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