Monday, September 23, 2013
Well hello everyone! yet another week has passed here in arizona, and who knows how many more are to come. no word yet on the visa. keep your fingers crossed!
I'll just start with another embarrassing (yes, involving the BIKE) experience from this past week and then get to the good stuff...
Well on saturday my companion and i were biking to a lesson and due to the fact that we are always late, we were biking our hearts out (skirts and all). One of the mission rules is that if you are biking you need to be biking on the sidewalk. So... we crossed the street and I notice that on the sidewalk that I'm supposed to bike up onto, there is this big wire real estate sign that is pretty much in the middle of the sidewalk. well... this inner missionary voice inside of me screams" BE EXACTLY OBEDIENT" so disregarding common sense I reason that I can probably bike inbetween the sign and the giant pole with no problem. BIG MISCALCULATION. I attempt to squeeze by the sign on my bike, turn the handle bars, run straight into the giant traffic pole, the tip over and fall into the street. At this point all of the cars stop, and just stare. I'm laying there on the blazing asphalt a little stunned.... and then as I continue to lay there... everyone continues to stare. Eventually I get over myself, get up and see that my handle bars are all bent now. Well two of the cars that saw this great fall (catastrophe) pull over and offer to help. One of the men who offered to help actually gave us his address and I'm thinking we're going to drop by there this week and share a message with him:) so hey maybe I was supposed to crash and look like a fool for a reason??
Highlights this week:
Hattie came to church with us this Sunday for the first time and she loved it! there are legitimately no girls in the ward her age, but she still had a great time. Last week we hardly got to meet with her, so this is the week we are committing her to baptism. IT'S HAPPENING AND I'M SO EXCITED. what else, we have a number of new investigators now, one whose name is nathan and he's about 20. He is wicked intelligent and knows a TON about the church already so teaching him has been a glorious struggle. We also had a really neat experience with a man named Brent Moody. He hasn't been to church in years, but we had a lesson with him and he pretty much told us his whole life story. He had been addicted to cocaine and alcohol for years, finally cleaned himself up 6 years ago, and then 3 years ago got into a terrible bike accident and became paralyzed from the waist down. It is so amazing to see that from that experience he drew strength rather than anger or resentment and turned to God more than he ever had before. He came to church with us on Sunday and we're going to teach Hattie at his house now... (his house is literally a jungle. SO COOL.)
I hope you all have a great week. Keep working hard and doing what's right. Love your favorite missionary EVER, (good thing she's maintaining her humility :)
Sister Healy
Monday, September 16, 2013
Two months in.... CRAZYTOWN. Things here in Arizona, are good!! WE had a couple set backs this week but also some pretty amazing experiences. Just a funny story from this past week. WE are visiting this less active family and this past friday we taught their son about baptism. We asked him why he thought it was important when he was baptized to be completely submersed in the water. His response: "Because the Holy Ghost is way, way down there." hahaha so good.
Due to the fact that it's blazing here, my companion and I stop on occasion at the gas station to fill up our waterbottles. well on this one occassion, there was this man standing outside of the gas station smoking. we approach him and explain who we are. his response: "oh, i'm mormon... or i was when i was12" That started a whole conversation, and it turns out that he hasn't been to church in over 45 years. But it also turns out that the man that baptized him when he was 8 was the same man whose house we were going to dinner to that night!!! So CRAZY. seriously, what are the chances. we got his information and we're going to stop by his house this week.
Hattie, our 14 year old investigator, is doing really well. We had a lesson with her this past week about eternal families and eternal marriage. It was probably the lesson in which I have felt the Spirit the strongest. We were talking about how we were so grateful to have the knowledge that we can be with our families forever and how knowing that has given us so much comfort and stregnth in this life. Her family life is extremely difficult, her two older brothers are drug addicts and dropped out of high school and her mom is in a mental institution after trying to commit suicide. but i could see in Hattie, this love and hope, that I really had never seen in her before. she said: " so you really think i can be happy and have someone who will treat me well, like those special couples. Is that really possible?"
I just want to say that I know more than anything that it is possible. We all deserve the best because we are children of God. He loves us. I don't understand everything, but I do know more than anything that we all have a loving Father in heaven who is rooting for us to succeed. So many people think that they deserve less, well they don't. We are all special and we are so important. That much I know. I know that this mission has been the hardest thing that I've ever done in my whole life, but I also know with every fiber of my being that we can surmount any difficulty and challenge that we face through the stregnth of the Lord. Through him we can do all things.
I love you all so much! have a great week and I'll talk to you soon!!!
