Juan was finally baptized :)

 hello familia!
          Wow, I am so bummed this week that I have only a few minutes to write you. Our president and the ayudantes are in town because tomorrow we have a zone conference so all 40ish missionaries from all of the islands and the Jacksons got together today and we played sports! AHHH I played basketball today for like 2 hours and it was the best ever! Wow I forgot how good it feels to be out on a court! Now we are all scattering getting emails done before we have to get back to work tonight. So I will just give a quite recap but next week I will write more because madre mia I learned so much this week!

 First of all..... Juan was baptized on saturday! Once again, it was one of my most favorite days of my life! But madre mia the story behind his baptism is quite the story. 

 Sadly, his family did not come to the baptism as they had said they would. It affected him quite a bit actually and made me devastated for him. I couldnt imagine making such a big step without any support from family. So many people do it and it inspires me. Turns out that when he got home from his baptism he got so much crap from his family. The rest of the night they just made fun of him. Sunday he came to church bastante triste but his blessing after he recieved the Holy Ghost was i.c.r.e.d.i.b.l.e. Wow. We all now know why he has had such a heck of a time lately because Heavenly Father is trying his faith majorly right now becuase he has an incredible future ahead of him.

 Ok I gotta run! I love you all so much!

 please please keep Maria and Jose Luis (our recent convert couple) in your prayers. Also Juan. He gets his test results tomorrow morning.


 Hermana Heims

"Oh the mission life"

Hey fam!

Wow, I loved all of the pictures this week! It looks like you are all having so much fun in Arizona together. I still can´t believe you all live there.

A little about t his week... I dont have much time to write today because we kind of double booked oursleves today so we have been running about all day but I will fill you in a little about my week and write more next week.

Jaja Oh the mission life. Its the best life but man, Heavenly Father sure has a good sense of humor and definitely does not let you get even close to comfortable in this work. When it rains it poors but the good thing is that I am really learning to love to dance in the rain. jaja.

Our beloved family Jose Luis and Maria are just really passing bad right now (I cannot for the life of me think of how to say that so it sounds right in english. Jaja.) and it hurts my heart so bad to see satan ruin families. He knows the importance and sacred nature of the families and he is attacking families so much hoy en dia. It is so sad to watch and Hermana King and I are now at a position that we cant do much but just pray and fast for them. There is a talk from Elder Holland  that he gave to the MTC a few years back where he says how he knows the sacred gift we we have called our free agency but sometimes it really just frustrates him that we have it! jaja. This week I feel a smidge of that same frustration. I can only imagine how Heavenly Father feels. Its like the answers and help are right in front of us and he is practically hitting us over the head telling us what to do but we continue in our own ways y no lo hacemos caso. I also just have to trust in Heavenly Father and know that He is merciful and long suffering and is patient with us as we often times stubble around for awhile. A few prayers for Maria and Jose would be greatly appreciated!

BUT! The good news is that Juan is just as incredible as ever and I am truly so humbled to be a part of his conversion process. We recieved the nicest text from him the other night. And as missionaires we receive lots of nice texts from people thanking us for helping them and what not. I just wish they understood how grateful I am for them. I tell them all of the time I just hope they believe it. We had a lesson with him on Tuesday night and wednesday at 6:30 am he a huge test of his brain to see if it has grown and to determine what treatment to do. He was pretty dang nervous monday and tuesday but after our lesson on tuesday this was the text from him. I am going to write the message out just so that I remember it....

" Hermanas, muchas gracias por todo. Mañana seré fuerte porque me lo han enseñado a ser, mañana me levanto y lucho contra todo proque me habéis enseñado la verdad y han sido unas grandes maestras y unas mejores misioneras, gracias por todo lo que me han enseñado. Ahora sé que puedo porque ustedes me han llevado a la verdad, me han enseñado a confiar en Dios. Sin ustedes nunca hubiera sabido lo que es camiar solo. Buenas noches y que descansen."

all of the craziness that we face as missianories is so so so worth it to be able to just help one person come to know and accept the truth.

We had to do splits this week bc hermana King had a doctors appointments and we had a few really important citas so I went to our citas with Lady , and recent convert and man she just kicked butt in our lessons and helped me a ton. She taught as is she was a missionary. There is nothing like seeing your recent converts share their testimony with others. Speaking of that real fast (sorry, now I am just rambling as I have 5 more mintues left before we have to leave) we had a lesson with Juan last night at a members house and the elders also brought one of their investigators (this family is absolutely incredible! Oh, it is Efraín´s family, the house I skyped at on mothers day). Ever sinlge sunday night they have a Missionary work family home evening where all of us missionaries can bring an investigator and coordinate together to teach a lesson. We brought Juan and at teh end asked him to share his testimony about the book of mormon to help this one girl who was having a harder time understanding the importance of it and man oh man he shared such a powerful testimony of the book. It left the entire room in tears and the spirit testified to each of us of the truthfulness of his testimony! Wow! Moments like that make everything so so worth it.  

I hope everyone is studying from Preach my Gospel every week! I would love to hear next week what you have studied!

Les quiero mucho!

Con amor,

Hermana Heims

Hello hello! I cant believe I skyped with you all last night! That was so much fun and I was on cloud nine the rest of the night. Since we talked last night and I already told you about Juan I dont really have much more to say so this will be a short email. 

But, just in case you missed it last night, Juan is doing so great. He had a scary call at church yesterday but thank goodness for priesthood blessings he was ok and was able to stay all 3 hours. And the best news is that he finally has the support from his family which is so huge! He was strong enough and had a real testimony of this gospel that whether or not his family supported him, he was going to keep on going but it will be just that much happier and easier to have the support of his family! And we are praying now that his family will be up for meeting us one of these days! 

