Sister Woodfield

Sister Woodfield

Monday, November 25, 2013

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!

Monday, November 18, 2013

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

Monday, November 11, 2013

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

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

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:


Friday, November 1, 2013

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.