I'm Staying in Capitan Bermudez!!! : )

Great great great news!!! Transfers are this week and we found out that both Hermana Van Wagenen and I are staying in the great Capitàn Bermudez! WOOHOO!!!! I am so stoked to be with her and in this area for more time. We still have a lot of work to do and a lot to experience. :)

This week we had the Mission Christmas party! It was great to see some of my missionary friends and sing some Christmas songs. We all even got candy canes and mini Argentina flags! :) I also had divisions with one of the Sister Training Leaders the day after. I went to her area and got to experience being her companion for a day. There was a super cute investigator who was so excited and willing to be baptized even though she still doesn't know a lot about the gospel. She says that she just knows and feels that it is true. Awesome! :)

Our cute 13 year old investigator Andrea is doing really well. Unfortunately her dad doesn't want her to get baptized right now because he thinks she is to young. Soooo, her baptism has been postponed but she is still going strong! Her mom and brother have come with her to church three times now! YES! And she even came to the first ever Young Womens in Excellence activity in our ward on Thursday. She sang with the other girls and said she felt really happy. Yesterday we visited her with an awesome 17 year old member and brought her her very own Personal Progress book. She is great and still preparing for baptism! :) It is amazing to see the change in her mom as well. Her mom has been inactive for a long time but is soaking in the lessons and making changes now as well. Woohoo!!!!

Claudio and Nelly are doing awesome as well. They were planning on getting a date for their marriage yesterday so we will be checking up on that pronto! We taught them about tithing and fasting and fast offering last week. They seriously are some of the cutest people ever! They understand that it is a trial of our faith and putting God first in our lives and they are willing to do it. I love how with everything we teach Claudio says `` Que lindo`` or how good. And Nelly has said that she had done church stuff in the past because she had been told to do it but never has she felt this desire to do stuff like she does now. :) These people are seriously changing my life.

Well loved ones, there is a lot of heat and a lot of spiritual stuff happening down here in Argentina. Love it. I have been extremely blessed! Have a great week! Feliz Navidad! Remember the real reason for this season. Jesus Christ was born and still lives! I am so grateful for our Savior! :)

Con amor,

Hermana Lindsey Woodfield

We were helping out at another branch's missionary activity and the primary girls were SO stoked to meet Sister missionaries! One of the cutest moments of my life!

We had an asado with a member from another ward last pday! mmmhmm

First ever Young Women in Excellence for Capitàn Bermudez! WOOHOO!

Andrea!

The Spirit is the real teacher

Hello loved ones!!! :)

I hope this week of December has been awesome for you all! We have enjoyed belting out some Christmas songs over here. This morning our dear Columbian neighbors even gave us some Columbian hot chocolate! Even with this crazy heat it was delicious! :)

Okay, another update with food- this week I tried cow heart. Hahaha, not too bad but I don't think I will miss it either. :) I tried it yesterday at an asado with an awesome part member family. Two of their girls are baptized and the parents are great investigators. They want to be baptized too but there are complications with marriage/divorce papers that they have to work through first. But they come to church EVERY week for all three hours and we visit them a lot. Oh funny thing- yesterday we walked to their house with them after church for the asado (BBQ). It was super hot! To my surprise right when we got to their house their littlest girl (about 5 years old) stripped down to her underwear and climbed into this blue barrel filled with water. Hahahaha, she gave a huge sigh of relief and just stayed in this blue barrel for about an hour to stay cool! Hahaha, who needs swimming pools when you have that? Haha so cute!

Okay, I have a big testimony that the Spirit is the real teacher. Two of our amazing investigators, Claudio and Nelly, have been progressing a lot. However, they keep telling us that they want more time before baptism because they feel like they don't know enough. Hermana Van Wagenen and I felt like we needed to have a lesson specifically to help them realize that they ARE ready and that baptism is another important step in their progression. We went into a lesson this week with the goal of watching the restoration video and helping them to realize for themselves that they can and should get baptized. After the video we read some scriptures in Alma about how this life is the time to prepare to meet God. We asked them what they thought....Claudio's immediate response was something like `` Well, I need baptism. We keep saying we're not ready and I need to stop that and just do it.`` We hadn't even said ONE word about baptism yet. It really hit me in that moment that the spirit had been testifying to him and helping him all along. We talked some more and later they were the first ones to also bring up that they knew they needed to get married before baptism too. WOW! It seriously felt like a perfect lesson. The Spirit helped them know what they need to do. Right now they have the goal of getting married on the 3rd of January and baptized on the 11th. :)

We also got a new amazing investigator this week. His name is Federico and he is the 19yr old cousin of a recent convert family. He had come to church twice before we even met with him and he had even talked with the bishop before and said he wanted to get baptized. We met with him twice this week. Wow! Everything we said was like gold to him! He was just soaking it all in and believing every word. The Lord has definitely been preparing him. He does have some challenges to overcome before baptism but he knows that this church is true and the path he wants to take. I am grateful to be able to be here and help him on his journey! :)

The Lord's timing amazes me! Get this- after another lesson with Claudio and Nelly this week we felt impressed to go visit a recent convert. So glad we did! She was really sad and struggling with some stuff. After that we felt like we should go talk to our ward mission leader really quick. When we walked up to his house he was outside giving water to this really sweet pregnant lady with torn up shoes. She ended up being convinced to come inside and get new shoes from them. And then good ol' missionary Hermano Estaban (our ward mission leader) brings up the gospel and how we share messages that will help. She even said that she never comes over this way but felt like she should for some reason that day. MMmmhmm, that is the spirit working right there. :) We got a return appointment to meet with her this week! The Lord's timing is incredible! :)

WOW! So a lot of great things happened this week! I am immensely blessed to be here. I love these people so much! :) I love all of you so much too! Stay strong! Sing Christmas songs and drink wassel! :) Merry Christmas season! So grateful for the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ! :)

Con Amor,

Hermana Lindsey Woodfield

Beating the heat!

Preparation day in Rosario

Cute little Josepeh

We ate frogs . . . . . .

``It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas``...hahaha, that song just doesn't feel the same in this crazy Argentine heat! Haha, even though it is not cold or snowing here, there is still a lot of excitement in the air with the holidays for Hermana Van Wagenen and I. :) I don't think I will ever forget my Thanksgiving of 2013. Argentina does not celebrate Dìa de Gracias (and a lot don't even know what it is) but we still wanted to do something extra to bring more cheer into the lives of these good people. SO we bought 20 pesos worth of caromelos (which is 200 CAROMELOS!) and made turkey hands. Then we taped those things to tarjetas (church pass along cards with a picture of Christ) and handed them out! I think a lot of people were confused with our turkey hands but nevertheless, they got a treat and a card! :) We also did our own little Turkey Trot in the morning. Hahaha, definitely an interesting Thanksgiving!

In other news, I ate some frog last Monday. :) Not too bad! But I`m still working my way up to trying the chicken bones that our Columbian family eats.

I had some interesting moments with Spanish this week. We had lunch with the Bishop and his family the other day. I asked the Bishop how many siblings he had. He responded something that I THOUGHT was about having step brothers and sisters. So I responded `` oh, que bueno!`` He got a confused look on his face and asked me if I understood. My companion quickly informed me that he had told me two of his brothers had died! Oh my goodness, I had just told him with a smile and a nod how great it was that his siblings had passed away! Hahaha, thankfully he knows I am still trying to figure out the language.

