Ten Months Old and Still Kickin'

This week not a lot happened. Well actually maybe a lot did but I don´t even remember half of it. We did divisions this week! I went to Ensanche with Hermana Drew from Alberta Canada!! She is such a sweetheart and such a wonderful missionary. I learned so much from her. I love hearing stories about the lives of the missionaries here. She is really great and I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to serve with her. She and her companion had been living WITHOUT WATER for 2 weeks!!! She said she called the zone leaders and they said if they still didn´t have water for two more weeks start looking for a new pension. I said “THATS DUMB look now.” They are some tough cookies. But luckily we saw them today and they said they have water!!! Tender mercy right there. We met one of their investigators named Dalia or something like that. And she has 3 sisters who are just plain mean. And so she was acting all mean because they were. So, we played a game. haha And then her and her sisters all liked us. I love how the gospel is so simple, and should be taught that way; it´s us crazies who make it difficult. Divisions are so much fun! I´m going to Las Breñas this Tuesday with Hermana Pipe! Saturday the elders had a baptism, it was great that the whole ward was so willing to help and work together. Really this ward GETS MISSIONARY WORK, I´m so happy and impressed. We had the meeting with all of the presidents in the ward... I don´t remember what it´s called really in spanish or english.. awesome... And Presidentes office has carpet! First carpet I have seen here in Argentina. It freaked me out at first but oh well. haha You better believe I sat down on the ground and enjoyed it for a few minutes. Because of the baptism and then the meeting after we didn´t work a lot. But as we were leaving the church to go to our pensions the first counselor asked us to speak in sacrament in the morning… Great. Sundays I swear take years off of my life. Hands down the most stressful of days. We went out to get all of our investigators this morning and 3 came! We first went to get Gisel and Adriana. Gisel is 11 and Adriana is 8 and they are so great. Adriana wants to be baptized but doesn’t like church. And Gisel is scared to be baptized but loves church. We can´t win. haha but they are great. We are just worried about getting permission from their mom. Amalia is also another one of our investigators. She has 4 kids and is living with her boyfriend right now. And ALL of her kids have lice. like way bad. And they are out of control!!!! She said she would come this week and she has said that for WEEKS and never comes. But we called to see and sure enough! She and her kids all came to church. One of her daughters was going insane and she is like 7 and running around and put on my sombrero. Looks like I´ll be burning that thing. When we got to the chapel the music lady came up and asked me if I could play two of the hymns because her daughter wants to play one and then use the already recorded organ for one... Sure? It was really weird. Just let me play all of them. Let me!! It´s weird. But I did it. Had I ever heard these hymns before you may ask? Nope. Never. Then I gave my talk... WHICH SUCKED... Really. Dad, you have the best talks always.. Teach me your ways. Then Hermana Alvarado and I had to split up because someone had to stay with the kids in primary and someone had to stay with Amalia. I practically jumped into Amalia´s arms. No way was I going to Primary with CHILDREN. Needless to say, I’m waiting for the day when I´m called as Primary President or something. But other than that church was pretty great! Sunday night we met a really great lady named Maria and her son Cero. They are all really really great and she had a lot of questions about our baptism and everything. Hermana Alvarado and I have totally different teaching methods and it’s hard for us right now to teach together. Most of the time she is sitting there looking off in the distance or gets distracted by a bug. So I did most of it, which I honestly don´t mind. I just hope we can work more on being together. Sunday we were walking home and this moto zoomed by us so fast! All I could think of was "Looks like they are running from the cops or something" Then we were walking and found some of our investigators and talked to them for a little bit. They told us that someone had robbed a girl around the corner just five minutes ago and that we should be really careful. Okay time to go back to the pension and get into bed is all I could think. We were walking to see one investigator named Norma. She was outside and said that there were two guys who robbed the young girl next door... that young girl is a member, Rud! The one who plays one song and then presses the buttons on the organ when she doesn´t know them! We were talking to Norma and the police showed up and then we went to see Rud. Rud´s brother (first counselor in the ward) had left to go and