July 20, 2015

hola que tal

this week was pretty swell. on monday we went to do a family home evening with a family of recent converts. it was getting pretty cloudy, and right when we got there, it started to rain. they dont have walls on the majority of their house, so we started to get wet and all had to squeeze into the small walled part of their house. the hermana suggested that we say a prayer, so we did. we started the prayer to ask that the weather could calm down (it was raining really hard) and before we even stopped praying, the weather already calmed down a bit. it was pretty cool.

on tuesday i went on divisions to paraguari. we realized at the beginning of this transfer that some of our investigators actually lived in the limits of paraguari, so on tuesday i went with one of the Elders of that area to show him where they lived. we went to one, and her friend was also there. we taught them and gave a Book of Mormon to her friend, who accepted a baptismal date. Elder Quispe later told me that when they went to her house, the girls mom told them that that day, the girl had gone home with her Book of Mormon, entered her house, and declared ''I'm evangelical now!'' (general term for non catholic christian churches). it was pretty funny.

also cool story from last week that i forgot to tell. on thursday we went to our limit with paraguari (which is km 56) to explore a bit and do some contacting. we worked around there, and then at 5 we had an appointment with the Aguayo family. we asked a bunch of people how to get to 54 and everyone said that we had to go back out to the route and then enter again (we were in back roads (more correctly deemed paths)). my companion thought that that would be a good idea, but i was pretty sure that there had to be a path that could take us. so we started walking, and going around twists and turns in what we thought would be the general direction towards the Aguayo family. my companion started to lose hope, and told me (jokingly) to call the zone leaders to let them know that we would get home late (implying that we were hopelessly lost and that it would take us at least four hours to find ourselves and get home). i told him that we would make it just fine, and then a few minutes later the path that we were following came out on the street where they live, just like 50 meters from their house! it was great.

on thursday i did divisions in Acahay, and we went again to the place where i had previously done an interview in pure guarani. i went with the Elder who has less time there, and we took a less defined path. we basically just went straight through a jungle, without following any path, and then through a swamp (it had rained that morning), where my companions shoe was violently ripped off by the mud twice. it was pretty exciting.

also on thursday i had my final interview with President Wilson. i didnt really talk much, he just told me that when i get home my top priority should be to start looking for my next companion, and that it doesnt matter if we fall, as long as we get back up and learn from our mistakes.

my companion taught Adilson and Sara twice on divisions, and then we taught them on saturday. they couldnt go to church on sunday cus Adilson had to work, but we're trying to focus on Sara getting a testimony so that she can have the surety to be able to get baptized.

on saturday we went to 43, where i had never gone with my current companion, and went to visit some members and old investigators. we went to a house where i had previously contacted, and a lady who i had never talked to before came out and started confessing that she hadnt read what we had left her. we were pretty confused, but we after realized that Jehovahs witnesses had visited her. but anyways we taught her and her nephew and niece and theyre pretty cool. we dont know why they didnt go to church on sunday and theyre only home weekends. we also went to visit a lady who i had contacted once with my other companion, who actually gave us lunch one sunday, and we set another lunch with her for yesterday. she gave us like a 5 course meal. locro with meat, poroto, pasta with chicken, milanesa with mashed potatoes, tortillas, and fried mandioca on the side. it was amazing. we then taught her and her family about baptism. she's catholic and she doesnt want to change, but she considers herself our paraguayan grandma and does want to give us lunch.

on sunday nobody went to church, and we went and visited most of our investigators again after church, and many werent home, and the rest didnt want to accept baptismal dates. we found Emelia again, who we hadnt found for three weeks, but she has developed a lot of doubts and has lost a lot of the understanding that she had achieved when we were teaching her regularly.

so in the end things were pretty tough, but that helped me to meditate more on the consequences of my actions, and i actually learned quite a lot yesterday about the importance of constantly nurturing our faith if we want to help in the Lord's work. if we work, but we dont constantly try to increase our faith to allow the Lord to work miracles, all our efforts will be fruitless. all success in the work of the Lord is truly a miracle, and there can be no miracles if there is not faith. and in reality there's really no endings, we're always in the middle (talk by President Uchtdorf). and since we're always in the middle, and thanks to the Atonement of Jesus Christ, no failure is final, and there are always second chances. I know without a doubt that Jesus Christ lives. I know that He is our Savior. And i am eternally indebted to Him, as are we all, yet He is willing to forgive. and I love Him for it.

Elder Woodfield

July 13, 2015

hola que tal

this week was pretty swell. we had one investigator in church, Rosana, who is the sister in law of a recent convert, but probably wont be getting baptized in the near future, because her boyfriend needs to get a divorce before they can get baptized. 

we've continued working with Sara and Adilson. they started to read the Book of Mormon this week, but didnt end up going to church again. Sara talked to her mom and she doesnt want Sara to get baptized, so now we're going to focus on her getting a testimony so that she'll get baptized igual. we also watched the video of the Restoration this week and she liked it.

we've been teaching the Aguayo family, and this week were focused on Jasmin and Pamela, the two girls (8 and 9) who went to church with Emelia. we taught them the Law of Chastity, the Sabbath Day, the Word of Wisdom, and Tithing. when we taught the law of chastity we simply told them that before having kids they have to get married, and they responded saying that they never want to have kids. it was pretty funny. but when we went on saturday to visit them, Emelia hadnt gotten there still and they didnt end up going to church on sunday, and on sunday we went and Emelia had gone to visit a friend, so hopefully we'll be able to find her the coming weekend.

on sunday we visited everyone that we had planned and didnt have anything else to do so we went and visited a former investigator. first they asked us to come back a bit later, so we agreed. they normally hide from us so i assumed that when we got there again, that they would hide and that we would continue on our way. but when we got there they didnt hide! the dad didnt want to share, so we couldnt teach them, but we talked a bit with two of his daughters who went to church twice before and they want to get baptized! we set their date for the 25th.

also funny story. on saturday, after the Aguayo family, we had an appointment with Adilson and Sara, and had coordinated with a member to meet us near their house at 7 30. he called us at 7 20 and said that he was already there, and we were still quite a ways away, so we decided to run. we ran about 3 kilometers, and on the way my companion lost his agenda and almost lost his plaque. then the following day we were in the same place, walking towards Adilson and Sara, when a bus came, so we ran across the street to get it and my agenda fell out in the middle of the street, so i had to run back into the street to grab it.

also yesterday i gave a talk. i was originally planning to talk on one thing but then in sacrament meeting i felt i shouldnt, so i ended up talking about service, and how we can serve and help those who are spiritually hungry, sick, and naked.