So we are teaching this wonderful 13 year old girl named Andrea. She has a baptism date for the 14th of December but we are still trying to work with the dad. Her mom is a less active member (but they have come to church twice now!) and is supportive but the dad doesn't think she is old enough for baptism. We don't see the dad very much so it is a challenge trying to figure out a way we can help him. But we know that if Andrea is supposed to get baptized on the 14th that the Lord will provide a way!! :) Something Andrea said really impressed me. She was telling us about how there is someone else that she wants us to teach and help. We asked her why she has this desire. Andrea without hesitation responded "because she is my friend." It was simple and powerful. Isn't that the way it should be? We should be sharing the gospel all over the place because these people are our friends and we know the gospel will help them. Another cool experience with Andrea- we were trying to watch the Restoration video with her and her mom and brother but their player was not working. We decided to say a prayer. Guess what happened next? Yep, a few minutes later the player was working and the spirit was flowing with the movie! :)

Alright, Argentina culture time! I think the area I am serving in is considered average on the Argentine wealthy scale. There are quite a few nice houses but there are also a lot of 2 room houses. Not many people have air conditioning and I have yet to see carpeted floors. It is different but these people are amazing and content with what they have. Definitely a lesson for me in that we really don't need worldly things. They also drink Mate ALL of the time! No matter what time of day it is, we find people drinking this herbal-sugary-hot water- drink. I'd like to try it after my mission. :) Not many people have cars but there are a lot of motorcycles. I have also seen quite a few people going around in a horse driven wagon thing. :) Hermana Van Wagenen and I walk most of the time but part of our area is about one hour and a half away so we usually take the bus at least once in a day.

Weeeeeeeeeeeell, that's all for now folks! I love you all and am so grateful for the support! Have an awesome week! Jesus Christ lives! So grateful for that!

Con amor,

Hermana Woodfield

Just the friendly neighborhood horse :)

We ate frogs

Nicol and her Book of Mormon

Estoy agradecida

Hello!!!!!! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I am definitely grateful for all of the wonderful people in my life. :) I am also super stoked and grateful to be here in Argentina!!!! There is honestly no where else I would rather be then here in Argentina preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ! This mission is such a short time period in my life and I need to give it everything I got.

We had stake conference this weekend and one of the sessions was about La Obra Misional (missionary work). The spirit was so strong and I understood a lot of the Castellano! :) WOO! It just really hit me how important the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is. It is has brought me SO MUCH happiness and peace in my life. EVERYONE needs the gospel! Everyone needs to know that they have a purpose here and that God LIVES and loves them. My time period as a full time missionary with a name tag and everything is short and rapidly flying by...ahhhhh, time to work harder! hahaha, I am so grateful to be a missionary. :)

Elder Bednar made a comment in this past general conference that I am personally feeling as well. He said something like "the devotion of these people make me more devoted". Yep. True that! The faith of a lot of these people here...inspiring! There is a sweet 10yr girl named Nicole that is a neighbor to a recent convert family (la familia Mauricio). Almost every time we are over visiting the Mauricios she comes over and listens and reads from the Book of Mormon too. Hermana Van Wagenen and I felt like she should have her own copy to read from so we gave her one the other day. A few days later we were talking with the recent convert mom and she told us that Nicole has some problems at home. Her parents don't want the Book of Mormon in their house. Nicole knows she will get in trouble if she reads it over there SO she keeps the Book of Mormon at the Mauricios and reads from it with their daughter. Their daughter showed us Nicole's Book of Mormon and it already had a bookmark in it and some scriptures have been highlighted. Wow! What great faith!

Things are going well here! We have some great investigators who have stronger testimonies every time we see them! :) We also have a great and loving ward! (Who feed us some delicious food! Goodness- try asado! They know how to barbeque!) AND my Spanish is getting better slowly but surely! :)

Love you all! Happy Thanksgiving! Have a great week!

Con amor,

Hermana Lindsey Woodfield

Cute Argentine girls! Mis amigas!

My Colombian family who live next door!

Week 3 in Argentina!!

Slowly but surely the transformation from an American english speaker to an Argentinian Castellano speaker is happening. :) But it is a little difficult when you stick out like a sore thumb. Hermana Van Wagenen and I just laugh at ourselves because the situation is pretty hilarious. Here we are- two young american girls, one with super blond hair and the other with super red hair, both with blue eyes, wearing skirts/dresses everyday with nametags, trying to speak spanish and preach the gospel. :) Yep, we blend right in. Hahahaha, our differences have given us some good opportunities though. Quite a few people ask us where we are from and sometimes try to speak english with us. And then other times we just get a lot of looks. No matter what, it has been good that people see that we are a little different and want to know what we are up to. Sharing the wonderful message of the restored gospel! :)

This week we found SEVEN new investigators!!! Woohoo! The parents (Claudio and Neli) of an awesome young family (that got baptized a few weeks before I got here) want to know more about this good change they have seen in their kids. We have taught them twice now and it has been awesome!! They do not have a date for baptism yet but do want to get baptized! A moment that I loved was when we were teaching about the Plan of Salvation and I could see it all click for the mom. She liked how God's plan for us is all laid out and we know why we are here and where we are going! :) We also started teaching a family. :) We talked to them about the Restoration of the gospel. The dad said he didn't understand everything (from our Spanish or the doctrine-haha, not sure) but that we could come back. :) AND we had a lesson with a 17 year old and her sister (Jennifer and Gabriella). This dear 17yr old has 2 kids! I have quickly realized and seen that it is very common here for people to have kids super young. The mom of the family that was baptized right before I got here is 19yrs old with 3 kids. Wow! These teenagers have to grow up fast.

Wonderful moment yesterday- our 13yr old investigator who DOES have a baptism date for 7th of December came to church!!!!! It was awesome!! Yesterday was Hermana Van Wagenen's birthday- great present for us! :) Also a wonderful 18yr old named Cielo had a little fiesta for Hermana Van Wagenen's birthday yesterday. She made an awesome torta (like cake) and we all sang happy birthday in Spanish. :)

Also, the Lord stretched me yesterday! I gave a talk in church, played the piano for the hymns, and we taught the sunday school class. woah! I have to admit, my heart was racing some but the Lord provided and it was all great! I think I will be playing the piano every Sunday now- thanks mom and dad for all the years of piano lessons! :)

I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here! These wonderful people are changing my life. My testimony grows each day of the love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for EACH and EVERY person. Sure there are challenges, but I am growing and learning. The good moments when my heart feels like it is going to burst with love for these people DEFINITELY make up for any hard times. :) I know Jesus Christ is the Savior of mankind! His Atonement is real!

Have an awesome week!

Con amor,

Hermana Lindsey Woodfield

The fun continues in Argentina!

Wow! I have been in Argentina for almost two weeks now! I am figuring out the culture and language more and more every day. It still amazes me that I am in a foreign country! Haha, when did that happen? I'm trying to get used to the fact that the weather is getting hotter now and not colder. It is kinda nice to skip a cold winter this year though. :)

Things are going great here in the ward of Capitán Bermudez. I love the members! Our ward is actually pretty big but only about 48 members attend regularly. We have a lot of less actives who we are trying to visit. Many people share stories of trials and hardships and we try our best to help them see that attending church would help so much! We also have quite a few investigators but not many are progressing. We are trying to find new investigators and we did find two more this week! :) We also have two investigators who are very active in coming to church and want to be baptized but have to wait for legal reasons (divorce papers, marriage. etc.). Then there is a 13 year old who also wants to be baptized but has told us her dad doesn't like the church. Basically there are a lot of great things happening but a lot of work to do too. I am grateful to be here and get to work!

