Flood

HOLA!!!!

So about the package you are sending, we got a little info about how to send it. On the list of things that you write, don't write things that you can only buy in the US because we will have to pay to receive the package as well. So putting like candies... sheets.... toys would be ideal. Because its been happening a lot that missionaries are paying 100 reals to pick up a package which is kinda crazy. :) But anything else you want to put in there is awesome... food.... little toys anything is awesome maybe one of those head massager things that looks like a spider :) Thanks a ton for doing all of this! And I was thinking about Jesus the Christ but We should wait on that because I have some friends going home that might give me their Jesus the Christ :) YOUR THE BEST!

So this week I found out some pretty cool things! First of all I have this buddy Elder Jay that just went home last week and I was talking to some other missionaries about him and found out some interesting things. Did you know that Parents can pick missionaries up from their missions? They cant stay longer than their mission allows but parents can come and be with us for the last week of our mission! I was hearing about Elder Jay who is from Washington. His parents came for the last week and they actually did missionary work with him. He said that they went around and did some tracting and taught a couple lessons. His parents would talk and he would translate! ///they had a really cool experience where without the translation his parents understood what the investigator said. Prettty cool. But So they did a little missionary work and they were also allowed to go around and visit all of his previous areas with his parents. I think it was pretty awesome! I was just thinking about you meeting our baptisms and our members just in my first area would be so awesome! But just a little heads up.... I have no idea how mush it is to do all of that its gotta be pretty spendy but just letting you guys know, in case you might want to start learning Portuguese ;) ha

Also this week on Thursday we were going around to all of our appointments and it was sunny and hot. We got out of a house and it started pouring! And when people say that it rains in POURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT was ridiculous! We were lucky to be close to a snack shop. We camped out in there for a bit but it just started raining harder and harder!!! I tried to take some pictures of the rain but not too many because I didn't want to ruin my camera. But The streets were rivers in 15 min! and we were walking home and there was seriously white water in the streets from all of the rain! And our way to our house was FLOODED with water! So there is a picture, where the water was at one point was almost to our knees!!! IN THE STREET! It was crazy! I was really grateful that I bought covers for my scriptures because without them they would of been soaked! And I have some news about the waterproof socks we bought.... I think they should say water proof for rain in the U.S. haha I told my comp that my feet should be dry when we got home. I took my shoe off and my sock was soaked in and out! ha But we were wading through 2 feet of water so.... ya. It was a good day though. I love the rain and playing in the water! My companion also has this thing for killing frogs.... and he hit a new record of 6 frogs that night! ha It was crazy how many frogs came out! /but this week was an awesome week of work, and we will hopefully have two more baptisms this weekend! I am super excited for them! I love finding the people here that really want to change their lives and be members.

But it sounds like everything at home is going great! with all the valentines, and dancing and love in the air! And Danielle breaking it out on the dance floor! sounds pretty awesome! But I love you all and I cant wait to hear from you next week!

Love Elder Heath!!!

With love, from Fortaleza

Happy Valentines DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think Valentines day isn't that big of a deal when you are a missionary ha We had an elder get a package from his girlfriend and she sent heart suckers and so that was our Valentine's day! YES!!!!!!!!! /

So I have a couple ideas before I start my week. MOM! That is so awesome that you are reaching out to the families that are not so active in our ward and trying to help them re activate! You are completely right! It is definitely not easy! But a way I have found out to get people excited for church is through activities. Doing joint family home evenings and doing things that they like gets people to realize that you can be a member and still have fun. The other week there was this lady Ana Maria that stopped going to church. And she makes popsicles for a living. So we spent our P day helping her make popsicles all day and conversing all day. We then left here with a scripture to read and pray about. And that helped her a lot, and she is going to church again! But it is not easy work. I always remember a devotional that we watched in the CTM about Jeffery R Holland and he was talking about tracting and trying to talk with families and when everything is falling through and nothing is going the way that you want it.......Stop go buy an ice cream cone.... the continue working! :) I apply this alot here :) But keep trying, you are doing awesome!

