So many miracles this week! I love being a missionary. :)

We had dinner this week with the bishop and his wife. I feel so blessed to be in a ward where there are so many missionary minded people. Everyone is always asking and seeing if they can help us. Our ward missionaries always want to come to our lessons, and I am just so grateful for all of them! Bishop Dougherty is so good. :) We had a lesson with Kevin, and it went super well. The member that we brought with us was so inspired, and was able to really help Kevin understand some key principles of the gospel. :) 

Tuesday we had Sister District meeting! I love getting together with the Sisters in our zone and learning about the gospel together. :) We also had to go to Mission Viejo for a little bit, but on the bright side, I will be singing in the Temple Music Devotional on October 2nd. :) Which is kind of cool, because a year ago, that was my first Sunday in the mission, and we went to the temple music night. Memories. :) We taught the Book of Mormon class, which is always fun. We read Alma 9 & 10. 

Wednesday was zone conference! WE GOT TWO NEW COUNSELORS!!!! They introduced us to our new Mission Presidency!!! President Clark (President, not new), President Galland (Just barely got released as Bishop in Laguna Beach), and President Hobbins (from Rancho Santa Margarita)!!! We are so blessed. :) So many cool trainings and lessons were learned. I am so grateful for these wonderful men. We taught Kevin again! Unfortunately, he looked at some anti material. :( So we will keep working with him. 

Thursday was so busy! We helped some Sisters move apartments, then went to a lesson with a LA, which was super good! We took her visiting teacher with us ( who has never been able to meet her), and introduced them. It was kind of a tender mercy. We had dinner with an amazing woman, her daughter, and her daughter's non-member boyfriend. It was super cool. The message we shared really seemed to affect him. It was really neat to see. :) We also had ice cream with a candle in it for Sister Dinning's Birthday. :) Our stake is trying to help missionaries teach 20 lessons a week, so they are having us practice teaching the entire Restoration in 20 minutes. :) So we had our first practice lessons! It went really well! We received a lot of pointers, so hopefully, the more we practice, the better we will get at teaching. :) Members are the best. 

Friday was pretty normal. Studies, Weekly planning, DLC, Temple Tours, then we were invited to go to a fireside where John Bytheway spoke!! It was so so so awesome! :D He's great. He talked a lot about Pressing Forward. Something he said really stood out to me. He said, "When you look at Lehi's dream, what is the great and spacious building built upon? Nothing! It's floating in the air! What are we told to build upon in Helaman 5? The rock of our redeemer. If we build upon the principles and standards of the world, we will eventually fall, and great will be our fall. But if we build on the foundation of Christ, the devil can have no power over us." It was super cool. Also, when we were wondering a little bit why we needed to be there, I started talking to someone I knew from Newport, and they asked what ward I was in, then they asked us to go and visit their inactive friend who happened to live in our ward boundaries! Such a miracle. 

Saturday we did the Harvest Pack! Such a cool experience. It was an all day service project, where we packed meals for people who don't have enough to eat. We packed over 200,000 meals in about 8 hours. It was such a fun experience. Also, Kevin came, and stayed for 6 hours! We had such a good time, and it felt so good to be helping. I love service. :) It was also inter-faith, so we were able to interact with a lot of people of other religions. 

Yesterday, we sang in church! Then after church, we were introduced to a girl, that is friends with one of the priests in our ward! The Elders taught her once, but then both of them got transferred out of the ward. We asked if she would be interested in being taught again, and she said yes! So we will be meeting with her this week. :) We also picked up two solid potential investigators last night. We are so excited to see them progress. :) 

I love you all! Thank you for your love and support! This week I say goodbye to my teenagerness. (Not a word, I know) I look forward to the maturity that comes from being in my 20'

s! :D Just kidding, I don't think it will feel much different. :) 

Have an awesome week! 

Love, Sister Wood :D 

 

I'm so sorry I didn't email last week! I really lost track of time, then our hour of email was up! So sorry about that. 

This week was so amazing. Well, I was sick last week, but now I'm better, but then I shared it with my companion... True comp unity. She is now on the mend, which is definitely a good sign. We still saw miracles, even in the midst of our affliction though!! 

Northwood is so amazing. I love this ward. Getting transferred is always hard, and of course you miss your last area, but if you look, you will be able to see that Heavenly Father's hand is in it. I know that I'm supposed to be here. 

Tuesday we had district meeting! We got an AMAZING training on humility and confidence. It was so cool to see how the two link together. Some things I learned, 

-When we are humble, we can have confidence in the Lord. 

-Sometimes the things you want to be taught, aren't the things that Heavenly Father needs you to learn. 

-We CANNOT do His work without His help. It is His work, not ours, so why are we surprised that we will need his help? However we absolutely will be successful in His work with His divine help and guidance. 

