Crab Sanchez y Arana Verges

Hola Querida Familia,

Glad to hear you're all doing well! I love getting your emails! This week has been crazy and we've got the craziest week of our lives ahead of us! This weekend is the baptism of Mariela. She's soo ready. Her daughter, Agustina, will probably be baptized in a couple weeks. Anyway, in the mission we have what are called standards of excellence. Every week we set goals for the numbers of lessons, references, baptisms, investigators at church, etc. The Standards of Excellence are numbers that the President sets for the mission as a goal. This week, Hermana Hundley and I decided that we're gonna reach the standards of excellence. That means we need 1 baptism and confirmation, 5 investigators at church, 6 investigators with a baptismal date, 16 lessons with members, and 7 new investigators. They're big goals, but we can do it! We're excited:)

So, last Monday Hermano and Hermana Chemin took us to the Beach Magagna. It's basically a bunch of big rocks that you can climb on and there's a million crabs! It's beautiful! I was standing on the edge of one of the rocks looking over the water and feeling the ocean breeze and it suddenly hit me so hard that I'm in ARGENTINA. That of course got me started on thinking about all my blessings and what I ever did to deserve this one. Basically I spent like a half hour thinking of all the blessings that I have been given in my life...and let me tell you...there's loads of them. God is so good. I can't even begin to imagine the extent of his love for us. Amazing.

So, back to the crabs. Like I said, there were tons. We all took turns picking them up and holding them...yep, even me. I picked up a big one!! Sick. It kinda gave me the heebie geebies...but, it was worth it...after all, I'm in Argentina! Not gonna miss out on nothin! :) Anyway, the beach is beautiful, and we only got a little bit wet (courtesy of the Elders). So, confessions. The Elders were walking around barefoot, so Hermana Hundley and I decided to have some harmless fun. After all, they were the ones that started splashing water. Well, the inspiration came from the movie The Parent Trap. We NAILED it. When the Elders weren't paying attention, we took Elder Sanchez's shoes and filled them with crabs...too great. He didn't even notice til we were well on our way back to the car. His face was priceless:) I will never in my life forget that moment. Hermana Hundley and I were dying of laughter and the other Elders were too...poor Elder Sanchez just stood there shaking his head while fishing crabs out of his shoes. Bless his heart. He totally asked for it. He had been throwing crabs at us all afternoon.

Moving on...Tuesday. We had our district meeting...I love my new district, and at the same time miss the old one. It was an awesome meeting though! I always leave those meetings wanting to do better and wanting to learn more. It's the best. So...remember how we filled Elder Sanchez's shoes with crabs? Apparently he missed one and Elder Verges and Elder Sanchez found it walking across their floor Monday night in the pension. They, being super smart, put the crab in some water and added salt. They even put in a few rocks to make it feel like it was in its home. Tender, right? That's what I thought...apparently though they put a little bit too much salt, because the crab died. (Now, this is all background information, but I didn't find out about this until Wednesday.) So, what did the Elders do with the dead crab? I know you're all dying to know...they wrapped it in tape, brought it to the district meeting, and hid it in my missionary agenda. Well, I found it at the end of the meeting and yes, it freaked me out, but please...nothing can beat the crabs in the shoes. Amateurs. So, to finish the story, there is now a dead mummified crab taped to our pension wall named Sanchez.

So, for the visits on Tuesday, we visited Soledad and Carlos and did an activity that I still remember from when Bro. Sanderson came to home teach us once. There's a scripture in 3 Nefi 13:33 that says first seek the kingdom of God and everything else will be added upon. Then we did the gumball and sugar example...if you put the sugar (things of the world) in first, the gumballs (things of God) don't fit...but if you put the gumballs first, the sugar fits too. Great object lesson. Shout out to Brother Sanderson! Hahaha..but seriously... Carlos really liked the lesson. It was a success:)

On Wednesday we had lunch with Hermano Chemin and the Elders. Good times. We always have such a great laugh together. The Chemin family is the best. After lunch we passed by the house of an old investigator who told us she didn't want more. We just wanted to see how she was doing. She invited us in and we even sang a hymn! We have an appointment with her this week. I'm so excited! Her name is Nancy and I love her! I was so sad when she told us she didn't want more. Keepin' my fingers crossed!

On Thursday morning during weekly planning, Hermana Hundley and I set goals of obedience for the transfer. Like I said earlier, we have a big week coming up and we're not gonna be able to do it without God's help...so, we set goals and told Heavenly Father what we were willing to do this week to be able to receive his guidance and inspiration. It's gonna be an amazing week! That night we had mission correlation. We talked about a program called MMT...it's a program that President Rogers started. It's missionary + member = temple. Well, we were talking about how we can improve the program here in Rawson. Elder Sanchez suggested we change the program to "MMTA" missionary + member = temple and an ASADO. The Elders are always thinking about food it seems. Hahaha...but I'm sure the turnout would be great if we had an Asado afterwards! Basically with MMT we meet in the church on Friday nights and visit menos activos with the members. In the Patagonia, the church attendance has gone up sooo much in the areas that are implementing this program. It really is an inspired program for this area.

