Heyo! 

Didn´t write a big email last week... oops. The last two weeks have been good! I actually feel sick about the fact that it is NOVEMBER (puking). What even is that? So crazy. But the good news is that I have Silent Night by Michael Buble on my ipod. Christmas is coming up! It´s the most listened to song I have. That and maybe A Child´s Prayer by Janice Kapp Perry (JUST KIDDING). 

I´m trying to think about all that´s happened in the last two weeks of my life, which is a lot because mission is a busy lyfe, and mostly all that´s coming to mind is how grateful and happy I am to be here! I love Gaia, this area is wonderful and we are meeting/teaching some incredible people. We have this one investigator, Telma, who is an actual saint. So sweet and Christlike. We´re helping her quit smoking so that she can be baptized. We love her so much! Also this ward is amazing. Sister Smyth rules too. 

I went to Mission Council this last week with the Amorim´s and it was great, as usual. It was weird because a lot a lot of the Sisters are going home at the end of this transfer, so I had to say tchau to a few really good friends! I love the missionaries I´ve been able to serve with. People are such a blessing. President talked about overcoming trials and how we can improve and progress on the path of our mission and also our life. It was so good. He shared that quote by President Monson, don´t remember exactly how it goes, but it´s something like "one of God´s greatest gifts to us is the opportunity to try again. No failure ever need be final." I am so grateful for that! Heavenly Father is so patient and merciful. We have a Savior who literally made it possible for us to try again. I love this gospel. It gives me so much hope! 

I´m grateful for opportunities to bear my testimony. As missionaries, we get questioned a lot. Lots of people have told me that I´m wrong, that I´ve been tricked, or that I need to read the Bible again because Joseph Smith´s name never comes up in there (haha). But one thing I know is the power of a true and pure testimony. The Lord gives us all so many ways to know and feel for ourselves the truthfulness of the gospel. No one can take away the fact that I KNOW this church is true. God has given me too many answers and I can´t deny what I know. I am sure that as we bear our testimonies that they are strengthened and peoples hearts are touched. The other day, we were teaching a lady who was trying to catch us in our words and make us deny what we know. As she literally told me that I was blind, the Spirit filled my heart and I just bore my testimony with all that I had. My own testimony was strengthened as I defended our Savior and His church. I know that the message we have been called to share with the world is true. It is of God. And I am so grateful. 

I hope you all have a great week! LOVES <3 

Sister Wood 

Pics of us being in our study outfits.. our house is freezing. Also the ladies at Mission Council! 

Olá familia e amigos!

   This week was good! It was definitely one of the more dramatic weeks I´ve had for a while but nonetheless we learned a lot and still had a great week. Some weeks are harder than others, but that´s just the way the cookie crumbles. We always end up having a good time anyway. Missionary work does that. 

   On Sunday we had stake conference in Porto and some big ol´ news was made... they´re finally starting construction on the Lisbon Temple! FETCH YES!!!! The temple has been announced for a few years now, but because of various setbacks they haven´t started to actually build. UNTIL NOW YES YES YES YES. I´m so excited and happy that there will be a temple in this country that I love so much. The members are so faithful and ready to get to work in the temple! 

   I also loved stake conference because I got to see all my pals from my last area, Porto 1. It was the freaking best. It was like a huge family reunion! I´m so grateful for the wonderful people that I´ve been able to know and serve. I was a happy happy camper yesterday! 

   This week I´ve been thinking a lot about the story of Adam and Eve in the beginning of Moses 5, when the Lord commands them to start offering sacrifices. I´ve been thinking a lot about how Adam was exactly obedient, even though he didn´t know the purpose of the sacrifices. It wasn´t until after they obeyed that an angel appeared to them and explained The Why. This is true for us a lot too. Sometimes we don´t know The Why of things, but we just need to trust in the Lord and obey Him. We can trust that later we will understand The Why. I´m grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who is perfectly trustworthy. He knows what´s best. He knows The Why of everything we do, and it is up to us to trust in Him and follow His commands. Oh man, I love the scriptures. They are so cool. 

Well I hope everyone has a great week! I love you! 

Sister Wood 

This is Abel, a member that works with us A LOT. He is waiting for his mission call. He´s cool. Also this is Sister Smyth on the daily. She is Princess Giggles.

