Amy's Adventures in Argentina!: FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!

Mi Querida Familia,

MERRRRRRRYY CHRISTMASSS!! I hope ya'll are planning an awesome Christmas Eve party:) I'm sooo excited for Christmas and I have no idea why...hahaha. Turns out we're NOT going to be spending Christmas Eve with the Chemin Family, but we will be celebrating with the Mayor Family. They're awesome. Unfortunately the Elders are going somewhere else I think. On Christmas day, as of right now, my district is staying in Rawson to spend the day together as a district and with the Chemin Family. We're soo excited! And yes, as a district we're going to have TIM TAM SLAMS!!! :) Thank you so much for the package!! I LOVED it. The candy Santa?! GENIUS. Sooo clever. Snickers and chocolate kisses. You know me too well. Thank you so so much!! The chocolate here is good, don't get me wrong, but it's different:) ...just like everything else. Hehe.

Welp. Where to begin. Last Monday we just hung out in the church as a district, ate some lunch together, played basketball, ping pong, and enjoyed a fun day of no work. Then we bought some ice cream. Good times. I looove p-days. Okay, I love all the days, but p-days are always a nice break:)

On Tuesday we had a district meeting and then we went (all six of us!) to eat lunch with the Nievas Family. It's always a blessing when we get to eat together as a district...as missionaries we have such unique relationships with each other. We're all far away from our families laboring in the same work. It's the best support system EVER. It's seriously like a family. There's a lot of love and occasionally some irritation. Hey remember when I used to say that I wanted more brothers? I take it back. One is enough:) Hahaa...so it's a good thing I got the best one in the world! I got a pretty good brother-in-law too. No complaints:) Speaking of brothers-in-law (which we only kind of were) here's a shout out to Em and Craig. Thanks for getting married in April. You have nooo idea how many times I've talked about my experience that day and borne my testimony about eternal families. It always makes me almost cry, and the people always feel the spirit. You guys are the best! Hahaha...but seriously. The personal experiences are what help the people the most. Have you noticed that in general conference the speakers always share a story about their life?? Yep. They're all super smart.

This week we found Natalia!! Her...husband is a member (not active) only he's not actually her husband... they just live together. BUT, she's listened to the missionaries before and has a sincere desire to be baptized. Her...husband-ish...is the brother of a member here. They just moved to Rawson last week. Member referrals are the BEST! We put a baptismal date before we even taught a lesson...come to think of it we didn't even pray. We just sang a Christmas hymn, talked about what we can give Jesus this Christmas, and she said, "Ojala que pueda bautizarme." (I hope I can get baptized!) Of course, that's every missionaries dream. Alright, no problem Natalia. We can arrange that. Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized.... YES! YES! YES! She said...alright. Now my companion and I thought we were dreaming for sure. She and her...husband...have talked and they're going to the registration office today to get everything taken care of so they can get married. She's gonna be baptized in January (if all goes according to plan! The 11th to be exact.) She is also 3 months pregnant. She's soo good. We also have daily contact with her which is so important!! Lots and lots of prayers heading in her direccion. They are gonna have lots of trials in the next few weeks...but keepin' the faith!

Ohhh!! Guess what?! On Friday night we had MOVIE NIGHT!! YAYYYY. Hahaha...we had a missionary family night in the church. We watched "the nativity" I think it's called. We ate popcorn and had a grand old time. It was a little weird sitting down to watch a movie..but it was a nice rest for our feet:) No AC, but the ceiling fans do an okay job of cooling us down...ish. Okay, so not really, but not complaining:)

Then on Saturday night we went CAROLING!! We had about 15 members and missionaries and we went to the terminal, a few shopping centers and super markets and we sang Christmas hymns! We all had Santa hats and it was good times. So much fun!! I officially LOVE caroling. Weird...I'm not sure I ever liked it so much before. Saturday we also had interviews with President and Hermana Rogers. We had to be in Trelew at 8:30AM. Ugh. That means we have to leave our pension at 7:30. That means we have to get ready really fast in the morning. BUT, it's okay because we ate facturas!! Which are basically Argentine donuts...except they don't compare to American donuts... but they're not really donuts actually so I don't know. They're really good though. It's more like croissants...with dulce de leche or some other filling. They're divine. Seriously, heaven in a...donut-ish thing. Then we had a Christmas devotional with the presidents. We sang all the Christmas hymns with lots of scriptures in between that tell the story of the Savior's humble birth. It was really cool. Then President Rogers talked about Christmas. He instructed us to miss our families just a little bit and then go to work. Pretty good advice I think. He encouraged us to focus a lot on how we can serve the people in our areas. I love love love President Rogers and I ADORE Hermana Rogers. They are so so good.

Last week we also had tramites which is paperwork basically for my VISA. Good times. Lies. It was miserable. We had to go to Trelew...again. We walked around for like 6 hours in the hot sun from place to place. I had to get finger printed...again. Is that the third time for me? Yep, I think so. But, I'm in the process of getting a permanent visa so that's good. We had a picnic in the park though. Our zone leaders bought us all sandwiches (bigger than subway..no joke) But we sat on the grass in the park and had a fun time. We opened my package from home...and then we went on our merry way. Unfortunately we still have more paperwork to do. It should be done in the next week or so though.

Oh, and guess who I found? Mr. Saxton's twin. Yep, right here in Rawson Argentina. Am I freaked out? A little bit. It's seriously the weirdest thing ever. they look the same, talk the same...weird. Oh, also... I have officially seen the worlds ugliest dog...just if you wanted to know. And, the best part of this week? (I'm only half serious here) Not one, but TWO encounters with the worlds most famous boy band. That's right, One Direction. First, we heard Live While We're Young playing in a store, and then we were in a members house and the TV was on. Welp, lo and behold the Best Song Ever music video came on. MISSION MADE. Hahaha...it made my day.

Welp, have a blessed week and a very merry Christmas!! I'll miss you, but not really!! And...don't forget that we're gonna talk tomorrow!! yayyyy!! I'm super excited...until then...CHAU!!

Forever and Always,

Hermana Heath