So, after correlation, the bishop asked us to stay for ward council. Obviously we said yes. We sat through the meeting quietly listening and sharing our thoughts when they asked...Elder Verges at one point asked if he could borrow my bible. Not thinking anything of it I gave it to him and continued listening. The meeting ended and we went home just like every other day. The next morning when I opened my Bible to study a little bit I found another little friend. Remember my friend Sanchez that's hanging on the wall in our pension? He now has a friend called Verges...only it's a spider. Luckily for the Elders it was a fake one or I probably would have killed them. Hilarious prank...right? Tell me about it. Hahaha.

On Friday, we didn't have lunch with a member because they were out of town, so we stayed in the pension and cooked for ourselves. We made pigs in a blanket...yep...classic college kids. I guess it's the same for missionaries too:) They turned out pretty good though! We also visit Mariela every day...on Friday she gave us presents! She's so sweet. She gave us each a bar of Mantecol which is pretty close to peanut butter, but it's more solid...it's delicious! Anyway, she also decorated her 2014 Agenda with lots of pictures... and she put a picture of when we were at the terminal saying goodbye to Hermana Cortes! So sweet. It's of me, Mariela, Hermana Cortes, and Agustina:)

On Saturday morning we had to go to Trelew to practice for a musical number we're doing at the zone conference on Tuesday. Apparently the zone leaders decided that I'm singing with three other missionaries. Thanks for telling me before hand, right? Ya, no. ...it'll be good though. We're singing Lord, I Would Follow Thee in Spanish. It'll be pretty:) Saturday we also ate pigs in a blanket again since none of the missionaries had lunch. We ate all together in the chapel.  Then we taught our English class! Mariela and Agustina came along with Gustavo Chemin, and some of the Pranes kids. It was soo fun! Elder Verges even said the closing prayer in English! I officially decided after this English class that I love it when Latinos speak English. It's the best! Adorable. Hahaha. After we all played futbol and ping pong with a bunch of the youth and some investigators. It was a lot of fun. I practiced juggling a soccer ball while all the Argentines made fun of me...including Elder Sanchez who is from Panama. I don't remember if I told you, but he played professional soccer before the mission. I'm getting better though! By the time I leave Argentina I WILL be able to juggle a futbol.

Yesterday we went to Church with Mariela and Agustina. It was awesome. In Sacrament meeting we sang "In Our Lovely Deseret." That is one song that I've never been able to make it through without laughing...somehow in Spanish it's even funnier. Last night we visited the Pranes Family. We talked and laughed and laughed and laughed. They are preparing a musical number for the baptism on Saturday:) Then they fed us an asado...they are the best. I love them. It's been such a blessing to be able to help them activate in the church again!

Well, this week was a great one! I'm super tired and I think that's a good sign!! Happy 9 months to Emily and Craig! That's crazy...where does the time go? Also...that's awesome that you're gonna do the retention lessons with Justin at our house!! Sooo cool. Do you ever feed the missionaries? Because you totally should...it's the best...for the missionaries too:) Something interesting about Argentina? On the news, they always tell what's going on in the United States before they talk about Argentina news. I've always found that strange. Of course...I still have no idea what's going on there:) Hahaha... also...someone wanna fill me in on what's happening for the Super Bowl? I wanna knowwww...maybe President will let us watch it...hahaha... just kidding.  Also...Vocal Point has an awesome album called Lead Thou Me On...it's great!

Well, I think that's all for this week folks! I love you all! Thank you for your thoughts and prayers and know that you're always in mine!! Have a fantastic week! :)

Forever and always...CHAU!!

Hermana Heath

Hermana Kuhn (MTC companion) and I

on transfers day...she's in Puerto Madryn now!!

Beach Magagna! (If you look really closely you can see Antarctica
in the background!! Hahaha...well, actually you can't,
but that'd be really cool!)

the wittle baby cwab! :)

Magagna Beach :)

Hermana Hundley and me :)

Arana Verges!

Mariela!

Watching the video of Daniel's mission call!

So cool that he's going to GERMANY!!

HERMANA HUNDLEYYYY... :)

Hola Familia!

I'm glad you all had a great week! The dogs are sooo cute! Mom and Dad can we keep them? Pleaseee?? ...we'll take good care of them I promise!! :) Kim, have you named them yet?

Well, Matthew is still the stud of the school making all the girls weak at the knees when he walks by it seems. I'm not surprised:) Hahaha...que capooo! ...and the cinnamon rolls look delicious! This morning Hermana Hundley and I went around the corner from our pension and bought some facturas... Argentine donuts...but they're not really donuts...but they're delicious.

Well, last Monday was an awful day. We didn't sleep hardly at all because we had to get all of Hermana Cortes' stuff ready to go to Gallegos! We woke up early...like 5:00AM ish, finished packing, didn't have time to eat breakfast, and then later when we went to Trelew with the Elders we went and bought ice cream as a district...1 kilo. Downed it like champs and then we went to the terminal and one by one said goodbye to the Elders from our zone. At 5:00PM Elder Elliz left...I still don't know why that one was so hard for me. I think it was because he was the one that called us every night to ask about our day...kinda like when I was at BYU and I would call home each day or night or you would call me. It's nice to have someone who wants to hear about your day and make sure you're doing okay. I was bawling. Great...because I need one more thing for people to look at me funny for. These people already think I'm weird...crazy Argentines. I'm sure it looked hilarious though, I'll give them that much. Anyway, I decided that I hate change. I hate saying goodbye...especially to people. It's gonna rip my heart out when I leave Rawson.

