Jehovah's Witnesses and Police Officers...

Hola queridos,

Thanks for the emails! It's been a good week in Rio Grande! I love it here. So...last week...gotta do some catching up...Kimberly's going to prom, eh? Cool beans. Make sure to send me pictures! :) And Matthew...decisions decisions...which of the many fair maidens will take him to the ball?

Alright...so first off...mom asked about Mother's Day. I'm just gonna be completely honest and say that I forgot because it's true. The problem is that Mother's Day in Argentina is in October...so no one is talking about it and the time goes by so quickly half the time I still think we're in February. They haven't told us anything about how that's gonna work...but I assume we'll have to skype from a members house since we can't come to the ciber on Sundays...we'll see. I'll let you know next week!

This week we're going to be traveling to Ushuaia on Wednesday at 5:00PM...all day Thursday we'll be in the conference with Elder Gonzalez and then we'll probably get to go see something that evening. Friday morning at 5:00AM we'll be back on the bus coming home...errr back to Rio Grande that is. Haha. It's only three hours though on colectivo so it's not too bad. I'm super excited though! Apparently there's snow...:) All the cold weather puts me in the Christmas mood though. I find myself singing Christmas songs in the streets as we walk. Weird.

Well...this week we had lots of run ins with Jehova's witnesses. I have all the latest pamphlets. There are so many here and they're not usually very nice. I'm not their biggest fan. All they want to do is Bible bash...and they're really good at it...the funny thing is they tell us we need to work on our door approach or people aren't gonna like us...when we knock doors, we always introduce ourselves and talk a little bit...offer service...and then ask if we can share a message the blesses families and centers on the teachings of Jesus Christ. Clearly we've been doing it wrong...shoving a million scriptures in someone's face and telling them they're going to hell is the way to do it. Duhh.

Ooooh funny story...the other day Elder Elliz called me to practice his English..."Seester...yur late." "You come to duh chursh" "I hab duh books orv merrrmons." Listening to latinos try to speak English never gets old, che. Anyway...Hermana Garavito and I went to the church to pick up our little blue books of mormon. Elder Elliz was talking to Elder Verges on the phone! (the new mission secretary..hahha) Anyway, I got to talk to him for a little bit. He's doing really well and talked with Hermana Hundley just the other day since he has to do visa paperwork with her companion. She's doing really well which made me happy to hear:) Hermana Hundley, Elder Ramos, Elder Scogin, and Elder Verges are all gonna be in Comodoro this week for the conference with Elder Gonzalez...forget Ushuaia...send me to Comodoro! It's gonna be an awesome reunion. That district in Rawson was the best ever...and then there's Elder Ramos who was our zone leader. Jaja.

The members here in Rio Grande aren't super motivated to work with us...which shows in the lunches.  We have lunch with members every Tuesday and Thursday....wanna know when the Elders have lunch? Every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday...and two Sundays...how does this happen? Don't these people know that the Hermana's are wayyy better? Plus we eat less! Who knows. Elder Tarwater has a good time teasing us about it though..."Today we eat with Hermana Meretta...I love how she always makes milanesa...oh wait...you've never eaten with her have you?" "Oh, today we eat with the Familia Barria...when do you eat with them next? Oh...you never eat with them...well this is awkward" The kid reminds me so much of Matthew it's ridiculous. That's a good thing though...usually:) Haha...today though the Elders are making us french toast. Should be yummy. You can never be sure though with the Elders.

Oh...another story...this week the police stopped Hermana Garavito and me! We were walking doing some contacts and I noticed two police officers. One said something to the other and then they started walking towards us...I was freaked out and ready to pretend that I don't speak any Spanish (just like I always do when I'm in a bad situation like when I don't have my ticket on the bus...just stare say, "Español no. English." They just look at you, roll their eyes, and continue on the next person. It's the best ever!) Anyway, the police officers stopped us and asked us if we were overage...errr...of age? I don't remember how we say that...anyway we said yes, and then they asked our nationality...I really didn't want to answer that question because lots of people here don't like Americans since they associate us with Great Britain and the whole thing with the Galapagos Islands that now belong to Great Britaint but were once Argentina's...anyway it's a sensitive subject here especially in the south since the islands are right off the coast. Well...turns out they were looking for Argentine witnesses...who knows for what. But we dodged a bullet there. It scared me half to death.

