Three for one! and lots of pictures

So... it's been a while since I've put up Heidi's letters! Sorry to leave you wanting for so long but now you get lots!

March 2, 2014

Ok first off, SORRY for the terrible letter last week. There was a power outage and it killed my email so i just copied and pasted the email i sent to presidente.

This week we went to the chacras again! instead of pulling onions, we pulled tomatoes! It is defintely hard work but also lots of fun! I love helping my sweet members they have so much to do! The sister that owns this chacra had so much to do, she strapped her three month year old on her back with some blankets and started pulling tomatoes with us! So crazy! As you can see, i got very dirty, even my toes that had socks and tennis shoes protecting them! my arms were so green, and i even got a green mustache hahaha i´m the grinch!

Well this is quite an eventful week! Nine months in the mission and my birthday all in one whoohoo!!!! It´s so crazy!!! There´s definitely so much that I still want to fulfill here in the mission. It´s weird, I don´t feel like i have nine months i still feel like a new little greenie! So much to learn and do! I hope that I can utilize these next nine months to the fullest! I literally can´t believe its halfway done. 9 months and 21! But still a baby in so many ways haha. One day i´ll get a hang of this grown up thing ;) then again, maybe i´ll just live in never land!

Hermana Dubon and I were feeling a little down this poor little rama is struggling. but we have lots of great investigators! we just have to keep working with our members and less actives! But we did see miracles this week. One thing that we did this week was focus more on the Atonement of Christ. We had some great lessons, where we all felt the spirit so strongly. I cried, my companion cried, less actives cried, and even strong members. Everyone is in need of the help and peace that Christ offers. I am so grateful for the Atonement and the chance that Christ gives us to improve every single day. He never tires of our faults and never gives up on us, even when sometimes we feel like giving up on ourselves. I know that we were able to touch the hearts of many of our less actives this week, and even though they d I´m so grateful for this chance to be a missionary here in Argentina.  One didn´t come on Sunday, another less active did! And I know that one day they will all come back in the fold.

Have an amazing week! Take a moment to think of all the ways Christ has done for you, and give him thanks. Love you all!

Hermana Albright

Letter from March 10

Well this week has been crazy! But aren´t they all? Monday night, we met three new investigators from a referral from a less active. Yea! Love referrals! After that, we went to a family home evening with our branch president´s family. It was great! He invited us to have fhe with them every week! YAY!  

As we were walking home from the fhe with them, a man stopped us in the street. We were a little weary at first, but weary soon changed to excitement. ¨Are you from Smith?¨  uhhh what? "are you from the church of joseph smith?" Well, not quite what the church is, but hey close enough! How can we help you? "Why aren´t you visiting me?!" Haha bueno, where do you live and we will gladly come visit you! Turns out, he listened to the elders last year or so, and when they left for transfers somehow his address got lost or something so no one passed by his house after that! Self referral, can´t get better than that! What a great gift, just in time for....my Birthday!!! 21 I can´t believe it! i´m so old! Ugh I´m like the crypt keeper!!!! Haha. Well, of course what every missionary needs to have a great birthday is not a celebration, no no, but a great lesson! 

We met with a new investigator, who was also a referral. We had a great lesson, felt the spirit, answered lots of questions, and she accepted the invitation to be baptized! Whoohoo! She not only wanted a baptismal date, but also a date to present her newborn in the church as well. So that was exciting! 

The next day was my nine month mark. WHAAAAAAAT???? I still feel like a newbie here in Argentina, I can´t believe I have nine months already! Man so much to do! so little time! That was also a really great day! Basically, everyday this week was a really great day. Friday, we celebrated nine months and brithday with cake! Mmmm cake!  We still have struggles every day and this poor little rama is definitely just fighting to survive right now, but I now that with a little more time and a little more faith things are going to explode! In a good way. Yup. So thats my story and I´m sticking to it! A very merry unbirthday to you all! Enjoy some cake and herbal tea like Alice! Mmmm yummy! And little by little, things are changing! 

Sunday night, we went with the visiting teachers of a less active, and it was so amazing! They told us to share a message, so we talked about the restoration and invited her husband to baptism! And the members followed right up with scriptures about Christ´s baptism and the importance of the prayer of faith. WHAAAT? Where did you come from? It was so cool to see the spirit working through the members! Probably one of my favorite lessons so far. So....go do some good this week! Visit teach, or home teach! And see those miracles come into your life! Because they´re a comin! Love you all, hope you have a great week!

Hermana Albright

Letter from March 17

First off, I have the greatest companion ever. She helps me every time I´m feeling down and is always so patient and loving with me.  I love her and am so lucky to have had two whole transfers with her! And maybe more? I guess we´ll see!  

