October 6, 2014

Glad to hear conference has been going well and has been good!  That is exciting!  Kind of cool that it is being done in native languages!  How did they do that for people watching it at the Conference Center?  That is interesting!  But a cool step to making the church more international!

That is fun that you are all watching it up at the cabin!  I do miss the season changes!  I guess the seasons have been changing here the last few weeks, too, though.  It has been going from hot to hotter!

We have not had the chance to watch conference here yet.  We will watch it this coming Friday and Saturday.  So I am excited to watch it!  I love conference!  But I am not sure if we will be able to watch it in English here, or if we will have to watch it in Indonesian.  That would be a long time of difficult translating haha!  But kinda cool, too!

Well, for news here:  Things have been going well this week!  Our investigator Mama V that has been learning and coming to church for a while was starting to get discouraged and ready to give up on the church, thinking it was too difficult.  But then she prayed this week and got an answer that she really does need to be here!  So she committed to prepare to be baptized on the 26th of October!  So that is super exciting!  And Brother W is still on date for the 19th!  So lots going on here!  And we have a few other investigators that we have started teaching that we are hoping to try to give a date over the next few weeks!  I hope I don't transfer from here anytime soon!  There are too many exciting things going on!  One of the investigators we have just gotten is named M.  She is someone that the W extended family met at a hair salon and invited her to English class.  Then she came to a saturday activity at the church and then to church on sunday and has started learning.  She has been to church twice, learned once, and is really liking it!  And we teach her at the W's house, which is awesome!  That family is incredible!  We want to try to give her a baptismal date this week when we meet with her again!

Ummm, ya, those are the biggest highlights of the week!  We have still been staying very busy and having a good time!  I am really enjoying my time here in Tangerang!  And to be honest, when I came here, I had to really fake being excited.  Because I was not.  For years this area had been known and dreaded as one of the hardest areas of the mission!  And it was for a while when I was here!  But lately the Lord has really been hastening His work here and has blessed us and turned the place around!  And now I don't want to leave the place!  I could happily finish my mission here!  

Well, glad that you are all doing well and having a great week!  I love you all and miss you, but am truly happy here!  And safe...don't worry mom :)  Time really is flying by!  It is kind of scaring me, but I am trying to make the most of it! Hope you guys have a great week!  Thanks for your emails and all your prayers!  You guys are awesome!  I love you!

Love Elder Wood

September 29, 2014

Sounds like the women had a pretty good weekend at home!  Good, I'm glad!  Sounds like the temple was a big focus of the womens conference and of what has been going on at home right now!  That is so cool!  I miss the temple!  "You don't know what ya got til its gone!"  It will be exciting to go back again!  I still remember going through the St George temple together before I left!  That was a cool experience!  Speaking of temple testimonies, I wish you could hear Sister A's (Bro. W's wife) testimony of the temple!  She has such a great love and testimony of the temple!  Before her husband showed any interest in the church at all, she had been to the temple at least once, but I think twice.  She talks about how hard it was to go there alone without her husband, but also how much hope and strength she gained there!  And she always says that she is convinced that the blessing of her husband's heart being opened is a "Temple Blessing" for her sacrifices to go there alone!  That whole family is absolutely amazing and so spiritual, and super funny as well!  I hope you all can meet them someday!  They are my favorite family that I have met over here I think!  And they are already doing their missionary work!  Them and their cousins met a young woman at a hair salon, befriended her, have brought her to a church activity, and last week to church, and this week have arranged to have us start the discussions with her in their home, while Brother W is preparing for his own baptism!  They are absolutely amazing!  

Pak M is having a lot of trouble from his priest and is getting scared. We will try to keep contact with him, but we feel like it is best to let him mellow out for a week or so before going over there again, because he told us not to come the other day when we tried. But I still see potential with him.

Mama V is doing well also. She is progressing and becoming friends with several members which is really helping her. She still has a desire to learn and we are trying to help her recognize her witness that the Book of Mormon is true.  She is so funny!  She is a professional seamstress, and keeps making us things!  She made us a batik shirt two weeks ago and this week she made us a batik vest (like the vest for a 3 piece suit!)  It is pretty sweet!  

J still has not felt or not recognized any witness of the holy ghost yet. He doesn't want to be baptized with out that witness, and neither do we want him to. But he is frustrated. He says he hasn't felt anything at all...but he is willing to try coming to church a few more times to try to get a witness. We are trying to help him recognize it, but it has been difficult to this point.  Mom and dad, thanks for your thoughts, we will try sharing those with him and hope it helps!

