Hi Everybody!! 

This weeks letter is going to be super short. Coming out to email has been the second time I have been outside of our apartment in the past four days... We've had an interesting week. 

Last Monday was pretty normal, except for the fact that we got four new referrals... What? That never happens ever! It was insane. We got the first two really close together, then we got the other two later that day. We have never had this many referrals at one time. It's amazing! I don't know what we did to deserve so many blessings, but we are so grateful. We've tried to contact most of them, with no success, but we will keep trying. :) 

Tuesday we were able to go have dinner with a nonmember who we met through one of the members in our ward. She is the sweetest lady I have ever met. She is from Vietnam, and her husband recently passed away. She took us into her heart, and she just loves us. We love her a lot. On Christmas, we gave her the Book of Mormon, when she took it from us, she was so touched by it. We bore our testimonies about it and talked about what a gift it was. She told us she would read it and was so grateful that we would share that with her. The spirit in the room while we talked was so sweet. I will always remember that experience. 

Wednesday was amazing! It's so cool to see the Spirit touch people, and testify to them the truthfulness of the Gospel. We were contacting in a park, trying to talk to everyone we saw. I tried to talk to this one couple who said they were busy, so I looked down for a minute to grab a card, and when I looked up, they were halfway across the park! So I put my bag down, and ran after them. They looked kind of startled when I ran up behind them, but they took the card and said they would look at the video on it, so it was worth it. When I got back to my companion, she was dying of laughter. I must admit after the fact it was pretty funny. I have never chased people down before. :) We also gave out three Books of Mormon. People were just very willing to talk to us, and I was so grateful for that. 

Thursday was definitely interesting. We took our car in to get fixed in the morning, and then after that, we dove straight into visiting people. Hermana Garcia slowly seemed to be losing energy, then suddenly when we were at dinner, she seemed to lose all of what energy she had left. We went home, (we had to be in by 7 anyways) and let her sleep. 

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday,

We have been stuck at home. Sister Garcia has been slowly feeling a little bit better, but is no where near feeling well. I feel so useless because I can't do much to help her. I've watched the Best Two Years and 17 Miracles like 5 times each, while making covers for planners, cleaning the apartment, etc. I've also read almost the entire book of Alma in the past two days. I'm hoping to maybe finish the Book of Mormon in the next two days because the Nurse says she needs to rest more, and stay at home. So that should be interesting. 

In my personal study, I was reading about the Lamanites trying to invade the cities of the Nephites under the direction of Amalickiah. It says, 

22 Now when they found that they could not obtain power over the Nephites by the pass, they began to dig down their banks of earth that they might obtain a pass to their armies, that they might have an equal chance to fight; but behold, in these attempts they were swept off by the stones and arrows which were thrown at them; and instead of filling up their ditches by pulling down the banks of earth, they were filled up in a measure with their dead and wounded bodies.

 23 Thus the Nephites had all power over their enemies; and thus the Lamanites did attempt to destroy the Nephites until their chief captains were all slain; yea, and more than a thousand of the Lamanites were slain; while, on the other hand, there was not a single soul of the Nephites which was slain.

 24 There were about fifty who were wounded, who had been exposed to the arrows of the Lamanites through the pass, but they were shielded by their shields, and their breastplates, and their head-plates, insomuch that their wounds were upon their legs, many of which were very severe.

I was wondering how these scriptures applied to us, and then the thought came to me that if we, like the Nephites have not fortified ourselves, and shield ourselves, we will not be able to protect ourselves from the adversary. He will do everything he can to get at us, he will try the entrance, when he can't in, he'll try to climb, or dig, or do anything he can to get to us. I have gained a testimony of how important each piece of the armor of God is in protecting us. We also must fight back. The Nephites didn't just sit there. They threw stones and arrows, they didn't just let the enemy come in and invite them to have some tea. (Throwback to one of Elder Hollands talks) Anyways, I thought that it was really cool that all the scriptures are applicable. :) 

I've learned a lot this week, and looking back over my email, it's not short at all, so sorry about that. I hope you are all doing well, and that you have all had a Happy New Year! I love you all lots. This week I am ponderizing Alma 29:9. 

Thank you for all your prayers and support. 

Love, Sister Annie Wood :) 

Picture 1) The fruits of my labors the past few days :) 

Picture 2) Driving in the car with our super cool sunglasses. :) 

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