So this is a hard area not going to lie. Hermana D and I are supposed to be teaching young women, but we always end up teaching relief society or primary because the teachers don´t show up and sometimes neither of the classes have a teacher and we have to decide who to leave running around by themselves, the hooligans or the women. So we end up teaching primary a lot haha. Luckily, the teachers show up for the second hour, so we can teach the youth class! We had an investigator come with her less active family this week yay!!! And we seriously are so blessed with amazing investigators who are so ready for this message. Even though we have a lot of struggles within the branch, I know that everything will work out in the end because there are so many people here that the Lord has prepared and that need the light of the gospel in their lives and are ready to change to receive it. 

But like all the challenges in life, I am growing a lot from being here. And the people here are growing stronger too. Stronger in their faith, stronger in their determination to do the right, stronger in their ability to endure to the end. And our investigators are so excited to be baptized! A lot of them come from the less active families, so I am so excited for the Spirit to touch thier families as well and help them return to the fold.

We had exchanges this week! And I learned that it doesn´t matter what I see happen here or what I don´t see happen here, what really matters is what happens when I leave. What these people decide to DO with the messages that they´ve been given. And really, we all have to make that decision. Just like with general conference coming up (WHOOHOO!!!!! WHO´S EXCITED????) we go and listen to the wonderful talks from the messengers of God, but what really matters is what we DO afterwards with these messages in our hearts. So I hope you all have a great week and take the time to do something good in the world today!

OH! Almost forgot the funny story (sorry dady!) ok so they have this thing called murges here, and people play giant drums and everyone dances by jumping and kicking their legs around and wearing funny hats like halloween. There was a carnival this weekend so the main street was closed and a murges was happening! I definitely wanted to join in the dancing, but don´t worry my companion held me back and kept me being a good little missionary. so have a little kick dance for me eh?

Hasta luego! Hermana Albright

March 25

What an exciting week. Just as I signed off last week, the secretary called me to tell me I was going to Bariloche to renew my visa! It was quite an adventure! I left four hours later, and returned in about 24 hours after. Bariloche is the most famous area here...because it has mountains and the best chocolate in the world! It was lots of fun to see the mountains again and the chocolate really is the best I´ve ever had. I renewed my visa without any problems, and returned to Huergo!

And this week was transfers. Oh transfers.How I hate them. This time, Hermana D was called away and I am here to stay! She´s going to ezquel, where it is snowing! I was very sad to say goodbye to Hermana D. She is so strong, always follows the Spirit, and loves everyone unconditionally. She will be well missed here in Huergo, and she will be well loved in her new area. And now, my new companion has arrived! Her name is Hermana S, she´s from Utah and was in the Mtc with me, in a different district! I can already tell that Hermana S is amazing and I am super excited to serve with her! 

As of right now, we have 5 baptismal dates!!!! We are definitely being blessed here in Huergo. Despite all the trials and problems that we´ve faced, there have been many miracles. I´m so excited to be able to stay here and help these people reach their goal of being baptized. I have loved seeing their faith in God grow and hope that I can be a useful instrument in the Lord´s hands to help them continue to grow. 

We had our first class of Young Womens! Someone from Roca came up, and she said she´s going to teach every week here in Huergo! YES! I´m so excited and so happy for  our young women, that she can grow in the gospel according to her age and needs. Young womens is the best! I have definitely missed it and am super excited to learn the theme in spanish! Somos hijas de nuestro padre celestial, quien nos ama y amamos a El...

The best part of the week came from a lesson with one of our investigators with a date. As we talked about the importance of attending church, we asked her how she felt as during the sacrament. She said she felt the Spirit so strongly and almost started crying.  Sacrament meeting is so important for us all, to be able to feel of the Spirit, remember Chirst and His sacrifice for us, and to be able to show our love for Him and in return, feel of His love for us so strongly. We are so blessed to be able to have such a spiritual experience every week. I invite you all to think of how you can make partaking of the sacrament even more of a spiritual experience for yourself this week. You will be able to feel of the peace from the Spirit more strongly throughout the week as you do so.

Hope you all have a wonderful day! Chausito!

Hermana Albright

PIcture from Bariloche

Heidi bought this headband as a birthday present to her from mom ;)

And this sweater

BRAVE

Taco Day

A bonbon for the birthday girl

9 months left, 9 months to go

Birthday cake!

Bus Adventure

Well we had a crazy week! We went to Neuquen twice to try to renew my companion's visa. The first time, we came, they waited three hours in line, and ended up not being able to do anything. So we had to go back. It´s fun going to Neuquen though. I got to help out for a little bit in the office! There are so many missionaries working in the office now it is CRAZY. 