From this experience with Juan I have been forced to look deeply at my own testimony and where I lack, or where my faith just isnt quite as strong as it should or could be. Just hace 3 semana we found Juan and have invited/helped him to completely change his life and do it without any support from his family. One night after a really intense lesson with him I came home and just cried and cried. I was at a loss of words for how truly strong these people are and how real the power of the antonement is and how true this gospel is. I am so blessed to have grown up in the gospel. Although there came a time where I had to find out for myself if this gospel was true or not and had to gain my own testimony, I grew up reading the Libro de Mormon each day and going to church, and living in the home where the spirit dwelt and learning from the beginning about the word of wisdom and that law of chastity. All of this is so new (yes they were taught it in the preexistance but cannot remember it) for these people and such a change from their old life, yet they have faith sufficiente to baptize themselves and become members of the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am so very grateful for the Holy Ghost and that Heavenly Father loves us enough to give us the Holy Ghost to help prepare our hearts to hear the gospel and to testify of the truthfulness of it to us and to help us push forward amidst trails and affliciones. 

I forget if I told you this last night but Hermana Scheu is coming to the island! I am so excited! She is serving in a area that is about 45 minutes from me but still! Although I will probably only be here on the island for 1 more transfer, I am so excited for this new transfer! Hermana King and I have goals to really change a few things and keep the work going. 

Ok, I gotta go, we are going over to Lady´s house real fast to get pedicures! Linds, I am so excited to use the stuff that you sent me! 

I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers and support. It means the world to me! 

Les quiero mucho, 

Hermana Heims 

Mother's Day in Spain

Hey family!

Wow, I cannot believe another week has already come and gone. This is the last week of this transfer and we are pretty sure that we will both be staying put for another transfer but with our president you just never know. I will be so devastated if I get transfered but I know that it will be were I am needed. 

On to this week, I´m pretty excited to write about this week because it was such a great week. Heavenly Father is so merciful and is blessings us so much right now (He always blesses us but the past few weeks it just seems like extra!). Like last week, I cannot even begin to descirbe the gratitude and love that I feel right now towards my Savior, my investigators, recent converts, and this work. Every day I am still just so humbled at the opportunity that I have to be a missionary and preach repentance to the people here in Spain. I love these people so much, I am pretty sure my companion is sick of me saying it so much by now because I feel like I say that phrase more than any other phrase but it is just so true. I love these people so much! 

So this week we had a few really neat experiences where we contacted people in the exact moment when they needed help or were praying that day for help. It is the most humbling feeling ever to be able to be the Lord´s hands here and do His work. We have no clue who is ready for the gospel or who´s husband just died and needs to hear about the Plan of Salvation, or who has been searching for the true church for the past several years. But Heavenly Father does and He just guides us straight to these people. 

Yesterday Juan came to church and wow! Our investigators are learning and growing so much as they meet with us but what they dont realize is that I am learning and growing just as much as they are. Their experiences help strengthen my testimony so much. Yesterday Juan was having trubble with his health but still came. He had a super bad head ache right before he came and during Sacrament Meeting he kept blacking out. He kept having to assure us that since he is sick this is totally normal as we were freaking out the whole time. It was fast and testimony meeting and this ward ROCKS so I was so so excited for this to be his first sunday at church. Every member that gets up shares a heart felt powerful testimony of what they know is true instead of a "thankfulmony". At the end of the 3 hour block we met with him outside to say bye and he just broke down in tears. He was so embarrased but couldnt help it. He told us that he has never felt so much peace in his life and that "today his life changed forever" and that he has come to realize that he needs to repent and change a lot of things but that he knows that this is the truth and so it will be worth it. He is not getting any support from his family, and there has been a lot of contention at home because he is meeting with us but he told us that he knows that God is trying his faith to the very limit and all he needs to do is trust in the answers that he has gotten from Heavenly Father. I know, I told you he was amazing! jaja! We are just so excited every time we get to meet with him. From day one he has been the one to ask us when we are meeting next instead of us asking them when they can meet with us next. 

Yesterday was Mother´s Day here and Hermana King and I have 3 moms (María, our recen convert, Mari, the most wonderful person you ever could meet. And Libia the mom of Lady) here that we just love so much so we made them a little treat and a card and gave it to them and each one of them just cried and cried. Gosh I just love these people so much. I cannot imagine having to leave them. I hope it is not in 1 week. 

I CANNOT WAIT to skype with you! I am on for a bit longer to figure out all skype plans! 

Les quiero muchísimo! 

Hermana Heims

The Spirit Guides

Helllloooo Familia!

What a week! Have I mentioned recently how much I just love being a missionary and how much I LOVE these people here? It is truly amazing the amount of gratitude and love that I have in my heart right now.

 So last monday right after emailing you all, we headed to a lesson but it failed us so en camino to our next lesson we were contacting and found this younger guy and started testifying about the Plan of Salvacion and we got talking for like 3 minutes and then he just stared at us for a few seconds looking as confused as ever and asked us why out of all the people on the street we would come over and talk to him. We explained a little about what we do as missionaries and what not and then he said, I am slowing starting to tell my friends, I havent even told everyone yet so I dont know why I am telling you this, but I just found out this week that I have something in my brain and that it is most likely brain cancer. I am really starting to lose my faith on God and I dont want to but it is just so hard to see some light right now. Right as we were about to tesitfy more to him one of his buddies comes up and so we quickly wrote down his phone number, called him later that night and met with him first thing the next day. Family, he is amazing! He is 28, named Juan, and is from the Islands. We have already met with him 3 times this week and he was all excited to come to church on Sunday but Saturday night he had a super rough night with his health and wasnt able to make it to church but we met him after church and had a lesson with him where he told us that he knows that this church is true and that the Book of Mormon is true and that he has never been so hopeful and peaceful in his llife as he has been this last week. Then he asked what he has to do to be baptized! We had prayed before to know what date he will be ready to be baptized and so in the lesson we told him the date, the 24th of May. He just put his head down and started crying and asked why we picked that date. We again explained to him how the spirit really does guide us in this work and that we know he will be ready by this date. He told us that he finds out all big results on the 26th of may. I am so not doing this story justice but let me just tell you that the spirit is so so strong when we are with him. He is so ready and is so willing. It has been a funny experience as well because there have been several little things that we have done this week (like randomly calling him to see how he is doing right in the moment where he had just found out worse news about his health and was about to drop back down into"a dark place") that have truly left him speechless. We have been helping him realize that really we are not doing anything but that it is all our loving Heavenly Father and it is because He loves Juan. Anyways, this week has just been so amazing and we have been able to see God´s hand in every little detail. Last week I think I mentioned this as well with the whole experience with Maria y Jose Luis  but we are helping these people with serious real life problems. Problems that I know nothing about and when I actually take a second to think about I realize how weak I am and how so very grateful I am for the Holy Ghost in this work. There is only 1 scripture that comes to mind when being a part of this situation with Juan...

