It's P-Day Again. This Week Went By Quick!

Hola Familia! 

Out in a California downpour, it felt great.

How are you all doing? I’m doing pretty good! Just soakin' up the Cali sun every day! It rained here so all the smog and haze is gone. Now we can see the mountains and downtown LA which is sweet! That’s good to hear about how you are thinking about doing another mission.   

 Well this week went by very quickly. I can’t believe it’s already P day again! We had an investigator go to jail this week and she got sentenced to 5 years in prison for selling like $20K worth of Meth, so yeah pretty crazy. It is really sad because she left behind six kids. A couple are in and out of jail themselves, but the others are just young little kids and they are now living with their grandma. They are always talking about how "mommy is a bad person". It’s really hard to hear them say that, and we just try to help them as best as we can so that they aren't so sad about her leaving.

The LA Temple is beautiful, even at 6 AM.

Well, besides that, all of our other investigators pretty much ignore us and they are not making times to meet with us this week. We have only had  two set lessons, and the rest of the time has been spent knocking

At T's chicken farm. Check out the hat!

doors and riding around on our bikes. We did participate in a Helping Hands service project on Saturday which was good! We helped clean up Whittier’s parks and raked leaves and trimmed bushes, etc. It was like four hours long, so I can now officially say I have done a service project on the mish!  

Last night we attended a baptism for the B family. There were four people in the family and the baptism was packed. The whole ward came. It started at 7 pm and we soon realized that the B family and also the ward mission leader, Hermano C, weren’t even there. Eventually they showed up at like 7:20 and it started. It was actually a really good baptism!  Elder M, our Zone leader, baptized one investigator and then realized he had his camera in his pocket! So his camera is ruined and all his pics are gone! That was pretty sad.   

Elder H has a slack line and we like to practice in the park on P-day.

We went out to lunch with a member on Saturday afternoon and I tried octopus. We went to this seafood place. The octopus was pretty awful! It looked like a purple mess with all of its tentacles and suction cup things. It was like eating a gummy bear, at least the texture part, haha.

Besides that, this past week was really quick. I am also looking forward to calling home on Mother’s Day! I’m still not sure yet on the details as to when I will be calling home, but I will keep you posted!  Hopefully this upcoming week we will have more success! We just need to work and pray harder! The Lord will put people in our path in his place and time. So we just gotta have faith.

Well I hope you all have a great week! Sounds like everything is going well back home.  I miss and love you all! Stay safe!

Love,
Elder Woffinden

A Baptism on Easter Sunday, What a Great Way to Thank the Lord.

Hola familia!!

Como estan? Life sounds good back home, and it sounds like you all had a pretty good Pascua! Yes, I got the package you sent and thanks so much!! It really was so awesome, and I loved the Laker cup and Superman shirt!!  Did the grandparents get the letter I sent a while back? Tell them I say hi and love them! I’m so glad you got the text that T sent you after the baptism, haha. I was hoping you would respond back soon and you did, just as we were about to leave. It was so good to have you respond back so quickly!

T on his baptism day, Easter Sunday.

The baptism was awesome! T was so pumped, and so were we, haha. He asked me to baptize him last Monday and I was shocked and thought he was joking at first, haha. But I accepted even though I was terrified to do it in front of the whole ward. I was so nervous when it was time for me to baptize him even though I had practiced the prayer at least a 1000 times. I paused for about 10 seconds, and then I baptized him. It all went very well for my first time.

Today we went to the Los Angeles Temple. We left at 5 in the morning, so I am very tired right now, ha. It was so cool! The temple is way nice and it’s huge! I didn’t know this temple was so big, I was impressed. On the way there we drove past downtown LA and, of course, the Staples Center was on the right side of the freeway. I was mesmerized by it until we couldn’t see it anymore, haha. You can see the Hollywood sign from the temple

The Los Angeles Temple is beautiful and it's HUGE!

way off in the distance, so now I can say I saw it on my mission. The temple was a very enjoyable and relaxing experience for me.