I know that this is Gods work and that He loves all his children. He is merciful and desires the salvation of all of us.

Elder Woodfield

July 6, 2015

hola que tal

i learned quite a bit this week. unfortunately, i learned it the hard way but sometimes that's life.

first off, significant events. President Agazzani finished his mission on wednesday, and now President Wilson (from Uruguay) has taken his place. on tuesday the entire mission had lunch together in the office, to say goodbye. we ate lasagna, and then President Agazzani gave us all nifty temple recommend holders that have a scripture and a picture of President and Sister Agazzani on them.

now for investigators. on wednesday Esteban had has baptismal interview, and everything went fine.

on monday, we went to teach Adilson and Sara again, and Adilson's brother, Eduardo (inactive member) was also there, and had a lot of questions. we had a pretty good lesson but right when we wanted to confirm their date for the 18th, Eduardo started asking a ton of questions about cualquier cosa and when we answered all of them, we tried to committ Adilson and Sara to prepare for the 18th and they didnt accept. on friday we taught them again, and had a great lesson. they expressed that they didnt want to get married until they had a house of their own, with furniture and stuff (they're currently living in the home of Adilson's mother), and we read with them the first chapter of the book of Jonah. we explained that when Jonah realized the error that he had committed, he repented without delay, throwing himself out of the ship. he didnt know what was going to happen but he knew he had to repent. and God prepared a fish, and he ended up living, and being okay. so then they, now that we've explained them that living together without being married is a sin, should repent immediately, without taking into account the possible consecuences. and they accepted being married on July 18th! but then they didnt go to church cus it was cold and they didnt want to take their baby out in the cold. but we committed Adilson's mom to take care of the baby next sunday so that Adilson and Sara can go to church, to be married and baptized July 25th (my last saturday in paraguay)

we werent able to teach the Aguayo family this week, as Emelia was in Asuncion all week, and her mom got a surgery done on friday so all weekend they were in the hospital and couldnt go to church. but we did find and teach the two grandchildren, Mariano and Patricia, who were present when we taught the plan of salvation last week. they had had a baptismal date for the 18th, but hadnt gone to church and we hadnt been able to find them that sunday, so their date had fallen. we went on thursday to their house, and the first thing they did was ask about their baptism. we explained that they wouldnt be able to be baptized the 18th, and invited them to prepare for the 25th, and they accepted without any problems. so we taught them a bit more about the gospel and baptism and stuff and left. 

as we were walking away, and towards our next appointment, we felt that something was wrong, and that we should go back. i felt, as i also described in the email sent on april 6th, that that was the price we should pay to help them, and to show the Lord that we truly do have desires to help in his work, and to baptize his children. and we didnt go back. we didnt know what would happen, or why, but after ignoring that impression and finally going back home at the end of the night, i started to feel terrible. nothing had happened to show us that there was a problem, but i knew that i hadnt followed the Spirit, and that the miracles that we had been having were likely going to cease. i also began again to feel regret for the experience in the email from april 6, demonstrating clearly to me the principle found in Doctrine and Covenants 82 7. I felt faithless, hopeless, and without escape. i knew that repentance was available, but that my mission is rapidly coming to an end, and that that may have been my last opportunity. i looked for peace in the scriptures and i only found more consternation. on saturday Esteban sent us a text saying he wouldnt be able to be baptized that day because he would have to work, and Emelia said that she wouldnt be home, and she wouldnt be able to go to church, because her mom was in the hospital, and nobody else who had committed to attend went either. everything came falling down around us. i begged for forgiveness, prayed that we could baptize, but i couldnt change what i had done. I had told the Lord, with my actions, that i didnt want to baptize. then i started to study about weaknesses. and grace. in Ether 12 27 it clearly states that if we come unto Christ, he will show us our weaknesses. to every one of us. its impossible to go unto him without starting to have a greater awareness of ones own faults. but in Jacob 4 7 it tells us why. he doesnt do it so that we may be condemned, or so that we feel bad. he does it so that we can be humble. so that when we are able to work miracles, we realize that it's not us - it's him. inspired by the question in Jacob 4 17, i decided to read Jacob 5 and 6. to see how I, after having rejected the guidance of the Holy Ghost, could newly start to build upon the rock of Christ and work miracles by his grace and condescension. and something called my attention. in trying to understand Jacob 5 as an analogy for my mission, i realized that it would probably be better as an analogy for my life. having been born of goodly parents, i had good promise to be a good tree, that would give good fruit, but i didnt. throughout my youth i continually gave bad fruit. and it grieved God that he should lose this tree. so he sent me on a mission. he planted me in a far away part of the vineyard, to see what would happen. and i started to give good fruit. i repented, i started to change, i started to baptize his children and give good fruit. but then things changed again. maybe i got a bit negligent, or maybe i just didnt understand the importance of the small things that i did, but i stopped giving so much good fruit. so He started to prune. He cut off a few branches, and threw them into the fire. not to hurt me, but so that he could preserve the roots for his own purpose. i stopped looking at my failure from the perspective of my mission, and started looking at it from the perspective of eternity. yes, maybe i wont give good fruit right now. but God, in Jacob 5, was always more worried about the tree itself than about the fruit. the fruit was just an indicator of the well being of the tree. and God decided to show me that i had a weakness, so that i (with His help) could start to change that. He has a purpose later on for my roots, for my conversion, for my knowledge, but He first needed me to change a little bit more, to be a little bit stronger. and it would be easier to do so while i'm completely immersed in His work, having opportunities to progress and grow and learn spiritually every moment of every day, than when i'm back doing more things of temporal importance than of spiritual importance. if we dont baptize anyone else, i must admit that the judgements of the Lord are just. i didnt do what He asked. but He has a wise, eternal purpose in everything, and he wanted me to be better. unfortunately, i didnt take that opportunity to grow and avoid all the pain, but i have learned. and now i'm going to give everything i have in these three weeks so that i can learn and become everything that He wants before i get home. so that i can prepare my roots to give good fruit when i return from the far away part of the vineyard.