Welp, round two came when Hermana Cortes left at 8:00PM. That one wasn't as hard for some reason...mostly because I think I had prepared myself mentally and emotionally for that moment and it just kinda happened really fast. I was going to be staying with two hermanas from Trelew but we had to wait for another Hermana who was arriving at like 11:30PM. Welp...all day I had only eaten a little bit of ice cream that we bought earlier. Turned out it was Hermana Twitchell we were waiting for! I'm gonna take a time out from the story to talk for a minute about Hermana Twitchell...she's soo great and staying super positive. I hadn't heard that she was going home on Tuesday. I can't imagine how hard that would be, but it's probably good because she's gonna get to the point where she won't be able to fly home because she's so sick. She's awesome though. She's one tough cookie for sticking it out for this long.

Okay, back to the story....so we slept in Trelew...didn't go to bed until at least 1:00AM because Hermana Twitchell arrived late. Woke up at 6:30...obviously. We studied and then went to the terminal...still not having eaten anything. So, all those attributes of missionaries that we find in Alma 17 that we read about Alma and the Sons of Mosiah? Yep, one of them says something like "they suffered hunger and fatigue." That scripture took on a whole new meaning this week for me...keep in mind that in the last three days I only had about 15 hours of sleep and it had officially been 24 hours without anything solid to eat...pretty sure there's a rule about that in the handbook. Well, turned out that my companion was not on the bus she was supposed to be so instead of going back to Rawson with the Elders to eat lunch with a family that had prepared lunch for all of us, I got to stay with an Hermana in Trelew at the terminal for another 2 hours, miss the lunch appointment, and wait for my companion to come. Well, she finally did.

Here's the part of the story that kills me. Elder Verges knew that I hadn't eaten and it was likely my new companion hadn't either, so he talked to the family Nievas and asked if we could come a little bit later to eat...they happily agreed...Elder sent me a text with the good news. I was super excited...but when my companion arrived, we started looking around for Hermano Chemin who was no where to be found. He was our ride back to Rawson. It's about 2:00PM...turns out, he also assumed we must be hungry and came back with 6 HUGE footlong hotdogs for us to eat...my companion and I both ate two a little reluctantly knowing that the Nievas family had a feast prepared for us since they always make sooo much food. Our only hope was that the Elders had eaten almost all of it. No such luck. We got to the members house shortly after and there were two huge plates of food with 4 Elders smiling happily at us so excited that we were finally going to get some food...I wanted to die. We slowly but surely got all the food down and left the house with the Elders (using the excuse of having people to visit...which was true...but we had like 3 hours) ready to puke...luckily we got out BEFORE they could offer us dessert. Now, it was about 27 hours that we didn't eat anything solid...that's not fun and a little bit uncomfortable, I'll give you that, but I wasn't dying. But going from hungry to completely stuffed and overflowing in the matter of an hour is just straight up miserable. Poor Hermana Hundley...her first experience in Rawson. Oh well, we've more than made up for it:) And mom, don't worry, we always have plenty of food to eat...it was just a weird situation where we were stuck in a terminal for hours and hours with lots of little inconveniences:)

So, speaking of Hermana Hundley.  She got to Rawson on Tuesday in the afternoon. I don't have any pictures of us yet, but I will soon! She's AWESOME! We are already having so much fun together. There's always an automatic connection between the North American sister missionaries because we have pretty much the same experiences before the mission and lots of the same challenges coming to the mission. But, get this! Turns out Hermana Hundley and I were in the same Statistics class at BYU! Hahaha... what are the odds? Of course we never ran into each other because the class had 900 students...so maybe the odds were in our favor...haha just kidding. But cool, right? Oh, also...did you know that Daniel Cottam is getting his mission call this week? I didn't either until just now...wanna know how I found out? Yep, Hermana Hundley told me. That was a super awkward moment. We both just kind of looked at each other...looked at her screen... laughed...and then kept writing our emails. Hahahaha...sooo funny. They met at BYU and apparently are pretty good friends. Small world? I think yes. Anyway, Hermana Hundley is from Mesa, Arizona. She is thinking of studying exercise science at BYU...just like ME! Hahaa...but for reals we are gonna get along so well. She speaks the language really well and we haven't had any problems this week with not understanding or having a hard time teaching. The hardest thing is the change for the menos activos and investigators. It's gonna take a few visits more for some of them to open up, but it'll come! Hermana Hundley came from Rio Gallegos where she served for 4 months. I love her!!

Welp, that's pretty much the news for the week. Today we're going to the beach to stare longingly at the waves from a safe distance with Hermano and Hermana Chemin and, of course, the Elders. We have two new Elders. Elder Sanchez is from Panama and Elder Watkins is from Utah! He graduated from Davis High last year...so he's from like draper or something like that. I can't remember. They're both awesome Elders and we're excited to have them in the district! It's just Elder Verges and me left from our original district here in Rawson. Crazy how the time goes by. I can't believe that I've been in Rawson for 3 months already. It's insane.

