Week 60 - Curacao

FIRST OFF I JUST WANT TO WISH A HUGEEEE HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DAD!!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week was good! Busy! My very first companion sister Petersen, who returned home many months ago, came back to visit and she took us out to lunch! It was so fun to see her! I love her! That was sooo weird and crazy hahahaha!

Our area is doing really well! Rayon and Jaydon had their baptismal interview and they both did great! We are very excited for their baptism this saturday. We have one other on baptismal date named Etson that we are working with and the coolest thing happened! He talked to his girlfriend about getting married and of course she said yes, (they have been together for over 40 years), but now she wants to take lessons too! So great! We are very excited and just working away here in Curacao!

This week we had a lot of great experiences. I think one of my favorites was when we were talking to Elder Durfee after Rayon's baptismal interview. It was very special because Rayon isn't too talkative, but Elder Durfee told us that when he asked Rayon why is wanted to be baptized Rayon said "So i can help my family come to church". He had never given that answer before and it is just so sweet to see how much he has grown and how much he loves his family. This gospel changes people! Even little 8 and 10 year olds! 

This week we also taught Niran the first part of the Restoration. It was SUCH a good lesson. He has sooooo much potential. He is a very serious and professional man hahaha. We love Niran!

Welllll I think that is all i have for this week. Sorry this one is a little short.. BUT! I hope you all have a great week and I hope you are all doing well! Sending lots of love your way!

-Sister Woodbury

 

 writing a note for a fallen through lesson for a less active who doesn't have a phone! this is the way     we have to reschedule!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 59 - Curacao

Hello!!!!!!!! 

We had a WONDERFUL week here in Curacao but unfortunately I cant really think of a way to write about it! But trust me. it was great haha! Before I start off i just want to wish a happy happy birthday to Kim!! I love you!!!

Okay so our area is doing great! We have 3 people on baptismal date and we were able to teach lots of lessons this week! I can't believe how many amazing investigators that we have right now! The Lord is guiding us sooo much. With our contact area we are seeing a lot of success and finding a lot of people who are searching! When we first started testing that area we just kept getting rejected left and right but we felt good about it so we stuck with it, and boy are we glad we did! I love Curacao and the people here so much and the work is going well!

President Egbert asked us to write him about 5 inspired answers that we have written down throughout our missions and i thought i would just include them here as well:

1.) Kim said "I am learning that even in your troubles you can choose to be happy! I got a different feeling at church and when i read the scriptures. I let you come because i WANT to study the scriptures and I know it is important." 

2.) We gave Boise a big Book of Mormon that he could actually read and told him "this is a gift for you!" and he told us "no. this is a blessing. I will cherish it forever."

3.) Nuris said "I have read the Bible, but the Bible doesnt give me the feeling this book (the BoM) gives me."

4.) Etson fervently stated that "you CANNOT have the Church of Jesus Christ without the priesthood!!"

5.) Eduardo asked us "why, Why, WHY did God, the creator of everything, not send His disciples or anyone to the other continents?" That one struck me. Without the Book Of Mormon the story is incomplete. We would all be so lost and confused. We wouldn't have been able to answer that question. I just became so grateful for the book and its truthfulness grew even more in my heart. That book can answer the questions to our souls, our worries, our troubles, and our curiosities

I hope you all have a great week! Everyone over here is doing awesome and progressing lots! Love and miss you all so much! Have a great week!

-sister Woodbury

Week 58 - Curacao

Hello Everyone! 

We had a great week with lots of fun experiences!

Melitza came to church which was great! They talked sooooo much about the BoM and she didnt have any idea what that was because we don't teach about it or read out of it until we teach the whole Restoration. It took her a LOT of lessons to get through the Resto but the next lesson we have for her is about the BoM! She is VERY excited to receive one now! So cute! We love melitza. She made lots of new friends at church which was super awesome! 

We also taught someone named Jurick about the first part of the Restoration and i have never ever seen anyone understand it and accept it so fast. He is seriously amazing and has a very cute family consisting of his wife and 2 year old daughter. Unfortunately for us he is going out of town soon for two weeks and we already can barely see him once a week, sometimes once every two weeks! Hoping he remembers his experiences!

We taught Etson again but this time it was about the Book of Mormon and he was so excited about it! He cant really see, so he is really hoping his family will read to him. His little grandson came and sat on his lap during the lesson and he told him to say "E buki Di Mormon" and it was the cutest thing ever. He also told him he would read it with him! I was dying. Etson is awesome and believed that the Book Of Mormon was true right away. We cant wait to hear how his experience goes when he prays about it!

