FUN FACTS

So this week was pretty normal. We taught lessons, talked to people on the street, ate a lot, and laughed even more. Now I´m going to share some random facts.

1. Everyone over cooks their pasta. EVERYONE. Always. It is just straight mush. But you know me, I eat it anyway. And by that I mean that I eat too much anyway. YOLO

2. Apparently tea cures everything. I have this crazy cough and everyone is basically pouring tea down my throat, but that´s only one example. If you ever have any sort of sickness just drink some tea and you´ll be healed!

3. I can´t touch my toes anymore.. and sitting cross-legged is a struggle.

4. I can play the right hand on the piano! I have a goal of learning one hymn with both hands by the end of my mission.

5. Portuguese people are generally pretty grouchy, but they would give you the shirt offAl their back. Or at the very least all the food on their table. Even the people who barely have enough for themselves. It is amazing!

6. They also think Portugal is the coldest place ever. We just laugh and nod.

7. I´m a giant here! We get stared at a lot!

8. The biggest mall in Europe is in Lisbon (at least that´s what they tell me).

9. There are millions of cats here. So many cat fights.

10. Almost all the buildings are tiled with super cool retro colorful tiles. We are constantly playing the "who can find the coolest tiles" game. And we love it!

I love Portugal. I love the people. I love my mission and I´m so grateful to be here. It´s an honor to have the opportunity to bring these people this message of true peace and hope. I love being a missionary!

Have a great week! I love all SO MUCH!!

Sister Wood

Hello!

 

   This week was good. Crazy and good and full of learning experiences! I had some experiences this week with the power of the Spirit in missionary work. First example: We´re teaching this Angolan lady named Conceição. She´s super cool and SUPER CATHOLIC. And she speaks at lightning speed so that is a fun little challenge. This past week we were teaching her more about the Restoration, because she has a lot of questions about Joseph Smith. Because she speaks so fast and has questions that aren´t exactly easy to answer even in English, we were all getting a little overwhelmed. But my companions and I were all saying little prayers in our hearts for the Spirit to be with us and help us. And He came. We began to answer her questions in a way that she understood. My companions bore testimony with power and conviction, and they spoke really well! We all felt the Holy Ghost, and by the end Conceição was saying "this is true." It was an incredible experience and a huge testimony builder of the power of the Spirit.

   Second example: We tried to teach an English class on Wednesday night at the church, and only two recent converts showed up haha. Dinho and Ricardo. So we began teaching, and all was going well, but then tempers got high because every one learns at a different rate and it turned into MADNESS. Cabo Verdean MADNESS! They were screaming at each other in crieole and my companions were scared, one was crying, and in that moment I thought "okay Sister Wood, time to take control of this situation!" By some force that was not my own I was able to say the right words to make them stop fighting. We were in the Lord´s house, and we as missionaries were not going to let a fight continue there! When they stopped fighting we had a powerful conversation about the sanctity of the Lord´s House and how our behavior must be while we are there. We offered a prayer in the end and were able to invite the Spirit again. This explanation doesn´t truly explain the magnitude of the experience, but I´ll just say that it was a moment in my mission when I wasn´t speaking my own words. The power of the Spirit is real and when we use it to do the Lord´s will we have authority.

   On Sunday our cute investigator Patricia was baptized! :) She has such strong faith in the Lord and it truly is a blessing to know her. She is like my Portuguese littlesister haha. I love being a missionary and being able to have experiences every day that help me learn and grow. I know Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He lives!

 

Have a wonderful week! I love you!!

 

Sister Wood

 

pics: Divisions with Sister Camacho, Patricia´s baptism <3

The honey only makes us laugh harder

Hello!!!

This week was great! First, I just have to say that being in a tripla is SO MUCH FUN! It is kind of really hard training two Sisters sometimes and my brain gets real full on occasion but then we laugh and have a real good time together so don´t worry, all is well. A member in our ward, Lopes, gave us some fresh honey this week so that was good! It is straight out of a beehive. Like it has honeycombs in it. And a few bee legs. But it is literally the best thing I´ve ever eaten and we go crazy on that honey. And then we laugh. And then we eat more. 