So, I don't remember if I told you about Mariela, our superstar investigator. She has a baptismal date set for February 1 and is sooo ready! She's a reference from a ward member. She came to say goodbye to Hermana Cortes at the terminal in Trelew and we've been visiting her everyday! We're also teaching her 13 year old daughter Agustina. She's great! She's a little slower with the learning and will hopefully be able to get baptized the same day as her mom, if not maybe the week after. They are both really  interested and have received answers that the church is true and that this is the correct decision for their lives, but it's one thing to feel it, and it's another to actually do it. Mariela is willing to give up anything to get baptized, but we still have to be super careful with her because as we've seen with other investigators, this is the time that Satan works the hardest on them. He knows that it's their Salvation we're dealing with, and sometimes the investigators haven't come to really grasp that concept yet. Lots of prayers and fasting for her coming from my tiny pension in Rawson. She's gonna make it though, she's strong.

Oh, also. I had to speak in church again yesterday...about missionary work. again. It went well. Ten minutes is a long time in English...in Spanish it's an eternity. I slept about 4 hours Saturday night because I kept waking up freaking out about speaking. There's just something about a bunch of fluent Spanish speakers staring at you and knowing every time you say something wrong. Hahaa...good thing they love me, right? Hahaha...it went well though. Nothing to stress about:)

Have a fantastic week! Stay safe and happy! You're always in my prayers!

Forever and always,

Hermana Heath

TRANSFERS ARE HERE...duhn duhn duhn...

Hola Familia!

¿Que Tal? Welp, you're all back in school...probably have been for a week now, but I still forget how quickly the time goes. Days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months...4 months on Saturday. Crazy. If you feel like it you can join me in praying for the time to slooooow down. :)

Well... there were quite a few exciting things this week, but all week I was a bit anxious for the phone call from our zone leaders on Saturday night. For transfers we do a huge conference call with the entire zone... then the zone leaders read off the changes painfully slow. So, at 10:15PM the phone call finally came through. This transfer there were changes in EVERY area in my zone. From my district, half of us go, and the other half stays. Care to make a guess about which group I'm in? First, I'll start off by saying that my district leader is leaving. Elder Elliz is going to Rio Grande to be a zone leader! He'll be great. Elder Acuña is leaving to Puerto Madryn. And...duhn duhn duhn... Hermana Heath is going to stay in Rawson for at least 6 more weeks! Hermana Cortes is going to Rio Gallegos. Everyone leaves today :( I'm super excited that I get to stay with these amazing people in Rawson, but that doesn't stop all the tears...only most of them. So, Elder Verges and Elder Scogin are staying here with me in the district of Rawson. Our companions come on Tuesday I believe. All I know is that my companion's name is Hermana Hundley. North American...super. Hahaa..I'm never gonna learn Spanish!! We're gonna find out just how disciplined I can be...I don't know how long she's been in the mission, but it's not more than two or three transfers more than me. Elder Verges is gonna be the new district leader...at least I think so.

So, this week we had more problems with the pension. Hermano Chemin saved us, as always. The love in my heart for him...don't even get me started. Also, last Monday we went to the going home party of Elder Holland and Hermana Hualpa. At the end of the day, they both shared their testimonies and thoughts about the mission. It was really sweet, but seriously the only thing going through my mind was that I never ever want to reach that point...the point of going home. There's no way I'll ever be ready to leave this amazing country. Would ya'll be really upset if I decided to move here? Because...it's a real possibility:)

On Saturday the Elders from Playa Union had a baptism (Elder Elliz and Elder Scogin). We made cookies again...in an oven that gets continually hotter. Try that one at home. Anyway, her name is Elsa Salamanca. She's sooo sweet and is a friend of the convert of Elder Verges and Elder Acuña. References are the BEST! Speaking of references, Nani Velazquez introduced us to his cousin this week. Her name is Mariela. She came to church last week with him...we talked, set up an appointment, and she's GREAT. She's getting baptized on February 1st...for SURE. She's so ready. She has an answer...now it's just teaching her everything she needs to know...but most importantly she needs to keep feeling that it's right. She came to the baptism on Saturday and felt really good. When we told her last night that Hermana Cortes is leaving today, the first thing she said was, "Pucha, you're not gonna be here for my baptism!" Missionaries dream come true...haha. She's soo good. She has a daughter who is 13 years old and often sits in on the lessons and they do the "homeworks" in the Book of Mormon together...in other words...we're gonna get a baptismal date for her as well:) Great family. Mariela's son Jonatan is also awesome, but rarely in the house. He's 19 years old and just had a little baby boy with his girlfriend in January. Super adorable.

This week, we went to take a card to Natalia to remind her that we're thinking about her and that we love her..she wasn't home, but the window was open. Well, naturally, we weren't just gonna leave...we're missionaries...we don't have time to "just drop by later" sooo...we used a stick we found on the ground (because windows here have bars, not screens) to pull the computer chair next to the window, left the chocolate and card on the chair, and then skillfully pushed the chair back to its original place. We went around 11:30AM so most likely everyone was sleeping...basically all those sneaking around skills when Ems and I were kids really payed off. It's time for me to go pro. We NAILED that undercover job.  We later learned that she had found her chocolate and card:) Hahaha. Good times.