And Dad That is funny that you passed by that best western. And running by the bridge I don't remember seeing a wave as I was running. I think that is probably because I was dying along that path. ha Clinging on to the trees to keep on my feet. ha That is cool that you are in the same place I was just a couple of months ago. And yes, I heard yesterday that Whitney Housten died! We were at a members house and he showed us some pictures of here and man she looked like she was in bad shape! We did a tribute to whitney housten in one of my pictures that I sent. AND I......WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! haha

Trev! That is awesome that you gave a talk in priesthood! Man you are growing up so fast! How did it go? Im sure it was awesome! And you are going to your first dance!!! That is so exciting! So I have a little advice! My first dances I can remember like it was yesterday! I was scared out of my mind! I remember going to the dances and thinking to myself.....ok I will ask a girl to dance.... wait wait..... nothing ha and the reason that I was scared to dance is because I thought that the girls would say no.... So here is my advice for you. Girls will not say no if you ask them to dance. I know that for a fact! I have talked to many girls about it and they always say that they were waiting for someone to ask them to dance. So you just gotta ask the girls and know that they want to dance with you! Plus your a super stud so who doesn't want to dance with you! And there is also a trick that I used to do with girls. After every dance twirl the girl! If you do even something small like that, it is super fun and it makes the girls laugh! haha

Well I am sending a letter this week in the mail But I love all of you and until next week!

Elder Heath!

And in the package I would like a bed sheet with elastic for a twin. to wrap around the mattress, and also some heath candy bars :) That and the things from last week... the photos.

in the pictures we got a guitar this week and we caught 4 cockroaches in the pouches of my comp and the whitney housten tribute! haha

Updates from Brazil

Thanks a ton for the letter this week dad! I love hearing of all of the awesome things that are happening at home! I am also glad that you guys got my letters! I will be sending one tomorrow too for the request of mom :) I will start to try writing a letter every week here for you. So then you guys can know a little more that is going on here in Fortaleza. It is a little difficult for me summerizing everything that has happened in one e mail. And I like talking about what is happening at home. ut I will try to talk more about themish :) But real quick, that is awesome that you guys went and played tennis together! I cant wait to come ack to our tennis pro family! Danielle, sounds like you are going to be ruling the court this year! And if you are getting more power then you had when we played.... LOOK OUT! :) never e afraid to use that power... ut remember... with great power comes great responsability! :) ha And Dad you are starting up churchball again! That is super awesome! I have missed basketball a ton! I have not seen one basketball hoop in brasil yet! I heard there is a court aout 2 hours away in another area.... but thats it! Keep it up playing against those young guys that think they are good! Show them how the heaths play ball! ha And trev, keep it up with your scouting! Sounds like you are dominating! Scouts is a really good learning experience, and if you come to brazil it come in handy! We have to build huts to sleep in.... descend form mountains to get to lessons, catch fish and animals to eat! ha Those I pods are also sounding like a good investment! Dad learning angry birds and being ale to skype each other is pretty cool!

So here in Brasil! First off, the news on the temple is that in aout 2 years the temple will e uilt. (By the way, on this key board, the `B`` is stuck. Sorry if words dont have B´´s in them) But we have heard form members that the temple will be finished before my two years are up on the mission and also that it will e longer. So Im just hoping that it will be done before I leave! I think that would be really cool to be ale to visit the temple before I come home. I guess we will see!

Man, This week has been really interesting with the new transfer and everything. So im not sure if the whole country of brasil is like this but right around 12 in the afternoon until 3 EVERYONE DISAPPEARS!!! It didnt effect us really during training (first 2 transfers) because we were studying at that time. But now that we are out teaching at that time it is weird! It is seriously like a ghost town. We were walking around, and Resturants are closed...and markets are closed... at LUNCH TIME! Elder Matos says that it was like this in all of his areas too. Because lunch is the time when everyone is home together and when people have breaks form work. ut normally everyone is sleeping. We were contacting some references and almost all of the houses, we were waking people up. ha It is super different. And also the kids dont start school until after lunch. Talk aout sleeping in! And they only have school for 4 hours and 30 min! I was like what!! What happened in the USA? We have 6 hours and it starts at 7 in the morning? ha but it was good!

