Description of picture above. . .

The results of playing harina with the Silva family. Its hard to tell but I won.

Week 28 (6/27/10) Email to Dad

Hey Big Buddy,

Last week was transfers and I'm still here in El Cruce so I'll be here til at least August 2. That will be a quarter of my time in Argentina in one place. That soccer game yesterday was good. Every game the people go crazier and crazier. Louder and more explosions with each goal and after the game too. I can't imagine what it would be like in a more populated area. Messi is supposedly the best player in the world but Tévez is the best player on the Argentina soccer team. We watched the game yesterday with Hermano Cardozo. Our district leader told us not to leave the pench unless we wanted to go preach to the dogs in the street. During the games there is NOBODY in the streets and if you clap a house they just ignore it or come out and get mad. After the game we left and the streets started filling with Argentine jerseys and people wearing celeste and blanco. Little kids kicking soccer balls around wearing face paint and Argentine flag-capes. With every goal and every win the people get more excited. I'm not too bummed that USA lost, maybe Ghana can beat Uruguay in the next round. I'd like to see Uruguay lose. The people hear think we're German. Whenever Germany is playing people shout to us and say 'we' are losing even when Germany is winning. I hope Argentina puts them away or people are going to hate us haha. This week was a pretty uneventful week. My comp has problems with depression so sometimes it is hard to get some good work in. This week was pretty bad, and he said several times he wants to go home. We get along really well and I'm doing what I can to help but its still hard. I don't really know what to do. I'm going to email President today and see if he's got any advice for me. I love the mission and I want to help him have a good experience too. Dunno, we'll see what happens. I'll keep you posted. I've got to write to the others so I gotta go. I love you Dad!

Love, Matt

Week 27 (6/21/10) Email to Dad

Hey Dad! Feliz Dia de Padre!

Whaaaat!? That is weird about the Pac-12. I don't know what to think about that. Utah and Oregon have been playing each other every year in basket and football the last few years anyway. I can give some respect to the Utes. They'll still get killed though. Is the other Colorado or Colorado State? Yeah, Argentina has been playing really good. All of the South American teams are doing really well. The European teams haven't really showed up yet. All 5 South American teams are leading their groups and only Uruguay doesn't hold that lead outright. The Argentina games are crazy here especially that last one that was 4-1. I didn't see anything of it but I was certainly aware of it. It started in the morning and I was sitting on my bed reading my scriptures and I heard the first goal. Hearing the goals is more exciting than seeing them. All of a sudden I heard fireworks going off outside my window, gunshots, explosions, car horns beeping, its crazy! We started getting ready to go and we heard the second goal. We had like 5 minutes before we had to head out and the game was close to being over so Elder Maxfield turned on an old radio we found in the pench to listen for a sec as the announcer was screaming gooooooool! The explosions and celebration started again. We were just about to turn it off and leave and we heard the fourth goal. Its exciting stuff here. On our short walk over to our appointment kids were lighting firecrackers in the streets and everyone we passed was really happy. Its kinda nice having something to talk to the people about. Something that we can relate. Its kinda neat. I wouldn't be surprised if Brasil loses their next game though to Portugal because Portugal won today 7-0 and one of Brasils best offensive players got a double yellow resulting in a red card against Costa de Marfil restricting him from playing the next game against Portugal. We find out so much about the Mundial without even really having to try. You don't need internet to find stuff out when you live in Argentina haha. I can't believe its already summer games again. This would be my third one. I'd love to be there but that can wait. This Saturday we had the baptism of Gabriel. He is a capo. He was so happy on Sunday and the people welcomed him right in which was good. He made Elder Maxfield and I each a painting. He is a crazy artist. I don't know if I have ever met anybody with so many talents as him. Anyway I'll send some pics. Oh yeah I almost forgot to tell you today is transfer day and I will be spending the next 6 weeks in El Cruce with Elder Maxfield. That means a quarter of my mission will have been here. Crazy! Alright I gotta go Dad. I love you! Hasta el lunes que viene.

Con amor, Matt

Week 27 (6/21/10) Email to Mom

Hey Mom!

