Dead Frogs and Working with Less Actives :)

Hola todos!!! :) Hermana Fry and I had an awesome week!!! We were able to teach a lot and on Sunday we saw a looooot of blessings with a lot of less active members who went! :)

These past two weeks we have been teaching a part member family. The dad is a less active member and the mom is investigating. She just had their second daughter about 3 weeks ago so she still hasn't been feeling very well to leave her house and go to church but she will soon! But her husband did go!!!! There were also a lot of others there. :)

I had a really cool experience in one of our lessons with a less active member. She was baptized about 14 years ago but hasn't gone to church in a long time. We were talking about the blessings of the gospel in our families and she shared how she hasn´t had good experiences or relationships with her family. We promised her that she could change that for her future husband and kids. I felt the spirit so strongly as I testified to her that the gospel is what has saved my family. I know with all of my heart that it is the wonderful protective power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I opened my mouth and learned as well as the spirit gave me the words. I heard myself explain that my mom learned every week in Relief Society how to be a better mother and spouse, that my dad learned every week how to honor his priesthood so that he could be worthy to baptize his kids, that us as children heard every week and sang songs about how to be more patient and obedient, that everytime we read The Book of Mormon together we could see the good and bad examples of families and follow the good things, etc. I know that it was the spirit teaching and it helped me to realized even more the HUGE importance of the gospel and going to church every week.

Soooooooo, also had a gross experience on Thursday. We were visiting a great woman who is trying to get fully active and go to the temple. She has the cutest boys- Jeremias (3 years old) and Octavio (9 months old). Jeremias always screams, ´´´HERMAAAANAAAAS!!!´´ and runs toward us to give us high-fives when we come. At one point during this visit Jeremias rushed us outside to show us his frog. To my horrid suprise he bent down at the nasty small river of sewage and other green smelly things that is in front of all of the houses in this part of town and STUCK HIS HAND DEEP DOWN IN IT. HE PULLED OUT A DEAD FROG!! (Not that suprised that it is dead...how could anything live after being in that???) Jeremias just shot us a big three year grin of pride and joy. It was nasty but we just had to laugh!

Anyways, I know that the Lord is hurrying His work! I know that there are a lot of people prepared to change their lives and accept that gospel. I am so grateful for my Savior. I know that He lives and is with us every moment.

Con amor,

Hermana Lindsey Woodfield :)

La Conferencia de Estaca!!!!!!!!

sooooooo, we have some pretty cool argentina pants :)

Most of my MTC district was reunited!!!!! Look how we have grown!! :)

During the open house part of stake conference :)

yep












Sooooooo, this week I experienced one of the best stake conferences ever! Seriously, I am so proud of these wonderful members and leaders here in Santa Fe! They are really trying to make a push in the missionary work and share the wonderful gospel truths with others.

The conference started on Thursday night with an absolutely amazing and super spiritual ´´musical show´´. There was a choir that sang incredibly well!! It was about the Plan of Salvation and touched on the Restoration of the Gospel as well. There were a lot of awesome songs, narration in between, and a slideshow and videos going on a screen behind them. The spirit was so strong! We were also really happy because a less active member that we found and started visting the past week went with us. :)

Then on Friday we had a ´´Capilla Abierta´´ (Open church) in our stake center. The church was open for 12 hours (10am-10pm) giving tours and showing people what happens inside. It was really awesome! The Young women, Relief Society,Primary and Family History center had all of their rooms set up with displays and music and members to explain what happens. In the cultural hall there was a big half circle of pictures and missionaries would guide the people looking at them and quickly teaching the lessons- The Restoration, Plan of Salvaction, Book of Mormon, Baptism of Christ, Temples, etc. There was also a table set up with a bunch of phamplets, cards, Books of Mormon, Family History booklets, etc. And in the hallway a member had prepared treats for everyone. :) Around 7pm a filming crew came and interviewed the Stake President. Supposedly it will be showing on TV for a week. Also he did an interview on the radio in the morning. Another woman who is into the newspaper put it in ads. IT WAS INTENSE. :)

Our whole missionary zone was there to help out. There were a lot of missionaries on the nearby streets to talk to the people and invite them to go in. There were some at the door with a big banner saying ´´capilla abierta´´ and other things. They were there to greet and write down names and directions. There were some who would guide the people through and others who would teach in the cultural hall. And finally, some elders were in the room with the baptismal font all dressed in white and explaing why and how we do baptisms.

This was the first time the Santa Fe stake has done something like this and I know that God is pleased with their efforts. We definitely saw a lot of blessings. There were some people who went through and felt the spirit and now missionaries are going to visit them. :)

That was the big event from this week but there were also a lot of other great things! Yesterday we were in the street when Hermana Fry started to contact a woman named Vanesa. She is here in Santa Fe to help her grandma in the hospital. We ended up going into the clinic to meet her grandma. We were able to share our testimonies and a little bit about the Book of Mormon with them. There was a sweet spirit in the room and I felt strongly that Heavenly Father is mindful of all of His children. Afterwards Vanesa said that she felt more relieved and uplifted from the hardship that is going on with her grandma. I am very grateful that we had the opportunity to be God's instruments and help them feel of His love.

