So no news from the other Elder Heperi yet, huh? That´s cool that he called you guys from the airport, why didn´t I think of that?
This week was a week of finding a bunch of new people. As the are always difficulties getting people to go to church, we went back to the old strategy of finding the house that´s closest to the church and try there. And, what do you know, there turned out to be a family there interested. A young couple named Cle... and Tat..., along with their 3 little kids. Cle... was really interested, and had a lot of questions. He said that he´s always belonged to some evangelical church ever since he was a kid, and always wanted to follow a correct doctrine. As he put it “We always followed all the things that my pastor told me, even the parts when he said that I can´t play soccer or wear shorts, or that my wife can´t use make-up, cut her hair, or use jewelry. Sometimes she´d want to try a different hairstyle or use some make-up to go out, and I´d always tell her: No way honey, we´ve got to follow the doctrine!” Anyway, he said that recently, his pastor decided that suddenly everything that was “sin” is now ok, and Cle... started praying to find some direction and what he should do. He understood really well (Tat... too, but the kids started fighting and she had to go take care of that and missed a part of the message) and understood the 1st Vision better than anyone that I´ve seen in a long time. He´s willing to follow, and as he put it “If I find out that all of this that you´re telling me is true, then I´m in. I´ll be baptized.” Sweet, no?
On the other hand, we´re still working with Ad... and Luc..., the young couple who have more problems in their marriage than this country has beans. We´re taking our ward mission leader and his wife with us to the next visit to see if they can help them resolve their conflicts. Luc... said that she´d love to be baptized, just that he doesn´t want to resolve their differences so that they can get married. He goes to church with her, but he has yet to even pick up the Book of Mormon. It´s weird, because sometimes the way that he acts and makes decisions is like a little kid, even though he´s 27. They don´t have any electricity in the house because they´re behind on their energy bills, but when we showed up for visit and he said “Hey, check out my new phone” and showed us phone that is an mp3, and lets him watch TV. Anyway, I think that he needs to wake up a little.
In other news, this past week or so there has been a mailman strike around here, so I haven´t been able to send out any letters to anybody. I don´t know if the strike is over yet, and it´s a bit annoying.
I think that´s all from me.
´till next time.
Excelcior!
-Hlder =w= Eeperi
Monday, September 28, 2009
Clarification on Arrival Time
Dear Family of Elder Heperi,
Unfortunately the information on the letter previously sent was wrong. Elder Heperi will arrive in Salt Lake City at 11:15 AM on the 29th of October. I am sorry for the confusion. Thank you for your Patience.
Elder Dunn
--
Missão Brasil Londrina
Av. Higienópolis 1100 sala 61
Londrina, PR
CEP:86020-911
Fone:(43)3324-9346
E-Mail: 2013096@ldschurch.org
Unfortunately the information on the letter previously sent was wrong. Elder Heperi will arrive in Salt Lake City at 11:15 AM on the 29th of October. I am sorry for the confusion. Thank you for your Patience.
Elder Dunn
--
Missão Brasil Londrina
Av. Higienópolis 1100 sala 61
Londrina, PR
CEP:86020-911
Fone:(43)3324-9346
E-Mail: 2013096@ldschurch.org
President Leal: Letter of Release
Londrina, September 2009
Dear Family of Elder Heperi,
It is with pride that we inform you that your son is finishing his mission with praise and completed worthily the work of the Lord, whom he honored and we know that the Lord accepted his offering and will surely bless him for his effort.
We thank you for your help and support during this journey and we know that the work continues and now he will need, not a time of vacation, but once more your support, patience and love in the task of readapting himself to everyday life, his studies, work, family life and church life.
We know, not by faith, but by personal experience, that the blessings of this work of love will be infinite, felt and remembered throughout all of his life, therefore, the effort is not just valid, but highly beneficial.
We feel as if your son was part of our family as well, and truly he is, for we are all brothers and sisters and children of the loving Heavenly Father that unites us in His love.
We want to inform you that Elder Heperi will leave the Mission Field on the 28th of October, 2009 and should arrive at the Salt Lake City, Utah airport at 9:35AM on the following day.
We pray that everything may go well, that we may have in short the opportunity to meet and get to know you and that the Lord may eternally bless you.
With love and appreciation,
President and Sister Leal
Dear Family of Elder Heperi,
It is with pride that we inform you that your son is finishing his mission with praise and completed worthily the work of the Lord, whom he honored and we know that the Lord accepted his offering and will surely bless him for his effort.
We thank you for your help and support during this journey and we know that the work continues and now he will need, not a time of vacation, but once more your support, patience and love in the task of readapting himself to everyday life, his studies, work, family life and church life.
We know, not by faith, but by personal experience, that the blessings of this work of love will be infinite, felt and remembered throughout all of his life, therefore, the effort is not just valid, but highly beneficial.
