Another Week in Paradise!

Another week in paradise!  We have had a busy week,that's for sure!  On Monday we helped one of the Sisters' investigators move houses in the morning, then played basketball, and emailed,and did other stuff, then taught 2 lessons. One was with a kid named F.  He is Islam.  But he committed to baptism on the 14th of March!  So that is pretty exciting! 

Tuesday was MLC, which was awesome!  President always has way cool things to say to inspire us and direct the mission in the way it needs to go!  It is so cool to have the opportunity to sit in on that meeting and participate!  Such a blessing!  In this one we talked a lot about become full purpose missionaries--not just finding and teaching an baptizing, but also reactivating and retaining, and how to make all of those things work together to be most successful!  About how doing one of those things, we can make it have a positive effect on all other aspects of our work, and that we need to focus to do all 5 of those things!  

The rest of the week we were busy with lessons, teaching investigators and stuff.  And we had to prepare our lesson for Zone meeting, which was on Friday.  The meeting went pretty well and I think the message got across well.  The missionaries seemed to enjoy it!  That has always been one of the hardest things for me--teaching something that everyone already knows, but doing it in a way that will keep their interest and inspire them to do it.  I think we are getting slowly better at it.  But it is definitely a good learning experience!

As far as investigators go, Pak B is still smoking a little bit. He has cut back a lot. So he is still working at it.  And he went to the doctor this week, and the doctor told him that he can't smoke any more or he is at high risk of having a stroke.  So hopefully that will help him to stop, because we definitely don't want him to have a stroke!  But look, the gospel is true!  Pak M is still doing OK. He has cut back a lot on coffee and has pretty much stopped now.  But there are a few other things that we are working through with him to get him fully ready for baptism!  But I think it will still be happening pretty soon!

  

D, the African guy, is awesome!  He had to move this week, so we weren't able to meet with him too much.  But we met with him on Sunday night, along with like 5 other friends.  It was a very interesting lesson, because there were 2 people who only spoke French, 2 who spoke Indonesian, David who speaks pretty good English and French, and us, who speak English and Indonesian.  So there was a lot of translating going on back and forth.  And two of the people in the lesson were Islam.  So we taught a simple lesson about Jesus Christ and the Atonement.  And all of them liked it and are interested in learning more and coming to church.  And there were a few other of their friends that we met that night that are interested in coming to church.  D is awesome, thought!  He is giving tons of referals and still soaking everything in like a sponge!  Last night, he reminded us about his baptismal date for next week before we had the chance to bring it up.  But sadly it cannot happen yet, because he is still living with his girlfriend because they can't afford two apartments he says.  But he promised us that ever since we gave the commitment to live the law of chastity on our first meeting, they have been chaste.  He hasn't even kissed her on the lips!  And he was under the impression that that would be good enough given his circumstances.  It was really hard to tell him no, because we could see how bummed he was about it.  But he took it well, and said that if it is God's command,then he has no right to change it!  So he will wait and keep working for a solution! He is so cool!

Well, that is most of the best information from this week!  Elder Barlow is my companion right now.  He is from Bountiful.  I think his mom said she knows mom, and that dad went to high school with his aunt or something.  But he is cool and we have been getting along well!  Exhausted! but happy!

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love Elder Wood

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Happy Valentines Day

Hey!  Glad to hear things are going well back at home.  Bummer that there is no snow!  That is crazy about that plane crashing on Valley View, too!  Speaking of golf, my new companion, Elder Barlow, plays golf, too.  And President told us he wants to take us to go play a round sometime in the next few weeks!  So that will be super awesome!  A round of golf with the mission President!  No Pressure, right!?

Haha that's pretty funny that the JW's stopped by this week!  We run into them quite a bit here!  They actually came to our house here a few weeks ago, too, and tried to contact us.  I think they got a bit more than they were bargaining for there, as we walked in with one short pamphlet and they walked away with a 5 minute explanation, testimony, and a Book of Mormon and 3 pamphlets.  Sadly they weren't too open to having a discussion.  But we gave them our testimony, too.  

Well, this week has been pretty good, too!  Our investigator, Pak B, who is really quite old and has a hard time remembering things keeps coming to church.  And he has gone the last 3 days without smoking!  Which is awesome for him!  He is finally starting to pick up on things and is really making the effort!  It has been a lot of work with him!  But it is way cool to see it be paying off!

The African investigators are doing quite well, also!  They are awesome!  Especially the one that can speak English!  He studies the Book of Mormon, Gospel Principles, and Teachings of the Presidents of the Church manual almost every day!  And he always has great questions!  He is way cool!  I think he will be prepared for baptism in the next few weeks along with his friends!  

Pak M is coming along slowly but surely. He also has an addiction to coffee, which is the main thing holding him back.  And he doesn't always do his scripture study.  So his progression is not as fast as it could be.  We are really working on getting him to read and study often so that he can have his testimony grow and be strengthened!