12 Yea, I know that I am ^anothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will ^bnot boast of myself, but I will ^cboast of my God, for in his ^dstrength I can do all ^ethings; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

Juan is incredible and I cannot wait to see him be baptized so soon. This is the Lord´s work and I feel so incredibly blessed to be a part of it.

A few other quick things before I gotta go....

The other day we had to run to Mari´s work (the lady that I just love and adore so so much, the mom of Arelys) to help her with something and then her and her husband Paco took us to our next lesson. Well, it is HOT here and none of the cars have AC but also, their windows in there car are not working right now so you cant roll them down so we were in the car for 20 minutes just absolutely roasting to death. About 10 minutes in Paco says, "wow it really is toasty in here, I like it!" Mari quickly responded with You like it? I hate it! Then paco said, if you say you dont like it then you dont like. once again I cant do this story jsutice but Hermana King and I learned so much from this experience. Paco was dead serious when he said how it was hot but he liked it. He was dripping in sweat and every stop light opened the car door to get some air in so clearly he was suffering as well but did not let his cirumstance make him any less happy. It truly taught me a huge lesson. This man is always always happy, he is one of the happiest guys I know yet he is barely making it money wise and they are going through a lot of troubles right now. But he chooses to not let his circumstances get in the way of his happiness. He is a great example to me! 

JAJA ok so Libia is the mom of Lady our recent convert and we eat with them very tuesday. They are just like family and we love them so much and have so much fun togther. From first hand experience, they know that I am terrified of any type of bugs, snakes, mice, etc. So the other morning libia was making food and cut off this root of a beet and realized that it looked just like a nasty rats tail so she saved it to scare me with it the next day at lunch! JAJA! And it so worked! jajaj I seriously about died. It is so so funny!

Ok well I gotta run! I love you all so much! Thank you for everything!

Les quiero,

Hermana Heims

Miracle Week

Buenos Dias Familia!

Wow, I dont even know where to start with this email. Before I tell you all about my week I need to first tell you how much Heavenly Father knows each and every one of us and He knows what we need in order to progress. As hard as it is to believe in the moment, I know that our trials are to help us grow and become more like our Savior Jesus Christ. And, if we endure patiently, Heavenly Father blesses us more than we could even imagine. But, we must remember that enduring patiently does not mean sitting around waiting for miracles to come.

Heavenly Father has blessed Hermana King and I so much this week I can´t even begin to describe all of the miracles we saw this week and the love we felt from Him and how much my testimony grew. Work wise, the last 4 weeks have been some of the hardest of my mission. We had found such great people with such great potential but lesson after lesson kept failing us and we were just trying our hardest to figure out why. We obviously understood that having lots of lessons fail is just part of the work, but the last 4 weeks was above and far beyond the normal. We were starting to become worried that us being sent here to open up this area in the island for Hermanas was some mixup or something. It was a rough 4 weeks. But then this week came. Monday started off getting super awesome, full on, pedicures form our recent convert Lady, emailing, and then having a full afternoon of lessons. And then lessons continued throughout the whole entire week until the last second of last night when we had to be in piso. Number wise this was one of the best weeks I have ever had in my mission. And the best part is that it isnt even about the numbers. We were able to find and teach such incredible people this week and have such great success. Some people that we had found weeks ago all of the sudden started answering their phones and being available to meet with us, others who had failed us several times we found in the street and were able to have great lessons with them, and when a lesson failed us, we were always able to find someone else to teach. Heavenly Father blessed us more than I can even describe to you. He blessed us and  He blessed all of the people around us. And the best part of this week was that it ended with María and José Luis getting baptized on Saturday and recieving the Gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday. Again, this email doesnt do this week justice but when Hermana King and I felt like we truly couldnt go any further Heavenly Father stepped in and our faith was strengthened so much. After every single lesson we had we said a prayer and thanked Heavenly Father for allowing us to help these wonderful people come unto Christ. I know that our faith is tried to the very last possible second, but if we endure patiently and continue working diligently miracles come.

Attached is a foto of us with María and José Luis. I cannot tell you how much I love them. Along with the many many miracles that we saw this week, one of the biggest was the miracle we witnessed with the baptism of María and José Luis. The were just as golden as golden gets and so prepared to be baptized but Satan is just some times so dang annoying that on wednesday the baptism was canceled. From our perspective we were still full of faith that they were going to get baptized (just not this week, maybe the following week) because from experience we know how satan works especially the week right before baptism. But to them this seemed the end of a lot of things including their baptism. But, after praying and crying with them a lot on wednesday and thursday we decided to call the bishop over to give each of them a priesthood blessing. Wow. Words are not even sufficient to describe the spìrit we felt as the bishop counseled them and gave them each a blessing. Those 30 minutes were some of the most powerfully spiritual minutes of my life as I saw the spirit work through them and help them have a mighty change of heart. Hermana King and I knew a lot (probably too much) of what was going on in their personal life but the bishop at this point knew very little yet each blessing was so specific and personal and the spirit touched their hearts and a mighty change was made. As the bishop ended he looked at each of them and said we still have a baptismal service tomorrow at 12pm and I would love to see you there in white. He left, we stayed and without even thinking for a second they both said they wanted to get baptized. We still had a few lessons to teach them so we stayed and taught them a little bit and then returned that night to finish teaching them the rest. Family, the baptism was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. The smile of peace and hope on each of their face´s as they came up out of the water truly just said it all. It was one of the most powerful experiences I have ever had. I know that the power of the atonement to help one forgive and forget is real. I know that the power of baptism is real and we truly do receive a remission of our sins as we come up out of the water and we truly do start a new life. I know that the power of priesthood blessings is real. I am so very grateful that Hevenly Father allowed me to be part of this mighty change that María and José Luis made this weekend. Their testimony to end the service was one of the most powerful things I have every heard as well. There were tons and tons of ward members that were there and everyone was talking about their testimony´s on sunday. The spirit touched every heart in that room in a very powerful way.

