Monday, December 1, 2014

Heidi's last letter from Argentina!


November 24, 2014

On leaving mission and coming home:  doing good. I am super sad to leave but i am so excited to come home to all you! I think the best part is coming home in christmas time so i am super pumped to help spread glad tidings of good news of the gift of Christ and His love!
Super awesome week this week! We had a tsunami in our week so have a ton of new investigators out the wazoo whoohoo! So Hermana Oliveira has a lot of work to do! There were so many miracles that we saw from this tsunami. The Elders that came were so amazing and were able to enter and serve in many houses that rejected missionaries before. Ah love it! Hearts will be melted.
We have still being helping out in family history I love it! And we have been working with a recent convert family the mom is Paulina, her 18 yr old son is Juan and her 10 yr old son is Leo. They are so awesome I love them so much. Everyone is getting ready to go to the temple in the ward and Paulina wasn’t able to get work off and Juan didn’t want to go by himself since Leo cant go either. So we have been praying that his heart might be softened and he could go to the temple as well and feel of the Spirit there. So we have been helping Paulina with family history, and we printed off the sheet to bring to the temple so that Juan could be baptized for his grandfather who passed away three years ago. This week was Juans birthday. She put that sheet, along with the ticket to go to Buenos Aires (the nearest temple) and wrapped it up! Then on Sunday, they went to visit their first missionary that taught them and he gave the present to Juan and Juan is excited to go to the temple now and do the work for his grandpa! SO GREAT! I love the temple so much and I love that families can be together forever and that God has provided the way for us to do so!
Also this week we went on intercambios with the sister leaders and it was one of the best days this transfer! I was with Hermana Calderwood, from Wisconsin, but her mom is from Argentina! So she helped me with my accent whoohoo and then we went to work! We had so many great lessons, a noche de hogar with some of my favorite families that are reactivating and preparing to go to the temple and we had two lessons with members! One was Mariana, the investigator who cried when we prayed, and set a date for her to be baptized during Christmas time! The other was the son of an investigator, who has been playing futbol  at the church. We watched Thanks to Him, and he also accepted to be baptized!
I love this work. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to serve Him and grow closer to Him. I hope you all can watch He is the Gift on Thursday, Christmas.mormon.org  It is seriously so amazing! I love you all and am so excited to come and feel of His love with you as well.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
Thanks to God.
Hermana Albright
Mark 5:19
19 Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.

Monday, November 17, 2014

November 10 and 17 2014

November 17, 2014       
Hello All!
So this week has been pretty crazy.
Tuesday, we met a “wanderer in time” who came from the first world war, saved for an unknown purpose. That was really interesting. He asked us many thought provoking Questions and some without end. . . And as we walked away we looked back and he was gone! Really weird.
The next day we met an amazing investigators! A teenager who just finished her senior year!  We knocked on her door as she was practicing walking in her high heels for graduation. Good times! Her step dad is less active, and he got real excited to see us and showed us photos of his brother that is serving a mission in northern Argentina!   We chatted for a bit and then my companion said a short simpleprayer to start the lesson we looked up and Maraina (the girl) was in tears. “isn’t it just so amazing how alleviating a prayer is? You can be full of anguish and just like that have peace again.” She said.  So true. Oh how I love the peace this gospel brings. God rally loves us and listens to our prayers and will always help us through the good times and the bad.
We have been doing a lot of strengthening families here. Just like God exists, so does Satan, and he is working his hardest to destroy families. Every family is in danger and we must strengthen our family now! Some things that we have found joy  in is family home evening every week and family history! These simple things God has provided to help us feel His Spirit more and help make our home a place of refuge instead of the bomb site. Also, the most important is family scripture study and family prayer. How I love my memories of that! And my companion and I always have great joy doing this together as well.  Sometimes we pray in one another’s languages it is pretty fun! I love that no matter what language we speak, God understands us perfectly.  Today as my companion was writing her family, a car outside exploded! For a moment we were all curious, then stunned. The owner of the cyber told us all to leave as fast as we could, and I took my companion running! Made real the question everyone asks if your house was burning what would you take with you in the fifteen seconds you have to grab something?  Besides my scriptures, nothing material is really important. All that matters really is the people we love.  Like I talked about in the paragraph above, our families are the most important. Make sure you are taking care of your family. Show your love to them every day. I was so grateful nobody was harmed.  Just in that moment, I had been writing my testimony to President Lovell. And even though it was a little scary, I wasn’t frightened, knowing that everything would be ok. Because God is in the details of our lives. This world is full of crazy things, but when we walk with God, we don’t have to worry. Crazy things still happen, but we can trust that God will help us always and that things will work out for our good.
Search for the peace and happiness that we all need. I promise you can find it in God. Reading your scriptures, praying, going to church, and the temple, even serving our neighbor in a simple way help bring the peace and happiness. We are all here, just wanderers in time for a bit, until we return to our eternal home. My wish is that we all return safe and sound to the arms of our Father. The decision is ours. The time to act is now.
Have a great week! Hermana Albright

