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

October 20, 2014

well this week was pretty good. it was super hot, and on friday it got up to about 110 degrees farenheit, and walking around in the sun while all the paraguayans were napping made it feel even worse. but anyways we had interviews with president this week, and then i had divisions with the district leader. in the interviews and with what the assistants said (we had interviews with president and a lesson with the President's assistants) i learned a ton. mainly they told us we should put people with baptismal dates throughout the week, invite them to church, and then set appointments for sunday, so that the verification of them going to church is a bit closer. that way they'll feel more committed. so then if they do go we can go on sunday and congratulate them on their progress and help them continue learning towards their set date, and if they dont go, we can go right after their date fell, explain a bit more about the sabbath day and the importance of repenting to prepare for being baptized and put the date again so that they see the importance of that goal. so anyways we were able to put a few people with baptismal dates during the week but as the week continued we werent able to find any of them anymore. the district leader called us on saturday to verify if we had appointments with everybody that had dates and i explained that we could plan to visit them but that for the past few days we hadnt been able to find any of them. he said to do it, with faith, so we did. sunday came and we didnt have anybody in church. so we went out to put baptismal dates. we passed by a lot of people but didnt find anybody except Isaías (which was a miracle as we hadnt seen or taught him since last sunday). he said his aunt didnt want him to get baptized, that a lot of his friends and neighbors made fun of him for listening to us, and that he doesnt like getting up early on sundays. also he prayed to ask if the book of mormon was true and he didnt get an answer. so we promised him that if he would read every day and come to church next sunday that God would answer him. we invited him to prepare to be baptized on the 1 of Nov and he didnt accept, but he did commit to reading every day and going to church.

on wednesday we moved. our new house is nice but it doesnt have air conditioning yet, and on wednesday and thursday nights the power went out a few times so we couldnt use fans. those were the first and hopefully the last times in my life that i've had to sleep with a handkerchief nearby. i seriously just felt like i was sleeping in a pool of sweat. and i had just changed my sheets this week. but anyways we should be getting air conditioning installed today or tomorrow which will be nice.

also on saturday francisco, (one of my converts here, that got baptized in July) got married with his girlfriend who's a member. that was pretty cool and there was really good food. but now theyre gonna move so i wont be able to see them anymore. but its chill

on saturday after the wedding we had a pretty cool experience. what we had planned to do at 8 fell, so we just started walking to do some contacts. we started to go down a street, and then i felt that we should turn. we passed a house and i thought i heard someone say elder but i wasnt sure and then we kept walking. i normally dont like going back to houses after having passed them but i felt we should so we went back to contact them and they immediately just invited us in. there were two friends that are about 20, and one said hey elders used to come to my house. and we always talk about the mormons and the different religions. can you tell my friend the story of Moroni? so we basically just explained the whole history of the book of mormon and they understood super well. it was a pretty awesome lesson. theyre atheists and seem more interested in the story than in the religious part, but still it was pretty cool, and i know that God gave us something to do when we didnt know what else to do.

on thursday we contacted a girl and she said to come back when her family was there. usually appointments where we contact one person and set an appointment to visit another person fall, but we went back and her brother let us in. we started teaching her mom, then her brother and his friend came, then the girl came too. we taught about the restoration, and finished explaining everything, and then the dad got there too, and another friend, so we explained the book of mormon again. turns out they actually have get togethers in their house friday nights to talk about the bible, and this time they had unexpected visitors teach. they liked the book of mormon and committed to read it, but are pretty solid in their church. but it was cool cus they were so willing to recieve us and we taught a ton of people.

we ended up leaving sergio. i talked to president about him in my interview, and he said that we should just invite him to be baptized. we did it, for this saturday, and he said he didnt have sufficient faith to just leave his job and get baptized, and that he wanted to wait until God opened the path so that he can change his schedule or something without any issues. we said that when that happens that he should let us know so we can pass again. he was a bit sad and me too but God is hastening the work of salvation and we need to hasten it too.

also we finished teaching martin and giseña the plan of salvation. they said they wanted to be an eternal family and said they were gonna go to church but they didnt come.