Man, missionary life is truly the best life! I thank my Heavenly Father every single day for giving me this opportunity.

I love you all so much! I hope you all have a great week! It looks like you all had an awesome week last week. That makes me so so happy!

Les quiero mucho!

Hermana Heims

Conference Weekend

Conference was just so stinkin good wasnt it?! Wow. I seriously just sat there through all of the sesiones on cloud nine and really wondering how anyone could sit through those sessiones and not just know 100 percent how this gospel is not 100 percent true. A scripture that we have been using a lot lately which was mentioned in conference a few times was the scripture that talks about how you will know them by their fruit and how you can know if something is right by its fruit. If you just look at the fruit of this gospel you cant help but know without a doubt that this Christ´s church on the earth today. I really could go on and on about conference. Sunday Morning session was the best thing I have ever sat through. But one thing that I will mention real fast is... Preach My Gospel. jaja. I invite you all to start studying this book. ANd like we were taught, I will follow up with my invitation. This book is so so good and really teaches us how to teach the gospel to others. It also teaches us the basics of the gospel, which even though me might know, it is vital that we continue to study those basics as well to fortelecer nuestro testimonio. Ok but for real I could go on and on about conference but what I really want is to hear what you all thought about it! What talks really stuck out to you? What did you learn? What are some goals that you set to become a better disciple of Jesus Christ?

Well, if this transfer isnt testing our patience I dont know what will! Ja! We are doing great and the work is going but wowzee. Who knew so many people could fail you in one week. President Uchtdorfs talk on being grateful IN trials was directly for me. I am so thankful that we have sweet Maria and Jose Luis to teach right now! And we have heard through the grapevine that their boys (age 23 and 29), or at least one of them wants to start listening. We have a lesson with them tonight and we are praying that their boys will be there and will want to listen.

I hope you all have a great week and pray every day for opportunities to share the gospel and then just as importantly follow up on those invitations!

Les quiero MUCHO! 

Filled with Gratitude

Hello fam!

Wow, my heart is seriously just so full of gratitud right now I think it might explode. This week has been just like any other week but as I was saying my prayers last night my heart just overflowed with gratitud for this oportunity to be a missionary right now. I am so thankful that Heavenly Father trusts us jovenes to go out to forgein countries and preach His gospel. I make so many mistakes as a missionary but Heavenly Father is just so merciful and loving and continues to bless me dia tras dia. I love being a missioanry so much, I truly couldnt imagine doing anything else right now. I feel so blessed to be a missionary.

Our wonderful family Jose and Maria are still just rockstars. Saturday we had our ward talent show (you all saw the video on fb right? oh man that elder in the middle, Elder Wilson was hilarious was he not?!) and they came and just fit in so well and made so many friends. And then after church on Sunday jsut kept thanking us for being their angels who brought them the truth that they have been searching for for so many years. They are going out of town this weekend to Madrid and we literally devasted that they werent going to be able to watch conference in the chapel with the ward but then we found out taht they are transmitting it live here so we are watching it at 5pm-7pm and 9pm-11om both saturday and sunday so they will be able to come to the Sunday sessions and they were SO excited when they found this out. They are jsut so wonderful!

Also, guess who is now is my district?! Hermana Mather!!! We had transfers today and hermana king and I stayed put which we were happy about!

I dont know if I have every really mentioned Mari and Paco in my emails but they are recent converts of about 11 months now. Paco is our ward mission leader and Family, I cannot tell you how wonderful they are. Part of why I feel so much gratitud in my heart recently is becasue of them. Mari (She is the mom of Arelys, the lady you are friends with on facebook) is like our mother/grandmother here on the island. She just takes us in and makes sure that we are always taken care of and feel loved. Here is just one example of how wonderful she is: The other night it was freezing cold and raining so hard and our lessons had failed us for the night so we were out knocking doors and contacting. We ran into her on her street as she was taking out her trash. It was about 8pm at night and she invited us in to come up and eat a sandwich. We said no becuase it was during proselyting hours and we needed to work. She lives about 7 minutes from our piso and she knew that we would walk down her street to get home at about 9:20 ish so at 9:20 as we were walking home we see her standing outside in the freezing cold holding a bag of food for us. She had made us a whole meal that we were to take home and eat the next day bc she also knew that we were not eating with any members that following day and she had to work so she couldnt have us over. Incredible right? Wow. And this is just one of the many many things that this lady has done for us. I just love her so much. Yesterday we said bye to Elder Wilson and she just bawled and bawled. She just loves the missionaries so much. And then there is Paco who is equally as incredible. We truly couldnt ask for a better ward mission leader. I think he is the most humble man I have ever met. I write all of this bc I am so bad at keeping a journal and I want to remember how truly wonderful Mari and Paco are. Their example has changed my life. I hope to be more like both of them one day.

And to end, wanna hear some super exciting news?!?! Ineibis, the girl who couldnt get baptized a while back bc her legal guardians wouldnt let her got baptized yesterday!!!!! Hermana Scheu called me friday night and told me that she was getting baptized. I literally jumped up and down and screamed! I was so excited! Hna Scheu emailed me a picture of  her baptism, I will forward it to you!

Family, thank you so much for your love and support! I am so thankful for each one of you! I love this work so so much! Everyday my testimony is strengthen more and more of how true this gospel is and how perfect Heavenly Father´s plan is for each and every one of us!

Les quiero mucho! Que tengan una buena semana!

Hermana Heims

ps DyC88:22.

 "22 For he who is not able to abide the ^alaw of a celestial kingdom cannot ^babide a ^ccelestial glory."

I love this verse. We must be willing to live a celestial law here if we want to be fit for a celestial eternal life. I dont know if you all thought this but the Womens conference last night was all about covenants. I jsut finished rereading all of last general conferences talks and the womens conference back in octuber was all about covenants as well. very interesting. We have made sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father upon being baptized and then more in the temple. Are we doing everything we possibly can to keep these sacred convents and renew them every week as we partake of the sacrament? I know this week I definitely want to study more about covenants and improve on being more exactly obedient in keeping them. 

Miracle on the Street

Hola fam!

