Friday, January 31, 2014

Wednesday, January 29, 2014 - Week 23
 
Hey! Thanks for your letters this week!! Sounds like things are great! I wish I could have been there to see the musical! I love the Sound of Music! That´s so cool that you won the gypsy robe Jamie!! It must be an honor! The cabinets look great! I´m sure even better in person. I heard about that movie about the missionaries. I really want to see it. But it´s probably good that I don´t see it while I´m in the mission field. Haha. I got the package!! It´s staring me down. I can´t wait to open it!! Thank you so much!! We were supposed to have PDay in Santiago today, which means we can go anywhere in Santiago for the day. It´s only once every 6 weeks. Well today for some reason there wasn´t any transportation so we got permission to have it next week. So I´ll get to do some fun things the day after my birthday! That´s awesome that Spencer Webb is going out. He´ll be a great missionary. So the other money for my tithing is from CIMA and I had a little to pay from the past but was in school so I paid when I got back. I don´t remember how much though. Thanks for doing my taxes! :) You guys never got my letters? Maureah told me she got theirs? Maybe it´s still coming? Our zone and district haven´t split yet. Probably on the 12th for transfers. But I´ve heard we will just be the 4 of us in Tamboril... So this week has been great. Lots and lots of service. I´m not kidding. Each week we´re supposed to do 3 hours. Last week we did 10 1/2 hours! Helping our investigators/members clean their houses, cleaning the chapel, and like half of it was me teaching English. Haha. Everyone seems to have English homework and need help. We did some service on Monday too pretty much all day long. We helped clean a family in our branch´s new house that they´re moving into. It was a huge job. When people move out here, they don´t clean. They just leave it. lol. But it´s been good. Katherine is getting baptized on Saturday!!! I´m soooo excited!! She´s great. So she lives with her Dad, but pretty far away, so her dad drops her off in Tamboril so we can teach her. So we´ve never had the opportunity to teach him. We´re going to try though. But we´re teaching her sister Karina and she is progressing very fast. She just needs to attend church 9 times to be baptized. Maybe the end of March? The Nuñez family is good. We´re really focusing on Yeison (pronounced like Jason) and Wanda. Yeison doesn´t want to get married until he´s strong in the gospel, but we are slowly helping him to progress. Wanda says she´ll plan the whole wedding if he´ll just prepare for it. Haha. But they are going to put a goal this week for a date to be married. Then Wanda can be baptized. So Rubi will be baptized the following Saturday! We´re really hoping that her dad Ruben can baptize her but he still has to have an interview with our new branch president. But Ruben has come so far. It´s hard to believe he ever was inactive. He is great. He was called to be a ward missionary and he helps us so much. We are teaching this family Rafael and Andrea and they are progressing very fast. He came with us the last visit when we taught about the Book of Mormon and how we can recieve an answer through the Spirit that it´s true. Andrea has lots of doubts so asks lots of questions. Well she turned to Ruben (he´s friends with this couple) and asked, do you know this book is true just because you read it, or did you really pray to find out? His answer was perfect. He said "I still have never read the whole thing all the way through, but I have prayed. I prayed so much and I received an answer. It was a feeling of happiness and I knew it was true." It was so sincere and she believed everything he said. We have our next appointment with them tonight. We also have been doing FHE with Ruben and Esther and their family to help them start a habit and teach their children. We planned and did the first one and this week Ruben planned it all. He studied the Liahona and shared a great message about service. It´s so great to see the progress of people. So I want to buy some scripture cases because it rains a lot and they get bent sometimes. Anyways... I want to buy some but there is a guy here that makes specialized ones with whatever you want. It´s like somewhere between 50 and 100 dollars though so I´m going to take it out from my card, but can you track it somewhere on your calendar Mom and I´ll pay you back when I get home? It will be a great souvenir! :) Anyways, everything is great! Loving life! I love you all so much!!!! Have a great week!

Hermana Woolf

PS I had interviews with the mission president this week and he said I¨ll probably stay in Tamboril at least for another transfer. I´ll let you know what happens though. 

