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

A Great Week!!

We had a great week! There are two great experiences I want to share. :)

First of all, a great 14 year old investigator went to church yesterday!!!!! And after a lot of explaining about baptism and the necessary authority to do it, she accepted a baptism date! We are also going to try hard to teach her parents too. The whole family needs to become members! :)

But something I absolutely loved about yesterday was how quickly and lovingly the young women of our ward reached out and welcomed her. We arrived at young women's kind of late but immediately they all smiled and welcomed her. By the end of the class they were telling her to come to activities, asking for her phone number and facebook and then whisking her off to the next class. She didn't even look at us as she walked off with the other girls to the Sunday School class. It was great! Seriously, it made me so happy to see the love these wonderful girls so freely shared to this stranger. It definitely strengthened my own resolve to ALWAYS be a friend and helper to the new people or the ones who are trying to come back. It is sooooo much easier and effective when there are friends to help along the way. :)

Bueno, other experience. Saturday morning one of our plans fell threw and we were on our way to our plan B when Hermana Fry said that maybe we should go visit a less active man that lived relatively close. We first tried our original plan b but they weren't there and so off we went to this less active member. When we got there he opened the door chuckling a little bit. We asked him if his wife was there (so that we could go in and visit him). She wasn't there but it just so happened that his mom was there on a visit! We went in and his mom (an active member that is living in another area) told us that she just knew we would be coming to visit that morning.

We talked for quite some time. This man is having a LOT of problems with his marriage and it is really sad. They were sealed in the temple but especially these past few months have been fighting and having a lot of difficulties and are at a breaking point. We were able to share a talk with him that we had printed out to share with someone else...but now we know that God had planned all along for us to share it with him. We were all crying during the lesson and the spirit and feeling of love that God has for this man and his family was really strong. He said he was looking for direction and we promised him that if he went to church that Sunday he would receive his answer. We prayed hard afterwards that he would go. And to our complete delight, in the church we saw him AND his wife and daughter!!!!!! He came up to us afterwards and shared that he was very grateful for what we did and that he feels a lot better. He said that it wasn't coincidence that we just showed up when his mom was there too and that we just happened to have that talk printed out...he said that all of that was his answer. He then asked us if we wanted to return this week to have lunch with his family. :) It was so great! I am very grateful that Heavenly Father uses us as instruments to help his children feel of His love and that He NEVER forgets them. :)

Well, love you all! I know that God lives and that He is our Father! I know that missionary work is sooooo important! We need to help everyone learn of who they really are and that Jesus Christ lived and died for us so that we can live again with God and our families.

Con amor,

Hermana Lindsey Woodfield

Knocking a lot of doors . . . . .

Well my dear family and friends, the Lord's work is progressing!!! It is amazing for me to be able to be part of such a marvelous work and a wonder! The life of a full time missionary isn't easy but it is so fulfilling. I may not be able to see a sea parted or live through a night in a lion's den but the things I am experiencing and the opportunities that God is giving me is building and shaping and molding me into something better.

My testimony has grown immensely and I am grateful for all of the hard and good times that helps it to do so. It is a privilege to be part of the Lord's team and do what I can to help more of my brothers and sisters know that God EXISTS. And not even far away- HE IS HERE. He is with every single day and in every single thing that happens. I know that He loves us. I know that everything He does is to help us gain eternal life- to be able to live with Him and our families for forever. I love Him!

Sooooo, Hermana Fry and I are working hard. This week we were able to find more people! We taught more lessons in this past week then in any other week of my time here in Santa Fe. I am so grateful! We have had to work hard and knock a lot of doors but the Lord blesses us through the perseverance.

A really cool experience we had is that we found a less active member! We prayed about where we should go and the fourth door we knocked a woman answered with a shocked expression. She told us that when she was young she went to church but had stopped a long time ago. We were able to have a good lesson with her a few days later and she said that she feels like she needs to go back to church. We will keep working with her! :)

Okay, I want to take a moment here and stress the importance of family history work. This past week I had quite a few experiences when I felt like the Lord was telling me to do more to help out all of my ancestors who are waiting for US to help them. I know that the missionary work here on the earth is just as important as the missionary work for those who have already passed away. They need us and we need them. We need to find them through family search and do the saving ordinances for them in the temples.

I KNOW that the Lord is hurrying his work in all aspects. One of them is the family history work. I want to ask a favor specifically for the members of my own family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.)- please send me some stories of my grandparents and great grandparents and some pictures of them. I would love to find out more about them.

I know life is crazy and busy but please find a few minutes to send me a favorite or important story about them that you love. :) I would really appreciate it. I extend the invitation to do family history work to all who read this! Use the church website ´´family search´´ and find out more about and help out your own family. :) Here is a great video. Please watch it. :)

https://www.lds.org/church/news/help-break-familysearch-indexing-record-july-20-21?cid=HPTH071714335&lang=eng

Okay, love you all! I am so grateful for all of the love and support I feel! Thank you! Have a great week!

Con amor,

Hermana Lindsey Woodfield