SCORPION

Yep. The day has come. I killed a scorpion. The other night Hermana Allred was brushing her teeth and I was writing in my journal already in bed, when out of nowhere I hear her yelling. I instantly reach for something to kill a spider. I run in there and she is so mad. She is furious, and our hand towel is in the sink. That´s right. When she was about to wipe off her mouth after brushing her teeth she looked at the towel and saw a pink thing with legs. IT WAS A SCORPION. Granted it isn´t black and huge like I imagined, but stil, I killed a scorpion. I first tried drowning it in this bowl thing. That didn´t work. Then we drowned it with Clorox. And then flushed it. And yes of course I still am so terrified that it will come back alive and crawl out of that toilet and sting me one day. So we have been visiting a less active family, the Farias family. They have been less active for quite a while. The dad sometimes goes and his daughter Pamela who is 8. NO ONE KNEW SHE WASNT BAPTIZED. That´s right. She isn´t. And she wants to really bad. But her parents really haven´t done anything about it so it´s weird. But we have been visiting her and teaching her all the lessons because she turns 9 in like 6 days. And her baptism date is planned for the 30. So let’s all pray that her parents don’t go crazy and that this actually happens! She is such a handful but adorable at the same time. We walked to church with her because her dad didn´t want to go this week and she sang with us One Direction the entire way. She´s wonderful. But we are hoping that everything goes well for her baptism on the 30th. Right now her parents are okay with it but we feel like we are walking on egg shells with them. Tomorrow we have a multi zone conference with the missionaries from here in Corrientes and another place! I´m really excited to spend the day in Resistencia tomorrow and learn more. We have a really awesome investigator named Vanesa, she really is so great. She didn´t come to church again on Sunday which is so heart breaking but she is still progressing and doing so well. She has amazing questions and everything just clicks and makes sense to her! She just NEEDS TO GO TO CHURCH. Carlos and Graciela are really awesome as well! They aren´t married, just live together and no desire to get married soon because she thinks she is too young. Their situation is really difficult but they are so great. They are both Catholic and everything we teach they are understanding and saying how it makes so much more sense than the ways in the Catholic Church. They both are teachers, and Carlos is so intelligent. Every time he opens his mouth he says "Una pregunta" And I swear we both catch our breath and expect the worst. But then when we answer his questions he talks about how much it makes sense and of course Heavenly Father would do things this way! It´s really great when they catch on and truly listen and understand; we just have to get them married first. Ha! No pressure. Next week is Thanksgiving? No way. Love Hermana Healey