also on sunday we talked to the mother of Mariano and Patricia, who on thursday hadnt wanted to get baptized, and she said that her husband (Emelia's brother) was looking for a new church. we invited her to be baptized and she accepted, and we have an appointment today to teach the whole family. it's really a tender mercy from the Lord, because if the whole family gets baptized together, they only need to attend twice, and Mariano and Patricia can still get baptized on July 25th. i dont know if God will grant us that privilege, but i'm going to do everything i can to show him that i truly desire to help in these three weeks.

so basically it was a pretty tough week, but i learned a lot. i realized that my time will very shortly be up, and unfortunately, i realized it only after losing everything that we had. that as President Agazzani always said, you cant run a whole marathon in the last 10 minutes, and you cant live a whole mission in the last three weeks. i suppose that as Nephi said, only the wicked take the truth to be hard, because that statement never hurt me until i stopped giving everything that i had. i regret my failures but now have a greater resolve to not repeat them, and a plan to be able to do so.

I know that my Redeemer lives. His purposes and plan are perfect, but many times we can only realize that when we have a perfect perspective, which we as mortals many times cannot have.

Elder Woodfield

June 29, 2015

hola que tal

this week was awesome! as those of you who regularly read my emails will know, my previous companion and i had put a shark in our tank (see email from June 8th) to help us be better and have more faith. but as we like nutella (a lot) we killed that shark within a matter of a week or two. and we started once again to go back to being what we once were (which is no good). this week i decided that needed to change, and i bought 7 alfajores, one for each day of the week, that i could only eat if i contacted somebody on every bus we got on that day. on monday i didnt get to eat one, but every other day i did, and we began to see miracles once again.

on tuesday we did divisions with the zone leaders. i stayed in Yaguaron with Elder Coombs (from Idaho) and we went out to look for former investigators that had previously attended church and that could get baptized in any moment, when they decided to repent and make that covenant. and we didnt have much success. but then on wednesday my companion and i went to a guy called Esteban, who first started to investigate the church 15 years ago. he had attended church in various occasions, but didnt get baptized. then the missionaries recently started visiting him again, and he went to general conference in april, but still didnt want to get baptized. i had taught him a few times before, but he always said that he was going to think about it. then we went on wednesday and taught a bit about spiritual death and agency and the atonement and baptism. we explained that he could only be free from the spiritual death by accepting Jesus Christ as his Savior by repenting and being baptized, and we invited him to do so. he said he would, in the course of the week. i wasnt sure if he had committed to repenting or being baptized in the course of the week, so we invited him to be baptized that saturday and he accepted! he ended up having a few emergencies in his work though, and we werent able to do his interview, but we passed by again on sunday and he has committed to getting baptized this week! he has been reading the Book of Mormon, and has stopped drinking coffee (even when he had to work for 24 hours straight on saturday)

also on wednesday, we found a less active youth walking around, and talked to him. he had accompanied the missionaries a lot before. he told us that he was currently on vacations, and we asked if he wanted to accompany us the following day. he accepted. the first time i met this youth, he didnt believe much in God, and he had committed to not praying until he went back to church. as we walked on thursday with him, we conversed, and he said that he wasnt going to go on the mission cus he had to study. but anyways we went to visit the Aguayo family (the family of Emelia, see last big paragraph of June 22nd) and we taught them the restoration. we had taught it before, but this time we taught it with the youth translating to guarani (Emelia wasnt there). the mom (Mercedes) really liked it, and said that if her daughter gets baptized, that she wants to go to our church as well and get baptized, along with all her family. her sister (Miguela) is reading the Book of Mormon and taking notes, and has recieved a testimony, but she wants to think a bit more before she gets baptized. but after that lesson the youth gave the last prayer, and then he said that he wanted to go on the mission! he also came to church on sunday. it was pretty incredible how the Spirit worked through him to help him to speak fluently (he said that normally when he tries to speak guarani a lot he starts having difficulties) and to help him remember and teach the doctrine and testify (in other lessons, where the people understood spanish, he wasnt quite as talkative when we asked him to participate). but anyways we went to the Aguayo family again on saturday to teach the plan of salvation, and they all committed to going to church except Miguela, who had homework (two grandchildren who live in another part of our area and one neighbor also committed to going to church). and on sunday they went to church! Emelia went, accompanied by four small children (Jasmin, Pamela, Javier, and Maria), two of which are at least 8 years old, and after going to church accepted preparing to be baptized with Emelia July 18th!

on thursday, on the way back from the Aguayo family, we decided to go visit a part member family, where the parents and their grown children are members, but there is at least one girlfriend (Sara) living there who isnt member, who my other companion had taught twice, when i was on divisions in other places (her boyfriend, Adilson, who is member, had never been present). but anyways we went, and we found Adilson and Sara together! we taught them a bit and they accepted getting married and Sara getting baptized on July 11th! they ended up not going to church on sunday, but they did read a bit in the Book of Mormon, so they now have a date for July 18th.

we also went back to Jorge, who we found last week, and discovered that his wife (theyre actually married, which is a small miracle) went to church before in Ita. we werent able to teach them again until sunday, but after resolving a few doubts, they also accepted a baptismal date for July 18th.

President Agazzani finishes his mission on wednesday. and its been a bit cold.

in the course of the week, a lot of things have happened to make me realize the importance of having our faith firmly centered on Jesus Christ himself. if we have faith in the church, or in members of the church, we may be able to repent and be baptized, but when the storm comes (see Helaman 5 12) we will likely fall, as those things are not sure foundations. thats also why its so important that there's somebody watching out for every member of the church, because if they dont realize that theyve put their faith in something other than our Savior, when their foundation crumbles they need somebody to help keep them up, and build themselves upon the Rock of our Redeemer, or they will fall, and great will be their fall. i know that Jesus Christ lives, that he is my and our Savior, and that He loves us more than we can comprehend. i know that He truly does want to provide us with miracles in our lives, but that we first must have faith. and not just a passive belief, but a living active faith, that drives us in every waking moment to be better.