Sooo...trivia question for ya'll. First off, here's some background. Every morning in companionship study we practice introducing the Book of Mormon. One morning I said, "The Book of Mormon, like the Bible, contains the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." My companion stopped me and told me that wasn't true...huh? We got into a big discussion about this question... here it is...we all know that the Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the gospel...DOES THE BIBLE CONTAIN THE FULLNESS OF THE GOSPEL? What do you think? Yes or no? Well, pause and think for a minute. I argued yes, my companion argued no. The answer can be found in the opening paragraph of the Introduction to the Book of Mormon. YES, the Bible also contains the fullness of the gospel. In the Spanish Book of Mormon, the small little phrase that says "as does the bible" isn't translated at the end of the paragraph and doesn't imply that the Bible also contains the fullness of the gospel...although it doesn't imply that it doesn't either. Anyway, my companion was so sure that the Bible didn't have everything...then she started asking me why we have the Book of Mormon if the Bible has everything we need to know? Welp, as you can see this is heading in a bad direction... especially seeing as we're missionaries preaching to the people that the Book of Mormon is the keystone...the evidence of our message. I reminded her what I know about the Book of Mormon. What Joseph Smith said, that it's the most correct book of any on the earth and that we can grow closer to God by reading it than by any other. Then we talked about the two continents... European and American...of course God loves all his children and communicated with both continents equally. Hence, the Bible and the Book of Mormon. I even went so far as to read to her from Preach My Gospel where it says that the Bible and Book of Mormon complement each other. After a solid 15 minutes of wondering why we need the Book of Mormon, my dear companion seemed to finally remember her testimony of the truthfulness of the book and we were back on track:)

Yesterday the missionaries that are leaving bore their testimonies in Sacrament Meeting. I started crying... again. Pucha. Hahaha. After church we ate lunch with Gustavo and Fernanda Chemin and little Jasmin. What can I say, the little one still loves me. ADORABLE. One of these days I'll take a picture with her and send it to you. She's soooo cute. We're the best of friends. We also spent time writing in each others memory books...basically books we bought so the members can write to us and missionaries as well. Greatest idea ever:)

Anyway, that's all for this week. I'm running super low on sleep since Saturday night we went to bed around 1:30AM and woke up at 5:30AM Sunday morning. Last night was the same. Gotta get everything ready for Hermana Cortes to leave. Lots to do in very few hours. We're down to 4 hours until we head to Trelew. Elder Elliz leaves at 5:00PM and Hermana Cortes and Elder Acuña leave at 8:15PM.

Mom, Carlos is interested in the Church...in fact he's an investigator. An awesome one at that. We're working with him..but it's a slow process. Yesterday during our lesson Soledad and Carlos gave us ice cream...first because Hermana Cortes is leaving and second because yesterday was sooo hot. So much wind...but even the wind was hot. It was nastyyy. I had so much dirt on my face when I got to the pension at night. Every day we come home and grab a tissue to wipe our forehead which is always caked with dirt.... but last night was ridiculous. Tons of wind and dirt roads don't mix well. Hahaa. And I am feeling just great, no worries mother dearest. It was a really long process for my body to become accustomed to the food and everything else, but it's getting better. The first month was pretty much awful...but it's okay because only my body didn't feel good...my spirits were great and still are! Yes, President Rogers takes really good care of us...in our weekly letter we're always required to tell him about our health that week.

Okay, I lied, one more story. This week we got a text from Elder Elliz that said, "Hermana Heath. A package and like 5 letters came for you today." BEST DAY EVER!! Hahhaa...anyway, the next day I got them. The package was from the Peterson's! So sweet. They have always been such good neighbors. I love them. I really do. So thoughtful of them. Mom, please give them a BIG hug for me:) I got letters from Jenni Boyle, Miriam (love the Christmas picture...it screams Cottam family in my opinion. Classic.), and I got the Heath Family Christmas letter! I was soooo happy! Good job, mom! :)

Welp, have a fantastic week! You're always in my prayers and I think about you sooo much...maybe more than I should...but as long as it's not distracting me I don't see the harm. Mostly I just talk about you to everyone...we have some pretty great stories that deserve to be shared:)

I love you all soooo much!

Forever and Always,

Hermana Heath

Celebrating the farewell of Elder Holland

and Hermana Hualpa in Trelew

the fishing place in Playa Union...

sneaking a peek at the beach...Hermano and Hermana
Chemin :)  Adorable, aren't they?

Practicing our sneaking skills!

Hermana Cortes, member from Trelew, me,

Hermana Hualpa, Hermana Smith

Opening the package :)

learning how to make empanadas! (an Argentine FAVORITE!)

Mia and Agustina....my little One Direction fans :)

A park in Rawson :)

HAPPY 2014!!

Hola Family!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I hope you had a very enjoyable New Years! Can you believe it's 2014 already? I can't either. CRAZY how fast the time goes by... this week I'm gonna reach my 4 month mark. Say what?!

So, this week. Where to begin. How about Monday? Well, actually that's a bad idea because I can't remember what happened on Monday. So, I'll just start telling stories as they come to mind.

New Years Eve...welp, it started out GREAT! We had study time and then district meeting where Elder Elliz talked about the dogs in Argentina. He said, (all in Spanish of course!) "Yesterday a dog was following my companion and me around our area, and I thought to myself, we're just like the dogs. We follow people around with great big smiles on our faces, visit the same houses over and over again just to get rejected and stare through the window while the people inside go on with their lives. Why do we do this? Because we love them and we're always loyal." Huh. What a cool analogy...and unfortunately extremely accurate. The number of rejections usually exceeds the number of lessons by far. Anyway, after district meeting we had lunch with a family who has 9 kids. Party? Nope, chaos. Complete chaos...but I loved it...hahahaha. We went around and visited a few less actives because they're the only people that will let us into their houses on New Years Eve, and then we ran into Natalia on the street. She told us that she needs some time and is too stressed with everything going on right now to be able to think about getting baptized at this moment. We still see her and she's very very friendly, but at the moment we're just friends. Sooo, that definitely put a damper on the evening.