It was just super good. :) He also tied the training into contacting, which was neat. 

Later that day we went and did service for a woman who got baptized this last Saturday. It was so fun. While we were packing, we were talking about the commandments, and she just kept talking about how excited she was to enter the waters of baptism. Her baptism was absolutely beautiful. She's so fun. 

We also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with the Oak Creek sisters. They are so amazing! Sister Peterson came to Northwood with me, and we saw so so so so so many miracles. We started off the day by teaching English to some Korean people with Elders from the Anaheim mission. That was so much fun. Super cool. :) We had a lesson with a LA in our ward, and she just opened up to us, even though I've only met her once before. We shared with her the Mormon Message, "The Will of God", and the Spirit was so strong. We went tracting! Tracting to me is super fun. I love being able to talk to people. We were able to give out 3 copies of the Book of Mormon, at 3 consecutive houses, which was super cool. We also found some people who are interested in learning more, so hopefully, we will be able to share more of this gospel with them. At the end of the night, we had a lesson with an investigator here, named Kevin. He is just the sweetest man. We took some ward missionaries with us, and it was absolutely perfect. We showed him the "Patterns of Light" video series by Elder Bednar, because he has been struggling to recognize answers to prayers. It was so good. 

We were able to see a few more less-actives, and I am just trying my best to get to  know the members of this ward better. :) There are so many amazing people in this area, and so many people who are just waiting to hear about the gospel! (Some of them simply don't know it yet. :) ) 

We went to a baptism in our zone on Saturday for Lisa, and it was so amazing! Kevin came, and at church on Sunday, he was telling out ward mission leader that he felt like he needed to get baptized!!!! He followed it up with saying that he didn't know what church he needed to be baptized in, but it is a huge step in the right direction. Such a huge miracle. 

I went to my first MLC on Thursday! We read a talk called "Out of Obscurity" by Neal A. Maxwell, and it is so cool. If you have an opportunity to read it, I would highly recommend that you read it. So good. 

I think that those are the highlights of this week. Heavenly Father has so many miracles waiting for us, if we just accept them and look for them. They are there. I know it, I've seen it. 

The thought for this week comes from Joseph Smith:

I know that as we treasure up the words of God, we will learn to love and appreciate them more. This week my challenge to you all is: Before you read the scriptures each day this week, to pray for a love and an understanding of them, and of what you read. I promise that if you do this, your day will go better, and you will have a better study experience. 

I am so grateful for all of you! Thank you for everything! I love you all lots! Let me know if I can do anything for you! :) 

Love, Sister Wood :) 

Pictures! 

1 & 2) Korean class! 

3) A member had a hammock. :) 

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This week has been great! I think all of my emails start that way, but it's always true. :) Monday was fun. I love P-days. :) We saw Kevin! Kevin is the best! I wish we could help him recognize his answer. But we will keep praying for him, and keep teaching him. He has such a sincere desire to know about this gospel. He wants to know the truth, and he wants to get an answer. He is so good. 

So on Tuesday, we had an interesting day, we went and did Temple Tours for another set of Sisters, which was so fun. I <3 temple tours. :) We gave a training in ZTM that we had to plan for, so we did that, then went to an... interesting dinner. They are a super cute family, but they are crazy! The dad just kept yelling at the kids, then finally the two year old yelled back, and said, "WHATT?" It was super funny. Then they sang us some scriptures, and we had a good time together. We went to BoM class, which is awesome as always. Then we had ice cream with our ward mission leader and the Elders, because one of them went home this last Wednesday. 

Wednesday! We gave a training on Law of the Harvest! If you have not read the BYU speech "The Law of Increasing Returns" By President Eyring, please go read it, cause it's really good. We had a few lessons with less-actives, and just had fun. That is something I'm super grateful for is that Sister Dinning and I just have fun with each other. It's pretty hilarious. :) 

Thursday, we went to SAN CLEMENTE!!!! I SAW THE OCEAN!!!!! A Sister in our mission currently can't walk, so we were able to go and help them out all day. It was so much fun. I loved being down there again. I love Sister Downs, and we just had a full day. It was so good. 

Fridays are kind of boring, cause we have a bunch of meetings then temple tours. BUT, they are still great, because there are no bad days in missionary work. :) If you're doing the things you're supposed to, even if things don't go according to plan, there will always be something good to find in a day. :) 

Saturday... Was awesome! I was on an exchange with Sister Kwok, in the Chinese ward... First thing we did was go and have a lesson with this family that the Sisters are teaching. Some lessons were learned. 

#1- Sister Wood does not speak Chinese. 

#2- Even if you don't speak the language, the Spirit can still touch your heart and let you know that truth is being taught. <- That was weird because I was sitting there, not understanding a single word, when every once in a while, the Spirit would poke my heart and be like, "Hey, that was true" and I would sit there, and think, "That's cool, I wonder what their talking about." It was super interesting. 

