Hello!

So it's really cold today. And by cold I mean 60 degrees. I have no idea how I'm going to live in Utah again, cause I'm really gonna be cold there.

This week was good! We had an awesome Thanksgiving. :) I'm so grateful for people who let us be a part of their lives. We got to help prepare for it, which was totally awesome. After the turkey was cooked, we put something else in the oven, but it was on parchment paper... So the parchment paper caught fire, and we totally almost burned down the Hawkers house. It was really scary, but also really funny after the fact. :)

We had to take our car in this week to see if the brakes were functioning properly, and while we were there, I had the opportunity to talk to the woman next to me about the gospel! It was so awesome! She accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon, and said she would read it. She doesn't live in our mission, so we are going to try and connect her with missionaries there. It was just kinda cool that we had that opportunity to share the gospel where we hadn't anticipated being able to.

ZTM was good, we trained on having a laser-like focus on our purpose in our missionary work. It was good, and helped remind me of what really is important. We talked about how our purpose is really to do as Christ would do. Do the work the way he would do it. Invite people to do the things as he would. It was really cool. :)

We got transfer calls! Crazy stuff there. I will be leaving Northwood, eliminating the possibility of me ever being in one area for longer than 3 transfers. Sister Peacock is going to be companions with Sister Lee, (who is currently serving in the yale ward, which is Mandarin speaking) who will finish her training. That is both happy and sad. They will be covering both the Chinese ward and Northwood, which means that Sister Peacock will have to learn Chinese as best she can. It's gonna be an amazing experience for her.

I will be going back to the San Clemente Stake, serving in the San Clemente and Forester Ranch wards, where Sister Dinning got moved to last transfer. :) I will be doubling in (again) with Sister Cannon. It's going to be good!

I'm really excited/ nervous. Doubling in/whitewashing is always a crazy experience. I'm sad to leave Sister Peacock, but she's going to do amazing things both in Northwood and in the Chinese ward. I'm so excited for her. I've had a lot of confirmations over the past few days that this is what Heavenly Father needs us to do, so I'm willing to do it.

As we closed our planning session a few nights ago, Sister Peacock prayed that we could be companions again before I go home. We are sad to be separated. It was actually kind of weird, because out of the 5 Sisters that came with Sister Peacock, only 1 is staying with her first trainer. The Lord's timing is not always our timing.

I think that's about all of the news and things. :) I'm excited for my next adventure!

Today's thought comes from President Uchtdorf. :)

I know that it might seem hard sometimes, a lot of times even. Leaving my area is really hard. I love the people here. I also know that God has a greater vision that I do, and that I can be grateful even when things are hard. I am so grateful for all the opportunities that I have to grow every day.

Thank you all for your love and support. I hope you have a marvelous week. :)

Love, Sister Wood :)

Greetings everybody!

This week was awesome! Miracles, everyday.

Tuesday I went to the dentist super early in the morning. That was weird, cause I haven't been to the dentist in... a while. It was good though. Noteworthy enough for my email at least. :) We had district meeting, did some contacting, then tried to stop by Andrea's to give her some cookies. We were able to see her and give a short message and invite her to church, because her grandma was getting irritated that we were there. It was wonderful to see her. :)

Wednesday's lesson with Kevin was good, by some stroke of luck, we wound up with three members there, so that was cool. :) We watched Craig C. Christensen's talk from this last conference. So good.

Thursday we had a super short surprise MLC! We were also on exchanges, which made life a little more complicated. I was with Sister Bradsby in the Oak Creek ward. It was so good to be with her. She is just so sweet. All of us went and had lunch at Kevin's because Sister Dinning goes home in a week. :( It's sad, but good still. She's been such a phenomenal missionary. I was so blessed to have been her companion. After exchanges we had a zone testimony meeting. There is nothing like other testimonies to help you feel the spirit.