I had a really cool experience this week too! I got a little taste of training! There is an elder that just got into the field this last tuesday! And we did a division and so I got to help him study and we got to go out and do work together! It rought back a lot of memories that really were not that long ago. It was a really cool experience switching roles, and not being the one trained and training. I think Elder Matos is one of the best trainers in the field and it was such a blessing for me to have him as my first comp. Because I felt completely ready and while we were teaching we had some really awesome lessons. Elder Davis and I had an awesome day together and I cant wait until I can train someone on the mission! He said that he has family that lives in kennewick too.... Do you know any Davis``? he is from colorado. cool connection! But I know that I have received so much hep and that over these last three months I have been in the hands of our lord, and he has helped me every step of the way on my mission! I know that God lives and that he really does answer prayers.

I love you all,

Elder Heath

Also in a package I have a couple of things I could use. I wrote them down at home and forgot the list. One was a rubiks cube ha and some other things I will write next week :) Also some pictures ... of my baptism, with danielle and trev shooting guns, snowboarding, the trek, wakeboarding, and photos with the family. I think you can find most of them on my facebook but I will write more things next week :) thanks a ton! Love you guys!

And the transfer change is.....

HEY HEY HEY!

So transfers just came the other day............... DRUM ROLL.............. I am going.................to..................STAY IN OUR AREA WITH ELDER MATOS! :) ha Presidente Souza said that he was really happy with everything that we did together and that we are succeeding his standards and so he wants us to stay in out area one more trnsfer1 I am pretty excited because we are teaching some really good families and we are also working on a marriage of a family so then the whole family can be baptized! That is something I learned here on the mission. I never knew that we would be helping with marriage haha. Good practice for one day ehhhh? ha So we are staying and we are going to do work here! Today we went to transfers so we could say hi to some buddies and so we could get to know some other missionaries. It was really cool getting to see the missionaries that arrived here on the same day as me and swapping stories with them! It is really cool how we can talk about almost anything and we just spoke in portuguese not needing any english. I also ordered a mission bag today. With the money that Grandma sent me for Christmas! It is a cool little hip bag that almost everyone here has. It sounds kinda lame..... its not a fanny pack......... but it is super cool! I will take a picture and send it your way when I get it :)

Well this week in the wonderful area of sitio sau joao was a little slow. We had to cool it down a bit because Elder Matos wasn't feeling good this week. So for 2 days we went to central and he was getting checked on at the health clinic. So we had to cancel all of our appointments and staying in our house was driving me crazy! Studying is really good and all but I needed to get out. So we are starting to get back to work and staying out of the house! Elder Matos is feeling a ton better and so that is a good thing to hear! :) But this week we have been helping a young man in our ward get ready for his mission. Teaching him and shhowing him the ropes has been really fun! Oh and after several weeks of messing with a rubic cube I MASTERED THE CUBE! haha It is pretty fun and interesting how it works. Definitely a new challenge for anyone that wants a good challenge!

Sorry the letter that I sent was in portuguese. I'm glad that you were all excited to get a letter. I guess this means I need t start sending more letters! I sent one in english the other week that you should be getting soon! ha That is really cool that yuo were able to understand mais o menos of the card dad! We have a guy in our ward that speaks fluent spanish and so I have been talking with him and trying to get to where I can understand. BUt he has a really really thick accent that is difficult. But I'm getting better at it. You sent it to dallin to translate^? could he understand it? ha I need to practice writing more but hopefully he could understand it. :) AND TREVOR! You are learning portuguese on your i pod! Dude that is so awesome! We will totally talk in portuguese on mothers day! That is so awesome! That is a blessing of having an i pod touch! :) good job bro! How are you liking your i pod touch? Do you have the NBA JAMS app yet! haha so good! And your glasses broke bro? that's not good. how did they break? you should send a picture when you get your new glasses!

