awesome!!! They were three friends that are always at the church playing soccer and they have tons of member Friends. We taught them and they were very very excited to be baptized! They are also talking a lot about serving missions here in 2 years!!!  And also President Souza called me and gave me a present too!!!! He called me to advise me that I get to move up in the missionary world and not be Junior anymore!!!! haha! Starting tomorrow I will go to Aldeota and I will pick up my GREENIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha I get to TRAIN AN ELDER!!!!!! I'm so pumped for this! I don't know who I will train, and I will only find out when I see him! We do this big meeting where they learn lots of things about the mission. Then all the trainers go into a room, and the now missionaries in another room. They then call a trainer... he walks in.. then they call the greenie! haha Im super excited for this! Tomorrow 10 Americans, 4 Brazilians, and 2 from Paraguay and getting here. So we will see what will happen :) One of the Elders is, Bonds......Elder Bonds haha Then President called me the next day and called me to be District leader too! So I will be staying here in my area and I will get to train for the next 2 transfers!!! I think it will be really nice to be with an Elder with fire in his bones!!!! 

Sorry that I have not been sending pictures lately... I have made the choice to not walk around with my camera anymore. We are not in the best place to walk with valuable items. But everyone loves the missionaries so we are all ok ;) Did you get to see all of the pictures that I sent with Elder Garcia? Did the baby clothes get there for Cassie? haha 

Well I love all of you and thanks you so much for the Awesome e mail!!!!!!! I love you all FAMILY!!!!!!

I know that this church is true and I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. I know that he faced many trials but he was given all the strength to overcome them. I know that Jesus Christ and his atonement help us everyday in our lives!

Elder Heath 

July 2nd, 2012

Hey hey hey,

So don't be worried about why my e mail is so late. I was with a missionary that is going home today and I have been accompanying him all day. We ran into some bad traffic and we got home a little late, but Prez Souza said that we could be here. ha Today was a pretty crazy day visiting tons of people with Elder Passos and eating TONS OF FOOD!

No, I have not gotten the package yet, but I'm sure it is on its way :) Haha I didn't buy new sandals... I super glued them and they have been working out great so far. And this week has been an awesome week in our work! I gootta run, but I love you all and everything is alright with me... just a little rushed today :) Thanks for the loving e mail!

Elder Heath :)

June 25th, 2012

Hey hey hey!!!!!!

That is awesome that you got my package! That is too bad that Elder Garcia came when you were all out of town. He told me that he was planning on going to the temple every week, so hopefully he will pass by the house sometime. Ya, that video was made way at the beginning of my mission. My Portuguese has gotten a little better over the last 9 months haha. Elder Baltazar is quite a character. That house that you all saw was also the biggest house in the mission!!!! haha And now, I think I am living in one of the smallest houses in the mission! On Saturday our faucet to our sink broke and water isn't coming out.... so today is p day and we had no clean plates or anything to use..... So we got creative! the only other place in our house where water comes out is the toilet... and the shower. So I took the plates and cups and washed everything in the shower ahah. Elder Lins and I also had an interesting thing happen when we were walking to the super market today. I was wearing my sandals and one of them broke in the middle of the trip!!!! And there was no way to walk with it broken.... so I walked barefoot for a bit until we got to the market. ha there I asked the lady if I could have a plastic sack..... she looked at me all weird, but said ya. I explained to her what happened. Then I wrapped the sack around my foot and the sandal and the cashier busted up laughing! ha I will admit, it looked pretty ridiculous walking home with a plastic sack around my foot.... but it worked perfectly! ha

