Very Blessed

Hello everyone!!! Is it really almost June already???? Crazy. Things are going really well here in Capitan Bermudez. My companion and I really are VERY blessed. There are a lot of people who we can visit and a lot of work to do. Some really awesome things happened this week!

We have been thinking about our amazing 14 year old investigator, Andrea, a lot. I have been visiting and teaching her my whole time in Argentina and the only reason why she hasn't been baptized already is because her dad is not giving us his permission. She is one of the most amazing people I have met here and is SUPER active in the church and everything. Hermana Eustaquio and I were praying and thinking a lot about what we need to do to help her. Why is Heavenly Father still waiting for her to be baptized? We thought and thought and prayed and prayed...and what we felt was that we needed to talk with her about the ONLY standard that she isn't keeping. She is 14 years old and has a boyfriend who is 19 years old. One of the standards that we have as members of the church to protect us is to not date until the age of 16...and that is only to begin dating. When we are baptized we make a covenant with God that we will follow all of the commandments. We felt like this is part of why she still isn't baptized.

Well, we prayed a lot and prepared a lesson with the spirit and went with another young woman of our ward to have a lesson with Andrea. It went incredibly well!! We shared and explained this standard and it definitely isn't an easy thing, but Andrea understood it and said that she would live it. She is amazing!! She truly loves the gospel and is willing to sacrifice anything for it. Even her mom said that she was surprised at Andrea's response. We told her that we wanted to help Sebastian (her boyfriend) understand as well. Sebastian is an amazing person too. He has received some lessons from us, is reading the Book of Mormon, and has gone to church 4 times. He doesn't live in our area but the elders in his area have a lesson set up for this week with him. He has a testimony of the gospel and says that he knows this church is true. He is great!! Sooooo, we didn't want him to misunderstand this standard of the church or something. We returned to Andrea's house the following day to visit with her and him. This lesson went really well too. Sebastian understands and said that if he would have known about this earlier he would have kept it. I know that all of this isn't easy for Andrea or Sebastian but they truly want to follow Christ and are accepting of all of the standards of the church. What I think needs to happen is that he can be baptized and then go on a mission....and then in the years to come they can see what will happen and, if it is right, get married in the temple. Hahaha, but that is just my thought. :)

Anyways, that was something big from the week and we feel that it will be easier to get permission from Andrea's father now. :)

Other great things!! Friday we meet a young 17 year old man in the bus. We talked with him and asked if we could pass by his house to have a visit. He ended up telling us that he doesn't have a direction to give us- he lives in the street. Ahh! Poor guy! We invited him to come to our church and gave him a card. AND HE WENT TO CHURCH. AND GET THIS. The Sunday School teacher for the youth came up to us after her class and said, ´´the young man, Jose, said he lives in the street! I am going to ask him to come live with me and my husband, we have space.´´ The Bishop had an interview with him and off he went with this wonderful member of our ward. He is now living in her house and we are going to go visit him tomorrow. :)

Other thing really quick- yesterday we prayed about where we should go to knock doors to find new investigators. We felt like we should go to a specific street and off we went. The fourth door we knocked the women let us in and we had an awesome lesson with her and her kids. Two of her kids passed away five years ago and she is still hurting from it. She also said that she is trying to find out which church is true and still doesn't know. Haha, she also said that she has heard a lot of bad things about our church. She is a golden investigator! :) We told her that we are here to help with everything and invite her to come unto Christ. We have another appointment with her tomorrow morning. :)

Okay, time to go! Love you all! This week was amazing and we are looking forward to working even harder this week. Next week is transfer week so I will be emailing on Tuesday. Love yah! I know Jesus Christ lives and is our Savior!

Con Amor,

Hermana Lindsey Woodfield

Time to get talking : )

Hola! Let me just say that Belkis is one of the cutest members ever!!!! I just love this recent convert of ONE week so very much. Her and her family will forever be in my heart. :) Her 6 year old son is a real cutie also! He always runs to meet us and gives us lots of flowers. Haha, and, this is REAL big, he shared his alfajor with us. Now that is a sacrifice. :) Belkis is still helping us a lot with the missionary work. This week we had a good lesson in her house with her friend, Jimena. We watched the Restoration movie and definitely felt the spirit. Her friend Jimena is really great and is looking for the true church. We have great hopes for her and know that if she really studies the Book of Mormon and makes the effort to know the truth, she will be baptized. :)

We are still working a lot with the family Casafu (waiting for a divorce from a previous marriage) and Andrea. This week we have plans to fast with Andrea to receive help so that she can be baptized. Andrea really is amazing. She isn't baptized but has one of the biggest and strongest testimonies and conversions I have seen on my mission. She is very active- participating in seminary and everything. :)

Our mission has challenged us to accept a plan of action to find new investigators. Every week the goal is to have 140 contacts. This means talking with 140 people/families from the street or knocking on doors. Time to get talking! :)

Well, love you all very much! I hope everyone isn't suffering from summer heat already. Here in Argentina I am just getting started with singing Christmas songs. Haha, it is starting to feel like Christmas for me! :)

Have a great week! I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. I love Him so very much and am so grateful that through Him we can change and become better people every day.

Con Amor,

Hermana Lindsey Woodfield

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Wow! What a week! A lot of stuff happened! First of all, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!! :) Woohoo! Fun fact- Argentina seems to be the only country that doesn't have mother's day in May. Mother's Day here is in October!

Okay, BIG NEWS. BELKIS SOSA WAS BAPTIZED AND CONFIRMED. YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

She is so great!!!!! :) Her baptism was awesome. She is such a cute member. :) I am so very blessed to be a part of her experience with finding the gospel. I just love her! WOW! Guess what! Just now Belkis saw us and entered and told us that she has been sharing the gospel with one of her friends and invited her to meet with us and go to church. What a missionary!

We also found 2 new investigators this week! Heavenly Father put both of them in our paths in exactly the right moment. They are two women who are both suffering from abusive spouses. It is so sad! We met them when both of them were in a really sad state and they both have told us that our appearance was an answer from God. Ahhh! Incredible! :)

Okay, I don't have more time! Sorry! I love you all!!!!

Con amor,

Hermana Lindsey Woodfield

Belkis and her son Damian

At Belkis' baptism!

P-Day outing with Hermana Eustaquio

Grateful to be an instrument

Hello all! :)

This week was a good one! We had quite a few meetings and had to travel so we were not able to have all of the lessons we wanted to but it was still good. :) The big news this week is that Belkis is still preparing for her baptism! WE ARE SO EXCITED. My time and experiences with her are memories that I will never forget. She is a prepared child of God who was placed in our path in exactly the right moment. I love her so much and am so grateful to my Heavenly Father that I have been able to be an instrument in her story. :) I'll keep you all updated with her progression and baptism! I will send a picture of us with her and her two kiddos soon!

We have also been working with a less active family. They are WONDERFUL and are returning church and progressing a lot. Yesterday in sacrament meeting their 16 year old daughter went up and bore her testimony with me. :) Proud moment! And the mom of our amazing 14 yr old investigator Andrea bore her testimony too! She is a member who was less active for years before we started visiting her and her daughter. Now they come to church every week and in her testimony she said that she is happy and that it feels good to be doing what God wants. :) Ahhhhhhh, I love it!

There are a lot of hard and sad moments on the mission...but there are SO MANY incredible moments that make it all so worth it. I am able to see a lot of people change and progress. BUT I am also seeing a lot of change in ME. I wouldn't trade this year and a half of my mission for anything. :)

Well, time to get to work. :) Love you all!!!!!!! Have a great week!

Con amor,

Hermana Lindsey Woodfield