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Heyo! 

This week was good! The beginning of the week I was slightly dying because #sickprobs but by Thursday we were kicking and ready to go, and our weekend was so good! Saturday was like a miracle day for us because we made some big goals and invited a member to work with us the whole day and we were able to meet some way cool new investigators and teach 6 solid lessons! It was the BEST. Believe me, we felt so dang blessed. I´m so grateful to be working in this area with Sister Smyth and such wonderful members. It was a great week! 

We also enjoyed the Halloween package Mom sent me! Can´t believe we´re over halfway through October. YIKES. At least we have orange rice crispy treats to get us through. 

This is a lame one because I don´t have a lot of time but I hope everyone has a great week! Loves! 

Sister Wood 

And another transfer... gone! Crazy. But I´m staying in Gaia with Sister Smyth, no one´s shocked. I´m excited to keep working here with her! WE LOVE GAIA! 

This week was good! We had Zone Conference on Wednesday with the Amorims, and it was great. He is literally so inspired and I was basically falling out of my chair the whole meeting because of it. I´m soooo grateful to have leaders who are called of God to guide us. I´d be a basket case without them! 

We did a division with the Sisters in the other Gaia ward, and it was good! I love divisions because in my mind it means SLEEPOVER HOLLA! Is that bad? They are great Sisters and I always learn a lot from working with them. 

The work in our area is also picking up and we´re so stoked! The beginning of the transfer was rough but now we have some progressing investigators who have TONS of potencial. We´re teaching a lady from Angola named Marta and she is so cute. She has two little daughters and they all look like Beyonce. They came to church yesterday and loved it! Of course they loved it, church is the best! 

Fun Fact: I threw up for the first time in like 8 years the other night! Too far? But literally being sick on the mission is theee worst. I was on my freaking death bed for a couple days, but oh well! It happens! 

Have a great week everyone! The church is true. Loves! 

Sister Wood 

Fotos: ladies of the zone, division chins (SO BAD I KNOW) 

One more week and here I am. Holy smokes!

This week was good though! On Tuesday we had mission council with President Amorim. It was yet again really good! Its always fun to go and see my mission friends all the while being nourished by the inspired messages from Pres and the Spirit. A few calls to repentance here and there, a nice Portuguese lunch, and a few good laughs is what I call a good mission council!

The next day we had zone meeting which was also good. Sister Smyth and I got to give a training on how to teach the complete message of the Restoration in five minutes. Let me tell you, my companion is a straight champ. Had I had to do that in my first transfer I would have pooped my skirt. Too far to say that? But really, she did great! We also always play scripture games. We are strongly encouraged to memorize scriptures from the missionary lessons to help us in our teaching, but we all know the real reason we memorize scriptures is so that we can destroy everyone in the scripture games. We played this game call "Castigos," which just means punishments. Basically you just go up against an opponent and the reader gives you a doctrinal point from one of the lessons. The first person to give the scripture reference and also recite the scripture wins, and the other person gets a castigo (punishment) to do. A few examples are tango-ing with your comp, telling your most embarrassing missionary story, and many more. Needless to say it was hilarious and also probably out of hand, but i loved it. Zone meetings are too fun.

Conference is the real reason that this week was good though! How lucky are we to have a living prophet who guides us today. How lucky are we to have so many inspired leaders to show us how to be happy in this life! This is about to get real cheesy, but as I was watching conference at the chapel and we all stood to sing "We Thank Thee, O God, For A Prophet" in Portuguese I just started crying. As I looked around at all these members that I love so much here in Portugal and at the screen of all the people back in Utah, I felt like I was going to burst with gratitude to be part of the true and living church of Jesus Christ. We are all striving for the same thing, to follow the Savior, in all parts of the world. I am so blessed to be able to serve my mission in Portugal. I love these people and I love my mission!

I hope you all have a great week! I love you! 

GRAPES GRAPES GRAPES

Hello! 

This week was good as well! This is the week that I´ve eaten more grapes that I ever have before in my life. OMG. Porto is known for grapes and wine and stuff and literally everywhere we go people give us grapes. They´ll just go out to there backyard grape vine and cut a bunch of grapes off for us. I´m literally graped out. Holy smokes. 

