Hey!!! Glad to hear you are all doing well and that everything is good back at home! And glad that the fasting and praying all paid off and we are getting some water there. (There is no shortage of it here.... too bad we can't get it from here to there efficiently). Sounds like a lot of exciting stuff is happening, which is pretty cool! Shout out to Sabrina for working hard and getting a superior at Federation and for making it into the symphony!!!! That is so awesome!!! I am so proud of you! And shout out to dad for hitting up the fitness and dropping 20 pounds! Man, now when I get home its going to be me having to start working out to keep up with you! That's awesome!
Well, this week has been pretty good! It was kind of an interesting week, or kinda cool in a way. So, the whole week I have been feeling a little bit discouraged and bummed that we hadn't been doing as well as we were hoping. We just weren't getting in as many lessons as we wanted, and proselyting was hard. But, last night, when we counted up the statistics, we actually hadn't done too poorly. Ya, our stats were a little lower than the last few weeks, but then I looked back at several months ago, even 2 months ago or less, at our stats. Our stats now are way higher than they were then, and we were stoked about them. This has given me a new vision and testimony of the hastening of the work of the Lord. And it has also made me grateful for the success and increased vision and ability that Elder Wintolo and I have developed together! We really are finding joy and success in this work together! And now we are hopefully going to quickly see the harvest of the fruits of our labors in the next two weeks! Ya, Sister M. and her daughters have a baptismal date for the 23rd of February! We have had a few setbacks and stuff, but we are pretty sure that this date is going to happen! (And we are really hoping for it, because we are pretty sure that at least one of us will be transferring on the 24th :(...
Oh, and last night proselyting we had a pretty cool experience. We were riding our bikes around trying to contact people and find people to teach. We had been going for a while but nobody was interested. Then we rode past this big nice house, and an old lady in a wheelchair on the front porch called out to us and invited us to come over and talk to her. So we did. She invited us in the gate and to come inside for a minute. So we agreed, hoping to meet her and her family. So we went in, and she talked to us, and invited us to share our message. And she liked it. She told us that (even though she is 82 and Islam) she feels that the Lord guided our path so that we could meet and talk with her. Sadly, because of her condition (old age, she has had a stroke, and is wheel-chair bound), she cannot attend church or be baptized in this life. But she is probably one of the nicest people I have met here. After our lesson, she fed us dinner, gave us fruit, and then told us that she wanted us to be her grandchildren, and she was our grandma. So now I have a grandma in Solo! She is awesome! I hope that there is a special place reserved in Heaven for her for her kindness, because she has a place in both my and Elder Wintolo's hearts. And we pray that later in the Spirit World, she will have the opportunity and will accept the Gospel! I think she will! And she has a nephew or something that is Catholic, and we are hoping to start teaching him and his wife and son soon, too. They have invited us back whenever we want! It was a tender mercy from the Lord given to us at the end of what to us was a rather difficult week!
Well, that's most of the highlights of this week from here. Everything else was pretty normal. Later we're going to eat at this restaurant that is kinda like a cheap Indonesian version of Texas Road House. Its called D'Koboi (pronounced Da Cowboy I think...). I don't know, it looks funny. Its western themed and the employees wear cowboy boots and cowboy hats. So, I'll try to get some pictures, and hopefully it's good.
Glad things are going well at home! Know how much I love you guys and look forward to Mondays too. Sabrina and Eliza, I'm glad you like my shirts, but aren't they a bit big...? Oh well haha, enjoy them! (The flannels are great to stay warm skiing, too).
Well, I love you all so much! But sadly I have to go. Talk to you next week! Love you!
Love Elder Wood
