Nuts for nuts!

Okay remember how we had that miracle last Saturday with Elizabet who we found like a half hour before conference? Yeah, well the next time we found her she broke up with us. Not gonna lie it was a rough breakup. I´m super used to people rejecting us but it was different with her. She invited us in her house and then told us that she didn´t want us to teach her anything, and she didn´t want to go to church again because she didn´t want to have anything to do with God in her life right now... Well, now what? So we kinda discuss what´s going on with her life, and try to share a scripture that can apply to her situation, but she seriously would NOT let us share anything gospel related with her. So finally we´re like "Well... Can we leave you with a prayer..?" Yeah she didn´t even let us pray. I just don´t understand what happened there! She was SO awesome the day we taught her and then all of the sudden she didn´t want anything to do with it! Anyways... New subject

Here are a couple great things that happen in Chile. One thing you should understand is that evangelicos are SUPER devoted to their religion and they think that EVERYONE needs to hear what they have to say whether they want to hear it or not. Therefore, they sometimes stand outside of houses and yell scriptures and stuff REALLY LOUD at the house. I have decided that maybe we should start doing that? Yell at a house and count it as a lesson? We would teach a lot of lessons that way! Yesterday, we also witnessed an army of evangelicos walking down the street singing hymns. It actually kind of made my day a little bit... Next ward activity coming right up!

Here in Concepcion, they have a bunch of nut stands all over the place that you can buy fresh candied nuts. The part I like best is the fact that they are usually called "nuts 4 nuts." It´s a good pun right? Yeah, well no one here actually knows that because they all speak Spanish and "nuts cuatro nuts" doesn´t really mean anything to them, so every now and then you will see a nuts stand that says "nuts 5 nuts!" Because 5 is obviously better than 4 right? Yeah, pun ruined... :)

Well I just don´t have to much to tell this week! Hope everything is going superb and that everyone has great costumes for Halloween! I´m thinking when I go door to door that night I will yell, "scripture or treat!" That way if they don´t have candy, they will have to listen to a scripture. Then again, I could always just yell a scripture really loud at their house if they don´t let us in, right?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! :D

Con amor, Hermana Woodenbury

p.s. sombra means shadow

Ditched at conference

Okay, first things first. I am really kind of sad because we might have to stop teaching Janeth and Sergio. It is like the biggest heartbreak of my life, but they honestly aren´t doing anything more to progress more than they did like three months ago. They told us that they are going to keep going to church, but that they just have a lot going on in their lives right now and need some things to fix themselves before they get married. We talked to our leaders about it and they said we should probably let them go for a little bit. It is seriously the hardest thing EVER because we know that they are super awesome and that they have stranger testimonies than a lot of the members... Anyway, enough about that.

This week our zone had interviews with the mission president at his house again! I always like going to the President´s house because it´s kind of like being in the US! Me and a few elders sang a musical number there, which I just loved because I got to sing alto and I havn´t been able to do that for a while! Mostly because the melody always needs a little help...

We had stake conference this week, so we had the option to bring people to church Saturday night because of the adult session. Anyways, we were contacting a street about a half hour before the Saturday night session, and happened upon an eighteen year old girl named Elizabet walking along, so we started to talk to her, and she accepted to go to the church with us! At the church we taught her a small lesson and she said she wanted to get baptised in our church because she´s never felt so much peace in her life, and then she stayed for some of the adult session! I was seriously amazed. It was a true miracle.

Sunday was a little bit different. We went with our investigator Irene to the conference who we have been teaching for a while and went to church with us once before and told us that she would really like to follow our religion. Anyways, so it gets to "halftime" where every one stands up and sings and Irene asks, "Hey, where´s the bathroom?" so I tell her and she leaves to room.... and never returns. That is not even a joke. She left and then texts us, "Hey sorry but I need to go home now!" Okay, what the heck? I seriously don´t understand what the heck is going on with her. Way to be all sneaky! Maybe she was bored..?

