Hey Family,
Well that was probably one of
dad's top emails. I am going to print that one off and stick it in my
journal. It sure made me laugh cause it sounds just like dad. It was
great. Thanks for making my day. Dad's letters are just amazing! Let
me tell you. I hope those are going on the blog as well for everyone to
see. Mondays are my favorite day as well. I never would have said
that at home, but on the mission, it is how life goes. And I HATE
Monday holidays. They are the worst. Never would have said that at
home either. And once I get home, then it will all change back again.
Well I am sure that you are all just dying to know
how my lunch with Sister Hobbs went. It was so so so good. I just love
that woman. She is amazing. I met her at the mission office. When we
got there, my companion thought I was going to go to the doctors with
her because I never mentioned that I was going to talk to Sister Hobbs. So when we got there, President
Hobbs pulled me into his office for a second and Sister Deputy and
Sister Beagley left. President just asked me how I was doing and then
asked how Sister Beagley was doing with her health issues. I told him
and that was all. Then I went with Sister Hobbs and we went to
Chick-fil-a for lunch. I guess that is her favorite fast food place,
and President doesn't like it very much, so when she has someone else to
go with, she loves it.
So we went and got lunch and then just sat and
talked for about an hour. It was good. Sister Beagley's doctor's
appointment was in San Bernardino, so they left 45 minutes before it
started to make sure they got there on time, then she had the
appointment, and then they had to drive back. So it gave me plenty of
time to visit with Sister Hobbs. She asked me about everything pretty
much-family, companion, investigators, the work, the ward-everything.
And I told her pretty much everything.
Well that was just for Monday. Well on to the rest
of the week-get ready. It has been one long week. So The housing
coordinator, Elder Crahan gave
our new apartment keys to the assistants. They forgot and misplaced
them. So we had no keys. We finally hunted them down and went to our
new apartment. We kept the keys to our old apartment to use the fridge
in there. We werent' getting a fridge until Wednesday. So I told Elder
Crahan that we had the keys and I also called the mission office to let
them know that we had the keys and to tell Elder Bowman (one of the
missionaries in the ward with us now). Well someone everyone forgot
that I had the keys-get to that later. So for three days we were living
out of two apartments about 7 miles apart-used up our miles real
quick. Also, since we were at a new place, we had to put together
everything. We assembled our table, chairs, and beds. We had to unpack
new dishes, pans, silverware, ect. So we were quite busy with all of
that. It was okay because everything we have now is brand new. Not
worn down from 5 years of missionaries. They are sanitary and clean and
new. So that is a plus.
Then on Wednesday the sister training leaders wanted
to stop by. They brought a ton of Sister Haupts food. We were
supposed to get it to her later that day. So later we get a call from
the assistants. They want to know if we have any idea what happened to
the Elders apartment key. No one seemed to know and they were on their
way up the hill (into the desert) and didn't have a key yet. So we told
them we had it. We then got a call from Sister Haupt saying that she
wanted her stuff the same time we were meeting the assistants. So we
ran home got all her stuff and met her as well. We handed over the keys
and food and went to our investigators house with plans to meet up with
the elders in 45 minutes to split the area. We told them how to get to
the church and took off. At the time we were supposed to be at the
church, there were no elders, so we waited for about fifteen minutes.
We then decided to drive back to their apartment on the route I told
them to take. We got there and no one was home. So we knocked on the
neighbors door (she is a way cool member of the ward) and she told us
they started walking to the church, but she had given them different
directions. So we raced back to the church and got there the same time
as the Elders. By this point, we had 10 minutes til dinner and had no
time to do anything. So we talked for about 5 minutes about a few
things, and gave them a ward list. I guess the mission ran out of
supplies for this transfer so the Elders had nothing-no ward list, no
area book, no supplies, and no phone-yeah no phone! Plus one elder was
fresh off the plane so he had no bike yet.
So we called their dinner and arranged a ride for
them. Then we called their dinner for the next day and got a ride for
that. We raced to our dinner. The next day our district leader called
us up and said that he was with Elder Bowman and had a few questions for
us. So we went back to the church and met with 4 elders-our district
leader was their phone and their rides for a few days. We talked about
the ward and gave them a few names to focus on. Then we ran off. We
had to go to a members home and get money for the elders dinner the next
week and take it to the dinner they were having that night to make sure
it got to them. So just to make a longer story not so long, this was
how our whole week was. Missionary work was cut down because we were
running errands for the elders. On Saturday they finally got a
phone and that has helped. Now they can call their own dinners and
rides.
Saturday was pretty much the best day of my mission!
I loved it. I got to carpool with Sister Haupt and her greenie down to
Rancho. I got to see Sister Morgan, my trainer, Sister McHood, Elder
Seright, Elder Huntsman, and Elder Shapcott, my MTC buddies. And I got
to meet Elder Perkins and Elder Hiam from the 70 and Elder Anderson from
the 12-nope not Elder Ballard. Change of plans. And I will tell you
what-Elder Anderson is so funny! We were laughing the whole time. I had
no idea, but he is a pretty hilarious man. He talked about the
atonement a lot and how it applies to missionary work. He also talked
about how most of us are close to 20 years old and how we have only
lived one life, when in comparison, he is in his 60s so he has lived
three lives. He told us not to become complacent with who we are or
what we do. We still have so much time left to change and become
better. It is not too late, and it will never be too late. We just
have to keep trying and working on becoming better. We can't just give
up.
He also talked about state side missionaries. He
says that he knows most of us maybe hoped to go foreign, but didn't get
to. He said that the U.S. is the bread basket of the church. If the
church stops growing in the U.S. then we are in trouble. There are many
places in the world where the church is growing so fast and will always
be that way, but it HAS to keep growing in the U.S. So many of the
best missionaries (or who they think and feel will be the best) stay
state side because it is so important that we are here and help the
church to grow. So that was cool to hear him say. It was a good
meeting. I sure loved it and I got to see so many old friends!! I was
happy for that.
Well I am outta time. I hope this week is good for
you. I love you all and will see you all in eight months!! yay :) and
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! I didn't forget-don't you worry!
Love
Sister Woodward