"As if I´m not already a freak, let´s add a sombrero!"‏

Princess Diaries, with a twist of my life. It has been getting so hot here! And my tan lines are RIDICULOUS. And everyone has told us to get some sombreros. I immediately think of a huge hat from like La Casita or something. haha But no. An investigator (who has so much money it´s insane) just gave us two of her hats! They are really nice because it blocks the sun from my quickly aging face. But it draws so much more attention to me. I´ll send a picture one day... maybe. Transfers.... I stayed! I think it´s my calling in life to stay in places for very long periods of time. I swear, it´s really really unusual here in this mission to stay in an area with the same companion for 3 transfers. But there must be a reason for it right? Right! This week, not a lot happened really. We were flipping out about transfers for a very long time and then afterward we were in shock. haha Yesterday we called Mirta to see if she was going to be able to go to church and she told us "Impossible" And we thought she meant because of her son who has a lot of problems... No. It was because her other son hates us pretty much and forbids his mom to ever let us in again. First of all, who forbids their parents to do anything? Crazy. It is really sad because I know that this gospel could have helped her so much. During our consejo with our branch president Pte. Diaz, he is just so sweet and little and old! He just listens to us talk about all of our investigators and doesn´t talk much. So that´s where our elders takes charge of the meetings and Pte is just there just because pretty much. But he is this skinny little adorable man. Do you want to picture him? He is literally the little old man that fixes Woody in Toy Story 2. Anyways we are sitting there listening and I look over at Presidente and he is trying to get my attention and then rolls up his sleeve and shows off his cute little muscle. I DIED LAUGHING. It was the most adorable thing I had ever seen. We were laughing so hard and the elders were mad because we were goofing off. But who cares? Presidente Diaz showed off his guns in our meeting. I don´t think I have ever described The Siesta to you good folks yet. A missionary does a lot of walking around in a place like this being guided by the spirit and finding those who are prepared. To be able to do our job, we need the prepared... to be awake. The Siesta here in Argentina is this basically, everyone here wakes up at 8 and opens their shops. They work very very very hard until 12. Then they CLOSE EVERYTHING FOR THEIR NAP TIME UNTIL 4 OR 5! And everyone literally sleeps. We walk through the city and it´s as if we have landed into the movie I Am Legend. I feel like I need Will Smith and a trusty pup by my side. NO ONE EXISTS FOR 5 HOURS of the day. It´s really the most ridiculous thing of my life. And everyone gets mad if you clap at their door because it´s their nap time. Lazy. And the worst part is that they think it´s that way everywhere!!!!! I love seeing their faces when I explain to them that people from my country actually work 9 to 5 shifts, that 8 to 10 hour shifts aren´t that crazy. It´s literally so ridiculous. I would also like to announce that I am finally in the same country as Justin Bieber again. He did a show in Buenos Aires Sunday night and everyone has had Bieber fever this week. I have heard the song Baby more than I have ever heard before. But! This knowledge and love that I have for this pop star singer (don´t judge me) has helped us more than ever in our work here in BV. Saturday day we clapped at a door and this girl Vanessa opened the door and asked us to come in right before we had a chance to introduce ourselves. She had said she had met with missionaries before and liked what she had heard. She said that that morning one of her best friends died in a moto accident and she needed help and comfort. We knew then we were led there by the spirit to help her. We taught her Plan of Salvation- love this lesson so much- and she said "I have something from your church is there somewhere I can read?" and we were thinking it was the Bible or just a little booklet thing, she came out with The Book of Mormon! We were really excited because she said she was for sure coming to church Sunday. We talked to her in the morning and she said she was getting ready, but she never came. It´s so hard when they don´t come to church! But her little sister didn´t really think we were cool until we told her that we love Justin Bieber. Now she wants to take the lessons as well! Thanks JB. Anyways she was our little miracle of the week! We hope that we can get her to church for sure on Sunday! Well I love you all and I love my mission. I´m still here in BV for a reason! Let´s hope that we find out why soon! I hope you all have a wonderful week and get ready for the wonderful holidays that are coming up! xoxo Hermana Healey

RAIN

That´s right, it rained. And not anything cute like oh hey it rained! IT RAINED. It really wasn´t even that bad but you better believe I looked like a mop running around outside. So on Friday, it was about 90 something degrees. I was on divisions with Hermana Johansen, we were working in her area and had a lot of set visits so it was pretty exciting. We are teaching this woman, and all of a sudden winds pick up and it´s freezing. We are in the forest part so trees and branches are swaying and I feel like it´s a tornado. So we cut the lesson short because everyone is starting to go inside their houses. Hermana and I are starting to walk back home; INSTANT RAINFALL. Literally I thought I was being followed around by a man with a bucket of never ending cold water. I was drenched; and cold; and gross. But the work must go on! The power went out all over Bella Vista so that was fun. No one would let us in either but oh well. So yeah - RAIN! That morning we had a lunch with a less active family. We are eating outside and this man comes up to their house and wants to get a fridge from Hermano Rojas. Yeah a fridge. I don´t know I just kept eating. They have two adorable boys. Maximus he is 4 and Simon who is 2. We are sitting and talking to Hermana Rojas and all of a sudden she interrupts the spiritual thought and starts yelling at Maximus, we look over. THE CHILD IS HOLDING THE HEAD OF A GOAT! That´s right; the head of a goat, by its horns. Now I want you all to picture Bam Bam from the Flinstones before he has his haircut. Blonde curly long hair=Maximus. So picture Bam Bam holding a goats head because he thinks it´s funny. I almost screamed – I was terrified. That night when we switched back we had a Noche de Hogar with the familia Duarte. They are such an amazing strong family. We were there and they made us BROWNIES. Do you know the last time I had a brownie? I don’t even know! It was delicious. And perfect for such a cold and stormy day. It´s come to me that every day is a miracle here on the mission. Yeah it´s hard, but every hard day we are reminded why we are here. This week was filled with heartbreak, tears, frustration, but also, pure joy, hope and peace. We finally found Gisela and Sergio. They had been traveling and we haven’t been able to see them since they went to church and our mission president called everyone to repentance. (Which was great!) It really was important to be done in our branch, and we have seen such a difference with our members. But unfortunately Gisela explained to us that it scared them. They are scared to go to our church, immediate heartbreak. She said that she is content with her religion, she´s comfortable. I hate that. But she said that maybe with time there will be a change. Right then I had a stab of discouragement because I thought it was over with this beautiful family. I didn´t know how to react what to say. So we just testified. She told us that Sergio, who hardly ever does commitments, and is always leaving during our lessons, is reading the Book of Mormon. Pure joy. Right there I knew that there was hope. I knew that that tender mercy from the Lord was telling us to not give up, just work a bit harder. We have a new investigator named Mirta. When Mirta was 11 years old her father passed away. Her mom hit the liquor pretty hard after that. Mirta raised herself, and her 6 brothers and sisters. One of whom is deaf and can´t speak. When she was 14 she met a man and they loved each other. They had 3 children. Their youngest is Gabriel who is 25. Gabriel can´t walk, can´t speak, can´t see. He is 25, but is about 1 years old. 20 days ago her abusive husband left her to raise Gabriel alone. Right now it´s not my point to sound dramatic or be a downer on the day, it´s more of a ‘Hey!, our lives are hard. But you gotta keep your head up.’ Last night we had a lesson with Mirta and taught her about The Plan of Salvation. When we got to resurrection she leaned over and held Gabriel and cried because she knows he will be perfect. The spirit was so strong and I love Mirta so much. Her patience and love is so Christ-like, you know that she is a choice spirit. She is a strong daughter chosen to take care of this angel. Yeah days are hard. I get it. I am so grateful though that I have the knowledge of why this life is worth living. I love you all and I know that with faith comes hope for better days. xoxo Hermana Healey P.s. Transfers are this week. I have a huge feeling I´m leaving but my DL thinks he is psychic and says I´m not so we will see. I´ll let you know what happens next week.

