Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July to you, too!  and Happy Trek this week!  It sounds

like you guys are going crazy busy!  Hopefully that weekend up in

Idaho will help you relax and wind down a little bit!

Speaking of your trip to Idaho, what part of Idaho are you going to

and what are you doing up there?  That sounds like a lot of fun!  I

miss those big whole family trips!  It's been a while since we've done

one of those!

Man, I can't believe you guys went to the demolition derby without me!

I love that place!  Haha but bummer you weren't in the VIP section!

But that's pretty cool it was so legit this year!  Thanks for the

pictures haha!  But, we did have some fun for the 4th of July here,

too, actually!  We had a zone meeting in Jakarta on Friday morning, so

we went there and were all together for the 4th!  On the way there, we

passed a 7-11 gas station and stopped and got a slurpee and hot dog

for brunch!  Haha that was fun, because 7-11s are not too common here,

so that was a treat!  And a hot dog is such 4th of July food!  Then

for ZTM (zone meeting) we sang America the Beautiful for the opening

hymn, and we always recite something like the mission motto to start

the meeting.  Well, the kid that did that had some American flag

socks, so when he got up front, he hiked his pants up and recited the

Pledge of Allegiance instead.  It was maybe a little inappropriate,

but pretty funny and everyone got a good laugh!  We were all feeling

pretty patriotic and everyone had remembered and busted out their red

ties and whatnot!  It was fun!  Then afterwards we all went to the

mall for lunch and ate Burger King because it was the closest to

grilling we could think of!  And, in the mall, there was a Cold Stone

Ice Cream!  I haven't had good ice cream in over a year!  So we

splurged and got some good ice cream too!  It was a pretty fun 4th of

July!  And it was crazy to think that that was my second 4th of July

in Indonesia!  weird!

The rest of the week has been pretty slow.  My companion has still

been sick and stuck in the house a little bit, which is really

frustrating.  But he's getting better now.  So that's good.  But we

haven't done too much really.  I have gone on splits with the other

Elders a few times, and that has been fun and we have had some good

days.  But other than that, that's pretty much it.  Hopefully this

week we can get out a bit more and have more success.

Well, sorry this is kinda short this week.  But I love you all and

hope you have a great week! Don't burn up too bad on trek!  Sounds

like its going to be a hot one!  Kinda like biking around Indonesia ;)

Talk to you next week!

Love Elder Wood

The Fourth Watch

Hey, so good to hear from you all!  Sounds like things have been busy

back at home!  Even with only one child around!  Haha, bet that's

kinda weird, huh Eliza?  But hopefully Girls camp was fun! But glad

things are going well!  Man, I miss Ragnar!  My second one that I

haven't ran!  Bummer!  But glad you guys did it and had fun!  You

should totally sign up for next year!  That would be fun, and it would

give me something to get in shape for when I get home!  And thanks for

the pictures from it, those are awesome!  Man, mountains, blue skies,

and running!  Don't make me too trunky!  Haha just kidding!

Man, Sabrina, touring Europe!  That's pretty sweet!  Hope you had a

great time there and have a safe trip home!  I can't wait to hear more

about it!

Dad, thanks for your thoughts and stuff!  I needed that this week!  It

was really good, and we had a lot of experiences that relate to that

principle, so that was good!

Oh, and hope you guys have a good time preparing for Pioneer trek and

all that stuff!  Cool!  Have fun!

So, this week has been pretty good.  I kind of have been playing dad

here a little bit.  Being District Leader is a big responsibility.