We taught Neco as well this week and he is just a little person of gold as well! So elect! He told us he wants us to teach his friend and he said he has been talking to a lot of people about us! We have barely taught this man anything but he just loves the feeling he gets during the lessons! He has  a LOT going on and he is sure his mom won't live much longer, but he just keeps saying how he needs to make more time for God. He met with us on Saturday and told us everything that went on that day and told us he is just sooo tired and has sooo much going on, and then after the lesson he said he felt so amazing. It was so cool. He is so cool! Jurick said he felt the same way as well! The spirit is doing its job people!!! 

 I think one of the most spiritual experiences was when we went to go and teach Jordan with Brother Aritza. It was a great lesson because Bro. Aritza really went in depth about the priesthood and Jordan has a very sound understanding of it. We have been working with Jordan for a long time and he has just been having the hardest time understanding the Restoration. The last lesson we had with him he seemed like he was finally getting it. We asked him about what he remembers about the Restoration when we got there and he was able to perfectly explain everything! It was amazing. Truly the spirit taught him all of those things. It was very nice to see all of our hard work show through! Now that he understands he can finally start to progress even more. I am so grateful for the restoration. Without it we would all be lost. Life wouldn't make any sense. I know the message of the Restoration is true!!

Lots of experiences for you all! I hope you all have a great week and read the scriptures! I will be starting another scripture challenge soon.. in just over a month. start preparing yourselves! :) 

Love and miss you all!

-sister Woodbury

Week 57 - Curacao

Hellooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Curacao is doing well, but this week almost ALL of our lessons fell through! We had several member-presents appointments scheduled with new members and lots of lessons with new people, but everything fell through! It was kind of rough but we still tried our best. We have picked a new contact area and so far no one wants to talk to us, but Sister Garcia and I feel like that is where the Lord wants us to be so that is where we will be working. I am very excited and I am much more optimistic about this next week.

Highlights:

-KIM HAD HER BABY!!!! His name is Moronai. They changed they name just because in Spanish/Papiamento you say it differently but she wanted it to always sound the way it does in
  English. I love her hahahaha! 

-Selo is seriously starting to progress! He is accepting doctrinal points that he didn't want to accept in the past and he is just growing sooo much!

-Jordan has been having the hardest time with understanding recently, but IT IS FINALLY STARTING TO CLICK!!!!! He is finally starting to get it. So exciting!

-We saw that guy we contacted several weeks ago named Antony! He was the contact with all of the dogs! He will be meeting with the elders soon and he keeps saying he is very sincere about this! I have high hopes! 

-we taught Etson again!!!!!!!  HE IS SO COOL!!!!  We asked him if he believed that Joseph Smith was a prophet and he just said yes and that  "Jesus sent a prophet for me!" SO CUTE!!! HE IS DOING AWESOME!!!! 

That is all I have this week, I hope you are all doing well! I miss and love you all so much! Study the scriptures and be a missionary! 

-Sister Woodbury

 

 

Week 56 - Curacao

Hello!!!!!!!!!!

WOW WOW WOW HOW AMAZING WAS CONFERENCE??!!! I IMPLORE and EXHORT, along with President Nelson, to study this conference ( https://www.lds.org/general-conference?lang=eng ) for the next six months! Please! So amazing. I literally cannot choose a favorite talk.
In other news.... we got transfer calls and we are staying together here in Curacao! So fun when that happens because that is not a common occurrence for me! hahaha!
 

Curacao is doing great! We are working hard! We finally have Rayon and Jaydon on a baptismal date again. We have been working with them a lot and we have finally just completely adapted and changed everything to get them excited again, and it is working! They are happier and more excited about getting baptized. Slowly but surely we will get them there.

Everything else is going well and we are just following the Spirit as closely as we can. We also taught Selo and he said something very simple but it warmed my heart. he said "i feel filled when you come". he is a busy guy with a craazy life and we are the only spiritual moment he gets! So cool.

This week we had a very sweet experience that touched my heart and strengthened my testimony. General conference was full of spiritual experiences for me, but a very special experience we had this week was when we taught Rayon and Jaydon. We taught them on Tuesday and had just a finding lesson with them to try and figure out their needs. During that lesson we felt prompted to teach them about how we should never put our scriptures on the floor but to treat them with respect. Treating our physical scriptures with respect helps remind us how important it is to treat “the word” with respect. They listened very carefully. On Friday we taught them again, and Jaydon (he is the 8 year old) dropped his scriptures on the ground accidentally. He yelled "THE SCRIPTURES", and then picked them up and started blowing on the book to clean it off. Then, during our lesson, he said a personal prayer to God asking for forgiveness. It was so sweet to watch all of this. It made me realize how one of our jobs as missionaries is to help people understand what a gift repentance is. So many people are making mistakes without even realizing it, and they feel so bad without even knowing why. We are here to help people understand their spiritual life and help them get on the path of the Lord. How special is this calling?! I am SO grateful to be here!!!

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

-Sister Woodbury

                                             Easter treats!

                                              Kim, Jaydon, and Rayon

                                              Dinner with Rosa!  Yummmmmm!