get the mom (music lady) and he wanted us to stay with his wife and Rud. So we were all sitting outside and they returned. Hermano Rodriguez said (Behind the back of the mom) Don´t say anything! I didn´t know how to tell her! So we all sat there awkwardly. But yeah. The good thing is that Rud is okay! She is a tough girl. The guys stole her laptop. We´re all really happy she is okay. The cables were plugged into the wall and she was just sitting there on the couch (second couch seen in Argentina) and the door was open (everyone just hangs out with their doors open) And he came in, grabbed the lap top. She grabbed the cables. He pushed her over and then grabbed the cables and ran. I´m just happy we weren´t there to see how Hermana reacted... Well welcome to my area. haha Everytime I hear someone say Rud. it sounds like Rue…so I picture the poor little Rue from Hunger Games. On a lighter note. We were sitting at lunch and some of the Hermanas were talking about a wallet made out of skin from a yacare. (The Y´s here are like J´s) So I kept hearing Jacare. And first thing that came into my mind was Kangaroo Jack. So the entire time I was thinking that there was a wallet made of Kangaroo. Gross & embarrassing. Yacare is a crocodile. That´s about all I remember. Things are getting better and better here! The members are great and I feel a lot of love here. Well I love you all! The church is true. Love Hermana Healey

Saenz Pena

Transferred. With Latin. In Chaco=hot. Training Leader. Tuesday; Hermana Petersen and I knew that I was leaving. So Tuesday was a big day of do what Courteney wants! Yes. We went and saw Norma... It was raining hard core again of course. Norma was so sad to hear that one of us could be leaving. But she promised to keep learning more. We left her house and she sent us a text that said if one of us leaves she´ll miss us and pray for us. Break. My. Heart. Then all I wanted to do is go to the Duarte’s. So we went over and made french toast, we talked and I signed this HUGE book that they have for the missionaries that love the Duarte family. I was Missionary number 187. Yeah. That´s cool. We wanted to go over to Hermana Allred and Hermana Johansen’s pension after and it was already time for bed and we still hadn´t heard about transfers. We were waiting for our remis and I got a call from Hermana Allred and she was freaking out. All I could hear was "I´m with Hermana Lund and I´m leaving and you are leaving and you are Hermana Leader!" I almost died. How in the world is she so lucky? haha that is insane. While I was talking to her the zone leaders called and said "Hermana what do you think will happen?" And I just said I´m leaving. They confirmed and gave me my travel plans and said Hermana Petersen is staying and will be with Hermana Rojas. My companion is Hermana Alvarado from Guatemala! She is really sweet she used to be in my zone. We were still waiting for a stupid taxi and Viki and Susy Duarte came out to make sure we were okay and I told them I was going and we all started crying. I told them where and they told me I was going to die of heat... comforting…and to not drink the water or I will really die. Great. That night I stayed up all night packing and writing letters to people. Wednesday; We all met up at the terminal. Hermana Allred wasn´t leaving until 12 and Elder Fiabane and I were leaving at 10. Elder Fiabane is going to the office!!! I knew he would. He´s so great. We all said goodbye but it was all so rushed it we didn’t have time to say a real goodbye. haha I traveled with some elders...alone…to Corrientes Capital. Then there I waited... alone with like 20 elders for a bus to take me to Resistencia. I traveled with Elder Gates, and then at Resistencia we were supposed to take this other bus to Saenz Peña, but we missed it, so we waited and then found another stupid bus and took it. We had no idea which one was our stop or where we were so that sucked. Elder Gates saw a sign that said Quitilipi. That is his new area so he got off and I did too. Yeah, not my stop. I had to buy a new ticket and travel alone to Saenz Peña. I officially hate busses. I got off the bus... Ps mom the wheels on my carry on suitcase broke, so that was a work out. I finally saw my companion and we went to my new home. I asked her if it was cute and she said it was really great... She was really wrong. The amount of dirt in that apartment makes me want to die. Don´t worry, you all know I´ve been cleaning it since I´ve gotten here and now it´s almost livable... But we dropped off my stuff and had to rush off to a ward activity. OUR CHURCH IS HUGE. I was really happy. Hermana Sasser is in my zone!!! She came with me and was Hermana Rich´s companion from the MTC! It was great to see a familiar face. We couldn´t stay for the activity sadly, wanna know why? THEY WERE WATCHING FROZEN. How in the world they got it I have no idea. It´s only in theaters still right? Whatever. But you better believe I snuck a peek every once in