Crazy P-Day!! (10/30/12)

Dear Family and Friends,

 

Today has been a crazy day. This week has been a crazy actually! What has made today so crazy is that we have had so much to do, way more than a normal P-Day. Elder B had to go to dermatologist at the Rivrewoods Medical area for a odd spot of skin on his knee. Turns out is was just a cut that is having trouble healing due to the dryness of Utah and became a bit infected. So we then went to a pharmacy and got some lotion the Doctor perscribed. The people there were super nice and even gave us each a free gormet cupcake. It's super weird being outside of the MTC grounds. Everyone says Hi and askes what mission your going to. Because of this we had about two less hours do the rest of our preparation and have been running around trying to get everything done before choir. It looks like all the essentials are going to get finished but I'll unfortunately have to put of some of the other things I wanted to do, but I'll find time to do them.

 

So our zone is now just two districts and we are now the "oldest" distrcit. I'm afraid I gave you some false information last week about new districts. We are getting one this week of seven missionaries, three sisters and four elders. That will still be only  25 missionaries in our district though, which compared to when we first arrived is barely anything. But that really doesn't change anything about the MTC experience except making it easier to get a shower. And there is only three weeks left for my district. We get our travle plans next Friday. AH! Time has flown by in here. It feels like I just barely got here when it almost time to leave.

 

So the devotional speaker last tuesday was Elder Larry Echo Hawk of the Seventy. He told us the story about his conversion and the first time that he really read the Book of Mormon.  It was awesome! I loved his talk in conference too, about how testimony can spurn any attack on the Church or the Book of Mormon or Joseph Smith or Jesus Christ or anything.  One of the things that I have learned here at the MTC is how important it is to bear testimony. We need to live our lives as a testimony of Jesus Christ.  We also need to be converted to Christ, not simply have a testimony of Him or the church. Conversion is what provides for us to endure to the end.

 

So this week has been pretty good so far as teaching goes. We taught Ro on Friday and invited him to be baptized. He asked if he had to be baptized twice since he had been baptized as a baby in the Catholic church. We read parts of Moroni 8 with him and he seemed to understand. Whjn we invited him again, he said he wasn't making any promises but that he would think about it. When we visited M on Monday, he said that he hadn't beenable to attend church because his brother visited him on Sunday. We talked about his brother and he said that he has been sick for a while and he is worried about him. We talked about eternal families and asked if he would like for his brother to hear the gospel. He said he would and we are arragning to have missionaries meet with him. I think that this is really the biggest sign of how M is progressing. Now that he has felt the truth bless his life he wants his family to hear it too.

 

Sorry that is letter is so scattered. I'm still running at full speed to try and get everything done that I need to and my mind is a little frazzeled right now. I'm hoping the devotional will help bring me back to normal. I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and faith! Mahal Kita!

 

Elder RWood

 

"We need to offer salvation to those we teach, not simply share information with them." Elder D. Todd Christoffersen (Did I spell that right?)

Why do all the clocks show different times? (10/23/12)

Dear Family and friends,

Sorry to Mom and ABice that this email is not going to go directly to them as well as Dad. I'm typing this in the laundry room and I forgot the letter that has your emails.

So I have some exciting news. We found this out on Wednesday of last week, but I wanted to see if I could get more details before I told you. But I haven't so here it is. Bro. Stevenson who is over the Tagalog districts our our floor told us on Wednesday that our district has been selected to be a pilot district for a new idea that they are trying. Starting on November 5, we will be teaching lessons via Skype to people at the MTC in Manila in the Philippines. We were all so shocked that no one really said anything the entire time he was talking to us. He was also speaking in Tagalog so we were trying hard just to understand all he was telling us. We will be checking out laptops and teaching two or three times a week. We don;t know exactly who it is that we will be teaching or anything besides that fact that we will be doing it starting on November 5. I am so excited! To be able to talk to and teach native Philipinos and Tagalog speakers before we are there is going to be a great learning experience. We are all nervous of course and there is now a greater sense of urgency in our learning and teaching experience. This will probably replace our TRC teaching and possibly our other teaching, but we don"t know yet. I'm super excited and nervous and honored to be trusted with the piloting of this program.

