Rosario. Vamos.

That is a hot dog. Yes, it comes with fries on top. Hermana Ribeiro!

Well, I will be the first to say it is VERY different working in a big city than in a little tiny town. Really different. But it is a good different. I am learning very different things here that I wouldn't learn anywhere else.

To be honest with you guys...we don't have hardly any investigators. We are working a lot with menos activos and helping them come back to church. The problem is that when people live in a big city, they are always busy. They are always working or buying something and get home super late at night. So...they are never home when we go to visit them. It's not that they don't want to listen, it's just that they literally don't have time to listen. It is kind of a problem.

We are teaching the Fuentes Family. They are less actives. The mom is in the process of getting a divorce and in the whole process stopped going to church. The members didn't help her out very much, so she slowly stopped going. We are teaching them the missionary lessons so that they can remember the testimonies they have and remember the importance of keeping the commandments and coming to church. They are super great and I hope we can keep helping them. We also taught Hermana Olga. She has started coming back church, but she has a problem with smoking. It is super great that she has come back and wants to make the change because that is the first step in the process. I know that she will be able to do it and we are here to help her. :) We are also looking for a new apartment. Our apartment is really small and has no ventilation.......so we are searching. We found a couple that we like, so we are going to hopefully move pretty soon.

On Sunday, I was able to gave a talk here in my new ward. I talked about that the Book of Mormon always talks about the missionaries. It tells about the stories and the conversions of the people and the miracles that they performed. But......if there were missionaries that whole time...obviously there were members. And what did the members do this whole time? I talked about Amulek, Abish, and Aminadab. Amulek left with Alma the missionary and helped share the gospel. Abish ran from door to door sharing her testimony. Aminadab (Helaman 5:35-42), a less active, was able to testify what the missionaries said and the investigators were able to pray and get rid of the darkness. These people were normal members that shared their testimonies. I am grateful for the Book of Mormon and missionary work. It isn't just for missionaries. It is for everyone.

My companion is teaching me so much. She is so humble and willing to work. She will do anything the Lord wants her to do. She is so patient and loving. She told me she wants to learn english, so I am teaching her. This will be her third language. She is awesome!!!! That's about it. I hope everyone has a great week! I love you all!!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Wood :)

NEW transfer. NEW area. NEW companion. Let's go

I got my package!
The girls from Acevedo. :)
This super funny kid named Jeremias from Acevedo that always talked to us in English. so funny.
TOBY!!!!
Hermana Christiansen. i love her.
A little bit of the fields on the way to Rosario.

Hello, everyone! I'm sure you are all dying to know what happened this week. So I guess I will tell you. I got transferred! My area is called Echesortu. It is right smack dab in the middle of Rosario. WHOO!! I am finally in Rosario!!! It's better that way because I am in the Rosario, Argentina mission. Echesortu was the first ward created in Rosario, so it is huge and all the members are super great! My companion is from Brazil. Her name is Hermana Rebeiro. No matter how you guys pronounce it, you will say it wrong. Because even I say it wrong. The correct pronunciation is in portuguese, and I can't even start to try and say it correctly. But she is so great. She the 6th of 6 children. She is 20 years old. Her closest sibling is 17 years older than her! Her and two of her sisters are the only members of her family. She is amazing and so humble and I am super grateful to be here with her! It is funny sometimes because neither of us are talking our first language, but spanish is the only way we can communicate. :) She does want to learn english, so I am going to teach her a little bit.

Echesortu is HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gigantic. Enormous. The biggest area I have had. I have only been here for a day, but I feel like I will never learn the streets. They all look the exact same because they all have big buildings and tons of cars and people. A completely new experience. I have already seen things that I will never forget. I am grateful for Heavenly Father's protection, especially as a missionary. I know that if we are obedient and follow the spirit's promptings, we will be fine. Don't worry about me, I am just telling you. :)

Funny thing. Hermana Cerna went to Acevedo to be with Hermana Christiansen! Haha, super funny.

Anyway, I honestly don't remember what I did last week in Acevedo, so....I don't have much more to write. Thank you for all your love and prayers! I love you all!!!!

Love,
Hermana Wood

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 :)