Kobe

Kobe
Kobe, Japan

Monday, July 14, 2014

Week 49 - She Didn't Call the Cops...Thank Goodness

This past week feels like a blur! All the events that happened just mush into one big....blur! Time just seems to be going faster and faster, and I am afraid there`s nothing I can do about it. Maybe I need a companion that I don`t love so much -- maybe that would make time slow down. I just adore Sister Scheffler!
We had to be home by 9:30pm. It was 9pm when we left an investigator house which was still an hour away from home. We biked fast and furiously to make it on time!
It makes being a missionary easier when you`ve got a sister that`s got your back right beside you! She`s such a trooper, she`s learning Uke and Hula and how to sing while doing both! We are SOOOOO excited for our luau this Saturday. The ward`s getting pretty excited about it too. Yesterday, the relief society presidency pulled me aside and set up a hula class this week for me to teach. Then the bishopric printed out a million flyers and had all the youth and YSA go to the surrounding neighborhoods here at the church and put flyers in all their mailboxes letting them know about the luau! There`s so many things we need to do for the party and so many details that factor into it. Thank goodness the ward is working with us and helping us out. I think it`s kind of like the work of the Lord, without the ward`s help it`s impossible!

But without the Lord`s help, it`s DEFINITELY impossible. As a missionary there are very few things we can do alone. Very basic stuff like wake up, talk to people, walk around. But when we are doing the things we are supposed to do, the Lord is able to place people in our paths to help us get done what needs to be done. Here are a few examples from the week:

-a kind SGI (japanese religion, super stubborn believers who usually want nothing to do with us missionaries) woman gave us the address to a Less Active brother`s house whom she used to live next to. Because of that we were able to contact his family.

-Fukuda shimai (a less active we`d been working with, but who got offended by some members and then wouldn`t talk to us) suddenly called us after a month and half of no contact and wanted to meet up for lunch. At lunch we got to rebuild our friendship again and now she`s going to start coming back to church.

-a nice mom by some apartment complexes, even though her baby was screaming bloody murder, took the time to use her navigator and help us find the address to a less active man`s house. She said she might come to the luau!

-the neighbor of a less active man came out after seeing us. She read our tags and said that even though she doesn`t feel she needs religion, she felt our presence when we got to her neighborhood and she knows what we`re doing is for the good of her neighbor. She didn`t call the cops or anything...thank goodness.

-We found 27 more less actives houses thanks to kind and patient neighbors and people willing to help 

-a less active sister we found is now in a wheelchair and she`s too  old to really talk anymore. But her daughter and her daughter`s family were kind enough to let us teach her and they participated in our lesson. They weren`t against our teaching and they said they`d like to take their mom to church again.

-we taught 2 less actives in one afternoon and that`s really rare here!
We were dripping when we got home, we threw our clothes off and soaked up our sweat with our towels. 
We can be that person the Lord puts in the paths of others too! If it weren`t for these people we couldn`t have found and contacted as many less actives as we did this last week. And as of yesterday we`ve gotten 2 newly reactived members in the ward!!!! I can`t explain how rewarding it is to see your fellow brother or sister return to church.

I hope we all feel that way when we see people we haven`t seen in a while come to church. Do me a favor, try to notice them! When you see them tell them you`re happy to see them. Even just that simple acknowledgment will make a world of difference for the members in our wards. Here in Japan they`re really good at noticing when people haven`t been around and they`re really good at being sure to shake every person`s hand. I believe that if we just take a few minutes after sacrament to walk around and just say hello to people you haven`t seen in a while or don`t usually talk to, it will make all of our journeys of `enduring to the end` just a little easier. I`ve learned that and many other things this past week.

Love you all! I`ll let you know about how fun the Luau is next week :)

Sister Heimuli
These sweaty pics are super gross, mom. Not even kidding. DO NOT put these on the blog. [Note from Mom: Oops.]

Monday, July 7, 2014

Week 48 - Sheep

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!!! 
Sister Scheffler and I threw a ping pong party on Saturday because it was the 4th of July in America and we had all our investigators and friends come! We didn`t have fireworks or anything but we did have watermelon so it was as close to a legit 4th of July celebration as we could get! 
Having fun getting the watermelon ready for our 4th of July celebration!
Yummmm!


My beautiful companion with a ping-pong ringer from the neighborhood, haha!

Me with this cute gal getting ready to kill it in ping pong!