PS: this morning it was 95, I was excited.... what has happened to me here.
PPS: QUOTE OF THE WEEK : "He started to sing as he tackled the thing that couldn't be done and he did it"- Edgar Guest
Love ya!
Sister Healy
Biking is fun in the sun....even with 115 degree heat and bike shorts under the dress!!!
Spiderman "catches" the spirit with his Book of Mormon.
Monday, September 9, 2013
WELL HELLO EVERYONE, yet another week has past, and I still haven't been sent to the hospital for heat exhaustion. yay!
It was a bit of an ordeal getting to the computers this morning... usually at 10, we bike over to the church and write our emails on the family history computers. well to start this morning off, it was POURING RAIN. it never rains here so that was a bit of a struggle. than sister fairbanks and I remembered that we had left our helmets at church, so we bike over helmetless (which I was secretly happy about which I'm sure you know why) and then my skirt got caught in the bike and ripped. priceless. when we got to the computers, the internet didn't work, so we freaked out for a bit, and luckily got a ride over here to the library... wooh!
But anyways, this week, we've had some highs and lows. One of our investigators whose name is Hattie has been making great progress. Here's a little background on her: she's 14 (looks like she's 18) and has had a pretty difficult life. No one in her family is a member, except her mom who used to be, but now is suffering from mental illness and is in the hospital. Hattie was hanging out with the wrong kids and one night they decided to break into a store and steal alcohol. well long story short, they got caught and she got sent to jail for 2 weeks and is now on house arrest with ankle bracelet and everything. We heard this whole story, with a number of
expletives included, when her cray grandpa answered the door last week. We decided that we were going to attempt to teach her anyway, and it actually went really well. We've now taught her 6 lessons and are hoping to commit her to baptism soon. it's amazing to see how this gospel has really changed her for the better and we hope that she continues working hard.
expletives included, when her cray grandpa answered the door last week. We decided that we were going to attempt to teach her anyway, and it actually went really well. We've now taught her 6 lessons and are hoping to commit her to baptism soon. it's amazing to see how this gospel has really changed her for the better and we hope that she continues working hard.
Other news, sam is getting baptized on the 21st! YAY! Could not be more excited. there is only 1 young man and 1 young woman in the WHOLE WARD. (yes you heard that right) and so we've really been working on getting the teens to come back.
Other embarrassing stories this week... hmm....too many to count. most of them involving me falling off my bike. Its a love/hate relationship (mostly hate).
love you all and i hope you have an amazing week and keep pushing through the good and bad times. Here's a scripture that has helped me alot lately:
"remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God"- D&C 18:10--> know that you ARE worth it and that is why you're here. Even if you're a sweaty, skirt-wearing, biker sister like myself, just remember that you are special and you are loved.
sister healy 
Thursday, September 5, 2013
HELLO EVERYONE! we had transfers on monday so our pday was pushed back to today. anyways, you know how I said that the first week in the mtc was the longest week of my life... well I lied. THIS WAS THE LONGEST WEEK OF MY LIFE, but also one of the most amazing ones. Where even to start. Well let's stary with my first contacting experience. So as I mentioned last week, me and my companion sister fairbanks and I are both greenies, and we're on bikes. Our first day out in the field was last tuesday. Its a nice 115 degrees (joy) and the walmart helmet that I am using is messed up, or my head is messed up of both. i dont even know. All I know is that it is awkwardly cocked to the side whenever I ride ( which is all the time) and it often slips off my head and just hangs off my neck. So we get out there with our ghetto gps and a map on the first day and go looking for an inactive member of our ward, Alan Earl. We're biking around in circles in that more than warm sun for over an hour, meanwhile dying because we've forgotten water bottles and forgotten money to buy water. We finally get to his apartment after what has seemed like a legit eternity, knock on the door and.... he's not there! At that point, I was feeling pretty discouraged. Another sister from our district had come out to help us for the day and I asked her if we should knock on his neighbor's door and see if they knew anything about him. She said that usually they don't knock on doors... I responded (probably a little too sassily) that I thought we should knock anyways. so I knock on his neighbor's door and this young woman answers. We ask her about alan earl and she says she hasn't seen him recently. there's an awkward pause and it looks like she's about to shut the door when I kind of blurt out "can we have some water?!" she says yes, and lets us inside. we say that we are missionaries for the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. she says she knows who we are and that in fact her best friend is mormon! we then chat with her for a little longer, and you know what she says!!!!! she says "I've read the book of mormon 4 times and I know it's true." I'M NOT KIDDING. For a second, I thought I was hallucinating (probably because of extreme dehydration). We'll we were stunned and crying with joy inside and then we asked her if she would prepare for baptism, and SHE SAID YES. It was the most amazing experience. Her name is Samantha and I know that she was prepared to meet us. We've already had our first real lesson with her and she attended church with us this sunday and LOVED IT. she's going to be baptized in a couple weeks. did i mention that she is 19! and that she was our first contact. it was a miracle needless to say.
