Obedience to the max

Hey mom,

Glad to hear you are feeling better! That is so cool Jenna is at the MTC. I love the MTC. Too bad she will only be there for two weeks. What's her email? And what's Austin's address, I've written him a letter but don't know where to send it.

Tell the boys Happy Birthday, I forgot to say that last week.

This week was pretty interesting.

We had a couple of Family Home Evenings on Monday, our ward mission leader is from Peru, and we went to his family's house. They made us yummy Peruvian food!

Tuesday we got everything ready and went to pick up the new missionaries, two Elders and two Sisters. They all came no problems. Then we got to have dinner with the Patrick's. Yes!

We had transfers, good to see so many missionaries together. Then we went on member exchanges with the bishopric.

Thursday we also had a day full of visits. We visited Sasha, he was born in Afghanistan, and lived in the Ukraine. He made us a zucchini omelet. It was really good. Then we went on visits with our Elders Quorum president. He is a champ, and from Colombia. I don't remember if I told you or not, but our ward is like the UN. We have people from everywhere! Ghana, Italy, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, France, England, and the Philippines, just to name a few. It's like serving a mission everywhere at the same time!

Friday we had pho with Cedric. I don't know if I have told you about him yet. He was my very first dinner appointment, back with Elder Bell. He is from Vietnam, but has been living here for a long time. He is on the High Council, and he just spends all his time with the missionaries! We go out with him often, in fact, he is coming out with us tonight.

Saturday was another great day, we made four visits with three different member families. So we are kept pretty busy.

Yesterday was super cool. On Saturday we ran out of wiper fluid, and forgot to fill up with gas and get some. Sunday came and we realized our mistake, and were quite worried because we knew we would be driving to Trois-Rivieres later, which is an hour and a half drive, and we really wanted to keep the Sabbath Day special, and not go buy some. At church, we asked the other Elders if they had any fluid, nope. Then Dave and Courtney Brule (an awesome new couple in the ward, they came out with us on Saturday) told us they have a gift for us. After Church we went outside, they pulled up in there car and said "This is for you!" and handed us a jug of wiper fluid! We were speechless! Heavenly Father was definitely watching out for us. We were so grateful. Part two, we went to Trois-Rivieres to pick up a missionary who has a doctors appointment in Vermont today, he was staying with us last night. We went and as we were coming back, we were watching our gas, to our dismay, the light for gas turned on halfway home. We figured we made it this far, we should be fine. And we made it on fumes. Didn't have to buy anything on Sunday. It was awesome.

The talks at church were great too. They were all about Family Home Evening, the importance of having it, and the blessings that come. I am grateful we had Family Home Evenings, and I know they helped me feel closer as a family. Thanks mom and dad!

Well, have a good week! Good luck with the buying and selling the house!

Love you!

Elder Heinzlmeir

New Facebook Friend

Last week, I received a friend request on Facebook...someone I didn't know, but had enough information to be okay with accepting.  Here's the message I received from Anna:

The reason why I added you is because Elder Heinzlmeir asked me to do so, (we are going to China with some of our converts, and I think he told me that you might come so eventually we could talk about the trip, to see when etc.. ) I'm pretty sure you know already, but your son is a Legend here, he is so devoted into the work of the Lord, all the members, investigators and missionaries look up to him! And we can see through his service and his testimony that he loves his family so much! I heard a lot about your family and you all seem amazing have a wonderful week! Anna

Getting a message like this not only makes my day, but pretty much makes my life!  Can I say that I'm proud?  Okay, I'm super proud.

Old Friends

Taylor, being the AP is able to meet up with and go on splits with many different missionaries in his mission.  In his travels, he has come across several that he knows, and this guy...Elder Russell Pilling from Cochrane is there too!  It's so fun to bump in to old friends...especially when you are in new places!

The Quebec Countryside

Hey! Glad you made it!

That is so cool that Jenna is a missionary now too! I'm so happy! 