  

And we have several other investigators that are doing well!  We had several of our baptismal dates drop this week.  Not that they rejected us, just that they will not be ready by their date next week, so we will have to meet with them and push it back a bit and work harder to get them progressing and preparing.

This coming week we will be having mission leader conference tomorrow.  That is always an awesome experience!  And today we played basketball for P Day with all the zone leaders that flew in!  That was a ton of fun!

Um, ya, that's most of what is going on here right now.  The work is progressing and the Lord is blessing us!  We are finding many people to teach and several that are prepared to hear and receive!  So that is exciting!  

I love you all and hope you have a great week!  Thanks for everything and for all your love and emails!  I love reading them!

Pray for snow, and baptisms :)

Love you all!

Love Elder Wood

The Spirit Speaks in French!

Well, it has been a pretty busy week!  We had a lot of cool stuff going on and a lot of neat opportunities.  On Monday night, we went to teach this African guy named D, that the Sisters contacted.  He has come to church in the English ward twice, but we have not been able to teach him until now because he is a pro soccer player here and is way busy.  But we showed up.  I was actually on splits with Elder Troff because of all the transfers and stuff.  So it was fun to be with my son again.  Well, we show up and he is in a tiny little apartment.  He is sitting there with his African girlfriend.  Then this huge other African guy that is ripped walks out of the bathroom in just a towel and starts speaking French.  And another one goes into the bathroom.  We have no idea what's going on, or what is going to happen.  Well, we just kind of sit waiting because D is stalling on starting the lesson.  Then the guy that just got out of the bathroom comes in dressed again.  And they start talking in French again.  Well, then D explains to us that he is the only one that can speak English really, and his friends and girlfriend only speak French.  But he wants them to hear the lesson, too.  We were like, “Well we don't speak French, so how's this going to work out?”  But he said he would translate.  So we started the lesson and taught the Restoration as simply as possible.  It was so simple, and after every sentence, D would translate it for his friends.  And although it was simple, the Spirit was so strong, and they all understood.  They answered our questions and they asked questions and everything!  And throughout the lesson, during his translation, we would notice D was saying way more than we had said, but when he stopped, he looked at us and said, "Sorry, I was just telling them that if they read the Book of Mormon, they will feel the Spirit and get peace, comfort, and direction in their life like they have never had before."  and stuff like that.  He is just learning for the first time, but is bearing his testimony from the little he has read and experienced at church!  It was awesome!  Definitely one of the coolest lessons I have ever experienced!  So simple and slow, but to see D so excited to share it and translate with love for his friends was awesome!  I just wished I understood more French!  But at the end of the lesson, all three of them committed to baptism!  And they asked what they had to do to prepare for it, and accepted all the commitments right then and there!  And the friends, in very broken English, kept pointing at his heart and saying, "I feel happy!  I feel so so happy right now!  You are my family now!  You come here whenever you want!"  It was awesome!  They were so genuine and so sincere!  And they came to church on Sunday, and we set up the translating equipment because there is a member that speaks French, and he translated for them!  It was so awesome!  They are so cool!

Then on Tuesday I was at Senopati all day waiting for my companion to get in and stuff.  In the evening, Sister Donald came up to the office, because there were just a few of us here, ordered pizza for us.  Then we went down into their house and we got to watch Meet the Mormons with President and Sister Donald!  That was a way cool experience!  

The rest of the week with Elder Barlow has been awesome, too!  We have been really busy and have been working really hard.  We have a lot of investigators that are doing really well!  In fact, we currently have 8 investigators with a baptismal date, and several others that we are going to commit this week!  So the hastening of the work is really happening!  We got 16 lessons in this week, which is more than I have ever gotten yet in Jakarta, and we didn't even get to go out at all on Tuesday.  And we already have 14 lessons planned for next week with a lot of other time for other investigators to meet!  So there is a lot happening!  We have been working on making covenants with the Lord to bind Him on blessings, and we have been seeing the results.

Well, I probably ought to wrap up.  But I love you all!  I hope you all have a good week!  I am loving the mission, and we are going to do some awesome things in the last few months here!  Love you!

Love Elder Wood

Not an alien!

Well, it has been another busy week!  The beginning of this week was PLD--like zone conference with President.  We had to teach a part of it on the role of the Spirit in conversion.  And it was pretty cool.  I learned a lot.  And we used a fun little object lesson with oil and water.  They don't mix together very well by themselves.  But if you add some soap (the Holy Ghost) they will mix together a lot better and will turn white (pure).  Haha so that was fun.  But we forgot anything to stir it together with, and we didn't add enough soap during the actual lesson...so it only sort-of worked.  But it got the point across.  So that was good.  PLD was good and inspiring as always!