Being among these people has already taught me so much. I can feel of God's love for them so strongly! I know they are precious in his eyes. Also, many of them don't have very much. We were at a very humble home last night. This family lives in an area that is more like a campground. It truly humbles me to be able to serve in some parts that don't have many material things but do have strong hearts and testimonies. Material things are not important! Testimonies and relationships are. :)

Soooo, Spanish. My goodness, Spanish!!!! I want to understand and speak with these great people so much! Hahaha, I am learning a lot with patience and trusting in the Lord's timing. I am grateful for the improvement that has already been made. I am understanding more!!! WOOHOO! I pray that these people can feel of my love even if they can't understand my words. haha

This week we had a big missionary activity with an area near ours. We joined forces with missionaries and members to visit some less active ward members. AND they split up some missionaries to go with members. I was one of them. Man, my heart started to race when I realized I would be without my companion and with others who only spoke Spanish. However, the Lord helped me. I mustered up my courage and told myself that if the Lord parted the Red Sea through Moses He can definitely help me communicate with people. So off I went with the cutest Argentine lady to visit people. AND IT WAS AWESOME. This lady I was with is a fireball! Hahaha, everyone we would pass she would go right up to them (she is friends with everyone!) say hello and then put her hand on my back and just look at me. WELL, I would introduce myself talk and testify about the gospel and the church, and give them a card about mormon.org. One man we talked with for a while we gave a Book of Mormon! hahaha, it was so great! The Lord definitely made up for my lack of Spanish and taught me a lesson of courage through that sweet lady. :) haha, I am never going to forget her and her passion for sharing the gospel.

Things are going great in Argentina! I love you all and pray for you! :)

Con amor,

Hermana Lindsey Woodfield

Where in the world is Hermana Woodfield? Argentina!!!!!!

Hola everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!! PEOPLE- I am in Argentina!!!! At this very moment. In Argentina. Have been here for a whole week now!!!!!!!!

Words cannot express my IMMENSE love for this wonderful country. Seriously, I love it here!!! I don't have a lot of time (and I am trying to figure out how to use a Spanish keyboard...haha) so I will tell as much as I can!

Quite a few things are different here. It has been an awesome adventure and experience already! There are dogs EVERYWHERE. everywhere. They use pesos for money. They use military time. We walk or take buses everywhere. Some of my new favorite foods are empanadas, tortas fritas, and alfajores. :) Oh...and another thing...ESPAÑOL! Let me just say that I am sooo grateful for the gift of tongues! I already understand more than my first few days here. They all talk so fast! But it is a beautiful language. And they call it Castellano. Their accent is something I am trying hard to pick up.

¿Que mas? (woohoo! i found the upside down question mark on the keyboard!!) My companion is Hermana Van Wagenen. She is also from the States. She waited for her visa in Boston for about 3 months and has been here in Argentina for about 3 months. I love her a lot already! She is a very hard worker and loves the people! I am blessed to be with her. We have actually been in a trio for this week. Hermana Maza (FROM PERU) has been with us because the actual transfers are tomorrow. I got here a week early. :) I love her too! She only speaks Spanish so it has been really fun communicating with her. I play a lot of charades. :) The area we are serving in is Capitán Bermudez. Wonderful place. We live in a pension by some members who are from Columbia. On Sunday I had Columbian food! Two of their daughters have been learning English from Hermana Van Wagenen and say ¨hello¨ ¨what’s up dude¨ ¨cute¨ and some other things all the time. It is awesome!

I love the kids here! So many of them are helping me out with my Spanish and love to teach me new words. They also love to laugh when I pronounce it all wrong. :) haha, I gave some of them stickers and they were so excited! Also, the people have a hard time pronouncing my name. I have gotten a lot of strange looks when I introduce my name. Haha, we explained to two boys what ¨woodfield¨ translates to in Spanish and they like to call me that now. :)

Weeeeeeeell, Argentina is great!! I am working hard with the language. I KNOW Heavenly Father is helping me out a lot!!

Love you all! I am so grateful for this opportunity to spread the gospel! The gospel has given me SO MUCH happiness and joy in my life and it is an honor to be able to share it as a missionary! :) Jesucristo lives!

Have a great week!

Con amor,

Hermana Lindsey Woodfield



Maps showing the location of Lindsey's assigned area:

Lindsey is in Argentina!

A note from Lindsey's Dad: No word yet directly from Lindsey after her Monday flight to Argentina but we received the following message and pictures from Sister Giuliani, the wife of Lindsey's mission president.


"Sister Woodfield has arrived safely and is ready to start her assignment. She will write home next Monday. We are honored to serve with her."

Sister Giuliani

Lindsey with President and Sister Giuliani

Lindsey with President and Sister Giuliani and who we assume to be her new companion

New missionaries and their companions, Argentina Rosario Mission. We've heard that the mission was expecting 29 new missionaries on the date Lindsey arrived.

LAST WEEK HERE!!! OH MY GOODNESS!

Well well well....time does fly doesn't it?? IN EXACTLY ONE WEEK I WILL BE ON A PLANE TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY. Whaaaaat?!?!?! Crazy stuff. :) I am going to try extra hard to work on Spanish this week to prepare.

This week was so great! Had some amazing experiences! On Friday we were able to be a part of an awesome service project. It was a huge even called Project Connect. They have a bunch of free services (like haircuts, meeting with doctors, meeting with government workers about funds and such, etc.) and they needed volunteers to help show people around. I started out doing that...but soon enough they had run out of Spanish interpreters...soon enough I was an interpreter!!!! Wearing a cool blue interpreter shirt! Holy cow! Huge blessing- the couple I ended up helping were actually some friends I had made working at the flood shelters! This good couple, the Romero’s, have been affected by the floods and I have helped them before. They are the sweetest people! And so patient with my Spanish. :) I felt right at home with them! It was so sad when I had to tell them goodbye. It just amazes me how the Lord works- helped me be an interpreter and be with those good people! :)

Another amazing thing! THE LORD HAS A PLAN AND REASON FOR EVERYTHING. He is in the details! Get this- we met an amazing man named John (or Juan) and his family at the flood shelters. John is fluent in Spanish and English but his wife only speaks Spanish. I don't think we would have met him without the flood happening and if I didn't speak some Spanish. SO, we become good friends but haven't seen him or his family since the shelter was moved out of our area.

This past week we were driving and saw him on the side of the road! We slowed down to say hi and ended up pulling over. We spoke with him, his wife and their friend for about 15 minutes and asked if we could come back and visit sometime. They said yes! We went back yesterday. We weren't sure if they were interested in hearing about the gospel but we wanted to give them a Book of Mormon either way. :) WELL, went in and started talking (and had wonderful Mexican food forced upon us) and soon enough some questions about Mormons and Joseph Smith came up. :) YES. Ended up having a whole lesson in Spanglish on The Restoration of the Gospel!!! Gave them a Spanish Book of Mormon and they said they would read it! My goodness, his wife had already started reading it by the time we left! We are going back this week to teach them some more. I think they are a perfect example of great people searching for the truth and just not knowing where to find it. I love them! But amazing huh?? Without the flooding things wouldn't have happened like they did. So blessed!

