Wednesday, May 28, 2014 - Week 40

Hey! How is everything? Today is my half way mark!!! It`s going way too fast. I still have so much more I want to do. But it`s been a great first half! Unfortunately the sisters don`t do anything to celebrate... :( We like our clothes too much to burn anything. Haha. I suggested we should buy something new instead. Lol. Sounds like you guys had a great week filled with lots of fun activities! That`s so exciting about One Act! what was the rule that made them get 3rd instead of 2nd?? Still, that`s awesome that they could place 2 years in a row! Wish I could have seen it! Thanks for all the dental info Mom. I`m glad I`m covered here! I`ll let you know how it works out. Mom, could you accept someone on FB for me? Edingson Sosa. Also if there is someone named Ivonne. Thanks. Well it`s been a pretty good week. It was Mother`s Day here on Sunday so everyone has been celebrating. On Saturday the branch president called up all the sisters in the branch to meet at the church that night without telling them what they would be doing. He piled them all in his truck and took them to Santiago to go out to eat, visit the monument, and eat ice cream. They all LOVED it. It was so sweet. My comp talked to her fam on Sunday and I got to meet her family. They don`t know English OR Spanish so it was pretty difficult to communicate. But they seem really nice. Our investigator Jose Manuel came to church this week! I`m glad he still had the desire to come! He seemed to already know lots of people in the branch so that was good. I hope he continues to progress. Elizabett got back this week finally! We visited her yesterday and put a baptismal date. She accepted! It`s kinda weird though, she has this friend in the states that lives in Washington. Anyways, he called me this week to tell me that she doesn`t have a job and is having a hard time, and if I could try to ask around to find something for her. I`m gonna ask in the branch if anyone knows of anything. But he called me again today saying that she`s having a bad relationship in the house she`s in and might move to Santiago this week. :( I hope not. I really want to keep teaching her. I hope everything works out. So yesterday we had an interesting experience... I don`t know if I`ve told you, but there are TONS of Jehovah`s Witnesses in this country that go around door to door like us. I`ve had a few chances to talk to them before in the street, but never like yesterday. We were in the house of a member, but only the kids were home. We were there doing service. Well 3 Jehovah`s Witnesses came up and asked to come in and wanted to share with us. I was kinda scared actually. I didn`t know if they would start bashing us or what. They were really nice though and just taught about Christ and that we should love our neighbor. It was a little awkward though. Haha. So I`m trying to give up soda. It`s actually impossible to give it up completely because if people offer you some, you have to drink it. So I haven`t BOUGHT soda for almost 2 weeks, but I`ve been given it like 4 times. Haha. The life of a missionary. But everything else has been great. We`ve been finding new people to teach so hopefully some of them have potential. Hope you all have a great week! I love you!!

Hermana Woolf

                                  Found a Wendys!

                        Flooded streets!