November 10, 2014
Hello all!
So this week was super fun! The Elders in our ward had a baptism! Her name is Laura and she is so cute! Her husband is less active, and they got married just two weeks ago in preparation for her baptism! We have a noche de hogar with her tonight I'm super excited.
Random funny story, today my comp and i found out that we know the same efy dance! Hey now hey now what you gonna say now...whoo whoo whoo whoo make your sandwich put it together EAT IT! Hahaha good times...who woulda thought? Efy around the world!
This week was a bit windy again, and that naughty wind likes to put out our fires! So the water tank heater and the air heater went out multiple times. We had lots of adventures with that! The air heater almost exploded the last time we tried to light it again, and for a couple days we resorted to heating water and using a bowl instead of our showerhead. But its warm again now and we are back to summer time weather!
I thought of a cool parable of the heaters.Satan is like the naughty wind trying to put our fire out! And sometimes we think man there is just not anything left to do, and we let him put our fire out and we stop fighting and he wins. OR we can do all we can to create a shield of faith (we are doing the armor of God lesson again for fhe haha can you tell?) and block those darn winds from putting out our fire! And we can make our fire bigger too so that it is even hardder to put out! and we can share our fire and light the fire for those that have gone out already. THats one cool thing about fire. It loves to share! You dont lose anything at all as you share your fire, in fact, lighting something else makes your fire brighter! So this week, ¨let your light so shine¨and make your fire grow!
The Spirit of God like a fire is burning...
Hope you have a great week!

Hermana Albright

Wednesday, November 5, 2014



 
 
November 3, 2014
Happy halloween everyone! Hope you had lots of fun! Argentina doesnt celebrate halloween, but the weather did! We got tricks instead of treats this year, and a tornado came into the country! unheard of. So out came the winter coats and boots and tights and the sleeping bags and light up the heaters once again because it was cold! We really are in the last days here.
So last week we met a guy named Emmanuel as we were walking through the park. He said he wanted to change his life around and come to christ, so we were happy to help him! When we went to his house however, we could not find it. He had said it was on a corner so we knocked all the corner houses. A girl came out and said that he didnt live there. Sad, we left. Then, as we were going to a less actives house on that street later in the week, we walked by an old investigators house and i had the impression to knock it. SO we did, and out comes Emmanuel! The brother of an old investigator! The Lord is totally in the details of the work.
Cool fact about argentina, they are super family oriented and often we find a ward that has the whole family, all grown up and with their own kids now, and that one family makes up the majority of the ward. Changes the meaning of ¨ward family¨a little bit haha. THey literally are family here! So when something happens in a family, it has a huge impact in the ward. so Hermana Flores passed away, and although we did not get have the privileege of meeting her in person, we did have the privilege of hearing many wonderful stories of her and the legacy she has left behind. It is so wonderful to know the plan of salvation when hard things like this come our way, beecause we understand God's plan and take comfort in the knowledge that she is in a beautiful place, where she has no pain or hardship, and that she is helping others on the other side now come to christ too! one thing that really impacted me though was the description of her beauty. Everyone described her as hermosa(beautiful). When she was living, and when they saw her all in white before burying her, she was hermosa. Many men use this word in a vulgar way, and it has been my least favorite word in spanish as i have spent the past year disgustingly listening to men of all ages shouting out to me and my companion. I lost completely the feeling of beauty. But listening to all the people talking about Hermana Flores, the word completely changed for me. Hermosa. When they said it, I could almost feel the love, the purity, the strength and the tenderness that she had. She was hermosa because of who she was, not because of how she looked or anything like that. It was part of her being.That is the true meaning of beauty. The kind that comes from within. All you beautiful women reading this, will you take this challenge with me to become hermosa from the inside out? I know that as we do this, we will not only change ourselves, but also the world. Remember that God looks on the heart, and so should we. He loves us, His precious daughters, and will help us make this world more hermosa as we lean on HIm and spread His love.
I love you all and wish you a wonderful, hermosa week.
Hermana Albright
my new comp is great. So funny! and a little crazy. Haha we attack each other randomly throughout the day, usually ending it sumo style hahaha. and shes teaching me portuguese! But mostly its very cheeky stuff haha so if i ever want to get in a fight with a brazilian i am good to go!

 
 
