Ok I´m officially repenting. I´ve decided to start writng longer emails because so many things happen that I know you guys would like to hear. We had another great week in Tibiri. Sister De Oliveira and I worked at our maximum this week and it was wonderful. We met so many wonderful people and had so many spiritual experiences. Yesterday was an awesome day...we really saw the fruits of our labors! Five less active people that we are working with showed up at church and it was so great! 3 of 5 of these people had served missions and one had been a counselor in the bishopric many years ago before going less active. I wanted to cry from happiness when I saw them all show up! Also to add to the joy and happiness we had two baptisms--one a man named Leandro and the other a woman named Severina. I´ve been working with Severina since I arrived in the area and really wanted to see her baptized. Her daughter, Tercia, is a strong and faithful member of the ward and was taught by guess who?! Patricia, who is the daughter of Andreilton who we baptized in Potengi! Small world huh?! Anyway the baptism was just wonderful! I wish you all could have been there to witness it! The Spirit was extremely strong during the meeting. Tercia and another member of the ward did a special musical number and sang a song that actually was a testimony at the same time. It repeats the words, ``I know God lives, I know he loves me, I know he listens to me when I pray`, many times and it is just absolutely beautiful. They got so choked up while singing, but it you could really see how much they knew the words of the song were facts. Everyone was crying, including all Severina´s nonmember friends who were present and now want to be taught! Yay! Severina´s daughter was just glowing with happiness. Imagine how many years Tercia waited and how many prayers she said to see her mom be baptized. During the meeting I got a little teared up and I just kept thinking---This is why you left everything and everyone in the U.S.....to have moments like these. I can´t explain the joy the comes when you see someone repent...I just think about the joy God has when we repent....now I can see why he does everything in His power to call us to repentence. Anyway the missionary work brings an undescribable joy. At times I feel like my heart will literally burst because of the joy I feel. During the baptisms I also felt a great sense of humility and gratitude. How grateful I am that God gave me this time to serve a mission. How grateful I am that he calls and qualifies the weak and simple things of this earth. Another great experience this week was with Leo, Lindenberg´s cousin (a man we baptized recently). Since I´ve been here I´ve always talked with, laughed with, and teased Leo. We never really taught him because he never showed interest in the church and smokes, drinks every once in a while, swears, etc... A few weeks ago he ran up to us in the street and said he was trying to stop smoking. Since then we´ve been checking his progress, but honestly never thought he would take an interest in the church....BUT this past week we were teaching his cousin Lidianne and he sat in on the lesson. We talked about repentence and the power of the Atonement. As we talked, to our GREAT surprise, Leo´s eyes started to fill up with tears. I was extremely surprised. Here in front of me was a young man who I knew as the guy who swears, smokes, is vulgar, but somehow he had changed over these past 2-3 months so gradually that I hadn't paid attention. When he heard about the atonement and that repentence is possible it was like a heavy weight was lifted off of him. I think he realized hope exists, and that repentance is possible. After the lesson he said he wanted to go to church with us and wanted us to mark a part in the Book of Mormon for him to read. We marked Mosiah 28 about Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah. He is really excited to read and I hope he will continue to change his life for the better.

So this past week marked 9 months on the mission or my 1/2 way point and I started realizing how fast this mission is passing by. I started to fell sick when I thought about the fact I have only 9 more months to serve the Lord 100%. It was a horrible feeling. Don't get me wrong. I love you guys but I will miss the mission so much. I am forever changed because of this mission and President and Sister Fernandes. This past week was their last zone conference and I definitely wasn't ready to say goodbye to them. My new mission president, President Hall, will arrive this Thursday! I´m excited to get to know him and his wonderful wife!

Well thanks again for all the great emails and support. I love you guys so much! Stay strong and always to looking for ways to build your testimony!
Have a great week!

Oi! Well today we had transfers and guess what?! I stayed in Tibiri again, but with a new companion---Sister de Oliveira!! We´ve been living in the same house for the past 3 months and have grown to be great friends....no...awesome, AMAZING friends! When we heard that we would be companions we just started to jump up and down and screamed at the tops of our lungs for happiness! I also was called to be senior...the only difference is that I walk with the cell phone...BUT I am super excited that I stayed in Tibiri. I really love this area and I know Sister de Oliveira and I will continue to help the church grow here. So this last week was good. We baptized a young man, Janielson, on Sunday and it had to have been one of the most stressful/ hilarious batismal services that I´ve seen in my life. He was baptized at least 10 times (not kidding) and at one point we thought that he would just get sick of being dunked in the water and give up, but eventually all his limbs stayed in the water at the same time and he was baptized! Whooo hoo! He was so happy after the baptism and said the closing prayer which turned out to be an absolutely beautiful, humbling prayer. He changed so much during this past month and he loves to talk about the things he will do on his mission. I still can't believe that I´m a missionary...helping people come to Christ and change their lives. It really is a humbling experience being an instrument in the Lord´s hands, but it is absolutely wonderful. This past week we also had many sucesses with inactive members, but I will just share one. We´ve been working a lot with a man who´s been inactive for 4 or 5 years. When he left the church he was a counselor in the bishopric. Luckily when he left the rest of his family stayed in the church, but since that time he hasn't returned to set one foot inside the church....until this past Saturday! We had an activity in the church and he ended up coming! When I saw him entering the church I just got so happy! He really is making great progress and soon we will get him to go to church on Sunday. Well I don't know if you guys know that World Cup is going on right now..but it is and I´m telling you Brazil is the place to be during World Cup! The people down here are crazy, no INSANE about soccer. Yesterday Brazil played against South Korea and the streets were vacant during the game. Businesses shut down, schools shut down, everything was closed! To help the missionaries avoid the temptation to watch the game, President scheduled our zone meeting 3:00pm yesterday. When we showed up for the meeting all the elders and sisters were anxious and many prayers were said for Brazil to win. During the meeting we heard tons of fireworks when Brazil scored and people screaming. Honestly soccer is more than a religion down here. It sounds like you all are doing great. I love reading your emails every week. They bring me so much joy! This next week I will have 9 months on the mission. Can you believe it? I´m half way done?! It feels so weird...time is passing by too fast. I really love it here so much and feel like I´m at home. I think it will be difficult to return home in 9 months and return to normal life. Anyway, Have a wonderful week and know that I am praying for you all! LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!

Love, Sister Ariel Wood

Old pictures from the CTM

These are from the CTM posted by Luciana Fonseca Fiallo.