I got the package of candy today. :) I like candy. :) I like the Tin Man. ;) I was glad to see the flash drive on my keychain I didn't even think about that. That will be handy to store pics and things. This last week was probably the best week I have had here in the mission work-wise. A good way to finish off the transfer. I was sick on Friday with a fever and diarrhea but we still put up some good work. We found some new people that seem to have great potential and this next transfer together is looking brighter progress wise than it did just a week ago. The baptism of Gabriel was great! He was so happy on Sunday. He was Mr. Popular at church it was kinda funny. He gave paintings to me and Elder Maxfield and on his note on the back he acknowledged that it is the best decision he has ever made. In Priesthood he asked us when he would get a Doctrine and Covenants book. We told him we would get it tomorrow and he said he has been reading from the Bible he showed us how far he was with his finger and thumb. We were surprised. We asked if he's reading the Book of Mormon too and he said yeah that he has already read it 3 times! He's a really smart guy, just an awesome all-around guy. It has been great getting to know him. Everything is good here. This ward just feels like home. It will be weird to leave and go to a new area at some point. It will be kind of sad. I'm glad I am staying for at least six more weeks. I wouldn't mind having more than that. Its also good that I'll get to spend my birthday here with my friends.:) I love you Mom. Don't forget it. Also, God loves you. I kind of miss reading the Book of Mormon so much every day. It was amazing like you said how it makes so much sense that way like it all fits together so well. It helped me so much to understand how all the stories, chapters and books fit together and fall in order. That is an amazing book. It is truly from God. I love you Mom.

Tu soldado, Matt

Week 26 (6/14/10) Email to Dad

Hey Dad,

I hope your trip to Florida was a good one. It is really cold and humid here. This week was the coldest so far. What makes the coldness worse is that we are still without electricity in half of our pench and that includes our room, bathroom, and study room. So we can't turn the light on and we are without any heat source. It is colder in the pench than outside. It is butt cold. I love my sleeping bag, it is a champ. It is so hard to get out of it in the morning. The coldness is affected a lot by the humidity, it just cuts to the bone. Sometimes I feel like I wouldn't feel any colder if I was just walking around naked. At night I'm wearing my sweats and sweatshirt and my Salukis winter hat inside of my sleeping bag. Its not too bad. I just hope it doesn't get too much colder. It has rained the last couple days here. The people here are weird. If its rainy and cold then hardly anybody leaves home to go to work. They just hide inside under their blanket and drink mate. Its kind of stupid. The people don't come outside when its cold and rainy either so rain makes my job a lot harder. This week we will be having the baptism of Gabriel. He is a really good guy. Every time we have met with him, we have done so in the house of Hermano Cardozo, our ward mission leader. He has been great, letting us come to his house and lending so much time to help Gabriel out. Gabriel told us today that he wants Hno Cardozo to baptize him. We're excited about that. It will be a great experience for all of us. Then that night we will find out if me or Elder Maxfield have to go and if so where to. Its weird not knowing exactly where you will be every six weeks. Today we were going to play padel-its like tennis and racquetball mixed- with Gabriel but it rained really hard so we couldn't. The World Cup has made things a little different here as well. The people here are really excited about it. Everyone talks about it. Its pretty cool. There are Argentina flags EVERYWHERE as well as all kinds of things light blue and white. Its exciting stuff. It makes me wish people in the U.S. cared about it so it would be exciting there too. Whenever people ask me who I want to win, I always say Argentina. It would be really neat to see the excitement and celebration here after they win. It will be something that I will never have the chance to experience again in my life. I have seen parts of a few games. Its actually not as boring to watch as I thought before. Sometimes we go to people's houses and the game is on and we watch it while we wait for the food or for someone to show up. We watched the Italy-Paraguay game today and we caught the last 30 minutes of the Argentina game on Saturday. It will be exciting when it starts getting to the elimination rounds. No other playoff has anything on the Mundial (World Cup). The people here are WILD for their World Cup and I imagine it is similar in every other South American country and all the big European countries. Its a big deal. It makes the work harder here but its kind of fun to be right in the middle of it. This transfer has been a huge learning experience for me. I have had a lot more responsibility than most missionaries do with my time. It can be hard at times, but thats the best way to learn. My Spanish improved a ton this transfer. I have dreams every once in awhile that I get home from my mission after two years and all I can remember is what I have actually already done and my Spanish is where it is now. Those are bad dreams. I always wake up feeling kind of sad, like I didn't really accomplish anything. I am glad that I still have a year and a half to work hard and learn and grow. I have a lot of good experiences ahead, something I look forward to. I feel like everything I have done up to now has all been training and my real mission is still to come. Its cool to look at where I am and where I was and how far I have come. The Lord really knows what he is doing sending us boys on missions to become men. He has really helped me along the way and been there for me when it feels like nobody else is. It is amazing to be able to be a missionary and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ that brings me so much happiness with those who haven't yet heard it. I know it is true and I know that it has blessed our family so much. I love you Dad.