October 27, 2014
So this week has been super crazy (I dont know what happened to my keyboard but i cant do excalmation points. Just imagine them on basically every sentence like normal) From Monday to Thursday, we were rocking a trio again. You know I was loving that. Hermana Cooper, a missionary serving in our zone and in the second ward that shares the church building, is training. So she stayed with us until her newbie came on Thursday. We also did two tsunamis for the elders in our district, thursday and friday. Put that all together and we had very little time to work in our own little area this week. But its been good.
My new compy comp is Hermana Oliveira. Shes super cute. From Brazil, has nine months, and is helping me learn lots of fun porteguese. We are having lots of fun together. ummmm any other questions about her, i cant think of more to say haha but she really is great.
So spring time is in full force, moving quickly to summer. Its been soooooo hot this week. And the mosquitos have come out again yayyyy. I already have a ton of bites. Whoops. But the best part. I dont know what in the world it is but there is white fluff flying around everywhere. It comes from the trees here and makes walking in the sunshine so beautiful. Sometimes it looks more like snow, and sometimes it looks like magical. I love it.
This week I-ve been really trying to find a menos activo that I taught my first week with Hermana Caballero. I dont know why but we were never able to visit her agian after that first visit. But since I was new in the area and i am also always directionally challenged, I had no idea where her house is. I asked every member that came out with us, called her, checked the area book...nothing. So domingo i asked her member friend and she drew me a sketchy map. So that night, we went on a hunt for herª I had a vague memory of what her yard should look like but it was pitch black our first visit so not even that was great. So we just started walking down the streed and im praying for guidance and none of the houses look familiar. The member tells us that we are probably lost and maybe its not even on this street and we should go visit someone else but something told me to just keep going. And there, at the end, there was a yard that looked familiar. So we knocked, and there she is. Ah it was so exciting. We had a great lesson and shes coming to our family home evening tonight whooohoo.
Last but not least little bit of news, our zone leaders invited us to change how we knock doors. Now, we are to pay more attention to go where the Spirit directs us, knock where we feel, and then present ourselves as representatives of Christ, here to bless this person through a simple prayer, and ask if we can have two minutes of their time to offer a prayer with them. OH how I love it. It makes me focus more on the spirit, really think about the meaning of my calling and who i represent, and helps us and the person feel the spirit so much more. I am so grateful for this change and for the opportunity to feel the spirit even more.
How great of a priviledge we have to offer a simple prayer to our Father in Heaven. He is the Almighty God, the Supreme Creator, and He wants to talk with and hear from us. From you. From me. And from a simple prayer, we can feel His love. We can receive His guidance and help. We can work miracles. Oh how I love prayer. I hope you really take advantage of this priviledge this week and really take the time to talk with your Father in Heaven. ANd not just to Him, but rather WITH HIm.  I know that He hears and listens to our prayers. I know that He loves us with a love infinite and eternal. I know that He will always answer.
I hope you all have a great week. Happy Halloween
Hermana Albright


October 21, 2014

Man can you believe how fast time is flying? Gah! It's craziness.
So transfer news, Hermana Caballer is going to Confluencia and I stay here. My new companion is Hermana Oliveira and is from Brazil! So I'm going to learn Portuguese!
This week was amazing! We achieved or even bettered most of our goals! WHOOO! SO exciting. We have been having so many great moments and lessons. One of which comes from a new investigator, Natalya, who lives in the Military Neighborhood. I love working there it is so beautiful and calm and has so many trees! Anyway, we had an awesome first lesson with her. She is an old investigator, and started listening to the hermanas in the beginning of this year when she was having trouble with her depression. The hermanas helped her learn to depend on Christ and she is so grateful and has overcome many of her problems. The hermanas were transferred so she got lost in the mix but a member told us that we should pass by and she was very happy to receive us! WE talked of Christ and how he can help us in our life, through His Atonement, and how we receive the fulness of the Atonement as we fulfill His commandments, one of them being baptism. We read Alma 7:11-15 (my favorte!) and then invited her to be baptized and she said I would love to! What do I need to do?   Such a great answer. I am so excited to keep teaching her.
As we left the lesson, the couple that had accompanied us said Today I learned just how fearless you hermanas are! (they both served a mission some years ago). Haha the hermano said Man when you started talking about baptism I just thought ok this where i shut up and let the Spirit do the work! He is definitely leading these hermanas! I am just going to hide under the table and hope everything goes well! Hahahaha dont worry he didnt really hide under the table. But we talked about how the Lord really is hastening His work and we have to follow His directions to help bring aobut the salvation of more of His children. I am so grateful for this time that I have to serve the Lord and see His promises fulfilled. I invite all of you to find a way this week to participate in the work of salvation! I promise that you will have greater peace and happiness as you do so, because when we participate in this great work, we are working side by side with the Lord. There is no higher honor than that and no greater joy. Hope you all have a great week!
Hermana Albright
totally gluing this to the front page of my journal! She walked and walked, by Heidi Albright, based on a true story hahhaa so many great tresures in the liahonas!
erika, an amazing member that helped us so much, moved to brazil! Ah so sad!
Well hermana caballero forgot to bring her camara and she has the most fotos from this week so thats all sorry!

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Week of October 13, 2014


October 13, 2014  HAIL
 


Another rainy rainy rainy week! One day it started hailing a TON it looked like snow all over the ground, because it was covered in hail! Afterwards, it started POURING and the water filled the streets and the houses! we were going to ward correlacion and the street to cross to the chapel was filled up to our knees!!!! So we took a long way around until we found a street only up to our ankles haha. SO much fun!
To clear up some confusion last week, my favorite talk was Gavarret not Godoy. Sorry I got confused too many names to remember!
Had a super sweet lesson with the family that had their house burned a couple years ago, remember that awesome story? Well this week we were teaching their little boys and one of them, Jonaton, is blind. And he feels and follows the Spirit so easily. He is so amazing. As we were talking about prophets and answering all their questions, Jonaton asked if prophets wrote the Book of Mormon. We told him yes, and that he could ask God that very question in prayer and know for himself if the Book of Mormon is true. And he told us that he already receieved his answer. When the Elders were teaching them years ago, they told him that he could ask God. So right then, he excused himself fom the lesson to go to the bathroom to ask God if the Book of Mormon was true. And he felt in his heart that it was. Oh my heart melted listening to his story. I love this family so much and am so grateful for the chance to get to know them!
Later, we were teaching with yet another bombdot com member and talking to one of our investigators of the importance of prayer. The member shared her testimony of how prayer helps her, a very protective mom, feel confident in lettingher girls go to school. And the investigator said Thats so me!!!! Thats totally what I need tooo! And then she asked the member if she was a missionary too. The member laughed and said kind of...I just dont have a plaque to show it.
In what ways are you a missionary? In our baptism, we take the name of Christ upon us. And although you might not have a name tag to show it, you can show it in your life, your love, your example. Remember who you are and who you represent.
I know the Lord lives and guides us today. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. And I know that Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet to help us in our way to the kingdom of God.
I hope you all have a great week!
Hermana Albright
Also, Heidi told Heather that she and her companion tried to go shopping, but all the shops were closed due to a holiday so they went to McDonalds where Heidi proceeded to share with her the plot line for the first two Harry Potter books!

