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