Remember the true meaning of Christmas!

Hey!  Great to hear from all of you!  Glad to hear things are going pretty well back at home!  That is pretty crazy that it is 70 degrees and warm!  Kinda like here!  But not quite as warm...  The Christmas season is still weird here.  About the only time it feels like Christmas is when we play Christmas music at the house or if we go to a nice mall for P Day and they have Christmas Decorations up.  But we have a small tree at the house, too, which is fun.  And the mission home is decorated nice, so that is fun, too!  

That is pretty crazy that the Sheffields are going to be here so soon!  That will will be fun that they will be at the mission home most of tomorrow, because tomorrow is mission leader conference all morning at the mission home, and so I will be there for much of the day as well!  So I probably will see them!  That will be awesome!  I am excited to get the package!  It is always fun to get stuff from home just because it is from you guys and packaged with love!

Well, this week was pretty good!  We had stake conference this Sunday, which was really fun because I got to meet a lot of the members from Tangerang again!  And the talks were all really good about how we can strengthen ourselves, but there was an expecially big focus on strengthening new members and helping them grow in strength so that they will stay active!  That was good, because that is something that our mission has been struggling with is having converts come in but quickly leave as well because of various reasons.  So that will hopefully begin to help!  Luckily I am so grateful that Sister M and her family, Mama V and V, and Brother W are all still active!  

The rest of this week we have been doing pretty well, too!  We went on splits to Bekasi, and I went with Elder Tuttle.  He is pretty new but he is awesome!  We went and taught a contact that they had.  His name is R.  He has the biggest, nappiest afro I have ever seen!  And the front of his house is like an unkempt jungle.  And he doesn't have lightbulbs inside his house.  We knocked and he came out and greeted us wearing some ratty shorts, a wife-beater, and smoking a cigarette.  To be honest, I was a bit nervous to go in at first haha!  But we went in and taught him.  And we had an amazing lesson talking about the role of the Savior and His infinite love for us and the gift of His Atonement, as well as the Restoration of the Gospel and the Book of Mormon.  Well, R used to live a pretty good life, but he got into some bad habits and lost all his money and fell away from God.  He has family in other churches, but has never really been interested, I picked up.  But as we explained the Restored Gospel and baptism, he was really interested and listening.  And by the end of the lesson, we had committed him to baptism, reading the Book of Mormon, praying, coming to church, and quitting smoking!  And then, he took us to his family's house and introduced us to them, and sat in as we taught them!  It was an awesome day!  It is so cool how when people are exposed to the truth and open to receive it, it can totally change their desires and help them find the way back to the path they want to be on!  

And our investigator, C, is still progressing well and receiving all the commitments and working to prepare himself for baptism!  So that is awesome!  He is having a hard time recognizing an answer about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, so we are working with him on that.  So thank you for your email on personal revelation, dad!  I think that that can really help C!  But he is still going by faith!

And we had some other good lessons and whatnot going on this week.  And we are still battling traffic haha!  Man I miss I-15 and whatnot!  

Well, I am glad that you are all doing well!  Thank you so much for the emails and love and advice!  I love hearing from you every week!  I am excited to get the packages from you and the fresh treats and love!  Haha!

Well, I hope you all have a great week!  Hope it cools down a bit so it feels like Christmas a bit, and so that you can go skiing!

Oh, and you should really check out www.mormon.org/Christmas.  And share it on FB!  The church is doing a big worldwide Christmas campaign thing, and it is even in indonesian at www.mormon.org/ind/natal.  Check it out!  They have some cool videos and stuff, and supposedly there will be new things coming out the whole month to help people remember the true meaning of Christmas!  It is good stuff!

Well, I love you all so much and can't wait to talk to you.  It sounds like we will be able to skype from the mission home on Christmas day here, so at some point on Christmas eve for you guys.  I can't wait!

Love you!

