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 :)

Vamos a tener bautismos :)

This week has been a little crazy, but super awesome and packed with great experiences!!! On Monday, we went to the dentist here in Argentina and she took out her tooth in 5 minutes! It was super fast and simple. When they finished, Hermana Cerna felt so good and thought that she would be ready to leave the next day. Haha.........nope. The anasthesia went away, and she couldn't move her mouth. So we called some hermanas here in our rama and they were able to help us out! One hermana came to our house and stayed with Hermana Cerna and another went out with me to be a missionary for a day! We had a lot of success and the members learned a lot and loved talking to people and sharing their testimonies. It was super great for them and for me so that I didn't have to stay in the house ALL day long. ;)

Our mission is focusing a lot on the family. How we can support the family and when we are finding people to teach, we need to focus on finding complete families: a mom, a dad, and kids so that they can all be baptized and make these big changes as a family, not as individuals. It is very rewarding to see the people that God puts in our path to find these families that are prepared and ready to be eternal families.

We found 3 complete families this week! We are hoping that they will all continue to progress and I will tell more about them this next week.

The best thing this week is Sheila and Claudia both passed their interviews to be baptized!!! They are getting baptized! Vamos a tener bautismos!!! We are so super excited for them to make these first covenants with our Heavenly Father. Please pray for them this week that all will go according to plan. We know that it probably won't...because that never happens, especially in the mission, be we know that everything will be exactly the way Heavenly Father wants it to be. :)

I love you all!
Hermana Wood

Gotta love cambios

Wow, so many things changed this week! We have had so much success and I am so grateful for these next couple weeks to keep progressing and growing and learning the things that Heavenly Father has in store for me!

First off, we found out that Claudia was able to go to the registro civil and she was able to pick a date for her and Angel to get MARRIED!!! They are getting married April 24!!!!!!!!!! And she is going to be baptized April 25!!!!!!!!! We were so excited and I am can't believe she is finally going to get married and be baptized! She is so amazing and I love her so much!!

We also learned this week that.....Claudia doesn't live in our area. :( She lives in the area of the other hermanas, so Hermana Cerna and I aren't going to be teaching her anymore. :( It is sad because I have been through so much with her and we have grown so much together. But I feel very blessed because I will still be here in Cañada to watch her take these huge steps in her life! :) Jorge also doesn't live in our area, so they are going to be passing for him as well. He is doing good. :)

The one thing Cañada lacks is young people, especially in church on Sunday. Usually the primary has the same 3 kids every week, 2 young women, and 2 young men. They suffer because sometimes they feel alone and church isn't very fun. So we have all been focusing on finding kids and young people to bring to church, and it has been very rewarding. :)

First, we found Sheila. She is still doing awesome! She is praying every day and starting to read the book of mormon. She loves the classes and is applying everything she is learning. I love to teach her because she is so ready to be taught. She is super busy because she is working and studying, but she always finds time for us.

We also found three siblings this week: Aylen (12), Cintia (10), and Eduardo (9). They are the sobrinos of Jorge! And they are so amazing! We taught them about prayer and Eduardo said, "Oh, prayer is a dialogue with God." Haha, right? He is so great and they all understand. We were worried that their mom wouldn't let us teach them, but she was all for it. It was a miracle! We brought them to a family home evening and to church this week! They absolutely loved it and they told us flat out that they want to be baptized. We are so grateful for these great kids that are prepared. You never know who is ready to hear the gospel. :)

The other kid that we found is named Valentina. She is 9 years old. We were teaching her grandma, Marta, and Valentina was just sitting there listening. We asked Marta if she wanted to be baptized, and Valentina asked us if she could be baptized too! We said yes! I love kids and their amazingly strong spirits. I am so excited to teach them. :)

All of this ties in with the general woman's conference that was this week! It was so powerful about families. I know that it will be a lot of work to have a family, but I know that if the family is centered on Jesus, it will succeed. I am really excited to keep working and teaching people. I love this gospel!

Love,
Hermana Wood

P.S. I finally dyed my hair. I am BLOND. But really, super blond, I love it. :) Pictures to come!

