HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDYYY! :)

Querida Familia...

First off...HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY! I hope you have the very best birthday everrr! You're the best dad in the whooole wide world! :) I hope you have some good plans to spend the day with the family laughing and eating cake and lets not forget a "scoop a banilla ice cream!" :) Thanks for loving me and supporting me always! I loove you sooooo much!

Welp...can you believe Matthew's a MISSIONARY! Woooooah. That's soo insane. I've been thinking about him non-stop ALL WEEK. No joke. I keep wondering what time it is there...trying to remember what he would be doing...I'll be honest...the MTC is a lil blurry. Haha...it feels like it's been forever...but at the same time just a few weeks back.

This week in Caleta Olivia was AWESOME! Maxi got baptized on Saturday! Yahooo:) The Elders helped us soo much with him. Elder Murua baptized him and it was an awesome day! The only down side? The water was really cold. Poor Maxi was shivering. Oh well..ya fue! Maxi wanted me to speak about the Holy Ghost so I did that and then we had made some brownies for after to share...the members were awesome and brought some cakes and desserts so we had quite a bit of food after! It's been super fun working with Maxi. I don't know how much I've told you about Maxi...probably not a lot. He's 19 years old. Hermana Hundley and Hermana Rasmussen contacted him one day on the street and he showed up to church the last sunday of last transfer...from there Hermana Rasmussen and I started to teach him...he got baptized in just four weeks! I think this week he's gonna get the priesthood and on Sunday he's gonna bless the sacrament! I think :) Anyway...Saturday was a great spiritual boost and Hermana Rasmussen's first baptism so she was super happy:) Thanks for your prayers on his behalf! :)

On Sunday...Maxi got confirmed a member of the church by Elder Tyler. Then I got roped into singing with Elder Murua. What a joke.  Elder Murua sings like a freaking angel. I've honestly never heard a 22 year old guy that sings better in my life. That makes it fun to sing with him...but also super intimidating. Elder Murua doesn't know anything about reading music...so he sings it his own way..in other words...he improvises. He told me while we were practicing during the week..."Hermana don't worry...I'm not sure how I'm gonna sing it yet..but it will sound good on Sunday I promise. Just trust me!" Alright...trust Elder Murua, Hermana Heath. We sang the EFY medley...it was good times. Okay...I was like dying of fear. I still don't like being the center of attention in that way...he sang great though and everyone afterward told us it sounded really pretty. The things I do in the mission.

On Tuesday we had our district meeting...we ate pancakes before to celebrate Elder Tingey's birthday...poor kid is stuck in Puerto Deseado...three hours away. Bummer. Anyway...I had finished eating and Elder Alvarez who was sitting next to me was still going. He was down to one BIG bite left and he was full so he picked it up on a fork and asked if I wanted it...I was also full but opened my mouth as a joke..as my companion and I laughed at the look on his face he quickly shoved the pancake into my mouth...it was a huge bite and I was laughing so hard that I couldn't chew or swallow. Good times. That's my zone leader for ya. Reeeeal mature. The district meeting was awesome though. We had a party. Elder Tingey gave me two alfajors for my birthday and I gave him..you'll never guess...a pack of Mac n cheese! What a nice person I am...seriously. I don't just give away mac n cheese to just cualquier persona...but he came in my group to argentina from the mtc and we're friends so I was super nice and shared with him. He was super happy. 

Ummm...I can't really think of anything else that happened this week. We were just a full with the baptism preparation. I love love love being a missionary. It's seriously the best! I hope you all have a fantastic week! Everyone give dad great big hugs for me! I hope you had a good week at camp Kim. So many good memories haha.

I love you all soo much! Keep being excellent people and remember to say your prayers! Have a fantastic week!

Hugs and kisses from the bottom of the worlddd!

Hermana Heath

Hey...I forgot...yesterday there was a massive rainstorm! It rained from about 5:00PM until 9:30 this morning! Crazy...we got sooooaked walking around yesterday...en cima there was soo much wind. It was crazy...my coat was soaked all the way through...we got to the chapel for mission prep class and everyone just looked at us like...is this real? We looked like legit zombies...the best raccoon eyes I've ever seen...soaked from head to toe...good times. Haha...menos mal that we didn't have to walk home after!

Anyway...have a great week!

