Hey there family
Well Mission
life is mission life. Things are crazy out here. But conference was
just great and I loved being able to watch it. And we actually
watched it with some of our investigators which made it even better. I
really liked Elder Holland's talk, and I am sure that is one that some
people at home enjoyed, or at least needed to hear as well.
In a few weeks we have a general authority coming to
our mission. We are going to have a few mission wide conferences then
and I am so excited. It is going to be so great. I don't remember who
is coming, but when I do, I will let you know. It is in two weeks and
he will be here for three or four days.
This week went pretty well. We have four different
investigators right now and had lessons with all of them. The first was
Brittney Vignali. I think I have mentioned her. She is moving really
slowly, but we ate with her family on Tuesday and had a good lesson
afterwards. She has a long way to go. A lot of words that we use, like
faith or hope, she has twisted perception of what they mean, so we have
a lot to teach her and help her realize before she will get baptized.
Our second one is Isabella. She is 10 and her sister
Bianca is 8. Their dad stopped the Elders in the Tongan ward to get
them baptized. We went over this week and taught them for the second
time. We took chalk and drew the plan of salvation on the road. We
found out that two members of the ward live just a few doors down on
both sides, which was pretty cool. And the lady that we brought to the
lesson with us, just happens to be the activity day leader for all the
girls 8-11. We had no idea when we invited her to come, and she turned
out to be the perfect person to bring. So now they are going to start
going to activity days with the other girls their age.
The third one is Bill. His wife Nancy is a less active
member. Nancy's mom just died. We weren't planning on going to the
luncheon after the funeral but a lady in the ward needed us to drop some
food off because she couldn't make it. We showed up at just the right
time. Our Relief Society President was just getting there and needed a
lot of help because the funeral and burial was a lot shorter then
planned so they were running out of time. We were able to help out a
lot and talk to people at the luncheon, which is always a great way to
find people. So that was a great unexpected service opportunity.
They also invited us to watch conference with them. As
we showed up Saturday afternoon, Bill had been watching golf and went
to turn the channel and the t.v. just went black. The sound was still
on, but no picture. We messed with it for a while trying to figure out
what was going on. After about fifteen minutes and working with the
t.v. and lots of prayers, it came back on and we were able to watch
conference. Talk about Satan working hard to get us to not watch it
with them. So we missed the first bit but I think that is normally just
the sustainings, so it is all good.
Our last lesson was with Nico. He is nine. His family
is less active but he really wants to be baptized. He told his dad
(who wants him to be baptized in a Christian church) that he is Mormon
and is going to be baptized in the Mormon church. Early this week, we
were supposed to have a lesson, but as we got there we found out that
their little dog had got hit by a car and died earlier in the day. So
we just talked and comforted them. Then last night we went back for the
lesson. We taught the Restoration.
A family friend was over and he decided to sit in on
the lesson. He knows members and has read up a bit on the church. At
the end of the lesson, Sister Pollard started talking just very briefly
about the atonement and the friend, Mario, started to cry and was
speechless. It was such a cool experience. He had no words. He lives
in Rancho, but not in our area. We are hoping to get some other
missionaries over to him soon. He told us, out of all the religions he
has looked into, this is the one that intrigues him the most. So one
day Mario is going to join...hopefully one day soon.
We have Janet, Nico's mom, coming to the additional
relief society night on Wednesday, then dinner with them on Thursday and
a lesson on Friday. So we have lots set up. That is how she wanted to
do it. We are excited for this week with them.
We went on exchanges this week as well. Sister Ott
came to my area and Sister Pollard went to my old area in Upland with
Sister Haas. It was just fun
to work with someone else and see how they do things and to be able to
have just someone different with you for a day. I loved it. Sister Ott
is amazing.
While we were on exchanges, we were able to do some
service for a less active lady in the ward. She started coming back,
but then recently she has gone through an ugly divorce and was getting
kicked out of her home. So we went over to help her sort some things
up. She had just a few days to get everything out, and she tends to be a
bit of a hoarder. So that was fun. The next day, Sister Pollard and I
went back and helped her move the stuff she was going to keep into a
storage unit. So this week was filled with lots of hours of service.
It was good.
So over all it was a good week for us. We had some
good lessons and are finally making progress with our investigators.
There is a little more with the missionary side to this email.
Hopefully things will keep getting better, but seeing how things have
worked with me in the past, four weeks from now I am going to be
transferred out. Now that the ward has work, I will be leaving.
Well the weather down here today is in the high 80's.
Definitely far from snowflakes down here. It is supposed to get all the
way to the 60's this week, which is about as cold as it will get down
here all winter, so that will be nice :) I am excited for that.
Also, that story about Gislene cracked me up!! Oh my
word. That sounds just like her. She hasn't changed a bit in five
months. She has also loved having the dogs with her, but of course she
is not all there enough to think to take them out. Oh poor mom....Life
sounds like fun :) But at least she is learning Spanish. She is
setting the standard high for the rest of you. I guess it is time to
pick it up!! haha
Well for things with Sister Pollard and I, they are
getting better. We had interviews with President Hobbs this week, (it
is just that time) And he offered a blessing. I didn't feel like I
needed one but if he was asking, I thought maybe I needed it more then I
realized. So he gave me a blessing. It was so amazing. I know that
it came from God and told me things I needed to hear that President
Hobbs didn't even know I was dealing with. So that was good
Well for now that is all I can think of to tell you about. It was a good week. I love you all lots
Sister Woodward
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