The Church is True

We had a super amazing week! The best part is always when we get to Sunday and the people we have been visiting come to church! We have been visiting Estela and Sheila all week. Estela hasn't gone to church for about a long time and when we asked if they would come to church, Estela was really hesitant. She said she would drop Sheila off at the church and pick her up, but she didn't want to go actually go to church. We started talking about all the blessings that we receive if we do what Heavenly Father wants us to do. She really felt the spirit and finally said that she would come to church too. AND THEY BOTH CAME!!!!! What an amazing miracle! We were waiting and waiting for them outside of the church and they finally came around the corner in their motercycle. It was so great. Everyone was so excited to see Estela again. :)

We visited Angel and Claudia. Angel said that he officially decided that they are going to be married, so we are going to make everything final tomorrow! We are going with Claudia to find out what day they can get married. The members are really helping and are all excited to have a wedding and help them out. I really hope that I am still here for their wedding and her baptism!!

We also had our zone meeting this week. Hermana Cerna and I had to give a talk about how to be unified with our companions. We really found out that the only way to be unified is to have charity. We need to start with our companions before we can really love our investigators and members. I am really grateful for my companion and everything she does for me.

That was the best part of my week! I hope you are all doing great! I love you all!

Love,
Hermana Wood

Time is flying!

I'm starting to feel like all my other friends that are on their missions. They always start their e-mails by saying, "The time is going by way too fast! It's already Monday again? I can't remember what happened this week!" This is starting to happen to me. So...hopefully I will be able to remember and share the best things that happened this week. :)

We have been focusing a lot in menos activos. We went through our directory and charted out every menos activo, we have 300 of them, and we are trying to have contact with all of them. We found lots that are from other religions, and it is really sad to know that at one point in their lives they accepted the gospel, and now they don't have those blessings in their lives. However, we found some amazing people that we are working with now to bring them and their families back to the church!

The first one is the Flia. Mostajo. They are such a cute family. They are from Columbia. They have 4 kids. We have been trying to get them to church, and they came this week! We were so happy! They also brought the wife's dad, and he isn't a member, so hopefully we can help him out too. The other is a cute couple named Rodrigo and Celeste. They are both 28 and both menos activos. We learned that they have been trying for 8 years to have children, but she can't get pregnant. We shared a message that God is aware and loves us individually and that families can be together forever. They both came to church this week. I love this gospel!

Jorge is doing well! We visited him and he hasn't drinken all week!!! We are super excited for him and for his progress. He said that his friends came to his house and asked and asked him to drink, but he was strong and said no. He said they set up everything outside on a table with all the alcohol, and he said no, closed the door, and watched movie. I love it! He is reading the book of mormon everyday and praying for strength. He is super awesome and we are praying so hard that everything will go well!

Claudia and Angel are doing okay. They didn't come to church yesterday. :( So we visited them and rekindled their fire. They have been reading the book of mormon together every morning for the past month, but this last week, they didn't read. And then they didn't come to church. There is power in the book of mormon. It is a magic book. Every time I read it, I find new things and receive revelation from my Heavenly Father. I love it!

I love you all! I hope you have a great week! Read the book of mormon!

Love,
Hermana Wood :)

Lots of Food!

Food that we cooked! We eat everything with Mayonesa.

Our torta that looks awful but was delicious!!

I found Hermana Christiansen!!! :)

Wow, this week has been quite long. We went to Rosario two times. Once, was to practice singing for the choir, and the other was to have a special conference with Elder Avila! He is part of the seventy. Presidente and Hermana Zanni and Elder and Hermana Avila talked to us. And wow, did I learn a ton. This is the part that stuck out to me:

In 3 Nefi 17:9-10 Jesus is talking to the people in the Americas. He says that the people that aren't sick need to bring the people that are sick to Him so that He can heal them. And AFTER the non-sick people bring the sick people to Jesus, they can be with Him too. I learned that we can't be with Jesus unless we bring someone else with us. We need to help our fellow man. We need to serve and love everyone around us so that we can all be with Jesus and we can all feel His love and partake of His sacrifice for us.

I also learned in D&C 101:55-57, Heavenly Father needs His WHOLE house in order to complete His work. He doesn't just need missionaries. He needs young people, he needs mature people, he needs all the members of the church to come together and help bring to pass His work. I loved it!