a while. In the beginning why does the little girl sing to a door?... Looks so cute. Thursday; I think I freaked out Hermana Alvarado because I started throwing out crap and cleaning like a maniac. I also called Howlett and begged him for some more money on my card to buy some things, like a shower curtain and cleaning supplies. He agreed. Hermana Alvarado said "I didn´t know we could do this" And I said "Clean? Yeah it´s a way for us to be more human" I was frustrated. We bought some things for the pension and cleaned and then we went out to work. This is the first established area I have served in. So it was really weird to have set meetings with investigators and that we have lunch every day. I´m pretty stoked about that. We first met Mercedes, she is a recent convert who is a BRAT. She literally looked at me and then wouldn’t come out because I am not the other Hermana. She cried and then yelled in my face "I don´t want her I want the other one. Why is she here" Blah blah blah. I almost smacked her. But I was determined that she will like me. Dogs here are insane. They fight and are all dying and are missing eye balls. It’s really gross. Disney analogy for you all here; Hermana Alvarado is very sweet…and innocent…and a little paranoid. I think we all remember Tantor who was scared to enter the water? That is how she is about crossing the road. Now don´t get me wrong, I am very cautious, I´m not paranoid. But compared to her I´m more like the grandma from Mulan who shuts her eyes and crosses with the Lucky Cricket. "THIS SUCKERS A LUCKY ONE" Friday; We did service for one of our investigators Angela, she wants to be baptized and get married but her boyfriend doesn´t. Story of everyone’s lives here in Argentina. But they are building their house so we pulled weeds and cleaned garbage. It was soooooo hot, but pretty fun. We also are teaching a less active’s daughters. Their names are Maria and Milagros. Maria looks EXACTLY like Annie! (Jakes little sister Annie). I think I´ve called her Annie like three times. Oops. Their little brother is like 4 and runs around BUTT NAKED all the time. Please. Clothe. Your. Children. Saturday; I honestly don’t remember anything. Sunday; we went and picked up Mercedes and she was practically on top of Hermana Alvarado the whole time. I kept talking to her and making her laugh but then she would see that she was liking me and then scowl at me. Whatever. None of our investigators came so that sucked. Did I mention our chapel is beautiful? It really is. We have more of a legit piano, and I offered to play and the Hermana who leads the music said "Oh yeah my daughter can play" So I was like okay. Her daughter pressed the button on the piano that plays the hymns on it. Okay. Your choice. I went and bore my testimony and then Hermana Alvarado did and when she did Mercedes sat by me and put her head on my shoulder... Oh yeah. She loves me because I made her laugh. We went to class, which we teach for the investigators and the new members. It was of course our turn to teach and Hermana Alvarado gave me the book and left and I sat there staring at 20 adults and looked at the manual “The Law of Chastity”. Awesome! But I think it went really well. We did Head Shoulders Knees and Toes to show our thoughts and our actions should be clean, and we should stand in holy places. It was pretty good for my first day I think. We had lunch with a member and her dad is not a member and he definitely does not like us North Americans. So that was fun. He said something about us being too busy with our lives that we don’t know how to enjoy life and that we are rude and I just had to sit there and bite my tongue…not! You know I said something about how we actually work for what we have and don´t sleep for 5 hours in the afternoon everyday. Probably shouldn´t have said that but I´m Proud To Be An American. (And I don´t like being sassed.) But at the end of lunch we were talking about his grandsons and sports and now he likes me. Everyone asks me where I´m from because I "look Asian" so that´s cool. BUT! We found a couple who LOVES the U.S. and they loved me. I did not even mind that we talked to them for a while. Hermana Alvarado got a little jealous but it was nice to meet some nice people here. They have every book for the church, they have pamphlets, Books of Mormon, even a Preach My Gospel and they watch General Conference and get the Ensign. But they don´t want to get baptized. Yeah I thought it was weird too. Monday; As a Hermana Training Leader we go to the meetings for all of the leaders of the mission. Monday was that day! I saw Hermana Allred and Hermana Lund!!! I was sooo happy. I learned a lot and today I am in charge during zone conference to teach the message of Hermana Heyman which was on Communication! I´m way pumped for this new calling but terrified at the same time. I don´t know really what I can do to help the Hermana’s but I will try my best. Hermana Heyman yesterday made chocolate cheesecake cupcakes. I DIED. Do you remember the last time I even heard the word cupcake? Yeah me neither. It was great. So much has happened this week and so much more but this is long enough. I love you all. I know that there is a lot of things going on at home, but just know that I love you all and I pray for you. I know that everything will be okay! I´m happy! My companion is really sweet. And I have a shower curtain. I´m set. haha Also I have a Chango Mas in my area... It´s like a cheap Wal Mart. Yeah. I´m definitely going. I love you all. The church is definitely true. My testimony of this gospel grows every day here. There is no doubt that it is true and that I am where I am supposed to be. I love you!!! Hermana Healey