Well, this week was good and crazy, ha. It was pretty slow at the beginning, but on Wednesday I was on an exchange with Elder Jenkins and we went to a house for a quick lesson. Afterwards they invited us to eat lunch with them, which we of course were excited about, haha. Anyway, they brought out a bowl of peppers, and I can’t remember the name of the pepper, but I tried one and WOW! I honestly about died! It was one of the hottest things I have ever eaten. It hurt to talk, breathe, and even drink liquids, haha. But, that’s not the worst part. The next morning I woke up so sick to my stomach, I felt horrible. To make a long story short, I was sick for 3 days and wasn’t able to do any work on a bike because I had to go to the bathroom every 10 minutes, it was horrible! Thankfully I got better on Sunday morning, an Easter miracle, and was able to go to church.

Elder H and I are doing great. We get along very well and he makes things fun even in the hard times. We are having more success and we have 4 new investigators that I’m hoping will stick with it and allow us to share our message with them.

That pretty much sums up my week--got sick, had a great first baptism, got some new investigators we are hoping to teach this week and then went to the temple today, so yeah, it was a pretty great week. I hope this week goes well for you all! I wish Meg and Ashley have a happy birthday! I love you guys so much and I miss you daily. Stay safe and thanks for all your love and support!!  Hasta luego familia!

Love,
Elder Woffinden

We Are Having Our First Baptism on Easter Sunday!

Hola familia!
Hey it’s great to hear from you! First, I’d like to say that next week we are going to the temple so I will be emailing on Tuesday not Monday because that will be our P-day, just a heads up.

Today we got to go to Signal Hill.  The view was fantastic!

So yeah, T is getting ready to be baptized on Easter Sunday! I’m so happy!  We are excited, but also nervous, haha. We hope everything goes the way we want it to. I attended my first baptism here on Thursday which was good, but kind of chaotic.

Well, I’m sorry to hear about everybody getting sick! That sounds awful. I had to go to the doctor here today, haha. Yeah, so I guess I have some kind of skin fungus infection thing that has been spreading for the past couple weeks. I had to go get a prescription today to help with that. Yeah, gross I know, haha. Today I also went to Signal Hill in Long Beach

Behind me you can see the Queen Mary...kind of.

and got a view of downtown Long Beach, the Queen Mary and the spot where we picked up our cruise ship, so it was awesome getting to do that! On Saturday we went to Seal Beach. I wish we could have gone onto the beach, but we couldn't, so we just looked at it from our cars, haha. It was great though! The smog here makes it so you can never see anything from a distance, so actually seeing the ocean was awesome.

How did Dad like Toronto? I’m excited to get the package! We are seeing everybody get packages here and we feel left out, haha, jk. I’m super jealous that Dad gets to do that bike race, that sounds awesome! I want to do one when I get home. I basically bike 50 miles uphill every day here anyway so I think I’m ready for one, haha. My companion is from Phoenix, your favorite city! Well, I hope you guys have a great Easter week; you will be missed! I wish I could be home for it.

It was great to see Seal Beach and the ocean,
even if just from a car window.

Well, this week was good and bad, but that’s just a normal missionary week, ha. It was full of biking all around town to people pretending to not be home even when we can see them sitting watching TV in their living room.

This week was, once again, another very hard week for me with the language. I froze while giving a spiritual thought. All eyes were on me and I was so embarrassed. This language is beyond frustrating. Yesterday we had 3 investigators come to church that we started talking to this week! So it was great having them show up. I was going to bear my testimony since it was Fast Sunday, but I got up on the stand and the bishop told me to bear it next month.  Yeah, not sure why!??  I was super bummed about it, but, whatever, it’s all good.

Mom, send more money for groceries.  I'm ready to eat just about anything!
Lizard's Tail

Have a great week. Thanks for all your support and love and know that you're all in my prayers! Stay safe and I look forward to hearing from you again.