Lider (the husband of Gianina, who got baptized last week) who was baptized in may, got called as second counselor in the branch presidency this week. which just shows that God doesnt need people to know everything or have a ton of time in the church to be able to work through them. he just needs people who are willing to do what he asks. by small and simple means are great things brought to pass.

I know that this is the work of God, and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints truly is the kingdom of God on earth, and that it is led by God's chosen servants.

Elder Woodfield

October 13, 2014

we had a baptism this week wooo! Gianina got baptized after facing a lot of opposition. so these past few weeks we've been getting ready for her baptism, but her husband, Lider, hasnt wanted to baptize her. we've been teaching a ton about the families and how the father is the patriarch of the family, but he just didnt want to baptize her (and sometimes she didnt want him to baptize her either). we had a ton of appointments with them this week but they all fell until friday. we went friday and asked how everything was and they said fine. i asked lider if he was gonna baptize her and he said no. i asked why and he said that they had fought the night before and that they were now separated and that now it was even less of a possibility that he would baptize her. so we asked gianina if she still wanted to be baptized, and she said yes. we asked her who she wanted to baptize her, and she said lider. we read a few scriptures in Proverbs and in 4th Nephi and left them with Alma 36 to read and ponder after we left. then we went again on saturday, and Lider's car was out front again (it hadnt been on friday) so that gave me a bit of hope, but they werent there. we talked to Gianinas dad and asked him to tell Lider to bring a white shirt and an extra shirt (we had pants) hoping that they were okay again. we had the font ready and we were in the chapel waiting before the baptism (which was supposed to start at 7) and the first people to get there was the branch president and his family. they said that they had hurried to get there cus they thought they were late and asked us where everybody was. our phone was dead and our charger doesnt work so we couldnt call lider and ask where they were so we just said that they would get there shortly. then sergio got there and then another investigator Jose. it was already a bit past 7 and gianina and lider werent there still. i went into the bathroom and prayed alone and felt that everything would be fine. then they got there a bit later and lider was in a white shirt and said he was gonna baptize her. the baptism went well and then afterwards lider gave his testimony, and said that they had passed some difficult times but they were able to overcome and had come out even stronger. it really reinforced in my mind that Satan does attack us in vital points in our lives, but that the wisdom of God truly is greater than the cunning of the devil, and that if we trust in Him we'll come out stronger.

we taught sergio and he came to the baptism but not to church. he said he'll start coming regularly when God gives him another job or makes possible that he can change his schedule in his current job.

Isaías is progressing well and is gonna get baptized on the 25th. we got to church a bit early so we decided to go around to get a few investigators that lived nearby. we went to get Isaías and nobody came out of his house. we left and went around the corner and saw him waiting outside the house of his member friend to go to church! it was pretty cool.

a few weeks ago, a young guy (José) that speaks english contacted us in the street. he said he wanted to know more about Joseph Smith but that we couldnt visit him in his house cus his family is really catholic. we gave him our number and he said he would call us to set an appointment to teach him in the chapel. he never called us and i thought he was just another one of those people that contacts us just to practice their english a bit. then this week we saw him again and set an appointment. turns out he's kind of atheist but we had a pretty great lesson and he does have a desire to believe. he came to the baptism on saturday but didnt end up waking up to come to church on sunday.

we also found a few other pretty great investigators just by contacting. we contacted an older guy sitting in the street and sat down with him and had a brief lesson on prophets. we left him with a pamphlet of lesson 1 and then left. on friday we went back and he had read the whole pamphlet. he asked us what we thought about people who get baptized multiple times. we read in Acts 19 where it talks about the 12 people that Paul rebaptized after realizing that their baptism probably hadn't been done by somebody who had authority and in Moroni 6 where it says that they should be sincere. he didnt really like that people get baptized two or three times. we gave him a book of Mormon and there was just a moment where he felt the Spirit really strong and thanked us for visiting him. we invited him to be baptized on the 1 of November and he replied '' if i only say sí, it would be very little. i'd like to be able to express myself better, but the only thing i can say is sí.'' it was pretty incredible to see how the Spirit changed his thoughts so much and helped him know that we have valid baptisms in the Church of Jesus Christ. he didnt end up coming to church but i wanted to share about that lesson cus it was great.

y ese no más. I know that Christ lives and that he is my and our Savior.