Love you all so much! Have a great week! The gospel is true! :D

Love, Hermana Woodfield

With Sister Christensen at the Fall Festival

Snow in October!

My dear little friend Jenny (11 yrs old) and me at the ward's Fall Festival

Two Weeks left in the States! Going out strong in Colorado!

Hello everyone!!!! I don't have much time to email so sorry this is a short one today! This week was great!!!!! We recently started teaching a 14 year old young woman named Destiny. She has been to church twice now! She has expressed her desire for finding a church and how she really likes how loving and welcoming ours is! :) Our second lesson with her she said she would prepare to be baptized in a few weeks! I am so impressed and inspired by the testimony she already has and her desire to do more. It has been a wonderful experience!

In other news- I am actually leaving the country on the 28th! SO another wonderful week of Colorado has been added to my mission experience. :) I have heard that a LOT (around 200!!!) missionaries have been getting visas and are being sent to Argentina within the next couple weeks. The Lord's timing is the best! He needs us all in Argentina now! :)

The Savior Jesus Christ lives! He truly knows and loves us! Life is good!

Have a great week everyone! Thanks for all of the love and support! I will write more next week! :)

Con amor,

Hermana Lindsey Woodfield

Giving service in Colorado with Hermana Smith and Sister Larsen

Mexican popsicles!!!

Ice skating on P-Day

Exciting News, Sad News

Hello everyone!!!! I have some HUGE NEWS.........wait for it.....keep waiting....ready?????


MY VISA CAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LEAVE FOR ARGENTINA ON THE 22ND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Big news, huh?!? Saturday morning our great Stake President held a breakfast for all of the missionaries in our stake. (He does this once a month! What a wonderful man!!) I was in line to receive some delicious homemade french toast when I received this unexpected news. Our mission President, President Brown, was there helping serve the food and when I came up he asked if I had received the news. Bewildered, I asked him what he was referring to. He plainly stated, "You are leaving." WHAAAAAAT?!?! Long story short, he told me that my visa came and the travel plans are for me to leave in two weeks on the 22nd of October. I kept waiting for the "just kidding" or the joke part...but he was serious. He told me that he is sad to see me go but they are excited for my adventure. What a morning!

I have been SO IMMENSELY BLESSED to be able to be here in the amazing Fort Collins, Colorado mission. Seriously, I have learned so much and have worked with such great and inspiring people. I have learned and experienced things here that have shaped me and that I will never forget. The Lord wanted me to be here in Colorado for a time and soon He wants me in Argentina. I'll go where He wants me to go! (That hymn has become one on my favorites! I sing it a lot!) Argentina has just seemed so elusive...am I really actually going to get there? IN TWO WEEKS?! I am really happy and excited to spend two more weeks here in Colorado and learn and do even more! And I am also very excited to go to Argentina- country change, food change, culture change, language change....I'm coming! And with the Lord, I am ready! :) Even though I am weak, He is strong! Through the Lord all things are possible! Even the miracle of a born and raised Texas girl like me to serve in Argentina!

I just want to express my love for Colorado again. Colorado will always be an extremely special place to me. I am so eternally grateful that I was sent here. I know the Lord has a wise and marvelous plan for each of us. I am deeply humbled and grateful that mine included time in my lovely Johnstown, Colorado area. :) AND I am not done yet! You can get a LOT done in two weeks! Time to work even harder and accomplish what the Lord still wants me to do here. Basically, missions are amazing! Where ever you are!

In other news, a lot of great things happened this week! GENERAL CONFERENCE WEEKEND! The time when our wonderful Prophet and apostles and others speak to us. I love conference so much! Definitely food for the soul! There is so much spiritual strength and so many answers that we can draw upon from all of the wonderful talks. Loved it! If anyone hasn't been able to watch it yet, I strongly encourage you to do so. (http://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2013/10?cid=HPFR100413105&lang=eng) What the speakers have said is what our loving Heavenly Father wants us to hear. He knows what we each need and no matter what your circumstance is, conference will help. I strongly testify of that.

On Wednesday night I went on splits with a wonderful woman in our ward. She felt prompted that we should visit a less active woman who is going through a lot of hard things. We had a great experience there. We arrived in the midst of a lot of stress and heartache. This woman and some of her family were there and we were able to talk with them and share a message of hope and faith. We set it up so the next day one of her family members would receive a priesthood blessing. The spirit was very strong! When I hugged this good woman goodbye she whispered in my ear, "I think I need you all more then I thought". We are definitely trying to get her to become an active member. There are so many blessings that come with regular church attendance and being actively involved. This experience was another testimony builder to me that the Lord will get you where He needs you when He needs you. It was definitely perfect timing when we arrived there that night.

Other amazing things have happened this week but some hard news also came. My dear Grandpa Woodfield passed away on Wednesday. I am so grateful for The Plan of Salvation and that life does not end with death. I know there is more after this life and that I will see my dear Grandpa again. I am glad that he is not burdened by the pains of his physical body anymore. He is such a strong and great man. He has been through a lot and now he is free of a lot of pain and suffering. I love him so much and am eternally grateful for who he is and what he has done. I love you Grandpa Woodfield! My prayers are definitely with those who will greatly miss you! God be with you till we meet again!

Grandpa Woodfield taking me to the MTC to start my mission. July 3, 2013. I love you Grandpa!!!!!!!





The Gospel is true. What a happy message that I get to share! That Jesus Christ lives! That we are never alone! That it is never too late to change. That we can return to live with God and our families forever! I love you all! Have a great week!!!!

Love,
Con amor,
Hermana Lindsey Woodfield

So Much Mud!!!!!!

Hello dear family and friends! I have been here in the Fort Collins, Colorado Mission for six whole weeks now! And I am excited to spend more time here! We found out about transfers on Saturday night and I have the great opportunity to stay in my area with my companion Sister Christensen. There is more of the Lord's good work for me to do here! I am excited to do more and be more! I have learned a lot these past 6 weeks. I am very grateful for the wonderful experiences I have been able to have. AND I am excited for all of the many things I still need to learn and experience. Life is great, isn't it? We pass through trials and joys, pains and happiness...we grow and are stretched and grow some more. There are a lot of good and bad things we go through and it is wonderful that our loving Heavenly Father allows us to pass through it all so that we can become better people. There are hard times! BUT the Gospel of Jesus Christ and all of the good times make up for it a million times and more!

This has been quite the week! We were able to do a lot more service! We worked some more at the shelter in Milliken and then Thursday and Saturday...HELLO MUD! My goodness! We were able to go to someone's house that had received A LOT of damage from the flooding. (And apparently his basement is not even one of the "bad" ones!!!) His basement is completely ruined. It was so sad! We walked down there with our Mormon Helping Hands shirts, boots, gloves, goggles and masks and we definitely needed it all! I sunk down in the mud a lot of times and an Elder had to help me once get my foot out! Haha, my body was good to move but my boot wasn't! There was mud everywhere and a big part of our job was just to shovel it all out. It was like a sad scavenger hunt- pulling out book after book, some stuffed animals, a PIANO, spoons, hammers...there was a lot to be found within the depths of that muddy basement.

It has been sad to witness a lot of pain people have received because of the flooding. However, it has also been so wonderful to see how the Lord works in many ways. There are so many examples within the Bible and The Book of Mormon of natural disasters happening or some other major trial that resulted in the people coming closer to the Lord. This is a similar modern-day experience! Hearts have been opened and the Savior's love and help has definitely been here. Why do bad things happen to good people? God loves us. He lets hard things happen so that we can grow and improve and be even BETTER because of it.