Friday we met with the zone leaders to talk about the upcoming zone training meeting. I'm excited. It's going to be so good! Updates next week :)

Saturday was amazing!!!!! :D I got to be on exchanges with Sister Wolterman!!! I love that girl. She goes home soon too, and asked President if we could go on exchanges one last time. :') It was so amazing. It was just wonderful to be able to talk to her and catch up on everything that had been happening since we last were together. We did service for Sister Goodwin and went to work! I think it's cool how in tune you can be with someone, even though you haven't been around them for a while. We just fell back into our old rhythm. :) We stopped by a former investigator that we found in the area book, and she opened the door! When we saw her, I asked, "are you Angie?" and she said, "who are you?" We told her who we were, and she waved us to come in! It was crazy. We then sat down with her, and she talked to us for over two hours. It was so cool! We shared a message with her from Alma 37:37, and she asked if she could keep the book we were sharing it from, to which we said yes. :) So now she has a Book of Mormon, and I will be marking another one with all of my favorite comforting passages in for her. I'm so excited! I'm so glad that we looked in the Area Book! We're going to see her tomorrow too! :D

Yesterday we got to go to an Interfaith gathering! It was awesome! There were so many other people from other religions there, and it was really kind of cool to see how they conducted their worship services. I'm so glad I got to go. Also, Kevin came! That was a blessing as well. It was just a good week. :)

I love you all! Thank you for all your love and support! I hope that you will let me know if I can do anything for you. Also, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! It's crazy to think that this is my second one on my mission.... :D But that's awesome as well. :) The thought to day comes from President Monson.

I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve a mission. I am grateful for my companion, and all of her hard work. I am grateful for this gospel and all the blessings that come with it. I am so grateful for my Savior.

If I would like to extend an invitation to you this week. :) Sometime during this week, say a prayer of gratitude, only expressing thanks for the blessings that you have received. I hope you will, because I know that as you do, Heavenly Father will help you see even more all of the blessings you have been given.

I love you!

Love, Sister Wood :)

Pictures!

1) The extent of my painting skills... 

2) Palm trees. :)

3) Exchanges with Sister Bradsby!

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Dear everyone,

Hello! This week has been super weird, but good. :)

Started off pretty normal, service and stuff, which is always fun. Tangent: I love service so much! I never appreciated the opportunity to go out and help the community  more than I have on my mission. I'm so grateful that we can help people temporally as well as spiritually, and we get to do it 24/7! When else do you have that opportunity? I feel blessed that we can do this everyday. I love doing service.

So yeah. :) We went on exchanges!!! :D I went with Sister Graham in the Westpark and Woodbridge 1st wards. :) It was super fun! We got to go and tie quilts at a service project. (Refer to paragraph one if you want to know my feelings on that. :) ) It was super fun. We were able to see some less-actives in their ward, and go contacting for a little bit. We had dinner with one of the Senior missionaries in our mission, which was super fun. :) We love her. After dinner, we went and did MORE SERVICE!! It was AMAZING!  :D I love exchanges, and service.

Thursday we had zone conference with Elder Hamula! So good. So awesome. So many amazing things that we learned. I loved every minute of it. We all got to go and shake his hand, and then we just sat and learned from him, his wife, and President and Sister Clark.

Some things I learned,

Don't get stuck in a rut of what you are used to doing. Let the Spirit guide you in lessons, contacts, during studies, always.

The Lord has given us a pattern in all things, when we follow the Lord's pattern, we will find not only success, but joy as well.

To repent means to turn. When we sin, we are making a  choice to turn away from God. When we make the choice to repent, we are turning back to him.

Quote from Elder Hamula: "One of your challenges as young latter-day saints with a lot of energy, is your tendency towards impatience. You must be patient with others, sometimes more importantly, you must be patient with yourself."

Super good. :)

We were able to teach a 20 minute discussion of the restoration with a woman in our ward, and it was super good. I love teaching the restoration. Having to do it quickly helps us to simplify, and make sure we're focusing on the most important thing.

Due to a set of unusual circumstances, we attended zone conference the next day too. It was just as good as the first one.