So I have a question... is that new Texas restaurant open yet? If it is, how is it? When you were talking about searching for a restaurant I started thinking about that place. ha random... but Dad that is awesome that you are training for the spokane marathon again! This is your chance to qualify for BOSTON! you got plenty of time and I will work extra hard here on the mish so ou can receive more blessings! :) We have 2 new elders, Elder Powers for WA, and Eler Baker e de CA, in our house. And it is only us 4! the other 4 got another house. But Elder Powers and I are going to start running in the mornings and getting back into shape! Im super stoked to start running again! So maybe can be worthy to run with you when I get back :) ha

oh and last week we had 8 investigators at church which was awesome! so we are looking at a good next week!

Mom, you are doing great helping the people in our ward! I know that it means a ton to the missionaries in our ward! It is amazing how much of a relief it is to have members that actually visit people and help the missionary work! Keep it up, you are doing great!

CONGRATS MICHELLE AND JOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is awesome that you have another baby girl in the family! You should send some pictures my way if you get the time! I was to see me new cousin! that is so awesome!!

Well my time is ticking down... but thanks a ton for the letter! I love hearing every week how amazing my family is! You all are the best! thanks!

Abraço, (hug)

Elder Heath!

p.s. keep me updated if I need to do anything with the taxes. :) thanks!

also the pictures are of my district, and just other places close to t o our area! The cows in the middle of the street.... we are sharing the gospel with everyone here and everything! (he didn't actually attach the pictures this week... but it's fun to imagine them teaching cows.)

Tomatoes

Hey Family

After this week I am super exhausted and ready for a good break on p day! haha We worked and we worked and we worked and we received blessings from our work! We had 26 new investigators this week with 26 dates, 2 baptisms, 7 investigators at church and I'm am exhausted! haha This is our second to last week of the transfer and so we kicked it up a gear :) It was really awesome! We got a reference from a member here and on Thursday we went to visit them and see if they wanted to hear our message. They said ya and so we went in to their house. There were 3 people sitting down and we asked if anyone else was there (which was the best question of the night!) so three more people came in, then two more then two more! So we started a lesson with 10 people and right before the opening prayer two more people came in! ha So a lesson with 12 new investigators! It was like a huge party! It was an awesome lesson and took a little longer than usual with so many people having questions... but it was so awesome! A little overwhelming at first teaching so many people but it was awesome! I felt like we were holding a mini church session and that we needed to stand on the chairs to teach haha. It was awesome! After that lesson Elder Matos and I got some pizza to celebrate! (picture with napkin) It was a great day of work!

Something cool happened this week too, we were listening to andrea bocelli in a members house and I started listening to him sing and i was starting to understand what he was singing about in italian and spanish! It was really cool! The way they pronounce words are different but a lot of words are really similar which made me pretty excited! ha

Also I dont know if I told you guys about the language of Portuguese in my area... but noone aaaactually knows how to speak correctly haha People use wrong conjugations and my comp and I have been noticing it more and more haha. And they also dont pronounce the last half of the words... like obrigado (thank you) hereis briga haha i am just trying not to take up on how the people speak Portuguese here haha

and I have a confession for mom..... I LOVE TOMATOES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have no idea what I was thinking at home never eating tomatoes but here I eat them every meal! And the little cherry tomatoes and sooooooooo good! I think of you every time and I tell everyone how proud you will be when you hear that II like tomatoes haha

That is so awreome that you guys received more snow this week! Sounds like the snow didnt do too much good for everyone though. Car wrecks and people not showing up for therapy. That is pretty funny though... people that are injured getting injured by going to therapy haha I never thought of it that way haha This is your opportunity to head to the mountains for a little snowboarding while you have snow! o ya! haha

You like our collection of animals we have? haha it is pretty crazy and we have a lot more that I have not had the chance to take pictures of. Sometime I feel like I'm in a zoo. We have cows and horses always roaming the streets and goats and chickens everywhere. and also we have a shower that is outside and during the night there are usually one or two frogs jumping around while we are taking a shower haha

I will definitely send a picture of my jersey and maybe a picture of my tan... but I am white as paper right now hhaha With time missionaries get a tie tan too just because it is darker than just the shirt haha crazy!

