Happy Thanksgiving!!

Mi queridisima familia,

So...what's up? I have about two seconds to send you an email...it's a holiday in Argentina (surprise! surprise!) and the only ciber open is super expensive asi que your email is gonna be short..that seems to be happening a lot lately...

First we had interviews with President and Hermana Rogers. Can I just tell you how much I love them! They're amazing...and they both motivated me to keep going. They love me:) Hahaha I'm so excited for ya'll to meet them one day.

...HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I totally forgot...but  I hope you have a splendid day. Make sure Shaun doesn't eat all the banana cream pie...I feel like we always had a battle for the last piece...haha. Man, I'm gonna be missing home on thursday..but honestly not that much. Give everyone big hugs for me!! :)

This week I got to talk for a few minutes with Hermana Hundley...benefits of being friends with the assistants. She's doing good...it's always great talking to her. It pretty much made my day...plus everyone in Gallegos LOVES her and so they automatically love me too. It's the best:)

On Thursday two investigators Griselda and Miguel got married!! Yahooo... they're 24 and 22 years old and have 4 kids...on Friday Griselda told us she's pregnant with the 5th...anyway...they're super poor, but they are the cutest family. We're working toward baptism with them. I LOVE them...Miguel reminds me sooo much of the Craig-meister...it kinda makes me wanna give him a great big hug every time I see him. They're awesome.

Ummm...last but not least...sketchy Argentina water is finally starting to affect me...or I should say my hair. My hair is FALLING OUT. As you can imagine...I AM NOT OKAY WITH THIS! Someone do some research and tell me what I have to do to keep my hair in my head...remember back in the day when my hair was long and pretty and thick? Well..those days are no more. Puuuucha. Someone help me please!  :(:(:(:( Hahahhaa...okay so I might have exaggerated a little bit...but really someone tell me what to do!

Yesterday in church we talked about what it means to be a true disciple of Christ..I LOVED IT! It's never gonna be easy...but it's worth it every time! Our first loyalty should always be to the Lord...in relief society we talked about taking the beam out of our own eye before trying to get rid of the mote in someone elses. So..it all tied together really well. It was an awesome day in church!

Okay that's all I can come up with this week! I love you all! Have a very happy thanksgiving! Hugs and kisses from Rio Gallegos!

Hermana Heath

Heyyy...

Hola Familia...

So...this week was EPIC. I didn't have time to read your emails...internet time is SUPER expensive here....soo...I'll read them later. Anyway...this week flew by...kind of.

On Tuesday I was in divisions with Hermana Johnson in centro Rio Gallegos. It was a good day...and a nice break from my companion. President Rogers wasn't kidding! Haha. I also hit 14 months in the mission...can ya'll believe it? I sure can't. The time is going by wayyy to fast. We're already half way through november!! Que LOCO!

On Wednesday we were at the dentist all day...my comp had to get a root canal last week and this week they did some other stuff. That night at 6:00PM we met up in the chapel and went to the terminal together...at 8:00PM we were boarding the bus that took us to Comodoro! It was sooo fun. I was sitting next to Hermana Garavito but Elder Ramos was in the other aisle seat across from me (my old zone leader in Trelew) It was the first time I had seen him since I left Rawson (he's in Calafate now which is about 3 hours outside of Gallegos) We talked until about 1:30AM about the mission and remembering good times in Trelew Sur. Hermana Garavito was also in that zone so she didn't get left out:) Haha. We only slept a little bit here and there...bus rides are impossible!

We got to Comodoro at about 6:30AM. We passed through Caleta and it pretty much ripped my heart out...I almost got off there. I could have made it to Maxi's house in 5 minutes running. Temptations. Anyway...we went to the mission office...the first Elder I saw that I recognized was Elder Alvarez...it was soo fun to see him. Then I saw Hermana Rasmussen, Hermana Zanuttini, Hermana Tumbaico...I had 7 of my 9 companions there. CRAZY. Haha...it was super fun. I finally found Hermana Hundley...it was the best reunion EVER. I love her with all my heart. We just kinda stood there stunned...neither of us knew what to say so we just hugged each other...from that moment on we didn't leave each other's sides all day. She's doing really well. I was happy to talk with her:) Elder Christofferson showed up with Presidente Gonzalez and Presidente Rogers and their wives at about 10:00AM. The conference was GREAT...and Elder Christofferson wanted to shake our hands...you can bet I wont be washing my right hand ever again...it's my apostle hand. I shouldn't have a hard time with that goal because in Argentina they rarely have soap anyway! Haha. Crazy Argentines.

