A Savior is Born

No one ever thought they would see me with an apron... ;)
Alfajores!!!!!!!!!!

We put up the christmas tree.
Yay for Christmas!

In Spanish, it is "Ha nacido un Salvador" and we are sharing this video with everyone, just like we did last year with the little cards! It is so much easier to talk to people in the street when we have something in common. This is what we say? Missionary: Hi, we have a question. Do you celebrate christmas?
Person: ......yes.......
Missionary: Oh, really? Us too! We have a present for you. It is this little card. Right here is says, "A Savior is Born". For us, the Savior is Jesus Christ. And for you?
Person: Yes, Jesus, for me too.
Missionary: Perfect. Here is a web page that you can enter and watch a 2 minute video about Christmas and Jesus Christ. We would love to pass by and answer any questions you have...etc.

It works so well. Because they are basically obligated to say yes, and the spirit comes because we are talking of Jesus. The people really feel the spirit of Christmas, because here in Argentina it is really hot during Christmas and no one decorates, so it is different, but when we talk about Jesus, they feel it.

This week was my last fast sunday here in Argentina. I was feeling a little down and I fasted and prayed to have at least one investigator in church on Sunday. I was praying and praying, hoping that we would have one, because here it is hard to come by. When we got there, there were a TON of people that were in the church. It turns out that a company here had a work party in Rosario, and everyone from Buenos Aires came here for the party and the members came to church on Sunday. They invited some of their associates to come to church! 6 investigators! We also had a baby shower and some of their family members came that weren't members! Can you believe how much Heavenly Father answered my prayer and fast? I know He listens to us and hears our prayers. When we put in our part, He will always bless us. It was a miracle.

Carina is doing well. She was all ready to come to church, but her sister-in-law wasn't able to watch her shop, so she couldn't leave the shop. But she really wanted to come. We taught her the plan of salvation. I love teaching her because she loves to learn and understands. I think my favorite part of the lesson was when I asked, "So, Carina, were did you live before this world?" And she said, "I lived with God as a spirit and I came here to be tried and tested so that I can live with Him again." Wow. She is amazing.

Melisa and Guillermo are trying to figure everything out with the judges and policemen and I will tell you if we hear anything about them. I know this is His work and His glory. To help us become like Him. We already made the decision to become a God one day because we made covenants with Him...and that's why we have trials. So that we learn how to become like Him.

We were able to talk to our bishop about the new area plan and he was so excited to put it into practice! He is so humble and willing to work for the Lord. I am grateful to be here and help this ward.

Oh, the best thing that happened this week was Hermana Olga taught us how to make alfajores!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh, they are delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I now have the recipe and obviously we are going to be making some alfajores. ;)

I love you all so much!

Love,
Hermana Wood :)

CONFERENCE!!!!

Hermana Bushman and Hermana Zepeda came to stay with us to watch the conference. :) Good times.

Fotos from our district meeting :)

Wow, we had a great week! We are really seeing the miracles here. I will tell one highlight day from our week and then I will talk about conference. :) On Thursday, Hermana Zanni, the wife our our mission president, decided to accompany us to all our lessons that day!!! It was amazing to be with her and teach with her! We were able to teach lots of people. We taught Hortencia, the menos activa of 30 years. She really felt the spirit and she said, "Wow, who knows. You guys might just get me to come to church." Haha, it was awesome. For her, that is a ton of progress. We read 2 Ne. 31:20-21. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way we can live with Heavenly Father again. I love her!

Then we taught an investigator! Martin! He is about 30 and about a month ago, he randomly walked into the church and said he wanted to learn more. We tried and tried to find him, but we never could. On Thursday we found him! We taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ and invited him to be baptized. He said yes! We are excited for him! I hope we can keep finding him and teaching him. :)

Then we were able to teach Paula with Hermana Zanni. She is like 25 and she is coming back to church. We taught her the restoration and she started crying. Something I loved that Hermana Zanni said was, "I didn't ask if Joseph Smith was a prophet. I ask my Heavenly Father if He really showed himself to a 14 year old boy and called him to be His prophet. And God responded and said yes." It was very powerful and different from anything I have ever done. I loved it! It was an amazing day. Now for the conference. :)

Wow, I have no idea where to start. I loved it all. I was very blessed to be able to watch it all in English with the other missionaries from the states. The spirit was very strong and I received lots of answers to my prayers. I loved that all the apostles, prophet, and the other leaders were in sink. Everyone taught about the same, basic principles. Faith, repentence, baptism, the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. This is the doctrine of Jesus Christ. It is the path that Heavenly Fathe has given to us to be successful in this life. And it is all centered on the atonement of Jesus Christ.

