Short again...

Happy Valentines Day....in the U.S.! Here it is June 12th! But I hope you are all feeling the love! alright this is going to be fast. AGAIN. sorry! This week was good. We worked hard and the sun about killed us, but it ended alright. We only had 108 people at church because it rained. :( It was a little bit of a downer, but this next week will be better. Saturday night I was asked to talk to the Young Women about Personal Progress and it was just such a great experience. I got to remember my days as a young woman and hopefully gave some helpful advice to these amazing girls. One bad/ interesting/ slightly funny thing that happened this week.....The Relief Society President in the branch talked in church yesterday and it was a mess. She used to be a member of another church, which is a fairly lively church where lots of shouting and taking of the Lord´s name in vain occur. All I can say is that when she got up to talk I started to pray....the more she talked the more I prayed. She spent the entire time pumping her fists in the air, yelling, shouting Hallelujah, and telling people to repent. Goodness gracious, it was a mess. I have never felt the need to run out of the room while listening to a talk in church before, but yesterday I was looking nervously at the exit. If we hadn't had investigators at church I would have thought the situation funny, but our investigators (2 of which would be baptized this week) said they felt extremely uncomfortable and nervous during her talk. I got a little mad afterwards and will be talking to the branch president tonight. This is almost a weekly occurrance that she scares the inactive people we are reactivating and our investigators. Anyway. that's how it is sometimes....the amount of apostasy in these out of the way areas is ridiculous at time! But either way I love Guarabira and I love the branch. This week we got to go in the new chapel with President and Sister H! It is beautiful! I was able to play the piano a little bit and I thought I would cry just having the chance to touch a piano. so great! But yeah. things are going well. the work continues as usual. I hope you all are doing great and in good health! LOVE YOU ALL!

Love, Sister Wood

132!

So guess how many people were at church yesterday 132!!!!! We blew our goal of 120 out of the water! WAHOOOO!!! The Elders, some members, and us worked our tails off all week and we reached our goal! President and Sister H were there yesterday along with the district president and they were just thrilled at the turnout! We almost didn´t have enough room for all the people on the benches! All I can say is that I thanked Heavenly Father a LONG LONG time for this miracle! It was so great. Almost all of the inactive people we took cookies too showed up and it was just a party! I haven´t been that happy or given that many hugs in a while! It was great though to see the results of our work. The chapel will be dedicated in the middle or the end of March hopefully (the city has to inspect it and declare it safe or something)...so a few weeks before I come home. I hope I´ll stay here to see the chapel dedicated. Either way I´m happy that the good folks of Guarabira will have a chapel soon. President H talked yesterday to the branch and said it really doesn´t matter whether we meet in a beautiful chapel or the house we are currently meeting in.....the gospel is the important thing...it honestly is the only thing that really matters. He compared the chapel to a box that holds the thing that is most precious...the pearl of great price.

Well This week was super busy and lots of things happened that I would like to talk about, but my time is up! I hope you have an AWESOME week!

Tchau, Sister Wood

A little bribery goes a long ways....

Well this week flew by! Goodness the weeks are flying by faster and faster! This week we worked SOOOOO HARD! I slept like a rock every night, which was actually really nice. The weather alternated between hot and sunny, to pouring rain the entire week. After it rains the air gets so thick and the humidity just kills me. The other day I was walking in the street and waves of heat just started to hit me. I felt like I was in a sauna. I looked around for something like a car or a machine that was putting off all this heat, but there wasn´t anything. It was just that hot. I couldn´t believe that I could feel like I was honestly in a sauna while walking in the open air. I really can´t complain about the heat though. The missionaries in Manaus have it was worse. I talked to a member who served in Manaus and he said the temperature up there in the Amazon is just unreal. As he talked about the weather, my desire to go there one day withered and died. Sometimes I think that walking in the heat all day is miserable, but a lot of other missionaries have it worse! In attempt to bribe people to go to church this week I made 5 batches of chocolate chip cookies and little laminated cards with the scripture from D&C 59:9-10 about the importance of going to church. We took them to at least 35 less active or inactive members and it was quite a task. We went to all of the neighborhoods in Guarabira and walked so much that we had to almost crawl up the stairs to our apartment. Our apartment is on the 3rd floor and the climb at night up those stairs almost seems impossible at times. I´m trying to give 1000% of myself in these last months of my mission and am pushing the limits of my physical endurance. The Lord definitely blesses His missionaries with strength. At times I feel like I don´t have the energy to go on. We walk up and down these huge hills everyday that zap our physical strength, and teach lessons by the spirit which zaps even more energy out of us. At times I am comforted by the fact that Lehi, after having had a vision (a great spiritual experience), fell upon his bed from exhaustion. I feel like that sometimes, but like I said...the Lord strengthens us! I´m sure I´ve had angels help me up these hills a few times! The branch is doing well here in Guarabira. I love everyone here so much! And luckily they love us! Everything is going great for us. I love the area, I love the branch, I love our investigators, I love my companion. I love everything, and therefore am worried that things will change in the next transfer! Either way I´m going to enjoy these last 9 weeks I have in Brazil. I never again will have these types of experiences. I will never again be able to serve a mission in this way. I´m so grateful that I was able to serve! It has been one of the biggest blessing of my life! The things I´ve learned here in Brazil are difficult to explain. I´ve never felt closer to the Savior. I never realized how merciful He is and how infinite His love is for us. The church is definitely true. Heavenly Father´s desire is to bless us, but we have to do our part to deserve these blessings. I am more convinced than ever that there is no experience that compares to a mission. I will be a better mother and wife because of the things I learned here in Brazil. This week was filled with many other activities and experiences but my time is ending and I need to end this. I hope you are all doing great and staying firm in the gospel.