August 18, 2014

So great to hear from you all!  Sounds like things have been going well back at home!  Fun stuff going on!

Thanks so much for the packages!  I got them both this week!  Thank you so much!  They were awesome!  I am excited to make s'mores!  I will have to figure out how to do that!  The microwave is too lame!  But maybe we can try to use the gas-burner stove haha!  And sorry, I haven't had a chance to get a picture in the shirt yet, we have been really busy the last few days!  But I will try to take it and get it sent off next week!  (If the computer will let me...)  And all the good stuff!  That was such an awesome package!  So many good things to cook!  And so many cool pictures and stuff!  And thanks for the family history!  I am excited to read more about it, but I have just had a little time to browse over it so far!  And Sabrina,  thanks for the Swiss Chocolate!  That looks so good that I am almost afraid to eat it, but I can't wait to try some!  And I can't wait to read your journal of your trip over there!  Thanks so much for sending me that!  And Eliza,  thanks for the chocolate chip cookies!  They are delicious!  I had a few for breakfast today and they were awesome!  Thanks for all the letters and all the love!  It is so fun to hear from you guys and get that stuff!  

And I am glad that you were able to make it to Elder Giolas' homecoming!  He is a great guy!  Thanks for the pictures!  That was fun!

So, things here have been going well this week!  On Wednesday I went to the mission home and picked up some new missionaries!  My new companion is named Elder Troff, and he is from West Jordan.  I also have been with Elder Martineau, from Kaysville.  Elder Martineau leaves tomorrow, though.  But he will go and be trained by Elder Wintolo.  So he is my grandson.  I am like the Patriarch of the house, I joke.  But it has been really fun the last few days.  I have been taking both of them around with me.  It has been stressful, but a ton of fun!  They are both really cool guys.  And I am really excited to work with Elder Troff, too.  He seems like he will be an awesome companion!  The only bummer was that I was really sick Friday night, all day Saturday, and part of Sunday with fever, full body aches, and diarrhea.  But we made it through it and I am healthy now!  So I haven't yet had a chance to eat all my good food because I didn't have an appetite until this morning.  But now I can go hard!  

Saturday was fun because we had a big ward party for Indonesian Independence Day!  We had an investigator come and feel really welcome and have a good time, and I think that was a big and a successful step in his progression.  And it was a great chance for the new Elders to meet the members and feel welcome and see that the church is the same all over the world!  I think they really liked it! I had a really good time and it made me feel at home!  We learned a few Indonesian patriotic songs, which was fun, and sang them as a member played the guitar!

This week we have also had some lessons with some good investigators.  Brother W is still coming along well and learning and progressing!  We are just trying to get him to make a baptismal goal, but he doesn't want to commit to a date yet.  But someday he will!  

Well, I think that is mostly it for now!  Thanks again for all your love and support, letters, packages, and prayers!  You are awesome!  I love you so much!  Hope you all have a great week and I can't wait to hear from you again!  The Church is true, the Book is Blue, and I will see you after I honorably finish the 2!  Haha!  Love you!

Love Elder Wood!

August 10, 2014

Hey!  Glad to hear that things are going well back at home!  Sounds like you guys have been having a pretty fun week!  That hit and run race sounds pretty fun!  Man, sounds like normal running is way out of style now.  No more normal 5K's or anythign like that.  It's gotta have all the bells and whistles and stuff haha!  Well, I am excited to try it when I get home!  Hopefully its still around and not just a fad! But sounds like its a bit painful, too haha!  How do they make it a race with all the waiting in line and stuff?

And man, those pictures of the Ogden Temple are amazing!  It looks beautiful!  I can't wait to see it in person!  When are they doing the dedication?  Is there going to be some big youth festival thing for it? That is fun that you could take some other friends and neighbors to see it, too!  That is a great missionary tool, because they will feel something there, and later hopefully recognize a desire to return there and go inside again.  And then they will figure out what they have to do to go inside again :) We'll keep praying for them!

So, things here have been a bit slow this week.  We had several investigators reject the message saying that they don't believe it is true.  And we had our progressing investigator, Pak Mafud, who had a baptismal date a few weeks ago reject us this week.  That one was really hard.   He had had a spiritual confirmation of the truth of our message, but he decided that it was too difficult to move from his old church to ours after having been there so long. And his choice was especially confirmed after he talked to his pendeta. So that was a major bummer this week and made us all quite sad for him and disappointed. But we gave him the seed, and I guess we have to accept that he has his agency to do what he wants. It is just sad to see him reject something that he has had a witness of, and to lose so many blessings. But, we will keep moving forward.  

So, our teaching pool took a big hit this week, which is hard, especially knowing I have a new companion coming in next week.

But we still have an investigator that wants to come to church and is really progressing.  His only problem is that his wife won't let him come to church.  yet.  But he is still working on it and hopefully it will happen soon.  We have an Indonesian Independence Day party at the church this Saturday, and we are going to try to get them to come to a non-threatening activity like that.  So hopefully that will happen.  

And Brother W is still doing really well!  He is really progressing and has turned completely toward Christianity.  Now we are just helping him gain an understanding of what we believe and helping him strengthen his testimony, and helping him prepare for baptism!  Hopefully we can get him there soon! So that is really exciting!  Such a blessing and a joy to see someone's life change!  

This week I have been in a 3-some with Elder Honda and his new companion, Elder Hariyadi.  He is a really cool guy!  He just transferred here from Manado.  He is actually the missionary that replaced me in Manado!  And he told me that one of the investigators that I started teaching when I was in Manado got baptized just a few weeks ago!  So that was super exciting and rewarding to hear!    And I am just waiting to get my new companion on Thursday or Friday this week. 

Well, I am glad to hear that you guys are having fun and things are going well at home!  I love getting your emails every week!  It brightens my day!  Keep letting me know what's going on!  How are the bees?  Any honey yet?  How is the mustang project going?  Any pictures?  What else is going on?

Well, I love you all and I love being a missionary!  The work is hard, and yes, dad, sometimes I do feel like I am pushing against an unmoving rock.  But I guess that's what sometimes has to happen.  And then the Lord will come in with His timing.  Things will turn around here!  There is great potential! And it makes it all worth it to see someone like Brother W accept the gospel and see it change his life and bless him and his family!  I am so grateful we have that blessing in our family!  

I love you!  Have a great week!

Love Elder Wood