Elder Woodfield

October 6, 2014

this week was pretty great, even though we didnt really do much. on wednesday we had a meeting for all the companionships that are training, and in the evening we had a branch activity, so we only had an hour and a half to do proselyting. on thursday we had a baptismal interview of Gianina (the wife of a recent convert. she got baptized when she was eight but it wasnt registered so her membership records dont exist. she doesnt remember the details that would make it possible to just make a new record so we have to baptize her again) and missionary correlation meeting so we didnt have a whole lot of time that day either (but my comp and the comp of the district leader went to teach Isaías while we were in the interview). friday was a normal day and saturday and sunday we had conference. we had to go to a different chapel to watch so we couldnt go visit investigators or anything between sessions so we didnt have time to work those days either.

but anyways we were gonna have a baptism yesterday in between conference sessions, of Gianina, but her and her recently born daughter both got sick so they couldnt come.

on saturday we went to get Isaías (and his member friends) to go to the conference but they couldnt come. we went to get Cristina (who hasnt been to church in a while) to come and she came to the first session. she left after to take her kids home and then come back but didnt end up showing up again. Sergio came for the second and the priesthood session and saturday, and the first session on sunday, but when he found out that we were gonna watch it in english,  he wanted to come watch it with us so i'm not sure how well he understood. but he said he liked it. on sunday morning we went to go help Lider (gianinas husband) give a blessing to his daughter so that they could come if she got better and gianina could get baptized, and it ended up taking a lot longer than i thought it would. the bus to go to the conference was gonna leave from our chapel at 12:30 and we left Liders house at 12:25. i was a bit worried about Isaías, who we had planned to pass by before going to the church to get on the bus, as we werent going to have time to get him, but as we walked up to the church, i saw him sitting in the first row of the bus with a shirt and tie. i jumped on and was also pleasantly surprised to see Francisco, who's been working a lot on sundays and hasnt been able to come to church a whole lot. then after we got on, a big less active family got to church and got on just before it left. it was pretty great.

apart from the conference there wasnt really a lot of exciting stuff that happened this week. Gianina's gonna get baptized on saturday if everything goes well, and Isaías two weeks later.

I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God, and that he and his counselors and the Twelve Apostles have all been called of God to lead his church, under his direction and in the manner that he has established. it really saddens me to see people just go to one or two sessions of GC when they can go to all, and that they just dont fully appreciate the guidance and blessings that are available. i invite all of you to study carefully the talks spoken in this conference and evaluate, as one of the speakers invited, your spiritual well being, asking yourself, ''Is it I?'' be sure to always face towards God, and not worry about the honors or praise of men. I share this testimony and invitation in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Woodfield

September 29, 2014

this week was pretty dang swell. we were able to get the participation of the members a heck of a lot more than before and saw miracles.

on tuesday a less active family called us and asked us to go to give them blessings as a couple were sick. we called the branch president to ask him to send someone and he asked us to go, so we went and gave two blessings and taught a bit about the responsibilities that come with blessings from the Lord. the mom (who is the most active member) said she wanted to go and wanted her kids to go but she had been sick so nobody had gone for a while. on sunday almost the whole family came, even a few who are more less active than the rest.

on wednesday we saw a lot of miracles. we went and taught one of our investigators, Jose, who we found a couple weeks ago. we found him contacting, set an appointment, and when we went back he was waiting for us (that almost never happens). hes a really good guy, and is active in the Catholic church but said he really liked talking to us, and that he realized that a lot of churches do a lot of things that dont go along with the bible. the first time we taught him we invited him to be baptized but he didnt accept. the second time we left him a book of mormon with 3 Nephi 11 marked, and the third time he had read all of it, as well as the introduction and the testimonies, and he accepted a baptismal date! he couldnt come to church on sunday cus he was on vacation but it was awesome.

