January 25, 2016

   We had one of the most awkward member visits of my life this week. I'm not really sure what was going on, but the members were super excited about it, and the missionaries were very... confused. Yeah.
   We went to IKEA for pday. That's always super fun.
   Elder Johnson transferred on Tuesday. That was super unexpected. But Elder Bradley came! He's super awesome! Haven't seen him in months.
   Speaking of months, my 18 month mark was the 23rd. Isn't that ridiculous?
   There was this world wide missionary broadcast this week. The part I thought was really applicable was when Elder Bednar got up and told everyone what life is really about. It was super good. Elder Bednar is a boss.
   I dragged Elder Svensson into the hospital on Thursday because he was refusing to do that. So we went on splits for that. He had... something wrong in his throat. Not sure what, but they shot some meds into him and then poked a needle into the inside of his throat and sucked some stuff out. It was interesting. And gross. Super gross.
   We helped Favour and his wife move some things to a storage container this week because they are moving soon. That was interesting.
   Then there was just a bunch of grunt work after that.
   So that was pretty much the week. Hope it sounds great, because it was. Just super tiring. Have a wonderful week!
Elder Heiner

Julmust is only 1kr at Ikea.  But I didn't get any,
I've had way too much.

Hanging out at Ikea.

Saying goodbye to Elder Johnson.

In the waiting room... only a 4 Hour Wait.

Elder Svensson getting the stuff that makes
you feel better.

Before my haircut.

And after my haircut from Bea, who is right here in this picture.
My mom is probably super excited about this...

January 18, 2016

 Hi all the people! How are you all doing? I hope well. I'm doing well, at least. Just kinda doing my thing. I haven't written much recently, and despite trying really hard, I do not have too much time today. But let me give you some updates to some things...

   Victor got baptized! It was super awesome! He's a very sincere person who truly tried to find out if the church was true. It was so good. Now he's a full blown member and the bishop said that he's probably going to get the priesthood this week too, so that's kinda fun. 

   I dunno... like any other news is boring after that...

   We've been meeting with a super awesome part member family, and the wife should be getting baptized next month! That's super fun too. They have this super cute baby boy. Super awesome family.

   I went on splits a few times too. I was with Elder Schultz, Elder White, Elder Svensson, and Elder Johnson over the past two weeks. They're all super good missionaries and I'm super excited to continue to work with them!

   Yeah, so that's probably the most exciting things... I hope you all have a great week! Let me know if you need anything. Bye!

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A district picture.  We are missing one companionship because
of sickness, though.

We went to the most dangerous place in Sweden.
At night. We didn't even die!  Prayer works.

We also ate chicken nuggets.
They were like 10 for 15:-, so we took 100...
and ate them all with the sisters.

Cool building.

This is Victor.  He is now a member.

January 11, 2016

January 4, 2016

Hello to the very specific group of people that are the people that read this letter. I'm still alive despite not writing anything last week. That's kinda what happens when you have New Years and stuff. I bet not of you even remembered to look and see anyway, so I'm not worried at all.

   Let's start with Monday. It was not pday again. That was a little bit of a bummer. I'm also sure it was a more of a bummer for my mother than anybody else. She didn't get her weekly dose of pictures and so she's probably been going through withdrawals. But we still didn't have too much planned, but we were able to be with a member family for dinner and have a good lesson with them. I think it went really well, actually. We then went to Lund because we were going on splits.
   On Tuesday I was on splits with Elder Schultz, a new missionary getting trained. We had a really good day, actually. My goal for the day was to have him do everything so that he knew that he could do everything. He led the entire area, and we had an amazing day. Good guy, super good missionary. He'll go far.
   We had a good district meeting on Wednesday, and then we had.... nothing happen. Nobody wanted to meet with us, talk with us, nothing. It was a slow day. In the evening, we met with Victor, a super cool Swedish guy that's getting baptized in two weeks. He's a bro. I really like him and have enjoyed teaching him. We found him too, so that makes it all the better.
   Thursday was even slower. People apparently don't like talking about God on New Year’s Eve. When they're rip roaring drunk. Or something. I don't know. We were invited over to the stake president’s house and we hung out with his family until half past midnight. It was super fun! And approved, so that's even better!
   Friday was pday, we had sports night in the evening.
   On Saturday, we were on splits with the zone leaders! I was with Elder Svensson, a super cool Swedish guy from Örebro. We had a really good day. We were out working in the freezing cold wind the entire day, but a couple people actually stopped and talked with us. In the evening, we went up to Lund to do a baptismal interview there. And we switched back in the evening.
   Sunday was pretty simple. We had church and then a few lessons after church.  Then we had to go home for weekly planning or else nothing would get done next week. But it should be a really good week next week!

I hope everyone has a great week and finds somebody to let the missionaries teach for the New Year! I'm going now!

