Thursday, December 18, 2014

Wednesday, December 17, 2014 - Week 69
 
Hey! One week until Christmas!! I´m sure you guys are gonna have a great time together! So it´s been a good week. A woman we’re teaching is doing great. She´s still going strong without coffee. I´m so proud of her. I really think she´ll be ready to be baptized in a few weeks. We had 11 people in church on Sunday, including a family we’ve been teaching. I was so happy when they showed up. We´re going to teach them tonight so we´ll see what happens. I really hope they continue to progress. We also have this guy.. i can´t remember if I´ve told you about him, but he´s super awesome. He´s come to church the last 2 weeks and says he loves it. We left him an assignment to read 3 nephi 11 this past week and he read it several times and had it practically memorized and prayed about it. So we put a date for Jan 24. He´s really awesome. We have our branch Christmas party on Friday! I´m really excited! We´re having a feast and the primary kids are surprising everyone with a run way show.. they have to bring all sorts of clothes... church, beach. formal, etc. I´m sure it will be super cute. Yesterday we had a multi zone conference for Christmas! Each zone prepared something to present. It was super funny. There were midget dances, skits, songs, videos. It was hilarious. We did a skit that a new kid just got to the mission Dec 24 and didn´t want to be there and wanted to go home for Christmas. but his trainer told him he would have the best Christmas ever and then we broke into singing winter wonderland mixed with don´t worry be happy and then he was happy to be in the mission. It was really cute. After all the performances we got a huge feast from Pres and Sis Douglas: turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls, salad, and candy cane cake for dessert! It was SOOO good. Then we had the meeting and learned about how to know Christ and how to become like Peter and then had a testimony meeting, and a musical devotional at the end. It was a great day. We had to sleep over with some other sisters in Santiago cuz we were far from home and there weren´t any buses to get back. So then today we went to calle de sol where all the tourist shopping is and did some shopping. I wanted to buy a tshirt but I didn´t find one i liked. I just did some shopping for our zone Christmas party next Wednesday. We´re doing a gift exchange and having a Christmas lunch and watching Christmas movies. It will be so fun. And since we´re the ¨princesses¨ we just have to bring the rice and they will all be bringing something else and chipping in 100 pesos to buy chicken. :) I guess it´s pretty good being the only sisters now. Haha. I FINALLY got my journal back from Tamboril. It´s been there for 9 months. Now i´m super stressed out to get it to everyone in just 2 months but I´ve already gotten it to like 4 people in 4 days so I just gotta keep bugging people about it. lol. Thanks for signing me up for housing. I´m convincing more and more people to go to BYUI here. Haha. I´m excited though. But just one week til I get to talk to you guys! Well I guess i´ll talk to you Wednesday by email and then skype on Thursday. lol. Love you all!
 
Hermana Woolf

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

                             Went to McDonalds today.

                      The house we painted last week.

                   Huge fruit that looks like a pickle


Wednesday, December 10, 2014 - Week 68

Hey! Wow December is going really fast! We´re almost in Christmas already! So in the mission we´re doing something really awesome. Have you guys seen the video the church put out for Christmas? I don´t know what it´s called in English. In Spanish it´s El es la Dadiva. He is the Gift or something? It´s really great about the meaning of Christmas. We´re giving out cards with information to watch it online to everyone and we have a DVD of it to bring to people´s houses. If you haven´t seen it, go watch it. And share it on FB if you want! They gave us permission to get on to post the link, but I feel too weird about that. And too much temptation. Haha. But go watch it! So it´s been a good week. Emily and Johan are doing so awesome! They are super active. They go to all the activities and come to church every week. Emily will be giving her talk this week in church so that means her mom and stepdad will come again! Another lady we’re teaching is doing really great too! Last week we talked about the word of wisdom and she told us she was drinking coffee every day. We put a goal with her to only drink 5 times this week. We went back again yesterday and she gave it up completely!!! She hasn´t even had it once in the whole week! She says her head hurts a lot but when she decides to do something, she does it. I am so happy. I was worried she wouldn´t be able to give it up before her date, but she is awesome. She has changed completely. She comes to church every single week and is progressing perfectly for January! More good news... We went to teach another man and his family on Saturday. We talked about the law of chastity. He needs to get divorced and then get married to his current wife. Well he said he has a goal to do it. Here to get divorced it´s 15,000 pesos which is like a million dollars for a poor Dominican. Well I made some calls and found a lady that is a member that does them practically for free. Like only 2,000 pesos!!! I´m so excited to tell him. He´s gonna be so happy! AND he said he will take another man (who needs a ride) to church every week!! The good news just keeps coming and coming. I feel so blessed. On Monday we had exchanges and I went to visit another family. They haven´t been progressing for some time now and I went with the plan to drop them. But I felt the spirit really strong to just explain everything very frankly and I put a goal with them for 2 weeks. They have to put in their effort for just 2 weeks to read the BOM every day, pray about what we´ve taught, and come to church. If in 2 weeks, they don´t have an answer, or we feel they haven´t put in their effort, we´re not going back. It was really hard. I really love that family. But that´s about it for the week. So for Christmas, I found someone with a webcam to be able to skype. I haven´t asked him yet about hangout so we´ll see if we can get it to work, but what time works best for you guys? I also need to talk to the elders and my companion to see what time they are going to talk to see when I can. But I promise on Wednesday I´ll have an answer. I didn´t know so many will be going there for Christmas! I´m sure it will be lots of fun! Haha yeah our zone is treating us really good. I gotta say though, it was weird in our meeting on Monday, just the two of us girls. Haha. But it´s good. We have a lot of cool people in the zone. And we´re already planning lots of fun things for Christmas together... gift exchange, Christmas movie and lunch, singing at a hospital. I´m excited! I hope you all have a great week! Can´t wait to talk to you soon! Love you!

Hermana Woolf

Thursday, December 4, 2014

                       A girl in the branch did Hermana Woolf's hair...pretty!

                    The children who were in the Sacrament Meeting Program

                       Hermana Woolf's Thanksgiving feast!