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Four new letters!


October 6, 2014

WOW what a week!!!!

So I went to Chile! It was super fun! The whole trip was cold in the mountains (note the snow!) until we arrived at our destination: Puyehue Chile. Or something like that. It was so Hot! And super cute! I felt like I was in the Shire. The people, houses and landscape was totally Hobbitland. And now, I'm officially legal and good to go for th next three months! The best part of the trip was the bus ride. I have learned the importance of asking questions. In our trip to Chile, a group of us in the back started talking about what we have learning in the mission and asking one another doctrinal questions. I learned SOOOO much that day, thanks to the questions that we asked, and to the questions that the missionaries had asked themselves once and studied out until they knew the answer and could now share it with us! It was an awesome experience. We can have the same experience with the Lord. As we go to the Lord in faith and ask Him our questions, the mysteries of heaven will be opened up to us!

 Ester, the recent convert is going strong! Last Sunday, she only got two hours of sleep because her granddaughter was out late, and she still woke up at nine to come to church! She is such a great example to me. We have started doing family home evenings with her!

This week there was another crazy rain storm! What is with general conference and rainstorms? It even started lightning and hailing! My poor companion got really scared for a bit but I was absolutely loving it! We got super wet as we tried to find one last person to teach for the day but it was great! Walking through rivers instead of streets, soaked with an broken umbrella for three people, (a member came with us, arent they the best here?!) anything is worth it if one person can feel the Spirit. That lesson during the rain was super powerful and I really believe it made a huge difference for the person we taught.

Who loved General Conferance??? I did! I did! We got to go watch the womens broadcast and saturdays sessions with a member. It was so cool! I loved saturday the best not going to lie. It definitely confirmed to me the importance of watching all the sessions of general conferance because they are all so great! And didnt you love the native languages? We sure did! We all gave a little shout of joy when they started speaking in Spanish. Super cool! Ahhhh the talks were all so good! Honestly, I think my favorite was Elder Godoy spanish speaking from Saturday. so great! Now the best part of General conference is puting it into practice! Make some goals about how you can live what you have learned from the prophets this week and come closer to Christ!

Hope you have a great week!

Hermana Albright




September 29, 2014


What another great week in Neuquen!

So Hermana Stanley, my companion from the MTC, came to stay with us for a night! That was so much fun I loved seeing her again and helping her have a good place to rest in between the craziness of travelling and visa work. I also had fun going to the migrations office this week! While there, I met a man from Libanon! or something like that. He speaks French, Arabic, a little bit of English, and is learning spanish. He met his girlfriend on facebook speaking english, and now, two years later, came to meet her! She was with them in the migrations office. It was so cool talking to them! But it is so hard not to talk in Spanish now yikes! And the blessings of technology! I had nothing in english to give him, but he had a sweet awesome huge phone so we went to mormmon.org. huzzah! This week, I'm going to Chile!!!! Super excited!

We also had the pleasure of some people knocking on our door to preach the gospel! That was a pretty cool experience. I love when people knock our door. These poor people didnt believe that God could speak to us today! How sad is that. We talked a lot about the importance of the authority and how miracles can happen today! The Bible is an example not of things that have passed and ended and are done away with, but of how God can work with us today! I loved 2 Nephi 29:8-9 that talks about how God continues to speak to us forever. We all have the chance to hear his words this week in General Conferance!!!! Are you excited? I sure am!

One of our investigators is so cool. Her name is Julia and she didnt really believe in God before she started learning the lessons with us. But now, she is praying! And she feels good as she does it! Ah I love helping others come closer to Christ! She also makes really good pies so thats a plus ;) Anyway, from her experience, as well as others from the ward i'm in now, i learned once again the importanceof small and simple things. Maybe i love the theme so much because i'm small and simple ;) but through God, I am important and can work great miracles! I learned a lot about old missionaries and the legacy of faith that they left behind. Like Abinadi, they too never knew of what happened when they left bu because of their efforts many people were blessed! remember to do the small and simple things this week to work a miralcle in your life! read, pray, listen to general conference, smile and help others on your way!

Have a great week!


September 22,2014

Hey All!

