¿Cómo están a todos?

Glad to hear you all had an awesome time on the cruise! I told you mom that you should have worn sun screen hahaha. now you cant yell at james when he never puts sunscreen on and gets fried haha. Im sure you all REALLY enjoyed that 12 hour drive from Cali. I nearly forgot how big the US is. Its about a 12 or 14 hour drive from here in Piura (the far north) to Lima (almost the far south) Peru is tiny compared to theStates. I love the pics you all sent haha. First off, Joel is wack. Im not sure which is worse, that bathing suit picture or his dirty stache that hes got hahaha. Did he grow that just for the trip to Mexico? hahaha classic. Sounds like you all did tons of fun stuff though. Was it all included in the cruise or did you have to pay extra? we are DEFINITELY going on a cruise when i get back ;) haha.

Well this week here in Peru has been pretty good. We went out and worked as usual and its been a little difficult to enter into houses lately as weve been knocking doors. But on the plus side we were able to have Manuel and his daughter attend church along with another family of 4. When we met the family, the mom and dad were living seperatly and werent married. They had tons of problems and we have been working really hard with them to help them have love and harmony in their home and its  been a miracle to see how they have changed. I remember the first time we talked to them both together they were constantly fighting and bickering, "he does this" and "she does that"! It was horrible . But we have worked with them and  encouraged them to read the" proclamation to the world" which is probably the greatest thing ever for the familes, ever since when we go to visit them they still had problems but instead  of arguing about it they have been laughing it off. Way cool to see.  They even came to church without us going to get them, so im pumped to see how they progress! Other than that the work goes on. As you can see in the pictures we had a service project this week. One of the  brothers in the ward lives out in the "country" and someone set his land on fire! so we went out and cleared all of the burned branches and such from his land. It was awesome...lots of mosquitos but really rewarding.

Thanks for trying to get me glasses for Elder Cañete mama. You tried and thats what counts :) youre the best :)

Glad to hear everything went well on the cruise. That pic of mom and dad is awesome! its crazy to think that the ship is really that big inside! i wanna go! haha but it really is true that everything is going smoothly here in Peru, my companion is from a cold  place and so the heat of Piura is getting to him and hes sweating a ton so hes got a little B.O. but i took one for the team and gave him my deodorant that you all sent me. Man i love that stuff, but i had to show him a little love and i know that it will pay off when the room  doesnt smell so bad ;) hahaha, dont worry, i hadnt used the deodorant, it was still closed when i gave it to him ;) hahaha

Thanks for all of the support that you always send my way. I couldnt do it without you!

Hasta la próxima semana!

Love,
Elder Woodburn

Do You Love Me?

Family, DO YOU LOVE ME?!

Oh man, Jeffery R Holland is the best. This weekend was honestly one
of the best weekends ive ever had in my life. It had a few different
factors that added to it but the main reason was conference. But i
will start off explaining that the investigator that i told you all
about, Manuel, is doing great. We went to go teach him this week
after having a week and a half of not seeing him, and we straight asked
him, Do you believe that the restored gospel is found in this church?
and he said, and i quote "I KNOW that the restored gospel is found in
the church of jesus christ, i KNOW that the book of mormon is true, I
KNOW that Joseph Smith was ordained by God, and I KNOW that this
church is true." I was honestly stunned. I sat there for a few seconds
with a huge smile on my face so happy and so stunned by the power of
his testimony and the spirit that it brought that i didnt know what to
say. I then asked him if he wanted to be baptized into this church and
he said yes. I honestly cant explain to you all how "chosen" this
brother is. He was prepared by God. We have done nothing differently
with him than with other investigators. He has been prepared to accept
this gospel. Then he was able to go to the Sunday morning and
afternoon sessions and afterwards i asked him what he thought, he said
"I know exactly what i need to do now, i need to take the next step
and follow the teachings of God" He explained that he had always been
searching for a church where EVERYONE taught the same true principles
and that he hadnt found it until now. he said " I listened to the
missionaries and knew what they taught was true, but now i have
listened to the prophet himself, the leader, and his teachings are the
exact same. This is the true church." I cant explain how amazing this
weekend has been in strengthening my testimony. There is no fault in
this church. It is lead by God! I know it and it has given me such a
greater desire to share it with everyone! I strongly encourage
everyone to watch conference, there is honeslty nothing in the whole
world that compares to it. I loved Elder nelsons talk and i came to
the realization, that  an apostle of Jesus Christ has so much confidence in
us that he is referring everyone to us in hope that we can help them.
That gave me a kick in the butt to be better. haha We were able to
watch the saturday afternoon session and priesthood session in english and the rest
in spanish. I understand it all in either language, but what i miss is hearing
their voices. When Elder Holland raised his voice and said "DO YOU LOVE ME?"
all it says is" me amas" in Spanish. Not the same at all, but he was
speaking so loudly i could still hear his voice in the background
haha!! . Everyone here started freaking out when they announced the new
temple to be built here in Peru and the change in themissionary ages. It was funny though because we were watching by internet and the quality wasnt great. So we heard the
announcement of the young men lowering the age to 18 which was awesome
and then we heard President Monson say "and we are now going to lower
the age of the young woman to ----" and then it skipped and we didnt
hear it! haha everyone was really mad about that. so we didnt know
until Elder Nelson came on and said it was 19 later on in the talk.
Exciting!