Hola From the Hottest Place on Earth

Literally. I think the hot makes little Courteney, a little more grumpy. And my computer sucks so high 5! This week! We went to see Stella on Tuesday. Remember her? Happy go lucky less active who is coming back? Yeah, we sat down and she said "Okay, how can I say this?" We looked at each other like "awesome." What happened with her is that a member of her family is in our ward, and she a long time ago had a kiosco on the same street as Stella´s dad. And this member did everything in her power to put Stella´s dad out of business. Stella stuck up for her dad and somehow she had something.. a poison or something in her. She doesn´t remember ANYTHING from these months in her life. And when she looks for answers her family says that this member did it, and they don´t want to tell her because it was the hardest time of their lives. I guess Stella was literally in her bed not being able to be touched because she was in so much pain. She had to have these injections in her arms, and feet to draw out the poison.. or whatever. (I really don´t know if it was poison) But it was something like that. But now her husband and kids don´t want her to ever be near this member again...awesome. We are trying to get her to see that we go to church for Heavenly Father, because only then will she reap blessings for doing the right thing. We had lunch with her and her family though on Thursday... and they were watching Glee. I love Glee. Friday I went on divisions with Hermana Allred!!!! Back to my old area, back in my old bed, with my old investigators. Yeah, it was rough. But we went back to see Vanesa, Lichi, and Lucy.. THEY ARE GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY!!!! Really! They are so perfect. They have grown so much since last transfer. They are so ready. I´m so happy! It was so hard but I am super glad I am still here and will be able to see it happen! That morning it felt the same. I felt like I had never left. Of course I´m doing dishes and I hear Hermana Allred screaming and freaking out. I instantly knew what to do. A spider had fallen from the ceiling, landed in her hair, and then her skirt. I killed it though no worries. Then later we were walking and there was this HUGE wire sticking out of the road and cut her foot. We played doctor and cleaned her up so she didn´t get some crazy infection. Then I had to clean a part of her hair…because something gross was in it. haha Felt like the good old days. That night we watched 17 Milagros for Noche de Rama. After running around looking for a DVD player that would work for an hour, we didn´t get to finish it. But I bawl my eyes out every time I watch that movie. Love it. Elisa, have I talked about her before? Well no big deal. Well she is kind of crazy. Like she wants us to walk with her to the cemetery so that she can talk to the dead people because she knows that they won’t talk back... Weird huh? I was like "No thanks! We´re not into the dead. We like living" cray cray. This morning Hermana Allred and Hermana Johansen are in Resistencia, they called this morning to tell us some bad news about our mail situation. The bad news is that there are still so many boxes left over from Christmas that it has pushed back our mail so bad. We probably won´t be getting much for a while. So it´s all there, just Argentina is kind of with their mail. But we were talking and then she started screaming and I was like "WHAT HAPPENED" and then I hear "Hermana Healey????" IT WAS MY LUNDY LUND! I freaked and cried… and then she had to go and said "WAIT!" and then I hear "Hola?" It was Elder Leon!!! I lost it again and just bawled more. We talked for like a second (which is against the rules) but I was so happy to hear them. It hurt too though; it was like hearing your families’ voices for like 5 seconds. Well this week has been hot hot hot. And we are going to expect more hot to come. haha Doesn´t cool down here until March. So, kill me now. Norma came to church again this week and loved it! We just have to get her freaking married... That sucks. We are seeing her tonight so wish us luck! I love you all and thank you for all of your love and support. I know I couldn´t do this without you! Love Court Oh yeah! Been on my mission for 9 months! Whoo!

