2 months!

Hola!

Today I have been out for exactly 2 months. It seems crazy. In this
mission they are big on cumplimeses (the month mark of how long you
have been out.) ANd hma Munden and I ahve the same day so we woke up
today to cinnamon toast and cards from the other hermanas in our piso
and calls all day from other missionaries. It has been fun.

Oh this week was full of miracles. I love love love being a missionary
and being able to bring hope and love to people who are so ready. Last
week Hma Munden and I prayed and fasted that we would find a family to
start teaching. We had a zonee training the week before and our
President told us his vision of seeing a family kneeling around the
alter in white. It was a really powerful zone conference and gave us
extra faith and motivation to find a family. Well, on Wednesday we had
an appt with this lady named Maribel and her daughter Fatima. It was a
reference from elders in another area. And let me just tell you...
this night was the very best moment on my mission so far. Holy cow I
am so excited all over again emailing it to you. So, we knocked on
this door and three little girls answered and let us in and
immediately we felt teh spirit SO strong in that house. I immediately
turned to Munden and said "I see them in white!" We did teh whole two
kiss thing to all the 3 kids and then walked down the hallway and
seriosuly the spirit was so strong I cant even explain it. We met the
mom in the family room and literally right as we sat down she started
asking us about Jospeh Smith and telling us she wanted to know
everything. This family is a golden family... the ones you hear about
all of the time that are jsut so perfect. Seriously. We kept thinking,
wait is this a joke, is she a member and just kidding us. We were
talking to her about Heavenly Father and our relationship with Him and
how it is so special and sacred to us and she was bearing the exact
same testimony back to us. She said she has been praying to find the
truth for months now and right when she saw us she knew we were
messengers from God and that we represent Jesus Christ. I´m not
kidding, she said that exact thing haha! I looked like a total fool
the whole time because I literally could not stop smiling. My cheeks
hurt once we left. She just kept saying the most perfect stuff and how
she is catholic but only by tradition and how she wants more that just
a church to go to every week, she wants her religion to be a
lifestyle, and tons more stuff that was exactly what we teach every
day as missionaries. It was wonderful. Then we brought out the Book of
Mormon and literally you would ahve thought she had died and gone to
heaven. She didnt ever look at the cover when we handed it to her, she
just hugged it and said she kenw it was the word of God. I am telling
you... she is godlen. We read teh last two paragraphs from the intro
with her and she loved everyminute of it. Her daughter Fatima was more
quite the whoel time and the little girls were running aroung playing
but I am so in love with this family. And although we are not quite
sure where the dad is, we think he might have passed away because
there is a picture of this man on the wall, we feel so blessed to have
found this family. We know that our prayers and our fast were
answered. So Maribel works every single night thurs-sun so we can only
meet with then every mon tues and wed (which means we are meeting with
them for the second time tonight and we are SO excited) but they came
to church yesterday and loved every minute of it. Maribel was
participating in all of the lessons and everything. I definitely see
them in white in just a few weeks!

So last week we only had 3 investigators but this week we have 9. A
lot of these we have only had one appointment with but have the second
scheduled for this week so I really look forward to this week being
able to teach so much. Haha one of them, John, is from Australia and
he is hilarious. He is 45 and I wish you could meet him because he is
one of a kind and I ahve no clue how to describe him but hopefully we
continue teaching him so taht over time you can figure out more about
him. We foudn him contacting in the park and he was a little drunk and
we thought at first that we were waisting out time and we almost left
but we stayed and kept talking to him and by the end we already had
changed so much. We was no longer making jokes about us and laughing
at what we were saying but instead he put down his beer and sincerely
told us he wants a better life for himself and that he is not sure if
what we are saying is true but he is willing to meet with us again and
learn more. We promised him that this message, that The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is restored back to the earth again
and that Jesus Christ is our Savior and throuhg Him we can receive
help and happiness is exactly what he needs and that by meeting with
us his life WILL change for the better. So we met with him last night
and we werent sure how it was going to go but it went great! He
apologized for the other night and how he acted in the beginning but
thanked us for meeting with him again. He was so sincere the whole
time and really wants to change his life around. He still lives with
his parents and he said if is dad knew he was meeting with us he would
be super mad but we have another appt with him on thursday which we
are really excited about. Daniel, is progressing really slowly. We
still have not been able to teach him the restoration because he keeps
going out of town or something happens at work to where he ahs to stay
late so he has to cancel our appt. But we brought him to a baptism on
Saturday and he loved it! He loved the talk on faith and kept going on
about it. And he said the actual baptism was super new fro him but
that it was beautiful. We are finally teaching him the restoration
tonight which we are super happy about. Oscar is still Oscar but
thankfully he is slowly warming up to me and we ahve had a few
conversations this last week. I have the hardest tme understnading him
because one he doesnt ahve his 4 top teeth and two he talks so
stinking fast so our conversation didnt last long but it was a start.
haha.

So the area 70 said that each companion needs to have their owm piso,
there are three companioships in our piso, so this last week hma
munden and I ahve been piso hunting. We ahve had no luck but we have a
cita with one on tuesday so hopefully this one works out. I would LOVE
to move out of our piso. I love all of the hermanas but man I cannot
stand drama so a piso to ourselves will be super nice.

I am sad to report that I rarely ever use the theta anymore. The
majority of the people in my ward and our investigators are latins and
my comp doesnt speak with the theta so randomly is comes our when I
say something but most of the time I dont speak with the theta. Oh and
another thing... it is the most frusting thing but at the same time it
makes me laugh... all day long when I contact people I say something
so so so simple like "de donde es usted" or "que tal su dia" or como
fue su dia, something super small and they look at me like I am
speaking chinese and ask what so I repeat it and they say they dont
understand and them Munden says the exact same thing and they say oh
oh oh muy bien etc. Haha. Makes me laugh but is annoying at the same
time!

Speaking of Latins... Peruvians are the nicest people on the planet.
EVERY SINLGE puruvian we talk to whether they are ward members,
investigators or random people on the street are always so so nice.
Maribel and Fatima are Peruvian as well and when we were telling the
other hermanas in our piso about them thye said, let me guess, they
are puruvians arent they?! I want to go to Peru one day!

Well, I cant think of anything else to say. I love being a missioanry.
I know with everything in me that this church is true and that baptism
with the correct authority is the gate to heaven. I know that Joseph
Smith is a prophet of God and each day I find myself being so much
more aware and grateful for his sacrifice and his worthiness and his
calling to restore the church back to the earth. I know that the
Atonement is real and I know that Christ is always near us, knows us
perfectly, and has a specific plan for each one of us whether we even
know/believe in him or not. And I am so greateful for this knowledge.

Thank you family for your prayers and for your support. I love you all so much!

love, hermana heims