Well...I gotta finish up. Have a fantastic week! I love you all! Thanks for all the prayers espeically in this last week! We're seeing lots of miracles as a mission:) Don't forget to read your scriptures! Also...what time do you have church so I can arrange for when we talk in a couple of weeks!

I love you sooo much!!
Chau chau!

Hermana Heath

This, my dear friends, is what happens when it rains in Rio Grande.

Argentine sunsets:) Right from my front door!

ELDER HEATH?!?!

Querida Familia,

OH MY GOSH MATTHEW IS GOING ON A MISSION TO HOUSTON TEXAS! HE'S GONNA BE SPEAKING SPANISH! OH MY GOSH I'M FREAKING OUT HERE FREAKING OUT!! THAT'S SOOO EXCITING!! I'm honestly sooo excited to serve in the mission field with you, bud. You're gonna be the best companion EVER! :) Start studying now:) Sometime soon I'll send you a list of things to buy that would have been nice to know beforehand:) Congratulations Matthew! Wahooo for missionaries! :):):)

So, I hope ya'll had a Happy Easter! The Easter bunny got lost on his way to Rio Grande this year....Santa Claus didn't get my letter with my new address in time for Christmas...I sure hope I don't lose a tooth cause I'm guessing the tooth fairy doesn't work for Argentina. Puuucha. That's okay, one of the hermanas in the ward made us some bread and several other members gave us chocolate eggs...which in argentina are a total rip off because they're HOLLOW. Not complaining though. Haha:)

This week has been really cold. One morning it was -7 degrees Celsius when we left our apartment. That's like 20ish degrees Farenheit if I did the math right. I've been doing my studies in my sleeping bag at my desk. It's quite an effective way to stay warm. It's a real problem though when I have to get up for something...I generally end up hoping around the pension like a penguin. Good times. 

The Elder from the seventy that was supposed to come for a tour of the mission cancelled at the last minute so we didn't get to go to Ushuaia but this week we will or next week..I'm not sure on the schedule. I'm super excited! :) The zone conference, (which is different from the interviews since you asked, mom) was awesome! We talked about obedience, contacting, dropping investigators and the atonement! Hermana Rogers gave us a really cool scripture chain about the last week of Christ's life. Also, the church made a 2 minute video for Easter this year. In Spanish it's called "Gracias a El" I assume in English it's something like "Thanks to him" but it's really cool! Ya'll should watch it!

So, I officially got my mission call one year ago...I think it came on April 17th if I remember right...at that time I was only dreaming of being in Argentina and Tierra del Fuego...crazy. Where did the year go? That also means that Emily and Craig are reaaal close to their one year mark. Wahooo! Congratulations Emily and Craig!! I love you both sooo much:)

I've got a lot to tell you but they're kicking us out of the internet cafe! I'll tell you more next week! :)

I love you all! Have a great weeek! :)

Hermana Heath

hola familyyy....

Hola queridos,

Didn't have time to read your emails, but from the pictures it sounds like you had an awesome time in Southern Utah! I hope you enjoyed the warm weather....it gets colder by the minute here in Rio Grande. Not cool, che.

This week was weird. Hermana Tumbaico left Monday morning at 8:00AM, and my new companion Hermana Garavito didnt' arrive until 5:00PM Friday....partyyy! Well kind of...I got to spend the whole week in Chacra with the missionaries there. Good times. But I actually do like Chacra a lot. There are awesome members and investigators!

