Thursday, March 24, 2016

I will never look at 10 dollars the same...



HAPPY BIRTHDAY MA!!!!!!!! lol How was your birthday?!!! Btw I knew Glorianne was going to get the job... After praying the spirit touched me and said all would be well...I actually got better in the stomach but have had the flu all week long... I am grateful that the Lord has a way of blessing his servants with enough energy to keep going.... WE GAVE A LOT of service this week too... It was funny because we gave service for 4 days.. Of those four days 3 of them were 3 days straight. We actually had one day were we served from 10:30 in the morning to 9:30 at night... It turned out that that was the day I felt the most sick... We laughed it off and sweated the fever out LOL By the time we got home from the second service with Brother Martes it was 7 at night and to shower then change and walk to our appt would have us arrive after 9 so we just stayed in our dirty clothes, stopped by the house and grabbed a hammer and paint brushes and went and looked for service. We found it with a less active family clearing our bushes that had ¨Snakes¨ in them. We were grateful because the family has 7 children and if we hadn't had cleared it out it´s almost 100% positive that one of them would have gotten bit... Yesterday we had two lessons fall through at the same time. We went to on of our ¨Tougher¨ Invesitgadors houses and turns out they were moving... We moved the house on foot with them and it opened their hearts to our message... The only down side was that the rest of the day we tough with shirts nice and BROWN LOL... 


A really cool experience this week was that an investigador of 3 months FINALLY showed up to church with his wife!!!! His wife wants to be baptized SO bad... (Rossi and Leo) ... We stopped a couple days later and he told us all about how AMAZING he felt in church and the peace and love in his heart... He also loved the church's organization... That same night I had a feeling we should re teach the Book of Mormon... But for some reason whenever we talked to start we would get off track and talk about eternal marriage or the Priesthood... I finally couldn't understand why I had that prompting until Leo's 19 year old son walked in... We asked him if he had any questions and he paused looked at us and said... ¨Yea actually... Tell me all about the Book of Mormon.. Who wrote it? and what is it?¨ After I grinned from ear to ear at my companion Rossi looked at me with a puzzled look as to how it was that we knew to talk about the theme. After a lesson of almost 2 hours about the Book of Mormon answering questions we explained what the Spirit was and how it feels... My companion felt prompted to tell him that it was like a fire burning in your heart.. He looked at us through watery eyes and told us ¨ Your´e not going to believe me but I have feel that feeling right now and every time you two speak. I am going to read the book from cover to cover as soon as possible and pray to know if it´s true.¨ TALK ABOUT an incredible testimony builder. Rossi ended the lesson crying again.. I can´t explain how much I love the family.. Maybe it´s because Rossi reminds me a lot of you mom and Leo of dad just because he´s so Tranquilo (calm)... lol It was a great week!


I sang a surprise solo on Sunday... I had no Idea that I was to sing until Hermano Martes called me up... Try singing with the flu sometime... BUT with the Lord´s help I hit every note!!! I had no idea what I was going to sing until the sister before me said something in her talk and the Spirit came and told me to sing ¨Come Follow me¨... ME AND GLORIANNE PROBABLY SANG AT THE SAME TIME!!!! SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol

 I was buying groceries but then I get a call that an elder in my District was really sick IN THE SAME STORE WHERE I WAS SHOPPING. I went over and helped the elders (The two of them are VERY new) and helped get them home... If I wasn't there he would probably be unconscious in a Dominican hospital right now... The Lord is awesome lol

OH MY GOSH MOM YOU WENT OVER THE TOP!!! THE JEANS ARE AMAZING AND THE HAT´S ARE SO SICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously it´s so awesome!!! The jeans fit so good!!! I also found out the I am now closer to a 32 in waist than a 34... MUCH CLOSER LOL Thanks you also for the memory... I will give one 8gb to my comp...

Hey 10 dollars is A LOT of money here... I will never look at 10 dollars the same... and I am doing good... I treated our district to a Pizza today.. They were very grateful... I spend sufficient to eat descent everyday... All I can really eat is rice and sandwiches.. anything else is too rough for my stomach...

We are singing the Spirit of God as a zone... Fun fact... The hymn is NEVER SUNG HERE:.. But hey I have to go... It´s time to PREACH!!! WOOOOOOO :)
HURRAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Remember to keep feeding the Missionaries and try to go out and leave with them this week... Doesn't matter if Lilly is with you. TEACH ANYWAYS. Please call the Sister Missionaries up and tell them you want to go teach with them one night this week... Also invite them over to teach the Restoration. IT WILL MAKE THEIR WEEK... Trust me... Plus you will feel the Spirit in a way that is INCREDIBLE I promise. Love you. REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE!!!!

Elder Hefner

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Alive and kicking

Saying goodbye to Hermana Reyes was hard... We have been in the same zone for most of my mission... She followed me everywhere I went LOL She has ended with honor being one of the most faithful sister missionaries I have ever known!... Btw mom I am winning our challenge lol (Who can lose the most weight)


I am great!!! Thank you for the package... IT´s here in the office... I should get it on Saturday!! :) Did you see I am loosing A LOT of inches!! HOPE YOU'RE WORKING HARD!!!
I AM SUPER HAPPY TOO!!! I was just made district leader again of 3 new missionaries... PRAY FOR ME lol
 WHAT A WEEK!!!! Talk about trial by fire... Or in this case rain... It POURED DOWN lol 
WHAT A MIRACLE!!! ME AND MY MOMS FAVORITE CRACKERS!!!