Anna was a misionary here, we were in the same district for about 6 months. Haha she is the real legend, she is from Terrebonne which is just north of here. She finished here mission 6 weeks ago. We were having a zone conference, and she came to the church for a meeting, it was funny seeing a return missionary from here. Everyone was super surprised. She is pretty cool. (Anna added me on Facebook and we've had a couple conversations.  She is awesome and mentioned in one of her messages that Taylor is a 'Legend' in the mission and amazing and all that good stuff that a mom loves to hear!)

I remember getting to the MTC and them saying "oh Elder Heinzlmeir great that you are here!" I was thinking 'how do they know me?' It's good tro have someone drop her off. (Just reminiscing about his trip to the MTC and how I called at the end of the day to make sure he arrived safely...but this time Josh Palsky is picking Jenna up from the airport and taking her to grab a bite to eat, because she will have not eaten since 4 am...and then they are going to CALL me so I know she made it safe and sound...and then he will drop her off at the MTC.  It's so great of him to do this as it takes the anxiety out of the picture for her...and me!  Thanks Josh!)

Dad already starts his job?! That's great. Hopefully you can get down there soon. The missionaries can help move. (Dennis starts his new position in Calgary this Tuesday as well...while I stay behind and sell the house...and we will have movers...so the missionaries can have this one off, lol...look at him...offering up the services of the missionaries in Airdrie even...a true man of service! lol)

President Patrick told me something comforting. He said, "serve a mission, the Lord will take care of your family better than you can". It was really reassuring to me.

Monday we planned transfers, we were in the office for 11 hours. It was awesome though! So far one of the most spiritual meetings I have been to. What a special opportunity. I am very grateful to have been able to participate in that. Speaking of transfers, I am staying! Big surprise there, and Elder Lopez is too, which is great, he is awesome! 

Tuesday we had a Zone Conference just south of Montreal, in LLongueuil. It went great, then we visited a lady to give her a blessing, the member that came with us, Dave Brule, invited us over for dinner afterwards. It was great! They are a new couple in the ward, but he was in Ottawa YSA when I was there! 

Thursday we had Zone Conference in Quebec. It is a beautiful city. Rolling hills, not anything quite like the foothills or the Rockies, but its nice. It was cool having the opportunity to see it. That night on the way home, we stopped in Drummondville, which is a city where Elder Lopez served before, and we visited someone he had previously taught there. It was great!

Friday we had a normal-ish day. I was pretty tired from travelling and also a little frazzled, but luckily prayer works! Just got down on my knees for a while, and I felt much better. That night we visited Toshonna and Jermaine. I love going over to their place, we go every Friday night. They are getting ready to come back to church. We have very powerful meetings with them. We taught about Faith. I love teaching the Gospel. It reaffirms my beliefs as I do.

Saturday we made some visits and called the Zone Leaders with the transfer calls. There are 8 missionaries in the ward I am serving in, and we are all staying the same this transfer.

Sunday was just a wonderful day.  It is great to see peoples desire to serve and help others. We then visited an sister in the ward. We brought the Sacrament to her because she wasn't able to make it to Church. It was so peaceful as we administered the Sacrament. I am so grateful for our Saviour and His example. She had prepared a wonderful meal for us, real Italian food! It was delicious. Better than anything I make.

Overall a good week. Not too cold, pretty busy, great comapny, and good news. Hope you have a great week!

Love Elder Heinzlmeir

This and That, cuz I'm running out of titles for his letters, lol.

Hey mom,

Wow, so many changes! That's incredible. Speaking of anxiety, (just chatting about the anxiety that comes as Jenna is preparing to leave...for her and for the mamma!) we have this book called Adjusting to Missionary Life. It is to help adjusting to change and managing stress. It is awesome! You should ask the Elders if they have a spare copy. I use it all the time. It has great advice.

Amber is teaching the Jarvis' (a couple in my ward) Chinese, so I gave her the book we used at the MTC. He is on the High Council, assigned to the Chinese Branch. (A friend of his in Montreal who I chat with on fb occasionally--she lets me know how he's doing when she sees him.)