But now we´re back, safe and sound. And my companion is not illegal. YAY! We´re definitely tired but...Miracles are happening everywhere! Sometimes I am amazed by what the Lord can do with such a weak instrument in His hands. 

  Also this week, we received amazing referrals from our members! It has been hard finding time to contact them all, and oddly enough, none of them were home for the returned citas. But this week, we found the contacts whose lessons had fallen and learned that they had really been waiting for us to come teach them, and we had the wrong address for them! It was a miracle that we were able to find them again walking through the streets, and it was a blessing to hear that they really were ready and waiting for us. I am so excited to go and teach them this week! 

As we contacted one of the referrals, we were running super late and had two other lessons before going to a noche de hogar. (I totally googled that.. it means Home Evening.. so a family home evening.  Family home evening is where you set a time and as a family you have a lesson, can play a game and have treats.) So we tried to have a short lesson, but he had so many questions about Joseph Smith, we had to stay and answer them! In my mind, I thought it was honestly probably the worst first lesson I´ve ever had...but at the end he said ¨I understand now. It all makes sense. You´re saying that he recieved the SAME authority as the apostoles.¨ We asked if we could come back and teach him more about it another time, and he said he would love that. What a miracle that he was able to feel the Spirit!!! Also this week, we had a first branch FHE! (family home evening) What fun! Only four people came, but that four held everyone! Presidente Barrerra, a member, a less active, and a non member! It was so great! I´m excited for the future ones too, hopefully even more people can come!

Anyways, I hope you all have a great week! Just gotta keep your head up, with patience and faith comes the miracles. Look for them everyday.

Hermana Albright

We got 2 emails this week because she forgot some things:

Man I forgot the best part of travelling! So we left for Neuquen (for the second time) at 8 sunday night. we took a little bus to villa regina, where we could take the big double decker with comfy seats to neuquen. But when we got to villa regina, there were no more seats left on the double decker! So we had to take the little bus that stops EVERYWHERE to go back through Huergo, make a circle and end up in Roca, where we could change to another little bus that would take us to Neuquen. Well so we were on the way to Neuquen and I was getting a little bus sick and doing my best to sleep, when our bus stopped. Everybody off! Yelled the bus driver. Appartently, this bus didn´t go all the way to the terminal. So we asked him how far away we were from the terminal and he said 1 kilometer, but it´s too dangerous to walk there, especially this time of night (midnight if you were wondering). So we got kicked off the bus and dropped off in a park somewhere in Neuquen. Luckily, we have amazing Elders here in this mission that were staying up waiting for us to come to the terminal, so we were able to call them and have them come pick us up! And then we stayed the night with some hermanas in the area, and in the morning were up and ready to go renew some visas! It was quite an adventure but we were so blessed to have the protection of the Lord.

Food by miracles

Hello hello everybody!!!! 

So my funny story and miracle story for the week is two in one! We didn´t have time to buy groceries this week, because we were going to have a zone activity. It ended up not working out for Hermana  and I, but we still had lots of fun. Anyway, we were seriously lacking on the food supply. You better believe that I prayed we could find a way to get food without being disobedient! I prayed a lot. So, our members fed us lunches. We met a new investigator, who gave us a huge bottle of peaches! we had family home evening with a member and got pizza. We got pears from working in a chacra. We had a family home evening in another chacra, and got potatoes and melons. We helped one of our less actives in her vegetable store, and got oranges from her. We went to a members house to ask for referrals and we received homemade jam. We contacted the referral, and received a delicious steak lunch from her, as well as pelons and peaches! WHOO!!!! Talk about answers to prayers! Halfway through this, I commented to Hermana about how I had prayed, and she said that she had too. 

So this week has been great. We´re working hard here! And did you know its time for transfers again? Man how time flies! So the news is... Hermana  and Hermana Albright are rocking it in Huergo and are going to stay! Ba ba bam! My first time staying in an area. I don´t know what to do with myself! But I´m super excited because there´s a lot of work to do here and you better believe I am excited to be able to see the fruits of my efforts! we´re starting family home evenings as a branch this week! I´m pumped for that! I love family home evening!!! It´s the best! Do you love family home evening? Try it out and see! All you need is someone to do it with (preferibly family of course), an activity, a spiritual thought, a prayer of course, and possibly a treat! Can´t get better than that! Family home evening is so important, I hope you all take some time this week for your family. Love you lots family! Thanks for always doing family home evening! 

Hope you have a wonderful week! Hasta luego!

Hermana Albright

Heidi says there is a lot of graffiti with messages around the towns.

Some elders made them lunch one P-Day

Some pictures of her cozy apartment

They have water trucks that go around watering the dirt roads so that there isn't a lot of dirt in the air