One of the very few pics of us together, with another cute girl at our July 4th ping-pong and watermelon celebration.

And the winner is...in the Ping-pong contest: Scheffler shimai.  In the Pretty contest: Gotta give that to Scheffler shimai, too!  I love her. 
It`s been another blessed week here in the Japan Kobe Mission. Friday we got to meet our new president, President Welch, and his amazing companion, Sister Welch. 


President & Sister Welch
Sister Welch came up to me and gave me a hug after the conference. She said they know Dad and that they left the U.S. around the time Dad was playing, and so in their minds BYU`s still their favorite team and Dad`s still their favorite player, I just laughed! And thought WOW they left the U.S. a looooong time ago. Jk, Dad! President and Sister Welch are AMAZING!  I`ve never laughed so hard, and cried so hard, in one meeting.  Both of their testimonies are so strong. President has a big belief in `Learning correct principles` and letting us `govern ourselves.` He believes in having little rules, and doing LOTS of work. Something interesting that he shared with us was that when he was a missionary here 40 years ago their focus was FTB…(Find, Teach, Baptize). He said that our new role as sisters in finding and reactivating the less actives is partly because of the problem he started. Back then, they baptized around 200-300 people a month! Who would have ever thought that was a problem? But we understood his deep concern. Japan actually has many members but only about 1% are active. President got emotional as he told us how he realizes it`s a blessing to be able to come back and serve here, and try to fix the problem he felt he created years ago. What a humble man. Love President and Sister Welch already. I also love their point of view on missionary work. I think this change is exactly what we need as a mission.

President told us that we won`t be having any big changes right now, but that we`ll slowly add on new things (line upon line, precept upon precept, right?) and progress a little at a time. He said the elders will slowly be focusing on less actives too. Speaking of which, we had 3 less actives at church yesterday! One brother is really close to being fully active, and one sister is making goals to become active again. This was a great reward to our long week of trying to track down a bunch of less actives` houses. 

Burned, aching feet from biking many miles and several hours in the humid heat...a small price to pay for finding sheep.
We found almost 30 houses this week but most of them were vacant, which means we turned into detectives and started asking neighbors and close-by store owners for any information.

Jeremiah 50:6 `My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place.`

Luke 15:4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?


Everything we do all day, every day, is to bring those lost sheep back to the fold. President also announced to us HOW we are going to avoid losing anymore sheep. Yes, we are focused on Finding, Teaching, Baptizing…AND R&R…Retaining & Rescuing. In order to do that, Sister Scheffler and I made goals to compliment every member whenever we see them, whether it`s on the street, in the store or wherever we may be. When you stop and think about it, we and everyone around us are just trying to Endure. It`s what we`ve been commanded to do. So how do WE keep from wandering from the fold? We endure well by loving each other, welcoming each other, and always doing our part to help the person next to us.

Next week, we plan to double the amount of houses we found this week, and try to contact at least half of them. The work we are doing is evidence of how important each and every one of God`s children are to Him. Some people we are trying to find went inactive about 50 years ago, yet we are commanded to find them. That`s been a huge testimony builder to me of everyone`s individual worth to our Father in Heaven.

I know God knows each and every one of us. None of us can wander outside of His reach. I see proof of that every day! It`s amazing to me how well God knows us, and I can`t even begin to understand how much He loves us. What a blessing it is to be a missionary at this time here in Japan. I hope you all have a great week and try to recognize those moments when God`s showing His love to you. And better yet, show your love to Him by serving someone around you! Even small acts are good! Just a knock on someone`s door and a `Hello, I was in the neighborhood and just wanted to say hello. Can I help you with anything?` We do this every time we knock on doors. I tell you there`s nothing money can buy that`s better than these few words and a little bit of action.

Love you all!

Sister H

Not Our Weekly Letter - Anything For Her

Hi mom!!!!

So big news. Our ward wants to do a Luau to help all our investigators and less actives. It was my crazy companion`s idea....but they just took it and ran with it! We, your daughters
, Scheffler shimai and I, are in charge of a hula, teriyaki chicken, and a uke solo. So will you please send me the recipe for Dad’s teriyaki sauce, the chords and words to Smiles, Over the Rainbow, and Hukilau please?? 

