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

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

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

A visit to Tamboril!

 

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

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

 

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