Last Monday I had to spend the whole P-Day getting service guys over

to get the AC fixed and then going fridge and mattress shopping.  Then

on Tuesday morning the washing machine broke, so I had to get people

over to fix that, too!  Lets just say that my missionary budget and my

personal budget is shot, and I am waiting for a huge reimbursement to

come in from the office!  But it made me think about when I am married

and I have to pay for those things and I don't have the comfort of

knowing I just have to wait for a reimbursement!  Scary!!!  But, now

its all taken care of, the AC works, the washing machine works, the

new fridge has been delivered, and the new mattress is here too.  Now

all I have left is to figure out what to do with the old fridge.  But

that's simple and not time-constrained.  So that's good.  But Tuesday

morning was stressful, because I was on the phone trying to do money

transfers, working with the washing machine repair guys, trying to

figure out appointments, and talking to President who was asking me

how to rearrange the areas and what to do about housing and stuff.

And all of this happened in the space of 30 minutes. It was a

ridiculously stressful 30 minutes!  I got done and just had to sit and

try to think straight for a few minutes again.  After it all ended, my

companion just looked at me and said "That was the craziest 30 minutes

I have ever seen. I don't know how you did that."  Haha I don't

either.  But it's over now.

The rest of the week has been pretty good.  I went on splits with the

Zone Leaders and had a good time.  We got some good appointments in.

We got stuck sitting under a hut on the side of the road for 1.5 hours

waiting for a typhoon to pass.  But there were no walls really, so we

still got pretty wet.  But we got this really cool new investigator

that night.  He lives inside of a country club area and he is super cool.

 He had found the church website and requested a meeting.  We taught him 

and he really liked it and invited us back again.  So we are super excited about him.  We are

hoping maybe some P-Day we can teach him over 18 holes of golf...haha

Sadly we haven't been able to meet with Brother W. again this

week, but we have an appointment with him for tonight, so that is

good.

The rest of the week has been pretty stressful and unsuccessful.  It

has been a passing of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd watches, rowing against

the storm without making much progress.  It was definitely getting

frustrating and discouraging.  But we kept going.  Then on Sunday, we

had 3 appointments scheduled.  But, at church, my companion got sick

and couldn't go out.  However, the other companionship didn't have any

appointments and was feeling pretty discouraged because they have a

family that has been baptized but has not bene able to meet and has

not been confirmed yet and now they have to start over from the

beginning.  They are pretty bummed about that.  So I left one of them

with my companion and took the other to 2 appointments.  Then we went

back to the house and I took the other one out to the last appointment

to get them out of the house and to stop sitting and thinking and

being bummed.  And so that I didn't have to cancel all our

appointments.  And I am glad the way it all worked out.  I think it

worked out just the way it needed to for everyone.  My comp needed

some time off, I think, and they needed a night to go out and have

some good appointments, and the investigators we visited needed the

visits, too.  One of them is this an investigator that has been making

very little progress lately. He is happy to meet and likes what we

say, but that has been about the extent of his progress. But yesterday

we watched the Restoration film with him and asked if he would like to

know if it is true, and he immediately answered that "It is true." I

was a little stunned and confused. But we immediately responded by

inviting him to join this restored church, and he asked a lot of

questions about it, and about baptism, and about his current church.

He accepted all our answers and wants to come to church next week, to

start reading the Book of Mormon, and preparing for baptism. He didn't

want to commit to a date yet, but he committed to coming to church

because he wants to see it first before he sets a date. But he seems

genuinely open and excited, so that is good!

We definitely had the Lord come at the very end of the week, in the

Fourth watch, to us.  We have seen mini examples of this principle

other times throughout the week, too.  Daily it seems that just before

going home we are discouraged, having had little or no success, and on

our last attempt we somehow get a good contact or somehow squeeze a

lesson in, and it restores our faith and hope to go do it all again

the next day.  And Sunday we had that for the entire week!  So that is

good and promising.  So thanks again, dad, for teaching me that

principle this week.  I needed it and there are a few other

missionaries that need it, so I will have to share it with them!

You guys are awesome and I love you so much!  Thanks for all you have

done and do for me!  I miss you tons, but this is where I need to be!

I love it here, even though sometimes it is so hard.

I love you all and can't wait to talk to you again next week.

