Week for the Books!

Hello from Arequipa!

Ah this week was so good! Jazmin was baptized on Friday and I think that Friday was my favorite day yet of the mission. Other than the baptism running on Peruvian time (1 hour late) everything turned out great! (Oh and poor girl was baptized with cold water, but at least we had water:) ) We made invitations and invited everyone in the ward. There was such a big turnout. Hermana Alais sang & I played the piano for a musical number, and we had a few of the ward leaders speak. Jazmin was so happy. She bore her testimony afterwards and had such a big smile the whole time. I feel so lucky to have been a part of her conversion! After the baptism, we planned a noche misional with our mission leader and invited everyone in the ward and told everyone to bring friends too. There was a huge turnout! We watched a video of the first vision, then Hermana Alais and I gave a message on prayer and we played games & had food. It turned out so well & we picked up new investigators from it too! 

Water update: In our place-Still none. Actually we had water in the morning on Thursday but that was it. It is such a blessing that there was water in the chapel for the baptism. Jaren- I think I am getting a taste of your mission showering with a bucket! haha.

We met a new favorite of mine this week. Her name is Fiona & she is 19 years old. She was a referral from a girl in the ward and we clicked with her so quick. She reminds me so much of just one of my best friends from home. She is super busy studying at the university here, but we were able to teach her 2 of the lessons this week & she is on date to be baptized. She is trying to learn English too, so it has been fun for me to help her with English:) She is so great.

I love our ward in the area! They have been super helpful with helping us find new investigators and they take such good care of us. Little example, This week one of the sisters in the ward invited us over for an FHE with her family. She told me (but in Spanish) something along the lines of: "The first few weeks of the mission are hard & I figured you're probably home sick, so I hope this helps." She had somehow found peanut butter here and made us PB&J sandwiches. My heart! haha. I love our ward!

Oh and I really have the greatest companion! We get along perfectly and I feel so blessed to have her. She has the voice of an angel & is a super talented singer/songwriter. She is super witty and something we love to do together is make raps hahha. We are always rapping about the mission & its so fun. Her family is inactive, but her testimony is so so strong. She's such an amazing example to me!

Hope you all have the best week. Yay for conference this weekend!!! 

Helaman 5:12

Hermana Wood

The Water Week

Thank you for all of the updates and thanks for all the love and support, it means more than you know! Sorry not much time today, but I will try to respond to some! This week was really good. Ok to explain the subject of this email.. There was SO much water this week and absolutely none at the same time. It rained like crazyyy this week. On Wednesday the streets were about turning into rivers! Please keep the people of Peru in your prayers! Because of all the rain, there is tons of dangerous flooding up North and the people here are all really scared. Because of all the rain, our area hasn't had water since last Monday. No water in the toilets, showers, sinks-nada. We are getting pretty desperate haha. But such a tender mercy: The mission home is in our area and Pres. and Hermana Johnson invited us over to shower this week. Not only do they have water, but they have WARM water! Ah warm water is such a blessing. Pres. & Hermana Johnson are the best. :)

Sadly Yanina had to leave back to Cuzco this week.. my heart! Her parents wouldn't let her be baptized before she left, but I know she will be baptized when she returns. She has such a strong testimony! We are going to be pen pals this next year and crossing my fingers I can see her again in the mission! 

On Wednesday, Elder Falabella from the 70 came and did a training with our mission! He was so motivating and inspired all of us to just work that much harder and set bigger goals. It was a great training and fun to see all of the other missionaries of Arequipa too:) 

This week on Friday we have a baptism!!!! The baptism of Jazmin. She is 16 years old and I am so happy for her. We met her our second day in the area and it has been so cool to watch her testimony develop and prepare for her baptism. We invited the whole ward and investigators and she is really excited.. yay!

Because of the temple coming soon to Arequipa, our ward has really been focusing on Family History work so that when the temple is finished there are plenty of names to take to the temple. So this last week we were teaching lots of lessons about the importance of family history and teaching people how to build their family trees. I've never really been into Family History, but wow its really cool. I encourage you all to go work a little more on your family trees:)

Oh and birthdayyy shoutout to ADRIA! Eat extra lots of cake for me and I will be celebrating from lots of miles away!!

Go make it a great week:) I love you all!

Ether 12:27

Hermana Wood

Pictures: 1. Pizza party for Yanina before she left (yes, they have a papa Johns here!) 2. We need to figure out how to take normal pictures 3. Our area 4. Got to meet the wife of Jakes mission president this week who lives in arequipa! She is the absolute sweetest

Hola!

Whoa what a week. So much happens here everyday! I hope everyone is doing great. This week we picked up a few great new investigators. We fasted on Wednesday for our area and no joke, on Thursday we were seeing miracles and got 4 new investigators. We have 2 on date for baptism! We have really been working with the members to try and get referrals from them because whenever we are out contacting in the area everyone claims they are Catholic and hardly anyone listens to us. ha But we still contact everyday regardless:) 

This week we picked up a new investigator who is easily one of my most favorite people I have met here. Her name is Yanina. She is 16 years old and has been working here for her grandma the past few months. She is from Cuzco and is returning to Cuzco at the end of this week for a whole year. We met her a week ago and have visited her every single day. She had been attending church with her grandma the past month, but had never had any of the lessons or discussions until us. She told us she wanted to be baptized after our first lesson with her, but here's the catch, she asked for her parent's (who live in Cuzco) permission and they won't allow her to be baptized. We got her parent's numbers and called them yesterday and explained a little background on our religion and the importance of baptism. The call went really well and they are going to call us back tonight to let us know if Yanina can be baptized before she leaves to Cuzco. Crossing our fingers! She is so amazing. I will miss her so much when she leaves! She has such a strong desire to follow Christ and is on fire with reading the Book of Mormon. And I am just hoping she can be baptized before she leaves!