Elder Heiner

At the mall on p-day.

The New Year's Celebrations.

Eating Santa.

December 26, 2015

Merry Second Christmas Day, as the Swedes like to say... It's pday, and that means I tell you what I did with my life.

For anyone confused because they looked at a calendar and the date this was written and what I'm talking about, yes. I wrote this on a Saturday. We have pday on Saturday this week.

On Monday, we didn't have too much going on because it's always pday, so we have a habit of not planning anything then. Except this week wasn’t pday so nothing was planned. It was fine. We were able to talk to a ton of people on the street.
Tuesday was not as blank. We had a district meeting in Lund which turned out to not really be a normal meeting, because we went caroling! We went out and sang to people and contacted them. I don't know if anyone became an investigator, but some people took books and heard some lessons. We went home after that and got cancelled on by our next guy. People don't really like to meet on Christmas week.  But then the lady after that is the wife to a member, and she's praying about whether or not she wants to be baptized. The correct answer would be, "yes." Then we met with our guy getting baptized in a few weeks and that went really well! He is down with the plan of salvation and is still on board for baptism, so that's super sick!
On Wednesday, we went and helped an elderly lady early in the morning, came back the apartment for lunch. Then we walked to the other side of town and we taught like four lessons on the way. We then had dinner with a Norwegian family and celebrated Christmas with them. It was super fun! After we left there we had dinner with a Danish family. It was super fun! I ate so much food...
Thursday was super lugnt. We hung out and opened the Swedish presents we got because Swedes do that on Christmas Eve. I heard from Paul and Erin, the Richardson’s, Grandma and Grandpa, and my family.  Our post is a little messed up right now, so there may be others in the future.  Then we wandered over to a member’s house and spent several hours with them. It was great! I made another turkey, everyone was impressed I knew how.
Friday, yesterday, was also super awesome! We hung out at the bishops.  He's pretty dang cool. I like him a lot, and I was able to skype the family! My mother could probably tell you all about that! [Insert mother comment here].

I really like Malmö! The only downside is the way they talk, really. They are very nice people with open minds, the weather is super mild. The sun exists here!   It is a different experience, for sure. My companion has been out one transfer longer than me, so we are both quite experienced. Together, we have the third most experience of any companionship in Sweden, and if you take out the tripanionship, we are number two by one transfer. I really like it. We get along really well.  Later today we're gonna go swing by the mall. Swedish Black Friday is all this week!

And that's pretty much my week at this point! I hope you all had a great holiday season! Have a wonderful week!

Elder Heiner

At the Bishops with his family and the other missionaries
on Christmas day.

Opening gifts.

Captain Crunch.
I had some this morning.  It was super good!

December 14, 2015

This week has been a week of change for me! I also have like no time at all....................... Thank you transfers...........
I left Katrineholm on Wednesday in the morning, and then traveled south and got to Malmö!
My big suitcases wheels died last transfer so it was a little hard. I can make it through to home though. I should only need to use them two more times. Or once maybe, we'll see. Once I got to Malmö, the other elders here have a car, so they just picked up the bags and drove the rest of the way. That was nice. My companion is Elder Nelson from McAllen, TX, and we serve in the Malmö I area. The apartment is pretty cool. It a little small, but it's really nice. I really like Elder Nelson. He's super obedient, which is super nice.  We've already found a couple people to add in the teaching pool, so it's been good!
Basically, I'm in Malmö with Elder Nelson and it's been pretty great so far! I love my comp and the area, and the ward seems super cool.
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December 7, 2015

Hello to all the people! I will get the big news out of the way first! I'm moving! I'm moving to Malmö, the southernmost area in the mission. It's in the third largest city in Sweden. They talk weird, that'll be fun. It's also a ward.  And you don't have to look hard at all to see Danmark. It's super close and there's a pretty cool bridge that you can go over from one country to the other.  It will all be interesting. I have really liked it here in Katrineholm, but apparently, it's time for me to roll out of here. It'll be sad. I have a lot of really good friends here and It'll be a bummer to not be around them so often.
   I also have little to no time left on me thanks to transfers, so I'll give a few more highlights.
   Meisam was confirmed in church today, marking the end of my time in Katrineholm.
   We had FHE this week on Monday and it was super fun. I always have a great time there.
   The Eskilstuna district meeting was super fun. It was also Sister Bolton's funeral.
   The entire mission was super stressed out for this transfer call. It finally came and it was HUGE! Just about everything is different this transfer. It's gonna be crazy.
   Elder Nilsson got a haircut and it looks fab.
   I didn't get a haircut and my hair look fab.
   We found a super good kebab place that is super cheep. Glad I'm moving now.
   There is a light show on a building that is super cool. I only have videos and I can't send those for some reason.
That's all I have time for right now! Have a great week everyone! Next time will be from the south!
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