Do you have a copy of her talk? I would love to read it. (Jenna gave an amazing talk on Sunday.)

Dad got the job! That's great! I guess I will be flying into Calgary, woah. I am super excited! U of C is definitely my number one choice. (Dennis got a position in the Calgary Jacobs office so we will be moving very soon...for real...back home.  Very exciting.)


Don't worry about people calling you strong. (I guess I should update my own blog on the events of the past 3 weeks...a routine surgery turned bad and I was air lifted to Edmonton for repair and recovery...and I was telling T how I did not feel strong at all as it was probably the worst physical trial I've ever had and that it kinda bothers me when everyone says 'you'll be fine because you're a strong woman'...I just told him I really am not that strong...but I know people mean well.)  Just remember Alma 26:12. Great scripture, check it out. The Lord is their to lift us up, to strengthen us when we are weak, to comfort us in times of trial. He loves us. Plain and simple. Tell President Garside I say thank you and I love him! Glad Josh is picking her up. (Family friend who lives in Provo is picking Jenna up from the airport and taking her directly to the MTC so she doesn't have to worry about finding the shuttle that takes the new missionaries there...one less thing to worry about and it will be so great to see a familiar face...so thanks Josh!) The shuttle even freaked me out.

This week, I went back to Ottawa for an exchange this week and we had two zone conferences. We give trainings at each zone conference. Our training is about the importance of planning. I love giving trainings! This week we will have three more zone conferences. Then transfer calls. This one has been fast. Time is whizzing by. I got word that the Sisters from my district at the MTC are finished their missions. CRAZY!

We felt we haven't taught Joe well enough so we are pushing his date back to March. It is so important that anyone be well prepared for baptism, so that they can have a meaningful experience.

In a nut shell, everything is fine and dandy. Keep me posted on the house hunt. I've also been doing some family history! Why are there two names for grandma's dad? Which one do I use? Have you seen the booklet called My Family. It is super cool. We have been sharing a lot of messages about family history. I love it!

Feel better soon! I love you! Have a great week. Love Elder Heinzlmeir!

Never a dull moment!

Hey mom, 

Glad you are feeling better. Rest up this week. Hope all is well with the fam too. KAitee sent me pics from Jasper, beauty. I can't believe Jenna is off in two weeks! Sister Heinzlmeir. Yes. 

This week flew by! It was pretty crazy. I went on exchanges with Elder Christensen and Elder Olsen this week. Two wonderful missionaries. We had miraculous experiences. Being in the right place at the right time. We ran into all these people that were very curious and were able to offer our message. 

We had a pretty crazy day on Tuesday. We had a lesson with a family, and they got a call while we were there from another Sister in the ward asking when we were coming over, because she prepared food! But we had scheduled a different day, and she invited the young man from the family we were visiting. He got up right away and got ready to go. Problem was this, we had to go to another family that night, right at that time, to teach their friend and her daughters. Elder Lopez and I looked at eachother with the what-do-we-do-now face. We called some people to help us out, but it was so last minute. Luckily anothewr young man in the ward preparing to go on a mission was available. He saved our night, Elder Lopez went to the lesson, and I went to dinner. It worked out in the end.

Things popped up all over the place, and kept us nice and busy. 

Yesterday, I had a few great experiences. We were in Ward Council discussing the needs of some people. Near the end, Brother Petelo, the 1st counsellor, shared his testimony. The Spirit was so strong, I wish you could have been there. Then we had the opportunity to take the Sacrament to Sister Salza. She is almost 90! I was thinking about the Saviour as he gave the sacrament to his aposltes in the upper room. It was so peaceful in her home, just as I imagined it was back in the day. As I was reflecting, I was touched by how much love Jesus Christ has for us, and all he does to help us in our lives.

I hope you feel better soon!

Have a great week!

Love Elder Heinzlmeir