                         Hermana Woolf's zone
Wednesday, December 3, 2014 - Week 67

Happy December everyone! Wow it´s almost Christmas! It so doesn´t feel like it! I still gotta figure out how I´m going to skype you guys. But now 3 of the 4 of us in this area are Americans so I´m sure we´ll be able to figure something out. So yeah as you know today was transfers, but as you also know training is 3 months so I´m still with my daughter. I´m pretty positive I´ll just finish with her here. I CANNOT BELIEVE I´M ON MY SECOND TO LAST TRANSFER! :((((( And Christmas always goes by super fast so these last couple months are gonna fly. I´m excited to see all of you again, but I wish I could stay too. And I´m a little scared to go back to real life. Ha. Our zone like I told you is now, just us two sisters and 14 elders.. it will be interesting... my zone leader told me we would be the ¨princesses of the zone¨ but I´m pretty sure they´re just gonna wanna play football every week. Haha. But this has been a good week. We´ve done a lot of service. We helped build a house and we painted a house. (everyone I mean EVERYONE paints their houses in December.) It looks awesome though! When I can take a pic I´ll send it to you. Things are good with our investigators. We´re mostly focusing on Ivelice right now. I really think she´ll be ready in January. She told us yesterday that she feels she´s progressing toward her date. She´s come the last 5 weeks in a row to church. It´s awesome. Her husband is really happy. On Sunday we had the primary program! It was sooo cute!! There are only like 15 kids but they all did so great! Each one had to memorize an article of faith.. it was amazing. Even 6 year olds got up there and had their whole AOF memorized! And almost all of them had little talks, including Johan. He did awesome! His mom and stepdad came! It was really special. Yesterday was my daughter´s bday. I tried to make it special. I had the house decorated when she woke up with her favorite stuff... chips, twix, and soda. Haha. Then at night I surprised her in the church with a bunch of members. We ate sandwiches and had a cake and we sang. I think she had a good time. But sounds like everything went great for Thanksgiving and surprising Maureah!! Wish I could have been there! And you´ve got lots of activities coming up! I´m really excited for the Christmas Devotional! Well I love you all! I hope you have a great week!

Hermana Woolf

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - Week 66

HEY! Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow! Wow you guys have 2 dinners! You´re going to be STUFFED! Haha. Been there done that. Christmas last year was so crazy. 3 dinners the same day. Thanks for all the pics! Looks like you´re having a great time in Utah! And you even got snow! I really wish I could see some snow right now. lol. Well the baptism went great on Saturday! We went to go pick up Emily and Johan and their mom and it was so cute! Emily and Johan opened the door so happy and looking so good! Johan had his hair slicked with a white shirt and suit coat and Emily with a super pretty dress and her hair done. I forgot to take a pic. :( We got to the church and they immediately changed into their white clothes. But I got some good pics. They both shared their testimonies afterward and Johan said he wants to be a missionary one day. :) Their mom came again on Sunday for the confirmation and had a great experience! She hasn´t been to church in like 7 years so that was awesome! And Sunday is the primary presentation so she´s coming to see Johan and then next week Emily has a talk to she´ll have to come again! Maybe she´ll just end up coming back all together! We have high hopes. We also got Alexis to church!!!!!! Wow it was so awesome! We asked our inactive that´s coming back a little to take him and he said yes. It all worked out great and Alexis had a great time! He wants to go every Sunday and be baptized! Wow he is a golden investigator. Ivelice came again to church. We went yesterday with a returned missionary that´s friends with her and he helped a lot. We got a reference from a member from another town of this guy that lives in our area and we went and visited him for the second time this week. He is AWESOME! This friend gave him a Book of Mormon before we met him and he´s reading it a ton. He was explaining to us about the plates and Joseph Smith and everything. He has so many questions. At the end we had to cut it off cuz we were going so long, but we think he has a ton of potential. So you know how I told you that Nene was leaving this week? Well he was supposed to leave on Tuesday. So we planned a huge FHE with everyone in the branch at his house on Monday night. Well he got a call Monday afternoon that he had to go right then. He came and said goodbye to us and then left. It was so sad. We´re gonna miss him a ton. Well transfers are next week, but training is 3 months so we won´t have changes. But the zone will be changing a ton. President is white washing the other 2 sisters areas so now we´ll be the only 2 in the zone with 14 elders. :( But it will be good. Well, have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I am SOOO thankful for all of you and love you!!!
Hermana Woolf

                   Emily and Johan's baptism!


                       HLJ rings (CTR)
                     A visit to the beach in Puerto Plata

                       with Sister Farris

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - Week 65

Hey! How´s it going? It´s been a good week. Emily and Johan are SOO excited to be baptized this Saturday! The members are really getting them involved. The primary is having their presentation on the 30th and Johan has several parts in it... singing, recite an article of faith, and a small talk. Emily is already signed up for a talk in church in like 2 weeks! Haha. But they love the church and I know they will stay strong. Their parents are coming to the baptism and confirmation Saturday and Sunday. Their mom is a member and has been in a loooong time.. years. So I´m hoping this will be her chance to feel the spirit again and decide to come back. Their stepdad hasn´t really participated much in the church up to this point. I´m not sure if missionaries have ever talked to him, but he seems a little interested so we´ll see what happens. I would love to help that family be in the gospel together. I´ll send pics next week of the baptism. We´ve had some very important talks this week with some people we´ve been teaching for a long time. I think we´re going to have to let go of a lady and her family. I love them so much, but they don´t seem interested in progressing. They aren´t putting in their part. But we put a baptismal date with another woman on January 10. I really think she could be ready. She´s come 3 weeks in a row now to church! She´s progressing a ton! So there´s this lady, I´m not sure if I´ve told you about her. We contacted her house a couple weeks ago and she is PERFECT! She´s looking for a religión to join and is super interested. Well this week she told us that she´s also studying with a Jehovah´s Witness and the lady told her that she has to choose between us... She has a ton of time with this woman so she felt bad. When we visited her she started to say that we couldn´t keep coming but wanted to continue. By the end of the lesson she was really unsure what to do. We told her to come to church on Sunday and then make her decisión and she wants to come. She said she feels really good when we teach her so I hope she feels something special in church if she comes. She would be an amazing member. A man we’re teaching couldn´t come last week to church since he had an operation but he wants to come so bad! His brother has diabetes and didn´t treat it and so now this week he has to get his leg cut off. Alexis says if it´s before Friday, he´s coming to church. He´s paying a taxi if he has to. But we´re going to see if Mariano our inactive can take him. We´ll see. He really wants to be there for Nene´s last Sunday. I hope he can come! We´re getting really sad that Nene is leaving next week. He´s come to be a really good friend. It will be weird when he´s gone. I hear you´re Friends with him on FB now mom. Haha. He´s funny. He´ll be a great missionary though. Today I got to go to the beach for pday!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I´ve been waiting my whole mission to go! We went to have a sister meeting and got permission to go to Puerto Plata. It was so fun! I´ll send pics next week. I´m totally burnt. Haha and you guys are freezing. So funny. All the plans to come get me sound good. It´s weird to think about it. I feel like I still have lots of time. But I know 3 months are just gonna fly. That will be good to leave Sunday morning. We can go to church. I think it would be best to stay in the CCM the night when we go to the temple because it´s a long drive. And it´s like 200 pesos or like 5 bucks for all of us. Haha. super cheap. Look into the tourists sites that Pres Douglas told you. I don´t know anything about that. All I´ve heard are áreas that are pretty, but I don´t know what to do there. But we´ll figure out the details with time. Congratulate Laura for me! And Chelsea too! That is so awesome about the seminary kids and the breakfast! I´m sure you loved that Mom! That was really sweet! I love you all so much! Have a great Thanksgiving!