News on my new area! I found my dirt roads, dont worry i'm still in argentina! Haha. But there is a burger king here! So my comp and i are going to go try it today whoohoo i'm super stoked!!!! Its been sooo long! Met our bishop this week! Yea yea! And centenario got a bishop---hermano medina! So thats super exciting! Also, our pension is super close to the cole (bus) terminal, so we have hermanas come and stay with us all the time! Its a party! Sometimes we dont get to sleep much ahaha but we make it up on pday! Yayyyy for pdays! This week, we had hna bastian stay with us. She served here as her first area a year ago! So we spent a night visiting her less actives and investigators, and it was so great! They were able to remember how they felt learning and living the gospel with her, and accepted that we come back and keep teaching them! So we got a lot of new investigators and into the doors of some less actives that wouldnt open before! It was a miracle and so cool to be  a part of! The Lord works in such small ways, to bring about grand changes! We had two other sisters later too but they got in late and leftearly so we didnt get to work with them.

One of the coolest things that happened this week was with family Molina. WE met the mom last week (she was part of my story in my other letter) and when we returned, we met her sons. They are all so sweet and are trying to follow God and all agreed to be baptized! The dad hid from us that time, but when we returned, we invited him to come listen to us and he agreed! He said he was proud of his sons for decidin to be baptized and that he also wanted to be clean again. Turns out, he's a less active that nobody knew lived here! so that was super awesome. And then, they told us a story of when their house burned down. they barely escaped with their lives and that in itself was a story full of miracles. But then they showed us a plan of salvation pamphlet they had on their wall. It was dark around the edges. That, the bible, and the book of mormon, were the only things they found afterwards. Untouched by the fire, protected by the lord, these things have helped the family know of the power of God.

Also! We have sweet awesome members here! I have never worked with so many amazing members! Every single one is like another missionary. They bring the Spirit in so strongly in the lessons and help us come closer to christ, not the other way around! It really helped stregthen my testimony of every member a missionary! This phrase is so true! These members are missionaries, even though they dont have a plaque to say it. They help the investigators so much more than we can and they follow the spirit in every moment. I am so grateful for this chace to work with them! In what way have you been a missionary this week? EVERY member a missionary, that means you too! As we share this gospel and our testimonies, we are made stronger and can enjoy the JOY that the Spirit brings us.

Hope you all have a great week!


Hermana Albright


Sept. 15, 2014


Sorry dont hate me, my companion and I havent taken any good fotos together yet so you're just going to have to wait until next week to see her. hehe

This week has been so great! Hna Caballero is a little ball of fire! I am so excited to serve with her here! Our area is sooooooo little holy hannah i'm used to basically having a city but here we just have a couple of neighborhoods! I feel like an English missioanry in the states! Seriously its so crazy! There are real streets here! I dont think we have a dirt road in our area at all. What? Ah! And there are airplanes! They fly right above our heads! THey're so big! And our first day here, we went to the mall....what? Theres a mall here! And its super legit. And its connected to a GIANT grocery store. Like, walmart size. LIterally. And you can take the carts out to walk around in the mall with you too. Its so crazy! i feel like i'm in the world again! Its so weird. Man every day is crazy. And our pension is just right on the street. Normally, I've been in a very well hidden apartment , that has like threee fences locked before you reach our door. But not here! We just have our front door! And people come and knock on it all the time! Its so wierd! People knock on OUR door! So this week we are going to practice opening the door approaches haha because we want to invite these people to listen too but we're on the wrong side of the door! hahahaha so weird.

So here in this area, we have a recent convert! She got baptized the saturday before I came here. She is the cute little old lady and very sweet. As she was coming to church this week, she couldnt open her door! So instead of just saying oh phooey i cant go to church, she jumped through her window. Thats right. This tiny little grandma jumped through her window to go to church. I have no idea how she did it! But she is a great inspiration to me of never letting anything get in your way!

This week, I have been trying to follow the Spirit more. (Thanks Dad for your inspiring stories!) I have learned a lot about just how quiet the Spirit talks to us. Its merely a thought...hey maybe talk to that person...hey maybe they need to hear about this theme....hey you should catch up to that person to say hi.... I was waiting for some great inspiration or a huge miracle, but the Spirit doesnt work in that way. ¨¨After the fire and the wind and the storms, came a still small voice.¨ We should always be paying sclose attention to the little feelings that we receive because those tiny little thoughts that almost you dont even realize are there are what the Spirit is trying to tell you. As we walked down one street, I saw some people outside and thought maybe they would be interested, so we went back to talk to them. The mom has lisntened before and loved her experiences in the church, but doesnt believe there is one true religion. As we were talking I thought Ok God, what does your daughter need to hear right now? And the thought came to my mind: Baptism. As I testifed of the example Christ gave us of being baptism and the importance of this great work, she changed completely from being not really interested at all to agreeing to meet with us again and learn more!

I hope you all have a great week! Remember to pay attention to your tiny little thoughts and go around doing good!

Hermana Albright

Sept. 8, 2014

Transfer time! I can't believe how fast the time flies! Ah so crazy!!! Next up: Barrio Progreso in Neuquen Oeste! I hear theres a Walmart woot woot! And a bishop! Now thats pretty exciting! Fun fact though, i'll be in the same stake! So next week for stake conference I'll get to see all my lovely Centenario family again, and then for October General Conference as well! Woowoo!

