Week 67: Happy New Year!

Wow, it's crazy to me that 2016 is already gone. I feel like it was just a few weeks ago that I was at this point last year, serving in my very first area, with my second companion. There are some days where I wish that I could serve another mission right after this one is over so I don't have to stop doing this work. It absolutely is the best thing I have ever done. 

It was an amazing week filled with miracles and holiday cheer. We found out that our investigator who moved to Northern California has a baptismal date for the 7th of January! I'm so happy for her. That was kind of a miracle. The Elders up there are doing  a phenomenal job. I actually taught her a lot when I was in San Clemente before, so it's amazing to hear that she is taking that step. I also found out that one of the investigators I taught in Newport Hills is being baptized on the 7th as well! So hopefully I will be able to go and attend his baptism. It's crazy how awesome it is to see these wonderful, sweet people enter the waters of baptism. 

I loved Christmas. It was so full of wonderful people. We went to both churches, and were able to talk to family, which is always fun. I met my new nephew who slept the whole time I tried to look at him. It was wonderful to see everyone. 

We had a fun P-day activity yesterday, where we played volleyball. One of the Elders spiked the ball into my throat! It was pretty hilarious. He felt really bad, but it was more funny than painful. :D 

I'm so happy. I feel so lucky and blessed to be out here serving the Lord. I'm excited for 2017, and all of the new and exciting adventures and miracles that will come with it. 

Thank you for all of your love and support. You may never know how much it means to me. Thank you. 

I love this quote, as we prayer fully set goals, Heavenly Father will help us see our potential, and where we can grow. He will help us. He wants us to improve and to be the very best we can be. I know he will do everything He can to help us grow. 

I love you all! Talk to you next year! 

Love, Sister Wood :) 

Week 66: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

So I'm pretty much out of time... So sorry! 

But I want you all to know that I love you, and I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!!! 

I hope that you have an amazing week full of joy and miracles. As we put Christ more in our lives, the happier we will be. I know that having a Christ-centered Christmas will help us to truly feel of the holiday spirit. You all are amazing. Thank you for your examples and love. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!! 

I love you all!!!! 

Love, Sister Wood :) 

Week 65: Adjusting... :)

Greetings everybody! I hope that all is going well. :) 

I know theoretically that Christmas is getting closer, but the weather here makes me think otherwise. It's so warm, but chilly at night. It's all good. :) 

This week was really good. :) We had a lot of ward activities, and some really good lessons with the investigators in our wards. It has been really crazy. 

I love these wards. There are so so so many amazing and wonderful people here. They are so good to us, and super nice. They are also pretty missionary minded, which is totally awesome. In ward council yesterday, someone said, "The Merrick's next door neighbor seemed pretty open to the gospel, but we think it would be best if the missionaries just "happened" to stop by. Do you Sisters think you could go tract over there and "run into them"?" Haha, I loved it so much. :) 

The Primary President is friends with one of our investigators who kind of fell of the grid, and she was talking to us about a solution, and she said, "I'll just keep texting her and calling her. Eventually she'll either come, or tell us that she's not interested. So we've just gotta keep trying!" It was the best thing ever. 

I love these wards. I also got to decorate two Christmas trees this week! it was so fun. 

We had an awesome zone conference this week. There were some really good trainings, and they opened it up for everyone to tell miracle stories! It was so amazing to hear all of the miracles that are happening around the mission. I met with President to get my Ecclesiastical Endorsement for school. That was weird. It's odd to think about the future. It was also Sister Cannon's Birthday! So everyone sang to her at zone conference. We had dinner with Bud and helped him do some things around his house. He's the 95 year old. He is the sweetest man. 

We got to help with this huge interfaith choir concert at the Stake Center yesterday. It was wonderful. So many amazing performances. It was a phenomenal opportunity to serve, and to get to know members of other faiths from around the community. It was really good. I also got to see Lele!!!! It was so good to see her. We got to sit and talk for about ten minutes between my assignments. She is doing really well. She is going to get her endowments out in May, and invited me to come to the temple with her. I'm really hoping that I'll be able to come back for it. She's so amazing. She introduced me to some people as her first missionary. It filled my heart, and made me feel so grateful that Heavenly Father loved me enough to let me be a part of her life. It was wonderful. 