I loved all of your emails this week! Thank you so much for each one of them, and all of the pictures! I especially loved the picture of the text convo between linds and winter! I died laughing out loud!

And before I forget, can someone please email the address of Kristina Edwards? She sent me an Easter package! I know, can you believe it? Sometimes I just cant believe how nice people are!

Ok as for my week, it was such a good week! A few of the highlights were our district meeting Wednesday morning. I know I have said this before but we really do just have some amazing missionaries here in the islands. I learn so much from them. The Andersons, a married couple, are leaving today. They are from Brigham City utah and have been here in the islands for 18 months now working with the Young Single Adults here. They have truly been so wonderful and such a blessing to Hna King and I as we have been new here and have needed some help. She is an amazing cook and after each district meeting she cooks a huge meal for all 10 of us missionaries. I am so sad they are leaving. We will be getting another couple in about a month or 2 but man life is going to be so much harder now that they are gone!

So, on Tuesday we were out contacting on the street in this area called la cuesta and right as we got off the Tranvía we saw this couple walking across the street. We were on the other side just getting off the train and still had to wait for the light to turn so we could cross but we kept our eye on them because something told us we need to contact them. They were so far ahead by the time the light switched that we literally had to run to cathc up with them before they crossed another street but we finally caught up with them and taught them a quick message on the Book of Mormon, gave them a copy and set up a return date with them right then and their. They were WONDERFUL! They are named María y Jose Luis. We had a lesson with them friday night and Fam, they are so golden! They told us that they left the catholic church about 3 years ago because they just felt like something wasnt quite right. They have been searching and searching for the last three years for the true church. That morning was a tough morning for them and something jsut told them to go take a walk outside so they did and that is when we found them. They new from the second that we left that we had what they were looking for! So our lesson with them on Friday went so well and it ended with setting a baptismal date for teh 19th of April! They came to church yesterday and absolutely loved it. She said she has never left this amount of peace in her entire life and the husband told us that he has never seen so many genuinely happy people. We have a lessonw ith them tonight are so so excited for it. I just love them and and so grateful for the guidance we received that morning to contact them. I have been a witeness of these type of miracles so many times on my mission but I jsut will never ceased to be amazed of how perfect Heavenly Father´s plan for us is and how He truly is in every little detail of our life watching over us and guiding us. I am just humbled every day by the love Heavenly Father has for each one of his children and how much we mean to Him.

Something that has kept coming up in my studies this week is the lesson taught to us in 1Nefi 7. Nefi asks for strength to loosen the bands that his brothers had put on him instead of asking for Heavenly Father to take the bands away. We also are taught this in Mosiah 24 verses 14-16. And again the stripling warriors are a great exmaple of this also. Our trials are to help us grown.We need them. We are often found pleading with Heavenly Father to take away our trails instead of pleading with him for strength and divine help to continue patient and faithful until we have learned what we need to learn and can overcome our trials. I have seen this a lot this week with a few different people we are teaching. They think that Christ has abandoned them when in reality He has them in his hands but he is not going to take away the trial becuase he loves us and wants us to grow and learn. But, he is more that willing, and as a matter of fact, WANTS to help us bear them. That is one of the main reasons he suffered our pain, so that he can help us bear our burdens. But we must turn to him and ask for help to continue forward instead of asking for him to take away the trial.

Hahaha! So guess what is super in style here??? Fanny packs!!! Can you believe it?  I dont know if you guys know, well I know Linds does, but I am secretly obsessed with them and have always wished that they were "cool" jaja. And especially as a missionary. I cant think of anything more convenient! I might just have to get one....;) Im kidding but really, my comp has heard over and over this week about how much I want one! 

I hope you all have a great week! Good luck with the move! you will all be in my prayers!

Love, Hermana Heims

Leidi was BAPTIZED

Hey fam! Since I didnt get to write an email last week I have a ton to write you this week. So sorry, you get another novel. This transfer is just flying by I cannot even believe it.

First and most importantly, Leidi was baptized on Saturday! I have never seen someone so ready and eager to be baptized. I dont even think I have even told you anything about her, it all just happened so fast. But here is her story....

The second night Hna King and I got here the Elders had set up an FHE with Libia (a member) and her son John (an investogator). John was an investigator of the elders who wasnt progressing and so they decided to drop him/ pass him to us and allow us a try at teaching him. So we had the FHE and John was completely un-interested (he is now progressing! wahoo!) but Libia´s daughter who had just moved back home was there and sat in on the lesson. Right as we left the FHE we both looked at each other and simultanioulsy said, holy cow Leidi is so ready to get baptized! We called her the next day and asked if we could come over and teach her. We started teaching her the next day and set a baptismal date two days later for the 8th of march! Her mom is a rockstar member so Leidi was very familier with a lot of stuff and had been to church a few times the last 5 years but has never felt the desire or need to be baptized until we started meeting with her. So we saw her every day for a week and a half and she was baptized on Saturday! Ahh it was SO wonderful. In the bathroom right after she was baptized her mom and us were in the bathrom all just crying and hugging. It was such a sweet experience. Then she bore the most humble testimony after and said that she doesnt have a single doubt in her mind or heart that this church is the only true church on the earth and is the only way to be able to live with her family forever! She is just so wonderful!

Other than that, work wise this week has been pretty great. We are still contacting all day everyday witha few lessons mixed in but I am loving it! In the mission tour conference that we had two weeks ago (I will wirte tons more on that later) we talked a lot about improving the way we contact so Hna King and I have really been trying to put in practice what we have learned and improve the way we contact. We are also trying real hard to work with the members. Thanklfully these members are the best members in the world and are so ready and excited to hasten the work so it has not been as hard as it has in the past to work with the members to recieve references.

