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

Dear Diary: Today Pte Heyman called the whole ward to repentance...

You bet. Just another day out here doing the work. First of all. Someone tell Lor and Justin I said Happy late anniversary! Their letter is in the mail. Or in their hands I´m not sure. Secondly, Guess who will plan on getting a job in real estate when she gets home? This girl. WE FOUND ANOTHER PENSION AND ALL THE FURNITURE FOR IT IN 24 HOURS AGAIN. We got a call Monday night and the office asked us if everything was set up for the elders yet. Our reply? "say whaaaa???" That´s right. So off we went bright and early to go out and knock doors and say "Hi! do you know of any places that are for rent?" worst thing ever. People are surprisingly really nice when you are talking them about a place to live instead of their salvation. Go figure. Anyways after a few people we found a BEAUTIFUL place. And it was perfect because we heard President Heyman would be coming Saturday so we sealed the deal. Friday we went on divisiones! I went with Hna Johansen again. I really am grateful for her. She loves this work so much and it´s admirable. We walked up to a couple families outside sippin their mate and shared with them The Restoration. They were all so surprised we were so far from home without our moms. Trust me lady if I could I would have my mom with me. Thanks. But then they wanted to see our moms and I whipped out my little photo album and it has pictures of me with my friends in it and they looked at THE WHOLE THING: Ask me how I explained Six Flags because I have no idea. Hermana Fala and Hermano Francisco got married today :) We all got together for some delicious cake and I kept saying his name like Elf. It was grand. Saturday our dear Elders came. Elder Leon and Elder Fiabonie. They are really great! It´s real nice to be able to have them here so we can have more priesthood in the rama. Pte. Heyman came today and we had a few meetings with him. And then we went with him all over Bella Vista to sign contracts and stuff. That´s right. I rode in an actual car that day that smelled like "New Car Smell" It was weird. We got stuck waiting with him at an appointment and he whipped out his Ipad and showed us all of the pictures from when his wife had her accident. The way he talks about her is seriously true love. It´s beautiful. He´s really great. That was pretty much my day. Driving with President. SUNDAY. Are you ready? So Gisela and Sergio have been a wonderful family. They are the ones who watched all of conference by themselves. So awesome. THEY CAME TO CHURCH TODAY! They left after sacrament because it was Mother’s day here.(Happy Mother’s day mom from Argentina) But they came! When Pte Heyman was in our ward! What luck. It was a blessing. Here is the bombshell. So we have a lot of problems with a lot of the ward not respecting Pte. in the rama. Turns out there are a lot of people here who just are not that cool. whatevs. But Pte got called to be the stake president and FRANCISCO IS OUR NEW PRESIDENT! Francisco married Fala on Friday. They have been "dating" for a while now but he lived in Corrientes Capital. Now he is here, married, and Branch president in a matter of 3 days. What a life. He is the sweetest little man. A lot of people had a problem with that too. So then.. (Here comes the big guns). Pte. Heyman got up to speak to us and spoke about pretty much how everyone needs to grow up and respect their leaders because if not, they are not respecting the prophet himself. He laid it out. It was very stern and strict, but with love. ha-ha It was really great. Just not really what we wanted to be the inspired topic for the first week Gisela and Sergio came. But we´ll take it. I was playing the piano after sacrament and Pte. Heyman came up behind me and said "Dear diary, today Pte Heyman called the whole branch to repentance. The end" He said that if Hermana Heyman called looking for him in a few hours, tell her that some people just didn´t like what he had to say. It was seriously so funny but I´m glad he did it. It really is so true though. If we aren´t respecting the leaders of our church we are not respecting the revelation from the Lord. The gospel is very black and white. Then good old Relief Society. Somehow this lady literally went off about how going on missions isn´t a sacrifice like how it was in the pioneer times. And how sister missionaries don´t do as much work as elders do because they are scared of the dark. Thankfully we had Viki Duarte there who pretty much said, "That was the stupidest thing you have ever said, you try serving a mission" (she served a mission as well) But it was literally a huge attack on the sister missionaries and I just sat there wanting to die. But luckily afterward I was able to do some studies and I got some spiritual up-lifted from that. ha-ha I´m hoping that with this week that there will be changes in our ward. We really need their help and I know that the changes will be good. I am so grateful for the leaders we have in our church and I know that they are all called of God. Last night was a huge storm and our power went out and I woke up melting because it was over 90 degrees in our room! Yay! Also the sky was on fire because of all the lightning. I thought we were going to die. No worry. Power came on a few hours ago. I also killed a huge cockroach again with a weight. Watch out bugs. I love you all. The Church is TRUE. Love Hermana Healey

"Well I don't personally eat blood"

That´s right. That is the line of my week, but I will get to that in a moment. 