We visited the Pranes family that night and chatted with them for awhile. All 8 of them were there. I LOVE their family. So special. They're one of the first families I met here in Rawson. They're awesome. Then we went to Soledad and Carlos' house for the rest of the night. Oh, and I forgot to mention that it was pouring rain. Like...POURING. So, we ran really fast:) We spent the night talking and laughing with Carlos and Soledad and then we ate asado. At midnight the fireworks started...there were even more than there were for Christmas Eve. It was sooo cool. We got home a little before 1:00AM and then went to bed quickly. I was soooo tired. Oh, I forgot to mention that they gave us beer. Hahaha...you gotta remember that only Soledad is a member of the church, and her parents were there as well. It's currently chillin' in our fridge. The good news is that it's non alcoholic...but I'm still not sure if we're allowed to drink it...hmmm.

New Years Day started out with me waking up at 5:30AM to throw up everything that was in my stomach. Awesome. I couldn't really sleep much after that. Then, the Jehovah's Witnesses knocked on our door. Fabulous. Now they know where we live! Pucha. At noon we went with the Elders to Trelew. We played games with all the missionaries there and ate some pollo and tacos. Yumm. Then we all started singing songs. Disney (hilarious... remember that the mayority of my zone is Hispanic and barely speaks English).  My personal favorite was when we sang Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up." Elder Holland tried to get Celine Dion's "My Heart will go on" but that ship was sunk before it reached the harbor. Too funny. Being a missionary is the best. No joke.

Ohhh... I don't remember if I told you, but last week we visited a friend of Hermano Chemin and she told me that I speak better Spanish than my companion. Hahaha...her Colombian tone throws the people here. She sings so much when she talks. But like SO MUCH. It's hard for the people to understand lots of times...it's hard for ME to understand lots of the time. Good times though.

So, Haydee, an investigador, got her car set on fire by a bomb on New Years Eve. Yep, some idiot teenagers threw a bomb into her car. It's still sitting in front of her house completely burned. So sad. She's doing good though! Yesterday we visited her and she let us help her pick peaches from her tree in the backyard! Then she gave us some to keep:) Delicious. I never knew how much I liked peaches until now. It's the main dessert here. Peaches and cream...and it's divine.

This week was freezing!! I don't know who stole the sun, but I'd really like it back. BRUTAL. Thank heavens I only have one winter here in Argentina because I wouldn't make it for two...I'm not even sure I'll make it for one... and with my luck I'll be down in Ushuaia. Pray for me people.

So, funniest story of the week? After visiting a family one night, we left the lesson a little late and it was 9:05PM...so what did we do? We started sprinting for the pension. It's about a 15 minute walk, but we ran home in 5 minutes... we made good time ya? Well, I hope it was worth it because we looked like freaks. Complete crazies. A "blonde" North American running through the streets with a big bag of books and pamphlets. Any reputation I had was lost in those 5 minutes. Awesome.  We got home quick though...and that was the point. Trying to be obedient. Points for effort?

Welp, that's all that comes to mind at the moment. WAIT! Noooo....yesterday guess who came to church?! The Familia PRANES!! The mom didn't come and the oldest son didn't come...but the dad and Diego and Marcelo with the three sisters Jimena, Gabi, and Micaela. I was sooo happy. We've been visiting them every week since day one here in Rawson and we're finally seeing the results! Jimena is 22 years old and stayed active while her family wasn't. The mom, Juana, has been coming to church pretty regularly since we started the visits, but the dad and the boys were angry and offended and haven't wanted to come back. I guess they changed their minds. They set a goal to be sealed in the temple...they're willing to do whatever it takes... starting with coming to church!! We're gonna keep visiting them...in fact we have an appointment on Tuesday night. But I was so excited I was trying my best not to squeal. AHHHH!!

Welp, that's all for now folks. I hope you're all doing well. Back in school? That's too bad, but hey...you're half way there! Keep up the good work!! Love you all forever and always and I think about you often! Have a blessed week!

Chaus!!

Hermana Heath

familia Pranes :)

New Year's Eve!! Carlos, Soledad and family

New Years Day...playing UNO!

picking peaches!!!

just for Kimberly :) cutest little puppy ever!!

another one just for Kim :)

dos corazones...yummy candy with love poems inside.
Hermano Chemin brought them for us at mission correlation.

playing games on Christmas Eve!!

Christmas Eve with the familia Mayor

Trelew South Zone with President and Sister Rogers

penguins just for Em...Punta Tombo

HAPPY NEW YEARRRR!!

Hola Querida Familia!!