We ate lunch after and then just had the whole day to chill in the church. It was the BEST. The other missionaries all left before our zone...which was sad..I cried when Trelew and Puerto Madryn left...and then again when Caleta Olivia left...but right before getting on the bus Elder Dunford asked for my agenda he knows my companion and that she's a little bit hard so he wrote on the front page "you're better than the whole bunch of them put together old sport" apparently it's a quote from the great gatsby...but it always makes me feel better during the day when I see it:)

Have a great week! The church is true...Elder Christofferson said so! I love you all!!

Hermana Heath

Rio Gallegos...

Hola Familia!!

Hey friends. So...my first week in Rio Gallegos was an ETERNITY. My companion is Hermana Rodriguez...she's got about 6 months in the mission and from Peru. She has lots of sicknesses including severe chronic gastritis and a couple other stomach problems so we don't get to work as much as I like... President Rogers is watching her closely which also means that I talk with him way more than I'm used to over the phone...which is probably good. Hermana Rodriguez has been labled as one of the "hard" companions in the mission for lots of reasons only one of them being her health...president told me if I can get throught this transfer I will have magnified my calling... haha...I think it was mostly a joke...at least I hope so!! Apparently she has a really strong personality. BUT! I don't tell you all this to complain about my companion because that's not cool. Mostly I'm just gonna send out a quick reminder...something one of my seminary teachers always said, "There are two types of people in the world...the ones you love and the ones you don't understand." I can tell it's probably gonna be a hard transfer...my companion is one of the people I don't understand yet. I'm gonna have to understand her to love her, and love her to understand her. We'll see how this goes! Wish me luck...and remember...don't judge people...because usually once we get to know them we love 'em!

I love Rio Gallegos so far. The members here are awesome. I love the familia Fernandez...and thanks to Hermana Hundley...they love me! Everyone here loves Hermana Hundley...and I get to see her in 3 DAYS! I'm sooo excited. It should be a great conference with the apostle. It's gonna be a looong bus ride though....

I can't really think of anything that happened this week...the Elders in my district are great. My district leader, Elder Rendon, is from Colombia...my zone leaders are great..I've met them both before...Elder Benitez...the kid that I sat next to for 5 hours during that protest in Caleta when I was headed to Grande? Good times. And Elder Mamani...don't remember where he's from... Chile I think.

Leaving Caleta Olivia was brutal. I cried HARD. Hermana Villela...my replacement...showed up about 2 hours before I left...awkward. I was not down to hang out with her and was surprisingly jealous as I realized that she was gonna be living in MY pension...sleeping in MY bed...eating lunch with MY families...visiting MY Maxi...I hope she takes good care of them. Anyway...Maxi was such a capo and stayed in the terminal with me until my bus left. His mom even came to say goodbye. That surprised me cause she doesn't want anything to do with religion (although she supports Maxi and is happy he's making good decisions with his life) She told me she's gonna miss me and that she loves me and thanked me for all I did for Maxi...yep...I was crying. Maxi gave me a letter and drew me a picture of a tiger...I didn't know he could draw...but wrote that the tiger was sad because I'm leaving...I try not to look at it because it makes me sad. I'm gonna get permission from President to call him for his birthday in a coulple of weeks...and at the conference I'll probably steal Hermana Davis' phone and send him a message...oh...Hermana Rasmussen is in Rawson...in my area...and Elder Tarwater is also in Rawson. I'm super jealous. Okay...so that's all I can come up with to tell you...next week I promise I'll write a good letter...I read all your letters this week so I didn't have a lot of time to write.

I LOVE YOU ALL! This week I've been singing "I'm trying to be like Jesus" all week long...what a great song. Do ya'll remember the words? :)

Have a great week! Sorry for the boring letter! Next week's will be awesome for sure!

Hermana Heath

Gallegos...here I come!!

Dear Family...

So...I made the mistake of reading everyone's emails before writing to all of you guys and now you're not gonna get a very good or long letter. Anyway... my head is spinning a little bit...but I'm not saying anything until someone confirms my thoughts.

Anyway...they told us transfers on Saturday night. I'm going to Rio Gallegos. I leave tonight at 9:00PM. I'm sad to leave Caleta and Maxi and the familia Zampa, and Natalia...plenty of tears have already been shed. Maxi is coming to the terminal tonight so I haven't had to say goodbye to him yet. Anyway... I'm excited to go to Rio Gallegos. I think. My new companion is Hermana Rodriguez I think.

This week was good. It flew by. Will the time ever slow down? I doubt it. Next week the apostle is coming. It's Elder Christofferson...but shhh don't tell anyone. Technically I'm not supposed to know that...none of the other missionaries know yet. Hermana Zampa told me yesterday(we ate cinammon rolls again yesterday!)...she has good contacts in the church:) Haha...anyway.

Well...for Halloween I dressed up as an Elder. I had a tie and everything. I borrowed Elder Dunford's name tag. Good times. Not as exciting as Emily and Craig I suppose.