Love Elder Wood

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving dinner!  So yummy!  Prepared by Sister Lucherini

Hey!  Man, that is pretty crazy to see pictures of you guys with Sister Sheffield back at home!  It is pretty weird that people from my MTC group are already going home!  So crazy!  It makes it seem like time really has flown by and that I don't have a ton of time left!  Which is kinda sad!  But it is motivation I guess to make the very most of what time remains (which is still enough :)

So, this week has been pretty good!  Not too crazy.  Thursday here was just...Thursday.  But we did have a quick streetside dinner with a couple of teenage new members after English class. So that was fun for our Thanksgiving celebration.

But Friday, that was Thanksgiving.  Every Friday we have district meeting at the mission home, and after district meeting this week, Sister Lucherini, one of the senior couples, had prepared a full Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and stuffing and potatoes and pies and everything!  It was so delicious, and so fun to eat it all together at the mission home!  So we were able to have a Thanksgiving here!  Which was awesome!

After thanksgiving lunch we went out to start working, and it was raining, which always causes terrible traffic here.  We headed out to an appointment on a bus, got separated and lost a little bit, and by the time we were out to the area of our appointment it was already too late to go there, and we had to head home, and were still almost late going home.  The traffic was so bad and the lines to get on the buses so long that I think we traveled the total of less than 10 miles in over 6 hours!!!  It was absolutely ridiculous and pretty frustrating, but also kind of a funny experience to just look at and see how crazy that was!  But it was a bummer that we weren't able to make it to our appointment.  But it was OK in the end, because the guy still came to church on Sunday!

This week we also got to go on splits to Bekasi, which was fun!  It is a lot of fun getting to go work with the other missionaries and learn from them!  And it seems like the Lord always blesses us with miracles of great success when we go on splits!  Things just seem to always work out well to boost morale of the other missionaries and help them in their areas!  So that is definitely a tender mercy that seems to often accompany splits! Like this week we found a new investigator and got a lot of really interested contacts and several return appointments with them!

And then on Sunday we had a small miracle happen!  We have a zone goal to get have every companionship get one more baptism by the end of the year, and we were fasting for it.  We had one investigator on date, but he is not doing anything to progress, and still hasn't come to church, and is now just asking us for money.  So we were kind of losing hope on him and wondering where our baptism was going to come from.  But, we had a fairly long time investigator come to church this Sunday again, and we met with him afterwards and had a really powerful lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we got him to commit to preparing himself to be baptized on the 21 of December!  So that was super exciting!  His name is C, and he seems excited, too!  He has just been concerned that he will not be perfect, and that is why he has not committed beforehand, but we were able to help him understand that baptism is the first step, not the end goal to perfection, and he understood that and wants to go forward with faith!  So that was a miracle and answer to our fasts!  

So, it was a pretty good week here!  Not too much going on!  But lots of little good things!  I am liking the area, though still getting used to the traffic!  Sometimes we go 5 miles in the same amount of time it would take to drive to St. George, which is pretty crazy!  But we try to make the most of it and get contacts on the buses and whatnot!  But Jakarta is a good area and I am liking my companion.  

Glad to hear you are all doing well and had a pretty good, though different, Thanksgiving!  And Sunday today sounds like it was pretty fun!  Tell everyone hi for me as well!  

As far as FB goes, it is actually a mission page called Mormon Jawa Barat, and also Mormon Indonesia.  You are welcome to follow the pages.

For treats sent from home, I don't really know what.  I am kind of just getting to that point of being happy with what's here, and waiting for the rest to be exciting when I get home.  But maybe a few Reeses peanut butter cups would be awesome, and if you can get it through, some home made honey!  Those might be kind of exciting!  And then just whatever you think would be fun!  You always do a pretty good job of picking things to go into "the box."

Well, I love you all!  Thank you for the emails and the pictures, and the advice and the stories!  You are awesome!  I hope you have a great week and Happy December!  Can't wait to skype!  Love You!

Love Elder Wood

Ice Skating for P-Day!  Me trying to be good at ice skating...lacking in form and flexibility haha

Me and my homie Elder Jones chilling on the couch at the mission home before Thanksgiving lunch!

The Best Times Are Still Ahead!

Haha that's crazy to see snow again!  And funny, too, because today we went Ice skating at a mall for P-Day as a zone.  So that was pretty fun!  Our commemoration of the coming of winter!