My Birthday Week!

I´m 21!!!!!! You better believe it was a great week! On Thursday night I was upstairs talking to the elders about our day (We talk to them every night, it kinda is a bother) And Hermana Petersen was downstairs for like EVER. I had no idea what was going on. But I started to go down the stairs to brush my teeth and she FREAKED and turned off the lights. I sat down on the stairs and looked down and she had decorated the downstairs for my birthday with sticky notes!! It was so sweet! I loved it. That night we had a Noche de Rama with the ward and a few people were there! One being Stella!!! (I´ll get to her later..) But she bought me a shirt! so sweet. Hermana Sayas made me a cake and we played games! There was of course a scripture for an inspirational thought. haha but we mostly had fun. Then on Saturday...(Really the worst day ever..) Ended quite beautifully! We went over to the Duarte family and they had made a birthday dinner and birthday cakes for me and Lucas! Lucas is Olga´s son, and his birthday was the 11! It was really fun. The cake literally had a firework on it and it scared me to death. All in all, I had a wonderful birthday! And everyone gave me earrings. haha I am very grateful. Stella. We had a note from one of the Elders for her and her family from like... forever ago. So we decided to try and find her and deliver it. We found her address and met this lady who had to be like 97 years old. I asked and she said her name is Stella Arrua. Perfect.. Why the elders wrote a 97 lady I have no idea! But I don´t judge. So I gave it to her and I guess it said another name inside and it was for her granddaughter! So we found the real Stella and she was pretty nice but short with us. On the record it says that her husband doesn´t want her to be mormon anymore.. Awesome. So we tried passing by when he wasn´t home AND HE WAS THERE! We were terrified and Stella looked at us and then at him and then back at us like CAUTION. But hello! He ended up loving us! We talked and he even let us share a scripture with him! He said he wants us to come back another night when he isn´t working. They told us that he was so close to getting baptized and then the elder who he liked left so he said no.. Haha That sucks. But we are determined on baptizing their whole family because of the gospel.. and we are just like a bonus for the package. haha But then SHE CAME TO NOCHE DE RAMA!! It was so great! She walked home with us that night (because we were carrying cakes) And she told us that she told him that she was coming back to church, and he is totally okay with it! What do ya know? Miracles do happen. I love Stella. Norma. We met Norma really by just chance. She at first didnt seem really interested but we still asked her if she would get baptized and she said that she wants to learn more but if she knows for sure than she would. Great! We passed by for a second to see her on Saturday before Sunday so we could get her excited about church and made set plans with her. She at first gave us the wrong number.. haha Nice try Norma. I always check before I leave! And then I really thought that was that. We passed by for her on Sunday and SHE CAME! She was up, she was ready. Granted her dog followed her the whole way and went inside the chapel... I didn´t know what to do... But oh well She came and loved it. She is really nice and sweet. We had interviews with Presidente yesterday! It was really nice. I always love interviews. He shared with us a message about the Book of Mormon and asked to hear our testimonies of the book of Mormon. At the beginning of the meeting!!! Great way to start off bawling. I of course had a wonderful meeting with him, and we spent a few minutes looking at a few pictures of his family from Instagram, then I left still crying. Ha The assistants were there because Hermana Heyman couldnt make it and gave us a training while we did interviews and they all thought it was weird the hermanas always cry. Whatever they don´t understand. I always feel so much better after talking to President. He told us who our new Mission president will be.. The Heymans go back home in July and we will have a new president from South Jordan Utah!! What what! He speaks english but he was born in Buenos Aires. So him and his wife both know both languages! That is awesome! But really sad. Who else can say during their mission they had 4 mission presidents? This week was really good! Thank you for all of my messages and the love! I am sure that your letters and packages are here and still in the mailroom, Because Argentina is weird with their mail. But don´t stress! Thank you for all of the birthday love! Love you! Hermana Healey

"I Don't Know about you - but I'm feeling 22 - not really 21!"