IT'S THE BEST

Sister Esplin told me that last night I was talking in my sleep.. having a conversation with myself in Portuguese. Don´t worry everyone, the weirdness is transferring to Portuguese now. Woo!

 

We have this cute little investigator, Patricia, who wants to be baptized so so bad. She´s eleven years old and LOVES church. She prays every day and reads the Book of Mormon. The other day we were teaching her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and during the lesson she just held up her finger and said "one minute, I need to go talk to my dad real quick." Then she ran inside and and begged her dad to let her be baptized- and he finally said yes! It was definitely a miracle this week! Patricia is the cutest and it is so fun to watch her testimony grow and grow, and I know that baptism is the door for so many more blessings that Heavenly Father has waiting for her! Missionary work is the best.

I know that this church is true and i LOVE it!! I´m so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who qualifies us and gives us strength to over come trials, to change, and to progress. I love my Savior Jesus Christ for giving me the opportunity to not only repent of my sins, but to change my heart and my nature. I know They live and love us. I love them and I love all of you! Have a great week!

Sister Wood

us at the cute dock in our area

Sister Esplin (glasses) Sister Leavitt (no glasses) and me!

Dinho's baptism

Hello hello!!

This week was good! Kind of CRAY but good! So on Thursday night we got a call.. We have a new companion! We are now three. It´s fun! Her name is Sister Esplin, and she is actually the sweetest. This is her second transfer too, her and Sister Leavitt (other comp) were in the MTC together. Small world! We´re really happy to have her with us, and hope she gets to stay a long time! My comps are the best.

Our investigator Dinho was baptized yesterday! Wooooo! He´s is Cape Verdean and super cool. He has so much faith in Christ and just wants to live a better, more righteous life. It is a blessing for us to get to teach him and help him come unto Christ. He was so excited and after the baptism while we were eating cake (because that´s what we do here in Portugal) he just kept saying "I feel so good, I feel so good." It was a wonderful day. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful week! I know this Church is true, Heavenly Father hears our prayers and gives us strength. I´m grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and I know that He lives! The gospel is the only way to true and lasting happiness. I´m so grateful to be a missionary!!

I LOVE YOU!!!

Sister Wood

Pics: Dinho´s baptism with all these thugs. The men look like hardened criminals but they are some of the kindest people I´ve met in the mission. And remember, we don´t judge chubby cheeks.

Post Christmas

HELLO!! Last week was great, with Christmas and all! Being a missionary on Christmas is super cool! Christmas Eve we ate with a member and his less active family, it was sweet. I ate boiled octopus. Also the drunk neighbor showed up and told my comp how much she reminded him of his last girlfriend. That got weird. Haha but it was a fun night! Skype on Christmas day was awesome too! Luh you guys. :) Mostly my week was just real good!

Cool experience from the week- So our investigator, Dinho, is way cool and so prepared. He knows a lot about the Bible and really likes the scriptures. He reads everything we give him- chapters from the Book of Mormon, the pamphlets, everything. That in and of itself is a miracle haha because a lot of people have trouble with reading the Book of Mormon! We had a lesson with him on Friday and our testimonies really grew of the importance of SCRIPTURE STUDY! :) Dinho came with questions, and we were able to answer them from the scriptures because we had studied and pondered them before hand. Our whole lesson was basically flipping through the Book of Mormon and using it to answer his questions. The Book of Mormon is TRUE and it truly contains the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love it!

 

Well, I hope you all have a great week and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Loves <3

Peace and blessins

Sister Wood

I am not the only one with chubby cheeks...

Santa has chubby cheeks too. MERRY CHRISTMAS WEEK!! :)

   This week was great! I got pretty sick for a couple days, but the work continues! Also we got our water fixed. I´M SO HAPPY.  Three cheers for warm showers.

   We had Conferencia de Natal with President and Sister Fluckiger last week! It was wonderful. It was our zone (Lisbon West) and four other zones. I got to see a lot of friends!! I finally saw my MTC companion Sister Larson, among other MTC pals. We had so much fun! We were all comforted to see that not only our own cheeks are getting chubbier. :) Lol. The Spirit that we feel when so many missionaries are together is just unreal! I love this mission and I have no doubt that this is exactly where I´m supposed to be.