We had MLC with Elder Hamula as well, the day after the zone conferences ended. It was great! He helped us to understand that we are a good mission. We are doing a lot of good things, but it's time to take that to the next level of good. To take it from good to great. He told us that we need to laser in our focus, and make sure that we utilize everything we learned at zone conference. It was super neat. We had temple tours later that day, and I got to see Sister Hardin! (MTC comp. :) ) She came and sat with us for about an hour and just talked with us. It was so good. I love that girl.

On Sunday we had stake conference with.... Elder Hamula! I've seen him everyday for the past 4 days. I'm definitely not complaining though. It's been amazing. It was an awesome stake conference.

That's about all! It was a super uplifting week, and I look forward to the miracles that come from it. My thought today comes from John 14:18,

I think it is so amazing that no matter where we are, whether we're super far off the path, or right in the middle of it, Jesus Christ will come to us. He will never leave us alone, never abandon us. Whatever our trials, he is walking with us, matching our every step. I know that no matter what, he will always be there.

I love you all so much. Thank you for your prayers and love. I am so grateful for all of you.

Love, Sister Wood :)

Pictures!

1) We thought this car was super funny. :)

2) Exchanges with Sister Graham!

3) The moon was super pretty at temple tours. :D

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Oh my goodness! This week was super amazing. :)

So Monday was pretty fun. We played Mafia as a zone. :D We have a great time together. I love my zone so much.

Tuesday we had an awesome District meeting, and celebrated one of the Sisters birthdays. :) It was fun. We had an appointment with Arianna, and we had asked one of our ward missionaries to come with us to her lesson. When we went and knocked on the door, no one answered. It was odd, because we'd confirmed with her earlier that morning. We knocked again, and waited, but no one answered still. We felt a little sheepish, but we still wanted to do something productive while we had the ward missionary there, and we both felt prompted to ask if she would try someone elses house with us. We drove over to Andrea's house. (She is from Serbia, and Sister Dinning and I tracted into her if you don't remember.) When we got there, she opened the door, and invited us in!!!! :D It was so cool! Also, after five minutes of being there, we found out that Sister Rossberg (ward missionary) and Andrea had super similar stories, and could 100% relate to each other. It was so amazing. Andrea is going through some rough times, and told us about what is happening in her life. We were able to testify of a loving Heavenly Father who wants her to be happy, and is there with her every step of the way. She started to cry, I started to cry, and the Spirit was so strong. I felt just an overwhelming love for this woman. It was so good. After we had been talking for a while, she asked if she could come to church with us. To which we responded with a resounding yes. :) She wasn't able to come yesterday, but texted us, and was super worried that we would be mad or upset. We assured her that we weren't and that she could come next week. We really hope to see her. :D It was such a good experience.

Wednesday we had a good lesson with Kevin. We read 1 Nephi 11 with him about the tree of life, and were able to talk about the symbolism, and what everything means. He asked a lot of questions, and we had some super good discussion. :)

Thursday I was on exchanges with Sister Lee! We had a great time together, and were able to go and see a lot of the less-actives that we haven't been able to get a hold of recently. It was kind of a miracle. We were able to do some service, and Sister Lee contacted a bunch of people in Chinese, which is always super cool to see in action I love going on exchanges with the Sisters. It's always a wonderful experience, and leads to many mighty miracles. :)

Yesterday was so good. I love fast and testimony meeting. It is so powerful when people get up to bear their testimonies. It is probably my favorite type of sacrament meeting. We had dinner with this amazing family. I love them so much. We had to have dinner super early, and had to make it really short, because we had to be somewhere at 5:30, but it was so wonderful. We had planned a message to share, but when the time came to share it, the Spirit led it in a totally different direction. We wound up talking about families, and family prayer. We talked about how prayer is like connecting with heaven. It was so amazing. I shared 3 Nephi 18:21, which talks about praying in your families, and I got super teary-eyed, because the Spirit testified to me how important it was. I was able to testify to this young family about the importance of family prayer. I'm so grateful that my parents were diligent in family prayer, because it has blessed my life far more than I'm sure I even know. We went to the temple music night, and saw Kevin there, as well as many friends. We spent most of it outside in the foyer talking to some recent converts that we knew. That was cool. Also, I found out that one of my investigators from Newport Hills is getting baptized!!! It's so exciting!