We were able to have some really great lessons this week too! I am so grateful that we get to interact with everyone that we do! We work a lot with less active members and I just love them so much and want the best for them! I am so grateful to be a missionary. My purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ. OTHERS- investigators, less active, members, a person in Walmart- anyone and everyone. :)

Love you all! Have a great week! Thanks for all of the love and support! I am so immensely grateful for all of the wonderful people and examples I have around me.

Hermana Lindsey Woodfield



Editor's note: This past week the health of Lindsey's Grandpa Woodfield took a turn for the worse. His long and courageous battle seems to be in its final days. Lindsey sent a separate note with these thoughts:


Thank you for telling me about Grandpa. There were a lot of tears at my computer this morning. I love Grandpa so much and am going to miss him a lot!!! I am so grateful for the time I have been able to spend with him. I am so grateful for his amazing example and everything I have learned from him. I am SO grateful to him! Please tell him that I love him immensely and am so grateful for who he is and what he has done. He means so much to me. He is in my prayers! And so are you and the rest of our family. I am really glad and happy that he will not have to endure physical pain anymore though. He is going to a much better place where his body will not have to be such a burden. I am very much looking forward to the day when I can see him again and give him a big hug. Please keep me posted with what continues to happen.


Love you!


Hermana Lindsey Woodfield

Week Five!

Service! Mormon Helping Hands shirt! I am smiling under the mask :)

The sister missionaries in my district

Playing in the rain on P-Day







Hello everyone!!! Wow! I have already been here for five weeks! I am almost done with my first transfer! WOW! This was a great week! We were able to do A LOT of service! We were doing some everyday!

Most of what we did was helping out at the shelter down in Milliken. The shelter was moved to the First Presbyterian Church nearby so that the Middle School could start school again. We sure sorted through a lot of donations! I also got to use some more Spanish! Some of the volunteers who are always at the shelter have come to me multiple times for help with the language barrier. I definitely have a long way to go with Spanish but the Lord is helping me! Saturday was a huge service day. From about 8am-3pm we were with a bunch of other members cleaning up some houses and then from 4pm-8pm we were at the shelter sorting.

The cleanup service was amazing! Everyone had on bright yellow "Mormon Helping Hands" shirts. We were a little army of happy servants of God helping out His children! I have heard many comments such as "The LDS church has been here from the beginning helping out" or "The LDS church has saved Milliken!". The Lord is definitely hastening the work and providing great opportunities for people to learn more. It has truly been amazing to be a part of!

Sister Christensen breaking a chair with an axe during cleanup efforts!!

Lots of toys to sort through!!






This Friday we were finally able to meet with Blanca again! This is the Spanish woman who we tracted into a few weeks ago. The past two weeks she has called and cancelled (at least she remembered and called!). This week Sister Christensen and I were very excited to not receive one of those phone calls! We made it to her house and had a lesson! YAY! :) And HELLO Spanish! Haha, even if she didn't understand everything I was trying to say in Spanish, the Spirit was there! We basically just went over the Book of Mormon again and recommitted her to read and pray about it. We are seeing her again this week. :)

We were also able to have a lesson that day with a part member family we have been seeing. The mom is an active member and the dad is very supportive of her. We are really trying to help him realize why he needs the gospel for himself and what blessings will come from it. It was a good lesson on the Holy Ghost and the mom told us later she definitely felt the Spirit and she thinks progress was made. Yay! We then helped them paint their garage. :) Lesson and service! Woohoo! It was great! I just love people! I want everyone to experience the joy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Yesterday we did exchanges with some Spanish speaking sisters again! This happened so that I could have the opportunity to go to the Spanish branch for church. It was great! I didn't catch everything but it was a great experience! :) Then Hermana Soto and I had a lesson with a woman named Lucy and her kids. Another great experience with Gospel and Spanish! I am so grateful for these wonderful opportunities the Lord is giving me. :)

Sooooo, this week was great. Missions are hard but awesome. I am learning a lot!

I love you all MUCHO! Thanks for all of the love and support! I am praying for you all! The Lord lives and He loves you! I am so grateful for the Atonement! We can repent and be forgiven and change! WHAT AN AMAZING GIFT! :D

Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Lindsey Woodfield

Sorting toys at the shelter

With the Harris family and their pet bird!

Sister Christensen and me with the Carlson Ward Sisters

Raiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin!!!!

In my cool rain jacket! but in front of a sad spot- somebody's house flooded :(

Redhead Court...maybe I should live on this street! :)









Hello from the extremely wet state of Colorado! Haha, what a crazy amount of rain we have received this week. My goodness, my rain jacket and umbrellas have been put to VERY good use. :) Last Monday it started raining while a bunch of missionaries were hanging out at the Stake Center for Pday (after we went ice skating which was super fun!). When it started raining we were all so happy and many of us went out and played in the rain for a while. :) We had no idea what was in store for us. It rained Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday. And Thursday. And Friday. And Saturday. And Sunday. ANDDDDDD I think it is finally done today!

We have received so much rain that on Friday we were basically an island and couldn't go anywhere because all of the roads were closed! Church was even canceled yesterday! Crazy! Five minutes before Sacrament meeting was supposed to start Bishop Padilla announced for everyone to go home and be safe. Our ward covers a large area so many people have to go over a lot of dirt roads and such. One area in our ward that has been really impacted by all of this is Milliken. There is a trailer park within that area that has been evacuated. It was all flooded by sewage water. Anything the water has touched is now contaminated and is no good. A LOT of people have recently lost basically everything.

Sister Christensen and I have had the amazing opportunity to serve in the Milliken Middle School the past few days. It had been turned into a shelter. Lots of people have been sleeping in the gym and living off of the many donations we have received. It has really touched my heart! So many good GOOD people!!! What a hard time they are going through! It really puts everything into perspective- the physical and temporal things can really be gone in an instant! The spiritual things really are what matter most and are what will stay with you!

The Lord has also given me another amazing opportunity with Spanish! Many of the people we have been with speak mostly Spanish or only Spanish. I have been able to have a lot of amazing conversations with people and help them with their needs. I think it surprises them and makes them happy to have me speak some Spanish with them. I have received multiple compliments! Hahahaha, I know they are all being super nice and speaking very slowly and simply for me. But what an amazing thing to be able to overcome the language barrier even a little bit!!! I know the Lord has put me here for a reason and that the Gift of Tongues is real!

I have become pretty close with some of these good people over the past few days and I have been called their "amiga". :D So many of them have such great faith and attitudes! I have heard from multiple people that God is watching over them and is helping them! One woman talked to me about Job from the Bible and how he lost everything and God blessed him. Another is a preacher in another church and we talked about doing God's will.

I know the Lord has had his hand in everything this past week! I know this has been a great opportunity to serve for soooo many people! Many hearts have been softened towards the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Many. :) I wish I could write more but we have less time today! I am alive and well! And dry...for now. :) Haha, I love you all! You are in my prayers! Thanks for all of the love and support!