And we have several other investigators that are doing well and progressing. The work here is going really well!  We are staying busy and tired!  Every morning we wake up absolutely exhausted!  But somehow we are sustained throughout the day!  Then at night we hit the pillow and are out!  Unless one of the roommates falls asleep first--then it is hard because he snores like Grandpa!  But other than that things are good haha!

Glad things back home are going well and everyone is happy!  things here are great too!  We went to Jakarta today to play futsal as a zone, so that was fun!  

Well, nothing too extremely interesting this week.  Still cold showers as well, but we actually have a shower head at this house, so that is nice.  Oh, we are going to be expanding the district in the next few months, so I have to go house shopping for another house this month!  That should be interesting!  Haha any advice, Grandpa?  You're the master realtor of the family!  

Well, Still happy here and having a good time and staying busy!  Glad to hear from all of you and hear that things are going well!  Hope you all have a great week!  Love you all!

Love Elder Wood

September 21, 2014

Well, things here have been going pretty well again this week!  The Lord has really been opening doors and progressing the work here!  We had another busy week this week!  

Sadly Pak M was not baptized.  He has been getting a lot of opposition from his old church.  His priests have been coming to his house and yelling at him and scaring him from being baptized, and holding monetary weight over his head.  So he has been really stressed over the past few days and has begun distancing himself from both parties I think.  Which is sad.  I know that he will find all the peace and blessings he is looking for if he will just make a firm decision to be baptized and will go through with it, but the more he wavers and goes back and forth, the harder things are going to get for him.  But we really have to help him build the faith to make that step!

Brother W is doing well and progressing. He already acts like a member--he helps our investigators, he participates at church, and all sorts of things! He is excited for his baptism, and we are too! But he also knows that that is not his final goal! He is already talking about going to the temple as a family, and often says how he would love to serve a mission with his wife, Sister A in a few years! He is amazing! 

We have another progressing investigator, Mama V.  She is reading and coming to church, and is open to baptism. She just wants to learn more first, so she hasn't set a date yet. But she is doing well. 

We have one other progressive investigator. His name is J. We met him a little over 2 weeks ago, and have taught him twice now. He has been reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and came to church yesterday. But after Sacrament meeting, he pulled us aside and said that the whole time he has been asking, he hasn't felt anything. In fact, he said he felt completely empty and even bored during Sacrament meeting. We have had members to his house, and he is sincerely wanting to know and is willing to be baptized if he receives an answer that it is true. But it is hard, we have explained all about the Holy Ghost with him and he still says he hasn't received any answer at all, and he is getting frustrated. I don't really know what to say to him other than keep trying at this point.  It is kind of confusing and frustrating.  Hopefully he will keep trying!

I love you all so much and hope that you have a great week!  I think today we are going to go get our bikes serviced, grocery shop, and have a nap!  We are dead tired!  We probably ride at least 30 miles, and sometimes maybe up to 50 miles a day...It is tiring!

But it is good, and I am enjoying the work!  Have a great week!

Love you all!

Love Elder Wood

Miracles Happen!!

Things here this week have been absolutely crazy!!!  I am dead tired today,  I have to say.  But, waking up this morning was such a relief when I woke up and got to say, "Yes, it's P-Day!"  I can relax (even though it is only a little bit of relaxing.  We still have a lot to do.)  This last week we had 21 appointments!  It was the most packed week I have ever had!  And doing that while also doing the extra amount of study time for training has been hectic!  It was to the point that we didn't even have time to do weekly planning last week, so we had to do that when we got up this morning.  But I wouldn't trade it for a more relaxing week!  It is exciting times here!  The Lord truly is hastening the work like crazy!  Now we are just trying to keep up!  We have been finding new investigators all over the place and been having really powerful lessons!  And it has been happening in both companionships this week!  It is awesome!  Everyone is super excited! The hardest thing is how much riding we have been having to do to get all the appointments in. So much, in fact, that Elder Troff's tire blew up the other day (but everyone was fine). But if that is the biggest problem we have to deal with to receive all these blessings, I think we will take it, no complaints!

