December 8, 2014

hola

this week was pretty great. we had a ton of lessons and found a lot of new investigators, and had one investigator in church.

a couple weeks ago i wrote about Elva, a former investigator that my companion and i had visited. we taught her twice and then she said she didnt want us to visit her quite as often (like once a month). but in the two lessons one of her relatives who is visiting from the interior was present as well. she almost doesnt speak spanish, but she showed up to church yesterday! i set an appointment with her speaking guarani, but neither i or my comp speak enough guarani to teach, so im not sure how we're gonna teach her. 

but anyways this week we basically just went out and watched the video ''He is the Gift'' with everybody. in one occasion we got to a house where we had previously contacted and set an appointment, the guy came out and said he didnt really want to listen to us. we asked if we could go in just for 5 minutes, we saw the video with him, and asked if we could come back another day and he accepted happily.

Agustin couldnt come to church again cus he's having problems with his ex girlfriend, but he's reading a ton in the book of mormon. every time we go he asks us to leave him a chapter to read, then he reads it, and rereads it, and then goes back and reads again chapters that we had left him previously. but he's going on vacation til january so we wont be able to visit him for a while.

on thursday we had divisions, and i went to the area of the District leader, and discovered that two of the siblings of Thalia (who i baptized in my first area) got baptized (she lives with her grandma, and the rest of her family lives here)

it's getting a bit hotter again

also i dont think i ever mentioned that a few weeks ago i ate a chicken heart. it was pretty good.

Elder Woodfield

December 1, 2014

hola

this week was pretty good. the first few days were a bit slow but then things started picking up a bit. we were teaching a bit but not really finding anybody really great. 

then on friday we went out with a member, we were walking around after all our plans had fallen through, and a little kid said hi to us. we decided to contact his house, and his mom came out and went back to grab her keys, to open the gate. we taught about the Atonement and baptism and she accepted a baptismal date but then didnt end up coming to church.

on saturday we were also out contacting and we contacted a guy (Agustin) and let us in and said he had a friend that was a member. we taught him about the Atonement and the Gospel, and he asked us if he could get baptized again. we explained how baptism should be done and he accepted a date too, but said he wasnt gonna be able to come to church. yesterday we visited him again and he had read in the book of Mormon but is gonna go on vacation for Christmas so he wont be able to get baptized this month.

on friday we had a zone training about the iniciative that the Church is doing for Christmas, ''He is the Gift''. (christmas.mormon.org) we watched the video and talked about everything the church is doing with this, and it was an incredibly edifying experience. the video is quite powerful, and even when we werent watching the video, i felt the Spirit testifying strongly to me that this is the Church of Christ, that the Church exists to grow and help more people become worthy of attaining Celestial glory, and that God is hastening his work in preparation for the Second Coming of Christ. I invite you all to watch the video, think a bit about how you can embrace a bit more fully the Gift that God gave us of his only begotten Son in your lives, and then to share that Gift with others.

Elder Woodfield

November 24, 2014

hola

this week we had someone in church! wooo! a member brought his friend, carlos, who we've taught once. he's gone to church a lot, but doesnt want to accept a baptismal date cus he says he wants to learn more.

also we found a few great new investigators this week. on thursday the other elders here gave us a reference (speaking of that, i dont think i ever mentioned that Elder Pacheco, who was my companion in reducto, is now here in obrero) that a member gave to them. we went to find him and he came out and just let us in, and told us that he had asked one of his friends who is mormon on facebook how he could find out more about the mormon church. said friend lives far away, but told him to go visit her so he could go to church there. he said it was too far, and she said there was a church here too. so he went to church here (during the week) and found it closed but a member saw him and went and talked to him. then we went and he said he wanted to go to church and get baptized, and we had an awesome lesson. on sunday we went before church and clapped a ton but he never came out, and then he wasnt home in the afternoon either so we dont know why he couldnt go but i'm pretty sure he's gonna get baptized. that also strengthened my testimony that the field truly is white and ready for harvest. theres a lot of people that we can find and teach and try to convince that the church is true, and we can spend a lot of time trying to help those people, but there are other people that actually want to get baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, that we just have to find and invite them to do it. so sometimes we teach the people we want to teach and as ourselves why we're not having success, and it's because sometimes the people we want to teach arent the people that God wants us to teach.

on thursday afternoon we had planned to do a service with Martin but he called us during lunch and cancelled, so we had nothing planned for most of the afternoon. we prayed to go out and i asked God to guide us and help us find things to do, and a person that i had contacted 3 months ago who we were never able to teach came into my mind. we went to their house and contacted their mom. we couldnt teach cus there were no men, but we invited her to baptized in the contact and she said she wanted to. then i told her that the devil was going to put obstacles in her path so that she couldnt be baptized. she said she was going to go to church and that we could go to teach her sunday afternoon. she didnt come, and we went afterwards and she said that she had gotten really sick, and then remembered what i had said. so now she's planning on going next week sí o sí, and she wants us to teach and baptized her 12 children (8 of them are adopted)

also on sunday in the class of Elders Quorum we talked about prayer, and how God is so courteous that he's not going to stick his nose in our business and change stuff up unless we ask him too. so i realized that a lot of times when i pray fervently for other people and nothing happens, it's not because i dont have faith or because God's not listening to me, it's because that person isnt praying for or doesnt want the thing that im praying for. so im going to start inviting my investigators to pray so that God will help them to read and go to church and get baptized - cus then God will be able to change them and help them, when it's something that they want and something that they ask for.