After PLD, we got several new Indonesian missionaries straight from the MTC.  So, Elder S and I have had two of them with us all week.  So we have been on splits with them, which is nice because we can get 2x the work done.  And it has been funny to be with missionaries so new.  My companion is still on white-person shock, so he still thinks I'm something weird and special, kind of like an alien.  Which is funny, because all the other missionaries are already so over that sort of thing.  But it has been fun.  But we were teaching our first lesson together--his first lesson in the field with an investigator. And halfway through it I got a pretty bad random nose-bleed.  And it wasn't stopping.  So I just had to sit with my head tilted back and a tissue over my nose while he and a new member, who was fellowshipping with us, taught the rest of the lesson.  Haha that was stressful for all of us, and definitely an interesting experience!  But it worked out alright!  So that was cool!

It is transfers this week.  I am not transferring, but my companion will be transferring, and I will be getting a new companion, Elder B.  So that will be a lot of fun.  I've met him several times and he is a really good guy and we get along well.  So I am excited for that!  He will be coming in tomorrow.  

This week we found some new investigators.  One of them is from the Congo, and the other is from India.  Who'd have guessed.  But they are both really cool and came to the English ward yesterday!  So that was exciting!  And we are going to teach them later tonight.  Sadly for several different reasons, we did not have a baptism yesterday.  But the investigators are still doing well and want to learn and progress.  We are just working through a few things--mostly word of wisdom things.  But it is progressing.

Today we went ice skating for P-Day which was fun.  And then we ate an italian pizza place, which was pretty good.  And I think you guys are too concerned about the picture.  I think it looks worse than actuality, because everyone here says I look the same as before, and I still weigh the same and eat fine.  So I am ok.  

Well, I am glad that you guys have all been having a good week.  Tell Kye congrats on the baptism! that is awesome!

So ya, that's pretty much it.  Hope you have a great week!  And mom, congrats on winning the food challenge thing at the Superbowl party.  Sounds like you've taken the cake the last 2 years!

Well, I love you all!

Love Elder Wood

Visitors from Utah

 I am glad that you got the pictures!  Sister Wayment was so nice, and it was fun to talk to her!  It was pretty crazy, there were a lot of people from Utah in church yesterday, actually!  There was Sister Wayment (who is really good friends with the Bartons, too--the Mormon world is so small haha!), Elder And Sister Visick--the doctors from Logan, and then there was another big businessman from the Campbell's soup company who I think was also from Logan that came and visited the ward today, too!  It was fun to talk to all of them, and they were all so nice!  Haha and they all asked if I had anything that I wanted them to bring back to Utah.  Sadly I didn't have anything with me...So I sent my love home haha!

Haha as for the skinny picture...I am the same weight as when I left I think...But I am really skinny.  I eat a lot...but mostly white rice.  There's not a lot of protein to be had.  And this whole week I have been pretty sick...I have had a sick stomach and have had pretty bad diarrhea a couple of days.  So I was really glad for the packages, actually!  Especially the cereal, because that is about all I have felt like eating for most of this week.  So I really was grateful for that!  But ya, this week I lost a bit of weight before she took that picture, just because I haven't been eating much, but I have been losing a lot....  But today I feel fine!  So that is good!  I finally feel like I can eat rice and whatnot again!  So hopefully I can start packing it on again!  

As far as the work goes, it has been another pretty good week. As always, there are ups and downs, and we had quite a few lessons and plans fall through. But overall, we were quite blessed this week. We taught Pak M again, and he is excited and preparing himself to be baptized on Feb. 1. Pak B, another investigator, is also on date for Feb.1, and he came to church yesterday.  His testimony is growing and he believes it is true. It is just a bit of a slow process with him. But he made some improvements and steps this week, so that was a blessing! We also got a media referral named Pak A, who we were able to teach this week, and he is awesome! He is very open and searching for truth, and he promised to keep learning and to come to church next week! And last night as we were on Facebook and taking stats, we were trying to make an appointment with an investigator named F. He is also very open and knowledgeable. During our conversation last night, he messaged and asked us what he needs to be baptized! So we were super excited about that, too! There have been many miracles happening this week!  Oh, and that Malaysian guy I told you about a few weeks ago came to church yesterday, too!  So that was cool!  Oh, and about a month or more ago we contacted a couple at a mall.  Well, they contacted us actually.  But we lost contact with them because they went out of the country over the holidays.  But they work at the same company of one of the members, and they know each other.  So this week we got the member to talk to the husband at work, and talk about having a family night together, and they seemed really open to it he said, so they are working out a date!  So that is awesome!  Lots of miracles and blessings from the Lord!  The hastening of the work truly is happening!

C is doing well.  He was out of town for work this week.  The Ws are still awesome!  And So is Mama V and Sister M from all I hear!  So that is good!

