October 20, 2013
Hey!!!
Mom and dad--well you won't be reading this until you get home from your trip, but I hope Haiti was awesome and that you loved it! I hope you didn't catch any crazy jungle diseases either! But I hope it was totally awesome and I want to hear all about it!
Well, this week has been awesome! We got 14 lessons in and a few other visits with active members. So, that was a really productive week for here, and we have been working hard! I think that this is the busiest week I have had yet here, so that is awesome!
Monday was pretty normal. Just getting things done and whatnot, then we had a lesson with an inactive member. It was good. She is inactive because of her job, but says she wants to quit her job now and find a new one so that she can start coming to church again! So hopefully all goes well for her!
Tuesday: We had a little barbecue thing with some of the young men and women in the ward. Then we taught a lesson with an investigator. He is awesome! He has so many things to overcome and change in his life, but he knows that this church is true and says he wants to do everything he can to change his life and come to the truth and return to his Savior! So, we are going to be working with him a lot for the next little while! But he has a baptismal date for November 24 right now, so that will be awesome hopefully! Later we visited an active member. Then we had English class. There is a 22 year old girl who has been coming for a long time now. She is Catholic, sometimes comes to church, but has never really been interested in receiving the lessons. But tonight she wanted to watch the "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" movie. So we did, and now she wants to meet again because she has a lot of questions and good feelings about it! So we are just working slowly with her! But it is coming along. By that point it was night and time to go home.
Wednesday: Today I was on splits with me, Elder Tessers and Elder Hobbs in our area. I was leading. It was super stressful, because every appointment we had planned cancelled on us last minute, so I had to scramble to try to figure out what to do. So, we went and tried to find several inactive members to visit. We actually ended up getting in 3 lessons, which is a pretty productive day! And we got a new contact who invited us to her house sometime to share our message. So that was awesome! Then we had to go to choir practice to practice for Stake Conference on Sunday and Saturday.
Thursday: Thursday we had service in the morning. Then we were invited to go to Sister A's house to meet her family and several members of her old church and to help her make the transition to our church. So we were super excited about that! But she lives far away--an hour by car, so her husband came and picked us up. We thought it was going to be so productive and we would get so many contacts. Well, it wasn't quite what we expected. We just went there and watched mass--in Javanese--and ate food and tried to talk to people. So, not as productive as was hoped for, because we didn't even have a chance to teach her a lesson. But we were still able to show her our support and help her transition to our church, and also establish a relationship with her husband so that we can open the door to teach him later as well! So hopefully all will go well with that. Later that evening we also had a few lessons with inactive members, so that was good.
Friday: Today we had District Meeting and all that. And the zone leaders came, so I was on exchanges again. So, district meeting was good. Then we went and visited 2 inactive members. They were short on time, but we worked our way in with love and got a short message in and helped show them our love and desire for them to return to activity. Then we visited I. D., our contact from the other day. She was busy, so we set up an appointment for Sunday evening. As we were leaving her house, it was already pretty close to time for English class, and it started to rain. So we headed for the church. Right as we got there, it started to downpour! It was crazy--I've never seen it rain so hard! Well, because of that no one came to English class, but one of the members at the church got a call that her house was flooding, so we went to help clean it up. It was crazy--the street had 2 feet or more of water rushing down it! It was like riding through a river! It was crazy and cool and fun! Luckily the rain didn't last too long, though, and by the time we got to her house it had stopped and the water was already drained. So we helped to squeegee and mop the rest of the water out of the house so that it could begin to dry out! So that was nice and a fun little service opportunity. Then it was off to Pak Jon's for some more chicken and rice. Except the power was out, so it was a candlelight dinner in the drizzly weather. Kinda awkward with just a bunch of Elders...but funny!
Oh, and I found out one of the Elders in my district--Elder Giolas--who I have become really good friends with and is one of my favorite Elders, his family just moved to Midway and live on main street just a few minutes away from the cabin. And he and I have a lot of hobbies in common, so we were planning all the fun things we are going to do hanging out in Midway and Ogden once we are home! Haha it was a fun conversation for a few minutes--good to thing about home but not be homesick!