Something that I have really been thinking about lately as I have truly been coming to know my Father in Heaven and my Savior so much more the past 9 months (yes you jsut read that right! I cannot believe I hit 9 months this week! Insane!) is the perfect love they have for each one of us. A few weeks ago I started to read the Book of Mormon only in spanish in all of my studies which has really forced me to read each verse slowly so that I can understand everything. I have really been able to learn so much from each verse. This morning I was reading in Ether and I just felt such an overwhelming gratitude for how merciful our Heavenly Father is. I cannot put into words what I felt but as I have been studying the Book of Mormon and becoming so familiar with this terrible pride cycle I am reminded over and over again that Heavenly Father is so merciful and loves each one of us so much. My mission has taught me this in so many ways and has really allowed me to feel and experience a glimpse of the love He has for each one of His children. Although I barely know these people and can barely speak their langauge, the love I feel for the people here in Spain is incredible. The love I feel for my investigators and recent converts is like nothing I have ever felt before. When they fall back into their habit of smoking, or when they dont fulfil their committments, or when they just dont progress even though I know they have felt the truthfulness of the message is so hard and so frustrating and devastating at times but I still love them so so so much. I feel like nothing they could do could ever hinder the love I have for them. And this has really opened my eyes so much to the perfect love that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for us. If I have this much love for these people I can only imagine the perfect love Heavenly Father has for us. I love each one of my recent converts, companions, and investigators so much and I am so blessed to have this opportunity to serve them. I am so humbled and blessed to be able to experience a glimpse of the love Heavenly Father has for each one of us. 

And one more thing, this morning in my studies I felt and overwhelming impression to write this home. I have never wanted to be or sound preachy in any of my emails home, but this morning, the spirit told me that I needed to write home about the great importance of the Book of Mormon and that I needed to do it with urgency. As I have studied 1Nefi 8 (about Lehi´s dream of the tree of life) time and time again on my mission, I learn something new every time. And from every single experience I have had on my mission, somehow the Book of Mormon and the truthfulness of this Book and the importance of this Book is evident and is testified to me. Family, the Book of Mormon is everything! In Lehi´s dream the Iron Rod, or the Word or God (aka the scriptures) is what they must hold on to in order to arrive at the tree. In other words, the Book of Mormon is what we must hold on to with everything we have and we have a promise that it will lead us to His love and to eternal life. There are so many other things that we need in this life to strengthen our testimony and to be firm in this gospel, but the Book of Mormon is what we must hold on to to be lead back to His presence again. This being said, it is absolutely vital that we read the Book of Mormon every single day, without fail. The dream talks about 3 type of people. The ones who arrived at the tree and stayed there, and felt comfortable there, where the ones who grabbed hold of the rod and never let go. There were some who "clung" to the rod, but that is not suffiecent. Satan is too real. We must study and feast upon the words of Christ daily in order to asegurarnos that we will not fall into Satan´s traps. I love the scripture in 1Nefi 15:24 that talks about how the word of god (aka the scriptures) is what helps us and gives us the power to overcome all of the temptations of Satan.Satan is getting more and more powerful on this earth so we must do everything we can possibly do to stay strong and faithful. We are an eternal family and together me must grab hold of the iron rod and press forward with faith and hope, constantly relying upon Jesus Christ and the pòwer of His Atonement. It is not sufficient in this life to take the Book of Mormon lightly and read it only a few times each week. We must treasure that book and feast from it every single day no matter how busy we are. 1Nefi 3:7 says that Christ will provide a way for us to accomplish all of his commandments. Reading the Book of Mormon daily is a commandment from Heavnely Father and with His help, we will make time every day to read from it. I love this book with my whole heart and I echo the testimony of Jose Smith that this book is the most correct of any book on earth and that a man will grow closer to God by reading and living its eternal principles. I know this Book has power to help us and guide us. I know with everything in me that the Book of Mormon is true and I feel so humbled and blessed to be here in Spain sharing this Book with everyone adn allowing them to come to know the truthfulness of this book.

I love you all so much! Thank you for your love and prayers! I feel them everyday! I hope you all have a great week!

Love, Hermana Heims

Ps

Hna King cut my hair today and wow I am so thankful for her! My hair was so long and thick, it desperately needed to be cut and she did such a good job. She cut about 2.5 inches off!
 

pss

I really hope and pray I never have to move into an elders piso again. We spent 4 hours cleaning the piso tihs morning. Jaja it blows my mind the difference in the standard of cleanliness bewteen hermanas and elders.

psss (ppps? I have no clue how it is written! ja!)

put sun glasses on or something before you look at the pictures I send home. I started wearing sandals this week and WOWZEEE my legs are white! Jajaj I looked at these pictures and just about died when I saw how white my legs are. And you know me, I am very aware that my legs are and have always been white but wow i scared myself looking at these pictures! jajaj! 

Hola from the Canaries

Lots of photos and a letter in the middle!

View from sister Heims apartment. That's the ocean in the back ground.

Her family in Madrid. Sister Heims baptized all of these people.

 Her two bff's in Spain. Both converts.

+-

Hola Fam! I still cannot believe I am here in the islands. but then I just look out the window of the locoturio that I am at right now and I can see the ocean in the distant! So crazy! I have tons and tons of pictures to send you all. There are tons from the last week Hna Scheu and I were togther and then some from this week. I have so much to tell you about, I hope I have enough time. 

First of all, the island that I am on is called Tenerife and my area is La Laguna. The ward here is incredible! Seriously I cannot think of a more amazing ward to be in right now. Let me explain, the 2nd night we were here we got a call from the bishop welcoming us here, we had correlacion with our ward mission leader and him and his wife are recent converts of just one year but are absolutely amazing. I cannot be more excited to work with him. Then on Sunday we had the warmest most wonderful welcome you can every get from a ward. Since there havent been hermanas here for the last 25 years they were are thrilled for us to be coming. The elders let everyone know the week before that we were coming so when when we showed up on Sunday there were people literlly jumping up and down when they saw us. Literally jumping up and down! Every greeted us with big hugs, serveral people gave us their schedule right then and there for when they are free to come to lessons with us and others gave us there number and told us that there house is our house and our investigator´s house and that we can have lessons there anytime we want. Then others scheduled eating appointments with us! Seriously I just cannot believe it. I have never see so many people so willing and wanting to help us. I feel so humbled to be here and to work with and serve these wonderful people. BUT!!! Jajaja we eat with memebers just about every single day (which is so wonderful and I just love all of the members) but the elders have gained 20-30 lbs just from being here on the island. But, there is some hope for us Hermanas. The elders have cars and we walk so we are hoping that the walking will cancel out all of the food we eat now. Although so far it hasnt:/ jaja. And speaking of walking, I should probably use the word hiking instead. This island is SO hilly. We walk up and down hills all day long. We have tried and tried to get a good picture of the hills but pictures just dont do it justice. Just think of the San Francisco hills, you know those insane ones? Well that is the whole island. We calulated it and this last week we spent over 30hrs contacting (we were left an area book with old investigators but we have called or passed by all and no one has interest so we have to find all news) and walking up and down these hills. The first few days we thought it was funny but now not so much. We definitely crash hard at night. 