I know that God lives and is mindful of everyone of us! I am so grateful to be a missionary!

Love you all!

Hermana Lindsey Woodfield

La Primavera! Springtime!

This week we were very blessed to find new people to teach!!! A while back we contacted a woman on the street and she told us that her son-in-law was a member and that we could pass by. This week we met him and he immediately let us in. We went in to see a very nice woman with two small daughters (5 years old and 2 weeks old) willing to sit down and listen to us. The man (Bernardo) is a member but has been less active for years and his wife is not a member. Yes...yes, I did say wife. THEY ARE MARRIED. That doesn't happen a lot here sooooo we were pretty excited. :) She told us that she has listened to the missionaries before but didn't like how they pressured her to get baptized. With the three lessons that we were able to have with them this week we tried very hard to prepare and teach guided by the spirit so that she could feel the need to have the gospel in her life. In all of the lessons we felt the spirit powerfully and she opened up a bit more. We invited her that when SHE knows and gets her OWN answer (not dragged to the baptismal font by us or her husband) to get baptized and recieve those blessings. She accpeted!!!! If she recieves her answer before the 11th of October she will be baptized. :)

Then on Friday we received a call from one of the elders in the mission office. He gave us a referral and we felt prompted to go there within hours. We went and a woman named Gladis immediately let us in. We had a great visit with her and her 19 year old daughter, Eliana. Gladis is very religious and has a lot of faith in God. But she has trials in her life right now that are very hard- 3 of her 5 children have passed away already. Eliana is also facing some challenges. We had an awesome lesson and they also accepted to get baptized if they find out that this is true. :)

I am so very grateful for the light of the gospel that we can offer to these wonderful people. I know that whatever your trial may be, the gospel is what you need. I know God is mindful of all of His children.

A scripture that I read this morning that I absolutely love is found in Matthew 16:24-27-

24 ¶Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

I love how it says that even if you gain the WHOLE world...it doesn't do anything if you lose your soul. I know that the wordly things will all come to end one day. What truly matters and is important is our relationship with God and our families. By forgetting ourselves and giving everything to God, we will find the most peace and happiness.

Love you all! Con amor,

Hermana Woodfield

Planting seeds . . . . . . .

Hola todos! This week we had a special mission meeting with one of the members of the seventy- Elder Zavallas from Chile! It was awesome! He talked some about his conversion story. He was baptized when he was 12 years old. He was and still is the only member in his family. He went on to serve a great mission, be a stake president, mission president, and now a general authority. He said that we never know how many ´´apples´´ will come from the seeds that we plant. That the Elders that baptized him had no idea that they would end up seeing him in a General Conference being sustained as a member of the seventy. We are always planting seeds with our hard work and actions of love and fruit WILL come of it. :)

One of the lunches we had this week was with a part member family. A 19 year old girl that was recently baptized, Rocio, served us some great chicken with her mom and one of her older brothers. Later on her aunt who was also recently baptized showed up. Afterwards we shared with them a message about Jesus Christ from the Book of Mormon in 3 Nephi 11. An awesome moment happened when the aunt who was recently baptized, Guadalupe, started to share her testimony and love for the gospel. She also started to talk about eternal families and about her brother who died seven years ago. This brother is the dad of Rocio. Almost immediately as Guadalupe started in with stories of him Rocio´s mom and brother started crying. You could just tell that they miss him a lot and that there is still a hole without his presence. The Spirit was strong and I was just once again reminded of the greatness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Families can be forever!!!!! We can see each other again!!!! Death is not the end!!! We have plans to have a family home evening this week and help them feel that even more.

I am so grateful for the gospel and the peace and joy it gives us. Let us always keep the faith!!!

Con amor,

Hermana Woodfield

Hola familia y amigos

Is it September?!?!?!?! Weird! The cold weather here is quickly going away and the intense Argentine heat is settling in fast...I remember how fun it was the last time...bring on round 2!!! Haha, but seriously...the sunblock is going to need to be coming out fast. :)

This week was really good! I don't have a whole lot of time to write but I do want to share a cool experience. On Wednesdaywe were in our apartment studying when Hermano Davalo (the great member I wrote about last week) called us and quickly asked about where we were and what we were doing. He asked if he could give us a reference and continued to tell us about a man in the hospital near by and his family. He ended up just telling us to meet us there and he would go with us. So we quickly departed. At the hospital Hermano Davalo told us that one of these worried family members went to our church earlier looking for some kind of help. There just happened to be a member in the church who quickly called Hermano Davalo who called us. He told us that this man in the hospital, Fransisco, has been in the hospital for 2 months and him and his family are really depressed and worried.

We walked in the room to see about 8 worried faces look at us. We introduced ourselves. One of the daughters showed us the badly injured leg of her father that happened from a car accident. We explained that the Elders would come by later to give a blessing but we wanted to help out in any way we could right then. Another daughter grabbed my hand as she said something about saying a prayer. Everyone grabbed hands and looked at me expectingly. I thought in my head, ´´Well, I am not able to give a priesthood blessing...but I will invoke help from heaven with a prayer to a loving Heavenly Father for these suffering children.´´ I tried hard to let the Holy Spirit quide the prayer as I asked for help and comfort for this family. It honestly was a sacred experience and I am so grateful for the love and help that God shows to ALL of his children. We are staying in touch with them to see what more we can do.