In a week our branch/zone is going to be tiny. Three districts are leaving on Monday and Tuesday of next week and we won't get any more missionaries until the week before we go to the Philippines. So there will be a total of 18 missionaries for about three weeks. Chances of speaking in sacrament will go up by a bunch, which won't be a problem. I love sacrament meeting here at the MTC. Elder B and I were just called on Sunday to be the Sacrament coordinators, so it's up to us to prepare it and and ask people to bless and pass it and then we'll take it down. This Sunday was awesome. We saw Elder Bednar's devotional talk from 2009 called Recognizing the Spirit. He said that he is always asked how to know whether it is inspiration from the Spirit or just someones own thoughts. And the answer he always gives: Quit worrying about it! Be obedient, be a good boy or girl, work hard and have faith and the Lord will take care of us. He shared some stories form his life of experiences of not realizing something was a prompting till much later. Look up President Packers talk 20 Mark Note. I'm not sure If you will find it, but it is about one of these experiences.

I can't believe that I only have four weeks left here at the MTC. In just a few weeks I'll be getting travel plans and then heading to the Philippines! It's so crazy. I've learned so much but I still have tones that I need to learn. Time sure does work differently here in the MTC. Days last weeks and weeks last days. I love it here. the lord has answered so many of my prayers and I have felt the Spirit so strong. I have really come to love Elder B and all of the Elders in my zone. I doubt I would have been friends with any of them in high school, but here at the MTC they are my brothers. We have grown close as we have gone through tough times and good times. I'm so glad to count them among my close friends.

Thanks for all of your love and support. Thank you for your prayers for me and for all of the missionaries. The Lord hears them and answers them ins o many ways. I am grateful that the Lord has blessed me to have been among all of you that will read this email. God bless you as you seek and follow His will! Mahal Kita!

Mom and dad- thank you so much for your letters. THey really help give me strength. I love you so much! If i forgot to mention any thing, tell me so I cna make sure to tell you next week,
TWood- Congrats on getting to State! Sounds like it was a hard match, but you did your best!
A and MBice- Keep your heads up and turn to the Lord for help. Things will turn out.

Love,

Elder RWood
PS-All the MTC clocks are different!

Because It's Tagalog... (10/16/12)

Dear Family and Friends,

 

So quite a lot has happened this weeek. I'm glad to know that my emails finally made it through. I have no idea why they were having problems making it. According to my mom, i narrowly avoided a Howler. Guess two tetters and two emials make up for one missed email.

 

The right after I wrote my last email, we had the Tuesday Devotional. My entire district sings in the choir so we go at 5:15. While the choir was practicing, the tech people accidently flashed up the slide with the speaker on it. THe Devotional SPeaker was Elder Bednar! He gave a great talk about how to get the most out of conference talks by finding the doctrine, invitations and promised blessings in each talk. Definitely something that I recommend doing. During our Sunday fireside (sorry for jumping ahead) we found out some new exciting changes for missionary work. One is that come January, all MTC stays will be shortened by a third, starting with the language missionaries then the native speaker missionaries. So English speaking missionaries who know English will only be at the MTC for two weeks! Tagalog will be a six week program. The other is that they are beginning a new 12 week infield training program for missionaries who will be going into the field soon, This training will prepare the missionaries to be called upon to train the large influx of new missionaries that the Church is expecting around February. That means I could be a trainer after being out for only three months. Crazy thought!