We had a baptism on Sunday!  It was one of the other companionship's investigators, Ibu E.  She was so excited and it was such good experience!  And we were able to get one of our investigators to come, Pak M.  Pak M is an interesting story.  He was one of our former investigators, and used to be progressing.  But then he told us he didn't feel comfortable leaving his old church.  Then he couldn't meet for over a month.  For a long time, he wouldn't answer our calls or anything.  Then 2 weeks ago we just dropped in to his house.  He was home, and we caught him within just a small 1 hour window of him being there.  We taught him, and he remembered his testimony of the message and commited to come to church again.  He came and loved it.  Then this week when we visited him, he wasn't sure again.  We had a long discussion.  It wasn't a debate, but it was like bartering. He was so sure about his old church, and we just kept telling him the promised blessings of the church.  We didn't think it sunk in, and he told us that he wouldn't come to church this week, buit that maybe the next week.  And that he was going to go see what his priest had to say about him transferring churches.  Well, turns out, after we left his house Saturday morning, he went to his church, told his priest he was moving to Mormon, and his priest got really mad.  But he held firm and left.  I was astonished!  Then he called a member and arranged himself a ride to church, and came on Sunday!  And he stayed for the baptism, and then told me he wants to get baptized next Sunday!  I couldn't believe it!  But he says the Holy Ghost told him that that is what he needs to do!  So we are going to be working hard to get him all prepared this week!  Miracles happen!  And the Lord guides the work!

So, there are so many other things going on, too!  Brother W is still doing well!  I think he knows when he is going to be baptized, he just doesn't want to tell anyone yet... I have my guesses though!   But he is still learning and he picks up on things super well!  

My companion and I are doing well!  He is really cool, a really hard worker and helps me a lot!  So we are having great success together!  

Well, It is great hearing from you all!  I hope you all have great weeks!  I love you all!

Love Elder Wood

He is the one directing this work!

Hey, how's it going?  Thanks for the letters this week!  

So this week was pretty good!  We had some great appointments!  And we got 14 lessons in with investigators this week!  We met the mission standard of excellence in Tangerang!  That is the first time that has happened since I have been here in Tangerang!  Usually we hover around 10 and max at like 12, so this week was a really good one!  

Brother W is doing well!  He is still coming to church and seems like he is progressing!  It is baby steps, but it is coming!  One day it will just click for him, I'm sure!  And he knows it too!

This week we also had 3 investigators at church, which is like a record here, too!  The Lord is really blessing and hastening his work!  So that was super exciting!  They all seemed to really enjoy it, too! And it made Gospel Principles class amazing!  President Donald and an area 70 were also visiting the ward that day, so they were there to meet them all, and President Donald sat in on Gospel Principles. Since so many people were new, we started with just doing some introductions.  And, of their own volition, the investigators each shared their testimony when they were introducing themselves, and the Spirit was super strong!  Pak M said he was really considering baptism in this church, Mama V said how much she liked it here, and that in any other church she just didn't feel that it "clicked" it just wasn't quite right.  Then Brother W cried as he shared his experiences and hopes, and the Spirit was so strong!  Then President Donald shared his testimony and conversion story!  It was just an amazing spiritual high, and I think all of us, including the investigators, were touched by it!  And they all want to come back again next week!  So that is exciting!  What a great day at church!

Then on Sunday night, all our appointments had fallen through.  So we were frantically calling all our contacts to see if anyone could meet.  We got one guy, but when we showed up, he wasn't home.  We rode all around his neighborhood, trying to contact other people, but had no success.  Then we went back to his house, and he was home and let us in.  He talked at us for an hour or so about Jesus and stuff, then finally we got a chance to talk.  We thought it was just going to be a "this is good information." but that's it sort of thing, but turns out that the spirit touched him and he really was interested to know if these things are true, wants to read the Book of Mormon, and wants to meet again next week!  So that was super exciting!

