Census couldn't stop us this week

Hola! How is everyone doing? This week was a real busy one! Lots happened so I will just give some of the highlights.

Fam Rodriguez-doing well and Johnny is now Progressing!! He isn't quite ready for his baptism this week because he needs to prepare a little more, but he will be baptized in November. And we aren't going to postpone the baptism of his fam any longer because they are so ready. So they have their interviews at 6 today and their baptism Friday-YAY! We are so excited for them. They are my favorites.

We had a big stake activity this Saturday that we put on. It was called "la luz de la verdad" we planned it with the other missionaries in the stake (who are the office elders) and it turned out SO good. What we did was we totally acted out the restoration of the Gospel. With an elder as Joseph Smith, other elders as false prophets from the apostasy, we even had a bunch of cool light effects with the pillar of light and all. The whole message led up to the book of Mormon and we were able to finish it off with Pres. Monson's words about the book of Mormon. After the activity we had a table full of books of Mormon, pamphlets, and all. We also had a list on the table that you could sign if you weren't a member and would like to talk with the missionaries or learn more. 28 people signed the list! It was a miracle and we invited anybody and everybody so the turnout was huge. Including the Rodriguez fam, fam Aliaga, 3 of our other investigators, and lots of new investigators. Definitely a highlight of the week!

Yesterday was the census here and nobody could leave their house from 8 in the morning to 5 at night. WHOA the first day we have actually rested in the whole mission. It was so weird. We live with members so luckily they gave us food and we spent it with them, studying, and making lots of scripture bookmarks ha. The Aliaga fam is back from New York and back ready to learn!! The wife, Luisa, is SO interested. We really feel that she is ready! Even yesterday when we taught her about the book of Mormon she told us she has always wondered what happened with the people in the Americas. She reads the bible daily but said that it has always bugged her how the prophets from the bible aren't from the Americas. She is so excited to get reading  the book of Mormon. Her husband, Holman, is doing well too but he's a little more going with it because his wife is so interested. So we are going to focus lots more on him this week so that they can progress together. Luisa asked if we can visit her every single day because every time we are there she feels lots of peace. That's what the spirit does :)

Mariela's family is still hanging in there. When we went to visit them at the beginning of this week Mariela was cleaning so we asked to help her. I don't think I've mentioned it before, but she was in an accident about 20 years ago and due to the accident she had to have her leg amputated. She only has one leg so of course cleaning is a little hard for her.... so when we went into her room to start cleaning we were shocked.. Piles high of trash, food, papers, clothes, everything. It was a disaster, We went straight into deep cleaning and even found one of her cats living under a pile of clothes. I was a little shocked when I picked up a shirt to find him there ha. Yeah but point of the story is that there was a lot to clean, so almost every time we visited them this week we were cleaning. But they are stilll doing good!!

We met a few new investigators this week that we are excited about too so woooottt the work is moving here in Mirador. :) haha also funny story-this week I got a spider bite on my foot and I had a really bad reaction-the mission nurse said I have to be alergic to this spider because my foot literally doubled in size. The weirdest thing! I am fine, but it will just take a little time for the swelling to go down ha so yeah that happened this week. Thank you for all the love, support, and prayers! Les amo un montón!!!! Go serve someone and have a good one!

Hermana Wood

Efesians 5:8

Nuestro padre celestial nos ama :)

Hola!! Hope everyone had a great week! We are doing well here :)

Mariela's family is progressing! Little by little they are meeting more members and they like going to church.

The Rodriguez family.. Katy and Alexa are doing so great!! They already have strong testimonies and are progressing lots. But this week Johnny has changed his mind a little. He has had some struggles with work lately and it's really testing his faith because he says he feels like God hasn't been there for him. He told us he wants to postpone his baptism a little longer. It made us sad to hear because we want the whole fam to be baptized together, but this lesson with them turned out to be so powerful. We talked a lot about the love of God, and we told them that this night they had to pray together as a family. Johnny had to offer the prayer. And we promised Johnny he would feel something special. We promised that he would be able to feel of the spirit. We were able to feel of the spirit so strong with them when we were promising him this and it was so special because Katy and Alexa cried and shared parts of their testimonies with him as well. We have the next lesson with them today and we are so anxious to hear from them! We moved their baptism to the next week to see if Johnny will be ready by then because we reallyyy want that this fam can be baptized all together. Please keep them in your prayers!

Other points of this week: last Monday night-in the middle of the night-there was a little earthquake and it scared us so bad but all is well! We gave talks yesterday in church.We moved cuartos and feel a lot safer now :) but yeah this week was good and these members here are helping us so much!!

oh and Birthday shoutout this week to TEYO!!!! He deserves the best day ever.