This week was pretty difficult to say the least. But there were a lot of firsts that is for sure! 

Starting out with Monday, We had a day of miracles. It´s true. Hermana Allred and Johansen had a conference in Resistencia, so I stayed with Hermana Lund. We both knew that Heavenly Father knew we needed a day of happiness, and that is what he gave us. We had 4 lessons right in a row! All just clapping. Nothing else! We felt like we needed to clap at 4 doors and they all let us in for lessons. THAT NEVER HAPPENS HERE. They were all very nice but the nicest was Diana. We shared the Restoration with her and she loved it. She is dying to be baptized. Only problem is she lives in Resistencia. Awesome. There you go Hermanas in Resistencia, here is an angel. But we were grateful for that night of milagros. 

Tuesday we had our meeting in Goya. For some reason the meetings after consejo always go for like 4 or 5 hours I swear. And they are supposed to be only like 2. But whatever. So we missed the bus again. But we were also doing divisiones with the hermanas there. So I left my sweet Hermana Allred there and Hermana Johansen came home with Hermana Froerer. Which means another lovely day with Hermana Lund! The bus rides home are always the best for story time. I just sit there and laugh the whole way home all the time. I would rather be working in BV, but laughing is always good too. 

Wednesday. Happy birthday my sweet Ridster! Your card is late but I love you bud! We had lunch with a woman in our ward who is almost in her 70´s. She fences, and sings opera. Enough said. She told us SHE IS GETTING MARRIED. In like a week. No big deal. We are all so happy for her because she has been praying and fasting so that she could meet someone but it didn´t happen until now. But it´s happening! She is happy and I just know that this marriage is going to make some changes here in BV. I know it. But I´ll tell you more when I know for sure. But it gives me hope that love does find a way. Even if you fence and sing opera. Not judging, she´s wicked awesome. 

Anyways we go out to work and literally I felt like I was going to die. I would look at a tree and see 3 of them. And I felt like I was having contractions or whatever those baby pains are. Haven´t had them yet but I was positive those were them! Anyways this day sucked. The only thing that kept me moving was Hermana Lund quoting Gilmore Girls for me the entire day. 

Thursday. That´s right, Hermana Healey is sicker than a dog. I was given the liquid only diet for 12 hours and then the BRAT diet. And yeah. I thought I was going to die. To make it worse, it was my SIXTH MONTH MARK! And I was miserable. 

Friday. Entrevistas with President and Hermana Heyman! I was still wanting to die but it was good to be able to talk to them and learn. I asked President probably 8 questions. And the questions I have that will torture me until I die were answered like this "Well Hermana Healey I want you to study in D&C and then let me know." But Pte. is so wise. He answered my questions and helped me so much. I am so grateful for them I love them so much. 

Saturday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLEE!!!! You are so great. Your card is super late. Today we went out and it was better. I felt really weak but I was able to eat a burger. That´s right. My first real Argentine Burger. With an egg on it. Not sure why but it was delicious. We also saw the Argentine Joseph Gordon Levitt. Robin. 

We are also doing a t shirt for our zone here in Goya. And they want us to make up nicknames. Which we all know I rock at. Here are some of my favs... 

Johansen= Johandsdrawpictures.... she´s an artist so it´s perfect.

Muentes= Miniminutemuentes.... she´s like 5 feet tall.

Froerer= it is pronounced as such (froher) so I said froereroverthebridge... It is of course a joke but I couldn´t pass it up.

Ulloa= pronounced (ooshowa) so I said ulloagoodtime. 

I know I am a genius. 

Sunday we had like stake conference in Goya. But it´s District conference here. Pte. and Hermana Heyman were there and both gave beautiful talks. There was a family of at least 9 kids there and they got up and sang a song and I named them the Vantrap family. 

And now here is the moment you have all been waiting for.. 

So we went and saw Luciano. He is the kid who speaks perfect english and loves that we are from the US. Anyways, we went back and he had so many questions about where in the Book of Mormon does it talk about Christs birth, or his crucifiction, and stuff like that. So we are telling him and it´s really funny because he´ll ask us stuff in english and we teach him in Spanish. But when Hermana Allred talks to him in English she literally yells at him and talks really slow like he is dumb. She doesn´t mean to at all! She literally talks 30 words a minute so it´s hard for her. It´s hilarious. But here is our convo with him...