Ok a few days ago, our bishop called us and asked us to speak yesterday in church for about 12 minutes each. It was so last minute! So so stressful, but it was a miracle because somehow I gave a 12 minute talk yesterday in church on missionary work. Yeah, in Spanish. haha. President and Hermana Johnson came to our ward yesterday so that just added to the nerves! I spoke about the story of Ammon and also talked about the member missionary work that can be done. It went well and now I have a talk prepared that I can hopefully use at other times as well! 

Okay, the randoms and the funnies from the week. One of our investigators is 80 and just so funny, but he believes our church turns people into aliens. He is reading the Book of Mormon, but won't attend church because of the fear of turning into an alien... so we don't exactly know what to do about him. ha. So odd. Okay, Peru is mango heaven. Seriously I am obsessed. I am also convinced that Peru has the cutest babies in the world. They have the biggest brown eyes and I am just in love with them! It is still raining here everyday and pretty cold. My companion is great and I am learning more Spanish each day. Talk to you pronto!

xox

Mosiah 7:33

Hermana Wood

Week 1 in Arequipa

I hope you all had a great week! Week 1 in Arequipa is in the books. Whoa what a week. Okay, first, my companion, Hermana Alais. She is the best. It is difficult at times because we can't always understand each other, but she has so much patience and such an amazing testimony. I scored big time with her. She has really light features, so people think that she's the gringa and I'm the native until we start speaking haha. We get along so well and I just love her. 

OK Spanish, yeah. The people speak so FAST and it is so hard to understand, but each day gets a little better. We are serving in Alto Selva Alegre, which like I said, is an area we are opening. It has been tough starting from scratch, but we are working real hard. We have knocked so many doors and it feels like the whole area is catholic, but we have found a few investigators and have a man named Haime on date to be baptized. We are trying to work with the ward to get referrals and help from them. The ward leaders are great. The weather here is lots colder than Lima! It has rained just about every afternoon. It is really chilly in the afternoon and at night. We don't have any heat in our cuarto, so we asked for lots of blankets from the zone leaders so that we don't freeze at nights haha. 

Oh funny story- a couple of days ago, we were out contacting in the pouring rain & we were crossing one of the busiest streets in our area. One of the cars in the middle of this uphill road was stuck. Hermana Alais suggested we run out in the middle of this busy road and push the car. I thought she was joking, but no. Next thing I knew there are these 2 little Hermanas slipping and pushing with all of our might this car up the hill! ha I was honestly sore from it the next day. The people here are real loving and touchy. You greet everyone with a hug and kissy thing on the cheek & all the men with a handshake. 

Our pencionista lives just a few blocks away from us and we eat all 3 meals with her. She cooks different food everyday and its been really random food that I've never seen before, but she's a good cook and super nice. Yesterday was fast & testimony meeting & I was able to bear a testimony in Spanish! Me and Spanish aren't exactly best friends right now, but really working on that relationship, and like I said it gets a little better each day. It's tough not being able to express myself in lessons because I don't have the words, but I've felt the Savior's hand so many times this week guiding me along. Thank you all so much for the prayers, love and support. They mean more than you know! Love you all so much,

D&C 4

Hermana Wood

Arrived in Arequipa

I was told to write a quick email to let you all know I arrived safely in beautiful Arequipa:) So sorry I don't have time to read emails right now or write anyone personally, but I can do that on Monday! We arrived here 2 days ago and I already feel like I have been here for so long! We arrived at the airport and President and Sister Johnson were there waiting for us. They are the best and so nice! On our way from the airport we stopped at the spot where the new temple will be which was really cool. Then we had a little orientation at a chapel and were sent off to our areas. I have the BEST trainer ever. I am so lucky! Haha so funny, when we arrived at the chapel to meet our trainers, I noticed my trainer first. (not knowing she would be my companion) and I knew somehow that she was for me. And last week, the trainers saw pictures of the new missionaries coming in and my comp pointed to the picture of me and told everyone she would have me as her companion.. it was meant to be! ha. She is from Argentina so she doesn't really speak English, but she is just the sweetest and so patient. She has 9 months in the mission and is just the most perfect missionary. She is exactly what I needed! Spanish is so hard and I have so much to learn, but I'm excited to just be getting to work. We are opening a new area here and we have met some members from the ward who so far are all really nice. Our pencionista is really nice as well and we eat all 3 meals with her. And we are in the same area as President and Sister Johnson, yay! We are definitely in a third world country though! I think I took the showers and bathrooms in the CCM for granted:) But the area here is so beautiful. I am safe, and I can update you all more next week! Also, quick shoutout to Jaren and Savannah, CONGRATS!!! SO excited to be gaining Savannah as a sister:) Love you all so much and I will talk to you all soon!

Lots of love,

Hermana Wood