 

This week has been an awesome week spritually. Elder B and I have still been teaching R and M and they are making wonderful progress. R has agreed to read the Book of Mormon and include his family in the reading. That was a great lesson when we invited him to do that, it was not what we expected to teach. M finally prayed with us, after he overcame his fears of being too unworthy and unimportant to pray. When he said the prayer, it was one of the most heart felt, genuine prayers I have ever felt. The spirit was so strong,. We had a great time in the TRC talking  about prayer. Teaching in Tagalog is getting to be much easier, but we still have so much to learn. And we have only five weeks left! So the title of this email comes from the answer Bro. Pearce and Bro. Mauzy give us somethimes when there is no explanation for why something is in Tagalog. We have basically just accepted it and now we use it alot.

 

Sunday for the film, elder B and I went and watched The Mountain of the Lord. When it was over I was ready to go to the Philippines. I wanted to get on a plane that night and go start to preach the gospel in Laoag. I was so excited about this work. I still am! I love the opportunity that I have to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ in Philippines. I have been so blessed to have the Lords help as I have been preparing. I has not been easy, especially not this last week, but the Lord has provided the way for me. I am where he wants me to be and that he has been watching over me.

 

I'm still trying to decide a scripture for my plaque, but if the picture needs to be from the Philippines I have some time! Congratulations to my brother Tyler and his double partner for making it to the State tournament for Tennis! First ones ever apparently. Thanks for all of your letters and espedcially for all of your prayers on my behalf and the behalf of all of the missionaries. The Lord hears every prayer for his servants and answers them in amazing ways. I love the Book of Mormon. We started the Revelation through the Book of Mormon fundamental and the entire distcirt was about ready to get on a plane for the Philippines by the middle of the lesson. I know that it is the keystone of this Church that it contains all that we need to know about the gospel and the plan of salvation (D&C 20). Read it! Everyday! Make this gospel more than just a testimony or something that feels good. MAke it a life style! I love you all and pray that the Lord will bless you!

 

Elder RWood

October 10, 2012

Dear Pamilya and Friends

Was conference great or what!? When President Monson announced the age change for missionaries the gym of the MTC exploded with sound. It was incredible. THe Spirtit was so strong during all of conference but especially during that first address by President Monson. I actually teared up the Spirit was so strong. I know that he is a prophet of God and that the work of God is moving forward unhindered in the Lord's eyes. And there must be a big event on the horizon since the Lord is calling all of His soldiers in the fight for the salvation of the souls of His children. I hope that the rest of conference was as powerful for you as it was for me. I went in with a ton of questions and by the end of the first session all of them had been answered. By the end of the last seesion all of the questions I had had been answered ten times over. I hope it went the same for all of you. One of the things that really helped me this conference was to ask myself for every talk, Lord is it I? I found that when i go into every talk with that general question in mond, the answer for every talk is a resounding YES. The age change was still the most amazing thing though. And I'll always remember it since I was in the MTC when it happened. I can't wait to get the chance to train some 18 year old missionaries fresh out of high school and ready to serve the Lord. I have already heard and seen how the change is blessing the lives of those I know, and even those that I have no clue who they are. We had a temple walk between the afternoon session on Saturday and the preisthood session. At the intersection outside the MTC a car that drove by had a girl in it who when she saw us on the corner leaned out and yelled "I'm going in at 19!" For all thos for who this was an answer to prayer, thank Heavenly Father fervently. Follow the promptings that he gave you this conference. Personally I really liked Elder Holland, Elder Bednar and Elder Echo Hawks' talks.

We had our fireside sunday night and guess who was the speaker. Chad Lewis! Crazy huh? He shared some awesome stories about sharing the gospel through his career and his contact with others like Teddy Bruschky(?) and the Wounded Warriors group that he hiked Mt Kilamanjaro with last year. He has a very strong testimony and really knows and loves the Lord. After the fireside Pres. B selected about twenty missionaries to be able to meet with Chad Lewis for a few minutes. Unfortunately I was near the back so no such luck on that one. I'm gal dthat I didn't because I instead got to see Elder Bednars talk here at the MTC last christmas, called The Character of Christ. I don;t know how many of you have heard of or seen it but it is amazing. Look for it and if you find it watch it. It is very deep and moving. IT really puts a new perspctive on the life of Christ and his role as our savior and exemplar. When in the most troubled of times and throughout all of his life, when the natural man would have turned in with self pity, pride of selfishness, Christ always turned out in selfless love and service. It is quite the address.