Love and prayers,

Hermana Heath

WHOOPS.

Dear Fam,

Well..you're all getting the short end of the stick...I accidentally took a long time writing Matthew and I forgot that I still had to write to the rest of you...it's gonna be a really short email..but next week will be a good one I promise. Menos mal that almost nothing happened this week. WHOOPS.

So...yesterday I was in a play. An Hermana on Tuesday asked if we would help her with her sunday school class. We agreed...then she told us what we had to do. We had to act out 1 Kings 3...which is the story of King Solomon and the babies. I was the good mom and Hermana Rasmussen was the bad mom. Elder Alvarez was King Solomon, and Elder Murua the guard. What a joke. The things I do in the mission. The Hermana went all out though..in the chapel she put up a curtain and everything. I'll send pictures next week if I can.

This week we had our zone conference with President Rogers. It was 100% about the book of mormon. Man...the book of mormon is sooo cool. I love it! :) President wants us to use it more in our contacts. I'm excited to try it!!

So...I guess I'll tell you that we have a baptism planned for this weekend. Our investigator Maxi is progressing really well...he loves coming to church... reading the book of mormon...and praying...the only thing missing is the testimony! He has some doubts about some of the commandments. We're gonna work really hard with him this week so that he can get his answer and gain a testimony! Please keep him in your prayers...yes?? :) He's awesome! The other night he sent us a text saying he was going out to a party...but he promised us he wasn't gonna drink. He kept his promise though so that's good! Soo funny. Anyway...we're hoping he'll be ready for this weekend. That would be awesome!

Soo...I can't really think of anything else that happened this week...but in honor of Matthew leaving...I think I'll share a poem that one of my first zone leaders shared with me...

The Mission: Highs and Lows

A mission is a strange experience; it is a trial and a test.

A mission throws at you the worst; yet teaches you the best.

I've never been so happy; I've never been so depressed.

I've never felt so forsaken; I've never been so blessed.

I've never been so confused; things have never been so clear.

I've never felt my Heavenly Father so distant; he's never been so near.

I've never been so discouraged; I've never been so full of hope.

I feel I could go forever; I think I'm at the end of my rope!

I've never had it quite so easy; I've never had it quite so tough.

Things have never been so smooth; Things have never been so rough.

I've never traveled through more valleys; I've never climbed so many peaks.

I've never met so many nice people; I've never met so many freaks!

I've never had so many ups; I've never had so many downs.

I've never worn so many smiles; I've never worn so many frowns.

I've never been so lonely; I've never had so many friends.

Boy! I hope this is over soon! Man! I hope it never ends!

Well...there you have it folks. I couldn't have said it better myself. The mission is unlike any other experience in the world...but it's the BEST EVER!

I hope you all have a great week! Sorry there's no pictures or anything! Until next time! :) Yay for P-dayyy!

Oh...can everyone give Matthew like a million big hugs for me? That would be awesome...a few kisses toooo! :) Wish I could be there to see him off...but I'll definitely be there when he comes homee! Not that we're thinking about that yet...don't get trunky bud!! Jajaa...Hang in there...it's probably gonna be hard at the airport for all ya'll that are staying there no mas...but just think... Matthew and I are living the DREAM!! :) Okay okay...no more jokes... seriously lots and lots of hugs and for ALL OF YOU! Mom...dad...Em... Craig...Kim. Thanks for supporting Matthew and me always and for helping us get to this point! In just a few hours more Matthew and I are officially gonna be companions and doing what we always wanted! Thank you for everything! We have the best family EVER! I love you all sooo much. Remember that families can be together forever...we're only gonna be separated for a little bit! The time goes fast...trust me! :)

Have a great week! I LOVE YOU ALL!

Hermana Heath

FINAL COUNTDOWN!!

Hola mi querida family,

Well...I haven't read any of your emails...we don't have anyyy time in ciber hardly...so I'll try to respond next week...however I do remember that this week is the high adventure activity with the scouts so I hope you have a great week, dad! I'll look forward to seeing some pictures after! :) Also...I heard Matthew gave an awesome farewell talk! Bud...you've got like...8 days?! Holy smokes...that's crazzyyy! We're about to be companions, bro! I'm super super excited!! :) Enjoy your last week of music..movies...friends..girls;)..haha just kidding...but only kind of...!