   We also had a Christmas party with our branch on Saturday and it was great! So so so much food. And lots of fun too! We have this guy in our ward, Vagner, and he is Brazilian Jim Carrey. It is uncanny. He sounds like him, he makes weird faces like him, and he has lots of dumb jokes. But he is a actually the best. This branch is so cute and I love it! It´s interesting because they are all converts. Every single one. Not a one of them (except the small children) grew up in the church. But they have so much faith and work so hard to build the kingdom. I´m truly blessed to have their examples in my life and the opportunity to work with them!

   Our testimonies of member missionary work grew a lot this week! We have an investigator, Dinho, who is the friend of a recent convert, Ricardo. We just met him this week and he is really progressing towards baptism! When we met him, Ricardo had already given him a Book of Mormon and explained about the missionaries.  And Ricardo comes to all our lessons with Dinho and bears powerful testimony of the Restored Gospel. And Dinho is so prepared to accept our message! Sister Leavitt and I walk away from lessons just speechless because Dinho has such a strong desire to change his life, and Ricardo is right by his side to help him. Wooohooo for Ricardo and Dinho!! I love missionary work. 

   Well, I hope everyone has a magical Christmas!! I´m so grateful that I get to spend my Christmas as a missionary. It is truly a blessing and a privilege to be a represtentative of Jesus Crhist. I know He lives and He is our Savior. I love you all! FELIZ NATAL!! :)

Sister Wood

Fantastic Mr. Fox goes Portuguese

HEYO!!

   So I´m here in Vila Franca De Xira. It´s this cute little city about 45 minutes out of Lisbon, and it´s cool! This city is nationally known for bull fighting- which sadly ended in like October. Apparently they block of the streets in the center of town and just let the bulls go crazy. And crazy Portuguese men jump in with them and run around and I´m just really sad I missed it! Ôh well.  But now, they have Christmas music playing in the streets and I LOVE IT. They have this one song they play a lot that sounds exactly like the song from Fantastic Mr. Fox- you know, the one with the kids singing in creepy voices about the farmer guys? Every day I enjoy the sound of Portuguese children singing about Christmas and am reminded of that fantastic fox. IT'S THE BEST

   This past week has been good! COLD. It´s fun because we don´t have hot water! But we have plenty of mold to make up for it... lolz it´s fine! :) We have a cute little branch here that needs some tender loving care, so we´re working hard to find less active members and help strengthen  the recent converts. And find new people to teach. Sister Leavitt only had about three and half weeks here before the transfer so we do a lot of wandering streets/contacting to figure out our area better. Sister Leavitt is awesome- from Idaho, majoring in Viola Performance, has no fear to talk to people on the street, and makes HUGE AMERICAN breakfasts every morning. I´m not complaining! :) I feel really lucky to be serving with her.

   The members here are great! One that we particularly like is Lopes the sheep herder. Yes, he is a sheep herder. He is the freaking best!! He reminds me a lot of Grandpa Wood, so needless to say I love him a ton. He named his newest baby lamb after my companion and we had a good laugh about that haha. I love Portuguese people.

    So this week I´ve really seen that the Lord truly does qualify who He calls. For real! Here we are, two major noobs, trying to do missionary work. But we are trying our best and putting all our faith in the Lord, and we see so many tender mercies every day! For example, the language. The gift of tongues is real! I was nervous to train because I wasn´t super confident in my Portuguese and training a new companion who has less time with the language. But I know that Heavenly Father is perfectly aware of our fears and weaknesses, as well as our strengths and capabilities! He takes care of us always. As we´ve turned completely to Him this past week for help and guidance we have been blessed in so many ways. I love Heavenly Father!

   Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

Sister Wood

New Address: 

Sister Carley Wood

Rua General Humberto Delgado

Nº50 1Esq.

2600-154

Portugal

PS- ratchet hair in the picture.. i don´t like ice showers..