Hermana Woolf

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - Week 64

Hi everyone! How are things going? This week has been really good. We´ve had some of the highest numbers I´ve had my whole mission. We´re working really hard. When Elder Cornish came a while ago he told us we should try having an invitation day in our branches and wards so I decided it was a good idea. I talked to the branch president and we set it up for last sunday. We invited the whole world and the members too and we saw the fruits! On sunday we had 98 people in church (our normal attendance is like 65)! It was SOOO awesome! People just kept coming and coming and we had to keep getting more chairs from other rooms. Our chapel was completely full! That was one of the coolest experiences I´ve had in the mission. Just us had 7 investigators and 7 inactives there. I hope the members felt really good too and will want to continue inviting people every week! I really want to hit 100 one week. Emily and Johan are continuing to progress and will be ready for baptism next Saturday! They are really excited! They even gave us a reference of one of their friends and she came the first sunday. A lady we’ve been teaching came to church again on Sunday! We had a super good talk with her yesterday asking her what she believed and how she felt and she honestly has a testimony of everything we´ve taught her. We asked her to pray about it with real intent so I´m hoping she´ll get an answer this week. Mariano came with his whole family on Sunday! Alexis was going to pay the taxi (300 pesos which is a ton for them here) but he hurt his foot and couldn´t come. Yesterday we had a zone conference with all the missionaries in Santiago. It was so good! We heard from Pres and Sister Douglas and the assistants and a few others. I learned a lot. And we got a Thanksgiving feast! The class we´re doing with the members is going really well. We do lots of practices and games to help them get involved and I really think they all are more confident to be member missionaries now. And they´re doing their homework and giving us references. :) Today we had another Santiago activity in the abandoned airstrip. It was really fun. The English class is going well. We had like 8 in the class this week. It´s mostly kids or teenagers but we also have a Haitain investigator of the elders come because he´s learning Spanish. But everything is great. Sounds like you had a great time with your FHE and the cooking class! Wow they´re just now getting snow in Rexburg? I thought they would have had some already. Looks like it was a lot though! Thanks for the pics. I´m glad Chelsea had her baby! He´s so cute! Have a great week!

Hermana Woolf

Thursday, November 6, 2014





Wednesday, November 5, 2014 - Week 63

Wow we´re in November already?? The months are flying! Thanks for all the Halloween pics! Everyone looked adorable! No one did anything here, but I bought some chocolate to celebrate. Haha. But this week has been great! We´re working really hard and seeing some of the fruits. We had 2 investigators except baptismal dates for the beginning of January but both need to get more of a desire to come to church still so we´ll see what happens. Emily and Johan are rockin it! They are brother and sister. 11 and 14 years old. Their mom is inactive but she´s going to come to their baptisms and confirmations so hopefully that will spark an interest to come back. She´s super great though! She´s really supporting them, helping them wake up in time and everything for church. I think they will stay strong. They both bore their testimonies on Sunday! I got the rings by the way! They are SOO cute! Thanks Mom! They will love them! Ivelice came this week to church! It was a total surprise! Anyways it was awesome! She left her colmado and just went. And she wants to go this Sunday too! Another that we’ve been teaching hasn´t come for a few weeks now. We haven´t been able to visit him. But we found out this week that he´s been working on Sundays so he couldn´t come. But Sunday was his last so he´s going to come this Sunday. He sent his kids to church though on Sunday. Another man we are teaching is so awesome! It´s such a hard circumstance because I can´t do anything. He wants to be baptized, but we can´t put a date because he can´t go to church... But he´s gotten to the point where he´s going to try to pay a taxi to go! That is dedication! I really hope it works out! So we had a service project on Saturday because it was the national service day. What did you guys do by the way? We went and built a house for a lady in our branch. Her house collapsed a few weeks ago. We had so many members there and non members too helping. It was so awesome. They got the whole house up by the end of the day! It was amazing! I started an English class this week. Everyone has been asking me to do it, so me and another elder are doing it. Only 4 came the first time, but hopefully more come this week. We had a meeting for the new missionaries yesterday. It was quite an adventure to get there. It has been raining SOOO much! To cross the street yesterday, I had to cross a river up to my knees. They don´t have drainage systems here. But we got there okay. The meeting was super great and I learned a lot about training. I´m glad my companion is very strong. Several of the other new girls were crying and saying they wanted to go home, etc. Pretty sure I was one of them too. Haha. But my daughter is doing really good with everything. And she´s progressing each day. We had to go home after with the assistants because the buses weren´t going out for the water in the streets. But we got really lucky because today was beautiful with lots of sun! We went to the monument with our zone and also to Wendys! We had so much fun! Also something cool happened to me last week! I ran into one of my old investigators from Tamboril! She moved to Santiago while I was still there and I didn´t hear from her again so I didn´t know what was going on. Well she told me she´s going to church in Santiago now and she wants to be baptized! She wants to go back to Tamboril to do it since she knows people better there. It was such awesome news! There really are people that you have an impact on and maybe never will know. I hope it all works out for her! So sounds like you guys have a big week planned with lots of fun stuff! It´s good to keep busy! Mom, don´t send me anything  for Christmas! If anything, the only thing I would want is some more little toys to give out to kids for Christmas. I ran out of what you sent me. But nothing else. I love all you guys! Get to see and talk to you next month! :) Have an awesome week!

Hermana Woolf

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Wednesday, October 29, 2014 - Week 62

daughter, mother, grandmother...sister on right trained Sister Woolf and sister on left Sister Woolf is now training


