T'alofa Family and Friends!
I am doing well. I got pretty sick
this last week, but I am happy to report that I am over the worst of it and
well on my way to recovery. Being sick in the mission field is horrible. Being
sick in general is bad, but being sick on a mission is worse. Luckily, we have
priesthood holders who can give blessings and help us overcome these trials. I
got a blessing from my mission president, which brought much needed comfort and
guidance. I am so grateful for the priesthood.
This past week was pretty
interesting though. Last Monday for P-day, we went to play a game of softball
at a nearby baseball diamond. When we got there though, the entire field was
soaking wet. As we walked on the dirt, we found out that it was actually mud.
So, rather than play softball, we wound up playing in the mud for an hour. It
was so much fun. We got kind of dirty, but we came out more unified. It was
great to just have fun with the sisters of our district for an hour.
Sister Blair and I saw a few
miracles this week. We were contacting some media referrals that we received,
and when we pulled up to the last house, I looked at Sister Blair and told her
that I didn’t think we were supposed to be there, and asked if we could go back
another day. She agreed, so we wound up visiting a less active member named
Sister Felix. When she answered the door, she looked so surprised to see us,
then she gave us the biggest smile and asked us to come in. She then proceeded
to tell us that whenever she was struggling with a big decision in her life,
the missionaries showed up in some form. Apparently, minutes before we got
there, she and her husband were discussing whether to move to Utah or to Texas,
and when she said, “I think we should move to Utah”, we showed up at her door.
It was a really cool experience that helped her in their decision of where to
move, and also strengthened her testimony of the fact that Heavenly Father is
aware of us and what we need.
The next miracle was just
yesterday. After visiting with Sister Felix, we went home. When we got there, I
realized that I couldn’t find the cell phone. It was really bad because the
phone is our only way of communicating with anyone, and the only way
investigators and contacts know how to communicate with us. We searched
everywhere for it. It wasn’t in our car, our house, or at the church. I thought
that maybe we had left it at the Felix house, or somewhere in the neighborhood
where we were before that. So we went to the house, and no one was home. We
left a note, asking about it, but weren’t too optimistic. As we were getting in
the car, I had a thought that we should go back to where we had been parked the
night before. As we searched, I didn’t
see anything, but after a minute Sister Blair said, “I found it!!” It was stuck
in the curb between the grass and the sidewalk where there was this little
crevice. The phone was completely fine, and we were so grateful because we knew
that Heavenly Father had helped us.
When we go contacting in Santa Ana,
there are a lot of Spanish people. This is really difficult because I don’t
speak Spanish. We try to get our message across, but it doesn’t always work
very well. Also, contacting is hard, add a language barrier and it’s almost impossible.
Most people are polite and wait until we kind of stop talking to say that they’re
not interested, but we were contacting on this one street yesterday. We walked
past this man, and started to introduce ourselves. We asked him what his name
was, and he responded with, “My name is Miguel and I do not want to talk to you
two.” So we left. It was kind of funny, and kind of sad at the same time.
Heavenly Father is so good to us.
He knows our struggles and our trials. I know the miracles we saw seem small,
but to us they were a testimony to us that Heavenly Father heard our prayers
and answered them. It also bore witness to us that the Holy Ghost is there for
us if only we will heed his promptings. I know that as we listen to the
promptings of the Holy Ghost it will become easier to recognize them when they
come.
I am so grateful for the
experiences I’m having and the people I’m meeting. Thank you all for your love
and support.
Love, Sister Wood
P.S. The picture last week was of Sister Hardin and I. I
will work on getting one of Sister Blair and I
Picture 1) Me with President & Sister Orgill
Picture 2) The group of missionaries I came with
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