 

Friday, January 24, 2014

 
 
 

                   New Year's Eve
                     The Zoo
                 Thanksgiving
                    Won at Dominican Dominoes!
 

Wednesday, January 22, 2014 - Week 22
 
Hey Fam! First off, congrats Jamie for making it into BYU-I!!! SO exciting!! I can`t wait to hear what track you get! Transfers will be Feb 12. Who knows what will happen. Probably nothing until the next one. So how is everything? Not much new this week. We`ve done a TON of service though. Yesterday we did 5 hours of service. Haha. It was a long day, but great. We have a new branch president in our branch. I`m a little sad. Pres Rodriguez was amazing! But we don`t have many men in our branch or at least not enough that pay tithing to be in all the leadership roles. So for now, we have a brother from the stake that will be our president. But it is only temporary. He`s really good, but it`s sad because I don`t think he can help the people as much as someone from our own branch. I think he`ll start to make things happen though. We also found out that our zone is splitting and also our district. I`m super sad. We have an awesome district but it`s huge- 12 people so I understand why they`re doing it. I`m guessing our new district will only be the 4 of us in Tamboril. It will be so different. So Ricardo wasn`t baptized, but we`re hoping he will make a decision sometime soon about marriage. But everything with Katherine is perfect!! She seriously is the perfect investigator. She`s going to be baptized next Saturday! I am so excited! This really feels like my first baptism. It`s such a different feeling when you actually start with the person. With Esther, I just came in after she had already been taught. But with Katherine, I was part of her change. I got to see her whole progression. I am so happy for her. I hope she serves a mission a year from now. She would be so great. So there is a family in our branch that means a lot to me- Familia Nuñez. The dad, and 3 of his sons are members. Emilio is one of his sons and is our mission leader. One of the other sons is on a mission and the other, Yeison, is inactive. They also have one other son, Welinson. The mom, Viviana, isn`t a member. Well we are working really hard with them. We are teaching Yeison and his partner Wanda. Wanda wants to be baptized, but Yeison doesn`t want to get married, so we`re trying to help them set a date to be married, even if it`s far in the future. We`ve started teaching Welinson and his partner, Anny and  they seem to be progressing quickly. And with Viviana, well it`s hard because she has like 20 or 30 years with her husband and hasn`t been baptized yet. But her son on a mission invited her to be baptized and she said yes...or maybe. I don`t know. It`s not easy with her. She doesn`t want to believe. But her husband told me to set a date for Feb 14- Valentine`s Day and their wedding anniversary because it`s a special day for them and hope she has a change of heart. ANYWAYS.. sorry long explanation, but pray for this family. They will find so much more happiness if all of their family are members. Okay so question. Which address has Christina been using that I`m not receiving her letters? The Elder in charge of mail will try to look into it. Sounds like that youth activity was great! I wish I had done that before my mission. You really just have no idea what it`s like until you do it. And you have so much fear until you do. That`s great that the Paventy`s had their baby! I`m sure he is adorable! And thanks for the pic of Jaden and his donut cake! haha. He looks SO old! I hope he doesn`t change too much while I`m gone. That`ll be fun to have him and Melissa visit! Well I miss you and love you so much! Have a great week!

Hermana Woolf

 