Love,
Elder Woffinden

New Companion, New Crib, Doing Good.

Hola familia!

Como estas??   Sounds like a plan mom, I will be expecting your emails in total Spanish next time then, ha! I’m so glad you got the package I sent.  It was just full of some cool stuff from Mexico and I thought it would look good hanging somewhere in the house.   Well, thank you so much for the advice and for your example to me and for supporting me through my struggles. How did you guys like conference?? I really enjoyed that food spitting talk too because it is so true.  We have seen people do all kinds of crazy in front of us, such as going to the bathroom all over the road, chasing you down on your bikes because they are drunk, or just trying to purposely make you mad to see how we will react to their remarks.  So yeah, missionary life is hard, haha.

Last week was a very hard week for me that’s for sure, but I will tell you this week was better. What are the plans for Easter?  I can’t believe Brad is engaged!!   That is so crazy! Tell him and Jessica congrats!  That's so awesome.  This week was long for sure, the days seemed like years sometimes, but having conference this week was literally a holiday for us, haha. We just sit back and watch it at the church all day and go and eat at members houses after so it’s sweet!   Yesterday, a little girl made me a yellow and purple elastic bracelet looking thing cause she knows I’m a big Lakers fan, so I was super excited about that! We had T (one of our investigators) come to conference on Saturday and Sunday morning sessions so we were super happy to see him there! It was in English of course and he speaks both, so I was so grateful I could hear what the Brethren had to say.  Oh, good news BTW…T accepted our invitation to be baptized on the 20th!! Super stoked for him even though I have only helped teach him like 3 times, it's still pretty cool to have a baptism coming up in 2 weeks!   Our other investigators are J and G.  They aren't progressing as much and they just don’t want to follow the commitments we set for them which is understandable.  I understand addictions.  Life is hard and it’s not easy to change, so I completely know what they are going through. We aren't having any real success besides that though.  A lot of people do not like seeing us walking around.  Last night we had 4 older guys try to stop us and they offered us beer and said we got girls in the garage for you guys and then some other explicit language was said to mock us, but it was funny and I just laughed at them.  They were just lame drunk guys trying to push our buttons, haha.

Elder H and I.

My companion Elder H and I are getting along better, he is from AZ and actually served his first year in Colorado, but then got sent home and came back out here in January.  He speaks super good Spanish which is good.   He is like me personality wise, so it’s funny at times, but then again also difficult in some ways.  We are having struggles finding people and are often discouraged, but that is just the mission life in a nut shell, haha. It is super hot here in Whittier; high 90s this week and we hear the summers get boiling here, so it’s gonna be a hot summer for sure! We want to go mountain biking next Monday for p-day, but we just need to find a ride, ha, because we don’t have a car.  I can see downtown LA from some of the busier roads and I want to go there so bad, mostly just to go to the Staples Center, haha.  But, we are going to the temple on the 22nd so we can go downtown which I’m pumped for!

The language sucks, haha. I get picked on at dinners for my lack of speaking and everybody speaks in slang and in Spanish just to annoy me, haha. I am getting better at reading in Spanish and pronunciation of the words, but speaking and understanding is a totally different matter and is super difficult, haha.

I found out we are not allowed to have protein and or work out in our mission! I am devastated, ha. We are only allowed to run in the mornings which is awful, and they don’t want us to buy protein because they don’t want elders to gain muscle mass which is totally foreign to me, haha. So yeah, I’m pretty shocked by this news. So Brooke you might actually win our bet after all... ha.

Better Homes & Gardens it ain't, but it's home.

Our new apartment is good. It’s big, but was super dirty.  We spent so much time last week cleaning it because the elders before us destroyed it.  It had nasty trash everywhere and dirty dishes, carpet stains etc.  Plus, we have like 4 couches which we have no need for, so we just stacked two on top of each other to save space, haha.

Can you guess which bed is mine?

The pans and dishes look like death and are all warped so cooking is a nightmare, haha.

