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 :)

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, this week will be absolutely unforgettable! We had so many amazing, beautiful, scary, blessed experiences this week. I am going to try and write them all down and I hope you can all feel how great this week was. :)

On Tuesday, I was super sick, so we couldn't leave our house for two days. It was super stressful because we had so much to do.

When we could finally leave, I'm pretty sure we went to every store in Cañada to find the things we needed for the wedding. We found the dress, flowers, decorations, food, everything. It was all going well.

Friday morning at 10:00, we went to the registro civil and Claudia and Angel were married! It was so great and they were so happy! This actually went all according to plan. ;)

Saturday, we started decorating the gym in the church for the reception that night. We were decorating and decorating, and then Presidente Gimenez told us that we had to open up more doors so that we could have more space because everyone dances here for the weddings. So we had to take all of the decorations down,. open the doors, and then redecorate everything. We only bought decorations for the small space, so we have to make more decorations and spread everything out. The party also was a surprise for Claudia, so all the members showed up early and we shouted surprise at them!!! Claudia was so happy and they both felt so loved and happy. Everyone danced the night away and we also did Karaoke. It was great and the members also feel much closer, which is great.

Now the story of Sheila this week. Satan worked so hard on her. We felt so bad. Estela, her mom, was going to go this week with a friend to Cordoba to go the temple open house! She was super excited and ready to go. They went to buy tickets. The friend got a ticket to go, but Estela didn't. :( She was very sad and didn't understand why she wasn't able to go to the temple open house.

Since she didn't go, Hermana Cerna and I went to visit her at her house. We helped her feel better about the situation, and then we walked to our house at 9:30 at night. They live about 3 blocks from our house. About 30 minutes later, Estela called us and told us she was at the police station with Sheila. About 5 minutes after we left, Sheila was coming home from work and two men tried to rob her and her backpack. She started yelling and the neighbors came out and nothing happened. But they went to the police station to report it. Sheila was really shaken up and was really sad. But we called her and told her that after her baptism, everything will be okay.

We had the baptisms at 8:00 in the morning Sunday! Sheila got there on time and changed into her baptism clothes. when she came out, there was a huge surprise! All of her uncles, aunts, and her dad came from Rosario to be at her baptism! She was sooo happy! It was great to see. Claudia didn't get there until about 7:55, so we were super worried, but she got there and they were both baptized into the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. It was so great and peaceful and beautiful.

Oh, another thing. I had to give a talk in the baptism. I thought I had to talk about baptism....but when Hermano Merindol announced the talks, he said I was going to talk about the the Holy Ghost. And the other hermana prepared a talk about baptism! so in about 5 minutes I preprared a talk on the Holy Ghost.

It was a super awesome, crazy week! I am so glad that everyone turned out well and that Claudia and Sheila are officially baptized! I love being a missionary1 thank you so much for your love, support, and prayers. They are really felt here. I love you all!!!

Love,
Hermana Wood :)

Baptism! :)

We had my first baptism this week!! Whoo! It was super stressful because we had three weddings in our branch Friday, the day before the baptism, so everyone was at the temple in Buenos Aires. A few people were still in Cañada, but it was raining like crazy, so lots couldn't make it. :( And we had divisions with the capacidadoras from Friday to Saturday, so Hermana Matias and I were trying to plan the baptism over the phone because she was in Rosario and I was in Cañada! However, despite all of this, we still had the baptism, and it was super amazing! His name is Andres. He has such a strong testimony and such a strong spirit. I know that he will continue to be such a strong member of the ward and he will help this branch grow a lot. I am super grateful to my Heavenly Father for the opportunity to be in Cañada and to be part of his baptism! The funniest part though was he forgot to close his mouth when he went under the water, so he drank a lot of water....but he made it into a joke and said, "As least I am clean on the inside too!" Haha, he is so great. :)

All of our other investigators are doing awesome! Claudia is fantastic! We taught her the word of wisdom and she has already quit smoking! She is reading the Book of Mormon every day, she comes to church every week. She just needs to get married! And then she can be baptized! She is awesome and I love teaching her because she understands. She gets it. It is awesome. :) We learned this week that she isn't from Cañada. She is from a city really far away called La Pampa. I thought about when Claudia, Hermana Matias, and I were all in heaven in the premortal world and when she left to go to the earth, we said, "Bueno, nos vemos en Cañada!" It's funny how everything works out. I know that we are all here in Cañada for a reason and it is so great to know that that reason is to help each other follow Jesus Christ and to grow together. :)

This week was super good! The other funny thing this week was I also went on divisions with Hermana Thornton! It was super weird to teach with her again, but it was so much fun! I love her!

I love you all!
Love,
Hermana Wood :)

Un Bautismo!

Dear Mommy,
This week has been pretty long, but I have learned so much this week. I have learned that everything is in the Lord's hands and that we need to accept His will. I have also learned that you need to try your ABSOLUTE hardest to do His will and follow Him with everything you've got.

The sad new first...Hilen moved away and is living with her grandma for two months.....so she isn't in our area anymore, so she can't get baptized. :( Sad moment. Also, Inez and Maria Elena dropped us this week. They like the church and I'm pretty sure they have felt the spirit and the happiness...but they have decided they don't want to change. We have to acknowledge their wants and trust that somewhere down the line Heavenly Father will help them and they will remember what we have taught them. I hope that they will be okay and that one day they will want to be truly happy and follow our Savior.

We found David this week!!! We had a lesson inside his house and we taught him the restoration completely. He is just like Joseph Smith. He has a lot of questions and we answered them. He obviously works a ton and I don't know how quickly he can come to church and have all the lessons, but he has a desire to follow Jesus Christ and know the truth, so we are definitely going to keep working with him.

We had a crazy learning experience. We were walking along the vía ( I think that means railroad..I'm not sure. It isn't a very safe place to be, but it is much faster and it was in the middle of the day.) and we saw this boy about 16 years old. We usually don't just go up and talk to 16 year old boys..especially on the vía. So we said hi and kept walking...then Hermana Thornton and I looked at each other and we both realized we had the same impression to talk to this kid. We thought about it and decided to do it..but when we turned back around he wasn't there. We were both very sad and felt awful because we didn't follow that prompting. We went on with our day, but this kid wouldn't leave our minds. We wanted to find him so bad and follow this prompting. We kept praying in our hearts for some way to make this right. You wouldn't believe what happened. We walked around this corner and there was the kid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He was leaning up against a wall, almost waiting for us to walk by. We literally ran over to him and started talking to him. His name is Lucas. He doesn't live in our area, but he was very interested in the church, so we got his address and referred him to other elders. That doesn't happen. We found Lucas again!! I am beyond grateful for this experience and now I know to talk to every person I see because it was 1 in a million that we found this kid again. I am so grateful!!!

Finally, the Elders in our ward had a baptism! Her name is Jesica. She is the strongest, most amazing person I have ever met. She has such a sweet spirit. They found her and she got baptized three weeks later. She is literally amazing. She has a testimony that is stronger than many other people and she is ready to follow Jesus Christ with all her heart, might, mind, and strength. She is amazing!

We started clase de ingles this week. It is hilarious to hear all the people try to speak english. It is super fun!! I love my mission!! We have to other people with baptism dates now: Andy and Rita. Hopefully we can keep teaching and helping these people! I love you!!!

Love,
Hermana Wood :)