First Week in the Field

Hola Familia!

 

REILLY!!! HAPPY 23rd BIRTHDAY! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! I HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY! I MISS YOU!

 

(first of all... mom, why cant I email grandmama and taunti tiff and everyone still? Was there an announcement that I dont know about?)

 

Well, I have been out in the field since tuesday! There is so much to tell but the good news is that I now have a little bit more time so hopefully I´ll be able to tell you lots but I also want to write a few individual emails so we´ll see how much i´ll have time to write.

 

So my area... Pavones, Barrio 6. haha this area is the exact area of the CCM, meaning I live RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET from the ccm, 90 percent of th teachers at the ccm are in this ward, and I see President Sitterud and all of the new missionaries in the ccm practically everyday since we are always on the temple grounds either teaching someone or walking across to get to the bus. Its pretty funny because this was the one ward I was hoping to not get sent to! But only for selfish reasons, I wanted to come back to this ward once I actually know spanish so I can talk to the teachers and President Sitterud in spanish. So it was pretty funny that this is my first area. My view from my bedroom is a straight shot of the temple! BEAUTIFUL! A little more about this area... So, It is just one ward, but  it is a huge ward. There are 6 of us missionaries serving in this one ward. About 250 members show up each week.

Alright my companion! Hermana Munden! she is 22, from kansas city, and has been out for about 11 months. Although she obviously in not from here, she speaks SO well. everyone always tells her she sounds native. She definitely has already mastered the language. She lived in Ecuador for 3 months before her mission and is minoring in spanish so she was put in the native class at the ccm and was only there fror 3 weeks. Which is super great for me because hopefully this language will start coming for me. Although it is slightly hard because she inst a fan of speaking the language except to natives. But I am convinced that this week I am going to convince her to only speak spanish with me so I can learn. But, she is wonderful! We don't have a picture together but I´ll email you one next week. Her ability to share the gospel with everyone is so awesome! I really admire her. She says we are perfect because I will go up to anyone and everyone and contact them and say hi and ask a few simple questions and then she takes over. She has never liked contacting and so has never really done it before but that is practically all I know how to do so we contact a lot and she says she loves it now. But, we are hoping that soon the members will start helping us so we will not have to contact as much and we will be able to have more lessons and teach more people. I dont mind contacting (knocking doors and talking to people at markets, in the street, metro etc), I actually love it because it allows me to meet so many different people with different stories which I love, but it is just not nearly as effective as we would like. I have now, just in this last week, grown such a strong testimony of the importance of member missionaries and how vital it is that members are just as involved in missionary work as we are. There are so many people that are so ready to hear the gospel so we need all fo the help we can get in finding those people. Plus, it makes it so the new members already have a friend in the ward once they are baptized.

 

Ok so here is a little bit about our investigators....

Right now we are only teaching two people. Like i said, apparently this area is really slow right now and they are struggling big time. But, I will tell you about the 2 people we are teaching.

 

 

Oscar! Oh he is wonderful. He is in his 50s and Hermana Munden has been teaching his for several months now. He had a bapstimal date last month and he is so eager and ready to get baptized but he is in a family situation with his wife so he cannot right now. We are praying that he will figure out a solution to this super complicated problem so that he can soon be baptized. Until then we are still meeting with him and teaching him the stuff over adn going more in detail. He comes to everything, church, FHE, english class, everything. And he knows 100 percent that this is the true church. Oh, but he is not a fan of me! haha. He just laughs at me every time I try and speak spanish. After my first lesson with him I was really discouraged but hopefully my spanish starts improving so I can actually help to teach him. Mostly I just sit there and smile and bear a 2 sentence testimony at the end. Its rough.

 

Daniel! Daniel was actually a reference from the CCM (one of the missionaries found him at the park! which makes me so happy!) We started teaching him on wednesday. We just had lesson 0 with him which is where we just got to know him and found out what he is looking for and what not. He is 28, from portugaul, speaks portguise (I cannot for the life of my figure out how to spell that word haha!), spanish and english. He wants to better his english tho so we teach him in english and have one of the members from the ward who speaks portugiese too come and in parts where he doesnt quite understand the member will translate for us. ANyways, daniel s wonderful as well. He is really interested in religion and is seeking for the truth. On wednesday he committed to come to church yesterday and so we were waiting and waiting and called and called and no answer. I was totally sad adn seriously felt like crying for him becuase he was so excited about church adn was looking forward to coming. But then, about 10 minutes after church started he called us and said sorry he was late but that he was right outside! Holy cow my comp and I about flew out of RS (they have sacrament mtg last) and ran outside to greet him! I was so happy! He loved church but is super busy with work everyday so we can only meet with him about 2 times a week so we are meeting with him tomorrow. I will keep you all updated. Hopefully by next week we will have lots of progress with him.