Elder Woodfield

June 22, 2015

hola que tal

this week was pretty swell. on wednesday we got up at two in the morning to take Elder Norton to the office, then i went to the bus terminal to get my new companion. his name is Elder Jara, he's from Chile, and he has been in the mission for a bit more than four months (i'm his third companion, and this is his second area. he's a bit short and a bit quiet, but he's a pretty good missionary from what i've seen, and a pretty chill guy. but this week we walked a ton! also two elders in my district are training new missionaries. both the missionaries who are training are from Peru, and both of their trainees are from the US and dont speak much English. on thursday i did divisions with Elder Bennington, who's from Chicago. that was pretty fun. we actually found a part member family (the Gomez family) where there's a lot of people who arent members of the church still. they dont speak much spanish, but they gave us some mbeju to eat and they all committed to going to church. due to a bit of bad planning and the fact that they live a bit far (in a place called Curupayty) we werent able to visit them again and they didnt go, but were going to go again today to see if we can visit them again.

we also went to another place that i had never been to before thats called Karangua. we found the house of a member but he wasnt home, but we taught his neighbor (who is also related to him) Jorge Avalos and he accepted a baptismal date! he's really humble and wants to learn about God, but couldnt go to church on sunday due to Fathers day festivities. but we passed by yesterday in the afternoon and after clearing up a few doubts we helped him commit to prepare himself to be baptized July 18th. hopefully we'll be able to teach his girlfriend this week too and help them become an eternal family!

on saturday we went to visit Andrea cus we werent able to visit her all week, and when we got there she was just about to leave. we invited her to go to church and she said that she was gonna go sí o sí, without fail. we called her sunday morning and she said she was on her way, but then she never showed up. we called her again in the afternoon and she said that while she was on her way to church, one of her family members had a baby, and called her to go to the hospital, so she went to the hospital. it's pretty ridiculous the things that happen so that people dont go to church. but we're going to visit her on thursday and i'm pretty sure she'll go to church this sunday

but anyways on saturday we started to walk back from Andreas house (about a two hour walk (we went in bus, but to come back at night there arent any more busses)) and we didnt have a whole lot of time (less than two hours) so we were already just ready to go straight back home. but while we were walking, we passed a place where a less active member lives, about a kilometer from the main route, and i felt that we should go visit her. i knew where she lived, but had never met her (my companion went once in divisions). we went, and she said that she wasnt really interested in meeting with us, so we started to walk back to the main route (but taking a different path). we passed a house where we had contacted once, where my companion had taught once in divisions, and decided to see if we could teach. my companion had taught them about baptism, and they didnt want to get baptized because they already got baptized by inmersion, and the pastor of their church speaks badly about mormons. so we were gonna teach about the restoration. the mom doesnt understand much spanish, and a lot of the kids are pretty shy, but there was a girl (Emelia) who's only home on weekends that was there that my companion hadnt taught, and she did want to get baptized. they committed to going to church but then didnt go cus they woke up late (there are a lot of small children that they have to get ready and feed, and then they have to walk a lot, and then take a bus. its a long process). but anyways when we left their house on saturday it was already 8 30, so we had to walk and jog 6 kilometers in less than one hour. we got home sweaty and tired. but anyways on sunday we went back and put a new baptismal date with Emelia, cus her other date fell cus she didnt go to church.

we werent able to talk to Angel at all this week, but we have a Family Home Evening planned with the branch president on tuesday and he said he's gonna invite Angel.

this week it started getting pretty cold. on thursday it was 6 degrees celsius.

i know that this church is true, and that this truly is the work of God. i know that He loves all his children, and that He wants us to love them all too, and follow his example in doing everything that we can to help them all be saved.

Elder Woodfield

June 15, 2015

this week was pretty swell. it was my last full week with Elder Norton (he goes home on wednesday). but anyways i dont have my agenda from last week (i have a new agenda for the new transfer) so i probably wont remember a lot of the details from what happened, but here's what i remember.

on tuesday we started a fast as a zone to be able to have miracles and achieve our goal, which is baptize 25 people as a zone in the month of June. after the district meeting i did divisions with Elder Liddell (from Utah) in Paraguari, who is also going home this week. but anyways we were sitting waiting for a bus to go to a far away part of his area, and a young guy came up to us and asked us if we knew Elder Cox (an Elder in the other half of Paraguari). we started talking to him and learned that he was an old investigator, who had gone to church a couple times. we invited him to be baptized for the following tuesday (tomorrow) and he accepted! it was a small little miracle that showed the power of fasting.

also on tuesday, my companion found Rosalino and Santiago again, after we hadnt been able to find them for a while. we actually ate lunch with Rosalino on thursday, we ate fish, and it was really good. but his old church gave him a job to go and preach in jails (he just got out of jail a few months ago) so even though he believes that the Book of Mormon is true, he doesnt want to leave his old church. Santiago, it seems, was just interested in getting a Bible, and now isnt showing much interest. but we'll see what we can do.

on friday i went and did an interview in Acahay, for an investigator that almost exclusively speaks guarani. in broken jopara (mixed, referring to a mix between guarani and spanish) i managed to ask most of the questions (the ones he didnt understand, his sister, who speaks spanish, translated) and understand more or less the things he was saying, but it was still pretty tough. we also ate lunch with him. after we finished we asked to be able to wash our hands, and he started to lead us behind his house (where most people here have spigots). but then we went to a stream and washed our hands in a stream! it was pretty legit. he actually got baptized in that stream (but a bit further from his house, where it's a bit deeper. getting to his house was quite an adventure as well. we crossed fields where oxen were eating grass, jungles, and streams, on paths covered with cow poop. it was pretty fun.