Today it has been raining pretty hard all morning while we have been cleaning the house and studying.  now we are emailing.  And then we are going to an appointment and stuff doing our work.  Then later tonight we are going to Bekasi and playing futsal and doing splits tomorrow.  so should be fun!

Tell Hailey Daniels congratulations on her call, too!  And tell the Smoots all hi from me!

Well, I love you all!  Thanks for the emails, packages (or this week better known as life support), and everything!  You guys are awesome!  I love you!  I will try to eat some more this week haha!  Have a great week!

Love Elder Wood

Raising the Bar!

Well things here are going well!  This Sunday, C was confirmed!  So that was awesome!  He is super cool!  All our new members are awesome, actually!  And one of our other new members, Brother E, who was baptized about 2 months ago, just baptized his son yesterday, too!  That was super cool to see!  And we have been getting a lot of lessons and having some good success.  Pak M came again this week, and he brought his brother as well.  And Pak M is still excited for baptism!  Sadly we weren't able to teach his brother yet, because he had another appointment.  But Pak M is excited to help his brother as well!  So that is awesome!

This week we had mission leader conference, and talked a lot about the goals for this year.  We have a mission goal to get almost 400 baptisms this year!  That is super exciting!  And so we are raising all the goals and standards of excellence of the mission in accordance.  Haha it is awesome, because if you had told me these goals in my first few months here, I sadly probably would have laughed in your face and said not possible, because that was just the culture here.  But things are changing, and the Lord is hastening the work and everyone is getting excited.  There are still a few that are pretty shaky about these goals, but they are willing to try I think, and we are seeing success throughout the mission, and it is motivating everyone!  So that is exciting to see!  We had to teach a ZTM lesson on it, and we had some fun object lessons to convey the point, that I think went well!  

Sadly today we weren't able to go paintballing.  I think we will be going next month, actually.  But we are looking forward to it.  Today we are mostly just relaxing and stuff.  We got haircuts and have to go shopping.  Plus, I got strep throat this week, so I haven't been feeling to great.  But I got some antibiotics and stuff and am recovering well. 

Well, I hope you guys have a great rest of your time in Hawaii!  Have fun and be safe!  And Happy Anniversary Trip!  I love you!  

Love Elder Wood

Welcome 2015!

Hey!  Well, welcome into 2015!  Those pictures of skiing were awesome!  I miss the mountains!  But I am going to freeze when I get home, I think!  The other day it was rainy at night and I woke up and it was like 75 degrees, and I felt cold.  Like really cold...  But oh well, I'll get used to it.

Well, this week was pretty slow actually.  Because of the new year, everyone has been out of town and so we have had a really hard time getting many appointments.  So we have been spending a lot of time proselyting.  But it has been raining almost every day this week.  Which makes it hard, because when it rains, not many people are outside to talk to, and we can't knock on doors.  So it makes it a bit difficult.  And we get wet.  So we are just banking on the old missionary rumor that the more you proselyte in the rain, the prettier your wife gets!  Hopefully it comes true!  But we have been able to find a few people.  And then we experienced a few miracles.  

One of them was after proselyting for several hours and having almost no success, we were walking to a members house and a guy called to us "Hey, are you Mormons?"  We started talking to him, and turns out he just moved here about a week ago from Kuching Malaysia.  He was baptized in 2010 there, and knew several of the people we met while we were there.  I asked him and he knew about that guy that we spent a lot of time with that had adopted all those boys.  And he knew Alana, and said that she is serving a mission in Kuala Lumpur right now.  Sadly he didn't know grandma and grandpa haha.  But it was awesome to meet and talk to him.  He said he had been looking for the church here, but hadn't found it yet.  So we took him to the member's house with us, and then took him to the church.  He said he would come this Sunday, but sadly he didn't show up.  Hopefully next week.

Then on Sunday, this random guy showed up at church.  We had no clue who he was and had never met him before.  But we talked to him at church, and then taught him after church.  Turns out his friend gave him a pamphlet a week or so ago, and yesterday he decided to come.  When we taught him, he committed to baptism on the 24th of January, and wants to bring his brother with him next week!  So that was awesome!

On Sunday night we had a "cottage meeting" at President's house.  He invited all the missionaries in Jakarta to come to his house and bring any investigators or new members who could come.  We had a short devotional and then had a little dinner together!  It was awesome!  And that guy, his name is Pak M, came!  And he seemed to really enjoy it, so that was awesome!

Today we are going to play some basketball or golf for P Day, and next week we got permission to go paintballing with a new member!  So that will be awesome!  (Oh and tell Sister Sheffield that we got permission for paintballing, because she tried for months and could never get it haha)  

Um, ya, I think that is mostly it for this week!  Hope you all have a great week and that you get some snow!  I'll be praying for it! 

Well, I love you all!  

Love Elder Wood