On Monday, Elder Elliz and I cooked lunch...tacos! It was so yummmy if I say so myself. Then we played futbol like a bunch of girls. NAME THAT MOVIE! :) Hahaha...how I miss movies...actually only occasionally when it's really windy and rainy and walking around outside seems like the worst possible thing to do. On Thursday we had a zone meeting. We talked about a talk given by Elder Bruce R. McConkie entitled Consecration, Sacrifice, and Obedience...or something like that. It talks about how we're not all called to live the law of consecration to the same degree, and very very few of us are called to live it completely, but we should all be CAPABLE of living it 100% if one day we were called to live it. Cool talk. I liked it. Then, Elder Elliz was talking to the mission secretary...ELDER VERGES! He passed me the phone and I got to talk with him briefly. He's doing really well and told me he spent the morning on Wednesday with Hermana Hundley and our old zone leader in the mission offices. Hermana Hundley is going to Caleta Olivia to train a gringa AND open an area! Wahoo! She's so awesome. I miss her soo much. Anyway, Elder Verges told me a little bit about Rawson and what's going on. Turns out that my investigator I left, Rocio, who had a baptismal date for March 15 wanted to get baptized, but the night before her mom wouldn't sign the permission paper. So sad. I was sooo sure she got baptized. One day...she's staying strong and attending church still:) After talking to Elder Verges  I went with the Hermanas of Chacra back to their pension for lunch...wanna know what I made? GRILLED CHEESE!! :) Wahoo! Wanna know what we listened to while cooking? DISNEY MUSIC! Pretty legit. Later that day to complete my "relive your childhood day" in the mission, we helped an hermana in the ward color some chickens for an easter activity she was encharge of the next day in the church. It was sooo fun. Then, as we were leaving the house it had just finished raining and there was a BEAUTIFUL full double rainbow right outside the house. It was sooo pretty.  In other words...thursday was an awesome day.

I love Rio Grande!! In a different way than I love Rawson, but I LOVE RIO GRANDE! It's still a test of patience with the weather, but we're doing good:) One day as we were on the bus in Chacra at night I couldn't help but think again "holy cow I'm in Argentina!" I wanted sooo bad to take a mental video of everything I could see...the bus weaving through the narrow streets of Rio Grande, the dogs on the streets, all the kiosks lit up with colored lights, all the parked cars on the side of the road, the light rain...probably a moment I'll always remember. I love Argentina. I'm never coming home.

This week an investigator showed us some money bills that he has from countries around the world. It was sooo cool. Some are really old and he has from probably 60 different countries...the whole time we were looking I kept thinking, "man, dad would love this!" Hahaha...this week there was lots of fog in the mornings. Oh, and Elder Tarwater gave me a spanish CTR ring ("Haz lo Justo") I love it! Now I've got my english reminder and my spanish reminder. Yesterday I got to teach the primary kids the song "my life is a gift my life has a plan" but in spanish...don't remember the exact title...it was really fun! I love helping in primary...although there's like 9 kids in total ages 4-11. Quite different from when I was in primary:)

My new companion Hermana Garavito is 29 years old. She turns 30 on Friday! We're gonna celebrate I think...hahaha. Not sure how yet..but I'll come up with something. She's from Peru. We're gonna get along well I think...she's only has three months in the mission.

Oh...Argentines are crazy did you know? They use halls and mentha plus cough drops as candy. I know it's strange. They always offer me one and I'm like, "no that's okay I'm not sick." but since I'm in Argentina and you can't say that I just take it. I've got like 50 saved up. If one day I get sickk...I'll be prepared don't ya'll worry. Crazy Argentines. Hahaha...I love 'em.

Well..until next time folks. Take care! Mom especially! I love you soooo much! Don't forget to say your prayers! ...you're always in mine:)

Chau Chau!

Hermana Heath

oh...PS!

I'M GOING TO USHUAIA THIS WEEK!!! :) President Rogers and Hermana Rogers decided we're gonna do our zone conference together in Ushuaia...so Wednesday morning at like 5:00AM I'll be on a bus...wahooo. It's gonna be a really long day...but I'm excited to see Ushuaia!! :):):) are you jealous? Well...you probably should be:)

Chauuu

Hermana Heath

(Ushuaia is the capital of Tierra del Fuego and is the southernmost city in the world.  It is located about three hours south and a little west of where Amy is serving and is the closest deepwater port to the Antarctic.  Amy will literally be at the end of the world on Wednesday!)

Transfers....again.

Hola Familia!

I didn't have time to read your emails because President changed the internet rules...we know have one hour...and I'm down to ten minutes! Yikes! I'm gonna write fast! I did however notice that Matthew turned in his mission papers! We're gonna be companions of the mission field before ya'll know it! :) Wahooo! :) Can't wait to hear moreeee! 