We feel as if your son was part of our family as well, and truly he is, for we are all brothers and sisters and children of the loving Heavenly Father that unites us in His love.
We want to inform you that Elder Heperi will leave the Mission Field on the 28th of October, 2009 and should arrive at the Salt Lake City, Utah airport at 9:35AM on the following day.
We pray that everything may go well, that we may have in short the opportunity to meet and get to know you and that the Lord may eternally bless you.
With love and appreciation,
President and Sister Leal
Monday, September 21, 2009
Among the Utahn's
Hey, that´s really sad to hear about the Cougars losing to the Seminoles. I guess if it´s not one Indian tribe (Utes) coming in to mess with them, it´s another huh?
My thanks to Rob and Alex for finally getting a letter out to me. And my apologies to those who have yet to receive a response.
Like I said last week, the Zone changed a lot. Including me, we now have 5 missionaries representing Utah in the zone: Elder Fillmore from Fruit Heights (I didn´t know that that was a city), Elder Williams (My comp from Cedar City), Elder Nielson (a greenie from Orem), and Sister Grover (from Logan). At least I´m among my fellow statesmen here.
Thanks for the package. I opened the Oreo´s at the Zone meeting, and those were a big hit, especially with the Brazilians. One of the Sisters (a three-foot tall Sister from Northern Brazil) ended up eating almost half of the package. I know that we Elders have the reputation for eating, but those Oreo´s didn´t stand a change against the Sisters.
So last week we baptized Jul... and Ro..., that really cool family that was progressing really well. It was really good, as they were really prepared beforehand to receive the gospel. I´ll be sending the picture in a bit. It was really nice to actually find a family that is really motivated to follow the gospel. Their biggest challenge was coffee, but in the end they ended up throwing it out.
Once again, we´re trying to help our investigators get married. It´s kind of weird, but I´ve taught a bunch of people who have progressed really well, and have been really liking the church...but the moment when we talk about how they need to get married and all, “Whoa, hold on there. We don´t want any type of commitment here”. It´s kind of frustrating, because the great majority of people that we teach have been living together for many years, have a couple of kids, but who think that marriage is some huge step that will bring too many troubles.
Take Ad... and Luc... for example. They´re a young couple (mid-20´s I think) who have been together for a while and who have a couple of kids. Luc... has been going to church for the past 2 weeks, and they went together as a family yesterday, and really liked it. We brought up the fact that they have to get married to be baptized, and they really didn´t like the idea very much. We´re in the process of finding out exactly what is the problem so we can help them.
It´s cold here again. I´ve noticed that it seems like I talk about the weather a lot, but here it really interests me as I´m amazed that it´s still quite cool here even though we´re in the hot season.
Welp, I think that´s about all from me.
´till next time, and keep those e-mails from Other Elder Heperi coming.
Heh, I liked the comment about Levi wanting to be sitting on the couch in a wifebeater when Lauren´s Homecoming date showed up. Maybe I´ll be able to do the honors when I get back. There are some hippies around here who make some cool looking stuff (parrot feather earrings, fuzzy wallets from some type of animal skin) and there´s a nice looking death-staff thing that looks like something a Lamanite king would use that I´d like to get my hands on.
-Elder =w= Heperi
My thanks to Rob and Alex for finally getting a letter out to me. And my apologies to those who have yet to receive a response.
Like I said last week, the Zone changed a lot. Including me, we now have 5 missionaries representing Utah in the zone: Elder Fillmore from Fruit Heights (I didn´t know that that was a city), Elder Williams (My comp from Cedar City), Elder Nielson (a greenie from Orem), and Sister Grover (from Logan). At least I´m among my fellow statesmen here.
Thanks for the package. I opened the Oreo´s at the Zone meeting, and those were a big hit, especially with the Brazilians. One of the Sisters (a three-foot tall Sister from Northern Brazil) ended up eating almost half of the package. I know that we Elders have the reputation for eating, but those Oreo´s didn´t stand a change against the Sisters.
So last week we baptized Jul... and Ro..., that really cool family that was progressing really well. It was really good, as they were really prepared beforehand to receive the gospel. I´ll be sending the picture in a bit. It was really nice to actually find a family that is really motivated to follow the gospel. Their biggest challenge was coffee, but in the end they ended up throwing it out.
Once again, we´re trying to help our investigators get married. It´s kind of weird, but I´ve taught a bunch of people who have progressed really well, and have been really liking the church...but the moment when we talk about how they need to get married and all, “Whoa, hold on there. We don´t want any type of commitment here”. It´s kind of frustrating, because the great majority of people that we teach have been living together for many years, have a couple of kids, but who think that marriage is some huge step that will bring too many troubles.