The ward is planning on feeding 50 people (which I know is NOTHING compared to our parties, but it has never been my total responsibility to feed them all, haha). Would you please email it to me by the time I get off email. I will be back on at 1 pm our time (9 pm your time Sun night). Also is it possible to speed deliver the PCC dvd back to me by July 17? We have the Luau on the 19th but I would like everything ready a few days before. And do you have any IZ songs and hawaiian music you could send over in MP3 right now so I can stick it on Scheffler shimai`s harddrive? Have Houst get on the computer and send me a bunch of slow Hawaiian jamz and stuff. That would be GREAT! LOVE YOU!!!!!!! Sorry this is so much!!! LOVE YOU!

[Note from Mom: Had all the boys and Norma home for dinner; Alyssa’s in Europe. As soon as Hevynn’s email landed, the boys sprung (is that a word?) into action! Houston downloaded music copying programs, Helam started downloading multiple IZ and Keali’I Reichel songs simultaneously. I picked Hema’s brain about chords to send. He and Norma took off for home to get more Hawaiian music and email it off to Japan. I was very grateful -- and not at all surprised -- at the kids’ willingness to jump in and immediately respond to their sister’s request for help. They love her. They would literally do anything for her. And all I had to do was send a recipe, lyrics and uke chords…easy.  Later…]

Thank you that helped soooo much! Hemz is the bomb digz. [Sounds like she received the emailed music from her brother already!]
Just had to throw in a pic of eldest brother Hema...the bomb digz (whatever that means)...and his beautiful wife, Norma (aka Mrs. Bomb Digz)

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Week 47 - To Takashima and Back

[Note from Mom: When first Sister Scheffler, then Sister Heimuli, received calls to the exact same mission, we moms decided that WHEN (not IF) our daughters became companions, we would go to dinner together to celebrate! We had that dinner last week at -- where else? -- Kobe Restaurant (in Ogden) and sent this picture to our missionaries.]
Lakei & Pania with Kevin & Sheri Scheffler...and their table's chef/comedian.
Wow! We DIED LAUGHING at you guys` picture! It`s so fun being able to serve with someone I`ve known my whole life. And we love telling people our story when we first meet them, too! What a crazy week we`ve had...I guess it will always be crazy since we`re together!
"I miss my mission mom and dad!" said Sis Heimuli, shown here at the Zinke's farewell mission tour, along with Sis Scheffler...a few days before they became companions!
There was a really cool miracle we saw this week. As we planned where to go Monday night during planning I felt like we should go to Takashima which is the furthest point in my area and I have never been there. It`s an hour by train and I heard it was 3 hours by bike. So we were like `Yeah! Let`s do it!` The next day we hopped on our bikes and yup...rode for about 3 and a half hours before finally finding the area where the houses were that we needed to find. By that time it was actually time to turn around or else we wouldn`t make it home on time. We thought about it and decided to leave our bikes, catch the train, and try again the next day. The next day we took the train back to Takashima, got our bikes and began biking again. Our legs were super tired from the previous day`s bike ride but we were pretty determined to find these less active sisters we wanted to visit.

We finally found one and, as we ping-ponged her, she seemed pretty distraught that we were there and she told us to wait a minute. She came out and just bluntly told us she wanted nothing to do with the church and she was sorry we came out to Takashima but she wasn`t going to let us in. And then she walked away, slamming her door. Scheffler shimai and I just looked at each other like, `What just happened?`

We decided on a new and improved action plan for the next sister`s house. We figured if we left our bikes right by her door step so she would see we biked there, then she would feel willing to let us in, and there we could try to teach a lesson. So we did! At the next sister`s house we rang the door bell, she came out, gasped when she saw our bikes and said, `Come in! Come in!` Relieved, we walked in and she fed us cookies and milk. We talked and introduced ourselves. When the time seemed right I asked her if we could sing a hymn for her and she was really excited to hear it. We sang and she started singing along too! That gave us an opportunity to bear testimony and really testify to her about why we are here as missionaries, and that even biking for 3 hours couldn`t change how much we loved helping people and teaching about the gospel. She agreed. She was very kind and respectful. Before we left she gave us a huge bag of treats and told us to take it slow riding home and to stop frequently and eat those treats. She was so sweet!

