Great Week!

1. my bouncy ball bounced up on top of the closet, so I had to climb up and get it. ;)
2. Us. We ate brownies and ice cream!
Hermana Christiansen, me, Hermana Robinson, and Hermana Fairbanks
3. #lashermanasdepergamino or in english #thesistersofpergamino It is super fun!

Well, we had a pretty great week! Everyone is doing well and I am super happy to be a missionary here! Maria is doing awesome! We went and visited her and she said that she is reading the scriptures and praying every day! She said that one day her mom was feeling really sad and didn't know what to do. Maria went to her house, got out the gospel principles book and started reading about the family. Then she went back and shared it with her mom and her mom felt a lot better. She is already helping other people! She is the best. We invited Pablo to really kneel down and pray to know if the chuch is true. If he decides to do it, I know he will receive an answer. We will see if he has the desire to know. :)

We found Amalia! She is going through some really tough stuff. She is trying to redo her house and her niece moved in with three little kids and it is really hectic, so she hasn't been doing very well at stoping smoking. But we told her that she can do it! We had english classes this week and her two sons came and then they played with the other kids, so maybe if we can help her sons have the desire to come to church, she will also have the desire. We will see. :)

Finally, we found a new family this week! Their names are Cesar and Eli. They have 5 kids..i think, but all of them are grown up, except for their little girl that is like 10. They are super awesome people. But they have had a hard life. Two years ago, Cesar and their son Nahuel were driving in the car...and they got jumped. The people killed their son and Cesar lost an eye. It was VERY hard for them. They are still suffering from the loss. It is so hard to deal with things like this if you don't have the gospel. They believe very firmly that Nahauel is in a better place now...but they don't understand why they have to keep suffering during this life. We were able to talk to them a lot about the plan of salvation and the atonement of Jesus Christ. Only through Jesus they can get over this super hard trial. Jesus understands exactly how they feel and He can help them. I really hope we can keep helping them. :) Also the hermanas from centro are staying with us in our house because they got kicked out of their apartment...so we are helping them out with everything and hopefully they will be all moved in by next week! Thank you for all your love and prayers! I love you all!

Love,
Hermana Wood :)

BAPTISM!!!!!

Wow, when one thing happens, everything happens. We have done so much this week and I am so glad that I was apart of it all. I am going to start with Monday, because there is so much to write.

On Monday, we woke up at 5:00 in the morning, caught the bus, and went to Rosario!!! We were able to go to the Monument for the Flag here in Argentina! It was so beautiful and huge!! I loved it! The best part was we were able to go to the very top of the monument and look over all of Rosario. It was so beautiful! Rosario is huge! The weather was perfect because it was a little overcast, so not a lot of people were there. We were also able to look at the Parana River. I just loved the whole day. It was a much needed 'vacation' and we had so much fun. :)

On Tuesday, we heard some very sad news. Do you all remember the woman named Maria Luisa that was really sick that we were visiting before? We found out that she passed away from her sickness. :( We walked for about an hour and got to the funeral home to go to the viewing. It was veyr sad to see her like that because we honestly have grown to love her so much. :( her whole family was there and we were able to meet some of them. We weren't able to stay for very long because after that Maria had her baptism interview. It went really well and the district leader said she could get baptized on Saturday! On Wednesday, we went to the funeral of Maria Luisa. The cemetery is so different here! Almost all of the graves are above ground. Or they make little houses and put the coffins inside. It was very different. We had a nice service in the morning and then we drove to the cemetery. She was actually buried underground. It was very different from the states because they lowered her into the ground with rope and threw all the dirt on the coffin while we were all watching. It was very drastic and really hard to watch, but I know that we will be able to see her again and now she isn't suffering. My testimony of the plan of salvation grows every day.

On Saturday, we had the baptism of Maria!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) Her whole family and Pablo were able to come to her baptism! It actually went very smoothly and the spirit was very strong. I am so grateful that she made this decision to be baptized. She is setting huge example for her family that I hope they will follow. :)

On Sunday, so many amazing things happened. Maria was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and received the Holy Ghost. She honestly looked so different. She looked so content and peaceful. Everyone commented on how bright she looked and how happy. I loved to see the change. Also on Sunday, the stake president came and changed the bishopric. We have been working with this family the, Branchini family. About two months ago they started coming to church. On Sunday, Hermano Branchini got put in as the first counselor in the bishopric! and they invited us in to listen to the setting apart. It was so awesome to see how ready he was to have this calling and how excited he was to work. I love the change the gospel makes in people'e lives. Missionary work is so rewarding and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Thank you all for your love, prayers, and confidence! I love you all!!

Love,
Hermana Wood :)

And even more rain...

Selfie
Amalia gave us her cigarettes!
KID DAY! All of the other pictures are from this activity.

Well, this week has gone by pretty fast. We had a lot of progress with our investigators this week and we are working toward the baptism this Saturday! Update on Amalia! We were able to visit her this week! We had a super powerful lesson with her. She told us she believes Joseph Smith is a prophet and that is why she accepted the Word of Wisdom! We asked her to stop smoking and she gave us her cigarettes right on the spot! We gave her the program from the church to help her stop smoking and she is very excited. She hasn't stopped completely, but she is smoking a lot less and progressing really well. Yay! Maria is the one that wants to get baptized this Saturday! It is a little sad, because her husband, Pablo, isn't listening very much and isn't ready to be baptized this Saturday. But Maria wants to get baptized, sí or sí, so we are going to help her. She will have her interview today and we will go from there! Wish her luck! Pray for her!

We had a super cute activity this week! Here in Argentina, they celebrate Kid Day. But they celebrate big. We had this super huge activity where all the little kids dressed up and all the adults as well! We dressed up as princesses with wands. But by the end of the night, we had given our crowns away to some cute little girls. We had lots of less actives at the activity and Maria came with her little kids! It was adorable and every time we feel closer to the ward. It is super fun. :)

It has been raining a ton, but thankfully, nothing has happened to us. We are safe and sound. None of the members in our ward got flooded, but many many people did. It is hard to watch the people suffering, but there are so many people that are helping. I am grateful for the service they are giving and I know that they will be blessed. That was my week! Have a great one!

Love,
Hermana Wood

PS we are in Rosario right now because Hermana Christiansen and I are going to go to the Monument here in Rosario!!!! Pictures to come next week!!!