Hey fam! First of all, CONGRATULATIONS SCOTT AND MAUREAH!! Yay my first neice!!! I can´t wait to meet her! Wow so I just hit 14 months yesterday...... I CANNOT believe I only have 4 months left. It´s going too fast. Training is going.. good... It´s REALLY hard. But I´m hangin in there. It´s just very tiring because I basically do everything. My daughter is still really nervous and only says about 2 sentences in each lesson... which means A LOT of talking for me. But it´s good. I´m already seeing progress with her. Before I know it she´ll be teaching everything. Her mom is a member and her siblings, but the siblings are inactive. Her dad passed away a few years ago. She´s from Madrid. I´m sure you´re right. It must be hard to be a member in Europe. But besides that, things are good. We had stake conference this past weekend and Elder Cornish came. He gave a SUPER awesome talk. Well it wasn´t really a talk... he involved almost everyone in the congregation to help teach about missionary work. I´ll have to explain it to you more at the end of my mission. Emily and Johan are progressing super well for their baptisms! We are going over the lessons to prepare them for their interview and they knew EVERYTHING. I´m not even kidding. They are so ready. The Elders are going to baptize a girl that´s good friends with Emily the same day so that will be great! Our zone has changed a lot this transfer. We have so many Americans now and everyone is super cool! One of the sisters in our zone has been really sick this week and now she´s staying in the hospital. Our whole zone went and visited her today. Eva and her family are doing good. They still have lots of doubts so we´re just takin it slow with them. They still haven´t put a baptismal date yet so we´ll see what happens. This kid Oscar (our neighbor) that we visit, was sick the other day. He couldn’t eat his dinner and we showed up and he knew how much I love yuka and eggs (which was his dinner) so he gave it to me. Haha. Then he said, I´m gonna save my yuka and eggs every day for you cuz you love it so much! Haha. It was so cute. So thanks for sending all the pics! The boys look so cute! What is everyone doing for Halloween?? I want more pics next week! They don´t celebrate it here so I won´t be doing anything. Maybe I´ll buy a piece of chocolate though. Haha. And congrats mom on winning best pie! That´s so funny about Nene. Yeah he read me what you commented on his pic, mom so I could translate it for him. Lol. That was nice what he said. Yeah he´s my mission leader, that´s leaving on a mission. We´re gonna miss him a ton! Wow I´m so jealous Jamie got to see the piano guys! I would love to see them! Wow Dad I didn´t even know you had a wisdom tooth still! Haha. Why did you have to get it pulled after all these years? Don´t worry though. You´re still wise! Well I don´t have much time today, but I love you all! Have a great week!

Hermana Woolf

Friday, October 24, 2014

Wednesday, October 22, 2014 - Week 61

Hey fam! Well, looks like you heard the news before I could tell you.. but yep President Douglas asked me to train this transfer! I´m very excited. It´s been a little bit of a stressful week, but I´m hoping the Lord will help me through it. We had a trainers meeting on Monday and it scared me a little bit.. haha. they were like... if you mess up in the smallest little way, your companion will do exactly what you do and continue in that error for their whole mission. Haha. Wow....  A little intimidating, but hopefully I don´t make too many mistakes... My companion is Hermana Heredia. She is from Spain! Pretty cool! She seems really nice. She´s very outgoing and confident so that will make her a great missionary. Pray for me that I can do well. So that´s the reason I told you a couple weeks ago that I would only have 2 areas. President Douglas told me about a month ago that I would train, but I didn´t want to say anything until it was for sure. Training is 3 months and after I´m done, I´ll only have 1 transfer left (6 weeks) so it doesn´t really make any sense to take me out. I´ll probably just have 3 transfers with my daughter (sister that I train). But that´s fine. At least I´ll be able to know the people really well. Well this week has been good! The elders had 4 baptisms on Saturday and we had Emily and Johan and Eva and her family come to feel more confident for their own baptisms. They all really liked it! We had several people come to church on Sunday! Including 2 new families for the first time. It was great! Monday we were in the office ALL DAY! I had my meeting and my companion had a meeting for those that were finishing. Then we had interviews with Pres Douglas and then my companion took an English test. We got home at like 6. But we visited Emily and Johan and they are way more excited about their baptisms now! Thanks for sending the CTR rings! They will love them! We also visited Eva and her family with the Elders and the branch president and his wife. Alexis is really really progressing! He really wants to go to church, but we still don´t have an idea of how to get him there. He said yesterday that he doesn’t want to just find someone to take him once, but be able to continue going after that. I hope he can find someone. We had our missionary class with the members again yesterday. A ton came!! We had a lot of fun! I think they´re really getting excited! But thanks Mom for finding out about classes! That will work great to figure it out at Christmas. Can´t wait to hear about the sex of Scott and Maureah´s baby next week!!! I can´t believe I only have 4 months left. I don´t want it to end. Hopefully they don´t pass by SO fast. Well I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Woolf

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Wednesday, October 15, 2015 - Week 60

Hey everyone! Happy Wednesday! It´s been a great week and super busy! Emily and Johan are progressing really well for their baptisms next month. We watched the Testaments with them on Friday and with some members and they loved it! Emily even shared her testimony in sacrament meeting on Sunday! :) But I was wondering, they both have told me that they wish they had CTR rings (well but in spanish so HLJ rings) but the mission office doesn´t sell them. Only at the temple but the next time the branch is going is in December and I was hoping to give them some for their baptisms. Do you think you could send me some? I haven´t seen lots of different designs, but I know they will love whatever. Our mission leader Nene got his mission call this week!! He´s going to Honduras on November 26! I can´t believe how fast it is! How will he be able to get his passport and visa before then?? But we are soooo excited for him!! He´ll be a great missionary! Mariano came on Sunday to church and brought his wife Santa again (investigator) and their kids! I have high hopes for that family! Also a woman we´ve been teaching came. She´s from Haiti and doesn´t know much spanish, but my companion has mostly been teaching her and translating when she doesn´t understand. I´m not really sure how I´m going to be able to continue with her without my companion. It will be really hard. But I´ll try as long as she has the desire. I´m sure it wasn´t easy in church to understand everyone. That´s one thing that´s so hard here. There are so many haitains but no french or creol speaking branches so basically none of them can accept the gospel while they are here unless they learn spanish. Hopefully one day there will be branches though. Eva and her family didn´t come this week because they went to the country, but Martin is getting really interested! He´s always the most active in the lessions, asking questions and making comments. We´ve asked them to choose their baptismal date this week so hopefully they do and can follow through. They still need more time. Yesterday we started a class for the members to help them know how to be member missionaries. It´s something that Pres Douglas has started and is enforcing in ALL of the areas. It´s a 7 week program. We teach a class each week (for example: how to open your mouth, how to find references for the missionaries, how to participate in the missionary lessions, how to rescue inactives, etc.) It´s super great. It has practices, games, stories, etc. The first class went good. The members were really involved. We´re hoping for more next week. So I got your package on Saturday!! Thank you SOOOO much!! And the book you sent me, I already finished it! (Clay Christensen’s “The Power of Everyday Missionaries”. It was amazing! My companion is reading it now and is already like half way through. :) Wow I learned so much. I´m going to have to read it again but slower and take notes. Thank you! I also got letters and talks and halloween candy from Uncle Bob and Aunt Kathleen! It was so sweet of them to think of me! We also went and ate at Pricemart (basically a costco) with SO MANY MISSIONARIES! There had to be close to 100. All the missionaries that are finishing next week wanted to go and say goodbye to people and I don´t know why but there ended up being a ton there. I got to see lots of my friends! Oh Dad, I have a question for you... Do you know who Hector Martinez is? He played for the Texas Rangers for a very short time but now plays for the Yankees. I haven´t heard of him, but we´re teaching his family! Haha. Pretty cool. Well I love you all so much! Just 2 months until we get to skype! :) People are already celebrating Christmas here. Haha. Decorations and everything. So I´m taking advantage and starting to sing the christmas hymns in our lessions. Haha. It feels weird so early, but I love them. I think if I had brought Christmas music with me, I would have listened to it year round. lol. Anyways, have a great week! Love you!