I loved the testimonies of the three new apostles, Ronald A. Rasband, Gary E. Stevensen, and Dale G. Renlund. They were so basic and so simple. The scripture in D&C 1 really descibes them. I am so grateful for prophets, seers, and revelators today.

I think my favorite talks were by Russell M. Nelson and David G. Durrant. I learned what kind of woman I need to be in these last days. A woman that is strong and willing to stand up for what she believes in. We also learned that the largest group of investigators are the children. We need to listen to the spirit and act on the promptings. I also loved PONDERIZE. Haha, he was so proud of his new word. But it is a great idea. This week I chose Omni 1:26. I am going to ponderize it this week and I will tell you more about it next week. :)

Our other miracle this week is after the Saturday conference, we visited the Flia. Llancafil to see why they didn't come to church. We went in and started the priesthood session for them to watch and invited them to come to the sessions on Sunday. AND THEY CAME! Yay! We were so excited! Yesica and Esteban both came. I love the changed we can see in the people when they accept the gospel in their lives. It was an amazing week and amazing conference! Everyone please pray for Thomas S. Monson so that he can have the strength to keep going. He is called of God and Jesus Christ is leading our church today! I love you all!

Love,
Hermana Wood :)

We also had zone conference with Presidente Zanni. So much stuff happened this week that I completely forgot. We learned a lot about Preach my Gospel and the importance of reading it every day and focusing on our investigators. It was great!

Little Miracles

You will never guess what I found this week.
A STREET WITH MY LAST NAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I never thought I would see that. How cool.
This is Nalany's grandma and her cousin, Josefina. :)

I am learning to look for little miracles. It is hard sometimes...but my companion and I are doing something really fun. Every night after we plan for the next day, we sit down and shout out the miracles of the day for 3 minutes. After every miracle, we both yell, "YAY!!!!!!!!!" It actually helps a ton to see the Lord's hand in our lives every day. Our miracles have increased as we have begun to look for them. I will tell you about a few of them. :)

We found a woman named Hortencia. She is less active for 30 years. She is married and has 3 kids, and none of them are baptized. She is really nice...but she didn't really have desires to come back to church. We were talking with her in her house and out of no where, my companion said, "Hermana, have you done your family history?" She said yes. What???? She said when she was 14 years old she loved family history. She found all the way to her great grandparents. And that is without technology. We were shocked. We told her that she could come to the church during the week and do family history for free and that there are people to help her. She was shocked. She got so excited and she said, "Well, would you look at that. Maybe I will come to church." Never in my life I thought she would say that or have interest in family history. My companion was very inspired to ask her. We hope she keeps progressing!

Another miracle is we went to eat lunch with a member named Violeta. She is 35 and got baptized about 3 years ago. She lives with her mom. Her mom is not a member. She has never sat down and listened to us share a scripture (which we always do after we finish eating). But this time she sat right down and listened to us very attently. She shared with us an experience of when she and her husband were driving down the road and they ran out of gas and they were literally in the middle of nowhere. They didn't know what to do. A few minutes later, there was a car. They flagged it down and told him their problem. He said he had a little car of gas in his car he could give them. Crazy! She said this is one of the reasons she believes in God. We were so happy that she talked to us. Maybe we will be able to teach her! :)

Other little miracles happened like we ate super yummy Peruvian food and we found our phone when we thought it was lost forever. It's the little things. :) We also found out that the mission office is trying to help us move!! We found an apartment and they said they are in contact trying to rent it. yay!

Something really important that a less active taught me this week is that salvation is PERSONAL, not INDIVIDUAL. Yes, everything depends on how you act while you are here on this earth, but you can't do it individually. You need to serve others. You need to help others grow. You need to fulfill your calling. You need to visit the sick and afflicted. And that is why it is personal and not individual. :)

Keep shining bright. I love you all!