then we went to the church in the evening for fellowshipping night (a weekly activity here in paraguay for all the branch members) and one of the youth was there with her friend, Isaías. we had taught him before (in my first transfer here) but he hadnt really showed much interest. but on wednesday his friend called us over and said hey Isaías wants to be a member of the church! so we started to teach him again and its going pretty great. he didnt come to sacrament meeting on sunday, but he lives close to the church so we went to his house before the classes started and he came for the last two hours.

also in the fellowshipping night they were doing a practice for the primary program. Cristina, a recent convert, had invited a friend (Elena) to go to the activity and her son participated in the practice. we contacted her friend and taught her on friday and had an awesome lesson with her. we taught about being clean of her sins through the gospel and she said ''well i dont know if i can get baptized twice but if i can i want to do it again, like Christ did it.'' it was amazing. she didnt come to church on sunday and we dont know why, cus Cristina didnt come either.

we taught Martin and Giseña again too on saturday and they came to church again, and Giseñas daughter was in the primary program. it seemed like she liked the primary program quite a bit, but she still doesnt want a baptismal date. we gave her a teaching record so that she can see all that she's learning and all that she's progressing so i hope that that will help.

it's starting to get a bit hotter again. i think thats all. here you go.

Elder Woodfield

September 22, 2014

hola

this week was pretty great, and we saw a couple miracles. on tuesday we had a zone conference, and our zone was assigned the special musical number. i'm the best piano player in the zone so i had to play the piano, but it turned out pretty good. we sang count your blessings. we got home at like four and had to study so we got to go out and work for just like two hours, and we unfortunately didnt get all our contacts.

on wednesday i did divisions with the district leader which was pretty cool.

on friday we went to visit a former investigator, Luz. i found her contacting once with Elder Blackett, and then we looked at her teaching record when we got back and saw that she had stopped investigating cus her dad said he wouldnt pay her college anymore if she kept listening to the missionaries, so we didnt end up going back. this week we ended up visiting her again, and we talked about the faith, and that faith comes before miracles. that she needs to get baptized with faith and God will provide so that she can keep studying. shes studying medicine and has seen a lot of people die, so she asked why God doesnt do miracles and save those people, and my comp shared a story about his cousin, who had a rare genetic uncurable disease (which she had heard of) who was healed by a priesthood blessing. after that she accepted a baptism date and it was a super spiritual lesson but then she didnt end up coming to church.

on saturday we went to visit Sergio. he was able to get work off yesterday to come to church, but he said that he had talked to his boss and that only very rarely would he be able to get work off on sundays. theres a member trying to help him look for a job, so hopefully he'll be able to stop working on sundays completely soon. but he came yesterday and he liked it.

also on saturday we were able to visit a part member family that we've been trying to visit for a while. about two months ago, we asked a member for a reference and she told us to visit her brother (Martin), who is a member, and his girlfriend(Giseña), who's not. we passed by briefly and talked to them a few times, but theyre only home at night and on weekends, and Giseña's grandma is sick so they usually go at night to the hospital to visit her so its a bit tough to sit down and teach them. so this week we were walking by and we saw them at home and went to talk to them. Martin had crashed his car so we gave him the number of a recent convert who's a mechanic and set an appointment with him to visit them on saturday. we went, got to know them a bit, and taught lesson 1. Giseña liked it all, accepted baptism, but wouldnt accept a date. but they came to the sacrament meeting yesterday and they liked it. also Giseñas daughter has been coming to church a lot with Martins sister, so she's gonna be in the primary presentation this coming sunday so theres a good chance they come again.

also im sure youre all eager to know how bernardita is doing but something happened and we're not teaching her anymore.

theres another less active member,Cristian, that i've visited various times during my time here whose wife, Susana, and daughter, Azucena, arent members. we always share with them and they always say that they cant go this sunday, but they will the next. this week we saw that he had taken down the front wall, so we asked if he wanted help to rebuild it. we went today to help them and he said that he's gonna go this sunday. he said he's gonna be working late and not get home til the morning, but that he's gonna make the sacrifice and go. it was pretty cool and shows how much a simple service can help people to see that we really care.

but anyways i think thats everything exciting that happened.

Elder Woodfield