Glad you had a good birthday mom! I thought about you alll day! :) You're the very best in the whole world...and definitely my favorite of all the moms!

Last week was rough, but this week was great! Nothing but sunshine and daisies:) It was sunny...with no wind and no rain..."all you need is a light jacket!!" NAME THAT MOVIE. I love my area. I really do like it here....I'm in ARGENTINA. I'm in RIO GRANDE. That's sooo cool! Sometimes it just hits me...hahaha.

Mom, thanks for taking care of Hercules. What a strong fish. I think I betted he would die within a few weeks of the death of his dear friend Bugs(may he rest in peace). What a trooper. Haha. But seriously...if he's still living when I get home we're giving him away! I'm pretty sure the lady at the store told me they live for a couple years...well it's been 6.

So, April 2 in Argentina is a holiday...fun fact, did you know Argentina has more holidays than any other country in the world? They use any excuse they can find to take a day off of work. Crazy Argentines. Well, this one was actually legit. It marks the war for the Islas Malvinas (the islands off the south east coast of Argentina.) They currently belong to Great Britain and Argentina's not happy about it. But everything was closed. We walked around a lot that day. No one was home. The mission handbook says holidays and sundays are the best days to find people..it's a lie. It's true people are with their families, but no one wants to talk to you let alone let you into their house. Hahaa.

This week the zone leaders and Hermana leader traveled to Comodoro for conferences. They left monday night and came back Wednesday night so we spent the first half of the week in Chacra with the Hermana whose companion traveled. On Wednesday night we were back in my pension but we had to wait for the zone leaders who were scheduled to arrive at 11:30PM. After writing in my journal, I went into the bedroom to find Hermana Tumbaico asleep in her bed and Hermana Vera asleep in MY BED. Grrrr. In other words, I got roped into waiting up for the zone leaders. They arrived at about 11:45 with Hermana Carter...by the time I got to bed it was after midnight. 6:00AM came around wayy to early Thursday morning.

Friday morning we did tramites for Hermana Tumbaico to be able to leave the island. Saturday night after conference the zone leaders told us transfers. Hermana Tumbaico is going to Puerto Madryn to be the companion of HERMANA KUHN! And my district leader Elder Chavarria is going to Comodoro. I'm staying in Rio Grande, and I'm happy about it! I'm really starting to love this area! The members are awesome:)

Did you all love general conference?! ME TOO! I loved Elder Uchtdorf's talk about gratitude. It's true what he said. If we can learn to not only be grateful for things, but in things, we will be so much happier! I'm gonna work on being a more grateful person. I also liked the prophet's talk about love and service. It was cool watching in Spanish...but I missed the voices of the speakers. Haha...wanna know something cool though? Elder Scott served either as a missionary or mission president in Argentina, and he does his own translation...so I still got to hear his voice:) It was soo cool! All the members gathered in the church to watch conference. It was a neat experience. In between sessions yesterday I had five Elders tell me they were hungry because they hadnt eaten anything all day. They wanted food, and since my pension is right down the road...well...I'm sure you get the picture. Hermana Tumbaico went home and whipped up some scrambled eggs, ham, and sliced up hot dogs...we didn't have a lot of food...but they put the scrambled egg mix on some crackers and ate mini sandwiches. It's a good thing it's p-day because the Elders cleaned us out pretty good. Haha. Today I think Elder Elliz is cooking us lunch...I'll probably help because I like learning how to make Argentine food:)

Hermana Tumbaico, Hermana Vera (going to Trelew norte) and Elder Chavarria left early this morning..so I'm with Hermana Carter until my new companion gets here. Her name is Hermana Garavito. I'm a little nervous because I know her and I've done divisions with her and we're gonna clash on several things...like walking pace. Haha. She's just finishing her second transfer in the mission. We'll be alright I'm sure.

Oh, also, not to freak you out, but in the weather forecast they predicted some earthquakes. President sent out a list of emergency supplies for all the missionaries. I know they have had some earthquakes in Chile...one was pretty bad wasn't it? But don't worry we'll be okay. We're gonna go get the emergency things right now.

Have a fantastic week! I love you all! Thanks for your love and support! You're always in my thoughts and prayers! Hugs and kisses from the bottom of the worldddd!! :)

Hermana Heath