Love you all! I know that God lives! I know that the only way to return to live with Him is through Jesus Christ and His gospel.

Have a great week!!

Hermana Woodfield

One Transfer More!!!

Remember this face??? My companion from the MTC! :) We were reunited for a day! Hermana Rasband :)

Hermana Fry and I had a family home evening with an Argentine asado (BBQ) :) sooo good!

One of the cutest girls!!! :) Reminds me of my great little sis :)

My district from the last transfer :)

They love their soccer!!!







This week is transfer week but all is well!!! Both Hermana Fry and I are staying in the great Santa Fe, Rural area. :) I am excited and grateful to be able to work more in the Lord's vineyard here. About 4 weeks ago our ward boundaries were changed and we are seeing a lot of blessings from the help from the added members. We are excited to keep helping it progress. :)

So our wonderful 14 year old investigator Leilen is working towards her baptism!! She has gone to church twice now and has friendships with the young women. :) The new difficulty we have though is that she is doing double schooling right now and can only meet with on the weekends. But we are working with that and she is progressing. ALSO, huge blessing! We were able to talk with her real quick on Friday and she said that she told her mom that she wants to get baptized and her mom said it is okay!!!!!!!!!! :) We still need to get the permision in writing but this was a huge step made. Leilen had the courage and the determination to tell her mom about her desires and Heavenly Father helped her mom to be okay with it. Like I said, we still need her signature but we are getting there. :) Big blessing!

I also want to share about one of the hugest examples I have seen of a member missionary. His name is Hermano Davalo. He seriously is such a great example for me! He always does family home evenings and invites the whole WORLD to go!! Haha, but really...yesterday there were about 22 people in his home. Some members and some friends. He does that quite often. I also always seeing him bearing some kind of testimony to his friends about the power of the Book of Mormon or the counsel from the prophets or how we should be prepared for judgment day. I just love how he is so open and willing to share his beliefs with everyone and introduce the missionaries to his friends. He just tells them straight out that this gospel has blessed his life and that he knows it will bless theirs too. :)

You know...this is the truth isn't it?? That God lives. That He sent His Son Jesus Christ to provide the way for us to return. That through His teachings we can not only find forgiveness and freedom from our mistakes but also joy and peace from knowing our purpose. If it is true, and I testify with my whole soul that it is, then we should be shouting it from the rooftops!! These people who surround us are our brothers and sisters and NEED what we have. We don't have to be weird about sharing the happiness. We can simply invite others to a family home evening or activity. We can share a favorite scripture. This great member Hermano Davalo is another great example that I have found of how to shine your light at all times and in all places. I invite all of you to do the same. :)

Well dear friends and family, I love you all and am grateful for the support. Have an awesome week!!!! :)

Con amor,

Hermana Woodfield

Feliz Dia del San Martin!!

Yesterday Argentina remembered the death of a prominent man who helped Argentina gain independence- San Martin! :) The only difference that I saw was that there were more people on the sides of the street selling choripan (like a hot dog but with sausage)...but I'm not sure if that was for San Martin or because there was a big soccer game going on. BUT anyways, feliz dia del San Martin! :)

This week went well! A huge blessing is that Leilen is progressing a lot! We were able to visit her twice and she is reading in her Book of Mormon and praying every day. She also walked all of the way to the church BY HERSELF on Saturday to go to a young women's activity. :) then she went with us to church on Sunday and took her scriptures and a pen with her. I am just sooooo grateful for te love and acceptance the young women of our ward have shown to her. It really makes such a big difference!!! I invite all of you to find out who the missionaries of your ward are visiting and to get to know them and help them feel loved and comfortable at church! The work goes sooooo much faster when the members are there along the way too. :) We definitely have some work to do with her situation though. She is worried that her parents aren't going to let her get baptized and now she has more school and we can only visit her on the weekends. I know that if we keep working and praying the Lord will provide a way for her AND her family to make this important step. :)

Other great side note! Remember the family from last week's email??? Well, we had our lunch with them! It was great! The mood in the house felt so much better after they had gone to church on Sunday. AND they went again yesterday and asked for another lunch with us this week! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!! It is amazing how the light and peace of Christ enters in our lives when we take steps towards Him and do what He asks of us.

I thought I would take another moment to share some more of the Argentina culture. :) Something that has always fascinated me is that they thoroughly clean their sidewalks. Seriously, not just a little sweeping...they bring out the bucket and mop it! And this is about a 3 times a week thing. I'm sure they would think we are gross in the States for not doing it. Haha, other fun fact- yogurt comes in a bag and is a drink here. :) Sometimes we have it with cereal. It is really good!

Well friends and family, another week has come and gone. Time just flies by! Love you all! Have an awesome week!

Con amor,

Hermana Lindsey Woodfield