Merry Christmas Eve!!

Since yesterday we had our big party in Resistencia, one of our Christmas presents is being able to email today! Thank you to the moms who e mailed and complained :) I am still in Bella Vista.... But now instead of Bella Vista 1, I AM IN BELLA VISTA 2. Seriously I thought it was a cruel joke. But no, I am still here, but now I am taking over Hermana Johansen and Hermana Lund´s area. With.... A DAUGHTER. That´s right. Your baby has a baby. She is really nice! Her name is Hermana Petersen and she is from Idaho! She has about 7 months on her mission and she was serving in Washington this whole time!!! (Vancouver Washington Kate, I know I was hoping Tacoma as well) She is wonderful and brilliant and already knows everything so it is really nice! She is just having a hard time at getting used to the hot... and not the beautiful winter snow she was in about 3 days ago. haha We are now living in a new pension so that´s weird. It´s a lot smaller and there are all of these things that I want to fix... Like the bathroom door pretty much doesn´t exist so that´s exciting. But I will take care of it. ha We haven´t been able to work in our area together yet but we will today! So far I know that there is 2 investigators. So it´s better than nothing!!! I was serving with Hermana Allred and Johansen in my old area all last week and that was just plain torture. I miss Vanesa and her family and all of our investigators. Oh well, I´m going on an adventure! -Bilbo Baggins Everyone keeps telling me happy holidays and I keep forgetting tomorrow is Christmas.. that is so sad. One of the days when I was working with Hermana Jo and Hermana Allred we went on a "tour" of my new area. We went out and visited the Familia Vargas. The mom is Betti, and she and her man have 7 kids. And they aren´t married. But two of the 7 just got baptized and literally Betti is more active then the members in our church. She wants to be baptized so bad bur her man... (I don´t really know what to call him) doesn´t want to get married... shoot me in the face. It´s really so sad. But we´ll find a way. I refuse to leave here with out baptizing Betti. So yes, my Lundy Lou is gone! She is in Santa Fe right now. But it was so great to see her yesterday and hermana Elton and all of our friends! Yesterday was really great. Fine, I will play along, it´s Christmas. I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas day!!! Our Savior loves us so much and this is the day when we can remember Him and what Christmas really is all about. I love you all and I hope you spend lots of time with the ones you love! Merry Christmas! Love Hermana Healey