Yes, I am still cooking pancakes and eggs almost every morning mom just like back home, haha. I’m excited to be getting your package this week!! Cant wait!

SO, question, did you not meet Hermano Trejo?? Just curious. Well I hope you all have a great week! I love you all and miss you, but stay safe!

Love,
Elder Woffinden

My First Earthquake...It Was Great!

Hola familia!!

Wow tell me about it, what a week it has been for sure! Craziness all around literally, haha. I was so sad I couldn’t call on Tuesday it really made my day worse.  It was my CCM president who made that rule to not be able to call btw. How are you enjoying the snow?? haha.  It's nice and sunny here and every morning we get up to run and we can smell the ocean air which is way nice. That’s great to hear about the project you guys did! It really is so true there is a lot of poverty here and especially in Mexico so I am so grateful for all that we have in this life! How was Brian's b-day!? I wish I could have been there for it.  It sounds like the usual chaos moment in the Woffinden household, haha.  I miss those sometimes. I also am so excited for Conference this week. It really will be so good to be able to hear from the Brethren and to try to apply their teachings in our everyday lives. I pray I get to watch in English cause we might have to in Spanish, and that would not be cool, haha.

View from my early-morning run in Whittier, CA.

Well, here we go. I am currently in an area called Whittier, California.  It is the top of my mission and is a biking part obviously, haha. My bike they gave me is total crap, like literally no brakes and tons of issues so I am using a different elder's bike that he left behind. We are staying in a member's home.  We just have one little room to ourselves and 2 shelves for food.  My companions are Elder H, my trainer, and Elder B (the one from the blog I used to read back home), haha. However, we found out that tomorrow we are moving into a new apartment and Elder B is getting transferred, so it will just be Elder H and I. Well, they both speak fantastic Spanish which is good, but I feel like the world’s biggest idiot because I barely understand anybody here. I won’t lie, it’s hard being with 2 companions because they always leave me in the dust biking, haha. Trust me, I am pedaling my hardest, but they just have biking legs and mine aren't in shape for it yet, so it blows, ha. They both teach well together, but like I don’t feel like I'm learning a whole lot, and its really stressful. I get left out of lessons or just talking all the time, and everybody speaks Spanish, so I just look like a smiling idiot half the time, haha.

My scripture covers from Mexico.

Being back in the states is nice however, because everything is in English! The food is great here.  Well, we have been meeting with some of their investigators.  We honestly have had zero success this whole week. We teach T and J mostly, but it usually just consists of stopping by and saying what’s up at their house and them having to leave, so that’s a bummer. Last night we were visiting T and we got dropped off so we didn't have our bikes and the elders were supposed to come back and pick us up so we didn't have to walk home. But, surely enough, 8:40 comes and we are calling to get a ride, and no answers.  So after like 10 calls we just grabbed our bags and started the 5 mile walk home when we are supposed to be home by 9:00.  Yeah, we got home at 10:00.  But before that, we had dinner at the bishop's house, and he is a chef so it was some of the best chicken I have ever had. It was so good, and to top it off with a huge slice of cheesecake!  Ah, I about died. Then 5 mins. after that we get a call inviting us to a going-away party for some elders, and so of course, that means more cake and ice cream, etc. But, what sucks is we can’t say no to the food, so I ate it.  You know me being a calorie counter. I about died inside as I ate red velvet cake and ice cream, haha.