 

Jaime... So Jaime isnt quite an actual investigator yet but we are praying so hard for him because he would be such a perfect memeber and he practically believes everything we do. He is 23, actively practicing catholisms and he comes to english class each week. The hermanas have been trying to teach him for weeks now but he just isnt interested at all. But he had an interview today with this big engineering company and part of teh interview was testing his english so he asked if he would meet with him last night so he would practice english with him. We figured this would be perfect so we planned to meet with him and to have him read the plan of salvation folleto in english (We gave it so him on saturday in english class because his grandma  is about to die so he has been at the hospital all week adn has been really sad). But, after about 5 minutes of jsut casual talk the restauracion came up and we ended up teaching him the first lesson and gave him a book of mormon and committed him to pray to see if the book of mormon is true. AH it was so so so awesome! Hermana Munden and I just looked at each other after he left and asked what just happened! But, he told us that is parents were already against him even practicing english with us because they knew we would try and teach him. But, he said he will come watch the Jose Smith restauracion video with us on wednesday so we are praying really hard for him. We are hoping to teach his whole family.

 

Yeah, I guess it is pretty normal here to live with your family till you are married. No one that I have met lives by themselves, even if they are in the late 20s.

 

So, we teach english class every wednesday evening and saturday. Some members come but most of the people are nonmembers which is really neat.

 

Sister Mather and I are in the same zone! and we have a zone meeting this wednesday so I am super excited to see her again!

 

Its funny, every single thing about this mission is putting me so far out of my comfort zone and this week has been pretty rough but I know it will get better. And I know the most important thing I can do is forget myself and go to work. And I know that with patience, hard work, LOTS of prayers, and in the Lord´s timing I will be able to  become the missionary that the Lord and Spain need me to be. Its funny because when I left the CCM I was teaching full lessons in spanish and understanding my teachers and everything but I guess I didnt realize how slow my teachers were speaking to me because I feel like everyone around me is speaking a completely different language than what I learned there. They speak so fast!

 

It has been so so neat to to a missionary and recognize the Lord´s hand in every little detail of everyone´s life. I ahve always known this but I am so much more aware of it now and it is absolutely amazing! I love this gospel so much and I love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ! I know with them, no one will ever fail! With them and because of the atonement of Jesus Christ we can be happy no matter what. With them, we never have to feel lost, scared, confused or anything. Because of the atonement we can feel peace and comfort always. Through reading the scriptures all truth can be found! And there is nothing like having an investigator follow through on the commitments we make with them! I didn´t know I could feel so much happiness!!

 

So, the Elder, Elder Ward, who was in that train accident is such a neat guy! He was my zone leader in the CCM and I know him really well. We were sick for 2 days straight when we heard what happened. But, becuase of prayer and through a miracle he is alive and still here in Spain! I saw him last night, he came back to the CCM to recover and so I have actually seen him quite a bit. He is one incredible example to us all.

 

Oh, one last thing. So you know how the missionaries sing outside every sunday night?! Well, since I am serving here I get to bring my investigators to it! When we would sing I would look out and see missionaries teaching and I couldnt wait till I got to do that! I love serving here and I love love love that the temple is part of my area. We teach all of our lessons on the temple grounds and there really is no better place to teach!

 

I love you family! I love you so much! Thank you for you prayers, support, and for your emails each week! I LOVE YOU!

 

Love, Hermana Heims

 

PS My address is...

c/ Valdebernardo 10, 3C

28030 Mardid Spain

 

you can send letters here but send packages to the mission home!

 

Also, Mom! I GOT YOUR BDAY PACKAGE! Thank you! I got it when I met at the mission home to find out my area. Thank you! I love you so much! Also, please please please tell Debbie wanless THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH! Oh she will never know how much each letter she has sent me means to me. Also, please tell Karen Clark thank you thank you for the bday letter and hair bands! Gosh, I never knew how great it was to receive a simple letter while on a mission! Jenni Amundsen and Sis Dahl have also sent emails with updates on their family! I love them all! Please tell them thank you!