Take Ad... and Luc... for example. They´re a young couple (mid-20´s I think) who have been together for a while and who have a couple of kids. Luc... has been going to church for the past 2 weeks, and they went together as a family yesterday, and really liked it. We brought up the fact that they have to get married to be baptized, and they really didn´t like the idea very much. We´re in the process of finding out exactly what is the problem so we can help them.
It´s cold here again. I´ve noticed that it seems like I talk about the weather a lot, but here it really interests me as I´m amazed that it´s still quite cool here even though we´re in the hot season.
Welp, I think that´s about all from me.
´till next time, and keep those e-mails from Other Elder Heperi coming.
Heh, I liked the comment about Levi wanting to be sitting on the couch in a wifebeater when Lauren´s Homecoming date showed up. Maybe I´ll be able to do the honors when I get back. There are some hippies around here who make some cool looking stuff (parrot feather earrings, fuzzy wallets from some type of animal skin) and there´s a nice looking death-staff thing that looks like something a Lamanite king would use that I´d like to get my hands on.
-Elder =w= Heperi
Monday, September 14, 2009
Short email... sorry.
Hey, so I used all my e-mail time writing “Elder Heperi the Younger”, so this will be an incredibly short e-mail. Also with transfers today, we´re gonna spend all day waiting at the bus station, woo-hoo! Elder Arg... is being transferred to another area in the city. My comp is gonna be Elder Williams. I met him once. He was from the Curitiba Mission when the missions divided, and he took my place when I left Londrina. I believe he´s from Utah as well, so we´ll get a nice UT rhythm going here in the Zone. Ha ha!
Also, today my group and I officially become the oldest group in the whole dang mission. Time flies, eh?
Welp, till next time.
-Elder =w= Heperi
Keep me up to date on things. Now that I´m in my last transfer, things are gonna be interesting. I still feel quite focused, and my desire to work is still there.
G´luck, and till next time.
P.S- My fly out date will be the same. Oct 27th, I think. More info to come as the transfer unfolds. The Secretaries called last month to ask what airport I´d be coming home to, and I told them the Honolulu airport would be just fine, as I´d like to spend some time at the beach. (Ha ha! Salt Lake International is the one actually.) Till next time!
-Elder Heperi
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
BYU tops Oklahoma, Brazil tops Argentina
Happy Brazilian Independence Day everybody!
I haven´t seen any celebrations today, and everything is closed, which is kind of annoying. Also, we don´t have any fireworks in our house, so we might celebrate by lighting our mini-jungle that we have growing out in our back-yard. Seriously, there are three plants out back that I think were originally weeds, but are now taller than our house. I´ll take a picture sometime.
Hey, so I´m happy that them Cougars pulled off and upset against the Sooners. I´ll be honest, the only team that I hate more than the Sooners are the Utes, so that was a good happy moment for me. Can´t wait to see a nice American football game, as 2 years of just hearing about soccer is starting to wear me down...
So this last week there was a soccer game on between Brazil and Argentina (Brazilians hate Argentina, so it was pretty intense I guess) , and so as normal everything basically shut down during the game. It started at about 8:30 at night, so we didn´t miss out on too much working time, but just the same even people that we had marked appointments with didn´t want to come out of their houses during the game. Brazil won, so everybody is happy this week.
It was a fairly good week. Two investigators, Es... and her daughter Ma..., got baptized this week. It was the most painless baptismal process that I´ve had so far, as they are neighbors of some members and Es... works with the branch President´s wife, so they had plenty of support. They´re a really good family, and I´m pretty sure that they´ll keep going strong.
Ju... and Ro..., our golden family, have their baptismal date marked for this Saturday. Yesterday was a little rainy, cold, and had a nice blanket of fog that covered the city, but all the same they came with their family on foot to get to church. Ju... in particular is really good, and studies the scriptures like he´s been a member for a long time now, marking references and looking up topics that he wants to learn about. He´s even stopped playing soccer on Sunday so he can get to church with his family. Also, he found out about the members giving us lunch, and signed up on the calender for this Sunday. Yeah!
The weather continues to be quite cool. I know that we´re getting to the hot time of the year here, so I´m bracing myself for when the days of endless sweating will arrive, heh.
I think that´s all from me. ´till next time.
-Elder =w= Heperi (The Original)
I haven´t seen any celebrations today, and everything is closed, which is kind of annoying. Also, we don´t have any fireworks in our house, so we might celebrate by lighting our mini-jungle that we have growing out in our back-yard. Seriously, there are three plants out back that I think were originally weeds, but are now taller than our house. I´ll take a picture sometime.
Hey, so I´m happy that them Cougars pulled off and upset against the Sooners. I´ll be honest, the only team that I hate more than the Sooners are the Utes, so that was a good happy moment for me. Can´t wait to see a nice American football game, as 2 years of just hearing about soccer is starting to wear me down...
