Hermano Raul

Buenos días! Hope everyone had a happy semana. :)

So transfers are today, but we don't have transfers.. YAY! I love my area so much and honestly would be fine spending the rest of my mission here ha. This is hermana Liza's last transfer of the mission.. so I will be her final compañera! Shes the sweetest, and we get along great.

We call our Primavera, our area, the promised land because the miracles here.... wowwww. We are mind blown by the miracles we see every week! So grateful. We are sticking around as the hermana Leaders and hermana Cejas (my daughter ha) came to Moquegua and is training so I will get to see her and my "granddaughter" in divisions!! 

José has his baptism tomorrow!! It was going to be Saturday, but so that his parents can come, it will be tomorrow. His sister is a member, and his parents are investigators. They are so sweet, it's just hard with them because they are always traveling for work, so it's tough to have a lot of contact with them. But they will be able to go to the baptism tomorrow! José already had his interview and is all good to go. :)

The Roque family is doing great and a few of the daughters have a baptism date planned for the 24th of February. Valentina and Genesis, 2 of the daughters, have the chicken pox right now.. what is it with the things that happen to this family? ha But they are the best.

Something cool that happened this week: We went to Yusara's house and she still hadn't quite got home, so while we were waiting for her, we started knocking the houses of her neighbors. When we knocked one of the doors, Raul (40 years old more or less) answered the door and after talking for a minute, he told us he is a member, but inactive. He is from Chile, and while in Chile he was a branch president, mission leader, bishop's counselor, young men's president, super active. He got divorced about 7 years ago and with the divorce and all, he left the church. Just a couple years ago he got married to a Peruvian who isn't a member. They have 2 kids-a 3 year old and a brand new baby. He told us that in these past couple weeks he has had the strongest impressions that he needs to go back to church. Literally, every single day of these past couple weeks he has been thinking about the church, and how he can go back. I know that it wasn't by coincidence that we knocked his door. He said how he will never be able to deny that the church is true. It has changed his life and he feels so guilty for leaving it. He wants his wife to be able to go to church and get involved as well. We put on an activity night for the ward this week and they were able to go!! Excited to be working more with them this week. 

Other thing that made me really happy this week: Gisel, who was just baptized, asked us for a Book of Mormon to give to a friend who is going through a hard time. She wrote her testimony in it and was so happy to share it with him. As a missionary, the baptisms are super special, but what's even more special is what happens after the baptism. When the converts can share their testimonies with others, its the coolest! 

Thanks for all the support and love! Love you all, love my Savior, and love this work! 

hermana Wood

2 cor. 5:7

pics: made ceviche de pota with hermana Susan because we can't eat ceviche with fish ha, all of the olives that hermana Virginia gave to us this week as a gift, and one of our investigators little birds

So Protected

Time is flying so fast, I feel like I just wrote you guys yesterday? But this was an eventful week! We have continued to see the hand of our Father in Heaven each and every day this week.. but definitely in different ways this week! He has totally protected us.

There were a couple crazy experiences this week so I will just share a little because I'm short on time. Virginia and her family are great. Literally so so prepared. Whenever people want to turn over to our heavenly father, the adversary always plays his best part as well. A few days ago after a lesson with Vanina (one of Virginia's daughters) we made some little alfajores. Hermana Liza and I couldn't stay for long because we had ward counsel, so we left after making the dough. When we went to visit the family on Saturday, they told us "the kitchen still is a little bit of a mess, but the new windows will be coming tomorrow". What? We were super confused.. they went on to tell us that shortly after we had left their house the day we made the alfajores, when Vanina went to turn on the oven.. it blew up, blowing up their whole kitchen, windows, doors, everything. There apparently was a problem with the gas that they didn't know about. The miracle: Vanina is completely fine. She was even wearing glasses and unlike all of the windows, they didn't shatter at all. Vanina is definitely shaken up, but is totally fine. So crazy. So this day with them, we taught them about the restauration of the gospel. We showed a video of Joseph Smith's experience and they understood it great. At the end my companion was asking them the question: Will you pray and ask if Joseph Smith really was a prophet of God? Literally in THIS moment.. EARTHQUAKE. The ground started to shake, they started to scream and in a split second we were up and all huddled in a big group hug in the middle of their home. (not to mention they live on the 3rd floor..) I have felt quite a few earthquakes being out here on the mission, but this one.. this one was different. It was so strong, long and really shook us up. The girls were crying and screaming, but in this moment I felt like time kind of froze. I was looking at this humble family holding hands, hugging for dear life, and somehow just felt so strongly the love of God. How material things didn't matter at all, but the family is what's most important. Luckily the earthquake stopped and we may have all been super in shock, but everyone was okay. As scary as it was, I just could feel that everything was going to be fine, and at peace. This family after told us they know these things we are teaching are true, because the adversary is putting crazy obstacles in their path to try and tear this family apart.