Saturday: So, today we had to go fix Elder Hobbs' bike because he fell over when he rode into the church yesterday and tried to do something cool to show off to the members! It was funny to say the least! And we all had a good laugh at him! Luckily he wasn't hurt, but he broke the derailleur completely off his bike. So tht was problem. And the bike shop is far from the house, and he couldn't pedal. So he sat on his bike and held onto my backpack and I pulled him to the bike shop. Oh the things we figure out how to do with bikes as missionaries... But, if you see Matt Howard anytime soon, tell him I miss the Bike Shoppe and mechanics that know what they are doing and do it right. He had to get his derailleur completely replaced, so they did. Once we came to pick it up, they told us that they didn't have the right one in stock, so they put a different one on, but now he can't use several of the gears. And when I asked if they could take the right derailleur off one of the bikes just sitting in the showroom that had the right derailleur, they were unwilling to. So, his bike sort of works, and they still made us pay full price. So dumb!!! Whatever...
After that we went and taught a new investigator who we just got a referral for. He wants to learn about our church and the Book of Mormon because he is confused reading the Bible and has a lot of questions. His name is P. D. He is pretty much golden it seems like, so that is awesome! After that, we had the Saturday Evening session of Stake Conference. All the missionaries were here, and we all had fun talking together again! And conference was awesome too! A lot about making the trip to the Temple for members here! So awesome to see their desire! It is so different from home where we have a Temple 10 minutes from the house! But they have to work so hard to go there, but those that have gone are so grateful and say it is completely worth it and that they were so blessed in their preparing and saving as well as while and after being there! After that it was night and we went home.
Sunday: Sunday morning we went to watch a baptism of one of the investigators of some of the other Elders. It was awesome! Then we had stake conference. It was good. It was a broadcast to all of the Asia area. There was again a ton of stuff about member missionary work and Temple work and stuff. They are really stressing that and it is so good, because I can really see the importance of member missionary work now, and how much a desire to go to the Temple helps people stay active and strengthens families and the church!
After conference, we went and taught I.D., our new contact. She has never heard of The Book of Mormon or Joseph Smith, but she seemed to accept it fairly well, or at least desire to know for herself. So that is good, and she invited us to come back again! So good! 2 new investigators this week! After that, we went and visited with P.A. to help try to give him some support to overcome smoking and prepare for baptism! He is really trying and has good desire, but smoking is just so hard for him! So we keep praying for him to overcome that! Then we went and interviewed one of the Sisters' investigators for baptism. She passed, so that is great! The work is progressing here! Well, that is it for now.
Monday/Today: This morning we had a lesson with P.D. again. We had to start from the beginning again, because he is kind of confused. But we got things cleared up with him for the Restoration, and he likes what we are teaching and seems willing to act on it, and invited us back again! And he even closed with prayer, though a little reluctantly, but it was such a good sincere prayer, and he even cried a little bit! So we will definitely keep working on him! Then we went and did a little shopping, picked up my suit--its finally done and looks pretty good. But I forgot my camera, so sorry, no pictures. My bad! Now we are emailing, then we have some futsol, and then a lesson with a fairly new member. So, we are busy but it is good! And Wednesday I fly to Jakarta to get some training and to pick up my new companion, so that is exciting! Then we come back Thursday night! Exciting and nerve-racking. But I think it will work out well--so long as we just keep working hard and do what we are supposed to do and rely on the Lord to make up the rest--I know he will not leave us hanging out to dry! I have already seen that the last few days.
Well, sorry, I have to go! I love you all and hope everything is great at home! Love you!
Love, Elder Wood
Oh and I just got an email from the Jensen's last week but haven't had time to respond yet, so tell them sorry for me. But tell them thank you for the letter, it was awesome and gave me a good laugh and made me happy!
Still waiting for the package, but it usually takes quite a while, so no worries yet! Thank you!
Love you!!!
Sent from my iPhone
