This week has been great! :) Miracles are happening here in Irvine. :)

So Monday and Tuesday were pretty standard, so I won't bore you with those. (Meetings and things.)

Wednesday I went on exchanges with Sister Graham! She is so awesome. She's been on her mission for about 4 months, and she just gets it. She is so solid, and I learned so much from her. We started off the day by going to a recent convert's house. We talked to her about going to the temple, and the blessings that come from attending. It was kind of cool, because there is a huge language barrier, and it's obvious that she didn't understand a lot of what we were saying. But the Spirit was there, and she commited to go to the temple! So that was awesome. :) We stopped by some LA's, and had a good time getting to know them. It was just such a phenomenal day, and it was so fun getting to know Sister Graham, and learn about her testimony. She's a great missionary. 

Thursday we had MLC! It was so good. :) I love MLC, especially when they give constructive criticism about how we can be better as a mission. So good. We had dinner with the Relief Society President, then went on splits so that we could see Sister Romano and help the Korean Elders with English class. I love English class. :) 

Nothing big happened on Friday or Saturday... Oh wait, some Sisters down in San Clemente locked their keys in the trunk of their car at 7pm, and had no way of getting them out, so they called us, (apparently this has happened to Sister Dinning twice. :) ) So we went to the office and got a spare key and drove it down. When we got there, we tried to unlock the car, and we had the wrong keys! So we called the AP's, and they met us in Mission Viejo, and we got the right keys. Then we took the Sisters back to San Clemente, and got everything figured out. :) It was really funny. :) 

Sunday! Oh my goodness! We saw a HUGE miracle on Sunday. :) So we have ward correlation every Sunday at 9:30 with our Ward Mission Leader, at 10:15, all the ward missionaries come, then at 11 o'clock, we have to go to ward council. Church then starts at 12:30. So this past Sunday, we didn't have ward council, so we had roughly an hour before we needed to be back to the building. So we walked around the building for a minute, then I said, "Hey, we should go invite some people to church." Sister Dinning agreed, so we went. We didn't have  a set place in mind, so we were just driving around. She pulled up by this one park, but there was literally no one there. So I was like, "We should go tracting." So we drove around some more, and wound up on this random street, somewhere in our area. We got out, and started knocking doors. About the fifth door in, we saw this lady in her backyard, behind a gate. Her dogs were super loud, so we couldn't really say anything, when she says, "Wait, for just a minute!" So we wait, and she comes out the front door to talk to us. We introduced ourselves, and I asked where she was from, becuase she had an accent. She's from Serbia, but she just moved here from Utah a few months ago. She has a three year old daughter. :) We talked for a minute, and she told us about her Mormon friends and how much she loved being around them. We asked if she would like to learn more about what they believe. She said, " I would love to. You all just have something about you. You are so happy, and so kind. Yes, I would absolutely love to learn." OH MY GOODNESS!!! IT WAS AMAZING! So we gave her a Book of Mormon, our number, the address of the church, and got her information. Her daughter is sick right now, but she asked if we would come back sometime next week. :D When we got back in the car, I asked Sister Dinning, "What if we hadn't gone tracting?"  We thought about it for a minute, and said a prayer of gratitude that we had been able to be where Heavenly Father had needed us. It was incredible. 

That's about it! I love being out here, doing what I'm doing. It's the best thing in the whole world. This weeks thought comes from President Hinckley. :)

 

"He lives, the Eternal Son of the Ever Living Father. He lives, the Great Creator, the Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Savior of the New, the Wondrous Light in a dark and troubled world. He lives to bless us, to teach us, to heal us, to touch our troubled hearts, to give substance to our greatest dreams, to assure the immortality of our souls.” —Gordon B. Hinckley

Enough said, I don't think there is much I could add to that quote. :) Isn't it amazing that we have access to such a being whenever we need him? He is always right by our side. 

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

Love, Sister Wood :) 

So this week was good! 

Tuesday, we had District Meeting! Good, as always. :) We were able to go and do service for a nice elderly lady in our ward. :) She is super friendly, and we had a good time helping her. I love doing service. We had dinner with this one super awesome family, and that morning, we had asked the Mom if there was anything specific she would like to share a message on. She had responded with diligence, so we prepared a message on diligence. After dinner and the message, I realized that something we had said, had affected those kids. I know it wasn't me, or the words I was saying, but the Spirit had touched their hearts. Sometimes, it's easy to get a little discouraged, and think we aren't making any sort of difference, but I realized in that moment 2 things. 1) It's not me making the difference, that's why it's so important to have the Spirit with us all the time. 2) I can do anything through Christ, which strengtheneth me. I know that I'm here for a reason. We never know the impact we are making. 

Wednesday was really good too. :) We taught Kevin, and talked about Priesthood, and accepting God's will for us. It was a really cool lesson, and our Ward Mission Leader came, and made it even better. Bro G. is super awesome, and just brought such an amazing testimony. Inspired member-present lessons are the best! 

Thursday I was on exchanges with the amazing Sister Bradsby. She has been in the mission field since this most recent transfer, and I was totally worried about our exchange. I always stress about them, even when I know I am doing everything I can to be exactly obedient. But she came, and we had a phenomenal day together. We contacted people on the street, we taught lessons, we were able to go and do a few hours of community service, and so many other things.

 We went by a less-active that someone had asked us to check in on, and when we got there, were instructed to go to her room, where she had been sleeping. (She's really sick.) So we talk to her for a few moments, but she is super out of it, and keeps talking about the pain she was feeling. So I asked if she would like a blessing. She said yes, so we called our Elders, (who are on bike...) The conversation went like this, "This is Elder Oler." "Hi! Where are you?" "Why?" "We need your help, someone needs a blessing." "Okay... we're by the church." "How fast can you get to Hayes?" "Like 20 minutes. But we'll pedal fast, so maybe 15. See you soon." It was super funny. I am so grateful for the Elders. They're great sports. :) So they came and gave the blessing, then one of them said, "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly is going on?" And the lady says, with a totally straight face, "I do mind! That is a personal question! Didn't your mom teach you it's impolite to ask that?" I literally thought I was going to be sick. The tension in the room was so thick. The Elders collectively looked shocked, stunned, and one looked like he was going to cry. Then she goes, "I'm kidding, you're totally fine." It was so funny. :D 

It was kind of cool, cause on our way to un-exchange, Sister Bradsby says, "Today is what every day should be like. This is what being a missionary is about." It was so cool. Such a good day. :) 

GENERAL CONFERENCE WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!! I loved it so much!!! :D So many amazingly good talks and inspiring messages. I loved them all. I loved Elder Rasbands talk about remembering. It really inspired me. I can't wait to do more family history work. Also the talk about Joseph Smith. SO GOOD. It was all good. :) 

Yesterday I was able to sing in the Temple Music Devotional! It was a super neat experience. I will include a recording, but don't feel obligated to listen to it. :) 

That's pretty much it. I love you all so much! Thank you for all that you do! This weeks thought comes from President Uchtdorf, in the Womens General Session. :) 

Have a great week! 

Love, Sister Wood :) 

Pictures! 

1)Sister Bradsby and I :) 

2) The temple is so pretty! 

3) Our zone had a hunger games activity where we threw nylons full of flour at each other. SO MUCH FUN! :D

DSC09210.JPG

DSC09275.JPG

DSC09289.JPG