Hermana Woolf

Sunday, October 12, 2014

A visit to Tamboril!
 




           Katherine (who converted last year) is going to serve a mission!

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Thursday, October 9, 2014 - Week 59

Hey! How is everyone?? Conference was great this past weekend! Saturday we had some difficulties and so I didn´t see much of the first session and the second one I watched in Spanish. It´s just not the same. Watching Elder Holland speak but not hearing his voice... haha. and the translators don´t put any emotion into it like he does. But it was good. Sunday we got the computer working and I got to see it all in English! I loved Elder Bednar´s talk! (probably because I´m a missionary) Haha but seriously. It was so good. We really don´t share the gospel to convert people to our church. It´s because we want to share the joy we have with them. There also seemed to be a theme of revelation and prophets on Sunday too. I feel like they are really trying to speak to the non-members more and more in Conference. Also didn´t you love that they have the members of the Seventy speak in their native languages now!? That´s so cool! I wish we could have heard it though and just had English subtitles. But overall it was amazing! We had a few people come, but not nearly as many as promised us they would... Haha. I guess it´s hard when there´s change. But hoping for more this Sunday. One investigator is having a hard time giving up coffee. I don´t think she really understands why it´s bad for her. Her two daughters have given it up completely though and her husband (who wasn´t present when we taught the Word of Wisdom but that we taught on Monday) also agreed to give it up. He was even explaining to us why it´s bad for our body. I hope the 3 of them can help her. I´m going strong on the soda! Some days it´s so hard, but I´m not just doing it for me. I´m doing it for someone else I love. It makes resisting it so much easier. But things are going well with them. It´s been kinda hard because if we go to their house and the dad isn´t there, we still teach the rest of the family, but then when he is there, we have to repeat everything so he´s caught up. But he´s showing a lot of interest and wants to go to church again this week. So this week the brother of a lady in the branch died. He´s been going through lots of operations and has been living in the hospital for a couple months, but they thought he was getting better. His death was a surprise. Like 15 of us got together and went and visited her the next day. Wow I´ve never experienced anything like that. She was sobbing and blaming herself for not being there and not doing more. It was really sad. I can´t imagine how that must feel. We just hugged her a lot and gave her loving words, but there wasn´t much we could do. Then we went and visited all her siblings that live close by too. I hope she could feel God´s love in that moment. But it´s so great to have a family in the church to help support each other. So yesterday, I got to go to Tamboril again!!! I love going to Tamboril! Since my comp is dying (ending her mission) in 2 weeks we got to go again to say goodbye. And 2 of my other comps are dying too so the 4 of us (Woolf, Monegro, Navas, and Pierre) all went together to visit everyone! We visited so many people! Like 10 houses! They were all so surprised to see all of us. Everyone is doing great! We did get some sad news though. The couple that was baptized aren´t going to be ready next month to go to the temple. They need to take the temple preparation class first and it would help to at least visit the temple once before going to get sealed! They don´t have much money though so I don´t know what will happen. There are 2 other couples in the branch that are preparing to get sealed too so they will be doing the class together. We´re going to plan for January now. Although, I have no idea how long the class takes... Do you know? I hope they can go while I´m still here. But we also got some good news! The girl that was baptized while I was in Tamboril wants to serve a mission!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She´s going to start her papers now and she can go out (earliest) in February (a year from her baptism). Wow I´m been so blessed to meet these people. Sometimes I get discouraged that I haven´t had a ton of baptisms, but one of my converts is going to get sealed, and the other is going on a mission! How can I be disappointed about that! They are such wonderful people! I´m so happy for them! I´ll get to visit them again in just 4 months. The time is flying. Thanks Mom for sending the package. I’ll be able to go and get it on Wednesday. Chikengunya has died down a ton. I almost never even hear that word anymore. Haha. It´s cuz EVERYONE has already had it and really the affects have gone away for almost all of them. I´m glad to hear seminary is going well and you get a bit of a break. Why isn´t there school on Friday and Monday? I actually did hear about Meet the Mormons! It came up on the LDS website so I got to see a trailer of it and see David Archuleta sing too! That´s my favorite EFY song! You´ll have to tell me how it is. Is it starting to get cold yet? Anyways, I love you all!! Have a wonderful week!
Hermana Woolf

 

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - Week 58

Hey! Happy October and General Conference week! How is everyone? Are you breakin out the 24 hour kits for you and dad, Mom? Haha. It must be weird not having any of the kids around. But that´s great that Scott and Maureah could visit this weekend! That must have been so fun! Sounds like the fair was great! Things are good here. It´s still broiling hot! Seriously! It´s October! But hopefully it cools down soon. I got sunburned today!! But we´ve been getting lots of rain too. Like pouring down, drenched head to toe, rain. But I really prefer being wet to being hot. Haha. So I didn´t get to watch the womens conference... :( The electricity went out right when we were starting it so we didn´t get to see it. But it will come in the Liahona. One family is really progressing. They came to church again on Sunday. We taught them about the word of wisdom on Monday and they all have problems with coffee. :/ So I´m not sure they will be able to be baptized on the date we put. It all depends how fast they can give it up. They all seemed willing to try. But I´m sure it´s very difficult. In the lession I got an impression to promise them that if they gave it up, I would give up soda. (not that it compares at all in difficulty) But it´s something I´m really addicted to so now I have to keep a commitment as well. Haha. Oh man it´s gonna be hard. You have no idea how much people drink soda in this country. And it doesn´t help that it´s the cheapest thing you can buy. But I´m gonna do it. I´m sure it will help with the losing weight challenge too. :) We had exchanges this week with the sister leaders. One of my best friends in the mission is my sister leader now and I got to go out with her! It was sooo fun! It was my 3rd day in the mission being with an American companion. Feels good to speak English. Haha. But funny story. So we bought a cake mix cuz there was a super good deal going on and we were making it that night. Well I didn´t know that my companion had put something in the oven..... it was cooking and it kept smelling like it was burning but every time we checked it, it wasn´t even close to being done yet. Well when I finally took the cake out, Hna Farris screamed WHAT IS THAT!!!??? Then I screamed, thinking there was a rat or something inside, and looked and it was a fruit they have here that was completely black and dripping. Haha. It was soo funny. We had a great time. Another investigator is progressing so fast. It´s soo hard not knowing how to get him to church. This last Sunday he was going to try to walk down his super long street and then go in a bus, not knowing if he even can, but it was raining. He really wants to go. We´re praying to find a way to help him get there. But he´s friends with a guy in a branch so he´s going to go to his house this weekend to watch conference with him on his computer. At least he´ll be able to see that. I´m excited for Conference! Hopefully it works this time and I can watch it in English. If not, we might go to the stake center, but I really want to be here because we´ve invited the whole world to come and I wanna be here if they do. We had a meeting yesterday with all the leaders in the branch to tell them about our goals and help them understand their responsibility to help friendship. They committed to help us have 7 lessions a week with a member present so hopefully it works. We really need their support. I don´t think they understand why it´s necessary to be member missionaries. We had a multizone activity today! It was sooo awesome! All the missionaries in Santiago (more than 100) came. It was on an old abandoned air strip. They have basketball courts and volleyball courts and soccer fields. I got to see lots of my friends. It was fun. Oh and I bought a new skirt! They have like a thrift store here and ALL the skirts are long! It was a miracle! I found a really cute one. But that´s basically what´s been happening this week. That´s great that the lady you´re visiting is progressing and accepted a baptismal date! Sometimes I am super doubtful that people will change, and then miracles happen. Well, I love you all so much! Enjoy conference!
Hermana Woolf

