Go Acevedo!

This week was super long because we were trying to help Maria get to her baptism date...but Satan was working really hard this week. Background on Maria. She is 23 years old. She offically got married in January of this year. She has three little kids and they are all from her husband. She got married so that she could get baptized, but then she didn't have time to go to church because her littlest kid was born and he had complications with his birth. But now, she has everything under control and she wants to come to church and get baptized. So we were super excited and trying to get everything ready...but her mom stepped in. It was a little interesting. Her mom is a member as well. But she said she wants Maria to more consistently go to church and have a really strong testimony before she gets baptized. Obviously, that makes sense. So we told Maria to pray about when she should get baptized. She didn't tell us the answer in time this week in order to get her interview done, but she told us she really wants to get baptized and that she is ready to do everything to get baptized. We are super grateful that she feels this desire so strong to make these covenants with God. So we were waiting for her at church...but there was a HUGE storm Sunday and she gets to church by walking. And she can't walk in the rain and thunder with her three little kids, so she wasn't able to make it to church. But we are going to visit her this week and hopefully wihin the next couple weeks she will be baptized. :)

We haven't been able to find Carmelo for a very long time because now he works all the time. Susana is a little discouraged because she can't be baptized until they get married, but Carmelo doesn't have any time. I am learning how important families really are. If you and your husband and wife aren't on the same page, no one is happy. Neither of them can progress without the other. The family and marriage is ordained of God. It is super important. :) You can pray for them both.

We have been visiting lots of people that are less active...but not because they want to be less active. There are lots of members here that are old and sick and literally can't leave their houses. It is so sad to see them suffering and being sick. Imagine someone old that is sick and times it by 5. And Argentina is about 60 years behind the united states medical wise. And most people's children here don't support their parents when they are old. It is super hard to see the people. But I really feel the love that Jesus feels for them. I know He is aware of them.

Here is just one example from this week. On Thursday, we met this woman named Maria Luisa. She has been confined to her bed for the last two years and will be until she dies. When she was younger, all she did was serve the Lord and the people around her. She is a very good person. She feels very sad to have to end her life because of the awful sickness she has that the doctors can't cure here. We were just talking to her and we told here that everything would be okay and that she was a daughter of God. And she just started crying. Without even thinking, I immediately got up from my chair and started stroking her hair. I wiped away her tears. I told her it is okay to cry. She was so grateful that we came because she told us we were sent directly from God. I loved that experience and the love I felt for this woman I have never met in my life. I love being in the Lord's hands and doing what He would do if He were here.

Fun part of the week. I was trying to ride my bike, like I always do..and I ran into a barbwire fence. I have a really nice scar now.

Love you all!
Love,
Hermana Wood

We moved!

Well...we finally moved!!! We are living in our new house! It is super big. It has two rooms, a living room, and a kitchen! Actually, I think that is really small the in the United States, but it is HUGE here! I have seen a family of 10 people live in a house with two rooms and a kitchen. So we are living really good here. It is nice. I will send a picture of the house next week.

We have had a long week, because we are trying to find new investigators. We found some awesome people!! The best people we found are Pablo and Nely. We were talking with Pablo and he said, "You know what, you guys are right. I need spiritual help in my life. When can you come back?" Haha, whenever you want us to come back! ;) So, we are going to be passing by this week. We also found this woman named Silvina and her kid Nico. Silvina is going to have a baby this week! So she said we can pass by after she has her child. We are excited to work with them. :)

We also have some exciting news! We found an old investigator named Maria. She has already come to church and she already has all the lessons. She came to church this week and the last week and she said that she wants to get baptized this Saturday! So we are probably going to have a baptism this Saturday. We are super excited for this miracle, despite everything that has happened these past couple weeks.

Also, I have been pretty sick this week. In the last 48 hours, I have slept 33 hours. I am FINALLY feeling a lot better. It was a rough time, but I know that Heavenly Father is protecting and watching out for me. And we are still seeing miracles!

Sorry, I didn't have much time to write.

Love,
Hermana Wood

11 Months!

Today I have 11 months in the mission! The time just flies. It is so crazy to think about.

Yesterday was transfers and Hermana Christiansen and I are staying together in Acevedo! That means that we are going to be in the Rosario Argentina mission! I am super excited about that and to have my same mission president. Presidente Zanni is the best and really helps us learn and grow in the way that the Lord wants us to. He cares about us and only wants the best for us. I am happy to stay here in Rosario!

First off, last P-Day, Hermana Calderon colored my hair. She dyed my hair to my natural hair color! I haven't been my natural color since like 9th grade, so it was weird to get used to, but I dyed it that way because I don't want to dye my hair anymore. So I went all natural. I actually really like it now. Everyone says I look exactly like my mom now....so you can all be the judge of that. ;)

This week with Carmelo and Susana has been very interesting. Carmelo and Susana are not from Pergamino, they are from Santa Fe. So they can't get married in Pergamino because their address is from Santa Fe. So they went to Santa Fe about 3 weeks ago and picked a day to get married, June 19th. We were super excited and everything. However....something awesome and very sad happened this week. Carmelo found a job!!!!! He works in a store that sells chicken. He has been praying and praying to find work and he finally found it! We were so excited when we found out! It was a huge answer to prayers. But...now that he has a job, he can't leave Pergamino to go to Santa Fe to get married. :( So...it is a big bummer. They can't get married for quite a while now. We are going to ask him to pray for the courage to ask his boss for a day off so that they can go to Santa Fe. It is going to take a lot of faith and courage on his part, but we know that the blessings are real and God wants them to get married. So if you could pray for him, that would be great!