Then we had one other appointment with a guy we met in front of his house a week ago, and talked to for 30 seconds or less, and he told us to come back Sunday evening.  We didn't even get his phone number.  But we figured we'd try it out.  Well, we show up, and someone answers the door and asks what we're doing.  We say that we had an appointment with the guy, and are told that he wasn't there. He asked us where we were from, and we said the church, and he invited us in.  Turns out that the guy that let us in is the guy we were looking for's little brother (still like 25 years old, though).  He was shocked that his brother would want to talk to us, becuase his brother is Agnostic and never wants to talk about religion...at all.  So he was like, "What did you say to him or share with him that he would even invite you back at all?"  We told him that we had showed him the Book of Mormon, and he was interested to know what it was and made a return appointment with us.  So now, this guy we were talking to, the little brother was really interested.  So we taught him the first lesson right there. He used to be agnostic as well, but a few years ago became Catholic.  But he absolutely absorbed everything we said, and the spirit was really strong.  At the end, we asked if he had any questions, and the first thing he said was, "I want to come to your church. Can I?"  Of course we said yes, and he said he is going to come next week!  So that is awesome!  And we then gave him the baptismal commitment, and he said that after he reads and prays, if he gets an answer he will be baptized!  There were so many other cool things that went on in that lesson, but it was absolutely amazing!  And as we were leaving, we asked him if he would be sure to read the Book of Mormon this week.  He said, "I'm going to go read it right now!"  It was amazing!  So cool and so prepared!  And the Lord totally prepared the day to lead us there, because there were several other things that we had prioritized over that meeting, but they just didn't work out for one reason or the other, and the Lord led us there!  He really is the one directing this work!  

Well, that is about it for this week!  It was a good one and the upcoming week looks pretty good, too! Hope you all have a good week!  I love you all!  Talk to you soon!  

Love, Elder Wood

Becoming a "whole-hearted missionary"

Happy Sunday Night!  (Monday morning here... haha still kinda weird!)

So, sounds like you all had a good week!  Lots of fun things going on!  The picture of that spider (I'm not even going to try to spell 'terantula' haha) was pretty crazy!  Haha we actually don't see stuff like that too often here, but lots of cockroaches, rats and really ugly stray cats...but that is pretty cool looking!  Poor lady standing there frozen!  Did Duke try to eat it?

And glad that your  new job is going well, mom!  Haha that is so funny to hear you say "work was good this week."  Usually I only hear that from dad.  But that is exciting that you have that opportunity! That is going to be fun it sounds like!  Hopefully you continue to enjoy it!  

And that is so fun that you got to go meet all those missionaries and talk to them!  They are some of the best people I know!  Haha its weird to see them all at home though!  It wasn't too long ago I saw them all at zone conference!  They are a great group of friends! 

Well, this week was another really good week!  We had some good success with finding and teaching! We were able to teach a lot more new investigators!  We have been really blessed with finding lately! And now hopefully in the coming weeks we can really get all of our follow-up appointments with our new investigators, older investigators, and continue finding even more investigators!  Hopefully we will become super busy with teaching appointments in the next few weeks!  

Brother W is still doing well! This week he wore a white shirt to church!  Although it seems small, that was another big step in his progression!  Because up to this point he hasn't wanted to wear a white shirt. His wife told us that he had a tie in the car but last second decided not to wear it.  So, Elder T asked him about it at some point and said "Where's the tie?"  And Brother W responded "Maybe I'll wear a tie at my baptism!"  Haha he's a pretty funny guy!  But hey, he knows where he is heading!  Now we just are working on helping him commit to a date!  Hopefully sooner rather than later!  Because the ward is waiting on planning their temple trip next year for him to get baptized haha! He is great!  He is really reading all 4 of the Standard Works completely of his own desire, and he always writes and asks us his questions, because it is all new to him!  We are just trying to get him to get the Holy Ghost so that he can learn that much faster!

We found another new family this week that is awesome!  We just taught them the first time last Saturday.  The father used to be a captain of a ship, and has been all over the world.  He is Indonesian but speaks fluent English.  The wife is Venezuelan and speaks perfect Indonesian. We showed up and the husband found out we were Mormons and immediately was super interested in what the Book of Mormon is.  When he was sailing, he said he would often stay in hotels in America and he would open up the drawer and see two Bibles--the normal one and the "Mormon Bible"  (He must have been staying in Marriott hotels haha!)  He said he had often seen the Book of Mormon, but never really read it.  Then just a few weeks ago he downloaded the English version onto his Ipad to read on a flight while he was bored.  But he had never really known what it was or read it seriously.  But he was very interested in our explanation and very excited to read the Book and he wants to come to church next week as well!  So that was super exciting!  Then he tried to give us like 30 bucks on our way out the door, which is quite a lot of money here.  We are completely out of money this week because of reimbursements on taxis going back and forth to Senopati several times.  So at that time we only had like 2 dollars in each of our wallets to live until this months allowance came in today. But, despite the great temptation, we obediently declined haha!  But we laughed about it afterward and how tempting it was!  But they want to meet again, and are super cool!