#3- The interpretation of tongues is REAL. I didn't suddenly understand what was being said, but there was one moment when Sister Kwok was teaching, and I had this thought, "She's teaching them about the tree of life." Then after the lesson, I asked her, and she looked at me and asked how I had known that. It was so awesome!!! 

#4- I received no culturing (don't know if that is a word) in Utah. They invited us to stay for lunch, to which we agreed! But then they put an entire deep fried fish with the head and everything on my plate. I just looked at them, then looked at the fish, then the fish looked at me, and I wanted to cry. I had no idea what to do, or how I was expected to eat the fish. So I just watched Sister Kwok, and followed suit. Side note- you don't have to eat the bones, but Sister Kwok did, so I did too.... It was a super interesting experience. But good! We also had tofu, eggplant, cabbage, and rice. 

Sister Kwok worked for a little bit on translating an article from English to Chinese, we contacted for a while, contacted some referrals, then we were headed to dinner with the Chinese Ward Mission Leader. 

It was a great day, and I learned a lot. I'm grateful for all of the experiences and the funny moments we had. Quote of the day: "Is dinner going to be like lunch?" "No, the WML is white, it should be American." :D It was a superb day! 

Kevin came to church! Also, we taught Gospel Principles, which was super fun. 

Such a good week! Lots of blessings, and lots of miracles. This weeks thought comes from the talk I was talking about earlier, "The Law of Increasing Returns" 

"I pray that you won’t let the world nudge you toward spending your futures now. There are some things you should work for and expect results now. But along with getting early harvests, I hope you’ll work and wait for the late ones. That will take seeing the law of increasing returns as an opportunity, not just a test. Delayed blessings will build your faith in God to work, and wait, for him. The scriptures aren’t demeaning when they command, “Wait upon the Lord.” That means both service and patience. And that will build your faith."

I know that some blessings come early, some come late, and some don't come til Heaven. But the Lord has a time and a season for all blessings. He knows what we need. He wants us to be happy. I am so grateful for delayed blessings. 

I love you all so much!! Please let me know if I can do anything for you. Have a great week! 

Love, Sister Wood :) 

1) Our District Leaders... :) Our District is called the Relief Society cause we have more Sisters than Elders. :) 

2) My exchange with Sister Call! 

3) We saw some more missionaries while they were in Irvine. :) 

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I'm so sorry I didn't email last week! I really lost track of time, then our hour of email was up! So sorry about that. 

This week was so amazing. Well, I was sick last week, but now I'm better, but then I shared it with my companion... True comp unity. She is now on the mend, which is definitely a good sign. We still saw miracles, even in the midst of our affliction though!! 

Northwood is so amazing. I love this ward. Getting transferred is always hard, and of course you miss your last area, but if you look, you will be able to see that Heavenly Father's hand is in it. I know that I'm supposed to be here. 

Tuesday we had district meeting! We got an AMAZING training on humility and confidence. It was so cool to see how the two link together. Some things I learned, 

-When we are humble, we can have confidence in the Lord. 

-Sometimes the things you want to be taught, aren't the things that Heavenly Father needs you to learn. 

-We CANNOT do His work without His help. It is His work, not ours, so why are we surprised that we will need his help? However we absolutely will be successful in His work with His divine help and guidance. 

It was just super good. :) He also tied the training into contacting, which was neat. 

Later that day we went and did service for a woman who got baptized this last Saturday. It was so fun. While we were packing, we were talking about the commandments, and she just kept talking about how excited she was to enter the waters of baptism. Her baptism was absolutely beautiful. She's so fun. 

We also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with the Oak Creek sisters. They are so amazing! Sister Peterson came to Northwood with me, and we saw so so so so so many miracles. We started off the day by teaching English to some Korean people with Elders from the Anaheim mission. That was so much fun. Super cool. :) We had a lesson with a LA in our ward, and she just opened up to us, even though I've only met her once before. We shared with her the Mormon Message, "The Will of God", and the Spirit was so strong. We went tracting! Tracting to me is super fun. I love being able to talk to people. We were able to give out 3 copies of the Book of Mormon, at 3 consecutive houses, which was super cool. We also found some people who are interested in learning more, so hopefully, we will be able to share more of this gospel with them. At the end of the night, we had a lesson with an investigator here, named Kevin. He is just the sweetest man. We took some ward missionaries with us, and it was absolutely perfect. We showed him the "Patterns of Light" video series by Elder Bednar, because he has been struggling to recognize answers to prayers. It was so good. 

