Life Is Magnificent

hello from the jungle!

this week was great! first off, we had a baptism!! pierro, who is 17, was baptized!!! his brothers and cousin were baptized recently, and this week it was his turn. he is so enthusiastic and was very ready for to make this commitment! we met him about a month ago, and he was super excited to start learning. i've never seen someone his age be so dedicated to the "my duty to god" program! and, we got him started on family history work this week - i can't even wait to see where he goes with that. :)

pierro and some of his fam

baptism selfie

oh, also there were no transfers for me or my comp, hermana garcia, last monday! we are happy sisters. :) the only sad thing is that i'm now the only "white girl" in the zone. there are some gringo elders but no other gringas! it's okay. it just means i'll be teaching our english class for the rest of the transfer period. ;)

this dog almost attacked us,

but he's actually really nice!

in other news, we had our second interview with president li this week. he told us that his wife was literally crying when she found out a sick elder might have to be sent home. SO SWEET! pres was like "yeah, consider us your parents." president li is just awesome. :) but, he can't pronounce my name, haha. hermana wet? wok? "i'm still learning english, hermana!"

this tarantula was eaten by a chicken

a few seconds after i took this photo

i noticed so many tender mercies and small joys this week - and, i've found that is what makes life so worthwhile. looking up during the prayer to see a member's little boy kneeling down when the rest of us were seated (just because that's how he was taught to pray), hearing a 17-year-old i met a month ago testify that he knows the church is true and that joseph smith was a prophet, seeing a less-active woman start to read the BOM again, and so many other experiences are changing my perspective. life is magnificent, and i love it! remember to smile!! jesus loves you!!!

hermana wok

More from this week's message to Hermana Wood's youngest brother:
hey, goober! wow, you look so grown up! i can't believe you're old enough to be on safety patrol!! oh my gosh!!! that's the best thing ever. do you still yell "PACK IT UP" at the end? haha, such good times.

someone gave us mango jam this week! it was homemade! we took it back to our room and opened it and there were brown sticks floating in it! ew, right? no, not really - they were cinnamon sticks! brown sticks float in everything here, including my breakfast oatmeal. it's straight cinnamon, not that powdered  stuff! i'm going green! wait, not that's for energy saving. uh, what's the expression? idk. going hippie? LOVE YOU!

More from this week's message to Hermana Wood's dad:
dad, thank you so much! i will treasure this week's e-mail forever! your advice helps me so much, because on your mission [in brazil], you basically experienced the same conditions! like, you lived through the same climate, and the culture is very similar. often i think to myself "if dad could do it, i can do it!" also, i realize that many have gone before me and many will come after!

i think a lot about how incredible our family is and how awesome you are for having a solid job and providing for everyone and making memories with the kids and especially for loving mom so much. thank you for everything! i love you!

More from this week's message to Hermana Wood's mom:
this week we taught a waaaay less-active family. i was thinking about not even scheduling them, because they're so far away and the mom didn't seem interested. but, i was like "let's just go!" so, we went, and almost the entire family sat down and listened to us!! kids just kept showing up, and no one left for the entire lesson!!! that is seriously a miracle. at the end, i was so thrilled that i thought "i have to do something for this family...what do i have on me...stickers!!" (thank you for those!) so, i gave them all "la primaria me hace feliz" stickers, and they stuck them on their phones. :) the mom thought it said "la primera vez me hace feliz." we were dying of laughter. LOVE YOU.