Love,
Hermana Lindsey Woodfield



Note from Lindsey's parents:

We are very grateful for the good people in Johnstown who are looking out for the safety and health of Lindsey. We received a well timed call last night from Sister Cooper of the Johnstown Ward informing us that Lindsey is safe and working hard among those impacted by the flooding. Today we received the following email from another ward member:


Sister Woodfield is one amazing sister! It has been an honor working with her at the shelter here at the Milliken middle school. She has such a sweetness about her that has helped lift the overall feeling here. Not to mention, being able to translate and communicate with members of our community. We are so thankful that she has been sent to our area at this time.

Love, Sister Hollie Traylor
Johnstown Ward and Milliken resident

Week Three in Colorado!!!!!

Oh my goodness! I have been in Colorado for three whole weeks now! My first transfer is half way over! I'm definitely going to do my best to work even harder and end out these six weeks going strong. :) Thanks so much for all of the emails I have received! It definitely warms my heart to read them.

So this week was even better than last week! I am definitely seeing a lot of blessings from the Lord. The first week had a lot of great things but also was overwhelming. It was a lesson on patience and enduring and I am seeing great results from that. I still have a LONG way to go and a lot to improve but I know the Lord sees every step I make! :) I know He is with every single one of us!

So last Tuesday I was on exchanges with a native Spanish speaker- Hermana Soto! It was an awesome experience! I was able to be with her in her Spanish speaking area and practice mi Espanol! We taught a few lessons in Spanish! I didn't understand everything but I DID get the central message. The people we were with are SO SWEET and amazing!!!! They fed us SO MUCH food! Tortillas, and rice, and meat, and corn on the cob, and lots and lots of food! Delicious mexican food! :) It was a great Spanish day!

Something else really cool is that the ward we serve in (The Johnstown Ward) is the deaf ward for our stake. So any deaf members in our stake area attend and serve within our ward. It has been really cool and fun! On Sunday during the 2nd hour Sister Christensen and I were taken out of class so that we could teach a 19 year old woman. She is deaf and isn't a member and has only been to church one other time. We met with her and an interpreter in the kitchen. We taught her about The Plan of Salvation and used awesome pictures that a member had just given to us an hour before. (Side note- the Lord's hand is definitely in the work! He knew those pictures would help out this girl and made it possible for us to receive them just in time!) It was a great experience! I think we will be teaching her more during church next week!

Another awesome thing! We contacted a referral given to us by some members in our ward. It is a really sweet and spiritual woman named Ruthie. She let us in and we talked about the Restoration of the Gospel! She accepted a Book of Mormon and said she would read and pray about it. Yesterday evening we visited her again and she had read some of it! We read through some together and she said she saw a lot of similarities to the Bible. She told us she had first thought The Book of Mormon was about Joseph Smith. Well, both of our times with her have been great! We still have a lot to go through but her faith and testimony in prayers and the Savior is amazing!

Other great thing!!! The Lord has been giving me opportunities to work on Spanish. One of them was with the woman Blanca who I mentioned in my email last week. (Update on that- she actually was not able to meet this week but we checked up on her and have an appointment for this Wednesday!) Another has been through a really sweet couple named Jose and Nydia from Cuba. Jose is a member and our Bishop (Bishop Padilla- AMAZING man and bishop!) is one of his home teachers. Bishop set it up so that Sister Christensen and I go over about once a week and I get some help from Nydia with my Spanish. They are the sweetest couple! So nice! It has been really good for my Spanish and we are also trying to follow the Spirit in sharing the gospel with Nydia too. :)

Another cool experience happened while we were volunteering and doing service at a place called ARC (similar to a Goodwill). A lady came up to me asking if I spoke Spanish (think she saw my name tag:) ) and was trying to ask me about some stuff. I didn't catch everything but I eventually was able to help her find what she wanted. Later I felt prompted to let her know about some English classes some other Hermanas (Sisters) do. I let her know about it and she was interested so I got her address and later gave it to the Hermanas in the area! I don't know what the results of this will be but I'm grateful I had the opportunity to speak with her and follow that prompting. And Dad- she is from The Dominican Republic! She has been here for about 2 months! I thought that was pretty cool! :) Sooooo, I am very grateful for the Spanish opportunities the Lord has given me. :)

I love you all! Thanks so much for your love and support! I'm praying for you! :) Have an awesome week! The Gospel is true! The Lord Jesus Christ lives! What an amazing and joyous truth! :) LOVE YOU!

Love, Hermana Lindsey Woodfield

With my Mission President and his Wife

Arriving in Denver!!

Week Two in the Field!!!! : D

Hello! I have officially been here for two weeks now! What a beautiful place to be! The area that I am in is so peaceful. There are mountains far off in the distance and a lot of corn fields...awesome. :) The people are wonderful too! I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! The ward is absolutely amazing! We get fed dinner EVERY night! What wonderful people! We also have some relief society sisters that come on splits with us every Wednesday and sometimes we have some come on tag-alongs on Thursdays. Basically there are amazing people that we get to work with who love the Lord and are doing great! Something else though, as missionaries people talk to us a lot about the hard things they are going through. We represent the Lord Jesus Christ and I am so happy to help people out in any way possible. It has just really opened my eyes even more to how everyone is going through something. A lot of people are hurting in different ways and I am so grateful for this opportunity to do what I can to help with that!

Where to begin?!? So much happens as a missionary! Well this week went a lot better then last week! I have a better feel for what is going on and understand a lot more. Something cool about my companion, Sister Christensen, - frogs love her! Haha, we sleep in the basement and there is a windowsill right next to her bed. EVERY night some frog manages to fall down there and make a bunch of noise. And every night Sister Christensen opens the window, catches the frog, shows me (haha, she said one night she might put it on me!!!), and releases it back into the wild. It is a nightly tradition. :)

Anyways, things are great! There is a family (Bates) who have been investigating the church for about 6 years now. The dad stopped chewing tobacco about a month ago so that he could be baptized. MIRACLE. He was baptized this past Friday. It was amazing! The wife is still finding out for herself what is true. Their 12 year old daughter has told us that she wants to be baptized! We are teaching her the lessons right now. She is amazing! She reads The Book of Mormon and takes notes! She said that her problem is that she doesn't want to stop reading. :) They are an amazing family.

OKAY BEFORE I GO ANY FURTHER I NEED TO TALK ABOUT MY AMAZING DAY LAST TUESDAY. Soooooooo, the Sister Training Leader (Hermana Smith) goes on exchanges for a day with everyone in our zone. Tuesday was my day. :) She is amazing and I am so grateful I had the opportunity to work with her and learn SO MUCH from her. So, Tuesday morning Hermana Smith and I were in the backyard doing language study and cute Sister Vandenburghe (who we live with) came out and told us she heard our phone going off downstairs. We showed her our phone next to us and said it must have been another phone. She left and came back a few minutes later. She told us she needed to show us something downstairs. I got worried thinking something must have been wrong with our room. We followed her downstairs and I saw a trail of kit kats....what?!?!?!?!?! Austin Lush and his dear family surprised me!! His aunt who lives in Colorado drove up (and with permission from my mission president) and kit-kat-attacked me! Hahaha, there was sooooo many kitkats there and she was there videotaping my reaction. :) The whole thing was a total blessing. I got to chat with her for a few minutes and I definitely felt the love from my dear family and friends who helped with this awesome surprise. :) And from Sister Vandanburghe who was sneakily trying to get us downstairs. :)

SO, amazing thing happened that night! Hermana Smith and I had some time before dinner so we decided to knock on some doors. Hermana Smith is also called to be Spanish speaking and I told her it would be so great if we were able to talk to someone in Spanish. THE SECOND DOOR we knock on is a lady who understands some English but speaks Spanish! We were talking to her in English and she finally said "I am learning English pero..." Hermana Smith and I got so excited! "Nosotros hablamos en espanol!" She let us come in and we taught the first lesson about the restoration of the gospel! We taught it in Spanglish! IT WAS SO AWESOME! She was very attentive and nodded a lot. She said she would read The Book of Mormon (the next day we stopped by and gave her one in Spanish)! She said the closing prayer for us! AND she said that if she found out these things were true that she would be baptized!!!!!! The Lord has definitely prepared her! We have an appointment to meet with her tomorrow. I will definitely be relying on the Spirit because Sister Christensen isn't speaking Spanish and I am still working on my Spanish. The Lord will provide a way! This dear lady's name is Blanca. I love her already! We are hoping to also talk more with her husband and kids. SO huge miracle and blessing! :D

I love you all! SO MUCH! I am praying for you! Have a great week!!!!