Love Elder Wood

For Your Eyes Only

Hey, how's it going?  Sounds like things are going well!  But sounds

like you guys are getting pretty bored as empty nesters back at home

this week, mom and dad!  Haha!  Not too much longer...  but don't

worry about that yet.

Thanks for the pictures!  Those were fun to see!  That picture of Tige

driving the boat is pretty funny!  But man, Sabrina, you already look

like "Sister Wood!"  Crazy!  And think, in just a year or two, you

could possibly be back in that exact same spot, only that time you

would be wearing a name badge!  Crazy!  But super cool and exciting!

I'm so excited for you!  That opportunity you are having now is so

cool to go see all those places!  But the opportunity to do

it as a missionary is even cooler!

So, things here are going well.  We don't have too much to report on

this week.  We are still teaching Brother W.  He is awesome and

so good to us.  He receives all the lessons, but he just hasn't quite,

like you said, caught the Spirit.  He is in the process.  I personally

think he already knows, he just is not yet ready to acknowledge it and

give up his whole old way of life and make the big change.  But with

time it will definitely come.  We are just being patient and praying.

Other than that, the most part of our week was pretty slow. I will

copy and paste an excerpt from my letter to President Donald this

week, because that is the easiest and quickest way to explain to you,

and it is the most open.  But because of the openness, I ask that you

please be very careful when editing this before posting it on the blog

or anywhere.  But it is kind of a cool story that I want you guys to know.  But,

like the James Bond movie, most of it is "For Your Eyes Only" haha.

(Editors note: Cool story followed that I am comfortable sharing verbally with those who wants to hear)

So, please keep most of that information confidential, but I wanted

you to know.  But I really do know that the Lord will provide for us

and help us when we need it.  A lot of our problems and negativity and

doubts do not come because we are not being blessed or having success,

but rather we have doubts and lose faith because we simply do not

recognize the blessings and success and help that we are receiving,

because it is not the exact way we hoped it would come.  But it is

coming and it is there.  So, this experience, and your advice, dad,

fit together very well this week!

Well, next week should be pretty good!  We have a lot of good stuff

set up and a lot of exciting possibilities!  So hopefully we are

beginning to pull our of our slump!

Sorry still no pictures.  I tried to hook the card up to the computer,

but it just crashed the internet...Sorry.  But I did take it and buy a

microSD card this morning and had all the pictures transferred at a

photo store, so I will get that card with all the newest pictures and

a letter and some stuff sent off hopefully this week or next, and I

will keep trying to send pictures from the computers.

Well, I love you all and hope you have a great week!  Thanks for

always writing!  I love hearing from you!  I guess I will talk to you

next week, cause I am out of time now.  But I love you all so much!

Have a great week!

Love Elder Wood

DO NOT GET CHICKENS!!!

So good to hear from you all this week!  Sounds like things are going well at home!  Lots of exciting stuff.  Though it sounds like half of you are away from home right now!  But that is all exciting!  

So, thanks for the emails and stuff!  Its always fun to hear whats going on.  

HEY! This is Sister Sheff.... hey Beans my favorite, coolest, most beautiful, friend in the world.... sooooo if you have a meal card this year, you can be my buddy right? Cool thanks in advance for the free food! 

Sorry, Sister Sheffield just he-jacked my email...  But ya, Im in Jakarta for today because we had to come and get our Kitas (government ID card) renewed.  So I am emailing in the office and sister sheffield showed up and jumped on real quick.

But things here are going well.  This week there is not too much to report on because my companion has been sick all week, so we have been stuck at home from Tuesday to Saturday, and so ya, that has been my week for the most part.  The poor kid got a severe case of food poisoning.  Which is weird that he got it and I didn't, because we eat all the same foods.  But my immune system must just be amazing! just kidding

But, Sunday we were able to go out and get 3 lessons in, and they all went really well.  And on Wednesday we were able to get a lesson in with Brother W because they live really close to our house.  I had been listening to a lot of the talks you sent, and I heard one about grace that I really liked, so we talked about grace and mercy with him and about why the Savior's atonement is important for us.  It was a very good and powerful lesson, but he just hasn't completely opened his heart to receive it yet.  He is getting closer, but it has been and continues to be a process with him.  But he is amazing and their family is awesome, and I am so excited for the day when he fully acknowledges the truth and blessing of the gospel in his life for him and his family.