Had a great last week! One day it was raining super hard! Luckily, we had zone training that day whoohoo! So we were inside for a good part of the day. Unfortunately, we had lunch a little far aways, in an area without sidewalks or asphalt streets at all! It was quite an adventure! We were slipping and sliding all over in the mud, our boots are both kinda old now, so our feet got Soaked, basically we had a little lake in our shoes haha. My companion doesnt have an umbrella so we were sharing mine, so the outside half of our body got pretty wet. And there was wind! It would snatch the umbrella sometimes or throw the rain in our faces. Haha we arriveed at the poor members house just dripping from head to foot. Hahaha definitely a day to remember.

We went to visit some new investigators that are preparing for baptism woot woot and when we went over, we saw the mom with the youngest daughter and when she saw us she ran inside and disappeared! So then when we clapped at the door, another daughter came out and said they were busy and we should come back later. It was all very weird. My poor companion was very sad because she thought they were dropping us. But we came back later, and they let us in...for cake!!! They had been making a cake for us and it wasnt ready yet the first time we went by. How cute! I'm sure gonna miss these people they are so great.

This week we received some cool invitations! Following the talk of Elder Bednar about using the internet for good, we have been challenged to invite all contacts to look up mormon.org or mormonchannel.org. Super fun they are great sites! Starts this week I'll let you know how it goes! Also, we are to invite all the members too to use all forms of technology to invite more people to church! Go technology! So hey! All you members out there! Use all different forms of technology that we have now to start inviting more people to church! Why? Because at church is where we feel the spirit so strong and we renew our baptismal covenants that we have made with God! It is so important to take time to remember our Savior and recieve blessings from him.

Hope you all have a great week!

Hermana Albright

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Heidi comes home in 3 short months!! Three letters and some pictures!!

Sept . 1, 2014 TRUNKY? NEVER!
My trunkies came in! So weird the time has flown by so fast! But President is super smart and sent them with a commitment to sign to promise to work my hardest these last three months! You better believe I signed it and hung it up to see! Everyday is so precious.
Well so this week we have been doing so much more on helping the members do their family history work! I love it so much! Family history always is such an adventure! And our stake president came in and during his talk he announced that if every branch or ward has 10 more active members ( i think preisthood holding members) then we are a go for a temple here in Neuquen!!!!! Temple temple temple!!!! How much do you love your temple? when was the last time that you went? Have you been doing your family history this month? Just some questions for you to think about ;) the temple version of alma 5 haha.
We had three baptisms this week! None were from my companion and I but it was still super awesome! ONe was a little ten year old who is soooo energetic and fun! He helps in church by collecting all the hymnbooks after the meeting. and One was an older woman and one was a man who has no bone in his head so he always wears a helmet! We were a little worried for him to take his helmet off for the baptism but all went well! Three new souls welcomed into the kingdom of God! So great. And 87 people at church to welcome them in! Whoohoo!!! Centenario is a growing! I love it! And we may or may not have a bishop soon WHoohoo!! Now that is exciting news!
Last week Dad invited me to try to look for the Spirit more. I talked with my companion and this week we decided to follow the spirit in companionship study to pick a characteristic of a person to look for (yellow scarf or red shirt, or walking with two kids, things like that) and then pray to find these people so that we can more easily recognize that the Lord has specifically put them in our path to talk to. Hermana Guerreros idea, she is so great! So we started at it! And it was so great! The first day we found soooo many people and were talking with a ton of people! Hahaha some people were in autos or motos and we were tempted to chase after them HEY! We have a message for you!!!! But ended up not so that we wouldnt get run over. But it was a really cool experience and we met some great people! I'm excited to continue it this week and be able to see the Lords hand in our lives! The Lord wants to give us answers and miracles, sometimes we just have to remember to ask for them and then put our faith in action as we look for them too!
Hope you all have a wonderful week! Chau!
Hermana Albright




August 25, 2014  Hello all!
This week was the CAPILLA ABIERTA aqui en Centenario! Whoohoo! Some of you may remember that during a general conference (maybe the smae one as the age change?) they announced that the chapels would be more open to the public and tours offered for everyone to come and have an opportunity to be in the Lord's house and feel His Spirit as they learn some of what we believe.So what Argentina has started doing is that we organize a day to give tours to everyone. The members make stands to demonstrate the different classes and organizations within the church. And the missionaries are in charge of three rooms. The chapel, where we have the statue of Christ and get to hear His words (like the visitors center in Salt Lake!) and then the gym where we have posters describing the restoration, the plan of salvation, the focus of families, and Christs example. And the baptismal font! It was a super cool experience. And although not as many people came as we were all expecting, a TON of investigators came to church the next day, like we have never seen! It was so cool to see the immediate fruits of the capilla abierta. And it helped the members have more opportunities to share the gospel with their friends and family! I loved it!
One of the people that went to church was Martha! Our investigator that is preparing for baptism. Her little son turns eight in a couple months and he came with her! Unfortunately, she had a ton of opposition in getting to church and staying there. (stinking boyfriends!) BUT she held her ground and had a great experience at church! After church, we had a Baptism! In the ward, not of the missionaries. A cute little eight year old Ailen. Her family was less active in the beginning of the year, but they have been working to slowly come back. they all felt the spirit so strongly during the baptism it was so great! And Marta and her little boy were there! It was so great! Angel (her son) said the baptism was cool! There were so many people it was amazing!
We also got to work in the field abit this week! THe real, dirt field I mean. We got lost in the chacras one day loking for a less active (oh chacras! How I've missed you so!) and then the next day we helped made a garden with a new investigator! We took out some plants, turned up her soil, and planted lots of vegetables! super cool!

