Miracles happen every once on awhile if you believe!

Anyone know what movie that´s from? #princessdiaries. Well it´s true! This week was good! Spring is springing over here and it is so nice! And let me tell you, I am WHITE. Like so white. My arms and legs are blinding. I´m trying to get a sunburn. #weeklygoals

   The weather is only one reason this week was good! We have been really trying to find new people to teach to refill our teaching pool. And we´ve had a lot of success! We taught a lot of lessons and really felt like we found some solid new investigators. Then Sunday arrived... and NO ONE came to church. We were like what the heck! We worked so hard and thought we´d have lots of investigators in church. But not a one showed! So we went out and passed by everyone we could think of, and we called all our contacts. But sadly no one said they´d come! We were a little down, but went outside again to make some last calls. We had been praying all morning for at least one person to come to church. Just one. As we were scrambling, racking our brains for someone more we could call, our old investigator Rosa walked up to us. We invited her to church and she said no no no no no, but we knew Heavenly Father sent her to us. After some testifying and teaching more about the importance of church, the Spirit touched her heart and she agreed to come. As we sat in sacrament meeting with her, Rosa just cried the whole time. As she partook of the sacrament she was filled with peace. She said that she felt the talks were "just for her." It was one of the most spiritual sacrament meetings of my life. Rosa is just one person, but she is important to God. I´m so happy she came to church with us. Heavenly Father answered our prayers exactly because we had the faith that He would. It really is true what the scriptures say, God does not cease to be a God of miracles. More often than not, I just need to open my eyes a little wider to see them. :) I know this church is true and that it changes our lives. Members, non  members, everyone. God lives and He loves us!

I love you all!! Have a great week!!

Sister Wood

Just some pics of us eating. Enjoy

Flower headbands are never a bad idea!

 Hello! I can´t believe it´s freaking MARCH already! Weird. This week ran by so fast for us for some reason. Time is really starting to move and it´s weirding me out! But it was a good week.

   On Saturday we were on our way to eat with a family in our branch, the Gomes, when we happened upon a cute little field of flowers. We decided to make some flower headbands haha. It was cute! We felt cute. Then we went on our way to eat with this family. It´s a mom, Dora, and three daughters, Camilla, Naide, and Alda. They are the BEST. Their conversion story is really cool- Five years ago Dora´s husband was contacted on the street in Lisbon but he gave the missionaries Dora´s number. And she DID NOT want to talk to them haha. She already had a religion and didn´t want anything to do with the Elders, but they were persistent. One day they called her and for the first time she was actually home, but she didn´t think they´d be able to get to her house before she left to get her daughter. But somewhat miraculously they showed up 10 minutes later and she finally talked to them. After some time, she read the Book of Mormon, which was the key to her conversion. She was baptized first, then her daughters and husband followed one by one. They were sealed in the Madrid Temple and now are a really strong family in the church. The daughters want to serve missions. I´m so grateful for those persistent Elders that didn´t give up on this family, because they have changed this branch and also my mission. 

   My mother asked me if I´ve eaten anything really weird here, so I will give a recent example. For lunch Dora fed us this really good meat and vegetable stew that was delicious, along with this other thing. I can´t remember what it´s called, but it´s something they eat in african countries a lot. It fills you right up. It´s this plant root that they dry and ground up and mix with flour and boil. It doesn´t sound that bad and it doesn´t really taste like anything, BUT IT HAS THE CONSISTENCY OF A THICK BOOGER. Ohh my goodness I was dying. Boogers are like the one thing I cannot do. I can deal with poop or vomit but BOOGERS NO. So rough. I dutifully ate it and was grateful for the meal. But I hope I never get served boogers again.

   This week I learned even more about the power of fasting. I know that Heavenly Father guides us and answers our prayers as we fast with faith. :)

I love you! Have a great week!

Sister Wood

All you need is Love (and brownies)

Heyo! This week was good! REALLY good!

So we taught a lot of lessons with members this week, which is ALWAYS better. We have this one investigator, Jorge, who is actually the coolest. He´s a retired basketball player and just super fly. We taught him with our member friend Camila and it was a really powerful lesson! We talked about baptism because he had a few questions about the authority (priesthood) that we have in our church that make the baptisms different. The Spirit is always so strong when we teach Jorge, but especially this time. He is a really special person and we could feel that. He has a desire to be baptized and follow Christ, and we are really grateful we get to teach him!

Also this past week we focused a lot on strengthening our relationships with the members here in Vila Franca! A lot of them live quite far away, so it´s hard to really see them throughout the week. Our solution was to make a BUNCH of plates of brownies, hop on the bus, and do some service at the houses of the members. It was AWESOME!! And let me tell you, they love brownies. They truly are the key to everyone´s hearts. #brownies

I´m learning that one of the most important roles I have as a missionary is showing my love for these people. Sometimes all we can really do is love people and try to show them. People make choices and hearts are sometimes hardened, and that´s really hard to see. But I know that as we truly try to love people the way the Savior loves each of us then we can be very powerful tools in the Lord´s hands. Love brings us all closer to Christ. I´m kinda cheesy today, but we just need to love each other!! I love you all!

Have the best week! <3

Sister Wood

Just some pictures!