After we had the conference, we went to an unlimited buffet. It was so delicious! I tried octopus for the first time, and it was so good! I also learned that an egg roll is called an empanada chino here. So funny!

Thank you all so much for all your prayers!!!! Jorge did super amazing this week! This weekend in South America was carnival. Everyone drinks and parties for about 3 days. Jorge didn't drink at all and he came to church!!! Can you believe it?? We were so happy for him and we are praying his baptism is soon! :)

Claudia and Angel are now having problems. I don't know why. They both came to church this week, but something happened and now Angel says that he isn't going to come to church again.....we are trying super hard to figure out what happened and how to help him. Please pray for them!

Valentina and Marcos are doing well! They really understood the plan of salvation this week. They progress slowly, but they are progressing. And they have a hard time going to church because they are really old, so next week we are going to focus on getting them to sacrament meeting.

Hermana Cerna loves to cook! Which is super good because it is super delicious..but bad because I think I'm going to gain like 20 pounds this transfer. ;) But it is super fun and I am learning a ton! I love it!!

I love you all!

Love,
Hermana Wood

I love being a missionary!

Saying goodbye to Hermana Matias

Hermana Cerna!

Dear Everyone,
What a week. I am now training another missionary, Hermana Cerna! But..she came pre-trained. She is so strong and she can share her testimony with everyone she meets. I am learning so much from her. I love the way she uses the Book of Mormon to answer EVERY question that people have. I am learning to trust the spirit a lot more to try and find the people that are ready here in our area. It isn't very hard to do in Cañada, but I know that we can't do anything without the help of our Heavenly Father. I love being a missionary!

Update on Jorge. We went to his house this week and he told us that he hadn't drank or smoked for a whole week!!! We were so excited for him. He was reading the Book of Mormon every day and was so excited to come to church. We went to his house Saturday night to have a lesson.....and he was drunk. :( :( We were SOO sad! My heart hurt so much. When he saw us, he started crying and went back inside his house. It was so hard. We are going to find him this week and help him. Please pray for him so that he can have the strength to resist!!!!!

Claudia is still doing amazing! She is growing so much in the gospel. She is reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning and she is now in 1 Nefi 20. She brings her scriptures to church every week and participates in the classes. She received her birth certificate in the mail this week, which means that they can go to the office and pick out a date for their wedding!!! And then she can be baptized!!! Whoo!!! We are so happy for her.

We had an interesting experience this week. We went to a menos activo. He told us about this dream that he had. He said that there was a huge crowd of people and he felt like they were all waiting for him do help them. He didn't know what it meant and he felt really frustrated. I felt in my heart and told him that the people in his dream were his ancestors waiting for him to do their work. He looked at me with tears in his eyes and said (in Spanish, but I'll write it in English) "That is exactly what it means. Thank you so much. How did you know?" I love the spirit! I had absolutely no idea what his dream meant, but we felt that he needed to do his family history work. We gave him a "My Family" pamphlet and he said he will start working on it. He also came to church this week. It was amazing! I love being a missionary!

Well, I think that's it for this week. I love you all!

Love,
Hermana Wood :)

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!!!

LOTS OF TRAVELING

Wow, this week has been super long. We went to Rosario 3 times this week! And we also had district meeting in Carcaraña, which means we had to travel to get there as well. We also had to go the terminal when Hermana Thornton got her new companion. It's just Hermana Matias and I now. :) We waited and traveled a ton this week, but we were still able to talk to lots of people and share what we believe with people on the bus, in the taxis, and with other missionaries. There is always an opportunity to share your testimony.

Claudia is doing well! Her friend in La Pampa is going to send her her birth certificate and then they can get married! We have to wait until it gets here, but then they can get married. We are excited for them. The thing that I love most about Claudia is that she already has a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon. Whenever we share a story or a scripture, she can immediately apply it to her life and how it can help her. She is super great. :)

We didn't really have much more time to visit more people in our area this week. But one of the reasons we went to Rosario was to have Zone Conference! It was amazing. I am super grateful for my leaders and the opportunity to learn and grow.