Well, this week has been pretty good.  Nothing too crazy.  But it was a good one.  I am sorry, though, because of traffic coming back from ice skating, I will be cut a bit short on email time, so I will have to be a bit quick.  Sorry.  It is also raining here today, so there was a little bit of minor flooding that made traffic slow.  Pretty much happens every time there is rain...so that's a bit lame.  But it felt like winter here with the rain and the ice.  It was a pretty cold day. Almost down to 70 degrees I think haha.  Which feels way colder than it should!

So you were asking a bit about what things here are like.  Well, we live in a house of 4 Elders.  Me, my companion Elder S, and another companionship of Elder M and Elder C.  It is a pretty fun house and is pretty close to the mission home, so we find occasion to go there every once in a while, which is fun!

Here in Jakarta we don't ride bikes because the traffic is too crazy and the roads are too confusing.  So we are all on public transportation.  So that is kinda good because there are lots of contacting opportunities, but lame because it makes it feel like I get no exercise, and it takes forever to get places.  But it is kinda cool to have something new.

The work here is going pretty well.  We have a few progressing investigators, a baptismal commitment for the 13th of December, and a few new potential investigators.  So things are exciting.  Umm, other than that, things here are pretty normal.

This week we will be going on splits to Bekasi, so that should be fun.  And then in the next few weeks we will be having a general Authority come on a mission tour, so that will be cool, too!

Well, I am running out of time, but I love you all!  I love the mission, too, and am not trunky to come home yet, don't worry!  The best times are still ahead!  I hope you all have a great week and I will write more next week!

Love You!

Love Elder Wood

Naughty Bars

Man, that is pretty crazy that Sister Sheffield is coming home so soon!  I have been giving her a ton of crap about it, though, and I don't think she appreciates it. 

Well, this week has been pretty good.  Not too much going on as far as out of the ordinary.  The work in Jakarta is a bit slower than in Tangerang just because of how long it takes to get to places.  The traffic here is ridiculous, so the average travel time to an appointment is at least 1 hour, and can often be over 2 hours to get there, and the same to get back.  So that is kind of rough, and we don't get nearly as many appointments in.  But we are trying to work hard and do our best.  I am still getting along well with my companion, so that is good.  He is a pretty cool guy.

This week we had a fireside with some General Authorities, which was pretty cool!  We had Elder Funk, Brother Gibson, and Brother John Tanner and their wives, of the Area Presidency, General Young Men's Presidency, and General Sunday School Presidency, respectively.  That was a pretty cool experience!  And we had a special missionary meeting with them beforehand!  That was awesome!  It was a pretty powerful meeting on faith and teaching skills and stuff!

Then we also had Mission Leader Conference, where all the ZLs and APs meet together with President Donald every month to talk about the mission and hear President expound doctrine and set forth revelation for the mission.  It is a pretty cool experience!  This time he focused a lot on the power of prayer and how prayer should often be an experience of "wrestling with God" to obtain blessings.  He really expounded upon the principle and process of prayer with the scriptures and gave me a new understanding of prayer that I have never had before.  It was really cool and enlightening.  And I learned how much more attention and focus and effort we need to give to prayer than I ever really have before.

This Sunday another companionship had a baptism in the English ward.  That was pretty fun.  THey actually ended up doing the baptism on Sunday afternoon in a members' home swimming pool during the ward party.  And we all got to go, so that was awesome!  The meeting was super spiritual...and in English...which was awesome.  Then we had a ward dinner of roast beef, mashed potatoes, corn, and all the good stuff.  And then there was dessert.  There were some awesome desserts, but one totally took the cake.  One of the members made...can you guess it...Naughty Bars!!! I haven't had those forever, and they were so delicious!  Naughty bars are one of my favorite desserts ever!  So that was pretty fun!  So the baptism and ward party were definitely the highlight of the week!  Mom--you will definitely have to let me know who Jenny's friend is so I can meet them!  That is pretty cool!

Today we just went and walked around a mall and talked and hung out and got to know some of the other missionaries in the district that I have never really met before, and there are some cool guys here.  So that is fun.