Gobble Gobble

Happy Turkey Week! (Sorry I am late with this one - my bad!) I don´t even think turkey exists here, and if I so, I don´t know if I would want it. But that just means you all better have a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast. Let me take you back to last Tuesday. So last Monday it was hotter than heck. I swear. I died. I´m dead right now. But that night, it rained so hard. The other Hermanas slept over in our pension because we all had to catch our bus at 3 in the morning. So we were sleeping and I just kept feeling something fall on my head and I, being freaked out because of Argentina, was so sure it was falling cockroaches. I kept touching my head and feeling nothing. But it was enough to wake me up at 12:50. Awesome. And the storm was going insane! Our house was being lit up by the lightning outside and the thunder was so loud. It felt like I was in a carwash it was so loud. So I try to go back to sleep and it happens again! This time more than once! I look up... IT WAS RAINING ON MY HEAD. Yep. WE have a leak. Right above my bed. I freaked out and woke up Hermana Allred and then we couldn´t fall back asleep. We got on our bus and all of the missionaries from Goya and Bella Vista were put together so that was nice. But it was 3 a.m. so we were all sleeping. Then all of a sudden I wake up and Hermana Lund is sleeping in front of us with her umbrella covering her head because there was a leak on the bus as well. haha So we all got rained on this week. Thought I would share that with you all because I was so mad. We had the opportunity to do service this week! We were pulling weeds and raking and cleaning up around the capilla. The church grounds are so big because they might expand the building if we keep getting more to come. So we were cleaning that out and I got to wear jeans. I know. Weird for me too. We were with the other hermanas, the elders, and the Pte of the district Pte Gimenez. AND HE KEPT FINDING COCKROACHES AND THROWING THEM AT ME! I´m not lying he is a child. A six year old boy. I screamed and ran and wanted to die. I had one on my back. ON MY BACK. But it was really great to be able to do service here. We haven´t been able to do service here because no one ever lets us do it. haha But it was so nice to be able to clean up the grounds for the Lords church! Vanessa didn´t come to church on Sunday. It was really disappointing. We were really counting on her and we thought she really meant it this time. But she didn´t. It´s hard when they don´t come. BUT! Adriana came! All on her own! We called her that morning and she said she would try and she did! She really is progressing and we think she is genuine in her desire to be baptized. The only problem is she is not married and she is living with her boyfriend right now. She really wants to get married but we don´t know if he does. We went over chastity to her and like 20 of her family members, which was the most intimidating moment of my life, but they all took it well! It made sense to all of them! She said she wants to talk to him about getting hitched sometime soon. We hope it happens sooner than later! But she loved church! She is so awesome. Speaking of the Sabbath, So I gave a talk in sacrament on Sunday about the importance of Every Member a Missionary. I tried my best. haha I told them the story about how before we were members we went to look at the temple lights and that same night was when Steve was talking about our family in stake conference, then the next day Steve, the bishopric, and the missionaries came to our house! I talked about how the ward was always so willing to help our family and it helped a lot with our conversion. Now imagine this with me if you will. I am talking and I reach for my scriptures, and I look down. A HUGE SPIDER IS ON MY BOOK OF MORMON. I can´t freak out! Everyone is looking at me! So my mouth drops and my eyes widen and I am screaming inside. The spider then JUMPS on my talk, and I don´t even remember if I was still talking or if I was laughing. I think I was being inappropriate and laughing, and I kept trying to get Elder Fiabanes attention to kill it for me. He finally got why I was panicked and killed it. But then I finished my talk with poise. Afterward everyone laughed. Oh well. I guess that´s what I get for being terrified of the creepy crawlies. Pamela didn´t come to church with us on Sunday. It´s hard because she is the only one in her huge family who ever wants to go! So I´m sure she gets sad and then doesn´t go because her family isn´t there. But I hope that she can go next week and keeps going after her baptism! It´s still planned for the 7th! So everyone pray that this happens. I didn´t get to write yesterday because it was a holiday here in Argentina. And they pretty much closed the entire city down! It´s like this, Hey Salt Lake City! It´s Martin Luther King Jr Day so we´re closing everything. Have a good time in your homes bored out of your mind! For any reason, any holiday, they close everything in the world. But whatever! I´m definitely missing home around this time of the year! Hermana Lunds mom sent her spice cookie mix so we made some pumpkin spice cookies yesterday! They tasted just like home! There is so much I am thankful for and I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Love always, Hermana Healey

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS!

Not!!! So it sounds like everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner! I´m so happy to hear that. We had training in Goya on Wednesday and we are the luckiest zone in the mission to have the only senior couple! We had a wonderful feast! We had some chicken, so at least it was still a bird, gravy, corn, rolls, and chips and salsa. And because Hermana McCoy knows how much I love salsa, she pulled me aside before we ate and told me she made me an extra batch to take home! It was a Thanksgiving miracle! I was so happy! It´s gone now so that´s sad. We also got t-shirts for the zone! My nickname is Happy Healey. You better believe I´m the happiest person here! Paul Walker died? In a car accident? Ironic. We saw Gisella and Sergio again this week. Remember them? We haven´t seen them for a few weeks but we felt like we should drop in so we did! Luckily they were home! It was really great to see them! I really love them so much. She said she would get baptized on the 28 of December if she knows that is what Heavenly Father wants. It´s hard because I swear everyone is expecting these big signs that light up and spin and say "Gisella! Be baptized! Okay?" I guess that is what I have to work on more is to help people to realize that we just don´t get those types of answers sometimes. haha But she really is so sweet. Our sweet Pamela came to church with us again on Sunday! She had a good time too! It was pouring rain and we were scared that no one would be at the chapel. But we had a lot of people there actually! And it was a really good testimony meeting! A lot more people bore their testimony than the usual 6 of us missionaries. haha But Pamela had a good day. And everything is going good for her baptism on Saturday! We have to go clean out the font today. So that´ll be disgusting. It hasn´t been used in a while. And the most recent convert is Enzo! And he is going to baptize her! We are all really excited. He is so nice. I know that Pamela is going to be so strong for her family. She already is such a strong member and has so much love for this gospel. I hope she keeps being an example for them. I love her so much. We were walking and all of a sudden she says something that sounds close enough to the real words... "You´re insecure, don´t know what for" Then we all joined in and sang You Don´t Know You´re Beautiful in front of the chapel yesterday. English music is the best. Thank you One Direction. Well we are just really excited for our Pamela’s baptism this week! I love you all and hope that you all have a wonderful week!! xoxo Love Hermana Healey

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