Luciano: I have a question about your foooot.

Us: Huh?

Luciano: Fooot?

H.Allred: OUR FEET?

Luciano: stuff...you...eat...

Me: Oh! FooD! 

Luciano: Yes, can you...eat...whatever...you..want?

Us: Yeah! 

L: pig?

Us: yes.

L: blood?

H. Allred: WELL PERSONALLY I DON¨T EAT BLOOD.

I laughed so hard. It was probably really innapropriate. But I lost it. It was probably the highlight of my week. He has the best questions ever. 

Anyways I love you all. I am really grateful to serve here in BV. And one day things will make sense here :) 

All my love,
Hermana Healeywhodoesn´teatblood.

How does it feel knowing that a representative of Jesus Christ is e-mailing you right now‏

This week was one of the longest weeks of my life.

Transfer news! Still in Bella Vista; still with Hermana Allred; I´m really so grateful for that. I know that we are still starting out and trying to build it up here so I´m glad that we are here together. 

Hermana Hernandez and Hermana Johansen left the nest. So Hermana Allred and I have the pension all to ourselves! It is so weird only the two of us there. But we are making it homier :)

We went to get a girl F*** for church on Sunday. She´s so cute and so great and the last time we were with her she was telling us all this crazy stuff. She went off about how she doesn´t smoke or drink or party (cha-ching!) but then she was rambling for like thirty minutes and ended her spat with ¨well it´s okay because God is only a spirit¨ okay. Let´s start from the very beginning (a very nice place to start!) So we went to get her for church on Sunday and her family was outside and F*** never came home that night! They were in a panic. We didn´t know what to do. We went back later and found out she had been with a friend. So don´t worry she´s safe. But still, she might not be able to talk to us for awhile because she is probably grounded for life. 

                                                                                     

Friday we had lunch with a family here who tells everyone they’re fat so… that was awesome.  Later we went out with a member and she took us to see her friends and they sat and talked about how terrible America is and in my head I kept singing “I´m proud to be an American” there is plenty I can say about here but I don’t. It is always quite the challenge for me.

We went to visit a lady on the less active list named E***  S***. She is really the sweetest thing. And she has beautiful teeth. Her daughter died a couple years ago and she started to raise her granddaughter. She now has serious depression and can´t leave her house. But she loves getting visits. She said that morning she was praying to get a visit from the missionaries because it had been about 5 years since her last visit. She feels so alone and it´s really a good topic for a missionary to study because hello! But we were able to share some scriptures in D&C from when Joseph was in the jail. She is the most loving person here. 

We had a conference for the missionaries who are new to the mission yesterday. It was really good to be able to see Hermana Elton and Hermana Phillips and all those great missionaries. I went with Hermana Lund! She just got here and she is so sweet. Hermana Hernandez left for Resistencia and we got this cute girl from SLC. Love it. I learned so much at this conference though. There is a lot that I know I need to do better as a missionary, I was really grateful to hear this conference! 

I love that General Conference is coming up! I can´t wait to see beautiful Salt Lake! I know that we can all receive answers in conference this week if we look for them! 

I love you all and I know one day I´ll have cooler e-mails. But until that time thanks for the love :)

Love Hermana Healey 

Dead or Alive?

We play this game called Dead or Alive when we pass dogs lying down in the middle of nowhere every day. And most of them are alive. we hope.. 

This week was a week of STRESS! Listen here and ask me if this is usual.. 

Monday: Hermanas Conference. In Resistencia all day! It was a long day. We woke up for our bus at around 3 and then we didn´t get home until 9 at night. But it´s okay because I got a rose and a salad.

Tuesday: District meeting in Goya, left for the bus at about noon. Had district meeting and then MISSED OUR BUS. Yay! The bus for BV was at 4 and someone said there would be another one at 4 30 but no. The next bus for BV was at 6 30. That´s right! Spent the day in Goya with the Hermanas there. We got home at 9. 