It all started with a prayer!

Hello! I hope you all had a great week! :) We wanted to feel American for Valentine´s Day so we made heart shaped sugar cookies and it was great. Carnaval also started this weekend, which is basically just Halloween. Cross dressing is a popular thing during Carnaval, and we ran into a less active boy from our branch dressed up as a woman.. we laughed SO HARD. We also saw a number of other flat out ridiculous things that I won´t expand on... Oh, Portugal.

 

This week we also had interviews with President Fluckiger which is always good. He had some Reese's Pieces that he shared with me and Sister Esplin... it was like gold. We also went out to lunch with Sister Fluckiger and ate some curry. Curry is actually like a really big deal here haha. I´m so not sad!!

Yesterday we had a really cool lesson with a less active, Catarina. She is the daughter of Lopes, the shepherd guy. As a mission we´re doing a study on prayer, and I´ve been reading a lot in Joseph Smith History about the First Vision and other experiences Joseph Smith had with prayer. Basically the whole Restoration started with a very simple prayer! We felt like we should talk to Catarina more about the First Vision and the power of prayer. The Spirit is always so strong as we recount the sacred experience that Joseph had in a quiet grove of trees, and we were all touched by the Holy Ghost. In the end we asked her to offer a prayer, and she was really hesitant because she had NEVER said a prayer aloud before. But the Spirit told us to wait until she was willing to say the prayer, and in the end she said such a sweet prayer. The Spirit flooded the room and she started crying, her dad started crying, and it was just such a sweet experience. The power of prayer is real, and the Spirit will touch our hearts as we sincerely talk to Heavenly Father in prayer. It was a lesson I will never forget!

 

Well, I love you all and hope you have a great week!!

Sister Wood

Tender Mercies Come in Lots of Ways

HEYO! What if one week I just wrote my email in Portuguese and made you guys translate it? I think about that every week as I start my email. I won´t do it cause that´d be dumb. How are you all doing? I hope you all had a great week!

There are challenges to overcome every week, and this last week was no exception haha. But we always find stuff to laugh about. For example, Sister Esplin fell up the stairs three times and out of her chair once. I´m laughing so hard right now as I remember. That is something that hasn´t changed about me I guess, I still think falling is the most hilarious thing. LOL

But anywho, this week was full of tender mercies. Especially on Saturday. We decided to fast to receive some guidance for our investigators and our area, because we feel like we´ve kind of been scrambling. In my mission my testimony of fasting has been strengthened so much, I´ve seen the power and blessings that come from it. So on Saturday we went to this way sketchy part of our area to teach this guy we contacted a couple weeks ago, Evanildo. He´s so cool and we´d been wanting to teach him since the contact, but it never worked out until Saturday. We´ve been slightly nervous lately because of some encounters we´ve had while contacting, but we felt so happy and safe as we walked there! That was a tender mercy. When we got to his house, turns out his cute cousin was home so we got to teach them both! Her name is Melia and she was the sweetest. We taught them the first lesson, about the Restoration, and the Spirit was incredibley strong. Neither of them have much religious background besides believing in God, and they were so excited to hear our message. As we taught their smiles just bigger and bigger. They both offered prayers, and could feel the difference of the Spirit. We basically floated out of that lesson. It was more than a tender mercy, it was an answer to prayer and a miracle. I love this work, and feeling the Spirit work through me as a missionary and representative of Christ. I know He lives and this is His church. I´m so grateful for these experiences!

I found a new favorite scripture this week, 2 Nephi 4:35. It´s about prayer. Read it. <3

I LOVE YOU ALL!!

Sister Wood

It's Birthing Season

It´s transfer day, and I´m staying in Vila Franca de Xira with Sister Esplin. I´m so excited to have one more transfer here! It´s going to be great. :)

 

Spring is quickly approaching.. that means birthing season! One of the members in our branch, Lopes, is a shepherd with a cute little herd of sheep. And boy are they procreating! I think seven new lambs have been born in the last week, and Lopes calls us to tell us about each new baby. But get this- He named one after me!! HOLLA!! So Lopes is a strong member of the church and everything but he "baptizes" his sheep, like in the Catholic church. I think it´s hilarious. So now there is a cute little Catholic lamb named Sister Wood prancing through the hills of Alhandra, Portugal. NOT SAD!!

So sometimes I feel like an Israelite. Every day they had to show their faith in the Lord to receive their manna from heaven. Every day for them was a new opportunity to exercise faith and trust in God, and I feel like that is how it is for all of us! This last week was particularly difficult with the work, but each day we went out and worked, putting all our faith in the Savior. And we saw some definite miracles! I learned a lot this week about having more faith in the Lord to receive my own personal "manna from heaven", whether is was more motivation to walk in the rain, the right words to bear in a testimony, new people to teach, something I could do to help my companions, etc. I know that if we truly strive to put all our trust in God, He guides us. He enlarges our capacities and capabilities! I´m so grateful to be a missionary, learning these things. I know this church is true!

I love you all! Have a great first week of February! <3

Sister Wood

Pics: Me holding a baby lamb, Mascarinha. That translates to small mask. Like from Zorro.

Just a few tripla selfies!