Anyway, hope you all have a great week! Go out and plant some seeds of Gods love! Christ lives and He loves each and every one of us. 

August 18, 2014
Hey hey hey! How we doing today?
Had a super great week! So many awesome moments. For one, we met the little sister of a menos activo that we have been teaching. We had a great lesson  with them! We read the scriptures about the king who wanted the joy of the gospel so much in his life that he was willing to sacrifice everything, even all his kingdom to be able to know God. I love that scripture. So we talked about what they can give to be able to know God in their lives. And in the end, the little sister just started crying and said How marvellous it is to feel the love of God! It is so great to feel the Spirit and have the gospel in my life again. Aw so touching! I love her so much!
We went to the trueque again this week! There we met their mom. They had told us that she didnt want anything to do with the gospel, so we thought some love and friendship might change that! When she saw us she said Hi hermanas! How are you? And gave us free delicious lemon pie! So I think she has great potential!
We had a super awesome charla fogonera on the obra misional this week! Whoop whooop! There were a ton of little hiccups making it happen, but it all turned out great in the end! A member gave a talk applying preach my gospel to the members and sharing the gospel! It was so great! And then we did little practices with the members inviting their friends to the capilla abierta this saturday! I was so sad I didnt take fotos during the practices, it was totally worthy of being on 'The District' haha but it was so good!
How have you been sharing the gospel lately? It is so important to help others feel of this marvelous joy and peace that we can feel everday! The gospel is like that really good lemon pie I had this week, so good you just want everyone to be able to try it and enjoy it too! And when we share the gospel, its like getting a second piece of the lemon pie! We receive as we give! Thats something that I love. And you dont have to get fat as you share the gospel! Happiness free of calories yippee!!!! I invite you all to share your testimony with someone this week! And also to invite a friend to a fun activity or a noche de hogar whoohoo i love noche de hogar! Oh!!!! I almost forgot! We did the shield lesson again with a less active young women and when she had the big shield for having read, prayed and attending church, she not only was able to defend herself from the little styrofoam balls we threw at her, but she started whacking them back to us like her shield was a baseball bat! Hahaha so not only can we defend ourselves from the attacks of Satan, but we can fight back and attack him! Every good deed that we do weakens the power of Satan. Do good. Fight Satan. Girls day! We all got our hair cut. Mine was SO DEAD hahaha the hairdresser was basically dying as she cut my hair and telling me how to take better care of it whoops haha thats what happens for never cutting your hair in the mission!  Be happy.
Hope you have a great week! 

Hermana Albright

Monday, August 11, 2014

Four New Letters!!


August 11, 2014
Hello hello hello! 
How we all doing today? I am doing super great! This Saturday we went to a flea market kind of thing they have here, handed out pamphlets, candy, and invitations to the capilla abierta! We are all super stoked for this activity. It was super fun to be in the flea market and meets lots of different kinds of people. Some crazy people thought that we are spies, but other than that it was great talking to everyone there about Christ!
Another cold front came in here, and it is full force flu season! My poor companion got it bad but she is such a trooper and keeps throwing herself in the work! Cough drops are weird here. The cough drops we use in the states are sold as candy here. It was so funny but first week my companions would offer me a caramelo, and it was a halls cough drop. I was so confused. But I got to try what a cough drop here is and hooly hannah it is strong! Basically my whole mouth almost went to sleep. Medicine is crazy here.
I just recieved great news from my dear friend Nicole that I taught in Virginia! She is preparing to go to the temple and her family is receiving the Holy Ghost more in their lives! Ah I am so happy! We are so blessed to have the gospel in our lives! Its so great!
When was the last time you went to the temple? How was your experience? The temple is such a great place to feel the presence of the Lord. I invite you all to go to the temple this week! And even if you cant go in, walk around the grounds and feel the Spirit.  What great luck we have to be near to a temple of the Lord.  Temples are the best!
Well I hope you all have a great week! Chau!
Hermana Albright