I feel so grateful to have a Heavenly Father who is always looking out for us, always. Their family went to church again yesterday and little by little are meeting more members, they are great. Also Jose is the best and Jimena (the daughter of Yusara) will be baptized the first week of February!

This week Pres. Godoy came to visit our mission and we had leadership conference with him in Arequipa which was so cool. It was fun to go back to Arequipa for 2 days too :) Thank you for all the prayers and support! I feel them everyday and I am oh so grateful. Have a happy week!

xo

Hermana Wood

Ether 12:27

Pics: mission leader and his fam surprised me with this the day I hit 1 year ha, saw hermana Poulson at leadership conference! love her. plaza de tacna & alfajores with vanina.. before the kitchen blew up

Gisel is a Member!

A reallyyyy happy week over here in Primavera! I am mindblown by these miracles we have been seeing over here. Seriously everyday we have been seeing more and more the hand of our Father in Heaven. I feel so blessed to be a missionary!

A few stories from the week:

José: He is a 14 year old that we have been teaching, but he doesn't seem 14. He is so smart, has the best questions, and is so receptive. We have been teaching him for a couple weeks now and he has been praying for about 2 weeks asking if these things are true, and if he should get baptized in the church or no. This week we talked more about the importance of following the Savior's example for us, and he said that he was going to pray and ask with even more faith to find out if what we are teaching is true. The next day when we went to visit him. He was already waiting at the door for us and had a smile on his face. We asked him what happened and he told us he received his answer. He prayed and prayed the night before, and he told us: "after about 10 minutes of praying, I felt this sensation. Its like nothing I have ever felt before and I just don't know how to put it into words. My soul felt like it just leaped and I felt something so so strong in my chest. It was so special, I just don't even know how to put it into words." He went on to say how he knows this is the true church and he will be baptized the 27th. :)

Hermana Virginia: We went to go visit one of our investigators, Lourdes, this week who lives at the outskirts of our area. When we went to her house she told us that her husband told us she can't listen to us anymore, and she can't let us in anymore. It was kind of sad to hear because she was progressing, but yeah. We were so far away from any other investigators' houses, so we just started contacting. A lady, who was walking really fast, passed us in the street and Hermana Liza and I both felt something strong telling us to talk to her. We felt it in the same moment and looked at each other confirming the decision by the looks on our faces. We ran back to catch up with her, and introduced ourselves, sharing a little bit of our message. She's about 45 and she told us she was baptized when she was 13 in Icca, but stopped going to church when she moved to Tacna at 16 years old. She was out of time because she was running to catch a combi for work, but she told us to visit her that night so that we could talk more. We went to her house that night and sure enough... she's a miracle. She has 6 daughters and none of them are members. 21, 18, 15, 11, 7, and 5 years old. Long story short, she has been praying for help in her life and especially for her daughters because they are passing through some bigger trials. And we just happened to be the answer to her prayers. We had 2 lessons with them this week and the WHOLE family came to church yesterday. The daughters are awesome and we are just so excited about them.

GISEL got baptized!!! Her baptism was so special and she was so so happy. she shared in her testimony after the baptism that when we was in the water she felt like she went back to her mom's tummy and was born again! It was a really happy day for her. She also signed up for mission prep at institute this week, so next step: mission! ;) 

Oh and a huuuuge birthday shoutout to the best daddio in the whole world this week!!!!

xoxo

Alma 24

Hermana wood

fotos: more pictures of Deseret and Sebastian because I just love them, and Gisel's baptism!