The miracle wasn`t that she let us in because she felt bad that we rode bikes all the way to her house. The miracle was that both of these sisters were even home. We don`t call ahead of time before visiting people. We just pray and ask Heavenly Father to guide them so that they`re home when we want to meet. We visit lots of less actives everyday and most of the time they`re not home. But the Lord knew how difficult of a bike ride it was for two sister missionaries on mamacharis (the type of bike we have) and He heard our prayers and answered them. No, the first sister didn`t have any interest but at least she was home! And the second sister didn`t make a return appointment but she was home too! And best of all, we got an opportunity to bear testimony, which is why we are here. That day we had to hurry and bike back to the church in time for 2 other lessons and our English class. The Lord provided the way for us to be able to do all the things we needed to do that day.

Yesterday the ward members heard that we biked to Takashima and back and they were amazed! Everyone kept walking up to us asking if we were okay. They kept saying, `If you were elders maybe I would believe it...but you`re sisters! I can`t believe you made it there and back!` Funny, they don`t even realize that both of us grew up with all brothers!! We know we couldn`t have done any of that without the Lord. Imagine if the sisters weren`t home when we went to visit. That would`ve been a waste of a trip! We would`ve needed to make that trip again! The Lord truly does provide the way. We just need to be willing to work and follow the promptings He gives us.

It was an interesting week last week and we look forward to another great week this week too! I hope you all have a lovely week as well!

All my love,

Sister Heimuli

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Week 46 - Don't Overthink

Sister Scheffler and I find ourselves looking at each other countless times during the day and saying `What are we doing?! How are we companions?!` It`s been such a fun few days together. I too am excited to see the miracles that the Lord has in store for us this transfer. Can you believe I`m working alongside a girl I grew up knowing my whole life?! It`s been such a blessing to see how Sister Scheffler works and how the Lord knew I needed to learn quite a few things from her. We saw a huge miracle together after our first day together!

For the last 3 transfers we`ve been trying to find this Less Active sister whose address was wrong and we thought we lost her. But a member called last week with her new address, and when Sister Scheffler transferred in she was the first one I wanted to find! We biked for a while but it was pretty easy to find her house.
Heard a huge rip sound and my bike stopped and my skirt was caught in it. This is my 3rd skirt i`ve ruined. I am so sick of buying skirts! It was pretty intense...the pictures don`t even do it justice....

When we rang, it looked like no one was home. All of a sudden a sister came outside and she was SO happy to see us. She told us to wait a minute, shut the door, we heard some rustling around, and then she said, `I`m sorry my house is so small, but would you like to come in?` Japanese people do not like when people just stop by unannounced but she was super open to us from the get go. We sat down she squeezed some fresh Mikans (orange like fruit) and had us eat some treats and talk with her. We talked about a lot of things and about when she first met missionaries. She said she didn`t think she was a member anymore because she had stopped going to church about 40 years ago. We assured her she was still a member and that she could come back with us! She seemed a little hesitant but since she liked us she wasn`t weirded out by our bold invite. She then wanted to show us around her house so we were like sure! She took us upstairs into this tiny room with a bunch of pictures she`s painted and photography she`s taken, and there was a dusty guitar sitting in the corner. I told her, `Would you mind if we sang you a song?` she was more than happy to let us! I asked her what her favorite hymn was but she didn`t remember any. So Scheffler shimai and I sang I Am a Child of God while I guessed at what chords to play. Halfway through the song she started humming and then singing the words too! When we finished, she was surprised she still remembered the words. We bore simple testimony and she told us about how her parents have gotten really ill lately and she`s been so worried. She said that having us visit and sing that song comforted her and she realized that God still knows her. Scheffler shimai and I were shocked as we looked at each other like `Wow`. I asked her if she`d like to study about God again and she was so excited! We set up an appointment for this week and she said she`d make us lunch and we can study the Book of Mormon together. This was a miracle because we`ve tried to find her house countless times, but we could never find it. She`s been away from church for 40 years, and by that time most people have hardened their hearts to it. Her parents situation has softened her heart and opened the opportunity for us to reinvite her back to church. The timing was perfect, that definitely was not our power but Heavenly Father`s power. This may seem like a small deal to some people, but after working with the Japanese people for almost a year, it`s a huge miracle to me!

I love Sister Scheffler`s `Just Work` attitude. We don`t overthink things, we just go out and do. That`s the way it`s supposed to be! If we think too much, we might overthink the Spirit and miss an opportunity to do something great. Yesterday we had Stake Conference and they broadcasted this special meeting for Japan. It is such a privilege and honor to work here in Japan. It`s not easy but it`s oh so worth it! So this week, don`t overthink the Spirit, don`t second guess a prompting. Follow what feels right and I know God will see your faith and open many doors that you didn`t even know were there!