on saturday we went to teach a girl, Andrea, that had contacted my companion on a bus. she lives in 56, 8 km from yaguaron. we went with a member cus there's no men in her house, and started to teach her. we asked who Jesus Christ is for her, and she started to explain us her story. she said that she doesnt know much of him, because for the majority of her life she didnt believe in anything. then recently she had a major sickness, and was going to a psychologist. she didnt want to live anymore, and her psychologist told her that she needed to start praying twice a day. she started praying, and saw that her life began to change. she had more desires to keep living, she decided to try to get closer to her family again, and, after talking a bit with my comp on the bus, and discovering that we teach people about Christ, she was eager to learn and have us visit her. she happily accepted a baptismal date and committed to going to church (but couldnt go, we dont know why cus she wasnt home in the evening either, but probably cus it was raining). also she's only home in the evening, and in the evening there arent any more buses to come back, so on thursday and on sunday we had to walk 8 kilometers back to yaguaron. on saturday, luckily, a bus passed by and stopped for us, but on thursday it took us two hours to walk back (but we did buy ice cream and hot dogs on the way) and on sunday we made it in an hour and twenty minutes. but anyways, the moral of the story, psychologists in Paraguay are pretty wise people, and the Light of Christ is real, and truly can guide all those who sincerely try to find God in their lives directly to the restored gospel.

Angel couldnt go to church yesterday either, but we went and taught him after church, and he had read in the Book of Mormon and prayed and got a testimony! we set a new goal with him to be baptized the 4th of July (didnt even realize that was gonna be a holiday until i wrote it, just now) we taught him the restoration in the branch presidents house and then he and the branch president saw a movie about Joseph Smith together.

today we went to Asuncion for my comps final interview. and while he was in the interview one of the office missionaries got back from the bank and had done a bit of shopping too, and had pop tarts! they gave me one, and i ate it. it was pretty awesome.

its getting a bit colder now.

I know that this church is true, and that God truly loves all his children. he desires that we can all be saved, but the problem is that most of us dont want to. so our job is help people to desire salvation, and to recognize and follow the light of Christ in their lives.

Elder Woodfield

June 8, 2015

this week was great. we really saw miracles. everything was going pretty normally. then on wednesday i did divisions in Paraguari cus i had to do some interviews. then on thursday we had a zone training, and without going back to my area we changed and i did divisions in Acahay to do another interview. then on friday i was back in my area again and we did weekly planning. 

the zone training on thursday was pretty cool. for me it was mostly just review, cus this is President Agazzani's last month, and he wanted the new missionaries to be able to learn a lot of the things that he had taught us in the last couple years. but igual it was pretty great. we talked about how we often have a lot of paradigms in the mission and about how we should get rid of them (paradigms are things you do without knowing why you do it, just cus that's how it's always been done, and are often done in a less than optimal manner). we talked about a story of Japanese fishermen, who, due to the lack of sufficient fish in the waters immediately surrounding Japan, had to make bigger boats to fish further out. but the people didnt like it cus the fish didnt get to the market fresh. so the fishermen put freezers in the boats to freeze the fish but the people could still tell the difference. so then the fishermen put fishtanks to keep the fish alive until they got to shore, but the fish, once put in the fishtanks, stopped swimming, and the people could tell the difference. so the fishermen put sharks in the fishtanks to keep the fish moving until they got to shore. that story was related to us in our eternal progress. often we get lazy or comfortable with how we are, and stop moving. but to be saved (and to be good missionaries) we have to be progressing continually, and always pushing ourselves a bit more. so what we need to do is put a shark in our lives. put goals, or prizes or something that motivates us to keep progressing. so my companion and i decided to put a shark in our tank. we recently obtained a jar of nutella, and we had before decided that it would be good to contact on buses to not just lose time, but we never put it in practice. so we decided that everytime we got on a bus, we have to talk to someone, or we cant eat nutella until we get on another bus and do contact someone. and it worked. we started to do it, and started to progress more, and miracles came.

on sunday we got to church, and there were no investigators. then an inactive family that we had been teaching got there a few minutes after the meetings started, and a few minutes later, the branch president led a young man into elders quorum and pointed us out to him. he came and sat down, and afterwards we started to talk. his name is Angel, and he lives close to the branch president (which is really far, half an hour walking to get there from the route, and 5 kilometers in the route from Yaguaron itself) but anyways we started teaching him yesterday and he now has a baptismal date set for june 27. then when we walked out of the priesthood class we saw a member with another investigator! turned out that the investigator lives in Ita (a different city and area) but it was still pretty cool.

we werent able to teach Rosalino or Leticia and her family again this week. but we went to where Leticia lives to look for another less active family that lives in the same company, and we found them, but we had to walk 40 minutes first. we literally went over a river and through the woods (jungle and sugar cane fields) to find this family. but they dont want us to visit them. but we found another cool family over there too. but they live super far away from everything. so we'll see what happens.

also on saturday night we were walking around and all our plans fell. we went to look for a reference who has never been home every time that we look for him, and he wasnt home again. his name is Eriberto. in the plot of land where he lives, there are two houses. we always went to the gate and asked in the main house, and they always said no. then when we were walking away we saw that in the other house there was a guy and some other people sitting outside. we walked a bit more and sat down to think about where we should go. we prayed, and i felt 'go back to Eriberto'. so we went back and clapped in front of the second house, and someone came and talked to us and let us in and we taught them. we taught 5 daughters of Eriberto and his friend, and they all accepted baptismal dates! but they werent able to go to church on sunday. but we went again and they had a reasonable excuse and accepted baptismal dates again! it strengthened my testimony of prayer. and of faith. if we want God to guide our steps we have to be willing to move our feet, and do whatever he asks.

but yeah. this week will be the last full week of my companion in Paraguay. pretty crazy. time really flies.

I know that this church is true. I know that God truly does have all power, in heaven and in earth, and that he loves us and wants to use that power for our good. I know that through active faith we can truly see miracles in our lives, and that without active faith in Christ, it doesnt matter what we do, all our efforts will be in vain.