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas because I sure did!! It was sooo good to see your lovely faces last week! It made me soo happy. The bad news is that it made me miss you...but it's okay. Things are back to normal now :)

So, Christmas Eve. After talking with you we went to the chapel and hung out with the Elders. We played games, talked, sang some songs, and filled each other in on how our families were doing. It was a lot of fun. At 8:00PM we went to the radio with some ward members and sang...yep...on the RADIO. No big deal or anything...It was pretty sweet. Hahaha...Hermano Chemin knows EVERYONE.  After, we went to the house of the Chemin Family. Gustavo Parra (ward member - 27 years old ish) and his mom (inactive) were there as well. We started out by painting our nails with the Mayor girls. I was THRILLED as I'm sure you can imagine. My poor finger nails have been completely neglected for the last 3 months. Welp, then we decided to let the boys join us and we played some card games...uno and chancho...which is pretty much spoons Argentina style...in other words...it's crazy :) Hahaha...it was such a fun night. At 11:00PM we ate asado. DELICIOUS. At midnight we drank something I'm not sure what (sounds sketchy...but it was non-alcoholic I promise) and then we went outside and the whole town of Rawson erupted with fireworks. IT WAS WITHOUT A DOUBT THE COOLEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. Sign me up for Christmas in Argentina every year. Seriously, fireworks lit up the sky in every direction I looked. After watching the fireworks for a bit, we went inside and sang some Christmas hymns. It was really neat. Then, get this, the Mayor family car wouldn't start...soo we called a taxi. 45-60 minute wait. Well, it was already 12:30AM. So, we walked back to our pension with an army of people. The whole Mayor family including some aunts and cousins, and the Parra Family. We sang Christmas hymns the whole way. We got back safely to our apartment and went to bed quite exhausted, but very very happy!! Sleeping in until 8:30AM was the BEST EVER! I think it's safe to say that's the latest I've ever slept in on Christmas morning...

Christmas day, we went to the church at 10:00AM and hung out with the Elders all morning. Ping-pong tournament...don't worry Matthew...I didn't let you down. I DOMINATED. :) Then we had TIM TAM SLAMS. Courtesy of the Heath Family. So yummy. Thank you so much for the package again!! I have very much enjoyed my favorite chocolates :) At around 2:00PM we went to the Chemin's house in Playa and had lunch...wanna know what we ate? Lamb. Yep. LAMB. Two of them. Apparently it's tradition here. I tried not to freak out and only half succeeded. Good thing the only ones that noticed were the Elders. They thought it was hilarious and kept asking me if I wanted more right when Hermano Chemin was coming around with the plate of lamb just loud enough for him to hear and throw some more on my plate. I was ready to strangle all of 'em...but I didn't. They think they're soooo funny. Hahaha. Welp. After eating the Chemin family got into a huge water fight which started outside and eventually came inside. Yep...inside the house. Buckets of water. The hose. No big deal. The six of us missionaries hid in the corner watching and laughing...most of all dying to participate. It was hilarious. Everyone was SOAKED by the time they were finished. So was the floor in the house. Good thing Argentines don't believe in carpet. Then they had karaoke and dancing. Such fun traditions. It was an awesome day. A very Merry Christmas in Rawson Argentina :)

This week we had a district meeting with our zone leaders present. It was soo good. I admire our zone leaders so much. They talked about the importance of BEING missionaries, not just doing what missionaries do. They shared thoughts about how we can really love and feel what we're doing all day every day. Then Elder Elliz asked us about our experiences in the mission so far, and what our goals are for 2014. It was a really cool meeting. I love being a missionary. I've got loads to learn still, but it's coming. Slow and steady:)

This week we had 3 investigators come to church! Wahooooo! It was such a blessing. It's seriously the hardest thing to get people to wake up in the mornings. Mostly because people go to bed at 3AM, wake up at 11:00...and then take a siesta after lunch until 5:00PM. Crazy Argentines :) Haha...we're working on it. It's forming the habit. That's all.

We still don't know where we're going to spend New Years, but I think we're going to Trelew on New Years day to spend it with the zone. That's still two days away. We've got time :)

Welp, I hope you all have a very happy new year!! Remember to set goals!! :):):) Thank you so much for the pictures and the emails!! I don't have time to respond to all of them today, but I will next week I promise!! I love you all so much and I'm so incredibly thankful for your support and love. It makes all the difference because there are missionaries whose families don't agree with their decisions to serve missions. I can't imagine how hard that would be. I love you all and the church is true!!

Have a blessed week!

Forever and always,

Hermana Heath

 singing on the radio!!

 

tim tam slams!!

FEAST YOUR EYES!! Hermano Chemin and I...
and two lambs. yep...that's right.

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

Caroling with ward members in Rawson

Amigo invisible...secret santa in our district. Good times.

Argentine Sunsets!!

Me and my comp

Hermana Heath and Hermana Cortes

My district

Hermana Cortes and Hermana Heath at Punta Tombo,

the penguin colony

Punta Tombo - Hermana Cortes and I

 The hermanas in my zone...Craun, Heath,   ?   , and Cortes

I dreamed a dream...in SPANISH!!

Hola Family,

How's life?! Christmas is in 9 days? Woah. I forget that it's December because it's sooo hot. Like for reals, I forget. But, I have been counting down until I get to talk to all of you!! I would really appreciate it if you would try calling someone else on Skype and practice with everything so that we don't waste time trying to figure out how to communicate with each other. We only have an hour:) The headphones mean that I can only talk to one of you at a time?? Someone tell me everything in an email please!!

So, Christmas is coming. Everyone has cute little Christmas trees. Everyone except for us...that was until two days ago when the Velazquez Family gave us a Christmas tree with ornaments to set up in our apartment!! It's tinyyy but we LOVE it!! They also gave us some pan dulce and empanadas. Remember how I told you that the members here are amazing? Well, here's the proof. I love them.