Wednesday: Going so well! We are out finding people and working hard. At 4 we get a phone call from the mission office telling us that we had to find a new place to live for missionaries by tomorrow morning. And find all of the stuff for a place to live, fridge, stove, shelves, plates, the whole shibang. Because Pte. doesn´t like that there are 4 people to one pension. I don´t understand why not either so don´t ask me. So we have no idea how to do that! We called some of the members and Pte Gimenez knew of one. So we went with him to this whole in the wall place where this lady is doing a radio station talk show thing. We go in there not knowing what is about to happen and she literally sits us down and puts us on the radio. THATS RIGHT. I WAS ON THE RADIO. It´s also online and she gave us the address so I´ll find that for you mom. But we literally had no idea what was happening and I wanted to die. Turns out this lady owns a place. We looked at it and it was literally smaller than a box. So no. We went home empty.

Thursday: We needed a house by 1. So we woke up and literally just found apartments and knocked on random doors to find out if they know anything. We were so lost and had no idea what to do. We then went and found out prices for fridges and all that jazz. We found one finally! Ask me how because I have no idea. It was in the price range and it is perfect. We called and bought it right on the spot. That´s right. We bought and furnished a house in less than 24 hours. 

And then everything else really I have no idea. But it was really hard because we literally had 4 days where we didnt have time to work in our areas. It was really hard to have to move appointments around and try to get back into the swing of things. And I mean I´m famous now because I was on the radio so feel my pain. 

Anyways this week was really hard but I am hoping that everything will be back to normal this week! 

Friday I went on exchanges with Hermana Hernandez. We met the cutest little old man. His wife had passed away 3 years ago and the day before, someone had broken into his house and stole almost everything he had. He was devestated. We were able to share with him the plan of salvation. He started to cry when we said that we knew that he would be able to be with her again. I love teaching the plan of salvation because everytime I do my testimony of it grows. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for every single one of us. And that we will be together forever. I´m so grateful for that knowledge. 

We had a missionary activity! And the kids came out with us to invite people to church to be like missionaries! People loved it. We need our own portable children to help us teach. it really helps. 

Love you all, 

Love Hermana Healey 

I have arrived. it´s true! I´m in Bella vista so you´ll have to tell me where that is because i have no idea! haha i don´t have much time I wish i did! but for now i will just tell you a few highlights of my week! 

My companion is hermana allred! another utahn from salt lake! she is super awesome. she went to the U and every time she says something about school I always say ¨my friend Sami is on crimson line´ She´s probably like... yeah...got it. haha anyways she is a sister trainer leader here and is really good. and is suuuuuppppppeeeeerrrr good at castellano. so that´s good. i´ll learn a lot from her i just know it. 

I think I was super duper spoiled going to Kentucky first and having a full time car and just being super cool. we´re here pretty much opening this area. we live with two other hermanas they are pretty cool. our pension was super uber gross. we have been cleaning hard core for like 4 days straight. I also killed the biggest cockroach i have ever seen in my entire life. remember the ones we saw in Kentucky Sister Rich? yeah those were cute compared to this honker. I screamed and cried. Anyways we usually walk 3,000 miles a day I swear. our area is huge. our branch is a branch of 90 and only 30 are active. slap me in the face. so we are doing more ¨rescue¨which is good I know we will find the best investigators with members. 

Also, on the longest plane ride here guess what played on the tv? that´s right The Great Gatsby. Hermana Elton had to comfort me and wipe away my tears.

Mom thank you so much for putting me in piano even though I hated my life. seriously. I love being able to say "I can play the new piano that they bought when they dedicated the building but couldn´t play it ever so it was put away because no one plays piano!" Needless to say I was called as pianist in our baby rama. But no... Hermana Healey needs another calling... How about second counselor for the Relief Society?? sounds good to me. It´ll force me to learn more castellano fast. so I´m terrified...but happy.

Last night we were in that awkward 20 minutes before we had to be back so we were walking around like zombies and my feet were super mad at me and hate me and I was miserable- but we clapped at this house (you don´t knock doors here) and this 17 year old boy opened the door and let us in because he LOVES missionaries. and Americans. haha he is learning english but we taught him the restoration and he would like to hear more. his name is Luciano and is pretty awesome. His mom cuts hair and I trust her with my life already hence, I´ll trust her with my hair. hair cut for me palease. But Luciano is super cool. he also wanted a picture with us before we left and added us on FB so mom...take care of that. haha 

I´m in the beautiful Bella Vista and I´m surviving now. haha I know I´m just a big baby but I do know that the Lord will take care of me! I am so excited to be able to be here and share this message that I love all day erry day. 

I love you all and know that God will take care of you because I´m asking Him to :)

Love Hermana Healey