We were able to see a few more less-actives, and I am just trying my best to get to  know the members of this ward better. :) There are so many amazing people in this area, and so many people who are just waiting to hear about the gospel! (Some of them simply don't know it yet. :) ) 

We went to a baptism in our zone on Saturday for Lisa, and it was so amazing! Kevin came, and at church on Sunday, he was telling out ward mission leader that he felt like he needed to get baptized!!!! He followed it up with saying that he didn't know what church he needed to be baptized in, but it is a huge step in the right direction. Such a huge miracle. 

I went to my first MLC on Thursday! We read a talk called "Out of Obscurity" by Neal A. Maxwell, and it is so cool. If you have an opportunity to read it, I would highly recommend that you read it. So good. 

I think that those are the highlights of this week. Heavenly Father has so many miracles waiting for us, if we just accept them and look for them. They are there. I know it, I've seen it. 

The thought for this week comes from Joseph Smith:

I know that as we treasure up the words of God, we will learn to love and appreciate them more. This week my challenge to you all is: Before you read the scriptures each day this week, to pray for a love and an understanding of them, and of what you read. I promise that if you do this, your day will go better, and you will have a better study experience. 

I am so grateful for all of you! Thank you for everything! I love you all lots! Let me know if I can do anything for you! :) 

Love, Sister Wood :) 

Pictures! 

1 & 2) Korean class! 

3) A member had a hammock. :) 

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Heya! 

Man, this week was so good! So many good things happened! So many amazing experiences!! I absolutely adore being a missionary. Seeing Sister Coombs prepare to go home in a few weeks has made me realize something. That I want to be a missionary forever. It is the best thing in the entire world. 

Monday was good! We had dinner with the most adorable old lady in the world. Her and her friend were there and they performed some songs for us on the ukulele. It was seriously the most adorable thing ever. 

We saw Paul on Tuesday! it went really well! We are still trying to get him to the temple. :) We went and visited some Less-active members of the church, one of which has been inactive for the past 20 years, and we were pleasantly surprised! She was super nice, and invited us to come back at a better time. It was awesome! We had dinner at one of the Bishoprics house, and it was so fun! They had just gotten back from a trip in Samoa, so it was super fun to hear about that. I just love these people. So much. 

Thursday we had ZTM!! I loved it so much! We received quite a few trainings, so highligh

 "Becoming True Millennials" by President Nelson. So good. If you haven't read it, go and read it. :) 

"Obedience brings blessings, exact obedience brings miracles." 

Those were my favorite. :) 

We also saw a RC that we haven't been able to meet with at all this transfer! Such a blessing! Then we went and saw Pilar, who I love dearly. :) 

Friday we met with an investigator in our ward, who we also haven't been able to see all transfer!! She is super awesome! She wants to be baptized, but has to work through some concerns first, like most people. But it was super awesome! We had planned to talk about faith, then we started the lesson, and we went in another direction, and she asks, "what does it really meant to have faith?" and I was like, "Oh, my scriptures actually happen to be opened to a chapter all about faith, let me tell you!" (Alma 32) I didn't actually say that, but when she asked that, Sister Coombs and I just looked at each other and smiled, because we knew our nightly planning had been inspired. Which was cool. The lesson went really well! Hopefully they will see her again next week. We also were able to share a message of comfort with her granddaughter, who's dad had just left. It was all around a wonderful experience. 

Saturday we went and did service for this 86 year old woman in our ward who was moving. So much fun. :) Everytime we walked back up the stairs she said, "You two are wonderful, you just need to sit down and rest, and drink some water." This lengthened the process significantly, but it was still good. We had lots of fun. :) We had dinner with a LA, then were able to go to a baptism that another companionship in our zone was having. :) Then we got transfer calls... 

I will be leaving Newport Hills.... :'( But Heavenly Father has a plan for me. I am glad I got to serve here at all. So grateful for these people. Telling them in Ward Council was super hard. "But you just got here!" Was the common phrase. It's all good though. :) I will be going to Northwood in Irvine with... Sister Dinning! My old roomate! Man, that's going to be exciting. :D Sister Coombs will be in a trio for her last week with SISTER PHINNEY & Sister Rudy, and we might be rooming with them!!! I would die of happiness. I'm so excited that she is coming up to Newport. It's gonna be great!!! 

Yesterday was very bitter-sweet, and full of lots of goodbyes. Who knew you could get so attached in 6 weeks.... It's good but hard. I'm excited to keep moving forward. 

That's about it! The thought for this week comes from Alma 32, cause that's where I am in the BoM. 

" 41 But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life.

 42 And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst.

 43 Then, my brethren, ye shall reap the rewards of your faith, and your diligence, and patience, and long-suffering, waiting for the tree to bring forth fruit unto you." 

I love that in the space of three verses, it says faith, diligence, and patience, three times. I think that it might be important. :) 

I love you all lots!! Thank you for everything! Have an amazing week! 

Love, Sister Wood  

P.S. The reason for my subject line is because I have decided to make that the motto of my mission/life. I will give more explanation later. :) 

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