Friday, September 26, 2014

Thursday, September 25, 2014 - Week 57

heyyyy. how is everyone?? sorry i'm writing a day late... there are WAY too many holidays in this country. haha. everyone was closed yesterday for some catholic holiday. but it's been a great week! we had the zone conference with Elder cornish on thursday. it was soooo good. he talked to us about how to have more success. he said that it all starts with our planning. if we aren't organized, we will have way less baptisms. and he also mentioned several tips to help us have more like work with the members, continue to find new people every day, find inactives, serve, etc. it really got us excited to work even harder. we've also had a lot of success with the people we're teaching this week! Eva's husband is starting to show lots of interest now! before it was just eva and her 2 daughters that participated in the lessions. but on saturday he came and joined in. he was going through a hard time recently and promised god that he would go to church if he helped him through this difficulty. well God did. and so he had to keep his part of the deal. so him, eva, and their daughters all came on sunday!!!! it was sooo awesome! i really have a lot of hope for this family.  i hope they get baptized soon. also, we've been visiting this guy. i don't know if i've told you about him yet... but his wife and kids live in the states. well he has been showing lots of interest. we invited him last week to church and he said he would come and we said we would save him a seat.. and jokingly we told  him that if he didn't come, we would take a pic of his empty seat to show him the next visit. well... he didn't come... so we took the pic with looking super sad. haha. we showed him it on thursday and he thought it was really funny. well he came on sunday! but there was someone already sitting next to us when he got there and he was like "you didn't save me a seat!" haha it was really funny. but he stayed the whole time and really liked it! Another man we’re teaching and his family couldn't come on sunday because his son was sick, but he told us he wanted the blessings of the góspel for his wife and son that aren't baptized yet and we told him if he starts coming back, he can be the one to baptize them, and we seemed happy about that. we've been visiting an inactive lady for a long time now and she has come twice to church, but it's hard to come alone so we're trying to work with her husband. well this week we really got him excited to come this sunday. he even went looking for his white shirt and was practicing with his tie! :) it was really cute. some people just need some encouragment and someone to get them excited again. i hope they come. Another man is really progressing as well. he read and studied and practically memorized his assignment to read 3 nephi 11. he explained the whole thing to us, and he accepted an invitation to be baptized! but... we still have the problem of getting him to church. there isn't anyone with a car. he's going to try to find a friend to help him though. we're hoping! but that's about it. super successful week! we're being blessed! my companion is finishing the mission in just a month so she can visit her old áreas. we're going to go to tamboril again in like 2 weeks! and everyone from her group that have been there are going with us... my mom hermana monegro, my step mom hemarna navas and Elder castro that was there with me for my first transfer. i'm excited! we were going to go yesterday, but the branch in tamboril had a trip planned to the temple. that's so exciting that Scott and Maureah are coming for a few days! that will be so fun to go to the state fair! have you guys been going to dallas summer musicals? well i love you all soooo much! have a wonderful week!

hermana woolf

 

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Wednesday, September 17, 2014 - Week 56

Hey fam! How are you all? I'm glad everything went okay dropping off Jamie and she's already having a great time! (Jamie, email me, I have no time this week but I want to hear how's it's going!) This has been a really good week. We're working really hard with a few people right now and seeing progress. One man and his family came to church again this Sunday with his sons. He's almost active now! Which is super good because the branch needs more men with the priesthood. We're trying to help his wife though. She's come to church just one time so far, but we really want to help this family be together in the gospel. He has to divorce his old wife though and then marry his current one which costs a lot of money, but we're hoping for a miracle. We're also working with a couple that finally got a baptismal date set! We had them put it so they could feel comfortable and ready when it comes. They decided on Nov 22. I feel confident this time that it will happen. They seem much more excited now and have come to church like 12 times so they have a lot of knowledge already. We're also working with a woman and her family. They haven't come to church in a couple weeks for different reasons, but they have baptismal dates for the end of October. We're going to try to meet the goal, but I think it will have to be moved. I would really like to baptism the family together and some are progressing faster than others so we'll see what happens. But these are the people progressing the fastest. We're teaching a man that is super awesome, but since he can't walk, there's no way to get him to church. And he lives kinda far. But we just had 2 new families move into the branch that have cars so we're going to try to make friends with them real fast. :) Another thing that makes this week great is that we finally got gas to cook! We went 2 weeks without because we couldn't find anyone to get it for us and then we didn't have money so we had to buy a lot. Sorry I've been taking so much money out recently. They tell us our money will come one day and then it comes late and we don't have money to eat so I had to take out money for me and my companion. I'm going to try hard not to take more out though. So we were going to go to the beach today. Not to swim or anything, but to take pics and stuff. There were 3 zones that we're going to go, but then they canceled last minute.. :( I was so excited. I hope I get to see it before I leave. My comp went to visit one of her old areas today so I had an exchange with another sister. We went and played sports with our zone. It was fun. On Saturdays we've started playing volleyball with teenagers to help them be more involved and have fun. We had a ton of people come last week for the first time and hoping for much more this week. Tomorrow we have a zone conference with Elder Cornish. He's super smart. I'm excited. Also, there's an apostle coming in October!!!! We don't know which one yet, but I'm really excited. We heard Elder Holland was going to come a couple months ago, but couldn't risk getting the chikengunya. Haha. Whoever it is, it will be great. I'm getting really excited for general conference. It's a perfect opportunity to invite investigators because we ask them to pray if Pres Monson is a prophet and they've never seen him or heard him talk. Hopefully many will come. Thanks for all the pics! I'm excited for the reunion next year! I hope we'll be able to be with the fam a lot and not have too much school or homework. Well I don't have much time. I hope you all are doing great! I love you!