The part that hit me the most during this conference was that if we don't do the work for our ancestors, they can't progress. If we don't find their names and take them to the temple, they can't enter through the gates of baptism and make those covenants with Heavenly Father. We have a really important work to do. The works that are going to continue during the millennium are missionary work, family history, and temple work. So we better get used to working now. ;)

We also had a talent show this week in our ward! We had to plan it all, so we didn't have much time for that as well. But it went super well! We and the other missionaries made a super funny skit. We made the gold plates and everything! It was super fun. I love being a missionary!

Love,
Hermana Wood :)

Week of Changes

Wow, this week has been super crazy! There have been lots of changes, some good and some bad, but everything will work out the way Heavenly Father needs it to. :)

First off, Claudia didn't move to La Pampa!!! :) :) Angel and Claudia found a house that is super close to the capilla and they are going to stay in Cañada!! The only problem is that their house...is in the area of the other hermanas. They are still in our ward, but they live in the other area. They are going today to find all of Claudia's documents and hopefully they can get married soon. :)

Hermana Matias' ankle still hurts, but we went to Rosario and Hermana Zanni bought her inserts for her shoes so that she can have more support. She paid for everything! And then she took us out for lunch! She is the best and really loves us a lot. It was super nice of her to help Hermana Matias. :)

Hermana Rodrigues also went to Rosario for her knee...and the results weren't good. :( She has a stress fracture in her knee cap and she has to go home to get surgery. :( We are very sad because we don't want her to leave! She is a super great missionary and she will be able to come back to the mission after she heals. And since Hermana Rodrigues is going to leave....Hermana Thornton is going to be with us! We are going to be in a trio! I am going to be companions FOR REALS with Hermana Thornton AGAIN!!! What?? Haha, this never happens, especially with your trainer. We are super excited to all be together and have lots of experiences together. :) We are going to have to work in both the areas for about 2 weeks, and then we will see what happens next transfer.

I want to take some time and write about our other investigators, because we have a ton. I will write about a few of them.

The first is Martin. He has just a few problems. He smokes, drinks, is addicted to illegal drugs, gay, and a prostitute. Only a few problems. However, he is at a point in his life where he literally has nothing left. He doesn't have any money, family, or anything to live for. Last Sunday, we walked into the church and he was sitting there, waiting for church to start. Ahh! It was a miracle! We talked to him this week and told him he really can change and can have a new life. He now has a baptismal date and we are super excited to work with him. I can't wait to see the change in him. The atonement is real!!

The next investigators are a couple named Luis and Norma. They have two kids and aren't married. Norma cooks really good food and cooks bread every week. It is so delicious!!! We are going to cook with her this week. Norma really loves the gospel and wants to learn more. Luis has a harder time accepting the fact that there is only one true church. But they come to church almost every Sunday because they feel good and they love to learn. We are trying to help them receive answers that this is the only true church. Pray for them so that they can pray and receive this answer!

The next one is Valentina. She has 86 years and she is such a sweetheart. She is married to Marcos, and he is super sick right now. This week, we got to her house and she was about to leave. We asked her where she was going, and she said, "I'm going to my boyfriend's house." We were all like, "What??" She began to tell us all about this man. He has 76 years and he is super handsome and they have a secret place. We totally believed it all because she was super serious! And then after like 10 minutes, she told us that it was all a joke. Haha, is was super funny. She is super great. We have to take things slow with her, but she is learning and progressing a lot. :)

Anyway, this week has been super good! I've learned a lot and I am excited to see what this week brings! I hope everything is going well for you all! I love you!

6 MONTHS!!

Can anyone believe that I hit 6 months this week??? I can't even begin to think about it. This time is going by SO fast. I don't ever want it to end. I love being able to talk to EVERYONE about Jesus Christ and His love and sacrifice for every single one of us. I love sharing His love and I love Him. :)

This week was hard because Hermana Matias' ankle has really been hurting. :( I went on divisions with Hermana Thornton a lot this week. Honestly, I know why I am here in Cañada. Hermana Thornton and I can really work together and teach because we have already been companions. God works in very mysterious ways. And the work in Cañada hasn't stopped, despite the injuries. :)

