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