So this last week there was a soccer game on between Brazil and Argentina (Brazilians hate Argentina, so it was pretty intense I guess) , and so as normal everything basically shut down during the game. It started at about 8:30 at night, so we didn´t miss out on too much working time, but just the same even people that we had marked appointments with didn´t want to come out of their houses during the game. Brazil won, so everybody is happy this week.
It was a fairly good week. Two investigators, Es... and her daughter Ma..., got baptized this week. It was the most painless baptismal process that I´ve had so far, as they are neighbors of some members and Es... works with the branch President´s wife, so they had plenty of support. They´re a really good family, and I´m pretty sure that they´ll keep going strong.
Ju... and Ro..., our golden family, have their baptismal date marked for this Saturday. Yesterday was a little rainy, cold, and had a nice blanket of fog that covered the city, but all the same they came with their family on foot to get to church. Ju... in particular is really good, and studies the scriptures like he´s been a member for a long time now, marking references and looking up topics that he wants to learn about. He´s even stopped playing soccer on Sunday so he can get to church with his family. Also, he found out about the members giving us lunch, and signed up on the calender for this Sunday. Yeah!
The weather continues to be quite cool. I know that we´re getting to the hot time of the year here, so I´m bracing myself for when the days of endless sweating will arrive, heh.
I think that´s all from me. ´till next time.
-Elder =w= Heperi (The Original)
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sun-shiny Day
Wow, so Levi is finally gonna be getting out of there this week, huh?
I find myself with mixed feelings of happiness and sadness. Happiness because he´s going out to his mission...and sadness because I now lose my unique status as the only Elder Heperi on the face of the earth.
Make sure to have him send his e-mails to me so I can keep updated. Oh, and on the blog you can call him “Elder Heperi 2” or “Elder Heperi the Younger” or something like that to denote a difference.
We´re having some pretty good success teaching some really good families. One of them, Ju... and R... are the kind of family that it seems like you serve your whole mission just to find them. They really were prepared to receive the gospel as they already are willing to be baptized and are already married. The only thing we have to help Ju... along with is his love for soccer. For the past few years or so he´s always gone to play soccer every Sunday morning, so now he´s trying to get used to the church schedule. Last week he went to church, but yesterday he went and played soccer. He said that he missed being in church, so I think that he´s coming round.
Another guy we´re teaching, named Ni... is also going really well. His wife, named Sô... has visited just about every church around here in the past 15 years, and says that she really wants to find out which one is the true church. She liked the Book of Mormon a lot, but unfortunately couldn't´t make it to church this week as she had already promised a friend that she´d visit another church in her process of finding. This week though, she should be good to go.
The weather cleared up this week, and we´re back to the brutal heat that I´m oh so fond of. Heh, I guess it´s just going to be another couple of months sweatin´it out here. Luckily the city has a lot of wind, so I shouldn´t suffer too much.
Today should be ok. We´ve got a basketball game planed in the center today, and rumor has it that someone has a football, so maybe we´ll see how the Brazilains fare in a good ól game of two hand touch.
That´s all for me.
Good luck to the other Elder Heperi as of Wednesday.
-Elder =w= Heperi
I find myself with mixed feelings of happiness and sadness. Happiness because he´s going out to his mission...and sadness because I now lose my unique status as the only Elder Heperi on the face of the earth.
Make sure to have him send his e-mails to me so I can keep updated. Oh, and on the blog you can call him “Elder Heperi 2” or “Elder Heperi the Younger” or something like that to denote a difference.
We´re having some pretty good success teaching some really good families. One of them, Ju... and R... are the kind of family that it seems like you serve your whole mission just to find them. They really were prepared to receive the gospel as they already are willing to be baptized and are already married. The only thing we have to help Ju... along with is his love for soccer. For the past few years or so he´s always gone to play soccer every Sunday morning, so now he´s trying to get used to the church schedule. Last week he went to church, but yesterday he went and played soccer. He said that he missed being in church, so I think that he´s coming round.
Another guy we´re teaching, named Ni... is also going really well. His wife, named Sô... has visited just about every church around here in the past 15 years, and says that she really wants to find out which one is the true church. She liked the Book of Mormon a lot, but unfortunately couldn't´t make it to church this week as she had already promised a friend that she´d visit another church in her process of finding. This week though, she should be good to go.
The weather cleared up this week, and we´re back to the brutal heat that I´m oh so fond of. Heh, I guess it´s just going to be another couple of months sweatin´it out here. Luckily the city has a lot of wind, so I shouldn´t suffer too much.
Today should be ok. We´ve got a basketball game planed in the center today, and rumor has it that someone has a football, so maybe we´ll see how the Brazilains fare in a good ól game of two hand touch.
That´s all for me.
Good luck to the other Elder Heperi as of Wednesday.
-Elder =w= Heperi
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