Oh, one thing, Dad, DO NOT GET CHICKENS!!!  I have been living arorund chickens for the last year, and honestly one of the things I thought as we were sitting in front of someone's house the other day with stinky chickens walking around and pooping everywhere, was how excited I am to live somewhere where I don't have to deal with the smell and the poop of chickens everywhere...so, that's my 2 cents, for whatever its worth.  Sorry for the rant, but it is one of those things that I have truly thought...

Anyways, things here are good.  I got a lot of cleaning around the house done and some other good stuff.  So I have that down.  

Well, I love you all so much and am so glad that you are doing well.  Thanks for everything!  Oh, and I just got Sabrina's graduation card!  You look so pretty!  

Well, I think that's about it for now, so I will talk to you next week!  Love you!

Love Elder Wood

Power of Prayer

Sorry my email this week is going to be kind of short!  I am running out of time, a lot!  sorry...

But HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!  And HAPPY belated BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE!!!  Man, busy week of birthdays back at home!  I love you all and hope you have a great birthday!!!

Well, this week has been pretty good.  Not too much going on.  We had a pretty slow week but we are working hard. With the struggles and whatnot this week, I have been thinking a lot about prayer, and then we talked about it in a zone meeting this week, too.  I have been thinking about the importance of praying with true sincerity and "with full purpose of heart" like Enos (though maybe not for quite as long... ;)  But, I have been thinking, miracles will never happen unless we truly ask for them.  We need to pray for ourselves, for our families, for others, and especially for our investigators!  We can help call down blessings for them!  Isn't that cool!  And then what we talked about in zone meeting was, at the end of a lesson, truly discussing prayer, and then to kneel down with the investigator and have them say a kneeling prayer with us and ask if these things are true.  Then you stay silent once they are finished and let the Holy Ghost work, and wait until they speak first.  The power and the spirit that comes is so incredible, and an answer will come! 

So, that is my main thought for this week.  The members here are great and they are willing to help us. We just have to work with their schedules because they are all busy, too.  But they are super nice and awesome!

So, sounds like things at home are going well!  Sounds like a busy summer!  Golfing, boating, Europe, and all that good stuff!  Haha, from the picture I could tell that there was a new surfboard, so that's pretty funny when I read it!  And Duke looks like he's having a good time!  He likes to stand in the same place Rufus did!  

Sorry, I'm pretty much out of time, so I gotta go!  But I will try to write more next week!  Hope you all have a great week and a great summer!  I love you all so much!  And HAPPY BIRTHDAY again! Love You!

Love Elder Wood

Blessings of Faith

Hey, how's it going!  Sounds like things back home are going well!  That's exciting!  I'm glad that you are all doing well and having fun.  Sounds like some interesting things are going on back home haha.  I laugh at all the stuff that has happened since I've been gone... New dining room, new living room, new car, new couches, new talk show sitting area haha, the Mustang is getting worked on, and BEES...wow!  You guys must be really bored or something in my absence! haha. And you still have another year!  What next!?!  Haha it'll be interesting to see all the changes when I get home!  But it sounds like its all cool, fun stuff!  

Wow, I can't believe its already summer back home again!  It's still nice and hot here, but that hasn't really changed.  But man, a big year!  Sabrina, you graduated from high school!  That's crazy!  You're so old!  And Eliza, you are a Freshman!  No way!  You are getting way to old way to fast!  That's crazy!  But exciting!