That's about it! This week will be fun, because Elder Hamula from the First Quorum of the Seventy is coming to our Zone Conference on Thursday, and then to MLC on Saturday. I'm super excited. So many miracles are coming! They are always around us. I know that they are.

Oh my goodness. I love this quote. Plus, I love President Monson, so it's like double awesome. There are so many things that we can learn from the past, and we definitely need to prepare for the future, but there are so many miracles around us here and now. I am so grateful for the tender mercies that we have every day.

I love you all! Thank you for all that you do! I'll talk to you next week!

Much love,

Sister Wood

Happy Halloween everybody!!

Our Halloween is kinda boring, cause we all have to be inside by 7pm. :) So we'll finish P-day, go to dinner, then go play sports as a zone. Should be fun. :) Kevin made us come by this afternoon, so we could trick or treat at at least one house. :) He gave us candy and stuff. :) He's funny.

Last Monday we taught Kevin, and showed him the talk, "Fourth Floor, Last Door" by President Ucthdorf. It was super good. :) The Elders came with us, to see if they could help us clear up some of his concerns, and they wound up giving him a priesthood blessing. It was very sweet, and I really hope that Kevin will open his heart to it. :)

I forgot that we have to find time to do the 12 week training program for new missionaries, so it's been kind of an adventure making sure that we get it done.... : D

On Tuesday, Sister Peacock had a dinner with all the other new missionaries, and I went on splits with one of our ward missionaries! It was awesome. :) We went to Book of Mormon class, and I went to dinner with another set of Sister Missionaries. We had a good time.

Wednesday, we met with a man in our ward and the Elders to talk about some people in our ward who might need our help. After we were done talking, they asked if we would teach the Restoration to him and his wife, with them posing as non-members. (Our stake is pushing the missionaries in each ward to get 20 lessons a week, so members can sign up to have us come teach a 20 minute Restoration discussion.) So it was a little bit of a surprise. It was kind of cool actually, because that morning during our 12 week study, we had practiced teaching the Restoration in a minute or less! When you are prepared, Heavenly Father definitely helps you.

We were contacting, and we met some really interesting people. One is named Miriam! She is a very sweet lady, who we sang to in a park. She said she comes to the park every Monday and Wednesday, at 5:30, and that she would love to talk to us more! So we hopefully will be able to teach her. :) We had dinner at a new family in our ward's house, the Fry family, and they just moved here from Orem! I found out that they lived just down the street on Paradise Dr. from one of my really good friends. :) That was pretty funny. Random connections!

Thursday was really good. :) We did service at 2nd Harvest, and went on splits so that we could go see Sister Romano, and help with the Korean English class. Good times all around.

Friday was crazy. Crazy things happened.

Saturday we got to go do temple tours!!! It was way fun. :) While we were there, a recent convert came up to us and talked with us for a few hours. It was super awesome. :) We had the stake trunk or treat, where we got to be judges for who decorated their trunk the best. My personal favorite was the Pokemon Go trunk. :)

Kevin came to church yesterday, and it was great! I'm so grateful for him, and his desire to come to church, and to continue learning more.

That's about it! I love ya'll lots. :)

Isn't it amazing that we are truly children of God? We each have the genetic disposition to become like Him. I am so grateful for that. I know that we each truly have the potential to become like Him. I love you all! Have a great week!

Love, Sister Wood :)

Pictures!

1) Service!

2) Trunk or treat with the stake!

3) Sister Peacock used to work at Coldstone, so I found one for us to go to. :)

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Oh my goodness. Miracles are happening here in California. : ) It's been an amazing week. Simply wonderful.