We did an activity on Saturday night in the church..."trip to Hawaii." It's awesome...remind me to explain it to you one day.

Well...have a great week. I love you all. Bye!

Hermana Heath

...transfers...CHAN! oh...and Halloween. Weird...I was in Argentina for that last year too.

Querida Family,

So...Happy Halloween this week! I'm glad to hear you're all doing well. Today is another holiday in Argentina...but this time it's only for the province...every day is a holiday in Argentina. Bless their crazy hearts. Luckily the ciber is still open or we would be writing later today. Apparently though at 3:00PM a member is coming to teach us self-defense. Cool? We'll see...I'm sure I'll have some good stories for next week though.

This week was...normal. Haha. We had 4 lessons with member. That almost never happens here. The rotary is generally "too far away" for the members especially if they don't have cars...I'll be completely honest when I say I don't have much sympathy when they give me that excuse. Oh...yesterday the branch president sent me a text asking if I could give a talk in sacrament meeting about the importance of taking the sacrament. I guess someone canceled on him last minute...so I prepared an 8 minute talk in about 20 minutes....it went really well. God loves his missionaries...I never would have been able to do that before the mission...even less in a foreign language!

We had zone conference this week. It was really good. I always learn a lot from my zone leaders. I have two really good ones:) We ate lunch outside... my idea! I think it's called shepherd's pie in english...you know that thing with mashed potatoes and meat and hard-boiled eggs and cheese? pastel de papas se llama en español. I don't know maybe it doesn't exist in the states...don't really remember...I don't remember anything we eat at home besides french toast and peanut butter.

Yesterday we went to the hospital to visit the friend of a member. I really don't like argentine hospitals...probably not normal ones either...but I get a weird feeling inside when I'm there...luckily this hospital wasn't nearlly as sketchy as the one in Rawson where Elder Verges was. Still, I was very happy to be leaving!

I'm leaving from Caleta this transfer...I think. My guess is Comodoro...we'll see. I'm loving the sun in Caleta and getting a nice tan...hahaha. But really... my feet already look like they did when I left rawson in february...puuucha. Oh...and this morning my companion cut my hair...it was necessary. The wind here DESTROYS the ends. It's depressing.

Well...that's all I've got. Have a good week! I love you all! The church is true!!:) I finished the Book of Mormon this week again and started 1 Nephi the same morning...I love the scriptures! They're filled with amazing promises, blessings, and guidelines...look for them as you read and then learn to apply them!! :) For example...the very last verse of Alma 33 is one of my personal favorites that I've discovered in the mission:)

Well, bye.

Hermana Heath

400 days!

Hola Familia,

This week was really long and I don't really have much to tell so it'll probably be a short email. I didn't read most of yours either so I'll print them off for later.

This week on Friday we had zone conference with President Rogers. It was really good. He talked about how we can improve our teaching skills. He also told us that an apostle is coming to the mission on november 11th. He's not allowed to tell us who yet...any guesses? After the conference we went to get ice cream with just the hermanas and hermana rogers...we didn't tell president or the elders...anyway...that was good times. Hermana paid for all of us too. She's the best. Oh...and fun fact...she's really into selfies...it's pretty funny.

On saturday we had an asado at the church for mothers day. lots of meat. it was fun. they even rented a blow up jump house for the kids to keep them distracted all day. It was a fun afternoon...we were in the church like all weekend. on sunday we ate leftover asado in chapel with all the missionaries.

oh...and fun fact of last week? on monday night I showered...then the water got cut and i didn't get to shower again until thursday night. it was a long week. I can't believe it's already week five of the transfer. I've been a missionary for more than 400 days now...sometimes it feels like I've been doing it way longer than that...and sometimes I feel like I just started. the mission is weird that way.

Well..that's all I've got. Oh...except that last week Mariela and Agustina got to see Hermana Hundley in Puerto Madryn last week. They spent almost the whole day with her. Hermana Heath is super jealous here in Caleta Olivia.

Have a great week! The church is true! I love you all!

Hermana Heath

Happy Mother's Day?!

Querida Familia,

First off...here's a shout out to my amazing mother! Happy Argentine Mother's Day!! As I've mentioned before...Argentines are CRAZY! Soo...one of them one day must have decided that Mother's day should be celebrated in October rather than May...so there you have it friends...this Sunday (Oct 19) is Mother's day in Argentina! Thanks mom for being the best mom ever! Thanks for always loving me and supporting me especially now in the mission! It means the world to me. I can always feel your love and prayers. Have a GREAT day! :) You should probably eat some cake...I definitely will be eating some!

