Baptism commitment :) Transferred :(

It was so good to talk to you all last week!  Oh man, that was awesome!  I loved it!  Thanks for staying up for me!  It was so good to see your faces and hear your voices and see that you are all doing well!

Glad that you all had a good time at the Ogden Marathon!  I'm glad that you all are doing well! 

Man, off to Arizona!?  you guys are just all over the place now!Sounds   like you're staying busy, though, with the house, the Mustang, travel, Trek, etc..

Well, things have changed quite a bit since we talked last week, actually.  On Thursday, we got transfer calls.  And, who'd have guessed it, I'm transferring.  I was not expecting that!  I thought I would be here for a long time!  But nope, I am moving to Tangerang (just outside of Jakarta) on Thursday.  And so is my companion, Elder W.  We are both going to Tangerang, and will be living in the same house again, but we will be in separate companionships.  I will be with  Elder H. and I will be the District Leader there. 

I have to say, this is by far the hardest move for me so far in the mission.  I did not expect to be transferred this transfer, so that kind of blind-sided me. This will be a very hard area to leave behind, partially because I still feel fairly new here, but mostly because I have truly been loving and enjoying the work here and I love the people and culture in Manado so much! The members and investigators here are awesome! It has been so fun to see the branch here grow and progress and learn so much, and I have become so close with so many members and investigators here, and it is very hard to so quickly leave it all and transfer so far away to Tangerang. But, I guess that is where the Lord has called me, and that is where I will go.But I am sad.  And I will be leaving Elder G., so that will be sad, too!  He is one of my best friends now!  But, its what's happening and I am coming to accept it.  But it took some prayers and asking for help to accept it for the first few days.  I was honestly crushed at first.  But now I am looking at it as a new opportunity to learn and to help other people, so I guess it is a good thing.

But, other than transfer calls, this last week has been pretty good! We have gotten in some good lessons, have found some new investigators, and have been getting blessed! Last Sunday we had a kid named S. show up church. He is friends with an inactive member, and wanted to come. So, he was contacted and invited to learn. We met him that night and had a good lesson about the Restoration. He did not accept the baptismal commitment, but he committed to think and pray about it. And he really likes us and meeting with us. So on Saturday evening we took him to the institute party at the Welch's house to try to get him hooked in with members. It was just us for a while, but we played some tennis (oh man it was so fun to get out on the tennis court again!  But man, I am rusty!) and built a good relationship with him, and he started feeling really comfortable and open with us. Then a few other investigators came, and we had the lesson. S. loved the lesson that Elder Welch taught about learning to use the Book of Mormon and prayer to strengthen our relationships. Then on Sunday he came to church again. And he loved it. Then Sunday night we met again and taught him the Plan of Salvation, and committed him to baptism on June 8! So that is super exciting!

And we had several other investigators at church that we feel are ready to finally accept the baptismal commitment, so we will try to commit them to baptism as well before we leave! It is exciting to see the work here picking up! Just a bummer that we have to leave.  But that's the way it goes.  And I am glad that we can leave some good stuff behind for the new elders coming in and whitewashing the area, so that they can be excited!

Well, things here are going well, and I am still happy, even despite the fact that I am leaving paradise!  There are good benefits to every area!  But this has been my favorite so far my mission!  But, oh well.  We will go and make Tangerang great.  And Elder W's family lives in Tangerang, and I will be serving in their ward and I will be teaching his dad, who is Islam but has started investigating the church.  So that will be a cool experience!

Well, I hope you all have a great week and keep doing fun things!  I love you so much and love hearing from you every week!  Talk to you next week from Tangerang

Love Elder Wood.