That's right, TSwifts song will work for me next year! This week was really great!!! Happy 2014!!!! How weird is that! I really can´t believe that it is 2014. To bring in the new year, Hermana Petersen and I worked all night, then we came home and then we planned, and then we did all of our laundry! But at midnight we took some 2014 pictures on our bunkbed and listened to God Bless America. My home, sweet home. We have met a lot of people here in Bella Vista 2, and we meet more and more everyday. I know that a few of the times we meet people who are just very sweet and maybe just needed a visit or to see some smiley girls to brighten their day! Let´s just say we met a lot, a lot, a lot of old people this week. For some reason we have been drawn to them. They have all been so sweet and just in need of a friendly visit! I know that as being a missionary that it is also a part of our calling to help those who are in need and comfort those who stand in need of comfort. We met a really funny old guy who just needed someone to talk to, his nickname is Pipi. Yeah. Pipi. He was so nice. He talked ALOT. There was one time where he wanted us to live with him and his wife because we could be their grandchildren. That was nice of him. In the end he told us that he really needed this visit because he found out that his doctor said he could have cancer, and he had been worrying about it all day. But he felt better when we talked to him. He was so adorable. Pipi. Yeah. I laughed a little too. Hermana Johansen and Hermana Lund told us to visit a kid named Exequiel, his mom was baptized 10 years ago and hasn´t been in 10 years. But she had said that her son wanted to learn. So we visited him and it went great! We really wanted to meet her but she said she didn´t want to meet us at first. The other day we stopped by and she came out to meet us. I can´t tell you how nervous I was. I literally thought she was going to beat me up. She is very very intense. But she let us share the first lesson with her and we talked about church alot. She suddenly had a change of mind and said she wants to come back now, but she is embarrassed because she has picked up some bad habits. But she really wants to learn everything all over again... Fine by us! So we start, and first thing we talk about is God is our Loving Heavenly Father, she holds up her finger and then says "So, tell me the name of God." Crap. I just thought in my head... You wouldn´t be a JW would you? Then she told us her family is JW. She wants us to explain that. I was shaking so bad. Not because of her question, but because she literally terrifies me. She said that she always has so many questions but no one ever comes back to answer them... Wonder why... But I´m determined to face my fear.. aka her. I will help her to come back to church and her son will be baptized. They didn´t come to church but they invited us to have lunch with her on Saturday. Let´s just say that I watched the food being prepped, and I´m surprised I´m alive right now. We had Noche de Rama on friday!! And the lame elders decided that we were going to play a game. And I had to do it first. So I being the loving, willing to help missionary said "Sure Elders! Just don´t make me look stupid!" The game was using your mouth only to find candies in FLOUR and take them out. I refused, and tried to run. But then Maxi (The little boy from the Vargas family said he would do it with me) So I did it. He kicked my trash. He was so fast. I´m so lame. But I´ll put a picture for all of your pleasure. It was so disgusting. It was like having pancake batter up your nose and in your teeth. But it was really funny to watch everyone do it. We are trying to make our pension more homey. So you bet your bottom dollar I bought a shower curtain and some new desks for our studies. haha I refuse to live in this cave of loneliness. I´m making it nicer. Then watch I will leave in a few weeks. haha Not funny. We have interviews with President on Sunday! I´m wayy excited! I can´t believe it´s time for interviews again! And the Duarte family said we could have brownies and ice cream on Friday for no important reason really... Just some things to look forward to. We´re living through this heat some how! I hope everyone had a wonderful wonderful New Year! And for the record... I made New Years Predictions that I sent to Spam and Kam and one of them was that Trista was next to get married. Revelation. Love you all! Court

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