This week here was really good! We got to meet a lot of new people because of our awesome members and we are looking at some awesome baptisms here in a little bit! :)  So this week I have been reading a lot in Genesis and reading about Noah and the arc... which is funny enough because this last Friday we had the GREAT RAIN happen here in Ceara! IT started at about 8 in the morning and did not stop all day! And when you think of a hard rain, double that  and that is how hard it was raining. We had a baptismal interview that morning as well! I am the only one in our house that has an umbrella and so we went the two of us under one umbrella. interesting huh... We were on the way and  the rain was so hard that it broke my umbrella!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and we just started taking rain like crazy! We just ran then! We made it and did the interview all soaking wet. It was raining so hard it was hard to hear others inside! haha After the interview it stopped raining and so we took the chance and headed home fast! But like always that didn't last long. We made it to a store that had umbrella and then everything was perfect after we got umbrellas. haha But our street in front of our house was a river! 2 feel of water!  It was crazy! All the rain left Elder Lins a little sick but we went to work anyways haha It was fun being in the rain!

We had 4 new people visit church this week and we are looking forward to teaching them this week! I am learning a ton of new things, methods to teach and to help others come unto Christ. I Know that this is the True church of Jesus Christ on the earth. I know that Jesus suffered everything for us.... and that I know one day we can all return to live with Christ, Our heavenly father and our families in exaltation! I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet that restored the true, full gospel of Christ for each and everyone. 

Love Elder Heath

pictures,

1 lunch!

2 our personal river in front of our house

3 Elder Lins 24th B day!!!!!

June 18th, 2012

Hey hey hey!

How is the BEACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can almost feel that cool wind breeze at the coast! You got a little sun burnt as well? Man you all must of had a really good week up at the coast! Did anyone get in the water? And I didn't hear anything about Tillamook ice cream...... That makes me worried. haha Happy Fathers day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a gift, you get to go to the beach for your special day! Sounds like you got the high treatment as well. You had a delicious cake being secretly made, lots of goodies, and you got to spend time with our family! Put a cherry on top of that and its good to go! How did the crabbing go? Did you guys stay out there all night long, pulling up those big crabs? Here in Brazil I have not eaten crab, or lobster. We hardly ever see crab and when we see it the places that sell them seem kinda iffy. I would like to, but maybe to eat more seafood I need to be closer to the beach. Elder Empy that we saw in the temple, his area right now it literally the beach! That has got to be pretty difficult. But where I am and I think in Ceará there is tons of fish. In all the markets and in all the streets people are selling fish. We have eaten it a couple times in members houses, and I love it! Brazilians really know how to make sauces and really put flavor in food! Hopefully I will learn someday. :) My companion and I were talking the other day about food that we miss that we would like to eat/make. And we both decided that tacos are defiantly at the top of that list. And then next to that is french toast with real bacon!!!!!!!!!!!!! So this week we are going to see what we can make happen.

Sounds like the sports world is pretty crazy right now, Nadal is breaking records and the ultimate team the heat is winning as usual. Have you been watching the tennis matches? Have you been playing with the babalot racket? How is it?

Yesterday I got a phone call from one of our families in my first area that are coming to visit us here! They said that they wanted to stop by to see how we are and that they would also bring us dinner! Woo Hoo! cant argue with that. I have been thinking that it is going to be really hard to leave Brazil with all the friends that we have made. But I don't need to worry about that for a good amount of time. :)

Exciting news in Brazil..... the buses are on strike so we are just going by foot.... elections are coming up here soon for a new president. Did you know that here if you don't vote you have to pay a 125 R fine? Crazy.... The work on the temple in Fortaleza has officially started.... hmmmm I also found out that Brazilians don't believe that the wright brothers were the first ones to fly. That someone names santos dumont (from Brazil) was the first. haha Everything seems pretty calm here though. nothing crazy is happening in Brazil :) This month there is a national party that is taking place that is really cool too! A fiesta da juinia. Tons of people have these couple dance competitions. And there clothes are big dresses with tons and tons of colors! It is cool seeing them practice in the street!

This last week was a little difficult because all of our investigators were not able to go to church. I think the hard rain scared some... but we will go back and this week explain clearer about the importance of church. :) I have learned so many things here on the mission that have made me such a better person. Everyday with our studies, prayers, sharing our testimonies I feel closer and closer to our Lord.

I love being a missionary!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Heath