But, even though we have just contacted all day long every day this week we have found so many wonderful people and have quite a few appointments set up for this coming week. We have already invited about 5 different people to be baptized when they know that these things are true and they have said yes. And tomorrow we have an appt with a lady named Leidi (pronounced lady jaja) and we plan on setting a baptismal date with her. Her mom is a member and her brother is an investigator of the Elders and we ate at their house this last week and we just clicked with her so well and she ended up coming to church yesterday so we are super excited for her. So the work is hard starting from zero but we have truly been so blessed and have seen miracle after miracle here. I truly feel so humbled and grateful to be a missionary. 

Ok here is a little about the people/culture here. It is a totally different world here. I am not kidding you. There are barely any south americans, only like 5 members in the whole ward are from South America, the rest of from here. The people here are so so so different from the Spanish people. So they are nothing like South Americans but totally opposite from the Spainards (I have no clue how to spell that word!:/) They are jsus islanders. I dont know how to explain it but they are so laid back and overly friendly. It has been quite the change from Madrid. The weather here on my island and especially in my area is a little colder still. I am still wearing tights and a scarf but only a light jacket. We are told that within the next month or so it will really start to get warm! There are trucks here too. I have seen several actual trucks here. I about died when I saw a legit pick up truck, I havent seen one since I left the states! And I have also seen quite a few houses and not just streets lined with pisos. And the thing that I love most about here is that every lives as a whole family. Back in Madrid the majority of people were divorced and either had their kids in Madrid with them or had their kids back in their country living with grandparents. But here, since everyone is from here, they are all married and have kids. 

My district here. I cannot ever describe to you how amazing my distric is. The first district meeting on Wednesday morning every single one of us was in tears. It was so powerful. We talked about how we become a consecrated missionary. Our district leader had made lamenated cards for each of us about our goals as a district to become a consecrated district as well. I have never left a district meeting with as much ganas to really become better and that is saying something because I have been in some powerful meetings. I am excited to work with these elders and learn from them! A few of them were with me in the MTC so I know them pretty well which is fun. 

My companion! Hermana King is wonderful! Wednesday night after planning we sat down and made some serious personal goals and companship goals and planes on how to reach these goals. She is a hard worker and I am learning tons from her. Also, she did the spanish immersion program in elementary and middle school so up until 9th grade she went to school in Spanish so she speaks it fluently. I am excited to improve my spanish with her. 

Ok sorry for the novel. I hope you all have a great week! I love you! and am praying for you! Sounds like this week was a smidge better than the last few weeks. Enjoy all of the pictures! 

Love, Hermana Heims

These first two pictures are Hermana Scheu and I´s valentines card! We may or may not have laughed for hours about this. I actually am still laughing every time I look at them! We found a sweet app on my camera! jaja

 Funny VDay cards they made with a setting on Sister Heims' camera :) Funny Missionaries!

She arrived in the Islands safely!

Hola familia! I am on for about ten minutes to tell you all that I got here safely! It is still not real to me yet that I am in the canaries.

More and more each day on the mission I am coming to know more that Heavenly Father really has a sense of humor! And that He loves to push us FAR out of our comfort zones! But, I have a testimony that being out of the comfort zone is really the only way to grow so I am embracing it! Dont get me wrong... I am STOKED to be here in the islands! I cant believe it! Just other things along the way are pushing me far out of my comfort zone. So thank you for your prayers every day!

A quick update about my last week with Hermana Scheu (I will email pics next week)...

Gosh I seriously love Hermana Scheu and am so blessed I was her companion for 2 transfers. We had so serious fun, learned a ton from each other, helped each other grow a ton, and worked hard preaching this gospel. I have never laughed with anyone more (ok, Natalie is definitely a tie!) about just random things that happen. For example, the other day we had this address to pass by and all that we knew was that a guy named francis lived there. So we knocked and here is our convo...

Us: Good Morning, is Francis here?

Lady: What?

Us: Does Francis live here?

Lady: What? I dont understnad?

Us: Well, we are missionaries for the church of Jesus...

Lady: OHHHH, Francis , the pope, no, no, he is not here.

Us:(trying not to laugh) No, we are not looking for the pope, we are looking for a guy named francis, we have an address that says francis lives here.....

Anyways we ended up getting this lady's contact info but after we left and walked down the stairs we died laughing about how someone really thought we were asking if the Pope lived in this tiny piso in spain!

Here is the problem with Hna Scheu and I and all of our funny stories though, is that we tell them to other missionaries and I am not kidding you not a single one of them laughs... ever. So we are actually really confused. But hopefully you think they are funny! jaja

Ok I gotta run but I next week I have some serious miracles to write about. Gosh, I just love this work, I love this mission no matter how hard! There is truly nothing better.

I hope you all have a great week and all get healthy! Sorry everyone is sick witht he flu. BEAUTIFUL Pictures of the funeral. Holy cow. I am eager to herar how everything went. You all looked wonderful!

Les quiero! 

THE CANARY ISLANDS is getting a GREAT SISTER

The Canary Islands! I do not think I have time to email later this afternoon nor will I have time to read your emails which maks me sad but my train leaves in 6 minutes to take me to the airport. 

My companion will be Hermana King. We are headed to the island La Laguna and we will be opening this island for Hermanas. There have never been hermanas serving on this island, only elders. Say lots of prayers! This should be a crazy week:) This is defnitely a very humbling assignment. I will write next week (or maybe for ten minutes when I land in the island if we ahve time tonight) and tell you all about Las Islas Canarias! 

Ps... I am SO sad to leave this area, one of the hardest goodbyes. It was so terrible. And saying bye to Hermana Scheu sucked. Next week I have TONS of pics to send home of the two of us. We had tons of fun and saw TONS of miracles this week! 

pps. one of the most wonderful tender mercies of my life.......