Email for the week was that I met someone from ORLANDO!!! She speaks fluent English and is SUPER interested in our message!!!  We had a pretty rough week of all lessons falling through but that moment made up for all of it... Also we have several families interested in our message now... But other than that it was a week of fighting against the waves lol

Zone Bella Vista for the last time before transfers.. SEVERAL People left..

Make sure you are studying and pondering the scriptures as well !! lol Fun fact... The Savior visited other countries when he was here not just America and Jerusalem... lol 3 nephi 16 I believe!
I love you... I will talk to you next week... I am super happy you found a new job!!! That is the blessing of paying a full tithe... TTYL MOM!!! I HAVE TO GO... LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Hefner
Family home evening cake... Everyone here thinks I am a chef... I laugh because I tell them that a great chef named Betty Crocker showed me how to make cake lol

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

How our conversation started after being so sick...

DISTRICT BELLA VISTA!!!!

How our conversation started after being so sick he almost came home...


Heavenly Father knows our needs

I received a blessing from Elder Dominguez... A member of the 70 on Sunday. He was visiting the Ward. After priesthood he asked me if I was alright ( I had left twice during sacrament to the restroom... And showed up late to church because I was doubled over in pain that morning)... I told him I would continue fighting. In his blessing he cast out all the sicknesses I had and blessed me with sufficient strength to finish my mission with honor. (Note from Mom and Dad: Think about it...what are the chances that an Area Seventy was visiting his ward out of all wards in Dominican Republic? What are the chances that he noticed he was late and going out of the chapel?...for all we know Elder Hefner could have been waiting for someone. There are no coincidences!!)



Funny shirt... lol

Back to work

We have a bunch of new families! We have a brother and sister of 50 years that will be getting baptized in 3 weeks!! :) We had a man come into a lesson and testify that Jose Smith was a prophet of God and that we have a prophet and 12 apostles who live and breath... We asked if he was a member of the ward... He said he´s an investigador... They blanked the area he was in and wants to be baptized as soon as possible... He is going to come to church this Sunday... LOL TALK ABOUT AWESOME... We are also now teaching his entire family! (Once again Heavenly Father knew how sick he had been so He send investigators directly to church...amazing!!)

WE JUST HAD A MIRACLE THE PICTURES THAT WOULDN'T DOWNLOAD  JUST ARRIVED!!! Ok you have them... lol HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Hefner

Monday, March 7, 2016

President wants to send me home... Because of my health...

I am full Dominican now... ZONE BASEBALL!!! WHAT A BLAST!! 

A very rough week...

OH THANK GOODNESS ... Mom we have to talk... I have by far had the roughest week of my mission this week...
President wants to send me home... Because of my health...
He pulled me into the interview and honestly this was a really bad day because I had The Flu as well... The minute I walked into the office everyone said I Literally looked dead.. lol So I talked to him and It´s time to be honest with you guys... I have been sick basically non stop because my immune system basically doesn't exist anymore...  I have only been getting 5 hours of rest a night.. and with the strain of the work here climbing up and down mountains all day it has taken a toll on my physical body.. I wrote president now telling him that I want to stay in the mission... The day he saw me though I really broke down. It got to the point that me and my companion couldn't get up after a lesson ... BUT WE HAVE ALSO SEEN a miracle this week to help keep us going. The thing is president was supposed to call us in for special interviews on Saturday but I guess he forgot and never called... So I hope he sees that email and let´s me stay...
I will get better but the Lord is allowing this to happen. He gives me nights and days where the pain in my stomach isn't as strong and nights were I rest more than others... But this is part of the plan of Salvation mom... To be tried and tested.

I am positive the lord is going to let me stay...I can keep going mom. I have to. A lot of other missionaries have gone through MUCH worse. This is nothing believe me. I think your prayers are what I need more than others. ¨There are VERY FEW THINGS more powerful than the faithful prayers of a righteous mother¨ - Boyd. K. Packer

My comp actually pitched in the MLB but destroyed his arm so now he´s my companion lol Our team won! WOOOO

When sick... Heavenly Father brings work to them...

We had a 50 year old lady and her brother show up to church Sunday with their family... They looked like less actives but I went and talked to them and they are actually investigators.. SHE FIRST RECEIVED THE LESSONS IN 1990!! She has been bouncing around because of her job but is SO READY... Our first visit we put a baptismal date for the 2 of April and she looked at me funny... I talked to her and she said well... If I feel ready before that date can I be baptized sooner??? When we had gotten there she had asked for a Book of Mormon from her brother who was a member and had read the folletos of The Restoration and the Plan of Salvation all the way through and knew that Joseph Smith was a called and ordained prophet of God.... :O

And...We have an AMAZING ward mission leader now as well!

I have to go though... I love you guys a ton.. Hurrah for Israel!!!... and Love you more!! 

Elder Hefner