Wednesday, May 21, 2014 - Week 39

WOW! You guys had a busy week! That`s so exciting for Jamie! What a great job she got! She`s gonna be rich this summer! And the hours are perfect! You guys have had some great missionary experiences this week! I`m glad the inactive girl likes going to church and went with you! It`s so important to rescue those that have strayed. And sounds like the FHE with the new convert was great! Now is maybe the most important part of his conversion. So Jamie is going to start attending YSA ward now? Like in the summer? Crazy!! I`m excited to hear how One Acts go! I hope FMHS does well! That`s so awesome that Scott and Maureah are there too! That will be so special for Jamie! How was your birthday Dad?? I wish I could eat some steak right about now! :) I need updates on my Spurs every week! I need to know how they`re doing in the playoffs!! :) Well we`ve had a great week here. We had stake conference on Saturday and Sunday which was great. On Saturday we went at 5, but found out when we got there that that was the time for the priesthood session and the adult session started at 7.... Luckily the sisters in that area were there and we went on splits with them for 2 hours. I got to go out with an American which was so fun! On Sunday we had to meet at the church at nine to all go in a bus together as a branch. We told EVERYONE about it, even saying they needed to arrive before 9. But, several of our inactives and investigators arrived late, and missed the bus so they couldn`t go. :( It was really sad because a guy we contacted a couple weeks ago went for the first time and when he found out we weren`t there, he started asking in businesses nearby and called us 12 times! I felt so bad. I hope he still has the same desire to go this Sunday! Emily and Johan went though! They are the 2 kids we are teaching that their parents are inactive. They`ve been coming a lot. I just can`t baptize them though. Not while their parents are inactive. There`s no way they will stay active through their teenage years without the help of their parents. We`re really trying to help their mom especially. Hopefully one day. The girl I told you about that we contacted, Elizabett, has been in Monte Cristi for over a week so we haven`t been able to see her, but we heard that she went to church there these past 2 Sundays!! I`m so happy she`s progressing even without our help! So on Saturday a family in our branch asked us to go help them straighten the hair of their 4 daughters for stake conference. (they found out I have a straightener. :) ) So we went, and it took us 4 hours!!!!!!!!! I`ve never been so thankful for my hair before. Wow their hair here is ridiculous! But they all looked so cute the next day. We`ve been having SOOOO much rain here! Literally every single day this month. There have been times when it`s so strong that we can`t even leave someone`s house. We can`t even hear the person we`re teaching that`s sitting 2 feet in front of us! It`s crazy! I love the rain though. It makes it much cooler! lol. Okay so I have a question. I`ve been having a little bit of pain in one of my teeth recently. It`s not like super painful and I don`t feel it every day, just once in a while. But I`m thinking of checking it out. Before I left the dentist filled a cavity in this tooth and said that I needed to take care of it so it didn`t become a root canal. Well I`ve been taking really good care of it, I brush and floss my teeth every single day, but now I`m worried about what he said. I feel like I would know if it were a root canal because I would be in a lot of pain, but I don’t know? The thing is that the church doesn`t cover dental expenses. Do we have dental insurance, and if so, does it cover me here? If not, I have to pay for it out of my own pocket. But in like 2 weeks, there`s a dentist coming from the states that works for the church and Sister Douglas told me that he can check it out for free. But if it`s something serious like a root canal, he won`t have the equipment to do it for me. I`ll have to go to a dentist here. But if it`s something simple, he can do it for free. Anyways, I`ll let you know what happens with him when he comes. Just curious about the insurance if I need to go to the dentist. If it costs a lot, the office will pay for it and I`ll have like a plan to pay them back so don`t worry about putting money on the card or anything. I`ll let you know more about that later. Well I`ll be thinking of you guys tonight and about one acts! Hope it all goes well! I love you all!

Hermana Woolf

Wednesday, May 14 - Week 38

Hey! Long time no see or talk I guess.... Haha. It was so great to see you all! Sorry it was a little difficult with the connection and the lighting. I`m glad it worked out though with hangout and I could see the whole fam! Mom, I think I forgot to wish you a Happy Mother`s Day!! That was the whole point of the call! I hope you had a great day though! I`m glad I could talk to you! Well not too much new in only 3 short days.... Haha. But today we went to Santiago because my comp needed to see the mission doctor. She told me her toe was hurting. When we got there I found out why. She had an ingrown toenail! I know how that feels. The doctor cut it off right there in the mission home and Sister Douglas gave her the only pair of flip flops that she owns so she could walk. So sweet. I got to see a bunch of people from my group!! It was so great! I haven`t seen them since we first got here so it was good to catch up! We went to a supermarket in Santiago to pick up some things we can`t find in our area and I was thinking about no bakes and what ingredients I would need. Well for some reason I thought there was corn syrup which is actually in o henrys or something. Anyways, I was going to buy all the ingredients to make that, but decided not to because I couldn`t find the corn syrup. Lol. Then I tried to remember the ingredients for the krispie cookies and found all of the 1000000 ingredients and last of all looked for rice krispies and there wasn`t any. :( So I didn`t buy anything... But thanks for the recipies. Now I know what I need! So Sister Orme doesn`t have to pay to bring the package right? If not, there are a few things I could use. I lost my umbrella a couple months ago. I bought a new one, but they don`t sell durable umbrellas here. It`s already starting to break. Do you remember the umbrella you bought before I left? Black and really small to fit in my bag. It was in Walgreens for like 10 dollars I think. If you find one, that would be great! Also could you send me my red and blue shorts and my I`m awesome tshirt? If the package needs to be small, don`t worry about it. But that`s it. I can`t think of anything else. Sounds like you all have been really busy!! It`s great to have so many activities! I hope the one act goes well!! That`s great you`re going to have an FHE with the new convert! I`ve learned being a missionary that friendship is SOOOO important for converts. If they don`t feel welcomed or feel like they have friends, they will fall away. I`m glad our ward at home is so good about that. I wish I could help the people here understand that. There`s a reason we have 600 inactives in our area and only 55 actives. But I think they`re starting to recognize that this is the problem. Thanks for the pic of Robin Mom!! She looked so beautiful! Dad, we haven`t gotten the conference talks yet, but it takes a little longer to print in Spanish so I think we`ll get them next month. But I get it in English. I can`t wait to read them again! Well that`s about all that`s new for now. :) Next week I`m sure there will be more. I love you all!!!! I hope you have a wonderful week!!!