A little bit after our investigator sneaked out of the conference, someone passed out, so of course a big group of people had to carry the body out into the hall, and the speaker pretended like nothing happened and kept talking. Then to top it all off, the closing song the choir sang was a Christmas song. Never mind that it´s not even after Halloween yet! What a conference!

Anyways, that´s about it for right now! Love you guys! Merry Christmas! (or Halloween whichever one you want to celebrate this month)

Loveth, Hermana Merrisa Woodbury

p.s. sandia means watermelon

The Book of Mormon is amazing!

LAURA GOT MARRIED!!!!! I CAN HARDLY EVEN BELIEVE IT!!!!! It seems so unreal. I am just SO SO SO happy for her! Congrats Laura! I looked BEAUTIFUL in your dress with hidden pockets!:D

Hey remember how great Janeth and Sergio are and how I am always way obsessed with them and like to talk about them and stuff? Yeah, they´re still amazing. They had a FHE with their family and taught them the gospel! They are the coolest people I´ve ever met. They still don´t have a date to get married yet though... I´m kinda worried. They told us that they are for sure going to get baptised, but we need us to be patient.... Umm... We have been being patient for like three and a half months now! POR FAVOR! We are getting a little discouraged because we´ve helped them put a date of faith for their baptism like three times already when the spirit is really strong, but then it always just passes by and we don´t really know what else to do except pray that they´ll actually do something to work toward it.

The power of the Book of Mormon never ceases to amaze me. We have been teaching this inactive member for a while who is just really stubborn. Anyways, a couple weeks ago her husband who isn´t a member was there and giving us a hard time about stuff... Long story short we gave him a Book of Mormon, assigned him something to read in it, and left. Well, he went out of town for a couple weeks for work and we figured he wouldn´t read it. This week we found him again and he had taken the Book of Mormon with him on his trip, read what we assigned him, and wanted to read more so he read all the way from the intro to 1 Nephi 8. WHA???!!! We were NOT expecting that! He told us, "It´s just a really great book to read because when you´re reading you get this really great feeling right here, ya know?" (gesturing to his heart). I was seriously amazed. We are so darn barn lucky to have that book. It really does give guidance. I just love it so much.

Well..... Yep that´s about it for today! Love you guys!

Love Hermana Woodbury

Loving General Conference

Well now that it´s October, I hope everyone´s house is nice and decorated for Halloween! Unfortunately that holiday doesn´t exist here, but I´m thinking about dressing up as a rabbit that day in honor of the rabbit named Woodbury here in Chillancito.

How about that General Conference? I´m not going to lie, it is a totally different experience watching it in Spanish, than in English. It´s super weird because you see their lips moving, but there is a translator speaking over them in Spanish. Every speaker, you hear them say their first few words in English before the translator starts. It´s so weird not to be able to hear the individual voices and personalities of the speakers. You also can´t hear when everyone is chuckling in the conference center, and since the personality of the translator isn´t the same with the dumb little jokes they do in conference, nobody ever laughs. The translator for Elder Holland´s talk actually started crying a little and the spirit was really strong. I definitely kind of missed hearing their voices though. But I will have you know that Richard Scott translates his own talk so I DID get to hear his voice! Something else kind of fun is that in the middle of the session when everybody sings, the words on the screen are still in English, but everyone just gets out their hymn book and sings it in Spanish, so you´ve got the sound of the choir singing in English, and everyone else in Spanish and it´s just very interesting and great and confusing.

 We had a cool experience with our investigator Janeth in the Saturday Morning session. She told us that when Uchtdorf was speaking and said that "this church has a place for you," she felt like he was talking straight to her. I was like, YEAH! He WAS talking straight to you! Later, in the Sunday morning session, both Janeth and Sergio went and during every single talk I thought, "Oh my goodness! This is exactly what they needed to hear!" It is just so cool how everyone can get exactly what they need to hear out of conference. We are seriously so blessed to have the guidance of the prophet in our lives. 

I can´t really think of anything else to write right now my head is just so full of CONFERENCE. I hope everything is going super wonderful and that you all enjoyed conference, felt the spirit, and got a little life guidance! Love you people!

Con GRAN amor,

Hermana Woodbury