My mailing address is:

5285 McWhinney Boulevard, Suite 100
Loveland, Colorado 80538-8707

Love you all!!!

Love, Hermana Lindsey Woodfield

First Week in the Field!!!! Johnstown, Colorado . . . . . . .

Wow!!!! First week in the field! Oh my goodness! What a week! This week has definitely been tough but it has also been great! I have learned so much and my testimony has been strengthened immensely!

First of all, the plane ride to the beautiful state of Colorado was great! It was WONDERFUL to be able to talk with my dear sweet family! I thought I might be flying alone to Colorado but it turned out that there was a big group of missionaries going there! Some of them are actually visa waiters as well! They are waiting to go to Brazil! Anyways, on the plane ride I sat next to a man named Patrick. He is a member who is going through some difficult times right now. We had some really good conversations and shared some scriptures with each other. He also gave me some mission advice. :) It was great for me to work on following the Spirit with what someone needs. After the plane ride we met our mission president (President Brown) and his wife. Super nice! The group of missionaries going to the Fort Collins mission all rode to a stake center there and had some meetings. Later on we got our assignments and met our new companions! I am currently serving in the Johnstown area. My companion is Sister Christensen. It is an English speaking area and she is an English speaking missionary. SO I am not able to use my Spanish very much. I am kinda worried about my Spanish but I KNOW that this area is where I am supposed to be. I am trying to use my hour of language study as best I can! The Gift of Tongues is real! I know that! I know that if I am continually striving to do my best with Spanish that I WILL learn it when the Lord needs me to.

There is a lot to say and not a huge amount of time to say it... haha, common theme. :) I will do my best to answer all of the questions! The missionaries in my mission do stay with member families. I am with the Vandenburgh family! Very sweet couple! We stay in their basement! I am so grateful for the service they are giving by letting us stay with them!

Hahahahahaha, soooooo the lovely Cox family sent a picture to you mom! I am so grateful that they did that! I was hoping it would reassure you all that I was safe. :) So, they were the first family I had a meal with. We got to their house and I met them all and we sat down to eat...and Brother Cox pulls out GREEN pancakes and GREEN eggs. Then he plops down a nice big glass of some green liquid right in front of me. Hahaha, I had no idea what it was! This all definitely caught me by surprise! Found out later that it was green orange juice. It all tasted really good! Sister Christensen enlightened me later by explaining that it was a "Greenie Meal." Because I am brand new into the field I am a "greenie." Hahaha, of course! What else should a greenie be eating? :)

I have been able to meet a LOT of members already! They are all so great! This ward is really missionary minded and it is wonderful! The Bishop is amazing! The Ward Mission Leader is amazing! All really great people!!! I want to work really hard to gain the trust of the ward and make sure they know that we will work hard. I am so grateful to be here. This area is amazing and I am excited to be here!

All of our investigators are doing really well too! We have four right now and I have been able to meet them. GREAT PEOPLE! One man stopped chewing tobacco after doing it for like 36 years! He is getting baptized this Friday! What amazing faith! Miracle!

Well, I have to go! I love you all so very much! There is so much more I want to say! Know I love you and am doing well! The Gospel is true! I am so grateful to be a missionary! Thanks for all of the love and support I feel! LOVE YOU!


Love, Hermana Woodfield :)

MY REASSIGNMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I GOT MY REASSIGNMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! OH MY GOODNESS!

"Sister Woodfield:
At this time, we have not received your visa to travel to your mission. You will be serving a temporary assignment in the Colorado Fort Collins Mission until your visa arrives."

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I HAVE BEEN CRYING! SOOOOO EXCITED!

Frontier Airlines

MONDAY August 19th

From Salt Lake City to Denver Colorado! Departing at 7:30am and arriving 8:52am


LOVE YOU!

Week SEVEN in the MTC! :)

Loveeeeee Argentina!

My awesome teacher! Hermana Christensen!

We are going to Argentina!!!!!









Hello wonderful family and friends!!!!!!!!! This is Hermana Woodfield reporting from her 7th week in the MTC. Reporting that everything is WONDERFUL and I have a deep love for the MTC. :)

I definitely did not think I would be here this long but I am so grateful for this opportunity. I know Heavenly Father has a plan for me and that included more time here. My testimony of how the Lord's timing really is the absolute BEST thing for us has really grown this week. Only one member of my district received a reassignment last week. Hermana Carlson left early Tuesday morning (at 2:30am!) for Sacramento, California. It was sad to have her part but we are all very happy and excited for her too! I KNOW that the rest of my district and I have stayed here for a reason. I know there are many reasons! Two of them included being here for an AMAZING Tuesday night Devotional with ELDER RICHARD G. SCOTT and going through the Temple this morning! YES!

Sooooo, the wonderful devotional- so amazing! Elder Richard G. Scott a member of the QUORUM OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES was the speaker at the Devotional on Tuesday! It was a worldwide devotional! I think some of the MTCs around the world were able to see it live and others watched it soon after. My district and I had the awesome opportunity to be in the choir! It was so great! His main topic was on prayer.

Now get this- (time for some background info) Sunday night most of my district went to go see what we thought would be a movie about President Monson. We got there and for some reason they announced we would be watching a talk by President Monson and President Uchtdorf instead. After President Monson's talk they announced that they didn't have Uchtdorf's talk so they played a talk by Elder Richard G. Scott instead. HIS TALK WAS ABOUT PRAYER. Then in class on Tuesday our focus was on PRAYER and our teacher even played a clip from Elder Scott's talk. THEN that night Elder Scott came in PERSON and talked about PRAYER. Man, oh man! Hahahaha, okay Heavenly Father, I'm getting the message. :) Coincidence? I think not! Haha, I hope all of that made sense. :)

Anyways, his talk on Tuesday was so amazing! What a cute and wonderful man he is! TWICE during his talk he gave an apostolic blessing of the Gift of Tongues on all those learning a language! A blessing from an Apostle of the Lord!!! He talked about how God is not an absent Father. He loves us each immensely. He said that the Lord has called us to succeed gloriously, not fail. I know that that is true for missionaries with our calls as well as in LIFE. The Lord has sent us here to SUCCEED GLORIOUSLY. He will not abandon us. He will help us! Something else that was amazing and really touched my heart- during his talk Elder Scott paused and wiped his eyes and said something like, "I've been emotional tonight and I think I might tell you why. For some time now my wife has been beyond the veil and I've had the strongest feeling that she has been permitted to be here tonight." Wow! That wonderful man loves his wife so much and misses her. How wonderful that he would share that with us and that he felt that! After the devotional on his way out he stopped about 3 or 4 times and waved at us all. At one point he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted "BE GOOD!" and then another time he shouted "I feel so much love!" We all waved and shouted out that we loved him! Basically, the Tuesday night devotional was an amazing experience and I am so blessed that I was able to still be here!

hahahahahahaha : )









SO, the Provo Temple reopened this week! Since we are still here, we got to go this morning! It was amazing! I loved it all! I felt SO MUCH peace! I love temples! I love the Lord! The gospel is true!

