Hello everyone!!

I am doing so well. I am truly starting to love missionary work. Being out here and serving people all the time is great. We go to help some people  move on Saturday, and today we are doing some service at a country club. Not sure what we're going to do, but it should be fun. Unfortunately, we have to wear skirts to do this service, but it should still be fun. Wearing skirts and dresses all the time sounds fun, but sometimes I really miss wearing normal clothes. 

I can't believe that I have been on a mission for a month... It's super crazy. We went and got gelato to celebrate my one month mark. It was pretty great. Sister Blair and I are working really hard to get new investigators. When we doubled in, there were none, so a lot of our time is spent contacting, tracting, and visiting less active people. We have had some interesting experiences with all three. I am happy to report that we have two new investigators, and quite a few potential investigators!!! I can't wait to begin teaching these people and helping them come closer to Christ. 

One of the investigators names is Ahmad, and he is Arabic. He lives in the park where we went contacting. He is super nice, and very interested in the gospel. We are excited to get to know him better. When we asked our District Leaders to get us an Arabic Book of Mormon yesterday, (we were on the phone doing numbers.) they paused and then said, "Sorry, but what did you just ask?" We repeated the question, and they kept saying, "Arabic? You want an Arabic Book of Mormon?" Yes we do. They will hopefully get that to us sometime this week. 

We also had an awesome experience at the Bishops house last Monday. We had been invited over to have dinner with our Bishop and his family, and to give a lesson for FHE. Sister Blair and I had decided to teach about building upon the foundation of Christ, and how when we do, we are kept safe and Satan can't hurt us. We decided on this because there is a cool object lesson that goes with it that appeals to teenagers and kids.

The object lesson goes like this, you get a can of soup (or anything, it just needs to be a normal can.) and you pass it around so everyone can see that it is a legitimate can. You ask everyone if they think that if you smashed someone's finger with the can, if it would hurt. The answer is unanimously yes. Then, one missionary puts their finger on a flat surface as the other missionary smashes their finger as hard as possible with the can. Because their finger is pushing against the table, the table takes all the force and their finger is not broken or hurt in any way. But the can has a huge dent in it from where their finger was. (It works, I promise. But don't try it at home.) This then applies to Helaman 5:12, and you teach about how Christ can keep us safe.

            We had practiced at home, and it had worked perfectly, so we were ready to show it to the family. We asked Sister Harmer for a can, and said that any can would do. She gave us a can of Progresso soup, that had expired in 2008. We thought it would work fine. We were wrong. We did all the normal things, but when Sister Blair smashed my finger, the can exploded. Literally everywhere. There was beef stew on the wall, the floor, the couch, the children, the window, the blinds, the pictures, me, literally everything. We all sat in stunned silence for a good fifteen to twenty seconds. I will never forget the looks on the Harmers faces. Then one of the kids said, "Well, we've never had missionaries do that before..." And we all died laughing. It was so funny, and they were all so great about it. We helped them clean everything up, and tried to salvage our lesson. The can had a pretty good dent in it, but we could not get through the rest of the lesson with any semblance of seriousness. I am just glad we weren't banned from their house.

Yesterday we go to go to a fireside celebrating the ten year anniversary of the dedication of the Newport Beach Temple. It was really cool to hear about all the miracles that were a part of building the temple. I feel so blessed to be a temple tour sister and be able to be so close to the temple twice a week. There is a wonderful spirit there. 

We were able to do a session at the temple on Saturday and it was amazing as always. I love the temple and the blessings we get from attending it. I know that Heavenly Father is aware of us and knows what we need. He loves us all so much. 

I love being a missionary and serving Heavenly Father’s children. I have met so many wonderful people here. 

Thank you all for your love and support. :)

Love, Sister Wood :D