Milagros

Hello hello from sunny Tacna. This is the sunniest January I have ever seen! Hope everyone had a good start to the new year. We definitely did, we saw So so many miracles this week! Not a ton of time so I will just share 2 of the miracles. 

First, Gisel.

About 2 weeks ago she told us that she didn't feel ready to be baptized and changed her mind. We know that she is ready, so it was hard to hear that. But we still have been having contact with her everyday and when we went to visit her on Tuesday, she opened up a lot with us. She is living by herself here in Tacna, and she had a few really hard things happen to her in these last couple months. In November, she felt like she had hit her all time low. She felt so alone and hopeless. In that week, her friend from work (who is a member) invited her to church. She went to church, starting listening to us, and everything changed. Now she is happy. She doesn't feel so alone because she now understands that she has a Heavenly Father who loves her. She was reading in 1 Nephi 3 this week and that's when it all just hit her. She loved verse 7 where Nephi is so obedient and says how the lord won't give us any commandment/trial that we can't accomplish/overcome. She said that when she read this verse, her heart started burning and she had a voice tell her in her head "What are you waiting for? you know this is true." She was going through lots of trials a little while ago and when she read this verse she knew that the Lord provided her the gospel to help her. She told us she wants to be baptized the 20th of this month. We scheduled her interview for Saturday and it went great. So great that she changed the bap date to the 13th. So her baptism will be this week!

Second, prayers answered!

We have been praying to find a full family to teach. We fasted for this last week and the day after our fast, our answer came! A member from another ward called us saying she had a few people that she wanted to meet us. Sure enough, we met Yusera and her family. She is a member, but has been inactive for about 10 years. She has 2 kids, Jimena who is 9, and Sebastian who is 3. Her husband isn't a member. Yusera said she wants to come back to church and she wants to change this lifestyle of her family. We have had contact with them everyday, they went to church yesterday and loved it! 

Tender mercies happening left and right over here. Wish I had time to share more! Go make it a great week. My heart goes out to President Monson's family. I am so grateful for all that he taught us, and the love that he showed us. Can't wait to keep learning from him on the other side one day! I am grateful that the gospel gives us the knowledge that there is so much more after this life! Love that man, happy that he can be with his sweet wife now. To finish off, a favorite quote from him: "You do not find the happy life . . . You make it."

XOXO

 

Hermana wood

D&C 98:12-14

Pics: We traveled to moqegua this week to do divisions with a few of the hermanas, so the stairs picture is from moquegua. & our area :)

The Atonement of Jesus Christ

Feliz Año Nuevo!! Yay for 2018! Gonna be a big year, so go make some big goals. :)

To be honest, this week was filled with a lot of false hope from investigators, so not too much to update. But it's all good because today's a new day. It's a new week, and a new year too!

In my studies this week, I found myself getting stuck on the same topic every single day. The atonement of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the atonement. The atonement is the only way that we can make it back to our father in Heaven one day. I believe that every single one of us should have to experience just a little bit of what Christ experienced. Because when we have trials, hardships, we rely on him. We need his help, and his help is always available to us. I know that the Savior came to earth to suffer and die for us, but as Elder Bednar said, he wants to LIVE in each and every one of us. He wants to help us, guide us, and give us the power to overcome the trials. The atonement is for the sinners, but it's just as much for the saints. It helps the bad people turn to good people and the good people turn to better people. It helps us strive to become our best selves. Thanks to the infinite atonement, we can repent. We can feel free from the guilt, the pain, because we get second chances. The Savior knows us. He knows the silent pleadings of our hearts, and he understands us perfectly. Every ounce of pain he felt was for you and for me. The key is that we just have to let him in. Let him LIVE in us. Turn to him!

I love the words of Elder Holland: "With the gift of the atonement of Jesus Christ and the strength of heaven to help us, we CAN improve. And the great thing about the gospel is we get credit for trying, even if we don't always succeed." Put your trust in him, he is there to help us. And keep HIM in mind as we set our goals for this year. Sorry for a short email, have a great week!

xo

Mosiah 24:14-15

hermana wood

pics: my favorite little kids, and I thought my mango addiction was bad before... , and this little guy that didn't wanna leave my bed (cockroach season)