Okay...well...this week was a good one...it was really long. I feel like I haven't written you in forever! My birthday was a good day...we went to see the sea lions..and guess what?! I TOUCHED THREE OF THEM! Is that dangerous?! Probably...but they move really slow...haha. They just chill there on the public beach so we would sneak up on them and get close enough to touch them...I've got some cool pictures and a video of me touching one..but you'll have to watch that later since Elder Alvarez has it on his camera. It's pretty legit though. Anyway...we went back to the chapel and played ping pong and soccer. That night Hermana Rasmussen and I ate cookies and milk in the pension...yummmy. I can't belive I'm 20. That's super weird.

Okay...Wednesday was Independence Day in Argentina...July 9th! We had an activity in the chapel with the branch and we ate locro...which is like a soup with every kind of meat you can think of thrown in there...it's like a patriotic(? I can't come up with the right word..) food. Cool. Then we sang the national anthem of Argentina and played some games. That day Argentina also played against the Netherlands in the world cup. President Rogers gave us permission to watch the game with a member. So...at about 3:30PM we went with the Elders to the house of the familia Quiroga here in Caleta to watch the game together. Argentina won...as I'm sure you already know...I was sitting next to Elder Murua...who is from Argentina and played semi-professionally before the mission...poor kid..how he suffered through that game! Hahaha...it was soo fun though:) That night Hermana Rasmussen and I bought ice cream to celebrate Argentina's win! :)

On Thursday night we got together with the other missionaries in Caleta and we made a collage of pictures of Christ and a big plan of salvation for a street boarding activity we did on Saturday. We were all working on our boards listening to music and having a good time and out of no where PRESIDENT ROGERS showed up. Super awkward. No one even knew he was coming..he had interviews with some members for temple recommends. There's a group of members going to the temple next week! :) Anyway...that was super weird...haha. Next thursday we have a zone conference with him and Hermana Rogers.

On Saturday we had our zone meeting in the morning. It was awesome. We talked about obedience and then our zone leaders talked about love and charity. It was soo good. I loooove my zone leaders. They're awesome.  I don't remember if I told you about them but Elder Alvarez is from Chile and Elder Kern is from Provo...I actually met him before the mission at BYU..we played volleyball together in Wyview..but he started his mission in Buenos Aires Norte so we didn't make the connection until we got here to Comodoro:) Anyway...after the meeting we all ate lunch in the chapel and then we went street boarding in el centro for a couple of hours. I got put with an Hermana who got to Argentina two weeks ago. She doesn't speak any spanish so I did the contacts...it was really fun though! :)

Welp...I guess that leaves us with yesterday. As you all know Argentina played Germany in the finals. I'm super bumbed they lost...but still super happy with how far they made it!! :) Anyway...we went to church in the morning...but then we had to go back to the pension after lunch....president rogers sent out a text saying we couldn't leave after 4:00PM...so we were locked up for like 6 hours yesterday with nothing to dooo! I took a nap at about 4:00 but it only lasted for about 45 minutes because the Elders were bored. We ended up talking with the zone leaders and our district leaders (since they were cheaters and were all together in a pension! luckies.) most of the afternoon. We told jokes and mostly just laughed about dumb things. Last night Hermana Rasmussen and I watched the movie Legacy. We layed out our two extra matresses in the kitchen and had  a slumber party. It was pretty fun...too bad the movie was in Spanish! Haha...they're so much better in English..oh well. Anyway...that pretty much sums up my week. It was a good one though!

I'm super happy to be here in Caleta Olivia! I miss Rio Grande soo much and after talking with Elder Tingey on Saturday who was in Rawson before coming here I got super homesick for Rawson...but..it's all good:) One day I'll make it back!

Oh...also...my birthday package came! yahooo. THANK YOU! I'm super excited to eat the mac n cheese! ...so is my companion! Haha:)

Well...make sure Matthew's last week is EPIC! Give him lots and lots of hugs for me! :) I had sooo many dreams about home this week...one of them was when I was already home and we were saying family prayer and it was my turn and I just missed matthew soo much. Haha...another one was at matthew's farewell and I just sat there like what the heck...this kid is going on a mission! Soooo weird. I can't believe how fast we all grew up. No puede ser!