And for memorizing scriptures in seminary I memorized some... not all of them. I wish that I would of. But Im making up for that here. I have learned a lot of awesome scriptures and memorized them. Sometime I just want to site them and not get out the scriptures but then people think We re making up scriptures... so then we should them and its all good. But memorizing scriptures is a definite benefit.

I love you all and I might have a new comp and might be in a new area next e mail so we will see!

Love Elder HEATH!!!!!!!!

Life is a Zoo!

Hey Family of Heath!

So we just got back from an awesome P day! Sorry this e mail will be a little later than usual. We decide to head into downtown Fortaleza today and get out of the house! Downtown Fortaleza is Crazy! I don't even know how to describe how many people there were just walking around shopping. And on a Monday too! It was really cool. We went to a huge mall where there were 6 stories of just little shops that have pretty much anything you could imagine! It is so overwhelming all of the people shopping ad everyone is bartering and yelling across the place. It was definitely different than the tri cities mall! haha I didn't have much money with me and so I left it up to my bartering skills to pick something out. I had 15 R with is like 12 bucks and I really wanted a coritheans soccer jersey (they just won the national title a month ago) and so I was going into shops and looking around and I found some sweet jerseys.... that were about 27 R. haha So I had some fun talking with the lady and saying I will pay 15 for this shirt.... she kept saying how she couldn't sell it for less than20 R ... that is what she thought :) After about 5 min I got it for 15! ha it was really fun! I just want to go to stores and barter and see how cheap I can buy things for! But downtown Fortaleza has some really cool places. There was this huge catholic building that was bigger than the one in new york! It had some stain glass that was really cool! I think some people were wondering why we were walking in the catholic building... but it was really cool.

But this week We had interviews with the President and it was really fun! IT is really cool to see how much has changes in my language abilities in 3 months here. We had a conversation perfectly without any misunderstanding or anything! President Souza is a n awesome guy! he definitely has a lot of trust in me too. he said some things that really lifted my spirits, and how i have already been doing a great work here! I also receive a weekly personal e mail from Pres Souza and he said that he ``hopes to keep talking, because he has great things planned for me``. I was like.... like what?.... haha but this week was really good! we had some good hard work and we had 3 people visit church this week, and our previous baptisms are strong in the church!

So really quick Dallin! I just finished listening to one of the Brazilian cds that you made me.... and for the first time heard the Brazilian National anthem! I was like what is this! It was awesome! sure brought back some memories of the first time trying to sing that song! if anyone that is reading this has not listened to it, look it up! And try to sing along! haha

So some Brazilians know what snowboarding is, but usually I just say it is like surfing but you wear more clothes haha. I have been getting pretty tan, but I think I'm at my limit. From now I just get red and not tan. Its a miracle I have not burnt or pealed, just been red a lot. And I think I am maybe losing weight here. I eat a ton of food but I'm not getting bigger. I think its because of the 100 miles we walk everyday up and down mountains... backwards.... with rock in our backpacks.... carrying 20 Books of Mormon. haha I'm staying about the same size which is good. Ripped! I have been losing my English skills a lot. Sorry for people getting letters or reading this and for all of the words spelt wrong... and phrases are wrong. I made a goal not to write English anymore, so all my notes and journal entry's and in Portuguese. Trying to learn faster and ya English is pretty tough sometimes. I have to stop and think a while sometimes about words but that is good! haha

Dad thanks a ton for the update on the 49ers! It is awesome to hear that you are supporting while I'm gone. And that was a pretty epic game that you described! I'm just sad that I missed it. I talk about the 49ers here but no one knows anythings about football.i have been hearing that baseball is getting bit here is Brazil though. kinda interesting.

Trev thanks a ton for the pop up snow globe! That things is so sweet! It is on my desk reminding me or how cold it is there. haha It is cool how real the snow globe is! thanks a ton!