Let's see- you asked what a regular day for me is like. The most common outline of a day includes: breakfast at 7am, 3 hours of class in the morning, 1 hour of personal study, lunch, 3 hours of class, 1 hour of companion study, dinner, about 1 hour of gym, 1 hour of TALL time (computer program that helps with teaching the gospel in Spanish), 1 hour of language study, and daily planning. Within class time we usually teach an investigator and learn more Spanish grammar. That's the simple outline. And a lot of days have different things going on too: Tuesdays have devotionals and district reviews (we talk about the devotional), Wednesday new missionaries arrive at the MTC (always exciting), Thursdays are Pdays, Fridays are pizza night (you know I gotta love that!) and then Sundays have a bunch of awesome meetings, devotionals, talks, Sacrament Meetings and things. The MTC is great! What a place!

Well, I love you all! The gospel is true! Let me leave you with these inspiring words of advice Sister Doman (Branch Presidency 1st Counselor's wife) always says:

1. Work harder then everybody else. We know how to work. Nobody outworks us.
2. Love like you have never loved before. Everybody just wants to be loved!
3. LAUGH a lot! Have fun!

I know The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I know it with all of my heart. I know Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of ALL mankind. I know God lives and loves us. I know that we are NEVER alone. The Savior Jesus Christ is always there for us. I know Thomas S. Monson is the prophet today. I am so grateful for this gospel and for my mission. I'm so grateful for this life! The Lord lives!

Love, Hermana Lindsey Woodfield
p.s. No news on my reassignment yet! When I know I will email you! :)

LOVE YOU!

Four Hermanas

Goodbye to Hermana Eyring!

Okay, another week! Hello! : )

Making a getaway from the MTC!

Hermana Carlson and me!

Hermana Rasband and me with some friends! The one on the left is from FINLAND and the other is from ROME- both going to Greece :)

Smelling temple flowers! :) haha, the face I'm making:)









Weeeeeeeeeell, hello my dear loved ones!!!! Another week has come and gone! And WHAT a week! Every week is soooo amazing! I am finishing up my sixth week at the MTC! Wow, have I really been here that long?!?!?! Haha, how has this happened! I feel like I was just writing my last letter to you! Mission time sure is interesting!

Anyways, I'm sure you are wondering- WHERE in the world is Hermana Woodfield going to at the end of this week?? I have REALLY been wondering that as well. My six weeks at the MTC is up! Well, today I received my answer! Due to the overwhelming amount of names that are being submitted for reassignments (for no-visa reasons), there has been some delay. SO, I have the great opportunity to spend another week at the MTC. My district thought we would be receiving our reassignments today but instead we received papers that said we would receive them next week. I'm not really sure what we will be doing this next week because we thought we would be leaving on Monday or so. At first I was really surprised but I am really happy now! The MTC is an amazing place and I get to spend another week in its wonderfulness. :) Everyone in my district except two people have gotten that fateful paper. There must be more that we need to learn here in the MTC before we head out into the field. I can DEFINITELY use more help with Spanish! Haha, and this is a good lesson in patience and enduring to the end. :) ALSO, something my companion and I were talking about- another reason why this is great: This is teaching us even more that God is in charge. We need to be humble, patient, and submissive to whatever His will is. HE is in charge and over all- not me. I thought I would be leaving the MTC in a few days but that is not Heavenly Father's plan for me. Definitely a great lesson for me in trusting and doing His will. SOOOO from all of this- I am staying at the MTC for another week; I think I will receive my reassignment by next Friday (and when I do I can email you about it!!!!); AND I am really excited and happy to learn more of what God wants me to here at the MTC. :) Life is good. YEAH, life is so good.

Alright, THIS WONDERFUL WEEK. First of all, thanks again for all of the love and support I feel. It seriously means THE WORLD to me. THANK YOU. I am incredibly blessed. :)

This wonderful Pday my district and another one in my zone got to do service at the temple! (OH- staying here another week means I get to go to the temple! It re-opens this week!!!! YES! BLESSING!) We were given the assignment to go help clean. What a wonderful experience!!!! The Hermanas got to clean THE CRYSTALS FROM A TEMPLE CHANDELIER! Way cool! Real, gorgeous crystals in the Temple. They are only taken down and cleaned once a year and we had the amazing opportunity to do that! We spent a lot of time talking to two really sweet ladies. We talked about their families and missions and a lot of stuff. It was so relaxing and re-energizing. Giving service in the TEMPLE- nothing else I would rather do with my morning. :) When our time was coming to a close, they showed us some temple rooms. Gorgeous. I KNOW that the temple is the house of the Lord.

This weekend another district from our zone left BUT on Wednesday another district (all Elders) came! I had the wonderful opportunity to help them with orientation! It is so amazing to meet all of these amazing missionaries who all want to serve the Lord. I saw them in their classroom with a teacher who was ONLY speaking Spanish and their looks of- What is happening?!?! Awhhh, I remember those days fondly. :) Haha, the Spanish definitely comes (with help from above). The Spirit definitely helps and comforts. A mission is QUITE the experience- a wonderful, hard, amazing, and truly blessed experience. I have learned so much. I say that every week because it is so true. My testimony of the Savior and of my dear Father in Heaven has increased soooo much.

Speaking of Spanish...haha, week of only Spanish has been tough. We have made a BUNCH of mistakes. It is hard to keep the English in when your mind is turning so fast. AND when we got the news about another week in the MTC, we all broke the only Spanish thing. SOOOO, it has not been a perfect week of only Spanish and I'm not sure if our teacher will still play her clarinet for us or not... BUT even though our goal has not been perfectly met, I know we have all grown A LOT. My companion and I have been doing SYL (Speak Your Language- Spanish) like crazy this week and we have improved immensely!!!!!! AND LOOK AT THIS! Another blessing with staying in the MTC, we get to SYL even more. :)

Man oh man! The MTC is fun! Hard but sooo fun! We have a lot of laughs! Hermana Rasband and I love to just sing all of the time! We have seen a lot of the same movies so a lot of songs come up. (My dear Maddie- she has seen "The Swan Princess"!!! Yes- her and I love to belt out those songs and I think of you my dear sister!) The other day we brought little Spanish hymn books with us to Gym....definitely spent a loooong time riding the bicycle things and singing! haha, hopefully it pepped everyone else up too. :)

The Spirit is absolutely amazing! There have been so many lessons-SO MANY- where I come out and just think, "what happened?". The Spirit has helped me to know what to say and how to say it (good ol' Spanish). I have also felt extremely comforted and loved during my hard times and good times. I know the Heavely Father loves me and is watching over me. And I KNOW that is the same for each and everyone of you too. :) God lives. He knows you.

Well, love you all! You are wonderful people. :)

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. "Shall we not go on in such great a cause?" -Joseph Smith

Love, Hermana Lindsey Woodfield