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - Week 21

Hey! How are things? Well it´s been a great week! Not much new to tell however. Haha. We´ve been finding a lot of new people to teach and are receiving lots of references. We found this new family to teach because we thought we were going to the house of a different reference who happens to have the same name as this man, but they accepted us into their home and loved our message and want to hear more. lol. Sometimes God works in mysterious ways. We had a ton of people in church again this week. 5 investigators and 1 inactive. It´s so great. Katherine only has a few weeks until her baptism and she´s coming every week to church and reading her scriptures and everything. She´s already ready. Ricardo is unwilling to get married at this time so we´ll have to change his baptismal date. It´s really sad. I don´t think there´s anything more I can do though. We just have to wait for him. We´ll be fasting with him this week to make a decision. So did you guys see in the Conference Liahona that Brother Riding and Brother Larson are in it? Haha. Totally surprised me! Anyways... every transfer we get different people in our district, but we have 12 now!! That is huge for a district. I think we´re going to make shirts together. lol. But I love my district. We played sports together today. Do you know that game Mafia? Where everyone closes their eyes and the narrator picks someone to be the mafia and then the mafia chooses someone ´to kill´ and then there´s a detective too that tries to figure out who the mafia is? Anyways we were playing that, and our zone leader was the narrator and he told us all to close our eyes, and then he sprayed us with the hose while we all weren´t looking! Hahaha. He tried to run away, but the other elders literally dragged him back and we completely drenched him with water. It was so funny. Anyways, I´m starting to think about when I´ll be leaving. It´s kinda scary to think about. It could be in February! It will probably be in March though. But I´m sure it will be hard to leave and start in a new place again. I love Tamboril. The Burkharts are moving? At least it´s just to Utah and not some crazy far away country. Melissa and Jaden are visiting soon? Just for fun? That´s great! I can´t believe Jaden is 6 now! I always get packages through my district leader. They have a meeting and get our mail and then bring it to our district meeting. So it doesn´t matter where I am, it will always get to me. Seriously though Mom, you don´t need to send anything for me! You just sent me a super huge package. I have everything I need. My health is good. I´m not sure if I´m still losing weight because I don´t have a scale, but I think I am. I´ll have to check the next time we go to PriceSmart. The sleeping is not great, but I´m going to talk to the President to see what I can do. I think I´ll just need to take naps in the afternoon. We´ll see what he says. Wow 97% VT? That´s awesome! Those women must have a fantastic RS President. :) Thanks for sending me that picture of my board! It looks awesome!! It´s cool to see that I´m almost done with 4 of the 13 letters in Called to Serve! I better send some more pics to update that board though. Haha. Next week I hope! I´m glad to hear things are a little better with work Dad. I wish things were better, but at least it´s not like the beginning. And don´t worry about the missionaries who got robbed. Haha. Maybe you shouldn´t read that blog... Seriously my area is super safe though. I love you all soooooo much!!! And miss you!! Until next week!

Hermana Woolf

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Wednesday, January 8 - Week 20

Hey Fam! How´s it going? Things here are great! I love my new companion! She is like the sweetest person you could ever meet. And she works really hard which I love. Before we would have like 3 or 4 lessions in a day, but now we have 6. It is so much better. It´s hard to have change, but good too. I am learning new things from her. I have a lot more responsibility now. Since I´m the one who knows the area and the people, I have to take the initiative in everything. Making phone calls, conversation in lessions, starting the lessions, making sure we get to the right place. It´s been really good for me.  I´m realizing that I know more than I thought I did. And I can do things I didn´t think I could do. Hermana Navas knows quite a bit of English actually. She really wants to learn more so we switch off days speaking spanish and english. So we had a really great lession with Ricardo this week. He needs to get married before he can get baptized so we read The Family A Proclamation to the World with him and Carmen and invited the branch president and his wife to come with us. We each bore testimony of the importance of marriage and then I challenged them to be married on the 17th of this month, the day before his baptism. I asked him to say a prayer and ask if this was the right decision and pause after asking to recieve the answer. So we all got on our knees and his prayer was perfect. I felt the spirit so strong. I feel like he did too, but he´s still scared to get married so I´m hoping he continues to pray and makes the right decision. If not, we´ll have to move back his baptismal date again. But we are trying really hard with him. In church this week, we had 5 inactives and 1 investigator! It was so awesome! I don´t know how many times I´ve said this, but I just LOVE when that happens. When people make that decision for themselves. It was fast and testimony meeting so I bore my testimony. It was my first testimony in Spanish so I was a little nervous, but the Spirit was so strong in the meeting, I had to do it. So our district has 12 missionaries now!! It´s huge! Guraba got another 2 missionaries. Our district is so awesome though! I love it! We have a ton of fun! Oh so I took out some money on my card the other day. Is there anyway you can put my money onto the card? I feel bad. Or just keep track of what I spend and I´ll pay you back when I get home. We can´t use our apoyo money on personal things, so I need some money that I can use when I need to buy something. Everyone here has a notebook that they have other missionaries, investigators, and members write in and they can put pictures and stuff too. So that´s what I bought. I´m going to start mine this week. It will be something I treasure my whole life I think. Okay so seriously you don´t need to send me anything for my birthday! You´ve sent me way too much already!! I got your letter about going out with the missionaries mom! Sounds like it was a great experience! I can´t tell you how much of a difference it makes to have a member in the lession and bear testimony. Also so the person can have a friend and feel comfortable coming to church. Dad, I´m not sure how I can help you about your talk. Haha. But fasting has been a great thing for me as a missionary. We have had the opportunity to fast with one of our investigators and it was a wonderful experience. When you really think about the person or thing you are fasting for all day and pray multiple times, with a sincere heart, it makes a huge difference. I know we can see miracles through our faith. Well I love you all so much!!! Have a great week!!
 