Love,
Hermana Wood :)

Have Noche de Hogar!! (Family Night)

Our House

This week has gone by so fast! It goes so much faster when you have lots of activites planned and have lots of people to teach!

In this area, Hermana Christiansen and I have been focusing on having lots of Noches de Hogar! That is family night. We have had noche de hogar with active members, part member families, less actives, and investigators! I love feeling the spirit with the families and helping them progress as a family, not individually. Heavenly Father's plan is not that each of us individually makes it to the celestial kingdom...His plan is that the FAMILIES make it to the celestial kingdom, dressed with all the covenants and ordinances necessary that are only found in the temple. When you have this perspective, it makes it a lot easier to help others and love them. All you want for them is to progress. We have about 3 or 4 noches de hogar every week.

This week, we had an awesome noche de hogar with the Familia Vega. They are an active family, but they are struggling to do the little things, like praying and reading the scriptures every night. We shared 3 Nephi 4:10. It talks about how the nephites won the battles. I would write it down...but I only have my spanish scriptures, so not many people would understand it. Basically it talks about putting God before everything and you will go with the strength of God into battle. I know that the scriptures are for us and every single scripture can be applied to our lives.

We also had a noche de hogar with the Familia Fusco and the Familia Bonavita. The familia Bonavita is trying to come back to church and the familia Fusco is their friend that is helping them. This noche de hogar was super fun because we talked about how to share the gospel. Our mission president gave us the great idea to teach the members how to be missionaries! We teach them the mission lessons and help them practice. It is lots of fun and I love hearing the testimonies of all the members. It is awesome!

Then...on Saturday, Hermana Christiansen got really sick and we didn't leave all day. So...I finished the Book of Mormon..again. :) The biggest thing I learned is that miracles come through faith. There are miracles everywhere. Honestly, if a person has faith in Jesus, miracle will happen. I know that if we can have faith, the miracle will come. I have seen so many miracles here on my mission, and I know that if I can keep the faith, they will continue to come.

After church yesterday, we had a noche de hogar with the Familia Branchini. They were less active as well, but now they are coming to church. However, they have two old sons that don't live at home anymore and aren't coming to church. They were there Sunday, so we were able to have the noche de hogar with them. They also both brought their girlfriends, who aren't members. Best noche de hogar ever! We taught the restoration and both of the girlfriends accepted the invitation to be baptized! I love when God puts amazing people in our path. The cutest thing was when Hermano Branchini said to his sons, "And you can both prepare so that you will be able to baptize your girlfriends!" So cute! I hope that we can help all of them progress.

Also, this week was independence day here in Argentina! 9 de Julio! We had a super big primary activity in the stake and Carmelo, Susana, and Maria all came with all their little kids. It was so great to see them there! Everyone is doing super awesome and I love the growth that is happening here! All of the members are becoming more involved and happier to help with the Lord's work. I love being a missionary and I am super excited to see what else happens! I 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

Week in Bed

Alright, this week was full to the brim of miracles. I am going to start with last Monday in the afternoon and work my way to today. Don't anyone freak out because obviously I am still here and everything will be fine.

Monday in the night we got back from special P-day, which was lots of fun. I got a call from Presidente Zanni and he told me that he received a letter from the mission doctor that said..I needed to go home to my house. The doctor saw the x-ray and said I needed to go to the states to get more studies and figure out what was going on. Obviously, I started crying a little and I was completely in shock, so I didn't understand much of what he was saying after that. We live with two other hermanas, so he asked to talk to Hermana Calderon, from Argentina. She started talking to him. She looked into my face and then sternly said to Presidente, "Hermana Wood is not going to her house. Give us one week and I will help her get all the studies she needs so that she can stay." Presidente paused for a while and then said..okay! So this whole last week we have been doing study after study.

Tuesday in the morning Hermana Calderon and I went to Rosario to go to a special knee doctor. Presidente Zanni went with us to the doctor. He told me that I needed to get an ultra sound on my knee to look at my tendons and then come back. Hermana Calderon started calling in Pergamino to see who could give us the ultra sound Wednesday because we only had one week to get everything done. No one had any openings. She decided to call the bishop in her old ward and he told her there was a good clinic in San Nicholas. He gave her the number and she called. They said they could squeeze me in the next day! So we came home from Rosario and slept in Pergamino.