Okay family...have an awesome week! I love you all soo much!! Until next timeee! :) Keep being excellent people. The Church is true! :) I miss you every day...almost! ...and you're always in my thoughts and prayers!

Hermana Heath

Rio Grande sunsets!! :)

a bunch of puppies...all from the same litter...?
How do you spell that?! Haha

Caleta!

sea lions in Caleta:)

 

Caleta Olivia:)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEE!! :)

Hola Queridos,

Hey fam...what's up? Well...for those of you who don't remember. Today's my birthday. I'm 20 years old. That kinda freaks me out. Not sure why. It just sounds gross sayin it. It's kinda weird cause it feels just like a normal day! ...besides the fact that my companion has wished me a happy birthday prolly like a million times and it's not even noon yet! I'm pretty sure the Elders are cooking me pizza for lunch planning to surprise me and take us to see the sea lions but I'm not supposed to know about that...oh well. Haha:) Elders are not usually known for their secret keeping abilities. Anyway...I didn't have time to read much of your emails...but you all seem to be doing well from the little bit that I skimmed. It seems like Em and Craig had a good trip...I'm only a little bit jealous...but all joking aside, can we take a family trip to lake powell one day?! :)

Well...I guess I'll start off by telling you a little bit about Caleta Olivia. I love it here for lots of reasons...A) the sun works! It actually warms us up in the day rather than just come out to mock us like it did in Rio Grande. I'm only walking around with ONE jacket now, peeps. Imaginense. Life is good:) B) There are HILLS here! I feel like I actually get a workout during the day...I had never gotten to the pension tired from walking before coming here. Cool beans. C) There are 8 missionaries that attend our branch! There's like 120 attendance each week compared to the 50 in Rio Grande:) Haha. D) We have awesome investigators! This week we put three baptismal dates with three awesome investigators...Maxi(19 years old) Hector(+50years old) and Claudia (35 years old with three adorable kids) They're super fun to teach because they progress really well. E) The members here are super nice....I'm still getting to know most of them but they're super friendly and they all give me great big hugs like they've known me forever. Well...if you think about it I guess we kinda have!! Okay...that's a good enough list for now! There are some downs though too...yesterday we didn't have light/electricity in the entire city from about 2:00AM-11:30AM. Then when we got the electricity back we lost the water until about 9:00PM. WHAT?! Haha...Argentina is weird. There's also lots of wind and my area is pure dirt. So usually when we get back to the pension our foreheads are caked in dirt. Yummy.

Man...I miss Rio Grande! Never thought I'd see the day that I would miss that crazy place! But...it's true. I LOVED my time there...all of it. It was super hard lots of times..but I learned a lot and learned to trust more in God. I made so many friendships there with members, investigators, and missionaries that I know I'll have for the rest of my life and definitely in the next one! I would go back in a heart beat! :) I love love love that place and it ripped my heart out all over again when I left. Pucha. The good news...or maybe bad news...is that I have no doubt I'm gonna love Caleta:) I'm super happy to be here!

So...my companion. Hermana Rasmussen is the BEST! We're getting along super well. She's still learning spanish so I do most of the teaching and talking..but she learns quickly! :) She's sooo funny and she makes me laugh. I love her! This transfer is gonna go by really fast. Yesterday...or two days ago or something we were trying to light our oven...(since we're in Argentina you have to use matches) and it turns out that one of the tubes had separated a little bit from where the gas comes out so it was just coming out into the stove instead of through the pipe things at the bottom...I'm not sure if that make sense to you...anyway...when I put my hand in to light the stove a flame started coming out of the oven. No paso nada but I let go of the gas and we fixed the problem...lit the stove...and cooked us some lunch. Only in Argentina I'm telling you.

I hope ya'll had a good fourth of july. I kept thinking about you! :) An Elder cooked french toast and waffles for the district meeting but that was as close as it got to america. Haha. On Saturday there was a baptism. While the girl was changing the Elders made me teach the Restoration in talk form for 10 minutes...thanks for the heads up! They gave me like two minutes to prepare. Elders are awesome planners. Go team. The baptism was really nice though:) It was a good way to end my first week in Caleta! OH...and that night the Elders brought us our brand new automatic washing machine! Yahoooo:) Que bendicion, che. I am not cool with ringing clothes out...it takes them wayyy too long to dry...