Monday was good, the usual stuff. Sister Dinning got to have dinner with one of her favorite families, then we went and said goodbye to Kevin... :( It was kind of sad, but she'll be okay. Plus we will continue teaching him, and all will be well. :)

Tuesday was crazy. So much that we had to do. We packed and cleaned and visited people, and tried to do some contacting when we had the time. We had lunch with someone from one of our previous wards, ( we both started our mission is South Coast. ) which was awesome! After all that, we went to the stake center to attend transfers. I cannot tell you how nervous I was to go and get a new companion. I was super nervous. My heart was beating fast, and oh my goodness, my mind was running in every direction. I am also the only Sister that is training without a co-trainer, so that was nerve wracking as well. We sat down and waited for them to bring in all of the new missionaries. Then we stood and sang 'Called to Serve' as they walked in. I was conducting the music, so I got to see all of them as they sat down. It was so crazy. So the AP's said a few things, then started to announce who would be trained by who. I will be training..... *drum roll please* Sister Peacock!!!!! :D I know that means nothing to you guys, but she is so awesome. :) She was really tired, but super happy to be in California. :) I'm so so so so so excited to get to know her better and to work with her. We had dinner and Book of Mormon class, so she got to meet some of the members of the ward. It was great. :) We are going to see so many miracles together!!

The next few days were great! On Thursday, we saw Susan, and we talked to her for a little bit, and after listening to what was going on in her life, I told her about the Book of Mormon, and the peace that it brought into my life. How it helped me feel closer to God, and how I knew that it would bless the life of anyone who read it. She asked if she could borrow it, and I told her that she could keep it. :) I wrote my testimony in the front cover and gave it to her. It was a very sweet experience. I am grateful that I can be a help in her life.

 We went to the mission home to talk to Sister Clark for a little bit, which was really good. She told us when we were done, to go and find a miracle on Roosevelt, which is a street in our area. So I drove straight from the mission home to Roosevelt, and turned into an apartment complex that I have never been in before. I asked Sister Peacock which way she wanted to go, and off we went. So we started knocking doors. We first talked to a Persian man, who didn't speak much English, and gave him a Book of Mormon. At the next door we spoke with a woman from Afghanistan, who wasn't interested either. The third door we knocked on was on the second floor of a building, and this young woman opened the door. Her name is Arianna.

We introduced ourselves, and asked if we could share a message with her about Jesus Christ, and she asked how long it would take. We told her that it didn't have to be long, and she let us in!!!! :D So we went inside, and we were able to teach her the Restoration. At the end of the lesson, I asked Arianna if she would follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized, and she said yes!!! We set the date of November 20th!! :) It was a miracle. Oh my goodness. So amazing. I am so grateful.

We had a ward chili cook-off, which was awesome and fun. :) We saw some other people, and were able to teach some more lessons. :)

Sister Peacock is so amazing. She is just picking things up so fast, and is such an amazing missionary, and she hasn't even been in the field for a week! She also has an enormous amount of faith, which is absolutely one of the reasons why we have been seeing so many miracles. I have so much that I can learn from her. I am so excited to see what happens. :)

Yesterday our car decided it wanted to break the Word of Wisdom and started smoking. Something broke, and it was shooting oil all over the engine, which I now know is bad. I had continued driving, thinking when we got home we would check it out, even though I know virtually nothing about cars... So we were carless for about four hours, cause they brought us one of the the old mission cars that  are no longer in use. It was sad, cause we were looking forward to walking for a day. But all is well, and we will not complain against our blessings. :)

That's about it for today! I love you all! Today's thought comes from the book of John, "In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world."

Isn't it amazing that we have a Savior who has overcome the world for us? The world offers loneliness and despair, while our Savior offers us peace and joy. I'm so grateful for Him.

I hope you have a great week!

Love, Sister Wood :)

1) Sister Peacock and I have the same first initial. :)

2) We found this little guy in our car.... I named him Trevor.

3) My new companion!!! :D

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