Elder Woodfield

June 1, 2015

hola que tal

this week was pretty swell. we had lots of cool adventures. on tuesday we decided to go exploring (and look for less active members) outside of Yaguaron. we went walking down the route towards a place called guarapi, where there are two less active families. we followed the map we had and found what should have been the house of one of them, where we found someone by the same name, but who denied being member. we later talked with his sister, Leticia (she'll come up again later) and discovered that they all got baptized 20 years ago and have been inactive ever since. we continued and found some other families. then we went to 58 to visit the Galeano family, and on the way back we started to walk, with our thumb stuck out for someone to take us. we ended up contacting a house over there and it was a pastor, who just wanted to argue about stuff. then we left again and stuck our thumb out again and a bus stopped (it had already finished its course and was going back to the station) and offered to take us. the driver was drinking but nobody else had stopped so we got on. he said he was going to leave the bus and then take us home in his car. but he ended up talking a lot with the bus people and we didnt get into his car until after 9 (we should normally be home at nine). then he stopped to get gas, and got out and started talking to the people in the gas station. when he finally actually asked them to fill up his tank, it was already like 9 40 (we should never be out after 9 30), and we ended up getting home at 10. it was pretty crazy. and we're not going to go with drunk guys on buses anymore.

 

then on wednesday we went to km 43 (the majority of the active members live in yaguaron or in 43, near the route). we had some appointments over there but they all fell through. then we remembered that someone had told us that there were a couple members that lived about an hour of walking away from the route, so we decided to go look for them (in a place called ñandua). we ended up getting there in half an hour, but all the members that had lived there are currently living in Argentina. but we started to contact a bit and we found a great investigator, whose name is Rosalino. he got out of jail 6 months ago. before getting into jail (10 years ago) he went to a different church, but hadnt gone back after getting out. we taught him about baptism and the priesthood, and he accepted a baptismal date. the next time we taught him the restoration and he believed it all. on sunday he didnt go to church. we went to find out why and his old pastor had invited him to go back to his old church, and he went. we reviewed a bit about Joseph Smith and the restoration, and read together 3 Nephi 27, and he accepted again a baptismal date, and committed to go to church this sunday. but anyways after teaching him we found a path that goes from his house directly to yaguaron so we didnt have to go back to the route to take a bus.

on friday i did divisions in paraguari. it was pretty chill.

when we talked with Leticia (see paragraph 1) on tuesday, we set an appointment to eat lunch with them on sunday. on sunday we called her and she didnt answer, so we werent sure if there was going to be lunch, but we went anyways. when we got there her boyfriend invited us in, and said they were cooking and asked if we wanted to stay for lunch. he had never talked to missionaries before and never even knew that she was a member of the church (they've been together 15 years, but she's been inactive for twenty). we ate lunch with them, and then taught them, and Carlos (the boyfriend) and three of their kids (Wendy, Yulisa, and Richard) accepted baptismal dates! it was pretty great.

I know that this church is true, that we are all literally children of God, and that he loves us.

Elder Woodfield

May 25, 2015

this week was pretty swell. it rained a lot, so all my shoes are wet, but we had a good time.

on tuesday i did divisions with the zone leaders. we went to visit Eugenio, and we found him in his house. he was drunk again, but he said that he wanted to continue with us and he accepted a baptismal date, but the whole time his mom was telling him that he wasnt going to go to church and that he wasnt going to get baptized, and even hit him once when he went to get his Book of Mormon. as a last ditch effort, we scheduled to go visit him with an older sister from the branch to see if she could get along well with his mom and help her support Eugenio. we got there and Eugenio was outside in the patio sleeping in a chair. we clapped to wake him up, and his sister came over from next door and asked us what we wanted. she told us to stop visiting him, and that we had made his mom sick, and then she tied the gate shut (it had been open) and then went away. so we're gonna stop visiting Eugenio for now, cus it's basically impossible to help him progress with all the opposition from his family.

on tuesday we also found a new interesting investigator, Santiago. he reads the bible a lot and knows it pretty well, and is looking for a true church, but has a lot of strange doubts, many of which will only be able to be solved by recieving a spiritual testimony of the Book of Mormon. he prayed to ask once but didnt recieve an answer, and he doesnt want to go to church or accept a baptismal date until he knows its true. but he has a lot of good ideas too and could be really helpful as an active member of the church, so we plan to keep teaching him for a while to see if we can help him get a testimony.

we also continue teaching the Galeano family. this week we were able to go visit them with a few youth from the ward which was pretty chill. on sunday we got up an hour early to be able to go get them before church to help them to attend, but when we got to their house, their mom wasnt home and their brother didnt believe that their mom had given them permission to go to church, so they couldnt go. but we went after church and they gave us barbecue pig and chicken. it was pretty great

we also found another great investigator who seems to have a lot of potential. on friday morning we saw a inactive member walking with her boyfriend and we went and contacted them. they said we could go to their house and teach them. her boyfriend, Victor, had a lot of questions about the different churches, and how he could know which to join, so we taught about the restoration. he believed it all and accepted a baptismal date. they didnt go to church on sunday cus it rained but we went in the evening to visit them and had a really funny lesson. he was a bit drunk, but as they hadnt gone to church, we taught about repentance. we explained that his baptismal date had fallen cus he hadnt gone, and he asked if he could still get baptized but just a bit later. we explained some commandments to help him understand how to prepare for baptism (law of chastity, word of wisdom) and the two great commandments also came up. the second (love your neighbor as thyself) called his attention and he interpreted it saying ''so then if I eat, you have to eat too. if i have a piece of bread, i have to share with you'' he asked what he would have to do if he had one piece of bread and there were ten people. i cited the instance in which Christ fed thousands with a few pieces of bread and fishes and he said ''yeah Christ fed people, and today, Victor feeds!'' he then asked if we were hungry, then said that he shouldnt have even asked, and then brought us a small pot full of pasta, and told us to eat. he has a lot of progress to make but is a sincere and a pretty funny guy, and really shows desires to repent.

on friday i did divisions in Acahay (you should probably look that up on a map), which is an hour in bus from Yaguaron. on the bus i contacted a guy, and he bought us chipa. i did a baptismal interview and the investigator was super prepared. something that called my attention was how happy it made her that we have a prophet in these latter days, and made me think if i'm really grateful, or if i really appreciate fully all the blessings that the gospel brings. she ended up not getting baptized cus Acahay doesnt have a baptismal font, they just baptize in rivers, and when it rained the river grew and it wouldve been a bit dangerous.

i know that we truly have a living prophet in these latter days, and that that is such a huge blessing because it allows us to know the pure truth, and not get caught up on small details that we may not understand from the written scriptures, because everything we do, we do it because Jesus Christ himself told a prophet that that's how we should do it. i know that Christ lives and that he loves us.