Okay, now for the big news, yes I experienced my first EARTHQUAKE ever in my life.  Okay, so it was Friday night and we had just gotten home and began to plan for the next day. It was about 9:15 and dead silent, when all of a sudden the loudest bang I have heard came from upstairs in the family room.  It sounded like a jet took off from our house, then the violent shaking knocked us out of our chairs, haha.  My companion LOST his mind and he had this look of pure terror and excitement on his face. He was running in circles screaming, WHHHHAAATTT? haha.  I was scared too, but seeing him was hilarious. It lasted about probably 15 seconds and glass and shelves, etc. were falling over in their house, then there was silence.  We got up and booked it outside to find this lovely drunk couple outside our house just making out and all that stuff, so we we’re like, sweet, and headed back inside, haha. We didn’t plan anything after that because we literally had our minds blown as to what had just happened.   We later had 4 more after shock quakes and 5 small ones the next day. We found out it was a 5.4 quake which is a decent sized quake, and I can now say I have finally been in one, so I’m pumped!  We are praying for more, it’s like we are adrenaline junkies,   haha.   We loved it. California is great though. It is warm, lots of palm trees so just looks exactly like the CCM, so I’m happy about that. However, I am struggling a lot being here mentally and shopping and seeing all the movie posters, and ESPECIALLY MARCH MADNESS games, wow it’s driving me insane.  But I’m doing okay overall, just need to continue to press forward and be positive.

Saying good bye to Elder Marshall and Elder Carr at the CCM.

How is everything at home?? Anything new!? Well, I miss you all so much and am so grateful for all your support! Thanks so much for the packages and letters!  Each one I get makes my day! Have a safe week and enjoy conference.

Love you all!

Elder Woffinden

I Never Thought I'd Say This, but I'm Really Going to Miss This Place

Hola familia!

I’m so glad you got my letter I honestly didn't think you would! It is so true snail mail is the worst, haha. And also mom I just want to let you know that your letters mean so much to me and I carry them in my coat pocket and bag just so I can read them when I need a boost so thanks again! Sorry I forgot to answer some questions last week I realized... well there is a tienda here at the CCM where we get to buy food etc., so it’s pretty nice. Also we never ever get to leave the walls ha. It was just a one-time deal [to go to the Mexico City Temple] which is pretty sad because I don’t know if I will ever see Mexico City again, but it’s all good.

How’s life back home? Anything exciting going on? I’m glad you guys got to go to the temple, and thanks for keeping me on the prayer role and in your prayers as well, I really need them!

Okay, well they are letting us email today instead of tomorrow obviously, but I forgot to tell you in my last email so I hope and pray you

My district with my favorite teacher, Hno. Trejo.

read this today. Well, to start off I have some bad news. My mission president actually said we cannot call home from the airport, so I will not be able to call home tomorrow morning. It was very hard for me to hear that because I have been looking forward to that for weeks now. But I need to follow the rules if I want to be successful, so I pray that it will all be okay. Also, ha so my teacher Hermano Trejo is coming up to Salt Lake for General Conference and he wants to meet you guys, so plan on a visit from him on the Saturday of Conference. I already gave him your numbers and address and I promise he isn’t some psycho coming to visit, haha. He is my favorite teacher here at the CCM, so I hope you actually enjoy meeting him, and Dad I told him you are fluent, so freshen up that Español, haha.

Hno. Ortiz. I love this little dude.

Well this week was a much better week for sure. The language is still tough, but I know that’s how it’s going to be either way in Cali, so I am just accepting that fact now, haha. On Friday we had in field orientation which is one class from 8:30 am to 8:30 at night with no gym time or breaks, just for meals that’s it, so it was so hard to sit all that time, haha. But they made it fun and interesting, so I’m not complaining. Yesterday was the Goodbye Assembly for my District and 4 others, and it was sad to realize that I made such good friends in only 6 weeks here, and now half of them left for their missions this morning and the other half leave tonight. It was tough saying goodbye, but I know they are all going to be awesome missionaries! Today we still have class but it’s going to be weird with half my class gone and just knowing that we have less than 10 hours left in Mexico. I never thought I would say it, but I really am going to miss this place so much! Every day here is so hot and I love it especially since I know I’m going to Cali with the same climate, so I’m stoked for that, haha. I’m nervous for tomorrow though just like everybody is because the language, not knowing what to expect, and also it makes the actual "beginning" of my mission. Being here I don’t really feel like a missionary because nothing changes and our investigators aren’t real, it just gets to your head now realizing that I am going to be with real people and real problems in less than a day. It’s pretty weird to think about, but I am excited for the challenge.