P.S. Mom and Dad there is a letter entering the mail tomorrow for you guys! Hand written already! :)

P.S.S. Tony and Cindy parabans na sua casamento! Me-enviara fotos!!!! (literal translation: congrats on the wedding, send me pictures. We think he meant engagement.)

Pictures;

1 Present in the shower

2 Present walking to an appointment

3 My comp!

I feel like the pictures this week were from the zoo haha. it was pretty crazy! I freaked out with the tarantula because it was dark and that think was huge! The size of a soccer ball! It helps that I love spiders too! The scorpion was found by Elder Hawks and was pretty small but still... Scorpion in the shower! Serious!

Happy New Year!

FELIZ Primero Semana do ano!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh boy! I feel like I need about 2 or 3 hours to be able to respond to all of the things that have been going on, the questions, and everything I wasn't to say! Thanks a ton for the letters and for the e-mails again! I love hearing about all of the crazy things my family is doing haha

SO I have to start with Grandma Miskho! ACCORDIAN SOLO!!!! WHAT??!! haha That is probably one of the coolest things that I have ever heard of! This is something that I definitely want to see! When I get back grandma is going to be skipping around the house playing the accordian! I loved this picture! IT looked like everyone was having a blast!

The Ginger bread houses were awesome too!!!!!! The girls house was awesome! All of the cookies on the roof looked so good! and the ice cream cone trees were awesome too! It is looking really professional! And the intricate design on the house with the frosting Danielle was really cool! Every year these houses are stepping it up! I'm going to need to start thinking now so I can catch up with the gang when I get back. And the MAN HOUSE!!!!! Man you have no idea how real that house is compared to the houses here! There are always little kids everywhere playing soccer, the broken glass on the top of all the fences, the fresh fruit markets on every corner, and the brightly colored houses with red bricks.... you guys nailed it spot on! Maybe I will find a house like that and send you a picture of the exact replica! haha There are a lot of really awesome ideas and whoever made the Brazilian flag was a pro! looks perfect! And also the cake that you mad Trev... SO GOOD!!!! Those roses look so awesome! I have no idea how you do it! WE have an awesomely creative family!

How has passing the sacrament been going little bro? Have you done all of the routes yet? Thanks a ton for the Christmas card! I just got it this week! The letter was so awesome! You are writing and using commas like a pro! I loved hearing from you! Ill write back soon!

Danielle thanks too for the letter that you wrote me! I was a little worried when you said that you didn't miss me at first haha you recovered with that you do now haha Thanks a ton for the picture too! IT is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD! I cant wait to see the original! If you sell it for $10,000 you should take a picture for me. It is my new Book of Mormon marker! SO awesome!

DAllin thanks a ton for the letter in Portuguese! It is crazy that I could understand every word! I tell everyone here that I have a brother that speaks Portuguese too and we will talk all the time after the mish! The Brazilians also read your letter and said it was perfect! Writing in Portuguese is not a strong suit of mine yet, but ill write you a letter soon for some good practice!

Cassie thanks for the letter too! I hope you can get some energy back... I sent a picture for you on how I get energy on my mission ;) Very healthy snacks! you should try it! (last picture)

Mom and Dad thanks a ton for your letter as well! I alwys love hearing about all of the amazing things that you two are doing together! Still going on dates and being the awesome parents you are. You guys are an awesome example and I love how happy you always are in all the letters!

So Kristopher Braggster came over to visit! I miss that guy so much! Bragg you are the man! He brought over fish? was this raw fish that he caught!? There is a missionary that I live with that loves to fly fish and reminds me a lot of Kris. Thanks a ton for giving me his address, I will definitely write home this week!!!!!!!!

I love Everyone so much!!! and HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE MIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Heath

Pictures

1; not enough water in baptismal font... using all the sinks in the building to get water to fill the font in time haha

2; waiting for the bus... fighting bulls

3; My energy source on the mish... oreos and peanut butter!

P.S. I vote for the BRAZILLIAN HOUSE! not bias at all ;)