Wednesday in the morning we went to San Nicholas. They did the ultra sound really quickly, but they weren't going to have the results until 6 in the afternoon. So we waited in the house of the hermanas from San Nicholas all day. Then we got back on the colectivo barely in time and slept in Pergamino. Thursday in the morning we went to a really good knee doctor in Pergamino and we brought him the x-ray and the ultra sound. He said he coudn't see anything wront with my tendons, but obviously something is wrong because it is still hurting me really bad. So he told me I needed to get an MRI. The doctor told us to go to this other clinic in Pergamino and ask if I could get the MRI done right at this very moment, without appointment. So we went and they said yes, but is was $2000 pesos. We didn't have $2000 pesos...so we called the other hermanas and all the elders in our district. Everyone brought some money and we were able to pay for it. I got the MRI and we went back to the doctor. He said that my knee is just really inflamed, but there is no permanent damage! He wrote up a report that said that I don't have to go to the states!!!! you have no idea how blessed and happy I am!!!! We called Presidente Zanni and told him what the doctor said. He crumpled up the letter from the doctor and told me I could stay. :) I am so grateful and blessed and I love miracles.

I am going to be starting shock therapy for my knee this week and I haven't left to proselyte for more than a week. I will be in bed until Friday this week and hopefully I will be able to leave. I am grateful for the members that are leaving with my compañera and the other hermanas and all the help they gave me. I am so grateful that I am going to be staying here in Argentina and finish my mission strong. Thank you all for your prayers and love! The gospel is true!!!! I love you all!!!

Cambios!

I have way too many stuffed animals. I love it. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Wow, this week has been full of changes. First off, we found out this week that there are only going to be 2 missionaries here in Cañada! Hermana Thornton had an emergency transfer for Santa Fe, so her mini missionary went home to Rosario. We also found out that Hermana Matias is leaving tomorrow. :( She is getting transferred to Santa Fe. I am going to be finishing the training of an hermana from Spain! No one knows how to pronounce her name, so I will tell you all next week. :) I am super sad that Hermana Matias is leaving because I love her so much! We have had some amazing experiences together. I also feel a ton of responsibility because I have all of Cañada now! And my compañera is really new...so we are going to see how this week goes. :)

We had some miracles this week. I will write about a few of them:

First, we have this amazing investigator named Jorge. He was the other hermanas' investigator, but now he is ours because they left. He came to church this week! He has been trying for a very long time to stop drinking, and now he is finally making progress! We are hoping he will be baptized 28 of February.

This Sunday was absolutely amazing. Jorge came to church, Claudia came to church, and two other investigators as well! We also had a complete menos activo family and 3 other menos activos in sacrament meeting. Andres received the priesthood and is going to pass the sacrament next week!!!!! I love to see his progress! He really is super amazing. Also, during sacrament meeting, there was a huge storm outside, and the power went out. But we kept on going and it was super funny. :) And then we got to walk all around Cañada in the rain. I loved it!

But this was the biggest miracle of all. Remember Valentina, the cute little old lady? Well, we visited her this week. Usually when we go, her husband, Marcos, gets up and goes in the other room because he doesn't want to listen. But this week, we went in and he sat down and started talking to us. He asked us a bunch of questions and then he told us something. He said that since he is old, he can't see hardly anything. He hasn't been able to read for a very long time. But this past week, he picked up the restoration pamphlet that we left for them and tried to read. And he could read it! He read the whole pamplet two times. He tried to read other things, and he couldn't see anything. He said that God was trying to talk to him and that he wants to come to church next week. We asked him if he wanted to be baptized, and he immediately said yes. Wow. This was the biggest miracle I have seen in my mission and I am so excited for him!!!! I am so grateful to be on my mission and to be in contact with such amazing people.

Oh, something else happened this week. It was raining really bad, and we were getting off the bus to go to district meeting. I slipped and fell and got banged up pretty bad. I had to go to the hospital to make sure that everything was okay. I recommend NEVER going to a hospital in Argentina. But don't worry, everything is fine and dandy now. :) I love you all! I hope you have a great week!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!