Hermana Stephanie Woolf

                      Rubi's baptism

                         New scripture cases

Wednesday, May 7, 2014 - Week 37

Hey fam! It`s been an exciting week this week! As you could see from my pictures, I got to go to Rubi`s baptism! It was so special! 2 sisters in our branch helped out a ton. One traveled with me an hour and half to go to Tamboril and then back again and the other went out with my comp teaching lessons for 6 hours. They are so sweet. I`m so glad I got to go. It was such a great experience to see Ruben baptize his own daughter. I got to see a lot of people too at the baptism! It was great! I understand now why we can`t visit our old areas though. I admit I felt kinda sad leaving Tamboril and all the people I love there. But it`s time to move on and love the people in Villa Gonzalez. I took a little money out of my card to travel to the baptism. I had another super awesome experience this week too! On Fridays we go to a part of our area pretty far away so we just stay out there the whole day. The problem is when the people aren`t home, there`s no one to teach. Haha. Well this week no one was home so we decided to go contacting. We starting walking a couple streets hoping for inspiration and both felt like we should contact this one house. It was pretty rich which usually means harder, but we decided to go. We knocked on the door, and a lady answered. We greeted her and then she said come in come in, sit down! very excitedly. We had no idea what was going on. She began to explain that she used to live in Monte Cristi and was taking the missionary discussions for 2 years! She was also going to church there. But then she moved here, and she couldn`t find the church. She`s been asking people, but no one knew where it was. So when we showed up, she was thrilled! She calls us her 2 angels, because God sent us to her. She came to church this Sunday and wants to be baptized so we`ll see how it goes! It was definitely a miracle that we found her! I hope she continues to progress! Anyways as you can also see, I got my scripture cases today! They look pretty good! I`m glad to have them! So I got a new comp today! Her name is Hermana Pierre. She is from Haiti! She was leaving Tamboril when I got there so she knows all the same people as me! It`s pretty cool! She`s really nice. Can you send me a couple easy dessert recipes? Ones with not too many ingredients is what I mean. One for chocolate chip cookies and then maybe no bakes or something? Thanks! Well that`s about all that`s happened this week. For skype let`s do 6 pm my time so 5 pm your time? I`ll keep trying with google hangout. If you get a request from an unknown person, it`s probably because I`m using someone else`s username. But if i don`t figure it out, we`ll just have to use skype. That`s so awesome that Chelsea is pregnant!! I am so happy for her!! And for Megan Dahl too! Sorry I don`t have much time to write this week. But I`ll talk to you on Sunday!! Happy Mother`s Day Mom!!!