We received some sad new this week. Claudia and Angel are moving to La Pampa (where Claudia used to live). They are moving because they are having problems getting all the documents Claudia needs to get married and they don't like the house they are living in right now. So they are going to leave Cañada de Gomez. :( :( We were very sad when she told us. But right after that, she told us, "I already know where the chapel is in La Pampa and I know where all my documents are. We are going to move, get married, go to church, and I am going to get baptized, no matter what." Wow. She is amazing. She is going to be a HUGE miracle for the missionaries there. I am so excited for her and her new life. I am glad that I got to be apart of it for a couple weeks to help her find the true gospel and happiness. :)

I love Cañada! Our other investigator that is progressing a lot is named Irma. She has a complicated life. She has 4 little kids under the age of 7. Her husband is in jail, and she had to get married to him so that they could visit. Her mother is in dire need of blood transfers and she isn't doing very well. (Just a side note...don't tell people what blood type you have. Because you shouldn't go around giving blood to people.) She has a ton of faith in Jesus Christ and is really searching for the truth. This week we were finally able to teach all about the restoration because her kids were sleeping. It really caught her attention and she is going to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. She is super great!

We are also teaching lots of menos activos because there are about 300 in the branch! Our goal is to help Cañada become a ward again. We are here to baptize, retain the people who just got baptized, and reactivate the people that aren't going to church. We need to do all of these things in order to help everyone and help this place. We are super excited and happy to be 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 :)

Hermana Madera

New apartment

Hermana Matias!

This was our lovely lunch today with me, Hermana Matias, Hermana Thornton, and Hermana Rodrigues. We made the empanadas by ourselves! And..everyone drinks out of bottles like that here. Don't worry, it is just Tang. :) ​

Our pizza. I don't know if you can tell...but that isn't cheese. Those are noodles. And scrambled eggs. And hot dogs. Yup...we were quite adventurous that night. It was actually delicious.

I have officially changed my name to Hermana Madera. Madera means Wood in Spanish. It is so much easier for everyone and they all remember me. ;) I love this new area! It is so great. It has been hard this week because we couldn't leave the apartment the 31st or the 1st because of all the parties here and we had Zone Conference yesterday. We only worked 4 days last week, but it was still amazing!

Update on Claudia. She is doing amazing! She came to church yesterday and she loved it. Angel and Claudia decided that they are going to get married so that she can be baptized! :) We are going with them tomorrow to figure out all the papers. She is super amazing and she understands the importance of the gospel in her life. She can feel the difference when she reads the Book of Mormon and when she doesn't. She is so loving and super ready. :)

We also have another man named Andres. He has a baptismal date for the 10th of January. He has been on vacation for all the parties these past couple weeks. He came back this week! We found him on Friday. The first thing he told us when he saw us was that he wasn't going to go to church on Sunday because he was so tired from all his vacations. We were really sad and we told him to pray and that we would come back Saturday. We prayed really hard for Andres all night. Saturday we found him and he told us that the night before, he received an answer from God that he needs to go to church. His heart completely changed. It was a miracle! We are super excited for this week and hopefully he will be able to be baptized this week! :)

We found lots of other people and we are going to visit them this week. Hopefully everything will calm down after the parties and we will be able to find all of our other investigators. I am super happy and super excited! :)

Love,
Hermana Wood :)

First Transfer!

Christmas!

Last day in Mayoraz!

THIS is how happy I am to be in Cañada de Gomez!!! :) :)

​I made a graph of all the birthdays in our ward. There were a ton in December!!

Oh my goodness, I am so happy! I got transferred and I am now in my second area! It is called Cañada de Gomez. It is a tiny, little town and all the people are so humble. They are all so ready to accept the gospel and I am so excited to be here and teach them. And I love my new companion! Her name is Hermana Matias. She is 20 and she is from El Salvador. We get along so well and I already love her! I am so excited for this transfer and to work with her. It will be amazing. :)

In the two days that I have been here, we have already had some success and some awesome miracles! We found a woman named Claudia. She is the girlfriend of a recent convert named Angel. He was baptized about a month ago. We went to visit Angel to have a lesson with him and Claudia was there. We started talking to her just about the church in general and the blessings that she can receive and SHE asked US if she could be baptized! She wants to be baptized really bad and start a new life with Angel and just be happy. She is amazing! :)

I don't have much more time, but I hope that everyone had an amazing Christmas and have a Happy New Year! I love you all!

Love,
Hermana Wood :)