Elder Woodfield

May 18, 2015

hola que tal

well it was basically just yesterday that i talked on skype with most of you but i'll try to give a summary of everything that happened this week just the same.

on monday we went to Asuncion for an interview (two hours in bus) and ate domino's pizza. it was pretty good. but i'm excited to be able to eat little ceasers and cicis pizza again. we got back and my companion called his family, then we went to Itá to spend the night with the zone leaders (cus early tuesday morning we were going to go to the temple). so we got to Itá and went out and started contacting whoever. it was pretty chill. 

then on tuesday we went to the temple. we didnt get to do any baptisms which i was looking forward to but its okay. we had a great session (i think it was the first time i saw the new video while i've been on the mission - the other times i went it hadnt been translated still).

we got back and went to teach Eugenio. he wasnt home when we got there (he had gone to a nearby shop to buy something. we went to find him and found him on the way home, with milk and cookies, and - ¡completely sober! (for the first time since we had met him) he was a bit better dressed too, and had combed his hair. i was seriously so happy i could barely even talk. we went and visited him again on thursday, and he hadnt drunk still, and on saturday, and he told us that even in the mothers day festivities, when all his family had told him to drink, that he hadnt accepted. we called on sunday morning to remind him about church, and his sister answered and said that he didnt want to go, and that he didnt want us to visit him anymore, and that he's going to move to the chaco (desert in northwest paraguay). we have no idea what happened but we're gonna go again tomorrow to see why, cus he was super happy and excited before.

we started visiting the Galeano family too (less active sister which i mentioned last week), and there are two daughters that havent been baptized still. we went on wednesday and taught them, and then again on friday (they gave us dinner too). on sunday they werent able to go but theyre excited to go to church and get baptized. on sunday we had a lunch set with them, but it ended up falling through. we had taken a bus from yaguaron (km 48) to their house (approximately km 58) and had another appointment on 56. we didnt want to waste money so we decided to walk. that appointment fell through too, and our next plan was to look for people on 52, so we decided to walk again. around 55 we were walking and a family called us over. they were sitting outside their house eating lunch. we got to where they were and they told us to sit down and eat. it was a miracle! God truly does take care of us. turns out they were members who had recently moved there.

we werent able to teach wilson this week as he's been a bit busy, but we talked to him a little bit yesterday and have an appointment with him today. he wants to learn and get baptized but he's really having a lot of opposition. on saturday he borrowed a motorcycle and had a small accident so he got home really late and all sunday he had to be fixing it to return it to the person, so he couldnt go to church.

I know that Christ truly is our savior, and that as it says in 2 Nephi 9:21, he truly came to save all men, and that's why he invites all men to repent and be baptized (verse 23), so that he can save them. i know that each and every one of us has an important part in God's plan, and that we can help in his great work of salvation if we so desire.

Elder Woodfield

May 11, 2015

this week was crazy! i dont have much time to write but i'll try to get in everything that happened.

on wednesday me and my companion had violent diahrrea, and i vomited once, so we couldnt work a whole lot.

on saturday we went to visit the drunk guy (Eugenio) that contacted us the week before with a member that has a car, so that he could take Eugenio and his mom (Juanita) to church. and Eugenio went to church on sunday! he liked it a lot, and was really emotional when we went to visit him yesterday in the evening. he has a baptismal date for May 30, and just has to stop drinking to be able to get baptized, and his mom wants to come to church too (she didnt come yesterday cus she was sick) and get baptized the following week.

we're also teaching a really cool investigator who's name is Wilson. he's really interested in the church, and we gave him a pamphlet with the testimony of Joseph Smith and a Book of Mormon and he read the whole pamphlet and two chapters of the Book of Mormon! just by the organization of the church and the testimony of Joseph Smith he thinks logically that the church is true, and this week is going to try to get a spiritual testimony. we were teaching him on saturday and he committed to going to church and in that same moment he called a member that is his friend to pass by on sunday morning to go to church together. he ended up not going cus his friend didnt go either, but he has a baptismal date for June 6 and is really excited to keep learning more.

yesterday we went to a really far away place to contact a reference. the reference wasnt home, but we contacted their neighbor, and it was a member who had gotten baptized in the first chapel in Paraguay, when there was only one ward! she lived 60 kilometers from Asunción but attended church and got baptized in Asunción, in the place where the temple now stands. she has two daughters that arent members, that we're going to start visiting and teaching.

it rained a lot on saturday. today we're in Asunción cus my companion had an interview with President Agazzani, to renew his temple reccomend (cus we're gonna go to the temple tomorrow woooo!)

i know that this church is true and that if we truly dedicate ourselves to the work of God, he will allow us to see and reap the fruits of our labors, and we can obtain true and lasting joy.