My district at the Goodbye Assembly...front row seats.  They're really going to miss us.

Thanks for the water skiing challenge that you compared in your email mom, it is so true! You don’t know what it’s going to be like until you put on the skis with a little duck butter and jump in, haha. The water is cold at times, but gets warm over time, just like a mission will be rough at the start, but continue to progress overtime. That’s at least what I like to picture it as going.

Elder Dougherty, a great companion.

I’m going to miss my companion. He really was a stud and I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to get to know him. I truly learned a lot form Elder Dougherty. He will be serving in Anaheim, California, so maybe I will see him along the streets of Cali, but who knows? Elder Wheten and I are the only two here that are going to be on the same plane to Phoenix and then to Long Beach, so I’m at least happy I don’t have to do it alone, haha, especially since we have been challenged to place LDS Articles of Faith cards and bear our testimonies tonight to random people in the airport, which I am honestly so nervous for, haha.  But either way, as long as they at least take the card regardless of understanding me or not, I count that as a solid placement, haha.

There's even a Holy War in Mexico City. Go Utes!

So Hermana Carlson in my district, she left this morning for North Carolina, she is literally one of the coolest people ever, haha. So for about 3 weeks now we have been having a "holy war" here in the CCM because she likes BYU and I like Utah, so we have been leaving tons of paper slips with either Utah or BYU on them and we hide them in each other’s bags or jackets or water bottles just whatever we can find. It’s pretty funny because sometimes I will be in a lesson and open my scriptures and a piece of paper will fall onto the floor or something small like that, haha. It’s just a way that we keep ourselves entertained here. Yesterday however, we sticky noted their casa patio and door with a giant U to kinda one up them, haha. It was fun, but then this morning as we were having to come here, there was a container by our door step with a note that said" GO BYU", haha.  They left here at 2:00 in the morning, which means that’s when they must have dropped it off, which sucks for me because that means I lost the war because I have no way of getting her back, ha. But it’s, whatever, I’m just glad it kept our whole district entertained, haha.

Last Sunday with our Branch Presidency.

The famous Mission Map.

I met Elder Johnson at the Salt Lake Airport on the way here.
He's now on his way to Ecuador. What a stud.

Well I won’t be emailing you probably until next Monday which I’m pretty sure is my P-day in Cali, so have a great week!! Stay safe and know I love and miss you all so much! You are in my prayers everyday!

Hasta luego familia!

Elder Woffinden (Superman)

Getting Ready to Leave the CCM

Buenos dias familia y amigos! 

Once again it is so great to hear from you all again!  Thanks mom for the advice for my bags, I’m still glad I can receive these talks even thousands of miles away. haha jk. I’m so jealous I missed Peyton's and Dad's b-days.  I really missed being home on both of those days cause I knew exactly what was going to be going on back home, but it's all good.  And yes, I am so glad I missed that St. Patty's day meal back home.  The smell still haunts me all the way down here in the Ciudad de Mexico.

B-Mount from our athletic field. Four fires on the mount just this week.

That is so crazy about Taylor, it truly is so awesome he is coming out here to serve! Tell him that it is NOT EASY and he needs to work hard.  Trust me, I am learning the hard way every single day here.   I'm so glad to hear that life is still going on and hasn’t stopped. Sometimes I think that there is no life outside these walls. haha.

Well I will start off by telling you something that happened to Elder Dougherty and I about a week ago, maybe a little longer.  So we were at TALL which is our online computer class and both of us were terribly

Check out the "Lego" houses on the hill behind me...pretty cool.

sick with either a bug or something. Either way we needed to go to the bathroom soooo bad so we left and were wandering the halls of this building we hadn’t really ever been in before. There was no power in this part of the building, haha but we found a bathroom and were stoked out of our minds! So after that we saw that we needed to get back to class it was about 7 pm and class gets out at 7:45 pm so we tried to leave, but realized that all the doors were shut and someone had locked them.  So we were locked in this dark little hallway with 6 locked doors.  We were trying to find a way out but couldn’t. So we just sat there and waited hoping some elders would find us.   An hour later they found us laying on our backs in this pitch black hallway, it was hilarious.  We gave this place the name "the Mines of Morriah" from Lord of the Rings because it really is just dark with tons of doors.  So now whenever we say we’re going to the bathroom, we say we are going to Morriah.  haha.

