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!