November 3, 2014

hi. this week was a pretty good week. it rained a bit this week, and was generally a bit cooler, which had its pros and cons. the shower in our new house doesnt work (it doesnt heat the water). while it was really hot, we didnt have any problems with that, as the water wasnt actually that cold because of how hot it was, and we all wouldve showered in cold water anyways. but this week weve had to shower in cold water and it doesnt da gusto. but its chill.

we havent been able to teach martin and giseña again, as her baby still hasnt been born so shes having a lot of pain and cant concentrate well.

last week we were contacting and we found an old guy (Gregorio) sitting outside his house, and he told us to come in (the gate). we taught him, he said he went to church before and almost got baptized but then the missionaries stopped visiting him. we taught him and he wants to get baptized, but his only doubt is that he lent his cane (which he needs to be able to get to church) to his neighbor and his neighbor doesnt want to give it back.

i also learned a bit more fully this week that you really cant teach a testimony. last week we were looking for an inactive family from the ward list and we found a member of the family that had never been baptized. he said that his aunt and cousins (that were members) had moved but that we could go and share with him one day. we went on thursday and at the beginning he expressed his belief that all churches take you to the same place - to God. so i said in my mind okay i'll just teach him from the bible that Christ established one church with specific doctrine and a specific organization and that that's the only church that works. i did it, asked him again what he thought, and he said that he still felt that all churches lead to God. he then mentioned how he had seen on discovery channel the story of Joseph Smith and that he believed that Joseph Smith was a prophet. we explained a bit more the story of Joseph Smith and the restoration of the priesthood and how we have a prophet today with that same priesthood and the same organization of the church. he again expressed that he thought that all churches were good, and i kind of just gave up with the teaching. i asked if he believed that Thomas S Monson was a prophet, and he said yes. i asked if he thought that if God had a representative on the earth in our church, that God would want him to go to that church, and he said yes. we asked if he thought that if that church had the authority of God that God would want him to get baptized there and he said yes. so i realized that even when people have doubts, they'll often still feel the Spirit and want to get baptized. nobody can rationally explain how or why they have a testimony. we dont know that Jesus is the Christ because somebody expounded the scriptures to us, we know it by the testimony of the Holy Ghost. and people can recieve that testimony, and feel that they should be baptized, even if they dont understand fully why. so we should invite everybody, and not exclude people from recieving the invitation because they have a different opinion about one of the principles or doctrines of the church.

and yeah that's pretty much what happened this week.

Elder Woodfield

October 27, 2014

this week was pretty swell. it wasnt quite as hot, which was a blessing. God also taught me an interesting lesson. so anyways, this week i was reading in Helaman about the story of Samuel the Lamanite, and something that really stuck out to me was that after he had taught for many days and had been rejected, that God commanded him to go back and continue teaching them. in these weeks we've gotten like 10 references, and 3 of them were houses where i had previously contacted, having previously gotten mixed results. that, together with the story of Samuel, made me think a lot about how even though we've taught or invited people to learn about the church before, if the Spirit tells us to do it again, we shouldnt doubt we should just act. God really drove the point home when we were out one day contacting, and i felt i should contact a house where i had contacted before with Elder Blackett and where the lady didnt want anything to do with us. i didnt and we kept walking, and then somebody (Fabricio) inside the house called us over. we ended up teaching and having a great lesson and he accepted a baptismal date.

We also learned this week that we should be careful with the blessings we promise. on tuesday we contacted a lady (Marian), and invited her to be baptized. she accepted and said my husband (Miguel Angel) is sick, do you want to come in and see him? we went in, had a super spiritual lesson with them, and they both accepted a baptismal date. he has cancer in his legs so he cant walk (or work). at the end of the lesson we asked if there was any way we could help them, and she asked if there was any way we could help them economically, as she didnt have a job either. i explained that we cant give them anything, but promised that she or her son would find a job to be able to provide for the family. we went back on thursday to visit them again, and Marian had found a job on wednesday, and now she works every day and we cant teach them anymore. in the future when we promise jobs we're gonna promise jobs with good schedules.

we went to Martin and Giseña on saturday, and Martins sister was there too (who's an active member, and served as a local missionary for a few months a few years ago). we were gonna teach lesson 3, but i was a bit wary about it as Giseña doesnt really like when we talk a lot about baptism. but when we first talked to her with Elder Blackett she had accepted baptism, just not a baptismal date because of her grandma (who was then living still but now recently passed away). but anyways we explained really well the gospel, and how the plan of salvation is only possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and how we recieve forgiveness by participating in ordinances that represent the atonement, so then baptism should be by immersion because only in that form can it represent the death and resurrection of Christ. it was a super spiritual lesson, and after we had explained it well, she asked what the requirements are to be baptized. we read a scripture, and also explained that she and Martin would have to get married. she expressed a bit of doubt there, saying that they had only been living together for two years, but then Martin had to go so we had to go too, but im pretty sure that when we explain well the law of chastity they'll understand it and want to get married. we just got to hurry up a little bit with their teaching cus it's likely that i'll leave Obrero within a few weeks. they didnt come to church cus Giseña's really pregnant, but they said that when the baby is born they're gonna come every week.

we went and visited Isaías again on monday, and he said he doesnt want to waste our time anymore, so we havent been teaching him anymore.

yesterday we went to an old investigator (Ramon) that almost got baptized before i got here and he recieved us a lot better than he used to recieve us when i went with Elder Huntsman. we had a pretty great lesson and he said he wants to try again, and see if he can end up getting baptized to be happier. he has a few doubts but they're not too bad.

we didnt have anybody in church, which was pretty disencouraging (my last saturday here will be the 15th, and for somebody to be baptized on that day (unless they came to church before) they would have had to come to church yesterday) but its okay cus i'm pretty sure we'll be able to bring at least one more soul to Christ through baptism this transfer.

also good news we got air conditioning this week.

Elder Woodfield