Hermana Woolf

Friday, January 3, 2014

Wednesday, January 1, 2014 – Week 19

Hey Fam! Happy New Year!! What did you do for New Year´s Eve? I can´t believe it´s 2014 already. 2013 flew by! I still need to make my resolutions. Have you made yours? It was SO great to talk to you on Christmas! I´m sorry the Skype didn´t work very well. Maybe for Mother´s Day I´ll go to a different place to make sure it works. So I was so distracted by everything and talking to you guys, that I failed to thank you for my package! Seriously it was perfect!! I love the new skirt! Good pick! And it was so nice to have lights up and stockings for Christmas! I LOVE the calendar and 1st day of school book!! Plus the super cute puzzle, the conference talks, preach my gospel, recipes, talk by Pres. Hinkley, lipton onion soup mix, brownie mix, pens, makeup, stickers, pass along cards, razors, and letters. I just loved it all! You are so thoughtful and sent WAY too much! But thank you! I got the Christmas card. You didn´t need to include a separate picture of me! Haha. But it was great and I loved the message. Our family had a big year. I also got Christmas cards from Dave and Lynn and Bruce and Patsy. It was great! I´m glad you got my package. It wasn´t much, but I wanted to send something. Yeah I had to use my own photo book, but I´ll look for a new one. Sounds like everyone got great gifts for gift of the heart! What great ideas! So we had transfers today! I got a new companion. Her name is Hermana Navas from Guatemala. She is super super sweet. Always happy. And I´ve heard she´s a really hard worker so I´m excited what we´ll be able to do together. I´m the one who knows the area now so it´s a little intimidating, but it will be good for me. Hermana Monegro and I spent the last couple days going to say goodbye to people. She´s been here for 6 months so everyone really knows and loves her. We went to a lady´s house in our branch for New Year´s Eve last night. It was super fun! We went with the Elders and there were other families too. We had the celebration at 10 instead of 12 but it was still fun. lol. We had horns and those things that shoot confetti and dinner and cake. I stayed up until 12, but now I´m regretting it. Haha. But people here shoot off there guns at midnight. I didn´t know that... It scared me so bad. Like right at 12 you hear dozens of guns go off near your house. New traditions! haha. So the Elders had 2 baptisms on Saturday! One of them is super strong already. He´s already decided that he´s going to serve a mission in a year. It´s awesome. I learned how to make empanadas this week!! They are super unhealthy but so good. I´ll make them for you when I get home. Thanks for the article from President Uchtdorf Dad! Can´t wait to read it! Well we´ve been getting a lot of references recently so we have a lot of new investigators. We´ll see if any of them progress. We´re trying to focus on Ricardo since his baptism is coming up. We don´t think it will happen on the 18th because of the marriage issue, but we´re going to commit them to a date to be married so things will happen. I hope he can be baptized soon. He´s so ready. Anyways... I love you all soo much! It was so great to see you last week! Only 5 months til I see you again! Happy New Year!

Hermana Woolf

 
Wednesday, December 25, 2013 - Week 18
We had a fabulous time Skyping with Hermana Woolf on Christmas day. We had some difficulty staying connected, but it was so great to talk to her and see her for about an hour. She looks fabulous and is doing great! 
~Donna (Steph's mom)