So, things here are going pretty well!  We are working hard and sort of starting to figure our way around this monstrous metropolis!  This city is huge!!!  By far my biggest area, and one of the biggest cities I have ever been to!  And we are doing it on bikes!!!  I'll tell you what, I am getting in pretty good biking shape again, though I may be destroying my poor lungs with all the horrible pollution.  That's one thing I am hoping I will get a missionary blessing for--that I don't die of cancer and lung poisoning from pollution.  But I think we're doing OK.  But we seriously have spent an average of probably 5 hours or more on our bikes riding around every day this week!  We consistently have appointments that are over an hour ride away!  And then the fact that we are still wandering back and forth forever trying to find the right area and house without clear signs, streets, or anything adds more time.  My back side is done by the end of each day!  I am missing my full suspension bike and padded shorts, because our bikes here don't even have a front suspension.  But they are pretty nice, new bikes and they are fast and easy to pedal, so that's nice.  So, I am glad I had some experience on a bike before my mission, because my poor companion is dying by the end of each day.  But it's not too bad.

We had a funny experience this week.  We have been talking a lot about faith in DDM this week, because I have felt that that is something important.  And in "Lectures on Faith" from the School of the Prophets, it talks about how literally EVERYTHING we do, we do because we have faith.  It is kind of a crazy but cool thought.  And somewhere else, I can't remember where, I read that every single decision or action we make or do, good or bad, has a consequence or blessing.  But, often those consequences or blessings are delayed as a test of our faith.  And we saw this a little bit yesterday.  The church is about half an hour from our house or more by bike.  And a lot of our investigators are even farther from the church in the same direction.  Yesterday after church, we took off to go see one of those investigators.  Well actually it was just a contact that had invited us to come by sometime.  we rode and searched for almost 2 hours before we could find their house.  And we had just finished fasting at church, and were out of water and really thirsty.  But we felt we should try to find them before we went home to study and get food and more water.  Well, when we got there, some kid came out and told us his parents were sick, then went back inside and didn't come out again to tell us if we could come back.  So, we were dying, still an hour ride away from home, and thirsty and couldn't stop to buy water.  So, we were pretty down and discouraged the whole ride home.  But, once we got home we got some water and food and started studying a little bit.  I just felt prompted to let D&C fall open, and about 3 or 4 consecutive times, it fell open to verses that I had marked or just started to read about missionary work, the importance of enduring to the end, and not being discouraged.  And then within about half an hour of being home, the phone rang with an unknown number.  The guy was like, "Hey, did you just come to my house?" And we answered and found out it was the guy we had just tried to go see.  He then told us he had just gotten home, was curious as to who we were, and said that we could come over at 6 (it was 5 when he called).  So, we immediately jumped back on our bikes, rode an hour and 15 minutes to his house, and taught him and his family (5 people over the age of 8).  It was a really powerful lesson and guided by the spirit.  He didn't immediately accept everything, but he wants to read the Book of Mormon, pray about it, and meet again next week.  SO that was really cool.  And looking back, we realized that probably had we not gone over there right after church, but went a different day of the week, he wouldn't have been there because he works.  So, it ended up working out just how it needed to.  And it was a cool manifestation of a slightly delayed blessing of faith coming when the Lord wanted.  (And of us being sustained by the Lord to not die of exhaustion and dehydration haha!)

And we have some other exciting investigators now, too.  So that is exciting.  Elder W's dad is awesome, and their family is great to us.  He started receiving the missionaries to his house when ELder W left on his mission, but only a few months ago started learning the lessons and stuff.  He doesn't immediately accept everything, but he is progressing and I'm sure that at some point he will be baptized!  So that is exciting!  

Well, that's the big update from here.  Things are going well and I'm excited.  It's hard work and I crawl into bed every night, but somehow wake up with strength the next morning.  

Thank you for always writing to me and being awesome!  You guys are the best!  I love you so much!  

Love Elder Wood

... but we got some good contacts!

So, it was sad to leave Manado, but we left it with a bang!  We got two baptismal commitments in the last few weeks before we left, so that is super exciting!  