Hermana Woolf

Thursday, April 1, 2014 - Week 36

Hey fam! How`s it going? Sorry this is a day late. We had a crazy day yesterday and got back really late so we got permission to come today. Good news! I get to go to Tamboril this Saturday to see Rubi`s baptism!! It wasn`t easy to organize, but I hope it all works out. I found a sister to go with me and one to stay with my companion and Ruben is going to go a little late to work so I can come this Saturday. Because it was going to be next Saturday, but I wouldn`t be able to go because I`ll have a new companion and she won`t know the area. So a lot of people are making sacrifices so I can go. I can`t wait!!! So this week has been pretty good. We had interviews with Pres. Douglas this week and they went really good. He told us that my companion will be leaving this coming Wednesday in transfers so I`ll be getting a new companion. I always get a little nervous to get a new companion. I`m hoping for an American. I haven`t had one yet and I`m sure it must be so fun. But it doesn`t really matter. So I don`t really know what`s going to happen for Mother`s Day. I can`t put a set hour right now because I don`t know what my companion is going to do. Also we still haven`t found anyone with skype in our area so I don`t know if I`ll have to go to the office to skype you guys. I`m hoping by Wednesday I have some answers. What time is church for you? Mine is 9 to 12 in the morning. So after that. Well we have a few people progressing in our area. They all are pretty young though which makes me a little worried. I don`t like teaching young teenagers without their parents because I don`t know if they will stay strong in the church or not. But for now they are all coming to church and have accepted baptismal dates so we`ll see. We went contacting this week and found this man that was taking the missionary discussions before and went to church like 3 times. I love finding people like that. They already have experience so they can progress much faster. We had exchanges on Monday. I got to go out with a sister that is finishing her mission next week. It was really great. She came to my area with me so this was the first time I had the responsibility of the area. I admit. I got lost a couple times. Haha. We went to do some service in her area after to paint a house with some other missionaries. So Ivelice is having a few problems. Now that her husband is gone she isn`t coming to church. But it`s because she has 2 jobs now and the only way to go to church is to leave her daughter to do the jobs. And she doesn`t want to leave her alone because she`s only like 12. But she`s going to talk to her niece about helping her out on Sundays so she can go. We`ll see what happens. Okay so yesterday we went to a waterfall. We left at 7 am to meet up with like 30 missionaries. If last week was my hardest hike, this was my 2nd hardest hike. Haha. We had to walk in the river for most of it with huge rocks that we had to climb over. We climbed up the side of a waterfall which was super scary and I thought I was gonna die. Then we had to slide down a cliff on our bottoms which was very hard. We edged along another cliff and climbed over barbed wire. I got lots of splinters and bug bites (did you know gnats bite?), but despite all of that, it was pretty fun. Haha. I got to swing on a vine and when we got to the waterfall, we got to go under it. The way back was hard though because it rained and so it was super muddy. It was pretty dangerous in a few parts. But an Elder from my area helped me the whole way. He was so nice. I`m positive I would have been hurt if it wasn`t for him. I`ll send pics so you can see. We didn`t get back until 630 last night. I`m pretty sore right now. But I`m glad I went. I cant wait to hear about regionals! I hope it went well! It really hasn`t been that rainy. I think the rainy season is in the summer when it`s hurricane season. I don`t know how much we walk every day. Less than in Tamboril. I just do exercise in the house every day. (including wall sits Dad). Haha. Sounds like a great new challenge. Thanks Jamie! I`ll have to think back to see if I remember all the challenges. Sorry my testimony is a day late, but here it is: 

Primero, gracias por sus testimonios! Fue divertido leyendo cada uno. Hace un mes cada familia tenía sólo una persona que sabía Español. Ahora toda la familia sabe un poquito! Pues, quiero compartir mi testimonio con ustedes. Mi experiencia en la misión ha sido increíble. He visto cambios en muchas personas. Ahora yo entiendo la escritura en Doctrina y Convenios 18:15 y 16. He recibido tanto gozo en sólo 8 meses. No tengo las palabras para describir cómo yo me siento. Es algo que tiene que experimentar para entender. Espero que cada uno de ustedes tengan la oportunidad de servir una misión un día, si no han servido toda vía. Yo sé que el evangelio fue restaurado por medio del profeta José Smith. él vio a nuestro Padre Celestial y Su Hijo, Jesucristo. Yo sé que Dios escucha nuestras oraciones y nos ayuda en tiempos difíciles. Una de mis escrituras favoritas es Doctrina y Convenios 6:36. Dice, "Elevad hacia mí todo pensamiento; no dudéis; no temáis." Es muy simple, pero muy poderosa también. Cuando el Señor está en nuestras vidas, no necesitamos tenor dudas ni miedo. Si ponemos nuestra confianza y fe en él, podemos hacer cualquier cosa y ver milagros en nuestras vidas. Dios tiene un amor tan grande por nosotros. Podemos sentir este amor por el poder del Espíritu Santo. Yo sé que La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los últimos Días is la única iglesia verdadera en el mundo porque contiene la plenitud del Evangelio. Soy muy feliz porque tengo esta verdad. Comparto estas cosas en el nombre de Jesucristo, Amén.  I love you all! Have a great week! See ya next week! :)
Hermana Woolf