We taught Carmen! We talked a lot about prayer and invited her to come to church. Her two kids are awesome, and I hope that they will be able to progress together. She is teaching her kids good things, so I think it will be good.

Amalia has been super sick for the past couple weeks, so we haven't had much contact with her. We are trying to help her, but we can't do much. We did a lot for the house! We bought mattresses, turned on the lights, and fixed the gas! I think we will be able to move Saturday! Lots of people have been helping us and it is finally all coming together! I also did tramites this last week, and they said I should be receiving my ID from Argentina within the next three months, so I am super stoked about that.

I have been reading lots of stories in the Book of Mormon lately and I have been applying them all to the mission life. For example, I read about Ammon and ths servants when they are taking care of king lamoni's sheep. The only way that the missionary (Ammon) could fight with Satan and protect the investigators (sheep) was if the members (the servants) helped by encircling the sheep. They calmed the investigators when temptations arised and they were scared. They were able to help every sheep come back to the king's pasteur. I know that the members are so important and every member needs to help in missionary work. Everyone needs to help so that every single one of our brothers and sisters can come back to Heavenly Father. I love you all! Thank you all for the amazing birthday wishes! It was a great day! I feel old now, but I guess that's okay. :) I hope my pictures works this week!

This Week

Well, since we have finally been able to leave and work, we had to spend a TON of our time buying everything for our new house. It was stressful because we had to wait in lots of lines and be adults and talk to professional people in a language that sometimes we still don't understand because we have never heard these big words before and use a lot of money. We are now really close to moving! We just need to buy mattresses and turn on the electricity, which requires lots of documents as well, but we are getting there. Obviously, I have learned a lot of patience and how to handle stress. Like my daddy told me this week, I am just preparing for the real world, so I guess it is a good thing. :)

Amid all the chaos of moving, we have been able to help people! When we visited Carmelo last week, he told us that he didn't want to keep listening, but Susana wanted to keep listening. We started praying like crazy for him and we also invited him to pray and read the book of mormon. We went back about 4 days later, and he told us that he wants to keep listening and their whole family was at church this Sunday! We are so grateful that the spirit touched his heart. I can see them as an eternal family getting sealed in the temple for time and all eternity. They are amazing and have so much potential.

We are also working with a woman named Maria Chaparro. She has three kids also and she came to church this week. We haven't had many lessons with her, but we think she is going to be baptized pretty quickly. She is super cute and loving.

I know that if I can put my faith and complete trust in my Heavenly Father, we are going to be able to get everything done and also we will be able to help these amazing people here progress and meet their goals. Heavenly Father has everything in His hands and He will help us out. I am grateful for this time to be in the mission and to learn what I need to know for the rest of my life. I love you all!

Love,
Hermana Wood

I love working...and working..and working on bikes!!

I WAS ABLE TO LEAVE MY BED ON FRIDAY AND WORK. LIKE A MISSIONARY WORKS. NO ONE CAN UNDERSTAND HOW HAPPY I AM!!!!!!! Maybe other missionaries can understand, but really, it is the best feeling in the world to be out on the street, talking to people, teaching the gospel, and loving the people. I am so grateful to be a missionary and to have this time in my life to serve Him and represent Him in all I do.

Well, Monday to Friday Hermana Christiansen and I played Uno...all day long. But we got bored of Uno, so we started playing every single card game that I know..with Uno cards. We played Mao, go fish, speed, spit, garbage, phase 10, B.S., happy slap, and Nerts. Yeah, we were quite bored. But..it was fine. We got pretty creative. And some other hermanas had the game of LIFE in their pench, so they sent it to us! I was able to play LIFE! My favorite game! I was so happy. And everything was in spanish, which made it all the much better.

Then on Friday we were able to leave and work!!! I was so happy! We went to the church and we found some bikes so that I don't have to walk. It is so fun to ride in bikes. I only almost got ran over by a bus once. So that was good. ;)

We were able to visit Susana this week. She told us that Carmelo is having some doubts about the church. We haven't been able to teach him, but Susana told us that she is never going to leave because she found the true church. :) She is so great and we are going to be working a lot with them this week. They are so great and we need to find out how to help Carmelo.

We found this new woman named Carmen! She is single and has two kids, one is 12 and the other is 8. She is super open and we are excited to work with her. It is hard to get back into the groove of working and helping our investigators progress when we haven't been able to visit them very consistently, but we are working really hard to try and help them. We are also STILL trying to move, so we are going to be doing a ton this week. Thank you all so much for your prayers and for helping me along the way. I know that this church is true and everything we have to go through is worth it. Heavenly Father has a plan for each one of us and I know that He is always watching over us. I love you all!!!

These are pictures of my shock therapy. :)