LOVE YOU!

SISTER HEIMULI

Last pics with Hall shimai!
Bishop's wife made us these cute hymn book covers

Bishop & YSAs came to say goodbye to Sister Hall

Monday, June 16, 2014

Week 45 - Never Ceases to Amaze Me

AHHHHHHH!!! Out with the old in with the new... I love transfer week. It always brings a buzz into the mission. Everyone gets super excited to see who is whose companion...so check this out.

Last week at the "Bye Bye Kai," or the meeting where we said bye to President Zinke and Sister Zinke, we gave them hugs. Yes, I got to hug President, too! I was crying the whole time...and took pictures with them. I love President Zinke, he`s been another father to me. And Sister Zinke`s been a mom to me. 
Me and Mama Zinke.  I love this lady!
I leaned over and said, `President, I have a request (I was totally joking). Will you put me and Sister Scheffler together next transfer?` He took a notebook out of his pocket and a pen, and wrote it down. Sister Scheffler and I were laughing, thinking about how funny it would be if he actually did put us together. This morning, we got a call from our District Leader saying, `Hall shimai, you`re transferring. Heimuli shimai, you`re staying. You will be companions with Scheffler shimai.`

WHAAAAAAT???!!!! Can you believe that?! I thought he was joking! Yup, President never ceases to amaze me. I am SO excited to be with my dear Scheffler shimai! Can you believe we grew up together...and now we get to serve the Lord together! I am so excited to work with her!
Kyoto Zone! I love this Zone. There's cute Scheffler Shimai....Can`t believe we`re going to be together next transfer!
Now, with transfers comes a lot of changes. I am so sad to see Hall shimai leave but I`m excited to see what more Scheffler shimai will add to our investigators` testimonies. I`ve seen many miracles with Sister Hall and it`s sad to think we won`t be together again!
Hall shimai and me sweaty from our dramatic bike ride/my non-graceful bike crash (more on that later!). Gonna miss her!
One significant miracle we experienced yesterday was when we went to visit a less active sister who lives with her son. These two have been less active for over 10 years and she`s not felt any need to return to church. Sister Hall and I have visited her about 10 times by ourselves but no one was ever home. Bishop came up to us after church yesterday and asked us if he and his daughter (Megumi shimai, who is leaving for the Minami Tokyo mission in October) could come with us and visit less actives. We were so excited to work with bishop! I`ve seen over and over again the difference in working with members. I know that only when we work with members can we actually hasten the work. So we went with them after church and spent a couple hours visiting families.
One of my favorite people, Misato san! She`s an opera singer and she`s amazing!
Then when the time felt right, I told him we needed to try and see this specific less active sister.We did, and lo and behold, she was home! Her door was open and it looked like she had been cleaning or something. She happily invited us in. I looked on her wall and a picture of the Salt Lake Temple was hanging there. We talked about that picture and about various sacred things. We sang `How Great Thou Art` and bore our testimonies. She cried and thanked us for coming. She said she`s been working so hard and feeling so burdened and right when she thought she couldn`t handle it anymore, we came to her door. God`s timing is perfect. She also invited us back! Having bishop with us was a great blessing because even though we offer to help, people look at us like `Uhh you`re two girls; Two girls that can`t speak Japanese. I don`t need your help.`  But when bishop offered his help, and the help of our ward members, she gladly accepted -- which is good because the more her ward members are around her, the more she can feel God`s love and gain a desire to be part of His fold again.

Since it`s transfer day we don`t have much time, but I just wanted to tell you all thank you for the letters and the awesome package! Bishop`s son LOVED his hat and he was so excited when he saw it! Thanks, Dad! I loved the letters from the Primary children as well! I sincerely wish I could write every single one of them back individually. Please tell them Sister Heimuli loves them, and I can`t wait to find out where they will all go on their missions! That`s the beautiful thing about this Church. It`s the same everywhere you go. Nothing changes in the gospel. It`s at its purest truest sense. I love this gospel! It`s an honor and a privilege for me to be allowed this opportunity to help share it with those around me.

Congrats to Heels and Alyssa! Alyssa, welcome to the Heimuli Family. I think you will love being a Heimuli. 
Helam & Alyssa at the Bountiful Temple
From the pictures, it looks like it was a great day! The most important and gorgeous part was seeing everyone at the temple!
Welcoming the newlyweds! L to R: Hema, Devin, Houston, Bo, Harrison, Thomas, Evan & Kevin.
Mom & Dad stand in the background

Love you all!