These purple trees are beautiful and all over down here.

Also there are fires here constantly. The mountains all around us caught on fire like 4 times this week and the people just let it burn.  No fire crews or nothing.  I just hope none of the Lego houses burn because it has gotten pretty close at times. Between the all night music parties and constant fireworks being lit off ALL DAY and these are the really loud ones that make a huge boom like the ones at the 4th of July fireworks shows.   I guess it is a Catholic celebration or something, but literally multiple times an hour these go off and echo in the classrooms.  Super weird.

Okay now for the serious side of things. This past week has been hard in fact probably the hardest week minus my first one here in the CCM. The language isn’t really showing too much results and we are all very frustrated and nervous to be leaving here in a week.  Yesterday we had TRC which I HATE! Ugh, it literally is the worst.  The first time we had it was the time I wanted to go home like 3 weeks ago because it was just a horrible experience with Leslie.  Of course, my companion and I got set up to talk to her again, but she had a different profile she was playing.   Anyways, my teacher told us that she is a less active member who doesn't enjoy church etc.   So we planned a lesson with the 10 minutes they give you to plan a lesson about the importance of church.   We go in and start to ask and get to know her and it turns out that she decided to change her profile, and become a fully active member.  She said that "the highlight of her week is church" my companion and I looked at each other with this look of terror because we had absolutely no idea what to say now, and we had to teach for 30 min.  At this  point we had been in there for about 3 minutes.   So yeah, bad news.  ha. We asked her if she is having any struggles or needs help with anything and she responds with just NO... we’re like okay...?? and bear in mind we barely understand what she says she talks so fast and uses words I

The running track.

 have never heard before, so it was just not looking to good.  We literally had nothing and it was so embarrassing we were mad, disappointed and just wanted to get out of there.  She asks to see our Libro de Mormon and so we hand it to her and she starts flipping through the pages not even listening to what we are trying with all our hearts to mutter out in the most broken Spanish we can form.   So I try bearing my testimony and so does my companion and we end and say usted entinede? and she goes huh?  She completely ignored what we even tried to say.  Well our time was up and we left the room and just left the building and went to the outside basketball courts where we both lost it.  I am not one to cry ever, but yesterday hurt and it hurt bad.  I was so mad and disappointed in myself that I just broke down and so did my comp.  We didn’t know what to do we just sat there for about 30 minutes talking about why this happened.  I was hurt because I had worked so hard to try to learn this language and the gospel and we wanted to succeed so bad, but we failed in the worst way possible and embarrassed ourselves in front of everybody.  We later talked to our teacher which was hard because he can’t explain himself in English that well and we can’t in Spanish.  So it was just a hard and long day for sure.   I’ll be honest I still don’t feel good about it today, and honestly I am terrified to go out into the mission field next Tuesday.  I feel so unprepared and can only hope the Lord can help me with this prueba.   But last night as I lay in bed, I had a thought pop into my mind and it was one of my favorite scriptures in Ether 12:6.  I don’t have my scriptures with me to write it out here but please whoever is reading this email take a look at that email and know of how true it really is.   It made me realize that I am being tested and need to show the Lord I can overcome this test by hard work and faith.

Well I'm sorry for the depressing email familia! Just had to tell you how I really am down here, but just know I love and miss you all and know you all are proud of me being out here.  I just hope I can continue to make you proud throughout my mission. Have a great week and next time we speak I’ll be in the USA!

Hasta Luego! Much love

Elder Woffinden aka Superman