And can I just say it blows my mind that I am already at the halfway point of my mission..? 9 months of growing, meeting some of my eternal best friends, coming to know my Savior better, speaking such a foreign language that I have come to absolutely love, and sharing the happiest news in the whole world. I feel so grateful to be a missionary!!!

Just wanna finish up with the words of Pres. Uchtdorf that I love so much: "God is real. He lives. He loves you. He understands you. He knows the silent pleadings of your heart. He has not abandoned you. He will not forsake you." Go have the best week :)

Hermana Wood

Matthew 10:39

Pictures: multizone conference, the elders helping us move, and the park where we spent p day

Mirador es lo maximo

Hola!!! Hope everyone is doing great. :) Things are going well here!

It seems like every week is getting busier and busier here haa. We are so excited about our investigators right now!!! The Rodriguez family has their baptismal date the 21st of this month and their interviews this week. They are seriously a golden family and meeting them was such a testimony builder that I needed to be in Arequipa in this time. We have gotten so close to them, and they are progressing so much! They already have testimonies of the Book of Mormon and seem like members when they are at church, participating in the classes and all. They are the best!!

Mariela, Fernando, and Karen are progressing too! Their baptismal date is for the 5th of November :) We have seen so many miracles with these families! The Aliaga fam left to New York for 2 weeks.... so no contact with them this week, but as soon as they get back!

Since Peru played Argentina in soccer this week, everyone has been showing all of their Peru pride throughout the week. Tons of red and white, banners, discounts, and all. They're playing Columbia this week, so lots more Peru pride this week too!

Thanks for all the love and support. It means more than you know! Love you all so much! Go try a little harder to be a little better this week :) hasta pronto

Hermana Wood

3 Nephi 22:7,10

The temple is going up quickly - see the progress.

So Happy!

Hola!! Hope everyone had such a great week :)

This week was so good! I love Mirador!! These members that we have met so far are so great and supportive and we have received so so many references this week. It is a miracle!! The elders from the office are usually in this area and they haven't had Hermanas here before. And our mission leader is Hermano WILFREDO! I don't know if I talked about him before, but he was our mission leader in Alto Selva Alegre and is the most helpful member in the world. He is so fired up about this missionary work and so willing to serve! While I was in Zamacola he moved to this ward and now he's my mission leader again yayy!!

We started teaching 3 families this week which are all so solid! The Rodriguez family: Johnny, Katy, Alexa, and Estefano. Other fam: Mariela (mom), Fernando (14) and Karen (9). and the fam Agaria - a couple. I am seriously amazed because each of these families is so so interested and so ready. All of them came to general conference and liked it a lot!! And the Rodriguez fam and Agaria family are both already married! They are all progressing and we are so stoked about each of them.

A cool experience from the week: We had a lesson with Mariela and her family and we talked about the Book of Mormon. Fernando is so shy and timid. SO shy. He can't talk to anyone, look at anyone, he won't go to school because he doesn't want to see anyone. Mariela is so worried about him, becuase he won't even talk to her. After our lesson about the Book of Mormon we left them a little homework to read 3 Nephi 11. We went back to visit them the next day and we asked what they thought of the chapter. Fernando looked up and said "I loved it. A lot." He went on to tell us that he not only read the chapter, but started reading from the beginning & is totally digging the book. The spirit was so strong in this moment, because he is such a shy boy who doesn't talk. But to hear him bear witness that he believes this book is true, was so powerful. Mariela was shocked by how much he opened up, and it was definitely a testimony builder for her too. Oh man I loveee the Book of Mormon. It brings the spirit stronger than anything else.

Hermana Poulson really is the best and we get along sooo great. She's a total runner so we have gotten some of the best runs in this week too yay! We just click great. This week was so busy starting out with divisions, leadership conference, contacting muchoooo and meeting members, but it was such a productive one. Another huge highlight was conference. Loved every talk oh so much! I think one of my favs that I can remember right now was by Elder Uchtdorf how we need to turn our souls to the light. If we turn to him with everything, our lives will be better, and God will use US to make the lives of others better. But safe to say every talk was so solid. And one of my fav quotes was how Elder Holland said something along the lines of "HE is a peacemaker. and I need peace." so so true.

I know this gospel is the happiest news and brings more peace than anything in the world! Go have a great week and keep in mind the question from Sis. Oscarson: "Who needs me today?". Love you all!!!

Alma 36:24-25

Hermana Wood