Um, ya, that is mostly it for this week.  It was a pretty good week!  I am loving it here.  Different, but a cool change.  And that is mostly it.  I love you guys all so much and love getting your emails.  Don't get too trunky, though, haha!  Hope you have a great week!  Love you all!

Love Elder Wood

Jakarta!

Hey!  Glad to hear things are all going well at home!  Hope Eliza had a great birthday this week!  That is fun!  What did you do to celebrate?

Sounds like the season is changing!  Haha I was kinda missing the snow lately!  But I felt cold for the first time today!  We played futsal this morning for P-Day and it was super hot and we were all drenched in sweat.  Then we finished, and it started raining and really cooled down (It really was probably still like 75 degrees or hotter, but that feels cool now...).  Then we went to KFC for lunch, and they had the AC cranked!  Being wet and sweaty, and having it cool(ish) outside and freezing inside, I actually felt a bit cold.  It made me scared for Utah winters again...  But hopefully I will readjust quickly!  

Well, transfers happened this week.  I spent the first half of the week in Tangerang.  We got a few last appointments in and got the house all ready.  Then on Thursday I transferred to Jakarta.  My new companion is Elder S.  He is really cool and I really like him so far!  We have had a good time.  We haven't had too many appointments yet because we've only been here for a few days, and because it takes several hours to get to any appointment because of the traffic and whatnot.  So it is a different thing to get used to.  But it has been fun so far!  Man, Jakarta is a huge city!  

It is cool here, because we are assigned to 2 wards--the English ward and the Indonesian ward.  It was kinda fun to go to a Sacrament Meeting in English again!  But we don't go to any of the other meetings in English because we have to meet all our investigators and go to Sacrament meeting in the Indonesian ward.  But it is fun to go.  In our area, there are 3 members who have been baptized in just the last 3 months, and they are really cool!  One of them was just confirmed yesterday, and that was awesome!  The other one is already coming and fellowshipping with us and everything!

I did get your Halloween package last week!  Thank you!  It was a lot of fun!  The Count Chocula is delicious!  

Um, ya, not too much else has happened this week.  Just a lot of changes with transfers.  But it is all good and I am excited!  Things will be different here just because of the pace of the city and the size and TRAFFIC!  I have never seen so much traffic haha!  But its all good.  Oh, and I am in a district with Sister Sheffield, and she hates it because I keep making fun of her that her 18 months is already up and asking her what she is still doing here.  But it is crazy that she is going home so soon!

Well, glad that things are all good back at home.  And I hope all goes well for Brenda!  That is scary.  

Well, hope you all have a great week!  I love you all so much!  

Love Elder Wood

November 2, 2014 Last Week in Tangerang!

We did have an interesting Halloween!  We spent the whole day moving into a new house!  They will be adding more missionaries to Tangerang this next transfer, and so I had to buy a new house a few weeks ago.  Now the contract is finalized, and we had to spend a bit of this week going around and buying new furniture and all sorts of stuff needed to furnish the house.  Luckily, we had a mission couple come and take us around in their car and help us.  Then on Saturday most of it got delivered and put together and we spent the day cleaning the house because it has gotten quite dirty from sitting empty for a while (and they don't do the cleaning for you when you buy a house here...lame.)  Sasturday we had to move all our personal stuff into the house because we have to start living there.  But there was a big leadership conference for the church in Jakarta that morning, so all the members that have cars were there, and we didn't have any way to move our stuff.  So the only thing we could think of was calling a taxi, but we had too much for a normal taxi, so we had to call a luxury taxi and used what would be like the equivalent of a Cadillac Escalade taxi as our moving van because that was the only thing big enough we could think of on short notice...It was pretty funny!  But it got the job done, but the driver was a bit confused...  But it was the nicest moving van I've ever ridden in.

The week was good on a spiritual front as well.  Mama V and V got confirmed in Sacrament meeting yesterday!  That was exciting!  And Brother W blessed the Sacrament for the first time and that was incredible to hear!  It was so powerful!  It was the most powerful sacrament prayer I have ever heard!  I think it brought tears to several peoples' eyes!  And he shared his testimony in testimony meeting!  He is so awesome!  So that was by far the highlight of the week was Sacrament meeting.  I had to give my farewell, as well, though.  It is hard transferring from this ward.  I love it here.  But Jakarta will be a good opportunity!