August  4, 2014
Hey all! How are you doing this week? Hopefully great!
So we are having so much fun here in Centenario. It is starting to get warm (and rainy...but my boots are going to last till the very end if I have any say in it!) again, and we are stepping it up in the ward activities! This week we had a talent show! And I taught all the missionaries the cup song from Pitch Perfect, and we put it to the hymn We Are All Enlisted. It was super awesome! I loved it. And we have started preparing for something called Capilla Abierta! Its super awesome.Its basically church tours for a whole day long, with all the members!There's a senior couple here in charge of it, you might have seen mention of the Ehmkes in Deseret News with their picture of the Capilla Abierta? Well they have left now, and we have the Arnaudins from Buenos Aires! They are super great. And we are all stoked!
We continue with the noches de hogar! It has been lots of fun! We have a cute little old sister in our ward, who has become my favorite member missionary recently. Someone brought over a friend to a noche de hogar with her, and this member said to the friend Now isnt this great? Dont you want to listen to the missionaries and be baptized?  No fear. Its that easy! We have a great message to share with all the world! Why is it so hard for us to invite our friends? This week, I invite you to invite!
Well basically, all of our citas fell through this week. Not even our less actives had time to meet with us! It was really weird. And we walked A TON. SInging singing all the way, give away oh give away. our mission president challenged everyone to put baptismal dates for the 30 of august, and we were working hard to fulfill his challenge! And it was awesome. We met super great people, and learned how to follow the Spirit better. And in the very very end, God blessed us with two amazing people. One is named Helena. She´'s a cute little 12 year old. She felt the Spirit so strongly as we testified of the experience of a 14 year old boy, Joseph Smith, and accepted to be baptized! We meet with her again tomorrow. And our other miracle is called Marta. She is this sweet lady with a huge desire to change and find God in her life. When we invited her to be baptized, she jumped in her seat, grabbed my arm and with a huge smile said I would love to! Yes Yes! This is what I want! What do I have to do? It was so cool! I almost started crying.
So what did I learn? Work to the very end. Never give up! Trust the promises of God. Follow the Spirit. He speaks oh so quietly but if we trust that God can really guide us, we will see after our actions just how much He blesses us. And most importantly, every little thing counts. There were so many little moments and great contacts that eventually led us to Marta. Along the way, we planted many seeds of the Gospel and Gods love. It is so true Alma says, through small and simple means God works marvelous works.
Hope you all have a great week! Remember to do the small things every day! Smile, read your scriptures, pray, and have a great family home evening!
Hermana Albright

July 28, 2014

Transfers! Another one has come and gone, can you believe it? I sure can't! These six weeks go by way too fast in my opinion. So Hermana Allen is leaving us, and hna guerrero and i will stay in centenario! We are sad to say goodbye to the trio, but hopefully we can still have a great time in two!
We have been continuing the family home evenings and it is the best!!!! This week, we went to a family that lives in between neuquen and buenos aires for their noche de hogar (our capilla is the closest for them, so crazy!). They live in a chacra, with a giant super nice house and they had a legit fireplace! It was super cool we loved it.  The next day, we had fhe with an active family that i love so much! They are preparing to go to the temple for the first time this year to be sealed together whoohoo! So we invited two new recent converts, a returned missionary,  and another active family showed up for the party! It was so great! We made different shields (one for praying sometimes, one bigger for reading and praying and a huge one for reading every day,  praying everyday and attending church). We handed out the shields, and started attacking with little styrofoam balls! Hahahaha it was sooo much fun! They loved it.
We have started teaching a new menos activo that we found recently, Guillermo. And this week, he came to church! And it was so great! He was talking about how he wants to start attending regularly, and paying tithing! Ya!!! And then after church I was talking to him and he said that next week he was going to bring a friend from his work that is looking for God in his live. So great!
The Lord really is hastening His work. But He needs us! In what way can you help the work move forward this week? Also, have you been having your family home evenings consistently? It is yet another thing that helps make our shield bigger. And it's fun too!
I hope you all have a great week! Good luck with everything! And when it comes to the work of God, join in the battle cry: Never give up! Never surrender!
Hermana Albright

July 21, 2014
Hello hello!
So this week I got to go to Neuquen to do tramites again...you know just trying to be legal and all. We had to go get my fingerprints done. And that ended up being quite an adventure! But it all worked out in the end and my papers are in the mail! One day I'll get my DNI.
Well that has made a huge mark in thoughts this week. What prints do we leave? Every where we go, everyone we talk to, we leave a print behind. A mark of love, of irritation, or happiness, or of sorrow. What kind of print do you want to leave on the hearts of others? We leave them all the time, sometimes without even realizing.
This week, I got to see the effect of one of the prints that I left on someone. At the actividadfor the 9 of July, I talked to a less active young woman, Noelia, and encouraged her to come to church sometime. I didnt think I had said or done anything super special, but she asked to take a photo of me and her, and set it as her background on her phone.  And this week, she came to church!!!! We were in the young women class with Carla, our one active young woman, and Carla saw Noelia and said hey! A young woman! In the church! Where is she going? Why isnt she in the class? And ran out to chase her down to bring her to the class. Haha. We had a great class, and Noelia gave me a print of the picture she had taken with me. (pic included). Fast forward. at the end of sacrament meeting (we do sacrament last here in centenario) I went over to her (she was sitting by Carla whoohoo!) and I asked her how she got her since I didnt see her family. She said she came alone. She took the bus for twenty minutes alone to come to church. Then she looked at me, smiled and said You made me.  I was stunned. No one has been teaching her. We visit her sister, but they dont live together. Some simple words and a smile helped her come back to church. Then she saw my young women necklace and asked what it was. We talked about personal progress and carla told her about the project she{s doing right now and invited her to do it with her! Noelia admitted she didnt have a personal progress book, so carla said lets go get one! And off they went!
Every day we leave huellas in the hearts of others. Some fade away like the footprints in the sand, washed away by the tossing waves, and others stay forever, becoming part of an individual. I extend the advice of my hermana Lider to all of you: Hija (o hijo), deja Huellas.
Hope you all have a great week!

Hermana Albright