also my companion isnt contagious

Elder Woodfield

November 17, 2014

hola

this week we had someone in church! wooo! a member brought his friend, carlos, who we've taught once. he's gone to church a lot, but doesnt want to accept a baptismal date cus he says he wants to learn more.

also we found a few great new investigators this week. on thursday the other elders here gave us a reference (speaking of that, i dont think i ever mentioned that Elder Pacheco, who was my companion in reducto, is now here in obrero) that a member gave to them. we went to find him and he came out and just let us in, and told us that he had asked one of his friends who is mormon on facebook how he could find out more about the mormon church. said friend lives far away, but told him to go visit her so he could go to church there. he said it was too far, and she said there was a church here too. so he went to church here (during the week) and found it closed but a member saw him and went and talked to him. then we went and he said he wanted to go to church and get baptized, and we had an awesome lesson. on sunday we went before church and clapped a ton but he never came out, and then he wasnt home in the afternoon either so we dont know why he couldnt go but i'm pretty sure he's gonna get baptized. that also strengthened my testimony that the field truly is white and ready for harvest. theres a lot of people that we can find and teach and try to convince that the church is true, and we can spend a lot of time trying to help those people, but there are other people that actually want to get baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, that we just have to find and invite them to do it. so sometimes we teach the people we want to teach and as ourselves why we're not having success, and it's because sometimes the people we want to teach arent the people that God wants us to teach.

on thursday afternoon we had planned to do a service with Martin but he called us during lunch and cancelled, so we had nothing planned for most of the afternoon. we prayed to go out and i asked God to guide us and help us find things to do, and a person that i had contacted 3 months ago who we were never able to teach came into my mind. we went to their house and contacted their mom. we couldnt teach cus there were no men, but we invited her to baptized in the contact and she said she wanted to. then i told her that the devil was going to put obstacles in her path so that she couldnt be baptized. she said she was going to go to church and that we could go to teach her sunday afternoon. she didnt come, and we went afterwards and she said that she had gotten really sick, and then remembered what i had said. so now she's planning on going next week sí o sí, and she wants us to teach and baptized her 12 children (8 of them are adopted)

also on sunday in the class of Elders Quorum we talked about prayer, and how God is so courteous that he's not going to stick his nose in our business and change stuff up unless we ask him too. so i realized that a lot of times when i pray fervently for other people and nothing happens, it's not because i dont have faith or because God's not listening to me, it's because that person isnt praying for or doesnt want the thing that im praying for. so im going to start inviting my investigators to pray so that God will help them to read and go to church and get baptized - cus then God will be able to change them and help them, when it's something that they want and something that they ask for.

also my companion isnt contagious

Elder Woodfield

November 9, 2014

this week was a bit slow. we had to go to the hospital a couple times for my companion, and on thursday we had a zone training, so we didnt have quite as much time to work as normal.

but anyways it was hot this week, and the most exciting things that happened were last monday, and yesterday. on monday we went to contact a reference that a member from another ward had given us, of a family whose daughter was supposedly possessed with an evil spirit. we went and visited them, but the daughter didnt want to come out. but we taught them and left them a book of mormon and it was interesting. then after that lesson we had a family home evening scheduled with an inactive family that we had found the week before, in the house of a relative. we went and found their apartment building, and there were people moving out, with a big truck full of stuff. i thought to myself ''oh hey there's somebody moving. it's a good thing we have a set appointment and that it's not the family that we're going to visit.'' then we rang their bell and they came down and said that they were, in fact, moving. their next door neighbor is getting into black magic stuff, like reading cards and stuff, and is talking to the kids of the family too, so they decided to move. so then we were walking around with nothing to do, and we saw a guy (Mariano) enter into his house so we decided to contact him. we ended up going in and teaching him. he visited the church a few times a long time ago, and accepted a baptism date. but then he couldnt come to church yesterday cus his sister went to the hospital. on thursday we went to visit the family with the possessed girl again, and when we got there we found Mariano there too, so we taught him and Irma, who was the most interested out of the three people that we taught in that family, and he actually helped us teach Irma about baptism (not everything he said was completely correct, but it was still pretty cool).

on wednesday we ate lunch with Martin and Giseña, and they said that they had talked about getting married, and were thinking that December would be a good time. we told them that there's gonna be transfers next week and they said that they were gonna think about getting married earlier (this saturday), but when we went saturday they werent there and Giseña's still pregnant so they didnt come to church on sunday, so we're not sure what they decided on.

and then yesterday we were out proselyting and all our plans fell. in my second week in this area, when i did divisions here, i didnt really know anybody so we spent a lot of time just looking for inactive members and we talked with the secretary of one but after that i forgot when she had said that we could find the member home, so i never went back. then when we found the other inactive family last week that we had the family home evening scheduled with for monday, we talked a bit with him about music and playing piano in sacrament meeting. his daughter plays piano, and i mentioned that we were looking for someone who could play piano in sacrament meeting after i'm gone, and he said that in that family who i had previously looked for there was another girl who also played piano. so then they came to my mind on sunday so we went to visit them. Maxima (the mom) came out and greeted us warmly, and invited us to come in. we asked if there was a male older than twelve and she said her son had just turned twelve on thursday! it was pretty cool. so we went in and ate cake and had a cool lesson. we invited them to come to church on sunday, so that her son could get the aaronic priesthood and pass the sacrament and her daughter could play the piano. 

and i think thats everything exciting that happened this week. chau

Elder Woodfield

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