HEADED INTO MY FIFTH WEEK!

Hello!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hola!!!!!!!!!!!!! Como esta??!?!?! Holy cow- have I really been here for a month?!?! I ONLY HAVE 17 MONTHS LEFT OF MY MISSION! I reallyyyyy need to make every single moment count!

First of all, I love you all so much!! I am so extremely blessed with such wonderful family and friends. I am overwhelmed with how good the Lord has been to me. I couldn't ask for a better family or better friends! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! I hope everything has been going well for you all. Please know and remember that I am praying for you all and am so happy that each one of you are in my life. The gospel is true. The Savior Jesus Chirst LIVES and knows each of you personally! Wow...I am just so grateful! :)

Okay, what happened this week? SO MUCH! First of all, TRC! I mentioned last week about how Hermana Rasband and I met with a member who has been struggling with some family problems and he told us that TRC really helped him and answered some prayers. WELL, last Friday we went to TRC again. (By the way- TRC is when we get to meet with members of the church for about 20 minutes each. AND we do it in Spanish. Of coure. Love Spanish! :) ) We didn't have a lesson with the member from last week but we did stop by where he was to say hi. He told us that his sister (who has been having some troubles with the gospel and her testimony and such) has been receiving revelation that she KNOWS is not from her and that she is definitely considering serving a mission now! He seemed so happy and grateful! Hermana Rasband and I are so happy! It was so great!! We seriously love these members so much! They are children of God who need help or an encouraging word as well. DEFINITELY LOVEEEEE TRC! :)

Our teachers (Hermana Christensen and Hermano Hales) have both been out of town at different times and so we have been able to have various substitutes. One of them is Hermana Eyring- GRANDDAUGHTER of President Eyring who served her mission in Argentina!!! It is so cool! She even speaks with the Argentina accent! She showed us a bunch of pictures from her mission and also told us stories. You can just tell that she has this great love for the Argentina people and her mission. It definitely calmed some nervousness with my district and made us all even more excited to go there and serve!!! I AM SO EXCITED!

So one of our WONDERFUL teachers (they both are seriously SO AMAZING!), Hermana Christensen, is majoring in the clarinet. She told us she would play for us before we left IF we did the Spanish-Only-Week-Challenge. WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT you might ask. Weeeeeeell, let me tell yah. WE ONLY SPEAK SPANISH FOR A WHOLEEEEEEE ENTIRE WEEK! Crazy right?! haha! There are some exceptions though- when we meet with our branch presidency, or talk to others who don't know Spanish, or with my assignment if I need to do something in English, or things like that. We also can have three strikes a day- if we accidentally let an English word that we knew in Spanish slip. Is my district taking on the challenge???? YOU BET. Hermana Christensen said that only two other districts she has taught have made it (and she has been here for at least a year). It will be from this Saturday until next Saturday. Adios English! Pray for us all! :)

OKAY- we had an AMAZING devotional this Tuesday!!!!!!!! The speaker was wonderful and he even showed a clip from a talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (which you just gotta know is AMAZING). He talked a lot about how we need to live up to the legacy. The Lord needs missionaries to match the message. We have been called to battle not just to hold the line but to CHARGE. We are going to help people and bring them the glorious and wonderful message of the restored gospel. Elder Holland voiced the questions- why isn't missionary work more easy? Why isn't everyone just flocking to the gospel? If it is so happy and wonderful- WHY isn't missionary work more easy? He followed that up by saying "missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience." He said that someone much greater and a lot grander then us has also asked the question "is there another way?" Elder Holland said- how could we ever believe that it would be easy for us when it was never ever easy for the Lord Jesus Christ? He said that he believes missionary work is supposed to require something of our souls and that the Atonement of Jesus Christ would carry us. I don't know how much of this is making sense- but basically, the devotional was amazing. The words spoken definitely touched my heart and has made me even more dedicated to this great work. There are people out there who NEED the gospel. They NEED me to be bold and ready and willing and worthy to share with them the message of the gospel and invite them unto Christ. I love the gospel!

So yesterday we got a new district!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5 Elders and 2 Hermanas! Woohoo!!!! I was able to do the new missionary orientation with the zone leaders last night and talk to them and give them a tour of the MTC. It is so interesting- I definitely do NOT feel wise or experienced and yet I am able to give them advice and encouragement. I KNOW the Holy Ghost is helping me to know what to say and do with EVERYTHING including my assignment as Sister Training Leader. I love these new Hermanas so much! I remember feeling overwhelmed and not sure of what was going on too! They are wonderful sisters and I am excited to get to know them better.

Yesterday Hermana Rasband and I had an absolutely amazing lesson with one of our investigators, Maria. (Our teacher Hermana Christensen) We had prepared to talk more about baptism and then the sacrament and keeping the Sabbath Day holy. When we were preparing earlier I knew I wanted to share some of my experiences with her about keeping the Sabbath day but I just couldn't seem to figure it out in Spanish. In the actual lesson I was getting kinda sad because I felt like I wasn't expressing myself very well with Spanish. AND THEN my dear companion asked me to share my experience with keeping the Sabbath Day holy (the experience I had struggled to put the words together earlier and had kinda decided to not even share it). WELL, I started to share it and the words just CAME TO ME. I spoke for quite some time and the words IN SPANISH just kept flowing to me. There were things I said that I hadn't even considered or thought about saying when I was trying to prepare it earlier. I started to tear up while I was talking and Maria started to cry!!! It was one of the best experiences I have had! The Spirit was helping me out SO MUCH. Where did all of that Spanish come from? Where did those thoughts come from???? THE SPIRIT! Heavenly Father was definitely looking out for me. It was another testament to me that when you try your best the Lord will make up the difference.

So many miracles and amazing things happen here in the MTC. One of the things that I absolutely love is how so many people just come up to us and ask if they can bear their testimonies!!! We have heard testimonies in English, Samoan, Sign Language, French, Spanish, etc. SO GREAT!

Well my dear loved ones, the time has once again come to finish up emailing. Know I love you. Know that God loves you. What a wonderful time to be alive! Life is good- hard, yes, but soooo good. :)

LOVE YOU!!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE,
Hermana Lindsey Woodfield

p.s. still no news about our visas or where we might be re-assigned in the US while we wait for our visas. I have heard that some people do not get their re-assignments until about 4 days before they leave!!!! SO- I will keep you posted with what I can. I'm pretty sure that on the day I find out my re-assignment (if I am re-assigned- a high possibility) that I am able to email home about it! I am VERY excited for whatever happens! Straight to Argentina or a wonderful state in the US first! :)

p.p.s I think we have finally found a way to send pictures! We are allowed to do it during laundry time later so hopefully I will be sending some later today! love you! :)