Soo...this week I almost got blown away by the wind several times...whoever named Chicago the "windy city" clearly never visited the Patagonia. Nada que ver. The wind was sooo strong. It stopped us in our tracks several times.. which happened in Rio Grande too...but the difference here is that my area is pure dirt...you can imagine what we look like when we get to the pension at night. Our skin is a full shade darker...no joke. Gotta love the wind:) It's been really nice outside though. I don't even have to leave with  my coat! BEST. FEELING. EVER. I feel like a new person...at least I'm not dressed in straight black from my head to my toes all the time...less "nunn-ish" I feel like. Speaking of new...this week my shoes were not gonna give any more...I, being a lil bit stubborn, didn't want to buy new ones...so my "mom" here in Caleta, Natalia Martinez, fixed them for me. She literally sewed them. I didn't know you could do that...but she did a really good job. The guy in modern shoe totally lied when he said these shoes would last me. Not even close, bro...pero bueno ya fue! :) They're super comfy so that's good.

Can you believe I turned 13 months old in the mission this week? I sure can't. OH! And get this...two youth from my branch here are gonna be in Utah visiting their brother who is studying at LDS business college in February and March...in other words...you'll get to meet them! They're AWEOME! We always eat lunch with their family...Aldana(19) and Martin(17)..such capos. I'm super excited about that:)

This week we visited a little old lady in my branch...Margarita Martinez. It was the first time I ever went to her house since she doesn't live in our area... but she invited us so we went. I'm pleased to announce that grandma homes smell the same in Argentina as they do in the states. It felt good to be home for a few minutes:)

This week we had a family night in the church. We played Jeopardy. The Elders did the questions. They did a really good job! We had a blast and we had lots of less-actives there. I love Caleta. We had a meeting with our branch president on Sunday...imagine...10 missionaries and president crammed into a tiny office space in the corner of a church in Argentina. Woah. Sometime it just hits me. I'm a MISSIONARY!

So, saddest news of the week. Elder Cardoza, a missionary from Argentina who was serving in Peru passed away this last week. He was 19 years old and had about 1 year in the mission. He was in a lesson with a family and had an aneurism? (blood clot in the brain?) I think that's what I heard, anyway. He started having convulsions and within 5 minutes passed away. He left from the district of CALETA OLIVIA. He was living in Puerto Deseado which is the smallest branch we have...20 member attendance each sunday. It's about 3 hours away on the map...right on the coast! Anyway...his family is originaly from Salta and they moved back there about 5-6 months ago. President Rogers (as the mission President at the time Elder Cardoza started the mission) had to tell the family. The family went to Peru to bring back the body. I don't really know much, but I do know that Elder Cardoza is in a really good place. I have no doubt that there is a place especially for him in the celestial kingdom. But, even still I can't imagine how hard that must be for the family and for the members in Peru...the other missionaries...his companion. No I can't even imagine. Please keep Elder Cardoza's family in your prayers:)

Well...sorry to end on a sad note...but it made me think of all the things in the world that can happen. Every single day we have here is a gift from God. It's too bad that it sometimes takes something as awful as the death of a missionary to make us realize that. I'm so thankful to know that God has a plan for us and that we can all be together forever if we live the gospel and endure to the end. What a promise! Go to church every sunday...read your scriptures...pray!

I love you all so much! Thanks for all your love and support! Have a fantastic week! And please...I know ya'll miss me like crazy and can't wait for me to come home but would you PLEASE STOP PRAYING FOR THE TIME TO SPEED UP! I really need it to slow down!  Hahaha...not cool, friends. Not cool. Anyway...on that note. Have a great week. Mom...happy argentine mothers day. Matthew...errr Elder Heath...keep up the good work in Texas. You're doing a great job! Kim...keep "studying" hard in spanish class (in other words...keep sending me emails;) haha) and Dad...I got you a reference for the office! One of the hermanas is gonna go visit you in the office when she finishes the mission....in December! I just happened to have one of your business cards in my wallet so I gave it to her...I might be a little biased but I told her it was the best way to go:) Emily...just keep being awesome...and as for the craig-meister? GO FAINTING GOATS!! Haha:)  I love you all! Hugs and kisses from Argentina! Have a great week! Woah...I just looked at the date on the corner of my screen...October 13! I can't believe it...we're already starting week 4 of this transfer! Only 3 more weeks in Caleta Olivia :( ohhh...and one last thought...a really exciting one! Remember Maxi? That kid that got baptized in July? Welp...he wants to go on a mission. Kill me. Just kill me. He melts my heart every day of my life. He's totally gonna go on a mission. He already talked with the branch president...all he has to do is wait to get the year of member and he's gone! He even comes to mission prep classes occassionaly:) OH MY GOSH! I love the mission. I love it so much. Okay...so goodbye for reals this time. Chau chau!! :)

Forever and always,

Hermana Heath