I'm sorry about last weeks emial not getting through. Hopefully it made it this time and the pictures made it alright. The eldest of the Elders that were here when we arrived just left yesterday and today. Thankfully, ten of them are going to Laoag. But i'll still mis them for the nect six weeks and those that are going else where. They have been such great examples for me and my district. I can't believe that my time here at the MTC is a third gone. In three weeks I'll be one of the elder Elders in our zone. It's crazy!

Congrats to my little bro TWood on his top rank in tennis regionals. Good luck bro! Thank you to everyone for your letters prayers and thoughts. I love to hear news about how you are doing and want to know how life is going for you. I know that the Lord is watching over all of us and knows what is best for us. If we will ask and seek to find out his will he will give us patnubay (guidance). I love you all and pray that God be with you till we meet again.

Mom/Dad- could you also send me my Philipines shirt? Thanks for your letters and love. I love you.

Love

Elder RWood.

MTC Pics (Provo Temple)

Elder B and Elder O

Elder RWood and Comps

District

Me and Comps

October 2, 2012

Dear Pamilya and Friends,

This week flew by! I can't believe that it is P day already. This week has gone well, there is always so much to do here and it feels like there is not enough time to do it all. With classes, meetings, study and everything else that they have to do, it's all work and play roled into one.

So I forgot to mention last week about our investigator. We began teaching him the Friday that we arrived here at the MTC. His name is R and is from the Philippines. His wife is an inactive member and he wanted to know more about the church to get along with her better. It was rough at first because we could barely speak the language and had a really hard time understanding what he was saying. But we relied on the spririt and visited with him five times, teaching five lessons. The last lesson he accepted the invitation to be baptized. But, he is actually one of our teachers. It was a great experience teaching him though. even though we found out he was our teacher early on accident, it was still easy to think of him as R and love him and pray for him. We now have two new investigators, M and Ro and we can't wait to begin teaching them.

Tagalog is going really well. I have learned more in two weeks than I imagined that I could. It is coming so fast thanks to the Lord. He has truely blessed me with an outpouring of his spirit and I have been able to see the blessings that it has brought to my life. It is definitly not an easy language to learn though, with all the ng, angs, and other crazy things. I have found that in many ways it is an easier language than english. It just makes more sense, even if a single letter a is the difference betweenthe sentences: the people killed Jesus and Jesus killed the people.

I have also learned a tonabout the gospel during my time here. I love having devotionals and firesides twice a week. This week we also got to watch elder Holland's talk "Missions are Eternal". It is amazing. the spirit was so strong. I motivated me to want to be a better missionary. And speaking of elder Holland, General conference is this weekend! I encourage all of you to have a question or two inmind as you watch. Watch all of the sessions that you can and i know the Lord will answer your prayers. He has answered mine.

So some fun stories from my time here. First is that the best meal I get is breakfast at the temple on p-days. It is celestial, as the elder elders call it. Another fun story happened yesterday in the book store. i was buying some suppies for class and something went crazy when the cashier scanned one of my items. The total ended up at almost $14000. The look on his face was priceless and everyone in line had a great laugh.

Thank you for keeping me so well updated on things that are going on. I love to hear from everyone. I may not respond fast or at all, but I will keep you in my prayers and I pray for the blessings of the Lord upon all of you. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts on my behalf. I have felt them in my life and the Lord is answering them

 

Dad- Keep the scores coming.

Love, Elder Wood

Obedience brings blessings. Exact obedience brings miracles. -Sis. wendy Nelson