Love, Elder Woodside

Week 25 (6/7/10) Email to Mom

Hey Mom!

When you get one of those magic mirrors just send one on down my way, that sounds pretty good. Wow it was really great seeing Ana María. I was sitting in with the Hombres Jovenes and a man from the other ward comes in and says hey is there a Matt Woodside in here? I thought it was weird he said my first name. I said thats me, he said you have 3 investigators waiting for you in the hall. I was like huh? So we go into the hall and down the hall there was a woman with two men and she says Matt Woodside. I was like what the heck how do they know my first name. We got closer and she said Matt Woodside, I am Ana María Mendoza and it clicked in my head. I said en serio?! Are you serious? We talked for most of the third hour of church. It was a pretty cool experience. She kept saying you look just like Missy. I showed her the picture of you and Dad. It was really cool. She was really nice. It seems like just last week I told you I didn't want to meet her til I can speak Spanish and now here I am speaking Spanish its crazy. I have learned so much this last month. She was really excited and invited us to come spend a P-day at her house. It is just out of the boundaries so I thought it was possible, but when I asked President he told me it is a church rule that we can't leave the area to visit family friends. He said she actually isn't supposed to find me in my ward either. So me and Elder Maxfield were kinda bummed that we couldn't go but I'm just glad I got to meet and talk with her for a little while. She gave me her address and number and told me if I ever need anything to let her know and she'll be there for me. It makes me feel good to know that if something happens I have someone here that I could go to. When you guys come next Navidad we could stay at her house.:) Well I hope you guys have a good time in sunny Florida! Everything is good here. A baptism this Saturday and the next. I love you Mom.

Love, Elder Woodside

Week 24 (6/1/10) Email to Family

Mom and Dad! Everything's good here. We FINALLY got all of our problems fixed in the pench. We still had a bunch more this week and we both got sick with diarrhea but we got it all taken care of. We ended up going 6 days without power and when the guys came to fix our leaky pipes they broke one above our room that connected to the water tank up there. We had a harder time doing work because the problems chewed up a lot of time but I think we used the little time we had very well. We set a date with Gabriel to get baptized on June 19 and he's excited to learn more and to follow the example of Christ. He's a great guy. Elder Maxfield and I are getting along really well and I think without the problems last week we really would have had an awesome week. This week we'll get a lot more done I think. Today for P-Day we came here to La Plata to go to El Museo de La Plata. It was so boring. It was a Natural Science Museum. It was a Zone Activity. Its free on Tuesdays so we moved our P-Day to Tuesday for this week. Elder Maxfield has some ideas for things we could do with the ward here this next transfer to help get more references and get the ward going. We're hoping they will work. I'll let you guys know what happens. Hey Mom one of the families here in the ward wanted me to email you for your apple pie recipe. Also I would like to have the chicken pie recipe to see if I could make that here. Chicken pie empanadas would be really good! Also you guys need to send me some pictures! Pictures of family, me, whatever, that I can show to families, missionaries, investigators. They love pictures here. Not a whole lot to report here this week. Just know that I am doing good. I love you guys lots!

Love, Elder Woodside