But really, our week was good. Super busy. We had an activity on Friday night called Night of Fados. It was a concert. Fado is a traditional Portuguese style of singing. I advise you all to look it up because it is just a treat. But President and Sister Amorim came and they let us stay until the end of the activity, which ended at midnight. That was super weird. But it was a great night! 

On Saturday night a little girl in our ward got baptized, Maria. It was basically just a Frozen singalong the whole time.. in the chapel... but in the midst of it she did in fact get baptized. It was also her birthday so there was a big party afterward. SO MUCH FOOD! Do you guys remember that part on the Grinch, when the Whos are carrying him around and shoving all sorts of weird food in his face? I literally feel like that anytime we eat with members. But I´m #grateful. 

On Sunday our investigator Conceição came to church and turns out she already knows like 7 members. She was so pleased to walk in and see some familiar faces, and some long lost friends! She also loved sacrament meeting. I love church! It is such a good thing! Heavenly Father´s love is here in the chapel! 

I love the mission. I love the Gospel. Love all of you too! Have a great week! 

Sister Wood 

District lunch on Tuesday... 6 pizzas and an icecream cake later... oh well.

Also my sandals literally split down the center. 

and Noite de Fados 

Maria de Fatima

Olá Familia! 

This week was really good! We started out the week with a nice TROPICAL STORM on Tuesday! Tropical storm, meaning red alerts on the news and and people not leaving their homes because of the rain and wind warnings. But no one actually told us about this tropical storm so yeah we worked in it all day! IT WAS A JOKE! We were literally being pushed around by the wind all day and soaked all the way through by the buckets of rain. Plus two cars drove through lakes of water right next to me and I actually almost drowned. I was like I had jumped in a pool. Our umbrellas kept flipping inside out like would be expected, but they also closed in on our heads several times as well.  We decided to name the storm Maria de Fatima, hence the title. It was one of the most hilarious days.

So on Thursday we went to visit a member named Celeste. She is 85 years old and actually an angel. Because my comp has the voice of a disney princess, we asked if we could sing a hymn with Irmã Celeste and she quickly chose "There Is Sunshine In My Soul Today." We started singing and Celeste just went HAM. She was singing so so loud and like rolling around on the couch and enjoying that hymn more than I´ve ever seen anyone enjoy a hymn. I tried to hold myself together but I couldn´t help but laugh, so we all started laughing and singing and she was SO HAPPY. Hands down one of the best moments of my lyfe. I love love love the old ladies here! 

On Friday we decided we would have a day of miracles. Cheesy, I know. But we decided to fast and ask the Lord to help us reach all our goals and find people with a lot of potencial to teach. And then we went to work! It was one of those experiences when Heavenly Father answered our prayers exactly how we asked. We were able to reach all our goals for that day and we found a new couple to teach, and we had a really good lesson with a family we´re teaching. It was a testimony builder for us! I know that when we do all that we can and show our faith that the Lord will make up the difference and help us achieve righteous desires. It may seem like a small thing, but for me this day was a huge tender mercy. 

President Amorim has asked us to be more bold and brave as missionaries. He´s asked us to do at least one new bold thing every week. AH. So yesterday Sister Smyth, me, and the two other Sisters in our ward went down to the boardwalk where there are always hundreds of people. Three of us sang hymns while one person contacted the people passing by, handing out invitations to church, family proclamations, etc. And then we would switch off. It was really awkward and I wanted to jump in a lake. But as we kept going, people started to stop and listen. It was neat because quite a few people actually came over to us and asked for the family proclamation. We were able to share the gospel with a lot of people by this seemingly uncomfortable activity, so that was great! Sister Smyth and I have also been working on contacting large groups of people, such as those waiting at bus stops and stuff. The Lord asks us to open our mouths and share the gospel with EVERYONE, and as we´ve been trying to be more brave and bold we have felt the Spirit testify of our words. We just gotta get out of our comfort zone sometimes! 

That´s about all I got, I´m proud of myself for sending an email with four big paragraphs. So yeah, i hope you all have a great week! Loves! 

Sister Wood 

Fotos: Sister Smyth and I

Also us four down by the river that separates Porto and Gaia