Welp, it happened. I had a dream in Spanish. Weirdest thing ever. In the morning I couldn't believe it. In my dream we were sitting in the mission coordination meeting we have every week with Hermano Chemin and the missionaries and he was talking away in Spanish, same with the other missionaries...and guess what?! the coolest part?? I was too!! Hahaha...it was super weird, but really cool! Hahaa. I love learning Spanish. It's still coming definitely and there are lots of things that I don't know how to say, but it's coming:)

Mom! My package arrived!! Thank you so much!! Unfortunately, my zone leader Elder Holland still has it...it's been in Trelew for a week now. I'm sure I'll get it eventually...if he remembers to bring it to zone conference this next week. President is gonna be here and we're doing interviews this time around. I'm excited to see him and Hermana Rogers. They are seriously the best. I love them. Like really, I LOVE THEM. Oh, I also got a bunch of dear elders. One from mom, one from Miriam, and at the moment I can't remember from who else...hahaha...but thanks!!

So, this week we helped Hermana Isabel clean her yard again. It's still not done!! Haha...big job. She had an operation done on her shoulder because of some sort of paralysis in her arm and it's not really getting better. Sad day. Anyway, we helped her clear out some more juju...and there were tons of spiders. Big ones, small ones, some as big as your HEAD! Nasty. I'm telling you, they were everywhere. And you all know me with my spider senses. I always know when there's a spider near by. Sick and wrong I tell you. SICK and WRONG. I agree with nearly every one of God's creations, but the spiders absolutely not.

Yesterday we, the missionaries, sang in Church. We sang O come all ye faithful. In Spanish of course. It went really well!! Last night we had choir practice...more Christmas hymns!! and then the ward did a play about the birth of Jesus. It was awesome. They have been practicing for weeks. The kids sang, the adults acted. It was so neat!! After, papa noel came and visited us!! He gave candy to all the kids and then we all ate pan dulce and some Argentine treats. It was such a fun night. Christmas is coming!

Yesterday we also ate lunch with Gustavo and Fernanda Chemin...the son and daughter in law of Hermano Chemin. They have a little baby girl, Jasmin...like 18 months more or less and what can I say, she loves me:) Hahaa...every time she sees me she waves really big. It's sooo cute. I can't get over it. Fernanda always says that she only does that with me. Too cute. So yes, we had a grand old time together playing with all her toys. We ate meat. Big surprise, ya? The Chemin family is so good. So so good. I'm so excited that we get to spend Christmas Eve with them and the Elders. It'll be the closest thing to spending Christmas with all of you! They make up my amazing Argentine Family:) The love in my heart for these people. Ah!

So, last but not least, the sunsets in Argentina are the most beautiful in all the world. NO JOKE. Every night the sky is lit up with red and yellow and green and brown and scarlet and black and ocher and peach and ruby and olive and violet and mauve...and blue:) Haha...but seriously. It's sooo pretty. I love walking back to the pension at night and looking at the sky. You peeps are missin out :)

This week we had zone conference in Trelew. We talked about the Holy Ghost. It was awesome. We studied Chapter 4 of Preach My Gospel. Lots of really cool points which I will let you discover since I don't have much time. Basically, we cannot be effective missionaries, disciples, or teachers if we don't have the companionship of the Holy Ghost. The fastest ways we lose the Spirit are through contention and disobedience. Our zone leaders then focused on letting the Spirit direct the lesson and then we did lots of practices:) What an incredible gift God has given us...the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost to lead us, guide us, walk beside us...hahaha..no but really. The Spirit is our comforter and protector. I'm so grateful. There's no way I could do this whole mission thing without the help of the Holy Ghost.

Welp, I wish I could tell you about investigators or people we're teaching, but at the moment it's hard. The problem is, we live 15 minutes from the beach. And it's summer. AND it's Christmas. In other words, it's hard to find people in their houses. We have lots of people we teach and have taught more than once, but they don't count as progressing investigators because we can't visit them frequently enough. I'll let you know though. We have three really awesome Hermanas we're teaching...Soledad, Maria, and Laura. Two of the three have baptismal dates, but we've gotta visit with them more regularly, also known as daily contact. Which is really hard this time of year. I'll keep you updated though!

I love you all and wish you a very happy holiday season! listen to lots of Christmas music for me...it's one of the things I miss the most!! But, I'm teaching my companion some songs...we're having a good time with that. Do you know what I found out? Latinos cannot make the "urr" sound in the words girl, world, were, sure, jewelry. It's quite funny. Haha:) Keep up the good work at home and good luck with finals Emily and Craig! Matthew and Kimberly only have about a week left of school right? Until vacations? So exciting. Good job on the calculus test, bud. And Kimmers! I'm glad to hear you got your personal history done! That's awesome! Have a fantastic week! And I'll talk to you on Christmas Eve!! I hope that time works for you! Oh, and I was just told that we will still get to email home next Monday:)

I love you forever and always!! The Church is true! Until next week, Chaus!!

Hermana Heath

 Trelew South Zone Conference in November -
Hermana Heath and her companion, Hermana Cortes

 Trelew and Puerto Madryn Zones -

Conference with Elder and Sister Zeballos
of the Quorum of the Seventy