Mom, your valentines day package got here on thursday, the day of grandmama´s funeral. And it had two pairs of her pajamas and tons of pictures of her and the family. So beautiful! 

I love you all and am praying for each of you! I hope everything went well this last week! 

Love, Hermana Heims

ppps... I will forward my flight plans to the canaries just for fun for you to see!

Javier was Baptized

Hi Family. 

I am on to chat if anyone is up. This week was a great week, my testimony was strengthened so much of the power of the atonement and how not only can we receive a remission from our sins through the atonement, but how we can also find comfort, peace, and strength. I was so watch over and taken care of this week and I just pray you all were as well. My heart hurts for you all so much but I know now more than ever before that families are eternal, we are not given anything we cannot handle without the help of Christ, and everything happens in the timing of God, whose timing is perfect. I pray you all find healing through our Savior Jesus Christ. There is a scripture that I found this week that I love. I forget where it is, I wrote it down but its at home. It is in the bible and it says "endure hardness like a good soldier of Christ" or something like that. I love it. I will continue to pray for you all. I know Heavenly Father is taking care of each one of you. I hope some of you are up and on to chat so I can see how you are all doing. 

We had a baptism this weekend, Javier got baptized yesterday and although there is a LONG story to go along with it, it will have to wait for another week. But I will send a picture of us. Its of Javier, Hermana Scheu, me, and Danny, our recent convert who baptized Javier.

I love you all so so so much and I hope you feel my love from way over here. 

Love Hermana Heims

Email from 1-27-14

Hi fam! We just got back from playing futbol! So much fun. We were the only hermanas that showed up to play but it was still fun,. Danny and a few other members came to play as well which made it super fun to play with natives and not just missionaries. Always after I play futbol I ask myself why the heck I didnt play in High School. I  have racked my brain trying to think of why I ever quit playing soccer but I cant remember why or even when. I hope there are people when I get back that like to play. It is such a fun game! 

Well, this week was def a good one! Nothing too crazy or eventful to share just that we are still working so hard to prepare Javier for his baptism on the 8th. 

So we have 3 DARLING girls who are all from the Dominican Republic (have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE dominicans?!) two are sisters and then another and they are 13, 14, 16 and this saturday was a young womens activity so we were super excited to bring them. We hyped up this activity all week and they were so excited for it. We went and pick up Anaika first and then headed over to grab the two sisters, Ana Christina and Andreina and on the bus to the chapel (we were running a little late so it was 6:20 and the activity started at 6) I get a call from the young womens president saying she is outside of Madrid and something came up adn she wont be able to make it and that she has no counselors so that we would have to be in charge of the whole activity. We were on intercambios that day so I frantically called Hna Scheu to ask for ideas and thankfully her and her comp were headed to the chapel in an hour so she told me to just play games with the girls until she got there and they would stop off and get ice cream and think of the Spiritual thought. I panicked! Seriously, yes, now I can come up with a spiritual thought on the fly but to entertain 7 young girls, the oldest being our one 16yr old for a whole hour panicked me! We played all sorts of different games but it was just an epic failure and I am pretty sure the girls were just laughing out of pity. Oh well. I was able to talk to the girls the whole way there and back to get to know them better and form a frienship with them which was a blessing. 

Also, we had Zone Conference this week and it was amazing and I left so edified and uplifted with new goals to mejorar as a missionary. We talked about how to really use the Book of Mormon in our lessons and the convincing power this Book has. We did an awesome practica that I loved. We paired off with another companionship and were given a question. One companioship had to answer the question without using the Book of Mormon and then we switched and the other companionship answered the question but was allowed to use the Book of Mormon. It was powerful. The spirit that entered that mini lesson the second we opened the Book Of Mormon and read from it was powerful. You could almost touch it. Then just two days later Hermana Scheu and I had a lesson with our family maravillosa (Enrique y Adriana) and it was tough but SO good. And we used the Book of Mormon to answer every question he had. Enrique unfortunately read a ton of antimormon stuff on line last week so when we showed up for our lesson on Friday he was fired up to try and prove us wrong. The first 5 or so minutes we were both so annoyed because this is never how he has even been. He was going on and on about poligamy and Joseph Smith and random stuff about the Book of Mormon. It was ridiculous and so not like him. He just kept going on and on about the the anti mormon stuff and all the "hard" questions that we heard about in the CCM.  I whispered under my breath to Hermana Scheu "dont get discouraged, just say a pray." We said a silent pray in our hearts and opened the scriptures and literally the Spirit just took over and guided us to several scriptures to answer his questions and resolve all of these doubts. It was truly a neat experience because there were several stuff that I said in contrary to the whole poligamy question that I had never even thought of before, the spirit just kept bringing things to our mind to say to help him resolve these doubts and understand and believe in the truth. It never got really heated but it defnitely was a nice, soft lesson. We walked out of the door, stopped and looked at each other and just said "wow, thank goodness for the spirit. That was incredible to witness" Truly there would be no such work without the spirit. I am so not capable by myself to do this work and answer all of these questions, but with the Spirit as your constant companion and as the true teacher, and with the Book of Mormon this work is possible, hearts are softened, and people are brought to understand and believe in the truth. Makes me think of Alma 26:11-13. There is nothing greater than this work. I am so in love with life and this work its just crazy!

Hermana Scheu and I have been studying consecration and humility this last week as we are truly trying to give our whole hearts to the Lord and hold nothing back. Just every single day I am in awe at how perfect this gospel is and how loving and merciful our Heavenly Father is. I invite you all to truly study the gospel principle of consecration. I have a long way to go and much more to study but day by day I am learning how to give my whole heart to the Lord and have my will swallowed up in His will. 

Also, another thing I have been thinking about a lot lately is how truly truly grateful I am that I was raised in a home where we said family prayer and read the scriptures every single day together. There is power in doing this. Thank you so so so much dad for never lettting our snotty, annoyed attitudes stop you from making us pray and read every day before we left for school and before we went to bed. Thank you so much! 

Thank you so much for all of your love and support! I feel it every day! I hope you all have a great week! 

Love, Hermana Heims