Sister Heimuli

The Crash: We were racing the clock one night and my tire hit the curb wrong and i crashed! I hurried and got back on my bike because I didn`t want to miss curfew and Sister Hall rides behind me and says while laughing, `Woah! That was like matrix! Okay, let`s go -- we don`t have time!` hahaha it was a fun night!
Ouch...still smiling though.
Ruined my watch in the crash. At least it wasn't my favorite one!

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Week 44 - Just Listen

Thanks for the picture! Everyone looks great! I miss the Ole PCC crew. Tell Po`u cut his hair! Hahaha. Wow! You all sound like you`ll have a busy week! But busy weeks make time fly by for some reason! I woke up this morning and I couldn`t even BELIEVE it was Monday again!

Yes President and Sister Zinke will be leaving in about two weeks. We have our bye-bye kai this coming Wednesday. To think this may be the last time we`ll see them is pretty sad, however I`m looking forward to what President Welch and his wife will teach us.
Speaking of people leaving, the sisters found these big boxes of food waiting for them when they arrived at the church.  They were from the Boettcher family who moved back to the U.S.
Something I`ve really learned from our President and his wife is that the Spirit is the key. Think about it, we are the only church in the world that has the Holy Ghost testifying of it. That`s what makes it true. We are taught over and over again that the Holy Ghost teaches truth. Everything in the books we use as missionaries and members throughout the world (Book of Mormon, Bible, PMG, Gospel Principles, etc.) always refer back to the Holy Ghost.

`If ye have not the spirit, ye will not teach` `the spirit teacheth a man to pray` `...then ye shall know by the power of the spirit...`

Sometimes we forget about the third member of the Godhead, The Holy Ghost. If the Holy Ghost is a member of the Godhead then He must be a God. If you look up Holy Ghost in the Bible Dictionary it tells us He`s a God. As baptized members of the Church we are promised to always have a God (the Holy Ghost) with us if we remain worthy of His presence. With the Holy Ghost as our constant companion we can do anything.

Recently, we haven`t been able to work with one of our Less Active sisters because she got really sick and couldn`t handle us visiting anymore. This nearly broke our hearts because she was progressing so well. As we continued to pray for her she eventually emailed us and asked for some Book of Mormon homework. When we first met with her she told us she wouldn`t return to Church. The next time we met she said she would return no earlier than August. Then this week she emailed us and said, `If I`m feeling well on Sunday, can I go to church with you?` Sister Hall and I had to read that email ten times to make sure we weren`t mistaken! This is what I think:  as she read the homework we had given her the Spirit testified to her that this was true, that going to Church was important. If you think about it, we humans don`t have that much control over things. I couldn`t force her to feel like the homework we gave her would help her. That`s something only the Holy Ghost can do. `...and the spirit carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men...`(2Nephi 33:1)

We waited for her in the lobby on Sunday, and she walked in right before sacrament. It had been over 10 years since she`d been to church, and at the end of the meeting she turned to me and said, `Same time next week?`

What a blessing it is to have the Holy Ghost helping us do this work. I know this is something man cannot do, only with the help of our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ through the Holy Ghost.
Sister Heimuli and a less-active sister
Even though this sister was nervous to come back to church because she was scared of what people would think of her, I know that anyone and everyone is worthy of Christ`s Atonement. Everyone deserves it. And I`m so grateful that President and Sister Zinke have done an amazing job at helping us recognize that the Spirit is the key in everything we do and that the Atonement is enough for all of us.

I know Heels is getting married this week! It`s come so fast! And there`s so much going on, but please don`t let things around you get so crazy that you shut out the promptings of the Spirit. He`s not loud, He`s not harsh, yet He`s willing to help if we will just listen. I promise that as you listen to the Spirit this week, your thoughts will be organized, your struggles won`t seem as hard, and your week will end up being full and satisfying! You won`t have any regrets! I still haven`t gotten your packages yet but I`m excited to! I love you all and hope you have a FUN and memorable week!

All my love,

Sister Heimuli
At church, Sister Heimuli met one of her mom's Kahuku classmates: Alan Walker and family from Ewa Beach, Hawaii
Ran into this cute little guy at the lake