Hermana Woolf

Monday, September 15, 2014







Wednesday, September 10, 2014 - Week 55

Hey! WEll............ I`m still in Villa Gonzalez........ Yep. I didn`t get transferred. I really thought I was going this time. But it`s okay. There must be more to do. I`m with my same companion again too. We`re going on 4 transfers together now. She finishes her mission next transfer. Soooo that means I`ll be here for at least 2 more transfers because when she leaves I`ll have to show the area to someone else. I was a little disappointed because I was ready to experience a new area, but God knows best. I`m gonna keep working hard. So this week has been really good. We`ve had a lot of fun making empandas and pizza as a district and we had an FHE this week with a member family. We watched a video of Jesus Christ and had popcorn and played games. It was really fun. We`ve also had a lot of spiritual experiences this week in our lessions. I don`t know if it`s just the people here, or all over the world, but the majority of the people, don`t keep their commitments. So when we find someone that actually will, we`re super happy. Well we contacted this lady a couple weeks ago. We invited her to pray and ask if Thomas S. Monson is a prophet (like we invite everyone to do, but no one ever does). Well she did it. We asked her to explain how she felt and she described the spirit perfectly. I love when people describe the spirit without knowing that it`s the spirit and then we can teach them about it. She said she felt weird, but good at the same time. Moments like that really strengthen my testimony because I can feel the Holy Ghost so strong through their experience. We`ve also met a lot of new people with potential. I`m going to try to contact old investigators this transfer to see if any of them are ready to accept the gospel now. We also had a very VERY weird lession the other day. We were trying to teach this girl about the plan of salvation and she started going off on weird topics like if we believe in aliens and Pres Obama is satanic, and that Haitians are happy when their loved ones die. It was really uncomfortable. No matter what we said to get back on topic and explain that these things aren`t important and that she shouldn`t believe everything she reads on the internet, she just kept going with stranger and stranger topics. Haha. It was hard not to laugh. It was pretty funny. Oh Elder Cornish from the Seventy is coming in a couple weeks to talk to us. He came when I was in the CCM. He`s super smart. I`m excited to learn from him. Wow Jamie is starting college!!! Good luck! I can`t believe it`s in the 20s already! Crazy! Sounds like you`re having a great time in Utah! It will be hard to go back home. That`s so cool you got to go to the Jordan River Temple Mom. That must have been an awesome experience. Well I love you all so much and am praying for you! Have a great week!

Hermana Woolf

 

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Wednesday, September 3, 2014 - Week 54

Hey! Thanks for all the pics of Finn mom! He is just so cute. Wish I could be there with you all. Well it`s been a good week. We`ve had so many meetings. It`s been crazy. We had our training with Pres Douglas on Thursday which was super good. I learned a lot. After we finished, my comp needed to go to the doctor. So Pres and Hermana Douglas took us in their car. They were asking me how much time I had and I told them I had a year and they were shocked. Haha. Hermana Douglas thought I was still one of her new ones still. Time flys. But we got to the doctor and they were super difficult. The mission just got insurance cards for the missionaries, but they wouldn`t accept it. They had already made a contract with us though. Anyways, Brother and Sister Carroll had to come and pay it. But it was really late and they were about to close. We told them they would arrive in 5 min to pay but the doctor wouldn`t see my comp and left. So we had to go to another doctor. By the time we finished, it was 7:30 at night and the last bus to Villa Gonzalez had already left. Luckily there was another bus that passes close to Villa Gonzalez though so we just walked the rest of the way. It was a long day. Then Friday we had a sisters meeting and had training and played games. It was fun. We put a baptismal date with Eva and her daughters on Saturday for October 18 and they accepted. Hopefully it works out so my companion can have a few baptisms the week before she finishes the mission. So there`s a family in the branch that isn`t super strong that we visit every week. They come to church but almost always arrive like an hour late. So this week I bought the 2 daughters (11 and 14) One Direction notebooks, which they LOVE. And i told them i had a gift for them if they arrived at church before the sacrament was passed, but didn`t tell them what it was. They were dying of curiosity but i wouldn`t tell them. We got to church on Sunday and they were already there. They had gotten there before everyone. Including the branch president who always gets there like 30 min early. Hahahaha. It was awesome. I gave them their notebooks and they screamed and hugged me and went and showed the whole world. Haha. It was cute. Mariano came to church again this week. This time he brought the whole entire family though! We`ve been working with his wife, who isn`t a member. She has a lot of knowledge of the gospel already, but said she couldn`t go to church for some reason. But she came and their 4 kids as well. It was so great. So last night we had quite an interesting lession. We`ve been teaching a family for a long time now, Nefeti and Jesus and their kids. Well Nefeti is very receptive and her son too, but Jesus not so much. He wants answers to everything in the Bible and sometimes there just isn`t a scripture to share. Yesterday Nefeti asked us if they had to get married first to get baptized. We told them yes because of the law of chastity, etc. Well Jesus was not happy. He said that it didn`t make any sense because it would just be to please men and the law but they made covenants with each other and are a true married couple. We tried to explain that we believe in obeying the law of our countries, but he didn`t want to hear it. It was a difficult situation. He doesn`t believe in modern revelation so we couldn´t teach him about the temple sealing. I didn`t know what to say to help him understand. It was hard. But I think he just wants to believe he doesn`t need to be married by the law because he doesn`t have the money to divorce his first wife and marry Nefeti. But hopefully we can explain it better next week. Today we played baseball again. Well... the baseball players played. The sisters sat and watched. Haha. It was fun though. Tonight we`re have a small activity and watching a church movie and Nene is bringing empenadas. I`m excited! So yeah I think I`ll be transfered next week. I`m never sure though. This time I`m not telling anyone I`m leaving. Haha. But it makes sense for me to leave. If not, I`ll be here for a lot longer. But we`ll see what happens. So yeah I`m glad you guys wanna come at the end of my mission! It will be fun. It would be good to stay a few days. I don`t want to stay super long cuz it will be weird being a missionary still but not going to teach. Not many missionaries have their parents come. I`ve only heard of 2 or 3 so far. But it will be fun. Sounds like you`re all having a great time in Utah! So much family lives there. It`s great to get together. Hope you`re all doing great. I love you all! Have a great week!