That's about it for this week, partially because I'm out of time.... So I'll talk to you all next week! This weeks thought comes from Elder Bednar. :) 

I love this quote. Something I've heard a lot this Christmas season is, "Keep Christ in Christmas." It makes me think of the reason why we're celebrating, and helps me to focus more on my Savior as we celebrate His birth. We are so blessed. I am so grateful for this season and the hearts that are softened as we all turn our hearts and thoughts to our Savior.

I love you all so much, and hope you have a wonderful week. 

Love, Sister Wood 

Week 64: Back to San Clemente!!

Hey y'all. :) 

I'm not 100% sure where I picked up the y'all thing, but I literally say it all the time. It's a little bit funny. 

This week has been completely crazy. I have never seen a chicken run around with it's head cut off, but I'm sure that we looked something like that, and I don't know if that is going to change any time in the near future. It's all good though. It's good that Heavenly Father is in charge, cause otherwise, I would probably mess everything up real good. :) 

We all got Christmas pajamas!!!! :D I don't currently have a picture, but hopefully soon. :) Our stake president got a pair for every missionary in the San Clemente zone. It's awesome. That's one tradition I did miss last year. :) 

We pretty much hit the ground running this week. We got all our stuff packed into the car after transfers, then drove straight to dinner, and from there to a weekly lesson with a less-active in our ward and his non-member girlfriend, who is investigating the church. It went really well! This week we're going to invite them to come with us to a baptism that is happening in one of my last areas, which they will hopefully come to. 

I realized that Heavenly Father has some crazy planning going on. When I was in San Clemente last time, I was on exchanges in Forester Ranch and San Clemente wards at least twice a week. So now I've been transferred here, and I already know a ton of people! Plus, I keep seeing people that I love from Marblehead, which is amazing. These wards are so amazing. So many wonderful people. We also have 3 progressing investigators already, which is also a miracle. Heavenly Father is so amazing. Something that seemed like an inconvenience at the time, is now such a huge blessing. 

We have been able to meet a lot of awesome people this week. We met 3 out of the 4 investigators, and were able to do a lot of service this week. We randomly got a call from a woman, who asked if we could go help her move, so we rounded up our district, the missionaries who serve in her area were able to go and help her. It was good. We helped one of our investigators move from one house to another, which means that she will now be keeping all of the commandments! We are hoping to set a date with her soon, because she really wants to be baptized, but she is going to be up in Northern California with her parents for the next little while. Hopefully soon though.

We got to go help the Elders teach their investigator the Restoration, which is one of my favorite things to teach. I'm so grateful for the Restoration of the church, and for all that Joseph Smith did and went through in order for it to happen. Man, every time I think about the restoration, it just amazes me. It's so wonderful to be able to share it with others. 

We have two elderly people in one of our wards that we and the Elders visit on a weekly basis. They are the sweetest people on the planet. One's name is Bud, and he is 95. He is the sweetest old man ever. He was telling us the story of how he and his wife met... I was literally almost in tears. It was so sweet. The other lady is 80. Everyone calls her Mother Perry. It's so fun. 

I love these wards so much, and it's only been a week. I know that there are people here that I need to meet, and I'm so excited to get to know them. I'm excited to see miracles and tender mercies here in San Clemente. It's going to be amazing! 

The thought today comes from John. :)

We've been focusing a lot on the #lighttheworld initiative. I want to invite all of you to go and check it out on mormon.org. It's so awesome, and it invites everyone to just do little things everyday that can bring a little more light into the world. It's been amazing to do it everyday, and I'm excited to keep going. There are blessings and miracles in store. 

I love you all! Thank you for all that you do! I hope you have an amazing week! 

Love, Sister Wood :) 

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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