Tarantulas and Scorpions

Last Monday after I had a jolly good time writing you lovely people, Hermana Allred and I were out preaching the gospel. On our way home we walked by this cute little shop that was selling sheets! I peeped my head in by the window to see if there were any cheap cute ones.. because I would like some new sheets of course.. and Hermana Allred is standing by the wall. All of a sudden I hear a gasp and she jumps into my arms. Ladies and gents. A huge, the ugliest, tarantula. That is right. That doesn´t even look like the word but the biggest hairiest tarantula I have ever seen. That night they also told us the scorpions will be out and about sooner than later. Ask me how many times I have to drop a weight on a cockroach, how am I supposed to kill a scorpion in my house? Sunday was a lot better luckily this week. I think the smack down from President really made everyone think about their behavior and want to be better. Church was better and I actually left spiritually uplifted this week! Something that I haven´t felt in a long time. Today, our new Pres. and the Elders went through training on how to run the ward pretty much. So Hermana Allred was in charge of teaching the Sunday school for adults and guess who taught the teenagers? That´s right. This girl. It really wasn´t bad they were all participating and were really nice to me so I think it went well. They all guessed that I was 19. Thank you children. Friday I went on divisions with Hermana Johansen again. This time we worked in my area. It was a long hot day but we had a lot of success! We were practically run down by a less active a few weeks ago and she wanted us to come see her on Friday so we went with a member! haha We brought Mara, who is getting ready for her own mission! We are so blessed to have her. We walk up and clap at her gate and her daughter comes and lets us in and we go into her house and she leads us to the bedroom..yikes!.. This Hermana is laying in her bed with a deathly illness! JK but she really wouldn´t even sit up or anything. She just kept begging for help from the scriptures. uhhh. Okay. So I pop out a scripture, I don´t remember which one really. It was great she loved it. I bore my testimony about how much of an impact my mom has made on me and about how there would be no way I would be able to do this without my mom. She was kind of surprised but after Mara bore her testimony as well we knew that we had done all that Heavenly Father wanted us to do. She wasn´t at church again this week but hopefully something changes. I was just happy I felt the spirit talk through me and that I had done what Heavenly Father wanted me to do. It´s crazy how many situations we go through where we have no idea what the word is or where that is in the scriptures and the answer just comes! I know that I am an instrument for the Lord and I only have this time to do what I can for him. Kylee Healey, Happy birthday my sweetheart. Your day landed on my 200 day! So we had chocolate milk and grilled cheese in yours and my honor. haha Well the church is true. And I miss you all with all my heart. Love always, Hermana Healey