So, to share in Missionary Moment:  Tell everyone Hi for me and how much I love them all and how appreciative I am of all their support!   I don't really have too many really funny stories that I can come up with off the top of my head.  But The whole experience with Brother W has been awesome!  He has changed so much and become such an amazing member!  And his life has been blessed in other ways!  He just got a better job and so many other things!  Oh, Pak M came back to church again this week for my farewell, and really loved it and wants to keep coming and I think is preparing himself to tell his old priest off and to come get baptized!  Mama V's life has changed a lot--she has become a much different person in a good way--she has been blessed with more patience and she knows the peace and blessings that have come to her life through the power of the Book of Mormon.  I have seen people who I had faith in, but never knew how or when the Spirit could touch them become touched and changed and converted!  I know that the Book of Mormon has a special and incredible power to it that can bless anyone from reading it.  The gospel is so true, there is just no way that it isn't true!  I know Joseph Smith was a prophet and that Thomas S Monson is a living prophet today!  And I know I am right where I need to be, that this is a calling from the Lord!  Missions are hard at times (so is life), but it is all worth it.  We just have to follow President Monson's advice that you sent me a picture of and "Find Joy in the Journey!"

Well, I gotta  run cause I am running out of time, but I love you all and I will write you again next week from Jakarta!  Have a great week!  Love you!

Love Elder Wood

October 26, 2014 Another Baptism!

Wonderful day!! Mama V and V's baptism

Well, we had another baptism this week!  That was awesome!  Mama V and V both got baptized yesterday!  So that was super exciting and awesome!  They were both excited and happy and the service was nice and everyone was super supportive!  It will be fun to see them grow (well, it would be if I could stay and see, but I will be moving soon...more on that later).  They are still at such a baby stage in their progression, but they will grow and become stronger over time.

So, this has been a good but stressful week in getting them prepared for baptism.  Especially because we only met and started teaching V last Saturday.  So, from the time she started learning to the day she got baptised was only 8 days.  And during that time we had a 2 day trip to Jakarta for Zone Conference.  So that added another hickup to things.  But we ended up getting everything taught and ready in time.  It was like a race though.  But luckily she was already pretty well prepared and her mom was supportive and helped her along the way so that they could both be baptized yesterday!  We had to go out there pretty much every day this week to get it done, including getting up early on Tuesday morning and going out there before we went to Jakarta for Zone Conference.  But we got it done.  Needless to say it was an exhausting week, though. 

So, that was our main focus this week.  But other good things are happening as well.  Zone conference was awesome!  The mission is totally turning around for the better!  Last year we only got 60 baptisms the whole year.  This year we are already well over 100, and still going strong.  And next year there is a goal to get over 300 baptisms in one year, something never before done in this mission!  So that is exciting!  But, something that president stressed is "don't worry about the number of baptisms.  There will be many if all things are done right.  So go do it right!"  And that is something I have seen since I have been here.   Since President Donald has been here, and in the time I have been here, I have seen a huge change in the attitude and behavior and faith of the mission!  It has turned around dramatically!  President Donald has inspired the mission, and the missionaries are working together and working hard, faithfully, and with the Spirit, and the blessings are truly flowing.  And it is only getting better!  The hastening of the work truly is happening!  But it has been effected greatly by the obedience and attitudes and faithfulness of the missionaries!  I am so grateful to be able to be serving at this time with so many wonderful, faithful missionaries who are helping this change to happen!

So, sadly I will be transferring next week.  This is still a secret I think, but I will be moving to Jakarta and becoming a ZL.  So I am excited at the opportunity to serve more missionaries and help progress the work over a different scope.  But I will be sad to be leaving Tangerang!  That is a major bummer!  But the Lord has a plan, and everything will work out I guess.  

Thanks for all your letters each week!  I love hearing from you!  It is a highlight of my week, too!  Well, I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,
Elder Wood

Elder Wood and Elder Troff (Jake is wearing the tie Elder Troff crocheted for him)