Happy Mother's Day!

Ward Mother's Day Party - Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Hey long time no see!! How’s it going since yesterday? Ha-ha Man it was so good to hear from you and see you all yesterday! I still cannot believe how much all my little nieces and nephews have grown! Especially Meg, wow looks nothing like I remember her. But you all seem to be doing great and I am so blessed that la familia Castillo was able to allow me to skype at their home for el dia de las madres! This week’s email might be pretty lame since I honestly talked a lot yesterday during our skype about what I planned to email today. But, oh well.. ni modo!

Service in the Rain!

Thanks Scotty D for all the training!

Okay, Elder B** and I have had a harder week than usual. We really had some tough days that looked like nothing was going to come out of our efforts.  One thing I have been trying to apply in my life is to realize that God ALWAYS helps us to have small successes in our lives whether it’s personal or for another person. So we had a great find this week of a woman named Y** exactly a week ago. We had an amazing lesson where we only focused our efforts on helping her realize she has a loving Father in Heaven and how he wants her to be happy and return back to him. She is Catholic, but hasn't been to church since she was 5 and said she felt impressed to get back to church especially since we stopped by.  The lesson was perfect! There was nothing else that could have gone better in my opinion. However, a concept I have been really struggling with on my mission is on the agency of others and their decisions. The reason I bring this up is because since that lesson a week ago, we have lost all contact. We have been forward to her voice mail EVERY time we call, get ignored at the door and many more things. The reason I bring this experience up is for any new missionaries or those preparing to serve missions to help them to know that missions are very worth it, but they are difficult! But no matter how difficult they may be, try to not blame yourself for other's choices and agency on whether they accept the gospel or not.  As long as you try your best and rely on Christ, you are good! So yeah that's the advice I will give for this week.

Glad this one is behind the fence!

But the work is progressing in general! We had our old investigator G** accept the gospel!! He sent me a text on Saturday which said in his own words, "I prayed to God asking if I should join the church and I got a feeling in my heart that it’s the best choice I will make. I also feel I can find the love I have been waiting for years, I love reading the B of M."  Wow talk about an amazing text message to receive! Even though we no longer teaching him, I am so happy he decided to pursue this gospel and I can’t wait for the day he gets baptized! The work always moves along!   As of now, we are still just trying to stay above water as we try to find more solid people to teach in this area.

Dogs, Dogs and more Dogs!  Not knocking this door!

Mother’s Day weekend was pretty hard to work since nobody wanted to talk and they were all out visiting family etc. so the weekend was pretty slow.  Service is still a big part of our weeks here! You can’t go wrong with the good "old sheep lady" and with all the hard manual labor she has for us! (that was a sympathy sentence)  All the years growing up with yard work and especially working for Scotty D have made me into the work horse I am today ;) ha-ha jk.

On Saturday we had a Mother’s Day party at the church.  It wasn't that great of a turn out which we had all hoped for, but it was still a fun night. The food was amazing as usual and even though I told you guys how the latina comida is killing me (ha-ha) I still love it!  They played games with music etc. and all us missionaries observed and watched since we’re the "clean up and set up duty. :) Yeah. Super Fun!  The ward is doing great and we are really trying to focus our time with visiting all less actives and investigators with el obispo and other members of the ward. So please pray that the area of Pico Rivera grows!!

But that’s it for me this week, I hope everyone who is able to read my words knows that I love and miss them and am so excited for the day to see y’all again! But until then, keep working hard and be safe!! Con mucho carino y amor nos vemos!!

Elder Woffinden