Welll...I've gotta go I'm out of time! Thanks for all the birthday wishes! I love you all sooo much. I can't belive I'm gonna hit the 10 month mark this week. It's crazy how fast the time flies...I'M 20 FOR CRYIN OUT LOUD! Be excellent to each other and have a good time celebrating my birthdayyy! I expect pictures next week...oh I almost forgot...Argentina passed through to the semi-finals of the world cup...yuhhh. Its crazy how crazy argentines get when it comes to soccer. They play again next wednesday...july 9th...the countrys independence day...VAMOS ARGENTINA.

I love you all. Have a great week. Hugs and kisses from Caleta Oliviaaaa:)

Hermana Heath

Where am I?!

Hola Familia...

Welp...I know you're all dying to know just exactly where in this very large world I am...but I'm gonna make you wait until the end of my letter! Don't read ahead...that's cheatinggg! :) First of all...I haven't had any time to read your emails because as you guessed, yesterday I was traveling all dayyy...any guesses?!

Okay...so this week was super long and suuuuper tiring. On P-day I don't remember what we did...but Tuesday started out great with an awesome district meeting. Oh wait...on Monday we went to Ushuaia duh...haha...so Tuesday after writing to you we had our last district meeting of the transfer. Elder Spackman talked about the importance of BECOMING a missionary. It was awesome. Best district leader, for reals. Then on Wednesday we had to do our grocery shopping in the morning...and for lunch...we were with the Elders and the familia Meretta...it just happens to be that Argentina played Nigeria that day in the world cup. It was a fun game! We all took our Argentina jerseys:) VAMOS ARGENTINA!! Haha...after we had to plan a mission activity we did with the youth on Saturday. It was like a mini alma academy.

On Friday we helped Elder Tarwater and Elder Gutierrez clean the chapel and the baptismal font in preparation for their baptism on Saturday...turns out the genius that built the chapel made the drains higher than the baptismal font...so when it rains a lot the water from the bathrooms doesn't really drain very quickly...so guess where that water fill up? Yep..the baptismal font. The baptism last week that the Elders had was definitely in sewer water. Sick. Haha...the good news? We cleaned it out really well and even resorted to using buckets to scoop the water out of the drains outside so that Ivan could get baptized in nice clean water:) Only in Argentina...I'm telling you.

Saturday was a big dayyy! We were in the chapel all day with the Elders. The youth activity started at 10:00AM. We had a "companionship study" together and talked about our objective as missionaries and then we did divisions. I went with two of the YW and my companion with two others and we did contacts and visited some investigators. We came back to the church for lunch...pizza! And then we finished the activity with a testimony meeting except everyone had to share their experiences. We finished by sharing our testimonies about the mission. It was a really fun activity. It ended at about 4:00PM. From there we did the last minute stuff for the baptism which started at 6:00PM.

Ivan...an awesome investigator and now member of the church got baptized in three weeks. He has a super strong testimony of the church and the restoration. He is one of the people that God has prepared! It was a great way to end the transfer! I got roped into leading the music...the only problem? The first hymn was one I had never ever heard ever in my life...even worse? They don't have pianos let alone someone to play one if it was there...so I just had to start singing random notes...menos mal that the members seemed to know it pretty well. All the missionaries were sitting in the back and every single one of them was laughing at me and the awkward music leading. What a joke. The things I do as a missionary. Never again. Haha...