This week wasnt all that successful, we didnt have a ton of lessons
and in fact we were rejected quite a bit, but my testimony is stronger
now than ever before because of conference. What a blessing.


Thanks for everything! I love you all.

Elder Woodburn

HolaFamilia!!

Hola Familia!

Okay im just gonna start off by asking....what in the world happened  to Holly's hair? hahaha she got messed up! that might be cause for a lawsuit? hahaha thats what ya get for messin with your hair ;) better off  just leaving it normal :) Haha but other than that i gotta warn you   that this letter is gonna be a little bit short this week because i spent a little bit of time helping my companion find the right web pages to write president and all that good stuff. Sorry! ;)

So only a few more days till we go on the cruise right? yay! ill be   ure to pack up my bathing suit and all that good stuff...oh wait....hahaha hey at least James and Holly are suffering my pain too  right? ;)haha no im just kidding. I hope ya all have fun, take lots of pictures and be sure to talk to all the latinos so that they can make  fun of you for being white...or at least thats what happens with my
down here. :s

Im definitiely pumped for conference this weekend. Nothing quite like it, especially for a missionary. I have the hope that we will be able to put it in english with the other missionaries but we will have to
wait and see. you'll defintiely have to record it and watch it when you get back. There is nothing like listening to the prophet. Oh and be sure to send an ensign with the talks in engligh thaaaaanks :)

Well well well, Its been a tiring week here in Catacaos. Tuesday we went to transfers and i picked up my new companion, Elder Zevallos. Hes from Peru, from a department called Junin. Hes 19 years old and was born in the church. Hes a pretty chill guy and unfortunately i forgot to take a picture with him to send home so youll have to wait to see him till the next week haha. But this week has been tirng because the work is a little bit different with a new missionary. Now i know how Elder Lopez felt when he was training me. Even though Elder Zevallos is fluent in spanish, he is a little bit timid in the lessons  and doesnt talk a whole lot. To be honest the whole first day was basically me teaching by myself which wore me out a ton. But as of late ive been able to draw him out of his shell a little bit and get him to talk. Hes got a great testimony but is just a little bit nervous at times which is normal and i understand that, i just keep telling him that it will come with time. I definitley want to thank
you all for your prayers that youve been sending my way, they have really helped. Im just lucky to have gotten such a great companion. He may not know everything about the scriptures but he came ready to work  and now i can set the tone on how we work and what we do so its a lot more satisfying for me :) Chances are that we will be together for the next two transfers, or 12 weeks. Sometimes they change the trainer but it doesnt happen too often so well have to wait and see. If I do stay
here until he ends his training, itll be until the 17th of December :s    6 months in Catacaos! lol


Tell dad hes funny and i ask him comos das too ;) haha thanks for all the love and prayers and we will definitely have to go to the ogden temple rededication when i get back because ive never seen one either. nice work with that sandwhich! hahaha youll have to make me one when i get back! good luck!

Tell james i love that scripture, its the one that i had the ward put on my missionary plaque. Keep doing work bro, Love ya.

Tell Meg that she cracks me up! I smell like a man! dont worry, we  have water now ;) but my new comp doesnt like to shower cuz the water  is so cold so...he smells a little fresh ;) Meg, your cake was
delicious! thanks a ton ;) and i hope you understood the secret message i left on the sign! "you smell like pea soup!" hehe Love ya
tons Meg!

Mom, I love you thanks for everything you do. I couldn't do this without all the love  and support that I get from home. You all are the best. Im definitely thankful for all of the love you always send my way, it would definitely be awesome if you could all send it my companions way too because im sure that right about now he is a little bit sad even if he doesnt necessarity show it.

Love you all tons,
Elder Woodburn