We have found and taught several other investigators and had a good time this week as well!  And today we have a few follow-up appointments this evening after we finish emailing, so that is exciting!

Oh, this week we were riding and I got a flat tire.  Luckily there are a lot of places on the side of the road to get it patched up.  But where it went flat happened to be in one of the nicest parts of town where there are none of these places.  So we had to walk for over a half hour until we found one of these places.  Turns out that it went flat because I had worn a hole all the way through the outer tire, so they stuck some rubber inside there to temporary patch it, patched the tube, and I was on my way temporarily.  But we had to replace the whole tire that night.  Too much riding haha!

This week I have been studying a lot on how to be a "whole-hearted missionary."  I don't really know how to explain exactly what I have learned, but there is a lot haha!  Lots of just ideas like how to work better with other missionaries and companions, how to really love investigators, and other things.  But the one that most hit me was in first few verses of Alma 17 that I read today, with a connection to 1 Cor 2:4 I think is the reference.  It is about fasting, praying, and studying.  But the purpose of it is not to become smarter.  It is to gain power.  In Corinthians, Paul talks about not converting people by convincing or flattering words, but of speaking simple words that are filled with power and the spirit, and letting the Spirit do the convincing.  So that is something I am really going to work on, is keeping my speech simple, and praying and working to get power behind my words from the Spirit.  

Well, I am so glad that you are all doing well and having great weeks!  I love you all and can't wait to hear from you each week!  Thanks for your letters!  Love you!

Love Elder Wood

Smiling and Laughing the Whole Time

Happy Sunday!  (Monday here...)

Man, sounds like a pretty busy day for you guys!  I can't believe that Sabrina is already off to college! That is crazy!  That seems like it happened really fast!  But super exciting!  Haha I'm glad you've had a nice extra storage room for all her stuff!  Thanks for the pictures!  Looks like a pretty fun place!

Well, things here have been going well this week!  My companion is a really funny and cool guy, and we have been getting along really well!  He is definitely one of my favorite companions so far!  He is always positive and he works really hard, he is easy to talk to, and we have fun together.  It makes the work so much easier and more enjoyable when you are smiling and laughing the whole time!  

Speaking of the work, things have been going really well this week!  We have found a ton of new investigators the last few days and have taught a ton of first lessons!  It is really exciting!  We have several families that are interested, and have had some crazy cool opportunities placed in our path.  One funny one is we were proselyting in a gated community that we made friends with the security guards of a few weeks ago.  We never went through the whole area last time we were there, so the other day we went there again.  Our security guard friend wasn't there, but the guy there let us in.  We can't knock doors, so we just have to walk around and talk to people on the street.  But we found one guy and got a lesson with him and his family and they invited us back this coming week.  Then we were riding our bikes around a bit, and a lady called us over.  She was like, "do you remember me?"  It took me a minute, but then I got it.  When we were there 3 or 4 weeks ago, we talked to her as she was driving out the gate, because the security guard we were friends with introduced us to her and said she was Christian.  But at that time she wasn't interested and was in a hurry.  But the other day she called us over and just wanted to talk a little bit.  We talked to her and her friend in the street and at first she still wasn't too interested in the church, but wanted to know more about what we were doing here.  Then by the end of the conversation she told us about how she wasn't active in church, and she ended up inviting us to come over to her house to meet with her and her family this coming week!  So that was a cool thing!  Funny how the Lord works, and how sometimes it takes several tries!  But we are excited for that one!

The rest of the work is going well!  This week Brother W asked us to fast with him to help him receive an answer if he needs to be baptized.  So we fasted with him yesterday and then had dinner at their house together.  It is so cool to see him working so hard to receive a sure answer!  It won't be too much longer before he gets in the water I think!  I am so excited for him and his family!

Well, that is mostly it for this week!  After emailing we are going to go over to the driving range for a little bit and then we have an appointment this evening!  So the work is progressing!  

Thanks for all your emails, love and support!  And thanks for the cookies!  They were delicious!  I love you all so much!  Hope you have a great week!  Man, the house is going to be empty for a while! Eliza, you're going to be spoiled!  Litlle miss only child at home Haha!

Well, I love you all!

Love Elder Wood