Elder Woodfield

May 4, 2015

this week was pretty chill, and pretty crazy. there were 7 people in the district that we're gonna get baptized on saturday, in three different areas, so on wednesday i did divisions with one companionship in Paraguari and on thursday, without leaving, i did divisions with the other companionship there, and asked the zone leaders to do divisions in Acahay to do the interviews there.

on wednesday we had a pretty good day, we walked a ton (the plan was to go to a place called cerro leon, but we only went about halfway). the investigator that i interviewed there was cool, she had originally had plans to visit her grandpa this weekend but then prayed and asked God whether baptism or visit her grandpa were more important, and decided to be baptized.

on thursday all the interviews that i had to do ended up being cancelled, but we still had a pretty good day. we taught the friend of a recent convert (with the convert, his mom was also there) about the restoration. after we finished we asked if there were any questions and the mom asked if she could get baptized.

on saturday night it rained a ton, our house flooded, and one of the trees in our yard fell down (it's an exotic paraguayan fruit, not sure what it's called in english) and today we put it back up again. but anyways almost noone went to church on sunday. no investigators went (as we almost don't have any) and sunday after church i was praying to ask where we could find the people that wanted to accept the gospel, and i felt we should change our immediate plans and go to a part of our area that's called Cerro Guy (guy pronounced like wou in would) where neither i nor my companion had ever gone before. we only knew the general direction, and that there was one active member that lived there, next to a football field. we entered Cerro Guy, and started doing some contacts near where we supposed that said member lived, and found four people that we were able to teach, that accepted baptismal dates! we found the members house as well and have plans to go visit him and his neighbors again on tuesday.

also on friday we were walking around in a place called Zayas and a drunk guy contacted us, and said that he was catholic but that he wanted to be mormon to stop drinking. we went back yesterday as well and he and his mom also have baptismal dates.

also after the rain on saturday it started getting colder, which means that i wont have to carry my handkerchief with me anymore, but proselyting at night is gonna be a little bit tougher, as everyone's gonna want to be sleeping. but we have plans to work more in the further parts of our area so it's probable that in the night we'll often just be travelling back to the main town.

i know that this church is true, that Jesus Christ is our Saviour, and that he loves us.

Elder Woodfield

April 27, 2015

this week was pretty crazy. it's still a bit hard to believe what happened. everything was going pretty normal, we were teaching people, inviting people to be baptized, (and Nathanael had his interview to recieve the priesthood - i imagine he recieved it yesterday) and then wednesday evening, the zone leaders called and told us that we were going to have special transfers the following morning! i am now in Yaguarón (look that up on a map!) with Elder Norton (he's from Arizona, and finishes his mission in 7 weeks). my area is pretty big (17 kilometers wide and about twice that tall) and my companion has only been here five weeks, and is only familiar with 3 of the 19 ''companies'' (divisions of suburbs (fields with houses scattered here and there) that are part of Yaguarón) so we'll be doing a bit of trailblazing this transfer. just a few days ago we went and walked down a street for 15 minutes, hoping to find houses and people that wanted to listen to us, and found an abandoned barn and a dead end. my companion doesnt even know where the branch president lives, so we have plans to find his house on wednesday - we have to take a bus and then walk for about an hour. but the people are generally pretty kind here (or at least in the companies - in the main city part there's a bunch of relatively rich people who generally dont want to recieve us). one day we were walking down a street, about a half hour walk from the route where we needed to take a bus, and a truck passed us and asked if we were going to the route. we said yes, and they told us to jump in. also on friday i ate cow foot. that was pretty interesting.

but anyways we dont have a whole lot of investigators cus the other missionaries here weren't working very effectively but our ward mission leader is one of the most capable and knowledgeable leaders that i've met on my mission, so we should be able to start working pretty well. we have plans to work with the active members to be able to find and teach all the less active members to be able to baptize their children, friends, and neighbors, and also to go out with members to get to know a bit better the parts of the area that we dont know.

we do have one investigator, Pedro, who has a lot of potential. his girlfriend is member and he went to church once before. my companion had been teaching him before, but he had never accepted a firm date to be (married and) baptized, but we went and taught him and he accepted a date for this saturday. but then he couldnt go to church yesterday so we're gonna see how we can help him to go to church so he can get baptized.

our house is huge, and we have a tangerine tree. it's pretty great. (Tangerines are in season right now)

I know that Christ is our Saviour, that this is his church, and this is his work. He loves every one of us and gives us commandments and instructions for our benefit. I love him and his work, and hope all of you can grow to love it as well.

Elder Woodfield

April 20, 2015

hola que tal

it rained quite a bit this week.

Belén went to church again yesterday (and her boyfriend too, who hadnt gone to church before in the five months i´ve been here), but they didnt stay for the classes. we werent able to teach her much this week, so we dont really know where she is in her progress. on friday we went and we taught her the plan of salvation. we left the members house, and saw outside a few old investigators who were the friends of one of the members of the family, and we asked if we could teach them. they didnt have any problems so we went back to the members house with three investigators and taught the plan of salvation again, and Belén helped us a lot to teach it. that was pretty cool

the less active sister (Wenceslada) who had contacted us a couple weeks ago and her grandchildren weren`t able to go to church yesterday, and in the afternoon they werent home, so we're not sure why they didnt go, but we're gonna keep visiting them this week

we went back to an old investigator (Richard) that i've been teaching almost the whole time i've been in this area, who is the boyfriend of a fairly active member. he's always recognized the need to change his life and be baptized, and believes that the church is true, but he never wanted to accept a date or commit to praying and asking if its true to have a real testimony. he went to the stake conference and general conference without us having invited him, and after a while of not visiting him we went this week, and he had prayed and asked God, the night after the last time that we visited him! he said he didnt feel anything, but nonetheless, that was a big leap in his progress

Nathanael continues progressing well too. he started to read the book of mormon when we started teaching him and always read a good amount, but recently he started to slack off a bit. we always asked him in what part he was and he had either read just a few verses or nothing. i recently started the book of mormon from the beginning again, so to encourage him a bit, i started to tell him where i was in my reading. we had been pretty even until he got to 1 Nephi 13, then he stopped until i was in 19. we went yesterday and he was already in 2 Nephi! it was pretty cool. we also started teaching one of his friends, Edgar, who accepted a baptismal date last week, but couldnt go to church.

on thursday we had interviews with President Agazzani. it was pretty cool

on friday we were walking around in the rain, and i was walking on the side of the road while my companion was walking in the middle, where there was a river of a few inches of water. he turned around to kick water at me, and in doing so, lost his balance and fell. when he fell our cell phone fell out of his pocket into the water. so yeah the last few days we've been without a phone.

Elder Woodfield

photos

one day we got home and there were horses eating grass outside of our house. it's a pretty normal occurrence to see cows or horses eating grass in the street but i thought you guys (especially Serina) might like to see a picture. (one taken from behind the fence, other through the fence. there were 4 or 5, but they're not all very visible due to the camera focus)