And now, Tangerang is awesome!  We flew in on Thursday and went to the mission home and met up, then took a taxi to Tangerang.  That night we got settled in, did some shopping, and stuff.  On Friday, me and my companion went out to try to find a few addresses of investigators to teach.  Well, it is a little bit difficult to learn a ridiculously large city like this, that is really just part of the sprawl of one of the largest cities in the world, on your own.  And we are on bikes.  But, we are trying to figure it out.  Well, we found the general areas of the places we were trying to find on the map, and found the major roads leading there.  sort of... and then at 12:00 we took off.  We rode around for about 3.5 hours and finally found the first address.  It was pretty far away from the house, and we got lost a lot on the way.  And we kept having to stop and taking cover from the rain that caused a 2 foot deep flood on the road at one point.  But, eventually we made it and taught a guy.  He is a new investigator, and is a little hard headed, but he is OK.  We will keep trying.  After that lesson was over, we tried to find another address.  By about 7:30ish we finally found the house, but the people weren't home.  But that's Ok, because by that point we didn't have time to teach them.  We had to start heading home.  But now we sort of know where there house is, although I don't know if I could ever find it again...at least not quickly.  Then it took us another 2 hours to get home haha.  We started finding the way, but we kept taking the long ways and stuff.  But we got some good contacts along the way and stuff.  So we were making being lost a bit fun and productive :)  Then, my companion's tire went flat. So we stopped and filled it up at a gas station.  That lasted for a little while, but it kept leaking.  Luckily along the way home there was a bike store.  And it was the nicest bike shop I have ever been in!  It was huge!  So I was entertained while his tube was being changed.  Then we eventually found our way home at exactly 9:30, so we weren't late :)

Saturday we had District Meeting, and it was my first time leading as a District Leader.  But it went well.  Then after that we caught a train to Jakarta to go to the Saturday night session of Stake Conference.  Luckily Elder Canfield knew the way, so we made it!  Conference was good and they talked about some cool stuff, and a lot about member missionary work!  And we got to meet a lot of the missionraries again, so that was fun.  Then we got a ride home with a member, but because of traffic and the meeting going long, we got home a bit late.

On Sunday, we rode with a member to stake conference again.  The meeting was awesome, too, and there were a ton of people there.  After conference, however, there was a funeral that our ride was going to, and we had to get home.  But my comp and I got separated from the other companionship. And we ended up having to take the train by ourselves. But somehow we made it home.  So, I'm glad for all of our traveling experience, because I was able to keep my head and figure out my way home on public transport in Jakarta!  The train to our house has to transfer twice, too. We did make a few mistakes and have to backtrack, but we eventually made it!  So that was cool haha.  And, in our lost and confused state, we did get some good contacts as well that helped us along the way and want to learn about the gospel.  

Today we are going to go to some huge mall and go ice skating and eat Carl's Junior.  They say that's the best American restaurant in Indonesia, so we'll go try it out.    Then tonight we are going over to teach Elder W's dad, so that will be cool!  

There's a lot of good stuff going on here, so I am excited!  Hopefully we can start to learn our way around a little bit so we're not always lost.  But I think we'll start to get it hopefully soon!  It is a huge, and confusing city, though.  The biggest area by far that I have ever served in!  And whitewashing doesn't make it easier.  But it's a fun adventure and a challenge!  And my comp is chill and cool, so we're having fun at it!  It is different from Manado, but it is fun too!

Well, I'm glad that Arizona was fun!  sorry about your tooth, dad!  That is a major bummer!  Hopefully it gets well soon!  And hopefully grandma gets feeling better!  Tell her HI for me and to get well soon!  And scary for Lisa, hopefully everything is alright!  Also for Brian and Vickie, that is scary and crazy, too!  Man, it was a big week back at home!

And another big week coming up!  Congrats on graduating, Sabrina!  You made it!  Nice!  Have fun!

Well, I love you guys so much!  Thanks for all your support and love!  Hope you all have a great week!  

Love Elder Wood