Hermana Woolf

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Thursday, August 28, 2014 - Week 53

Hey! First of all... Congratulations Melissa and Ryan on your adorable new baby Finn! Can´t wait to meet him! And Happy Birthday Mom!! Hope it was a wonderful day! So... as you know, I didn´t write yesterday... Well it was because I was in Tamboril!! Pres Douglas gave my comp and I permission to go since we´re together and my comp will be finishing her mission next transfer. We went to visit Ruben and the kids, but Esther was working... but we got a call later on in the day that she came home early so we went back to visit her. They are doing great! Rwel is talking now! We asked if they were preparing to go to the temple to be sealed in November, and they are. A few months ago I sent them a poster with the Santo Domingo temple and wrote the date Novevmber 9 on it, since that is exactly a year after the baptism of Esther. Well I didn´t check the date or anything to know what day it fell on. It was so cute. Ruben and Esther were so concerned. They were like.. We don´t know what to do. Nov 9 falls on a Sunday! Haha. We told them to talk to the branch president and see if they can go a day earlier on the 8th. Ruben is already saving up all the money to go and everything. I can´t wait to see them sealed!! It will be such a special day. After that we went and visited a family in the ward The Morels. They are the ones that always fed us on Sundays. And of course they fed us yesterday too. :) Then we visited the Nunez family and after that the Rodriguez family. Abish still remembered me! They are all doing great! It was so good to go back and see people. I wish I had more time. But I was thinking.. I don´t know how you guys feel about it, but I´m thinking it would be fun if Mom and Dad came to get me at the end of the mission and I could show you around and be your translator. :) Haha. But.. we wouldn´t be able to go the beach or anything because I´ll still be a missionary. But once I get home I´ll start school and then have to work so it would be difficult to come back. I don´t know. It´s just an idea. Let me know what you think. But other than yesterday, it was a good week. We met a new guy named Daniel and he´s so awesome. His family lives in the US and he´s trying to get there too, but it will take a while. Anyways… we´re teaching him again today so we´ll see how it goes. On Friday we had the activity with Emily and Johan. We watched the Restoration with them and a few members. When we visited them on Monday to ask how it was, they said they didn´t have a single doubt about it anymore!! It was awesome! Emily is still nervous to be baptized, but in our next visit we´re going to set a date with their help so they can feel prepared with enough time. I think they´ll be baptized soon though. Saturday was the big branch activity! But…of course there was rain. When there is rain in this country, no one leaves their house. Not even to go to church. It´s really sad. But we still planned on having the activity with anyone that came. We had about 35 people. It was fun. We gave the certificates to the 2 sisters that earned them and played some games and everyone brought food to share. On Sunday, Emily and Johan came to church and Mariano the inactive we´ve been teaching. And his son who is also a member just moved back home to live with his dad so he came too. Eva and her family couldn´t come on Sunday because Chantel had the chickengunya and was in the hospital. But we visited them on Monday and she´s doing better. We talked about baptism with them. They had a lot of questions. We will put a baptismal date on Saturday. I finally got my notebook from Tamboril this week. It´s been going around to the people to write. But there are a few that haven´t written yet. But I have to get it going in Villa Gonzalez because I think I´ll be leaving in 2 weeks and my comp will only be here for 1 more transfer. But I asked the people that haven´t written to send me something to stick in it. Hopefully they do. Or I´ll have to send it back to Tamboril again. But that´s about it. I have to go because we have a training with Pres Douglas in an hour in Santiago. But I love you all!! Welcome to the fam Finn!

Hermana Woolf

 

Thursday, August 21, 2014



Wednesday, August 20, 2014 - Week 52

Hey fam! How is everyone?? Wow I`ve been anxious all week to know if the baby had come, but this week for sure! And to hear about ANOTHER baby coming in the family! Congrats Scott and Maureah! And Laura engaged too! Wow so much exciting news! I wish I had something as exciting to share. Haha. It`s been a good week. Eva and her daughters Thamar and Chantel are still progressing very quickly. They all came to church on Sunday. The husband Martin still hasn`t been able to come for his work. He does the music for parties so the weekends are crazy. But we`re hoping one day he`ll be able to come. We were waiting a little to find out if he would progress as quickly as Eva but it doesn`t seem like it. So we`re just going to put a baptismal date and see what happens in the following weeks. A guy in the branch got home from his mission this week. 1 more priesthood holder in the branch! Yay! But our mission leader Nene just sent his papers in so we`ll be losing one too. :( We had a few great lessons this week. One with a lady in the ward about the Spirit. She`s super awesome and comes to church every week, but she had a baby out of wedlock recently and there hasn`t been any disciplinary action yet. She opened up to us completely and is scared to do everything necessary to be excommunicated, but we told her it was better to start the year now and not later. She really has a desire to change. She had an interview yesterday with the branch president. We also had a lesson with a lady and her husband about marriage. It`s hard to teach about something you know nothing about, but thanks to mom and dad I`ve had a great example so I could give some advice. We found out that they never say I love you to each other. Literally never. Her husband says he doesn`t like to say it. Like it doesn`t flow out in the right moment or something. lol. But we encouraged them to try to start doing it to have a better relationship. Really any marriage would have problems if no one showed affection. We also met a new guy this week named Alexis. He`s the cousin of Nene (mission leader). He`s super awesome and really interested. He was in a motorcycle accident over a year ago and couldn`t walk for 7 months. He still can`t walk barely at all. But he has the perfect attitude. He could say that God did that to him, but he thinks of it as God gave him a second chance and now he wants to serve him. But the only problem is that he has no way to get to church. He can`t go in motorcycle or bus. He would have to have someone come and get him in a car. Well... we have one single person in the church with a car... our branch president. But it`s a huge truck that`s used to haul stuff so to get in it would be super difficult. I don`t know what to do. But hopefully we think of something. He has a lot of potential. So we had quite an experience the other day. We were walking to an appointment and on the side of the road we found 10 brand new puppies abandoned!! It was so sad. We went and bought them milk, but we couldn`t just leave them there!! They were shivering and were so new they couldn`t even see yet. So we put them all in a box and found someone to take them to a vet. One nice woman that passed by, took one though. :) I hope they all find families! Well we planned the activity with Emily and Johan again for this Friday to watch the Restoration. And Saturday we have our big missionary activity! Sadly only 2 members will be getting certificates, but a lot of people participated. They just didn`t complete all the requirements. But it will be fun! Everyone is bringing a plate of their favorite food and we`ll have dominoes and volleyball. I`m excited. Hopefully lots of nonmembers come too! Well that`s about it. So excited to hear about my new nephew next week! And see pictures!! ;) I love you all!
Hermana Woolf