Sooo...here it is my dear friends and family. After the baptism Saturday night we all got together in one of the tiny rooms of the church and they told us the transfers. Elder Tarwater is going to Trelew Norte! Elder Lamb is going to Comodoro along with Elder Spackman!! Hermana Salazar is going BACK to Rio Gallegos! (Que pucha mas grande! Hahaa) Elder Galindo is going to Puerto Madryn...Hermana Lachos (the luckiest of us all) is going to RAWSON! And Hermana Heath? She's going to CALETA OLIVIA!! :) Sooo...there you have it...I'm in Caleta Olivia right now...about an hour south of Comodoro. It's super different from both Rawson and Rio Grande...it actually looks like a decent sized city and it's got HILLS! I got here at 7:00AM...exactly 23 hours after I left Rio Grande. Saturday night I was up until about 3:30AM writing letters to the members and getting all packed and ready to go. Sunday morning came around really early...church was good...I gave my testimony along with Elder Tarwater...it was like a mini farewell..ther rest of the day we spent visiting members and investigators...all of which gave us food and treats...I was soo full and every time we left a house I started crying...I'm gonna miss these amazing people soo much! We got back to the pension at almost 10:00PM and I still had lots of packing to do. I ended up just going to bed at 1:30AM and woke up at 4:30 to finish. I was too tired to stay up.  Monday morning we had to be at the terminal at 7:30AM...our bus left just after 8:00AM. The chouffers(? I have no idea how to spell that..haha..) on that bus company are kind of creeps sometimes so President Rogers told the zone leaders that the Hermanas had to si o si sit in a window seat next to an Elder. I was super bumbed at first but Elder Tarwater ended up being my bus buddy so it turned out great. We talked for a while and then he reached for his backpack and pulled out a book...and not just any book, people...he pulled out the one and only children's book, "You are Special." Wanna know what makes it even better? It was a SPANISH copy. Yes friends...Elder Tarwater and I read "Tu Eres Especial" on the bus. It was sooo fun! We took turns reading pages. Best bus ride EVER! Haha. It made me soo happy. We passed the Magellan Strait which was cool...I hung out the whole day with Elder Tarwater and Elder Spackman since they were the only other English speakers with me:) We got to Gallegos at about 5:30PM. An Hermano came with a big bus and took us and our suitcases to the church in centro and we played volleyball for a couple of hours before heading back to the terminal. This time Elder Tarwater got on a different bus...I'm gonna miss that kid. We had soo much fun together in Rio Grande. I was soo tempted to accidently board that one and go visit Rawson for just a day..haha:) But..I controlled myself and waited for my bus which left at 9:30PM. I sat next to Elder Spackman...we talked for a while until he was falling asleep...then I had to catch up on my journal writing since I had not written since Friday...pucha. I hate playing catch up...but it was worth it. At about 12:00AM I was super tired but I couldn't fall asleep due to the bumpiness of the ride. We finally got to Caleta Olivia at 7:00AM...I ended up only being able to sleep for about 4 hours...but not straight. So...for those of you counting...I'm running on a whoppin' total of 10 hours of sleep these last three days...I'm super super tired and it showed today during lunch while watching the Argentina game...I couldn't keep my eyes open! :) I'm super excited to sleep tonight...but we have to wake up early to take one of the Hermana's to the terminal at 6:00AM...she's training and has to go to comodoro to pick up her companion. It's gonna be super hard to get out of beddd. Oh well..that's mission life I suppose.

Man..it's sooo hard saying goodbye to people you love. It's definitely without a doubt my very least favorite part of the mission. It's brutal. I didn't think I would cry that much leaving Rio Grande...but it caught me by surprise. I was super sad to go. I hope one day I can go back to Rio Grande and Rawson. When we were in Gallegos Hermana Lachos and Hermana Salazar saw a member they had met while they served there before...they were all so excited and it killed me!! I wanted soo bad to see someone I knew in Rawson. One day maybeee:) The mission is hard, che.

Okay...so my new companion is Hermana Rasmussen. She's got two transfers here in Argentina so she just finished her training...wanna know who trained her?! HERMANA HUNDLEY! Hermana Hundley went to Comodoro. Anyway...my comp is from Utah and she's super cute. We're gonna get along just fine! I'm excited to work with her:)

My pension here is super nice..again. Yaa buddy. I'm gonna miss Rio Grande soo much though...it's the best ever!! ...besides Rawson:) Haha...I'm super excited to be here though! Today I'm walking around with just my light coat on and I'm not even cold! HALELUJAH! Currently Argentines everywhere are in the streets celebrating their win agains Switzerland. What an awful game they played, though. I can hear the cars beeping and the people chanting and singing...definitely drunk..haha:) Crazy Argentines. The states are playing right now...I hope they win cause I honestly think they'll beat Argentina if they play each other on Saturday:) GO AMERICA! :)

Welp...my time is up for the day! Thanks for your pacience...I've been super excited to let ya'll know where I'm at!! I'll read your letters tonight when we get back to the pension! Thanks for all your love and support! I love you all sooo much:) Until next time....oh...and happy July! ...month seven of 2014 already...use your time wisely people cause it's reeeeeal short.

Chau chauuu! :)

Hermana Heath