Riding on bikes all day.. in the 115 degree weather... in skirts... and biking shorts... without water.. and using a broken bike and broken helmet has been so humbling, but so good too! Sadly one of the sisters in our district who also bikes fainted the other day from exhaustion and dehyrdation, but it's all good now! I had a really embarrasing experience the other day. so we were biking back from zone conference and I was trying to fix my helmet (which I hate) because it kept sliding of my head. so I had one hand on the helmet, the other on the breaks, and I see this car pull out of the parking lot. fearing that its going to hit me, I clutch the brakes (definitely too hard) and go flying off my bike, skirt and all. I just happened to have this humiliating crash in THE ONE SPOT, SERIOUSLY THE ONLY SPOT, ON THE STREET WHERE THERE ARE A TON OF PEOPLE. They are all sitting at this outside bar and see me fall. and just stare. (I'm not even sure why they were at that bar at like 10 in the morning ayway)... then they see that i'm not really moving and come over and ask if im ok. I manage to reply that its only my pride that has been wounded. they really got a crack out of that one. Let's just say that I've learned to ride with both hands on the handle bars at all times.
I have so many other great experiences to share but thats all i have time for this week. Just know that I love you all! I'll be on again on monday at 10:30-11:45 (arizona time) so be on so i can talk to you. have a great week!
sister healy
Monday, August 26, 2013
drum roll please.... I WAS REASSIGNED TO SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA. sadly, none of you guessed it right, I couldn't even believe it at first when I opened the letter! These past three days have been absolutely CRAZY.
I opened my reassignment call on friday and as I was flipping through the reassignment packet (which included flight information)... I read in the wee little corner of the second page that I WOULD BE LEAVING SATURDAY MORNING (aka: less than 18 hours later) to fly to Arizona and get straight to work. I when I saw that.... I cried a little (inside of course.) I mean who wouldn't be scared!!! We had no information about anything; all I knew was that I needed to report to the travel office at 4:30 the next day. I was in mini freak out mode the rest of the day and managed to pull myself together enough to sleep a couple hours that night. Woke up at 3:50am on Saturday morning, got to the airport with Sister Fairbanks and Elder Molinaro ( from my district) and seriously felt like Will Ferrell from Elf in that one scene where he is fresh out of the North Pole and frollicks around new York city (eating chewed gum and getting hit by cabs). IT WAS GREAT. In the airport, we actually got to eat REAL FOOD... like jamba juice; then, I was lucky enough to get to talk to my family on the pay phone, it was amazing! And I randomly saw my cousin who works in the airport! The flight was only an hour and 15 minutes. so we landed in scorching Arizona at around 10 am. We were carted over to the mission home (me with my two bags... one weighing 49 pounds, and the other 70 pounds...that was a miracle in and of itself). We got to meet the mission president and his sweet wife and we've slept at the mission home for the past two days.
They dropped some pretty big news on us that freaked me out a bit. First, this is a BRAND NEW MISSION, opened only a month ago, and this area is new and redrawn. Second, I would paired up with sister Fairbanks (the girl from my MTC district) which means that WE WOULD HAVE NO TRAINER. YES, ME A GREENIE WITH ANOTHER GREENIE, AND no trainer. Lets just say we both almost peed our pants(skirts) when they told us that. Thirdly, we would be riding bikes. YES, us sisters in our long skirts riding bikes in this wonderfully warm 115 degree weather. Fourth, we would be working solely with inactive and less active members...without any updated area book!
After the shock of hearing all that wore off, we basically passed out.... and got to meet our ward for the first time yesterday. The ward is tiny, made up of single, elderly people and newlywed couples. THERE IS A LOT OF WORK TO BE DONE, but we know that we can do it and they we can make this ward one that is strong and unified. The 2nd counselor to the bishop told us that 75% of the ward is inactive...so we know that we are much needed and we're excited for all the good we can do.
Anyways, today its 98 degrees and people are talking about how glorious the weather is.... this is a great warmup for BRAZIL.
Love you all, have a great week and I'll keep you updated on the crazy happenings here in Arizona!
Love,
sister healy (the perpetual visa waiter)
Morgan and her new mission president and his wife
.jpg)
Waiting for her flight to Arizona
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)